X-Men #8 – Review

By: Victor Gischler (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils & colors), Tim Townsend, Wayne Faucher, Jaime Mendoza & Al Vey (inks), Joe Caramanga (letters) & Nick Lowe (editor)

The Story: A team of X-Men run into Lizards in the NYC sewers.

What’s Good: Really good story that picks up directly from the Shed storyline in Amazing Spider-Man from around issue #630 or so.  You needn’t have read Shed and this issue includes a handy recap of the things you need to know, but if you did read Shed this adds more meat to a very good story arc.  I love it when the various corners of the Marvel Universe interact because it makes the whole thing feel cohesive.

Gischler spins a story of awkward youths getting mixed up in the Lizard problem that is pretty entertaining.  All of the X-Men and Spidey can relate to being misunderstood, so this strikes close to home for all of them.  Gischler keeps the mood light and really has a good handle on all of the X-Men in this issue.  Heck, I even like the way he writes Gambit.  It also helps that we’ve gotten the X-Men out of Utopia, so the team of X-Men is kinda all we have.  There are none of those annoying scenes in this issue where a random mutant wanders through the action and no one checks in with Cyclops.  When was the last time Cyclops didn’t appear in an in-continuity X-title????

It is hard for me to be objective about the art because Chris Bachalo may be my favorite artist, but it’s with good reason.  The guy is really, really good.  This cartoony style is so much more effective at capturing emotion and body language because it doesn’t have to be married to human anatomy.  His Wolverine looks short and mean.  Emma looks elegant and aloof.  Bachalo draws a GREAT Emma Frost.  And we all know that he can draw a great Spider-Man.  There is also all kinds of detail crammed into these panels: fences, leaves on trees, coiled up computer cables, crown molding on the ceiling, etc.  Although there are 4 inkers on this issue, it isn’t a problem.  You can kinda tell the pages where different inkers are providing finishes, but the story has enough different acts that each inker seems to have one “act” and the overall effect isn’t too jarring.  Something that is often overlooked about Bachalo is his coloring.  I’m pretty sure this is a newer talent for him, but he has some real gifts both with skin tones and with making the superhero tones of red and yellow look dramatic.