Bottom of the Pile - Feb. 12th, 2014

Apologies for this being late. 

All-New X-Factor 3

No one's ever made Quicksilver more relateable than Peter David.  And how's he do it?  By accepting the fact that he's a complete dick.

All-New X-Men 23

The longer you're a sci-fi fan, the less cute fake space swearing is.   Or maybe not everyone can do it as right as Farscape, who knows.

Astro City 9

"Crypt Sweet Crypt"?   Oh come now, I know your mentor was a vampire but there's no need to be morbid, Confessor.  Still, I love how pared down your "cave" is.  A certain someone could stand to learn from how well you manage your space, rather than keeping old costumes and giant pennies about... 

 Avengers 26

A few of my friends are under the impression that SHIELD is, at worst worthless and at best?  Incomprehensibly incompetent.  Scenes like this?  Help their position.   "Why didn't you know this super-obvious thing?"  "...Oh, uhh....I totally DID know but this is my giant, logically inconsistent boondoggle, so I'll spend my time on it asking idiotic, redundant questions!"  Yup.  Makes total sense.

Justice League of America 12

Classic reference to how at one point all the major DC villains seemed to be some negative adjective with -o attached to it.   Sinestro, Despero.   Although I never found Despero someone to make fun of.  Mostly because he's got a list of superhero bodies attached to his name far longer than any Batman villain.   

She-Hulk 1

There's a bit of subtle commentary here on the She-Hulk being hired for reasons other than being an excellent lawyer, but setting that aside for just a moment...

...They do have a point.  After all, I can only see hiring a known superhero as a lawyer could only be a liability.  There's the literal millions of dollars in property damage their "side career" inflicts, and that's actually without considering their vigilante status and what that must do to the court system.

Superman/Wonder Woman 22

In the same way that many people feel Batman shouldn't be in the same world as superhumans because it somewhat invalidates his existence, I feel exactly the same way about Zod and Superman.  In a way that no other supervillain in Clark's rogue gallery does, Zod makes Superman look silly.  When confronted with a guy who literally has the exact same power-sets but also knows how to fight, Superman suddenly just becomes a guy flailing his arms (and heat vision) like an idiot.  Nothing short of smacking Zod with one of the many Kryptonian weaknesses can stop the guy, because it's simple logic: if you pit a normal guy against a guy who's got military training, the military training is going to win out 100 times out of 100.  (It was awesome having Diana show up and smack both Zod and Faora around, though.)

Transformers: Robots in Disguise 26

 

 We certainly could, Starscream.  But I don't think anyone will.  It's a little on the nose, don't you think?

Author's Note: Bottom of the Pile is a weekly column (or at least, my attempt at said) in which I cover the comics that found their way to the bottom of my pile, thus being the best as I've always been a proponent of "saving the best for last".   Since bog standard reviews can be found literally anywhere, coverage can range from mini-reviews to funny comments to commentary on a creator's run or comics as a whole, depending on a wide range of factors including the comic itself, the amount of time I have, and my general mood.