X-Men Legacy #225 – Review

By Mike Carey (writer), Phil Briones (artist), Brian Reber (colorist)

The Story: Xavier comes to Amelia Voght in a dream and tells her that he is coming to New Avalon and that he’s going to tear it down. The Acolytes mobilize and square off against the strongest mutant mind ever known. The end result: a surprise that will feed this story back into the current events of the Marvel Universe.

What’s Good: Xavier is a juggernaut. This book, the entire Legacy series, is about uncovering his failings, but at the same time it is about exposing his strengths. This issue of Legacy is like watching somebody like Yoda or Gandalf coming at you, step by excruciatingly-slow step.

Briones and Reber did some solid visual work on this book. They gave us strong, emotive faces, rapid-fire guns, glowing lasers, static-filled computer monitors, billowing fire, shimmering force fields, and one hell of a final explosion.

On the writing side, this is very much a story about very strong and very noble personalities clashing. Carey gives us a memorable crash of philosophies. There are lots of kinds of nobility and heroism and sacrifice and Carey once again expertly marshals some heavy-hitting adversaries against Xavier, people who have real beefs with him and the firepower to back it up. So our flawed hero pulls no punches as he calls in old loyalties, old arguments and old tragedies to hammer his way psychologically into Exodus. Furthermore, Carey’s writing is not just strong thematically; he plots and delivers a strong story through action and very natural, conflict-filled dialogue.

What’s Not So Good: The scope of the arguments are so big that some of the panels are a little overflowing; too busy to be completely understood all at once, or even after a closer look. On one side, I can understand that Briones is trying to put the epic X-Men history into individual panels, but maybe it’s too much of a goal. He’s so strong with faces and emotions that maybe he should have chosen to do a few representative closeups instead of the wide-angle superhero superbowl we see in a lot of scenes. Also, I found the inking to be a bit too dark. Just because something is underground doesn’t mean it’s all shadowed. But,these are minor points weighed against a really solid offering.

Conclusion: Xavier kicks ass and takes names. Don’t mess with him.

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

Sub-Mariner: Revolution (TPB) – Review

By Matt Cherniss & Peter Johnson (writer) Phil Briones (art), Scott Hanna (inks), Paul Mounts (colors)

I’ll admit, I’ve never been a big Namor fan. I remember picking up the old series in the 1990s because of Jae Lee’s art, but I never actually read the books. As time wore on and Namor showed up in series I enjoy, I began to take a liking to his snide attitude. After the events of Civil War and Avengers Illuminati, I really began to take more interest in his character.

Sub-Mariner: Revolution collects the six issue mini-series that came out last year. Following on the heals of Civil War, the story begins with another terrorist attack on America. With SHIELD on high alert, it’s soon discovered that the attack was Atlantean in origin. All fingers immediately point to Namor and the sleeper cells in the U.S. (that he claimed were no longer in place). Well, apparently he lied. The cells are still in the U.S., but a rogue cell has slipped through the cracks and is the cause for this terrorist act. Namor, now under the gun, leaves Atlantis to find this rogue cell in hopes of preventing a full-scale war with the surface.

In many ways, this book is very average. There’s a bit of a mystery as to who’s pulling strings behind the scenes and as expected Namor has to go through many hoops and obstacles to get to the heart of the mystery. It gets a bit too formulaic at times, especially when it comes to the obligatory fight scenes. It’s also a bit jarring when high profile characters like Venom and Wolverine are thrown into the book in hopes of selling a few more copies.

There are redeeming qualities, however – most come with the last chapter. In a stunning turn of events Namor makes a decision that completely turns the story on its side. It’s so severe that the ramifications will be in place for some time to come. The last chapter also serves as an epilogue of sorts to Civil War. This alone makes it worth reading.

Phil Briones’ art is consistent throughout. It’s somewhat reminiscent of early 1990s art with too much cross hatching at times, but thankfully it doesn’t detract from the overall storytelling. The writing is also a mixed bag as well. Like I said, there’s parts where the dialog is awful and the plot is formulaic, then there’s times when the book is just awesome (particularly the final chapter). Luckily, the pros outweigh the cons.

Priced at $14.99, you’re actually saving money if you buy this trade rather than paying $2.99 for six issues. There’s no extras, but the upgraded paper stock is a welcome. Is it worth your time and money? I think so. (Grade: B)

– J. Montes