Let's recap. These comics were not literally bought from a quarter bin. The title of this column is symbolic.
Moon Knight #7 (Marvel)
From November 2014.
It strikes me that no one is running around trying to get Moon Knight into his own movie. Well, maybe someone is, after the big success of Deadpool? Because Moon Knight is basically the connoisseur's Deadpool. Marvel has been trying for about as long as it has with Deadpool to get Moon Knight to connect. At first a fairly lame and obvious Batman rip-off, because he was so expendable, Marvel let its creators loose, and for several short-lived series now (including one written by Brian Michael Bendis), Moon Knight has emerged as one of the company's better creative vehicles. Now more or less a psychotic vigilante, a kind of Marvel version of the Spirit, Moon Knight in this particular series and/or issue is written by Brian Wood, who is well-loved in the comics community but with whom I've continually failed to connect as a reader. This issue features a more or less straight Spirit adventure for Moon Knight, despite the fact that the tag line in the intro page specifically addresses that he is insane and this is what follows...Well, apparently in this series Marvel has determined that Moon Knight addresses how absurd the concept of vigilantes really is. But the character still has better overall storytelling potential than the relentlessly one-note Deadpool...
Winter Soldier #1 (Marvel)
From May 2014.
Winter Soldier, a.k.a. Bucky Barnes, is a signature character of Marvel's post-millennial comics, a resurrected, repackaged, repurposed superhero who helped lead the way to the Avengers movies and has otherwise spent a lot of time being written by Ed Brubaker, who envisioned the whole concept. This issue, however, is written by Rick Remender, with whom I have a better record than Brian Wood. But Winter Soldier, ironically, barely appears in this issue. Instead, it's a Nick Fury/S.H.I.E.L.D. Cold War/Nazi Hangover adventure (as are a lot of Marvel stories). Presumably later issues more directly feature, y'know, the Winter Soldier...
All-New X-Men #27 (Marvel)
From September 2014.
A series that shipped twice-monthly, All-New X-Men wasn't as old as its numbering this issue suggests. I read the early issues thanks to the pairing of Brian Bendis and Stuart Immomen, who was finally emerging from a long quagmire in which he didn't draw very much like, y'know, Stuart Immonen. But the Immonen who shows up in this issue is kind of phoning it in, as is Bendis, whose grand vision for his time-lost original X-Men and more contemporary mutants had kind of petered out into a time travel adventure...with future enemies! I had high hopes for a Bendis X-Men. Everyone did. I mean, he nearly single-handedly invented the Avengers as we know them today (also contributing: The Ultimates and Brubaker's Captain America). In the end, I think it was the overreliance on the increasingly baffling gimmick of the time-lost X-Men. For one arc, it would have made perfect sense. But then he just kept it going and going...Which is kind of a Bendis trademark. And maybe something he really ought to work on...
Wolverine and the X-Men #9 (Marvel)
From November 2014.
This is from the days of "Death of Wolverine," so Marvel was about to kill off its most popular character in order to spite 20th Century Fox. But these were good days. This issue features Logan confronting a rogue student (saddled with a terrible name I won't dignify here) who eventually makes it clear that it isn't all X-Men or Brotherhood of Mutants. There's a third option. There always is. So, a pretty good issue.
Showing posts with label All-New X-Men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All-New X-Men. Show all posts
Monday, April 25, 2016
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Reading Comics #133 "Bull Moose Bargains"
As you may recall, I was enjoying bargain grab bags from local entertainment franchise Bull Moose, until I learned they weren't doing them anymore. But they didn't stop carrying comics outright (but I haven't gotten a chance to check in a few weeks, so I don't know what the prospects look like now). Instead they started sticking their discounted comics in one of those old-fashioned spinning racks, so I now had the opportunity to select exactly what I wanted (from the available titles, of course). Some of them were the same 2013 leftovers I'd find in some of the grab bags, and some of them were new releases (did they know???), all of them marked at fifty cents. For the first of two trips in this new configuration to date, I scooped up nine titles. And those were:
Astro City #10 (Vertigo)
When this series was relaunched last year, I was part of the I-don't-know-how-large contingent of fans who was happy to see it return. The last time the title was in print it was the extended Dark Age arc, which apparently bothered long-term readers, but was at least a version of something creator Kurt Busiek had been intending to do ever since Marvels (twenty years ago). I've never read Marvels, a giant love letter to (as you may have guess) Marvel history which quickly became known as painter Alex Ross's breakout project (some argue best work, but I hold that for Kingdom Come, which is the one he clearly drew on for the later Earth X comics). Ross has done every Astro City cover since it launched in 1995 (so! Busiek wasted little time!), and Brent Anderson has been the interior artist. This is a hardcore nostalgia comic in the Alan Moore tradition, with Busiek versions of pretty much every major superhero. Did it really take this long for him to get around to a Winged Victory spotlight? Winged Victory, you understand, is his Wonder Woman. The story takes off of the Infinite Crisis era of controversy surrounding DC's Amazon taking the life of Maxwell Lord. In fairness to Busiek, he does craft his pastiches into fairly distinctive variations, so that you don't necessarily have to be thinking WonderWomanWonderWomanWonderWoman while reading this issue (if you so choose). It's a Winged Victory story, even if you know how Busiek reached this point. All that being said, I cooled on the whole thing pretty quickly. I keep wanting him to grab the brass ring, go for the gusto, but Busiek is determined to take a relaxed pace. These are comics for Silver Age fans (early Silver Age, the lens of what would follow refracted through the 1950s). Originally Astro City was one of the most acclaimed comics around, but even other readers don't seem as excited about it these days. Good to have it around again, though.
Kick-Ass 3 #8 (Icon)
The big surprise was this conclusion to the Kick-Ass saga, begun in 2008. I read the early issues, but lost track of it along the way, after it became a movie phenomenon I inexplicably still haven't seen (despite active interests in the careers of both Jim Carrey, featured in the second one, and Chloe Grace Moretz, whose whole career happened thanks to Hit-Girl). It might have to do with the fact that the writer is Mark Millar, and for a time I kind of soured on him, not so much because of anything he'd done, but because of things Grant Morrison said. Morrison and Millar used to be bosom buddies, but they had a creative falling-out, and Morrison subsequently expressed the kind of opinions about his former friend that, well, Alan Moore routinely spouts about Morrison himself. (Guys! Guys! Can't we all just get along?) Comics Reader readers know I've recently turned the corner on Millar thanks to Starlight, so I was more than ready to read how he ended Kick-Ass. It seems to be exactly the way it should have, and that's fine. The art of John Romita, Jr. remains integral to the whole experience. Romita moved on to Superman with Geoff Johns immediately after concluding this saga, and of course I'm definitely there for that experience. In this sudden Millar- and Romita-heavy season for my comics experience, it was fitting to catch their mutual landmark as it happened.
The New 52: Futures End #10 (DC)
Contrary to my own expectations, Futures End still hasn't become a new version of my beloved 52 experience. I'm still keeping tabs on it (the Masked Superman was recently revealed to be Shazam, if you wanted to know), and of course September this year is a whole month dedicated to the event otherwise chronicled in the weekly series, with DC's line decked out in special issues looking at the futures of their stars. Masked Superman Before He Was Unmasked has encounter with Lois Lane this issue, which is otherwise highlighted by (Big) Barda being asked to suit up again. Undeniably awesome moment. Barda is the Wonder Woman of the New Gods. Come to think of it, I have no idea why there haven't been more Barda/Wonder Woman stories. Somebody fix that, please?
Saga #21 (Image)
On the opposite side of my recent Astro City experience is Saga. I lost track of both series over the course of the last year, but returning to Saga was to remember how much I love it. In the current comics, Brian K. Vaughan is finally putting the spotlight on the Robot Kingdom. Prince Robot IV (such a deceptively simple, awesome name; I'm a man of uncomplicated pleasures sometimes) has had a baby, and that baby has been kidnapped by a disgruntled Robot Kingdom janitor. Alana and Marko are still in the thick of their soap opera (call it what it is) otherwise. I'm once again addicted.
Superman/Wonder Woman #6 (DC)
I don't know if you remember, but I was wild about this series when it launched. I thought it was a brilliant idea, long-in-coming for Wonder Woman to get a second ongoing series of any form (and now she has a third, thanks to the digital-first Sensation Comics), and it also happened to have part of the early comic crush I've developed over Charles Soule (who unfortunately has recently signed an exclusive contract with...Marvel). This issue is one of the periodic General Zod stories DC loves to do, these inspired by the Man of Steel version Michael Shannon embodied more than Terrence Stamp in Superman II (but there have been lots of versions over the years). Zod is presented as a formidable foe. In fact, Superman/Wonder Woman in general seems to love thrusting its love birds in epic battles they can only hope to survive (although of course they will), valuing their link as warriors, a bond only they can truly experience together (which is the whole point of the relationship). The art is from Tony Daniel, whom I've greatly admired since his "Batman R.I.P." days, and whose work continues to evolve. He may epitomize what some fans have called the "New 52 house style," which basically folds around Jim Lee's work. For a brief moment it seemed as if Daniel had in fact begun to pattern himself pretty directly on Lee, but as I said, this issue is proof that he's still in flux. This is a good thing. I still have great hope for his career. Given the right project, his budding interests as a writer-artist could cement a real legacy. Next project in that regard is the forthcoming Deathstroke relaunch (which I will be rooting for, obviously).
Trinity of Sin: Pandora #2 (DC)
Ever since it became clear that the New 52 was launching with the secret lynchpin of a new character (who looks like part of the WildStorm legacy that officially became a part of DC canon at that time), I began rooting for Pandora to become an important, lasting creation. This is a work in progress. When she got her own book last year, I was rooting for that, too, but kept looking for a way in after I missed the launch. Well, now I've finally read an issue, just in time for a forthcoming relaunch where the character and her Trinity of Sin cohorts (Phantom Stranger, Question) fold in together under the single, unspecified banner (it could certainly be worse!). I think this is a good thing. A character like Pandora kind of needs context. She was built for context. Unless someone literally spends a year or more exploring her own story, sending Pandora on random adventures will do her no favors at all. This issue is a tie-in with "Trinity War," a Justice League crossover event that was supposed to be a big deal but kind of wasn't, a culmination of everything the New 52 was meant to accomplish to that point. (Failure? There are fans who've wanted the New 52 to be a failure from the start. Is this how fans were after Crisis On Infinite Earths? I hope not!) The strongest element of the issue is its use of Vandal Savage. Someone other than Ray Fawkes might have really played that up. Fawkes is one of the writers who've benefited from the revised creative landscape DC has sought to establishment, and he's one I really haven't formed an impression of, so I hope this isn't completely indicative of his work. I'd like to see better.
Wolverine #4 (Marvel)
Ah, Paul Cornell. He's one of those writers who became an instant favor a few years back, and I became a loyal reader for a good long while. But I wonder if he hasn't lost the thread of what interested him in writing comics along the way. He's also known for his work with Doctor Who, and as an author. And also for not really sticking around any one comic book project for long. Maybe that's why I stopped trying to keep track, or found I didn't care when he started on Wolverine. I kept almost checking out the run, but never quite doing it. He's the writer who set up the Death of Wolverine event that...Charles Soule is finishing. So I finally checked it out. And...I really don't think I've missed anything. Sorry, Paul. Doesn't seem to be among your best. When Cornell is at his best he's among the best. So that's why I've been disappointed.
Wonder Woman #23 (DC)
If I hadn't gotten so horribly behind, I'd've been a loyal fan of the whole Brian Azzarello/Cliff Chiang run on this series, which is about to end. It's brilliant, easily one of the best things that's ever happened to Wonder Woman, and for one of the biggest characters in comics. This issue is part of the First Born arc. First Born is a new villain to the mythos, part of the September 2013 Villains Month one-shot line-up and everything. The one thing that can be held against the Azzarello Wonder Woman is that it feels completely disconnected from the rest of the DC landscape (which, I'm convinced, is half the reason Superman/Wonder Woman happened), and why First Born didn't at all become a household name. I mean, H'El over in the Scott Lobdell Superman comics from around the same time had a better shot. Wonder Woman from this era will become known for its particular context. To read one issue is to read any issue, in some respects. It's all one continuous story. (Although I will be contradicting this gross simplification next time I talk about it, which is another tie-in to how Superman/Wonder Woman happened.) This is a good thing. I'm already hoping for a Azzarello/Chiang reprise somewhere down the line, an epic mini-series or even crossover event. Hey, I can dream!
All-New X-Men #24 (Marvel)
This is another series I was once completely hot on but cooled over as time wore on. This is the Brian Michael Bendis/Stuart Immonen series that spun out of AvX and famously sports the gimmick of having the original, youthful X-Men time-displaced to the present. I'm about as all over the place with Bendis as I am with a handful of other creators. He's kind of the Marvel equivalent, for me, of Scott Snyder in some respects. When I love his work, I think he's brilliant. But he's not always engaged in ways I think benefit what he's doing. This issue is all about how he's reached that point again. I thought the time-displaced heroes would be gone by now. I really have no idea why they're still around. In the early issues, All-New X-Men seemed primed to introduce a whole new generation of mutant heroes. I don't know if I've simply missed that whole development, or if it's been abandoned, delayed, whatever. That's what I think the series ought to be doing. And as always, I want Immonen to be doing work that's far less busy. He's the pen-and-ink version of Alex Ross at his best. At Marvel he's simply never been given a chance to express that side of his work. Maybe he's fine with that. But for me, the same with Bendis, I'm...disappointed. Bendis and Immonen could indeed be a dynamite combination. But not this way. Anyway, "The Trial of Jean Grey Part 5 of 6." Blah blah blah, "Dark Phoenix Saga," I-can't-believe-we-didn't-remain-innocent-forever, forcing an unnecessary Guardians of the Galaxy connection. (I never really got why the X-Men ever had to have anything to do with space. Basically the complete opposite of what makes them relevant.)
Next time, fewer comics. That's all I can promise...
Astro City #10 (Vertigo)
When this series was relaunched last year, I was part of the I-don't-know-how-large contingent of fans who was happy to see it return. The last time the title was in print it was the extended Dark Age arc, which apparently bothered long-term readers, but was at least a version of something creator Kurt Busiek had been intending to do ever since Marvels (twenty years ago). I've never read Marvels, a giant love letter to (as you may have guess) Marvel history which quickly became known as painter Alex Ross's breakout project (some argue best work, but I hold that for Kingdom Come, which is the one he clearly drew on for the later Earth X comics). Ross has done every Astro City cover since it launched in 1995 (so! Busiek wasted little time!), and Brent Anderson has been the interior artist. This is a hardcore nostalgia comic in the Alan Moore tradition, with Busiek versions of pretty much every major superhero. Did it really take this long for him to get around to a Winged Victory spotlight? Winged Victory, you understand, is his Wonder Woman. The story takes off of the Infinite Crisis era of controversy surrounding DC's Amazon taking the life of Maxwell Lord. In fairness to Busiek, he does craft his pastiches into fairly distinctive variations, so that you don't necessarily have to be thinking WonderWomanWonderWomanWonderWoman while reading this issue (if you so choose). It's a Winged Victory story, even if you know how Busiek reached this point. All that being said, I cooled on the whole thing pretty quickly. I keep wanting him to grab the brass ring, go for the gusto, but Busiek is determined to take a relaxed pace. These are comics for Silver Age fans (early Silver Age, the lens of what would follow refracted through the 1950s). Originally Astro City was one of the most acclaimed comics around, but even other readers don't seem as excited about it these days. Good to have it around again, though.
Kick-Ass 3 #8 (Icon)
The big surprise was this conclusion to the Kick-Ass saga, begun in 2008. I read the early issues, but lost track of it along the way, after it became a movie phenomenon I inexplicably still haven't seen (despite active interests in the careers of both Jim Carrey, featured in the second one, and Chloe Grace Moretz, whose whole career happened thanks to Hit-Girl). It might have to do with the fact that the writer is Mark Millar, and for a time I kind of soured on him, not so much because of anything he'd done, but because of things Grant Morrison said. Morrison and Millar used to be bosom buddies, but they had a creative falling-out, and Morrison subsequently expressed the kind of opinions about his former friend that, well, Alan Moore routinely spouts about Morrison himself. (Guys! Guys! Can't we all just get along?) Comics Reader readers know I've recently turned the corner on Millar thanks to Starlight, so I was more than ready to read how he ended Kick-Ass. It seems to be exactly the way it should have, and that's fine. The art of John Romita, Jr. remains integral to the whole experience. Romita moved on to Superman with Geoff Johns immediately after concluding this saga, and of course I'm definitely there for that experience. In this sudden Millar- and Romita-heavy season for my comics experience, it was fitting to catch their mutual landmark as it happened.
The New 52: Futures End #10 (DC)
Contrary to my own expectations, Futures End still hasn't become a new version of my beloved 52 experience. I'm still keeping tabs on it (the Masked Superman was recently revealed to be Shazam, if you wanted to know), and of course September this year is a whole month dedicated to the event otherwise chronicled in the weekly series, with DC's line decked out in special issues looking at the futures of their stars. Masked Superman Before He Was Unmasked has encounter with Lois Lane this issue, which is otherwise highlighted by (Big) Barda being asked to suit up again. Undeniably awesome moment. Barda is the Wonder Woman of the New Gods. Come to think of it, I have no idea why there haven't been more Barda/Wonder Woman stories. Somebody fix that, please?
Saga #21 (Image)
On the opposite side of my recent Astro City experience is Saga. I lost track of both series over the course of the last year, but returning to Saga was to remember how much I love it. In the current comics, Brian K. Vaughan is finally putting the spotlight on the Robot Kingdom. Prince Robot IV (such a deceptively simple, awesome name; I'm a man of uncomplicated pleasures sometimes) has had a baby, and that baby has been kidnapped by a disgruntled Robot Kingdom janitor. Alana and Marko are still in the thick of their soap opera (call it what it is) otherwise. I'm once again addicted.
Superman/Wonder Woman #6 (DC)
I don't know if you remember, but I was wild about this series when it launched. I thought it was a brilliant idea, long-in-coming for Wonder Woman to get a second ongoing series of any form (and now she has a third, thanks to the digital-first Sensation Comics), and it also happened to have part of the early comic crush I've developed over Charles Soule (who unfortunately has recently signed an exclusive contract with...Marvel). This issue is one of the periodic General Zod stories DC loves to do, these inspired by the Man of Steel version Michael Shannon embodied more than Terrence Stamp in Superman II (but there have been lots of versions over the years). Zod is presented as a formidable foe. In fact, Superman/Wonder Woman in general seems to love thrusting its love birds in epic battles they can only hope to survive (although of course they will), valuing their link as warriors, a bond only they can truly experience together (which is the whole point of the relationship). The art is from Tony Daniel, whom I've greatly admired since his "Batman R.I.P." days, and whose work continues to evolve. He may epitomize what some fans have called the "New 52 house style," which basically folds around Jim Lee's work. For a brief moment it seemed as if Daniel had in fact begun to pattern himself pretty directly on Lee, but as I said, this issue is proof that he's still in flux. This is a good thing. I still have great hope for his career. Given the right project, his budding interests as a writer-artist could cement a real legacy. Next project in that regard is the forthcoming Deathstroke relaunch (which I will be rooting for, obviously).
Trinity of Sin: Pandora #2 (DC)
Ever since it became clear that the New 52 was launching with the secret lynchpin of a new character (who looks like part of the WildStorm legacy that officially became a part of DC canon at that time), I began rooting for Pandora to become an important, lasting creation. This is a work in progress. When she got her own book last year, I was rooting for that, too, but kept looking for a way in after I missed the launch. Well, now I've finally read an issue, just in time for a forthcoming relaunch where the character and her Trinity of Sin cohorts (Phantom Stranger, Question) fold in together under the single, unspecified banner (it could certainly be worse!). I think this is a good thing. A character like Pandora kind of needs context. She was built for context. Unless someone literally spends a year or more exploring her own story, sending Pandora on random adventures will do her no favors at all. This issue is a tie-in with "Trinity War," a Justice League crossover event that was supposed to be a big deal but kind of wasn't, a culmination of everything the New 52 was meant to accomplish to that point. (Failure? There are fans who've wanted the New 52 to be a failure from the start. Is this how fans were after Crisis On Infinite Earths? I hope not!) The strongest element of the issue is its use of Vandal Savage. Someone other than Ray Fawkes might have really played that up. Fawkes is one of the writers who've benefited from the revised creative landscape DC has sought to establishment, and he's one I really haven't formed an impression of, so I hope this isn't completely indicative of his work. I'd like to see better.
Wolverine #4 (Marvel)
Ah, Paul Cornell. He's one of those writers who became an instant favor a few years back, and I became a loyal reader for a good long while. But I wonder if he hasn't lost the thread of what interested him in writing comics along the way. He's also known for his work with Doctor Who, and as an author. And also for not really sticking around any one comic book project for long. Maybe that's why I stopped trying to keep track, or found I didn't care when he started on Wolverine. I kept almost checking out the run, but never quite doing it. He's the writer who set up the Death of Wolverine event that...Charles Soule is finishing. So I finally checked it out. And...I really don't think I've missed anything. Sorry, Paul. Doesn't seem to be among your best. When Cornell is at his best he's among the best. So that's why I've been disappointed.
Wonder Woman #23 (DC)
If I hadn't gotten so horribly behind, I'd've been a loyal fan of the whole Brian Azzarello/Cliff Chiang run on this series, which is about to end. It's brilliant, easily one of the best things that's ever happened to Wonder Woman, and for one of the biggest characters in comics. This issue is part of the First Born arc. First Born is a new villain to the mythos, part of the September 2013 Villains Month one-shot line-up and everything. The one thing that can be held against the Azzarello Wonder Woman is that it feels completely disconnected from the rest of the DC landscape (which, I'm convinced, is half the reason Superman/Wonder Woman happened), and why First Born didn't at all become a household name. I mean, H'El over in the Scott Lobdell Superman comics from around the same time had a better shot. Wonder Woman from this era will become known for its particular context. To read one issue is to read any issue, in some respects. It's all one continuous story. (Although I will be contradicting this gross simplification next time I talk about it, which is another tie-in to how Superman/Wonder Woman happened.) This is a good thing. I'm already hoping for a Azzarello/Chiang reprise somewhere down the line, an epic mini-series or even crossover event. Hey, I can dream!
All-New X-Men #24 (Marvel)
This is another series I was once completely hot on but cooled over as time wore on. This is the Brian Michael Bendis/Stuart Immonen series that spun out of AvX and famously sports the gimmick of having the original, youthful X-Men time-displaced to the present. I'm about as all over the place with Bendis as I am with a handful of other creators. He's kind of the Marvel equivalent, for me, of Scott Snyder in some respects. When I love his work, I think he's brilliant. But he's not always engaged in ways I think benefit what he's doing. This issue is all about how he's reached that point again. I thought the time-displaced heroes would be gone by now. I really have no idea why they're still around. In the early issues, All-New X-Men seemed primed to introduce a whole new generation of mutant heroes. I don't know if I've simply missed that whole development, or if it's been abandoned, delayed, whatever. That's what I think the series ought to be doing. And as always, I want Immonen to be doing work that's far less busy. He's the pen-and-ink version of Alex Ross at his best. At Marvel he's simply never been given a chance to express that side of his work. Maybe he's fine with that. But for me, the same with Bendis, I'm...disappointed. Bendis and Immonen could indeed be a dynamite combination. But not this way. Anyway, "The Trial of Jean Grey Part 5 of 6." Blah blah blah, "Dark Phoenix Saga," I-can't-believe-we-didn't-remain-innocent-forever, forcing an unnecessary Guardians of the Galaxy connection. (I never really got why the X-Men ever had to have anything to do with space. Basically the complete opposite of what makes them relevant.)
Next time, fewer comics. That's all I can promise...
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Quick Hits: All-New X-Men #4, 5 (Marvel)
Another of my favorite launches from 2012, this is Brian Michael Bendis finally doing the X-Men book he all but promised in House of M.
The fourth issue pushes the strange arc of the current and conflicted mutants meeting their own past selves. That's all well and good. It advances thing enough so we can reach:
The fifth issue, in which Bendis really gets to write for both Jean Grey and Beast, the two biggest beneficiaries of this series not named Cyclops. Jean is the most fascinating character ever to be sacrificed to the needs of a death in comics that somehow stayed pretty permanent. This is her second chance and Bendis knows it, and that's reason enough to look at this whole story as something other than a gimmick. She's here mostly to help Beast try to figure out a way to not die, which is odd because if I were writing it I'd be trying to find the loophole that would help Jean survive.
Both issues are illustrated by Stuart Immonen, who is a favorite and whose absence from some of the following issues is excuse enough for me to lose track of the series for a while. Still, as worth checking out as anything else I endorse wholeheartedly.
The fourth issue pushes the strange arc of the current and conflicted mutants meeting their own past selves. That's all well and good. It advances thing enough so we can reach:
The fifth issue, in which Bendis really gets to write for both Jean Grey and Beast, the two biggest beneficiaries of this series not named Cyclops. Jean is the most fascinating character ever to be sacrificed to the needs of a death in comics that somehow stayed pretty permanent. This is her second chance and Bendis knows it, and that's reason enough to look at this whole story as something other than a gimmick. She's here mostly to help Beast try to figure out a way to not die, which is odd because if I were writing it I'd be trying to find the loophole that would help Jean survive.
Both issues are illustrated by Stuart Immonen, who is a favorite and whose absence from some of the following issues is excuse enough for me to lose track of the series for a while. Still, as worth checking out as anything else I endorse wholeheartedly.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
All-New X-Men #1 and 3 (Marvel)
writer: Brian Michael Bendis
artist: Stuart Immonen
It may be fair to say this I've been waiting for this series since House of M. Brian Michael Bendis was just beginning his run with the Avengers when he worked on that event book, but it became instantly identifiable for the moment Scarlet Witch uttered the words, "No more mutants."
Now, half the reason it had anything to do with mutants when it was an Avengers event was that it centered around Scarlet Witch, the daughter of Magneto. She was always more a part of the Avengers family, but the fact that she was a mutant perhaps never had greater significance than in House of M. Pushed to her breaking point (and afterward absent from any comic until Avengers: The Children's Crusade), Wanda Maximoff lashed out and altered reality, but the lasting impact was the severe deplenishing of the mutant population, to the point where it was on the verge of extinction (this was eventually addressed with the appearance of Hope and resolved in the pages of last year's AvX event).
Although Bendis continued writing Avengers stories for years, the impact on my own impression of what he should be doing lurked at the back of my head for years. Bendis is a writer who thrives best when he has a big subject to tackle on an intimate scale. It's the whole reason why he's worked on various incarnations of Ultimate Spider-Man since 2000, because whether it's Peter Parker or Miles Morales, the character speaks to Bendis's strengths. I suspect he stuck around the Avengers for so long because once it became clear that he had at least one notable idea (embodied by the New Avengers concept that officially turned the team into Marvel's Justice League), he became identified with the franchise, and he indeed made it a franchise, working on several different books at the same time. Yet I still wonder if it was, after all, relevant to a true Bendis experience.
The difference might be seen in the first issue of All-New X-Men. Half (at least) of what anyone knows about this new series is that it begins with a sensational gimmick, the original X-Men meeting their future counterparts. In case you're not hep to what this means, it's literally the original team in its youth and earliest years being brought to the present.
That present is a little awkward. For one, Hank McCoy (Beast) is dying from his continuing mutations. He's the one who arranged this get-together. For another, there's the whole Scott Summers (Cyclops) situation. During AvX (that would be Avengers vs. X-Men), while merged with the Phoenix he murdered Charles Xavier (Professor X). This had the effect of everyone starting to see him as a villain, because Phoenix or no Phoenix that's a pretty villainous thing to do.
But what's truly fascinating about All-New X-Men is that it's not just about that. It's also about the new mutants popping up in the world in the aftermath of AvX. Maybe it takes someone like Bendis to think of actually doing this, because as far as I can tell no X-Men writer since Grant Morrison has been all that interested in expanding the mutant population. Yet Bendis isn't just doing that. He's doing it Bryan Singer style.
You may or may not recall that aspect of the X-Men movies. At the time, especially in the first and second installments (and again in First Class) there was considerable emphasis on what it means to discover that you're different and that not everyone you know before will be happy with it. It was compared by critics to coming out as a homosexual. That's another intriguing element that Bendis brings to this series.
The next issue I caught was #3. At this point I should mention that Cyclops is not only being considered the new Magneto, but he's actually hanging out with Magneto these days (at the end of AvX there was even a moment where Scott is being held in a prison much like the one where we find Magneto in X2). As you may know, Magneto has a complicated history as a mutant. He split early from Xavier's philosophy of peaceful coexistence with ordinary humans, and for a time was one of the X-Men's biggest enemies, what we would identify today as a terrorist. Yet his character has undergone a metamorphosis in recent years, not unlike what Geoff Johns has done recently with Sinestro.
Regardless of how you feel about Cyclops now, the fact that he's hanging around with Magneto does not mean that he's a villain. In fact, along with the White Queen they're yet another splinter cell of the X-Men, actively recruiting the new mutants popping up. It's like seeing the Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants from a different vantage point.
Yet much of this particular issue is Cyclops attempting to come to grips with what he's become, with help from Magneto, perhaps the only other mutant alive who would understand. It's an important moment for Bendis to have written, and I'm not surprised that he did. How long did it take him to make Peter Parker put on the Spider-Man costume?
Another draw for me to All-New X-Men is Stuart Immonen on art duties. Immonen has been working for Marvel for years now, and has collaborated with Bendis before, but I still think of him as my favorite Superman artist from the 1990s. He worked on Adventures of Superman before taking over Action Comics as both artist and writer. His work on Karl Kesel's The Final Night is an essential event book from that period. At the time, Immonen featured a simplistic, iconic style that I found infinitely compelling, human as well as superheroic in a way that no one else could match (Alex Ross is the only comparison possible, but he paints whereas Immonen draws). When he transitioned to Marvel, Immonen started altering his style, becoming more conventional. This in itself is not a bad thing, but I gravitated to himself precisely because he stood out. Recently he seems to have dialed some of that new instinct back a little. All-New X-Men is not completely different from The Final Night. I'm glad to see that. It's ironic, though, that he seems to thrive in representing the further mutations of, say, Beast and Iceman, relishing the prospect of making them look bizarre rather than human, since it was his depictions of humans that stood out so well previously.
I highly recommend you read this series, either as an existing fan of the X-Men franchise or as someone who only knows it from the movies, or really even as someone who knows nothing about it. You may be a little confused at first, but you've quickly learn to love it.
artist: Stuart Immonen
(via marvel.com)
It may be fair to say this I've been waiting for this series since House of M. Brian Michael Bendis was just beginning his run with the Avengers when he worked on that event book, but it became instantly identifiable for the moment Scarlet Witch uttered the words, "No more mutants."
Now, half the reason it had anything to do with mutants when it was an Avengers event was that it centered around Scarlet Witch, the daughter of Magneto. She was always more a part of the Avengers family, but the fact that she was a mutant perhaps never had greater significance than in House of M. Pushed to her breaking point (and afterward absent from any comic until Avengers: The Children's Crusade), Wanda Maximoff lashed out and altered reality, but the lasting impact was the severe deplenishing of the mutant population, to the point where it was on the verge of extinction (this was eventually addressed with the appearance of Hope and resolved in the pages of last year's AvX event).
Although Bendis continued writing Avengers stories for years, the impact on my own impression of what he should be doing lurked at the back of my head for years. Bendis is a writer who thrives best when he has a big subject to tackle on an intimate scale. It's the whole reason why he's worked on various incarnations of Ultimate Spider-Man since 2000, because whether it's Peter Parker or Miles Morales, the character speaks to Bendis's strengths. I suspect he stuck around the Avengers for so long because once it became clear that he had at least one notable idea (embodied by the New Avengers concept that officially turned the team into Marvel's Justice League), he became identified with the franchise, and he indeed made it a franchise, working on several different books at the same time. Yet I still wonder if it was, after all, relevant to a true Bendis experience.
The difference might be seen in the first issue of All-New X-Men. Half (at least) of what anyone knows about this new series is that it begins with a sensational gimmick, the original X-Men meeting their future counterparts. In case you're not hep to what this means, it's literally the original team in its youth and earliest years being brought to the present.
That present is a little awkward. For one, Hank McCoy (Beast) is dying from his continuing mutations. He's the one who arranged this get-together. For another, there's the whole Scott Summers (Cyclops) situation. During AvX (that would be Avengers vs. X-Men), while merged with the Phoenix he murdered Charles Xavier (Professor X). This had the effect of everyone starting to see him as a villain, because Phoenix or no Phoenix that's a pretty villainous thing to do.
But what's truly fascinating about All-New X-Men is that it's not just about that. It's also about the new mutants popping up in the world in the aftermath of AvX. Maybe it takes someone like Bendis to think of actually doing this, because as far as I can tell no X-Men writer since Grant Morrison has been all that interested in expanding the mutant population. Yet Bendis isn't just doing that. He's doing it Bryan Singer style.
You may or may not recall that aspect of the X-Men movies. At the time, especially in the first and second installments (and again in First Class) there was considerable emphasis on what it means to discover that you're different and that not everyone you know before will be happy with it. It was compared by critics to coming out as a homosexual. That's another intriguing element that Bendis brings to this series.
The next issue I caught was #3. At this point I should mention that Cyclops is not only being considered the new Magneto, but he's actually hanging out with Magneto these days (at the end of AvX there was even a moment where Scott is being held in a prison much like the one where we find Magneto in X2). As you may know, Magneto has a complicated history as a mutant. He split early from Xavier's philosophy of peaceful coexistence with ordinary humans, and for a time was one of the X-Men's biggest enemies, what we would identify today as a terrorist. Yet his character has undergone a metamorphosis in recent years, not unlike what Geoff Johns has done recently with Sinestro.
Regardless of how you feel about Cyclops now, the fact that he's hanging around with Magneto does not mean that he's a villain. In fact, along with the White Queen they're yet another splinter cell of the X-Men, actively recruiting the new mutants popping up. It's like seeing the Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants from a different vantage point.
Yet much of this particular issue is Cyclops attempting to come to grips with what he's become, with help from Magneto, perhaps the only other mutant alive who would understand. It's an important moment for Bendis to have written, and I'm not surprised that he did. How long did it take him to make Peter Parker put on the Spider-Man costume?
Another draw for me to All-New X-Men is Stuart Immonen on art duties. Immonen has been working for Marvel for years now, and has collaborated with Bendis before, but I still think of him as my favorite Superman artist from the 1990s. He worked on Adventures of Superman before taking over Action Comics as both artist and writer. His work on Karl Kesel's The Final Night is an essential event book from that period. At the time, Immonen featured a simplistic, iconic style that I found infinitely compelling, human as well as superheroic in a way that no one else could match (Alex Ross is the only comparison possible, but he paints whereas Immonen draws). When he transitioned to Marvel, Immonen started altering his style, becoming more conventional. This in itself is not a bad thing, but I gravitated to himself precisely because he stood out. Recently he seems to have dialed some of that new instinct back a little. All-New X-Men is not completely different from The Final Night. I'm glad to see that. It's ironic, though, that he seems to thrive in representing the further mutations of, say, Beast and Iceman, relishing the prospect of making them look bizarre rather than human, since it was his depictions of humans that stood out so well previously.
I highly recommend you read this series, either as an existing fan of the X-Men franchise or as someone who only knows it from the movies, or really even as someone who knows nothing about it. You may be a little confused at first, but you've quickly learn to love it.
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