Ex Machina #15:
Remember all the storylines that were running? The crazy "Automaton" filling in for the Great Machine? The fortuneteller crackdown? The madness with his former FBI handler's wife? Fuhgeddabout it. The good Mayor Hundred instead jets cross country for a very unusual meeting with his mom. I liked what I read here, but I liked a lot of what was going on before, and feel like there should be some fallout from all of that. Not bad, but it feels like a detour.

Cable/Deadpool #21:
Jump from the Read Pile, and this title has been overachieving recently. Added to the mix are the newly cool Luke Cage and pajama-clad partner Danny Rand (who Wade gets a good joke about), all going pure testosterone and battling until somebody stops and talks about things. Add in those three ex-Serpent Society babes, Weasel (as a shade of his former self), and the man I think is Ronin ... well, it's just craziness from front to back. Eschewing the balanced route, which may not have worked, Nicieza plays the whole thing for the sheer absurdity of it all, and it flies as a madcap adventure. My personal favorite point is that the good guys are barely even aware of what's happening. Fun stuff.

Fables #42:
My earlier compliments notwithstanding, Prince Charming seems to have hit the end of his abilities (and his self control, in a last-page mistake that I find suicidal), as a cultural disagreement could torpedo relations with newly incoming Arabian Fable refugees before they start (not even counting linguistic differences). Boy Blue stoically plays his part, Mowgli keeps up his hunt of the MIA Big Bad Wolf, and all the plates are kept spinning just fast enough to enjoy but not fast enough to fall and break. Lovely work, and if recent issues are to be taken as an example, building to big things down the road.

Godland #4:
This issue felt like a bit of a breather, with the cosmic conundrum of Maxim the super intelligent giant space dog put on the back burner and a minor rescue turning much more challenging in the Antarctic. Some great moments ("He can get e-mail attachments if he turns his head the right way") and a good look at the sibling rivalry in the Archer family, but Casey doesn't need to take the petal off of the metal. Keep forging ahead madly, I love it. More Basil Cronus! More Discordia! More Friedrich Nickelhead! Fun, but less so than the first three issues. Hopefully just a breather before more space madness!

Y: The Last Man #38:
My complaints about 355 always getting her butt kicked finally sees some resolution, with the Culper Ring agent chasing down the runaway journalist holding Yorick's secret hostage. Nothing much of import, plot wise, happens but we do get a bit of a look at the new world's political order (with a return to matriarchal monarchy, oddly enough). To be honest, I found myself saying, "but what of that pesky little monkey?"

The Grimoire #6:
I am finally out of my depth on this title, not knowing what's next (I was in on the planning of some of Speakeasy's titles) and a big battle here is marred by monochromatic coloring (the first six pages are almost completely purple) and an all-too quick resolution. Things moved a bit too zippily here -- at least with Doctor Strange we'd have got some "With the Eye of Agamotto!" style banter. I don't really know how the battle was won (or if it was really won, honestly). Something of an anticlimax.

Toyfare #100:
One line made this worth buying (but there's tons of other great laughs and tidbits), and here it is: "I told you if we Villains United we could bring about an Infinite Crisis that would herald our Day of Vengeance! ... Rann/Thanagar War! Too funny, and some hilarious Twisted Toyfare Theatre splash panels. I laughed more than I did during a whole half hour of Hot Properties (and what happened to Sofia Vergara, she was so hot ... sorry, I digress).

Buy Pile Breakdown: A legitimate jump and some solid purchases. No significant beef here.

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

Infinite Crisis #1:
My eyes! Gaaah, my eyes! Damn you, DC! I'll make you pay! Khaaaaaaaaan!

Okay, the last page of this issue made me angrier than the actress who recently told me she was only interested in me for my writing. A line meant never to be crossed was sliced open and peed on. As well, Diana is at odds with the boys in a whiny battle of wills that I can't even believe they're discussing (don't think I forgot about leaving KGBeast to die in the sewer, Bruce, you pompous hypocrite) and Superman seems like he's taken Anti-Viagra he's so limp. This comic is an atrocity that makes Countdown look like Tom Clancy and Superman/Batman look like Tolstoy. It's too comprehensible to be Monarchy bad, but it surely shares the same space time coordinates in a different vibrational phase. Gah.

House of M #7:
What's that? Another reset button, after an emotional moment with Hawkeye and all-out melee combat in Genosha (with the seemingly most interested parties -- Doom and T'Challa -- nowhere to be seen)? All right, if you say so. Shaharazombie! *poof* Right, let's go get a drink.

Villains United #6:
I think I sat in a corner, holding my knees close, rocking and whispering "Hypertime" for about a half hour after reading this. Mockingbird is revealed and whoo boy is it stupid who he turns out to be. Moreover, with more than a grillion metas at their command, the Society still doesn't make a convincing win. Even Deathstroke ... I won't tell you, but I was embarrassed for him. He takes down almost the whole league and ends up mano a mano against Floyd Lawton? That's as preposterous as Aquaman trading blows with Despero ... oh ... well ... anyway, yeah, this was no good.

Cannon Hawke Prelude:
I'm not sure why this wasn't released before last week's Connor Hawke #1, nor am I sure why they figured two pages worth of actual content was worth a whole issue, but hey.

JLA #120:
The entire issue involved, literally, standing around and talking. Imagine The View with spandex. A literal throwaway issue since all the "facts" ("Batman, you asshole!" "You're all too powerful collected!" "I don't know what to believe anymore ...") were done in other whiny issues. Feh.

Marvel Knights 4 #23:
Impossible Man on the cover is a bad sign. Seeing that the series' writer is a character in the story is a worse one. Is this as bad as Myxlplyx (how is that spelled? I'm too lazy to look) hanging out with Eddie Berganza? No ... but you can get there from here without too much effort. Again, feh.

Firestorm #18:
Firestorm continues to have a bad day after escaping from Luthor's incompetent Society, coming home to get caught up in an OMAC-powered domestic dispute (really) and dramas personal and professional. I felt some of the old Peter Parker energy around him as he walked, head down and hands in pockets, through the hard times. But then I remembered, "Oh, right, I don't like Peter Parker."

Ghost Rider #2:
Better than the first issue, but that's no great feat. The splitting of a Klansman in half was a cute bit that I in particular enjoyed, but the rest was talky mess (and I'm not sure I like a chatty Spirit of Vengeance) with sometimes overrendered but often breathtaking artwork.

Action #832:
Another detour issue, this time from Day of Vengeance as we find out an infernal power really runs Newscorp (cute) and the Spectre wants it dead. Superman, of course, wants to get involved but -- duh -- is powerless around magic. Sort of. I could have done without this issue and not felt I missed anything.

Gravity #5:
Super Hero 101 in pitched battle against a former rookie hero who went the other way. Cute touches, nice bit with Spidey at the end, but pretty generic overall. Other than his bland Midwestern wholesomeness, I don't see anything about the protagonist to make me care about him as an individual.

Green Arrow #55:
AH, misdirection -- Black Lightning and Ollie go toe to toe with Mirror Master and a very powerful (but very unstable) Killer Frost. Why? Because Doctor Light is in Star City, and any Titans fans know what he's after these days, sick bastard that he is. The sad thing is, Julius Schwartz would have looked at this script and said, "You can do this in half the space and get to a resolution in this issue." I'd have agreed.

Ultimate X-Men #64:
Ultimate Magneto is a chess player of supreme intelligence, but he made me happiest when he hit somebody upside the head with a chair. You have no idea how happy that made me. Other than that, the Ultimates were caught with their spandex down around their ankles, the Ultimate X-Men got shoved aside like paperweights, and Ultimate Havok and Northstar are way more impressive than their 616 counterparts. Not bad, but still looking like the scenic route for a familiar trip.

Majestic #10:
Hahahahahaha. The guy they threw at Majestic couldn't even take out Cable, much less a guy who's the planet-juggling equivalent of Silver Age Superman with no visible weakness. Does anybody do research anymore? Yowza. Anyway, more old Wildstorm continuity business is dealt with (I barely remember it as a Stormwatch fan) but it seems easy enough to ignore if something interesting actually decides to happen on this title. Move along, nothing to see here (but I did like the banter with Zealot, a great straight-woman for gags).

Mutopia X #4:
The first sign of the reset button (despite online protestations to the contrary) in a House of M outro issue. Feh.

Nightwing #113:
Teaching Deathstroke's daughter has many challenges, her bloodlust primary amongst them. I liked how Dick tried to not work in the example of his "father," but often did anyway. As his taskmaster (and I barely remember why Nightwing is working for Deathstroke), the old man Slade gets some insurance (I swear this stuff feels like episodes of Teen Titans sometimes) to make sure the Man Wonder stays dutiful. Cute dialogue moments but no coherent overall quality product.

WildCATs Nemesis #2:
A soft, gooey emotional core at the heart of a Khera-born, Coda trained assassin. How sweet. Let's move on.

Read Pile Roundup: Abysmal.

So, How Was It This Week? Just barely calling this week even, because the worst stuff was still comprehensible and the best stuff was only slightly excellent.

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