X-Men: Endangered Species – Review

Written by Mike Carey, Christopher Yost, and Christos Gage

Penciled by Scot Eaton, Mark Bagely, Mike Perkins, Tom Grummett, and Andrea Divito

For the next four weeks, I’m going to give a closer look at the Messiah Trilogy that has consumed the X-Verse for the last three years. I know what you’re thinking: if it’s a trilogy, why are there going to be four posts? That doesn’t add up. Well, no, it might not, but there is a fourth story that I believe is crucial to the experience of these X-Men events. That Story is Endangered Species. It’s a depressing piece, filled with crushed hope and doomed times. All in all, it’s perfect.

The event that truly started all of this was House of M, written by Brian Michael Bendis. It’s a shame, really, because House of M changed so much of the X-Verse and nothing at all in the Avengers world, yet an the Avenger writer wrote the story that would alter the course of X-Men stories forever—or at least for a decade or more. House of M was a horribly written story that made very little sense with repercussions that didn’t add up (and this is coming from a Bendis fan). The Scarlet Witch casts a spell for “no more mutants.” Except most of the X-Men and their key villains keep their powers. Oh, and what was supposed to be 198 mutants left is clearly wrong as “undiscovered” mutants pop up everywhere. However, what the X-writers have done with the concept of an endangered species has been incredible—and future stories are very promising. These writers have carefully crafted a story (I will prove it to you) that has been developing since House of M and is still going on. The Avenger side of the Marvel Universe claim that the story of Siege was building for 10 years or so, but let’s be honest, it was from Civil War on.  The X-Men are on their 5^th year of being endangered.

Nova #36 – Review

By: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Andrea DiVito (art), Bruno Hang (colors) & Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: After a multi-issue battle with the Sphinx, Nova returns to Earth.  Will his stay there be quiet?

What’s Good: I’m excited for the Thanos Imperative, and this issue of Nova was a nice lead in.  I was a little afraid that this issue would be an issue to get Nova ready to become a Secret Avenger and perhaps focus on his relationship with the not-dead-anymore Namorita, but DNA don’t give us any of that.  Instead we get evil Quasar and parasitic mind-control organisms, as Nova returns to Earth and Project PEGASUS, only to find an open portal to the Fault down in the basement with one of those big, nasty, tentacled, pointy-toothed monstrosities coming through.  Cool story and a nice lead in to the Thanos Imperative!

Nova #31 – Review

By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Andrea DiVito (artist), Bruno Hang (colorist)

Some Thoughts Before the Review: Being a die-hard, loyal Green Lantern fan, it goes without saying that I love a good space story.  It’s with some bewilderment though that I confess I’ve never been a huge fan of Marvel’s space faring heroes.  Sure, I devoured Infinity Gauntlet like everyone else, but haven’t touched this corner of the Marvel Universe until I started hearing good things about their Annihilation storyline.  That feedback, coupled with Abnett’s amazing storytelling, has persuaded me to pay closer attention to Marvel’s cosmic comics.

The Story: In the wake of the “War of Kings”, Nova pursues Darkhawk, his friend and alleged assassin, to the outworld Shard in search of answers regarding his involvement in the murder of the Shi’ar Empress Lilandra.

The Good: I can honestly say I was not expecting to like Nova as much as I did, but this issue made me hungry for more of Marvel’s cosmic continuity (yes, I know I’m abusing the alliteration here, but it’s so much fun I can’t resist!).  I first came to Abnett’s work through his efforts for Black Library’s Warhammer 40k games and books, and easily consider him to be one of the finest writers I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.  Why it’s taken me this long to get into his comics is beyond me but I’m glad I finally did.  Abnett crafts intelligent, dynamic stories that boldly venture into the unexplored corners of Marvel’s universe and create a new mythology from the ground up.  Through his care, Richard Rider is one of the most engaging characters in Marvel right now.  A young man of unimaginable power, he is tasked with protecting not a city, a country, or even a world, but the entire universe, and in this issue you really feel the weight of that burden as Nova must continue building the ranks of his Nova Corp even as he attempts to apprehend the friend who has been branded a galactic assassin.  This issue walks a fine tightrope between being rich in continuity and accessible to the new reader like me, and that is a damn rare quality to find in a comic.

The Not So Good: If it looks like the art in this issue was utterly breathtaking, take a look again and you’ll realize it was Hang’s brilliant colors that you were really admiring.  DiVito’s art was lifeless and not very interesting to look at, seeming to exist only to give Hang a chance to make it look better than it deserves to be through his beautiful palette.  The confrontation(s) between Nova and Darkhawk were also strangely anticlimactic, with a whole lot of nothing actually happening once you stopped to think about it.

Conclusion: Stellar writing and a richly-developed universe has convinced me that Nova is entertainment worth following.

Grade:  C+

-Tony Rakittke

 

Civil War: House Of M #3 – Review

Christos N. Gage (writer), Andrea Divito (pencils), Nathan Fairbairn (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters), Mike Perkins (cover)

The Story: Magneto’s campaign for mutant rights continues. After liberating Genosha and making it a safe nation for all Mutantkind, Xavier urges Magnus to seek less violent ways to progress the cause. Even with the support of Black Bolt, Black Panther, and Namor, Magneto’s patience wears thin with diplomacy. Behind Xavier’s back, he starts to move the pieces into position for full scale war, while the US sends a strike team to assassinate him.

What’s Good: Gage does a good job of dealing with the Magneto-Xavier relationship. As Magneto nudges things closer to war, Xavier’s opposing views take a front-seat which provides some great tension between the two. It’s also nice to see Magneto’s attempts at diplomacy. He’s such a strong character, and to see him do something “weak” like seeking the support of others is a pretty compelling power-shift to see. This ties back into his relationship with Xavier as things always cut back to Magneto telling Charles how he really feels about groveling.

What’s Not So Good: There’s a lot of exposition and setup. That in itself isn’t a problem, but since the first two issues were so war-heavy, the drag of the setup is more noticeable. Still the overload of information takes a toll on all aspects of the book. Andrea Divito has a great visual pallet for battle scenes, but since there’s a lot of talk here, she doesn’t get as much of a chance to shine. Nothing looks bad, in fact the pencils are still outstanding. However, I’m looking forward to seeing the massive battles which are no doubt on their way.

Conclusion: It’s a slow week for this title, but a necessary one. Things are set up nicely for a dramatic conclusion to Magneto’s rise to power. I wish this information had been spread out better over all three issues, but as it stands now we’re ready for war.

Grade: B

– Ben Berger

Civil War: House of M #1 – Review

By Christos N. Gage (writer), Andrea Divito (pencils), Laura Villari (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters), Mike Perkins (cover)

Part Magneto back-story, part House of M/Civil War tie in, this book retells an origin and gives new insight to one of Marvel’s major events. I’m usually against prequels since many of them are done for the wrong reasons (see Star Wars, and money), and in most cases they’re unnecessary and create more plot holes than they solve (see Star Wars). However, House of M shows a lot of promise one issue in, successfully documenting the rise of the Master of Magnetism.

Christos Gage and Andrea Divito hit the good points while avoiding many pitfalls in this issue. In this tale, Gage depicts Magneto as a man fighting for a cause rather than an extremist hellbent on seeking domination. His portrayal of the Magneto leaves readers curious to see exactly how he takes over and leaves in question how the humans can put up a fight. Accompanying Gage’s Magneto is Andrea Divito’s sizzling art. Divito is a superstar, making every panel sizzle. The artist’s work delivers, as it is able to focus greatly on the backgrounds just as the characters and the foreground. Divito’s work manages to  hold on to your attention, panel for panel while not distracting you too much from the main action.

House of M: Civil War is a sure pickup, as it offers a lot for an origin story. Gage and Divito gives us a lot of exciting scenes and an interesting character study of one of Marvel’s beloved villains/ anti-heroes. If you want a tale that follows the psyche of Magneto and some explanation as to how he gained leadership of the mutants, then this is the book to pick up. This issue perfectly sets the history of the House of M. (Grade A-)

-Ben Berger