Also this week...

CHRONICLES OF WORMWOOD #6 - Garth Ennis wraps up another miniseries for Avatar, where he's taken full advantage of the opportunity to offend everyone under the sun.  To be honest, Ennis's more puerile tendencies can get a bit wearing when they're left completely unchecked.  But even at his most over the top, Ennis is congenitally incapable of writing something without heart, and artist Jacen Burrows is at least able to keep pace with his A-list collaborator.  It would have benefitted from an editor to reign it in just a little bit, but the series is still a solid piece of work.  B+

THOR #2 - Well, I'll give J Michael Straczynski this, he's clearly not going to let himself be rushed with this title.  Thor rebuilds Asgard in Oklahoma, fobs off the local landowner, and then decides to hunt for the other gods.  And.  That's.  It.  To be fair, the pacing kind of works for the story Straczynski is telling, but it's terribly slow, and the story has yet to properly kick into gear.  (For example, there's not even an antagonist on the horizon.)  I think that outside the writer's hugely loyal fanbase, most people will find this too slow, but I've got to admit it looks beautiful.  B-

There's more from me at If Destroyed, and if you're desperate for more Article 10 columns, you can always hunt through the archives on Ninth Art.

Next week, is the monthly Chris Claremont bonanza, with New Excalibur #22 and Exiles #97.  (Actually, New Excalibur is running a week late, but they usually seem to end up in synch somehow or other.)  Bishop's new team of X-Men fight the Sentinels in Ultimate X-Men #85.  And X-Factor meet the anti-mutant movement's answer to Prussian Blue.  Now that's a story I want to read.

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