Also this week:

BOOKS OF DOOM #1 - A Dr Doom origin miniseries by Ed Brubaker and Pablo Raimondi.  There are no major revelations here, simply a character-focussed recap of his childhood in Latveria.  In many ways it's very well done, but unfortunately it also stumbles headlong into a regular problem with Marvel and DC comics, namely a version of eastern Europe which is bafflingly detached from the real world.  I know Latveria's a fictional country and all, but what on earth is this stuff about the gypsies being persecuted by armies answering to a feudal baron?  Is this the 1950s or the 19th century?  The setting just doesn't ring true to me in the slightest - if Latveria's meant to be some sort of weird holdover, that needs to be properly set up if I'm going to buy it.  B-

MARVEL MILESTONES: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, ULTIMATE X-MEN, MICROMAN & MANTOR - Another reprint book with a very long title, worth mentioning because it happens to include a reprint of Ultimate X-Men #½, a comic which is very hard to get hold of.  It dates from 2002 and it has the X-Men fighting Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch shortly after their first defeat of Magneto.  The unlikely creative team - Geoff Johns and Aaron Lopresti - is a pretty good indication of what to expect.  It's a more traditional superhero version of the characters Mark Millar had set up, and it doesn't much feel like an Ultimate X-Men story, but it's thoroughly readable.  The other reprints are the equally hard-to-find Ultimate Spider-Man #½ (quite good) and two old Golden Age stories from Human Torch #2 back in 1940 (historical interest only).  B

THING #1 - Admittedly, not a character I particularly wanted to see in his own title.  But Dan Slott's writing it, and that's good enough for me.  Picking up from the Fantastic Four storyline about Ben coming into money, Slott plays this straighter than She-Hulk, but still light.  Lots of cameo appearances, a couple of unlikely guest stars (Nighthawk?), and a surprisingly minor opening villain - it's great fun, in the way that Slott's recent stories have tended to be.  It pains me to criticise Andrea DiVito's artwork, which is beautiful stuff, but perhaps it lacks the comic sensibility which the story cries out for.  Looking forward to seeing more, though.  B+

X-MEN #177 - And finally, the only actual regular X-book shipping this week.  This is the first part of "House Arrest", a three-parter picking up directly from the Decimation one-shot.  Basically, it's a whole issue of the X-Men running around in a panic and fighting the Sentinels which turned up on their doorstep.  In part it's hamstrung by events in other titles - we already know from Deadly Genesis #1 what the Sentinels are up to, so trying to build mystery around the point doesn't really work.  The cliffhanger also falls flat, since we know full well what Valerie Cooper's doing there, and her appearance isn't a surprise at all.  The big idea for this story is that Polaris has lost her powers but hasn't told the other X-Men yet because she's in denial and hoping it'll all sort itself out.  This is a very Peter Milligan concept, with all that that entails.  As a character arc, it's a strong idea that plays nicely off Lorna's insecurities and mental health problems.  On the other hand, it's got whacking great credibility problems - two weeks after M-Day, how on earth could the X-Men not have noticed something like that?  I still like the idea despite my better judgment, but it's got glaring flaws.  B-

There's a new Article 10 on Monday at Ninth Art, and (finally) more stuff from me at If Destroyed.

Next week, there's very little on the schedule, since so much has slipped into December.  Ultimate X-Men #65 concludes "Magnetic North", and wraps up Brian Vaughan's run on the title.  And Uncanny X-Men #466 begins "Gray's End", another Decimation crossover.

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