The second instalment of Alternate Cover comes mere hours behind schedule, primarily because I opted to go and see V for Vendetta instead of doing the formatting around the reviews. How neglectful of me. Good film, though. This week I'm going to give Brian Wood the second of many glowing reviews you're going to read every time he releases a comic, then I'm going to give Annihilation: Prologue an incredibly charitable pasting simply because I can't help feeling I'm just not the target audience. Rounding out the week we have FNSM #6, Generation M #5 and Spider-Woman: Origin #4. Remember when issue numbers made it into double figures?

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DMZ #5

Publisher DC (Vertigo) • Writer Brian Wood • Artists Ricardo Burchielli & Brian Wood

As I said last week, Brian Wood is, in my opinion, one of the greatest writers around today. He's also become surprisingly prolific of late, with no less than 4 projects from 4 different publishers due in the next few months - an ongoing from DC/Vertigo (DMZ), a maxi from Oni (Local) a mini from IDW (Supermarket), and an OGN from Image (The Tourist) - so it may be surprising to see that he's not only capable of keeping the quality high, but that if anything, he's better than ever. DMZ is already being praised as the next sleeper hit from Vertigo, compared to the likes of 100 Bullets and Y, The Last Man which launched their creators towards super-stardom. We're 5 issues in now, and with this issue comes the break for the first trade. So what's it like?

Well, following the opening 3 parter, this is the second of two single-issue stories. Naturally, they're about series-protagonist Matty, a rookie journalist embedded in New York, which is now the titular DMZ following the outbreak of a modern-day civil war in the US. In this issue Matty's press jacket and badge - the only things that protect him from sniper fire - are stolen, and he's got to get them back before he winds up dead. It's a cool concept-issue in which you can trace Matty's journey through the city using the cover, and as he makes his way across town, we get to see exactly what things are like in the battle-ravaged New York. For the first time, it seems as though Matty truly has a grip of the situation he's in, and just as we're starting to believe it, the issue ends with the shock reveal of Matty encountering for the first time the other side of the war he's in the middle of - the Free Army. We quite literally didn't even know the half of it.

Art comes from Ricardo Burchielli, whose European style is frankly a breath of fresh air when compared to the familiar trappings of American comics. Burchielli's work breaks through walls that you didn't even realise were there. In addition, every issue has a page or two by Wood, who is himself an accomplished artist and designer. My only complaint with the entire series so far is that there hasn't been enough of it. Easily the one comic I look forward to every month. The trade is out in June 2006, and collects the first 5 issues, priced $9.99 (or the criminally cheap $5.49 from Wood-approved retailer, Khepri) and you'd be a fool not to jump on at this early stage. A+.

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Annihilation: Prologue

Publisher Marvel • Writer Keith Giffen • Artists Scott Kolins & Ariel Olivetti

As one of Marvel's big events for the summer, alongside Civil War and Planet Hulk, Annihilation has been hyped up as much as any series focussing on Marvel's cosmic pantheon could hope to be - there hasn't been this much advertising around it since the Busiek-conceived misfire, Maximum Security. At the time, people didn't seem very interested in the space-faring side of Marvel. Is this the event to turn that around?

Sadly, if you're a fan, I don't think it's likely to be the case. The start of this issue reads like bad science fiction, with plenty of futuristic and alien-sounding terms thrown about like they mean something important, as we watch a newly introduced world fall in a big way to some newly introduced enemies. By the time we reach the scene where the Nova Corps, who I'd never even heard of before this issue (They appear to be Marvel's thinly-veiled "answer" to the Green Lanterns) are wiped out, I was already falling asleep. There's also a scene with Drax, whose status quo I understand has changed in a recent miniseries, though unfortunately there's not much effort to explain how or why. This is a book with some of Marvel's most popular cosmic characters showing up, and they're still so obscure as to require a set of handbook-style entries at the back to explain to you exactly why you're supposed to be excited.

Giffen's writing is no weaker than any other aspect of the package, but it's hard to be engaged by the characters and concepts he's using because he appears to be relying almost on the pure weight of familiarity to grab the readers without making much of an effort himself. Following this issue I'm no more likely to pick up any of the Annihilation spin-off minis, and surely that's the point of this bookend issue? Kolins' art is often crowded but the sheer scale of what he's drawing necessitates that in some ways. It's a solid job from all parties, but for someone who's on the fence anyway, just "solid" isn't going to push me in the right direction. C.

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Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #6

Publisher Marvel • Writer Peter David • Pencils Roger Cruz • Inks Albert & Olazaba

This issue brings Spidey's new costume to FNSM, and unfortunately, we're going to have to wait another month to see if Wieringo can do anything better with it, because this month we're getting a fill-in by Marvel's one-time go-to-guy and noted swipe artist, Roger Cruz. He's developed a little of his own style recently, but he's still languishing in late-90s hell, looking like a cross between the popular artists of the era. It's by no means awful, but when compared to Wieringo's clean and classic approach it's starting to look a bit ropey, and for all his attempts he never seems to get the technique of the wrestling scenes down correctly. I'm no wrestling fan, but even I get the feeling that a little reference material would've gone a long way.

PAD's writing always promises a good read, but so far it seems as though he's yet to hit his stride on FNSM. His issues of the recent "The Other" crossover were undoubtedly the highlight, but subsequent issues are feeling a little less sure of themselves. There are even two subplots which round out the issue, and annoyingly both of them either haven't appeared in these pages before, or I've forgotten about them if they have. It's not made clear either way (remember when footnotes would've been there to at least point me at the correct issue?) - in line with that, JJJ's belief that his son is Spider-Man is slightly baffling, and the reappearance of Flash Thompson is just frustrating, as over a decade of positive character development is undone (by that most plot-convenient of medical ailments, coma-induced amnesia) for the sake of what is, unfortunately for my argument, a pretty good idea.

FNSM continues to be the best Marvel Universe Spider-Man book on offer by some margin, it's just unfortunate that it's still feeling a little growing pains. The same malaise that turned me off the other spider-books appears to be present in this one, and the use of Peter's new powers and costume are only serving to draw attention to the aspects of the character that, to be honest, I'd rather were ignored. I try not to be bitter about it, but I was hoping for some classic Spider-Man stories, and right now the best scenes in the series - those with Wolverine/MJ and Aunt May/Jarvis, don't even feature the main character. I'm currently torn between wanting FNSM to good, and knowing it should be better than it is. B-.

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Generation M #5

Publisher Marvel • Writer Paul Jenkins • Pencils Ramon Bachs • Inks John Lucas

Generation M finally answers the question of who's been murdering ex-mutants. The answer: some nut. Not the most satisfying resolution, unfortunately. Luckily, the series' most interesting aspect hasn't been the murder-mystery, and rather the exploration of mutants who have lost their powers, and the mixed blessings of that fact. The story of Sally Floyd's attempt to prove that she's able to come back from the brink has also been surprisingly engaging (though it veers dangerously close to being schmaltz once or twice) and the resolution to that thread in this issue shows the tragic roots of her disposition in an brilliantly on-theme way.

It's a shame that the last issue is something of a departure from the rest of the series, as the X-Men show up to beat the crap out of the villain. Jenkins also appears to be channelling Grant Morisson with some of his dialogue - and frankly, that part's painful to read ("He thinks we're eating his reflection.") Overall it's a shaky ending to a series that wasn't exactly what people expected it to be in the first place. According to the end of the issue, Sally Floyd is going to be back in the Civil War miniseries, and that in itself is no bad thing - if Marvel ever needed anything, it's decent new characters, and even better if they're decent, new, non-powered characters. Though it'd be nice to have one who wasn't a reporter for once... She's not exactly Jessica Jones, but I'll look forward to seeing her again.

In light of the House of M fallout, these stories needed to be told and the series has done a pretty good job in showing the ground-level impact of mutants losing their powers. Ramon Bachs' artwork brings a set of very human sensibilities with his realistic style, though his single panel of Moonstar as a Valkyrie makes me wonder what heights he could really scale given the right material. B.

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Spider-Woman Origin #4

Publisher Marvel • Writers Brian Reed & Brian Bendis • Artwork The Luna Bros.

This issue continues the overhauling of Spider-Woman's origin in preparation for her ongoing series by Bendis & Maleev. You damn well know I'll be jumping on that one as soon as it's available. In the mean time, we've got Brian Reed, who recently impressed me with his opening issue of Ms. Marvel, and the Luna Bros. who have made quite the name for themselves with their series Ultra, at Image.

With one issue left to go, Jessica is reunited with her parents. Following what she goes through in this issue, she'd probably rather have skipped those particular reunions. I'm finding that this series has been most instrumental in helping us new Jessica Drew fans understand the moral ambiguity and unspecific loyalties that pervade the character in her current appearances. Reed and co-writer Bendis are well aware that right now, she's not the hero she'll become, and is being driven almost exclusively by the chance for revenge.

There's a lot of hype around the Luna Bros. which I'm not sure I understand. Perhaps they're better writers than artists, because I'm certainly not feeling anything from the art alone. It's all grossly under-inked, every character is flat as if they have been traced as outlines on a photo - at least when Greg Land does it, he's remembers to add some shading. The backgrounds are all a mess of blurred computer colouring - a stylistic choice, yes, but not one I'm enjoying. It's not so bad as to distract me from the story, but when I think about what Maleev's surely about to do with the character, I find that I just can't wait for them to be gone.

Still, the package is worth your interest. I'm finding that it is, if nothing else, excellently paced. I'm not sure how it'll read in a trade but it's working very well in the monthly format. There's only one more issue to go, and while it's little more than a re-telling of previous convoluted origin stories, it's certainly worth a little interest if you're going to be following the character in her new series. B.