X-Men #3 – Review

By: Victor Gischler (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Marte Gracia (colors) & Joe Caramanga (letters)

The Story: Dracula comes back and another mutant falls to the vampires.

What’s Good: After the last issue, I was a little hard on some logical inconsistencies in the story (really???  you think it’s a good idea to bring back Dracula?).  But, if you just unplug the part of your brain that demands that all comics make perfect sense, you’ll find a nicely paced and enjoyable story here.

Gischler is doing a good job with the storytelling as he is bouncing from scene-to-scene at just the right moments and I’m finding the action in all places to be interesting.  And, I’ll go ahead and admit it…  Even though it seems incredibly trendy in fanboy circles to piss and moan about vampires, I’m kinda enjoying the X-Men vs. “legion of vampires” story and this story continues with the digging into the hidden world of the bloodsuckers.  I find it pretty neat learning little bits more about all the different types of vampires.

This issue also gets kudos for sending Wolverine off on a one-man mission to rescue Jubilee.  Wolverine on his own, killing bad guys in dark places is almost as clichés as vampires, but I never get sick of seeing it and I much prefer this to him having someone like Storm following him along giving him a lecture about how “X-Men don’t kill…”

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

DS’ Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Brightest Day #9 – Brightest Day has been delivering the goods, albeit slowly, and I am still enjoying this series, even knowing that its other readers are dropping it or, like me, chomping at the bit for something more conclusive. That all being said, this is still a series worth watching and #9 is best of the past week.

Most Anticipated: Batman and Robin #14 – It’s a tie between Green Lantern #57 (a male Star Sapphire??) and Batman and Robin #14 (Batman Must Die, part 2 of 3!). Green Lantern is going to push forward Brightest Day, while Batman and Robin have one kickass villain. Both books are armed with great writers and amazing artists!

Other Top Picks: Batman #703, Batgirl #14, Red Robin #16, Daredevil #510, The Thanos Imperative #4, The Green Hornet Strikes #3

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Last Days of American Crime #3 – Not only was this a great issue, it was a great ending to a story.  We’ve all read a lot of stories that started with so much promise, but fell on their face in the final chapter.  Not so here as Rick Remender has created a wonderful crime story with a neat sci-fi hook.  Keep your eyes out for the trade!

Most Anticipated: Daytripper #10 – I am very excited for the final chapter of this great maxi-series from Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon, especially after they started to tie their story of poignant moments in a man’s life together.  Continuing the theme from LDoAC #3…..I will be sooooo disappointed if this falls on its face (but I don’t think it will).

Other picks: Batman & Robin #14, American Vampire #6, X-Men #3, Irredeemable #17, 28 Days Later #14

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Sweet Tooth #13 – In a week that was actually kind of lousy overall, Sweet Tooth was an easy pick.  This wasn’t even a particularly awesome or remarkable issue either, it just didn’t suck, delivering the same consistent quality the book has delivered throughout its run thus far.

Most Anticipated: American Vampire #6 -For me, this is probably the best new series of the year thus far and I can’t wait to see how Snyder will kick off his second arc, particularly now that he’ll be handling the book in its entirety.  Stephen King fan that I am, I actually preferred Snyder’s portions of the first five issue, so I’m expecting this to be absolutely killer.

Other Picks: Batman & Robin #14, Green Lantern #57, Daredevil #510, Invincible Iron Man #30, New Avengers #4, Thor #614