Also this week...

CABLE & DEADPOOL #40 - After several months away, Cable returns to the book for a surprisingly underpublicised crossover with X-Men.  They don't even mention it on the cover.  Basically, this is the current X-Men story from Cable's perspective, and it comes down to a monologue in which Cable bemoans his inability to escape his role as an angry man with big guns.  Depending on how you want to look at it, either Nicieza is taking Cable's role in X-Men and using it as a fresh obstruction for the character to face in this series, or the story features an only-just-subtext in which Nicieza laments the interference with his direction.  Interesting, though, and it turns out that artist Reilly Brown does a rather good Cable.  B+

ULTIMATE X-MEN #82 - Nightcrawler meets the Ultimate Morlocks, who for some reason are led by Sunder.  Seems a weird thing to change, especially when Callisto is right there next to him.  Meanwhile, Bishop and Storm recruit a new X-Men team, which turns out to mean that we're doing Australia.  All perfectly adequate so far as it goes, but none of it really captures my imagination.  The art is a bit scratchy, though - Pascal Alixe is drawing perfectly decent figures, but marring them with overly fiddly details on the faces.  B

ULTIMATES 2 #13 - Not as good as it needs to be, after such an inordinate delay.  It's been eight months since issue #12, and more than two years since this storyline began.  Now, Bryan Hitch may be good, but to justify taking that long to produce a comic, the finished product has to be simply exceptional, and this isn't.  It's just a big fight scene with good art and an eight-page gatefold in the centre.  (Really.)  There's nothing to it in story terms, but at least it's finally finished.  B-

X-FACTOR #19 - X-Factor confront the ex-mutant members of the X-Cell, as Peter David trawls the archives for mutant villains who still pose a threat without their powers.  So if you're been waiting for the return of Reaper all this time, then good news, because he's back.  It's all up to David's usual high standards, and the storyline is tying in nicely with Quicksilver's increasingly insane plans to restore all the mutants.  Khoi Pham's art is less reliable - it's generally fine, but there are some really odd panels dotted around, such as the Blob appearing to fall on Siryn from a great height in a scene where that doesn't make any sense.  The good far outweighs the bad, though.  A-

There's more from me at If Destroyed, and if you're desperate for more Article 10 columns, you can always hunt through the archives on Ninth Art.

Next week, X-Men #199 builds towards the anniversary issue, while Wisdom #6 completes the tragically under-purchased miniseries.

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