Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #2 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Ibraim Roberson & Alex Massacci (artists), Pete Pantazis (colorist)

The Story: You grew up in a swamp?  You really are from the sticks, aren’t you?

The Review: The vast majority of Elseworlds turn out either uninspired or middling, leaving a much smaller percentage with premises strong enough to support an enjoyable one-shot series.  But every now and then you get a really terrific story that gets you attached to its parallel world and characters.  In those cases, you’re almost always out of luck, because chances are they won’t come back anytime soon, a real waste of creative potential.

So right around now seems a good time as any to thank our lucky stars Lemire will be back with Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos in the fall, because it’s easy to see there are a lot of great stories left to be told with these characters.  Don’t take that to mean this issue is perfect or even particularly outstanding, because flaws do riddle the script.

For one thing, the plot is a bit slow to get moving in a productive way, as last issue acted mainly as a prologue and this one only just manages to give our heroes a vague destination (Romania—because that place is just a hotspot of fun lately), but no real mission statement.  There still lingers a question about what they’ll do with themselves in this modern world they’ve woken up in, especially with their former military commissioners gunning for them.

Maria Shrieve, monster-hunting descendant of original ally Matthew Shrieve, may prove the answer.  It can’t fail to puzzle you how she clearly knows the difference between the original Commandos and those who ultimately turned on her family (“…these creatures weren’t loyal foot soldiers like you…”), yet she still nurses a rash, misdirected resentment against the ones her grandfather held dear.  But amidst all that somewhat unnecessary drama you can definitely see how our heroes will prove useful to her personal crusade.

Uncanny X-Men #539 – Review

By: Kieron Gillen (writer), Ibraim Roberson (art), Jim Charalampidis (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Jordan D. White (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor) & Nick Lowe (editor)

The Story: A one-and-done story featuring Hope and Logan.

What’s Good: Let’s hear it for the done-in-one story!  In this era of 2-issue ideas that are milked into 6-issue story arcs (so that Marvel can sell a measly 1000 paperbacks), it is really refreshing to get a tight one-issue story.  Especially when you consider that it is easy to close your eyes and see how even this story could have been stretched across 6 months.  Hell, we’ve all seen X-events that had less meat on the bones than this one story.  Bravo to Gillen and the X-office for getting this one right.

I’m usually not a huge fan of having Wolverine be a central character in an X-comic just because I feel that he is overexposed and I get sick of seeing him hogging the spotlight (i.e. can’t someone else be the hero sometimes?).  But this story has an intelligent set-up and it makes sense that Wolverine is the one to save the day.  It’s a slight SPOILER, but the basic story is that some of Hope’s “Lights” (from the Generation Hope series) take Hope for a day on the town to get her to loosen up, but Hope is kidnapped.  And Wolverine is on the case to get her back.  See, doesn’t that make sense?  That’s what would happen. Wolverine would just go and get her back (although you might expect that Cyclops would be sending a back-up team 15 minutes behind him).

Continuing with the SPOILERIFIC discussion, the talk that Hope and Logan have after he saves the day is really good: He isn’t being standoffish toward her because he is angry about Nightcrawler’s death in Second Coming, it’s because he’s concerned that she might be a danger (i.e. something to do with Phoenix Force) and that if she is dangerous Logan knows that he’s going to be the one called on to kill her.

Neat idea, huh?  Ordinarily, Logan is all over acclimating the young female mutants, so it is a little odd that he has been so standoffish toward Hope, especially given that she embodies so much of his warrior attitude and was trained by Cable who Logan respects.  Now it makes sense. It’s the same reason that farmer’s don’t give all their chickens and cows names: because they’re gonna have to kill them someday.

Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #1 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Ibraim Roberson (artist), Pete Pantazis (colorist)

The Story: Avoid playing “Monster Mash” around this Frankenstein.  He’s not the party type.

The Review: With an Elseworlds tale, the better known and established the characters, the more enjoyable it is to see all the changes to their personality and history.  But with Frankenstein, you have not the original monster from Mary Shelley’s novel, but Grant Morrison’s adaptation of the character from his Seven Soldiers maxi-series, which itself had only a tenuous connection to the DCU proper.  Spin a character like that fresh, and you may as well consider him brand-new.

And on those terms, this tie-in stands incredibly well on its own.  Like Flashpoint: Secret Seven, you don’t really get to see the altered world at large—at least, not yet—as most of the plot stays close to the characters without really linking to the significant events of Flashpoint.  That said, most of the issue takes place in the past, and some of the actions the team takes (especially a doozy by Frankenstein in Nazi Germany) almost certainly led to some of the world’s changes.

With this combination of horror/sci-fi-type characters, a WWII setting, and old-school superhero conventions (like team names: Creatures of the Unknown channels the spirit of the Challengers of the Unknown, in my mind one of the most awesome team names ever), the title has a distinct Silver Age flavor.  This is exactly the kind of material Lemire takes to, and with his attention to detail and dialogue, the story feels credible and modern underneath its retro tradition.

Quick Hit Reviews – Week of April 13, 2011

Try as we might, we can’t always do full reviews for every comic on the stands.  Thus, the Quick Hit Reviews….

Steve Rogers: Super Soldier Annual #1 – Leaving aside the awkwardness of having an Annual for a title that was a 4-issue miniseries that wrapped up ~6 months ago (silly editors!), this was a pretty hot issue.  This is Part 2 of the Escape from the Negative Zone that is mostly an X-Men story.  In the Uncanny X-Men Annual a couple weeks ago, we saw Cyclops, Hope, Namor and Dr. Nemesis get sucked into the Negative Zone and come into conflict with Blastaar.  As you might guess, in this issue Steve Rodgers goes in to save them and fun ensues.  This issue (written by James Asmus) is just packed full of Steve kicking ass, Cyclops and Hope kicking ass, Namor being really well written (not too haughty) and Nemesis being 100% smart-ass fun.   Ibraim Roberson & Jim Charalampidis combine to give the book a very pretty, painted look.  I (personally) like to see a little more inking in my comic art, but I know some people just go bat shit for this painted stuff and this issue is really well done and beautiful.  Grade: A-

Incredible Hulks #626 – Even though I dropped Incredible Hulks during that boring Dark Son story arc ~8 issues ago, I had recently reread the Planet Hulk story and said, “THAT was awesome.  Maybe I should be reading Incredible Hulks again!?!”  This is a fun story that sends Banner off to track down Betsy.  Betsy and he aren’t getting along and she has fallen in with a bad crowd, but the real problem is that her continual use of her Hulk powers is threatening to get her stuck in Hulk form.  OH NO!!!   Banner wants to stop that, but to find her he has to go to a black-tie affair in Italy.  Of course, not everything goes smoothly and thanks to some unstable molecules, you get to see Banner transform into the Hulk without ripping up his tuxedo (which was pretty awesome).  This is a worthwhile Hulk story and Grummett’s art is very much the old-school, superhero art that I like.  Looks like I’m back on Hulk for a while!  Grade: B

Black Panther #517 – It is not a good thing when you sit down to do the Quick Hit Reviews, look at Black Panther #517 and think, “What was that about?  I remember that Francesco Francavilla’s art was gorgeous, but other than the title nominally being about Black Panther dealing with eastern European gangsters in Hell’s Kitchen, I don’t remember anything about the plot.”  While that is surely a sign that Dean gets too many comics, it also means that this story has run its course.  Like many Marvel story-arcs: It would make a snappy 3-4 issues story, but just doesn’t have the meat to be 6 issues.  Never really understand stretching out stories so that they make better trade paperbacks.  BP is probably selling ~30K units in the direct market, so Marvel will mess up a good story (by stretching it out) only  to have 6 issues to collect into a trade paperback that will probably sell a combined 1,000 units between the direct market and everywhere else.  That’s smart right there! </sarcasm>  I usually don’t pick on covers, but I will here: The cover text promises Black Panther vs. Luke Cage (because we all know that the kiddies love black-on-black fights), yet the cover seems to show Black Panther with his hands around the throat of some white guy.  Bad coloring!  Oh….and SPOILERS….there really isn’t that much to the BP vs. LC fight anyway.  Grade: C (good art, story getting long in the tooth)

X-Men: Second Coming – Review

Writers: Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Matt Fraction, Zeb Wells, and Mike Carey

Pencillers: David Finch, Terry Dodson, Ibraim Roberson, Greg Land, and Mike Choi with Stuart Immonen, Lan Medina, Nathan Fox, and Esad Ribic.

And so here it is: the last installment of the “Messiah Trilogy” or Messianic X Cycle (Say it. Make it catch on!). We’ve been through Endangered Species, Messiah Complex and Messiah War. Now it’s time for Second Coming, the event that concludes three years of X-Men stories. It’s been some of the darkest times in X-Men history. They’ve exiled themselves to an island nation after Norman Osborne and the Dark Avengers attacked them in San Francisco (Read Utopia for that), which then caused Magneto to return—with his powers back—and pledge allegiance to Cyclops. The Black Queen raised an army of dead mutants to attack their new home (Necrosha). In the meantime, Cyclops has been sending his own wet works team out to kill every threat to mutant kind, and they kill plenty. And Cable is off the future raising Hope, the mutant messiah, in a wasteland of a timeline literally blown to pieces by Bishop.  But X-Force has killed pretty much all except for their first target: Bastion, the robot-made-man-then-decapitated-and-later-made-cyborg-by-attaching-the-head-onto-a-Nimrod-sentinel-from-the-future. You know, one of those. And Cable has stranded Bishop in a future so distant that the sun is about to consume the Earth. It’s time for Hope to go back to the present and join the X-Men.

Now, that creative team. Well…it’s not the magic we had in Messiah Complex, nor is it the uniqueness we had in Messiah War. Kyle and Yost basically own this series. Pretty much every majorly important thing that happens in Second Coming happens in their issues.  Still, Mike Carey and Zeb Wells are both fantastic too. In fact, Zeb Well’s is surprisingly good as he was the one writer everyone expected to fall short. Unfortunately, it’s Matt Fraction’s writing that sticks out like an ugly chick in a swimsuit catalog. It’s not always bad, but it’s hard to believe that Fraction read a single issue of Cable or X-Force before writing Hope. When Wells, Kyle, Yost, and Carey are writing, the character is consistent. Yet Fraction writers her (and I’ve said this before) like a bipolar Pixie. His transitions are awful. At the end of the first act, Colossus is freaking out about Illyana being sent to limbo but shuts up when he sees Kurt’s dead body.  Fraction begins act two with Colossus smiling and suggesting a vampire movie to Kittie as she’s confined to her ghost chamber. What the hell? Everyone who was in the field are still standing around Kurt, he’s scared to death that his sister is dead too, and for some reason he takes the time to rent Twilight for his ghost girlfriend? And the thing is…that’ not even the only inconsistent part. Let’s move to the transition between act 2 and 3. In the end of Act 2, Beast gives an update of the wounded, including the fact that “Iceman has third degree energy burns over 25% of his body.” That sounds relative serious and a good reason why Iceman should be out of the game, right? Apparently not because we see Iceman without a scratch taking down a Nimrod with Psylocke and Fantomex. At this point, the other writers seem to have said “F it. Fraction ignored his injuries, we’ll use Iceman too.” What made Messiah Complex and Messiah War awesome was the proof that the writers were working together. In Second Coming we get four writers who do and one who ignores his peers. Having said that, the times Fraction is good, he’s really good. When Nightcrawler learns about X-Force in the second chapter was very well written as was the very last segment of the crossover, which we’ll get into later since it’s the end, but Fraction makes up for a lot of his bad writing there. Nightcrawler’s funeral…. not so much. But back to the writers who really brought their best to the plate. Carey is unsurprising. His last full issue of Cypher taking down the Nimrods is superb (in its writing…we’ll talk about art next). He writes every character perfectly. Even when he’s thrown a new one like Hope, it’s like he sat down, read every issue of Cable took a deep breath and said “yeah, I see what Swierczynksi’s doing with her. She’s not just young female Cable, but she is her father’s daughter nonetheless” and then wrote her. Prodigy describes Hope as the “voodoo doll for the whole mutant race.” Carey is basically the voodoo doll of every X-writer, and yet, like Hope, still has his own kind of power. Wells gives the best line of foreshadowing ever. When Hope and Dani are fighting, Dani says “I’m not the person you want to be putting your hands on.” The fact that Hope powering mutants by touch doesn’t happen until after Second Coming, and only for newly powered mutants, makes this line pretty awesome when returning to the crossover. But his best writing is in the first chapter of the last issue (confusing, I know) when he writers from Professor X’s point of view after Hope destroys Bastion and simply wants to curl up next to what is left of her father, and then when she wakes up and talks to Magneto for a little bit. We get the two seniors of the X-Men and both written so wonderfully. And Kyle and Yost? Well, seriously, their last X-Force issue when Hope comes into power is just fantastic, but it’s also their little beats along the way. For instance, at the end of act two, as Cyclops is about to send Cable and X-Force on a suicide mission. Wolverine blames Hope for what happened to Kurt,  but instead of telling Cable to hurry up and move out, he tells him to “get on with it.” “Get on with it” basically telling Cable to go to Hope, tell her he loves her, and goodbye. They (Cable and Wolverine) both know they’re going to die. Not even Wolverine can be callous towards a daughter about to lose her father, even if she doesn’t know it. And it prepares the reader. Why would Wolverine think it important to make sure Cable does this? Because a few pages later, Cyclops admits to having sent them all to die.

Onto art…sadly, the crossover falters a lot in this department. The only main artists that fit here are Ibraim Roberson and Mike Choi (all the “with” artists do no harm). And while Terry Dodson’s art isn’t bad in any way, it just doesn’t match the story. It’s jarring. His art would be great for a fun Spider-Man story, but for the story about the X-Men making their honest-to-god last stand? It’s just not serious enough. But at least Dodson’s art has quality. Because the fact they not only included Greg Land and his pornographic style, but paired him with one of the best writers of the series is just a sin. A comic book sin. His style doesn’t match, and his art is just bad. Every woman looks exactly the same. At one point it really looks like he just drew the same female boy twice but gave one a gun to indicate which was Hope and which was Rogue. And let’s not forget the most awful double page spread ever where he cuts out Hope’s legs but gracefully leaves her vagina. But we’ve heard every Greg Land complaint a thousand times before, so let’s just move on. You know who really should have been the artists here? Well, everyone from Messiah Complex would have worked, but instead, I would have loved to see Ariel Olivetti and Clayton Crain. Pairing them with Choi and Roberson would have given that “this is it” feeling to the entire story. And I really would have loved to see Olivetti’s Nimrods. That would have been awesome. Oh well.

X-Men: Second Coming #2 – Review

by Matt Fraction, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Mike Carey & Zeb Wells (writers), Terry Dodson, Ibraim Roberson, Esad Ribic, & Greg Land (artists)

The Story: With Bastion’s assault on Utopia and the X-Men over, the mutant community mourns their fallen and ties up loose ends.  By the end of it all, friendships lie shattered and a new generation of mutants looms on the horizon.

Thoughts: Just as I mentioned in last week’s review of X-Force #28, this concluding chapter of Marvel’s latest (and greatest) X-epic is more of an epilogue to the story than a conclusion.  That fact didn’t affect my enjoyment of this issue in the least, though, as Second Coming #2 is still filled with the wonderful character beats and “Oh crap” moments that we’ve come to expect over the last three months.  This issue is separated into four separate chapters, each produced by the creative team of each X-title involved in the crossover.  I was struck with the fear that such an arrangement might give this installment a disjointed, anthology feel but my fears were misplaced.  The X-creators deliver their usual (well, almost) seamless storytelling here and the story flows with nary a bump in the road. Let’s break it down, shall we:

Chapter 1:  Wells and Roberson pick up from the cliffhanger and, smartly, decide to show this from the POV of Professor X.  The Professor has been getting short shrift as of late and it’s nice to see his reaction to some of these events.  The creators also deliver what has to be one of the saddest moments of the story as we see Hope cradling Cable’s bionic arm, reminding us of the little girl she truly is, despite all the messianic hubbub about her.  It’s nicely framed by Roberson.  Extra kudos go to Wells for Magneto’s somewhat sinister advice to Hope.  It’s one of many small moments in this issue that makes me excited for where the characters and their relationships will go next.

Chapter 2: Carey and Ribic get the emotional scene, as they deliver an appropriately dour funeral for Cable.  Carey, as he always does, gets all of the character beats right, from Cyclops’ failure to deliver a eulogy for his son to Hope’s flashback and her thoughts about her “father” to the rift formed between Rogue and Scott, an argument in which I found that I agree with both sides.  The choice of Ribic as penciller here was a nice choice.  His somewhat loose, sketchy linework works well in visualizing the funeral.

New Mutants/X-Force/X-Men Legacy: Necrosha One-Shot – Review

Necrosha: Chapter 1 by Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost (Writers) and Clayton Crain (Art)

Necrosha: Binary by Zeb Wells (Writer), Ibraim Roberson (Art), and John Rauch (Colors)

Necrosha: The Foretelling by Mike Carey (Writer), Laurence Campbell (Art), and Matt Milla (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Since the first chapter of Necrosha takes up the bulk of the one-shot, I will use the regular review format for it. The two smaller chapters that lead into the stories that connect X-Force to New Mutants and X-Men: Legacy will get capsule reviews. Also, as a side note, be sure to read the one-shot after reading X-Force #20 (which I’ll be reviewing by the end of the release week), but before reading New Mutants #6. While it’s not entirely necessary to read X-Force #20, a few scenes simply won’t make much sense unless you do.

“Necrosha: Chapter One”

The Story: Selene builds up her army using an altered version of the techno-organic virus that Bastion has been using and makes her first move against those that have stopped her in the past.

What’s Good: New Mutants/X-Force/X-Men Legacy: Necrosha is, in many ways, a typical Marvel “hey it’s crossover time!” one-shot. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however, as Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost do a really nice job of finding a balance between getting readers up to speed and getting the Necrosha crossover rolling in a positive direction that makes it seem like Necrosha will be quite the treat for most “X” fans. And, in all honesty, that’s half the battle.

The best thing about the book is that, from start to finish, both visually and as far as the dialogue is concerned, the Necrosha one-shot carries an ominous, creepy tone that never really lets up. I’m all about mood and setting the stage and Yost, Kyle, and Clayton Crain nail it as far as the total creative package is concerned. Even when Kyle and Yost throw in some banter and one-liners, the first chapter of Necrosha manages to really drive home the point that stuff is about to “get real” as all the kids say these days.

Another high point is that the writers instill a real sense of history, as far as lives lived, into the story through both Selene and the various characters that are infected with the “T-O” virus. From Selene’s dialogue about her past to the conversations that take place between the formerly dead and the living, it’s clear that Kyle and Yost did the homework necessary to give Necrosha that extra bit of weight and depth. It’s that something that can turn a solid story into a good, or even great, story.

Visually, Clayton Crain’s artwork is near perfect as far as mood and tone is concerned. It’s dark, it’s heavy, and it expertly captures the horror movie vibe that permeates throughout the entire book. While Crain’s work is definitely flawed (which I’ll get to in a moment), a few scenes, like the birth that opens the book or the arrival of Selene’s army near Utopia for example, show that Clayton Crain is definitely the right artist for the crossover.

What’s Not So Good: There’s a lot to like about the first chapter of Necrosha, but, unfortunately, there’s quite a bit to dislike about it as well. While the good outweighs the bad, nearly every negative is directly related one of the start of the crossover’s strong points. It makes Necrosha: Chapter One feel rather uneven.

The ominous, creepy tone I talked about earlier? It’s certainly a highlight and quite effective…until you realize that the deadly seriousness leads to a number of groan-worthy lines of dialogue (“She sent us here to remind you of that…And to make you suffer!”) that tend to fall extremely flat. In addition, the seriousness makes some of the banter and humor feel wildly out of place. I’m all for lightening the mood, but the swing from horror to comic book fun and back again is a bit jarring.

Another part that didn’t bode well is the sense of history that Yost and Kyle use to the advantage of their story. It makes some portions of the comic feel too heavy on exposition. It’s understandable considering that chances are good that a large portion of the Necrosha audience isn’t going to know who a handful of the characters are, but it’s also rather annoying.

Clayton Crain’s fitting artwork? It is…well…Clayton Crain artwork. Now I truly find Crain’s work to be absolutely stunning when everything about it comes together. When it doesn’t, however Crain’s work can look muddy, overly dark, and, at worst, totally incoherent. Unfortunately, a large part of the first Necrosha chapter is pretty tough to follow due to Crain’s style. A number of characters look exactly the same (Wolverine? Shaw? Pierce? – Selene? X-23, a Hellion?) and while hairstyle and context make it fairly easy to sort out who’s who, it shouldn’t be a chore to keep characters straight. Also, some of the action that takes place is so darkly colored that it’s next to impossible to figure out what, exactly, is happening.

“Binary”

The Story: Binary is “turned on” by the T-O virus and helps Selene’s slaves get inside Utopia.

The Good And The Bad: I don’t know if this is really a negative (it could be considered to be since it’s not the main event), but Binary is actually the best thing about the Necrosha one-shot as a whole. It’s an extremely good short story all around. Roberson’s detailed artwork is impressive, John Rauch’s colors elevate Roberson’s work to another level, the binary code framed panels are a great touch, and Zeb Wells’ story does a great job reintroducing the character.

“The Foretelling”

The Story: Selene calls on The Crone to learn the future. The Crone then contacts her daughter.

The Good And The Bad: Laurence Campbell’s gritty artwork feels a bit out of place the book, but it still winds up being a nice fit for Mike Carey’s unsettling character piece. I’ve always liked Blindfold and her interaction with her mother does an excellent job of adding another layer of uncertainty to the start of the Necrosha crossover. While I wish there was a bit more to it, the important stuff manages to make quite an impact.

Conclusion: While the first chapter of Necrosha has a few problems it’s still a strong start to what looks to be a memorable crossover. As for the one-shot as a whole, thanks to two excellent bonus stories, the book is a surprisingly great package.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1 (Utopia) – Review

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I’m always a bit hesitant to pick up story collections like Dark X-Men: The Beginning because they tend to be rather hit-or-miss. That said, I couldn’t possibly pass up a Namor story by the Captain Britain team.

“Namor/Norman”

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

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: Little more than a tense standoff/exchange of words between Norman Osborn and Namor about Namor’s recent actions, “Namor/Norman” still manages to make an impact thanks to Paul Cornell’s strong knack for personality-driven dialogue and Leonard Kirk’s always reliable pencil work. What’s disappointing about “Namor/Norman” is that it really doesn’t amount to a whole lot beyond being an interesting character study. Now I’m all about character studies, but Cornell’s story left me wanting more…anything really. Thankfully, the “To be continued” lets me know that “more” is on the way.

“Mimic”

By James Asmus (Writer), Jesse Delperdang (Pencils & Inks), Andy Lanning (Inks), and Rain Beredo (Colors)

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: James Asmus’ compelling Mimic story is basically the comic equivalent to a movie montage. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing. The montage style is a good thing because it means that “Mimic” is a great introduction to a troubled character that has been thrust back into the spotlight. It’s also a bad thing because it means that “Mimic” is a fast read that ends just as it begins to gain some real momentum. Now, with the good and bad out of the way, I can say that “Mimic” ultimately manages to avoid feeling like a wasted effort thanks to the art team’s impressive handling of Asmus’ (rather weighty) dialogue.

“Dark Beast”

By Shane McCarthy (Writer), Ibraim Roberson (Artist), and Matt Milla (Colors)

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: I’ve always found the alternate Beast to be a cool character. He’s generic, sure, but he’s also quite interesting and a great addition to the Dark X-Men lineup. Shane McCarthy’s “Dark Beast” is a prime example of why I found the other Beast to be worth reading about. It works as both a nice introduction to the character and as a way to move some of the Dark X-Men story forward in regards to the secret project Fraction has been writing about. The only downside to “Dark Beast” is that it’s artwork looks a bit odd. Matt Milla’s color work sets a strong tone, but Ibraim Roberson’s Norman Osborn looks quite fat and his Beast goes from looking downright awesome to silly depending on the panel. It leaves “Dark Beast” looking visually inconsistent.

Conclusion: Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1 is worth picking up if you’re a fan of what Emma’s team of X-Men has to offer. All three stories read well, two out of three look quite good, and one, Paul Cornell’s, brings Namor’s special kind of awesome in a big way.  The problem though is that nothing of consequence happens.  If you can handle that and character studies, you’ll probably find a lot to like in this book.

Grade (As a whole): C+

-Kyle Posluszny