Also this week...

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #2 - Hmm.  I was rather upbeat about the first issue of this, but now I'm less sure.  The book seems to be dodging the crucial question of why any of its characters came to the Initiative - are they there voluntarily?  What was the alternative?  What do they want out of this?  How do they feel about being in a boot camp?  Why are these untrained clowns being sent into actual battles, when surely that was the whole problem that the Initiative was supposed to be addressing in the first place?  We've got a real, fundamental problem here with defining the frame of reference, and given that we saw exactly the same thing throughout Civil War (where nobody ever seemed to understand why it might be important to define the terms of the Act), I have a sinking feeling that they're not telling us because they haven't worked it out.  There's also the difficulty that it's asking me to identify with established heroes who seem to have done nothing to atone for Civil War yet; it only works if you accept that the pro-registration guys were indeed the heroes.  And why is the book tiptoeing around the fact that the Young Avengers are apparently on site, by including them in crowd shots but otherwise ignoring them?  There are plenty of good features to the book, but there are so many gaping and frustrating holes that it doesn't work.  C+

WORLD WAR HULK: PROLOGUE - Peter David returns to the character for this one-shot, to explain what's going on in the Hulk's book, and to set up his history with Iron Man, Mr Fantastic, Dr Strange and Black Bolt.  This could quite easily have been a functional recap book, but David works hard to bring it to life, and largely succeeds.  Incidentally, this takes place after Incredible Hulk #106, even though that's a crossover issue and this is labelled as a prologue.  Might have been nice to mention that on the first page, hmm?  There's also a reprint of the obscure, but perfectly fine, Mastermind Excello story from Amazing Fantasy vol 2 #15, and an excellent Mini Marvels strip by Chris Giarrusso parodying the whole affair with merciless dissection of the plot holes.  Unexpectedly entertaining, overall.  A-

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, New X-Men #38 officially begins the "Quest for Magik" arc, while Wolverine: Origins #14 promises the origin of Cyber.  Ooh, flashbacks.

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