Category Archives: Multiple Man
Fun Notes from April Comic Book Solicitations
For lack of anything better to write about today, let’s take a look at the recently released Marvel and DC comic book solicitations for April. Comic book companies release cover pictures and brief blurbs about upcoming comics months in advance so that retailers can know what they want to order. It also gives us comic book fans a chance to see what’s coming down the pike. I rather enjoy looking at all the colorful titles and read about upcoming stories, especially in my favorite titles.
There will be some spoilers, so watch out!
Marvel Comics
First up, let’s take a look at the potentially exciting summary of X-Factor #234.
X-Factor #234
X-Factor #234
Peter David 
Leonard Kirk (A)
Covers by David Yardin
• Catfight! Monet Calls Layla Out…And It’s Gonna Get Ugly.
• A Departed Member Of X-Factor Returns.
• And Introducing Seattle’s Newest Heroes: The Insignia And Shutterbug! (One Of Whom May Not Make It Through The Issue.)
A departed cast member returning!? Could that be the highly anticipated return of Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man to the land of the living? Madrox’s ‘death’ is supposed to play out over the next few months, will he be ready to return to the team in April? The cover is clearly more interested in the Monet vs. Layla fight, but I’m definitely curious who the blurb is talking about. I know that Peter David and Marvel marketing are protective of their secrets, so they wouldn’t spoil the end of the current Madrox ‘death’ storyline in a solicitation. But it’s enough to hope.
The only other character it could be is Darwin, who left the series many issues ago for parts unknown. It could very well be Darwin and I’m just getting my hopes up. But they will stay up until proven otherwise that Multiple Man isn’t coming back for good.
Next is X-Men Legacy #265 and the fabled appearance of Mimic!
X-Men Legacy #265
X-Men Legacy #265
Christos Gage (W)Rafa Sandoval (A)
Cover by Mark Brooks
• Time Is Running Out For Weapon Omega, The Mutant Time Bomb. How Will The X-Men Disarm Him Before He Implodes And Takes The School With Him?
• A Recently-Returned Mutant Becomes A Full-Fledged Member Of Wolverine’s X-Men.
I’ve known for months now that Mimic would be making a cameo appearance in this title, and it’s exciting to see him there on the cover. It’s rumored that either Mimic or Omega will join the cast, and I hope it’s Mimic…but it’ll probably be Omega. He has much more story potential as a student at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. The blurb there mentions someone joining, and I’m just going to assume that it’s going to be Omega.
But I can dream, can’t I?
Mentioned by one of the commenters in my last Ultimate Spider-Man review, when is regular artist Sarah Pichelli coming back? Well according to the solicitation for Ultimate Comics: All-New Spider-Man #9, she’s not coming back in April.
Ultimate Spider-Man #9
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #9
Brian Michael Bendis • David Marquez (A)
• The Police Have Miles Squarely In Their Sights!
• Prowler Versus The Scorpion!
• Is The Secret Of The New Spider-Man Out?!
So I guess we will continue to be denied Pichelli’s stellar art from the first 6 issues of the series. Shame. It’s cool to see more Ultimate Prowler action, but is that not a hideous cover? It looks computer rendered and it looks like colorforms plastered on a cardboard backdrop.
You can read the rest of the Marvel Comics solicitations for April here.
DC Comics
There’s only one comic in April from DC that I think has something worth note, and that’s Red Hood and the Outlaws #8.
Red Hood and the Outlaws #8
Written by SCOTT LOBDELL; Art and cover by KENNETH ROCAFORT
Suzie Su is back, and she’s betting a hospital full of hostages will get Red Hood’s attention! If that isn’t enough to keep him and the Outlaws busy, there’s someone waiting in the wings! It’s Tim Drake knocking on Red Hood’s door with a very special package for his estranged “brother.” Don’t miss Red Robin’s cameo this issue, as it ties directly into next month’s “Night of the Owls” Batman event!
A guess appearance by Red Robin!? Sweet! Tim Drake appears to be crossing back into the Bat-family of books in preparation for Night of the Owls. I only wish it was a more Batman-oriented book instead of the red-headed step-child of the family. Night of the Owls is going to encompass all of the Bat-books, including Red Hood, but Tim Drake and the Teen Titans are considered part of the teen-family of DC Comics. So he wasn’t guaranteed to appear in the crossover.
This solicitation is a good sign that Tim has not been forgotten.
You can read the rest of DC Comics solicitations for April here.
Review: X-Factor #230
This is it folks, what I believe is the first ever perfect score since I started doing comic book reviews on my blog! Peter David lets his hair down with this issue of X-Factor, writing a touching, twisting, and downright hilarious character-driven story. I’ve always said that the best issues of this series are the ones that focus on character interaction instead of weird plots, and this issue is the perfect example. This is why I love X-Factor so much. I’ve complained in the past about the overly large cast, but here every character is used to great effect, along with some wonderful additions.
X-Factor #230
All that, and I still don’t know what’s going to happen to Multiple Man!
Comic rating: 5/5: Great!
I’m not going to hold back my love for this issue. David has built up a fantastic cast in X-Factor, and here he is firing on all cylinders with each and every one of them. There is a great turmoil at X-Factor Investigations in the wake of Multiple Man’s death. Does the team want to stay together? What other emotions have been drudged up? What do they make of the fact that Strong Guy has no soul? How many push-ups can a soulless Strong Guy do?
And how great is the art of Emanuela Lupacchino? I praised Michael Lark the other day for his gritty character work. Well Lupacchino does a fantastic job with her realistic yet slightly cartoony character work here.
Join me for a look at one of the most delightful casts in comic books as well as a small peak at the ongoing fate of Multiple Man. Synopsis and spoilers after the jump!
Review: X-Factor #229
The story of the ‘dead’ Jamie Madrox picks back up this issue, and it’s a doozy! We’re into a full-on science fiction story, as Madrox seems to be on some strange, interdimensional adventure. A far cry from the noir roots of this series, but I’ll gladly read any tale starring my favorite superhero. He’s not quite dead just yet, and learning his final fate as this story progresses has got me on the edge of my seat. Writer Peter David is promising new revelations about the nature of Madrox’s duplication powers. And while I’m lukewarm to that idea, I’m excited for a good story.
X-Factor #229
And this one is pretty damn good one so far.
Comic rating: 4/5: Good!
What we have here is an alternate reality tale to introduce us to the idea of Madrox’s interdimensional adventure. Familiar characters appear, but everything is just so slightly different because it’s an alternate reality. Madrox is lost and confused, but he’s adapting and figuring it out. One great thing about this issue is that writer Peter David is able to focus on just one character, and the narrative really benefits. There are a lot of questions raised, and a lot of strangeness. Somehow Layla might even be involved. Nothing is spelled out clearly quite yet. But I’m confident we’re going to get answers in this story. It’s just going to be a nail-biter going from issue to issue until the end.
I hope Madrox is still alive by the end, and that he hasn’t been changed into an unrecognizable character. Is it so wrong for me to want to keep my favorite comic book character around?
Spoilers after the jump.
Sad Multiple Man News
Marvel.com is featuring a sneak peek at their X-Franchise comics coming out in March. As some of you know, I’m closely following the events in X-Factor as they involve the death of my favorite character, Multiple Man. It’s my theory, and my hope, that Multiple Man will come out unscathed and still be in the book. But the March solicitations offer only bad news.
No sign of Multiple Man whatsoever!
You can all go to Hell!
The solicitation for the issue goes as follows:
X-FACTOR #233
WRITER: Peter David
ARTIST: Leonard Kirk
Cover By David Yardin
• Havok And Polaris Take The Reins Of X-Factor Investigations!
• Featuring The Return Of X-Factor Foe The Isolationist
Nothing about that sounds good to me at all. This is sad, sad news. Multiple Man is worth a dozen Havoks and Polarises!
But perhaps when the world of comics closes one door, it opens another. March is also the month that the Mimic, another favorite character of mine, will be appearing in X-Men: Legacy. That in no way makes up for the loss of Multiple Man, but I guess at this point I have to take what I can get.
Review: X-Factor #228
The fallout from Multiple Man’s shocking murder hits the X-Factor family hard in this follow-up issue. Unfortunately, this is a shining example of how too many characters is hurting the book. What should be an emotional issue as X-Factor deals with both the death of their friend and the still-rampaging villain is instead a juggling of a dozen or so characters. Nobody gets more than a few panels to express themselves, and they have to choose between Madrox or Bloodbath, or sometimes squeezing feelings on both into one moment.
X-Factor #228
This robs Madrox’s death from any true emotional fallout. For a book based on character and team interaction, I was hoping for more of both.
Comic review: 3/5: Alright.
I suppose this could be considered a good issue. It’s solidly written and well-paced, providing a suitable climax for the Bloodbath arc. The new villain continues to be both fun and menacing, while the team has some good moments. But like I said earlier, it’s missing any true character-based reaction to Madrox’s death. X-Factor has always been more about its characters than overall stories. They’re something of a family, or at least a group of friends hanging out. And while the various members are clearly upset that Madrox is dead, none of it rings on any deeper emotional level.
The massive cast of characters leaves little room for any character depth. And that’s a damn shame. At least the cover kicks all kind of ass.
Henchman-4-Hire 