Black Panther 18
Not a title I usually pick up, not since John Romita Jr's departure after the first story arc anyway, but it's a Civil War crossover title so I took the plunge. It's T'Challa's wedding day and his bride to be is non other than the X-Men's Storm. Hollywood writer/director Reginald Hudlin presents us with one of the most uneventful Marvel weddings ever. The cover shows Iron Man and Captain America, the leaders of the opposing sides in the current war, but they only appear for a couple of pages and are there purely as a marketing ploy to get Civil War readers to buy the book and in my case at least, it worked. Scot Eaton's pencils are competent but uninspired even with the help of another legendary inker, this time Klaus Janson.

Blood of the Demon 16 & 17
The final two issues of this series manage to tie up all the loose ends even if it does feel somewhat rushed. And rushed is a good word to describe John Byrne's pencils, it looks like he wanted to be done with it and concentrate on The All New Atom instead. Will Pfeifer's script from Byrne's plot feels dated; it's almost like an 80s comic book with added blood and gore.

Cable & Deadpool 30 & 31
Another Civil War crossover but this one is a lot of fun as Deadpool signs up with the government to track down outlaw heroes and finds himself in over his head. Fabian Nicieza's writing makes the most of Deadpool's humour and it's nice to read a comic that doesn't take itself too seriously for a change. Staz Johnson is another one of Marvel's average artists, more than capable of telling a tale but lacking that certain something.

City of Heroes 14
The problem with this series is it's just too simple, there's no expanding of the characters from the NCSoft RPG game, no fleshing them out into believable people. It's just superhero fights bad guy month after month and it's getting boring. David Wohl needs to come up with a new direction or I doubt this will continue much longer. Ronan Cliquet's pencils seem okay but it looks like they're being inked using a marker pen; there's almost no detail.

Civil War 3
Who says politics and mainstream comics shouldn't mix? It's nice to see a major company like Marvel doing something that resonates with the world outside. There are elements of Bush's 'war on terror' here particularly the Homeland Security Act and it's come under fire from some quarters for it's perceived anti-government stance. Politicians are portrayed as self-serving individuals with their own agenda and the main hero on the government's side (Iron Man) is much the same, while the super patriotic Captain America leads the anti-registration heroes, so in some ways you can see their point. Yet if you look at it from another perspective, I think you see a different message. All the hyper-intelligent superheroes (Mr Fantastic, Yellowjacket, Iron Man) are on the government's side, all those who fight more from a gut level sense of right and wrong (Daredevil, Captain America) are against the Act. Looked at this way it can be seen as a battle between America's heart and it's head and the shocking climax to this issue could tip the balance either way. Mark Millar knows how to write BIG superhero action (he did it on The Ultimates ) while not losing site of the human element. In a world filled with average comic artists Steve McNiven is a breath of fresh air, his incredibly detailed work is breathtaking.