Also among this week's comics...

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #57 - This is the beginning of a three-parter which will lead up to the re-renumbered issue #500.  It's a rather odd hybrid of Straczynski's usual observational light drama stuff with a huge great old-school fight against the Mindless Ones in Times Square.  I'm a little baffled by the choice of villain; while Straczynski evidently disagrees (and no doubt relishes yet another chance to use Dr Strange), I really don't see magic as having much resonance for this character.  Maybe he's looking for a plot justification for what's been promised for issue #500.  B

BEWARE THE CREEPER #5 - The final issue of the series, and I'm going to have to sit down and read it all again now.  One half of the twist was blindingly obvious from the word go (I mean, when the lead character has an identical twin, you've got to be pretty dumb not to see that one coming).  The other half, I didn't see, and now I'm going to have to look through it all again.  Which I'll enjoy.  The book had nothing whatsoever to do with the Creeper character, but taken entirely on its own terms, it works wonderfully.  A-

FANTASTIC FOUR #503 - The beginning of a new storyline, "Authoritative Action", and the reference to Authority is no coincidence.  With Doom gone (for the umpteenth time), Latveria is in chaos for once, and so the FF step in to take matters into their own hands.  I'm a little bemused by the choice of invader - I really don't see Hungary invading anyone.  But the basic idea of the FF deciding to fill the political void themselves - whether the Latverians want them or not - is an interesting one.  B+

INCREDIBLE HULK: NIGHTMERICA #3 - In which we encounter an inner city area where everyone's on drugs to make them believe that they're upper middle class.  Okay, that's funny.  Especially the kid's withdrawal sequence.  ("Mom!  Mom!  I'm not in the Disney Store any more!")  I'm still not particularly enthralled by the wider storyline here, but this is a good little issue.  B+

LOSERS #3 - I just thought I should remind you to buy this.  The pace isn't flagging in the slightest in Andy Diggle and Jock's elaborate action caper, and I'm still convinced that there's a massive audience out there who would love this book and have completely misconceived ideas about it because of that Vertigo banner.  Go on, buy it.  It's fun.  A

PLANETARY #16 - A whopping two years after issue #15, Planetary picks up again.  This reads like it must have been the story originally planned, since it certainly doesn't do much to bring readers back up to speed; evidently the assumption is that Planetary readers are the sort of people who went back and read the last few issues to prepare themselves.  This issue's genre riff is on Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and so forth, which would no doubt have been a little more topical two years ago.  For what it is, it's fine, but it's far from the ideal issue to come back with.  B

There's another Article 10 on Monday at Ninth Art.

Next week, yet another issue of Exiles; New Mutants #4; New X-Men #145; Sentinel #6 (the end of the first storyline); and Uncanny X-Men #430.

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