Buy Pile Report

Yes, late on Thursday afternoon I finally have a report on Wednesday's releases... It's not my fault for the tardiness, honest, I came home last night to find the storm had fried my cable modem, so for now the only place I have to blog is at my cozy little desk here at the PoJo...

So what was I reading yesterday, you ask? Let's start with "Countdown #50," an issue which both made me hopeful and made me nervous in one quick motion. For some reason, I am liking the semi-cheesy feel to it all. I don't mind that Jason Todd's character is being bent in this series, since he was never a very balanced character to start off with. I like how they showed Jimmy Olsen to be a semi-fearless nerd of a character, because after all these years hanging around super-types, he should be used to it all. It was an enjoyable read, which makes it easy to want to buy 4 times a month...

But it had plenty of downside. For one, I did not like how 4 pages were wasted going over moments that were already featured in "Justice League #7" (Batman's fight with Karate Kid). It makes me wonder if a good portion of these stories each week will be just copied from other DCU titles, and frankly, for $2.99, that's not gonna cut it. The other thing is, it seems like they are going to make this multiverse reveal REALLY REALLY slow... which, on the one hand is logical, but on the other hand is just torture to readers who had this reveal at the end of #52 already.

"Uncanny X-Men #486" also kind of annoyed me. As I said last month, I LOVE that Vulcan is in control of the whole Shi'ar empire. This sets the stage for dozens of more great X-Men vs. Shi'ar stories... But what annoys me is, as Vulcan retreated and now there is a whole new team of Starjammers, this 12-issue arc is reduced to nothing more than a scene setter. And I would be OK with that if we were staying with the Starjammers in the next few issues. A team comprised of Havok, Lorna, Rachel, creepy Phoenix guy and whoever else they have (I don't have the issue in front of me), that team hunting down Alex's brother and Rachel's uncle excites me.

What doesn't excite me is the team left on Earth teaming with Storm for this next few issues, and then drudging through this "Endangered Species" crossover before we can go back into space. What is the point of a 12-issue scene-setter if you don't stay with the scene? Can you imagine the original Phoenix saga if, right after Jean saved with universe, she wasn't in the book for a year?

"Justice League #9" was just as solid as ever, and if you are not reading this "Lightning Saga," you go buy this, the last issue of JLA and the last issue of JSA and JUMP ON NOW. The Legion of Superheroes (the old-school favorites of the LSH) are reunited, and apparently they have a death wish. These first three issues of the five-part story have gotten them all together, while displaying some character moments of the JLA and JSA meeting face-to-face. Meltzer continues to make Roy a fantastic character, and his interaction with Powergirl is fantastic. Meltzer and Johns have me salivating to find out where this story is headed.

Anyway, that does it for the highlights of my buy pile. If anyone else has thoughts, especially on "All-Star Barman and Robin" or "The Ultimates," please be my guest and post!