Peter Milligan provides this week's remaining two X-books.

Wolverine/Punisher #3 sticks firmly to the policy of deadpan silliness.  Wolverine deals with the Lady and the Atheist, while the Punisher fends off a horde of exiled criminals who want to kill him, and considers trying to cut off his own leg with a shard of glass.

It's a strange little comic, which often comes across as fairly normal before showing its hand with bizarre dialogue and warped origin stories.  The Demon tries to calm down the horde so that he can kill the Punisher himself, but his speech is wonderful - "Just because we're murderers, arsonists, extortionists and thieves, people think they're better than us!  We'll prove them wrong.  We'll kill the Punisher like decent, civilised people."

The problem with this book is that, much of the time, it's a little bit too deadpan - the art needs to be going a little bit more over the top.  Of course, Lee Weeks should be playing it straight, but I almost get the feeling that he's not even in on the joke.

I like the book, but something is missing the mark when it comes to tone.  It's just a little bit too deadpan for its own good.

Rating: B

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