|
|
|
Finally, we come to the one-shots
and miniseries. What's perhaps most striking is how
few there are compared with the last couple of years.
Most of the books listed below are one-shots, or form part
of a wider Marvel Universe event. There are relatively
few X-Men minis in the conventional sense, particularly in
recent months. The deluge may have finally ended.
|
 The DEADPOOL
/ G.L.I. SUMMER FUN SPECTACULAR was a slightly
disappointing comedy book, in which Deadpool moves in
with the beleaguered Great Lakes Initiative after they
foolishly offer him honorary membership. It
doesn't really work; the GLI characters are too feeble
to stand up to him, and they just get blasted off the
page. But there's a very funny sequence with
Squirrel Girl trying to talk sense into Penance, which
is worth reading.
Reviews:
(one-shot) |
| |
|
|
|
 FALLEN
SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA - WOLVERINE was
notionally a one-shot, but effectively it's part of a
Fallen Son miniseries in which various characters
react to the death of Captain America, in order that we
may all take it seriously. It's all a bit
excessive, with a ponderous structure based on the five
stages of grief. But it's certainly the best thing
Jeph Loeb wrote for Marvel this year, and it works well
enough on its own terms.
Reviews:
(one-shot) |
|
|
|
 MYSTIC
ARCANA: MAGIK was part of a very strange project.
Mystic Arcana consisted of four one-shots, each
starring a different magic-based hero. The title
character appears in what amounts to a fill-in story,
and then an object from that story turns up in the
back-up strip, featuring obscure sorcerer Ian MacNee.
And that's it. I can't for the life of me figure
out what Marvel were trying to achieve with this series,
although the final issue ends with a rather optimistic
pitch for an Ian MacNee ongoing series. It's
perfectly inoffensive, but no more.
Reviews:
(one-shot) |
|
|
|
 WHAT
IF?: X-MEN - RISE AND FALL OF THE SHI'AR EMPIRE
was the X-Men's contribution to this year's What If?
range. Christopher Yost tries to write an
alternate ending to the year-long "Rise and Fall" saga
in one issue, and goes the usual route of mass slaughter
and final redemption. It's all very rushed, and
doesn't really work, but then the original story doesn't
lend itself to this sort of format - it didn't have a
decisive ending to start with, after all.
Reviews:
(one-shot) |
| |
|
 Paul
Cornell and Manuel Garcia's
WISDOM
miniseries sold atrociously, but it was one of the
underappreciated high spots of the year.
Cheerfully ignoring Excalibur (who wouldn't?), Cornell
wrote a story about Pete Wisdom and his motley band of
MI-13 agents fighting villains based around the theme of
British national identity. Genuinely funny and
entertaining, and hopefully we'll get something just as
good when Cornell's replacement for New Excalibur
reaches the shelves.
Reviews: #2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
#6 |
| |
|
 WOLVERINE:
FIREBREAK seems to be a second Wolverine Annual
for the year, which is an odd call. But it
features a very good story by Mike Carey and Scott
Kolins, in which Wolverine helps some clueless
suburbanites to escape a forest fire, while blinded.
It's a simple, straightforward Wolverine story that
plays to the character's strengths and nails it.
Why can't we have more Wolverine stories like this one?
Reviews:
(one-shot)
|
|
|
|
 WORLD
WAR HULK: X-MEN was the X-Men's token contribution
to the World War Hulk crossover.
Touchingly, it still seems to be assumed that the
X-books are a strong enough brand that they don't need
to participate properly in the big crossovers.
Anyway, this is a completely gratuitous three-issue
fight scene in which the Hulk beats the living daylights
out of everybody, and then goes home. Given the
obvious limitations of the remit, Christos Gage and
Andrea DiVito managed to produce something far more
entertaining than you'd reasonably expect.
Reviews: #1 |
#2 |
#3
|
| |
|
 X-23:
TARGET X, the sequel to last year's X-23
miniseries, featured some beautiful artwork by Mike Choi
and Sonia Oback. It's a rather nice story about
X-23 making a doomed attempt to build a life for herself
in San Francisco, with an extra issue tagged on the end
to solve some continuity problems. If only New
X-Men was this good. They've actually made
X-23 into a distinct character and persuaded me that
there's a genuinely good reason to keep her around.
Reviews:
#2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
#6 |
| |
|
 X-MEN:
DIE BY THE SWORD was the miniseries that wound up
New Excalibur and that shuffled the roster for
Exiles. It's been almost universally panned,
and there's no denying that it's a bad comic. When
people are e-mailing me to complain that I was being too
nice about the final issue (which I rated as C-), you
know it's got problems. Frankly, the series is a
total mess, and the only defence that can be offered is
the moments that suggest a last-minute rewriter.
But that doesn't make it a better comic, it merely
explains how it came to be so poor. A deeply
worrying omen for New Exiles.
Reviews: #1
| #2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
| |
|
 X-MEN:
EMPEROR VULCAN is the sequel to "Rise and Fall of
the Shi'ar Empire", and it's still underway. Issue
#4 should have come out this week, but not in my shop it
didn't. I'm sure it'll show up. Anyway,
Christopher Yost has done a surprisingly decent job with
this series, livening up the story by shifting the
emphasis away from Vulcan (who isn't that exciting), and
onto a bunch of religious fanatics who want revenge on
the Shi'ar for colonising their home planet. The
problem, of course, is that the bad guys kind of have a
point. It's a nice concept, and I'm enjoying the
series more than I expected to.
Reviews: #1 |
#2 |
#3 |
| |
|
 X-MEN:
ENDANGERED SPECIES was the lead-in to the
"Endangered Species" back-up strips. It's
basically a load of characters standing around at a
funeral reflecting on life, and with the benefit of
hindsight, it's probably unnecessary. I think it
served a role in pacing, by dragging the badly-handled
M-Day plot back into focus, and bringing the story back
to life. But you might question whether we really needed
to shell out four dollars for a scene-setter.
Reviews:
(one-shot) |
|
|
|
 X-MEN:
MESSIAH COMPLEX is the opening chapter of the
current crossover, in which a bunch of bad guys fight
other bad guys, and the X-Men show up too late to do
anything about it. It's a fine opening chapter
which hits the ground running, and sets the scene well.
Quite simply, there's an aura about the story that makes
it feel as though it matters, and that's the most
important thing you can have a book like this.
Reviews:
(one-shot) |
|
|
|
 And
we end on down note, with the abominable
X-MEN:
PHOENIX - WARSONG. Crystal hearts!
Emotionless schoolgirls! A thousand clones of Emma
Frost! Easily one of the worst things Greg Pak has
ever put his name to (and I'd be interested to know how
much of it was editorially mandated). Absolutely
dreadful from top to bottom, and best ignored.
Reviews: #1 |
#2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
And that was 2007 - a year
which was shaping up to be pretty dire at one point, but has
turned around in the last few months as a sense of purpose
and direction has re-emerged. February and March will
see yet another revamp of the line; perhaps this time it'll
stick.
Next week, the
Exiles: Days of Then and Now one-shot bridging the
gap between Exiles and New Exiles.; and "Messiah Complex" continues in Uncanny X-Men
#494.
back |
continue |
