Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #24 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Dave Marquez (Art), Justin Ponsor (Colors), VC’s Cory Petit (Lettering)

Review: Miles Morales fans beware: there ain’t much of him to be seen this month. As you can tell from the cover (and last month’s last-page reveal), this issue is more an introduction to the Ultimate universe’s Cloak and Dagger, a fan-favourite team whose appearance has been loosely teased in the 1610 for years.

I have to admit, I’ve no great reverence for the characters personally. The last time I remember seeing them star in any comic of note was Civil War and that was in…whoa, 2006!? Color me old. Still, if there’s one thing the Ultimate universe could do with right now it’s new blood, and what better place to introduce it than the line’s flagship title.

Dark X-Men: The Beginning #2 (Utopia) – Review

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I picked up the first Dark X-Men: The Beginning book because I liked the characters that were featured. Time to find out if The Beginning can hold out without the likes of Namor, Dark Beast, or Mimic…

“The Last Temptation of Cloak and Dagger”

By Paul Cornell (Writer), Leonard Kirk (Pencils), and Brian Reber (Colors)

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: Paul Cornell’s story about Cloak and Dagger is about as basic an “offer” story as you can get. Norman Osborn approaches Cloak and Dagger about joining the Dark X-Men and as expected, Cloak and Dagger really don’t have much of a choice in the matter. Cornell’s dialogue is pretty strong (he writes a great Osborn) and Leonard Kirk’s art certainly gets the job done, but that’s really all there is to say about “The Last Temptation of Cloak and Dagger.”

“Weapon Omega”

By Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman (Writers), Michael Lacombe (Art), and John Rauch (Colors)

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: The story about Norman Osborn’s plan to get Weapon Omega on board with the Dark X-Men is rather clever, visually solid, and well-written. Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman do a nice job of explaining what Michael Pointer’s deal is and why he is the type of person he is today. In addition, Bernardin and Freeman manage to add an extra layer of slime of Osborn’s character. That’s no easy task with all the Osborn over-exposure going on.

“I Am Daken”

By Rob Willaims (Writer), Paco Diaz (Pencils), Guillermo Ortega (Inks), and Edgar Delgado (Colors)

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: Before I say anything about “I Am Daken,” I have to ask: Is there anyone who truly likes Daken or thinks he’s a good idea for a character? Isn’t one Wolverine (that appears in at least one book almost every week) enough? Ok, with that out of the way, time for me to say a few things about Daken’s story.

Surprisingly, “I Am Daken” is the best of the three stories featured in Dark X-Men: The Beginning #2. That’s really not saying a whole lot, but there’s no denying that Daken’s conversation with Norman Osborn is sharply written and that the artwork by Paco Diaz is pretty slick (though I’m not sure I like how Osborn looks). If I have any complaint, it’s that the brief action scene comes across as a bit disjointed and somewhat unnecessary.

Conclusion: I enjoyed the first Dark X-Men: The Beginning book quite a bit more than the second. That said, the second is worth checking out if you’re a fan of the characters. If you aren’t a fan, then by all means skip Dark X-Men: The Beginning #2, since there’s nothing in the book that absolutely must be read in order to get more out of the Utopia storyline.

Grade: C

-Kyle Posluszny

Uncanny X-Men #513 (Utopia Chapter 2) – Review

By Matt Fraction (Writer), Terry Dodson (Pencils), Rachel Dodson (Inks), and Justin Ponsor (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: The Uncanny X-Men and Dark Avengers crossover, Utopia, got off to an unremarkable start. It laid the foundation for some interesting things though, so I look forward to seeing where Matt Fraction takes the story now that most of the pieces are in place.

The Story: If the Utopia oneshot was all about setting the stage, then Uncanny X-Men #513 is all about introducing the rest of the arc’s players. As riots continue in California, Norman Osborn institutes a curfew and introduces a new team of X-Men. Lead by Emma Frost and Charles Xavier (is it really Xavier?), Cloak, Dagger, Beast (from another timeline), Namor, Daken, Weapon Omega, and Mimic makes up the team, ordered to restore peace between humans and mutants. Meanwhile, Cyclops regroups with other mutants to plan another move. As for the hospitalized Simon Trask? Let’s just say that he’s got something else up his sleeve…

Simply put, Uncanny X-Men #513 feels a whole hell of a lot like the Utopia oneshot; which is a good thing in some ways and a bad thing in other ways.

What’s Good: The solid looking second chapter of Utopia continues building momentum for what looks to be a promising crossover. While it’s too early to make any real judgments, the Dark X-Men team shows a lot of early potential. It’s made up of a few interesting, oft-ignored characters (Cloak, Dagger, Mimic, etc.) that could turn out to be the breakout stars of the crossover if Matt Fraction handles them right (he’s definitely on the right track).

Speaking of Matt Fraction, he does a nice job of juggling an extremely large cast of characters while still moving the story forward at an acceptable pace. What’s especially notable is the way that Fraction quickly and efficiently introduces the mutants that the average reader might not be instantly familiar with. Cloak, Dagger, Mimic, Weapon Omega, and Dark Beast all benefit from Fraction’s occasionally/usually annoying/clever – pick your pair note boxes.

What’s Not So Good: The biggest problem I have with Uncanny X-Men #513 is that it feels filled with stuff that probably should have been put into the Utopia oneshot. Remember all that filler I talked about in my review of the book? Well most of that filler should have been taken out in favor of using the space to do almost everything that’s done in the latest issue of Uncanny.

More time is spent introducing characters and establishing the current social climate than moving the story forward in a satisfying way. In other words, in Uncanny X-Men #513, plot threads are still being created while most remain unused. While the pacing is still acceptable, it’s also somewhat frustrating. To add on, that’s not all that’s maddening.

The visuals, while solid, are a bit of a headache at times. I’m usually a fan of Terry Dodson’s attractive art style, but it’s a poor fit for Utopia because the crossover is absolutely packed with characters. Too many faces look exactly the same, some panels are way too oversimplified, and a few scenes look a bit silly. Also, why does Venom/Dark Spider-Man look like a snake?!

Conclusion: The second chapter of Utopia feels a lot like the oneshot that introduced the crossover. So much so, that it gets the same grade, but for different reasons.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny