REVIEWS - week ending October 12
Paul O'Brien
Even allowing for the fact that this is a five week month, there's a
near dearth of X-books this time around. Nonetheless, a weekly
review post is a weekly review post, and so here's the contents
of this week's rather truncated edition:
X-FACTOR #129 - "Playing With Fire"
by Howard Mackie, Jeff Matsuda and Art Thibert
PROFESSOR XAVIER AND THE X-MEN #14 - "Living Dangerously"
by Jorge Gonzalez, Eric Battle and Steve Moncuse
SPOILERS.
------------
X-FACTOR #129 is... well, more or less what everybody was expecting.
More tension with the government. Mystique and Sabretooth do their
questionable loyalty routine again. X-Factor help Jamie Madrox.
Howard Mackie displays a questionable grasp of the details of Jamie's
powers. And there's a contrived plot to explain his return from the
dead.
The good news is that while it does exactly what we expected, it
at least does it slightly better than we expected. Which, with
this book, means that there's no glaring plot holes and the
dialogue's not bad. Jamie obviously presents problems for Howard
Mackie, who just can't write the sort of lines that wisecracking
characters need. Mercifully, Howard doesn't really try that hard,
and just leaves it up to Jeff Matsuda to give the Multiple Men a
few comical antics in the background.
In fact, Matsuda does a great Multiple Man. There's a particularly
lovely panel with Jamie and Wild Child playing Sonic the Hedgehog
that makes me wonder whether Jeff has been hopelessly miscast on
this book. He seems so much more at home with the lighter scenes
that hiring him to pencil what is probably the grimmest X-book seems
downright perverse.
What really doesn't work this issue is the explanation of how
Jamie survived an on-panel death in X-Factor #100. Rather than
take the simple way out and claim that this Madrox is a duplicate
who got lost somewhere along the line (there's apparently plenty
from the Fallen Angels series unaccounted for), Mackie has decided
that Jamie has one mind in many bodies; that his consciousness
survived his death because the other dupes who were quietly
forgotten about during X-Factor #100 are still alive; and that
Jamie's power filters out the Legacy Virus so that his dupes
aren't infected with it.
This last is a plot device of the highest order. Jamie's power
duplicates everything including his clothes, and we're expected
to believe that he's got a built-in bio-filter? The other two
elements don't sit easily with previous stories either (Peter David
devoted several issues to the fact that Jamie's dupes have a mind
of their own, for example).
Still... clunky plot device aside, not too bad. After the truly
disastrous issues of a few months back, X-Factor is starting to
get its act together again, and things are moving in the right
direction. It's better than X-Force or Cable, at any rate.
------------
Perhaps surprisingly, what it isn't better than is PROFESSOR
XAVIER AND THE X-MEN #14. This series of warmed-over 1960s
stories done for the 1990s started out appallingly, but has been
steadily improving with Jorge Gonzalez writing.
This is the final part of a three-part storyline adapting the
original (two-part) Juggernaut story from 1965. It presents
Gonzalez with two structural problems. First of all, it's
just a 20-page fight scene, and most readers today demand a
little more for their money. Secondly, it has an utterly
gratuitous guest starring appearance from the Human Torch.
Gonzalez has three weapons to respond to this. Firstly, he
wisely slashes the Human Torch's role in the story to the bare
minimum necessary. He's really only here at all for consistency
with the original issue.
Secondly, he gives the Juggernaut a damn good reason to be
homicidal. I'm not sure whether this was in the original story
or not, but I don't remember it being mentioned before. In any
event, the Juggernaut asks a very good question: why didn't
Xavier go back and dig him out? He's a telepath. He must have
known Cain wasn't dead. He leaves Cain buried alive for decades
and has the nerve to act surprised when Cain gets angry about it?
Thirdly, he puts the focus on Professor X's reactions. This
unfortunately takes the form of some rather hamfisted foreshadowing
for Onslaught (Marvel Girl: "He shouldn't suppress his anger like
that! He can't repress his negative emotions forever!") But at
least it's a start. He manages to introduce a little grey into
Xavier's spotless character without actually pulling a hatchet
job on him or overdoing it and turning Cain into a poor, aggrieved
half-brother.
Now, I'm not saying this is a brilliant issue. With such
unpromising source material, it was never going to be unless
Gonzalez dumped the original story entirely. It's a regular
problem with this series; most 1960s X-Men stories were, to
put it mildly, simplistic. Gonzalez has been struggling gamely
to try and put a bit more depth into them without changing the
plot, and has managed to raise what was once unequivocally
the worst X-book in history to a state where it's at least
consistently readable. He has a tendency to wordiness which
he should work on, though.
Guest artist Eric Battle does a fairly good job on this issue,
bearing no resemblance to the cartoony style of regular
penciller Nick Gnazzo. To be honest, I think this is a massive
improvement and would cheerily see Battle take over the title
tomorrow. I'd say the same about Duncan Rouleau, who guest-
pencilled issue #12. It may say something about the state of
comic art at the moment that one of the first things that
struck me about this issue's art was Jean Grey's waist. It's
the right size. Well, most of the time. Battle does an
excellent version of the Beast, as well.
------------
And that's it.
Next week, Excalibur #104, X-Man #22, X-Men #59 and Rise of Apocalypse
#3; plus, if they ever ship them, X.S.E. #2, X-Men '96 and Generation
X #22.
Paul O'Brien
The Onslaught Index - http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~prob/index/
Theatresports: officially more popular than Mark Lamarr.
mrl...@acsu.buffalo.edu
On 13 Oct 1996, Paul O'Brien wrote:
Spoilers retained, though it is a retelling of a 30-year-old story.
>
> Perhaps surprisingly, what it isn't better than is PROFESSOR
> XAVIER AND THE X-MEN #14. This series of warmed-over 1960s
> stories done for the 1990s started out appallingly, but has been
> steadily improving with Jorge Gonzalez writing.
Agreed. I'm ejoying this title more with each issue.
>
> This is the final part of a three-part storyline adapting the
> original (two-part) Juggernaut story from 1965. It presents
> Gonzalez with two structural problems. First of all, it's
> just a 20-page fight scene, and most readers today demand a
> little more for their money. Secondly, it has an utterly
> gratuitous guest starring appearance from the Human Torch.
I can see why you say this Paul, but I disagree about the
gratuitous aspect for two reasons.
1. original X-Men 12 and 13 were my first introduction to the X-Men,
and the storyline that hooked me for all these years. At the time,
I didn't know who the X-Men were, but I did know the Fantastic
Four, so it was great seeing a familiar face. As you say later
in your review, comics of the early sixties were simplistic. I
would hasten to add that they were also simpler; guest appearances
were just starting to occur in the Marvel Universe, so at the
time it was an exciting and pleasurable event. Even then, fans
appreciated continuity. What we liked most about the MU was
that it was a coherent universe, and that characters remembered
meeting one another. The Torch remembered who Xavier was. I don't
have my chronology handy, so I don't recall the sequence of events,
but the FF met the X-Men in FF 28, then in the issue where Reed and Sue
have their engagement party, and again at the wedding.
2. Oh, you mean gratuitous to the *story*. I disagree once again.
At the age of ten, when I read the original story, I found the
Juggernaut to be one of the most deliciously frightening villains
yet encountered--unstoppable, relentless, angry, and powerful.
I also loved the fact that these X-Men that I just discovered
were kids learning to use their powers. Even at age ten I was
terrifically impressed with the fact that Xavier knew his students
were outclassed, and they needed to call in additional support.
You can say that Torch's contribution to the fight was minimal,
but it made sense. The key to beating Juggernaut was to remove
his helmet. The X-Men only managed to loosen it after several
attempts. In the trying, most of them were severely injured or
incapacitated. Although Torch merely distracted Juggernaut, it
was a critical distraction, allowing Angel to tear the helmet away.
It made sense to me then, and does now.
Sorry to sound so passionate about the original story--it invokes
a wonderful sense of nostalgia in me. I still remember reading
issue 13 while on vacation with my folks in Port Colbourne,
Ontario.
>
> Secondly, he gives the Juggernaut a damn good reason to be
> homicidal. I'm not sure whether this was in the original story
> or not, but I don't remember it being mentioned before. In any
> event, the Juggernaut asks a very good question: why didn't
> Xavier go back and dig him out? He's a telepath. He must have
> known Cain wasn't dead. He leaves Cain buried alive for decades
> and has the nerve to act surprised when Cain gets angry about it?
AFAIK, this aspect of the story has never been touched upon before.
I found it fascinating and appropriate. Hats off to
Gonzalez for adding to the character development in a
profoundly subtle way. For years, Juggernaut's motivation has
been jealousy-inspired hatred of Xavier as the good little rich
kid who also happened to develop mutant powers. In the recent
X-Men Unlimited, we see this fleshed out by additional jealousy
over Cain's relationship with his father. Gonzalez has taken it
a step further, showing Cain's anger over being left to die.
The other aspect I like about this development is that it leaves
lots of room for speculation. Cain is entirely correct: Xavier
should have realized his step-brother was still alive. If not,
he would have sensed Cain's death. At the very least he could
have taken the trouble to do a mind scan.
In fact, we have further evidence that Xavier knew Cain was alive.
When J makes his first appearance in original X-Men 12, Xavier
tells his students that he has dreaded this moment.
Why did Xavier leave Cain to "die?" The reader can attribute
a complex mix of emotions to the event.
1. The enemy was shelling the cave; it was coming down around
Xavier's bald-headed ears. He ran.
2. Cain was buried unders thousands of tons of rubble. If it took
the power of the Juggernaut a full decade to dig himself out (as
was mentioned in his first appearance), what could Xavier or
anyone else do to save him?
3. For some inexplicable Stan-Leeish reason (plot exposition
shorthand, most likely), Xavier knew details of the Cytorrak
legend from the very beginning. (The Prof is curious and well-read;
he studied arcane lore.) If so, he realized that Cain was in no
danger of dying. He was no invulnerable. The cave-in created
a prison against the awesome threat of the Juggernaut.
4. Xavier truly hated Cain, and wanted to see him out of his
life, even if this feeling was subconscious.
So, to put the event in the best light, Xavier was protecting the
world against the Juggernaut. He knew the type of man Cain was,
and he knew the unstoppable power of the Juggernaut. To put it
in a negative light, this was not one of Xavier's finer moments,
and he felt an appropriate sense of guilt when Cain finally
confronted him.
If you can't tell by now, I realy enjoyed this scene.
>
> Thirdly, he puts the focus on Professor X's reactions. This
> unfortunately takes the form of some rather hamfisted foreshadowing
> for Onslaught (Marvel Girl: "He shouldn't suppress his anger like
> that! He can't repress his negative emotions forever!") But at
> least it's a start. He manages to introduce a little grey into
> Xavier's spotless character without actually pulling a hatchet
> job on him or overdoing it and turning Cain into a poor, aggrieved
> half-brother.
Agreed. Marvel Girl's comment was "ham-fisted" and unnecessary.
It spoiled the subtlety of the previous scene.
>
> Now, I'm not saying this is a brilliant issue. With such
> unpromising source material, it was never going to be unless
> Gonzalez dumped the original story entirely. It's a regular
> problem with this series; most 1960s X-Men stories were, to
> put it mildly, simplistic. Gonzalez has been struggling gamely
> to try and put a bit more depth into them without changing the
> plot, and has managed to raise what was once unequivocally
> the worst X-book in history to a state where it's at least
> consistently readable. He has a tendency to wordiness which
> he should work on, though.
I usually don't enjoy retellings as much as the original story
for some reason, but Gonzalez is doing an excellent job. The
only issue of "Professor Xavier" which I enjoyed more was Fabian's
take on the Blob story.
>
> Guest artist Eric Battle does a fairly good job on this issue,
> bearing no resemblance to the cartoony style of regular
> penciller Nick Gnazzo. To be honest, I think this is a massive
> improvement and would cheerily see Battle take over the title
I don't like the art on any of the $0.99 titles except for
"Untold S-M." Battle was an improvement, though.
> tomorrow. I'd say the same about Duncan Rouleau, who guest-
> pencilled issue #12. It may say something about the state of
> comic art at the moment that one of the first things that
> struck me about this issue's art was Jean Grey's waist. It's
> the right size. Well, most of the time. Battle does an
> excellent version of the Beast, as well.
Yes, his Beast was the highlight of the book. SwpWarrior said he
thought Battle's style resembled Neal Adams. I wouldn't say
that for most of this book, but the scene where Beast was trying
to pull Juggy's helmet off definitely had the look of an Adams
shot. Still, Battle has a long way to go before reaching the
calibre of Neal Adams.
As usual, excellent review, Paul.
Greenstool the wordy.
P.S. -- Here's something I didn't like about this issue: why does
Xavier have his high-tech hover-chair? I thought this was a
product of Shi'ar technology. In the early years, Xavier always
used a hand-powered wheelchair. This was even prior to the days
of motorized chairs.
Which brings us to Marvel's flip-flop on whether this title is
supposed to be modernizing the X-Men history. Did anyone else
notice that Gonzalez seemed to back away from the Vietnam vs.
Korea snafu? In the previous issue, the Temple of Cytorrak
events were incorrectly attributed to the Vietnam War. In this
issue, Cain and Xavier were simply "serving together in the
military."
Jason M Sardell
Blaze (m-b...@uiuc.edu) wrote:
: Well, it wasn't nearly that grim before Mackie turned the entire team into
: angst-devouring government weenies. Not that I'm biased or anything.
I was just wondering, was this Mackie's idea, or did BOB decide and
then let him write the book. I'm pretty sure that Mystique and
Sabretooth were slated to join the team before Mackie took over.
You really can't make a light-hearted yet serious book (like PADs
X-Factor) with those characters. So, what can we blame Mackie for?
Shard as a hologram (I think this was BOB's idea, most roster changes
are)? Wildchild & Aurora (I think this is Mackie's fault)? Havok
going insane? (Once again, I'd have to attribute this to BOB).
While Mackie may not be one of my favorite writers, but I'm going
to have to defend him in this case. To make such a book even passingly
interesting is quite a feat. Unfortunately, because of his horrible
work on the Gambit and the Gambit II (aka. Rogue) limited series, he's
getting blamed for something that's not entirely his fault.
Just my $.02
Jason Sardell
(hy...@wpi.edu)
Jordan Davis
Jason M Sardell (hy...@WPI.EDU) wrote:
: I was just wondering, was this Mackie's idea, or did BOB decide and
: then let him write the book. I'm pretty sure that Mystique and
: Sabretooth were slated to join the team before Mackie took over.
: You really can't make a light-hearted yet serious book (like PADs
: X-Factor) with those characters. So, what can we blame Mackie for?
: Shard as a hologram (I think this was BOB's idea, most roster changes
: are)? Wildchild & Aurora (I think this is Mackie's fault)? Havok
: going insane? (Once again, I'd have to attribute this to BOB).
: While Mackie may not be one of my favorite writers, I'm going
: to have to defend him in this case. To make such a book even passingly
: interesting is quite a feat. Unfortunately, because of his horrible
: work on the Gambit and the Gambit II (aka. Rogue) limited series, he's
: getting blamed for something that's not entirely his fault.
Umm, even if I accept the position that all the roster changes are
BOB's fault (and it's not implausible), I don't think we can forgive
Mackie for the quality of the stories. Sabretooth is an interesting,
if overexposed, character. And Mystique can be a flat out fantastic
one. If the writing was consistently good this book could be fascinating.
If Polaris was written well, this book could be totally different.
If Wild Child wasn't totally wasted (not to mention redundant) on
this team the book would be better. Forget that Wildchild falls in
love with a hologram - I can almost accept this - but to fall in love
AT FIRST SIGHT, how ridiculous is that. Why couldn't Mackie lead up
to it, show us how and why WildChild would fall for this bundle of
photons?
The biggest problem I have with current X-Factor is the utter lack
of character motivation. WHY does Val keep playing both sides of
the fence? WHAT makes Forge stay with this group. Give me plausible
reasons for the characters actions, and have the characters act
remotely intelligently and sensibly. That's all I ask.
Mackie gets roasted for the Gambit and Rogue limited series because
they were bad. Those books offered precious little in terms of
character motivation and common sense. From my perspective it's the
problem that he's having with X-Factor currently.
I just keep waiting.
JD
Aardy R. DeVarque
Blaze (m-b...@uiuc.edu) wrote:
> In article <53quko$b...@scotsman.ed.ac.uk>, pr...@tattoo.ed.ac.uk (Paul
> O'Brien) wrote:
> >
> > SPOILERS.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > What really doesn't work this issue is the explanation of how
> > Jamie survived an on-panel death in X-Factor #100. Rather than
> > take the simple way out and claim that this Madrox is a duplicate
> > who got lost somewhere along the line (there's apparently plenty
> > from the Fallen Angels series unaccounted for), Mackie has decided
> > that Jamie has one mind in many bodies; that his consciousness
> > survived his death because the other dupes who were quietly
> > forgotten about during X-Factor #100 are still alive; and that
> > Jamie's power filters out the Legacy Virus so that his dupes
> > aren't infected with it.
> I think you missed it.... Madrox was already split into three
> personalities when Haven killed him. According to Mackie, the other two
> were watching the scene from the trees, or something. (Although they
> weren't split off when he was infected with Legacy, to be sure...)
He split off a dupe, who then got infected, and never absorbed the dupe.
Most of the issues between then and Haven dealt with the infected dupe
becoming ever more withdrawn and depressed, while one of the other two got
more and more grim & nasty, and the third tried to mediate the arguments
between the other two--IOW, they slowly developed individual personalities
the longer they were apart. I'm not sure if the rest of the team realized
that there were three dupes around; IIRC, they were careful to only show
one at a time to everyone else. These new dupes look like they were all
from the grim/gritty dupe, and not the mysterious third one alluded to in
this issue, but then quickly forgotten.
At least, that how *I* remember the issues of X-Factor leading up to #100.
So this jives pretty well with my memory--if Mackie's wrong, then I'm
wrong, too. :)
Jamie's always been protrayed as all of the dupes being equally jamie, on
a short-term basis; the differences shart appearing the longer dupes are
apart. It was a fairly common PAD gag, IIRC, to have one dupe finish
another's sentences, or have two dupes simultaneously plan the same thing,
but execute different parts of the plan so they end up working together.
I think the scene that shows both of these best is where he formed his own
human pyramid... ;)
Aardy
F=S+T
Paul O'Brien
m-b...@uiuc.edu (Blaze) writes:
>> SPOILERS.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>I don't know about the dialogue, but I'd call Mystique's mysterious
>acquisition of Forge's magenetic pulse generator and her escape from her
>handcuffs, but not the truck she was being carried in, would qualify as
>"glaring plot holes".
Nothing mysterious about the pulse generator. Forge gave it
to her before he handed her over to the army. All he wanted
to do was get rid of them and, possibly, give the impression
that Jamie had escaped.
And Mystique didn't escape the handcuffs. As near as I can
make out, what she did was (a) use the pulse generator to kill
the lights; (b) take out her guard - difficult with no arms,
but possible to do simply by kicking, with the element of
surprise on her side; (c) assume the guard's shape while still
handcuffed; (d) tell another guard that Mystique had escaped
and put her in handcuffs; (e) get that guard to release her;
(f) beat him up. It wasn't done very clearly, but it does
make sense.
Paul O'Brien
The Onslaught Index - http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~prob/index/
Is there a "Fallen Angels" soundtrack album?
Aardy R. DeVarque
> >> SPOILERS.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >I don't know about the dialogue, but I'd call Mystique's mysterious
> >acquisition of Forge's magenetic pulse generator and her escape from her
> >handcuffs, but not the truck she was being carried in, would qualify as
> >"glaring plot holes".
> Nothing mysterious about the pulse generator. Forge gave it
> to her before he handed her over to the army. All he wanted
> to do was get rid of them and, possibly, give the impression
> that Jamie had escaped.
> And Mystique didn't escape the handcuffs. As near as I can
> make out, what she did was (a) use the pulse generator to kill
> the lights; (b) take out her guard - difficult with no arms,
> but possible to do simply by kicking, with the element of
> surprise on her side; (c) assume the guard's shape while still
> handcuffed; (d) tell another guard that Mystique had escaped
> and put her in handcuffs; (e) get that guard to release her;
> (f) beat him up. It wasn't done very clearly, but it does
> make sense.
FWIW, I concur with Paul here. Especially with handcuffs of that size,
all she has to do is hit someone with them and they'll go down for a
while. They didn't prevent her from morphing (since they thought it was
Jamie, after all), so she turned into the guard and tricked the other
guard to unlock them--that panl (the tricking to unlock the cuffs) is
pretty easy to understand, as long as you realize it's still mystique in
the cuffs.
What I don't understand is, with her new-found power to morph her body
mass to other parts of her body (i.e. wings, spikes, etc.), why didn't she
just morph her forearms & hands down to bone-width or less (or even, say,
tentacles) and slip out herself? Either way (morphing out or tricking
out) is in character for her, so I'm not complaining *too* hard about
this, but it seems the more logical solution, and would allow her to more
easily subdue both guards with less actual risk to her. <shrug>
Aardy
F=S+T
Blaze
In article <5455v5$e...@scotsman.ed.ac.uk>, pr...@tattoo.ed.ac.uk (Paul
O'Brien) wrote:
> m-b...@uiuc.edu (Blaze) writes:
>
> >> SPOILERS.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>
>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
> Nothing mysterious about the pulse generator. Forge gave it
> to her before he handed her over to the army. All he wanted
> to do was get rid of them and, possibly, give the impression
> that Jamie had escaped.
No: what's mysterious is *why* Forge would give her such a thing.
She's a paroled criminal, being *given* an opportunity to escape
from capture by the leader of X-Factor? I mean, Forge couldn't
possibly have expected her to walk back to Fall's Edge after she
finished getting free.
> And Mystique didn't escape the handcuffs. As near as I can
> make out, what she did was etc. etc....
I got that part. But then, how did she escape the truck?
Blaze - m-b...@students.uiuc.edu -- http://www.mallorn.com/~m-blase/
The XPage Fan-Fiction Archive -- http://www.mallorn.com/~m-blase/xff/
=====================================================================
"Reality is something that happens to other people." -- Saxon Mendoza
de Designer
Blaze wrote:
> > >> SPOILERS ((were snipped to post))
> I mean, Forge couldn't possibly have expected her to walk back to
> Fall's Edge after she finished getting free.
She says in Sabes and Myst, that she is doing all this according to
plan. That she wants to be there for her schemes.
--
de Designer, Scotty Laforged of BoSPMwaA!
<---- Shade and Sweet water, mes amis and Edgerunners ---->
<--Assoc. Professor at Xavier's Institute of Higher Learning-->
<-------- Link at http://www-scf.usc.edu/~jamesony ------->
martin louis blase
de Designer (jame...@usc.edu) wrote:
: Blaze wrote:
: > > >> SPOILERS ((were snipped to post))
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
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:
: > I mean, Forge couldn't possibly have expected her to walk back to
: > Fall's Edge after she finished getting free.
:
: She says in Sabes and Myst, that she is doing all this according to
: plan. That she wants to be there for her schemes.
Yeah, but does Forge know that? (And would he count on it, even if he
did?)
--
Blaze -- m-b...@students.uiuc.edu -- http://www.mallorn.com/~m-blase
XPage Fan Fiction Archive - http://www.mallorn.com/~m-blase/xpage/xff
=====================================================================
"Life is what happens when you stop making plans." -- Saxon Mendoza