Also this week...

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1 - Relaunched version of the enormous 104-page bimonthly anthology.  Supposedly the idea was to tie it more closely to the regular titles, but the only story in current continuity as an uninspired Aunt May piece.  The lead story, by J Marc DeMatteis and Alex Cal, is actually yet another flashback to the early days of Spider-Man's career.  It's perfectly good, but it's well-trodden territory.  "Mr and Mrs Spider-Man" is a prequel to Spider-Girl and, shall we say, seems tonally at odds with the rest of the issue.  And there's a trailer story for Marvel Apes which is utterly beyond redemption; it's got one joke, namely that everyone is an ape, which wears thin very quickly.  Rounding it off, there's a reprint of the debut of Venom from Amazing Spider-Man #300.  A very strange mix of material, most of which isn't that good.  I can't quite imagine who's going to want it all.  C

NEW EXILES #9 - Mind control again?  For god's sake.  To be fair, there's some half-decent stuff in here, with a dodgy local version of the X-Men.  And I do like the idea of a world where naval technology is still stuck in the seventeenth century because the Atlanteans sink anything more recent.  But we don't need another Chris Claremont mind control story.  It's been done to death and back again.  B-

VENOM: DARK ORIGIN #1 - Zeb Wells and Angel Medina take a crack at retrofitting the origin of Venom.  This issue starts with Eddie Brock's childhood, but runs up as far as his first encounter with Spider-Man (as one of those generic mugging victims).  Wells writes good psychological villains - he gives us plenty of reasons to feel sorry for Eddie, but then has Eddie undermine that sympathy in the way he deals with things.  Pretty good stuff, dodgy title notwithstanding.  A- 

There's more from me at If Destroyed, and apparently the Ninth Art archive is going back online at some point...

Next week, Secret Invasion: X-Men #1 begins the X-Men's tie-in to the big summer crossover.  X-Men Origin: Jean Grey speaks for itself.  Astonishing X-Men #26 has the second part of Ellis and Bianchi's arc.  And GeNext #4 continues Chris Claremont's alternate reality miniseries.

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