Unreachable Star Reviews December 19th, 2007 (SPOILERS)

This is our 245th edition, with just one book... I was going to pick
up the Marvel Holiday Special but my store didn't have it. Oh well,
I was a bit iffy on it anyway. I'm running late again this week, due
to holiday shopping, so it's going to be a short one.

This week we have...

Ultimate X-Men #89 - 3 Stars

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Ultimate X-Men #89 - "The Shadow King" (Writer: Robert Kirkman,
Pencils: Salvadore Larroca, Colors: Stephane
Peru)

While sleeping off from the latest mission, Ororo confronts a figure
from her past in her dreams, a man who has become the Shadow King.

This story has been hinted at for quite some time, as Kirkman has
spread out little mentions here or there that Storm was working on a
play called the Shadow King. For all that build up, you'd expect
it would come to a close with an amazing story.

It doesn't. It feels almost as though Kirkman learned his days on
the title were numbered, or got bored with the plot, and so he
decided
to wrap up the story as quickly as possible. This is made worse by
the fact that another dangling plotline (Sabretooth and a sample of
genetic material he took from Wolverine) is similarly wrapped up very
quickly within the first few pages. It feels anticlimactic.

The Shadow King is a strange villain in X-Men lore, because he's
conceptually fantastic... a man who has become an entirely psychic
entitity and evolving into an almost Lovecraftian menace. Yet his
recent stories at least all tend to fall flat, often seeming like a
retread. One would have hoped that the Ultimate Universe version of
him would capture some of that coolness in the concept and do
fantastic
things with it, but instead all they captured is the feeling of a
poor
retread.

Review: 3 stars

-

Well, that's it for this week folks. Next week, according to the
shipping list, there are two books on my list. That's Avengers:
The Initiative #8, and New Warriors #7. However, because comics
are scheduled to come out on Friday, I may decide to just skip that
week and pick them up and review them the following Wednesday. We'll
see. In any event, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all that
celebrate.

See you next time...

Peter Dimitriadis
http://www.unreachablestar.net
The Unreachable Star - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinion

On Dec 19, 6:24 pm, Peter Dimitriadis <gh....TakeThisOut@unreachablestar.net>
wrote:
> This is our 245th edition, with just one book... I was going to pick
> up the Marvel Holiday Special but my store didn't have it.  Oh well,
> I was a bit iffy on it anyway.  I'm running late again this week, due
> to holiday shopping, so it's going to be a short one.
>
> This week we have...
>
> Ultimate X-Men #89 - 3 Stars
>
> S
> P
> O
> I
> L
> E
> R
>
> S
> P
> A
> C
> E
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
> .
>
> -
>
> Ultimate X-Men #89 - "The Shadow King" (Writer: Robert Kirkman,
>                      Pencils: Salvadore Larroca, Colors: Stephane
> Peru)
>
> While sleeping off from the latest mission, Ororo confronts a figure
> from her past in her dreams, a man who has become the Shadow King.
>
> This story has been hinted at for quite some time, as Kirkman has
> spread out little mentions here or there that Storm was working on a
> play called the Shadow King.  For all that build up, you'd expect
> it would come to a close with an amazing story.
>
> It doesn't.  It feels almost as though Kirkman learned his days on
> the title were numbered, or got bored with the plot, and so he
> decided
> to wrap up the story as quickly as possible.  This is made worse by
> the fact that another dangling plotline (Sabretooth and a sample of
> genetic material he took from Wolverine) is similarly wrapped up very
> quickly within the first few pages.  It feels anticlimactic.
>
> The Shadow King is a strange villain in X-Men lore, because he's
> conceptually fantastic... a man who has become an entirely psychic
> entitity and evolving into an almost Lovecraftian menace.  Yet his
> recent stories at least all tend to fall flat, often seeming like a
> retread.  One would have hoped that the Ultimate Universe version of
> him would capture some of that coolness in the concept and do
> fantastic
> things with it, but instead all they captured is the feeling of a
> poor
> retread.
>
> Review: 3 stars
>
> -
>
> Well, that's it for this week folks.  Next week, according to the
> shipping list, there are two books on my list.  That's Avengers:
> The Initiative #8, and New Warriors #7.  However, because comics
> are scheduled to come out on Friday, I may decide to just skip that
> week and pick them up and review them the following Wednesday.  We'll
> see.  In any event, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all that
> celebrate.
>
> See you next time...
>
> Peter Dimitriadishttp://www.unreachablestar.net
> The Unreachable Star - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinion

Well the comics for that week are also scheduled for Friday from what
I understand.