Buy Pile Report: Everything but Booster

Alright kids, we're going to make this quick, since I have to get back to Madden.

The best book this week (other than Booster)? Brave and the Bold #6. Waid concludes his first storyline with a climax that's equally unexpected as it was exciting, bringing in the Challengers of the Universe to be the men who walk outside of destiny. If there is one nit to pick about the issue it's the strange interaction between GL and Supergirl, but as I said, it's a small nit. This issue, as was this whole arc, is a must-read.

Coutdown #37, while still not quite an even read, once again had some high points as well. Not the least of which was the climax (did I just use "climax" twice in two paragraphs? let's change that second "climax" to simply "finish"... where was I...) Anyway, Jimmy Olsen knows who Clark Kent is! The odd part is, the knowledge seemed to randomly come to him... This issue also had a couple of good Mary Marvel and Rogues scenes.. as I said, many high points.

Other long awaited issues, like Captain America #29 and Sub-Mariner #3 were to be expected -- decent stuff but nothing special, mostly moving the story along. But, at the end of Cap, Winter Soldier was trapped by Red Skull, adding to the anticipation of #30.

This week had a couple of big disappointments, though too. Amazons Attack #5 was again pretty crappy, and I've come to the conclusion that there is nothing wrong with this story, it's simply poor writing. I mean, looking back on the war (as it seems we've reached the final act, with everyone grouped together), there have been some fun developments. Circe's faked death, Supergirl and Wondergirl's confusion, and the reveal of a second faction waging war -- but it was all just handled horribly. All along, Will Pfeifer has tried to play everything close to the vest, but he's been doing it so poorly that this event has become a convoluted mess. Thank God we're finally up to the final fight.

Sadly, the other really poor book I read this week was Justice League #12. The attempt at building suspense, wondering who was talking about the League all along, it just didn't work. For one, if J'onn J'onzz wanted in, he would have been in the league. And Arthur doesn't want in either -- and on top of that, how did they get all that info and footage? To make matters worse, the conversation between the two points toward this 12th issue finishing Meltzer's run with a nice bow on top. BUT, the stories the two are talking about in the conversation are all new story threads being opened up for the first time. It all just had a confusing tone to it, and a big disappointment in my book.