Also among this week's comics...

KNIGHTS 4 #1 - Or just 4 #1, depending on who you believe.  This, of course, is the series that was originally commissioned to take over Fantastic Four after Mark Waid's services were dispensed with, only for Bill Jemas to be fire, Marvel to reinstate Waid, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Steve McNiven to find themselves shunted to Marvel Knights imprint.  Embarrassingly, Marvel now find themselves with both Fantastic Four and Knights 4 doing conflicting versions of exactly the same plot, as both attempt to fulfil the same editorial remit - the Fantastic Four lose all their money and have to get jobs.  It's not a desperately good idea to start with, and the mind boggles as to why Marvel is producing two versions of it at the same time.  Do these people even talk to one another?  Of course, the concept has inherent credibility problems; Waid did a much better job of explaining their financial crisis by blaming it on a big huge disaster which they had to pay for and which destroyed their public image.  Aguirre-Sacasa relies on government cutbacks and corrupt accountants, which doesn't really explain why the FF can't make a perfectly good living off public appearances (or, for that matter, just pop down the road and join the Avengers).  The official explanation is that they're over-exposed, but in a world where Jade Goody is still making a living off Having Been On Big Brother Three Years Ago, I find that explanation less than persuasive.  To be fair to this book, though, the art is absolutely beautiful, and Aguirre-Sacasa does show signs of understanding the characters - he's just hobbled by a bad idea which he hasn't been able to work his way round.  It's quite possible that the title will improve once it hits the reset button, as it undoubtedly will.  For now, it's not without its merits; it's simply gorgeous, and it does have its moments.  But the story just isn't a good idea.  B

MARVEL 1602 #7 - Neil Gaiman reveals that he's been engaging in a nice bit of misdirection, in a great final panel.  Meanwhile, Gaiman's pet themes start to come to the foreground.  Reed Richards, blessed with his unique scientific insight into the universe, has worked out the nature of reality.  Except his reality is the Marvel Universe, and so Reed has worked out that they exist in a world that favours neverending stories.  Beautifully, Reed cites the laws of drama as an explanation for why Ben Grimm can never be cured.  And of course, he's right - these are built-in principles of his universe, and rather more immutable than any of the laws of physics.  Which is handy, really.  It is not impossible that next month's final issue is heading for a metafictional implosion, which would probably really annoy a lot of the readers.  But I'd like it.  B+

SECRET WAR #1 - Yet another project from Brian Bendis, who somehow manages to be one of the most prolific writers in the industry while still keeping up a higher average standard than most of his contemporaries.  Secret War has nothing to do with Secret Wars, and despite having Spider-Man on the cover, it kicks off with a rather low key set of Marvel characters - Nick Fury, Jessica Jones, Power Man and Iron Fist.  It's a "hidden conspiracy" story, as Bendis prises open one of the genre conventions of superhero books and tries to provide an explanation for it.  The high concept is this: the Marvel Universe is overrun with minor henchmen and low-level supervillains using incredible Kirbytech.  You can't buy this stuff at your local Argos, and it costs an absolute fortune, while most of these bozos are living in penury.  So where's it all coming from?  Arguably this is just a glitch in the genre and falls under the heading of "Better not think about it."  But Bendis does a good job of building intrigue around the question, working with long-forgotten minor villains like the hapless Killer Shrike.  ("What the hell is a Shrike, anyway?" asks his SHIELD interrogator.)  Gabriel Dell'otto's art is beautiful, going for a kind of hyper-real tone which can get away with stuff like SHIELD flying cars.  Not one of the most essential Bendis projects, admittedly, but it looks like it's going to be good fun.  B+

There's a new Article 10 up on Monday at Ninth Art.

Next week, New X-Men continues "Here Comes Tomorrow", and Uncanny X-Men continues "She Lies With Angels."  The choice is yours!  Meanwhile, Chuck Austen also returns to Exiles; New Mutants ships again as it scrabbles to get back on schedule in time for Reload; Weapon X continues the defection storyline; Wolverine ties up the coyote arc; and Wolverine/Captain America continues its weekly run.

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