Alright, then. \u00a0I’ve spent this afternoon watching Neil Gaiman at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and it’s another of those weeks when there’s frankly not much of interest on the shelves – so through a combination of lack of time and lack of anything particularly notable to write about, I’ll be sticking to the X-books again this week. \u00a0(Something tells me this quiet period can’t have much more time to run.)<\/p>\n
Generation Hope<\/em>\u00a0#10<\/strong>\u00a0– This is one of only two official tie-ins to Schism – <\/em>not that it’s actually trailed in the Schism<\/em>\u00a0miniseries itself. \u00a0It’s basically the same events as Schism<\/em>\u00a0#3, but told from Idie’s perspective. \u00a0Which makes sense, because while she’s a key character in that issue, she’s also on the margins until right at the end.<\/p>\n Anti-mutant sentiment is on the rise again, and Idie’s kind of sympathetic – after all, she agrees that mutants are dangerously powerful and somewhat horrific, even though she’s one of them. \u00a0So Laurie takes her to the opening night of the Mutant History Museum from Schism<\/em>, to give her a crash course on X-Men history and why the bad guys are quite so bad. \u00a0(And it’s a weirdly comprehensive museum – one wonders what the average visitor would have made of a gallery casually labelled “Alternate timelines”.) \u00a0So the Hellfire Club attack, Scott and Logan have their squabble about whether she should get involved or not, and ultimately Idie steps in and kind-of saves the day by slaughtering a bunch of henchmen, much to the horror of the other characters who’ve put her in that position.<\/p>\n This is a case where telling the same story twice actually works, because the perspective is so different. \u00a0The Schism<\/em>\u00a0version puts the emphasis on the new Hellfire Club and on the X-Men, while this one is all about Idie, with even the villains reduced to the bare minimum required for them to serve their plot function. \u00a0(Probably for the best, for reasons I’ll return to when we get to Schism<\/em>\u00a0itself.) \u00a0It’s a good issue; it covers the key points for people who are only reading this book, but more to the point, it sells the story as a huge deal for these characters in particular. \u00a0Tim Seeley’s art catches the key moment very well, with Idie standing blankly in the wreckage. \u00a0And it’s a turning point for her, when she goes from being the quiet one in the background to somebody who’s decided to become involved in a way that makes everyone else extremely uncomfortable about what they’ve done to her by dragging her into their world.<\/p>\n The issue is worth having to flesh out Schism<\/em>, but it’s also a good character piece for readers who are following the series already.<\/p>\n Uncanny X-Men<\/em>\u00a0#542<\/strong>\u00a0– The Marvel Universe is positively overburdened with events at the moment – between “Fear Itself”, “Spider-Island” and “Schism”, we’ve now got three running at once. \u00a0And so, alongside the “Schism” story that’s supposedly going to shake up the X-Men titles, Uncanny<\/em>\u00a0finds itself running a “Fear Itself” tie-in, which seems like odd scheduling.<\/p>\n It’s still a pretty good issue. \u00a0This is another chapter of the Juggernaut walking ponderously towards San Francisco and the X-Men trying to find ways of stopping him, but that’s a surprisingly successful set-up. \u00a0Despite the “Fear Itself” power-up, this is essentially a back-to-basics Juggernaut story based on the old mantra that Nothing Can Stop The Juggernaut. \u00a0It’s not even that he’s causing much damage as he plods into town; the tension comes from the anticipation of what he’s going to do when he gets there, and the utter failure of every plan to make him stop. \u00a0So we have a series of montages of failed plans which either seal off the obvious questions (why not teleport him away?) or bring on some neat cameos (hey, Adam X is still alive).<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the X-Men finally do the sensible thing that was foreshadowed in chapter one and ask Illyana to sort it out. \u00a0I’m still not altogether sure why she doesn’t just try whacking the Juggernaut with the Soulsword – doesn’t it still break magic spells? – but then I suppose you could have said that about every Juggernaut story in the last twenty years. \u00a0Leave that point aside and her solution here makes equal sense: contact Cyttorak and point out that somebody has nicked his avatar. \u00a0All of which builds to a rather nice cliffhanger. \u00a0There’s a neat subplot with Emma, as well, developing a point which has been in the background for ages: since everyone’s figured out that Hope’s awfully familiar, doesn’t Emma find that a bit threatening?<\/p>\n Greg Land’s art is a bit patchy (his Emma still leaves something to be desired), but it’s actually one of his stronger issues; while there are some blank expressions, there’s not so much manic grinning, and he actually does the Juggernaut sequences well – the sequence crossing the chasm is nicely executed. \u00a0All told, a solid issue.<\/p>\n Wolverine & The Black Cat: Claws II<\/em>\u00a0#2<\/strong>\u00a0– Oh lordy. \u00a0The first issue of this didn’t seem so bad, but now it’s degenerated into a random time travel story where our heroes team up with Killraven.<\/p>\n Now, it’s not that I have a problem with dusting off old concepts, as long as you actually have a story to tell with them. \u00a0Sometimes an idea’s time comes round again. \u00a0That’s fine. \u00a0But this comic is just a case of saying “Hey, everyone, remember Killraven? \u00a0We sure loved Killraven when it came out.” \u00a0There’s no worthwhile plot here, beyond a mechanical quest designed to give the characters an excuse to hang around together. \u00a0It’s just nostalgia.<\/p>\n It would be one thing if the audience could sensibly be expected to share that nostalgia. \u00a0But Killraven ran from 1973 to 1976. \u00a0It was cancelled before I could read. \u00a0And its reputation is based on the work of particular creators (most notably Don McGregor), not the inherent strength of the concept. \u00a0This is the comic book equivalent of a stand-up comedian still doing a “Whatever happened to Spangles” routine. \u00a0And I haven’t heard one of those in 15 years.<\/p>\n Killraven aside, what this comic has to offer is some flat comedy and some excruciating material with the Black Cat – the writers apparently being unable to distinguish between “party girl” and “halfwit” as character types. \u00a0Scenes where she leaps into Wolverine’s arms to escape nasty creatures? \u00a0Pools of acid that only affect clothes? \u00a0This is beyond bad; it’s embarrassing.<\/p>\n X-Factor<\/em>\u00a0#224<\/strong>\u00a0– Lots of mythical beasties show up looking for Rahne’s baby, and it’s born, and they fight and… look, it’s a dud storyline, every book has them occasionally, let’s just pretend it didn’t happen and move on with our lives.<\/p>\n X-Men: Schism<\/em>\u00a0#3<\/strong>\u00a0– Finally, the X-Men’s event miniseries continues. \u00a0Daniel Acuna is the guest artist this time, and he’s a fine superhero artist these days. \u00a0While there are a couple of moments that could be clearer, I love the richness of his colours, and there’s a dynamism in his action sequences these days.<\/p>\n This is also the point where we find out what Cyclops and Wolverine are really arguing about: essentially, whether people like Idie should have been kept out of the firing line. \u00a0Now, judging from previous comments, I suspect that some readers won’t go for this. \u00a0But it makes sense to me. \u00a0Yes, Wolverine’s the black ops guy – but the crucial thing is that, in his mind, he does it so other people don’t have to. \u00a0That’s what he’s fighting for; other people’s opportunity to have a better life than him. \u00a0Cyclops, on the other hand, has become someone who thinks everyone on Utopia is ultimately one of his little soldiers; for him, it’s everyone’s duty to play their part, just like he did.<\/p>\n This, I buy. \u00a0Whether I believe it coming to a peak in the remaining run of this miniseries… well, that’s going to be a tough call, frankly, but we’ll see how well Aaron can sell it. \u00a0But as something the X-Men could disagree on, which would go to the heart of the current Utopia set-up, I buy it.<\/p>\n My main reservation about this series remains the kid villains. \u00a0I’d hazard a guess that they’re supposed to be providing some sort of twisted mirror of Wolverine’s concern for keeping the kids innocent. \u00a0But there’s a real problem with them in this story, because on the one hand you’ve got a relatively sensible argument going on between Cyclops and Wolverine, and a serious dramatic moment with Idie – and on the other, you’ve got these utterly absurd, one-dimensional villains who look like they ought to be fighting the Powerpuff Girls. \u00a0Absurdity’s fine, the X-books could probably use more of it. \u00a0But the two sides of this story don’t gel. \u00a0It’s like recognisable human psychology is being switched on and off from scene to scene, and there are two completely different stories here passing in the night. \u00a0The kids are potentially fun villains, but for all we’ve seen so far, they’re absurdist comic relief, and they don’t feel like they belong in this series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alright, then. \u00a0I’ve spent this afternoon watching Neil Gaiman at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and it’s another of those weeks when there’s frankly not much of interest on the shelves – so through a combination of lack of time and lack of anything particularly notable to write about, I’ll be sticking to the X-books again […]<\/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-994","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\/994","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=994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":995,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994\/revisions\/995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}