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Sabretooth's days of popularity are long behind him - even
by the time they put him into the cast of X-Factor,
he was yesterday's news. But that didn't stop
Marvel, several years late, from putting out SABRETOOTH:
MARY SHELLEY OVERDRIVE, a mediocre action story which
didn't have much grasp on the character, but did feature
an extraordinarily dumb plot about scientists and dead
bodies. Bad.
Reviews: Sabretooth: Mary Shelley
Overdrive #1 |
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 ULTIMATE
WAR shipped its second issue this week in the States,
but thanks to good old Diamond, it hasn't turned up yet in
the UK. It's the first crossover between
Ultimates and Ultimate X-Men, and the first
issue was a reasonable build-up, despite some typically
opaque artwork from Chris Bachalo.
Reviews: Ultimate War
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 Although
Wolverine's solo title has been largely bland this year,
his miniseries have been making a bit more unusual.
WOLVERINE/HULK was a four-issue miniseries by Sam
Kieth, and it was every bit as bizarre as you'd expect.
Wolverine and the Hulk meet up in the middle of nowhere
and are confused by a ghost girl who keeps turning into a
stick figure. The ending is a bit lacklustre, but
the general weirdness of the whole thing is entertaining.
Reviews: Wolverine/Hulk #1 |
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 George
Pratt's WOLVERINE: NETSUKE was more disappointing.
Largely an excuse for Pratt to do lovely painted sequences
set in medieval Japan, the series suffered badly from
lacking any real understanding of the character, and
giving him some truly purple dialogue. It also
doesn't make any real sense, which is a serious problem.
Ultimately, rather disappointing.
Reviews:
Wolverine: Netsuke #1 |
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X-FACTOR was a surprisingly good miniseries, but
unfortunately it went largely unnoticed. Yes,
there's a certain degree of overwriting. But Jeff
Jensen's police procedural about an FBI unit devoted to
hate crimes against mutants, whose members aren't exactly
keen on mutants either, had interesting, rounded
characters and was generally one of the year's unexpected
high points for the X-books. Artist Arthur Ransen
demonstrated that he's a superlative storyteller.
Reviews: X-Factor #1
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 X-TREME
X-MEN: SAVAGE LAND shipped its fourth and final issue
in January 2002, and scrapes into the list on that basis.
It's terrible, of course, and generally considered a bit
of a mess even by Claremont's fans.
Reviews: X-Treme X-Men: Savage Land
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 Better,
but still subpar, is X-TREME X-MEN: X-POSÉ,
the miniseries running for two months while X-Treme
X-Men is on hiatus. A rather clodhopping story
about nasty journalists indulging in creative editing, and
nice journalists going around dutifully transcribing
lectures from the X-Men about what they do. Great
art from Arthur Ranson, but it really does lay it on a bit
thick.
Reviews: X-Treme X-Men: X-Posé
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And that's 2002 for the X-books.
Next year's highlight looks set to be the Rucka/Robertson
relaunch of Wolverine, which I can't wait to read.
Shame Rucka is giving up Elektra to make room on his
schedule, but you can't have everything. And since
Soldier X and Agent X are virtual certainties for
cancellation in the next few months, and Weapon X has
to be a possibility, there should be some slots becoming
available on the schedule - it'll be interesting to see
whether Marvel tries to fill them, or just decides to go with
a slimmed down line of X-Men titles. Plus, the second
X-Men film is due out in 2003 - look out for a big promotional
push to tie in with that.
Next week, Exiles
continues the Vi-Locks storyline; Uncanny X-Men begins
"Dominant Species"; and X-Men Unlimited promises the
bizarre creative team-up of Hellblazer's Jamie Delano
and Bazooka Jules' Neil Googe. Now that should be
a sight. Good to know Googe has managed to squeeze this
into his busy schedule, what with Bazooka Jules being
so timely and all.
See you in 2003.
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