REVIEWS: The X-Axis - 20 April 2008

[Paul O'Brien]

THE X-AXIS
20 April 2008
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X-Axis mailing list, visit http://www.thexaxis.com

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This week:

WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #24 - The Deep End, part 4 of 5
by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon

X-MEN: DIVIDED WE STAND #1 (of 2)
"Danger Room" by Mike Carey and Brandon Peterson
"Home" by Craig Kyle, Chris Yost and Sana Takeda
"Blend In" by Skottie Young
"Belong" by Chris Yost and David LaFuente
"Migas" by Matt Fraction and Jamie McKelvie

TITANS #1 - The Fickle Hand, part 2
"Today I Settle All Family Business"
by Judd Winick, Ian Churchill and Norm Rapmund

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WOLVERINE: ORIGINS is currently in the middle of "The Deep End", an arc
which doesn't seem to have much to do with Daniel Way's overreaching
conspiracy storyline. Instead, it seems to be intended principally as a
launchpad for Way and Dillon's upcoming Deadpool solo series.

Thus far, they haven't made an especially good case for that series.
The first three issues consisted pretty much entirely of Wolverine and
Deadpool having a cartoonishly over the top fight on the streets of San
Francisco, which was sporadically amusing, but clearly intended to be
rather funnier than that. More to the point, three straight issues of
two characters fighting just isn't that interesting. Way's questionable
sense of pacing is a perennial problem for this title. Even if you
think the basic idea was good (and I'd question that), it really didn't
justify three months of narrative to cover it.

Anyhow, all of that builds to this issue, in which Deadpool captures
Wolverine and, er, they talk at one another for the better part of an
issue. This, I suppose, is where Way really sets out his stall for how
he sees Deadpool as a character. And the answer to that is rather
inconsistent.

On the one hand, Way is clearly showing Deadpool as being plagued by
hallucinations. But he also has Wolverine insisting that Deadpool isn't
crazy, so much as taking refuge in an erratic personality that feeds his
yearning for attention. And to back that up, we get some fairly generic
flashbacks to Deadpool's adolescence. At the same time, Deadpool puts
the case that at least he's comfortable with his personality, while
Wolverine refuses to accept the fact that he's basically just a killer.

There are some mildly interesting ideas in here, but ultimately they're
reduced to two characters making unsupported assertions at one another.
It's got little or nothing to do with the three issues that preceded it,
and it certainly doesn't make me want to read the upcoming Deadpool
series. All the attempts at wacky comedy and silly hallucinations end
up feeling contrived to me; a self-conscious affectation attached to a
story which is fundamentally rather dry and takes itself far too
seriously. Historically, taking Deadpool seriously has never worked. He
works best when you treat him as a ludicrous character and allow the
serious side of the character to sneak up on readers. I suspect Way and
Dillon understand that, but they haven't pulled it off. The result is a
strangely uneven and rather unsatisfying comic.

Heaven knows I've read a lot worse in this series - at least it doesn't
involve the conspiracy story. Ultimately, it's at best a mixed affair,
with some passable ideas that don't quite take off.

Rating: C

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X-MEN: DIVIDED WE STAND #1 is the first of two anthologies containing
short stories about X-Men characters dealing with the break-up of the
team.

For the most part, they're stories about minor characters. And while
it's true that most of the stories come from regular X-book
contributors, what we have here is basically an issue of X-Men
Unlimited. "Divided We Stand" isn't really a crossover so much as a
general backdrop to various X-books. Despite its name, this isn't a
central issue; it's mainly a peripheral exercise in filling in the
continuity gaps.

The fundamental problem with all of these stories, of course, is that
"Divided We Stand" doesn't make a tremendous degree of sense. "Messiah
Complex" didn't provide the X-Men with a sufficient motivation to pack
up and call it a day, especially considering the sort of things they've
picked themselves up from in the past. In Uncanny, Ed Brubaker has
presented it more as a trick to get the government off the X-Men's
backs, which at least makes passable sense. But that's not how the
characters here treat it.

Mike Carey's "Danger Room", for example, is about Cannonball returning
home to Kentucky and getting into a fight with the Cabots - yes, a rare
reference to the Chuck Austen period - in order to keep his edge. The
basic idea is that Cannonball is furious that the X-Men have thrown in
the towel and wants to carry on fighting, even if there's no direction
or point. This requires you to take "Divided" at face value, where it
becomes at best an emblem of the X-books' total loss of direction over
the last couple of years. Even then, it's a bit shaky, and sets off all
sorts of alarm bells: if Mike Carey can't make this idea work (and Ed
Brubaker can only make it work by redefining it into something else
entirely), then we may have a problem here.

Craig Kyle, Chris Yost and Sana Takeda's "Home" follows, of all people,
Nehzno as he returns to Wakanda. You remember Nehzno. He's the guy with
the tattoos who stands in the background in New X-Men and doesn't do a
great deal. Obsessive New X-Men fans might well get something out of
this, as it does fill in some details of the character's history, albeit
in a rather heavy-handed way. The art's rather attractive, too. But
there's not much of a story; Nehzno arrives in Wakanda, and soon wishes
he was back with the annoying kids from school after all. And really,
was anyone desperate to find out what Nehzno did next?

Yost also contributes "Belong", with art by David LaFuente, in which the
abandoned Hellion hunts out Magneto and tries to hook up with him, only
to be knocked back. This works fairly well with the original conception
of the character as a brat who might grow out of it but might equally be
a supervillain in training. La Fuente's art is clear and dynamic. It's
a bit rushed to cover the territory in only six pages, however. If it's
trailing the start of a storyline, then I suppose that's fair enough.
As a self-contained story, it's too rushed to be satisfying.

Skottie Young writes and illustrates "Blend In", in which Northstar goes
to check in on Anole. In some ways, it's one of the more successful and
personal stories. Northstar shows up ready to give a pep talk on the
difficulty of overcoming tolerance. But Anole's problem is entirely
different: even though the locals are more than happy to have him back,
he doesn't feel that he can fit back into the real world after spending
time with the X-Men. He blames the group for abandoning him.

Young makes that point clearly and effectively. Unfortunately, he's
chosen to do it with Anole and Northstar, and in doing so he manages to
miss the voice of both characters by a mile. Northstar in particular
feels horribly off, as does the relationship between the two of them.

Best of the bunch is the closing story, by Matt Fraction and Jamie
McKelvie. It's a story about Nightcrawler and Scalphunter which works
largely by ignoring the "Divided We Stand" concept altogether. Okay,
strictly speaking it pays lip service to it. But it's really a story in
which Scalphunter tries to set up a life as a small-town chef, and a
disguised Kurt shows up to torment him about his soullessness. It plays
off the fact that the Marauders are all clones umpteen times removed
from the originals, and makes unusual use of Kurt's religion.

Now, Fraction's style probably won't be to all tastes. This is, after
all, a story which includes characters quoting from "The Work of Art in
the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." A cynic might suggest that Kurt's
discussion about how to find meaning and soul in mass-produced product
are equally applicable to the X-Men themselves, and I wouldn't be
entirely surprised if Fraction was thinking the same thing.

But it's a story which has something to say - even if that something has
little to do with the ostensible theme of the anthology. And McKelvie,
already established as an indie artist, turns out to do a lovely
Nightcrawler, bringing out the more sinister side of the design.

Overall, there's probably enough in this issue to make it worth the
attention of hardcore X-Men fans, who might actually want to know what
happened to these minor characters. Those who are simply looking for a
good story can probably skip it; despite generally decent art, there are
too many that don't work, or are too rushed. But the book does have its
moments, to give it its due.

Rating: B

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Sometimes I despair of DC, I really do.

THE TITANS are not, frankly, one of the more intrinsically interesting
concept in comics. They started off as a junior version of the Justice
League, a team composed entirely of kid sidekicks. In practice, over
time, they've settled into being a slightly older team, still junior to
the Justice League, but relying mainly on their accumulated continuity
and lore to make them distinctive.

I approach books that are largely defined by their history with a little
scepticism at the best of times. But hey, it's a new title. What the
heck. I'll give it a chance.

As I picked it up, I couldn't help thinking: Oh god, it's a DC book.
It's bound to be some sort of hideous multi-part crossover mess. But
then I stopped, and I reminded myself not to be so cynical. After all,
it isn't labelled as a crossover. And even DC couldn't be so stupid as
to launch a new series in mid-storyline.

So, after buying it and opening it up, what do I find on page 2?

"The Fickle Hand, part two."

Part two! Two! In issue #1!

And do you want to know the best bit? It doesn't even tell you where
part one appeared. I had to Google it. Part one was in Titans East
Special #1, which came out last November. You couldn't make it up.
Shower of bloody amateurs.

So, what's in the issue? Why, it's a series of scenes in which former
members of the Titans briefly go about their business before being
attacked by demons. One at a time. In fairness, you could say this
fulfils the basic requirement of "introducing the cast" - although I'd
question whether the scene for Donna Troy actually does that job.

And then at the end, all of the group stand around and discuss what's
happening, and then they mention a villain whose name would presumably
strike terror into my heart if I'd heard of him. But hey, it's issue
#1, so it's totally reasonable to write a cliffhanger that assumes prior
knowledge of the villain.

Oh, hold on. The team all get together at the end? Didn't we leave
each of them being attacked by demons? Did I miss a scene where they,
you know, escaped the demons? Flick, flick, flick... no, apparently
not. They... just did. Wonderful.

Seriously, now, what is this nonsense? It has the veneer of a
professional product, but the more you look at it, the more of a mess it
seems. Existing fans of the Titans will probably get more out of it
than I did, to be fair, but the rest of you should run to the hills.

Rating: D+

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Also this week:

CAPTAIN MARVEL #5 - The concluding part of this very odd miniseries,
which turns out to have been a Secret Invasion tie-in all along, even
though Marvel didn't actually advertise that fact until very late in the
day. I don't know whether to gawp at their silliness, or applaud their
restraint - after all, labelling the series "Hey, this is connected to
that story about aliens impersonating superheroes" would have pretty
much given the game away. Nor is it a total cop-out - the idea is that
the new Captain Marvel is actually a Skrull whose deep-cover personality
has taken a little too throughly, and who genuinely believes he's the
real thing despite, er, not being. As a premise for a regular series,
I'm not quite sure where you go with that, but on the whole it's worked
quite well in the context of this miniseries. B+

DC/WILDSTORM: DREAMWAR #1 - Keith Giffen writes a DC/WildStorm crossover
miniseries, and the first issue is basically build-up. Weird stuff is
happening on Earth-WildStorm, and a bunch of DC heroes have shown up.
The angle is to write the story from the WildStorm characters'
perspective, with the DC guys inexplicably cast as strange, threatening
invaders. Meanwhile, the Legion of Superheroes - the only DC guys who
get a scene from their perspective - can't help thinking that these
WildStorm guys don't look much like their idea of heroes. It's all
pretty standard stuff, but nobody buys a story like this for the deep
insights into human nature, and Giffen does build his idea quite
effectively by simply presenting familiar DC characters in a slightly
off-kilter light. B

IRON MAN: LEGACY OF DOOM #1 - One of Marvel's occasional bones thrown to
older fans, this is a flashback story written by David Michelinie and
Bob Layton, in which the 1980s Iron Man fights Dr Doom. Perhaps
inevitably, it feels a little bit dated, but fans of the creator's
original run should enjoy it. Why, Iron Man is hardly even a bastard at
all. Besides, it's hardly a criticism to say that a series like this is
a throwback; after all, that's the point. It's pretty much what you'd
expect - no surprises, and chances are you already know whether you want
to read it. B-

X-FACTOR #30 - X-Factor versus Arcade, in an unusually good match-up.
Arcade is a gimmick villain, specialising in elaborate deathtraps that
make no logical sense whatsoever. Sometimes he works as comic relief;
here, he's the X-books' crown prince of pointlessness, tormenting a team
who were already busy fretting about their lack of purpose and
direction. I'm not sure about the decision to tone down Arcade's
funfair imagery in favour of more generic deathtraps; it seems to me
that Arcade works by going spectacularly over the top, and muting him
doesn't get the best from him. But overall, it works. B+

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There's more from me at If Destroyed, and if you're desperate for more
Article 10 columns, you can always hunt through the archives on Ninth
Art.
http://ifdestroyed.blogspot.com
http://www.ninthart.com

Next week, X-Men: Divided We Stand #1 is the first of two anthologies
about former X-Men. Wolverine: Origins #24 guest stars Deadpool again.
And X-Factor fight Arcade.

--
Paul O'Brien

THE X-AXIS - http://www.thexaxis.com
IF DESTROYED - http://ifdestroyed.blogspot.com
NINTH ART - http://www.ninthart.com