Also this week...

ASTRO CITY: LOCAL HEROES #1 - Ah, it's been a while.  Astro City hasn't shipped an issue in two years, in fact.  Now it's back, with a five issue miniseries.  This first issue is primarily a reintroduction to the main characters and the city.  It's not really anything that readers of the previous series haven't seen before, but after this long a gap, it's still welcome to be given a tour of the city and the cast again.  Not the strongest Astro City story, but a pleasant primer.  B

BLACK PANTHER #54 - There's some rather awkward attempts to tell us that this storyline is happening at the same time as the real Black Panther is a member of the Avengers, which tends to confirm my fears that the continuity implications of putting him on that team haven't really been thought through.  Anyway, the "Black and White" storyline is still working as an effective crime story, and I've got to admit the modified costume is growing on me.  Not sure where any of this is heading, but it's still a well constructed read.  B+

CAPTAIN AMERICA #9 - Oh, god.  Apparently Barricade was killed at the end of the last issue, a point that the story completely failed to convey at the time.  This issue, we have a Native American extremist, and Captain America on an involuntary visionquest where he hallucinates about people like Batroc.  Thoroughly mediocre.  C

DAREDEVIL #43 - Milla Donovan continues to be established as a romantic interest, as Matt Murdock seems to be rather relaxed about keeping his identity secret these days.  Meanwhile, Luke Cage argues with Matt about his compromised moral standards - which, of course, have been a part of the character all along, but are now being pointed up even more sharply.  Great character-driven storytelling, as you'd expect.  A

FABLES #10 - Oh, there's another part of the Animal Farm storyline.  I thought it had finished last month.  Anyway, this establishes an interesting idea about the mortality of the Fables - the top drawer ones are basically immortal as long as their stories are still in circulation, but for the ones who've drifted off the cultural radar, they can be bumped off quite easily.  That's a nice idea to set up a pecking order within the characters and play up their metafictional origins.  Other than that, largely epilogue stuff, and establishing the new status quo for the Farm (which involves some surprisingly vicious retribution).  Pretty good.  A-

FIREBREATHER #2 - Last issue was Duncan at school, and this issue is Duncan visiting his father at the weekend.  Since dad is a 300 ft dragon - and I still don't want to think about the mechanics of that - he's equally out of place there.  The point is pretty obvious, but it's a good-humoured story with great art by Andy Kuhn.  B+

HELLBLAZER SPECIAL: LADY CONSTANTINE #3 - Well, we find out what the box is, and I can't believe I didn't see something that obvious coming.  But I didn't, so points for throwing me off the track.  This is the Vertigo equivalent of playing in the toybox, and nothing particularly highbrow.  Nonetheless, it works very well on that level.  B+

INCREDIBLE HULK #50 - Beginning of a new storyline, and the Abomination is back.  And this storyline either hinges on a massive coincidence, or there's an explanation needed down the line.  Given the history of the book, though, I'm assuming there's an explanation waiting.  Mike Deodato debuts on art, and as with his recent Tigra miniseries, the story looks great.  I never used to like Deodato's work in the nineties (or, you know, whoever was Mike Deodato at any given time), but the current style works for me.  B+

POWERS #28 - Ah, it's one of those stories that covers the same timeframe as the previous issue, but from a different perspective.  Kutter, the annoying supporting character, is left to follow things up while Walker and Pilgrim are out of town.  And is he an excellent, effective investigator?  Well... not really, no.  But he's not a total no-hoper either, and an issue of him trying to solve the case makes better reading than you might think.  A-

STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #8 - Or, "What happened to Finland."  It is pleasing to report that once again there is no sign of regular artist Whilce Portacio, and once again we have a considerable improvement with replacement Tomm Coker.  The annihilation of most of Finland, despite some semi-plausible political roots, strains credibility a bit far for my tastes.  Nonetheless, there are good ideas in here, even if it pushes the premise further than it'll bear.  B

VENTURE #2 - Journalist Reggie Baxter tries to bully Joe Campbell into becoming a superhero.  This doesn't quite work for me.  Campbell seems to cave in all too easily, and after protesting that he wants a mask, why does he settle for a haircut?  (Is he planning to regrow his hair after every mission or something?)  There's some nice material with Baxter trying to pressgang the reluctant Campbell into getting media attention, but something about this doesn't quite click.  C+

On Monday at Ninth Art, another Article 10 column goes up.  I'm surprised there hasn't been more written about this particular subject already, actually.

Next week, a ton of X-books.  New X-Men continues the Riot at Xavier's story.  Darko Macan and Igor Kordey finish their run on Soldier X.  Ultimate War finishes, and Ultimate X-Men ships an issue as well.  Uncanny X-Men continues the Dominant Species arc, and to complete the set, X-Treme X-Men is also putting out an issue.  So that's all four X-Men titles shipping in the same week.  Oh, plus Wolverine.  You may also be interested to know that the third Exiles trade paperback is due out next week.

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