Finally for this week's X-books, we have the final issue of X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl.  Since the rest of X-Statix are all dead, one wonders what else X-Statix might have been planning to present, although given the dismal sales on this book, it's probably a moot point.

In fact, far from being a Dead Girl story, it's really a Dr Strange book guest starring some of X-Statix.  There's meant to be a romance subplot with Strange and Dead Girl, but it never quite goes anywhere.  Anarchist and Orphan have rather stronger arcs, particularly Orphan's attempt to reassert his personality and be a hero to Edie again.  Quite why Dead Girl's name is on the cover is something of a mystery.

As with most Peter Milligan stories, this is going to divide people.  Either you'll think it's an entertaining collection of oddball ideas or you'll find it intolerable.  Certainly the core story is shaky.  The Pitiful One, who's supposed to be the main villain, gets shunted to the side in favour of a fight between Doctor Strange and the Ancient One.  There's no particularly compelling explanation of what the Ancient One or Miss America were doing in hell in the first place.  And the identity of the Pitiful One is pointedly not revealed.  (Well, not to us.)

If you find Milligan's schtick funny, then you won't particularly care about this sort of thing, or his flagrant abuse of D-list characters.  He clearly regards the plot as a simple framework for him to have fun with, and knows that on a book as absurd as this, the details aren't desperately important.  If, on the other hand, you don't share Milligan's sense of humour, then you'll hate the thing with a passion, because god knows it doesn't have much else to offer.

It's a bit empty compared to X-Statix itself, which tended to have more of a point to it, and had more emotional weight to its deliberately contrived situations.  Only Guy and Edie's relationship really rings true here; Dead Girl and Doctor Strange are meant to, but it doesn't click.  Milligan's written much better.  But when he's allowed to cut loose, he's still reliably funny.

Rating: B+

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