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angelophileAlmost forgot! This week's comic reviews. I was under the impression no-one reads this stuff, but seeing as Newnumber5 apparently uses it as a barometer what to like and dislike (the exact opposite of whatever I put) I better update. ;)
Cut for people who want to avoid spoilers and/or ranting.
New X-men 150 - Pretty sublime double sized spectacular that attempts to tie up a number of plotlines from Morrison's run. This seems to be commonly accepted as his last real New X-men issue, as after this we get his take on Days of Future Past, which most as assuming is going to be a way of retconning what happens in this issue. For a writer like Morrison who started his run by doing completely the unexpected, killing off the X-men's main villain off panel, commiting genocide on Genosha and so on, it would seem to be a let down if he did do the expected and 'rewrote' the shocks in this issue. I hope he has the balls not to.
This double sized issue is a bit of a mix of shocks and spills and some little predictable moments. That jean survived Wolverine's claws to the heart and plunging into the sun is no surprise. Well, actually, she didn;t survive it, she was just reborn with the power of the Phoenix. Jean's died so many times now you can either get blaise about it and hate the very idea of her dying yet again, or like I do, find it fairly amusing that Morrison kills her not just once, but twice in the same story arc.
In fact, come to think of it, there's a fair number of deaths in Morrison's run and people just don't seem to stay down. Magneto dies in the E for Extinction, folled rapidly by Xavier, who dies while trapped in Cassandra Nova's body. Hank's beaten almost to death, Emma's shot and killed and Wolverine falls into the sun. In fact the only person who seems to be saved dying this time round is Scott. Presumably because he'd only just got over being dead when Morrison started his run.
Oh, and pretty much everyone was thought dead in this arc. including Xorn.
Back to the issue itself, there are some great moments - particularly in the snappy one liners. Early on there's Wolverine and Jean's exchange ("Have your eyes grown back yet?" "I dunno... What am I supposed to be lookin' at?") which reaks of black irony. Then there's Emma and Hank's exchange on the wreckage of their ship as to who's the most brilliant for saving who, cut short by their rescue. "What does it look like, Henry? It's bloody jean showing off again." There's some delicious moments as everyone confronts Magneto, to the disenchanted Toad, to the pissed off Beak. Things are just heating up nicely on the snappy dialogue front when action breaks out with fantomex's entrance. From there on in it's a bloodbath as popular and less popular characters bite the dust. I'm surprised as many survived as did. In the end Basilisk and Esme are the only Morrison owned characters to bite the dust. Less shocking Jean's second death of the arc, which might have held some power if it wasn;t for being spoiled by Wizard magazine. The real shock, however, is Magneto's very final decapitation by Wolverine. Magneto's final recognition that in death he was more powerful for mutantkind than he could ever be in life is a sad, but fitting end. His "I will not be judged by children. Give me death. Make me immortal." line is particularly chilling.
It's all dark stuff, and thoroughly enjoyable. The only thing that spoils it slightly is that Morrison has failed to get the right tone for Magneto, who is a much less sympathetic character here than he has been in the past.
Uncanny X-men 435 - The Trial of Juggernaut part 1. This was an opportunity for Austen to shine at his best with a character driven arc about one of the characters he writes the best.
What a shame then that it just turns out to be a pile of crap that tells us nothing about Juggernaut. No trial takes place. Instead we're forced to suffer cliche after cliche as Juggernaut 'proves' he's reformed by beating the Rhino then not escaping himslf, prefering to be tried fo his crimes. (which he isn't.) The fact that this rather pointless slugfest is enough to convince everyone that he can be forgiven his multiple crimes is painfully simplisti, which the following cliches of first Juggs ending up in bed with his defence counsel (leading to a rather distasteful double page splash of Juggy and She hulk in bed together) and then the old standard - the evil doppelganger. Once again Austen promises something within his reaches, and in fact decides to write by numbers instead. Further evidnce, if any be needed, he's totally lost the plot this last year.
Could someone explain to me why the Penguin was acting as Xavier's lawyer too?
GI Joe Vs Transformers 4 & 5 - A tedious and ill written slugfest between the Joes and TFs that doesn't surpass the pathetic original in anything but art. Can't think of anything nice to say so I won't say anything at all.
X-treme X-men X-issue X-37 - Not read it yet. will wait for the complete arc I think.
Wolverine 9 - Not bad, it continues to be entertainingly hard boiled, without any of the annoyances of pointless costumed villains. To see Wolverine fighting someone in spandex all i need to do is pick up one of about 30 other comics this month to get my fill, so this take steering clear of all that is light relief. greg Rucka's scripts are suiably dark, and fairly gripping but not particularly unique. Still, a good steady read.
ultimate 6 issue 5 - Continues to be okay, but this was a slow issue until the end where the Six storm the White House. Nice setup for the last two issues, but it was fairly slow and the art seemed poorer this month somehow.
Emma Frost 6 - This issue actually seems to be hurried after the steady pacing of the first few issues. Christian's decent from decent guy to broken down drug addict is nicely, if rapidly, handled. The real problem is th echoing of events already portrayed in new X-men. It should have been an opportunity to expand on what was a rather short scene to explain why Emma was offered control of the Frost fortune and why she ultimately turned it down. Instead it's just a reitteration not an expansion. It's okay, but there have been better issues.
Daredevil 55 - The conclusion to the Echo story is nicely illustrated and the subdued ending is something that I still think would have woked better in trade form. But I guess it gave Marevl an established audience, which a trade wouldn't have. I've enjoyed the artistic merits of the arc, but it's been a little less gripping than the average daredevil storyline. No doubt because Daredevil hasn't featured.
Cut for people who want to avoid spoilers and/or ranting.
New X-men 150 - Pretty sublime double sized spectacular that attempts to tie up a number of plotlines from Morrison's run. This seems to be commonly accepted as his last real New X-men issue, as after this we get his take on Days of Future Past, which most as assuming is going to be a way of retconning what happens in this issue. For a writer like Morrison who started his run by doing completely the unexpected, killing off the X-men's main villain off panel, commiting genocide on Genosha and so on, it would seem to be a let down if he did do the expected and 'rewrote' the shocks in this issue. I hope he has the balls not to.
This double sized issue is a bit of a mix of shocks and spills and some little predictable moments. That jean survived Wolverine's claws to the heart and plunging into the sun is no surprise. Well, actually, she didn;t survive it, she was just reborn with the power of the Phoenix. Jean's died so many times now you can either get blaise about it and hate the very idea of her dying yet again, or like I do, find it fairly amusing that Morrison kills her not just once, but twice in the same story arc.
In fact, come to think of it, there's a fair number of deaths in Morrison's run and people just don't seem to stay down. Magneto dies in the E for Extinction, folled rapidly by Xavier, who dies while trapped in Cassandra Nova's body. Hank's beaten almost to death, Emma's shot and killed and Wolverine falls into the sun. In fact the only person who seems to be saved dying this time round is Scott. Presumably because he'd only just got over being dead when Morrison started his run.
Oh, and pretty much everyone was thought dead in this arc. including Xorn.
Back to the issue itself, there are some great moments - particularly in the snappy one liners. Early on there's Wolverine and Jean's exchange ("Have your eyes grown back yet?" "I dunno... What am I supposed to be lookin' at?") which reaks of black irony. Then there's Emma and Hank's exchange on the wreckage of their ship as to who's the most brilliant for saving who, cut short by their rescue. "What does it look like, Henry? It's bloody jean showing off again." There's some delicious moments as everyone confronts Magneto, to the disenchanted Toad, to the pissed off Beak. Things are just heating up nicely on the snappy dialogue front when action breaks out with fantomex's entrance. From there on in it's a bloodbath as popular and less popular characters bite the dust. I'm surprised as many survived as did. In the end Basilisk and Esme are the only Morrison owned characters to bite the dust. Less shocking Jean's second death of the arc, which might have held some power if it wasn;t for being spoiled by Wizard magazine. The real shock, however, is Magneto's very final decapitation by Wolverine. Magneto's final recognition that in death he was more powerful for mutantkind than he could ever be in life is a sad, but fitting end. His "I will not be judged by children. Give me death. Make me immortal." line is particularly chilling.
It's all dark stuff, and thoroughly enjoyable. The only thing that spoils it slightly is that Morrison has failed to get the right tone for Magneto, who is a much less sympathetic character here than he has been in the past.
Uncanny X-men 435 - The Trial of Juggernaut part 1. This was an opportunity for Austen to shine at his best with a character driven arc about one of the characters he writes the best.
What a shame then that it just turns out to be a pile of crap that tells us nothing about Juggernaut. No trial takes place. Instead we're forced to suffer cliche after cliche as Juggernaut 'proves' he's reformed by beating the Rhino then not escaping himslf, prefering to be tried fo his crimes. (which he isn't.) The fact that this rather pointless slugfest is enough to convince everyone that he can be forgiven his multiple crimes is painfully simplisti, which the following cliches of first Juggs ending up in bed with his defence counsel (leading to a rather distasteful double page splash of Juggy and She hulk in bed together) and then the old standard - the evil doppelganger. Once again Austen promises something within his reaches, and in fact decides to write by numbers instead. Further evidnce, if any be needed, he's totally lost the plot this last year.
Could someone explain to me why the Penguin was acting as Xavier's lawyer too?
GI Joe Vs Transformers 4 & 5 - A tedious and ill written slugfest between the Joes and TFs that doesn't surpass the pathetic original in anything but art. Can't think of anything nice to say so I won't say anything at all.
X-treme X-men X-issue X-37 - Not read it yet. will wait for the complete arc I think.
Wolverine 9 - Not bad, it continues to be entertainingly hard boiled, without any of the annoyances of pointless costumed villains. To see Wolverine fighting someone in spandex all i need to do is pick up one of about 30 other comics this month to get my fill, so this take steering clear of all that is light relief. greg Rucka's scripts are suiably dark, and fairly gripping but not particularly unique. Still, a good steady read.
ultimate 6 issue 5 - Continues to be okay, but this was a slow issue until the end where the Six storm the White House. Nice setup for the last two issues, but it was fairly slow and the art seemed poorer this month somehow.
Emma Frost 6 - This issue actually seems to be hurried after the steady pacing of the first few issues. Christian's decent from decent guy to broken down drug addict is nicely, if rapidly, handled. The real problem is th echoing of events already portrayed in new X-men. It should have been an opportunity to expand on what was a rather short scene to explain why Emma was offered control of the Frost fortune and why she ultimately turned it down. Instead it's just a reitteration not an expansion. It's okay, but there have been better issues.
Daredevil 55 - The conclusion to the Echo story is nicely illustrated and the subdued ending is something that I still think would have woked better in trade form. But I guess it gave Marevl an established audience, which a trade wouldn't have. I've enjoyed the artistic merits of the arc, but it's been a little less gripping than the average daredevil storyline. No doubt because Daredevil hasn't featured.
