Marvel's bizarrely lopsided scheduling proudly presents miniseries week!  Yes, it's four miniseries and one ongoing title, which shouldn't really be here - it's just running horribly late and it's finally ready.

The token ongoing title is Astonishing X-Men #9, which is gently slipping off its schedule.  It's been about six weeks since the last issue.  The next issue's due at the end of the month.  To be on the safe side, Marvel have rescheduled the title, basically allowing two months to fall by the wayside.  It's the right thing to do in the circumstances - nobody's interested in seeing this book drawn by fill-in artists.  But it's always frustrating that Marvel persists in hiring creators like this on overly optimistic schedules in the first place.

Anyhow.  This is one of those stories where the Holodeck goes mad.

The big idea is that the Danger Room has come to life after Wing committed suicide inside it.  Or, more accurately, the idea is that the Danger Room was always sentient, and was permanently frustrated by the fact that it was built to kill, but always prevented from doing so.  Once Wing topped himself, this somehow let the Danger Room get round its programming, and now it's trying to go its own way.

Hmm.  I'm not really sure about this idea.  For one thing, Whedon hasn't really set up the idea that the Danger Room is sentient, even though we get a token mention that it's been acting "skittish."  For another, the story hinges on the idea that the Danger Room is fundamentally incapable of killing people.  But how many stories have we read with characters in the Danger Room saying "Oh no, the safeties are off - we're in real danger!"?  And the idea of Wing's death as a catalyst feels a bit tenuous.

On the other hand, the idea of the Danger Room as a frustrated killer has a certain innate appeal.  Built for violence, used to train kiddies.  It's a strong enough concept, but the way it's set up doesn't quite work.

Still, the visuals go a long way to carrying the issue.  Cassday's art has the usual combination of grace and dynamism that we've come to expect from him.  And Laura Martin continues to justify her reputation as one of the best colourists in comics.  Whereas most colourists just seem to work out what colour something ought to be, and which direction the light's coming from, Martin pays much more attention to the palette.  The whole look of the book changes from scene to scene, with the mansion corridors in antiseptic gray, while the page is saturated in red for the "hell" sequence.  The two-tone blue-and-orange desert scenes are striking. 

The fact that this colour-coding comes across so powerfully even amidst the clutter of adverts that sully every monthly title is a testament to just how good at her job Martin is.  If only everything looked this good.

Storywise, then, not the best issue in Whedon and Cassaday's run.  But the underlying premise is decent, and the visuals on this book are strong enough to compensate for a multitude of sins.

Rating: B+

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