{"id":604,"date":"2010-11-21T21:23:57","date_gmt":"2010-11-21T21:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=604"},"modified":"2010-11-22T10:04:29","modified_gmt":"2010-11-22T10:04:29","slug":"the-x-axis-21-november-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=604","title":{"rendered":"The X-Axis – 21 November 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve got tons of content on the blog this weekend. \u00a0The double-length episode 50 of House to Astonish<\/em> will probably go up more or less while I’m writing this, and check further down the blog for another music post and for a preview of tonight’s Survivor Series<\/em> show.<\/p>\n

Oh, and I’ve finally got around this week to listening to the Tom vs Aquaman podcast<\/a>, which is basically recaps of Aquaman stories from the Silver Age. \u00a0And it’s awesome, so I take this opportunity to endorse it for your relatively-bitesize listening pleasure.<\/p>\n

This week’s X-books include Daken<\/em>, X-23<\/em>, X-Factor<\/em> and adjective-free X-Men<\/em>, and there’s also a bunch of debut issues and an anniversary. \u00a0So…<\/p>\n

Batman Incorporated<\/em> #1<\/strong> – Check the podcast for more discussion of this. \u00a0But this is the launch issue of Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette’s new ongoing Batman title, with a very odd and potentially interesting concept. \u00a0As I understand it, Bruce Wayne is back from the dead, and he’s decided that he wants to expand the Batman brand. \u00a0So he’s going to have, well, franchised Batmen all over the world. \u00a0On one level, it’s a neat device to keep Dick Grayson in the Batman role, as the franchised Batman of Gotham. \u00a0It’s also a seemingly ludicrous idea which, on further reflection is still ludicrous but potentially interesting. \u00a0Batman is<\/em> a substantial real-world brand, and the whole “dress as a bat to intimidate criminals” thing means that even in story, Bruce Wayne conceived the identity as a branding exercise. \u00a0Of course, spawning hundreds of Batmen could dilute the brand, but you can cover that in the story. \u00a0So it’s a weird idea but one that could work.<\/p>\n

This first issue, though, doesn’t really do anything much with that concept. \u00a0It starts off with Batman (well, Batman Prime) and Catwoman heading to Japan to try and recruit local vigilante Mr Unknown as the local Batman. \u00a0But when they show up, Mr Unknown is already dead at the hands of local villain Lord Death Man – an awesomely garbled name, lifted from a genuine Batman licensed manga, as I understand it – and so they’ve got to fight him instead. \u00a0Looks like Unknown’s sidekick is going to end up as the Japanese Batman – if only because there are no other candidates around – but that’s not really the focus of this first issue.<\/p>\n

It’s a perfectly solid springboard for a Batman story, and if you can live with the cheesecake, Paquette’s a good artist. \u00a0He does a great job with Lord Death Man and his henchmen, who are if anything slightly creepier for their costumes having a subtly homemade feel to them. \u00a0It just doesn’t really do anything with the “Batman Incorporated” concept, which is really used as little more than a plot device springboard to get the hero to Japan. \u00a0 \u00a0It doesn’t even really explain why<\/em> Batman’s started this franchising programme – the book clearly assumes that you’ve been reading other Batman titles, which is a real alarm bell about how self-contained this book is likely to be. \u00a0Anyway, a superior Batman story, but not one that really gets into the potential of the premise.<\/p>\n

Daken: Dark Wolverine<\/em> #3 \/ X-23<\/em> #3<\/strong> – I’ll take these two together, because they really have nothing much in common. \u00a0And that’s telling in itself, because these issues are both notionally part of the “Wolverine Goes To Hell” crossover.<\/p>\n

You can see what Marvel were thinking. \u00a0Relaunch the Wolverine titles, run a major storyline in Wolverine<\/em> itself, and get Daken<\/em> and X-23<\/em> to link in for their first storylines. \u00a0In theory this sounds as if it ought to help the satellite books. \u00a0But the problem is that the writers – Marjorie Liu solo on X-23<\/em> and working with Daniel Way on Daken<\/em> – really want to kickstart their own stories and set the tone for their own books. \u00a0And those stories don’t actually have anything to do with “Wolverine Goes To Hell”. \u00a0So we’ve ended up with a couple of \u00a0three-part stories both of which end up with a fairly sensible springboard for future plots, but get there in a tortuously roundabout way via a crossover they don’t actually want to be part of.<\/p>\n

Daken<\/em> turns out to have something promising in mind. \u00a0Inspired by Romulus, Daken wants to drop off the map and set himself up as a manipulative behind-the-scenes figure. \u00a0There could be something in that. \u00a0It’s particularly nice to see the book hark back to its first storyline from the Dark Reign period, which was easily the strongest to date. \u00a0But the story it really wants to tell is simply about Daken faking his own death. \u00a0Working in the Red Right Hand and a demonic Wolverine impostor is just clutter in the greater scheme of things, and does little to help the book. \u00a0The other problem is that the book retains its tendency towards sixth-form pretentiousness. \u00a0I mean, just look at the recap page. \u00a0“Daken aligns with Mystique, taking the mutant out to dinner while enjoying a blossoming relationship based on their shared moral ambiguity and mutual desire to watch the world burn.” \u00a0Thuddingly clumsy use of “the mutant” instead of “her” aside, shouldn’t alarm bells be ringing when your plot recap includes gunk like that?<\/p>\n

X-23<\/em>, meanwhile, is trying to do a story where Laura is reassured that she does have a “true” personality in there beneath all the brainwashing she went through; she thinks the X-Men have predetermined ideas about her role that won’t give her space to develop; and so she’s striking out on her own on a voyage-of-discovery road trip. \u00a0All of that is perfectly sound as a direction for the series – and it’s worth noting that X-23<\/em> doesn’t share the pseudy tendencies of its sister title. \u00a0But again, trying to link it to an unrelated crossover just confuses matters. \u00a0This didn’t need a story about X-23 being taken to a dreamworld version of hell – there’s something to be done with X-23 learning from the example of Wolverine as a similar character, but this plot doesn’t really allow for that either. \u00a0And I could really live without spirit guides and symbolic points of light, something which takes X-23’s internal struggles far too literally.<\/p>\n

And yet… \u00a0Neither of these stories really worked, but both of them also seem to be taking their respective series in the right direction. \u00a0Leaving aside Daken<\/em>‘s tendency to lapse into pretentiousness, the theme here seems to be opening arcs with the right idea struggling to incorporate plot elements that are really just a distraction. \u00a0But then at the end of the day they both managed to convince me they could be going somewhere worthwhile, which is perhaps the bottom line.<\/p>\n

Osborn<\/em> #1<\/strong> – This is a five-issue miniseries about Norman Osborn in jail, and to judge from the “Big Time” logo in the corner of the cover, I guess they’re folding him back into the Spider-Man cast now that the “Dark Reign” thing is behind us. \u00a0The issue also seems to pick up on the “goblin cult” subplot from Amazing<\/em>. \u00a0But in tone, it’s very different from what you might expect; instead of getting bogged down in continuity, Kelly Sue DeConnick’s story focuses more on the politicians wondering what the hell they’re going to do with this guy, and on the eccentric-to-demented inmates of the top secret prison where he’s being held. \u00a0It’s a bit Vertigo, actually, and in a good way. \u00a0It also makes a pretty fair case for why they wouldn’t just stick Osborn on trial for treason – they’re worried he’d get acquitted on the grounds of insanity, which actually makes some sense. \u00a0Osborn himself isn’t the major character, so much as the focus of attention for the rest of the cast – though the story does a good job of selling the idea that Osborn still thinks he was in the right. \u00a0There’s a back-up strip by Warren Ellis and Jamie McKelvie, which looks like it’s going to be a series of interviews with the other prison inmates, all of whom are newly created characters. \u00a0To be honest, I was half expecting this to be a schedule-filling effort wringing the last drops from “Dark Reign”, but this has got a story to tell and a pretty strong voice of its own. \u00a0Much better than I was expecting, and well worth a look if you haven’t seen it.<\/p>\n

Spider-Girl<\/em> #1<\/strong> – See the podcast for loads on this. \u00a0The summary version: in this latest revamp of Arana, Paul Tobin has wisely jettisoned all the mystical material from the original concept, and taken the simpler approach that Anya is a low-powered, street-level rookie hero on the very lowest foothills of the Marvel Universe. \u00a0While the big guns are taking on global threats, she’s trying to stop the looters. \u00a0And so forth. \u00a0Keeping the idea that Anya’s father approves of her career, the book rather bizarrely shoehorns in the previously unmentioned idea that he’s a close friend of the Fantastic Four – really quite odd if you’ve read their earlier stories, but then very few people have, I suppose. \u00a0This first issue is more an exercise in introducing the cast and setting up the rookie-underdog theme, and doesn’t really get the plot underway. \u00a0But it sets a nice tone for all that, and it’s thankfully light on ties to notional parent title Amazing Spider-Man<\/em>. \u00a0(By which I mean: it doesn’t seem to have any at all.) \u00a0Clayton Henry’s art steers clear of cheesecake altogether and gets the tone nicely. \u00a0There’s a back-up strip drawn by Dean Haspiel, with Anya visiting the Fantastic Four when she was about eight – really quite cute.\u00a0\u00a0All told, it’s got very little to do with any previous incarnation of this character, but in most cases the changes are clearly for the best. \u00a0Light on plot, bit of a quick read, but likeable.<\/p>\n

Thunderbolts<\/em> #150<\/strong> – The anniversary issue guest stars the original Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, so that the Thunderbolts can take on the Avengers in a botched jailbreak attempt. \u00a0Kind of an odd story; trying to break out entirely doesn’t really seem to fit Juggernaut’s character from the last few years, and while it’s easier to believe from Ghost, a lot of the characters in this story seem to be switching attitude instantaneously, in a way that doesn’t quite ring true for me. \u00a0I like the general idea of this story, it’s just the details that seem a bit off. \u00a0But the bit with the frog is wonderful (I’ll avoid spoilers), and there’s something strangely appealing about Kev Walker’s blocky art. \u00a0There’s also a reprint of the whole first issue – which was double sized, so there’s a chunk of your five dollars right there, but if you haven’t read it in a while, it’s a nice reminder of one of Kurt Busiek’s more effective swerve endings.<\/p>\n

X-Factor<\/em> #211<\/strong> – Back to the Las Vegas storyline. \u00a0It’s mostly an action issue with the group fighting, well, zombie vikings in Las Vegas. \u00a0There’s a subplot bit with Hela and Pip, but yeah, mostly fighting. \u00a0Thor shows up at the end, and naturally the dialogue’s good – it’s Peter David, after all – but given that this storyline is already three months in, it seems like it should have made a bit more progress this issue. \u00a0What’s there is fine but the pacing could stand to pick up.<\/p>\n

X-Men<\/em> #5<\/strong> – And finally for this week, “Curse of the Mutants” continues. \u00a0In this issue: fighting! \u00a0It’s mutants versus an army of vampires, and, uh, yeah, it’s the issue where the mutants face an army of vampires. \u00a0But fair enough, we’ve spent four issues building this up, and this issue does get the big fight out of the way so that next issue can deal with Xarus. \u00a0The pacing’s fine so far as that goes. \u00a0The fight itself – well, there are a couple of good ideas in there. \u00a0There’s a lovely throwaway scene with Iceman which is perhaps my favourite panel of the week, and a good use of the X-Men’s overextended cast by having Cyclops put together a team comprised entirely of the ones who can’t be bitten. \u00a0On the other hand, the fight itself doesn’t really hang together for me – it kind of depends on you buying into the idea that the vampire attack falls apart simply because they lose Wolverine, and with an entire army on each side, it’s hard to believe that he makes that much difference. \u00a0Especially since the Atlanteans have to fight off the undersea contingent too. \u00a0Easily demoralised, these vampires. \u00a0Still, there are a couple of really good moments in here, and while the overall story is fluff, it’s still quite readable.<\/p>\n

(Edited to correct the title of Batman Incorporated…)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve got tons of content on the blog this weekend. \u00a0The double-length episode 50 of House to Astonish will probably go up more or less while I’m writing this, and check further down the blog for another music post and for a preview of tonight’s Survivor Series show. Oh, and I’ve finally got around this […]<\/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,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","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\/604","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=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":609,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions\/609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}