HOME
REVIEWS
MINISERIES
SUBSCRIBE
CONTACT

THIS WEEK:
Astonishing X-Men
Cable & Deadpool
Exiles
New Excalibur
New X-Men
Ultimate X-Men
Uncanny X-Men
Wolverine
Wolverine: Origins
X-Factor
X-Men
Miscellaneous (1)
Miscellaneous (2)
Miscellaneous (3)

SON OF M was one of the more intriguing Decimation miniseries, following up on Quicksilver after the loss of his powers and repositioning him for his current messiah role in X-Factor.  Generally speaking, it's an interesting and effective book.  But it goes off the rails at the end when, out of nowhere, it suddenly turns into a set-up for future stories - which were then put on the back burner for months because Civil War took precedence.  We'll get back to the dangling plot threads next year with Silent War, but as things stand, it made for a disappointing ending to an otherwise strong book.

Reviews: #2 | #3| #4 | #5 | #6

STORM was parachuted into the cast of Black Panther in what seems to have been an attempt to help that book's flagging sales.  Frankly, it doesn't seem to have worked, although subsequent crossover issues have done more to boost interest.  Marvel hyped the wedding of Storm and the Black Panther for months, solemnly insisting that the characters had years of history even though anyone who cared about the characters enough to give a toss about their wedding also knew that this wasn't remotely true.  In this miniseries, novelist Eric Jerome Dickey was saddled with the task of retrofitting the characters with a teenage romance.  To his credit, despite the absurd artificiality of the whole stunt, Dickey came very close to pulling it off, and seemed a natural for the comic book format.  It's not subtle, to put it mildly, but I ended up liking this series despite my general antipathy for the wedding, and that shows Dickey must have been doing something right.

Reviews: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6

ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS HULK shipped an issue back in February, and then fell off the face of the earth.  The book has now officially been cancelled altogether, and Marvel claim it'll be resolicited at a later date.  I don't believe a word of it.  I think it's another Daredevil: Target.  The actual content is rather good, but the absurd delays have long since overshadowed that.  This, perhaps, is the point that Marvel seem to miss: it is almost unimaginable that a book can run this late without either the creators having a total disregard for deadlines, or Marvel being utterly incompetent.  The idea that a book can run over a year late because, hey, shit happens, is a ridiculous one, and yet it's essentially the only explanation Marvel ever offer, usually in a slightly hurt "How dare you expect us to deliver books on time?" kind of a way.  I don't like the company's attitude these days, and I don't like their attitude towards their customers.  Bluntly, the standards of professionalism the company displays fall way, way below anything that I would regard acceptable in the way I deal with my own customers.  It's not just a matter of enlightened self-interest; I'd be ashamed, because I take pride in doing my job properly, in meeting my deadlines, and in turning down the work I know I can't do even if I move heaven and earth.  When I say I'll get something done by the first day of the new year, I damn well mean it.  From all appearances, Marvel (and many of their higher-profile creators) feel differently, because they've been cossetted for years by a cottage industry that thinks it's a publishing giant, and encouraged by fans so desperate to believe that Comics Are Art that they'll accept the most ludicrous delays on the most absurd action comics as a sign of artistic integrity.  This business needs to grow up.

Reviews: #2

ULTIMATE X4 (or, if you must, "Ultimate X-Men/Fantastic Four" and "Ultimate Fantastic Four/X-Men") was a two-issue miniseries bizarrely packaged as two one-shots.  It's by Mike Carey and Pasqual Ferry, it features the X-Men and the Fantastic Four fighting the Ultimate Mad Thinker, and it's basically a straight superhero story that would probably have worked more effectively as a fill-in arc on Ultimate FF.  Flags a bit in the second half, but it's not bad.

Reviews: #2

WHAT IF? WOLVERINE - ENEMY OF THE STATE was the first of three What If? one-shots from the X-office this year.  In this one, Wolverine never gets freed from HYDRA's mind control, so there's a big fight and a tragic death. It's serviceable at best, but the premise is a weak one and the creators never come up with any particularly memorable angle on it.

Reviews: #1

WHAT IF? X-MEN - AGE OF APOCALYPSE, which came out this week, is by Rick Remender, who's often quite good, and Dave Wilkins, who I've never heard of, but has an interesting sketchy style that meshes well with Anthony Washington's colours.  Unfortunately, the book isn't up to much.  Notionally, the premise is "What if Magneto had died too?", but nothing really comes of that.  There's one genuinely good idea, used as the climax, but otherwise it's a load of filler, as the writer indulges himself with random and irrelevant guest stars (Dormammu and Brother Voodoo?), and generally just kills time until he reaches the end and can unleash the one good idea.  Disappointing.

WHAT IF? X-MEN - DEADLY GENESIS also came out this week, and has David Hine explaining what would have happened if the original X-Men had died on Krakoa while Vulcan's team survived.  Vulcan goes on to become a beloved superhero, but in reality he's still nuts.  It's a strong idea, but the story ends up struggling under the weight of massive infodumps, and would probably have benefitted from more pace.  I also don't buy the idea of Vulcan as a respected world leader for peace when he's doing TV interviews telling Magneto to bite him, and playing to the whooping morons in the crowd.  It reads like something that could have been worked up into a stronger three-issue miniseries, but it has its merits.

WISDOM is a curious book - a spin-off from New Excalibur, which doesn't sell especially well to start with, and shoved under the Max imprint.  Only one issue has come out, which shouldn't surprise anyone, because it's drawn by Trevor "Will 2009 do?" Hairsine.  Fortunately, he's being replaced for future issues.  The series has a version of Wisdom that bears almost no resemblance to anything seen before, but the first issue was great fun, with Wisdom invading the fairy kingdom and beating up pixies with the aid of a low-rent batch of UK superheroes.  It's a thousand times more fun than New Excalibur usually is, and it's a shame almost nobody is buying it.

Reviews: #1

X-23: TARGET X is the sequel to last year's X-23 miniseries.  We're only one issue in, but the story appears to see X-23 trying to establish a life for herself in the real world after escaping the Facility.  The first series was strong when it came to X-23's psychology and had the nerve to ensure we could rarely empathise with her; this looks to be following the same path, which is fine by me.  The art, from Top Cow loanees Mike Choi and Sonia Oback, is gorgeous.

Reviews: #1

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE VS DRACULA is one of those occasional oddball miniseries that they banner as an X-Men book in the hope that it might boost sales a bit.  It's actually a story about Apocalypse's cultists fighting Dracula in the Victorian era.  It's nothing you need to go out of your way to read, and Clayton Henry (who doesn't do dark or shadowy) was horribly miscast on the art, but neither is it the ridiculous style clash that you might expect.  It sounds like an absurd concept, but it's actually fine.

Reviews: #1 | #2 | #3 |#4

X-MEN: COLOSSUS - BLOODLINE shipped its final issue in January, and scrapes onto this list on a technicality.  You've probably forgotten about it entirely by now, and I apologise for bringing it up .  A horrible mess which attempts to explain why all the Rasputin family members are mad by a ridiculous and contrived story that claims they're all descendents of Rasputin, the historical monk.  Tremendously silly, and an idea which comes perilously close to damaging the lead character.  Let us hope we never hear of it again.

Reviews: #5