Also this week...

CABLE & DEADPOOL #43 - Or, more accurately, Wolverine and Deadpool, because Cable's still dead.  And now the book is really doing Deadpool stories with guest stars, it seems.  Wasn't there a plot about Deadpool being left to carry on Cable's mission?  It's  namechecked, but it rather falls by the wayside here.  Instead, the story picks up on the dangling plot thread of Deadpool's buddy Weasel as a prisoner of HYDRA, as Deadpool sets out to recover him.  Cue adolescent jokes.  This is a fine little comedy story, though, and it's got good clear art from Ron Lim, who times the gags nicely.  All good stuff.  B+ 

THE CHEMIST #1 - It's an Image book with an eye-catching cover and it's marked #1, so what the heck.  This is by writer/artist Jay Boose, and bless him, he believes in value for money.  This is 30 pages, advert free - it even uses the inside covers for story.  It's an odd couple crime story, as underworld chemist Vance Laroche is betrayed by his contacts and ends up on the run with annoyingly perky low-level henchgirl Alex.  The 30 page length gives it space to breathe, and the art is able to hold attention during some fairly lengthy conversations in confined spaces, which is always a plus.  Some nice timing, and some well established characters.  It's pretty good, actually.  Worth a look if you're into crime/thriller material.  B+

X-MEN #201 - Well, it's more fighting.  But Mike Carey is writing it, so the fighting makes reasonable sense.  And Humberto Ramos is drawing it, so it's full of crazily excessive imagery - kind of fun, but also so hyperactive that it doesn't flow very well.  It's not a good thing when I'm looking at the double splash page and thinking "Is that an arm?  Is it severed?  Whose leg is that?"  Maybe I'm just getting too sedate in my old age, but clarity, people, clarity.  But, yeah, it's a run around and fight issue, and it's just fine for what it is.  B

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS #2 - The X-Men visit Monster Isle in the first half of a two-part story.  Yes, a two-parter.  In First Class.  Positively decadent.  It's as good as you'd expect - the novice X-Men meet weird monsters and get terribly confused, while blundering into an obvious trap in the way that superheroes used to do in the good old days.  Heartwarming.  B

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, the Morlock storyline continues in Uncanny X-Men #489, guest starring the Fantastic Four.  And that's your lot, so far as the X-books are concerned.

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