Also this week...

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #544 - This would be the first part of "One More Day."  I'm sure I'm not the only person who just wants to get it out of the way so that we can move on to something more interesting.  It's not a great issue.  Quesada's art is certainly impressive enough, but the plot still isn't going anywhere.  After months of "Back in Black", which just seemed to be killing time, this story reads like it was intended primarily to set the scene for readers of the trade paperback - so here we go with the same ground again.  And the less said about the dialogue, the better.  "Tune your ear to the frequency of despair, and cross-reference by the longitude and latitude of a heart in agony."  Are we really supposed to read that without sniggering?  Overall, I've seen a lot worse, but so far, the story is utterly dependent on the hype to give it a sense of importance that just isn't there on the page.  C+

DOKTOR SLEEPLESS #2 - After a shaky start, Warren Ellis has finally got his Doktor Sleepless wiki up and running, so he can begin the interactive side of this series - allowing his readers to connect the dots between his various references.  So far, while the subject matter isn't exactly off the beaten track for Ellis, the series is holding up its end of the bargain.  There's a genuine sense here of a detailed puzzle in need of unravelling, and that's the key to these things.  B+

EXILES #98 - Part four of "The Doom of Two Good Men", and we've still got another month to go.  I'm not convinced it merits that much space.  It's also the second storyline in a row to tease the destruction of the human race, with the same character in a key role.  Taken purely in isolation, the issue a perfectly acceptable alternate-reality superhero story, but the overall direction of the series seems a little lacklustre.  Nice to see Thunderbird back in the active cast, mind you.  B-

NEW EXCALIBUR #23 - The other Chris Claremont story of the week, and this seems to be the penultimate part of the Albion storyline.  It's been the same guys punching one another in different combinations for several months now, and I can't imagine why this relatively slight story has been stretched out to seven months - an enormous length even at the height of the decompression fad.  I'm afraid I've pretty much lost interest in the arc by this stage.  C

UNCANNY X-MEN #490 - More fun with the Morlocks, as we meet the nice guys who had a more benign interpretation of the prophecies.  I'm reassured to see that both books are now openly making noises that M-Day isn't a dead end for mutants after all, since it suggests that Marvel have figured out it was a horrible mistake and we're heading for at least a partial reversal.  (Without which, there's no series worth having.  M-Day, as written, literally negates the premise of the book.)  There are some nice moments in this story, and Larroca's art is impressive as ever, but I don't feel like we've made a great deal of forward progress since part one of the storyline.  And there's a scene with Warpath and Hepzibah which is just plain clumsy.  It's an odd mix, really.  The details are mostly good.  The overall direction of the book seems promising.  But the current story arc feels like it's going round in circles.  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, X-Men: Emperor Vulcan #1 begins a five-issue sequel to Ed Brubaker's "Shi'ar Empire" storyline.  Ultimate X-Men #86 has more Sentinels.  And the "Isolationist" arc continues in X-Factor #23.

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