7 july 2002

EXILES #15 - "I Cover the Waterfront, part two": by Judd Winick, Mike McKone, Jon Holdredge, Norm Rapmund and Tim Townsend
UNCANNY X-MEN #408 - "Identity Crisis": by Joe Casey and Sean Phillips
X-FACTOR #3 - "Weeds": by Jeff Jensen and Arthur Ranson
SIDEKICKS: THE TRANSFER STUDENT: by J Torres and Takeshi Miyazawa

The second half of EXILES' "I Cover the Waterfront" arc has pretty much the same problems as the first part. Obviously the main aim of this story was to provide a spotlight for the Mimic and advance his character a bit.

Here's the catch. In stories like this, the plot is always just a vehicle for the character material, and that's fair enough. The problem is that the plot here is a totally generic "save the world" affair which really has no discernible relationship to the Mimic's arc. Yes, granted, he gets to fight an evil version of the Sub-Mariner, which lets him complain that he keeps meeting alternate universe heroes who have gone bad. But that bit was achieved by wheeling Any Generic Hero Gone Bad into the plot, and having them do something villainous.

The conflict between Atlantis and Latveria, which in theory is supposed to be the actual plot, is largely ignored. The Mimic beats everyone up and goes home; the rest of the Exiles have some minor co-operation problems with Dr Doom, but get their job done without any particular difficulties. The two national armies then resolve the storyline in a battle which takes place entirely off panel.

Of course, it's fine for the Mimic's storyline to take the lead, but this pushes things too far - even Winick seems unable to work up much interest in any other aspect of this particular storyline, and consequently, I can't either. The near-absence of a B-plot really hurts the story, since it deprives the Mimic's grumbling of any proper context.

On the bright side, Mike McKone produces some attractive action sequences, and the multiple inkers don't seem to hurt. The book looks very nice, but the story content is lacking.

Definitely one of this book's poorer arcs.

C+

Over in UNCANNY X-MEN, it's Joe Casey's penultimate issue, and he begins a two-parter which seems intended to tie up the remaining loose ends. (Well, except for the Church of Humanity, but who's going to miss them?) That means the continuation of Nightcrawler's disillusionment storyline from the previous issue; some kind of resolution of Stacy as mutant hormone prostitute; and the return of the Vanisher as drug dealer story from last year's annual.

Kurt's disillusionment arc suffers largely from appearing undermotivated. It's not desperately clear why he's suddenly woken up deciding that his life sucks, and as a result it's difficult to feel much empathy for the plot. However, the follow-through in this issue, with Kurt attempting half-heartedly to resume his swashbuckler routine from 1980s, is a nice idea in its own right.

Stacy's plot has similar motivation problems. The basic idea of a character with her powers working as a non-contact prostitute is actually quite promising. The problem with her arc has been a general lack of motivation for pretty much anything she did - not helped by dreadful nonsense like the silent issue, which, six months down the line, remains utterly inexplicable. The net effect was that Stacy was simply brought into the X-Men cast as a "rescued" prostitute, and wandered around pointlessly, despite having no motivation to stay with the team, no motivation to carry on with her job, and no real motivation to do anything.

This issue Casey finally manages to make some sense of her character by suggesting that she's clinging on to her prostitute identity as a safety blanket. Thank you. Nice idea. Shame we've had to wait until issue #408 to get a second dimension for a character introduced in issue #399. But yes, I can live happily with this approach. And who knows, maybe if her earlier subplots had been remotely comprehensible, some of this might have come across earlier.

The Vanisher subplot is more of a runner. Granted, there are suspension of disbelief problems with the Vanisher peddling drugs that give users outright physical mutations and superpowers for the night. But it just about scrapes under the bar of Marvel Universe credibility, so I'll let it slide.

Casey's main theme in this plot is to play up Warren's business activities and contrast Warren's corporate activities with the Vanisher as leader of a pseudo-corporate criminal organisation. The general nature of corporate bodies is clearly a subject of some interest to Casey, given that it's also going to be one of the themes of his upcoming WildStorm series, WildCATS 3.0. And the comparison is somewhat valid, though Casey overplays it a bit by giving Warren speeches about the Vanisher as "a rival CEO" with "a unique challenge."

The nature of corporate identity (which is not an inherently capitalist concept) is actually a very interesting theme well worth exploring. Positioning Warren's company and the Vanisher's criminal organisation as if they were rival businesses isn't a metaphor which holds up, though. Warren isn't in competition with the Vanisher. He has no interest in selling drugs. And if you really wanted to track down the paper trail for the laundering of drug proceeds, by the way, you wouldn't turn to corporate executives. You'd hire a team of forensic accountants.

Despite the flaws, this is nonetheless one of Casey's stronger issues. There are some clearly interesting ideas in there, and none of the obvious absurdity that dragged down previous concepts like the Church of Humanity and the X-Corps. Casey and artist Sean Phillips do make a good partnership - though the superhero genre doesn't really play to Phillips' strengths, he seems much more at home with this issue and its comparatively real-world settings.

Not too bad, all things considered.

Finally for the X-books this week, X-FACTOR.

It's a shame that this book seems to be plummetting down the sales charts, since it's certainly one of the best miniseries the X-office has produced in years. This month is partly about developing the conspiracy subplot, but it's also largely about Kearse's religion.

As a devout Christian, and nonbeliever in evolution, Kearse has all manner of problems getting his head around the concept of mutants. Writer Jeff Jensen doesn't seem to agree with any of this religion stuff, but nonetheless gives Kearse's viewpoint a fairly sympathetic airing. Not being remotely religious myself, my interest in the subject is largely confined to the social aspects, and that's what Jensen is dealing with here.

It raises some of the same issues as Casey's Church of Humanity material, but deals with them more effectively by virtue of not being so over the top. And, of course, both stories are miles ahead of Matt Nixon's religion arc in Wolverine, by virtue of having things to say about the subject.

Part of the reason this series works is that Jensen has created two lead characters who have perfectly understandable reasons for feeling at best ambivolent towards mutants, and then played the story firmly from their perspective. The X-Men's brief appearances in this story, as a result, come across as hopelessly counterproductive, with Wolverine trying to intimidate poor Kearse despite the fact that he actually hasn't done anything wrong at all. We know that the X-Men are basically running through their normal routines, but by playing it from Gray and Kearse's perspective, Jensen shows up why it's backfiring on them so badly.

Arthur Ranson's artwork continues to impress, remaining low key and emphasising the naturalism. It's all about telling the story rather than showing off, which is to be encouraged.

Good stuff, and a rare example of an X-books miniseries which clearly does have a strong reason to exist.

A-

SIDEKICKS: THE TRANSFER STUDENT is, I suppose, technically a trade paperback. It reprints Sidekicks #1-3, which were published in 2000 and 2001. That book's now transferred over to Oni, who are releasing another issue this month. Hence, these three issues come back into print. Mind you, it's 96 pages for $8.95, so it's really more what I'd call a digest format.

The first thirteen pages of this book are available as a free preview from the Oni website, by the way. For some reason the graytones don't seem to have come out very well in that pdf (or maybe it's just my screen). Trust me, it looks a lot smoother in print. But you'll get the general idea.

Anyhow, the story. It's very good. The back cover blurb describes the book as "everything Generation X should've been." That's a quote from Jay Faerber, who ought to know. And he's got a point. And this being the X-Axis, I'll seize on it to explain why.

Basically, it's a teen drama book set in a school for superhumans. It's not Generation X, for two reasons. One, this book doesn't have to worry about the "everyone hates mutants" gimmick - it's an openly functioning school for superhumans, and nobody has any problem with that at all. Two, it's a full scale school, closer to the current New X-Men set-up than the "handful of people rattling around a mansion" Generation X.

Nonetheless, if you liked Generation X, particularly in its soapier moments, this should make you very happy indeed. It's a light but enjoyable school story, which hits a lot of the common themes of "new kid arriving at boarding school" plots, but does them very entertainingly. It's full of likeable characters, and while the writing is aimed more at the younger audience, it's easily good enough to work for cynical people like me. Feelgood stuff, but that's a good thing.

Writer J Torres was responsible for Copybook Tales and Alison Dare, neither of which I've read, but I really ought to get around to them. The artist is Takeshi Miyazawa, who got a Harvey nomination last year (presumably for this series). As that name might suggest, there's an obvious manga influence here, but none of the "big eyes and miniskirts" cliches. It's clean, attractive art, with great character designs and excellent storytelling.

It may be a little too soapy for some tastes, but if the premise appeals at all, this is well worth picking up.

Also this week:

ALIAS #11 - Jessica is called into a small town to investigate a missing teenage girl. Common enough territory, but as always it's Bendis' skill for conversation scenes that carries off a book composed predominantly of lengthy talk scenes. The issue is also somewhat notable for being the first arc in this book so far not to play off an existing Marvel Universe character (though it does bring in the mutant concept). And hey, even the cover actually has some relationship to the content for once.

A-

AVENGERS #55 - With next month's issue being a file story, this is effectively the end of Kurt Busiek's storylines. And as you might expect, it's an epilogue issue largely consisting of characters going around tying up plots. Some neat echoes of earlier issues help the sense of closure, and it'll be a good resolution for those who've followed Busiek's Avengers run over the last four and a half years. For more casual readers, call it a B+.

B+

BASTARD SAMURAI #2 - Jiro hooks up with a Yakuza member to turn on the people who organised his underground combat circuit. The concept is a little contrived here (and I still can't help smirking at that title), but it does manage to pull off its martial arts scenes, and that's pretty rare in comics. Enjoyable, if it occasionally seems to take itself a touch too seriously. And for god's sake, can people remember to mark the last page of their story? It doesn't help sell the cliffhanger if I only realise the story has finished after turning through three pages of adverts and hitting the back-up strip.

B+

BERLIN #9 - I reviewed the City of Stones trade paperback, which collected issues #1-8, a few months back and I loved it. I'd just like to remind you of that, because this is an ideal time for you to buy the trade paperback and start on the series. This issue begins the second part of Jason Lutes' planned trilogy, picking up in Berlin in 1929, with an American jazz band arriving in town, and the political tensions continuing to grow. Lutes continues to attempt some very difficult material for comics - this issue includes a four page dialogue-free jazz gig - and actually makes it work. Excellent.

A+

CALL OF DUTY: THE BROTHERHOOD #2 - The structure of the series is now pretty clear. 95% emergency service procedural, 5% mystical subplot. Honestly, I could live without the namechecking of September 11 from the Mysterious Girl ("Everyone is going to die. Just like in the two big buildings." Yes, yes, we get it.) The procedural aspects are vastly superior, as Chuck Austen makes a fairly convincing attempt to convey the stress levels involved in the work. The art still struggles to distinguish the characters from one another - although I have no idea how any artist could do that when they're all wearing the same uniforms in the middle of smoke-filled rooms.

CEREBUS #279 - Curse Dave Sim. Just when you're on the verge of dismissing him as a total lunatic and thinking of dropping the book, he produces something that, despite the obvious comics industry in-jokes, is actually really good, packing tons of material into twenty pages. Damn him. Damn.

A+

CRUSADES #17 - End of the Third Crusade arc, and it looks like the idea is that the knight is some kind of persona which other characters take on, rather than a character in his own right. Okay, that's an interesting development, and makes some sense of the conflicting religious ideas that the character's been expressing. And thank god, we're rid of Venus' mother, a character who was just too absurd to accept, even within this series' fairly wide ground rules.

DOOM PATROL #10 - The Doom Patrol think about trying to get themselves a bit of press attention by fighting Amazo, but get totally sidetracked and never get around to it. Bit of a strange story, but there's something strangely endearing about this book's cast of losers and Tan Eng Huat's eccentric art style.

B+

ELEKTRA #12 - God, this book has improved since Greg Rucka took over. The main aim of this storyline seems to be to kick Elektra out of her assassin role and force her to find some other identity for herself. Obviously that vastly expands her possibilities as a protagonist, since her main limitation in that role is that all she does is kill people for no personal reason. Carlo Pagulayan's pencils manage to bring out a more vulnerable side of Elektra's character, and the possibilities for where the series goes from here are intriguing. I really wish they'd get a different cover artist, though - a swimsuit model in a straitjacket is not quite the look this book needs.

FANTASTIC FOUR #58 - Yeah, well. I like Adam Warren's work as a rule, and there are a few interesting ideas in here - Reed's conference calls with parallel versions of himself are cute. But it's really a bit plot light to carry three issues. Keron Grant's artwork is still much more successful in this style, though, which is a plus.

B-

FILTH #2 - Morrison ties up some of his initial story ideas surprisingly quickly, so evidently we're moving on to even more bizarre stuff after this point. This issue, Slade reluctantly returns to the Hand to help defeat a lunatic who has taken control of a bonzai planet of miniature Teletubbies, with the assistance of a Communist sniper chimp. Ridiculous, but in a very good way.

A+

GEN13 #0 - Very little reaction to this book, from what I've seen, and that can't be a promising sign for the relaunch. The lead story is Chris Claremont and Ale Garza's Gen13, with some normal kids getting into scrapes when they stumble upon a speedster on the run. Caitlin Fairchild is in it, looking very healthy for a character who was killed at the end of the last series. It's perfectly okay, but it doesn't leave me with any particular desire to see more. Back-up strips are trailers for 21 Down and The Resistance, both written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. 21 Down has a somewhat interesting concept, and it's handy that I read about it in an interview, since god knows it's not explained anywhere here. Resistance is a sci-fi book doing a "zero population growth" riff, and doesn't immediately leap out as having a new angle on the idea.

B-

HIGH ROADS #4 - Leinil Yu's shamelessly absurd action series continues, as the cast expands to exclude a renegade kamikaze pilot. Yu and writer Scott Lobdell are obviously having great fun with this book, and even though it's plainly nonsense from start to finish, that enjoyment comes across and makes it an entertaining read.

B+

KILLER PRINCESSES #2 - After lengthy, lengthy delays, the second issue of Gail Simone and Lea Hernandez' Oni miniseries about bimbo sorority assassins. To be honest, and at the risk of throwing away what little indie cred I have, I prefer Deadpool. But this second issue manages rather better than the first to convince me of the undeniably unlikely central premise, and it's got some great gags in it.

MARVEL KNIGHTS #4 - Lord. Okay, after two failed series with different creative teams, can we just accept that this was a bad idea to start with, and say no more about it?

C-

MARVEL KNIGHTS DOUBLE-SHOT #4 - Weakest issue of the anthology so far, unfortunately. Gene Ha does an Iron Fist story which is really just a power-display effort. It's very pretty, but ultimately a bit pointless. The back-up strip is a Marvel Knights story by the book's regular creative team, and it doesn't really work here either.

POWERS #21 - Last issue ended with Christian Walker leaving the police; this issue, Deena takes over the lead role with a new partner, and the series rumbles on without him. No doubt he'll be back in due course, however, as this is a sequel to the first "Kaotic Chic" arc. Also featuring the world's most punchable Superman analogue.

A-

THUNDERBOLTS #67 - Hawkeye takes his reluctant team of villains off to battle evil, and Nicieza pushes obscure New Warriors villain Cardinal into centre stage. The angle is that Cardinal blames Hawkeye for the death of his daughter as a member of the Redeemers, which is a touch strained (Hawkeye wasn't even on the damn team at the time), but there you go. I see the idea, though - it's an inversion of the Thunderbolts concept, a group of villains who have absolutely no intention of reforming even as they find themselves forced into traipsing around behind Hawkeye looking for an excuse to get rid of him at the slightest opportunity.

B-

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #24 - Peter discovers that he's under surveillance by SHIELD, who are unfortunately unable to do anything to help him, due to legal problems. It's a good paranoia story, even if this book doesn't have the most compelling version of the Green Goblin - I've always thought the dramatic possibilities of outright lunatics were pretty limited.

B+

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with comments about the website. Almost all of you made the same points (which was basically that you liked the site the way it was, and could I please not clutter it up too much). Don't worry, I hate clutter too. That new Yahoo front page is really diabolical, isn't it?

Anyhow, the new design will (I hope) be up in a couple of weeks.

The next Article 10 column will be up at Ninth Art on Monday.

Next week, the final issues of Cable and Deadpool. Oh, and X-Treme X-Men. Is that storyline ever going to end? That means the late books list consists of the final issues of Morlocks and Muties (both of which should have been out this week), and two books due out next week - Sabretooth: Mary Shelley Overdrive #2, and Wolverine #177. I think I'll live.