Tag: Gillen

A Wednesday in Review

On By UncannyDerekIn Comic Reviews1 Comment

A laundry-list of stories came out this week! The Chaos War continued in Incredible Hulks #619, the X-Men cleared up the vampire threat in the Curse of the Mutants storyline in X-Men #6, while a What If? showed us what would happen had Hawkeye killed Norman Osborn during the Dark Reign. Also to note, a particular drawing of Rogue in X-Men Legacy #243 by Paul Davidson has shown Rogue at her absolute worst. Just sayin’ is all. I was unaware Rogue was an aged Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Despite all that stuff going on, I felt reviews of Uncanny X-Men #531 and Namor: The First Mutant #5 were necessary.

Uncanny

Uncanny X-Men #531

With part two of the Quarantine storyline, Matt Fraction continues his run on Uncanny X-Men, but this time adding Kieron Gillen from the most-recent Generation Hope series as a co-writer. If you haven’t heard, yesterday Marvel announced their next big event for 2011, called “Fear Itself.” Given Fraction is running the show, I can only assume Gillen will be helming Uncanny very soon on his own.

In this issue of Uncanny, you can read the first couple of panels in the story and see Gillen’s adjustments to Fraction’s run. It seems as if the conclusion to Generation Hope’s current story ties into Uncanny’s pages.

Continuing from last month, the flu-plot thickens as the X-Men’s heavy-hitters are all diagnosed with some unknown flu. Namor, Wolverine, Magneto, and so-on, have obtained some sickness running aboard Utopia – while Cyclops seems to be next on the list. Three other subplots, believe it or not, actually run within the Uncanny story and ultimately cramming quite a bit in such a small book. First, we have the X-Men outside of Utopia dealing with a “new” X-Men team created by superhuman villain Lobe. Yes, now there are three X-Men teams running around in the story. To top it all off, Emma still is off with Fantomex and Kitty Pryde inside EVA to rid of Sebastian Shaw forever, while the vigilante Collective Man is terrorizing San Francisco’s Chinatown. The story ultimately ends with the two outside-of-Utopia X-Men teams closing in on Collective Man’s position, while a silly error in Fantomex’s judgment thickens the Sebastian Shaw developments.

I believe you can imagine how rushed this book seems. It can be very problematic. However, that’s actually not my “big” beef with the book. Whereas last month, I was upset about X-Men Legacy’s continuity problems, Uncanny took that problem then made it happen ten-fold. I really do not know where in the Marvel U this story takes place, as there are too many variables with different characters. For example, Namor is no longer on Utopia. Magneto too, has jumped ship to be in both Legacy and the Children’s Crusade plots. Fantomex’s ship EVA is currently destroyed in Uncanny X-Force. Then there’s Curse of the Mutants, the Generation Hope’s story which I am assuming ends into Uncanny, etc. The list of problems goes on.

And it’s not that the X-Men are spread too thin in various titles. I mean, the vampire/X-Men storyline actually could fit in rather nicely had there been a bit more collaboration. It seems that Fraction set Uncanny up too-wrong-too-fast, post-Second Coming. He’s taking on a lot with the characters and it’s completely unhealthy for the book. Once you bring in art from Greg Land, where I’ve seen in this current book – the Dazzler as Emma Frost and Namor as Wolverine, while Dr. Kavita Rao younger by at least ten years, I’m not impressed at all.

In a nutshell, if I wasn’t so hell-bent on collecting every Uncanny X-Men comic (as being a comic collector does), I quite honestly would have dropped this story last month.

Grade: 2/10

Namor: The First Mutant #5

A gorgeous story about the history of Namor shocked me in Namor: The First Mutant #5. I was absolutely stunned by the completely different change of pace this story turned to post-Curse of the Mutants. And it was done very well.

Namor

Interestingly enough, the writer hadn’t changed at all. Stuart Moore still helms the book – proving to me his immense versatility in writing. The story stems right out of the previous issue where X-Man Loa finds out she can breath underwater because of an amulet she has. That only takes up four pages of the entire book. Immediately, we are taken back to the 1940’s where Namor’s lover at the time, Betty – being both blonde and Sue Storm-esque, and her friend Alice – first introduced back in the 40’s with Namor! Talk about digging up dirt from the past! Anyway, we are taken through how Namor both spoils and berates Betty – being the anti-hero he was back during those times. Fast forwarding to recent years, the story ends with Namor saving a father and daughter from Great White in Maui (with little interesting tidbits in there for you to find out), and finding Alice as a mother/grandmother of the two people Namor just saved. The story ends with a return to present time and concludes the interesting story on how Loa got the amulet. Ending on a positive note, this book serves as a reminder to all Namor fans of who he was before and what he is now.

With Moore writing, he proved to me that he knows Namor and that he is currently in good hands. The story in every couple of pages, gives a different title to Namor’s various attributes – being a lover, destroyer, egotist, and so-on.

Meanwhile, artists Ariel Olivietti and Brian Ching take over as artists and add a tremendous amount of depth to the pages, while Olivietti and Rachelle Rosenberg brighten up the pages with glorious colours, making each page as attractive as the last. To top it all off, a brilliant cover page of Namor, Betty, and WWII by Mike Mayhew really puts the icing on the cake. For $2.99 and keeping up with this pace, I really think we’ll actually have a regular on-going Namor series.

Grade: 9/10

Whilte you’re at it, check out Marvel’s month-to-month sales up to October 2010, courtesy Comics Beat. I also will not be posting Classic Comics for the next two weeks due to various holidays. However, they will return in the new year!

And of course, keep on Space Truckin’!

For Now. . .

On By UncannyDerekIn Comic Blogging, DiscussionLeave a comment

Hey folks!

I have to apologize for holding off on the Wednesday Reviews and Classic Comic Friday feature this week because I’ve been busy putting my writing skills to other uses.

I have vacation time coming up next week, where I am killing my router and working on, well, work. I love to write, and I have spent too much time not writing on what I want to accomplish. Given I never really take holidays from work, this is absolutely rare and valuable time for me. I will be taking the next week off from both my real job and this blog. I will be hopefully finishing a story I’ve been working on this past year. Of course, I will make it known to the world about my progress made on my week back, plus a new feature, and probably some other mumbo-jumbo I can come up with. I have been writing a lot this past week, getting ahead of myself for my upcoming vacation, so unfortunately, I’ve lacked entirely on this blog. Forgiveness, please!

DoomWar

But I can still touch upon a bit of what I read from this week – just not as full-blown and in-depth as my reviews in the past have been. From my pull-list, this week had conclusions to two major storylines – those both being Shadowland and Taskmaster. I also picked up Generation Hope #2, and randomly, Chaos War: God Squad (one-shot).

Aside from Taskmaster, the other three were quite lackluster. Most notably, Generation Hope. Taskmaster is probably one of the best mini’s I’ve read in years and it changes the Marvel U’s view on Taskmaster ENTIRELY. By the end, you’ll either be crying, or feeling sadness towards Taskmaster. Mr. Van Lente wrote an incredible story for this character, and I’m sad to see it end.

Generation Hope is dwindling down to nothing. I mean, Cyclops character is not consistent to how he’s been in the past few years. He seems very nervous, always. Hope, on the other hand, is trying to be the hero of the team, but her constant fumbles in the story really makes her weak – especially being the title character. Although Kieron Gillen is joining Uncanny shortly and hopefully giving it a breath of fresh air, I really hope Fraction keeps him in check.

Chaos War: God Squad was an interesting take on the heroes during Chaos War. If you haven’t read DoomWar recently, you probably should just to get a feel of who the Wakanda spirit is and understand how she plays out in the story. Although there was not much progress made in this one-shot, it still brought a bunch of characters together to tell an interesting story. It was a good divide from the constant panic within the parent story.

And with the conclusion of Shadowland, Marvel pretty much just hit the reset button on Daredevil. That’s okay, though! It was doine pretty tastefully, but in all honesty, it somewhat made Shadowland a bit unnecessary. I mean, it did not affect the rest of the Marvel U at all, aside from the Daredevil title. Arguably, it did sell-out every issue, going into multiple reprints, but as for other mini’s this year, such as Siege or Second Coming, Shadowland was very lackluster after the first issue. *Spoiler* Although I’m glad Bullseye did NOT come back. Thank god.

So until next week, I shall be back with some reviews, features, and maybe some neat snippets from what I’ve been working on. Who knows!

Until then, keep on Space Truckin’!

What a Wednesday!

On By UncannyDerekIn ReviewsLeave a comment

This week was an extraordinary week for comics. Especially for me, given most of them were X-related titles.

X-Force, Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Legacy, New Mutants, and Chaos War: Alpha Flight were all on the docket for comics this week. One really screwed up with consistencies in the story, while the other one really disappointed me with art direction.

Unfortunately, they are the two major X-titles: Uncanny and Legacy.

X-Force #2

But first, let me say that X-Force has the best art and nostalgia for any comic I’ve read in a while. There was a particular scene with Archangel and Wolverine going through a secret base of Warren’s. The base is considered the hideout for X-Force, but also a back-up base in case Utopia was ever to fall.
The insides are what counts. Great halls show old pictures of the various X-teams over the decades, plus a room with old costumes, such as Havok’s 60’s-80’s attire, Sunfire’s original helmet, and enemies as statues, such as an eerily stuffed Brood warrior. Essentially, Warren built an X-Museum. It looks glorious. Art with Jerome Opena – win!

But on to the reviews. Both stories were not too bad, it is that I am at my breaking point for comic art and the various cross-over issues. Uncanny X-Men #530 was a comic book with porno. Greg Land’s art is by far, getting to be too much. He is a great artist, and I respect that. However, he has no respect for the characters as it is clearly official that every X-character can produce an O-face at will. The book was physically demeaning to practically every female X-character, while Cyclops and Angel look like they’re ripped out of a cover for a romance novel.

Legacy failed with consistency in story for me. Firstly, did Mr. Mike Carey not get the memo that Magneto has left Utopia? I understand that the previous plot had Magneto in it, and I gave it some grace in terms of letting it catch up with the rest of the stories. But now we’ve started anew again, and Magento’s still here. Then the same day when I pick up Uncanny, Anole is suffering with a massive disease and the flu, yet in Legacy, he’s playing baseball. Doesn’t Colossus want to know where Kitty is? I mean, in Uncanny, she’s off with Frost – but then again, there’s also a flu outbreak. It really cannot connect well, and it’s becoming frustrating.

I, of course, have not even decided to discuss the Generation Hope/X-Men/Vampire storyline at all because I’d be in a real mess then.

Uncanny X-Men #530

Uncanny X-Men #530

But for storyline in each – individually, they do some things very well. Uncanny’s run with Fraction, I believe, needs a breath of fresh air. I know Kieron Gillen is joining the bandwagon, so let’s hope we get some boot-up there. Uncanny’s story with the Sublime Corp creating the original X-Men lineup with test subjects seems very interesting to me. I mean, sure, it could easily be Mimic again, but mixing a “new” mutant team with the X-Men stranded on Utopia definitely leaves a great opening for new possibilities. On top of that, only a few mutants are left outside of Utopia – refused back in due to the sudden pandemic which is affected a lot of mutants. Even Wolverine somehow has caught it.

The X-Men outside of Utopia consist of Angel, Dazzler, Storm, Pixie and a few others – making it a different team with characters who have not necessarily been explored in a long-while. As for figuring out what the Sublime X-team will do to the outsider X-Men – it’ll be an interesting plot.

Unfortunately for Land’s art, I found it detracted a lot of the story. Most particular in the first few pages with Emma completely posing like she is in Playboy, with random angles from behind of just her butt. I find the art great, but also unacceptable. For shame, Land.

Grade: 5/10

X-Men Legacy #242

Here, Mike Carey shows the readers what the X-Men can do to help San Fransisco post-Second Coming. The city is damaged, so Cyclops sends the X-Men to help. Of all mutants, Random is included (which in itself is random). It’ll be interesting to see what he will play in the upcoming arc. Included are also Rogue, Danger, Magneto, Colossus, Psylocke, and the others listed below.

X-Men Legacy #242

In the story Hellion has new hands, and went with the group to help rebuild. However, he is upset with Hope as he feels like he lost his hands for nothing. I find his pain completely understandable, while also feeling his frustration. Yes, Carey has made me feel for Hellion. We’ll see how far that goes.

Another body to help was Omega Sentinel/Karima Shapandar – who is mainly the plot point of the story. Without ruining too much, just remember she was turned into a Omega Sentinel by Bastion during Operation: Zero Tolerance. Also keep in mind that Bastion was the reason for Second Coming and tried to kill Hope Summers.

Oh, and Hope Summers went along to help the city, too.

Epic.

As for art, Paul Davidson both penciled and inked the story, which I always find commendable for any artist to do. No longer are Rogue’s breasts a focal point in Legacy, and the art has been toned-down to normal levels. I do have some complaints with faces, as Hope seems to be a different girl in almost every panel. The final page shows Karima in action with zero expression. Whether intentional or not, I found it dry.

However, I love it when comics try and tackle issues which are usually ignored after a massive battle. And also one that isn’t Damage Control. Add in a BRILLIANT cover by Leinil Yu, and you’re set for a new arc.

Grade: 7/10

Also, check out at Weekly Comic Book Review, Roman Colombo’s reviews of the Messiah series, or what he would like to call, “Messianic X Cycle.” (Just go with it). The reviews are greatly in-depth, and I share a lot of the same views with him. So go over and check them out:
Messiah CompleX, Messiah War, and Second Coming.

Until next time, keep on Space Truckin’!