Category Archives: X-Men
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/2/13
Robin Week comes to a close with my official review of Batman Incorporated #8. It’s actually a very good comic, so it’s great to see Damian go out at the height of his awesomeness and popularity; kind of like Seinfeld or Calvin & Hobbes. I would even be tempted to give Damian’s demise the Comic Book of the Week, but that award has to go to Hawkeye #8. Writer Matt Fraction had an amazing week, delivering the one-two romantic punch of Hawkeye and FF, two amazing comics that reinforce why I love the medium in the first place. If you’re not reading either book then you’re definitely missing out.
Who would have thought that coming out of the big The Avengers movie last summer, the two characters with the best comics would be Hawkeye and Thor? Speaking of which, why doesn’t the Black Widow have her own comic series? That seems like it would be a no-brainer, especially for Marvel NOW! Oh well, this is why Marvel is not paying me the big bucks.
Comic Reviews: Aquaman #17, Batman Incorporated #8, FF #4, Hawkeye #8, Talon #5, Uncanny Avengers #4, Uncanny X-Force #2, Uncanny X-Men #2 and Young Avengers #2.
Review: X-Factor #252
Alright, alright, the Hell on Earth War is settling in nicely, and X-Factor remains a good read, but the potential for being overdrawn is starting to set in. This is part three or five of the big event (depending on if you count the prologue), and we haven’t made much progress as of yet. That’s not a problem, per se. But I’m starting to worry that writer Peter David has too much stuff planned, and that this story will become mired in filler and fluff until it grossly outstays its welcome. That’s what tends to happen with PAD’s big event stories, and I’m definitely worried for Hell on Earth War. So far, things seem to be moving forward well enough, but I definitely think there is reason to worry.
X-Factor #252
The story isn’t really resonating on a personal or emotional level with any of the characters. Everybody is kind of just doing stuff and then doing more stuff, with the only promise being that more stuff is definitely going to occur in the next issue.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good.
The only real characters with any kind of real, personal connection to this story are Tier and, by extension, his mother Wolfsbane. But we barely know Tier. Prior to this story, he was a baby, so this is our first time getting to know him as a thinking, feeling adolescent. And, by extension, we don’t even really know Wolfsbane as a mother. We know she was pregnant for awhile, and was really broken up about abandoning Tier, but we never saw her spend any real time with the kid, at least time that wasn’t about running from danger or fighting. So we have no real experience with Tier, and no experience with Wolfsbane as a mom. So even their personal connection to the Hell on Earth War is really based on stuff we were told about, not something we were actually shown and experienced. The personal connection to the reader just isn’t there.
Likewise, everybody else in X-Factor is kind of just along for the ride. They also barely know Tier, and are kind of just helping him because it’s the right thing to do. There’s maybe been one line from Multiple Man about how they’ll protect him because he’s Wolfsbane’s son, but nobody has really said or done anything with Rahne to indicate that they’re going to stick by her side no matter what. They’re just there and fighting whatever bad guy shows up on the page. Even when their good friend and teammate Strong Guy is revealed to be a villain, it doesn’t seem to faze anybody. Nobody really cares that Guido has turned on them. He’s just the bad guy that shows up, so there’s a fight scene.
This cannot sustain a comic book story, especially not one that lasts as long as PAD usually does. I wouldn’t be surprised if we were still dealing with the Hell on Earth War come the fall. So I’m really worried about the pacing of this story. But at least, for now, it’s still an exciting read with a lot of cool action and adventure.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/16/13
Do you like Batman and the X-Men? Because those are the only comics that came out this week! Or at least, they’re the only comics on my pull list this week (if we don’t count Scarlet Spider). But wow, what a great week for Batman and the X-Men! Death of the Family ends in Batman, with a sort-of epilogue in Batman and Robin. The Internet is crowing about the finale of Scott Snyder’s Joker story…but I just don’t get it. Sorry. I guess it went right over my head. Still entertaining though.
The real treasure this week is the first issue of Brian Michael Bendis’ Uncanny X-Men, debuting Cyclop’s new team of mutant revolutionaries! I have very much been looking forward to this comic, and it does not disappoint! Uncanny X-Men #1 easily wins Comic Book of the Week!
Pax Utopia
Comic Reviews: Batman #17, Batman and Robin #17, Uncanny X-Men #1, Wolverine and the X-Men #25.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 2/9/13
Welcome to a week of interesting firsts! We’ve got the first issue of Fearless Defenders, Marvel’s new all-girl team of heroes. We’ve got the first issue of Winter Soldier written by incoming writer Jason Latour, who’s taking over for the legendary Ed Brubaker, the man who resurrected Bucky in the first place. Those are some mighty big shoes to fill. Brubaker wrote a nice letter at the end of his final issue of the series, about how humbling it was to go from trying to convince his editor that resurrecting Bucky would be a good idea to finding out that the ‘Winter Soldier’ would be the title of the second Captain America film. I hope that happens to me someday.
We’ll also see the first issue of Jeff Lemire’s take on Green Arrow. As well as the first times I’m actually happy with Avengers and New Avengers. In fact, New Avengers #3 wins Comic Book of the Week!
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #7, Avengers #5, Fearless Defenders #1, Green Arrow #17, New Avengers #3, Superior Spider-Man #3 and Winter Soldier #15.
Review: X-Factor #251
I take back any bad thing I ever said about the Hell on Earth War. I can’t believe I ever doubted Peter David. This story has been fantastic so far. PAD is writing it at such a fast pace that the story never slows down, it never lingers. I thought all of his previous high-concept mythical stories had that problem. They stretched on forever until their impact no longer mattered. But so far, PAD and this story are on a roll.
X-Factor #251
Though if I’m being entirely honest, when PAD explains the motivation behind the Hell on Earth War in this issue, it’s a far-fetched and arbitrary. But I’m comfortable with it.
Comic Rating: 4/5: Good!
The justification for this war is kind of silly. There’s no way around it. The idea of all of Marvel’s various hell lords getting into a fight is a cool one. It definitely has potential. But PAD comes up with a very arbitrary reason for their fight. At least he ties it into the X-Factor story in a neat way. That’s a definite strength of the story so far. All of the storylines PAD has been crafting over the past few years are coming together in a smooth way, from the birth of Tier to the corruption of Strong Guy. And while it’s sad to see Strong Guy as such a villain, it’s definitely adding to the personal feel of the story. This is X-Factor’s story and they are at the heart of the action.
Any story can be about the devil fighting a bunch of other devils for the rulership of Hell. And any story can feature superheroes beating up bad guys. But you’re not going to have a good story unless you’ve got good characters, and unless the reader actually cares about the characters. Well PAD has got things down pat, and the Hell on Earth War is burning up!
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.
Henchman-4-Hire 