I really like Psylocke and Storm. Fantomex seemed cooler in
concept than execution; I don’t know why people don’t see him as Gambit for the
2000’s. Spiral was never my favorite villain. Puck is way down the list of
faves from Alpha Flight. And I liked Bishop better as a future cop trying to
fit in rather than an evil maniac.
So Sam Humphries had a lot of obstacles to overcome before I
would really go crazy about this comic. I’m sad to say he never really does it.
The high concept is deceptively simple. Wolverine sends
Psylocke to LA to hunt down Spiral. Psylocke is depressed after a bad breakup
with Fantomex, so Storm goes along. They meet up with Puck, and find Spiral
dealing drugs at a club. Only it isn’t drugs, it is the mind-affecting powers
of a new mutant. One who has ties to an immortal body-stealing corruptor from
the future. Where Bishop has also become involved with the psychic evil. And he
comes back too. And Spiral just wants to protect the little girl.
Oh, and I guess Fantomex got split into three bodies at some
point? I was unaware. This comic has Fantomex (the version closest to the
original, Cluster (a female version), and Dark Fantomex (an evil version). Eva
the intelligent spaceship shows up a few times as a very womanly robot, taking
away from the weirdness of her relationship with Fantomex, in my opinion.
Then Bishop starts “BROOOOAAAAR”ing all the time, somehow
tied to Dani Moonstar’s demon bear.
So yeah, to me, this is kind of a mess. The characters are
fine on the surface, because they don’t do much more than run around. I
appreciate Humphries trying to give Spiral some depth, but man, she was a solid
villain, right? No need to soften her up.
There are too many story elements mixed together, and they
don’t really belong together. Like a peanut butter and ham sandwich.
The art is passable, but not overly impressive. To be
honest, this is barely recognizable as Ron Garney’s work. I usually love his
pencils, as I do on his current Thor run. This seems oddly rushed. Perhaps the inking
isn’t a good fit? Adrian Alphona comes on for the last few issues, but the art
looks dreamlike and inconsistent with the earlier issues.
This is an EVIL version an old favorite. I think reading
library copies is the way to go here.
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