Also this week:

BLOODHOUND #6 - This book is absolutely bombing in the stores, which is a shame, because it's really good.  Since this is the start of the second arc, I thought I might as well remind people about it, on the offchance that their local store bothered to order any copies.  After being released from prison to help out the FBI in the first arc, Clevenger doesn't get the usual plot device of being permanently set free in gratitude.  Instead, he's packed back off to jail.  But while he's been away, his cell in solitary has been reused.  And he's not a hugely popular man in the general prison population.  Cue appropriate chaos.  Great fun, dark enough without being too dark, and a compelling lead character.  Somebody really ought to buy it.  A-

GOTHAM CENTRAL #26 - Now searching for a new artist, because Michael Lark decamped to Marvel.  This month, Jason Alexander takes a crack at the book.  The stylised but realistic feel of his work is a good match for a title which has to play police procedural for most of the story, but not collapse when Batman turns up.  Actually, it seems to be Catwoman instead for this storyline, and the look works for her.  Good book.  A

HULK & THING: HARD KNOCKS #4 - Effectively the end of Bruce Jones' run on the Hulk.  Where did it all go wrong?  When Jones started on this book, he seemed to have a great angle, returning to the wandering fugitive set-up from the TV show, and doing a tense conspiracy plot.  And then the whole thing collapsed into ludicrousness - dragging down the earlier issues as well, since they're all tied into the same plot.  What a mess.  Hard Knocks has been no better; the Hulk and the Thing spend four issues discussing continuity from the early 1960s and occasionally punching one another.  Who cares?  This might have made an entertaining filler story for one issue (or, better yet, for 12 pages of an anthology), but giving it four months was just insane.  Even the normally-reliable Jae Lee can't seem to find any compelling images here.  C-

Last week's Article 10 is still up at Ninth Art.

Next week, Cable & Deadpool #10 finishes "Burnt Offering", now cut down to four parts.  Exiles #56 continues "Bump in the Night."  Madrox #4 continues the miniseries.  Just the three issues, then - but that's because another four titles are running late.  Christmas week is going to be painful...

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