Unreachable Star Reviews December 14th, 2005 (SPOILERS)

This is our 147th edition, with four books, including a debut,
the end of a high-profile mini, and two other books. As I've
got a bunch of stuff to do today, I'm just going to get right
to them, and may be brief on some of them.

This week, we have...

Cable & Deadpool #23 - 3 Stars
New X-Men #21 - 3.75 Stars
Secret War Book Five - 3 Stars
X-Factor #1 - 3.75 Stars

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Cable & Deadpool #23 - "Fighting Myself: Bosum Buddies Part 4 of 4"
(Writer: Fabian Nicieza, Penciler: Patrick
Zircher & Dave Ross, Inker: UDON's M3th)

The true identity of the Black Box is revealed, and while Deadpool
combats his army of clones, Cable confronts the man directly, and we
learn all the secrets of who wanted to Dominus objective and why.

This issue really didn't work for me. It's a combination of things,
from the fact that I don't really have connection to the main
character or know much about his history, to the breaking of the
fourth wall. Overall, my feeling upon finishing the issue was
relief that that particular plot was over. Sure, it did set up
some stuff that might be interesting down the line, but it didn't
really pay off for me at all.

That said, it's still an issue of Cable & Deadpool, so even though
the issue as a whole didn't work for me, there were still funny
moments and snatches of dialogue, so it's not like I didn't get
any enjoyment out of it at all.

Review: 3 stars

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New X-Men #21 - "Childhood's End, Part 2 of 4 " (Writers: Craig Kyle
& Chris Yost, Pencils: Mark Brooks, Inks: Jaime
Mendoza with Jay Leisten)

The students at Xaviers continue to deal with the aftermath of
M-Day, and Revered Stryker comes to greater prominence as it's
revealed he predicted a miracle two days before M-Day. Also,
X-23 shows up.

I really enjoyed the issue... Kyle and Yost manage to keep up
fun character work, different in style from Weir and DeFillipis,
but still quite good. There's even a gratuitous Wolverine guest
appearance I enjoyed. The writers are doing some interesting
things with the plot, and, although not everything works and
there are a few goofy moments, it's just a lot of fun.

In particular, I'm pleased that the depowered characters weren't
just shuffled off to the side... they actually have a big role in
the issue. That pleases me, because that way DeciMation doesn't
feel like a total loss of some good characters.

My only real complaint (aside from the silliness of one of David's
inventions) is that the story's jumping around in time is a little
annoying. We ended last issue on the cliffhanger with Jay, but
most of the issue takes place before what happened to him... and
it's not even stuff that you can see, immediately, how it leads
to it.

I have to be honest, I expected X-Factor to be my Pick of the
Week... but, although they're tied in scores, I actually found
myself smiling more overall at this issue, so this one gets
the title.

Review: 3.75 Stars

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Secret War - "Book Five of Five" (Writer: Brian Michael Bendis,
Painter: Gabrielle Dell'Otto)

Fury deals with the terrorist threat and all is revealed about
what happened with the Secret War

We saw the last part of this mini over six months ago. So, bearing
in mind that I didn't like this enough to want to go find and reread
the other parts again and refresh my memory, this issue is a letdown.
Everything fizzles, from the explanation behind the holes in the
heroes memories to the Layla Ex Machina style of creating a new
character who the resolution hinges on, to the final takedown itself.
It confirms my view that Bendis really isn't at his best writing
big, multi-character events.

Bringing up the score is the art, which I still like a lot (despite
it being the big reason for the delay), and a couple of exchanges
between characters. On the whole, I'm disappointed that I waited
so long for this unsatisfying mini.

Review: 3 stars

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X-Factor #1 - "X-Factor" (Writer: Peter David, Pencils: Ryan Sook,
Inks: Wade Von Grawbadger)

Rictor has lost his mojo in M-Day and is now up on a ledge
contemplating suicide. Madrox sends one of his dupes to talk him
down (and Rahne helps out in her own special way). Meanwhile, one
of Siryn's informants is murdered before she can deliver incriminating
information on her employers.

I really enjoyed Madrox, so it's not a big surprise that I enjoyed
X-Factor too. There's a lot of the same type of humor, and creative
uses of powers and genuinely surprising surprises. The larger cast
also looks like it'll improve things, although we don't properly
meet all of them in this issue yet.

Despite all this, it is very much a set-up issue, introducing readers
to the concepts behind X-Factor investigations, the characters, and
the first batch of plots all in one. This is necessary, but me, I
was already sold on the title, so I would have enjoyed more plot and
less setup.

That said, even though it's not actually my Pick of the Week, it's
still well worth picking up.

Review: 3.75 stars

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That's it for this week folks. Next week, according to the
shipping list, we have six books, which is more than average since
I've made some recent big cuts on my list. There's Generation M #2,
X-Men Deadly Genesis #2, Ultimate X-Men/Fantastic Four Special,
Runaways #11, Batgirl #71, and Birds of Prey #89.

See you next week...

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


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