{"id":123,"date":"2009-12-06T13:31:28","date_gmt":"2009-12-06T13:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=123"},"modified":"2009-12-06T13:31:28","modified_gmt":"2009-12-06T13:31:28","slug":"the-x-axis-6-december-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=123","title":{"rendered":"The X-Axis – 6 December 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you haven’t listened yet to this week’s podcast, you’ll find it conveniently located one post below.\u00a0 (Now with revised bitrate!)\u00a0 On that show, you’ll find reviews of Image United<\/em> #1, JSA All-Stars<\/em> #1, and Jonah Hex<\/em> #50.\u00a0 One of these comics is good.\u00a0 You can probably figure out which one for yourself, but go on, listen to the show anyway.<\/p>\n

And here’s some other stuff that came out this week:<\/p>\n

Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love<\/em> #2<\/strong> – In search of a mystical maguffin, Cinderella heads to Dubai and teams up with Aladdin.\u00a0 Does the world actually need three Fables titles a month?\u00a0 Probably not, but writer Chris Roberson does a good job of matching the tone of the parent title.\u00a0 The idea of Cinderella as a spy was set up in the parent title; in practice, she ends up as a relatively straight spy pastiche, perhaps because it’s not that easy to write a cross between Cinderella and James Bond without it becoming hopelessly contrived.\u00a0 That might explain why they’re using Aladdin, who’s somewhat easier to play with in this context.\u00a0 It’s not an especially subtle story, but anything with art by Shawn McManus is going to be worth reading.\u00a0 And they’re right, by the way, that Dubai is a perfect setting for this sort of story in 2009 – it’s exotic, it’s not been done to death, and it’s “a place where billionaires build artificial islands in the shape of things.”<\/p>\n

And it’s not the only comic this week that takes place in Dubai.\u00a0 But we’ll come back to that.<\/p>\n

Echo<\/em> #17<\/strong> – Behold exposition!\u00a0 This issue basically amounts to an 18-page explanation of what the Phi Project was actually about.\u00a0 How much of this is strictly essential to the plot, I have my doubts – in terms purely of the narrative, Terry Moore could probably have pared this down to a fraction of the length and still explained why it matters.\u00a0 But there’s more than that going on here, because this seems to be Moore spelling out the big idea at the heart of Echo<\/em>.\u00a0 It’s a curious mixture of cutting-edge physics, pseudo-science and maths-as-magic… but basically, Moore seems to want to tell us that the Golden Ratio is at the heart of all things.\u00a0 This idea has been around for centuries, but Moore does a surprisingly effective job of crossing it with experimental physics.\u00a0 I’m fairly convinced that the plot explanation offered here doesn’t make sense (since most high-level maths and physics is done with variables, surely it doesn’t matter<\/em> what base you do the maths in?), but it’s nicely pitched as the sort of semi-comprehensible idea that just conceivably might have a glimmer of viability.\u00a0\u00a0And, of course, it’s a testimony to Moore’s ability that he can make 18 pages of exposition into a visually interesting comic.<\/p>\n

Jack of Fables<\/em> #40<\/strong> – Oh, okay.\u00a0 I’d kind of been assuming that the two plot threads – our Jack turning into a dragon, and the other Jack trying to be a hero – would tie up by the end of this storyline.\u00a0 But apparently not.\u00a0 It seems the dragon stuff is just a sub-plot to build to the next arc.\u00a0 These last few issues feel like they’ve been something of a necessary exercise to move the characters from A to B – in particular, to make Jack Frost into a proper hero.\u00a0 The tricky bit is that for Jack to become a traditional fairy tale hero, he has to go through a traditional fairy tale story, which is all a bit predictable.\u00a0 While it’s entirely readable, the book never quite finds an inventive enough angle to make this material feel fresh.<\/p>\n

Pope Hats <\/em>#1<\/strong> – New irregular series from one Ethan Rilly, courtesy of a Xeric Foundation grant.\u00a0 (Here’s his website.<\/a>)\u00a0 It’s about a young woman called Frances whose best friend is an alcoholic actress and who is haunted by a vaguely incompetent ghost.\u00a0 To be honest, this first issue is mainly a scene-setter, introducing the cast and setting up Frances’ problems without really kicking off the story.\u00a0 But it’s wonderfully observed, beautifully drawn, and frankly good enough to get away with just following the characters around for 32 pages.\u00a0 I see from Rilly’s website that there’s no actual date scheduled for issue #2 (which means chances are I’ll have completely forgotten about it by the time the next issue comes out), but this is still worth a look.<\/p>\n

Psylocke<\/em> #2<\/strong> – You know you’re in for a meticulously researched story when the opening caption says “Dubai, Saudi Arabia.”\u00a0 (It’s one of the United Arab Emirates.)<\/p>\n

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Fortunately, the rest of the story is so far removed from the real world that research doesn’t much enter into it.\u00a0 I can see what Chris Yost is trying to do here – he’s trying to do a deck-clearing exercise to clear away a lot of the clutter that Psylocke’s character has picked up over the years, so that she can be used more effectively in future – but the story itself feels mechanical, and Psylocke herself one-dimensional.<\/p>\n

Siege: The Cabal<\/em><\/strong> – One-shot leading into the Siege<\/em> storyline.\u00a0 And, ah, it seems that for the purposes of this series the Asgardians are back in Oklahoma, when over in Thor<\/em> they’re still camped out in Latveria.\u00a0 Christ, if they can’t even keep that straight, I don’t hold out much hope for this crossover.\u00a0 Perhaps this is all perfectly clear if you’ve been reading the regular titles, but since an issue like this is supposed to be the jumping-on point for a major crossover, that’s no excuse.\u00a0 Anyway, it’s an issue of Exciting Conversation, where the idea is presumably meant to be that the Cabal is falling apart… except that really happened when Namor and Emma left, during the “Utopia” storyline.\u00a0 On the other hand, Michael Lark gets to draw a very nice double page spread of robot locusts.\u00a0 Generally, though, I’m just left a bit confused about the state of continuity, and with a nagging feeling that Brian Bendis is trying to force a story beat that actually took place in a different comic three months ago.<\/p>\n

Sweet Tooth<\/em> #4 <\/strong>– Our hero(es?) finally get to talk to some other people who don’t want to kill them, and the story continues to build the big question of just what Jepperd is up to here.\u00a0 Obviously, the series has been teasing for a while that Jeppard might be up to no good, but Jeff Lemire is building the tension nicely.\u00a0 Bleak without being unremittingly so, Sweet Tooth<\/em> has managed to reinvigorate the overused post-apocalyptic setting.<\/p>\n

Thor<\/em> #604<\/strong> – This is the start of Kieron Gillen’s run, which picks up from J Michael Straczynski’s storyline in progress, and runs through to the Siege <\/em>crossover.\u00a0 It’s plainly a transitional story, inheriting a number of plot threads that evidently need to be resolved so that the series is in place for the big crossover in just a few months time.\u00a0 And inevitably, this book is going to be driven by wider considerations of the Marvel Universe for the next little while.\u00a0 It’s not an especially enviable remit.\u00a0 But allowing for those restrictions, it’s a decent issue; Gillen writes good dialogue for the gods, and is clearly having fun with Doom as Frankenstein.\u00a0 Billy Tan’s not bad on art, though there are a couple of scenes that feel a bit flat (Loki’s address to Balder near the end of the issue needs a bit more spark).<\/p>\n

Uncanny X-Men<\/em> #518<\/strong> – Hmm, when did it become acceptable again to randomly introduce new mutants for use as cannon fodder?\u00a0 Wasn’t M-Day supposed to have put a stop to that?\u00a0 (It happens in this week’s X-Force Annual<\/em> as well, which suggests a policy change.)\u00a0 Anyway, this issue the X-Men attempt the incredibly dangerous task of separating Emma Frost from the Void, and… yes, it’s not very well set up, is it?\u00a0 For one thing, Emma’s been linked to the Void for several issues now, and only with this issue does Matt Fraction really get around to explaining what it actually is.\u00a0 For another, the plot driver is apparently supposed to be that with the Cuckoos out of action, the X-Men need Emma’s telepathic powers back.\u00a0 Except… point one, do they?\u00a0 And point two, what’s wrong with Professor X?\u00a0 There’s a weak attempt to handwave him away by saying that Cyclops isn’t prepared to put him in the field, but point three, why not?\u00a0 And point four, since he’s a long-range psychic, why does he even need to be in<\/em> the field?\u00a0\u00a0This just doesn’t hang together.\u00a0 Terry Dodson does some good work on the scenes set inside Emma’s mind, but as a story, this has real problems.<\/p>\n

X-Babies<\/em> #3<\/strong> – Ooookay.\u00a0 Last month, I wondered why Marvel were promoting their Star Comics collections with a series where the Star characters were portrayed as irritating, punchable and generally crap.\u00a0 This month sort of answers that question, and in the way I’d sort of expected: just as the X-Babies have been replaced with cutesy versions, so have the Star characters.\u00a0 Which is sort of fine (though it puts you in the weird position of writing a story where the X-Babies<\/em> symbolise creative integrity), except that the “real” Star characters turn out to be Marvel-fied versions.\u00a0 So… the ones who actually looked like the Star Comics characters are still supposed to be cutesy, annoying and rubbish.\u00a0 I really don’t get what they’re trying to do with this series.<\/p>\n

X-Force Annual<\/em> #1<\/strong> – A fill-in story with X-Force kidnapping a HYDRA soldier for reasons I won’t explain because they’re part of the plot.\u00a0 It’s really more of a Wolverine story with added background characters, but whatever.\u00a0 From a continuity standpoint, this is entirely skippable, but it is<\/em> by Robert Kirkman and Jason Pearson, and it barrels along quite enjoyably.\u00a0 As a throwaway over-the-top action story, it’s pretty entertaining.\u00a0 The back-up strip, strangely, is a “Necrosha-X” crossover featuring Deadpool.\u00a0 It’s silly, but in the right way; Deadpool can’t keep track of X-Men continuity either, but knows that any story where he can blast his opponents to smithereens with impunity is alright by him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you haven’t listened yet to this week’s podcast, you’ll find it conveniently located one post below.\u00a0 (Now with revised bitrate!)\u00a0 On that show, you’ll find reviews of Image United #1, JSA All-Stars #1, and Jonah Hex #50.\u00a0 One of these comics is good.\u00a0 You can probably figure out which one for yourself, but go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-x-axis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}