Noble Causes #12:
It feels like the end of the season, as numerous storylines -- the invasion, the pregnancy, the body swap-- all get resolved in a way that's even handed, smooth and savvy. Finely crafted soap styled comic storytelling.

Fables #40:
Putting all the cards on the table, you can find out exactly who the Adversary is, and exactly why. It's ... the reasons are seductive in their simplicity, brutal in their efficiency and ultimately -- as Willingham suggested -- hinted at all along. I have reread this issue three times, and still find its revelations fascinating. Great stuff.

Buy Pile Breakdown: Cheap and flawless -- how great is that?

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

House of M #5:
Oy. The replaying of one scene which essentially said "Oh my god!" over and over was not needed, but the common resolve for what should almost be called A Wolverine Solution is kind of nice to see. Not that I think it's enough, but it will make everybody feel better. Sometimes that's enough. I think, now I type this out, that unlike Age of Apocalypse, there is no M'Kraan Crystal this time -- this is the "new world" of Marvel 616 from here on out, and its saving caveat is that everybody recognizes the lie beneath it. A stealth reboot (if you can call a line-swallowing crossover "stealthy") of sorts. That's almost interesting. Almost. I mean, a world with an African continent known for its abundance instead of its lack thereof? A non US-centric body politic for the planet? I could see some real possibilities, with less boring writing. But what's here, eh.

Villains United #4:
Speaking of "eh," is it just me or is Luthor's team constantly getting their behinds kicked by freaking Catman? For the love of pie, Catman??? With all the power and glory at the Society's command, this book, arguably their own title, makes 'em look like incompetents and also-rans. They get limited panel time, they lose ... it's kind of embarrassing. Like here, your boy Catman has "stealthed up" his costume to look a lot like the Bat (which was sad), and tries to explain how he stopped being the loser we saw in Green Arrow (pretty anemic explanation, I'm sorry) while -- again -- putting a boot in the behinds of the Society with his team (and let's not play, it is his team, despite "Mockingbird" and all that hubbub). I'm not buying Hal Jordan's latest hero turn (check the caption on his figure in Toyfare to really say it all) and I'm not buying Catman: Ascendant either. Catman getting laid was kind of funny, though.

Ultimates Annual #1:
An interesting story in the old tradition of Annuals that told "extra" stories -- there's reserve Ultimates and they wanna get in the game, including a would-be duplicate Captain America, three knockoff Iron Men called "Rocketmen," and so forth. I liked the story for both its vague amusement, Dillon's art and the kitchsy feel of it, but it wasn't necessary. It's like a DVD extra -- good, but not vital.

Supergirl #1:
Oy. Cheesecake factor aside, this just isn't very well written (let alone not providing many answers to the somewhat extreme questions it poses). Power Girl has become a top-heavy female version of Denis Leary's character from Rescue Me (no, I shouldn't watch Bit Torrents before doing my reviews), Supergirl seems as much at a loss for what to do with herself as her creators are, and the "story" (such as it is) is just a mess. Pretty pictures though, and an implication that the rush towards scantily clad women is a tactical decision ... which is kinda dumb, but oh well.

Iron Man #4:
Speaking of kinda dumb, Warren Ellis takes everything that makes Tony Stark an interesting hero and kind of says, "Eh, not good enough." Plus, IM gets his ass handed to him pretty hard, there's a lot of blather chatting (Granov is a boring choice for talking head scenes, prettiness notwithstanding), and there's so much back and forth I thought I was watching tennis. Let's move on ...

JLA #117:
Oy. Here, the Society's second tier makes a decent showing for themselves and the League's old school sticks to their guns. Mot of the issue is a fight, with Hawkman making a pretty stupid end of things. Plus, the Bat made a pretty speedy recovery from the beating Supes have him, didn't he? While we're at it, isn't Hawkman on Thanagar or Rann or something? There's kind of no good way out of this story for anybody, and that's kind of hard to enjoy.

New Warriors #3:
Dropped from the Buy Pile by a margin so thin it makes Kate Moss look like Mo'Nique. The inside dirt on everybody is revealed as the show is discussed in network board rooms. It could be considered kind of interesting, but I wanted to see the show in action, which is much more interesting. On the team's actual side, they get a flat tire. Funny on Seinfeld maybe, but not so much here. Ah well.

Mnemovore #5:
Huh? After being so creeped out and amazed at the first issue, nothing since has had the same snap and power. This issue was like the bit in the horror movie where the camera's cutting quickly and everybody's running. Eh.

Punisher #24:
The amazingly dangerous character set up in that amazing issue a few months back doesn't exactly make a glowing showing for himself here, as Frank Castle finishes things in pretty much fairly typical Frank Castle style (except he also gets laid, which is hilarious by itself).

Nightwing #111:
I liked the craft here -- using the letter writing as a framing device for the fall of Nightwing's adopted crime family, with some great action scenes courtesy of Mssrs. Chiang and Parks. Plus, of course, the Deathstroke bit was fun. But overall it still shows Nightwing adrift, not controlling his fate, with all hell breaking loose all around him. Compared to a lot of the dreck I read this week, this is practically Shakespeare.

Gravity #3:
Possibly the smartest issue of the week, which is really being damned by faint praise. Gravity gets his behind kicked for the first time, and remembers, "oh, yeah, I'm in college, I can get laid!" Lots of that going around this week ... anyway, he's struggling with why in the world he would want to be a hero, and so far the answers aren't satisfying for him. I'm somewhat interested to see which way they'll go with this.

Rann/Thanagar War #4:
All of my previous complaints -- meaningless cannon fodder dying on large scales, largely uninteresting fights -- remain, with the added fun that all of a sudden Blackfire can freaking fly (which a Usenet poster named Sean MacDonald pointed out). This is so dull. I mean, at least the Khunds are fun to watch fight. This ... urf.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #22:
Ultimate Reed is, apparently, not so smart away from the equipment. On a zombie Marvel U world, he gets beaten up, rescued by Magneto (who is cuddled up with human survivors, an irony not lost on ol' Erik) and leaves the door open to his own world like a freaking idiot. Another comic full of talking heads which does nothing but make its leads look bad. Sad, really.

Seven Soldiers: Zatanna #3:
This issue was full of connective tissue -- making Identity Crisis tie in, making sense of past references, and so on. But it's dull. Even when an arguable fight happens, the art doesn't portray it interestingly. Maybe Morrison is focused on the new WildC.A.T.s 4.0 (which we'll discuss in a moment).

House of M: Hulk #85:
Guess what happens to Banner, the new ruler of Australia? He gets laid! Wait, or did he just get hit on? It's a blur, and I was sleepy. Anyway, he's running things down under, mutants be damned, and ends up pitted against a zombie army that's actually intended ... well, I won't say why there's a zombie army, but it's no good. I swear Peter David is normally more interesting than this ...

Majestic #8:
Using a neat time travel trick, Majestic stops the whole "Daemonite Earth" thing only to get into an ideological debate with his former technical sidekick over Kherubim tech coming into the world (and they have an iPod replacement over there that I'd fillet puppies to get). Goofy, but not as much fun with its goofiness as the original series. I did like how they tied in Casey's Halo Corporation, getting rich by licensing commercial applications of Majestic's heritage. Close, but no cigar.

Action Comics #830:
The best part here was Shrapnel quoting the 3 Doors Down song "Kryptonite" at Superman and him barely noticing -- it shows a DCU with a pop culture of its own, which is rare. The Society pops up again, and they still can't tell their ass from a handbag, but we're set up to have a nice Black Adam/Superman fight (especially given Supes inability to control himself of late, I'd give the edge to Adam) while Supes has no idea how screwed up he is. Dr. Psycho's quips are the best parts here, but Luthor has been more impressive, I gotta tell ya.

Winter Men #1:
It semeed like there were acres of blather in this. I know, you gotta build a world, but you gotta engage as well. Sheesh.

Exiles #68:
This issue finally made some sense, as the Exiles try to figure a lot out (loved the Shogun Warrior reference) and trick Fin Fang Foom but good. On the whimsical side, and an improvement.

Outsiders #27:
The old business with the old Outsiders is settled, and the extended remix of Global Frequency #1 is done. But I don't care.

Read Pile Roundup: Oy, it was rough out there.

So, How Was It This Week? On volume it was a bad week, given how much went wrong and in such a spectacular fashion as well. But I spent less than ten bucks, so it's a slightly mitigated loss ...

Oh, and sorry about flaking last week, as I still have some notes from that, but Wizard World Rosemont was kicking my natural behind, so close to SDCC, and I had an ashcan to produce (PDFs forthcoming) and my new novel to pimp ... it overwhelmed me. I'm not in my twenties anymore, dangit. I wanted to do brief notes on that, but I ran out of time, getting this done for my editors. Look for it on my site later this week (or early next week), the "lost week" of coverage, in brief form.

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