Also this week...

BATGIRL #34 - Um... yeah.  Honestly, I just don't get this one.  Yes, there's a cute payoff with the Batman/Batgirl mentor relationship, but I really haven't got a clue what the hell is meant to be going on in the actual plot.  They solved the crime?  Uh, how?  Seriously, I'm lost.  C

BLACK PANTHER #51 - Officially this is part 1 of "Black And White", which is absolute nonsense - it's actually part 2, since the material in last month's Prologue is absolutely essential to the plot.  Of course, I suppose labelling it this way means you get two issues that look like a jumping on point.  Anyway, if you haven't been paying attention, this series has totally changed direction and to all intents and purposes now seems to be a completely new book.  That may annoy purists, but it's not a bad little crime story, even if that's not really my genre.  Artist Dan Fraga has already been jettisoned and replaced by Jorge Lucas, and while last issue wasn't too bad, Lucas' track record is much better.  Not bad.  B+

CALL OF DUTY: THE PRECINCT #5 - The first of the Call miniseries to end, not that you could tell.  The main plot continues, the character arcs are left unresolved, and god help us, there's an invitation at the end of the issue to buy the first issue of the ongoing series.  What are they thinking?  Nobody cares!  After a relatively promising start, the Call books are looking like a horrible misfire.  I predict a brutally short run for the ongoing series.  C

FABLES #7 - Goldilocks leads a radical faction of farm animals in a scheme to (allegedly) retake the homelands.  Cute, and Mark Buckingham's doing a great job with the animals, but there doesn't look to be all that much going on beneath the surface.  B

IRON MAN #61 - Part 3 of Mike Grell's time travel epic, which has certainly succeeded in conjuring up the authentic feeling of a mediocre comic from 1985.  Quite, quite awful.  D

POINT BLANK #4 - Grifter continues to struggle in advancing the plot, due to his total lack of investigate experience.  I could live without the "former superhero having seedy car park sex" routine, which requires two characters to completely ignore the fact that one of them has just committed murder, not to mention being a bit of a mature-readers superhero comic cliche.  Big points off for that, in fact.  B-

PUNISHER #18 - In one of Ennis' occasional semi-serious Punisher stories, our hero travels to Northern Ireland to say hi to the local terrorists.  Since most of them do indeed fund themselves largely through protection rackets, this is actually a more natural fit than it first sounds.  Really, this is an issue devoted to Ennis explaining to an American audience just how insane Northern Irish politics really is (take the stupidest viewpoint you can imagine, triple it, and develop a love of kneecapping, and you'll probably be in firm agreement with at least two Northern Irish political parties).  A bit preachy, but maybe that's just because I already know most of this stuff.  B+

STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #5 - StormWatch outwit the Authority.  I'm all for outwitting the Authority, they need taken down a peg or two.  Unfortunately, the book blows the ending badly by wheeling in a duplicitous villain who generally looks like the most ridiculous stereotype.  It's the big black coat that does it.  Some good moments, though.  B

VISION #4 - The Gremlin wants to cause TERROR.  In AMERICA.  Do you see?  Do you?  Terror.  In America.  Who needs characterisation or an interesting plot when you can drop in the word "terror" and try to pass off a story about a little Nazi robot with a soul gem as a topical effort?  No dice, lads.  D

WAR STORY: REIVERS - Garth Ennis' occasional series of war stories continues with Reivers, and it isn't quite up to the standards set up by the first set.  For one thing, the characters are rather interchangeable (largely an art problem).  It's basically a character story about the dangers of wartime units led by the sort of psychopaths who actually like it.  Pretty good by most people's standards, but Ennis' standards are rather higher than everyone else's.  B+

Last week's Article 10 is still up at Ninth Art.  It's about Stan Lee's current dispute with Marvel, so read it before it gets any further out of date.

Next week, New X-Men and Weapon X.  Now there's a polarity.

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