Black Panther #1: (Marvel Comics)
Not bad. Movie and TV bigwig Reginald Hudlin makes his comic book debut with T'Challa, hipping up the lingua franca of pre-colonial Africans and portraying Wakanda as the baddest of the bad. Which is cool. I mean, had I not seen Hero, the rain of giant arrows might have actually floored me, but even as it was, in the 5th century AD, that's pretty cool. Add in JRJr's art and I am a happy camper. The problem (since you know there has to be some)? Well ... I'm not too sure who the "main" villain is seeing in prison (or why said villain is having easily the seventh personality change in probably ten years, this guy makes Legion look consistent by comparison), which is not as big a deal as the very strange white house briefing, which included a racial slur (even there, they can't be that obviously stupid as to say that kind of thing in front of witnesses), and it appears none of these people remember the legions of Wakandan battle cruisers around (in the Hudson Bay, surrounding Atlantis) just a few years ago. I know short sightedness is in vogue as a nation these days (but how cool was it to see Everett K. Ross, all calm and professional for a change?), and maybe you can even overlook the government contracting a well known criminal nutjob like said villain as well ... but the feds seem even stupider than in real life, and that's still a bit hard to swallow. A minor quibble perhaps, in a good issue which is very pretty but moves along a little slowly, still under the shadow of Priest.

Concrete: The Human Dilemma #2: (Dark Horse Comics)
Jump from the Read Pile. I'd been hearing about this title vaguely -- guy who was transformed into a being of solid stone in a world where nobody else is like that, and he goes back to living as normal a life as possible -- but I'd never had time to check it out. That's gonna change. While admittedly little happens this issue, the fascinating interplay of characters and detailed grayscale artwork is simply a treasure. In many stories where subplots are kept bubbling, I get bored, but here I can see the clouds gathering, but I'm too distracted by what's in front of me to concentrate on them. I went and bought issue #1 as well, and will be looking for some back trades of this. Fascinating work with a science fiction underpinning.

Justice League Elite #6: (DC Comics)
I'm not happy about the mind-leaping big problem here, which is a bad use for a marginal character who already had a great swan song. That vexes me. However, I haven't gasped in a while like I did when I read the following words: "I know about you and my wife." This issue, overall, is a bit too busy to work well (going to the Source Wall? That never ends well), and with the headjumper, it just totally killed my buzz. Too far afield from its intended scope, I'm on the fence with this one.

The Intimates #4: (Wildstorm/DC Comics)
A school dance at superhero high? Yeah, that can't go well ... and of course it doesn't. Or does, depending on your point of view. This book is so much fun, with its "info scrolls" getting more and more whimsical, with the school's shady "corporate sponsors" being positioned as a kind of antagonist (teens against the system, cute), and Punchy learning pranksterism from one of the best. A lot of fun, and a consistently interesting read.

Buy Pile Breakdown: Even the mis-steps are interesting, so I'm pretty pleased here.

Then there's the stuff on the "read pile" that I don't bring home ...

Superman #213: (DC Comics)
I'll just toss in a quote here that's at the core of why Azzarello's run isn't working: "I can fly across galaxies at the speed of sound ... and dive into the blistering fury of a star." The speed of sound is apparently 300,000,000 meters per second. This galaxy alone is about a hundred thousand light years in diameter, and given that a light year is 5,865,696,000,000 miles, that means Azzarello's Superman would have something of a trip ahead of him if that wildly inaccurate statement were true. Now, it took me about two minutes on Google to figure out how implausible that is (ignoring the fact that the solar powered Superman may or may not be invulnerable enough to dive into a sun at this point, depending on Hypertime-reliant continuity), which means that neither Azzarello nor his editors figured that the science was important enough to work out. That kind of sheer indifference to facts ... it's troubling. Then, this issue is the big "reveal," where the "disappearing" and all is explained (remember that GL mini where Kyle Rayner made a super villain in his sleep? Similar shtick here, with Supes as a modern-day Noah ...) but for some reason the divided Clark/Kal-El isn't. The explanation, of course, makes no sense in either a scientific nor a story logic way, and even Jim Lee's gorgeous artwork can't save this train wreck of an issue. Gah!

Supreme Power #15: (Marvel Comics)
Speaking of implausible, after last issue's wacky "team up," somehow the "team" is still together, and they don't seem too fond of one another. Meanwhile, Power Princess and Marinna are making themselves known around the world, and it's got the feds flummoxxed. Then, the "villain" from last issue gets a government job. This is mean-spirited work -- which I like -- but Ultimate Nighthawk (we may as well admit what we're doing here) is somehow even more anti-social than the Bat, and I have no idea how anybody is gonna be able to deal with him for more than an issue or two. Ultimate Hyperion is keeping his secrets, apparently forgetting about his naked tryst with Ultimate Power Princess. This is the most interesting issue thus far, but either I'm really hanging on by my fingernails or this cart has no brakes. I'm interested in seeing which perspective is right.

Hellblazer: Papa Midnite #1: (Vertigo/DC Comics)
With the fingerprints of Djimon Hounsou's big screen work all over this, Vertigo takes an Elektra: The Hand approach with the title character, casting him in the less malicious African trickster mold (in contrast to the often homicidal Norse/European trickster model). Looking back with what could have been the Ghost of Christmas Past while modern bad guys ponder perforating his peritonium with extreme prejudice (thanks Cobra Commander). Interesting (even showing Papa Midnite's sister), with just-barely-average art, but not a crucial piece of work.

Marvel Team-Up #5: (Marvel Comics)
This book does more for the concept of continuity than anything I've seen in years from the House of Ideas. Using the two characters on the front as kinds of guideposts, this keeps a running storyline involving the FF, Dr. Strange, the X-Men, Spider-Man, an evil Iron Man from Sliders ... er, Exiles, and adds a new villain to boot! I'm not sure why the inking seems so indistinct, and yes, the story is a little too busy to keep track of, but it's clear that everybody involved is having a lot of fun, reader included. Worth watching, and edging closer to the promised land of purchasing.

Warblade #1: (Wildstorm/DC Comics)
I don't know what possessed Simon Bisley to try out this Richard-Corben-on-crack artistic style, but I don't like it. On the other hand, the formerly boring berserker Warblade is now a tortured, navel-gazing coffeehouse type with metal hands that don't do the "snikt" thing anymore. Yeah, I don't care either.

Superman/Batman #17: (DC Comics)
Remember when you were little, and you'd play with your friends coming up with more and more implausible scenarios of superhuman conflict? "Oh yeah, well, I got Green Lantern, and he makes a hand as big as the sky and smacks you with it?" "Nuh uh, 'cause I got Superman and he throws a planet at you!" That sort of thing. Looks like Jeph Loeb played a lot, because his game of time travel one-upsmanship adds the Demon's Head to the game in a work that could easily be confused for bad fan fiction.

G.I. Joe Reloaded #12: (Devil's Due Publishing)
Chuck Dixon keeps the action going at a fever pitch as the team's two badassess, Snake Eyes and Beachhead, team up to take down Cobras on the kaptured Hawaiian island, racing a nuclear strike. Yeah, that's fun -- Ultimate Beachhead's a lot funnier than you'd expect (don't act like that's not what they're doing), especially with the silent Snake Eyes as a straight man, but it works, and Dixon sets a lot of plates spinning with relative ease. Plus, there's crisp, smartly handled artwork from Canadian studio Grafiksismik's Nelson Blake III (who I've never even heard of before today), with Pepoy and Yorke on perfectly nuanced inks. Fun stuff, and the only thing that stopped it from coming home was the YoJoe.com interview with Blaylock saying the series (and continuity) was cancelled.

Adam Strange #5 (DC Comics):
Doing the "one-upsmanship" concept right, the formerly whimsical zeta beam technology is now the dangerously powerful omega beam technology (somewhere, Darkseid looks up, wondering) powered by space/time itself. Hoo hah! The emotional core -- a man trying to get back to his family -- is intact, which takes a real shocker at the ending. Sci-fi silliness in fine form, if this sort of thing keeps up, I'll want to be buying this title.

Avengers #3: (Marvel Comics)
Talky and cute, done mostly in flashback. The Avengers are back, with a lower drag profile and a spy in their midst (it's almost like 24 in that respect). There's fun Bendis-Speak (tm) banter, some good looking action shots, but somehow it's just not enough "wow" for me, even with Tony Stark's new penthouse as an HQ.

Deadshot #3: (DC Comics)
The fight scene with Green Arrow is really well done, and had I not been burned so bad by DC minis before, I'd already be buying this fascinating work. Things go really well for Floyd, stepping out of the shadow of his Marvel counterpart, until old business comes calling and he's in for another big fight. Rather interesting work here.

Daredevil: Redemption #1: (Marvel Comics)
There was a story arc on The Practice where they went out of town to defend a murder suspect in an idiosyncratic small municipality. Make it deeper in the south, add DD and here we are. Add a heart condition to the main suspect, making Matt Murdock's truth telling abilities moot, and you've got a bit of a mystery. It's a little Angela Landsbury in its tone for me, but your mileage may vary.

Firestorm #10: (DC Comics)
Before Ronnie Raymond fans could get their own H.E.A.T., the man himself is back ... sort of. Killer Frost gets her power-up bonked in a really ugly way, while Jason makes himself the better Nuclear Man, while almost absorbing Firehawk in the process. Not bad, and with a rather interesting twist at the end that could solve a lot of technical problems.

Shanna the She Devil #1: (Marvel Comics)
Pure pulp, with shades of John Carpenter suspense thrown in for fun, as secret jungle labs produce yet another broken super soldier model. Cho has a nice sense of whimsy going (look for the "thumbs up") and of course his artwork is gorgeous, but for the money, there's even less story here than in Black Panther, which at least had a kind of swagger to make it work.

X-Men/Fantastic Four #3: (DC Comics)
Cosmic rays bombard the ship carrying our X-Men/FF team, leading to Wolvie Fantastic, the Cajun Torch, Emma Grimm and the Invisible Nightcrawler. I made the names up, but that's the basic gist, and echoes the elemental idealism behind Warren Ellis' Ultimate Fantastic Four. A stretchable Logan looks awful with this art, Remy's hard to decipher as well, and the fact that it made everybody go kill-crazy just doesn't add up. Oh, yeah, and that ship fulla Brood is still plummeting towards NYC. Not doing the job at all.

Superman: Strength #2: (DC Comics)
With a Silver Agey mood, this issue is better than the last, giving Supes room to let his cape hang out. Still, for the money, you'd be better served with the old phonebook volumes.

Read Pile Roundup: Not bad, despite feeling worse than it was before you look at the box scores.

So, How Was It This Week? A week that surely adds up on paper pokes up its head and doesn't see its shadow.

The Buy Pile is a weekly collection of comic reviews done by Hannibal Tabu (www.operative.net), originally published at UGO.com.