Captain America: Patriot (2010)

Honestly, I don’t understand comics. Who was demanding this series? Were people really clamoring for a feature on Jeff Mace, the Captain America of the 1950’s? I just can’t make myself believe there were many people who wanted this. Maybe Marvel was trying to clarify their continuity and timelines? I honestly can’t figure it out.

That’s not to say this isn’t a good series. Mitch Breitweiser’s art is gorgeous from start to finish, and Karl Kesel’s story hits all the required notes. I just can’t figure out why this book was made. Am I forgetting some crossover into Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America?

Jeff Mace was active as the Patriot, dealing with New York street villains while Cap fought the good fight in WWII. After Cap’s disappearance, Mace steps up when the world needs another Captain America. It is pretty fun seeing Mace try to fill Steve Rogers’s shoes, especially when Namor won’t give him an ounce of respect. Namor is constantly belittling and doubting Mace’s abilities, even when the rest of the team is trying to give him a shot. It’s easy to root for Mace when he’s got a bully like Namor gunning for him.

As I said, Kesel hits all the required notes. There are some All-Winners Squad fights, but most of the interactions we see with the other heroes are personal and character-driven. There are allusions to the Red Scare. There is a nice subplot with Mace trying to figure out his love life. His co-worker and erstwhile partner Mary Morgan clearly loves him, but he has the hots for his FBI handler Betsy Ross. I felt like the Mary Morgan story was a tad unresolved at the conclusion of the series, but I did like Mace getting a happy ending.

Breitweiser’s art is a rare treat. Someone this good should get more work. His work has a lot of similarities to Dougie Braithwaite, only a tad more dreamy. The costumes on the heroes and villains are all nice designs, including new characters like Night Witch or redesigns like Red Guardian. He can clearly handle drawing a large cast; why doesn’t he do more work?

This is a FAIR comic; I don’t know why Marvel wanted it made, but it is fun seeing a forgotten chapter in the Marvel U get a few panels in the sun. 

Sable & Fortune 1-4 (2006)

Oh Marvel Unlimited. You are going to be a very dangerous application for me. Now that I can discover forgotten limited series like this… well, you can expect some oddball Marvel reviews, that’s all I’m saying.

After reading it, I can see why this series is forgotten. It isn’t that writer Brendan Cahill or artist John Burns do a bad job, it is just that they are hamstrung by their leads. There is a reason that Silver Sable and Dominic Fortune aren’t used more than they are. Sable is by far the stronger character of the two, and she’s strictly C-list.

This is a fairly generic story about sleeper cells and betrayals within the Wild Pack. I can’t really tell who everyone is, and the lack of costumed villains to distinguish people from each other really hurts. Cahill does a nice job with some of Fortune’s dialogue; he’s a lovable rogue constantly in danger. He plays the damsel in distress role while Sable is the butt-kicking action lead. The reversal of traditional roles is amusing, but not enough to give the series enough traction.

I’ve never seen it, but isn’t this what Remington Steele was based on? If so, then this would certainly make for a good Marvel version of that show.

I assume John Burns is a classic artist of 2000 AD or something. (EDIT: Just confirmed, he’s a Judge Dredd artist too.) His art has that British flair that used to pop up in the late 80’s and 90’s, especially on covers. His Silver Sable has a striking look, complete with enormous hair that just screams 80’s action movie. She looks fantastic. Burns’ art is a good enough reason for this to exist. He certainly has fans that must have appreciated this look. That’s how I made this the first book I read with my new Marvel Unlimited subscription.

That gets blown out of the water when Laurenn McCubbin takes over on the last issue. Cut from six issues to four, Burns doesn’t get to finish. McCubbin’s work looks so drastically different that I thought I was reading a different comic. Not to mention the bigger problem; the main villains were all eliminated in issue 3! I honestly couldn’t finish issue 4, that’s how unnecessary it felt.

It is disappointing; this went from a niche project with a targeted appeal to a four issue series that lived one issue too long. This EVIL comic is recommended for Burns fans only. 

12 Days of X-Mas: Day 12: X-Factor #1 (2006)

There is hope, folks. Our 12 days of X-Mas have taken us through some pretty great highs, and some truly awful lows. But the good news is that the best era of X-Factor started up in 2006 and only came to an end in November. Peter David returned to the characters he made great in the 90's. This post House of M era team featured Rictor as a depowered mutant, Strong Guy, Wolfesbane, Siryn, M, and Jamie Madrox. To no one's surprise, David nailed his pet characters and then proceeded to lay claim to the new folks too.

Along the way, the book added Darwin, Shatterstar, and a ton of X-Men guest stars.

David has been writing about this team through all sorts of incarnations. For awhile the team did low-level investigations, they teamed up with She-Hulk to fight Skrulls, and they tried to find Invisible Woman's murderer.

In all honesty, I have a stack of X-Factor comics to read (digitally) and I can't wait to dive in. The first 40 or so issues I've read are some of the most consistent comics I've read. I can't wait to see the return of Quicksilver, Havok, and Polaris.

The art is pretty fine too. Ryan Sook, Pablo Raimondi, Glenn Fabry, and more have worked with David to make some darn GOOD comics.

Best of all, David is relaunching the book with All-New X-Factor in a few days. Look for a bonus day of X-Mas this week...

I hope everyone enjoyed the 12 Days of X-Mas!

12 Days of X-Mas: Day 10: X-Factor #122 (1996)

Things are getting pretty dire for our favorite government super-team now.

After bouncing through a variety of creators for the last dozen or so issues, this issue is the start of the last era of the first volume of X-Factor. Howard Mackie and Jeff Matsuda make some effort to amp up the excitment with some jumping around and dynamic art, but there is no way to salvage this book.

The biggest problem is the dregs that make up the roster. Val Cooper is now a gun-waiving agent, Forge, Polaris, and Wildchild are the only active members in this issue. Mystique is around, sort of being bad but still part of the team. And Sabretooth shows up, letting the others know that he'll be on the team too. Can you imagine a more boring group of leads to anchor a comic? Who were people coming to see? Mystique? Sabretooth? Ugh!

There are some offhanded comments about battling government agencies or factions, but there is barely any real plot to sink in to. The narrator lays on some purple prose about how the team really watches each other's backs, but that doesn't really come through in the dialogue or characterization.

As I said, Matsuda's manga-inspired art is fun. He's no Joe Mad, but his attempt to look similar pays off. the tech has a nice '90's look to it, and the "updated" costumes are ultra-modern too.

Unfortunately, with this weak team, it isn't surprising this book got cancelled. Probably for being EVIL.

12 Days of X-Mas: Day 9: X-Factor #100 (1994)

Talk about melodramatic covers. Ugh!

Look how far we have fallen since yesterday! 

This is still the mutant misadventures of the government super-team X-Factor, but now they are joined by 90’s paragon Random. Random is a bandana and sunglasses wearing tough guy who can shoot out of his shape-shifting arms. I don’t remember disliking him when this comic came out in 1994, but man, he’s just such a product of his time. It almost hurts!

The villain is no better. The ridiculously named “Haven” is a messianic figure out to decimate the world’s population in order to usher in a new golden age. She’s already got Wolfesbane and Val Cooper in her corner when the story begins, and the Legacy Virus-suffering Jamie Madrox throws in by the end of the issue. Now, not all three of them truly turn; one of those characters is too smart for that. I’ll leave it to you to guess who. (Here's a clue, it is not permanent dim bulb Wolfesbane.)

J.M. DeMatteis and Jan Duursema have taken over writing and penciling, but not for the better. DeMatteis doesn’t indulge his penchant for self-searching lead characters OR his gift for team dialogue, making this a pretty generic read. Duursema’s work has looked better in almost every book she’s worked on. Admittedly, she’s horribly handicapped by the awful, awful costumes and hair on these 90’s characters. Everyone has long terrible hair flowing out of each panel.

Jamie Madrox dies AGAIN at the close of this issue. The Kenny of the Marvel U can’t win. If you can make dupes of yourself, how can a death ever really stick? Especially when each duplicate can then make doubles of his own? It’s a literally never ending supply of cannon fodder!

As I flip through, the more certain I am that neither of the creators were too invested in this book. The story is too generic, there are too many wasted pages with go-nowhere plotting, and the resolution is pretty ridiculous too. (Havok blasts a satellite out of orbit. Just shoots straight up and hits it.)

This is an EVIL comic and an EVIL era of X-Factor. 

12 Days of X-Mas: Day 8: X-Factor #71 (1991)

Happy New Year! 

Now this is the start of the good stuff.

I’m proud to say I realized in 1991 that this was going to be a good run. Sure, it has a lot of oddball stuff going on here. There is a subplot about an un-openable jar of mayonnaise, after all. That is not even mentioning the totally insane art stylings of Larry Stroman. I’d never seen anything like his art before, and I’m not sure I have again. He’s not my favorite artist by any means, but there is no denying the striking impression of his art.

This is the era of X-books right after X-Tinction Agenda, where Havok is still empathically bonded to Wolfesbane after their time in Genosha. That naturally complicates things with Polaris, Havok’s normal girlfriend. Havok and Polaris are the core of the team, with Havok getting most of the panel time. Filling in the ranks are Multiple Man (Jamie Madrox) and Strong Guy (Guido). Val Cooper, long-time supporting player in the X-books is the government liaison. Cooper is a lot more central to the team than a lot of the government administrator-characters tend to be; it is clear that Peter David liked her.

The last guy to join is Quicksilver. Pietro is another character that David characterized from then on. Smug, superior, and ultra-confident, the Quicksilver we know and love today made his first appearance here. Quicksilver was sort of a favorite of mine until he got messed up during the Civil War era, and my affection for the character really started here. 

David has gone on to be the writer most associated with X-Factor. He’s written it for dozens of issues at this point. In this, his entry into the franchise, his focus on Madrox is not there yet. Madrox is the character I most associate with David now, and while Madrox does have something to do with the aforementioned mayo jar; the issue also ends with Jamie getting shot.

That’s right, the “they keep killing Madrox!” plot was right there in David’s first issue. While there is no real physical conflict in this particular issue, the potential set up here is clear enough to make this a GOOD comic.

12 Days of X-Mas Day 7: X-Factor #43 (1989)

Now how weird is this? This issue is actually BETTER than I remember!

First of all, Paul Smith's art is pretty fine. It is a bit cartoony, but the emotion on the faces is clear and the acting is strong. The alien planet is a bit on the generic side, but I'm not sure if that is Smith's fault or not.

It seems that X-Factor is required to always have one crazy person on the team. Jean Grey is up to the plate in this. It seems she's absorbed the memories of the Phoenix and of Madelyne Pryor, understandably making her go a bit bonkers. Of course, when she tries to rocket into space, killing her teammates, that is more than a "bit" bonkers.

One thing I'm pleasantly reminded of in this issue is the fun idea for Ship. Louise Simonson wrote X-Factor's new headquarters as half-puppy, half-servant. You couldn't help but pull for the sentient ship after the team freed him from Apocalypse. Ship's childlike responses made the entire team act more responsibly.

I also like that Warren Worthington is back and acting normally. Sure, he's got his souped-up Archangel powers, but he's clearly back to being the character we know and love. So overall, not a bad transition. He got new, better powers, a modern look, and in a few years the creators will reveal that he isn't even bald! That's just a skullcap that he wears for years straight!

As for the plot itself, it involves the team getting involved in some weird conflict between beautiful people and monsters. Of course, there are varied motivations and outlooks among these aliens, but that is to make sure the mutant metaphor is laid on pretty thick.

Maybe this story goes downhill in the subsequent issues, but as an opening chapter, this held up just fine. This is a FAIR comic.

12 Days of X-Mas Day 6: X-Factor Annual #3 (1988)

The best part of this annual is that sweet Walt Simonson cover. If you click over on that, then you've seen the best part of the issue.

So Angel is dead. Beast is dumb (and getting worse). And Louise Simonson has to write a middle chapter to a big crossover. That's a losing combination.

Making matters worse, almost all of the pages feature blank slate, flunky villains working for the High Evolutionary or moloids. The X-Factor team are practically bystanders in their own comics!

Terry Shoemaker's art is sort of loose and impressionistic. There aren't any pages with lines as tight and dynamic as that cover. I'll be honest, after about 5 pages, I just started skimming. There aren't a ton of backgrounds to give this story a strong sense of location and the choreography of the fights is pretty loose.

I do find it odd that I remember this issue fondly, but honestly, it is an EVIL comic. The only GOOD part is that cover.

12 Days of X-Mas Day 5: X-Factor Annual #2 (1987)

Oof. Losing the Angel really throws off the chemistry for this team.

I'm not sure if Jo Duffy was trying to clean up Quicksilver's villainous portrayals in the Marvel U or what, but this is a reclamation project. Of course it was Maximus the Mad causing Quicksilver to behave so badly. And of course X-Factor can handle the problem.

It is weird, for a story that is fixing Quicksilver, he sure doesn't get a ton to do here. He spends too much of the issue mind-controlleld!

This is the first meeting between the original X-Men and the Inhumans, and things go fairly smoothly. Triton has a role much more front and center than I'm used to, while Gorgon fades into the background. Karnak gets some work too, but this is mainly a Black Bolt and Medusa show.

The problem? The Inhumans are boring. This is perfectly serviceable, but I never really got interested in the conflict because it was Inhuman-based. Even worse, there is a ton of cutesy Franklin Richards baby talk to make this even harder to bear. When things break down and the action starts, business does pick up nicely. But it almost too little too late.

Tom Grindberg's art can't really compete with the other artists I've been finding in this flashback review. I will say the inking by Joe Rubinstein is noticably effective, especially on shadowed shots of the main cast like Cyclops.

Yeah, so this is just sort of there, not awful, not great. I think this might have been when X-Factor started to lose its charm for me.

12 Days of X-Mas Day 4: X-Factor #15 (1987)

And now we have one of the first comics to break my heart.

As a kid, I was never a huge Angel fan. His powers weren’t visually striking or really very useful in combat. Of the original team, my favorites were probably Cyclops, Beast, Jean Grey, Iceman, and finally Angel. I think I’ve gotten wiser about that order over the years, but as a kid I knew no better. Louise Simonson made me appreciate the character too late when she wrote this surprising issue.

This is the issue where Angel kills himself. During the Mutant Massacre, the two Marauders Blockbuster and Harpoon pinned Angel to the wall by his wings. As we find out in later issues, the secretly evil Cameron Hodge used this opportunity to have Angel’s wings amputated (after Thor’s great rescue in his own book).

Warren Worthington can’t deal with the loss, and the only one of his teammates to see him struggling is Jean Grey. Iceman and Beast are too busy dealing with the Mutant Massacre fallout with the Morlocks, and Scott Summers is moping in Alaska, deciding on revenge for his seemingly dead wife. Only Jean spends the issue trying to convince Angel he’s going to be OK. In the end, the team can’t stop him and Angel runs off and blows up his plane, attempting suicide. We all know that this just puts him in line for a sweet character makeover as Archangel thanks to Apocalypse, but at the time this came out, I was crushed.

Walt Simonson handled the art during this second year, and his dynamic, kinetic pencils were a nice fit. The characters aren’t individually as striking as in the earlier issues, but the sense of action is a lot higher. I’m also pleased to report that Angel spends multiple pages in his underwear as he escapes from the hospital. Seriously, what is up with that? Was that part of the character’s shtick back in the day?

Also, in a neat bonus, the letter column has fans writing in trying to figure out how Angel could remain a contributing member of X-Factor even without his wings. I don’t think anyone saw the Archangel swerve coming.

This is a sad comic, but a GOOD one. 

12 Days of X-Mas 3: X-Factor Annual #1 (1986)

Don’t you miss the days when annuals were just extra-length adventures? This annual doesn’t have any huge reveal, any huge crossover, or really anything to differentiate it from a normal storyline in X-Factor. Maybe having Bob Layton on both writing and penciling duties was enough to justify this going in an annual? Regardless, this is just another case-of-the-week procedural adventure for early X-Factor.

As a kid, I remember loving the stealth costume Angel is wearing on the cover. It isn’t that radical or awesome, and the story reason he wears it seems a tad unnecessary. You see, Russia contracts X-Factor to come give a talk on detecting and capturing mutants; X-Factor wants to go investigate how Russia is treating its mutant population. Everyone but Angel goes along by plane. Angel is the scout and has to FLY TO RUSSIA. Now, I know he didn’t fly the whole way, but dang, his wings are gonna be tired! (It is still worth it for this nicely toyetic new costume though.)

Since this is a story involving Russia in the ‘80s, the Russian mutant prison camp is guarded by Crimson Dynamo. I was sort of shocked to see Dynamo’s enormous scale compared to the mutants. And let me tell you, the original five X-Men vs. Dynamo is not a fair fight. Dynamo mops the floor with them. Seriously, was the disparity between mutant characters and Avengers characters always this strong? It is pretty neat seeing Iceman have to resort to subterfuge to win the day.

No one draws tech or armor better than Layton. Dynamo looks tremendous. Heck, even the mutant labs look striking and perfectly “comic-booky” to my eyes. (Since this was an early comic for me, that doesn’t surprise anyone.) I also love the way Layton draws Beast’s flattop as a near match for James Rhodes’ in Iron Man.

This Cold War throwback is GOOD!

12 Days of X-Mas 2: X-Factor #2 (1985)

So remember yesterday when I said Angel should have been my favorite? I still believe it. 

The guy is so confident that he strolls around his X-Factor headquarters in an open robe. IN HIS UNDERWEAR. Seriously, there are like 3 pages where you just have cut-Angel walking around chatting and drinking coffee in his tighty whiteys. If Jean Grey did that we’d say it was exploitative!

And poor Jean. So Angel and Cyclops are already in love with her, and therefore awkward around her, but now the new recruit Rusty is smitten too. He’s stuttering and stammering as she tries to get him to master his pyro kinetic power. Note that she does this by saying, repeatedly, “I KNOW you can do this crazy new thing with your power.” There was no actual training that I could find.

You have to love 80’s plots. This issue has Beast and Iceman hook up with an old girlfriend, introduces size-changing villain Tower, and has Beast abducted from a supporting character from his Amazing Adventures days. PLUS a re-match with X-Factor taking on Tower at the end of the book.

This issue introduces Artie, now famously appearing in the FF title. He seems to be exhibiting more mental-reading powers in addition to his illusions; I don’t remember that aspect of his powers in current books. And why has poor Artie not aged like Black Bolt’s kid or Crystal’s daughter?

Again, Jackson (Butch) Guice handles the art, and again I love it. The 80’s hair, the tight pencils on the x-uniforms, this is good stuff. What impresses me most is the choreography of the fights. Guice puts some great shots in the battles, reverse elbows, full-on optic blasts, and ice clubs.

The 80’s made GOOD comics. 

12 Days of X-Mas 1: X-Factor #1 (1985)

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is having a wonderful time during our X-Mas season!

Are you ready for the Twelve Days of
X-Mas! This year is all X-Factor, all the time! 

Oh my goodness. How the heck did I ever love Cyclops so much when I was ten years old? Scott Summers is living in Alaska with his wife, Madelyne Pryor and his unnamed son, and he’s the definition of a deadbeat dad. He’s never around, and when he is finally forced to go home after Storm beats him for leadership of the X-Men, he sulks around and moodily fantasizes about his dead girlfriend Jean Grey.

No, the clear favorite for my childhood should have been Angel. The guy LOVES being a mutant, is filthy rich, has a smoking hot girlfriend, and basically pays for his two loser buddies to travel from super team to super team. Warren Worthington is awesome! Plus, he gets in on the romance-angst that is to prevalent in this comic just after the return of Jean Grey.

Jean’s return was handled in some Avengers and FF issues, so her appearance here is sort of odd. She just kind of… appears. No huge dramatic moment for Angel or Cyclops when they finally meet up. I really liked how Bob Layton wrote Angel as being sort of protective of Jean after her return. He wants Jean for himself, so he really struggles with calling the other X-Men back on the scene.

And poor Jean. Half of her teammates are in love with her. Plus, no one will actually tell her that her ex-boyfriend, the guy she is throwing herself at, is now married and a father. Yowch. I’m also puzzled why Marvel wanted to remove her telepathy and stick with telekinetics. It weakens her a bit, although her powers are certainly more visual.

One thing that impressed the heck out of me was the introduction of Cameron Hodge, Angel’s old roommate and the head of X-Factor. Longtime X-readers know that Hodge is secretly the founder of The Right, an anti-mutant organization bent on genocide. Hodge’s plan is clearly whacko, and will just add to the mutant panic that is present on every page. But since Hodge was actually working undermine the mutant cause, it all makes sense.

The art is fantastic. Too much of Jackson (Butch) Guice’s pencils are covered up the 80’s era purple prose, but what is there shines through. The X-Factor uniforms are dynamic and striking. They might remain my favorite X-costumes for these characters. Angel’s red and white x-suit in particular is just tremendous. It is interesting that Guice gives new mutant Rusty the Quicksilver/Tyrannus hair cowlick, but that must just be a Marvel thing.

So basically, this Energy Analyzer review proves that ten-year-old Timbotron had good taste. This is a GOOD comic!

FF v2 HC

I think I must have missed an issue. It has been a long time since I read the first FF trade, but man, I can’t remember what is happening here at all. How much was this book crossing over with Fantastic Four? 

Would my missing some trades of that title leave me lost in this one?

A lot of this seems to be clean-up. Jonathan Hickman spends a lot of time getting characters back to their default status. Most of the alternate Reeds are eliminated, we get the return of the Supreme Intelligence, and the Inhumans come back to Earth. Heck, we even see Annihulus making a comeback after Annihilation. There are some pretty big tweaks, like Black Bolt’s five wives and Crystal staying with the Kree, but for the most part, this trade had characters returning to the mean.

I’m so confused. Why did Reed assemble all those Avengers? Why did the Thing leave the Fantastic Four and have to return here? Did Reed know the Kree were attacking? The more I think about it, the more certain I am that I missed some important parts of this story.

I have one other problem with this collection. I have never read a good story involving Nathaniel Richards. Seriously, has Reed’s Dad ever been in a good story? His presence ALWAYS means there is confusing time travel and alternate Earth stuff happening. While that is certainly expected in FF comics, his presence usually means the story won’t be sticking with me. Anyone else have this problem?

Hickman is certainly blessed with some great artists. Greg Tocchini is the weakest of the three pencillers in this collection, and even his stuff isn’t bad. He’s the low man on the totem pole because of his competition. Steve Epting and Barry Kitson are classic artists. Tocchini’s work has to pale by comparison. When Kitson gets to draw all those Avengers? Man, I want to see more of that! And Daniel Acuna covers? Talk about stacking the deck!

So yeah, if I could give this a “Confused” rating, I would. But I’ll stick with…

Average

Astonishing X-Men: Monstrous TPB

I’m not sure what I expect from Daniel Way these days, but I’m pleasantly surprised by this trade. Any story that features Fin Fang Foom, Marvel’s Monster Island, and Mentallo has got to be at least “Fair!” Factor in some artwork from fantastic pencillers like Jason Pearson and Nick Bradshaw? That makes this thing a can’t miss. No matter what the story is, you know it will be pretty.

The story ends up being pretty simple. Escorting Armor to a family funeral, the X-Men get roped into aiding Roxxon Oil as they fend off a horde of monsters. Mentallo takes over Monster Island and uses his brute force-based telepathy to control the simple beasts that live there. This gives Wolverine some nice moments to stick up for the savage beasts. The set-up also allows Cyclops and Wolverine to show their different approaches in mentoring new X-Men like Armor. Other than that, this is a simple story that lets the art shine. Any team of X-Men could have starred in this story and it would have read just as well.

So the story is average, but we came for the art!

Jason Pearson. Man, why is this guy not doing more books? His ladies may be top-heavy, but the acting on the faces is great. His Wolverine is short and squat and built like a tank. Mentallo looks on-model but modern, and the monsters are exciting. For a story this full of rubble, there is a fair amount of backgrounds in the panels too.

Nick Bradshaw has become one of my favorites. I don’t know if this is his first Marvel work, but it is wonderful. There is even more detail in Bradshaw’s pages than in Pearson’s. Bradshaw really is a fusion of Jack Kirby and Arthur Adams, and that comes through strongly in these pages.

Fair

Uncanny X-Men by Kieron Gillen TPB

I’m trying to place what it is I like about Kieron Gillen’s writing. He’s really impressed me on his recent X-books and Iron Man. I think it is that he’s taken over as the unofficial clean-up man for Marvel. For a long time it was Christos Gage who wrote the “missing chapters” to clean up after the big name writers. Now it seems Gillen is the guy riding in to deal with messes like the Dreaming Celestial and the new world of Uncanny X-Force.

The first trade collects issues 1-4, all dealing with the Dreaming Celestial and Mr. Sinister. (Wisely, Gillen has done away with the “Mr.”) Sinister is a lot more playful and amusing in this incarnation, prone to monologues and long villainous explanations of his plans. Emma Frost and other characters call him out on this numerous times, and it is a fun turn for the long-time mastermind.

Cyclops’ Extinction Team is equal parts deterrent and corrective action for the world. Seeing Cyclops, Magneto, Emma Frost, Magik, Colossus, Danger, and Storm all together is pretty intimidating. Hope is on the team too, and she more than holds her own.

Gillen’s dialogue is what makes the whole thing work. Storm’s imperious nature is played occasionally for laughs, but she works best as the moral compass of the team. When she asks which team members have been considered villains, and Cyclops dares to not raise his hand? Great moment.

And this is a book filled with them. Gillen writes Hope as a young lady quite impressed with Namor’s physical charms. She makes numerous references to his body parts and how handsome he is, and Namor eats it up. I don’t get a skeevy vibe from the Sub-Mariner, but he definitely likes that she noticed. And Magneto. Gillen's Magneto might be the best character in the book. Gillen maximizes each and every line for haughtiness, confidence, and power. Fantastic.

Like Claremont’s classic X-work, Gillen is laying the seeds for later stories too. Danger is marginalized a bit as a mobile communications station, but again, it’s directly addressed in the script, so I’m sure there is a method to the madness. As a big Colossus fan, I’d like a bit more with Piotr and Magik, but again, I think there’s a long-form story going on.

I’m not a huge Greg Land fan, but I have to admit he’s a good fit for this title. He can draw beautiful people behaving badly, and really, that’s all this book is! Hope looks a bit too much like a super-model, but hey, she’s on the big X-Men team now, that must be a natural development too. My biggest complaint is bad Colossus. It just doesn’t work!

Good

Wolverine: Goodbye Chinatown TPB

So why does Gorilla Man show up and team up with Wolverine in fighting the Atlas villain Jade Claw? Because it seems like fun, that’s why. I understand that Jason Aaron had set up Wolverine as a boss in San Francisco’s Chinatown, but I certainly never expected Wolverine to get involved in the Agents of Atlas’ business.

Aaron pulls a huge tone shift in this story. He’s always got mad, fun ideas, but all those stories about possession and dead relatives were a bit of a downer. Letting Wolverine team up with a kung-fu master, a smart-talking street kid, and Gorilla Man certainly makes the point that this is a bit more fun. And in case it wasn’t clear enough, here comes the Immortal Weapon Fat Cobra (and all he talks about is how hungry he is!)

Aaron outdoes himself with Jade Claw’s villain banter. Her dialogue is full of some of the most petty, villainous actions I’ve ever read. It’s a good thing this story is so light-hearted, cause a real villain doing these things would be upsetting! Heck, she orders some flunky to swallow his own tongue!

Aaron has a habit of making up insane, awesome new villains (see recent creation Cannonfoot). While I appreciate seeing Razorfist again, the villain who steals the show in this collection is Soulstriker. I know his name because he and his teammates helpfully introduce themselves when they attack our heroes. Soulstriker has the ability to punch through flesh and pummel you directly in the soul. Wonderful. That’s the type of mad idea that keeps me coming back to comics.

I think Ron Garney is having a good time drawing this stuff, too. He gets the aforementioned heroes and villains, AND he gets to draw gigantic Chinese dragons. And those dragons puke in the course of the story. Now how is that not fun? I didn’t mention the kung-fu master totally looks like a 70’s master too, making him even cooler. Garney’s art used to have a bit more detail; his faces have gotten a tad sketchy. But what he lacks in linework he more than doubles in kinetic action. This book has a lot of butt-kicking going on.

Good

Wolverine & the X-Men #1-8

Wow. Just, wow. I’ve been a fan of Jason Aaron’s writing for awhile now. I knew he could do heartbreaking crime like Scalped, and I knew he had a great angle on straight up action, like Wolverine. But I find myself shocked at this first arc of Wolverine & the X-Men. I started picking up the title during AvX, and it is still a good comic. But the opening chapters introducing the location, staff, and students at the Jean Grey Academy are simply brilliant.

The weakest aspect of these opening issues is the new Hellfire Club. I appreciate what Aaron is trying to do, but I don’t love the idea of a group of kids taking over for big time villains like Sebastian Shaw. That said, the Club’s plans have been great fodder for stories. I’m shocked that Aaron can actually make the following plots flow naturally: Krakoa’s attack on the school, Sabretooth (I thought he was dead?) going after Abigail Brand to upset the Beast, and best of all, Kitty’s pregnancy, and Wolverine and Quentin Quire doing some intergalactic gambling to raise school funds. That’s just crazy!

Of the many plots, I think the combo of the Brood attack and the gambling for funds is my favorite run. Kid Gladiator has some great dialogue, and Warbird’s attraction to Iceman is a great twist. I also remain stunned at the strange attraction between Iceman and Kitty Pryde. I never would have predicted that either, but it actually works.

Chris Bachalo is a known quantity. His pages dealing Krakoa’s attack on the school can be a bit murky, but the sense of design and action is always strong. His Bamf’s are hilarious, and his hunched over Wolverine looks tired even when he first appears. I think Bachalo does better work in costume, so some characters like Kitty Pryde or Iceman sometimes get lost on the page. (That never happens to Beast, though!)

Nick Bradshaw, however, is shiny and new. I was impressed when I first saw his art, and I remain stunned. Kid Gladiator and Warbird look wonderful. I love the design of the traveling space professor, and Bradshaw’s Brood are spooky, even when microscopic. Bradshaw brings the comedy to life in Aaron’s scripts. Plus, Broo actually looks cute! That’s hard to do!

Excellent

12 Days of X-Mas: Avengers: X-Sanction (2010)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s 12 Days of X-Mas. This really revealed one thing; there are a lot of X-Men comics! As I was picking through the options, I was overwhelmed with my volume of X-Men comics. And that's not really counting the ongoing series. 

For next year, I’m already looking at Rogue’s solo series, Domino’s limited, and the Beast’s weird X-Factor one-shot for next year! And how many of you remember the Imperial Guard limited series? Anyway, on to the finale! 

I think it is time to just start reviewing Jeph Loeb comics based on the art. More than any other writer, his stories are there to service the pencils. The entire plot for this series boils down to this: Cable thinks the Avengers are a threat to his daughter Hope, so he attacks them. For four issues, it is a series of one-on-one battles as Cable drops heroes way above his weight class. 

Not surprisingly, Red Hulk comes out of this looking the best, he almost beats Cable. Cable repeatedly refers to the Red Hulk as Talbot, though, so that’s an odd thing. I know Nathan Summers might be referencing a different timeline, but perhaps Loeb is hinting at future plans. 

I also appreciated Falcon getting a few licks in during the finale. Falcon was nothing more than bait in the first issue, but by giving him the first few shots out of the freed Avengers, he gets to regain a little dignity. Ed McGuiness draws the heck out him in the panel after he escapes; Falcon looks like the frigging Hulk! It would be great seeing him draw the character more. 

The way Loeb writes, Cyclops really wouldn’t have gone up against the Avengers in AvX. Cyclops is constantly giving in and trying to keep the Avengers happy. I also real hope that Cable comes out in Cyclops’ corner in the current X-books, Cable pretty much promises as much here. (Having just four X-Men in Cyclops’ new Brotherhood doesn’t seem like enough support.)

McGuiness is tremendous, as always. I absolutely love his larger-than-life takes on the heroes. I don’t like Cable stealing Colossus’ look for the conclusion of the series, but at least it is a dynamic design (it’s worked for Colossus for years, after all.) In fact, the art is so exciting that it raises the grade for this very simple story. If nothing else, it looks great seeing Cable take on all these icons. (My favorite battle is probably the one facing Iron Man in issue 2.)

Fair