Let’s get one thing clear right from the off – despite what it says on the cover, this comic is not The Ultimates. To call it that would suggest that Jeph Loeb had even the slightest inclination towards following the continuity, characterisation or style of the first two volumes – when in fact what he’s done is write a regular Avengers story with some tacked-on shagging in an attempt to make it seem “edgy”.

If I were to rattle through a shopping list of the glaring inconsistencies between this issue and Millar’s run, we’d be here all day – but suffice to say they range from little details (Thor using words like “wouldst”) to baffling plot holes (Valkyrie turning up with super powers and described as the same age she was a year – if not more – ago in the series’ timeline). The strongest feeling is that Loeb simply isn’t aware that the Ultimate universe is distinct from 616 – how else to explain the switch to that universe’s costumes (aside from wanting to have Scarlet Witch’s tits hanging out), everything about Venom, or the fact that the Wasp has transformed from a dark-haired Asian to a white redhead?

Alright, so perhaps the book shouldn’t necessarily be judged on how well it follows on from Millar and Hitch. But if you’re writing a sequel series and you want to piss about with the continuity so much, you at least need to write a good comic into the bargain. Ultimates 3, however, can’t stand on its own merits, because it doesn’t have any. It’s a catastrophic failure of a book. The characterisation is paper-thin, the dialogue is lousy, and there’s nothing whatsoever that makes me care about the characters’ fates. The issue-opening scenes involving a Tony Stark / Black Widow sex tape were probably supposed to be funny, but are in fact pathetically immature. And the less said about the ham-fisted lack of subtlety over Wanda and Pietro’s “relationship” the better – although I will just stop to wonder how in blazes Janet Pym could ever be quite so happy about the idea.

A lot of hype surrounded Joe Madureira’s appointment as artist, but I have to say, his work here leaves me wondering what all the fuss was about. It’s very pretty at times – but it’s also hampered by a muddy colouring job, some poor storytelling (particularly in the action sequences), and the fact that his cartoony and expressionistic style simply isn’t suited to a title that once thrived on his predecessor’s sense of tangible detail.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to fathom exactly what role Marvel see the Ultimate universe as playing – and, indeed, hype around the forthcoming Ultimatum crossover suggests they may be close to sticking a bullet in the whole thing. While Bendis’ consistently excellent Spider-Man deserves to survive in some form, all Loeb manages to prove with Ultimates 3 is that ditching the rest of the line really wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

The second act of Messiah Complex essentially begins now with Cable - who has the mutant baby - on the run from Sinister, the X-Men and Predator X, and heading towards…somewhere. The X-Men themselves fending off the dearly departed O*N*E squadron who are infected with Nano-Sentinels and smashing the mansion apart with their regular Sentinels. But who’s responsible?

Seriously, I’m starting to suspect there’s never been an X-Crossover this good. A lot of the plots take a breather in this issue so that the bulk of it can be devoted to the X-Men trying to recover from the surprise attack on the mansion, and recover they do. Cyclops hasn’t been this badass in a long time, and Messiah Complex has gone a long, long was to making him a credible leader for the X-Men again. The way he quickly makes use of the available New X-Men, despite his earlier tactical decision to keep them out of the fight, is an excellent way to display this.

The ending is the first time a Messiah Complex cliffhanger has fallen slightly flat, for me, though largely because the dialogue - “Assemble the X-Force!” - sounds too much like an advertisement for the new series. It’s not helped by some fairly inspecific artwork on the final page, showing what appears to be the X-Force team - Wolfsbane, Caliban, Hepzibah, Warpath, X-23 and Wolverine - in what amounts to little more than a publicity shot for the new title because those characters aren’t really in the same place at the moment. This is made further confusing because when compared with the ACTUAL publicity material, it appears that the team will have lost 2 of those members by the time the series begins, which is a potential spoiler in one of several ways.

With a whole bunch of plot threads now wrapped up, it’s good to see some new ones being introduced for the next act of the crossover. Sinister’s temporary defeat came at a price, and the X-Men, having previously been on top of the situation, find themselves severely wrong-footed by Cable’s perceived betrayal (I’m still holding out that he’s on the right team, though.) I haven’t enjoyed a fight scene this much since the first time I read Ultimates, that’s for sure, but with that in mind, I’m hoping for a little more breathing room and some progress on the other plot threads in next week’s X-Factor.

When McKelvie’s not getting namechecked by the Duloks and racking up endorsements from Warren Ellis, he’s still plugging away at the thing everyone’s raving about in the first place: his comics. Suburban Glamour #2 hit shelves this week, marking the half-way point of his first writer/artist turn. If you’re not up to date on the (sold out!) Issue #1, then at least read the NTS review of it here and see what you’re missing, before continuing with the following entry.

This issue resolves the previous cliffhanger with a “mystery” rescuer, though luckily it’s not strung out because there’s nothing worse than a mystery being laboured when the audience knows the answer and the characters don’t. It then follows up with the most Buffy-esque sequence to date, featuring a pre-beard Kieron Gillen guesting as a school guidance counsellor, and christ knows there are forces in the world that would want to prevent THAT from happening. The school-based material, in fact, brings to the front the kind of themes McKelvie has suggested would be present in Suburban Glamour, but were largely under the surface in the first issue - the idea of being lost for direction when you’re only getting the kind of options you’d rather turn down. All it needed was for someone to suggest Astrid considered an HND or Modern Apprenticeship.

From there’s it becomes time for a trip into Sandman territory for the remainder of the issue. Only recently I was ragging on Vertigo’s tendency to put out Sandman-lite nonsense, so I should definitely qualify this by saying that the comparisons here are fairly superficial. McKelvie has put enough of his own spin on it that it’s not just a retread. There’s always a danger in using this kind of concept that people are going to look at it and go “Gaiman did it better” and, well, of course he did, he’s Neil Gaiman. On the other hand - Gaiman never wrote anything this hip.

Anyone complaining that the first issue was too slow should be satisfied by this one, which throws some serious twists at the reader. If the first issue was all about establishing the characters, this issue is all about setting up the plot. Just when I thought I had Suburban Glamour figured out (and I consider myself a fairly jaded and sceptical audience) it turns out I didn’t guess the half of it. McKelvie has proven himself as an artist over and over, and now he’s proving he can spin a decent yarn as well. Like a proverbial Icarus, he’s flying daringly close to greats like Whedon and Gaiman, but so far the wings haven’t come off yet. Roll on Issue #3.

I almost didn’t review this, because as anyone following the title will know, it’s being axed with issue 23 and if you didn’t buy it, it’s YOUR FAULT. American Virgin is like no other comic out there at the moment, and soon it won’t even be out there itself. It’s always been an ill fit for Vertigo, but the paradox is that if it had come out with another publisher, it probably wouldn’t even made it this far. It’s deeply disappointing that a book dealing with religion, sex and death couldn’t find some kind of audience, because it’s the sort of thing that could’ve really stood out if only the right people had found it, but oh well, presumably this frees up some shelf space for another zombie epic or Sandman rip-off. (Ooh, drama alert!)

As I’ve more or less said, the writing and art in American Virgin have always been high quality. There was a period about 9 issues in where it hit a bit of a slump, but it bounced back in a really big way over the last year. The artwork has done nothing but improve, and I’ll soon be sad to miss out on my monthly hit of Cloonan.

In this issue, Adam travels to Cuba with his extended family to find his real father, which Mamie attempts to dissolve his recent marriage. Particular emphasis is placed in this issue on turning Mamie, who was previously little more than an antagonistic matriarchal dragon, into an interesting and sympathetic character, something Seagle largely achieves without having to have her act against type. The mystery of Adam’s real father is something I’m glad to see tackled, and it’s just a pity that Cyndi’s pregnancy plot - the most interesting mystery left - probably isn’t going to get played out to completion before the title’s last issue. I’m going to be sorry to see AV go when ultimately, its only crime was being TOO original.

Having started his Hellblazer run with a couple of storylines that showed an assured grasp of Constantine’s character and voice, Andy Diggle turns his hand to the sort of single-issue, self-contained story that have long been the title’s hallmark, and proves adept, if not exactly spectacular (we’re not talking Hold Me, here) at doing so.

In fact, despite being a distinct story itself, with a beginning, middle and “The End” caption, the issue actually feels more like it’s setting things up for a wider storyline, which could well prove to be the case. The core idea it sets up – urban legends being made “real” by belief – is hardly original, but is at least something you can see working well in the framework of Constantine’s world. But it feels over and done with far too quickly, particularly given that so much space is devoted to setting up the concept, and the hapless protagonists, that Constantine himself isn’t given much time to come and sort things out.

Nevertheless, there are some neat touches, particularly Constantine’s rain-sodden lament about the smoking ban, and his calling the bluff of “Spring-Heeled Jack” in classically in-character fashion. There’s a fairly brutal sting in the tail, and it’s interesting that in the early stages of a run where Diggle has sought to return Constantine to his role as arch-manipulator, he’s had him be well and truly played here.

Regular artist Leonardo Manco – rapidly establishing himself as the best Hellblazer artist since Steve Dillon – takes a backseat here, with guest work instead from Daniel Zezelj. The thick linework and muted colours mean it’s hardly a departure from the norm, but while Zezelj’s storytelling his good, his character design is inconsistent - though there’s a certain vagueness about that also feels like a deliberate stylistic choice - and he feels more like a fill-in than a bona fide guest.

It’s been a while, sadly, since Hellblazer was anything like essential reading. For fans of the character, it’s always worth a look, particularly considering Diggle does at least get said character. But all the neat little London-based supernatural mysteries and lovely Lee Bermejo covers can’t mask the fact that it’s still coasting on - appropriately enough, given the subject matter of this story - Constantine’s own reputation, and the glory years of Ennis, Delano and Ellis. Isn’t it about time for some kind of cataclysmic battle with Hell, or something?

I haven’t done any non-review updates before, but after a few weeks of solid comics reviews, I think it’s time to directly address the loyal and confused public with my thoughts and plans on the site so far. It’s been a fairly good few weeks, with a cold launch quickly ramping into a pleasing amount of daily traffic (though would it hurt you to comment sometimes!?) - coming up: more of the same! Though I do have a few tricks still in the bag that I’ll be pulling out now that things are running smoothly. There are a few points of order, however:

Firstly, as of today, Comics Daily is a 2-man operation! I’ve invited my once and future Noise to Signal colleague, Seb Patrick, to reach the parts that other reviewers (like me) can’t - for instance, DCU titles. Expect his first review to go up later today. I’ll probably still handle the bulk of the site, but this way I get the odd day off and you get a chance to read about Batman and Superman occasionally, instead of yet another Moon Knight issue.

Secondly, regular readers (ahem) will be pleased to hear that the design is now finalised, so you shouldn’t have the horrible shock of discovering yet another new template in use, though I’ll probably rotate the banner image or something just to keep it fresh every now and again.

Lastly, in addition to the RSS feed there is also now LJ syndication available to all citizens in the Union of Soviet Socialist Livejournal. Feel free to enjoy it, though all the vodka in Russia won’t help you if you leave comments there instead of here.

Thanks for listening!