angelophile | House of Mmmm or House of Meh?

Big House of M week this week and so I'm gonna do some comic reviews because of that. Bit belated with my reviews, but I get there in the end.

This week I’ve read (so far)

New X-men: Academy X Yearbook Special
House of M 8
House of M: The Day After
X-men 177
New X-men: Academy X 20
New Excalibur 1
Weapon X – Days of Future Now 5
Runaways 10

More after the cut.

New X-men: Academy X Yearbook Special
The old New Mutants writers bow out with this one off special. When it was announced they were being replaced, I hoped that we'd see more than just a one off for them to say goodbye in. After the dire House of M tie in, I’m less convinced that would have been a good idea and this issue does little to persuade me. The writers proved they could balance action with soap opera in the traditions of Gen X earlier in the run, but here it’s pure teen angst without let up. It’s a nice attempt to tie up their storylines, but with being late reading this book and the effects of House of M well known, I just couldn't get into it. The sugar coated sentimentality just left me feeling a little nauseous, rather than wanting more.
RATING - **

House of M 8
This was the big one, that I was late to read. Wanda's announcement at the end of the last issue "No more mutants" are proved to be almost true here. There's no rhyme or reason to those that survive the decimation, and the sggestion that Strange and Emma Frost protected those present when the world was changed for a second time falls a bit flat when you realise that pattern doesn't hold true. It also seems a little strange for Wanda to change the past to fulfil House of M, but revert everything back to how it was and then decemate the mutants. Why not make sure they never even existed?
But these arguments aside, House of M has done what it promised to and changed the Marvel universe drastically. Whether it will live up to its claim to have changed the status quo forever, it's hard to tell at this stage, but it's certainly upset a few apple carts with this issue. Again, it's slowly paced, but the gradual reveal of just what effect HoM has had on the world is effective. Art is excellent and the dialogue sparkles. The debate over the effects of this issues' reveal is one for another time – as a stand alone issue this was solid stuff.
RATING - ***

House of M: The Day After
Effectively a "sampler" for all the spin off stories coming from House of M, Chris Claremont is left with the job of showing a glimpse of all the effects and trying to tie up some other titles. It's a mammoth task and perhaps because it's such a challenge, Chris Claremont manages to work his magic on probably his best single book since his return to Marvel. It's when you see his writing like this – tight, focused and anything by decompressed, you have to wonder why he's wasting his time writing these trade-length storylines on dinosaur mutants instead of concentrating on solid, single issue epics.
A series of two to three page vignettes, some sections are stronger than others – the X-Factor snippet shows a flash of each character but tells us little – while the sections on Blob, Bobby and Jubilee really tug at the heartstrings. The strong characterisation, love of continuity and understanding of the characters motivations balances with the more action packed scenes. I was surprised how much I loved this spin off and my heart really bleeds for poor old Jubilee. She got more characterisation here, in two pages, than she did in her entire solo series.
RATING - ****1/2

X-men 177
Following on directly from "The Day After", a group of Sentinels arrive at the school. Of course, what's obvious to the readers is that they're there to control the situation, not attack, but also what' s obvious is that some of the X-men are complete morons who attack first, ask questions later. Only Cyclops seems to have half a braincell to rub together. While Milligan's previous issues have relied on us believing the X-men to be petulant children, now we have to believe they're unbelievably stupid instead. Polaris has lost her powers, but she flings herself at the Sentinels regardless, hoping they might magically reappear. And that's pretty much the premise of the issue, which is an excuse for big punch up and Lorna to behave like a moron.
It's not wholly bad, just wildly frustrating. There's some good stuff – it's great to see Rockslide and Hellion in action outside of New X-men, and Santo gets the best lines. Bobby also demonstrates why he's the X-men's answer to Xander, but cracking jokes and almost getting himself killed.
Milligan's still in the "must try harder" section and shows no sign of escaping it, such moments aside.
RATING - **

New X-men: Academy X 20
Now this, darlings, is more like it. After the suger coated sweetness of the yearbook I was ready for something bad to happen to the New Mutants and it does here, in spades, Surprisingly dark, the first issue of the new writers run seems to be playing the old game of making things just about as bad as they can possibly get for the students at Xaviers. The widespread mix of panic, shock and relief of the students as they discover their powers are missing (or not as the case may be), are effectively captured, with one particularly striking scene being the former mutant beating his knuckles bloody against the wall while yelling delightedly "It hurts! It hurts!" The new writers show a strong understanding of their inherited characters and the relationships between them. The fact that the scenes don't tie in neatly to HoM 8 is a minor annoyance, but the fact that the action follows Kevin rather than Emma for much of it, does at least give the option that it could have happened some time after the initial scenes in House of M.
And call me a son of a bitch if you like, but the Wither/Walllower scene is just brilliant. Those of you who know me will realise I love putting characters I adore through shit and the fact that the characters here are going through a whole world of it makes me love the issue even more.
This issue gave this book a real kick in the pants. Long may it last.
RATING - ****

New Excalibur 1
More standard Claremont with this book, but finally he seems to relaxing into his role as the X-titles purveyor of slightly cheesy, slightly silly, but familiar and enjoyable X-men stories. His last Excalibur relaunch tried to hard to pick up where X-treme left off, rather than embracing the slightly corny character/action blend of his past books. There was plenty to enjoy here in the way of daft action sequences in the mold of the original Excalibur and many nods to past continuity (the reunion of the original members, Juggernaut having a crush on Dazzler, Pete and Kitty). Perhaps it suffers a little too much from continuity-centric references for a first issue, but as a long term reader I was delighted to see the Juggernaut/Dazzler dynamic mentioned and especially he scenes between Pete and Kitty. I was terrified that Wisdom in Claremont's hands might turn out to be a caricature. Well, to a degree, he is and his Wisdom feels more forced than Ellis' ever did, but it's too early to consider it a bad thing, because the dynamic between Kitty and Pete is delightfully handled, if a little cliché. But, Wisdom's back and I'm enraptured again.
The plot itself is once again recyled, in terms of the protagonists. Claremont's pulled this trick plenty of times before. But, it's still an entertaining trick and there's enough about the book to keep it feeling familiar and comfortable, rather than second-hand.
RATING - ***1/2

Weapon X – Days of Future Now 5
Well, I was wondering how Tieri was going to tie all that together.
And he doesn't.
I'd consider this a pretty major blown chance for the Weapon X fans. It's been a fairly fun ride, but this final issue is a convoluted mess that does nothing to tie up any plot holes.
In fact, it confuses things a great deal. Instead of answering questions about the fates of the characters from Weapon X, it abandons them to the same limbo they were in before the book was published. Or, in some cases, confuses them. The flashbacks in the book may or may not turn out to be what happened to the mutants at Neverland. Chamber's fate is still unresolved, Marrow never even appeared, Fantomex may or may not be Sublime, Wildchild may or may not be able to speak, Mesmero may or may not have got his powers back, only to lose them agai in House of M. The rest of the characters appear, but in future alternate-dimension form, which has now been negated by House of M. (Until it isn't again.) As it is, there's a few brief moments to enjoy, if you're fans of the characters – it's good to see Jono letting loose for probably the final time and Jackson in action – but there's also a lot that is truly convoluted. The Sublime virus is caught in a time loop? What?
A disappointing conclusion.
RATING - **

Runaways 10
I got obsessed with catching up with all the mutant action and so this is the only non-X book I've read so far this week. The guest appearances, which I admit to being worried about, didn't turn out to be invasive, and there was still plenty of breathing room for the Runaways themselves, thankfully. Another strong issue and the dialogue still sparkles. There's a lessening of the laugh out loud moments, but I put that down to there being less Molly in this issue. What she did do I adored, but there's simply not enough of her. As my favourite Runaway, there probably never could be. (please say she gets to meet Wolverine though). But still, with this book, there seems to be something missing from the first volume. I guess it's the lack of a cohesive threat. They don't have the Pride hanging over them and a traitor in their ranks and it makes the whle experience less tense in a way. But Runaways continues to be the most consistant book out there. Loved to see more Nico and Chase interaction this month and the art was delightful, especially the rendering of Pusher Man. And Steve Guttenberg jokes are ALWAYS funny.
RATING - ****