Bottom of the Pile - August 13th, 2014

All-New X-Men

"I don't have to be a telepath" is probably the most common lie told by telepaths ever.  Also: Oooooooh.     Emma should call Iceman, 'cause that was a sick burn.

Amazing Spider-Man

When crazy-ass, "I rob banks instead of just being paid to supply a company with energy" Electro is your voice of reason, you should probably re-think your plans, Cat.

Amazing X-Men

 Ahhh, the part about the superhero life they never tell you about: all the vomit-worthy moments.

Astro City

Well.  I suppose "robotic overlords" would probably be a lot less terrifying if all they wanted to do was frolic and play. 

Batman Eternal

 Harper Row, in this comic, is an example of why you should want more females in comics.  See, because they're so under-represented, the ones that do appear are almost always super-capable and damn near infallible because the writers are scared to show them with too many weaknesses.  It's not that Harper shouldn't be cool, but they've spent every issue since her first explaining to us how she's basically the second coming of Oracle, or the MacGuyver of computers (and computers do not work that way).   She's certainly not the first example of someone like this, nor will she be the last--but it's what you have to as long as they don't get proper representation.  

That having been said, it's still poor writing.   So yeah, right now the future Bluebird still annoys the crap outta me. 

Justice League United

 I have issues with Alanna no longer being from the planet Rann, but if she's going to have more scenes like this, I'll be forced to overlook them.

Nightcrawler

 Being a Claremont comic, we could only go so long without a reference to all the times the X-Men played sports together.   It's cool though--these sort of moments should absolutely make a return, as they play a huge missing part in what used to make the X-Men so popular, before all the events and deaths and shit.   They made the team feel relatable--like friends you knew who just so happened to have superhuman abilities.  

Nova Special

 Here, in this absolutely irrelevant to "continuity" comic, new recruit Triage brings up a great point.  There are literally dozens of discarded kid mutants that were once apart of the X-Men but were forgotten after being killed off, or losing their powers, or their creator stopped writing the book.  It's an unfortunate fate that happens when you have so many decades of history pile up--the new mutants of today can't become the veterans of tomorrow because the iconic mutants of the 80's are still the veterans of today.   Depressing, but as of yet no one's thought of a solution.

Original Sin

 Two things about this comic are kind of infuriating.   One: Apparently Thor becomes unworthy in this rather than HIS OWN COMICS.   This is why people hate events.   Two: This Nick Fury thing is getting a little ridiculous when super-genius Stark can be hacked by a guy who was actually around when radio was the primary form of entertainment for Americans. 

Spider-Man 2099

 Something to remember: in the future, Spider-Man does not find "peer pressure" an acceptable excuse to commit a crime.

New 52 Futures End

 The sad part about this is that their future is already pretty shit, so things only go downhill from here.

Wolverine and the X-Men

French jokes?   I'd expect that from your "boyfriend" Storm (still weird to me) or some crass American, but you should really be better than that.

School destroyed a lot of my time at first, but now that I've got the hang of things I should be better.  Expect the other two of these to be up tomorrow and Wednesday.

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.