Also this week...

CABLE & DEADPOOL #45 - Okay, I see where this arc is going.  Deadpool is lost in time with his new sidekick Bob.  They jump through time zones each issue and meet guest stars.  In subplots, the supporting cast try to get him back.  Er... didn't we do this with alternate realities just a couple of years ago?  Anyway, first up is Captain America, since the time travel gimmick lets him appear even though he's dead.  Wolverine: Origins is also doing a Cap in WW2 story at the moment, so either the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, or somebody really, really thinks this is a great idea.  It's an okay issue, dialling back on the comedy slightly and heavily pushing Bob - and to be honest, I still think Bob is too much of a one-joke character to work in a prominent role, though Nicieza just about gets away with it.  B

PUNISHER ANNUAL #1 - A Punisher story under the Max imprint that isn't by Garth Ennis?  That's a first.  This one is by Mike Benson, who's contributed a few scripts to Entourage and is reportedly in line to get the permanent assignment.  In a break from the usual format, Benson's written his story from the perspective of an increasingly desperate thug on the run from the Punisher, with the title character only making occasional appearances.  This is a fairly standard fill-in story device (you can't do anything with the lead character, so write about somebody else instead), but I've got to admit that Benson and his artist Laurence Campbell carry it out pretty well.  Looking at Campbell's website, I can't help noticing that his cover looks an awful lot better in black and white without the murky, moody colouring that smothers the whites and mutes the contrasts.  The interiors seem to work out better, but I'd still be interested to see them in the original.  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, Uncanny X-Men #491 completes the "Extremists" storyline, while Exiles #99 has the concluding part of "A Dream of Two Good Men."  And there's also the clumsily-titled Wolverine Annual: Deathsong #1, by crime author Gregg Hurwitz and Vertigo artist Marcelo Frusin.

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