Avengers A.I. #2 – Review

By: Sam Humphries (Writer), André Lima Araujo (Artist), Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

The Story: As the team deals with a Sentinel, Dimitrios appears on stage to preach his message.

The Review: Pacing is important. It may seem like an obvious and bland statement, yet it is also true. If a comic goes on too fast or does not allow enough space for its plot and character to properly develop and become interesting, it makes for a mess of a comic that turn out to be rather unsatisfying for the readers.

In an unfortunate matter of fact, this is exactly what plagues this issue of Avengers A.I. as Sam Humphries storm through a lot of concepts, ideas and scenes in order to bring it to a point that could have been explored further down the line. While the idea of a quantum hyperactive being, a sentinel gaining sentience and the arrival of Dimitrios could make for some potentially good action and plot, everything seems rushed in order to arrive to a certain point, leaving these elements as vague or simply laid out in inconclusive terms.

One of those elements that could have benefited the most from a slower pace would be Alexis, a new character that had been introduced as the big reveal in the final page of the latest issue. Instead of revealing to us who she is or how the character reacts to what she is, she is simply thrown in, moving her from point A to B without us readers seeing how and why she got there. The introduction of the character is not helped as she is barely explained, without motivations or true showcase of her ability beyond origami. Mystery characters can become interesting, yet there is a need for a basis for the readers to care, something that Humphries does not provide.

X-Men #22 – Review

By: Victor Gischler (writer), Will Conrad & Steve Kurth (pencils), Conrad & Jay Leisten (inkers), Chris Sotomayor (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), Jordan D. White (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor) & Nick Lowe (editor)

The Story: A team of X-Men plus War Machine try to stop a Balkan leader from siccing a bunch of Sentinels on her neighbors.

Five Things: 

1. This is a well-scripted issue. – This is an issue where you really have to differentiate between the concept/script and the art because one is good and the other is not.  The idea of one of these wacko Balkan leaders modifying Sentinels so that they’ll attack neighbors is pretty interesting.  It’s also nice to see that the X-Men don’t moralize over it too much: They’re heroes so there is no drippy discussion of, “It would be wrong, but if we let the Sentinels kill those normal humans, maybe everyone will realize how dangerous the Sentinels are.”  Nope, Gischler is a better writer than to patronize us that way.  He also has a really good handle on all of the characters and works a lot of humor into this issue.  It’s a shame that Gischler is working with some inconsistent artists because I think he could do some really big things.

2. Hard to support this art. – I generally like Will Conrad.  I don’t think he’s “awesome”, but he does a page now and then that I wouldn’t mind owning.  He’s a very capable (if unflashy) artist and he draws an incredible Domino!  But, I got a few pages into this issue and said, “WTF?  Has Conrad lost it?”  I mean, there’s a fight between the heroes and a Sentinel that makes zero sense.  Look at the bottom panel of Page 1, what is Colossus doing?  Is the Sentinel sitting on the ground or has Colossus somehow grabbed it by the ankle and jumped into the air with it?  Does Colossus have enough mass to jump the Sentinel into the air?  Why isn’t the ground shown in the background to clarify the perspective?  If Colossus has merely tripped the Sentinel to the ground, why is Storm flying under its shoulder?  And if he tripped the Sentinel, what is the Sentinel doing on the next page (the epitome of an unnecessary splash page, btw) where it is falling down again?  So the storytelling of the art is all kinds of fucked up.  And we’ve got problems galore with depth in the splash page.  Or page 4 where Storm and War Machine are blasting the Sentinel in the face/neck and Colossus is punching him– in the ankle?  What’s with the ankles?  Then I turned the page and knew what happened.  I recognized these faces as the work of Steve Kurth, so I flipped back to the credits and saw Kurth’s name.  I hate to blast the guy too much (although I just did) because I’m sure he’s a nice guy and working hard AND he might have been working on a really tight deadline to fill in on this issue, but I really don’t care for his art.  Don’t like how we’re looking down on everyone’s face in these tight shots.  Don’t like the odd mixture of heavy blacks with overly highlighted color art.  Don’t like that Jubilee has breasts larger than her head (and is back in her thong uniform).  Heck, Storm also has breasts larger than her head.  I can’t believe that a cheesecake fan like me is complaining about breasts, but I don’t like it.  And the color art isn’t doing any favors either.  The depth is really screwed up in almost every panel and I’d expect a colorist as experienced as Sotomayor to be able to fix some of those problems coming from the inker.  Anyway, art is not great.

3. Fun to see the X-Men interacting with other heroes – It is fun to see the X-Men playing with War Machine.  I don’t know if that’s ever happened before, but sometimes it get’s a little dull to just see the mutants dealing with their own little cast of characters.  This is also a great use of War Machine.  Since he can’t sustain his own series, he might as well serve as a kinda linkage between various parts of the Marvel Universe.

X-Men: Schism #2 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Frank Cho (art), Jason Keith (colors), and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: The X-Men race to deal with the global rash of out-of-control sentinels, Cyclops and Wolverine butt heads over Quire, and Kade Kilgore makes plans.

What’s Good: Like many kids who grew up in the late 80s to early 90s, I was an avid X-fan growing up.  That said, I’ve felt increasingly alienated by the last few years of X-Men stories to the point where I only cursorily followed what was going on in the X-verse.  The various creators, many of them quite talented, just weren’t telling the kinds of X-Men stories that I wanted to read.

And so, the first issue of Schism was a revelation as, out of nowhere, Aaron began telling a story that I was interested in.  With this second issue, we get more of the same.

In many ways, with Schism, Aaron appears to realize that a lot of what worked in the past for the X-Men didn’t need fixing and so, we’re getting a story that really brings back the basics of what makes for a compelling X-Men comic.  Namely, we’re getting Sentinels and anti-mutant hysteria.  More importantly, we’re not getting outlandish or bizarre reactions from the X-Men to all this either.  Instead, the mutants are heading out, kicking robot ass, and suffering the slings and arrows of those who hate and fear them all the same.  It’s not re-inventing the wheel on Aaron’s part, but there’s no mistaking that this works.  It’s a central conflict that makes for a relatable and enjoyable comic that pulled me in.

There’s solid character work as well.  An early scene between Wolverine and Idie of Generation Hope is tragic, haunting stuff that his the mark of an excellent writer.  It’s a scene that really punches you in the gut, and Wolverine’s reaction (and how he carries himself, as a result, through the rest of the issue) is a testament to his heart and empathy, beneath all the gristle.

Astonishing X-Men #32 – Review

by Warren Ellis (Writer), Phil Jimenez (Pencils), Andy Lanning (Inks), and Frank D’Armata (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Art hang-ups and the lack of plot development aside, the Warren Ellis/Phil Jimenez run on Astonishing X-Men got off to a pretty nice start. As a fan of the Brood, I can’t help but look forward to what Ellis has up his sleeve.

The Story: The X-Men deal with a strange biological Sentinel and unexpectedly find themselves up against Brood as well.

What’s Good And What’s Not So Good: Astonishing X-Men #32 is, well, a whole lot like Astonishing X-Men #31. As you’ve no doubt guessed, that’s both a positive thing to say about the book in some ways and a negative thing to say in others. It means that the latest Astonishing X-Men is one hell of a fun, action-packed thrill ride. It also means that the art issues are still a problem and that the current arc’s overall plot only advances over the span of a few pages.

The script for Astonishing X-Men #32 is filled with loads of dialogue that could only come from the mind of Warren Ellis. From the pet names Beast gives to Abigail Brand to the sarcasm that drips from nearly every word bubble, the dialogue is so awesome, so distinctly “Warren Ellis,” that you can’t help but wonder what other type of magic he could work with some of the other Marvel teams. All that good dialogue comes at a price, however, as the story sort of takes a backseat to the action. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since seeing the X-Men do what they do best is almost always a good time, but it does leave the book feeling a little light on plot.

Phil Jimenez’s detailed, dynamic artwork in Astonishing #32 leaves little to be desired from a storytelling standpoint. Especially since the artist’s character work is far more consistent than it was in his Astonishing debut. Visually, Astonishing X-Men #32 is not perfect, however. The problem is that Frank D’Armata’s colors simply overwhelm Jimenez’s pencil work far too often. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that D’Armata’s slick, shiny color work makes some of the action almost indecipherable at times. Some panels/scenes are so awash in a “motion-blur” effect that everything sort of blends together in a way that’s downright hard to follow.

Conclusion: Light on story, but packed with lots of X-Men action, Astonishing X-Men #32 is definitely worth your time and money if you’re a fan of Warren Ellis or Phil Jimenez or both.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny