Also among this week's comics...

AVENGERS #75 - Which, oddly enough, is not an anniversary issue.  Rather, it's the final part of "Search for She-Hulk."  Why does that sound like it ought to be a reality TV show?  This has seemed a rather pointless little subplot, as we effectively hit the reset button almost immediately.  I'm not quite sure whether that was the original plan, as Geoff Johns seemed to be trying to take the character in an entirely different direction from the one that was required for her solo series next year.  Then again, we've already got one Bruce Jones Hulk run, and there's not much point in having Jennifer doing the same thing.  Competent but underwhelming.  C+

FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER #1 - Dead cop and three mobsters are reincarnated together as a single Frankenstein monster.  Yes, it's a high-concept pun, and my better instincts usually tell me to run a mile when I see one of those.  Given that I'm not much interested in either horror movies or mob films, I'm also about as far removed from the natural audience as you can get.  That said, it's quite good fun - deadpan B-movie absurdity with shamelessly awful puns and plenty of tongue-in-cheek melodrama.  Silly, but consciously so.  It's not really for me, but it should get a cult audience.  B+

JACK STAFF #12 - Yes, issue #12.  No, you haven't missed several issues of the series - this is the end of the original, self-published series, even though the new Image series started back in February.  Now that's what I call a publishing schedule.  I can barely remember what the hell was happening back in issue #11, but it doesn't really matter.  It's a nicely warped conclusion to the series, with fabulously contrived ideas about leeches that eat time.  I'd forgotten about the odd use of spot colours which worked so well in the original series - it's mainly black and white, but occasionally an individual character or item will appear in colour.  Kind of prefer it to the full colour art in the ongoing title, now I come to think about it, in fact.  A-

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

Next week, New X-Men #150 finishes "Planet X"; X-Treme X-Men #37 has more of Storm in the arena; Wolverine #9 continues "Coyote Crossing"; and Emma Frost #6 wraps up her first story arc.  Plus, two Chuck Austen comics!  Uncanny X-Men #435 is the first half of "Trial of the Juggernaut", and Exiles #39 has the second chapter of "King Hyperion."

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