Humble apologies for my long silence- or if you'd enjoyed that silence, no apologies for me breaking it. My long sojourn offline involved a great deal of real world travel. Seeing the the US from the Columbia to the Chattahoochee over the past few weeks gave me abundant time to read, but few opportunities to actually visit a comic book store and no chances to write and post reviews.
Uncanny X-Force 20 defied a lot of odds stacked against it. I found the interior art rather inconsistent, running the gamut from beautiful and dreamy, to suitably dynamic, to just a bit too loose. I caught a couple of little nits that perhaps the art director or an editor should have picked. Nightcrawler's pupils, for instance, became uncharacteristically visible in one panel. And I don't think there is any "Captain Whales" in the Captain Britain Corps.
Remender wrote AOA Nightcrawler as arrogant, self-centered, vengeance-driven, foolish malcontent that made me wish some good person would knock some sense into him- and yet I rather liked that. It shows that Remender knows this "Not-crawler," as some fans call him, is not the Kurt Wagner fans have loved since 1975, and he makes no attempt to pass him off as any kind of substitute. Nonetheless, this longtime fan of the Fuzzy Elf felt a bit sad.
Still, I'd long anticipated seeing Fantomex being held to account for his crime, and I love how Otherworld is being written, drawn, and in this battle for it, completely turned inside-out. It made for a rather fun issue, especially for UXF.
Wolverine and the X-Men 4, on the other hand, did not strike me as quite as much fun as the previous three issues. Sure, there were moments chock full of hilarity, like the faculty meeting, reactions to Deathlok's lecture, and little details like a picture of Cyclops on a dartboard. Unfortunately, the ramifications of Fantomex's misdeeds in Uncanny X-Force have spilled some excessive gloom over into this book. I had been hoping that the events in X-Force would, as Kitty Pryde put it, "never be allowed to affect what happens at the school." Of course they had, and now not only do I fear for a number of young characters that have grown on me lately, but I'm a bit worried that this book might take a darker direction.
I can only hope that Jason Aaron leaves the darker plot threads for Rick Remender to tie up in UXF, and keeps WATX the fun break from all the doom and gloom that it has been so far.
Showing posts with label Wolverine and the X-Men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wolverine and the X-Men. Show all posts
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Comic Book Reviews and Spoilers: The Walking Dead 90 and Wolverine and the X-Men 1
Yes indeed, it was a big Wednesday, so big I have to write twice the review.
The Walking Dead 90 felt like a roller coaster all in one issue, tying up points from the previous couple of issues like the standoff between Rick and Nicholas, addressing their fallout, and introducing new themes all very satisfactorily without letting us think anything is really resolved. Nicholas and Rick reach a peaceful if tenuous understanding. Carl goes home. Andrea reaches out to Rick and says something so warm, hopeful, and life-affirming it made me look forward to the next issue with almost reckless optimism.
Of course, the key word is "almost." We can count on Robert Kirkman to not let us remain long on top of the world before taking us down. Rick's uncertain of his place in any "safe" society. It's becoming clearer just how deep Carl's own scars run. Glenn is nervous about Nicholas and has more reason to be worried about Maggie, who says she can't live "like this." And Abraham's new girlfriend seems to be using him to make a play for power within the community. While the issue ends on a very high note, I'm still on the edge of my seat anticipating the next issue with equal parts hope and dread.
On the other hand, the inaugural issue of Wolverine and the X-Men left me feeling rather elated. For too long, I'd felt that the X-books had been too bogged down with darkness, imminent extinction, and Cyclops's more militant brand of leadership to be any fun. Jason Aaron effectively threw all of that out the window. The school is back. The themes of coexistence and misfits struggling to find their places even among fellow misfits are back. The characters are relatable and even likable- warts and all. Small tidbits of realism like the inspectors' concern over Headmistress Pryde's lack of academic credentials stood out nicely and balanced out what might have otherwise been a roiling cacophany of hyperkinetic craziness.
My only complaint is about how some of the "interdimensional gremlins" Beast mentioned were drawn. I wasn't sure what exactly those creatures who each resembled a nudist, chaotic neutral Nightcrawler on a perpetual sugar rush were supposed to be. Bamfs? They certainly weren't the cuter, cuddlier Bamfs as I remember them. Maybe they just need their "daddy" back to keep them in line. In any case, I hope there will be no Bamf-hunting.
Overall, though, the book was chock full of laugh-out-loud moments such as hadn't been seen in the X-books in a long time- I'm thinking since Excalibur's whackiest moments. As Kade Kilgore (who, now that I think of it, may well be a better villain than I at first expected) said, "The very idea of a 'Wolverine School for Gifted Youngsters' is utterly absurd." And it just may be extremely entertaining, too.
The Walking Dead 90 felt like a roller coaster all in one issue, tying up points from the previous couple of issues like the standoff between Rick and Nicholas, addressing their fallout, and introducing new themes all very satisfactorily without letting us think anything is really resolved. Nicholas and Rick reach a peaceful if tenuous understanding. Carl goes home. Andrea reaches out to Rick and says something so warm, hopeful, and life-affirming it made me look forward to the next issue with almost reckless optimism.
Of course, the key word is "almost." We can count on Robert Kirkman to not let us remain long on top of the world before taking us down. Rick's uncertain of his place in any "safe" society. It's becoming clearer just how deep Carl's own scars run. Glenn is nervous about Nicholas and has more reason to be worried about Maggie, who says she can't live "like this." And Abraham's new girlfriend seems to be using him to make a play for power within the community. While the issue ends on a very high note, I'm still on the edge of my seat anticipating the next issue with equal parts hope and dread.
On the other hand, the inaugural issue of Wolverine and the X-Men left me feeling rather elated. For too long, I'd felt that the X-books had been too bogged down with darkness, imminent extinction, and Cyclops's more militant brand of leadership to be any fun. Jason Aaron effectively threw all of that out the window. The school is back. The themes of coexistence and misfits struggling to find their places even among fellow misfits are back. The characters are relatable and even likable- warts and all. Small tidbits of realism like the inspectors' concern over Headmistress Pryde's lack of academic credentials stood out nicely and balanced out what might have otherwise been a roiling cacophany of hyperkinetic craziness.
My only complaint is about how some of the "interdimensional gremlins" Beast mentioned were drawn. I wasn't sure what exactly those creatures who each resembled a nudist, chaotic neutral Nightcrawler on a perpetual sugar rush were supposed to be. Bamfs? They certainly weren't the cuter, cuddlier Bamfs as I remember them. Maybe they just need their "daddy" back to keep them in line. In any case, I hope there will be no Bamf-hunting.
Overall, though, the book was chock full of laugh-out-loud moments such as hadn't been seen in the X-books in a long time- I'm thinking since Excalibur's whackiest moments. As Kade Kilgore (who, now that I think of it, may well be a better villain than I at first expected) said, "The very idea of a 'Wolverine School for Gifted Youngsters' is utterly absurd." And it just may be extremely entertaining, too.
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