Moon Knight: From the Dead Review (Unread 028)

I’m a huge fan of Warren Ellis. He’s undoubtedly one of the comic book greats. I love his writing for many reasons but I’d like to focus on just a few in this review because they tie into what made Moon Knight: From the Dead such a fantastic comic.

Warren Ellis is very skilled at revitalization old properties. He’s also good at taking familiar concepts or characters and giving them new life. There are other skilled creators from Ellis’s generation that are also good at this, but it doesn’t take away from his ability to do it and to do it well. A few examples of this would be the work he’s done with Doom 2099, Stormwatch and The Authority, and the work he’s done on the X-men franchise. He’s also had quite a bit of success doing this in Marvel’s Ultimate line of comics with titles such as the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, Iron Man, Ultimate Human, and Ultimate Fantastic Four.  

It’s no surprise then that he revitalizes Moon Knight in a subtle yet meaningful way. It seems so simple and simplicity is another characteristic of some (not all) of Ellis’s work. All he does it boil down Moon Knight to a few core elements, to his core essence. He doesn’t needlessly revise the characters origins or give him an unnecessary cast of secondary characters to support the main character. He doesn’t drag it out into a bloated decompressed character revamp 12 issue maxi series either. He focuses on a few ideas, the strongest ideas, and structures the story around that to heighten the impact of the character and the story. He doesn’t overuse his ideas nor does he throw in more ideas than is necessary or functional. He avoids diluting the narrative in exchange for potency. This leads us into the second reason why he is such a great writer.

The Avengers: Assault on Olympus Review (Unread 027)

My edition of The Avengers: Assault on Olympus is a hardcover from the Marvel Premiere Classic line of reprints. It’s super expensive but luckily I bought mine for 50% off. I have no idea why Marvel charges so much for reprints of old comics. It seems wrong somehow as well as counter intuitive. Why check out old comics when it’s cheaper to buy new ones? Then again, new Marvel comics aren’t cheap either. Either way, if you can find some of these old reprints for cheap, either in discount bins or 50% off shelves, grab ‘em. They’re almost always a treat. Even when the comics are bad it gives you an idea of what they were like back in the day. That’s always interesting. If you get lucky, you’ll end up buying a comic as good as this one. I’ve only ever read one comic by Roger Stern, Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment and that was an excellent story. Clearly I’ve been missing out the Stern goodness because Assault on Olympus was also pretty great.

All of the issues in this collection were written by Roger Stern with exception to issue# 280 which was written by Bob Harras. Likewise John Buscema and Tom Palmer illustrated all of the issues except for #280 which was drawn by Bob Hall and Kyle Baker. Christie Scheele coloured most of the stories and Bill Oakley did the bulk of the lettering. These are all familiar creator names for anybody who has read Marvel comics from the 1980s. This is a solid creative team and it shouldn’t have been surprising as to how good these issues were.

Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson volume 3 review (Unread 019)

I’m a fan of Marvel’s Visionaries series. It can still be hard to find old comics in affordable trades (though it’s easier now than it’s ever been) and the entire reason for being of the Visionaries line is to provide readers with a chance to discover classic runs by popular creators. While they tend to focus more on collecting runs by one particular writer, artists aren’t left completely in the dark as there are a small handful of volumes that are popular because of the artists. It’s sad to see that so many of these volumes are currently out of print but they can still be purchased easily enough at conventions or online. Regular readers will know that the latest Visionaries title I’ve been reading has been Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson volumes 1-3. It’s taken me a long time (9 months!) to read them, even though I’ve enjoyed every volume. That’s because my general reaction has been one of passive enjoyment. They’re good issues, certainly, and I like Simonson as s writer and as an artist, but there hasn’t really been anything to make me give the run overwhelming praise.

This volume is split into two stories. The first is the best and one of the better stories of the entire run. Issues #347-349 are written by Simonson with pencils by Arthur Adams, penciling assists (issues #348 and 349) by Gracine Tanaka, inks by Art Thibert and Al Milgrom, lettering by Bill Oakley, colouring by Steve Buccellato, and edited by Ralph Macchio.

Wolverine and the X-men vol. 8 review (Unread 006)

This is it. This is the volume of Wolverine and the X-men I was waiting for. Volume 8 collects Wolverine and the X-men Annual #1 and issues #38-42. This is the last volume of the series before it got rebooted and it’s the best volume of the series since the first two volumes. With this final volume the Jason Aaron and the artists demonstrate once again what the series is about. It’s also nice to be able to look at the series as a whole. After concluding my reading of Wolverine and the X-men it is clear to me that the series is yet another example of how the modern climate of superhero comics negatively affected the quality of this and other comics.

Wolverine and the X-men has been disrupted by event storylines on three occasions. Several issues where spent telling tie-in issues to Avengers vs. X-men, two issues completed wasted as part of the X-men: Battle of the Atom event, and finally the annual issue was linked to the events of Infinity. Thankfully for two of these events (Avengers vs. X-men and Infinity) Aaron was able to tell engaging stories despite editorial requirements to make his story work in tandem with the larger story of the Marvel Universe. The downside is that it completely undermines any momentum the series had built at the time the event storylines intruded.

Wolverine and the X-men vol. 7 review (Unread 005)

I’ve mentioned before how I really like Jason Aaron and that makes it all the more disappointing that the volume 7 of Wolverine and the X-men is probably the lowest point of the entire series. It’s a shame because for a while Wolverine and the X-men was the best X-men title at Marvel. With X-men: Schism in 2011 Aaron was spearheading the line and thanks in part to his efforts and the efforts of many other writers it was an exciting time to be reading X-men comics. That was true for almost a year. By the time the Avengers vs. X-men comic around, Wolverine and the X-men along with all the other X-men titles were pulled into a companywide event. The stories radically shifted focus but Aaron was still able to write interesting stories, despite the Marvel Universe’s new direction.

It wasn’t all bad though. Since the series written by Aaron wasn’t the only one affected it still remained the most enjoyable and consistent X-men comic. When I reviewed volumes 5 and 6, my enjoyment was based on the return to form following the interruptions Avengers fighting X-men and nobody being really satisfied with the event. The downside to those volumes is that you could easily sense that Aaron and his team of artist were working hard to rebuild the momentum the series had lost during the event. It’s great that they were doing so but it also made those volumes feel like they were laying the ground work and everybody was holding back a little. At the time I hypothesized that the series was building towards a big storyline which was meant to pay-off on all the subplots that were building since the first issue.

Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson volume 2 review (Unread 004)

When I read the first volume of Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson I went in with some pretty high expectations. I wasn’t quite expecting something as good as his legendary run on Thor but I was still hoping to find a comic that was really worthy of the Visionaries title it was given. I’ve read of few collections in Marvel’s Visionaries line and they’ve all fluctuated quite a bit in quality. For the curious at home I’ve read Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil (excellent stuff), Alan Davis’ more or less solo run on Excalibur (quite good but degrades in quality with each volume), and Peter David’s first run on X-Factor during the 90s (plays around with some neat ideas and is mostly memorable for one amazing issue, the rest is basically exactly what you would expect for 90s era X-men). In terms of quality I would place the first volume of Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson between Alan Davis on Excalibur and Peter David on X-Factor. It was good but nothing exceptionally noteworthy in terms of superhero comics. The second volume, much to my delight, is an improvement on the first.

It might help that I went into the second volume with lower expectations but the fact is Walter Simonson impressed me a little. He continues the story form the first volume not by giving you more, but by giving you less. The excess and decompression of the time bubble story was the cause of my disappointment with the first volume. With the second volume, Simonson tells two stories related to the Fantastic Four’s adventure in the time bubble but they’re shorter, more tightly focused stories that somehow also managed to be very fun and enjoyable without ever being juvenile. I would also argue that Simonson’s art is more interesting here than in the previous volume. All in all, volume 2 which collects Fantastic Four issues #342 to 346 suggests that Simonson’s run on Fantastic Four might just be worthy of the Visionaries title it received. I’ll have to read the third volume to in order to be certain.

Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson volume 1 review

Walter Simonson is one of the great writer/artists of the comics industry. His spectacular run on Thor during the 80s is loved by fans and critics alike. While I regret to say I haven’t read the entire run what I have read is nothing less than spectacular. I was able to collect three of the older trades which were out-of-print for years and I refuse to buy the one volume omnibus that was release because it’s incredibly impractical. Sure, Marvel has rereleased the five trade paperbacks but the colouring has been redone and I do not like the sample’s I’ve seen. I’m sure I’ll give in and buy the last two volumes eventually but that time isn’t now. When I encountered the three also-out-of-print Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson volumes I jumped at the opportunity to buy and read Simonson’s run on the title.

This volume, the first of three, collects issues #334-341 of Fantastic Four. Issues #334 and 335 are pencilled by Rick Buckley with Romeo Tanghal on ink, issue #336 is pencilled by Ron Lim with Mike DeCarlo on inks and the remaining issues #337-341 are pencilled and inked by Simonson who also wrote all of the issues in this collection. The book ends with an interview with Simonson circa 1989 which was originally published in Marvel Age #80.

The collection is made of two separate stories. Issues #334-336 begin with a story of everyday life at the Baxter building. Reed has been updating the security system and a slew of D-list villains, barely associated with the Fantastic Four in the pass (if at all), are coincidentally testing those system updates as they try to barge into the tower and cause a ruckus. The issue ends with the team having recently left the building and on route to for Washington where they will be appearing as witnesses to a senate hearing on a bill proposing superhuman registration. The first issue of his run is a fun introduction to the incarnation of the Fantastic Four team at that point. We’re reintroduced to all the main characters including Reed and Sue’s children and the Thing’s replacement on the team as he is currently depowered. The multiple fights with the D-list villains make for welcomed action breaks from the day-to-day activities of the heroes but it also serves a purpose in the larger three issues arc.

Things get kicked up a notch when they arrive at the senate hearing. The following couple of issues focus on the hearing itself where the Fantastic Four get regularly interrupted by relatively unknown Marvel supervillains. Again the arrival of the villains and the subsequent fights provide much needed humorous interludes to the political debate. That’s truly what Simonson gives us during the hearing issues, a debate. Reed Richards and his team provide arguments and some evidence against legislation that would force all superheroes to register with the American government. Comparisons are made with the mutant community and with firearm registration. Differentiations between teams such as the Fantastic Four who do not have a secret identity and publically share their identity are made with other teams and heroes who hide their identity for necessary reasons, not least of which is to protect their family and friends from being dragged into the dangerous and regularly lethal occupation of vigilantism and superheroics. While some of the arguments are simplistic they kind of have to be because this is still, after all, a comic book about a superhero family. The fact remains these are engaging issues that adequately reflect the more wholesome title of Fantastic Four as Marvel’s First Family of superheroes. The B-plot about the D-list villains also plays out effectively in the end but really, the best thing about their inclusion is preventing this storyline from taking itself too seriously.

I appreciate that Simonson kept the Fantastic Four’s first adventure in this volume grounded in the Marvel universe. Not only do we get plenty of guest-villains but Ms. Marvel makes appearance too. The art by Rick Buckley and Ron Lim with inks by Romeo Tanghal and Mike DeCarlo also kept us in a more realistic setting with their down-to-earth art. I’m not familiar with any of their work aside from Ron Lim but their style is classic 1980s art and it works very well. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing about Simonson’s art in the second story. He’s out of this world, as is the story taking place, and while I marvelled at it for the first two issues or so, it got rather tiring by the last few issues. Mostly because it’s nearly five complete issues of characters zipping through Time and Space on Reed Richard’s time sled and battling larger than life cosmic entities. It’s bad because the story is stretched out over too many issues. Moreover, the main story itself feels like something Simonson carried over from his time writing other Marvel series, particularly The Avengers. There are also so many guest characters that they all contribute to nullify the effect of the other guests stars. To name most of the big one, Iron Man, Thor, Galactus, the Black Celestial, Gladiator, Death’s Head and Kang the Conqueror all make appearances in this story. There are also a couple villains which had appeared in The Avengers during another storyline but are finishing up their own story in the pages of Fantastic Four.

The problem with the second story is that it’s a poor story that is nicely illustrated by a skilled artist. Writer-Simonson did a poor job but Artist-Simonson did a good job. The biggest problem is that this story feels very self-gratifying, in part because it feels like a continuation of stories began in different titles, and the result is a disappointing story for the reader. The whole thing would have been better if there was a few less guest stars and a couple issues where shaved off. The stakes get so ridiculously high so quickly and things just continued to get more ridiculous with each issue. There is so much pseudo-science psychobabble that it’s difficult to be invested in anything that’s happening. There are too many wild concepts at play and they’re battling with one another. To end, there are so many strong antagonists at play that the story can’t help but be resolved in a disappointing way. How can the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and Thor believable defeat all those villains?

Truly, the highlight of this collection is the first three issues. I’d like to think that the rest of Simonson’s run is better and I hope it is. He’s good at playing with big ideas but apparently a little restraint on his part is needed. I still look forward to the following two volumes but I admit it’s mostly for the art at this point but there is still hope that he’ll write an engaging story. This collection is an oddity as one story shows him as a skilled writer working with other artists and the other story shows him as a poor writer but a good artist. I’d rather read a comic by Simonson that is both well written and skilfully illustrated. Don’t disappoint me, volume 2.

X-Factor: The Complete Collection volume 1 review

X-Factor collects Madrox, a five issue mini-series and the first 12 issues of the third X-Factor series written by Peter David. I previously reviewed David’s run on the first X-Factor series during the early nineties and while there were some good ideas in that series, the highlight was really the character development. It’s unfortunate that there wasn’t a lot of it and the series was plagued by a lack of focus (crossovers with other titles including one major crossover between all the existing X-tittles at the time) and inconsistent art. It made for a run that had quite a bit of potential but ultimately it fell short on providing a good story or even serving as quality entertainment.

Lucky for us all, David got another shot at these characters. Though I’ve only read about two years’ worth of issues, I think it’s pretty safe to say that X-Factor is one of the best X-men comics to come out in the last ten years. The reason is pretty simple; the series doesn’t focus on telling Good versus Evil stories by way of superhero fights. Instead, David focuses on the day to day operations of Madrox Investigations in a post-House of M Marvel universe and how this affects the characters and their relationship to one another.

Madrox #1-5:

It’s my first time reading Madrox and while I wouldn’t say it’s essentially to read in order to understand and enjoy X-Factor, it provides plenty of additional information regarding the setup of the ongoing series and some of the characters that would round out the regular cast. The idea of Madrox is a simple one: what if a Madrox decided to open a private detective office for mutants? Heavily influenced by noir films, David creates a new chapter in Jamie Madrox’s life. Also known as the Multiple Man, Madrox was part of the government sanctioned X-Factor team of the 90s. That incarnation of X-Factor started under David’s guidance and continued after his departure from the title. After leaving the team, Madrox worked for one of Professor Xavier’s X-Corporation offices which was located in Paris. After acquiring a million dollars cheating on a televised game show and uses the money to open up XXX Investigations in the heart of Mutant Town in New York.

Madrox obviously focuses on the character of Madrox and while it also serves to introduce the concept of XXX Investigations, that’s mostly part of the setting and serves as a B-plot to occupy Guide “Strong Guy” Carosella and Rahne “Wolfsbane” Sinclair. David takes a rather bland X-men character and turns him into one of the most interesting characters in the franchise’s history in a mere five issues. He does so by exploring the possibilities of Madrox’s powers and how that changes Madrox and the world around him. For those who might not know it, Madrox has the power to create dupes (short for duplicates) of himself. A concussive force will create a dupe and they have their own personality and autonomy, apart from Madrox prime. Only Madrox prime can reabsorb the dupes and only this ability and the knowledge that he is Madrox prime and the dupes’ self-awareness of being dupes, keeps Madrox as the dominant version of himself. It’s a little complicated, I know, but David complicates things further and it actually improves the character.

Part of his plan to open up a private detective agency was to send out dozens and dozens of dupes around the world to learn various skills, from sports to achieving doctorate levels in various fields of study to becoming a monk. He does this because when he absorbs a dupe, he also absorbs all of the knowledge they acquired when roaming free. While there are obvious perks to sending out dupes and acquiring vast amounts of knowledge and new skills, there are also negative consequences. Madrox prime is starting to feel drawn out. He’s feeling confused and his “internal” dupes (for a lack of a better description) are starting to associate themselves with specific portions of his psyche and they become fully consumed by the part of his psyche that they represent.  In short, his brilliant plan is starting to back fire on him and there is no real way to recall his long range dupes because they’ve attained full autonomy. There’s also no telling when one of those dupes will show up again. It’s a great way to establish the random arrival of a dupe which David uses as a way to introduce new plot elements or to jump start character development. Because this comic is written by David, dupes are also used as way to inject humour in the comic.

The B-plot involving Guido, Rahne and one of the dupes is interesting in itself and it helps to round out the miniseries. It deals with one of the office’s first investigations. One of them is investigating the apparent murder of one of the dupes and Madrox takes care of that one on his own. The other involves mutant marital troubles. A woman asks them to confirm whether or not her husband is having an affair. It’s important to mention that her husband is paralyzed and she thinks he’s cheating with the aid of his astral projection. Weird, mutant related private detective comic? I’m sold.

X-Factor #1-12:
The first issue of X-Factor doesn’t rehash everything that happened during the miniseries but it does present a considerable amount of information regarding Madrox’s powers. David also writes a flashback detailing how Madrox won the money to buy the small apartment building in Mutant Town which now serves as the business location and living quarters for X-Factor Investigations. It’s a a very solid first issue because it simultaneously recaps the Madrox-centric elements from the miniseries, presents the current status of X-Factor Investigations and adds a characters and story elements that the story will focus on. Some of those elements include the problems Madrox is having with his powers, specifically in controlling his dupes, the team’s investigation of what caused M-Day, the arrival of Layla Miller (from the House of M miniseries) a girl who “know stuff”. Another element that becomes important to the series is the budding rivalry with Singularity Investigations, a large PI corporation.

I’m very impressed with just how much David juggles with this series. There is so much going on and most of it is related to characters, what they do, how events in the larger Marvel Universe are affecting them, and how they interact with each other. Perhaps unsurprisingly, because it’s written by Peter David, the series really focuses on characters and everything else stems from that. Aside from Madrox, which is just fascinating to read about, I’m also intrigued by the storytelling potential of Rictor. He lost his powers on M-Day and he’s struggling with that lost. Some days are better than others but his development is engaging. It doesn’t take much time for him to start being useful to the team but I have a feeling that’s because X-Factor Investigations is really dysfunctional at this this point in time and it doesn’t take much for Rictor to provide assistance to the team. There is so much going on that it’s easy to help out. Still, being surrounded by mutants that still have their powers will take its toll on him, even if he’s worked with all of them before.

The other character that really stands out is Layla Miller. She was essentially a plot devise in House of M which was written by Brian Michael Bendis. In David’s capable hands she’s growing into a great character. Like Madrox, her powers are problematic. She “knows things”, things from the past, the present and the future. She also knows about the M-Day incident and she’s actively trying to prevent X-Factor from learning the truth. David could make everything easy for Layla but he powers aren’t infallible. She can’t read Guido too well and when she tries to read Quicksilver she’s often wrong (probably due to his blood relation with the Scarlet Witch and it affects Layla’s ability to read him). She also lies and keeps secrets about the stuff she knows. She doesn’t just know about the future but also which future should happen. When she learns that a member of X-Factor will be severely beaten, beaten close to death, she doesn’t try and stop it because it’s part of the future that should happen. David’s not cryptic about it though, he brings it back a few issues later and explains Layla’s action in a way that feels satisfying, despite the fact that someone was severely beaten. I also like Layla because she and Guido bring a lot of humour to the series.

While Madrox (series) didn't have too much tha set it in a specific time period of Marvel continuity, X-Factor is very much a story that takes place in post-House of M. One of its main characters, Layla, is from the series and the setting, shortly after M-Day, is relevant to the story being told. Still, those elements do not make X-Factor feel dated but they do place the series, a least the beginning of the series, within a specific context of the Marvel shared universe. It’s s little crazy to contemplate that period in Marvel history. Everything was constantly in flux. From Avengers Disassembled, to Hostory and plot of use of M, followed by Decimation and everything leading up to Civil War. It was pretty exciting reading Marvel comics then but sometimes, issues felt gratuitous because their sole reason for existing was to add additional information to these larger event stories. David expertly avoids this with X-Factor. The focus is never on the specifics of the events comics. Instead, it focuses on the effects of those stories on the cast of X-Factor. They’re having their own stories and adventures but everything is informed by the goings-on of the larger Marvel Universe.

It's pretty annoying that a collection like this the credit information is incorrect. It's not all wrong of course, but there are enough mistakes to make it rather embarrassing for the collection editors. Errors include indication the Madrox mini-series is six issues long when it's only five issues long in at least two different places, indicating that the cover art for issues 4 and 5 are by Gabriele Dell'otto and coloured by Jose Villarrubia when you can clearly see Ryan Sook's signature right above Villarrubia's on the cover of issue #5. It makes the whole production look amateurish. I'm almost surprised the issues are all in the correct order of publication. That doesn’t affect the quality of the stories within, because it’s really good stuff. It’s a stellar example of how to write an X-men comic that isn’t focused on a superhero team taking care of battling supervillains or preventing a large scale crisis every other week. I like these fat paperbacks. It’s one of the best ways to enjoy reading an ongoing series and it helps when the issues are as good as these ones. 

The Avengers: The Kree-Skrull War

I’ve always been a big fan of the X-men. When it came to Marvel comics, the various X-men series is what I gravitated to but in recent months, I’ve developed a liking for old stories featuring the Avengers. I’ve read a considerable amount of Avengers stories written by Bendis in the last ten to fifteen years but there is just something about his writing that doesn’t work for me. A lot of it might have to do with the faux-realistic-dialogue and the overuse of banter. And even though I’m not particularly well-read when it comes to Avengers comics, his team never really felt like the Avengers.  The difficulty with exploring older comics, especially superhero comics where continuity is very fluid and often contradictory, it can be easy for a reader to get lost. Because of my familiarity with the modern Marvel Universe and many of its characters, I feel pretty comfortable just jumping into a series and reading. That being said, before reading The Avengers: The Kree-Skrull War, I haven’t read any previous Avengers comics by Roy Thomas and generally speaking, when it came to back issues of The Avengers, it’s pretty limited. Though I can tell you for sure that I don’t enjoy the earliest issues written by Stan Lee.

The Kree-Skrull War is pretty darn good. It reads like a mini-series within the pages of an ongoing series. There is a pretty clear structure, a pretty nice beginning with a clear middle and end to the story. Since it took place in the issues of an ongoing series, there are some threads that aren’t wrapped up, but they aren’t crucial parts of the story. Thomas built the story in layers. Each additional issue brought forth new ideas, more characters and Thomas meshed it all together into a larger narrative. Some of the elements are used extensively in a single issue and are only mentioned later on but it all contributes to the overarching story. I’m very disappointed that something called The Kree-Skrull War doesn’t actually have a war between the Kree and the Skrull in it. Instead, the Avengers, through their actions, prevent the war between both alien races. The later issues almost contain some pretty good superhero battles in space but it’s too little too late. The real joy in this story is the variety of different story elements that Thomas weaves into the narrative. The other highlight is the characters.

It’s fascinating to read about characters I’m familiar with in their previous characterizations. Some of these characters have radically changed throughout the years. Some of the changes are actually improvements. Thor’s terrible Shakespearean-light dialogue is a pain to read. Some do it better than others, but Thomas doesn’t have the knack for it. Other times you learn an interesting bit about a character’s history that you weren’t aware of before. I never knew Clint Barton, most often known as his alter ego, Hawkeye, spent some time in the guise of Goliath. I had always though that Hank Pym was the only person to take on that persona but it makes sense that another person could and did take on the identity of the size-changing hero because the powers are science based. Goliath can increase his size and mass using Pym particles.

It’s strange to read a comic in which Iron Man’s secret identity isn’t known by the public. Most of the Iron Man comics I’ve read his identity is public and everyone know Tony Stark is Iron Man. He’s actually a more interesting character because of that. Many superheroes have secret identities and we’ve had that played out. A significantly smaller portion of them have public identities (the Fantastic Four probably being the most famous). The thing that really annoyed me though is just how fake and just plain dumb Iron Man sounds when he’s explaining to people that he only knows how to destroy the trio of Mandroids because Tony Stark told him how to defeat them because he built them. It’s just silly and the scene is poorly written. More than that, Iron Man is constantly talking about Stark and it’s strange that the other characters don’t even seem to notice or care to know why he talks about Stark so much. T doesn’t work for me at all (at least not in this story).

Quicksilver is also pretty ridiculous at this time in Marvel history. He’s not nearly as interesting as he became during the nineties after Peter David’s great X-Factor story. He’s actually pretty lame in this comic. His fighting techniques completely baffle me. His go-to move consists of him running towards an opponent at top speed, rolling himself into a ball, and smashing into them. What the fuck is that? Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver’s sister and the only female Avenger at this time (Wasp wasn’t a part of the team during these issues but she does show up in the story), is more competent than her brother. She uses her hex powers rather effectively against their enemies and her opinion seems to be valued by the rest of the team but not as much as that of her male team members.

My favourite character though has to be Vision. He’s a great character! He’s very powerful but he’s also pensive. Despite being an android, he’s rather in-tune with his feelings and the budding romance between him and Scarlet Witch is quite nice. More than any other character, Vision embodies the spirit of the superhero team. He has genuine concern for the prosecution of Captain Marvel and he suffers a powerful blow because he defended his teammate. He’s very humane, focused on his work and quite the fighter. That last part means a lot because the Big Three, Captain America, Thor and Iron Man weren’t part of the regular roster at the beginning of the story. they step in later to disband the existing group and then decide to change their mind and support the team’s efforts. In their absence though, Vision is the key member and he continues to be important even after the Big Three have returned.

There is something undeniably beautiful and effective about comic book art when it’s done just right. Marvel has many comics in their back catalogue drawn by artists who got it right. For me, when I think of old comics, I think of Sal and John Buscema. I haven’t read tons of comics from this era, but when I think of 70s Marvel comics, the Buscema brothers always come to mind. Not everything they do is great but they’ve produced some fine comics and it’s hard to beat them. Still, for nearly four complete issues, Neal Adams gives them a run for their money. It’s very easy to see why issue #93 is considered a classic. I absolutely loved Ant-Man’s exploration inside Vision’s body. Adams knocked it out of the part in this storyline and it’s actually a bit sad when you compare his work here with some of his work from recent years. A great comics master has past his prime . . . which is just one more reason to check out this fine comic book story from the pages of The Avengers.

X-Factor Visionaries vol. 4 review

Peter David’s tenure as the writer of X-Factor was, in my opinion, the biggest waste of talent on an X-title during the nineties. David is a good writer and his strength are in good characterizations but he never really got a chance to tell his stories without interruptions. None of the three X-Factor Visionaries volumes have been great. David is having a difficult time finding his footing and hitting his stride on the title. This volume is essentially more of the same but some of the stories within are much worse and some are actually a bit better but volume 4 is the last one of this particular run and it’s probably for the best.

There was an X-Men crossover in the early nineties called X-cutioner’s Song. The event happened in the pages of four different X-Men comics during four months for a total of 12 issues. Three of those issues are collected in this volume. I’ve never read the whole event but if the X-Factor issues are any indication, X-cutioner’s Song is fucking crap. The volume begins with X-Factor’s event issues written by David with art by Jae Lee. I’m a fan of Lee’s artwork. He’s more stylized and formal than many other artists working in comics but based on his work here he’s had very similar beginnings as many other artists who worked nearly twenty years ago. It’s completely different than the kind of thing he would produce now or even ten years ago. It’s sad to say but it’s pretty typical of the kind of stuff you would find in Marvel comics from the early nineties. The characters have grotesquely exaggerated anatomy and their bodies have unnatural sharp corners. The crosshatchings and heavy inking makes for art that is pretty unpalatable. The garish colouring doesn’t help, either. To top it all off, David’s scripting is sub-par compared to the rest of the X-Factor issues. His heart is obviously not in it. For three months during the X-cutioner’s Song event, David was writing this comic because it was a job and not because he enjoyed writing them. It’s just awful stuff. I don’t even know why I’m still talking about it.

After the crossover issues, we finally get some really good X-Factor stories. My favourite is the psychiatrist issue. Val Cooper, government liaison for the team, has decided that all of the members of the team need to a have session with a psychiatrist after particularly difficult missions. In this case, Cooper considers the events of X-cutioner’s Song to qualify as a trying mission for the team. I like that David could take something so bad and make something good out of it. It’s also great to see just how quickly and accurately he explains the character and identifies their individual faults in the psychiatrist sessions. The only ones that don’t really work for me is Polaris and Rahne. Maybe it’s because I’m not very familiar with them as characters but something just doesn’t quite click. Guido’s session was awesome. I really enjoyed his origin story and I appreciated the explanation for his physical deformity. Quicksilver’s was another exemplary bit of storytelling and character development. That story will forever affect how I look at him.

The art also improved with the post-crossover stories. Joe Quesada takes care of the art and though it’s not my favourite kind of style nor is Quesada a favourite artist, it’s a definitive improvement following’s the Lee issues (truly, that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write). It’s with that particular issue that David hits his stride but it’s a short lived celebration since his run ended soon after. The characters and stories are mixing together nicely at this point

Peter David had an interesting run on X-Factor but there were too many inconsistencies in the stories being told, some artist fluctuations, and a terrible X-men crossover all contributed to destroy any momentum David and his collaborators were able to build on the title. Still, for those who can tolerate 90s X-Men comics, there are some good stories to be found in these collections but you’ll also have to deal with some of David’s worst comics (as far as I’ve read anyway). For those of you who want to avoid the drudgery, do yourself a favour and go diving in the long boxes for X-Factor #87. “X-Aminations” is really an excellent done-in-one story, worthy to be compared with some of the best that X-Men comics have to offer. It’s sad that this run never attained full steam but David got to write many of these characters when he helmed the relaunched X-Factor series back in 2005. It’s actually one of the best X-Men series since the early 2000s . . . but that’s another post. 

Miscellaneous Reviews 06: Secret Invasion: Black Panther and The Complete Multiple Warheads

Secret Invasion: Black Panther:

American superhero comic publishers have the annoying habit of regularly releasing “event comics”. Event comics are company-wide crossover story that is often months, if not years, in the making and it generally results in a temporary shift in the status quo. A less favourable description would be that it’s a cash grab on behalf of the publisher. My only concern regarding event comics is whether or not they’re any good. I have no real interest in memorizing the minutiae of superhero continuity but for those that care about such things, event comics are a big deal. Again, for me it’s just about good stories and unfortunately, event comics are wildly unpredictable when it comes to quality. There is one pretty constant rule though, the tie-in comics are generally terrible. But with every rule, there are exceptions and Secret Invasion: Black Panther is such an exception.

Written by Jason Aaron and with art by Jefte Palo, these three issues from the regular Black Panther ongoing series are better than main Secret Invasion story! It’s a great example of a successful tie-in story for a few reasons. First of all, it’s clearly a Secret Invasion title because it deals with the Skrull invasion head on as opposed to trying to pretend it’s not a tie-in comic (which is just an awful approach). You don’t need to be overly familiar with the characters or the series to be able to enjoy it. All I know about Black Panther is that he’s king of Wakanda, a technologically advanced African nation which is rich in a rare metal: vibranium. If you know who the Skrulls are, then you know everything you need to know in order to enjoy this comic. Even if you don’t know any of that the story will fill you in as it goes along. It’s surprisingly friendly to new readers despite how it’s a tie-in to a comic book event that was years in the making.

The story is pretty simple. A legion of Skrulls is sent to invade Wakanda and steal as much vibranium as they can. They are led by Commander K’vvvr, a veteran warrior, who is on his last mission before retirement. It’s little touches like that one that make this a good comic. We also get a nice sense of how strong a leader Black Panther. He also gets a few moments that demonstrate just how great a strategist he is. Simple, yes, but also very effective. The art by Palo is heavily inked and dark. The skies are a sickly green colour suggesting that the Skrulls are infectious and poisoning Wakanda. It might sound a bit strange that I’m giving so much praise to this little story but it’s because it’s a quality story amongst dozens of other tie-in stories that were just terrible. If you liked Secret Invasion you owe it to yourself to track down this little gem. With Secret Invasion: Black Panther Aaron and Palo prove that you can create a very good tie-in story and that you don’t have to limit yourself to rehashing in fuller detail events that already took place in the main series.

The Complete Multiple Warheads:

Chad Nevett once wrote that Multiple Warheads is a hang-out comic. That’s one of the better descriptions I’ve found for this comic. Written and drawn by Brandon Graham, Multiple Warheads is the story of a young organ smuggler and her genius mechanic werewolf boyfriend who are travelling in search of a new home and a new purpose in life. It’s also the story of Nura, a bounty hunter and her latest mission. In reality, it’s not about any of that. The comic is really about the science fiction and fantasy influenced alternative Russia. It’s about the world and it’s strange inhabitants more than anything else. Brandon Graham doesn’t really care about the plot. We get a beginning to the story of the young couple and the bounty hunter but it never ends. It sort of just wanders around, allowing Graham to blow out collective minds with his wild imagination and skilful artistic flourishes. The reason I think “hang-out comic” is an apt description is that it starts with the intent to do something but really the characters and the writer just bum around the world of the comic and it never really goes anywhere but you encounter some very interesting things along the way.

Those interesting things are made up primarily from pun-heavy dialogue and in-jokes by Graham and European comic influences art. There is a beautiful simplicity to Graham’s art but it also manages to be very detailed. It’s somewhat unexplainable. Graham doesn’t resort to abstraction and blocky shapes like many other skilful artists who seem to require half as many lines as other artists to convey twice as much beauty on the page. The image above kind of explains some of it. There is a lot of detail on the page but there are also a lot of open spaces. Look at the large beast that carries the city on its back. The beast itself is very simple but the city that rests on its back is lavishly illustrated. Look at the wrecked train, the smaller beasts with their riders and the cracked mountainside, the detail is all in the world which the characters inhabit.

Multiple Warheads isn’t a great story but it’s a unique and fascinating comic. It’s not nearly as good as Graham’s King City or his reboot of Rob Liefeld’s Prophet, but the aimless wonderings of his characters and the travelogue approach to world building have an endearing quality. The art is also pleasing to the eye but offers plenty of additional goodies for readers who wish to linger a while longer on an image before turning the page. There is a sense of unbridled joy to Multiple Warheads that reminded me of teenage slackers who don’t have a care in the world but are capable of doing extraordinary things, if only they had a little motivation. I’m actually quite surprised that Graham become an accomplished comics creator because his Multiple Warheads stories strongly suggest he’s also a slacker. How he manages to keep this aspect alive in his comics is a mystery to me but I’m glad he’s found a way to make it work because his comics are like nothing else I’ve ever read.

Miscellaneous reviews 02

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus volume 1

Jack Kirby is great. I don’t love everything he does but when it comes to dynamic art, he takes the cake. The Fourth World is probably his masterpiece and these handy omnibus volumes give me a chance to read it for the first time. Best of all, the whole thing is in chronological order which is a big deal for me as I find that’s the best way to read any series of books or comics. The Fourth World is a story told with fourth by monthly titles, Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen, New Gods, Mister Miracle and Forever People. Unfortunately, not all of the titles are as worthwhile as the others. Jimmy Olsen, despite being filled with excellent ideas, interesting settings and some oddball characters, just doesn’t work for me. It’s not very good.

Thankfully the rest of the titles are better, Mister Miracle is my favourite in this first volume. The journey from Scott Free to Mister Miracle is a joy to experience. I love every single escape act that happen in the first three issues. New Gods is also an excellent title. It’s Jack Kirby at his most mythic and grandiose. I don’t think these stories would work in any other medium and Kirby proves that time and time again by filling his comics with big ideas, page after page. It allows for a quick, and fascinating, read for those who like to read their comics that way. The real strength of these comics though is that the big ideas also coalesce into a larger narrative in a satisfying way. There is plenty here to make the more pensive readers stop and reflect at the wonders of the Fourth World.  

Secret Avengers: Run the Mission, Don’t get Seen, Save the World by Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis is one of the best writers when it comes to single issue stories. Particularly when it comes to writing single issue stories that also built a larger narrative while also providing the reader with interesting character interactions. He’s done several series that shy away from excessively long and decompressed multi-issue story arcs such as Fell, Global Frequency and Planetary are just a few examples. Even some of his longer series had shorter story arcs. The Authority and Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. are built on a three issues arc structure. Transmetropolitan was built on a combination of three issue arcs followed by three single issue stories. That particular series lasted for 60 issues and it’s the most representative of Ellis’s style and content out of his entire body of work.

With Secret Avengers: Run the Mission, Don’t get Seen, Save the World, Ellis tells stories similar in concept and execution of the stories in Global Frequency but with a superhero twist. The trade paperback contains six stories that mix together the super spy and science fiction genres together into an effective mix (super spy stories often come with a nice helping of science fiction anyway). Each issue is drawn by a different artist starting with Jamie McKelvie and continuing (in order) with Kev Walker, David Aja, Michael Lark, Alex Maleev and Stuart Immonen. It’s interesting to see how Ellis seems to write a story that will suit the artist he’s working with. The use of a different artist with each new issue makes this series seems even more like a superhero version of Global Frequency which is a good thing because it’s one of my favourite Warren Ellis series. I don’t think Secret Avengers is as good a collection because we’re so used to seeing these characters do extraordinary things that it’s difficult to put them in interesting and original situations and have the story begin and end in 22 pages. Ellis and the rotating team of artists do an excellent job telling engaging stories with overly familiar characters and that’s an impressive feat in the climate of today’s comic book industry. The fact that most of the stories deal with moral dilemmas of various kinds is just the icing on top of the cake, proving once again that Ellis, even while doing work-for-hire work on superhero titles, is a master of the genre.

Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment

I’ve never really been a big fan of Doctor Strange. Not because I dislike the character but because I’ve never really read one of his solo stories until Doctor Strange: The Oath. Before that I’ve only ever read stories with Doctor Strange in them as a guest star or as a supporting character. Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment is written by long time Doctor Strange writer, Roger Stern. It’s drawn by Mike Mignola and inked and coloured by Mark Badger. It’s also the best Doctor Strange story I’ve ever read (ok, I know this isn’t saying much considering the beginning of this paragraph). Once every year, Doctor Doom travels to hell and fights for his mother’s soul. Each year his battle ends in a stalemate. Triumph and Torment tells the story of the latest attempt by Doom to win back his mother’s soul. Doom, through an interesting series of events I won’t spoil here, is able to join forces with a reluctant Doctor Strange and once again challenges Mephisto in his domain.

Despite being more of a Doctor Doom story, Triumph and Torment is an excellent comic through and through. There is a theatricality to the comic that elevates it to the status of modern classic. Stern’s moving and often philosophical story also helps with this. The biggest highlight though is the artwork. I wish comics had art like that nowadays. The line work by Mike Mignola is very different to his work on Hellboy. I think the primary cause for the difference in art this early on in Mignola’s career is Mark Badger’s contribution as inker. The colouring, also by Badger, is simply beautiful. It adds so much depth to the comic that I doubt it would work as well without it. I love everything about this story. IT’s so rare to see a creative team firing on all cylinders while also having their individual contributions coalesce into a single work, a single vision.  

Despite being more of a Doctor Doom story, Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, is an excellent comic through and through. I’ve read this comic twice since its release and I plan on doing so again sometime soon because there is so much to love. It’s also convinced me to track down some more Doctor Strange comics. Luckily for me, this collection also includes three more Doctor Strange stories form the 1970s and 1980s which provide additional context to the main story after which this collection is named.

X-Factor: Visionaries Peter David volume 3 review

The third volume of ­X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David brings the focus back on the main members of the X-Factor team. It’s a big frustrating because I feel this is where the story should have picked up after the first volume. The crossover with The Incredible Hulk was a pretty major distraction even if it was a good story in itself. I enjoyed the third volume more than the second one but my enjoyment of it is hindered by the same problems I had with the previous volumes of this series.

The art inconsistencies didn’t really bother me this time around. That’s because the guest artists’ style matched up pretty closely to Larry Stroman’s art even if they did not quite reach he same level of abstraction in their line work. I don’t have much more to say about the art in these issues and that itself probably says a lot. They’re early nineties comics and it’s important to mention that because the inking and colouring have a pretty big impact on the final look of the comic. These issues look like nineties comics. The only exception would the Annual issue which is drawn by Darick Robertson and Joe Madureira. That issue looks sleeker and cleaner and it’s quite breath of fresh air but the annual they make up can best be summarized as a throwaway gag issue. It doesn’t advance the story or the characterization and the only thing it contributes to is a few laughs. Peter David has made significantly better jokes in the regular issues of X-Factor.

Thankfully the story moves along a big more in the rest of the volume. The X-Factor team deals with three mutant related issues. In one, a mutant is accused of murder and they investigate the allegations. In another story, they’re asked to protect a former member of a muscle for hire crew which offered protection to a drug cartel. The third story deals with mutant expatriates from Genosha who are travelling the seas searching for sanctuary but finding only rejection. Mutants are the Jews of the Marvel Universe it seems. All three of those stories could and for a few pages did, form the basis for interesting stories about homo sapiens and homo superior equality but they all fall short. One of the reasons of the stories do not work is that the members of X-factor always end up fighting numerous other mutants or super villains. The resolution to all these stories is a one or more superhero fights. It’s a disappointing story.

The other reason why the stories don’t seem to work is that they try to bring forward topics that would generally seem more serious in tone. Peter David is trying to pull away from the good guys fights bad guys story and steer the book into a more satisfying direction. He’s trying to offer the reader something different that also happens to have depth of story. As I mentioned, the first problem is the unnecessary requirement for superhero fisticuffs and it’s not even a particularly rewarding version of that. The second reason is that the tone of the book is in constant fluctuation form humorous to serious and thoughtful. David is unable to balance the humour and the more serious elements into a cohesive comic. This happens to be the volume which has the best humour in it. He’s done ag ood job on that fron band the best thing about the fight scenes is the banter. It’s problematic though when Havok and Val are having a serious discussion as to how to handle the mutant expatriate (or x-patriate) situation, they’Re also finding time to crack jokes.

It’s inconsistent but it has a lot of potential and it makes for a frustrating read because you keep thinking the story is going to lead to something good and worthy of thought and discussion but it often leads to bad jokes, cackling evil bad guys. The villains in this story are uninteresting and much like the stories in the Annual issue, they feel like throwaway characters that matter because of their role as villains as opposed to their importance as characters in a story. Three volumes in and it still feels like Peter David is trying to find his footing and it’s getting to be too late since he ultimately only wrote one more volume’s worth of X-Factor comics.   

Wolverine and the X-men vol. 5 & 6 review

The fifth volume of Wolverine and the X-men is a transitional volume. It’s not breaking new ground but it’s not retreading any of the previous stories. Since the very first issue Jason Aaron has shown an interest in doing things differently as far as X-men comics of the last ten years go. Because of that, the series has had some tonal shifts. The first two volumes set the tone. The tone of the third and fourth volumes was different due to the influence of a story outside of the title. Volume five seems to be establishing a new, revised, tone of the series.

Now that Jason Aaron and his rotating group of artists are done telling their obligatory Avengers vs. X-men crossover tie-on issues and the focus is back on the Jean Grey School. A new (but also old) teacher comes to the school and a few new students are introduced. Aaron is setting up his pieces on the board and is preparing for his next big storyline. It’s a big of a shame that all the momentum he and artists Chris Bachalo and Nick Bradshaw in the first ten or so issues has nearly all been wiped out by Avengers vs. X-men which was a pretty lame crossover. Aaron now has the opportunity to steer the book in ad different direction but that also means he has to rebuild some of the momentum he lost. That’s why this volume feels like he’s introducing characters and plot lines to be explored further in the issues yet to come.

It’s somewhat unfortunate that Aaron is focusing so much on what’s still to come. He’s not really paying attention to what came before. The new Hellfire Club is barely present and for the few scenes they do show up they’re also in a transitional phase. They’re planning and scheming how they’ll bring destruction and ruin to the Jean Grey School. The bulk of this volume is comprised of a three part story that, sadly, feels like a bad B-movie. The purpose of the story isn’t to be a good story on its own, instead it’s to place the characters in the right emotional setting for a story that is still on the way. I didn’t expect to find such a bland story on this title. I’m pretty disappointed that the quality in the stories didn’t improve after the distractions that were the Avengers vs. X-men stories. The first and last stories collected in the volume were a cut above the three part circus story but I’m hoping this will be the only disappointing volume in the series.

This title needs less grease paint . . .

The sixth volume is a distinct improvement on the fifth. It’s just a tad less enjoyable than the first two volumes. The issues in this volume are part of the new beginning for the title that the fifth volume was preparing for. The catch is that we’re not quite. This is a new beginning, that’s certain and Aaron’s writing seems more confident than it was in the last few issues. The new characters introduced in the previous stories get a chance to shine. Aaron’s taking the time to get to know the new characters and how they interact and what makes them tick. Even though the series has been filled with new characters, Aaron hasn’t taken the chance to focus on them completely and it’s nice to see him do that with this volume.

and more beards.

The story consists of Wolverine taking some of his more troublesome students as well as three new students to the Savage Land to teach them about survival. Of course, once they get there the whole things turns into a mess and despite Wolverine’s feelings of ineptitude, the students actually learn something. In the midst of all the chaotic superhero action, Aaron finds the time to continue planting seeds for his next big story. I thought for sure volume 6 was going to be the story he’s preparing for but it turns out it’s not. It’s still set up but man, it’s much more enjoyable set up than that weird circus story.

The last issue collected in this volume is pure teaser but it makes for an excellent single issue story. That’s what makes it work, actually. It’s a teaser in narrative form with some time travel mixed it. Very good stuff and it also contributes to the advancement of one of Aaron’s goals a writer for Marvel: giving every male character in the Marvel universe a beard. Wolverine and several Bamfs get a beard in this last story and Wolverine’s beard is full and white like he’s getting ready to move to the North Pole. I loved it.

Ramon Pérez did all of the pencil art for the sixth volume. His style is more cartoonish than previous artists who have worked on Wolverine and the X-men, even more so than Nick Bradshaw. Bradshaw’s art is cartoony but it has a slight stiffness to it. Pérez art is very fluid and expressive. I’d rather have read a comic with more art by Chris Bachalo or Nick Bradshaw but Pérez does a good job filling in. His style was well suited to the energetic action sequences of the Savage Land.

The best thing about volume 6 is that it got me excited about the next volume. Aaron is planning a big story, with issue #29 he’s telling the reader flat out that he’s planning a big story, but he’s not quite ready yet. In the meantime though, enjoy these good X-men stories. I’m sure he’s sorry about the circus story but it did serve its purpose (it help Aaron and Bradshaw pay the bills) and it really could have been worse. Thankfully, Aaron replaced clowns with dinosaurs for the follow up story. Hopefully the next storyline bring the focus back to the Jean Grey School because that’s where all the real crazy stuff happens. I’m looking forward to it.

X-Factor: Visionaries Peter David volume 2 review

The second volume of Peter David’s tenure on X-Factor is actually half The Incredible Hulk and half X-Factor. There’s as much jade giant as there is green haired Polaris. Both series are written by Peter David and the members of X-Factor do appear in all six issues, but it made for an inconsistent read. The first two issues in the collection are The Incredible Hulk #390-391, parts one and two of a three part story. Issue #76 of X-Factor takes place afterwards and that is followed by one more issues of The Incredible Hulk and the collection ends with issues #77 and 78 of X-Factor. There’s nothing wrong about that reading order other than the fact that the Hulk issues and the story it tells completely distract from the story and the momentum David was building in the first volume.

Other than the Hulk: The End trade paperback, these are the first issues of David’s popular run on The Incredible Hulk that I’ve ever read. My first reaction is that Dale Keown’s art is excellent. It’s so good and I might have to order the first Visionaries volume of David’s hulk run just to see more of Keown’s art. Keown’s sleek and muscular art contrast pretty heavily with Stroman’s thin lines and exaggerated anatomy. Seeing Guido and Hulk on the same page is startling. Even when drawn by Keown, Guido’s musculature is so bizarre it’s truly because a part of the character. Larry Stroman only draws two of the six issues collected here and although it’s a shame because I was just getting used to his art, it is nonetheless a welcome break. I’m warming up to his style but being so closely juxtaposed with Keown, it does leave something to be desired.

I wasn’t overly impressed with the Hulk issues. The story was somewhat uninteresting but it did provide plenty of opportunity for good superhero action. That’s what the highlight was, in fact. Watching Keown’s Hulk in action was a treat and David has a much better grasp of him and his supporting cast (Rick Jones!) that he has on the characters of X-Factor. It’s difficult to judge the quality of these three issues of The Incredible Hulk since I haven’t read any of the others by the same writer and artist but I have a feeling that just like the X-Factor issues aren’t as representative of the rest of the issues written by David, the same can be said for the three-part Hulk story.

There was some good character develop in X-Factor. David is starting to get a feel for the characters and his story is developing beyond “good guys beat up bad guys” kind of stories.

I can’t finish this review without talking about the humour. It’s better than in the first volume. I think that has to do with David getting to know the characters better, he’s had the time to get accustomed to the members of the government sanctioned team of mutants. Guido especially is shaping up into an interesting character. He’s developing a voice and it’s often pretty funny. Rahne also starts to go through some changes and it’s adding some nice depth to the comic. I really like the cast of X-Factor. They’re interesting because I do not know every little thing about them and they’re not A-list characters so I know there can be and will be some serious and pretty permanent changes to their personalities and character makeup.

It’s unfortunate that The Incredible Hulk gets in the way. It’s a decent story and there are some interesting moral questions raises by some of the characters. I’m glad it was collected somewhere but I’m not sure this was the best place. I honestly can’t think of a better way to have included it. It’s right where it should be but it distracts from the real focus here which should be the X-Factor team. At the very least, Dale Keown’s art helps make the Hulk a bit more welcome in an x-book.