Unreachable Star Reviews August 30th, 2006 (SPOILERS)

This is our 183rd edition, with another fairly large week. There's
five books. I'm running a bit late and have a headache from being out
in the sun, so I'm going to get through it quick.

This week, we look at...

Cable & Deadpool #31 - 3.25 Stars
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #2 (of 4) - 3.5 Stars
Teen Titans #38 - 3.25 Stars
Ultimate X-Men Annual #2 - 3.25 Stars
X-Factor #10 - 3.5 Stars

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Cable & Deadpool #31 - "Casualties of War" (Writer: Fabian Nicieza,
Penciler: Staz Johnson, Inker: Klaus Janson)

Deadpool goes up against the heroes in the Underground, which puts
him into direct conflict with Cable himself, who confronts the
President.

Enjoyable issue on the whole with an entertaining fight scene and
Nicieza again allowing Cable to do things that would make the Marvel
Universe much cooler if I expected it to ever be acknowledged outside
of his own titles.

I do have one reasonable complaint, though. In this issue, Deadpool
faces all the heroes at the end of the last issue... with the
exception of any of the Young Avengers, who seem to completely
disappear between issues without comment. I really wanted to see
Cable fight the Young Avengers, and they don't.

There are also minor spoilers for some elements of Civil War that,
due to the shipping delays, have not appeared yet. There aren't
specifics, and the information is pretty much things you'd have
already heard if you read solicits or Marvel interviews (and if
you don't, chances are you're not the type to read reviews before
you're done the actual issue anyway, so this warning does you no
good), but I thought I'd give a heads up.

Review: 3.25 stars

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Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #2 (of 4) - (Writer: Zeb Wells,
Artist: Stefano Caselli)

As the two teams try to sort out their initial differences, SHIELD
sends out a special warrior to track them down and take them in.

This one works a little better than the last issue. Although the
initial conflicts is a bit jumbled, once the teams start interacting
together there are some cute moments that I think will appeal to fans
of both books.

The art is, at times, a bit jarring, but I'm starting to think it may
be less about the pencils and more about the colors. Even in light
scenes the characters seem pale and muted.

I do have to question how SHIELD knows the Runaways have a skrull
among them, as it happened fairly recently and if they were able to
keep them under that close a watch, one would expect catching them
would have happened a long time ago.

Entertaining.

Review: 3.5 stars

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Teen Titans #38 - "Titans Around The World, Part 1" (Writer: Geoff
Johns, Pencils: Carlos Ferreira, Inks: Art Thibert
& Drew Geraci)

Because of some of the things that were recorded in Cyborg's memory
during the last year, he asks the team to help him track down some of
the former Titans. First on the list is Russia's hero, the Red Star.

The plot's a little more interesting, as a whole, than the last arc,
although I don't feel any particular connection to Red Star. I know
he was a former Titan, but I'm not well-versed in Titan history, and
so his appearance doesn't mean anything to me, and Johns doesn't give
me a lot here to change that. I hope the rest of the arc, which
introduces characters who are new to everybody, might work better.

There's still some enjoyable moments in-team, so the issue on a whole
isn't bad.

Review: 3.25 stars

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Ultimate X-Men Annual #2 - "Breaking Point" (Story: Robert Kirkman,
Art: Salvador Larroca)


Alison wakes up from her coma, and Kurt does something irrational and
drastic... kidnapping her and telling her the X-Men were under threat.
Also, Rogue has some worries about the effects absorbing Gambit has
had on her.

I give the issue points for trying to do something that you'd never
do with the regular 616 universe (although at the same time I feel
there were some serious missed opportunities with Rogue). I really
didn't see it coming, and especially with the ending... but on the
other hand, I'm not sure I like where it's potentially going or that I
buy the sudden change. Also, Rogue's past with Weapon X doesn't seem
to be addressed, and her judgement towards the end might well be
tempered by that... but I'll trust Kirkman to deal with it in a
reasonable way until proven otherwise.

Some spoilers for the end of the currently ongoing arc of Ultimate
X-Men are implied here, so some people might wish to hold off until
then (but again, they'd be unlikely to read this anyway... but if you
know someone like that, you might want to give them a heads up).

There's also a bonus feature, about why Xavier's cat is named Mystique,
but it's pretty weak. But then, it's only two pages.

Review: 3.25 stars

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X-Factor #10 - "X'D Out, Part 1" (Writer: Peter David, Art: Renato
Arlem, Flashback Art: Roy Allen Martinez)

A former employee of Singularity Investigations goes to X-Factor for
help. Also, Madrox is having trouble with one of his dupes again,
and this one's got him into quite the predicament.

This is one of those issues that's okay, and certainly entertaining
(especially with the shenanigans with Jamie's dupe) but really only
kicks into high gear with the ending, which seems to come out of
nowhere but makes you want to go reread previous issues to see if
you missed something.

I have to make this one my Pick of the Week, in large part because of
the surprising ending.

Review: 3.5 stars

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Well, that's it for this week folks. Next week, according to the
shipping list, there's just one book, and that's X-Men: Phoenix
Warsong #1.

See you next week...

Peter Dimitriadis
http://www.unreachablestar.net
The Unreachable Star - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinion