X-Necrosha (Hardcover) – Review

writers: Mike Carey, Craig Kyle, Zeb Wells, Christopher Yost

pencils: Kalman Andrasofszky, Carlo Barberi, Clayton Crain, Leonardo Manco, Clay Mann, Diogenes Neves, Mike Norton, Ibraim Roberson, Mateus Santolouco, Alina Urusov

Necrosha, an X-Force story that affected both New Mutants and X-Men: Legacy as well, was criticized for being the Blackest Night of the Marvel Universe—an unfair criticism if anyone cares to follow the plot threads that started far back in New X-Men, or even just from the first issue of X-Force. But whether or not this mini-event was a rip off of Blackest Night or not, Necrosha still needs to be able to stand on its own. So, as a story, does it hold up well or was it pumped up for no reason? The answer to that is a little confusing. As the single issues were being released, Necrosha was not getting the best of reviews. It was condemned for being too long, for having too much filler, for needless tie-ins, and sub par art. I’ll admit that for all but that last point, I was feeling the same way until the last two issues of the main event where the X-Force finally did something. Those were my initial feelings. The hardcover collection of X Necrosha changed a lot of my animosities towards the event.

There’s a lot to cover in this. And before I get into any of the stories, the first thing I want to point out is the price of the set—$39.99 might seem like a lot, but you’re actually getting about fifty dollars of comics (a little over, actually). When the trade paperback of this comes out at 34.99, it’ll be even more of a deal, but for five dollars more the hardcover is definitely worth it. What’s included in this is the Necrosha one-shot that starts all three stories, Necrosha: The Gathering one shot, introducing the merry band of murdering mutants, X-Force 11, 21-25, X-Men: Legacy 231-234, New Mutants 6-8, New X-Men 32 and “UnDeadpool” from X-Force Annual 1. That’s a pretty good listing. And like I said, it gives quite a lot to cover.

Let’s start with the main event, taking place in X-Force. This received the most criticism by far, but looking back it’s a lot stronger than I remember it to be. The story is…actually not that simple. Selene, former Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, wants to make herself a goddess by absorbing the souls of dead mutants. To do this, she has to resurrect them first and do some kind of ancient spell. Unfortunately for her, Warpath is holding one of the key ingredients to this—a dagger carved from the bones of her mother. So Selene sends her army of undead mutants to Utopia to basically piss everyone off and torment Emma Frost with her dead Hellions. The X-Force must band together to stop her. Meanwhile, Elixir is still recovering from the events of Messiah War and Rhane Sinclair is dying after getting knocked up by Asgardian Wolf Prince Hrimhari (even if they are of Norse legend, you still gotta use a condom people). Hrimhari, or as Warpath calls him, Wolf-guy, calls upon Hela to save Rhane and the child, but is forced to choose one in return for his own soul. He pulls a fastball and chooses Elixir, waking our favorite golden healer from his coma, who then saves Rhane and unborn child. Fast-thinking, Wolf-Guy. Or course, Vanisher makes his return to X-Force only to find out that Elixir already took a tumor out of him, but sticks around anyway.

Young X-Men #1 – Review

By Marc Guggenheim (writer), Yanick Paquette (art), Ray Snyder (colors), Rob Schwager (colors)

Young X-Men is such a gimmicky title. Yet, I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Of course, having a Terry Dodson cover and Marc Guggenheim aboard as writer helped a lot. But in all seriousness, this book should be called The New Mutants, because that’s what it truly is in essence.

There’s not much I have to say about this book, other than it’s modeled very much after Giant-Size X-Men #1. Instead of Professor X traveling around the world, recruiting people for his team, we have Cyclops doing it. The problem is, we’ve seen these mutants before in New X-Men, so nothing really comes across as a surprise. I suppose this book is more for new readers than anyone. I can appreciate what Guggenheim is trying to do – he tells a solid, self-contained story – but for people already familiar with the mutant line of books, this issue’s a throw away (save the last page).

Yanick Paquette’s pencil work is solid. His art won’t blow you away, but he has a firm grasp on how to tell a story. And that really sums up this entire debut issue: it’s strictly average and by the numbers. Completists will no doubt buy it without any hesitation. But for the rest of us, $2.99 might be a bit steep for just a book filled with mediocre characters and an average story. I’ll give this book two more issues to impress me before I write it off. If the last page is any indication, that just might happen next issue. Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Guggenheim. Don’t let me down! (Grade: C)

– J. Montes