|
Hmm, what can I possibly write about this month? It has been terribly quiet across the X-Men line, for a change. It's not like anything of interest has happened. Oh wait, there was that "Reload" event, or something like that, wasn't there?
All kidding aside, or as much as I'm prepared to set aside at any given time, May was indeed the much-awaited by some, and much feared by others, as the entire X-Line, with a few exceptions, was completely shaken up and reshuffled, in the wake of Grant Morrison's departure.
Most folks coming by here specifically for Reload comments, or whom have read this far in to discover our topic for the month, will be surprised that I won't be saying anything about Whedon's and Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men, because I simply do not have it yet. Sorry to disappoint, but that's the vagaries of the US postal service for ya.
Other books that I have no plans to comment on, due to their not having any itnerest for me, are District X (I'm not a fan of cop shows, and Bishop isn't enough to make me start caring about a cop comic), and Weapon X (I've got no interest in the title, or Frank Tieri, or in Wolverine and Fantomex taking it over for a few issues).
I'm sure some people want me to just cut right to the chase, so I'll lay it out right here, right from the start, so anyone who just wants a brief comment on Reload can then proceed to move on to far more interesting portions of the CT. Overall, I'm loving Reload. I have very few complaints on the opening salvo of issues, and those I do have are minor nits that don't overly ruin the quality of the titles for me, with one exception. Long-time readers can probably guess which title didn't exactly set my world on fire.
X-Men, checking the cover to make sure I've got the title correct, by Chuck Austen (There's your clue!) and Salvador Larroca would be the book that didn't really do much for me. On the upside, it's not actively bad, which is a step in the right direction. It's just sort of there. There are a few odd moments in the storytelling, like redundant tours of the school (Mirroring scenes over in New X-Men), and an odd, if amusing, scene of all the X-Men in Scott's office complaining about team assignments. The ending has me scratching my head, and is a bit of a groaner, but will need to see what comes from it before I can really say much more about how I feel about it.
Speaking of New X-Men, let's move on to New X: Academy X. This is a big step up from the New Mutants issues. As I figured, they hit the ground running with their established cast, and wrote a nice little story that introduces us to the characters and school, and has them finally working together as a team. My only real complaint is that I hope they don't ditch the original New Mutants who were serving as teaching staff in the last series. The plotting seems a little dodgy and forced, but overall ok.
Next up would be Exiles, which I had been looking forward to because of the new writer, Tony Bedard, of CrossGen's Negation, Mystic, and Route 666. His two issues so far are below the standards I would expect from him, but I would say he's probably starting slow, and hopefully the rug will be pulled out from under us soon, as Tony has become known for doing. Again, a step upwards from many previous issues, so I'll stick with this for now, even with some elements in the story being very recently used in this same series. Tony is doing a much better job with them.
Mystique carries on with a new creative team, but otherwise very little change. The storylines and general themes are apparently remaining the same, so there's very little for me to say on that account. The art, while I'm going to miss Michael Ryan's pencils, is very nice, and reminiscent of Terry Dodson in a lot of ways, which is certainly a good thing. While this title sounds like more of the same, I'm still excited about this one, because it was the one most closely near to me being dropped depending on how things went with the new creative team.
Now, for the fun stuff. Excalibur, which had very obviously caught my eye, due to the title, and the controversy over the artist being fired and replaced. Aaron Lopresti's work here is absolutely gorgeous. Some of the best work of his career. The storyline, while some have dismissed it as "Xavier dragging a coffin for 22 pages", isn't quite so simple. It's an examination of Xavier's view of himself, his place in the world, what has happened to Genosha, and the world, and the mutant/human relations in general over the last few years. While Charles drags a coffin for 22 pages, and encounters a few others, and a special surprise at the end, which still has me scratching my head, in another moment that has me wondering how I feel about it. We'll see. It may be a slow start, but it's mostly setup, and I'm ok with that, since Xavier has rarely gotten the spotlight.
And finally, there's the current crown in the Reload crown: Uncanny X-Men. Chris Claremont. Alan Davis. Rachel Summers. How can this possibly go wrong? Well, so far, the first issue didn't.
This is the X-Men as the old fans remember them. Costumes, action, downtime, characterisation, a feeling of family, and a sense of continuity. The last in particular is my biggest complaint over the last few years. The entire X-Line seemed to be disconnected from the Marvel Universe, and the separate titles themselves had trouble meshing amongst themselves, most of the times. Many of the writers seemed to be trying to play catch up with Grant Morrison's wacky ideas that never quite fit with the X-World, let alone other titles.
Within just the first few pages, Claremont sneaks in references to most of the core X-Titles, either in characters or dialogue, and even a few in-jokes that have more metatextual humour to them, like an exchange between Logan and Scott about which team Wolverine is supposed to be on, referencing back to Logan being in X-Treme X-Men for an extended basis, when he was never one of their team members.
Alan Davis' art is simply gorgeous, as one would expect from his pencil. There are a few bits that are odd, but it seems to me that's due to the inking and/or colouring, but I can't say for sure.
For a first month, Reload is off to an overall good start, with some definite standouts, and books to keep an eye on. I have high hopes for the near future of the X-Books. Which is certainly a nice change of pace from me bitching endlessly.
|
