Also this week:

ALIAS #13 - Jessica expresses her astonishment at anti-mutant preaching in church.  I wouldn't have thought it would come as that much of a surprise given that the Marvel Universe citizenry are in the habit of building giant anti-mutant killer robots, but there you go.  Nonetheless, it's still a good storyline, even if we seem to be in a mid-story lull.  B

CRUSADES #18 - Venus takes up historical re-enactment, and I have a sinking feeling that we're heading for a story about a demented member of the Sealed Knot.  On the other hand, the suggestion that Venus herself is somehow the knight is a little more interesting.  The book finally seems to be moving at a decent pace, which is something.  B

DOOM PATROL #11 - Oh god, it's my least favourite plot device.  The one where characters have hallucinations revealing their innermost fears in order to make them very easy to dramatise.  The Doom Patrol are in hell with a working cellphone, which is a nice touch, but I always feel compelled to dock marks for using that old idea.  C+

ELEKTRA #13 - Elektra wanders around the desert while various characters we haven't seen before discuss whether she should be killed.  I'm enjoying this storyline - it's taking the character in a much-needed new direction.  As always, though, I could live without the cover art.  A-

FANTASTIC FOUR #59 - End of the Adam Warren storyline, and I've got to admit this one hasn't really worked.  It's just a little bit too silly without being funny enough to carry it off.  Shame, but I'd still like to see more of Warren's writing on something more character-driven.  C

HIGH ROADS #5 - Our heroes travel to the North Pole where Hitler is scheming to destroy the world with atom bombs.  Oka-a-ay.  As always with this series, it's completely ridiculous, but Leinil Yu is clearly having so much fun with it that it's difficult to resist playing along with him.  B+

SPIDER-MAN/DAREDEVIL - A one-shot from the Marvel Knights imprint, with some gorgeous artwork from Vatche Mavlian.  Okay, his characters are all a little on the stocky side, but I still love the way the story looks.  The story, meanwhile, is a fairly standard compare-and-contrast with Spider-Man and Daredevil, and I can't help wondering why it wasn't just used as a filler story in either Spider-Man or Daredevil's books at some point.  B+

THOR #52 - The origin of Thialfi, a supporting character introduced by Dan Jurgens a while back.  Basically, this is his attempt to explain why Thor is such a nice chap when the Vikings were so nasty and unpleasant.  I don't believe a word of it, and I really don't like this tendency to sanitise the Asgardians in order to bland them out.  C+

THUNDERBOLTS #69 - The Thunderbolts fight the Masters of Evil, and Plantman seems to be turning into Swamp Thing.  Perfectly solid superheroics.  B

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #25 - Hmm.  Given that this is supposed to be the accessible book for new readers, it's odd to see it so blatantly riffing on Silver Age comics.  The commercial reality of the film sequel means I'll be very surprised if the ending doesn't turn out to be misdirection, but nonetheless it still works.  B+

VERTIGO POP: TOKYO #2 - A Japanese/English dictionary is included this issue, which is very welcome.  A fun issue, with some gorgeous artwork and more attempts to explain the Japanese to those of us who've never lived there.  Good stuff.  A

Last week's Article 10 column is still available at Ninth Art.  Go read.

Next week, the Fantomex storyline continues in New X-Men #130; the Weapon X one-shots continue with Kane; X-Factor concludes, and the next issue of X-Treme X-Men.  That leaves the one late book as Sabretooth #3.

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