Fables #38:
The Adversary is revealed ... and I have no freaking idea who he is. He's on panel. He speaks. He ... well, something very important happens to the Adversary that I don't want to spoil. But after 38 issues, I'm no closer to knowing which Fable went wrong and took over everything than I was at issue #1. I know the next time I see Bill Willingham at a 'con, he will berate me for my dim-wittedness. Probably rightly so. That said, I loved this issue, a wonderful feint and strike with excellent art and making a very interesting picture of the "homelands" under the rule of the Emperor, er, Adversary.

New Warriors #1:
Jump from the Read Pile. The Warriors have taken their shtick on the road, selling the rights to their adventures to a reality TV show, and taking on a corpulent new member in the process. They get insurance for every citizen of any town they're in and operating capital, and America gets a new sensation to follow. Unlike WIldguard, which is the American Idol concept done in four color glory, this is more like The Surreal Life -- everything has a less impressive and slightly embarrassing sheen, from the antagonists (Tigershark and the Armadillo) to the internecine bickering within the team. The characters are sketched out quickly -- mysterious Night Thrasher, petulant Namorita, enthusiastic Speedball, playing-along Nova and useless/terrified Microbe. It's done in a zany way I found entertaining, and treats both old time fans of the property (why isn't Night Thrasher insanely rich anymore? What's up with mentioning "went on to be an Avenger" Vance?) and people fresh to it (explanations of Speedball's power in particular, detailing the TV deal). Interesting, mildly funny stuff that's not trying too hard and makes things work in a clear, pleasant fashion. Like an episode of Two and a Half Men, for instance.

Buy Pile Breakdown: Given the money spent, and half of the haul being a jump, a great week of bang for the buck. From my "accidental vacation" week, I bought The Intimates #8 (big yay), Beowulf #2 (yay), Atomika #3 (yay), Y: The Last Man #34 (yay), Marvel Team-Up #9 (huge yay), Noble Causes #10 (huge yay), Seven Soldiers: Zatanna #2 (jump, so yay), Incredible Hulk #82 (jump, so yay), Concrete: The Human Dilemma #6 (wow, yay).

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

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel #4:
After getting mad at buying the last issue, I was very critical of this one. If I understand Lex's beef, he hates Supes because he's more than human ... but Lexcorp goes ahead and makes its own home grown superhuman called (ironically?) "Hope," who sets about saving and blah blah blah. Who Lex then gets all hot and bothered about. I just felt the wheels started coming off too openly in this issue, and Lex's dis of his scantily clad employee was the only glimmer of what made me interested in this mini at all.

Punisher #22:
Frank Castle is really, really angry, and that means a body count that borders on the genocidal. The City's in a pickle, wondering whether or not to rebury the desecrated corpses of his family, and I found some panels (the scene with the fed, which I guess had some strange sexual overture, and one other one later on) a bit confusing, but not a major detriment. Not bad, and really mean spirited, which is a good thing.

Nightwing #109:
Speaking of mob-related things, Dick's time as mob enforcer "Crutches" keeps hobbling along as his boss gets an invitation to the big times, as part of Black Mask's Gotham syndicate, and a cherry=picked assignment to work in Bludhaven. As a crook. A very conflicted issue, with strong "performances" from the wife and the mob boss, and Dick wallowing in the drama of it all. Not bad.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #19:
A spooky sci-fi thriller as a Baxter Building reject is back with a vengeance (as the Ultimate Thinker?), souring the team's homecoming and putting up a better fight than Ultimate Annihilus did. Jae Lee's moody artwork helps convey the suspense of walking into a certain trap, as Mike Carey's script is sufficiently creepy. Not bad.

Green Arrow #51:
New writer James Peaty is joined by my good friend Eric Battle and inker Jack Purcell in a kinetic detective story, where Anarky comes to town and is linked to a bomb scare. The anti-hero and Ollie get up close and personal before settling things, and I liked the way it all laid out in a neat done-in-one. Peaty's script just wasn't meaty enough to get my dollars, but not bad.

Thunderbolts #9:
A very murky story as Dr. Chen Lu strikes back at Atlantis in so many crafty ways that I wondered if old CBG Spender wasn't feeding him lines. In a wierd subplot, Monica Rambeau gets driven off of another name by Genis Mar-Vell, only over drinks this time. I don't really know what was up with the Purple Man at the end there (he's really growing up to be somebody -- I'm scared to see what happens when writers remember his daughter Persuasion), and the dragging subplots kept this one from coming home with me.

JLA #115:
At last the JLA and the Bat address the fall out of Identity Crisis and I kind of wondered, "why wouldn't the Bat just become a 'villain,' trying to hold the 'heroes' up to a higher standard?" Anyhoo, the book's been heavily Bendisized, with lots of talk and fingers pointing and the like, as the "will we or won't we" chatter goes on until it becomes irrelevant. Retailer Steve liked it, but I didn't find it to be anything special.

District X #14:
A very procedural tale, with a standoff in Mutant Town and the feds doing wrong behind the scenes. Not bad, but eh.

Justice League Elite #12:
The "end of the experiment," with a wishy-washy resolution to the Whorlogog/Manchester Black problem, resolving the "Coldcast is a murderer" subplot in a fairly melodramatic fashion, and it looking like Vera is even more determined to go Stormwatch Black, which I find sadly derivative. Meh.

Gravity #1:
Fresh faced teen adventure, as a Wisconsin metahuman moves to New York and tries to get in on the do-gooding. Sadly, he's a big sucker, and gets played into making things worse more often than he makes a positive impact. Not bad, but for a launch of a new property, it's surely awfully thin.

Rann/Thanagar War #2:
Tons of indistinct fighting as sides are chosen. On one side, Rann and her allies (the Dominion, Okaara, Throneworld and Colu) are under the gun of a coalition of the willing (comprised of Thanagar, Khundia, the Psions of Vega, Tamaran, Durla and the Citadel), all planning to smackdown and divvy up the first group. Still with us? Yeah, that's a big, mean fight, with barbarians and shapeshifters and battle crazed space Amazons and bird people and more trying to beat down Braniac's homeworld and some other also-rans. At the core of it all is an evil space god, hellbent on feasting on the discord. Right. Now, if you care about any of this, your devotion to space opera must be pretty mighty. I didn't find any real relevance, from Adam Strange fighting to protect his family (I'm pretty sure they'll be fine, no matter what) to any of the cosmic types showing up (Captain Comet, Omega Men, yadda yadda yadda).

Majestic #6:
I take it that some pretty extreme things have happened since the end of WildCATs 3.0, since android CEO Jack Marlowe is a thug for interdimensional Daemonites (like Daemonites you know and loathe, but twice as tough with half the carbs). As discouraging as that was, watching a Borg-like squadron of Hadrians (sadly dressed in the "old battle colors," despite still having Void as an article of clothing for teleportation) push around Majestic in a way I found all too easy. Surely not as fun as the classic stories.

Pulse #9:
Everybody hates Nick Fury, so he's got a plan to show 'em. Jessica finally finds Luke Cage, after going through hell, and Jonah Jameson makes a hard choice that makes him look like a bad guy. A very insular and jam-packed issue, but not bad on a whole.

Action Comics #828:
Aside from some cool showings from Black Adam, I found the "Schizo Dr. Polaris" story here pretty predictable -- Supes is smarter than that.

Read Pile Roundup: Not bad as a whole (and a dominant theme), with so much I read on the "vacation" week that I'll only say Villains United failed to jump again, Gambit treaded water, Son of Vulcan was plain dull, The Pact was pretty good, last hero Standing would have been brilliant 20 years ago, The Maximums from Superman/Batman were better when Mark Millar did 'em (and why Batzarro? Why must Jeph Loeb continue to throw newborn babies and innocent kitties into the fire every month with this title?), Ororo is boring and Elseworlds called for House of M, they want everything back.

So, How Was It This Week? Cheap, solid buys and "not bad" dominating the Read Pile -- it's not much of a victory, but you take what you can get.

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