Ah, Weapon X.

Regular readers will recall that I wasn't much of a fan of Frank Tieri's Weapon X series, which got cancelled last September after 28 issues.  On the other hand, the decision to cancel the book in mid-storyline without giving it a chance to wrap up its outstanding plots did seem utterly bizarre.  While it wasn't a top seller, it wasn't performing disastrously badly, and there was really no good reason not to allow it a few more issues in order to give the readers a resolution.

So, after a degree of public campaigning on the point by Tieri, we're now getting Weapon X: Days of Future Now, a five-issue miniseries which exists to at least give Weapon X a conclusion.

It's difficult to know what to say about books like this, really.  Unavoidably, it picks up a fairly complicated storyline late in the day. Consequently, there's an epic amount of exposition going on here.  There's also a lot of confusion about when exactly this is supposed to be happening - it seems to be referencing the jailbreak in New Avengers, yet Wolverine's still wandering around in his Grant Morrison costume.  And god only knows how this is supposed to square with Fantomex's appearance in Mystique a while back.

All of which means that it's not the most accessible of stories.  Then again, it doesn't really have to be, because this is a comic aimed at a fairly specific target audience: people who read Weapon X, liked it, and want to find out how the story ends.  If you didn't read Weapon X, it's a bit late to start now.  If you didn't like it, well, you're not going to like this much either.  But the readers the book is aimed at should enjoy it.

As long, that is, as they can live with Bart Sears on art.  He's not a pretty artist, nor is he the greatest of storytellers.  Actually, a few years ago he used to be quite good, but much of his more recent work has been absolutely intolerable.  This is better than some of the stuff he's produced recently - the storytelling is a lot clearer.  But it's still ugly and unpleasant to read, and a key page of Chamber attacking John Sublime is just plain awkward.

Still, at the end of the day, this is a book which will probably meet most people's expectations - whether they were good or bad.  It's not something I'm particularly interested in reading, but Weapon X undeniably had a loyal fanbase who deserved to find out how the story finished.  The book's for them, and they'll enjoy it, so fair enough.

Rating: B-

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