Wait... Hold on... This blog is about my music and my career. What am I doing posting a review of a comic book on it?
Frankly... Why not? I've never done a review before and I need to get back in the habit of writing anyway, so I just decided to start going for it. Who needs focus, anyway?
So... I'm reviewing X-Men #7. The creative team is made of Brian Wood (writer), Terry Dodson (pencils), Rachel Dodson (inker), and Jason Keith (colorist).
A little background
on me and Marvel Comics:
If you have connected with me on Twitter or Facebook, then
you likely know that I like comic books, particularly the X-Men. There was a
time in my younger days where I used to drop pretty close to $40 a month on the
X-Men and their various satellite books. As bills have increased and my income
decreased, I have since become increasingly selective. I’m not going to spend
my limited money on what I feel is low to mid-level, called-in,
editorially-dictated, big event-driven garbage. Age of Apocalypse, Operation:
Zero Tolerance, Onslaught… I wasn’t a fan of all of them, but at least there
was cohesion. There was a gripping story that made sense in all the levels.
Nothing that
Marvel has put out in recent years compares even remotely. Straight out, their
directions as of late have become increasingly contrived and focused far more
toward the “plot” than the characters involved. “Hey… Let’s power up the
Scarlet Witch to a cosmic level and have her remove a fucking gene from millions of people across multiple
realities… and then have no current or prominent X-Men be affected in any great
or permanent capacity and ignore all the depowered mutants formerly in their
ranks.” “Let’s have the X-Men split off between Wolverine and Cyclops.” “Let’s
have the Avengers and the X-Men fight over the avatar of the Phoenix for the
first time EVER and make a shock with THE PHOENIX FIVE.”
Straight out, it’s all bullshit. The current direction and
angle of the X-Books are pretty much centered around Cyclops and Wolverine’s
played-to-death 30+-year-old Jean Grey squabble. It was old when Jean died the first time. It’s still old years after Grant Morrison killed her off. (Don’t get me
started on the logistics of that.)
Brian Wood’s X-Men
relaunch:
ANYWAY, when this
new X-Men book by Brian Wood was announced, I actually got excited because as
far as I could see it had nothing to do with Cyclops vs. Wolverine. Storm,
Rogue, Psylocke, Shadowcat, Rachel Grey, and bringing Jubilee back with a subplot.
A lot of potential, obviously. I figured with other writers in the works that
there was no way Wood was going to be able to hold onto all of them, but he
would hopefully be able to do quite a bit.
- “Primer” was the first arc. I won’t rehash or review
everything, but I was overall pleased with it. It was clearly a setup for the
book, introducing the characters and the subplots. Here’s what you need to know
about it:
- Sublime kicked his sister off-world billions of
years ago. She’s back for revenge. She controls technology.
- Jubilee kidnapped – er I mean – adopted an
implanted orphan from Bulgaria. His name is Shogo.
- Arkea infected Omega Sentinel/Karima Sharpandar.
- Rachel and Sublime have chemistry… and she has
no clue Sublime is the one that killed her mother Jean Grey.
- Rachel and Storm are openly fighting each other
for leadership.
On the tail of this solid introduction was a one-off and the Marvel event “Battle
of the Atom,” which was billed at celebrating the X-Men's 50th Anniversary. Straight out, Battle of the Atom SUCKED. It was contrived like
all the Marvel events are and I tried to give it a chance and honestly, I’m mad
at myself for wasting the money on it. Just… Don’t touch that garbage.
NOW… onto X-Men #7.
Yes, there be spoilers. They're semi-general here, but they get more detailed when I get into the likes/dislikes.
Synopsis:
- It begins by introducing out new Lady
Deathstrike, Ana Cortes. (No relationship at all to X-Men foe Fabian Cortez.)
It explains her background and shows how she becomes the new Lady Deathstrike.
There are still things left open about why
she wanted this. I figure that’s something we’ll find out later. She wants
something from the X-Men.
- Jubilee gets good news and her mood is ruined by
Monet St. Croix’s timely arrival. If you haven’t read Generation X, they have
history.
- Monet meets Karima Sharpandar who has a new
development. They bond quickly, which makes sense.
- Lady Deathstrike starts to make her move and
starts too soon. She didn’t count on M. She escapes because she’s not ready.
- M and Karima tell the informal X-Men team what’s
up. Storm asks M to hang around. More tension.
- Bling reveals to Jubilee what happened.
- Lady Deathstrike finds out something that
interests her FAR more and her new partner is revealed on the last page.
What I liked:
- I’m a fan of the new Lady Deathstrike already. Her
setup did justice to the name and to the characters. Her look is awesome. Her
being the same age as Jubilee also shows promise.
- M joining is perfect, both in terms of balancing
the departure of Kitty and Rogue, but also in the long-term tension with
Jubilee. They were rivals in Generation X and both had fallen in love with
Synch just before he was killed!
- Karima Sharpandar’s new “status quo” is
promising.
- M’s instant clicking with Karima makes sense
given what both of them had experienced.
- Surprised by M using telekinesis. I don’t think
that has been done since the introduction of her sisters back in the Phalanx
Covenant. It was definitely the first time this
M used it that I remember.
What I didn’t like:
- The art. The Dodsons generally do good work,
however the coloring and look were problematic in this issue. M, Karima, Lady
Deathstrike, Typhoid Mary, and even Psylocke could all be mistaken for each
other at different points in this book because they’re all women with long dark
hair with extremely similar skin tones.
- Jubilee acted too “teeny-boppery” overall. Fine…
She’s 18. She has a child. She is finished with high school. (Thank God, seeing
she’s been around since 1989.) I understand she’s young. She’s not that much younger than M or even Rachel!
There hardly seemed to be any difference in the maturity level between her and
the kids still in school. With the exception of that one scene where she’s
acting “big sis” to Bling, she’s really coming off “junior X-Man” when she’s
supposed to be their equal.
- I’m totally not feeling the Rachel vs. Storm
thing. Storm has been the leader of the X-Men for 30 years. I just don’t see
the justification for Rachel challenging her for leadership.
- Reiko hacked into the X-Men’s database and the
X-Men don’t have a clue? Rogue was right. Beast is slipping. That shit should have been sealed up tight.
Other thoughts:
- I’m really
hoping Bling isn’t crushing on Jubilee. I was really liking Jubilee being the “Big
Sis”/Mentor in previous issues, which is a capacity that none of the other
X-Men are filling with the teen group at all. Bling should definitely be Shogo’s
official baby-sitter. (Just say no to
Broo.)
- I’m interested to see why Ana chose to go this
particular route and why Wood chose her to be so young. Hot girl? Rich? Young? I
don’t know why, but I’m kind of hoping the new Lady Deathstrike is the
Sabertooth to M’s Wolverine.
- The racial and ethnic diversity on the team is striking.
Storm is African-American. (Before anyone corrects me, she was born in Harlem.
Look it up.) Psylocke is a British woman wearing a Japanese body. Jubilee is
Chinese-American. Karima Sharpandar is from India. Monet is Black French/Algerian.
Rachel is a Ginger from the Future. As noted before, it was at times difficult
to tell Karima, Monet, and Ana Cortes apart. It’s almost enough to make me
forget that the creative staff of
Marvel Comics is overwhelmingly White males.
- Marvel really needs to tell the artists to cut
it with the promotional artwork displaying Jubilee with her pyrotechnic powers
if they have no intention of ever bringing them back. Personally, I’d rather
they just give her mutant powers back.
Overall, I liked the book. It’s the only X-Book
I’m getting right now, though I may pick up Peter David’s rebooted X-Factor
when it comes out. Simply because it
isn't completely centered around the Wolverine/Cyclops circle *cough*, I'm really hoping that it succeeds as all these subplots are built up and developed.
All the best! I'm curious to hear what others think of the issue.
TKP
11/21/13
