Saturday, March 5, 2011

Comics on the Bubble: X-Men Forever 1-6 (2001)

I'm usually a fan of Fabian Nicieza's work, but man, this thing was a bear to get through. Kevin Maguire's art is sublime, as always, but man, this thing is so packed with minutiae of continuity and frankly, pointless plot, it is tough to read. There are certainly some nice moments, but when the Stranger shows up around the end of the series, it really invalidates a lot of the time spent in the early issues. This thing is way too cosmic and way too slow to hold up well.

That said, I think I'm going to have to hold onto it, because Kevin Maguire's art is great. He actually turns Toad into a character I can root for. I didn't love the conclusion, where Mystique and Toad take on their X-Men movie looks, but other than that? This thing looks about perfect.

The team is actually an interesting one, Phoenix, Toad, Iceman, Juggernaut, and Mystique really do cover a ton of the bases for X-continuity, the problem is that most of these folks don't have a lot to do. Mystique does move the plot along and fill in some gaps in X-continuity, but Phoenix is basically a cell phone for the team (until the last issue). The first four issues involve time jumps and flashbacks, the final issue is filled with cosmic double-speak. So in all, this isn't a very friendly series to try and pick up and enjoy.

As I said, this looks great. I'll KEEP it for that reason.

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