Also this week:

ULTIMATE X-MEN #92 - This is the penultimate chapter of the Apocalypse story, and frankly, it's all over the place.  I'm not sure whether Kirkman is rushing to tie up his stories before "Ultimatum" comes along, but this certainly reads as though we've skipped an arc somewhere.  Without any real introduction or build-up, and without anything in the way of personality or agenda, Apocalypse is suddenly trashing New York and being presented as a major threat.  There's a reasonable sense of scale, but the failure to define Apocalypse as a character undermines the whole thing.  It leaves us with a rather convoluted fight against an off-the-shelf villain, who would surely have benefitted from a bit more build-up before we cut straight to the finale.  Considering how long Kirkman has dragged out other subplots, it seems particularly odd to dive straight into the climax.  Oh, and the explanation for the last couple of years is that Cable and Bishop were joining forces to get the X-Men ready to face Apocalypse - but why they couldn't have just explained it up front isn't really examined.  C+

WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #23 - The issue I couldn't be bothered reviewing last week, and I can barely summon up the energy now.  This is part three of a Wolverine/Deadpool fight scene that looks set to continue for the whole five part story.  There are a couple of passably inventive moments, but for god's sake, it's literally just a single fight for three months and counting.  At least when Joss Whedon did it in Astonishing X-Men, he had a large cast and plenty of little character moments and mysteries dotted along the way.  This is just two characters hitting one another indefinitely, lacking the wit and energy it would need to get away with it.  D+

There's more from me at If Destroyed, and if you're desperate for more Article 10 columns, you can always hunt through the archives on Ninth Art.

Next week, another new book, as Young X-Men launches the latest re-tooling of the junior team.  Cable is still fighting Bishop in the second issue of his new title, and X-Force #3 continues the Purifiers arc.  New Exiles completes its first storyline, and there's the second issue of Vaughan and Risso's Logan miniseries.

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