Fatal Attractions, Bloodties, X-Men, New Comics

New comics!

Marvel Action: Chillers 3

This is one of those titles that I would have preferred to flip through in the store.  (I wouldn’t have picked it up.)  Alas.

Seven Secrets 5

Daniele Di Nicuolo’s art is still gorgeous to look at.  This’ll read better all at once, but it’s still no slouch on its own.

Taskmaster 1

Between this and Black Cat, Jed MacKay is becoming one of my new favorite writers.  This is a really funny comic.

Captain Marvel 24

More of the same, still super fun.

X-Men 17-24

The Colossus/Soul Skinner arc is completely mediocre, as is the introduction of Revanche.  I completely hate the whole “two Betsy Braddock” thing, but while the execution doesn’t blow, it’s certainly not good by any stretch.  Neither is the Psylocke-seducing-Scott subplot.  It came out of nowhere, and ends just as abruptly.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an editorial mandate so that artists could draw her in sexy poses.  And while I’m a fan of Andy Kubert, his early stuff here can’t hold a candle to Jim Lee:

His Psylocke just isn't as good, is what I'm saying.

To be clear, that's motor oil she's licking.  Makes no sense at all.

A full page of weird Kubert lips.

What the hell is up with Scott's smile?

He does draw a bad ass Colossus, though.

He's got that power pose nailed from all angles.

Mega plot hole: Care must be taken to safely remove Illyana...

...so Colossus just smashes the thing, and all is well?

How in the world does Barrage pick up Scott's glasses?

`

Writer Fabian Nicieza really does his best to mimic Chris Claremont, tossing out “body and souls” left and right (three in issue 21 alone!) along with the classic “sum of its parts.”  And here’s the return of my favorite (I thought the count was going to stall at 7 after Claremont left):

Psychic knife 8.

Classic Claremontian monologuing.  Particularly love all the "as untos"

One of my favorite covers ever.  Kubert infuses this image with tenderness, love, and longing.  Beautiful:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine (Nice for 24)

Uncanny X-Men 304

X-Men 25

Wolverine 75

Excalibur 71

Fatal Attractions, detailing the return of Magneto after his “death” in X-Men 3.  This was the one with the pretty holograms on the cover.  Three things of note happen: Colossus joins Magneto and the Acolytes (I know he’s disillusioned by the death of Illyana, but it still makes no sense); Xavier mindwipes Magneto (Eventually leading to all sorts of Magneto/Joseph nonsense that’s almost if not just as bad as the Psylocke/Revanche fiasco); Magneto pulls the adamantium out of Wolverine.  

To be honest, I’m surprised this last one hadn’t already been done before.  But the execution is every bit as horrific as I could have imagined, and it truly shocked me back then.  Even now, the visual is completely arresting:

And as horrible as that previous panel was, they still can't show blood in this sequence.  Stupid.

Which is what made the followup issue, Wolverine 75, so disappointing - It’s quite clear at the end of X-Men 25 that all the extruded metal is still attached to Wolverine, protruding from his skin.  But once the X-Men are on the Blackbird, the adamantium is somehow no longer in the equation - It’s completely gone, presumably lying around somewhere on Avalon.  It takes a situation that, while gruesome, would have made for a much more interesting story.  Instead, the writers take the easy way out, and Wolverine eventually heals with little incident.  Meh.

Still, the reentry of the Blackbird into Earth atmosphere is an exciting, edge-of-your-seat action sequence, effectively balancing the struggle of keeping Logan alive with the very real possibility that the plane could disintegrate at any moment.  Adam Kubert’s art is wonderful here, clearly outshining his brother’s for now.  

Oh yeah, bone claws get retconned in.

Makes me sniffle.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes (No for Excalibur)

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice (Uncanny), Pretty good (X-Men), Good (Wolverine), Fine (Excalibur)

Uncanny X-Men 305-306

Some of the grossest body horror I’ve ever seen.  (I’m not going to show it here).  Kudos to Jan Duursema and John Romita Jr, they succeeded in drawing stuff that makes my skin crawl.  Now get out of my brain.  Only not cutting to preserve the run.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Hated

Avengers 368-369

Uncanny X-Men 307

X-Men 26

Avengers West Coast 101

The Bloodties crossover.  Cortez’s abduction of Luna unites the X-Men and Avengers on the battlegrounds of Genosha’s civil war.  Exodus is in “undefineably powerful” mode, making for a eh, whatever story.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

X-Men 27-29

The Legacy Virus starts kicking into high gear.  Killing time until the wedding issue.

Psychic knife 9

Psychic knife 10

I love Richard Bennett, but that Rogue pose is stupid ridiculous.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Avengers West Coast, Avenging Spider-Man

Avengers West Coast 102

I probably bought this for a combination of two reasons: I got the previous issue because it was part of the Bloodlines crossover w/ the X-Men; It was the last issue of the series, and high school me thought it might be worth something someday.  

Both were stupid reasons, but I’m glad past me did, because this is a fun little issue.  Nothing but Avengers sitting (and standing) around talking about shutting down the team.  The interpersonal conflicts fit with the characters, and the story zips along at a perfect, brisk pace.  I’ve read this issue several times over the years, it’s the perfect comic book example of comfort food.  

Bitter much?

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice

Looking at the ratings I’ve been giving for the past month, I haven’t used Okay once.  So I’m going to deprecate that one, since it’s what I mean by Fine, which is basically replacement level comics.  Nice is new, and will mean comfort food.  

Avenging Spider-Man 1-5

So.  Much.  Fun.  How did I forget about this?  I remembered this series for the Joe Madureira art.  And as wonderful as it was, Zeb Wells’ writing is what really shines.  I can not recall another comic with this density of lol moments.  This review will basically be a collection of these moments.  

A few more notes before I get to those:  Joe Mad is as amazing as always.  His inks show a greater variety of line weights than I’ve seen in the past, lending the finished work a sketchier quality that I’m a huge fan of.  I’m also thrilled to see him drawing Spidey, something I’ve wanted more of since he (Spidey) made a cameo in Uncanny X-Men

Back in 1997

Fifteen years later.

Excellent tagline for a sword.

Heh.

Things I didn't know I needed #281: J Jonah Jameson in battle armor.

Things I didn't know I needed #282: Hulk Clap on a flock of seagulls.  (I choose to believe that none of them suffered lasting injury)

Heh 2.

Goes on my list of favorite quotes.

Aside from the humor, Wells also injects some sweet moments into the issues.  Hawkeye’s motivation behind his need to never miss and Spidey’s attempts to bond with Cap veer dangerously close towards the twee side, and nudge a toe over the line, but they worked for me. Also liked Spidey standing up to Red Hulk about doing what’s right.

Never figured Yu as an artist who could pull off humor, but that's some prime Spidey/Cap posing.

Not so much the ending of issue 4.  On the one hand, Spidey’s being nice to Hawkeye because he know how important hitting the target is to Clint.  On the other hand, it comes across as patronizing a grown man.  

As I was reading this, I kept wondering why I stopped buying with issue 5.  I was already considering buying more issues so that I could read more of Wells’ Spidey-quotes.  Turns out this was as far as he got before handing it over to other writers.  Oh wells.  (He also wrote for Robot Chicken, including the excellent Star Wars episodes.  I’m not surprised.)  

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Good