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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/28/18
In fun Sean news, I cashed in some credit card rewards points the other day and splurged on an Amazon comic book shopping spree! I’ve got a whole pile of awesome graphic novels coming my way, as well as the Gwenpool action figure. Because I have a problem.
Meanwhile, we’ve got some pretty fun comics this week, including Bendis’ proper start on Action Comics, which I enjoyed more than Superman, and new issues for both Multiple Man and X-23, one of which I like a lot more than the other, and the answer may surprise me! Comic Book of the Week goes to the first issue of Mr. & Mrs. X because Kelly Thompson finally gave us a comic book wedding we could actually enjoy.
At least somebody in comics knows how to pull off a wedding
Elsewhere, I am not going to read any of Marvel’s Infinity Wars stuff that’s coming out, no matter how much I like Darkhawk and Richard Ryder as Nova. So whatever shocking things are happening in that stuff is beyond me. I got tricked into reading Civil War II. Never again!
Comic Reviews: Action Comics #1001, Amazing Spider-Man #2, Mr. and Mrs. X #1, Multiple Man #2, and and X-23 #2.
The 6 Best Trench Coats in Comics
No capes! Such are the immortal words of Edna Mode, someone who knew a thing or two about superhero fashion. But if you can’t wear a kickass cape to accentuate your costume, what are you supposed to do? How about the 21st century’s answer to the superhero cape, the trench coat!
Classic
Tough, stylish, foreboding; the trench coat is a badass staple of fiction. From our Dick Tracys to our Sam Spades to the Gang on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. A good trench coat is a perfect fashion accessory, simulating the look of a cape but not being so on-the-nose superheroic. You can still wear a colorful costume and fight crime, but now you can also look super cool!
Join me after the jump for the 6 coolest trench coat-wearing superheroes!
Channing Tatum is Officially Gambit, For Whatever That Will Accomplish
I’m still not entirely sure how or why this is happening, but actor Channing Tatum will officially play Gambit in a new X-Men spin-off film. The casting has been rumored for awhile now, but today, Deadline is confirming that Tatum is signed on to the role, with a film treatment penned by legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont. Robocop scribe Josh Zetumer has been hired to write the actual screenplay. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.
But hey, Channing Tatum as Gambit, everybody!
I honestly don’t know what to think about this. I like Channing Tatum just fine. He’s good in the Jump Street movies. Is he right to play Gambit? I suppose he could be. I like Gambit too. As a child who grew up watching the 90s X-Men cartoon, I’ll always have a soft spot for Gambit. But I’m not a stickler who demands he be a suave, Cajun-accented pretty boy. Maybe Tatum will be fine as the character. Maybe the spin-off movie will be fine. I’m not sure why FOX thinks they can turn Gambit into a franchise the same way they have Wolverine, considering Gambit has only ever appeared in the worst of all the X-Men movies.
But hey, I’m not a Hollywood guy, so who knows what?
Review: All-New X-Factor #5
Well glue forks to my hands and call me Wolverine, I actually liked this issue of All-New X-Factor! I’ve been pretty hard on the series so far, but I really felt that Peter David’s writing and characters were finally starting to gel in this issue. Yes, he still has them rush off to face the next big, elaborate bad guy, but the first issue is all about slowing down the pace and letting us get to know who these characters are and why they’re doing what they’re doing. That is fundamental to appreciating fiction. You can’t just throw a bunch of superheroes onto a team together and have them fight bad guys.
X-Factor #5
Yet that’s exactly what PAD did for the start of All-New X-Factor, but he’s finally getting into the substance of why these characters are together and what motivates them to be a part of this series and this team. It’s a definite step in the right direction.
Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.
The problem with All-New X-Factor is that it doesn’t have a soul. There doesn’t seem to be any greater purpose to the comic or any larger story that PAD is trying to tell. From issue #1, it’s felt like generic superhero mediocrity. It’s as if Marvel really wanted to relaunch X-Factor but didn’t have any good ideas, so PAD just grabbed a bunch of random X-characters and threw them together on a team. Not that any of this has really been fixed in the new issue. But at least with with All-New X-Factor #5, I’m finally starting to see what this endeavor means for these characters and why they’re putting up with it.
In a lot of ways, I definitely think PAD has a good idea on his hands; several, in fact. First there’s the idea of the first corporately-owned superhero team operating in the Marvel Universe. What does that mean for all involved and for the MU as a whole? Second, and more importantly, is the idea that these characters have all been down this road before, and they know this isn’t how such things are done. What do the superheroes themselves think when they’re randomly put together on a team? Unfortunately, five issues in, I don’t think PAD has really focused on either of those ideas very well. He really seems content to just tell random stories about his random X-heroes fighting random bad guys. That’s disappointing. I think PAD either needs to start focusing on the characters and their individual journeys or he needs to reveal the larger Serval Industries plot, because random fights against the Magus or whoever aren’t going to sell comics in this day and age.
All-New X-Factor finally delivers a worthwhile issue, but it’s not without the same faults that continue to plague this series. Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review.
Review: All-New X-Factor #4
I consider myself a dedicated X-Factor fan…I guess. Or maybe I was just blinded by my love of Multiple Man. Was that it? Peter David wrote an amazing Multiple Man! He re-defined the character for the 21st century, and it was a thing of glorious beauty! And more than just Multiple Man, the whole previous volume X-Factor was a lot of fun. So what am I not seeing in the All-New X-Factor? Was PAD’s previous series this shallow, and I just really enjoyed seeing Multiple Man? I kind of get the feeling that if he switched out Gambit for Multiple Man, I’d probably be enjoying this comic a lot more.
X-Factor #4
As it stands, the newest issue of All-New X-Factor is more of the same, and I’ve still got to give the thing a big ole meh!
Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.
There’s not much to this new issue. All-New X-Factor #4 is all about recruiting Danger to the team by way of a big, explosive fight scene. PAD peppers the fight with some nice character moments, especially for Gambit and Polaris, but at the expense of a seemingly incompetent Danger. The angry robot spends the entire issue promising to kill everybody but never seems to focus enough to actually carry it out – though, of course, it’s not like she’s allowed to really kill any of the main characters. But you’ll see what I mean in the synopsis.
Like I said, Gambit and Polaris get some good moments. Gambit spends the issue trying to snap Danger out of her murderous rage, while Polaris has some murderous rage of her own. But I don’t really care one lick about Danger, her history with the X-Men or her potentially joining X-Factor. I’m fairly certain that nobody else in the X-Office cared enough to use Danger in their comic, so PAD snatched her up. Or maybe he really wanted to use her, I don’t know. What I do know is that we went through a lot of trouble to add her to the team, and I just didn’t care for any of it. We took an abridged tour of Gambit’s recent solo series, but I don’t feel as if the story affected Gambit at all or had any impact on the series. They might as well have gone to the Savage Land or Latveria to recruit Danger.
I don’t want to come off as overly harsh in my reviews of All-New X-Factor…not like with Teen Titans. That book is actively bad. But All-New X-Factor is just bland. It’s bland characters on bland missions with no real emphasis on the corporate angle, at least not yet. And I’m just not happy with bland.
Henchman-4-Hire 