REVIEWS: The X-Axis - 13 April 2003
Paul O'Brien
THE X-AXIS
13 April 2003
=============
For more links, cover art, archived reviews, and information on the
X-Axis mailing list, visit http://www.thexaxis.com
------------
This week:
EXILES #25 - "With an Iron Fist, conclusion"
by Judd Winick, Kev Walker and Simon Coleby
UNCANNY X-MEN #421 - "Rules of Engagement, 1 of 2"
by Chuck Austen and Ron Garney
WOLVERINE: X-ISLE #2 - "X-Isle, part 2"
by Bruce Jones and Jorge Lucas
X-MEN UNLIMITED #43
"Keepsake" by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz
"Lockheed the Dragon" by Steven Grant and Paul Smith
411 #1
"Blow Up" by Bill Jemas, Chuck Austen and Phil Winslade
"Tit-for-Tat" by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely
"Seeds" by David Rees and Tony Salmons
------------
I've seen a few people saying that EXILES #25 has redeemed this
otherwise dreary storyline. Well, I certainly wouldn't go that far.
Yes, it's far and away the strongest of the three issues, but it doesn't
force any reassessment of the previous parts of this arc.
As you'll recall, this is the final part of the three-part arc starring
Weapon X, the "dark" Exiles. The basic idea is that they've been sent
to a world ruled by an evil, villainous Iron Man who has schemed to
achieve global domination. To complete his domination, Iron Man needs
to capture the Inhumans; because they're dark, Weapon X have been sent
to help him rather than stop him.
The big twist in this issue is that while Weapon X manage to get in to
Attilan, it then turns out that the Inhumans have all killed themselves
to avoid capture. The narrator then gives us a potted history of the
siege of Masada in 74 AD before Black Bolt yells the word "Masada" and
causes all manner of devastation. Iron Man's victory is pyrrhic and
subsequently he's bumped off by the surviving Inhumans.
Now, I'll grant you, the siege of Masada is a powerful story. This is
far from the most inspirational rendition of it - it requires a horribly
blatant piece of infodumping in the middle of a battle scene in order
for the climax to work, and Kev Walker's artwork nearly wrecks the
crucial moment by rendering Black Bolt as a steroid-addled hunchback.
But yes, it's a powerful story.
But it's a strong story sitting in the middle of an otherwise weak
story. It can't get around two crucial problems. First, Iron Man is
undermotivated. Writing him as a villain for no discernible reason is
mere gimmickry.
Secondly, the point of the Masada story is that it's a pyrrhic victory.
With clodhopping literalism, Winick feels compelled to resolve the story
with an actual defeat. We're repeatedly told that Stark has been
defeated, but this is only true insofar as his plan to capture the
Inhumans has been foiled. He didn't need the Inhumans to retain his
grip on power, so there's no obvious reason why his control of the world
would now be any weaker. But whereas the entire Inhuman race was
apparently unable to defeat Stark before now, Sue Richards on her own is
somehow able to do him in by the mystic power of thematic resolution.
Nice try, but no sale. If Sue can do it now, she could have done it
before, so the Inhumans have died in vain and the theme is undermined.
Masada is a nice anecdote. But it's not Winick's anecdote, and it's
left adrift here in an otherwise unimpressive story with sporadically
ugly art.
Rating: B
LINKS
http://www.marvel.com
http://www.frumpy.com (Judd Winick)
------------
Continuing another less-than-stellar week for the X-books, UNCANNY X-MEN
gives us the first half of "Rules of Engagement", although it's really
more of a transition issue between stories.
What that means in practice is Chuck Austen pursuing his melodramatic
soap opera plots. To an extent that has provided some of the stronger
moments of his run to date, but I find it very hard to get worked up
about. Aside from a degree of roster reshuffling, the main focus of
this issue is the continued romantic triangle centred around Alex, and
the rather odd romantic subplot for Warren and Paige.
Both of these plots require a bit of psychological suspension of
disbelief from the reader. Alex's storyline involves him being pursued
by two women both of whom are defined primarily by their mental health
problems. Austen seems to be trying to sell us on the idea of Annie and
Alex as joined by destiny, but the sheer bizarreness of Annie falling in
love with a comatose patient gives the plot an inherent creepiness that
he never really manages to get away from. And Lorna, of course, has
been reinvented as an one-dimensional bitch for purposes of plot
convenience.
Ron Garney turns up on art, just to remind us that he's supposed to be
one of the regular artists on this title. We haven't actually seen him
since issue #412, last September. This is pretty bland stuff, and very
far from his best work. He's really more of an action artist, and soap
opera doesn't play to his strengths.
Uninspired.
Rating: C+
------------
Also this week, Bruce Jones' weekly WOLVERINE: X-ISLE miniseries
continues.
As with some of Jones' Hulk stories, the strategy here seems to be
deliberately enigmatic weirdness. But while it was fairly successful at
building a warped conspiracy story in that title, it doesn't quite work
here. It's all a little too disjointed, and there's a slight feel of
surrealism by numbers.
Worse, I have the sinking feeling that this is heading towards an "it
was all a dream" ending - there's the passing-out sequence that segued
into the island at the end of the previous issue, and that's reinforced
here by the island bar containing carnival music and a scene with the
barman that re-enacts the sideshow booth sequences in previous issues.
(The barman is the same guy who was manning one of the booths last
issue. The glasses behind him shatter because somebody's playing his
game and throwing balls at them.)
The nature of these puzzle-box stories is that you can only really
review them sensibly at the end when it becomes apparent whether it's
all an intricate set-up to a clever conclusion, or just a mess. If this
is going to work, though, it's going to turn on character insight. Last
issue suggested that Jones' grasp of the character is slightly but
significantly off. This is slightly better, but then he doesn't have
all that much to react to this time round.
The art's pretty good, though. Jorge Lucas has the character down, and
gives the island a degree of credibility that the story doesn't
otherwise contain.
I'm still reserving judgment until it becomes clearer where all this is
heading, but for the moment I remain sceptical.
Rating: B-
------------
X-MEN UNLIMITED #43 leads with a reunion of Chris Claremont and Bill
Sienkiewicz, commemorating the twentieth anniversary of New Mutants.
Not, admittedly, the twentieth anniversary of Sienkiewicz's debut on the
title - that didn't happen until 1984. And if you want to be picky,
while the cover date for New Mutants #1 was in 1983, the team actually
debuted in 1982. But that would be nitpicking. It's the
Claremont/Sienkiewicz run that still stands out as the most memorable
and distinctive period of that title. When you read Claremont's fans
complaining about the prospect of getting Igor Kordey on X-Treme X-Men,
you have to wonder what they would have made of Sienkiewicz's work on
New Mutants. His design for Warlock as a cubist Gerald Scarfe cartoon
plagued more conventional artists for years after he left.
Technically, this isn't all that great a story. It's set in the present
day and it's basically a reunion piece for the founding five New Mutants
- Sam, Dani, Bobby, Rahne and Shan. There's another four former New
Mutants who joined early on, but two are dead and the other two have
been changed beyond recognition by a series of ill-advised retcons, so
we're better off without them. These five, aren't just the founders,
they're also easier to work with. Most of them haven't really deviated
that far from Claremont's established directions for them - Sunspot
eventually ended up associated with the Hellfire Club, but that's the
storyline which Claremont spent years pointing towards.
The device to get them back together is a rudimentary plot about the
theft of Rahne's necklace (which she picked up from Robert the Bruce in
a slightly strained time-travel story back in the day). It'd be a strain
to say there were any great insights or points being made here. To be
honest, Rahne's blithering about keepsakes from her king is a bit silly,
but who cares? It's all an excuse to bring the characters back together
for the first time in over a decade, and play to the nostalgia angle.
Sienkiewicz doesn't get a huge amount to work with, but then he doesn't
really need it - he can produce unique art out of virtually anything.
Now, New Mutants was the series that originally got me into comics, and
therefore I have a nice warm glow and am all happy. Those of you who
don't remember the book from first time round may think it's simply a
rather average exercise in nostalgia with somewhat unusual art, and I
couldn't objectively disagree. But I think it's important to stress
that I don't care. It still makes me pleased.
The other half of the issue is a Lockheed story by Steven Grant and Paul
Smith, which sets out to provide an explanation for his absence from
Kitty's recent Mekanix miniseries. Apparently he's been left behind in
England after an unpublished story where he was missing, presumed dead.
(I could have sworn we had a scene where he was with Kitty in Chicago,
in an X-Treme X-Men annual. But it doesn't matter, because it works
better this way.)
The angle is that Lockheed finds himself in a small town held in thrall
by two evil sisters with magic powers. It's pretty clear that for
purposes of this story Grant is running with Lockheed as an animal,
albeit an intelligent one, who doesn't entirely grasp what's going on
around him. Purists might not like that, but it works for me. He's a
pet; that's his role.
The story has a rather self-conscious tone of 1950s school hijinks, with
some weird transfiguration scenes thrown in. It's fairly well trodden
territory, and it's not really got a great deal to do with Lockheed, but
as a tongue-in-cheek story about the girls it works. It's been a while
since I've seen any art from Paul Smith, but he's on top form here.
With admitted subjectivity, a fun issue.
Rating: B+
------------
At least in commercial terms, 411 is the strangest thing Marvel have put
out in ages. It's a three-issue anthology miniseries featuring stories
about peace.
With perhaps a slight degree of optimism, the back cover describes the
series like this: "On April 11, 2003 grief turns to hope and resolve
when Marvel and its international creative community pay tribute to the
world's least-heralded heroes: peacemakers. The 411 anthology tells
true and fictional stories of people choosing to fight aggression with
information and nonviolent resistance." The book then proceeds to get
off to a riproaring start with "Understanding the Culture of
Nonviolence", a two page article by Arun Gandhi about the necessity of
embracing pacifism on a cultural level.
The general reaction to this series (notwithstanding Marvel's claims to
be answering criticism) has been bafflement. Who's it for, exactly?
It's certainly not a money grabbing exercise - in the current American
climate, most media outlets are running a mile from this sort of thing.
Of course, it wasn't originally commissioned with a view to tying in
with the Iraq war. But it does appear to be something Marvel are
producing for no real reason other than that the current administration
think pacifism is a good thing and would like to promote it.
All very laudable, but does it make for good stories? The difficulty
that creators face is that everyone claims to be in favour of peace, and
broadly speaking everyone is. Nobody who's mentally stable wants to
bomb Iraq simply because they enjoy wars; it's a question of assessing
the specific situation (rightly or wrongly) as warranting a deviation
from the general principle. Stories which simply contend that peace is,
on balance, a good thing are likely to be telling the audience something
that they already know.
Marville has not done wonders for Bill Jemas' reputation as a writer, so
it's worth remembering that his contribution to Moment of Silence was
actually quite good. "Blow Up", co-written with Chuck Austen, isn't bad
either. It's about the Arab/Israeli conflict, and its main failing is
that it really comes down to being a general plea for everyone to stop
shooting one another. Nonetheless, it's solidly structured, and has some
excellent art from Phil Winslade. And the central point that both sides
are equally to blame for maintaining a circle of violence (the lead
character goes out of his way to blame other Israelis for the death of
his daughter at the hands of a Palestinian terrorist) probably does
count as a controversial viewpoint in America, which gives the story a
little more point.
Mark Millar and Frank Quitely give the audience a briefing on the
history of Northern Ireland, and a nice little anecdote about
(presumably) Millar's grandfather in the 1920s. Millar is less
concerned about portraying each side as evenly to blame. And a strong
case can be made that in the Northern Irish context, they weren't - the
problems there weren't just to do with social violence but a general
abuse of power by the protestant majority. Nonetheless, his story comes
down to the same cycle of violence point. If people were a little more
imaginative in the way they took revenge on one another, then at least
they wouldn't be able to justify continually killing one another. Plus,
it is a funny anecdote, even if Millar gives it a bitter aftertaste by
acknowledging that it didn't really change anything. They have Orange
parades in Glasgow too - dreadful things, and not just because they
screw up the traffic. This is a really nice little story, and a
pleasant change of pace for both Millar and Quitely.
Finally, David Rees and Tony Salmons' "Seeds" is about an Afghan soldier
turning his back on the armed forces to join landmine clearance
operations. It's more about breaking with social pressure. There's a
hectoring father representing the forces of history, a young child
representing purity and the future, and a gardening metaphor about
regrowth in order to allude to the old "swords and ploughshares"
proverb. Dialogue such as "I'm sorry, dad, but the defense of my home
has started to feel too much like its destruction" appears. It's very
well intentioned, and quite well presented, but not desperately subtle -
and it's unlikely many people's opinions are going to be greatly
challenged by the proposition that Afghanistan would be a better place
if they stopped shooting one another and cleared more landmines.
To be honest, this is better than I expected - perhaps because in the
current climate a comic about pacifism doesn't come across as stating
the obvious, and its preachier tendencies can be more easily excused.
The art's good throughout, and it's got a Millar/Quitely story which is
worth your time in reading.
Rating: B
LINKS
http://www.gandhiinstitute.org
http://www.millarworld.biz (Mark Millar)
http://www.mnftiu.cc (David Rees)
------------
Also this week...
ASTRO CITY: LOCAL HEROES #2 - The source material for this one's pretty
clear. It's a riff on the Superman and Lois Lane relationship - all
those stories where she would nearly expose his true identity and they'd
play bizarre Silver Age tricks on one another. To modern eyes those
stories read as weird and occasionally rather cruel, and Busiek takes
that as the starting for point for a similar relationship which actually
is as warped as the Superman stories seem. Perhaps it wears its
influences a little too obviously on its sleeve, but it's still a fun
inversion of the established set-up. A-
BLACK PANTHER #57 - J Torres and Ryan Bodenheim with a two-part fill-in
story set in past continuity, which is normally code for "we
commissioned this ages ago and never found a gap to run it". Bodenheim
was the guy who won that Wizard World artist contest and got to draw a
back-up strip in Wolverine; teamed here with an experienced inker
(Walden Wong), the results are perfectly acceptable, especially from a
relative novice. The actual story perhaps spends a bit too much time
trying to mimic the tone of earlier Christopher Priest stories, not to
mention shamelessly recycling the plot of Hamlet. But there are worse
stories to recycle, and it holds together more or less. B
BLOOD & WATER #2 - Basically more of the same from issue #1 - extended
exposition about why it's great to be a vampire, although livened up
with a suitably nightmarish hallucination sequence at the end. Still,
Winick seems almost more concerned to remind us how cool his concept of
vampirism is, as opposed to telling any particular story with it. A bit
more plot needed. B
CAPTAIN AMERICA #12 - Remember when Captain America turned into a wolf?
Ah, happy days. This is the beginning of "Ice", which started off as a
miniseries by John Ney Reiber and Jae Lee and now finds itself as part
of the regular series and with the main writing credit given to Chuck
Austen. The political agenda is becoming a little clearer - the idea is
supposed to be that Captain America is just so darned idealistic and
great that the US government was concerned that he might turn on them
rather than allow Hiroshima. It's not an idea that I buy for a second -
Hiroshima differed from, say, Dresden in scale rather than ideological
objectionability, and he didn't do anything about that. Anyhow, the
story suggests radical retcons of Captain America's history in order to
turn his absence after World War II into a conspiracy story. Despite
some attractive individual panels from Jae Lee, characters are hard to
tell apart and exposition is virtually nonexistent. Very, very bad
indeed. D
HUMAN TORCH #1 - Another Tsunami book, taking us back to Johnny Storm as
a schoolboy. I'm starting to see the approach here - while this is
nominally a superhero title, to all intents and purposes it's nothing of
the sort. It's a high school comedy drama. There are no supervillains
present, and the only antagonist is Mike Snow, Storm's rival for the
school's alpha male status. In a refreshing change from the cliches,
Karl Kesel doesn't write Snow as a bullying jock; he's written as a
basically quiet and likeable chap until Storm goes out of his way to
challenge for the role, and Storm seems at least as much to blame for
the feud that follows. Skottie Young's exaggerated figures seem at home
with this material. Pleasantly readable stuff. B
STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #10 - Tefibi is arrested by the corrupt US
government. Oh hold on, sorry, he's not. He's indefinitely detained
without trial under anti-terrorist legislation. What nonsense. We all
know that doesn't work unless you hold the prisoners offshore. Dearie
me, these left-wing writers with their slipshod research and their
fundamentally accurate points. Anyhow, it's basically a one-act story of
Tefibi's escape, played in large part for laughs. While Portacio's work
is easier on the eye than in previous issues, he's not really a comedy
artist, and the jokes don't entirely work. B
ULTIMATE ADVENTURES #3 - Holy shit, issue #3? What is this, four months
late? Anyhow, for anyone who can still remember the plot, this is about
Jack trying to build a relationship with Hank. I can see what
Zimmerman's trying to do here, but it isn't quite working - the
characters are a little too contrived to really care about their
relationship, and Zimmerman's tiresome layer of protective irony is too
prominent. C+
------------
There's a new Article 10 at Ninth Art on Monday. http://www.ninthart.com
I remind you once again that you can vote in the UK National Comics
Awards at their website. The X-Axis and Ninth Art are both eligible for
the website awards. http://www.sitsvac.org/awards2002.html
Next week, Wolverine: X-Isle continues; New X-Men begins a new
storyline; another issue of X-Men Unlimited (which has become badly
backlogged while waiting for this week's issue to be ready - there's
another one due the week after next as well!); and more fill-ins in
Wolverine and Soldier X.
--
Paul O'Brien
THE X-AXIS - http://www.thexaxis.com
ARTICLE 10 - http://www.ninthart.com
Regime change begins at home.
Paul O'Brien
Billy Bissette
>
> BLACK PANTHER #57 - J Torres and Ryan Bodenheim with a two-part fill-in
> story set in past continuity, which is normally code for "we
> commissioned this ages ago and never found a gap to run it". Bodenheim
> was the guy who won that Wizard World artist contest and got to draw a
> back-up strip in Wolverine; teamed here with an experienced inker
> (Walden Wong), the results are perfectly acceptable, especially from a
> relative novice. The actual story perhaps spends a bit too much time
> trying to mimic the tone of earlier Christopher Priest stories, not to
> mention shamelessly recycling the plot of Hamlet. But there are worse
> stories to recycle, and it holds together more or less. B
Works as an acceptable break from Kasper's story, and jumping back in
time a year in general works for Black Panther...
I didn't really mind the mimicking of early Priest-Panther, as to me
it helps tie the story into Priest's run. Besides, its fun to go back
to Ross narration, even if it isn't quite right at times. My main concern
will be the story overall, but at least the writing/plotting is acceptable
and is trying to fit in with [older] Priest-Panther.
My biggest complaint with the book was the artwork. But now that you
mention the story of the artwork, I'll change my opinion of it in a way.
From a relative novice (and without knowing how much work the inker did
on it), its actually pretty good artwork. All things considered, it holds
up pretty good against the "average" Marvel art, and is better than some
of the people who have been getting paid for more than a year.
Heck, this artist/inker team might have helped Priest's Deadpool run
be a bit better.
(And honestly, my main complaint with the art here was that it didn't
quite click with Panther.)
> CAPTAIN AMERICA #12 - Remember when Captain America turned into a wolf?
> Ah, happy days.
Unfortunately, yes. Though you make me glad I stopped reading the
relaunch of Cap about 6 issues ago...
> ULTIMATE ADVENTURES #3 - Holy shit, issue #3? What is this, four months
> late? Anyhow, for anyone who can still remember the plot,
Hrm. Wasn't the gap on The Ultimates even worse? Or am I just thinking
that because it's been a halfway decent series?
Laura M. Parkinson
<pa...@esoterica.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Continuing another less-than-stellar week for the X-books, UNCANNY X-MEN
>gives us the first half of "Rules of Engagement", although it's really
>more of a transition issue between stories.
That does it... it's fairly obvious that we're polar opposites on what
type of stories we like. I like the character-driven stuff like this,
you seem to like the stuff that's more driven by the style, more
conceptual.
Of course, I could just be reading that wrong. But there's my take on
it. :p
>Also this week, Bruce Jones' weekly WOLVERINE: X-ISLE miniseries
>continues.
*some snippage*
>Worse, I have the sinking feeling that this is heading towards an "it
>was all a dream" ending -
Ah, gee... you too?
It's not like it's... obvious or anything. *whistles*
>there's the passing-out sequence that segued
>into the island at the end of the previous issue, and that's reinforced
>here by the island bar containing carnival music and a scene with the
>barman that re-enacts the sideshow booth sequences in previous issues.
>(The barman is the same guy who was manning one of the booths last
>issue. The glasses behind him shatter because somebody's playing his
>game and throwing balls at them.)
Ah, cool, glad you caught that. I *did* catch the carnival music,
thing, and figured it was probably the music from the carnival coming
through into his dream from the "real world," but I didn't catch the
fact that the bartender was the stall guy, or *why* the glasses were
shattering.
That said, I didn't care about the book enough to really *look* for
explanations that hard.
>Next week, Wolverine: X-Isle continues; New X-Men begins a new
>storyline; another issue of X-Men Unlimited (which has become badly
>backlogged while waiting for this week's issue to be ready - there's
>another one due the week after next as well!); and more fill-ins in
>Wolverine and Soldier X.
Good grief, ANOTHER five-issue week?
Shoot me. Shoot me now.
Graeme
news:t7ck9voa3ivgh1crg...@4ax.com...
> >Continuing another less-than-stellar week for the X-books, UNCANNY X-MEN
> >gives us the first half of "Rules of Engagement", although it's really
> >more of a transition issue between stories.
>
> That does it... it's fairly obvious that we're polar opposites on what
> type of stories we like. I like the character-driven stuff like this,
> you seem to like the stuff that's more driven by the style, more
> conceptual.
>
> Of course, I could just be reading that wrong. But there's my take on
> it. :p
"Mr Style Over Substance", that's Paul all over :)
> >there's the passing-out sequence that segued
> >into the island at the end of the previous issue, and that's reinforced
> >here by the island bar containing carnival music and a scene with the
> >barman that re-enacts the sideshow booth sequences in previous issues.
> >(The barman is the same guy who was manning one of the booths last
> >issue. The glasses behind him shatter because somebody's playing his
> >game and throwing balls at them.)
>
> Ah, cool, glad you caught that. I *did* catch the carnival music,
> thing, and figured it was probably the music from the carnival coming
> through into his dream from the "real world," but I didn't catch the
> fact that the bartender was the stall guy, or *why* the glasses were
> shattering.
That's probably because it's a conceptual thing rather than a
character-driven thing :)
> Good grief, ANOTHER five-issue week?
>
> Shoot me. Shoot me now.
This is why I'm grateful for the work you and Paul do in bringing us these
reviews - I get to find out what's happening in the world of X-books without
having to subject myself to the actual pain of reading the Mutant/Weapon Xs
of the world. My own tastes seem to fall somewhere between your's and
Paul's..
Graeme
--
http://members.optusnet.com.au/graeme
"Cut myself shaving this morning. Got pretty scratched
up shaving the cat, too." - Bug-Eyed Earl (Red Meat)
Laura M. Parkinson
<gra...@optushome.sodoff.com.au> wrote:
>"Laura M. Parkinson" <lpark...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
>news:t7ck9voa3ivgh1crg...@4ax.com...
>
>> >Continuing another less-than-stellar week for the X-books, UNCANNY X-MEN
>> >gives us the first half of "Rules of Engagement", although it's really
>> >more of a transition issue between stories.
>>
>> That does it... it's fairly obvious that we're polar opposites on what
>> type of stories we like. I like the character-driven stuff like this,
>> you seem to like the stuff that's more driven by the style, more
>> conceptual.
>>
>> Of course, I could just be reading that wrong. But there's my take on
>> it. :p
>
>"Mr Style Over Substance", that's Paul all over :)
Actually, I was thinking of that phrase, but it sounds a lot more
negative than what I was going for. *grins*
I suppose I'm thinking it's more "style emphasized more than at least
parts of the substance." Or something. ;)
>> >there's the passing-out sequence that segued
>> >into the island at the end of the previous issue, and that's reinforced
>> >here by the island bar containing carnival music and a scene with the
>> >barman that re-enacts the sideshow booth sequences in previous issues.
>> >(The barman is the same guy who was manning one of the booths last
>> >issue. The glasses behind him shatter because somebody's playing his
>> >game and throwing balls at them.)
>>
>> Ah, cool, glad you caught that. I *did* catch the carnival music,
>> thing, and figured it was probably the music from the carnival coming
>> through into his dream from the "real world," but I didn't catch the
>> fact that the bartender was the stall guy, or *why* the glasses were
>> shattering.
>
>That's probably because it's a conceptual thing rather than a
>character-driven thing :)
:p
>> Good grief, ANOTHER five-issue week?
>>
>> Shoot me. Shoot me now.
>
>This is why I'm grateful for the work you and Paul do in bringing us these
>reviews - I get to find out what's happening in the world of X-books without
>having to subject myself to the actual pain of reading the Mutant/Weapon Xs
>of the world. My own tastes seem to fall somewhere between your's and
>Paul's..
Heh, that's us... bookends. Or something.
Glad the reviews are helpful at any rate!
Graeme
> >"Mr Style Over Substance", that's Paul all over :)
>
> Actually, I was thinking of that phrase, but it sounds a lot more
> negative than what I was going for. *grins*
I'm good at being negative. If I was any better at it, I'd feel obliged to
start posting on comic websites' message boards.
> I suppose I'm thinking it's more "style emphasized more than at least
> parts of the substance." Or something. ;)
I don't know if there's *any* nice way of saying that concisely.
> >> Ah, cool, glad you caught that. I *did* catch the carnival music,
> >> thing, and figured it was probably the music from the carnival coming
> >> through into his dream from the "real world," but I didn't catch the
> >> fact that the bartender was the stall guy, or *why* the glasses were
> >> shattering.
> >
> >That's probably because it's a conceptual thing rather than a
> >character-driven thing :)
>
> :p
... although technically if there were characters throwing the balls that
were smashing the glasses, then the shattering glasses *could* be described
as character-driven...
> Glad the reviews are helpful at any rate!
Oh, yeah. If you and Paul both agree something is vile then I don't even
look at it on the shelves in case my eyes start bleeding. And if you both
agree something's particularly good (Gail Simone's Agent X) then I
thoughlessly ignore both of you until it's too late to find back issues
anywhere.
Sean Walsh
> On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 00:09:40 +0100, Paul O'Brien
> <pa...@esoterica.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >Also this week, Bruce Jones' weekly WOLVERINE: X-ISLE miniseries
> >continues.
>
> *some snippage*
>
> >Worse, I have the sinking feeling that this is heading towards an "it
> >was all a dream" ending -
>
> Ah, gee... you too?
>
> It's not like it's... obvious or anything. *whistles*
>
> >there's the passing-out sequence that segued
> >into the island at the end of the previous issue, and that's reinforced
> >here by the island bar containing carnival music and a scene with the
> >barman that re-enacts the sideshow booth sequences in previous issues.
> >(The barman is the same guy who was manning one of the booths last
> >issue. The glasses behind him shatter because somebody's playing his
> >game and throwing balls at them.)
>
> Ah, cool, glad you caught that. I *did* catch the carnival music,
> thing, and figured it was probably the music from the carnival coming
> through into his dream from the "real world," but I didn't catch the
> fact that the bartender was the stall guy, or *why* the glasses were
> shattering.
>
> That said, I didn't care about the book enough to really *look* for
> explanations that hard.
A carnival atmosphere, eh? Repeating characters? A dream-like...unreal...state?
Sounds like some...outside force might be messing with Logan here.
--
Sean,
ARCADE?!?!
:)
Laura M. Parkinson
wrote:
*snip*
[Wolverine: X-Isle]
>A carnival atmosphere, eh? Repeating characters? A dream-like...unreal...state?
>
>Sounds like some...outside force might be messing with Logan here.
Nah, not Arcade. :) Wolverine went to the carnival, not vice-versa.
And he knocked his own silly self out, no one did it for him. Besides,
it's not Arcade's normal form of surreal-ness, just a... well...
boring one.
Brian Doyle
"Paul O'Brien" <pa...@esoterica.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:uXShN6G0...@esoterica.demon.co.uk...
>
> THE X-AXIS
> 13 April 2003
> =============
>
> For more links, cover art, archived reviews, and information on the
> X-Axis mailing list, visit http://www.thexaxis.com
>
> ------------
>
> Sienkiewicz, commemorating the twentieth anniversary of New Mutants.
God, but I feel old! Oh yeah, I am!
> When you read Claremont's fans
> complaining about the prospect of getting Igor Kordey on X-Treme X-Men,
> you have to wonder what they would have made of Sienkiewicz's work on
> New Mutants.
LOL!
> His design for Warlock as a cubist Gerald Scarfe cartoon
> plagued more conventional artists for years after he left.
Great description of our favourite Technarch!
> The device to get them back together is a rudimentary plot about the
> theft of Rahne's necklace (which she picked up from Robert the Bruce in
> a slightly strained time-travel story back in the day). It'd be a strain
> to say there were any great insights or points being made here. To be
> honest, Rahne's blithering about keepsakes from her king is a bit silly,
> but who cares? It's all an excuse to bring the characters back together
> for the first time in over a decade, and play to the nostalgia angle.
> Sienkiewicz doesn't get a huge amount to work with, but then he doesn't
> really need it - he can produce unique art out of virtually anything.
>
> Now, New Mutants was the series that originally got me into comics, and
> therefore I have a nice warm glow and am all happy. Those of you who
> don't remember the book from first time round may think it's simply a
> rather average exercise in nostalgia with somewhat unusual art, and I
> couldn't objectively disagree. But I think it's important to stress
> that I don't care. It still makes me pleased.
I got a kick out of it, even down to Claremont's grasp of Scottish
vernacular. :)
"I'm Scot".... Umm sorry Rahne dear, you're not. You're "_a_ Scot", or
you're "Scottish"...
I got a little confused about how old Rahne was supposed to be "A
schoolgirl" in a school uniform, or a mature young adult in some sort of
leatherwear! Bit bipolar for my tastes.
Her having some of her powers seemed weird IMHO, but never mind.
I was also somewhat annoyed by Doug's complete absence in the flashback
scenes!
Paul O'Brien
Bissette <bai...@coastalnet.com> writes
>
> Hrm. Wasn't the gap on The Ultimates even worse? Or am I just
>thinking that because it's been a halfway decent series?
Ultimates crept up to running very late, but never actually had such a
huge gap between issues.
Paul O'Brien
Parkinson <lpark...@mindspring.com> writes
>
>That does it... it's fairly obvious that we're polar opposites on what
>type of stories we like. I like the character-driven stuff like this,
>you seem to like the stuff that's more driven by the style, more
>conceptual.
Yes, I think that's a fair comment.
Paul O'Brien
<BD@No__spam.freeserve.co.uk> writes
>
>I got a little confused about how old Rahne was supposed to be "A
>schoolgirl" in a school uniform, or a mature young adult in some sort
>of leatherwear! Bit bipolar for my tastes.
I suspect Sienkiewicz taking the piss to some extent.
Brian Doyle
> In message <b7evg2$n18$1...@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>, Brian Doyle
> <BD@No__spam.freeserve.co.uk> writes
> >
> >I got a little confused about how old Rahne was supposed to be "A
> >schoolgirl" in a school uniform, or a mature young adult in some sort
> >of leatherwear! Bit bipolar for my tastes.
>
> I suspect Sienkiewicz taking the piss to some extent.
With dialogue referring to her as a "Prep School Girl" it must have been
hard not to!
I was also a little surprised by the reference to the psi-link between Rahne
and Dani still being active. It implies that Dani must have been taking a
hell of a lot of emotional static from Rahne for an awfully long time,
without actually saying anything, or getting in touch with her.
Besides the link only worked in wolf form (As Dani's link was with animals,
not Rahne per se), and Rahne can't make the change anymore..
As you say though, overanalysis doesn't help a Claremont story! :)
Zach Adams
<pa...@esoterica.demon.co.uk> wrote:
(more snippage than King David collecting his dowry)
>
>STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #10 - Tefibi is arrested by the corrupt US
>government. Oh hold on, sorry, he's not. He's indefinitely detained
>without trial under anti-terrorist legislation. What nonsense. We all
>know that doesn't work unless you hold the prisoners offshore. Dearie
>me, these left-wing writers with their slipshod research and their
>fundamentally accurate points. Anyhow, it's basically a one-act story of
>Tefibi's escape, played in large part for laughs. While Portacio's work
>is easier on the eye than in previous issues, he's not really a comedy
>artist, and the jokes don't entirely work. B
>
See, my problem with this isn't ideological so much as logical.
Sure, Tefibi is obviously of Arabic descent, but the idea of a
licensed UN operative who is apparently meant to be either Egyptian or
Egyptian-American being "detained" like this is pretty ludicrous IMO.
I can see them doing it to a Stormwatch operative in the Ellis days
where the US government was so openly antagonistic toward Stormwatch,
but with things at least simmering right now and the US and UN
probably much more concerned about the Authority than each other, I
just don't buy the US government, real or Wildstorm, doing this to
someone who's essentially on their side. Especially after the "don't
tell them your name" gags, indicating repeatedly that Santini and
Tefibi were legitimately afraid this would happen just because someone
named "Khalid Tefibi" was carrying a gun. I can understand and
appreciate Wright's point of view and his use of satire to establish
it (though I don't exactly agree with him), but I think this stuff
does more to make him look like a radical looney than anything else.
That said, I still love the book...if I didn't usually start my comics
on the Metro surrounded by elementary school kids it'd be my first
read that week.
Peace,
Zach
Kev
>The story has a rather self-conscious tone of 1950s school hijinks, with
>some weird transfiguration scenes thrown in. It's fairly well trodden
>territory, and it's not really got a great deal to do with Lockheed, but
>as a tongue-in-cheek story about the girls it works. It's been a while
>since I've seen any art from Paul Smith, but he's on top form here.
>
>With admitted subjectivity, a fun issue.
It was a good short story but I have a *real* problem with the depictions of
animal cruelty whether the individual is real or not. I mean I do have a
particular sweet spot for Lockheed so the happy ending was definitely a winner
for me but I thought the scenes of Lockheed being shot at and stoned were to
gratuitous served only as a device to get him into bad company.
Kev.
R. Tang
Zach Adams <zqa...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 00:09:40 +0100, Paul O'Brien
><pa...@esoterica.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>(more snippage than King David collecting his dowry)
>
>>
>>STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #10 - Tefibi is arrested by the corrupt US
>>government. Oh hold on, sorry, he's not. He's indefinitely detained
>>without trial under anti-terrorist legislation. What nonsense. We all
>>know that doesn't work unless you hold the prisoners offshore. Dearie
>>me, these left-wing writers with their slipshod research and their
>>fundamentally accurate points. Anyhow, it's basically a one-act story of
>>Tefibi's escape, played in large part for laughs. While Portacio's work
>>is easier on the eye than in previous issues, he's not really a comedy
>>artist, and the jokes don't entirely work. B
>>
> See, my problem with this isn't ideological so much as logical.
>Sure, Tefibi is obviously of Arabic descent, but the idea of a
>licensed UN operative who is apparently meant to be either Egyptian or
>Egyptian-American being "detained" like this is pretty ludicrous IMO.
A) It ain't ludicrous to a score of Arabic Americans who are being
detained like this.
B) You may want to make a distinction between the purposes of the
US government and Ivana Baiul.
>I can see them doing it to a Stormwatch operative in the Ellis days
>where the US government was so openly antagonistic toward Stormwatch,
>but with things at least simmering right now and the US and UN
>probably much more concerned about the Authority than each other, I
>just don't buy the US government, real or Wildstorm, doing this to
>someone who's essentially on their side. Especially after the "don't
>tell them your name" gags, indicating repeatedly that Santini and
>Tefibi were legitimately afraid this would happen just because someone
>named "Khalid Tefibi" was carrying a gun. I can understand and
>appreciate Wright's point of view and his use of satire to establish
>it (though I don't exactly agree with him), but I think this stuff
>does more to make him look like a radical looney than anything else.
>That said, I still love the book...if I didn't usually start my comics
>on the Metro surrounded by elementary school kids it'd be my first
>read that week.
>
> Peace,
>Zach
--
-
-Roger Tang, gwan...@u.washington.edu, Artistic Director PC Theatre
- Editor, Asian American Theatre Revue [NEW URL][Yes, it IS new]
- http://www.aatrevue.com
Marc-Oliver Frisch
: See, my problem with this isn't ideological so much as logical.
: Sure, Tefibi is obviously of Arabic descent, but the idea of a
: licensed UN operative who is apparently meant to be either Egyptian or
: Egyptian-American being "detained" like this is pretty ludicrous IMO.
Maybe, but, considering that it's obvious what Wright's point is, I have no quarrels
suspending disbelief on this. (That I applaud and agree with that point may help me with
that, admittedly.)
--
Marc-Oliver Frisch
Dersc...@hotmail.com
2003: The year of the American omelette.