The X-Titles have gone through another cycle of relaunches in the wake of the Mutant Messiah crossover, most of which are disappointing.

Uncanny X-Men sees the X-Men team disbanded (again) in the wake of the apparent death of Professor Xavier. Colossus, Wolverine and Nightcrawler are touring Europe as Peter (Colossus) tries to get over the loss of his love Kitty Pryde (though we don't know exactly what happened to Kitty, since giant-sized Astonishing X-Men #1 hasn't been released yet). Meanwhile, Angel's lost in a trippy, 1960s-flashback San Francisco, and Cyclops and Emma have to try and find him. It's a decidedly low-key relaunch, but I don't mind this sort of X-downtime occasionally, and I'm willing to roll with it.

My comic collecting has entered the mid-winter doldrums; the big X-Men crossover has just ended, and while DC's Countdown is approaching it's end, that means little to me since I haven't been keeping up with it.

Instead, I'm waiting for the first few issues of the rebooted X-men titles and checking out the occasional one shot or limited series. The most recent of these is Hulk #1, which looks to be a relaunch of the Incredible Hulk title, but I'm also going to be checking out Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind as part of my gaming group's Graphic Novel Book Club.

Last week was a light one for Marvel (or at least the Marvel titles I read) so I let Tony at Phantom of the Attic talk me into trying out a couple of other titles. In addition to my X-Universe standby – this week it was “New X-Men”, Part 12 of the Messiah Complex – I picked up Penance: Relentless #5 and Dark Horse Comics' The End League.

Finally there’s Marvel's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, one of the four graphic novels I got for Christmas.

After spending the month of November writing fiction, I’m finally getting back into reading it. While the Fall of Hyperion waits on my bookshelf, I’ve decided to ease back into things with my comic books … and the truly mammoth stack of graphic novels lent to me by long-time friend and Nuketown commenter Evil Genius.

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying the fact that my local comic book shop, The Phantom of the Attic, has moved to Third Street in downtown Easton, which is far more convenient then tracking over the old location at the 25th Street shopping center.

Looking back over my Top of the Pile columns, and considering what this week's might bring, I found that I was in something of a rut -- I've got my standard comics that I get every month -- X-Men, Conan, Ex Machinia, Batman -- but I haven't been venturing very far from that core. That's partly a monetary issue -- I just can't afford to pick up too many more comics then I already do -- but there's also my comic comfort level: I'm just used to my routine.

I decided to shake things up this week by trying out some new titles, adding Omega Flight and the Incredible Hulk to my pile, and picking up a fun new one-shot for my daughter Jordan.

Gaming comics top the pile this week as my copies of Knights of the Dinner Table #125 and Dork Tower #36 arrive, augmented by the sword and sorcery (though mostly sword) of Dark Horse Comics' Conan #39.

Rounding out the picks in this pile is the latest issue of Ex Machina, which sees a mysterious future time traveler arrive in New York and tease Mayor Hundred with the secret of his machine-talking powers.

Despite the fact that I've been buying comics regularly for over a decade, I've only rarely reviewed them on Nuketown.

That changes starting this week with the debut of my "Top of the Pile" column where I'll be running down why I'm reading … and in what order. Almost every geek I know shuffles their comics once they get home, rearranging them into their preferred reading order. I'm no different, but in addition to talking about what's at the top of my comic stack, I'll also be talking about my kids' picks as I search for (and occasionally find) comics for my four-year-old daughter to read.