THE X-AXIS
25 November 2007
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This week:
NEW X-MEN #44 - Messiah Complex, part 4 of 13
by Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Humberto Ramos & Carlos Cuevas
BATMAN & THE OUTSIDERS #1 - "The Chrysalis"
by Chuck Dixon, Julian Lopez and Bit
THE SCREAM #1 - "Scream a Little Scream of Me"
by Peter David, Bart Sears and Randy Elliott
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NEW X-MEN seems to have been cancelled.
Which is to say, the February solicitations came out last week, and New
X-Men isn't there. Instead, writers Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost
seem to have moved over to the new X-Force series, taking only X-23 with
them. As for the rest, I can only assume that they're being folded into
one of the other X-Men titles - perhaps Mike Carey's re-titled X-Men:
Legacy - or they're being consigned to limbo.
Either way, it feels odd to end the book like this. New X-Men and its
forerunner New Mutants have been something of a wasted opportunity.
Both incarnations of the series featured some very promising character
with tons of potential. The original version didn't work because not
enough happened. The current version hasn't worked because too much has
happened, and the characters have been lost under an avalanche of
slaughter and despair. Somewhere in the middle lies the original New
Mutants, or Generation X. And these characters, in that sort of book,
would have been great.
So much for that, it seems.
Instead, the New X-Men get to spend the next few months in the "Messiah
Complex" crossover. The concept here is simple. The kids aren't really
that bothered about the mutant baby. But they're very upset about the
Purifiers who, after all, are the bad guys who killed off most of their
classmates. So while the real X-Men's plans have been going more or
less fine, the New X-Men blunder in on their own to screw everything up.
Perhaps this isn't the most flattering role for the New X-Men to play,
but at least it makes sense. And, as with X-Factor last week, at least
this story really does star the title characters, while genuinely
advancing the main plot. So far, so good, in that respect.
Humberto Ramos takes over on art for this story. He's not one of my
favourite artists, and given his extremely distinctive style, it's a
questionable decision to hire him for a story which involves him drawing
every fourth chapter of a trade paperback. But he's toning it down a bit
here, and he tells the story well enough. That said, some of his
characters are decidedly off-model. I had to identify Hellion from the
context, and a scene in which Armor shows up to join the squad fails
because she isn't recognisable as the same character that John Cassaday
was drawing in Astonishing X-Men. The script doesn't identify her until
several pages later.
There are some other annoying elements here. The New X-Men learn about
the Purifiers' involvement in the story from the same news reports that
Cyclops was watching two chapters ago. But since then, Rictor's had
enough time to create a cover identity and infiltrate the Purifiers.
How did it take the New X-Men so long to see the report?
Then there's the subplot about Madrox and Layla in the far future. Once
again, we're back to mutants in concentration camps. This has been done
to death and it's just not very interesting any more. I'm hoping that
the idea is for the other future timeline to show a more inventive
approach. But we don't need to see this yet again.
And most annoying of all, the story ends by threatening the death of a
lead character yet again. This is getting beyond a joke. There have to
be more interesting ways of building tension than slaughtering the cast.
New X-Men kills off its characters so frequently that it's ceased to
provoke any reaction beyond "Oh god, not again."
Still, for all its faults, the issue is well paced, and the wider
crossover storyline is ticking along nicely. It's not an especially
good issue of New X-Men, but it's fine as the fourth part of "Messiah
Complex."
Rating: B
------------
DC's superhero output is deeply frustrating these days. They've largely
driven me away with their policy of shoehorning everything into a
megacrossover that doesn't interest me in the slightest. But every so
often, in the interests of fairness, I give them another chance.
Hence, BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #1.
Now, what do I know about Batman and the Outsiders? I know, because
I've seen it in a price guide, that such a book existed for a few years
between the 1980s. I know that there was a book called Outsiders more
recently, although I didn't read it. I assume this book to be a
relaunch of that series. And that is, literally, the sum total of
everything I know about Batman and the Outsiders.
But that's not a problem, is it? Because this is a first issue. And
first issues always draw in lots of extra readers. So it will be
accessible. It will explain the concept. It will introduce the
characters. It will sell me on what the book is about.
Or maybe not.
Let's be clear about this. Batman and the Outsiders #1 isn't a bad
superhero comic. It's a heist story, in which the various Outsiders
each play their part in infiltrating the villains' lair and carrying out
the mission, while Batman gives them all directions. On the level of
introducing individual characters, it's not too bad. As an extended
action sequence, it's actually quite well put together. You'd expect
that from Chuck Dixon, who has always had a solid sense of pace.
Artist Julian Lopez is also a good choice for a Chuck Dixon book. He's
good with action, he's not bad at all with body language, and he's
mercifully light on the T&A. (With one very obvious exception towards
the end of the book, which stands out a mile.) He's working firmly in
the DC superhero house style, but he's certainly good at it.
In all these respects, this is a perfectly sound comic.
But, as a first issue, it flounders horribly by failing to explain what
the book is actually about. Dixon seems to take it as read that we all
know who the Outsiders are, why they are together, and what marks them
out from hundreds of other superhero teams. Either that, or there's
nothing to mark them out from other teams, so he's dodging the question.
Still, would it be too much to ask that issue #1 of a book called Batman
and the Outsiders explains who the Outsiders are, why they are together,
what purpose the team is meant to serve, and what Batman is doing with
them? Yes, apparently it would, because the book doesn't even try to
address - let alone answer - any of those questions.
The closest it gets is a scene between Batman and Thunder (whoever she
may be), which mentions that Thunder is on the team as a favour to her
father. Who is her father? Why does he want her on the team? Why does
Batman care what her father thinks? Perhaps these questions were
explained in issues leading up to the re-launch. If so, it is
regrettable that nobody saw fit to repeat this apparently vital plot
information in issue #1 of the series, which by definition should have
sold many thousands of copies more than lead-in issues.
Dixon and Lopez are clearly capable of doing a solid mainstream action
comic. They've even done so here. But the failure to do anything
whatsoever to explain the concept of the comic makes this first issue a
real misfire. Either they can't be bothered explaining the concept to
me, or the concept is so lame as not to be worth explaining. Neither
thought particularly entices me to come back next month.
Still, at least it's not a crossover. I'll give it that.
Rating: B-
------------
Dark Horse are billing THE SCREAM as a superhero comic, but it doesn't
read like one.
The basic premise is, at this stage, a little obscure. Danny Duncan has
just got out of an institution, where it seems he may have wrought havoc
without entirely being aware of it. Drifting through life in a mediocre
job, Danny seems to have some weird power to project his daydreams onto
other people. As for the Scream, it's apparently a monster that shows
up when he's in a suitable aggressive mood.
Frankly, the details of the concept are rather unclear at this point.
But that's fine, because Peter David is evidently going for a degree of
mystery. Danny clearly doesn't know what's going on, and while the
villains know a little more, they're not quite sure either.
There's a subplot about Danny's father, a senile war veteran who swings
back and forth between lucid affection and delusional rants about what a
disappointment Danny has turned out to be. Obviously, that begs the
question of whether he's simply trying to be polite when he's in control
of himself, which is a rather touching set-up.
Art comes from Bart Sears, who's never been one of my favourite artists.
He has a tendency towards wild exaggeration in a way that doesn't quite
work for superhero comics. His superheroes tend to be ludicrously
overmuscled and contorted. But he fits rather better with this series,
in which he gets to caricature real life, and the occasional fantasy
elements are genuine figments of the imagination in which he can truly
go nuts. There's something very odd going on with the age of the lead
character, who seems far too young to have a senile father, but it's so
obvious that I'm prepared to assume for the moment that it's deliberate.
Still, this is an oddity, and it's a little too early to say whether
this is going to work as a long-form series. If indeed that's what The
Scream is. It's not labelled as a miniseries, but frankly, pinning down
any information about this series has been remarkably difficult.
Considering that it's by Peter David and Bart Sears, who are fairly
well-known names, this book has been remarkably underpromoted.
Somewhere along the line, the issue seems to have been seriously delayed
- the closing editorial is headed "September 2007." I wondered, then,
whether it was pushed properly a few months back and then slipped my
mind.
But, no. Googling has turned up some press releases from Dark Horse,
mostly reproduced on obscure blogs, and that's about it. Nobody seems to
have done any interviews for it - certainly none that I can find. And
as near as I can make out, Peter David hasn't even mentioned the book on
his own website.
I have trouble believing that it's that hard to get coverage for a
series like this, especially if the creators are willing to do
interviews in support of it. No book sells without people knowing it's
there. This series seems to be consigned to obscurity from the word go.
And that's a shame, actually, because it's not bad at all. It's
something a little different. Still, it won't find readers by being so
shy.
Rating: B+
------------
Also this week...
LONERS #6 - After an extended delay, C B Cebulski and Karl Moline
finally wrap up their miniseries about the Teen Superheroes Anonymous
group from Runaways. Cebulski apparently wants to do 18 issues on these
characters, and it shows. This reads like the opening arc of a longer
storyline, with characters running away at the end of the story as if to
set up a sequel down the line. Given the sales on this miniseries, I'm
not holding my breath for that sequel to appear. Nor am I convinced
that these characters would work in a longer series - their central
gimmick is that they want to retire as superheroes, but if they do that,
the series ends. It doesn't lend itself to an open-ended series.
Still, Cebulski and Maline have really entertained me with this series,
and they've certainly demonstrated that the Z-list cast (Darkhawk, the
teen Green Goblin, Turbo and so forth) have more potential than you
might think. A little bit against my better judgment, I'd quite like to
see them get that sequel. B+
UMBRELLA ACADEMY #3 - Most people understandably expected this series to
be a gimmick, commissioned on basis that My Chemical Romance fans were
bound to pick it up. But it's proving to be a remarkably fun little
series about an estranged family of underage superheroes grudgingly
reunited to fight rather off-kilter threats. It's Grant Morrison's Doom
Patrol via Wes Anderson, I suppose, and the result is one of the most
fun superhero comics of the year. It really is a little gem. A
WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #19 - Continuing the World War II flashback
storyline, which seems to be largely an excuse to guest star Captain
America for months on end while he remains a relatively hot character.
This is actually quite good fun, since it's mainly a load of running
around in secret bases fighting Nazis with a young Captain America and
Nick Fury. And that's always good for a laugh. As you'd expect, it
comes with a convoluted piece of Daniel Way's tiresome conspiracy
storyline, and the story would be better off without it. Still not bad,
though. B
X-MEN: EMPEROR VULCAN #3 - In which the good guys and the bad guys team
up to fight the even worse guys. This series is an odd mixture of
competent superheroics with moments of inspiration. The basic idea of
the Shi'ar coming under attack from a race that they more or less wiped
out in a fit of religious zealotry has plenty of potential, and the
notion of them teleporting stars around as weapons of mass destruction
is rather neat. But there's also a lot of conventional superhero
material which is a bit plodding in comparison. Do we really care about
Marvel Girl's feud with the Shi'ar Death Commandos? It doesn't do much
for me, although I admit that it's nice of writer Christopher Yost to
try and tie it up while he's in the vicinity. On the whole, though,
this is generally okay with moments of being quite good. B+
------------
There's more from me at If Destroyed, and if you're desperate for more
Article 10 columns, you can always hunt through the archives on Ninth
Art.
http://ifdestroyed.blogspot.com
http://www.ninthart.com
Next week, "Messiah Complex" continues in New X-Men #44. Captain
America is still guest starring in Wolverine: Origins #19. And X-Men:
Emperor Vulcan #3 continues the new Starjammers' miniseries.
--
Paul O'Brien
THE X-AXIS -
http://www.thexaxis.com
IF DESTROYED -
http://ifdestroyed.blogspot.com
NINTH ART -
http://www.ninthart.com
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