It's a surprisingly mediocre week for me, All-Star Superman #4 aside. However, we know that's good, and I'm sure everything that can be said about Eternals #1 has been said, so what else is on the shelves? For me, the week's big release is actually Gargoyles #1, which has been reviewed seperately. Rounding things out, and making it something of an X-Men themed column this week, are Astonishing X-Men #15, New Avengers #20 (featuring Magneto), Uncanny X-Men #474 and the Uncanny X-Men Annual. You can probably see where this is going...

Astonishing X-Men #15

Publisher Marvel • Writer Joss Whedon • Artist John Cassaday

The new Astonishing issue is out this week, after a gap that seems to stretch on years into the past. For a comic that's so good and that I have to wait so long for, it's criminal that I can blow through an issue in about 3 minutes. It stands up to re-reading, but damn, when the dialogue is this good I just wish there was more of it. Whedon's plotting might come under fire, but his character's voices are untouchable.

In this issue, Whedon continues to demonstrate his excellent knowledge of what makes X-Men comics interesting, peppering his work with references to the past while continuing to move the mythology forward. It's textbook X-Men comics writing and as a result, it's utterly outstanding.

It's worth buying if only because it contains the most hilarious Wolverine material I've seen since Garth Ennis had him run over with a steamroller in the pages of The Punisher. Later in the issue, Cassaday masterfully puts together the slapstick comedy of Wolverine's scenes with the disturbing rage of Beast's pages in a way that almost no other artist could pull off this well. Another great issue. A

New Avengers #20

Publisher Marvel • Writer Brian Bendis • Artist Mike Deodato

Uh oh. Bendis takes a turn towards dangerous territory as he uses the Collective arc to try and resolve the Magneto/Xorn situation. The result? His boss then has to go on the internet and explain just what was going on. As far as continuity plugs go, this easily ranks as one of the worst - part of the problem, of course, is that no-one in editorial seems willing to stick with the original plan of Magneto posing as Xorn. We've now had Magneto posing as Xorn, Xorn posing as Magneto, the reappearance of Xorn as his own twin brother and now, the original Xorn brother has turned up again in a completely new capacity as the leader of the Collective. God help us all.

The rest of the issue takes the exceedingly strange tack of continuity plugging, as SHIELD arrest the powerless Magneto for his crimes only a few months late, only for him to promptly disappear again. Frankly, Magneto's proper return belongs in the pages of X-Men, and the use of him in this story adds very little value to his situation, with what seems like an editorially mandated disappearance tacked on. C+

Uncanny X-Men #474

Publisher Marvel • Writer Claremont/Bedard • Artist Roger Cruz

Roger Cruz, despite being the fill-in guy right now, actually turns in some enjoyable work on this issue. His pencils are the high point, but with the plot he's dealing with, it's not surprising.

The eventual point of the "Four-saken" is actually quite a nifty sci-fi concept, where 4 members of each race in the universe are chosen to be preserved, and then live in a near-zombified state so they don't worry too much about what's going on. In addition, the characters introduced in this storyline do seem to have potential beyond being stock Claremont characters - how much Bedard has to do with that is unclear.

At least we're now given a half-decent explanation as to how Psylocke returned, and why. At the end of this issue, the team are all nudged in the direction of the Uncanny X-Men Annual to deal with Storm's continued absence, and then next in the pages of Uncanny, it's all change for the creative team, which I'm looking forward to, if only because it might break the cycle of tedium that's held on to Uncanny since, er, Claremont's relaunch a few years ago. Has it been that long? It does feel like it... C+

Uncanny X-Men Annual #1

Publisher Marvel • Writer Claremont/Bedard • Artist Clayton Henry

Following on directly from Uncanny #474, this annual is, as it proudly states on the cover in a font so small I barely noticed it, "a prelude to the Wedding of the Centrury" which, if you haven't heard about it, is the marriage between Storm and the Black Panther, the rationale for which veers disturbingly close to racism (the unifying factor appears to be "Well, they're both African, aren't they?").

Quesada promised annuals would only return when they had a significant story point to make that actually affected the books. The gimmick for this one is convincing Storm that she should Marry the Panther by, er, an extended dream sequence about her relationships with Forge, Jean, and Kitty Pryde, interspersed with the Uncanny team fighting a troupe of generic Claremontian villains.

This is yet another situation where a writer has been brought in to script over Claremont - the man's illness has certainly left a hole in Marvel's schedule. This appears to be one of the last, and true to recent form, it feels utterly throwaway. Uninspired, unimportant, the list goes on. Decent art saves it from the lowest grade range, but I can't imagine ever being moved to read this comic again. C-