Also this week:

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #5 - Oh dear, now this doesn't work.  It's a story about an obsessive blogger who thinks Spider-Man is stalking her, which is going fine up until the end where Mary Jane comes on and basically berates her for being such a pitiful weakling who should just get on with life.  Which would be fine if the story hadn't established, pretty much unequivocally, that Vanna is mentally ill and, specifically, suffers from paranoid delusions.  So it ends up as a story telling the mentally ill to stop whining and pull themselves together, which leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth.  I'm not sure whether this is really what Peter David had in mind - I sincerely hope not - but it's certainly the way the story comes across.  Shame, because the story was going really well up to that point.  C

UNCANNY X-MEN #470 - Part 2 of "Wand'ring Star", and I'm continuing to enjoy Billy Tan's work on this book.  Aside from a problem with excessively similar female faces, he's actually a solid enough storyteller, and the book continues to benefit from an artist who's actually interested in conveying the plot rather than just showing off.  There's also a reasonably good story idea about Marvel Girl actually dealing with the slaughter of her family in a halfway sensible manner by running away from the Mansion and trying to get psychiatric help.  On the other hand, I could live without seeing another round against the tiresome Shi'ar Death Commandos, and is it really necessary to put over Bishop and Valerie Cooper as the sort of people who play blindfold chess?  B

X-FACTOR #4 - Good stuff as usual, with Peter David making solid use of M and starting to establish that there's some kind of personality beneath all her front.  There's some entertaining material with Siryn as well.  On the other hand, the art actually drags it down a notch for once, with Ryan Sook trying so hard for atmosphere that comprehensibility takes a hit.  For example, the guy on the last page is meant to be Tryp, but he's kept in such heavy shadow that a lot of readers have wrongly assumed he's a mystery man.  And I was as surprised as anyone to learn that the guy delivered to Singularity Investigations is apparently covered in bubblewrap, not... well, some sort of Kirby dot effect.  Since these are both actual plot points (and granted, bubblewrap must be a bastard to draw), it's hard to avoid knocking down the grade.  B

X-MEN: THE END, BOOK THREE #3 - Well, by this time you're either buying it or you're not.  And if you're buying it then you'll be perfectly well entertained as the X-Men run around the Shi'ar Empire fighting Khan.  You know, Khan.  He was in one storyline in X-Treme X-Men, the one that lasted forever.  It's the usual story, really - if you just want Chris Claremont doing a big soap opera then you'll be quite happy with this, but god only knows what it's got to do with providing any sort of closure to the X-Men.  B-

Last week's Article 10 is still up at Ninth Art, and there's more from me at If Destroyed.

Next week, Cable & Deadpool #26 begins "Born Again", a prequel to the Apocalypse storyline in X-Men.  Yes, the one that started a month ago.  No, it's not running late, it was always meant to come out like this.  Don't ask me.  New X-Men #24 begins "Crusade", the Reverend Stryker storyline - although it looks like it's really just the second half of a storyline that we're already in.  Son of M #4 begins Quicksilver's crusade to abuse the Terrigen Mists, Sentinel Squad O*N*E #3 takes the grunts to the Savage Land, and X-Men: The 198 #3 features more refugee camping.  Plus, there's the fourth Cable & Deadpool trade paperback (collecting issues #19-24).

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