REVIEWS: The X-Axis Review of 2002, part one
Paul O'Brien
THE X-AXIS REVIEW OF 2002: PART ONE
===================================
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It's the end of the year, and that means it's time for an X-Axis
tradition: a ridiculously long column which takes forever to write and
almost as long to read. After the upheavals of 2001, this has been a
relatively quiet year for the X-books, continuing along the new
direction established before. But there's new creators on Uncanny
X-Men, the launch of Weapon X, the cancellation of Brotherhood, the
relaunches of Deadpool, Cable and X-Force, and plenty more to keep us
occupied.
In this part, Agent X, Brotherhood, Exiles, New X-Men, Soldier X,
Ultimate X-Men and Uncanny X-Men. In part two, Weapon X, Wolverine,
X-Men Unlimited, X-Statix, X-Treme X-Men, and a look back at the year's
miniseries. So let's get started.
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AGENT X #1-6
DEADPOOL #62-69
THE CREATORS: Frank Tieri writes Deadpool #62 and co-writes issues
#63-64 with Buddy Scalera. Georges Jeanty pencils issues #62 and #63,
and Jim Calafiore pencils issue #64, with assorted inkers. After that,
it's Gail Simone writing and the Udon Studios team on art from Deadpool
#65 up.
THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: One - Jim Calafiore on issue #64.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2002: Parts 2 to 4 of "Funeral for a Freak"; the
five-part "Healing Factor" storyline, leading into the relaunch as Agent
X; and the six-part "Dead Man's Switch" arc.
First up is a title which has gone from borderline intolerable to being
one of the books I look forward to most each month. And to think, all
it took is changing the creative team.
As 2002 started, Deadpool was embroiled in the frankly terrible Funeral
for a Freak storyline. The high concept was that Deadpool had died, and
come back to life only to find that four versions of him were wandering
around New York, representing different sides of his personality.
Basically, it was a parody of DC's "Reign of the Supermen" crossover,
because god knows if there's one thing the world was crying out for, it
was a pastiche of a mediocre storyline from 1993.
A weak idea to start with, Funeral for a Freak compounded its woes by
having no real point to make, featuring a parody of Jackass that
strongly suggested the creators had never actually seen the show, and a
final chapter where the plot was literally incomprehensible. Despite
having solid artists in the form of Georges Jeanty and Jim Calafiore,
the storyline was nonetheless diabolical.
Fortunately, things picked up enormously with Gail Simone and Udon's
run. Thanks to the occasional extra issue along the way, we've actually
had twelve issues from them this year, and very entertaining they were
too. Simone came to Deadpool with a reputation as a comedy writer,
having worked for Bongo and written the (still unfinished, as far as I
can tell) Killer Princesses miniseries for Oni. Deadpool - and
subsequently Agent X - did indeed settle into a niche as the comedy
title in the X-books roster, but Simone has demonstrated an ability to
balance the jokes against plot and characterisation.
Nonetheless, it's the jokes that tend to stick in the mind most about
this book - you just have to love a comic that takes the Rhino and turns
him, literally, into a keyring.
The artwork from Udon Studios perhaps verges on the bland at times, and
they never seemed to quite get the hang of Deadpool's skin condition.
But they're good solid storytellers, with a neat sense of comic timing,
and overall they complemented Simone's stories well.
The relaunch as Agent X seemed like an odd idea given that Simone was
only just getting into her stride with the character, and thus far the
series still hasn't entirely answered the question of whether Agent X
really is the same character as Deadpool. The story seems to be hinting
at an answer a little more complex than yes or no. Still, Simone has
made a good job of the relaunch, quickly establishing a strong
supporting cast and a promising direction for the series.
The catch, of course, is that Simone and Udon have only got one issue to
go. The announced replacement writer is Buddy Scalera co-writer of last
January's disaster, which does little to inspire confidence. In fact,
Scalera wrote a decent issue of Deadpool in 2001, and chances are he'll
produce something passable. But "passable" will suffer in comparison to
an excellent year for the title in 2002.
Most people seem to have mentally written this title off for dead, and
it's hard to disagree with them. With sales not particularly high, and
the well-received creative team being replaced by creators with no
particularly strong track record or fanbase, the smart money has to be
on this title being cancelled by June.
------------
BROTHERHOOD #8-9
THE CREATORS: The mysterious "X", with Sean Phillips and Kent Williams
providing art on the final issues.
THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: Nil.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2002: Everyone died and the book got cancelled.
Yes, you'd forgotten about this one, hadn't you? Brotherhood shipped
its final two issues in 2002, so here it is.
Marvel still haven't revealed the identity of the anonymous writer, and
given that this book tanked in rapid order, it's hard to imagine anyone
coming forward to claim responsibility until they have a nice big hit
under their belt. Depending on which rumours you believe, it was either
Howard Mackie or some sort of communal effort, both of which are
eminently believable.
The infuriating thing about Brotherhood is that in theory, it should
have been a good idea. A series about a street-level mutant terrorist
group hadn't been done before. It had potential. It was in tune with
the zeitgeist. Unfortunately, it was rubbish, packed with two
dimensional characters and faintly silly scenarios.
This final issue featured X-Force in a guest starring role, which
principally involved them standing around looking confused while a whole
load of characters killed one another. They didn't seem to care much
about the whole thing, and nor did most of its readers.
An unfortunate wasted opportunity, since the idea was good.
------------
EXILES #8-20
THE CREATORS: Written by Judd Winick, with art from Mike McKone and Mark
McKenna.
THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: Four, all pencilled by Jim Calafiore, out of
thirteen issues this year.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2002: "A World Apart" (the one where the Skrulls have
conquered the Earth); "Play Date" (the one where Morph and Mariko have a
chat); "Another Rooster in the Henhouse" (the one where the Sentinels
have conquered the Earth and they team up with Weapon X); "I Cover The
Waterfront" (the one where they team up with Dr Doom to fight
Atlanteans, and the Mimic gets grumpy); "Nocturne & Evensong" (the
Nocturne solo story); "Wildlife Reserve" (the one where the western USA
is overrun with lizards); "So Lame: The Exiles in Mojoverse"; and part
one of "Legacy" (the one where the USA is overrun with Vi-Locks).
Ah, Exiles. I'm kind of going off this book.
It's not really that it's become any worse, objectively speaking, than
it was last year. The characterisation is still good, the dialogue is
still snappy, the art is still beautiful - whether it's regular artist
Mike McKone or designated fill-in guy Jim Calafiore.
But my concern about Exiles has always been that the dimension-jumping,
Quantum Leap-style formula would end up becoming formulaic. And
regrettably that's pretty much what we've seen this year - writer Judd
Winick appears to be struggling to come up with strong ideas for the
central gimmick.
One of the biggest flaws of Marvel's What If? series was that, given the
opportunity to write alternate reality stories, writers seemed to feel
compelled to push things to the limit. Rarely did anything have an
effect confined to one or two characters - more often, the answer to
"What If Peter Parker Forgot To Brush His Teeth" ended up involving the
destruction of North America or at the very least the death of 75% of
the Avengers.
Winick seems to be falling into a similar trap. In the course of
thirteen issues this year, he's given us a world conquered by Skrulls, a
world conquered by Sentinels, an America overrun by lizards, and an
America overrun by copies of Warlock. These are all really just
variations on the same basic theme of "Earth overrun by nasty thingies",
and between them they've accounted for around half this year's stories.
Of the others, two were "down time" issues where the nature of the
alternate reality wasn't even really touched upon; and the one with Dr
Doom and Namor at war served as a generic backdrop to a story about the
Mimic's increasing grumpiness. There must be other things to do with
this gimmick besides having monsters turn the planet into a giant
B-movie, but Winnick doesn't seem to be finding them.
A worrying trend is that the alternate realities, which are supposed to
be the central premise of the book, are becoming detached from the
character arcs. Either the story focuses on the characters and the
alternate reality angle is a mere backdrop, or (as seems to be the case
with the Vi-Locks thus far) the angle is at the forefront and the
characters are reduced to a generic role.
The notable exception to both these complaints was the Mojoverse
storyline, which did have a different concept, and which did tie in with
Morph's storyline. Unfortunately, it wasn't all that good, since it had
a rather weak cop-out ending.
Having said all that, Exiles still manages to be entertaining more often
than not, and its character-based issues tend to be strong. On the whole
it remains a decent read, but it needs some better concepts for
alternate realities if it's going to avoid stagnation.
------------
NEW X-MEN #121-135
THE CREATORS: Written by Grant Morrison, with regular artist Frank
Quitely. Yeah, right...
THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: A mighty eleven out of fifteen issues.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2002: The return of Cassandra Nova; a Xorn solo story;
the Fantomex storyline; the return to Genosha; a rather out-of-place
seeming issue in Afghanistan and Mumbai; and the debut of Kid Omega.
The flagship of the X-books, and still the highest seller, Grant
Morrison's New X-Men continues to set the agenda that the other X-Men
titles follow. Even Chris Claremont, without getting drawn into the
book's storylines, has started to define his spin-off team largely by
how they relate to the events of this book.
The big relaunches of titles such as this took place in 2001, and
accordingly 2002 has been largely a period of consolidation for the
X-books. New X-Men set out its stall fairly clearly last year, and 2002
has largely been a period of Grant Morrison exploring the new playground
that he's established.
The year gets off to a strong start with the conclusion of the Cassandra
Nova arc. The main function of Cassandra was to provide an excuse to
drastically shake up the X-books by outing Professor Xavier and
expanding the school. She allows all of these overhauls to be done
relatively quickly, without the awkwardness of having Xavier simply wake
up one morning and decide to change his entire modus operandi.
Cassandra's defeat, and the return of the real Professor X, completes
that transformation, and brings the status quo into line with where
Morrison wants to be.
The Fantomex and Weapon Plus arc was a little more questionable.
Morrison may simply have wanted to avoid going into another major
shake-up straight on the back of the last one, but this storyline did
feel like he was just using the X-Men as a vehicle for ideas he'd been
wanting to get around to doing at some point. Fantomex, a curious cross
between Storm Shadow and the French pulp character Fantomas, is an
entertaining "one step ahead" antihero, but what he's got to do with the
rest of the book, I have absolutely no idea.
The current "Riot at Xavier's" storyline seems to be on the right lines,
though. After giving readers several months to get used to the X-Men's
cuddly liberal education policy, and presenting it in an unquestioningly
good light, Morrison pulls the rug out and asks whether they're going
about things in completely the wrong way. Some purist Morrison fans tend
to argue that New X-Men is diluted Morrison, in comparison to
extraordinary torrents of weirdness such as his current Vertigo project
The Filth. This misses the point that Morrison positively wants to work
in the mainstream - it's part of his creative agenda - and Morrison
exploring themes about youthful rebellion and education in New X-Men is
just as important to his work as a whole.
The big drawback this year, however, has been the alarmingly unreliable
artwork. Igor Kordey, an excellent artist, did his career no real
favours with some ugly-looking rush jobs at the beginning of the year.
In fact, Kordey has drawn more issues this year than the book's supposed
regular artist, Frank Quitely - while drawing every issue of Cable and
Soldier X, and the complete Black Widow miniseries on top of it all,
inking his own work throughout. It's pretty amazing that anyone could
produce such a vast volume of work, but the end result was still some
ropey issues of New X-Men. Ethan van Sciver and Keron Grant have picked
up other issues, with work that's been perfectly okay, but hasn't really
enabled the book to develop much of a visual identity.
If they can resolve that problem in 2003, the writing should guarantee
another good year.
------------
SOLDIER X #1-6
CABLE #101-107
THE CREATORS: David Tischman writes Cable #101-104, with Darko Macan
taking over at Cable #105. Igor Kordey draws the lot.
THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: On an Igor Kordey book?! Zero, obviously.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2002: The storyline about clones in Albania;
underground fighting in Rio; a nuclear bomb in Kazakhstan; a surreal
conversation with Jackie Singapore; a transvestite sumo wrestler and
some time travelling soldiers; and bizarre events in Russia.
Well.
If nothing else, you have to give Marvel credit for trying some
undeniably different with Cable and Soldier X this year. Experimentation
is to be encouraged. It is a good thing in its own right. It remains a
good thing, notwithstanding that sometimes the results don't work.
Artistically, the results have been at best mixed. Commercially,
they've been catastrophic.
As 2002 began, David Tischmann was writing, and continued the "tour the
trouble spots of the world" approach established in his 2001 storyline
about Peruvian terrorists the Shining Path. His final arc took the book
to the former Yugoslavia and an elaborately bizarre storyline about a
scheme to clone thousands of new Albanians. The obvious absurdity of
the whole scheme was clearly designed to mock the ethnic obsessions that
have done so much to wreck that part of the world. It was a good idea,
but dragged down by ropey plotting - in this day and age, you can't get
away with expecting readers to accept that clones have all the memories
of their parents. It's too much of a leap of credibility compared to
what is now bordering on real-world technology.
Following Tischmann's departure, Darko Macan took over, with what seemed
at first like a fairly innocuous beginning. And then, just before the
book received a relaunch as Soldier X (an attempt to boost sales which
simply didn't work in the slightest), Macan went completely round the
bend, producing a series of startlingly eccentric stories. The central
theme of the last six months or so has been to place Nathan Summers in a
deliberately bizarre and absurd storyline and watch him struggle to find
some sort of meaning in it. The problem is that often, it's just been
too bizarre and implausible to work as a straightforward story. I like
the general idea, but it hasn't quite clicked.
For all the book's ambition, and Igor Kordey's consistently strong
artwork (less rushed here than on New X-Men), it hasn't found an
audience - indeed, it's driven them away. Robert Weinberg, who was
kicked off the book in 2001 to make way for Tischmann, has a point when
he grumbles that he was dumped to make way for a new approach that, at
least commercially, has failed utterly. Of course, that doesn't
necessarily mean it wasn't worth a shot, but it's hard to imagine who
was ever expected to be the target audience for a mildly surrealist
approach to Cable.
Macan and Kordey have duly been relieved of their responsibilities with
effect from issue #9. Their replacements? Karl Bollers and Arthur
Ransom. The art will be good, but for a book which is already
plummeting towards the cancellation mark, Bollers - the writer of Muties
- hardly seems like the man to turn things around. Once again, the
smart money has to be on a swift cancellation for this title.
------------
ULTIMATE X-MEN #14-26
THE CREATORS: Written by Mark Millar (save for a Chuck Austen fill-in on
issue #14), with regular artists Adam Kubert and Danny Miki
THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: Six. Not desperately impressive.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2002: The second half of the Gambit fill-in story; an
article by Xavier about his ideology; the World Tour storyline; a month
of sentimentality with Xavier and Magneto; and the "Hellfire &
Brimstone" arc, based loosely on Dark Phoenix
I can never quite make up my mind about this book.
Mark Millar is not a writer who's really on my wavelength. He has a
tendency to produce stories that have very good central ideas, and then
at the last moment back off from taking them seriously and collapse in
an orgy of deliberate silliness. His first Ultimates storyline is a
case in point - several issues of character-based build-up, and then he
completely blows it in the last act by producing an issue full of
Freddie Prinze Jr books. He doesn't manage to bind these two sides of
his writing together, and he doesn't really seem to want to.
But then, I seem to be in the minority in thinking that Ultimates blew
its first storyline. There are plenty of people who evidently like
Millar's mixture of unpretentious, tongue-in-cheek excessive action,
with the occasional interesting idea thrown in. He has his market, and
he serves it well. After all, this is the second-biggest seller in the
line. It's got to be doing something right.
And once in a while - such as the shamelessly sentimental issue of a
brainwashed Magneto talking a doubting Xavier into continuing the X-Men
- Millar produces something really very good indeed, a story which works
at face value as a nice sentimental piece, and works even better when
you realise that Xavier is just listening to an echo of his own earlier
brainwashing, parroting his opinions back at him. Great issue. Wish
Millar did that sort of thing more often. There were some excellent
ideas in the Dark Phoenix storyline as well, albeit that the plot as a
whole seemed to lack focus.
This is another book which has suffered from inconsistent art, but it's
been particularly glaring here. If you were looking for an artist who
would fit in relatively well with Adam Kubert and could fill in for him
halfway through a storyline (and bear in mind, that's a storyline that
you're planning to keep in print as a trade paperback), various names
might spring to mind. Chris Bachalo and Kaare Andrews would probably
not be among them, but that's who we got. Both very good artists, at
least when Bachalo remembers to tell the story, but also both very
distinctive artists whose work stands out a mile. Not really ideal
people to do that sort of fill-in work.
Generally, Ultimate X-Men isn't my cup of tea. But Millar's got himself
a loyal audience, no denying it, and he keeps them entertained. On its
own terms, a success - and really, those are the terms that matter.
------------
UNCANNY X-MEN #402-416
THE CREATORS: Joe Casey writes issues #402-409, with Chuck Austen taking
over as of issue #410. In theory Ron Garney is the regular artist as of
issue #402, sharing arcs with Kia Asamiya as of isuse #416. But in
fact...
THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: Ten.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2002: The X-Corps storyline; Nightcrawler's crisis of
religious faith; the Vanisher's drug dealing empire is destroyed; Black
Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut in Scotland; Annie Ghazikhanian arrives
at the Mansion; Northstar joins, and boy, is he gay; and the Juggernaut
reflects on his childhood through the medium of violence.
Uncanny X-Men was the ugly duckling of last year's relaunches, as Joe
Casey's initial issues just weren't working out. Casey began this year
with the rather ill-conceived X-Corps storyline, which had sounded like
a bad idea from the promotional material, and looked no better by the
time it actually saw print. Early promotional material had shown the
X-Corps in neo-Nazi uniforms, and apparently this was the impression we
were supposed to get from the story.
The initial sketches were released through the usual publicity channels,
and were greeted with a mixture of tutting and derision. A rethink
evidently ensued, as what eventually saw print was an X-Corps completely
lacking in any such iconography. Unfortunately, it hadn't been replaced
by anything else, leaving the story rather empty as readers were left to
imagine for themselves quite why the X-Men were so worked up about a
splinter group who didn't seem to be doing anything all that outrageous.
Ironically, Casey seemed to be finding his feet just as he was leaving
the book, which a two-parter tying up the Vanisher storyline from the
2001 Annual. It's easily the best thing he did on the book, and it's
genuinely a nice little story with the X-Men winning through some
interestingly unconventional routes.
Casey's run had started off with high ambitions which it largely failed
to realise. Chuck Austen, his replacement, has taken the opposite route
- a very conservative take on the book, especially by current Marvel
standards, but one which largely succeeds in what it set out to do.
Aside from the rather irritating treatment of Northstar (who's barely in
the door before we launch into a storyline about gay tolerance - doesn't
the poor bastard ever get any other sort of plot since he came out?),
it's unspectacular but competent superheroics.
This may be the sensible way to go, providing an alternative for those
who prefer a more traditional approach than New X-Men. Then again,
isn't that what X-Treme X-Men is supposed to be for? One point that
concerns me about Uncanny is that it seems to lack direction - it's a
miscellany of subplots about individual characters, but with no central
theme seeming to drive it forward. It feels a little like a dumping
ground for characters who weren't being used in New X-Men.
We seem to have gone from aiming high and missing, to aiming low and
largely hitting the mark. Decide for yourself whether that's an
improvement.
------------
In part two, Weapon X, Wolverine, X-Men Unlimited, X-Statix, X-Treme
X-Men, and a review of the year's miniseries.
--
Paul O'Brien
THE X-AXIS - http://www.thexaxis.com
ARTICLE 10 - http://www.ninthart.com
NTL - even worse than I'd heard.
Paul O'Brien
Jim Connick
: CABLE #101-107
:
: THE CREATORS: David Tischman writes Cable #101-104, with Darko Macan
: taking over at Cable #105. Igor Kordey draws the lot.
:
: THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: On an Igor Kordey book?! Zero, obviously.
#106 was pencilled by Mike Huddleston.
Jim
James Moar
> AGENT X #1-6
> First up is a title which has gone from borderline intolerable to being
> one of the books I look forward to most each month. And to think, all
> it took is changing the creative team.
Why do I have the suspicion that your next year's review might feature these
same words, in a slightly different order?
> NEW X-MEN #121-135
>
> THE CREATORS: Written by Grant Morrison, with regular artist Frank
> Quitely. Yeah, right...
>
> THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: A mighty eleven out of fifteen issues.
>
> WHAT HAPPENED IN 2002: The return of Cassandra Nova; a Xorn solo story;
> the Fantomex storyline; the return to Genosha; a rather out-of-place
> seeming issue in Afghanistan and Mumbai; and the debut of Kid Omega.
My opinion on this year's issues: the stuff after the end of the Cassandra
Nova arc is down a little on what came before, but that's most likely
because this is the slightly floppy middle bit that's setting up things that
will All Make Sense in the end (or by #150).
I say that partly because that's how Morrison's worked elsewhere, partly
because of some small scraps of advance info, and partly some little things
I think I see about where it's headed.
> WOLVERINE #172-184
>
> With that out of the way, the new direction began, featuring the same
> old creative team but turning the title into something approaching a
> crime book.
Started with the issue where he killed the Three Stooges, didn't it?
> X-STATIX #1-6
> X-FORCE #123-129
>
> Not so coinidentally, the series also thrives on dramatic conflict,
> giving this entire storyline metatextual overtones. The conflicts are
> real, but the series is simultaneously working within the genre
> conventions and exploring their limits.
Mm-hmm. I'm not sure the book ever quite breaks the fourth wall, but it's
certainly got its nose pressed up against it.
> It's not a book for people who
> hate superhero comics, as some initially thought (and boy, were they
> disappointed when the reality dawned). It's actually very affectionate
> about them, in its slightly perverse way.
I can handle affectionate perversity.
> Meanwhile, Milligan continues to drop great ideas into the book, such as
> the absurd rival team O-Force, winners of a superhero equivalent of
> American Idol. He seems to have a constant stream of bizarre characters
> such as Venus Dee Milo and Dead Girl, to boot.
I think that might be as much Allred as Milligan (not that either's a slouch
in the bizarre characters department).
> Milligan can be a very
> variable writer - his back catalogue includes wonderful books like Shade
> the Changing Man, but has some pretty mediocre work on it as well. This
> series is showing him at his best.
>
> The continued hints of something sinister going on in the background,
> the great characters, the satirical elements, the playing with genre
> conventions... I love it. For me, the best thing in the line.
Same here.
--
James Moar
Paul O'Brien
<j...@theaww.com> writes
>
>#106 was pencilled by Mike Huddleston.
So it was. Damn.
Shawn Hill
: From: Paul O'Brien <pa...@esoterica.demon.co.uk>
:> NEW X-MEN #121-135
:>
:> WHAT HAPPENED IN 2002: The return of Cassandra Nova; a Xorn solo story;
:> the Fantomex storyline; the return to Genosha; a rather out-of-place
:> seeming issue in Afghanistan and Mumbai; and the debut of Kid Omega.
: My opinion on this year's issues: the stuff after the end of the Cassandra
: Nova arc is down a little on what came before, but that's most likely
: because this is the slightly floppy middle bit that's setting up things that
: will All Make Sense in the end (or by #150).
Hhhhhmmmmm, very interesting.
: I say that partly because that's how Morrison's worked elsewhere, partly
: because of some small scraps of advance info, and partly some little things
: I think I see about where it's headed.
I'm convinced already. Wow, I'll be bummed when Grant's run is over. I thought
Paul's remark about Grant actually wanting to infiltrate the mainstream books
was very apt.
:> X-STATIX #1-6
:> X-FORCE #123-129
:> It's not a book for people who
:> hate superhero comics, as some initially thought (and boy, were they
:> disappointed when the reality dawned). It's actually very affectionate
:> about them, in its slightly perverse way.
: I can handle affectionate perversity.
And the book seems to get more "superhero" all the time, including having
reached the point where the characteristic X-men soap opera can emerge in its
own little blossoms and story points.
:> Meanwhile, Milligan continues to drop great ideas into the book, such as
:> the absurd rival team O-Force, winners of a superhero equivalent of
:> American Idol. He seems to have a constant stream of bizarre characters
:> such as Venus Dee Milo and Dead Girl, to boot.
: I think that might be as much Allred as Milligan (not that either's a slouch
: in the bizarre characters department).
What I think is that Milligan is really great at collaborating with artists,
and runs with it when he gets a good one. Like Bachalo, or Felgredo, or Case.
Or Allred (who's also a writer).
:> The continued hints of something sinister going on in the background,
:> the great characters, the satirical elements, the playing with genre
:> conventions... I love it. For me, the best thing in the line.
: Same here.
New X-men is my favorite, but X-statix is 2nd. Well, Uncanny, for all its new
conventionalism, is starting to catch up, actually.
Paul asked if Uncanny has a point, since X-treme is supposedly already
delivering a nostalgia trip. But even Laura's reviews reflect that Claremont
there (though still writing the best of all possible Storms IMHO) is actually
pretty much baroque current Claremont, not the old school efficient model.
Austen is offering the most straightforward of the four team books right now,
and that's a fresh place for me.
And I like the nurse with the mutant kid. It's nice to see a parent accept and
try to help their mutant child again.
Shawn
.... .**.....*.. . **. * ....*.... . . * . . ** .
Matt: "You're not a square peg."
Dinah: "It's a metaphor, Matt.
sh...@fas.harvard.edu
...... . . . .* ... . . . . * ..... .** .. .* ......*
CleV
>And the book seems to get more "superhero" all the time, including having
>reached the point where the characteristic X-men soap opera can emerge in its
>own little blossoms and story points.
Morrison's now touched on almost every X-trope, from the Sentinels, to
the Shi'ar, to the New Mutants (the students), Phoenix, endless
X-teams and members in the X-Corporation (which is itself just a
renaming of our world's franchising of the X-name by having different
X-teams), etc.
Shawn Hill
I was talking about Milligan and X-statix, actually. Morrison seemed like a
restatement of classic strengths from the start to me, not a break in POV like
X-statix was.
Shawn
Paul O'Brien
<sh...@fas.harvard.edu> writes
>
>I'm convinced already. Wow, I'll be bummed when Grant's run is over. I
>thought Paul's remark about Grant actually wanting to infiltrate the
>mainstream books was very apt.
I'm not sure "infiltration" is the right word.
Many of Grant's more demented ideas in JLA and Doom Patrol, he seems to
see as extensions of the bizarre and eccentric stories that appeared in
Silver Age DC. Judging from his interviews, I don't think he regards
himself as subverting the mainstream. I think he sees his mainstream
work as a continuation of those elements of mainstream comics that he
genuinely likes.
Shawn Hill
: In message <autopb$tjg$1...@news.fas.harvard.edu>, Shawn Hill
:>
:>I'm convinced already. Wow, I'll be bummed when Grant's run is over. I
:>thought Paul's remark about Grant actually wanting to infiltrate the
:>mainstream books was very apt.
: I'm not sure "infiltration" is the right word.
Fair enough. I tend to view Grant's agenda as somewhat political, but
maybe he wouldn't agree.
: Many of Grant's more demented ideas in JLA and Doom Patrol, he seems to
: see as extensions of the bizarre and eccentric stories that appeared in
: Silver Age DC. Judging from his interviews, I don't think he regards
: himself as subverting the mainstream. I think he sees his mainstream
: work as a continuation of those elements of mainstream comics that he
: genuinely likes.
Without taking a stance on how that relates to what has come since, or
what's competing in the market now?
Shawn