Another very heavy week for X-books, although in part that's due to late-running titles. 

Such as Astonishing X-Men, which has now parted company with its original schedule altogether.  It's been over two months since the previous issue.  There's supposed to be a scheduled gap between Whedon and Cassaday's first and second years, but at this rate it's just going to be taken up by waiting for issue #12 to ship.

This is the penultimate part of the "Dangerous" arc, which is turning out to be a major disappointment.  Of course, it's still got the art of John Cassaday, which is a major plus point on any material.  It's impossible to truly dislike a comic which looks this good.  Cassaday, and colourist Laura Martin, really understand how to bring a world to life.  The incongruous visual of Xavier and "Danger", as we're now apparently going to call it, sitting in comfy armchairs floating in an abstract background works wonderfully.  The action sequences are nicely put together.  It's a lovely thing to look at.

Which is good, because frankly, the plot is nothing to write home about.  The whole story of "Dangerous" boils down to "The Danger Room acquires sentience, turns into a robot, and tries to kill his father figure Xavier."  This might just about merit three issues, but it simply isn't strong enough for six.  The idea of creations trying to kill their "father" is a well-worn one, but Danger just doesn't have enough personality to make it interesting.  Other than a desire to re-enact this ancient theme, there simply doesn't seem to be a personality there.

On top of that, the continuity editing is little short of diabolical.  Most of the story takes place in Genosha, which means that it should be at least broadly consistent with events in Excalibur.  A basic premise of Excalibur was that, for some reason, technology didn't work in Genosha.  Everyone had to make do with extremely basic equipment, plus whatever mutant powers were available.  This wasn't a minor element of the series - it was a fundamental part of the set-up.

But not here, as Xavier turns up driving a bloody great truck, which he uses to plough Danger into some live power lines.  Not only should the truck not be working, but Genosha shouldn't even have any live power lines, because it doesn't have any bloody electricity.  We're even told that Magneto has helpfully shut down all technology in the area, despite the fact that on the established rules for Genosha, there wasn't any in the first place.

There are really no excuses for screwing up continuity this badly.  This is absolutely basic stuff, and there's no reason why it couldn't have been got right.  

And that's before we get on to all the irritating plot holes and annoying genre cliches.  Given that Genosha is meant to be under permanent military siege, how do the X-Men manage to get in without any difficulty?  How does Xavier, a man paralysed from the waist down, manage to drive a truck?  And really, how can you simultaneously have Magneto shutting down all the technology, and yet also pull the "he's not getting involved because it's not his fight" routine?

It's a weak story, riddled with continuity errors and plot holes.  There's a nice little scene with Kitty and Peter, and that's really about the best to be said for it as a piece of writing.  The art, on the other hand, continues to be fantastic, and raises the grade into the Bs.  But only just.

Rating: B-

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