X-Men comics, August 1 2012

In addition to reviewing the series from the beginning, I’ll also review the X-Men comics that come out each week. These will be much shorter, since there’s several at once.
First up, X-Factor #241. The issue opens with the alternate versions of Dormammu, Vanora and Deathlok that Jamie Madrox recently ran into on some cross-dimensional shenanigans. The elder Tryp shows up to tell them his plan, and then we go to X-Factor headquarters for various interactions.Jamie and Alex are still butting heads a little, but seem to be getting friendlier. Lorna tries to get Monet to talk to Theresa about their recent problems. Alex and Jamie go to Central Park to meet with Rahne, who turns out to be Vanora in Rahne’s form. Fighting happens, with Guido, Monet and Polaris coming to the rescue.

As always, it’s awesome. It’s funny, smart, and does a great job exploring the characters. Peter David can pack a lot of depth into a couple sentences. He’s continuing to build on past events, with Monet and Guido moping about their date, Theresa staring at a bottle of whiskey after her run-in with the Morrigan, and Longshot concerned about his recent coma. We also see a vicious streak from Lorna, and some of Guido’s soullessness. And David Kirk does a competent job on art, especially with Dormammu (who’s not impotent). His faces do tend to be a little amorphous, though. Still, PAD is always worth reading.

Next up, X-Men Vol 3 #33. Storm’s team finally tracks down David Michael Gray, the man responsible for the proto-mutants who’ve been running amok, and deal with him. The first half is them fighting more of his proto-mutants while Colossus finds him. The second half deals with everyone reflecting on what happened. The first half is stronger, to be honest. They do kick a whole lot of ass, with some awesome action panels, with them acting as a well-oiled unit.

When they start talking about how they feel about what happened, it feels a little forced. They talk about how important the discovery of the proto-mutants is, and continue to debate whether they should be telling anyone about it, but I don’t think Wood, throughout this arc, has truly shown how important it is. He does write the characters well, however. And David Lopez draws the hell out of this issue.

First X-Men, the Neal Adams/Christos Gage mini, also started today. Logan tracks down and finds some teenager who’s just discovering his mutant abilities, who then explodes. In the aftermath, Logan finds out the Feds have already arrived to take the dead kid away. He meets up with Sabretooth, and says the two of them need to find and rescue as many of the young mutants as they can. They find a girl who can create illusions so real Sabretooth could smell it, then go to Oxford to talk to a reluctant Xavier.

I’m a fan of Christos Gage, but the series is really Adams’s baby. He’s drawing it, and he’s co-writing it with Gage. And the writing’s pretty good. The art didn’t do much for me. Can’t say I like Adams’s style. Some weird faces, poses, things like that. And I was definitely unimpressed with the colours by Matthew Wilson. There is a gorgeous double-page spread, though. Overall, it’s a little better than I expected, but not much. It’s not going to be one of the books of the year, certainly.

Avengers vs X-Men #9 continues to be good. We get some hints that the Phoenix Five Four are starting to lose it. Emma flat-out tells Scott that she’s afraid of what she’ll do, Colossus tries to give whales creepy crab legs, and he and Illyana bicker. The Avengers stage a raid on the Limbo prison to rescue their teammates being held there, with the help of Storm and Xavier. Colossus and Illyana show up to stop them, and Spider-Man distracts them while everyone else escapes, taking a serious pounding in the process. As always, though, he never gives up, and even gets the pair to take each other out. Also, Black Panther has apparently annulled his marriage to Storm, which is sure to make X-Men fans weep with joy.

Jason Aaron writes this one, and as unimpressed as I’ve been with his writing on Wolverine and the X-Men, he does a good job here. He shows the Phoenix Four losing control, and he writes a really good Spider-Man. He’s got a good grasp on the character. And the art, as it has been throughout this series, is excellent. Adam Kubert does a great job, with the first page being especially good. He also does a flat-out terrifying Emma Frost in one panel. Hopefully, the event can avoid losing steam in its final quarter.

And finally, Avengers Academy #34. I know it’s not an X-Men book, but I love this series. And it does have X-23 in it, so shut up. Anyway, the Academy kids are all doing their own things since the school was closed down. They all get calls telling them to meet with Jeremy Briggs so he can show his good intentions by curing Mettle and Hazmat. He does it, and they share their first kiss as a couple, in a wonderful, heart-warming panel. Then Briggs reveals he plans to depower ever superpowered individual on the planet in order to end the constant, idiotic battle between them. Veil and Jocasta were unaware of this plan. Three people who did know, however, are Big Zero, Coat of Arms, and Enchantress, of the Young Masters (of Evil) from the Dark Reign: Young Avengers mini. So awesome seeing them again.

This is a fantastic issue. I’ve been loving this series since the start, and this is one of the best yet. The writing is great. The moments of the characters doing their own things are interesting (especially a panel of X-23 and Finesse in the Savage Land, surrounded by dinosaurs with robotic implants controlled by Brainchild – really funny). Then when they’re at Jeremy’s lab, everything seems to be going well. He seems totally sincere. And he is. But he’s also a sociopath. He’s got his goal: Do good in the world. And he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. But at the same time, he doesn’t care if anyone does get hurt.

And he raises a really interesting question: Does the superhero concept really work? That’s a question Marvel’s been asking for years, but Briggs makes the most compelling case yet that it doesn’t. Everything he says is totally reasonable. He’s not even saying superpowers are bad. He just thinks they should be a privilege that one has to earn. And maybe he’s right. Hell, he’s not even trying to conquer the world or be the one in charge of deciding who gets powers. He’s all for allowing votes on whether a person deserves them. It’s all eminently reasonable.

Tom Grummett does a Grummett-y job on the art. He’s not a great artist, but it’s decent. The Savage Land panel, and the kiss panel, were both stand-outs. And X-23 actually wears clothes, now, instead of running around in a bra.