Also among this week's comics... do you know, I'm feeling upbeat and positive.  Let's stick to a few books I particularly liked.

CAPTAIN MARVEL #13 - Peter David takes a break between stories to make an important point which we should all bear in mind at these difficult times: whether on earth or a metaphorical other planet, whether under his own name or thinly disguised as an alien regent, George Bush is a tit.  The importance of this message can't be overstated; commit it to memory.  There is actually one plot development relative to the ongoing series, but basically this is 22 pages of David putting the boot into the US government, and quite effectively too.  Captain Marvel "liberates" quasi-America from a supervillain, and then decides to help reconstruct their government.  By evangelising about the failings of their religion, and redecorating the President's office.  ("Too gay?  Not gay enough?")  Fabulous.  A

DAREDEVIL #50 - Celebrating fifty fabulous issues since the last renumbering.  Still, multiples of ten, eh?  Gotta love 'em.  This is the final issue of the "Hardcore" storyline and in traditional anniversary style, it's the climactic fight between Daredevil and the Kingpin.  A bunch of guest artists, mostly from the series' past, turn up to contribute individual panels of the fight.  It's a cute device intended to illustrate that this is an eternal conflict for the two characters which will never go away, and because of that it doesn't really matter that the continuity is shot to hell (nobody seems to have told the guest artists that the Kingpin wouldn't be wearing his usual suit, though the colourist has tried mightily to distract attention from the problem).   Not quite sure what Michael Avon Oeming is doing in the list - when did he ever draw Daredevil? - but it's still a nice way of making the anniversary artist jam look like something more than a gimmick.  And this time round the fight actually gets a convincing ending - though we've said that before, haven't we?  A-

LUCIFER #41 - An epilogue to the last storyline, effectively.  David Hahn, writer/artist of the excellent Private Beach, turns up on art as Elaine and Mona decide whether or not to return to life now that Lucifer has left them.  It's a fun little story, taking us back to the real world after a few months off in extreme weirdness, and the ending is a cute touch.  A

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #45 - An Aunt May story, as she explains her feelings through the rather contrived device of going into therapy.  Fortunately, this is Brian Bendis, and an issue of May talking to a therapist is a great prospect when it's being written by someone like him.  Dialogue is his strong suit, after all, and Bendis has the sense to make the fact that May's seeking therapy into part of the story itself.  It's a great piece of work, simultaneously working on revealing May's character while shoring up some of the credibility problems of the series by providing an explanation for May's alternative reading of everything that ought to be staring her in the face.  Great issue.  A

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

Next week, Exiles continues its weekly catch-up schedule.  Mystique is still in Cuba.  X-Statix do what they do, and X-Treme X-Men winds up "God Loves, Man Kills II."  Oh, and Wolverine #4 has been pushed back as well.

If you're wondering what happened to all those other books which were meant to have been rescheduled to next week, most of them have been rescheduled again.  Here's where things currently stand in terms of rescheduled books.

Uncanny X-Men, New X-Men, New Mutants and Weapon X have all been shoved back to September 3.  That's had knock-on effects for New X-Men - the following two issues are currently scheduled for 10 and 24 September.  Domino #4, which was meant to have been out two weeks ago, is now due on 10 September.  Wolverine: Snikt! #4 was supposed to have been out on 6 August but is apparently now expected on 17 September.  According to the schedules, Wolverine: Snikt! #5 has been pushed back to 24 September, but if that sticks, I'll be amazed.  Oh, and I'd expect to see X-Statix rescheduled as well, since it's currently scheduled to ship in both of the next two weeks.  You get the idea.

So there you go.  The schedule is stumbling somewhat.  But at least it saves me having to review ten X-books in one week, which was looking a distinct possibility at one point.  (There's eight books scheduled for two weeks' time, mind you...)

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