At last, I am up to date with my deliveries! \u00a0And with two especially heavy weeks behind us, there’s an enormous pile of books awaiting my comments. \u00a0So, we’re going to catch up with the X-books and the major new releases. \u00a0Believe me, it’s going to take us long enough.<\/p>\n
First things first, though – if you look down a couple of posts, you’ll find this week’s podcast. \u00a0Download, listen, you know the drill.<\/p>\n
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis<\/em> #1<\/strong> – The second book from Marvel’s new Astonishing<\/em> imprint, which seems to be intended for stories that are more or less self-contained, or at least semi-detached from the rest of continuity. \u00a0This story is by Warren Ellis and Kaare Andrews, and essentially it’s a rebranding of Ellis’s Astonishing X-Men<\/em>. \u00a0Except that Ellis’ much-delayed Astonishing X-Men<\/em> arc is some months away from finishing… so effectively, Marvel are following DC’s lead here by shrugging their shoulders and moving on to the next arc anyway. \u00a0Mind you, considering that the book is already lagging some way behind X-Men continuity (it’s set before the “Utopia” crossover), you can understand why they want to get it out there.<\/p>\n Basic premise: there’s a small town in Africa where kids are being born with weird powers. \u00a0Obviously this is of interest to the X-Men, since these people sound suspiciously like mutants (though for some reason the story goes out of its way to debunk that idea fairly early on, on grounds that don’t really hold up). \u00a0So it’s off to Africa we go. \u00a0And… um, that’s basically the synopsis of issue #1. \u00a0This is certainly a book with a relaxed pace, featuring as it does a double-page spread of an uneventful village, a full-page establishing shot of the X-Men’s headquarters, a full page without dialogue devoted to the X-Men putting on their clothes, and another splash page of some nice wildlife. \u00a0Mind you, at least this means artist Kaare Andrews has plenty of space to do his thing – though it has to be said that, even allowing for tongue being firmly in cheek, his petulant Emma Frost kind of misses the point of the character.<\/p>\n On the plus side, it’s nice to look at and at least it’s trying to use a setting that we don’t see much of in superhero comics. \u00a0But it’s decidedly slow and talky.<\/p>\n Atlas<\/em> #1<\/strong> – Jeff Parker’s\u00a0Agents of Atlas<\/em> has always struggled to convert its online fanbase into sales. \u00a0So there must have been a temptation to throw in something populist with this latest relaunch. \u00a0But thankfully, Atlas<\/em> sticks to its guns, devoting an issue to introducing the 3D Man to its cast. \u00a0Admittedly, he got a major role in Avengers: The Initiative<\/em> of late, but he’s still the 3D Man. \u00a0The main story sees him investigating a mystery that obviously has Atlas connections, while the regular cast remain very much in the shadows – a nice way of playing up their gimmick as a team who keep themselves hidden away. \u00a0But there’s also a back-up strip explaining some of the story from the regulars’ point of view, so the title characters do at least appear. \u00a0Gabriel Hardman’s an interesting choice of artist – you’d think that Atlas<\/em> might go for somebody self-consciously retro, but instead they’ve opted for a solid and atmospheric storyteller. \u00a0Smart move; Atlas<\/em> works because it plays its cast of 50s obscurities straight, rather than being self-consciously jokey about them, and makes them quirky outsiders instead of just a nostalgia act. \u00a0I doubt this story will change anyone’s mind about the series, but hopefully the relaunch will at least encourage a few more people to try it.<\/p>\n Avengers<\/em> #1<\/strong> – See the podcast for plenty on this. \u00a0Brian Bendis and John Romita Jr unveil the new core Avengers team, which is more or less the roster from early issues of New Avengers<\/em> with a couple of swaps. \u00a0Which is fine by me. \u00a0It’s a Kang story, and what that means is that Kang shows up halfway through the issue to tell us that a bad thing will happen, albeit in a temporally confusing fashion. \u00a0Bendis is really more of a character writer than a plot man, and there are other books that would he’d be better suited to. \u00a0The frustrating thing about his stories is that he usually has solid ideas but they’re often unnecessarily undermined by ropey plotting. \u00a0If you didn’t like his earlier Avengers stories, well, there’s no real reason to think this will be any different. \u00a0I do like the basic idea, and I like the art; there’s some decent character work with the main players, as you’d expect. \u00a0But something tells me Bendis is also the sort of writer whose tendency to gloss over tedious plot mechanics will make for painful time-travel stories. \u00a0It’s a decent enough debut issue, but there’s nothing really to suggest that this series will steer clear of the problems that tend to plague Bendis when he’s writing this sort of thing.<\/p>\n Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne<\/em> #1<\/strong> – God, this really doesn’t interest me at all. \u00a0This must be what the X-books look like to normal people. \u00a0Having enjoyed the early issues of Batman & Robin<\/em>, I’m now starting to be reminded of why I dropped Grant Morrison’s Batman run in the first place. \u00a0Bruce Wayne isn’t dead, he’s just stranded in the past. \u00a0From the look of this, it’s going to be Bruce coming through time and (presumably) fighting Vandal Savage in each era. \u00a0Which is fine, I suppose, except that I don’t really care about Vandal Savage and a bunch of cavemen hitting each other kind of leaves me cold. \u00a0It’s got art by Chris Sprouse, so it looks the part, and it certainly gets its idea across well enough… I just have the sinking feeling that I’m not very interested.<\/p>\n Birds of Prey<\/em> #1<\/strong> – Yes, yes, I know, I always whine when DC revive an old property just for the hell of it. \u00a0But I’m playing my Hypocrite Card for this one, because it’s Birds of Prey<\/em> by Gail Simone and… well, okay, Gail Simone and Ed Benes, whose art was never my favourite feature of the book first time round. \u00a0Actually, though, it’s fine here, and relatively light on the eye-rollingly glaring cheesecake stuff that used to interrupt the story from time to time. \u00a0Oracle get her old crew back together to deal with a baddie who specifically demands it, and the reunion scene is nicely played in a way that tells us it’s kind of a big deal for the characters without going over the top. \u00a0And just to stop you thinking this is going to be a complete retread of the original series, it’s also got Hawk and Dove (hence the Brightest Day<\/em> crossover tag, as Hawk is one of the characters revived for that storyline – there’s no sign of any other plot tie-in, though). \u00a0Once you get past the bird theme, Hawk is of course a singularly unsuitable member of the Birds of Prey, which is precisely why I’m looking forward to seeing Simone write him.<\/p>\n Booster Gold<\/em> #32<\/strong> – Along similar lines, Keith Giffen and J M DeMatteis are reunited as co-writers on Booster Gold<\/em>, who was one of the main comedy figures in their legendary Justice League International<\/em> run. \u00a0\u00a0It’s not branded on the cover, but to judge from the last page, this is going to tie in with the Justice League: Generation Lost<\/em> series (also co-written by Giffen). \u00a0This first issue basically sees Giffen and DeMatteis picking up the status quo that they inherited from Dan Jurgens – Booster as a deliberately obscure time-travelling hero who goes around sorting out the timeline – and superimposing their style on it. \u00a0If you’ve read the earlier stories then you know the schtick, and it’s basically along the familiar lines, but it’s still an amusing read, complete with a supervillain who’s just a little too keen to hammer home her “obsessed with a giant eyeball” routine. \u00a0Artist Chris Batista turns out to be a fairly good match for them – it’s bright, happy stuff, maybe more comfortable with the action than the comedy, but still fitting the material.<\/p>\n Dark Avengers<\/em> #16<\/strong> – The final issue of the series is basically a Siege<\/em> epilogue and it’s actually quite satisfying. \u00a0Norman Osborn has been defeated, so all that remains is to put an end to his ersatz Avengers – um, except for Daken, who has his own book and has to escape. \u00a0With him out of the way, though, this issue makes an effective job of providing a sense of resolution. \u00a0One of the things I like about the wrap-up of Siege<\/em> is that there’s no attempt to segue into the next story – the bad guys are defeated, the good guys won, and that’s an end of it. \u00a0I’m not sure Bendis ever quite reached the full potential of his take on Norman Osborn – part sincere hawk, part maniac – but the closing scene with him in jail is lovely.<\/p>\n Frenemy of the State <\/em>#1<\/strong> – There being a big pile of these still to go, I’ll refer you to the podcast for proper discussion. \u00a0This is Oni’s new ongoing series about, well, a sort of society heiress who’s secretly a spy. \u00a0It’s a bit light on rounded characters, but the idea has some potential.<\/p>\n Justice League: Generation Lost<\/em> #1<\/strong> – DC’s other biweekly series, written by Keith Giffen and Judd Winick with art by Giffen and Aaron Lopresti, seems like it might be a better read than Brightest Day<\/em> is turning out to be. \u00a0Maxwell Lord is back from the dead, and he has a plan to use his mind-control powers to set the world to rights. \u00a0(Which is his scene from Brightest Day<\/em> #0 – this issue explains what he was after.) \u00a0Maxwell Lord is terribly, terribly dangerous, and so all the heroes are desperate to stop him… until everything ends up falling on the second-tier heroes from Justice League International<\/em>. \u00a0This isn’t a semi-comedy book, but it does seem to be making an attempt to rehabilitate Lord as somebody who started off well-intentioned, and I really quite liked the closing twist. \u00a0Might stick with this one for a bit.<\/p>\n New Mutants<\/em> #13<\/strong> – Chapter 7 of “Second Coming” and, uh, let’s see, what happened in this one again? \u00a0Let’s see… plot point, plot point, token scene with the title characters, subplot setting up the X-Club’s tie-in one-shot… \u00a0Ah, here’s a rather good scene with Dani and Hope, where Zeb Wells does probably the best job yet of showing us that the X-Men’s extended cast resent the amount of effort that the X-Men are putting into protecting this allegedly vital character. \u00a0Yup, liked that bit. \u00a0Other than that, it’s one of those crossover stories that has a lot of plot to chew through, and ends up leaving the New Mutants themselves with nothing much to contribute.<\/p>\n Wolverine<\/em> #900<\/strong> – The mind boggles, doesn’t it? \u00a0A Wolverine<\/em> #900 one-shot? \u00a0Are there really people in Marvel so dumb that they didn’t understand that Deadpool<\/em> #900 was a joke? \u00a0This isn’t a comedy issue at all, in any way shape or form – it’s an anthology of Wolverine shorts, titled by somebody who has heard of humour but never really seen it in action. \u00a0It opens with a vignette that’s really little more than an opportunity for David Finch to draw Wolverine (and hey, if you want a few pages of David Finch drawing Wolverine, here they are). \u00a0Dean Motter and Greg Scott contribute an atmospheric noir piece, incongruously drawing on the plot of Jason Aaron’s tongue-in-cheek Wolverine: Manifest Destiny<\/em> miniseries. \u00a0It’s not bad at all. \u00a0Todd DeZago and Jason Craig’s “Desperate Measures” is a 90s throwback dusting off Marrow, of all people, in order to make a point about the body as a weapon. \u00a0Sound idea, art’s a bit rough. \u00a0Marc Bernardin and Pow Rodrix’s “One Night Only” is competent anthology-fodder (it’s one of those “character X does this every year even though you’ll never hear it mentioned again” things), while Matt Yocum and Jake Bilbao do a decent strip with Wolverine helping a Delightful Little Girl through the power of violence. \u00a0Oh, and there’s a couple of reprints to round off the package – one is the disappointing back-up strip from Wolverine<\/em> #50 (presumably because it’s by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness, which might interest a few people), but the other is a rather good Spider-Man\/Wolverine story by Zeb Wells and Paolo Rivera which probably passed largely unnoticed on its original appearance in Amazing Spider-Man Extra<\/em> #2, and which genuinely merits another printing. \u00a0On the whole, not bad as these anthologies go.<\/p>\n X-Factor<\/em> #205<\/strong> – You’ll be shocked to learn that the entire cast are not, in fact, dead. \u00a0This is the second part of the “Second Coming” tie-in arc, which interrupted a bunch of storylines in progress. \u00a0Peter David makes a reasonable job of turning that to his advantage – so, for example, poor Baron Mordo’s evil scheme was coming along nicely until the anti-mutant maniacs showed up to start shooting everything. \u00a0Mind you, it’s still an attempt to accommodate an unnecessary crossover, and one which feels more like a belated hangover from the original Bastion crossover, “Operation: Zero Tolerance”,\u00a0than anything much to do with “Second Coming”. \u00a0It’s not a story that the book really needed, but if you’re going to do this sort of tie-in, at least Peter David and Valentine de Landro are making something of it.<\/p>\n X-Factor Forever<\/em> #3<\/strong> – In this issue: fighting! \u00a0And exposition! \u00a0At the same time! \u00a0Yes, it’s authentically late-80s. \u00a0If I’m being honest, there’s an element here of a relatively thin plot not advancing all that much, but being fleshed out with fight scenes. \u00a0But against my better judgment, I don’t really mind – I liked<\/em> Louise Simonson’s run on X-Factor<\/em>, and on a more contemporary level, I’m enjoying Dan Panosian’s energetic, angular artwork. \u00a0I can’t honestly say I’d recommend it to people who don’t have affection for the original series, but that’s hardly a major problem for a book which is unashamedly going for the nostalgia market.<\/p>\n X-Men Forever<\/em> #23-24<\/strong> – And that wraps up the first year of Chris Claremont’s X-Men Forever<\/em>. I’ll try to find time to do a full review of the closing arc, but basically this is the pay-off for the Consortium arc, which climaxes in yet more plot twists that Claremont would never have been allowed to do in the regular Marvel Universe. \u00a0But that’s fine by me; while X-Men Forever<\/em> long since diverged from the notional idea of “what Chris Claremont would have written if he hadn’t left in 1991”, it is delivering a series where Claremont doesn’t have to worry about accommodating anyone else’s stories and can cheerfully do his own thing. \u00a0And that gives the book a genuine feeling of enthusiasm which overcomes a lot of sins. \u00a0 It’s not an all-time great story, but it’s told with commitment. \u00a0Issue\u00a0#24 is a funeral story serving an epilogue for the season, and it’s fine as one of those pause-to-reflect issues that a superhero book needs every so often.<\/p>\n X-Men Legacy<\/em> #236<\/strong> – “Second Coming” part 8. \u00a0Bastion puts a big red globe over San Francisco and traps the X-Men inside. \u00a0Along with the population of San Francisco. \u00a0But hey, you can’t make an omelette and so forth. \u00a0It’s a bouncy little superhero story, but the art’s very much hit and miss. \u00a0As so often, Greg Land veers between genuinely effective splash pages and faces that seem to have been pasted in from random sources with awkward expressions. \u00a0Colourist Justin Ponsor makes it all pleasantly bright and shiny, though.<\/p>\n X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back<\/em> #4<\/strong> – I’ll come back to this miniseries in a later post. \u00a0I’m not quite sure what I think of this one, to be honest. \u00a0It’s certainly different, and it makes quite good use of the teenage characters. \u00a0But I’m not sold on the overhaul of Pixie herself. \u00a0Okay, they’ve already linked her to Limbo, so I can see the logic in giving her some other magical connections… but the Mastermind stuff seems a bit unnecessary. \u00a0Still, a visually interesting mini with its own voice that actually had a story to tell about its title character, and that’s always a good thing.<\/p>\n Zatanna<\/em> #1<\/strong> – And once again, see the podcast. \u00a0Zatanna, a retro stage magician who’s also a real sorceress, is a minor-league DC characters who I’ve always quite liked, but giving her an ongoing series seems a bit optimistic in the current climate. \u00a0Still, she’s got something different, and Paul Dini and Stephane Roux do a good job here setting up the premise. \u00a0It’s not so much that the plot is out of the ordinary. \u00a0It’s more that Dini throws random magical elements into the real world to give the murder scenes a darkly absurd quality, and that’s where the book gets to be distinctive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At last, I am up to date with my deliveries! \u00a0And with two especially heavy weeks behind us, there’s an enormous pile of books awaiting my comments. \u00a0So, we’re going to catch up with the X-books and the major new releases. \u00a0Believe me, it’s going to take us long enough. 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