Also this week (because I bought them to read on the flight home):

BITE CLUB #1 - A rarity - a Howard Chaykin comic where there is actually less sex than the cover implies.  It's one of those books where you take two genres and cross them together, the result in this case being The Sopranos with vampires.  The main innovation in Chaykin's take on vampirism is that they exist openly as a part of society.  The plot is fairly standard stuff, though - death of the patriarch brings the family back together, including the nice vampire son who'd turned his back on the family crime empire.  It's quite entertaining, but basically pulp stuff.  B+

ENGINEHEAD #1 - Well, there are these guys, and they're, uh, I'm honestly not quite sure what the hell they're doing.  Something about getting together and forming some kind of robot.  There's a minor villain wandering around feeling suicidal, and other than that, it's anyone's guess.  I honestly don't have a clue what's going on in about 50% of this comic.  Steampunk II, basically - and Steampunk was an unreadable comic.  This isn't quite so bad, but it's getting there.  C-

SPIDER-MAN #1 - This would be the Marvel Knights book, by Mark Millar and the Dodsons.  Not sure what it's doing in the Marvel Knights imprint, because it reads like a perfectly normal Spider-Man book.  That said, it's a surprisingly good Spider-Man book.  While he seems to be throwing away major villains in relatively minor appearances, Millar and the Dodsons do a surprisingly traditional take on the character, but one that's largely successful.  Nice to see Millar not playing too heavily on the shock tactics.  A-

TOUCH #1 - The third of the DC Focus books, and I'm now pretty much persuaded that the colouring has got to go.  I could see how the washed-out, sickly look was vaguely fitting for Hard Time, but what on earth has it got to do with this book, where a would-be impresario tries to achieve fame by promoting photogenic supermen for hire?  It's one of the more interesting concepts in the line (not to mention one of the easier ones to grasp), and in many respects it's a good first issue.  But the colouring has to go.  B+

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

Next week, it's the second half of Chuck Austen Interregnum Month, with New X-Men #156 and Uncanny X-Men #443.  Cable/Deadpool #2 continues the opening storyline.  Wolverine #14 continues the "Feral" arc.  New Mutants #12 comes out, over a month late, as the book scrabbles to finish before Reload.

If you've collecting the trades, there's the second Wolverine book (collecting "Coyote Crossing"), and volume 6 of X-Treme X-Men ("Intifada").

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