Legion of Super-Heroes #3:
I gotta tell you -- I'm sold. I mean, I haven't been this interested in the Legion, over more than a two week period, since Giffen left. In this issue, I find out that Cosmic Boy is a lot smarter than I could have even suspected, and that Triplicate Girl has depths I could never have imagined. The tension between Cos and Brainy (I've been around this team long enough to get affectionate with nicknames, I think) stays as a central theme, and there's an ongoing joke with Chameleon that's just a masterpiece of comic book timing. The book very slyly advances its plot while fleshing out characterizations for no fewer than five characters, all while updating the "big picture" and being guided by the sure artistic hand of Barry Kitson (who I will hug in a very platonic, hetero way if I ever meet him, nothing either of us can do about it). I read this issue three times, because there's a lot going on, but it's paced almost leisurely, and done so with intelligence and clearly a bigger plan. None of this sacrifices the fun of this issue, where "Micro Lad" can't stay mad at the little people, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl are revealed to be out in the middle of nowhere on a mission, and some more of the mechanics of this thirty-first century are laid out. Amazing work, and well worth every penny.

Y: The Last Man #31:
Okay, I'll say it -- that cover is hot. As well, a phenomenal rainfall-shadowed fight scene (who knew Pia Guerra could get down like that?) and a resolution to their west coast adventure that some of the characters might not think is all that satisfactory. I've been on the ropes with this title for an issue or two, but it seems to be stepping up its game once again (motion helps) and I call this issue a good one.

Queen & Country: Declassified Volume 2 #1:
Jump from the Read Pile. I like the property and missed buying it, so after a few pages of watching Tom Wallace get his bad-ass commando on, I figured, "what the heck?" Sadly, the good bits of this issue are all up front, before the story dips into more of the internecine political talking heads that's boring me to tears in the main title. I like the kind of matter-of-fact characterization of Tom Wallace as a Sean Connery-styled British spy, all cockeyed bravado and swinging martial skill. But he's buried in a situation that must be real for many secret agents -- a lot of pencil pushers and not a lot of making with the "biff" and the "pow." The next issue is on the Read Pile, unless it can justify its existence.

Sleeper #9:
A corner is turned at the end that I really should have expected, but didn't. Bringing on the always fun Cole Cash (who's finally out of that cyborg body he was using and back on his feet after the worrisome trouble he had in the last days of WildCATs 3.0) was a nice bit of nostalgia, and then turning him all Manchurian Candidate was even more of a surprise. I gotta say, Tao is stacking up to join my Pantheon of all-time favorite characters and/or jackasses (alongside Spider Jerusalem -- and anedge hirak Hunter Thompson while I'm here -- Thanos, Hunter the White Wolf and Mike Carey's Lucifer Morningstar). He's so delicious in his evil, working with some of the energy that worked with Gavin Rossdale in Constantine. Other than my eternal complaint about the art and coloring (too muddy, too dark), I'm a happy camper. Oh, and there's an important lesson here (which we'll echo when we address Outsiders below) that I simply adore.

Wonder Woman #213:
Athena joins Cosmic Boy in the "considerably better planner than I expected" category this week, as she sends Diana against a foe that nobody could beat ... and well, the book is called Wonder Woman, and isn't geting cancelled, what do you think happened? Diana's opponent, the easily Omega Supreme-sized Briareos (in some of the finest depicted myth scenes I've had the pleasure to enjoy in some time) gives Diana no end of trouble before a sneaky plan from Athena (which the cover spoils, since I won't) brings it all to a very visually stunning halt (and super kudos to James Raiz and Ray Snyder for their artwork, as well as to Richard and Tanya Horie for their crisp, inobtrusive coloring). It's a great fight scene (better than the Medousa fight, I think), and closes with a great foreshadowing scene by Athena that (in my mind) is only sullied by a clearly gender-based conflict established at the end (it has a generational component as well, but still), which I think is an easy choice. Still, great issue all around.

Spider-Man/Human Torch #2:
Jump from the Read Pile. Damn you, Dan Slott! You know I don't like these characters, yet to continue to make them so entertaining I have to buy this! I'll get you! Sorry ... well, anyway, this issue is another winner, with Torch and Spidey thinking the other one has it made, switching places for a day (sending Spidey into another dimension and pitting Johnny Storm against the Vulture and Kraven the Hunter). It's a great nostalgia moment, set before the death of Gwen Stacy (and how much fun was that Gwen-Peter-MJ triangle? Very Riverdale). Plus, when Johnny develops a simply hilarious gag about his sister, I just was sold (it plays as well as the Chameleon job in the aforementioned Legion). Wonderful nostalgic fun with spot-on art by Ty Templeton, Nelson and Tom Palmer.

Buy Pile Breakdown: Home runs from everybody but Queen & Country and even that issue got on base (summer is coming, gotta rotate my sports metaphors), so I'm happy.

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

Losers #21:
If Queen & Country were more of a team book with the X-Files-esque coloring of Sleeper it would probably be a lot like this (and almost every) issue of Losers (wow, that was a lot of properties jammed into one sentence). There's a robbery and their chase for the mysterious One Armed Man, er, Cigarette Smoking Man ... sorry, rogue CIA element "Max" gets pointed in a new direction on a new continent and they might even have an ally. Right. No, I didn't just swap in a bit about this week's episode of Alias, it just sounds that way sometimes.

Powers #9:
This is one long-winded mystery, but I'll admit I didn't expect the culprit (who makes an admission to a baby, of all things), but it sure feels like we took the scenic route (at night) to get there.

G.I. Joe #40:
If I didn't suspect this title wasn't long for this world, this issue would have led me to belive it -- it ratchets up all the antes, with Cobra getting a global bioweapon delivery system and the US deciding to nuke Cobra Island in the first third of the issue (and yes, they go through with it ... and you won't believe who didn't get out in time ... and no, I won't tell you, I don't do spoilers here). Brandon Jerwa keeps it all on track (had someone email me a correction about who wrote one issue, so I checked the cover this time), ratcheting up the action with a good pace towards what should be a very big conclusion in an issue or two. No telling from this point if they'll pay it off well, but we'll see.

Flash #219:
So now the new Reverse Flash (who you can see making out with the new Cheetah in this week's Wonder Woman issue, but seems less interested here) starts to upgrade all kinds of people, not being satisfied with making the Flash a better hero (in his own twisted way). I wasn't too interested in what was happening, and I didn't like it that Zolomon had to keep explaining his powers (is Cheetah stupid? Maybe she needs an upgrade ...). Not bad, but not great.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #8:
A quiet denouement, as Captain America is again inspired by pieces of paper, the new kids make an uneasy transition as three Avengers "graduate" and move on. As befits a story between the lines of other stories, it just kind of dovetails into the events of existing comics, but as a story by itself, I found it unsatisfying. No nuance was added to any characterization -- Captain America is still the naive man out of his own time, Pietro still a hot head, Wanda shows no signs of what she will one day become, and so on. If we're gonna go back, let's learn new things. I mean, I kind of have a better grasp on Tony Stark, but not really. Eh.

Hunter/Killer #1:
Apparently I missed a #0 issue somewhere, but whatever. I didn't need it. Brass tacks: government team hunts and/or kills potentially dangerous metahumans. Check. Organized group of sympathizers and metas, including an assassin called Wolf (can we get a moritorium on a list of animal names as names of assassins?) fighting them, played as a mix of Cable's future freedom fighter shtick and most of Top Cow's early 90s gunmen. Okay. All pretty mundane, uninteresting stuff. Then they reveal that everybody is after this Catalog character, an ersatz Duplicate Boy with all the awareness of that guy on Joey (at least from what I've seen in the commercials ... I'm not gonna watch that crap). Silvestri's art looks better than it did on Grant Morrison's New X-Men swan song (I attribute it to inking and coloring) but still looks a bit rushed in certain panels. If this Catalog gets some chutzpah, this could be interesting. Worth watching at least, for now.

Fantastic Four #523:
Waid's getting a great grasp on the characters (there's a great Johnny moment with Sue, trying to swap powers) that's overshadowed by the increasingly sitcom-styled antics that happen. A de-powered Galactus in a bar? In an art gallery? Using Star trek era sci-fi tropes about the value of humanity (which I don't buy, and I am human ... arguably) the Galactus problem is handled in a distressingly low-budget fashion, with an ending that borders on the slapstick. Eh.

Invincible #20:
If you're a long-time comics reader, you'll recognize the riffs on Marvel's early super history as our boy goes away to school and handles everything with a virtually unflappable calmness (and a slight obliviousness that's so much more frustrating to the old than the young). A very cute issue, which is pretty much the average for the title, which isn't quite enough to make my cut.

Black Widow #6:
Jason Bourne is still holding on line two, he'd like some of his concepts back. Natasha learns a lot of things she really doesn't like, including just why she's working with Nick Fury and how the end of the cold war meant a lot more corporate work for Mother Russia's black ops specialists. I believe, with the close of this, it's time for a moritorium on stories which ask, "what do you do with a broken super soldier?" At least for a little while.

Outsiders #21:
The cover spoils the core issue (and the first few pages reinforces that spoiling) the "mystery company" funding the Outsiders? Guess which rodent-themed billionaire owns it. This revelation doesn't make Nightwing very happy, and he goes a long way to say that, to which the Bat laughs at him. At this point, I'm gonna interrupt this review to tell you a story from my hopefully fascinating childhood.

As a child, I grew up in Memphis with my great aunt and uncle, two considerably older Black people who I referred to as "Mom" and "Dad." To this day, I call my biological parents by their first names. Anyhoo, Dad was always telling me stuff, most of which I didn't recognize or acknowledge until years after he'd died. One day we were sitting in the den, where the big TV was. He was sitting in his recliner (the throne of the everyday man) reading the paper, and I was sitting on the floor, devising elaborate narratives for my action figures. In retrospect, I'm shocked my constant chatter didn't drive him nuts, but maybe I was entertaining.

Anyway, he set down the paper and said, "Boy, c'mere and sit on my lap, lemme tell you something." Until I was seven, I almost believed "boy" was a part of my name, as it was all he ever called me. With a shrug I sat down the Stormtrooper I'd been marching across the carpet and walked to the recliner, hopping up into his lap. He unceremoniously pushed me, landing me harshly on my side on the carpet. With surprise and anger I looked back up to him, as he leaned over and said, "Don't trust anybody, boy. Not even you. Not even me." Without another word, he picked his newspaper back up and started reading again.

Maybe a week later, he called me from my room to the den. "Boy, c'mon in here and get your allowance." I came in, and again he was in the recliner. He motioned for me, so I got up into his lap, already seeing the $5 bill in his hand (it was the eighties). Again he shoved me, this time almost sending me face first into the brown shag carpeting. Leaning down again, he asked, "Didn't I tell you not to trust nobody, boy?" He tossed the bill down at me and leaned back to finish watching Gunsmoke (he loved that freakin' show for some reason).

Ten days passed. Back to the newspaper-and-toys bit. "They sent a letter about your grades, boy," he said, not looking up from the paper. "Come sit here and tell me why they'd do that." I got up and started towards his lap ... but stopped short, saying, "I'll stand, if that's all right." He sat the paper down and looked evenly at me for a moment before saying, "That's better. There ain't no letter, boy. Go on and play."

The reason I took you all down memory lane like that is because in one panel, Bruce almost remembers being mind wiped by Zatanna ... and it's got him paranoid. Which may explain the idiocy he displayed in War Games and some of his own titles. Anyway, he basically tells Nightwing, "You shouldn't have so much faith in me." Nightwing says, "are you telling me not to trust you?" The Bat replies, "I'm telling you you shouldn't trust anybody." Now, true, I'd have tossed a comma in there, or worded it as "I'm telling you not to trust anybody," but I think somewhere Dad is pleased with me as I continue to have his lessons reinforced. Still, even with that and a great surprise for Arsenal at the end, it was just shy of getting bought because nothing really happened in the issue. Oh, and the coloring's too blotchy.

Ultimate Nightmare #5:
Two more charactrs get Ultimatized, one as the source of the entire Russian super soldier program (and yes the Cap/Red Guardian fight goes down, and it's okay) and one in only a hushed whisper (as a character of his stature should be) as Ellis sets up his next mini, makes fools out of the Ultimate X-Men and closes down the mini in a satisfying way. Still, this is clearly taking the scenic route to Marvel history, as Ellis is also handling another Ultimate branch that should have introduced that hushed whisper, but this way makes more sense. Like I said of the film Panther it's better (and surely more logical) than the truth.

Savage Dragon #120:
Lying politicians? Unfathomable! Dragon is happy enough taking his step-daughter trick-or-treating (and how much fun is Mr. Glum? He's like a super-powered Stewie Griffin) while his name is still being bandied about on the campaign trail. Dragon seems to share Invincible's unflappable calm as he yawns his way through attacks and circumstance. I'm interested in the next issue, to see "election day." I'll note that the back up story drawn by Rafael Kras and Rafael Albuquerque was almost gorgeous, and showed some real visual storytelling chops, which I really enjoyed. If not for the kind of herky-jerky feel of the main story over the last year or so, I'd already be buying this.

X-Force: Shatterstar #1:
Oh boy, more Rob Liefeld! No, I kid. This isn't bad. It isn't good, either (and won't make much sense if you didn't read the recent Liefeld-fueled X-Force mini ... and it still may not make much sense) but it's better than, say, anything written by Claremont in the last three months. Shatterstar, for reasons I'm pretty vague on, goes solo against mysterious futuristic ninja attackers who end up trying to make friends and give him a weapon. But there's a twist, as the science ninjas work for an old X-villain (who looks like she's borrowing fashion tips from Cable), and ... you know, I don't know. The art scraps the underside of "serviceable" and ... that's pretty much all there is to say.

Richard Dragon #10:
If Marvel's take on Fight Club didn't work, how could DC's third-tier street fighter pull it off? When you add Neron to the mix (one of the lamest of DC's infernal ranks), well, it all starts to get lame, and go a long way from the core of what was working here -- beating the hell out of guys and talking smack while he did it.

Small Gods #7:
I love the art. This issue worked better due to the kind of frantic energy at which the lead character (and his name slips me, his characterization isn't so good) flees from the drama in his life. I like the "so-supportive-she-has-to-be-fictional," "stand-by-your-man" characterization on the girlfriend (if only because I find it so stark a contrast to real life) and I think Barry Kitson may wanna check out the fight scenes here if he ever needs to show Dream Girl or Precommandos fighting again, as it looks great and is perfect for storytelling. I liked the issue, but it's not great at making characters, just the plot works better here.

Seven Soldiers #0:
My notes say, "secret divine wars and madness a la carte with quickie characterization." You can hear the John Williams score building behind the pages as Big Ideas and Important Moments are trotted out, pushing us along a visual show as dazzling as Constantine with the people involved characterized in single personality quirks and quickly shown nuances. Not bad (and really rather interesting, in its way), but very much a chapter of something bigger, and weakened for trying to stand on its own.

Mystique #24:
Speaking of "going out with a whimper," Raven Darkholme joins Natasha Romanov in this week's "Marvel Women to slink into the sunset" club. The last issue of this once-promising title (the day I started buying it, they announced it was cancelled) has some slightly muddled bits with Fantomex in the middle and more breaking and entering than a night with Catwoman. Eh.

Bigfoot #1:
Richard Corben draws monsters! That's what retailer Steve kept saying to me, so I read it. Eh. Niles and Zombie's script sticks to pretty predictable horror movie territory, and Corben could use some of Jae Lee's skill at keeping things half-shown. I'm only half-a-fan of monster/horror/suspense comics, and this didn't do it for me.

Strange #4:
Speaking of comics that have muddled bits in the middle (I did! Two reviews ago! Pay attention!) for like eight pages this issue lost its way. The skeptical Stephen Strange is kind of a switch (I wonder what my man Neilalien thinks of all this ...) and I liked the pimped out magician look on the Ancient One, but with shades of Constantine (again!) in the Doctor's introduction to a larger world of possibility, even a really great fight scene can't help this book out (and the fight was beautiful, on multiple levels). It just seems to be treading water, and I hate that.

Read Pile Roundup: This week's reads are firmly in the "mediocre-to-acceptable" column.

So, How Was It This Week? Two jumps makes even a bland week of reads look good, so we'll call it a positive.

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