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By Jason Bourgeois
First thing's first; before diving into this month's column, let me backtrack to add just a few thought to last month's overview of DC's year long event book, 52. At the time of writing, the final issue had yet to come out, so I expressed some concern over whether or not the series would tie itself together in an admirable fashion, or if it would all go horribly wrong in the conclusion. Well, I needn't have worried so much. The last issue did indeed make for a very satisfying conclusion, and many of the storylines did come together to form a greater whole, although there were a few threads that weren't quite part of the big picture that fit oddly in the package. However, those stories were wrapped up well in their own rights, and made for entertaining stories themselves. Here's hoping DC can do it again with Countdown.
Anyways, enough DC talk, I'm going back to my roots. My articles here started being centered around the X-Men, and their family of titles, and while I have broadened my comics scope somewhat since those days, I do like to go back to my true love and touch base with Marvel's merry mutants.
There were recently a number of shake-ups in the main books, shuffling older people around, and bringing in some fresh blood, always a fertile territory for discussion. This time around, Marvel has brought over to the newer X-Men book, the adjectiveless one, the acclaimed Vertigo writer, Mike Carey. Mike is mostly known for his work on the Lucifer series, as well as Hellblazer and others.
He seemed like an odd choice at the time, however nowhere near as bizarre as Peter "X-Statix" Milligan. While bringing anyone from Vertigo over to an X-title is strange, they are proven writers that do quality work. The question remains on whether they can work in a more straightforward superhero genre with a corporate moneymaker and still manage to write entertaining stories.
Carey's choice of X-Men for his team continued the theme of odd choices. He picked an ecclectic bunch with Rogue, Cannonball, Iceman, Cable, Mystique, and Sabretooth, as well as adding new members like Lady Mastermind and the transformed human, Sentinel. Not exactly a headliner team, and filled with more unknowns and villains than most teams normally would be. The lack of big name characters to draw attention to them, ended up making the team noteworthy for that respect. An X-Book without Wolverine, Cyclops, and Jean Grey? Could it work?
That was the big question, and in short, the answer is a qualified yes.
While the half-dozen or so issues to come out so far are far from Mike Carey's best work, and also far from the best X-Men stories, there are many points worthy of note. They are well-written, with the characters having distinctive voices and motivations, as well as making for interesting interactions amongst the group, which is always an important ingredient in team books. Without conflict and intersting group dynamics, the team becomes little more than a group of cheerleaders. Having Rogue, Mystique, and Sabretooth on the same team keep it very far from becoming that.
The stories have been interesting, if of no great consequence. They have so far been your average mutant tale, but there's really nothing wrong there. A good story well told is always a welcome sight, compared to what we could be getting in the book. As long as there are no exploding communion wafers, I'm happy. Things look to be more promising on the horizon though, as Carey intends to be the first writer on the core books to actually feel like dealing with the affects of M-Day, which depowered 90% of the the Earth's mutant population, and made it impossible for more mutants to be born. One would think such important plot points would have come up much sooner in the main titles, but at least someone is getting around to them, now that Carey has settled into the book.
Probably the worst thing about X-Men has been the art. The choice of artists used so far on Carey's run has been absolutely abyssmal, and I hope that improves at some point along the road, as well.
Chris Bachalo is one of those artists, and while I have fond memories of when he could draw, such as on Death, and his early Generation X issues, in recent years, his work has become absolutely cluttered, impenetrable, and downright impossible to follow. Some hints of his greatness still peek through once in awhile, but overall, his work is just a mess that has me scratching my head trying to figure out what I'm looking at where, more than enjoying the story he should be trying to tell.
While I can generally stand Bachalo's work if I must, the other artist they have working on the book, alternating with Chris, is Humberto Ramos. He's another talented artist, whose work is only suited for certain projects. Guess what? The X-Men are not those sorts of projects. His Ramos' work is heavily influenced by manga styles, and heavily deformed to the point of not being recognisably human or being possible by any stretch of the imagination. Granted, these are comicbooks, and the art has always been highly stylised, but people have always had some general sense of anatomy, at least the good artists can. The character have grotesque facial expressions, their limbs are rubber, if not grossly disproportionate, and the women look like they stuffed balloons in their shirts. Ramos also can't keep a single style and shifts between different looks almost every panel, making the book feel disjointed and random, and it's all by the same artist.
If Marvel could sort out the art issues and get a decent artist on the title with skills and storytelling ability, they could really have something here. Mike Carey's stories are off to a good start, with a look to become even better, but the book is being weighed down by the poor style of art. The main X-men titles are on the verge of a new period of good storytelling all around, and I hope to see all the books being of a quality we've not seen in some time. We're almost there, but some more work needs to be done first.
Jason M. Bourgeois
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