{"id":2651,"date":"2014-08-17T17:14:12","date_gmt":"2014-08-17T16:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2651"},"modified":"2014-08-17T17:14:12","modified_gmt":"2014-08-17T16:14:12","slug":"x-meniron-mannova-no-end-in-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2651","title":{"rendered":"X-Men\/Iron Man\/Nova: “No End In Sight”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A relatively obscure story this week – this is a three-parter running through\u00a0Uncanny X-Men Special<\/em> #1,\u00a0Iron Man Special<\/em> #1, and\u00a0Nova Special<\/em> #1, a similar format to last year’s “Arms of the Octopus”. \u00a0These stories are pretty much incidental so far as the wider continuity is concerned, but rather than treat them as complete filler, Marvel seem to regard them as\u00a0a good\u00a0venue to try out new creators.<\/p>\n

So we have here a complete story by Sean Ryan, who has\u00a0a number of scattered writing credits to his name, but is probably best known in these parts as a former X-books assistant editor from a\u00a0while back.\u00a0 On art, we have three pencillers and six inkers,\u00a0but since all involved are going for a relatively straightforward Marvel style (and colourist Ruth Redmond is able to\u00a0impose a degree of consistency), the result reads quite smoothly.<\/p>\n

The pencillers\u00a0in question\u00a0are Ron Ackins,\u00a0who seems to be principally a commercial illustrator working in sports merchandise; Rahmat Handoko, who has done things like DC Universe Online cards; and John Timms, who appears to be a storyboard artist from Costa Rica. \u00a0So\u00a0an unusual group to commission, but they all seem\u00a0comfortably up to scratch for this sort of project.<\/p>\n

As for the story,\u00a0it’s mostly a straightforward romp, until it winds up\u00a0taking\u00a0a metatextual turn towards the end. \u00a0The basic plot has a down-on-his-luck Monark Starstalker – a fairly\u00a0obscure Howard Chaykin creation from the 1970s – trying to\u00a0claim a bounty\u00a0on Havok’s head,\u00a0dating from his\u00a0stint\u00a0in the Starjammers. \u00a0Monark\u00a0hires Death’s Head to kidnap Havok, but\u00a0messes up the instructions, which leads to Death’s Head kidnapping Cyclops, dumping him on the confused Monark, and swanning off. \u00a0The Uncanny X-Men\u00a0<\/em>trainees pose\u00a0as SWORD agents to try\u00a0to trace Death’s Head and find Cyclops, and end up\u00a0saddled with the unwanted help of Iron Man. \u00a0Meanwhile, Monark\u00a0tries to enlist Nova to dig him out of the mess he’s in.<\/p>\n

I mention that last\u00a0sentence because one of the problems with this format is finding a way for all three supposed stars to actually function as protagonists. \u00a0And the story doesn’t really\u00a0solve that problem; Nova’s role is a tad forced, and Iron\u00a0Man is really serving here as a guest star in the X-trainees’ story. \u00a0But hey,\u00a0it’s the X-Men who interest us, so that’s no problem as far as we’re concerned.<\/p>\n

This is, in fact, a pretty fun story. \u00a0Ryan\u00a0has a decent ear for dialogue;\u00a0the students feel pretty rounded here,\u00a0Monark’s\u00a0increasing desperation\u00a0is nicely pitched, and\u00a0the comedy moments\u00a0mostly land well. \u00a0The central joke\u00a0of Iron Man\u00a0being too self-absorbed to pick up on how unconvincing the X-trainees are as SWORD agents (and also having better things to do with his time than keep track of minor X-Men characters)\u00a0is nicely pitched, and actually plays into Ryan’s bigger theme – though the story does enough to justify Iron Man’s self-belief to stop him looking like a clown.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0all this is\u00a0rather good. \u00a0Mind you – and this is a bit of a digression, because it’s a minor issue in the context of this story – it’s increasingly clear that there’s a problem with Tempus as a viable X-Man. \u00a0Tempus’s power is to freeze time. \u00a0This is a cool moment\u00a0once, but in practical terms it amounts to a power to make fight scenes not happen.<\/p>\n

In theory the same\u00a0issue\u00a0arises with telepaths, who\u00a0could just zap all their opponents in the first five seconds. \u00a0In\u00a0practice\u00a0writers have got around that by simply establishing a convention that this is not how it works, and that combat telepathy is a rather more restricted art. \u00a0\u00a0But that hasn’t happened with Tempus,\u00a0who does indeed\u00a0just shut down fight scenes in progress. \u00a0Yet\u00a0the genre demands that fight scenes have to happen. \u00a0Which means that\u00a0Tempus has to either (i) be left at home, (ii) get clocked over the head with a brick in the first five seconds, or worst of all (iii) stand around like a lemming until the writer decides it’s time for the fight to end.<\/p>\n

I’m not completely sure that this is a solvable problem. \u00a0It’s not really obvious how you\u00a0come up with a workable combat version of Tempus’ powers. \u00a0In terms of precursors, there’s Tempo from the Mutant Liberation Front, but she just slowed time, and besides, she was a villain – it was fine to have her give her team an unfair advantage at the start of the fight. \u00a0That doesn’t work for a hero.<\/p>\n

Or\u2026 well, yes,\u00a0they did get four years of episodes out of this:<\/p>\n