Buy Pile Report

So, my Buy Pile was pretty light this week -- so light in fact that I had to re-read the release board in Upstate Comics four times because I was sure I was forgetting something obvious and important I needed to pickup.

But no, my Buy Pile was a slender five issues this week. One of them was Action Comics #869, which I already detailed in the previous post. There are three other books I need to make mention of, though:

First off, and this is a book I haven't been mentioning much here, but have been reading -- Trinity #16. Dare I say it, this is the issue that has made me sure Kurt Busiek's story will be - gulp - worth reading. The first six or seven issues were take-it-or-leave it fodder. I even had very real fears that Busiek was expanding his story just in order to fill out the 52 issues. But here, in just the 16th issue of the series, we actually get a storyline climax. A Climax! (No Dirty Jokes!) For any of you out there nervous this book would be one long droning on story, worry no longer. We have a plot twist! And I am equally excited that the Trinity's showdown with the Dark Trinity (not to be confused with "Broken Trinity") started last week and sort of finished this week!

And aside from any overall structure worries that have been eased here, the story was also pretty darn good. I find myself really interested to see where Busiek is taking this story, something I could only very rarely say of "Countdown." Folks, we're only four months into the story, there is time to jump on board -- and if you are a fan of any of these Trinity characters, you want to read the book.

Also from DC, Robin #178 failed to disappoint. I'm a big fan of what Fabian Nicieza is doing with the character in this post "Batman R.I.P." world, and he's crafted a solid mystery for the readers to follow and Tim Drake to unravel, from the identity of Red Robin to the gang wars to what Spoiler has planned for her former beau. And while the constant narration from Tim is a bit of an overkill, I would always rather a little overkill when it comes to narration rather than no narration at all. Maybe that's just my early '80s comic background, I dunno. And still, the question in the background of this story is still Who will assume the Cape and Cowl?

Finally, Uncanny X-Men #502. I am losing faith in Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker. The setting of San Francisco is fine. The storyline with the Hellfire Cult, while overly reminiscient for my tastes, is also fine. But for God sakes, every one of these characters are characatures of themselves!!! And I know Ed Brubaker is better than this in terms of getting into a character's voice. Cyclops is bad enough, which I detailed in length last month, but come on, we don't need to hear more about Emma Frost's expensive wardrobe. We don't need Dazzler coming by and offering a beaten girl a spot as a background dancer (who would be giving the crowd narcotics, no less). We don't need to see a flashback of Emma showing her class how to use men, and we really don't need Cyclops torturing a man when he could just get Emma to read his mind for the information he needed.

I haven't read the X-Men written this poorly in years. I mean, sure, they've been often boring lately, but not written this poorly. Back to the drawing board, Marvel!