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?

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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

Excalibur, Exiles

Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem

The X-Babies are the only reason I’m keeping this.  Them and Art Adams.

I mean, come on.  They’re frickin’ adorable and hilariously petulant.  Rogue and Dazzler are allowed to be as jealous as they want of each other.  Wolverine can indulge in all the child-like behavior he wants. It’s great.

Everything else in this book is ho-hum.  The issue revolves around the Agent fooling all the X-Babies into signing contracts binding them to Mojo forever.  But after Kitty thwarts him, all the kids end up returning to Mojoverse anyway in exchange for Ricochet Rita’s freedom.  Rita, of course, runs right back into the clutches of Mojo because she’s unable to leave the X-Babies behind. So...everything ends up the way they started.  The futility of it all is infuriating.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Exiles 1, 2, 34

X-Men from various realities are thrown together into a team that has to repair disruptions to the time-space continuum.  (Think the tv show Legends of Tomorrow, but with mutants.)  It’s a neat concept, but the primary reason it got my money for two issues is the return of Blink from the Age of Apocalypse.  By far the best part of that saga, I was ecstatic at her return. Judd Winick at the writing helm was a mega bonus.

The actual cover has all of the characters in color, but Blink's the only one who matters.

Also, it's impossible to use that composition without calling this to mind:

The first story arc is fine, but reads a lot like an Elseworlds story with no real stakes.  Sure, one of the team members gets killed (Magneto and Rogue’s grown up son, Magnus), but I hardly had any time to get to know him, so that moment didn’t have any emotional weight.  It’s like Thunderbird dying a couple issues after Giant-Size X-Men 1.   A quick skim through the comic’s Wikipedia article indicates that Winick and later writers had no problem killing off team members.  I can imagine how that’d actually be pretty powerful given time to grow familiar with the group.

I must have read a positive review of issue 34.  That’s the only reason I can imagine for me to buy this random issue after skipping the thirty-one in between.  It’s a tragic romance between Mariko Yashida (Sunfire) and Mary Parker (Spider-Woman) - They find love, only for Mariko to be teleported to another reality with no notice.  Winick does a nice job of showing how happy they are together, to make their abrupt separation all the more painful. I’m glad I picked it up, it’s hard to tell this kind of story well.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No (Yes for 34)

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine (Nice for 34)

Excalibur, Cover, Buffy

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1

An interesting but understandable decision for Boom Studios to reboot the series after taking over the license from Dark Horse.  I felt extremely weird the entire time I read this. Jordie Bellaire does a really nice job of writing in each of these characters’ voices.  It wasn’t hard at all for me to hear the voices of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anthony Stewart Head, Alyson Hannigan, and all the rest in my head.  Dan Mora similarly does the Scooby Gang proud with his renderings of their faces. (Except for Anya. I thought it was her, but needed the script to confirm it.)  

So nice to see the old crew back together!

I can practically taste the dry wit.

Yeah, wouldn't have guessed by looking.

All in all, it was like coming home to old friends.  The problem is that instead of wanting to read the next issue, I want to pop season one into the DVD player and binge the whole thing.  I want the real thing, not a filtered experience. I’ll flip through the next issue, but I think this is going to be as skippable as the previous series.

Cover 5

It’s only been a month, but I felt uncomfortably disoriented for the first ten pages or so of this issue.  I couldn’t tell who was talking to whom, and I had trouble grasping the thread of the conversation.

Things cleared up once David Mack got back to the Ninja Sword art and Julia popped back into the picture.  There’s enough plot advancement and lovely art for this to remain on my good side.

Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn

The origin of Excalibur, told in the aftermath of the “death” of the X-Men in the Fall of the Mutants storyline.  It’s not that interesting.  The various members of the inaugural team come together to fight Technet and Mojo’s Warwolves.  And that’s about it. Shadowcat and Nightcrawler will always be favorites of mine, but Excalibur has forever lacked purpose, a reason for being.  I’m keeping it for the historical significance, nothing more.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring