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Also this week...
ALIAS #14 - End of the Rebecca arc,
as we get to meet her at last. Feels a little
anticlimactic, with the murder of her father being resolved
almost behind the scenes. Still not bad, but not my
favourite issue of this series by a long way. B
CRUSADES #19 - The end is nigh, and
oh god, it's a story about a deluded Sealed Knot member.
This is really not the explanation I had been hoping for,
although it does have the merit of minimising the supernatural
elements. Compared with the glacial pace of early issue,
this arc seems to have gone into overdrive in an attempt to
resolve everything before cancellation next month, and the
result is some weirdly forced and undermotivated behaviour
from Venus, not to mention what seems to be a chastening plot
for Anton Marx viewed on fast forward. I'm not really
buying some of these plot points, I'm afraid. C+
DOOM PATROL #12 - Oh, I get it -
it's a two issue story designed to establish that Robotman
doesn't have a soul. Okay, whatever. Usual deal
here, with attractive if slightly over the top artwork, and
acceptable team book content. B-
PUNISHER #15 - The Punisher beats
the living crap out of an annoying journalist for 22 pages.
A bit protracted for what's basically the one joke, and Chuck
doesn't come across as quite annoying enough to really deserve
the payoff. It's okay, but I really think the law of
diminished returns is kicking in on this book by now.
B-
THOR #54 - Various characters
attempt to reconcile Thor with their own religions.
Actually, this isn't too bad - it does make a serious attempt
to address some of the standard "why religions don't work"
arguments, and since it's really about orthodox religions
under challenge, the fact that Marvel Thor is a sanitised
version of the real one isn't too much of a problem. As
an atheist, I still can't get all that worked up about these
sort of themes ("God doesn't exist" really is a very helpful
all-purpose answer that cuts through 99% of these questions),
but it's getting back to the sort of themes that made this
storyline look promising in the first place. B+
THUNDERBOLTS #71 - The latest batch
of villains turn on SHIELD and complete their hero turns.
The Elite Agents of SHIELD guest star here for no terribly
obvious purpose - they don't get much to do that the usual
nonentities couldn't have done, and it's not like they're much
above that level themselves. Fairly expected plot
developments as the arc moves towards its conclusion.
B
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #26 - Spider-Man
fights the Green Goblin for an issue... again. I'm
getting overkill here. And I've never found the
character all that interesting to start with, whatever anyone
else may think. Anyway, it's a big fight scene, which
isn't really Bendis' strength, and it's the Green Goblin.
A bit bleh, really. B
VISION #1 - Finally making it to the
UK a mere three weeks late. Always nice to see Ivan Reis
in work, so that's a plus point. This is a rather
strange first issue in which the Vision himself barely
appears, and instead the story focuses on that old standby,
"plucky young boy just moved to a new town." At least
it's not taking the obvious approach, but I'm not immediately
engaged. B
You can still read last week's Article 10
at Ninth Art.
Seems to be one of the more popular ones I've written lately.
Next week, New X-Men (yes, really,
two issues in consecutive weeks). X-Treme X-Men
is still in an epilogue to the Khan invasion. And
X-Men Unlimited is by Greg Rucka and Darick Robertson, so
it should be good.
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