Uncanny X-Men #25 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils & colors), Tim Townsend; Mark Irwin; Jaime Mendoza; Victor Olazaba; & Al Vey (inks)

The Story: Nothing’s easy in the world of superhero wills…

The Review: After two issues we’re finally experiencing a portion of the titular last will of Charles Xavier. I say a portion because, while Chuck had to disclose his mysterious marriage to Mystique before beginning, this section deals entirely with a mutant by the alliterative name of Matthew Malloy.

The book essentially breaks down into two main threads; Xavier’s recounting of Matthew’s story and the X-Men’s responses to it. The first is clearly the primary purpose of the issue, providing readers with the context to understand Xavier’s final request. Though Professor X may no longer be with us again, Bendis clearly enjoys writing his voice, especially as a recording, where he’s free to monologue as much as he wants. Though a debt is undoubtedly owed to Patrick Stewart’s performance as, or perhaps merely his resemblance to, Professor Xavier, Bendis delivers a familiar and somewhat lyrical take on Charles’ voice, incorporating his pseudo-British airs and the gentle spirit that defines the character.

Unfortunately there are a number of, if not flaws, then seeming inconsistencies in the script. Scott’s bombastic reaction is one of the most obvious. While he phrases it in such a manner as to support his argument, Scott’s outrage seems oddly ignorant of his own history. After all, without revealing too much, I’m not sure that a man who married Jean Grey and still uses ruby visors to contain his powers has much ground to criticize the Professor’s strategy*. Likewise Bendis reading modern thoughts on the X-Men brand back into the First Class era seems oddly clunky, especially for a writer who’s managed the same numerous times before. But perhaps most notable is the simple fact that this is hardly the most shocking secret Xavier has kept from his pupils!

The “Deadly Genesis” illusion, the Xavier Protocols, and the Danger Room’s sentience all seem like far more serious breaches of trust but, despite this, the characters, and Bendis through them, insist that this is a grave betrayal of the Professor’s ideology rather than a fairly reasonable instance of an action he was known to make time and again without outrage. Some fans will be happy to hear that this issue doesn’t jump on the Professor X was secretly a dick bandwagon, but it would have been nice if Bendis had lived up to his own hype a little better.

Uncanny X-Men #22 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer); Chris Bachalo (pencils); Tim Townsend, Marc Deering, Mark Irwin, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba, & Al Vey (inks); Chris Bachalo & Jose Villarrubia (colors)

The battle with S.H.I.E.L.D. comes to an end this week as Cyclops, Beast, Maria Hill, and even Magneto put aside their differences to combat the rouge heli-carriers. Everything comes together this issue as the huge cast of Uncanny X-Men finds its way into the climactic battle.

Bendis does do an impressive job of laying out the stakes. Particularly if you respect Logan’s dream for the Jean Grey School, the threat of annihilation is exceedingly real and present throughout the issue. Likewise, each victory for the X-Men, no matter how small, feels like reason to celebrate, thanks in no small part to the sheer amount of set up that’s led to these crucial moments. The whole affair is appropriately cataclysmic, but Bendis actually gets a couple of nice jokes and fist pumping moments in amongst the gloom. Despite the building feeling that this is the end, a sensation that is all the sweeter for its rarity on this series, Bendis’ plotting has some serious problems.

There’s no denying that this is something of an abrupt ending, and one that deals more in expectations than in actual content. The best example is probably our villain. After last month ended with Beast dramatically announcing that he knew who was behind this, you’d expect that the answer would be fairly forthcoming, but I assure you, you’ve got a bit longer to wait. Despite repeating his certainty on page 5 and again on page 13, Hank isn’t ready to reveal his findings to his fellow X-Men until halfway through page 14…off panel. The scene actually ends with Scott demanding “Who?! Who is it?, leading me to actually throw up my arms on a crowded subway and cry “oh come on.” In actuality it doesn’t take too much longer to learn the identity of the mastermind, but, like much of this series, it’s absurdly and painfully drawn out.

Worst of all, when we finally do meet our villain, it comes out of nowhere, lacks any attempt at motivation, and is largely without value for the title going forward. I respect Bendis as a writer too much to believe it, but it almost feels like he planned this arc without knowing who the villain was himself! More likely, the rushed and confusing resolution is the result of the upcoming “Original Sin” tie-ins. There may be any number of reasons why things turned out this way, but it doesn’t change how flimsy the ending comes across.

Luckily that apocalyptic tone I mentioned is beautifully realized by Chris Bachalo, who provides one of his strongest issues in recent memory. Bachalo starts with an unusually stark style that works wonderfully with the bright simplicity of the Canadian sky. The next scene introduces a little bit of grit into this style before it all breaks loose on the grounds of the Jean Grey School.

Uncanny X-Men #21 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils & colors); Tim Townsend, Mark Irwin, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba, & Al Vey (inks)

The Story: One of these days S.H.I.E.L.D. is just going to give up on helicarriers…but it is not this day.

The Review: After an intriguing but uneven showing last month, things are really heating up in Uncanny X-Men. While the premise of the New Xavier School actively going to war with S.H.I.E.L.D. is an exciting idea, Bendis’ story is playing out in a somewhat different fashion than expected. With Scott’s powers gone haywire and S.H.I.E.L.D. closing in, I think it’s fair to say that things are very much going wrong for Cyclops, however the trick of this issue is that he’s not alone in that.

There’s a rule of storytelling that says that if you can make things worse for your character you should. Certainly it’s hard to deny the potential for building narrative tension, but when you have to make things worse, it can actually get somewhat rote. Still, where many stories feel like the gods of their world hate the protagonist, Uncanny X-Men #21 is the sum of its people’s machinations, their fortunes rising and falling, building a web of fascinating intrigues. Bendis is playing with our expectations, throwing several wrenches into the works, and to great effect. The whole thing feels unexpected and organic.

The issue is also thankfully free of the padding that plagued previous installments. While one could certainly argue that we didn’t need an interlude on Madripoor, watching Mystique struggle on two fronts really sells this issue as an essential read and highlights the interplay of the characters’ differing principles and ideas about the place of mutants in society.

Uncanny X-Men #20 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer); Chris Bachalo (pencils & colors); Tim Townsend, Wayne Faucher, Jon Holdredge, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba, & Al Vey (inks)

The Story: Cyclops has declared war on S.H.I.E.L.D. and his opening gambit is a ballsy one indeed.

The Review: There are two ways to look at the war between the New Xavier School and S.H.I.E.L.D. On one hand the book has been building to this moment for twenty issues, on the other it took twenty issues to get here and we still have no assurance that things will be resolved any time soon. Both are valid and illustrate one of the key issues that Bendis has on this series, balancing the future and the present.

Many of this issue’s moments don’t make sense in themselves requiring further developments or the clarity of hindsight. Mystique’s continued plotting, for instance, can intrigue but really offers very little to a reader. This same pattern plays out again and again, whether in Hijack’s home or at the New Xavier School. At the same time, however, much of Bendis’ best writing doesn’t expand the scope of the story, but deepen it. Even in the same scene I just mentioned we find biting dialogue, like when Sabertooth asks how much longer Mystique will continue impersonating Dazzler and she responds, “Until Scott Summers is a party joke and S.H.I.E.L.D. is sold for parts. So I’m thinking until next Friday.”

Even if it doesn’t rank among his best, Bendis’ dialogue lives up to his lofty reputation. When it comes to engaging a reader in the moment, this issue really is quite spectacular. Brief scenes like Scott’s confrontation with an old teammate can feel very substantial. Admittedly that example is rather text-heavy but, while there is a bit of harried visual storytelling, there’s such tension in the dialogue that you might not be able to help getting sucked in. That’s a quality that Bendis has been shooting for for a long while, but it’s very much present in this final scene and the central confrontation of the issue.

It’s clear that Bendis saw Scott’s appearance on the helicarrier as the core of this chapter. Unfortunately a side effect is that most of the rest of the issue is a bit dull, but you can’t deny the power of this sequence. There’s perhaps a little too much time spend on Director Hill’s romantic preferences, but rarely has Scott’s cult of personality been clearer or Bendis’ grasp of his characters’ psychology more apparent.

Uncanny X-Men #19 – Review

By:  Brian Michael Bendis (writer); Chris Bachalo (pencils); Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Jaime Mendoza, Mark Irwin, and Victor Olozaba (inks); Chris Bachalo and Jose Villarrubia (colors)

The Story: We heard you like Sentinels so we put Sentinels in your Sentinels…

The Review: Back in August Uncanny X-Men received a slight boost when it featured a story about Cyclops facing off against a new breed of Sentinel. In the seven months that have passed, Uncanny has been growing and changing, largely for the better. Now that it’s time to pick up that thread, will it have the same oomph that it once did?

The answer is an ever charming sort-of. Bendis makes no attempt to hide that the past half a year of stories were a distraction. While the events of issue seventeen are mentioned, it’s clear that this series has been off track since the last Sentinel arc. The problem is that, for the most part, the filler was far better than anything that preceded it. So while it is intriguing to return to the mystery Sentinels again, there’s a sense of a backslide that I can’t deny is worrisome. It’s also strange since the event that took us off track, “Battle of the Atom”, ended with a dramatic reveal that S.H.I.E.L.D. has Sentinels, and different Sentinels at that.

Regardless, we’re diving back into Bendis’ main story. Summoned by a surge of mutant activity, the New Xavier X-Men find themselves lured into a trap. Bendis knows his collaborators and the creative team deliver a slick futuristic take on the X-Men. These aren’t the simple androids of the Mark I, and panels like a swarm of alien-looking mutant hunters spawning from the maw of a gigantic Sentinel are powerful and eerie. Likewise, a scene inside Cerebro is the stuff of science fiction, the kind that convinced us to buy sunglasses in middle school.

These new model Sentinels present a solid challenge for the team and Bendis’ answer serves to resolve the problem while significantly deepening the mysteries surrounding it. It’s a situation that is all the more fascinating for the removal of Hijack from the team, but the answer is pretty simple. Indeed, much of the issue seems designed to highlight Chris Bachalo’s contributions.

Uncanny X-Men #17 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils & colors), Tim Townsend w/ Al Vey & Jaime Mendoza (inks)

The Story: The newest X-Men battle chickasaurs, carrot people, Shelob, and S.H.I.E.L.D. while simultaneously acting in the greatest Verizon commercial never made.

The Review: In the past few months Uncanny X-Men has become a home for some of the best one-in-done stories in modern comics. After a look at the women of the New Xavier School and a spotlight on Magneto, Brian Michael Bendis gives us a, debatably, more traditional team story.

Another interesting trait of this title is Scott Summers’ emerging habit of putting his students in life threatening danger for training. While the issue hints that Magik is keeping an eye on them, it’s certainly in keeping with his mutant revolutionary status and differentiates his teaching style from Wolverine’s. Indeed, rather than retread classic X-Men ground and send his squad to the Savage Land, Bendis explores a newer locale. In the end the actual difference is pretty limited, but it’s an apt metaphor for what’s going on here.

This is the first issue of Uncanny X-Men where the teaching staff is largely absent. For the first, and the long overdue, time the success or failure of this issue rests entirely on the New Xavier’s students and, fun as a book about Scott, Emma, and Ilyanna can be, these kids are entirely up to the task. Likewise, while we all love a good Savage Land story now and again, Tabula Rasa presents a feeling of mystery and possibility.

Uncanny X-Men #16 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer); Chris Bachalo (pencils & colors); Tim Townsend w/ Al Vey, Mark Irwin, & Victor Olazaba (inks)

The Story: This old soldier refuses to fade away.

The Review: Despite being one of the most fascinating and important characters in comics history, I comfortably ranked Magneto as my worst character of 2013. Uncanny X-Men’s 2013 was marred by a near obsession with Scott Summers, willfully disregarding other, more interesting characters and quickly dropping plot points unrelated to his journey.

Tellingly, this series has made a remarkable recovery over the past two issues, each of which barely featured Cyclops. This issue generally continues both trends. While I stand by my criticism of Bendis for ignoring Magneto’s reaction to Charles Xavier’s death, his relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D., and the force of his personality, after reading this issue, I can say that what mistakes were made were not made in ignorance, as Bendis quickly tackles all three. I’m not sure that hastily throwing these at the reader fully compensates for past missteps; however it is nice to know that these issues have been on Bendis’ mind to some degree.

From there Bendis takes a page out of “X-Men: First Class”’ book and sends Magneto on an exotic undercover adventure. It’s really remarkable how well this formula works for the character and, as ever, it quickly proves how dangerous Magneto can be. The issue does a great job of reminding us that, though he could easily rip a ship apart, Erik has always been most dangerous for the care, inventiveness, and dedication that he’s brought to his control of magnetism.

Uncanny X-Men #14 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer); Chris Bachalo (pencils and colors); Tim Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Al Vey, Mark Irwin, Victor Olazaba (inks)

The Story: Ms. Frost you’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you?

The Review: I don’t think that I’ve hidden the fact that I’ve felt that Uncanny X-Men was always the Loki to All-New’s Thor; younger, less likable, more radical, and defined by inferiority. At times the series has shown great promise, but it’s never fully come into its own.

Especially with the incorporation of the original X-Men into the New Xavier School, this is an uneasy time for this title and there’s not much time to right the ship before its caught on the waves of another event. So how does Mr. Bendis deal with all this? He says ‘screw it’ and heads to Atlantic City.

Indeed, while the confusion at the school is alluded to, Bendis decides to sidestep the issue and focus on one of the institution’s quieter students: Benjamin Deeds. Just how quiet is Benjamin? Well I’ve been reading this series essentially since it began and I had completely forgotten that he existed. I’m glad of the reminder, too.

Uncanny X-Men #13 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Mark Irwin, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba (Artists), Marte Gracia (Colorist)

The Story: The bad X-Men from the future tries to send the past X-Men to their own time as the real X-Men from the future tries to prevent their plans from working.

The Review: There are things we kind of take for granted when it comes to serial storytelling. We always think that character development, story progression and genuine moments of entertainment shall be given to us with each issue. It is something that all issue and writers should strive to give, but sometimes some issues are more miss than hit, which can bring forward frustrating books.

This issue of Uncanny X-Men is unfortunately one of those issues, where a lot of what could make it worthwhile is simply absent. It is a mindless issue that seems to want to give us as many ”awesome” moments as it can, delivering plenty of action but little else, resulting in a read that doesn’t advance the themes or the plot in any significant way whatsoever.

Uncanny X-Men #12 – Review

The Story: Oh young Scott…If only you were older, you’d know that trusting yourself has never gotten you out of trouble.

The Review: By now I think most of us have realized that X-Men: Battle of the Atom isn’t actually a crossover so much as it’s an exorbitantly priced graphic novel. The quality is high enough that I’d be happy to sit down with this book, but these are not single issues, they’re not even chapters. Once you accept that you’ll enjoy these issues a lot more, but it means that no one can really fault you if you decide to trade-wait it…well, Marvel probably could but, you know.

It’s almost a shame that Marvel wasn’t able to just fire this story off in one shot, because this issue seriously suffers for it. In a respectable attempt to remain cogent to fans not expanding their pull lists for the event, Bendis takes ample time to recap what’s happened, including a giant two-page panel of the final shot from the first issue, and then allows the Uncanny team to react naturally to these events, even if some reactions are kind of redundant. Unfortunately that means that this is probably the least essential chapter of the story so far.

On the bright side, though, there are a couple of interesting bits and witty moments that add to the greater experience. Thus far Bendis has been awfully honest about the fact that this is really just a lengthy debate of values, and it’s kind of fun to hear all sides. You might say that there’s not much action, but I remind you that 12 Angry Men is still an engrossing movie. You may then respond that 12 Angry Men dealt in real emotional truth rather than depending on your knowledge of better stories that it can get you to summon up. Unfortunately, I won’t have much defense for that.

Uncanny X-Men #9 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils/colors), Tim Townsend; Mark Irwin; Al Vey; & Jaime Mendoza (inks)

The Story: As S.H.I.E.L.D. takes neutrality off the table, mutants begin to turn on eachother…over their haircuts!

The Review: Last time the New Xavier School lost one student only to gain another. This month we find them much as we left them. Cyclops has his hands full training his next generation of mutants, including new recruit, Hijack, and Fabio Medina finds himself faced with Dazzler: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The two stories don’t take long to intersect and therein lies the fun.

Though it’s certainly a more active issue than the last, Bendis finds plenty of time to introduce humor into the mix. It’s not the same sort as in All-New X-Men, where there are likely to be entirely comedic pages, but this issue definitely reminds you that mutants are teenagers, with all the wonderful and terrible things that come with that. I think that’s been missing from a lot of titles lately, and it’s nice to see Bendis putting it into play. Not to mention that I can’t find character in recent memory with a better ratio of actions taken in a first issue to love I have for them than Fabio’s disco-loving sister.

But rest assured, this is hardly Wolverine and the X-Men. Bendis packs this issue with contention and heady considerations of what it means to be part of an oppressed minority. The drama of the whole mess is expertly mined, but I can’t help but feel that these aren’t the best arguments for the various cases. In this title at least, Cyclops may be right, but that often seems dependant on the Marvel universe being hopelessly bigoted. While I’ve learned to never be surprised by just how plentiful awful people may be, I feel pretty comfortable saying that the struggle of mutants in Bendis’ titles it a bit excessive. Despite being a well-loved character, Dazzler easily slips into some pretty indefensible positions as the plot demands.

Wolverine & the X-Men #3 – Review

By: Jason Aaron (writer); Chris Bachalo, Duncan Rouleau and Matteo Scalera (pencils); Tim Townsend, Jaime Medoza, Al Vey, Mark Irwin, Victor Olazaba, Duncan Rouleau and Matteo Scalera (inkers); Chris Bachalo and Jason Keith (colors)

The Story: The Jean Grey School for Higher Learning gets a new mascot.

The Review: And so ends Wolverine’s first day as a headmaster. Jason Aaron really threw the kitchen sink at him: rowdy students, disgruntled employees, the NYS Board of Regents, interdimensional gremlins, the new Hellfire club, and his very first enemy (publication-wise), Krakoa. It’s fitting that he face both new problems and old foes, as this book is simultaneously going back to the franchise’s roots and breaking new ground. It’s also incredibly fun.

Aaron has been turning out solid work, fitting in a tremendous number of characters and details without anything feeling lost, and this issue is no exception. The dialogue continues to bubble with enthusiasm, the ensemble has great chemistry, and the characters continue to develop and surprise. The pace of the storytelling has smoothed out after a somewhat slow first issue and an entirely frantic sophomore showing. The resolution to the main conflict between the mutants and Krakoa feels a tad bit rushed, but it matches the insanity at the heart of the book. The hasty resolution also allows for a truly fantastic double spread revealing Krakoa’s fate, and I doubt there’s a single reader who won’t smile while reading it.

As you may have noted above, the art team got pretty big for this issue. I expected it would be a mess when I saw the names of eight different artists on the credits page. But while this issue intentionally portrays a huge mess, and maintains a kinetic and anxious aesthetic, the style still looks pretty tight and uniform. The zany, hyper-exaggerated style is completely in sync with the tone of the book, and allows for some really fantastic character moments. And did I mention that awesome double spread? I did? Well, whatever, it deserves to be mentioned twice. It’s awesome.

X-Men #10 – Review

By: Victor Gischler (writer), Chris Bachalo & Paco Medina (pencils), Tim Townsend, Wayne Faucher, Jaime Mendoza, Al Vey & Juan Vlasco (inks), Antonio Fabela & Jim Charalampidis (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor) & Nick Lowe (editor)

The Story: The X-Men / Spider-Man spectacular sewer team-up comes to a close.

What’s Good: It makes me so happy when the X-Men can have a story where Wolverine doesn’t save the day.  I like the hairy little Canadian as much as the next guy, but I do get a little sick of him always being the solution to whatever problem the X-Men are facing.  In issue #9, Dark Beast was revealed as the villain and he’d used the new-and-improved Lizard’s powers to turn Wolverine, Gambit & Storm into lizardmen/women.  So, that leaves fixing the whole mess in the lap of Emma and Spider-Man and they have a fun little team-up in the sewer.  Earlier in this arc, I was a little hard on Emma’s portrayal as being a little too whiney, but Gischler really makes this interaction work nicely.  Emma is at her best as a character when she has someone who is casual, earnest and prone to sophomoric humor to play off of and you won’t find many characters that fit those criteria better than Spidey.

This story arc was also a real success.  It told a tight and self-contained X-story by focusing on a core group of characters and allowing them to interact in a purely heroic way with a Marvel mainstay.  And….it wasn’t one of those overly long 6-issue stories either.

Chris Bachalo is one of my absolute favorite artists and one side benefit to his great art is that you’re unlikely to ever see him on a 6-8 issue story arc because I don’t think he can quite do a monthly book and have it look like Chris Bachalo; I’ve never seen the guy do crummy looking work just because he got a little behind.  So, what we get here is classic Bachalo: frenzied and highly detailed character that overflow with vitality, cute/soft/attractive women and some of the most imaginative page layouts anywhere.  Very nice!

X-Men #9 – Review

By: Victor Gischler (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils), Tim Townsend, Wayne Faucher, Jamie Mendoza & Al Vey (inks), Bachalo (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor) & Nick Lowe (editor)

The Story: The X-Men battle lizards and a mystery villain in the sewers of NYC while looking for missing children.

What’s Good: The X-Men work best when you reduce the cast of characters.  This issue (and storyline) features Storm, Emma, Gambit & Wolverine.   Toss in Spider-Man (amazing who you meet in the sewer!), and you’ve got a good cast.  Gischler keeps the story bouncing along by keeping the cast small and also not foreshadowing any future storylines.  Usually, I like to see little teases of what is coming up next, but Gischler somehow makes it work really well.  He is also really getting a handle on these characters quickly.  For example, I thought that in the first issue of this arc, he was writing Emma Frost as too whiny (complaining about the muck in the sewer), but he’s got her nailed by this issue where she’s being more sarcastic about the working conditions.  [Note: Although these are fictional characters that don’t have a set personality, there are ways I prefer the characters to be depicted.]

The story itself is pretty cool and does flow from the really strong Shed storyline in Amazing Spider-Man ~#630, but if you didn’t read that you’ll be fine because the true villain in this story isn’t the Lizard, it’s someone a lot worse.  The sequence where Gischler reveals the identity of the mystery villain is really well executed from a mechanics standpoint.  He spends a page or two with the villain speaking through word balloon pointing off the page.  The entire time, the panels are composed with really tight shots so you can’t really tell where they balloons are coming from.  Then, the villain is revealed after a page turn.  Wonderful!  Gischler is pretty new to comics, but this is the type of thing where you think, “This guy gets it.”  Way too many comics spoil these types of revelations by having the villain standing there in a full-page splash on the right hand page so you look over there and see the baddie before you’ve read any of the lead in.  [Note: This issue starts oddly from an ad placement standpoint.  After the customary X-title page with the credits and recap, the first left-hand page is an ad, making the first page of the actual comic on the right-hand side.  This is very unusual and I wonder if it was done to accommodate this villain-reveal.  If so, BRAVO guys because that reveal was kinda the key to the issue.]

X-Men #8 – Review

By: Victor Gischler (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils & colors), Tim Townsend, Wayne Faucher, Jaime Mendoza & Al Vey (inks), Joe Caramanga (letters) & Nick Lowe (editor)

The Story: A team of X-Men run into Lizards in the NYC sewers.

What’s Good: Really good story that picks up directly from the Shed storyline in Amazing Spider-Man from around issue #630 or so.  You needn’t have read Shed and this issue includes a handy recap of the things you need to know, but if you did read Shed this adds more meat to a very good story arc.  I love it when the various corners of the Marvel Universe interact because it makes the whole thing feel cohesive.

Gischler spins a story of awkward youths getting mixed up in the Lizard problem that is pretty entertaining.  All of the X-Men and Spidey can relate to being misunderstood, so this strikes close to home for all of them.  Gischler keeps the mood light and really has a good handle on all of the X-Men in this issue.  Heck, I even like the way he writes Gambit.  It also helps that we’ve gotten the X-Men out of Utopia, so the team of X-Men is kinda all we have.  There are none of those annoying scenes in this issue where a random mutant wanders through the action and no one checks in with Cyclops.  When was the last time Cyclops didn’t appear in an in-continuity X-title????

It is hard for me to be objective about the art because Chris Bachalo may be my favorite artist, but it’s with good reason.  The guy is really, really good.  This cartoony style is so much more effective at capturing emotion and body language because it doesn’t have to be married to human anatomy.  His Wolverine looks short and mean.  Emma looks elegant and aloof.  Bachalo draws a GREAT Emma Frost.  And we all know that he can draw a great Spider-Man.  There is also all kinds of detail crammed into these panels: fences, leaves on trees, coiled up computer cables, crown molding on the ceiling, etc.  Although there are 4 inkers on this issue, it isn’t a problem.  You can kinda tell the pages where different inkers are providing finishes, but the story has enough different acts that each inker seems to have one “act” and the overall effect isn’t too jarring.  Something that is often overlooked about Bachalo is his coloring.  I’m pretty sure this is a newer talent for him, but he has some real gifts both with skin tones and with making the superhero tones of red and yellow look dramatic.

X-Men Curse of the Mutants: Storm & Gambit #1 – Review

By: Chuck Kim (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils), Tim Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Wayne Faucher, Al Vey, Victor Olazaba, Mark Irwin & Bachalo (inks), Antonio Fabela & Bachalo (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: Storm and Gambit try to break into Vampire Island to steal the body of Dracula.

What’s Good: If you’ve followed the X-Men for any length of time, you’ve been burned by these one-shot/miniseries that tie into whatever event or status quo is going on in the main X-books.  Sometimes these one-shots are just complete crap, but I tend to buy them because I hope I’ll get what this issue had.

Considering this issue stars two of my least favorite X-Men (Storm and Gambit), it is (surprisingly) a lot of fun as they make their way through Vampire Island to steal Dracula’s body.  Both are a little out of sorts because they end up relying on their thief-skills rather than their mutant powers and that was a nice change-up because we’ve all seen plenty of Storm zapping things from on high or Gambit slinging glowing purple objects around.

It also had some good guest starring roles for Emma, Dazzler & Northstar.  I love the way some writers just seem to really enjoy writing Emma and her snarky attitude.

Of course, backing this all up is art by Chris Bachalo (who is one of my favorite artists).  There are a few issues with it that I’ll discuss below, but also a few panels/pages that just sing and demand that you linger before turning the page.

Dark Avengers Annual #1 – Review

By Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Chris Bachalo (Pencils & Colors), Tim Townsend w/ Jaime Mendoza & Al Vey (Inks), and Antonio Fabela (Colors)

The Story: Ever wonder what happened to Noh-Varr since leaving the Dark Avengers? Now you get to find out. In the Dark Avengers Annual, Noh-Varr, a bit lost in the world since his break from the Dark Avengers, tries to contact his people and figure out humanity while avoiding Osborn’s crew.

What’s Good: The first thing I thought of when I flipped through the Dark Avengers Annual was the Wolverine installment of the Dark Reign: The List one-shot series that just wrapped up. While that’s an easy thing to do considering that both focus more on Noh-Varr than the title characters/character, the Annual is actually quite a bit different from Wolverine’s The List one-shot. The arrogant Noh-Varr written by Jason Aaron is a very different character than the one experiencing something of an existential crisis written by Brian Michael Bendis. And while Bendis’ take on the character is a bit jarring coming so soon after Aaron decided to toss Noh-Varr into a story that sort of played out like an action-comedy, the Dark Avengers Annual works far better than you might expect simply because of the way Bendis writes Noh-Varr. I don’t want to spoil anything, but by the time the Annual is over it is very clear that Noh-Varr is going to be moving up the Marvel ladder, and soon.

The best thing about Bendis’ script is that he manages to avoid making Noh-Varr seem like some brooding, angsty existentialist despite the thoughts and concepts the Kree hero is wrestling with. There’s a hopelessness that Noh-Varr feels, yet Bendis gives the script balance by highlighting both curiosity and confusion in a way that, thankfully keeps the former Dark Avenger a charming and sympathetic character throughout the Annual. n particular, Noh-Varr’s exchanges with a girl he meets, while a bit cliché and heavy handed, do a nice job of highlighting the direction the character is heading. In addition, Bendis wisely keeps the focus on the character development as The Sentry and Noh-Varr square off. It would have been easy to toss in generic fight scene banter, but Bendis’ decision to let Noh-Varr and The Sentry play off each other does a lot of good for both characters.

The artwork in the Dark Avengers Annual is easily the highlight of the book. While the character work and dialogue by Bendis is strong, the art team makes even the most mundane moments look lively and interesting. Now I’ll be the first to admit that Chris Bachalo is a strange artist for the type of character developing story that Bendis tells, but Bachalo’s work is so much fun to look at that it’s hard to care (keep an eye out for a funny Sinister Spider-Man Easter egg!). The panels manage to be both cinematic and quirky, the action is kinetic and dynamic, and the visual storytelling is smooth and fluid. Special mention must also be made of Antonio Fabela’s intentionally bland, understated color choices, highlighted here and there by the use of a vibrant reds. Fabela’s work compliments both Bachalo’s pencils and the tone of Bendis’ story extremely well.

What’s Not So Good: I really don’t have any major complaints about the Dark Avengers Annual. I suppose I could mention that a few panels seem a bit cluttered and that Bendis’ story doesn’t really break any new ground (you’ve seen the story arc play out in numerous times in numerous forms), but then I would just be nitpicking. Sure the two things mentioned are noticeable, but they hardly have an impact on what is a very strong book.

Conclusion: Do yourself a favor and pick up the Dark Avengers Annual. The artwork is great, the story does good things for an interesting character, and it ends in a way that will leave you looking forward to Noh-Varr’s next appearance.

Grade: A-

-Kyle Posluszny

Amazing Spider-Man #576 – Review

By Joe Kelly (writer), Chris Bachalo (art), Mendoza, Tim Townsend and Al Vey (inks), Antonio Fabela (colors)

The Story: It’s Spidey versus Hammerhead, Round 2 – but not before Spider-Man takes a major beating and gets mugged by the two kids he’s been trying to save. Taking just hours to recover, Peter takes it upon himself to find the elusive kids and stop Hammerhead’s rampage before more people are killed.

What’s Good? There’s an ironic twist of fate that takes place later in the story with the kids, and it’s quite frankly, surprising! While Hammerhead may now be amped up as a supervillain, he’s still not a top tier adversary and his intelligence proves it. He’s a brute and brutes are not a match for a scientist under a spider suit. Joe Kelly deserves credit for at making him a formidable opponent until Peter can regroup.

The way Spider-Man finally deals with Hammerhead is all centered around the Peter’s smarts and the end result is a laugh out loud moment. Great stuff!

What’s Not So Good: Chris Bachalo’s storytelling is still a mess. Many times I had to scrutinize panels and pages – doing double takes – just to make sense of it all. And that’s never a good thing. The guy can draw some pretty pictures, but the expense the reader pays is a hefty one.

Conclusion: I’m a bit fatigued with Spider-Man dealing with inner-city children, but this little arc is actually fun and quite satisfying.

Grade: B+

– J. Montes