The X-Axis – 16 May 2010
So, let’s bring you up to date. Last week, I skipped doing any reviews, because I was still waiting for that week’s books to arrive, and it’s rather hard to review books you haven’t read. Now, those comics duly showed up on Monday. This week’s comic, on the other hand, haven’t. And so what we’re going to do is review books that came out a week and a half ago.
Not that I’m particularly bothered, to be honest – I have a pile of trade paperbacks waiting to be read as it is. But that’s why we’re running a week behind schedule here.
Oh, and before anyone asks, no, I haven’t read the Sentry story, and no, I’m not planning to. It does sound god-awful, but it’s the sort of god-awful which gets quietly forgotten after a fortnight, so who cares? Perhaps it’s an ironic meta-twist: for the Sentry to save the Marvel Universe, everyone must forget him again, and to achieve that, he strives to appear in the sort of stories everyone would prefer to pretend they never read.
Amazing Spider-Man #630 – The first part of “Shed”, a Lizard story by Zeb Wells and Chris Bachalo. There’s a tried and tested formula for Lizard stories which has been in use for over 40 years; well-meaning Curt Connors tries another experiment, it all goes terribly wrong yet again, and he turns into a man-sized lizard and goes nuts. “Shed” doesn’t depart from that formula, so much as do it in the creators’ own style. And it works well; there’s a nice slow build to the inevitable, and Bachalo is clearly enjoying himself with the transformation. Actually, this is some of the best work I’ve seen from Bachalo in ages. For a good long while, he was producing work which was visually interesting but frequently obscure or downright unintelligible. This, however, is visually interesting while being absolutely clear and easy to read. Okay, a couple of his characters seem a bit off-model – his Peter Parker still doesn’t look quite right to me, even allowing for differences in style – but that’s minor. A good issue.
Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1 – The first release from Marvel’s new, vaguely-defined Astonishing imprint. From the sound of it, the idea is that these ought to be continuity-light stories. They’re being sold as entertaining stand-alone comics that don’t require any knowledge of history and don’t interact with any other stories. Not sure I’d have chosen a cod-Silver Age adjective as the brand, but it doesn’t really matter. This miniseries is by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert, and it opens with the heroes already stranded back in prehistoric times. Unfortunately, the meteor that annihilates the dinosaurs is on the way. It’s a solid opening, but one that leaves you wondering whether six issues of Peter and Logan trapped in a jungle might be a bit much. But then the story races through an explanation of how they got there (kind of), and then it ramps up the plot to a whole other level of epic madness by the end of the first issue, so that instead of stretching the concept to six issues, Aaron is actually bashing through it in an issue and moving on to something more. And Adam Kubert gets to draw a lot of weird stuff. It’s a fun, unpretentious and fast-paced action story, and that’s good enough for me.
Batman & Robin #12 – Erm… I have a sinking feeling that I’m not really very interested in any of this. We’re now in the territory of setting up the return of Bruce Wayne and messing around with established members of the cast who don’t particularly interest me. And there’s some decidedly ropey fill-in art in the middle of the issue, which doesn’t help. But I just don’t find myself with a reason to care about any of this. I suspect I’ll be dropping this book quite soon.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight #35 – Evidently building to the big climax, as baddies invade the earth and supporting characters get together to help fight them. Brad Meltzer, writing this arc, certainly has decent instincts for pacing a comic. And there’s an interesting idea in here somewhere, with Angel wanting him and Buffy to move on a higher plane and leave the world behind them to sort itself out. The problem is that the outcome of their dilemma is never really in doubt – aside from the fact that we all know the title character isn’t going to write herself out of the series, it’s never really presented as an attractive enough option to make it a properly dramatic dilemma. If anything, the big mystery here is why Angel thinks it’s such a good idea. For this to work, Buffy and Angel have to at least be toying with the idea that it’s All About Them. And of course, since they’re the lead characters, in a sense it is all about them. But there’s a leap of logic in making that the basis of a dilemma, which isn’t quite convincing.
Hellbound #1 – Or, if you prefer, X-Men: Second Coming – Revelations: Hellbound. But I’ll go with just Hellbound. This is a three-issue miniseries tying in with the “Second Coming” crossover. As it turns out, that means it’s a story taking place in the margins of the the crossover. Over in the main story, the bad guys are trying to take out all the X-Men’s teleporters, to mess with their transport. As a throwaway part of that story, Magik gets banished to Limbo. This story is about the team who get sent to bring her back – and while the likes of Gambit and Dazzler are in there to make up the numbers and give the cast some credibility, it seems to be mainly a sequel to the story where the New X-Men went to Limbo and got tormented by demons. This first issue is mainly devoted to Cannonball recruiting his team, and I quite like the way it’s played – the younger characters like Pixie and Anole flatly refuse to have anything to do with rescuing Magik until they’re directly ordered to do so. Partly it’s because of what happened to them in that New X-Men story, but partly – and this is the bit that intrigues me – they seem to be rebelling against their “second class character” status. They’ve seen nothing much to like or respect about Magik, and as far as they can see, they’re being told to drop everything and risk their lives to save her simply because she’s a more established character. The newer characters chafing against the X-establishment’s glass ceiling… I kind of like that as a dynamic.
iZombie #1 – A new series from Vertigo by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred. It’s one of those “monsters in the modern world” kind of set-ups. Gwen is a zombie, which wouldn’t normally be a promising start for a lead character. But fortunately, she remains pretty much normal as long as she remembers to eat brains once in a while. Which is why she’s working as a gravedigger. For the most part, this first issue is spent introducing Gwen and her similarly eccentric supporting cast, and it’s pleasingly quirky. The plotting is more dubious, though. The story tries to hold back the revelation that Gwen is a zombie for most of the issue, as if this could possibly be a surprise to anyone who had seen the cover or read the title. And it ends with a rather rushed scene where Gwen eats somebody who’s been murdered, and then promptly decides to go and investigate. Which makes me wonder whether the promising sitcom set-up that takes the greater part of the issue is going to end up turning into Tru Calling. There’s more good than bad in this first issue – much more – but it’s not an unqualified success.
Shadowhawk #1 – A relaunch of Jim Valentino’s 90s vigilante. It says “#1” on the cover, but I can only assume this is continued from somewhere-or-other. Basically, the original Shadowhawk is (for some reason) back in his old city, with nothing but the costume on his back. While he’s been away, a rather nicer Shadowhawk has been around. What sort of vigilante will he be? That’s more or less the deal. But it’s not very well done for new readers – the book seems to take familiarity with the character for granted, so it doesn’t even try to explain who he is, where he’s been, why he came back, or anything of that sort. From a combination of Wikipedia and guesswork, I’d assume this is something to do with Image United, but it would be nice to cover it here… or at the very least to sketch out the premise of the character. Not a good introduction to the character, and a bit clumsy in general – it’s pretty forgettable, all told.
Uncanny X-Men #524 – “Second Coming”, Chapter 6. This is basically a break in the action so that everyone can mourn Kurt and some people can glare at Scott. There’s evidently meant to be some tension here with Scott being blamed (and everyone being a bit unsure about Hope as well). In itself, this is a fine idea, but there are problems. If we’re now doing a story where everyone questions why Hope is so important and where Scott’s obsession with her is controversial, why has nobody questioned Hope’s importance until now? And is Kurt’s death really Scott’s fault in any meaningful way? It’s not like he sent Kurt on a pointless suicide mission. As so often with the X-books these days, the frustration is that the ideas are sound but the execution is wonky. “Why is Hope so important and do we trust Scott’s judgment?” is an interesting direction, but it’s a question that the characters should have been asking for two years, not two months. Still, there are good moments in here, and the book does go out of its way to give Kurt a proper send-off in his own title – though I’m still not sure which character is supposed to be officiating at the ceremony, because I can’t recognise him from the art…
@Wanderer, it’s not so much what was done with Penance, but the concept itself, which was so wrong-headed it defied belief. As for Captain Marvel, I recall it being more pointless than disastrous, as it was clear that it wasn’t going to go anywhere, and as soon as the Skrulls turned up, it was obvious where the story was going to go.
I think the debacle with Penance is that he’s just such an over-the-top, stupid idea. Grim’n’gritty Speedball!
The Captain Marvel thing was just a gigantic bait and switch (He’s coming back! Wait, no, he’s just displaced in time! Er, no, he’s a Skrull! Forget it, we’ll never use him again anyway!), especially given that it was supposed to be a big deal that he was coming back.
the xmen werent terribly concerned with hope because they knew she was off with cable and that they’d deal it she returned… they’ve been busy in the meantime. and a death certainly ignites emotions and people start looking for blame… so naturally it goes to the leader (cyclops) and the center of attention (hope). i think it all makes sense and you just over-analyze stuff so you can say it just doesn’t work
I thought Brian Reed wrote the Captain Marvel mini…
Paul Jenkins wrote the Inhumans mini, which was great, both Sentry minis, which were good, a very good run on Spider-Man (basically saving Spidey from Mackie/Byrne).
But he also wrote Civil War: Front Line, which was okay until the end (although to be fair, I don’t think Penance was his idea), and this, which was okay until the Thing’s speech. And a run on Hulk which I didn’t read.
So, yeah, very hit or miss…
Jenkins wrote Civil War the Return, that reintroduced Captain We-really-men-this-oh-you-don’t-like-it-ok-he’s-a-skrull Marvel.
I haven’t read the books you’re talking about, but am I hearing that The Lizard kills a child and The Wrecker kills a busload? If so that’s annoying, once you’ve put deaths like that onto the character in continuity, it wrecks them for future use. Sabretooth? Yeah, go ahead, kill a nursery, but the Wrecker? I always liked him for being a stupidly powerful thug that just likes money and breaking things.
I really wish Van Lente or someone was writing Avengers. Why does Bendis need 2? We’ve got New for Bendis lovers.
The thing about Jenkins is that he’s clearly the go-to guy for the kind of stories that are mandated by editiorial. So he’s the guy who makes “DARK SPEEDBALL” and has Sally Floyd bitch out Captain America.
Of course, that still doesn’t explain the Annual where the Hulk tries to rape She-Hulk because he’s in heat…
One of these days, I’LL get to write the Hulk. And you’ll ALL HAVE TO READ my theory of why the Hulk doesn’t have fully-developed genitalia.
It will take twelve issues.
//\Oo/\\
“Helicarrier + Thor beat a guy that came back from the dead after every few issues of Dark Avengers and overpowered the Molecule Man? Really?”
Yes! Insane! I wish they’d beat him with the power of love.
“Of course, that still doesn’t explain the Annual where the Hulk tries to rape She-Hulk because he’s in heat…”
HE WHAT
Valhallahan:
The Lizard (and just to be clear, this has nothing to do with Paul Jenkins) has always hated humanity, and so him (it?) killing a child is no big deal (speaking strictly in terms of the character’s continuity).
The reason that THIS death is a big deal is because this time the Lizard killed (and ate, apparently) Curt Connors’ *son*. It was an intentional act, which destroyed Connors’ mind, thereby allowing Lizard to take full control of his body.
The storytelling was exceptionally strong in this issue, and no one was out of character, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant to sit through.
The Wrecker, apparently, killed a busload of kids as an intentional f-you to the Thing, who had saved a bus during a previous battle. Or something; it was dumb. As you say, Wrecker’s evil, but more as a brawler and thug than a mass murderer.
@Valhallahan: I agree about the Lizard issue. It was a very well-made comic and I like the idea of Kraven’s family using Madame Web to alter the outcomes of Spider-man’s fights a lot. From a story-telling and art perspective I think it was great. It was just really extraordinarily unpleasant to read. Overall, I guess I come down on the side of liking it. It’s just different from what I usually look for in a Spider-Man comic.
“One of these days, I’LL get to write the Hulk. And you’ll ALL HAVE TO READ my theory of why the Hulk doesn’t have fully-developed genitalia.”
Will there be a sequel on The Thing’s thing? Or whether Reed Richard’s johnson can go ad infinitum?
(Yes, I’ve clearly though too much about this)
I’ll take your word on the Lizard issue, I might even pick it up (I don’t really follow Spider-Man) but I’m going to use selective continuity and ignore the wrecker thing when he next turns up in something I do read, I hope other writers do too.
” the Lizard killed (and ate, apparently) Curt Connors’ *son*. It was an intentional act, which destroyed Connors’ mind, thereby allowing Lizard to take full control of his body.”
Wow. As far as I remember – I stopped reading Spidey long ago – Connor´s family was always used as the anchor for the character. This sounds like a strong idea for an issue or two, but where will they go from here? In comics nothing ever has real consequences, at least not long, but shouldn´t the only thing for Connor to do after THAT is to jump out of the next avaiable window? What will come next? Connor in therapy with Doc Samson waering a T-shirt with the slogan: I ate my son but I got better? Somehow this is worse than the revolving death policy in all companys.
I haven’t read it myself, but IIRC Shadowhawk is a spinoff to Image United and when that series got delayed, Jim Valentino basically said “Screw that” and published it anyway, since Image United were supposed to be over by now.
I really wish Van Lente or someone was writing Avengers. Why does Bendis need 2? We’ve got New for Bendis lovers.
As long as sales are good, they’ll stick with the guy who doesn’t know the first thing about superhero comics over a bunch of very talented guys who do. If Slott, Van Lente or Parker start selling 100k an issue, we might see a welcome change.
Slott had his chance at an Avenger book. It wasn’t very good. I’d love for Van Lente (sometimes… I’m mixed on his Spidey work) or Parker to get a shot. I don’t understand why Bendis spreads himself so thin and why Marvel allows it. There’s at least 2 Bendis books a month. Does he ever take a break? Is he ever not writing or plotting? Because it honestly seems like he’s always pushing something out, and that’s why his work is so mixed. Who knows how often he hits writer’s block, writes through it anyway, and the idea/plots comes out subpar.
I definitely held Bendis to a much higher standard a few years ago. Alias and Daredevil were both incredible, Powers was great (although I’m way behind on that book now, so I couldn’t say what it’s like now either way), The Pulse was mostly good, Secret War was good (however slow), and after an adjustment period (and aside from a few dodgy storylines), New Avengers was mostly good through the Leinil Yu run. AKA Goldfish was also great. It’s sort of a bummer that his output has become so hit-or-miss.
Well, the books Bendis writes during crossovers all seem to be telling the exact same freakin’ story, so he can just write one script, let 2 or 3 different artists draw it, and he’s done for the month…
Secret War was where it was starting to go wrong, I think. I’d put the cut-off somewhere around the end of Alias, and Ultimate Spider-Man #50, whenever that was.
Is he ever not writing or plotting?
Well, you don’t get anywhere in this game by not writing or plotting.
Bendis works quite a way in advance, as well, so couple that with just being faaast, and, well.
You know.
KNow what?
That thing.
What thing.
I swear to GOD!
Oh.
Yeah.
Right.
Plus he has his tricks, right? Double-page spreads, text dump – er, pieces, etc., etc..
I’m still waiting for the Alias backlash, guys. Don’t think it’ll ever come, though.
//\Oo/\\
@AndyD: I think the point is that Connors is gone; it’s just the Lizard now. (In fact, the issue was titled “The Death of Curt Connors”.) So, yeah, I don’t think the character is usable after this.
Of course, there’s still one more issue in the story, so who knows? But if this stands, then it will go down as one of the most disturbing and heart-wrenching moments I’ve ever seen in comics. Which, I guess, is the point.
@Mathew,
Yes, a writer should be writing and plotting in advance, but writers also need to work out blocks of resting time so that their mind remains fresh and that their skills are allowed to come more into their own and evolve (be honest, how much different is Bendis now from say 3 years ago?). I say that from a writer’s perspective. And having read several of Bendis’s scripts now, you can tell when he’s in a low. That dialogue thing you did is actually how he writes some of his descriptions as well. Yes, his descriptions are just as repetitive. Mhm, he often repeats himself while describing stuff. Yep… he regurgitates text. (See what I did there? :D)
All I’m saying is I liked him much more when he wasn’t writing 20 books a month and could give each issue and storyline its proper focus. Of course, he’s always been a decompressed writer, but I could deal with it better when he wasn’t Marvel’s superstar writer. I can’t even think of another writer that got to affect (and semi-control) Marvel’s direction AND write 6+ books all at the same time.
I still really enjoy his writing. Seems like I might be in the minority on that though. There are some dialogue tics that can grate every now and again, but its not like he’s at Claremont levels yet.
I will say I’ve enjoyed his Siege tie-in issues of New Avengers a little less than the Secret Invasion or (awesome) Civil War tie-ins, but that’s because I’m a little burnt out on the Hood. Otherwise I’d rank his Avengers work a close third behind Daredevil & Alias.
His Civil War tie-ins were excellent, and Secret Invasion was half-and-half–the Secret Warriors recruitment issue was really excellent, and the first Fury issue was great too.
“I’m still waiting for the Alias backlash, guys. Don’t think it’ll ever come, though.”
I still think Alias is a really incredible work.
“I still really enjoy his writing. Seems like I might be in the minority on that though.”
The minority speaking up online, sure. But I gather he still sells, so a lot of us must still enjoy his writing and buy his books.
I don’t see much point in trying to argue people into agreeing with me on something like a writer being “good,” which is impossible when they’re so opposed to the guy. I’m sure shamefaced Jeph Loeb fans feel the same way, except for the bit where Loeb really does suck.
I feel like the Bendis-bashing really ramped up when old-school fans got pissed that he was ‘messing with their stuff’, ie. spearheading events that caused lasting/significant changes and “not getting” the Avengers concept when he New-ed it up (not getting it so badly that it made the team relevant again and they became the centerpiece of the whole Marvel line, but whatevs!).
@clay: Didn’t they already do that story with Sauron years ago? (only in Lykos’ case, it was his girlfriend rather than his kid).
I don’t think “getting it” and making the team relevant are mutually exclusive at all. Bendis just found a concept that worked with his writing style and brought in many readers. That doesn’t mean he understands and gets what made them popular and enduring in the first place. He just added another flavor… a new dimension. Of course, comic book fans are their own worse enemy in every sense of the name because we get accustomed to what we like and hate for it to change. Paul Cornell learned that this week when he joked about Lois and Clark. Vitriol came very hard and very quickly.
I don’t think that people who point out Bendis’s writing flaws are necessarily inclined to hate him either. I like some of his work, but I’m not blind to his downfalls, and Siege #4 and Avengers #1 didn’t really do much to sway anyone’s opinion. It’s the same with Loeb and Claremont. They’re polarizing (some more than others) to the point where the middle ground is fading away and you either like the writer and follow his work or dislike him and want him to stop affecting the things you’ve grown to adore.