The X-Axis, 24 February 2008
Part 3 of 3

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Also this week:

ULTIMATE X-MEN #91 - Part two of the Apocalypse storyline, as lots of assorted guest stars show up to help fight the new villain.  The angle here is that Apocalypse can take control of all the mutants, and Kirkman certainly does a reasonable job of establishing him as a major threat.  The Ultimate imprint doesn't pile on the guest stars that much, and as a result it still comes across as a reasonably significant event when they do it.  The main weakness here is that Apocalypse hasn't got much of a personality, beyond "evil, ranting villain."  Nice art from Larroca, though, and it's basically fine.  B

UMBRELLA ACADEMY #6 - The final issue of the first series, although it's clearly going to be one of those "series of miniseries" books - in other words, an ongoing title with intermittent gaps.  When Dark Horse announced that they were publishing a superhero comic by the lead singer of My Chemical Romance, you could have been forgiven for expecting a dodgy pet project that was only being published in order to take advantage of his fanbase.  But in fact, Umbrella Academy has been a great little book, charming, quirky, funny and well-constructed.  No, it doesn't reinvent the genre - but it's a good example of how this stuff should be done, from creators who have chosen to build their own version of the team book, rather than play with the same old familiar characters (or obvious knock-offs).  I really wish there were more comics like this.  A

 

There's more from me at If Destroyed, and if you're desperate for more Article 10 columns, you can always hunt through the archives on Ninth Art.

Next week, X-Men reinvents itself as X-Men: Legacy, which at least means we'll never hear the word "Unadjectived" again.  And the Black Widow guest stars in X-Men: First Class #9.

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Copyright 2008 Paul O'Brien.  This web site is a work of critical comment and review. All characters and publications referred to, and artwork reproduced, are ™ and © their respective owners.
 

LINKS
Ultimate X-Men
Marvel Comics
Robert Kirkman

Umbrella Academy
Dark Horse
Gerard Way
Gabriel Ba