Buy Pile Report

It was a LOOOOOOOOONG Day for me yesterday, so by the time I finished reading my comics for the week around 4 am I just didn't have it in me to write up a post, so I apologize.

The good news is, I cannot remember a week in the last few months that had such a balance of good quality books across the board.

And the best of those, in my opinion, was Action Comics #867. Back in the day, I listened to a lot of Weird Al tapes. I stress tapes, because that's how long ago this was. Anyway, he had a song called "Everything you know is wrong." That's how this issue will make you feel — in a great way.

Did you think Supergirl was a useless cliche of a character? Well you won't after the scene Geoff Johns wrote for her here, which gives me great hope for his plans to make her solo book a part of his Superman Universe.

Did you think Brainiac was a goofy sort of villain? Are you like me and picture THIS COMMERCIAL, in which the poor guy just wants to hide his shame? Well, not after Kara's description of him, and not after the last few pages of this issue.

Hell, if you even simply thought Clark Kent truly missed Krypton, you'll learn a thing or two here. Johns is writing a masterpiece of a Superman story, and Gary Frank is providing some of the best art of his career. This is a MUST READ arc.

Actually, you may get tired of hearing praise for Johns in a hurry here, since a couple of more kudos-filled graphs are on the way. The second best book of the week was likewise Johns', Justice Society of America #17.

I don't even know how to describe this issue, other than that a giant God walked the Earth granting, essentially, wishes, and the JSA is struggling with figuring out how to deal with it. The story, and really concept itself, is brilliant. But more than that, this issue we get good character-developing moments with most of the Society. Mr. Terrific struggles with spirituality. Damage revels in looking normal again. Hell, Cyclone revels in it too. Hawkman and Hawkgirl have an illuminating chat. And — get this — Gog cured Starman's insanity.

In fact, that moment spawned the line of the book, which I wish I had in front of me so I could quote it, essentially saying that him being suddenly sane is a sign the JSA needs to be wary of Gog now more than ever. ... that being said, I'm hoping Thom gets crazy again sometime soon!

Oh, and this issue spins directly into the JSA annual because ... spoilers coming ... Gog sends Powergirl "home."

The final part of this Johns love-fest happens to be the final issue for him and co-writer Jeff Katz on Booster Gold #1,000,000. The issue not only serves as an epilogue to the current "Blue and Gold" storyline (which did not feature a certain bug), but also a great cap to the duo's year-long run on the book they started. Oh, it also featured a brief tie-in with the "DC One Million" event from a few years back, but that served as nothing more than a plot device.

Booster spends the issue struggling with his current role of a "Time Master" and (predictably) does eventually decide to keep saving time with Rip Hunter, but the 32 pages of journey for Booster really does feel genuine and organic. I especially appreciated the role Batman played in encouraging Booster, since Batman is not only a character that stuck up for him in the first issue, but is also simply a character Booster has had an enormous amount of respect for.

And all that doesn't even get into who Rip Hunter really is — which WAS REVEALED at the end of this book. But I'm not spoiling that for you. My only hope is that the new regular writer on this series — fingers crossed series artist Dan Jurgens takes over — keeps up the high level of stories Johns and Katz started.

I also need to make note of Trinity #6 this week. Why? Because we FINALLY get moving with the story again. Honestly, I feel like the last four issues since the opener were buying time for the back-up story to catch up to the main story, because there was No Reason that fight with Konvikt should have lasted so long.

But, the good news is, this issues puts the series back on track. The trio spends the issue brainstorming all the different ways they are a "Trinity" and how that could be used against them in this mysterious plot. The intrigue that was established in the first issue returned, and that's a great thing. The only question now is, whether this series will string together another good issue for the next couple of weeks, or will we be waiting another few weeks UNTIL another good issue?

Finally from DC, we have Detective Comics #846, the first part of a new story arc and the first "Batman R.I.P" tie-in DC has published. And, while I wouldn't call this a bad issue, Paul Dini does a nice job here in a debut of a story featuring fan-favorite villain "Hush" (I can care less about him personally), this issue had NOTHING TO DO WITH "BATMAN R.I.P.!"

So there you go, fans. You know where you stand. There are over a dozen "Batman R.I.P." tie-ins scheduled, but don't go expecting many of them to be actual tie-ins. This will likely be good news for your wallets.

I only picked up two Marvel books this week, but one of them was a biggie, Secret Invasion #4. Unfortunately, this story was in a holding pattern for much of the issue. Yes, yes, we know, while Earth's heroes are trying to rally a defense, they cannot as long as they can't trust each other, and since anyone can be a Skrull, trust is at a premium. We Get It. I could have done without every sentence spoken by our Skrull Queen Narrator here.

The good news is, there are enough great singular moments in this issue to keep us entertained before the story revs up again at the very end. From Black Widow shooting first and asking second, to Nick Fury's lack of trust in Ms. Marvel, to Agent Brand's infiltration of the Skrull lair, to Maria Hill's surprise, this issue had great great moments. And, possibly the best moment came on the last page, when Thor and Captain America made their debuts. Do I hear "Avengers, Assemble!" anyone?

Lastly, there was Young X-Men #4. I really don't like this book. I'll come right out and say it, I have an extreme distaste for this book. For starters, it replaced a pretty good book in "New X-Men." Secondly, I can care less about most of this cast, as the more likeable youth mutants from "New X-Men" are MIA in the Marvel Universe right now. This first arc has really not been written well, either, as these kids are acting just plain dumb.

So, forgive me if I don't praise this book for revealing Cyclops is not Cyclops. We all saw it coming. That didn't change anything this month, as the issue was horrible despite the reveal.

Cue Porky Pig, because that's all, folks.