Also this week:

NEW X-MEN #21 - Another irritating example of sloppy editing.  The Sentinels are already camped outside the Institute, yet apparently M-Day has only just made the TV news.  Now, since the Sentinels don't show up until at least two weeks after M-Day, and the news coverage was already in full swing on day one, as per the Decimation one-shot, that really won't fly.  Seriously, how hard is it to work out a common timeline for your common story concept?  This isn't nitpicking - these are gross continuity errors of the sort that yank readers out of the story.  In fantasy worlds, the details are especially important, because the credibility of the whole set-up is so tenuous to start with.  You have to get the details straight - at least the obvious ones - if you want verisimilitude.  Anyhow, the story continues a slow build-up to a fight with Stryker (which isn't even coming till the next arc), and then goes veering off on a tangent to re-enact old Claremont stories, which seems a touch out of place.  A bit unfocussed.  B

UNCANNY X-MEN #467 - Twenty four seconds of carnage - literally - as a bunch of aliens slaughter the Grey family and the X-Men race to help at implausible speed.  It's actually a very interesting storytelling idea, and rapid cutting between scenes means that it very nearly gets away with the one-second-per-page gimmick.  It's still a bit much to buy the X-Men responding to a crisis quite so quickly, but credit for an unexpected and somewhat successful piece of experimentation.  B+

There's a new Article 10 up at Ninth Art.  And there's more from me at If Destroyed. 

Next week, Decimation continues in X-Men: Deadly Genesis #2 and Generation M #2.  Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk begins, and it must be great, because it's written by a guy from TV.  Ultimate X-Men / Fantastic Four is the first of two one-shots starring both teams.  And there's a third trade paperback for New X-Men.

back | continue