Welcome back!

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written one of these, and we’re going to be in catch-up mode for a little while.  As I write this, I haven’t got around to reading any of the books that came out while I was away.  They ought to be showing up at the weekend, along with this week’s comics, in a massively unwieldy pile.  (For those of you who’ve asked, the plan is to record the next podcast on Monday.)

But let’s make a start on the backlog, by looking briefly at the X-books that came out just before I left.  Yes, comics from three weeks ago.  Only on House to Astonish!

Age of X Universe #1 – By the time you read this, “Age of X” will be more or less finished.  I’m still about two thirds of the way through, of course.  But it’s been a good story, in part because it’s turned out to be a rather more interesting idea than it first seemed.  On the surface, “Age of X” is just another dystopian parallel Earth; but with Mike Carey it’s never going to be that simple, and indeed it seems pretty clear at this point that it’s not “real” at all.  Everyone’s holed up in a fortress which is probably the interior of Legion’s mind, and unknown to them, the outside world doesn’t really exist.  The attacking soldiers seem generic because they literally aren’t real characters at all.

It’s quite a clever twist.  But it also means there’s no real place for a book like Age of X Universe, a two-issue mini in which we find out what the other Marvel Universe characters are doing in the Age of X world.  Simon Spurrier and Khoi Pham’s Avengers story takes the lead, and at least frames itself as a flashback so as to square itself with the premise.  It’s basically a team of “dark” versions of Marvel heroes hunting down the mutants.  There’s also a short back-up by Jim McCann and Paul Davidson with Spider-Man on the run from the anti-mutant forces; that one doesn’t even try to explain why it’s set in a non-existent outside world.

There’s nothing wrong with the individual stories, which are serviceable enough.  But unless “Age of X” is going somewhere entirely unexpected, the whole premise of Age of X Universe seems fundamentally misconceived.  These stories are trying to flesh out a reality which was only interesting in the first place because Carey deliberately left it metafictional and generic.  On the face of it, that’s a bad idea, and the issue doesn’t persuade me otherwise.  Far from complementing the main story, it feels like it’s pulling in a different direction.

Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #5 – Apparently this came out a month ago in America, but oh well.  After months of chaotic, over the top build-up, Jason Aaron finally reaches the big reveal.  And why is all this weird, crazy stuff happening?  Well, it’s because… Mojo’s making a TV show.

Ah.  That plot again.  On first reading, I was a bit underwhelmed by that.  It makes sense, yes, at least as much as any Mojo story ever makes sense.  But it also means that the book goes from four issues of freewheeling insanity to a stock X-Men plot device that’s been in circulation for 25 years, and to me that’s awkward.  That said, once you get past that speedbump, Aaron’s still having fun here.  He’s got Mojo’s manic lunacy and unpredictability nailed (“I didn’t tell them to breath my air!  I own this air!  Tell them to stop stealing my air!”).  Mojo’s always given X-Men writers the excuse to suspend normal rules of logic and sanity, and the story takes full advantage of that by deliberately teetering on the brink of ridiculousness and incoherence.  It’s a fun romp, and Adam Kubert’s cartooning works well with it – and Aaron continues to raise the stakes to a ludicrous degree with each passing issue.  If Mojo feels a little overfamiliar in this role, the story compensates to some extent by throwing itself so wholeheartedly into the madness.

Cyclops #1 – Another of the X-Men First Class one-shots.  Strange books, these – while they’re obviously intended to tie in with the upcoming First Class movie, the content has more to do with Jeff Parker’s First Class comic.  It’s not exactly synergy.

Anyway, Lee Black and Dean Haspiel are the creators on this Cyclops solo story.  Scott doesn’t easily lend himself to solo stories; as the uptight leader, he’s a character designed more for teams.  Black’s answer is to put him against Silver Age villains so absurd that even Scott can’t take them entirely seriously – Batroc and the Circus of Crime.  It’s a nice idea, though the story doesn’t quite get the “Scott lightens up a bit” beat to work – it comes before the finale and then the story just feels like it’s dutifully wrapping up the plot.  Still, it’ll work well enough in the collected edition along with the other one-shots, and Haspiel’s retro art is lovely.

Wolverine #7 – More Jason Aaron, more Wolverine.  Continuing the demonic possession storyline, Wolverine’s body is still fighting the X-Men, while inside his mind the various Wolverine sub-personalities gang up to fight the demons.  Cue fighting.  The real-world stuff is pretty good.  Cyclops is being the usual ruthless leader that’s become his standard persona from the last few years, and he wants to just kill Wolverine; the rest of the group won’t stand for that, and even Emma ultimately sides with the conventional heroes against him.  This might just be a way of livening up a three-issue fight scene, but it could also be build-up for the upcoming “Schism” story, and if so, great.  I’m generally pretty fond of Daniel Acuna’s art on this story too, which has an energy and clarity that hasn’t always been present in his work before (though the costume designs for the X-Men on the astral plane leave a bit to be desired).  The closing panels are an interesting twist, too.

On the other hand, I’m not so bothered about Wolverine fighting demons inside his own mind.  The parade of former costume designs is cute, but there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of point to it so far.  I think the immediate problem here is that Aaron hasn’t convinced me anything’s at stake.  Theoretically the threat here is that Wolverine suffers permanent mental damage, I guess, and if we take the story literally he must have done so already.  But I don’t really believe that’s going to happen.  I suppose it’s possible that Aaron is going for some kind of scorched earth reboot of Wolverine’s personality, but I don’t really see that happening.

So a mixed issue, but there’s good stuff in there.

X-23 #8 – This is part 1 of “Collision”, the crossover with Daken.  X-23 and Gambit arrive in Madripoor, looking for Daken and the revived Weapon X Project.  And since Daken stories are always about scheming, this issue sees our heroes join up with Daken’s reluctant new underling Tyger Tiger to try and outwit him.  Fair enough, though something tells me Tyger isn’t going to get rid of Daken this quickly.

The basic idea seems to be that Daken’s curious about his sister, but that she also presses his buttons by reminding him of Wolverine, and in some way they’re going to take advantage of this to sucker him in and… yeah, basically it’s a fight.  I’m not convinced the Marvel Universe really needs one Wolverine Jr, let alone two.  But considering that they’re both Wolverine variants, X-23 and Daken are strikingly different characters.  One thing they share is an shaky sense of identity – X-23’s not really sure who she is, and Daken simultaneously emulates his father while claiming to be going his own way.  There might be a decent story to tell by bringing them together.

So far, though, they don’t really seem to be clicking – this feels like two characters who’ve been brought together because the crossover seemed to make sense on paper, rather than because there’s a particularly compelling story.  But there’s three issues to go, and presumably next chapter we get Daken’s perspective, so I’ll wait to see how it pulls together.