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.

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. 

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. 

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.

X-Factor: Visionaries Peter David volume 1 review

Like all of Peter David’s other works that I’ve read, X-Factor has a lot of humour. I enjoy it for the most part but it does take over sometime and it can distract from the rest of what’s happening in the comic. Similarly to his Star Trek writing, the jokes occasionally go too far. Not too far in a sense of indecency, but in a way that feels unnecessary. You can only keep a joke going for so long at which point it loses some of its effect.

One of my issues with the first volume of Peter David’s tenure of X-Factor has to do with his main collaborator, artist Larry Stroman. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Stroman’s art. I’m pretty certain this is the first book I read where he’s on art duties and it didn’t completely agree with me. His characters look stiff and often times they also look squared off. His lines are thin, which isn’t a problem in itself, but there’s too many of them on the page. It fits into the style of 90s superhero art but that’s something I’m not really a fan of in general. It’s not all bad though. He uses exaggerated anatomy to pretty good effect, particularly on Guido (Strong Guy). I think that where Stroman’s art really excels is with the portrayal of Guido and Lorna “Polaris” Dane’s hair. He draws Guido large and muscular but in such a way that it clearly demonstrates his awkwardness. Guido is physically awkward because he’s so big and so strong. By drawing him in a way that makes him look somewhat deformed, he’s adding quite a bit of personality to the character. It’s physically impossible for anybody to be that big but, being a mutant, of course it’s possible for Guido. But it wouldn’t be a seamless growth and it’s to be exaggerated that his muscles would seriously alter his physical form. The art isn’t all good but it’s not all bad either. There is a lot of potential for a unique look and feel but it’s too unpolished and inconsistent to be qualified as really good in the context of superhero comics.

The same can be said for the writing. David tries to do a lot with six issues worth of pages. He packs a considerable amount of story in a 120 page story but parts of the comic feel bloated while others feel decompressed. The exposition is often done on pages that have a significant number of small panels that have more word balloons in them than is visually appealing. The action and humour scenes on the other hand feel decompressed. They take a lot of space and that shouldn’t be where the focus, especially because David is trying to tell an interesting story. He still accomplishes this but there are a lot of kinks to work out on the title.

I find that often first arcs on superhero comics are slow to start and uncertain in their quality or they’re phenomenal stories. In the case of phenomenal beginnings, many writers cannot keep the momentum they build. There can be multiple reasons for this but essentially it amounts to lack of skill or because they only had one or two really good stories to tell and they didn’t know when to quit. Peter David’s X-Factor falls into the first category of opening arcs. He has plenty of good ideas. One of them is the study of Jamie Madrox, Multiple Man and his powers and the other is to take a waning superhero title composed of A and B-list X-men and try to make a great comic by replacing the existing team with C-list heroes. It’s a smart move because everybody’s written about the most well-known X-men but the lesser known ones have more potential for characterization and interesting stories. Jamie Madrox is an excellent example of this.

X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David volume 1 is a good start. The writer and the artist are finding their footing and it’s apparent but it doesn’t get in the way of enjoying the parts of the comic that work well. You can tell that they’re trying to tell a story that isn’t your traditional good vs. evil comic and I appreciate that. Still, X-Factor is still clearly a superhero comic and there will always be good guys fighting bad guys and the creative team even struggles with that. One of the most boring parts of this volume was the villain. There are quite a few things that were more interesting that Mr. Sinister and his Nasty Boys. The forming of the team, the jokes and Jamie Madrox where all significantly more worthy of my attention that the X-men baddy, Sinister and his goons. This is a good start and I look forward to seeing where the title goes because it’s clear to me there is quite a bit of potential for a great comic within these pages. 

X-men: Longshot review

Ann Nocenti is to blame for the superhero excesses of the nineties. That might sound hyperbolic and it probably is but after reading Longshot it's nearly impossible to think that this six issues mini-series written by Nocenti and pencilled by Arthur Adams didn't play a contributing factor in the 90s superhero comics explosion of excess. 

I would argue that on the aesthetic side of things alone, Nocenti has a pretty clear influence. Consider the complete black leather-like clothing worn by Longshot. He also has a small assortment of pouches; a bag, a big knife and a bandoleer with dozens of knives in it (even though we only even see him use four at a time). He also has one eye that glows when he’s use his “luck” powers or is “reading” (some form of psychic ability) a person or an object. This sort of design can be found in many superhero books of the nineties. Even Longshot’s mullet was used in the nineties, most notably on Superman. Heck, there was even a female Longshot created in the nineties (yes, I’m talking about Domino).

Another thing that prophesises the nineties excess is Arthur Adams’s art. His art style fits right into the overly detailed; some would say unnecessarily detailed, Image style. He respects anatomy just as much as most of the Image co-founders and his lines are thin, so very thin, presumably to allow him to pack in more details into each panel. It’s interesting to point out that Whilce Portacio, one of the future co-founders of Image, inks all six issues of Longshot. I do not want to criticize Adams’s art too much because he has some very nice pages at the end of the book. His pencil art along with sketch drawings and thumbnails are collected at the back of my trade paperback edition. His full pencil renderings look completely different from the inked and coloured final product. It’s quite surprising. I would have enjoyed a black and white edition of Longshot. It’s unfortunate that the lazy colouring had such a negative impact on the final product. Overall the colouring was garish and lazy to such a degree that sometimes several characters which had been fully pencilled and inked were all coloured the same, effectively making them indistinguishable from the background.

Nocenti’s basic ideas, character outline and notes are also showcased in the supplementary material at the back of the trade. Just like Adams, Nocenti’s thoughts about the mini-series are just as, if not more, interesting than the finished product. She had a lot of ideas and I can’t help but feel that she had something to say about comics and the society of the 1980s. I say this based on her introduction and the supplementary material as well as what can be found in the six issue mini-series. I really don’t think she was trying to write a “kewl” comic but that’s what happened. Maybe she got carried away, maybe she didn’t her polish her story and maybe she simply doesn’t have the talent required to make something as strange as Longshot work. Still, quite a few big ideas make it into the comic. Things like media conglomerates, the importance of freewill, the ability to see things in a positive light and surmount seemingly impossible obstacles and the worship of mass media as a modern day religion. Some of her ideas, such as freewill, aren’t too subtle. In Nocenti’s physical description she mentions that Longshot’s spine is prominent and visible all the while Mojo, the main villain of the comic, is constantly telling anyone who will listen that he hates spines and anybody with a backbone.

 

It’s her execution that’s poor. Her dialogue is particularly bad. Not only do the characters talk in the most unnatural way, they can barely form cohesive thoughts. It’s as if Nocenti had so many things she wanted her characters to say she couldn’t focus it enough to effectively translate to the page into a recognizable way.

Is Longshot a good comic? Not quite, but it’s enjoyable. It’s a convoluted mess that doesn’t really work. The biggest problem is that Nocenti tries to do too much and ends up accomplishing very little. She and Adams try. They try so hard and you can’t really fault creators for that. Longshot is far from being a comic book masterpiece but it did try to do something new and it tried to do it in strange ways while also trying to convey interesting social messages. There’s so much going on in Longshot we might not even give it the time and thought it deserves. It’s not great but it’s an interesting and maybe even an important superhero work that predates the revolutionary comics of the late eighties by creators with more recognizable names. I think it’s important to talk about Longshot as a precursor to what took place in the decade that followed. Just don’t get me started on the “luck” powers. That’s just dumb.

Wolverine and the X-men vol. 3 & 4 review

One of the big problems with modern superhero comics is that titles are often interrupted, almost on an annual basis, with the latest crossover event. For the uninitiated, crossovers are the summer blockbusters of comic books. The stories are often the product of a company’s top writer, top artists, top colourist, top everything else and it’s usually a pretty addition to any of the contributor’s body of work. Crossovers often involve a company’s most famous and beloved characters fighting one other and to be quite honest, few of them even work as a sustained narrative and even less of those are any good. One exemplary exception to this is Final Crisis but that’s a blog post for another time. The biggest problem I have with crossovers is that they take far too much space for what they’re worth. For stories that are one dimensional, they sure find a way to seep into every other comic on the stands making those comics, even the very good ones, nothing but a dreary mess.

This is relevant to Jason Aaron’s tenure on Wolverine and the X-men because after the first 8 issues that introduced us to the school and the casts, Marvel editors deemed it necessary to give us ten tie-in issues to their Avengers vs. X-men crossover. That’s ridiculous! It’s even more ridiculous when you consider that the crossover itself is only twelve issues long. I’ve read Avengers vs. X-men and I can’t say it’s a comic I’d like to read more of if I didn’t have to so when it’s invading the very same comic that brought me so much joy, I start to worry.

Who's fighting who and for what
reason? Find out in another comic!

As expected the third and fourth volumes of Wolverine and the X-men wasn’t as good as the first two. Not only did I have to suffer somebody else’s story invading the great little comic Aaron’s given us, but it’s not even given to me in a coherent way. The crossover is mostly just one on one fights between a member of the Avengers and someone of the X-men. Most of the AVX pages in Wolverine and the X-men are composed of static images of different fight scenes. There’s nearly no narrative element other than the caption boxes Aaron inserts to try and give it some weight and meaning. What saves these issues is that Aaron keeps the story rolling by intercutting these mandatory AVX scenes with what’s happening at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. The momentum is cut by half but things are still happening. The fact remains that in order to fully understand and enjoy the AVX portions (if that’s even possible), you would have to read both titles concurrently or, at the very least, read AVX first.

Aaron and his team of artists actually make some worthwhile comics. The art is good all around but it’s not as great a quality as it was in the earlier volumes. Bachalo’s art looks rushed in some parts of volume 3 and Bradshaw doesn’t contribute any issues to volume 4. Jorge Molina steps in on art duties and he gets the job done. Hi style is nowhere as detailed or energetic as Bachalo or Bradshaw but the characters are all recognizable. I’m not a big fan of his style though and his characters often look stiff. It was nice to have at least one issue drawn by one of the regular artists on the title. Issue #17 is drawn by Mike Allred and that’s always a treat especially because the issue featured Doop, a character he co-created with Peter Milligan in the pages of X-force.

A very fun issue. Doop is such a stud. 

Despite the fact that Avengers vs. X-men got in the way, volumes 3 and 4 of Wolverine and the X-men are good comics. Some long time questions are answered (what does Doop do, exactly?) and Aaron gives us a good look at the challenges of being a teacher a school for mutants (quasi mental breakdowns and all). We also get some nice character development for the villains he introduced in X-men: Schism, the new Hellfire Club. Warbird, an alien bodyguard from the Shi’ar Empire, also gets to have a spotlight issue amidst the superhero fights scenes of AVX. I have to admit, the fact that Aaron is able to juggle his shared universe responsibilities by featuring bits of the storyline from AVX as well as continuing to write the most entertaining superhero books on the stand is an impressive feat. It’s too bad he had to write about AVX at all. Here’s hoping the next volume tightens up the focus on the Jean Grey school and captures the magic of the first eight issues. 

Random Thoughts on Wolverine and the X-men

W&Xm #1

-Hey, it’s Doop!

-Toad as the janitor, nice.

-The Brood Child from one of the post-Ellis Astonishing storylines; also nice.

-The Danger Room was incorporated in the whole school? That’s foreboding.

-“I’m a political prisoner!” Oh Quentin!

-Gladiator has a son?! He sent his son to attend Jean Grey Academy?! Oh Jason Aaron!!

-What’s with all the mini-Nightcrawlers?

-Giant teeth? Is that Krakoa?

-Man, this is a dense first issue (which is a darn good thing; first issues should always be oversized and packed). Yeah there some spreads but there is also at least one 12 panel page. Good job making it all look damn pretty, Bachalo.

W&Xm #2

-Nobody draws Iceman quite like Bachalo. He’s a mad genius. Random thought: Paul Pope should do an X-men book.

-Kilgore is the descendent of Frankenstein? Neat!

-Hank: “Oh dear, I do hope this wasn’t my doing. Did I leave a pot of Frankensteins on the stove?”

-Love and first sight for Idie and Broo? Yes. Jason Aaron! Jason Aaron! Jason Aaron!

-Who the hell calls Iceman a joke? The dude is an omega level mutant!

-Nooooo! No! No, I disprove of Iceman kissing Kitty! Nuh-uh!

-The girl in the new Hellfire Club is hilarious.

-A-ha! It totally is Krakoa. Well, Krakoa’s grandson.

-I like that Quentin has buttons on his jacket. I also like how it seems his t-shirt will have a new message on it every issue (or regularly).

W&Xm #3

-According to the credits (and the art) it seems Bachalo is having a difficult time keeping up to the schedule. No wonder considering the shit Aaron has him draw. I’m curious as to Bradshaw’s art next issue.

-Ha! “Professor Snikt”.

-Oh that two page spread is a keeper.

-I’m really enjoying the key use of red by Bachalo. Very Laura Martin yet more restrained and more effective.

-Poor Toad has to clean it all up.

-Lawsuit? Nice. You can’t forget that Wolverine is very old, which makes him wise and classy. Legal Lawsuit kind of classy.

-“Send more Sentinels”, haha.

W&Xm #4

-I don’t like Bradshaw’s Beast or his Kitty.

-Doop raking the lawn is awesome.

-The briefing scene demonstrates that Aaron is more than capable of writing the constantly-overstressed-and-underappreciated group of x-men.

-Bradshaw makes Wolverine to nice and cute looking. Make him gruff, unkempt, squat and king of ugly!

-“Wake me when the humans are DEAD”. Heart Quentin Quire.

-Genesis is totally the young apocalypse boy from Uncanny X-Force (recommended reading).

-Broo is charming.

-Sweet, Deathlok from Aaron’s Wolverine run (it’s a particular Dealthlok unit).

-Ouch. Aaron is giving us a future where Idie and Quentin are dating. Poor Broo, you never stood a chance, buddy.

-Why do I get the feeling Kitty is pregnant with a Brood baby?

W&Xm #5

-HA! Quentin Quire drawing and writing on whoever’s insides is hilarious.

-Bradshaw draws a very good Broo.

-Also, no wonder they’re burning through their funds. I don’t think shrinking a whole class of mutants is cheap.

-Why does Bradshaw draw Idie’s hair all straight? And the colorist is also doing a poor job. She looks Eurasian or something as opposed to a black teen.

-Ew, the stomach! Are they inside Toad? Poor guy.

-Bahahahaha, the kids are deciphering Doop’s dialogue.

-Haha, one of the Bamfs is running around with Wolverine’s mask on.

-People keep referencing Gambit yet we never see him. That’s fine by me!

-THE BROOOOOOOOOOOD!

-Doop is the security monitor! Of course! Translation: Hey, no Bamps allowed.

-Who’s the big grey guy?

W&Xm #6

-“Bah! Running is for horses and Homo Sapiens.”

-Lurg the Living Casino. Jason Aaron is crazy!

-I’m disappointed Bachalo isn’t on art duties for this one. I imagine he would draw some pretty darn cool aliens.

-I’m liking Kid Gladiator more and more each issue. “Kid Gladiator is lord of the heart!”

-Sweet defence system. Way to go Krakoa.

-Kid Gladiator brood? Oh no!

-If Kitty’s belly is huge and pregnant-like, shouldn’t the brood inside her be concentrated in one area and not all over the freakin’ place? Unless there is something special reserved in her belly that Aaron’s saving for a future issue? Just a little weird I think.

W&Xm #7

-Bradshaw has been doing good covers but I’m sad Bachalo does not do the covers for the interior art Bradshaw issues.

-Extreme Zoologist? Strange concept but I think I like it.

-To answer my question from last issue: the Egg Sack; gross.

-Oh wow, I didn’t even notice the Bamfs weren’t present last issue. Nice.

-“Anyone not willing to murder for the sake of science is no scientist at all.” Whoa, radical!

-PSYCHIC SHOTGUN!!

-Not Bamfs, eh? It was a masterstroke by Aaron for introducing these little buggers into the comic.

-Kid Gladiator’s body guard hitting on Bobby? Nice.

-I love that Aaron keeps Broo’s Broodness. He’s from a vicious race therefore he’s a vicious little bastard.

-Gniah! What the hell is going on in Kitty’s head?

-Gross Wolverine!

W&Xm #8

-Bachalo back on art! And because nobody draws him better, Sabertooth is also back!

-Man, Aaron is writing some pretty dense issues. It’s a good thing.

-Sabertooth attacking SWORD? He’s one mean bastard!

-Oh goodie, Idie’s hair is normal again.

-Where is Elixir? Is he on Utopia with Scott? Because he could probably heal Wolverine’s legs. Oh well, even if he is there’s the same problem as with Magneto.

-There are going to be repercussions for attacking the Living Casino.

-Aw Hank, you’re the sweetest.

W&Xm #9

-I hope Avengers VS X-men doesn’t ruin the momentum this series has been building.

-Taking bets on which planet the Phoenix is going to destroy is just one of those cool ideas. It’s difficult to have cool ideas about the Phoenix because it’s such a bad, bad storytelling device.

-I wish Wolverine’s legs had been messed up for longer. I’ve got a feeling AvX had something to do with that.

-Pretty cool that the school has a jungle room. I want a jungle room.

-Captain America gets his grade: B minus! :O

-Toad and Husk? I’m down for that X-couple.

-Oh hey, Rogue and Gambit are actually seen in this issue.

-The little to and fro between Beast and Wolverine clearly demonstrates they’re old chums.

-Sweet, Gladiator will be showing up in future issues.

W&Xm #10

-Avengers VS X-men tie-in. Snore. I know that Jason Aaron in pretty darn involved in the whole thing but it stinks of Marvel Architects by which I mean it stinks of Bendis. He’s the only architect I don’t like. Fraction and Hickman have both done better work elsewhere and Aaron is a superstar. Bendis? A big ol’ stinker!

-Doop has a choir? Nice.

-Why would Quentin cheat in his studies? He’s an effing genius. He doesn’t have to cheat.

-I like the character moments with Genesis and Warren. I also like that Iceman is so worried about Warren. It makes sense. They were both part of the original five and they’re the only two of the five at Jean Grey academy.

-Krakoa is all over the place man. I like how he’s got an eye ball popping up in the rock garden.

"No Bamfs allowed."

-Summers is a big jerk even if he’s an optimistic jerk. Well, optimistic about the phoenix force anyway.

-It bothers me quite a bit that he’s arguing that Wolverine can and should primarily be and “x-man”. It’s frustrating that he’s arguing that people as a whole, but Wolverine specifically in this context, should or do have one main “identity factor”. Wolverine can be many things all at the same time: avenger, x-man, friend, father, without them being prioritize in any way other that what Wolverine himself dictates. Do you get what I’m trying to say? I don’t think I’ve explained it very well.

-Kitty Pryde saying how she wants to carve off earrings from Emma is funny.

-Quentin is so smooth with the ladies.

-That’s the difference between Scott and Logan. Scott is a bit of a bully and Logan accepts the decision of this teaching staff, and friends, to help Scott out. He understands that sometimes you’ve got to do what feels right.

-Idie asking Wolverine not to kill Hope hits hard. He’s probably going to have to do just that. Incidentally, if you haven’t read Kieron Gillen’s Generation Hope issues you should go do that. They’re pretty good.

-I love that the Death Commandos arrive (they were sent out last issues). It’s logical that something like the Phoenix entity would catch the attention of more than just the people of Earth. It always seemed weird to me that the Phoenix was at the base of the AvsX crossover. What else could it have been though? The last time they were in conflict was with Wanda during the whole Disassembled and House of M stuff. Whatever, Aaron’s issues will most likely be enjoyable.

Wolverine and the X-men vol. 1 & 2 review

Bachalo and Bradshaw draw some pretty
great covers for the first few issues.

Wolverine and the X-men is a great example of superhero comics done right. More importantly (to me anyway), it’s a great example of an X-men comic done right. There have been many, many different takes on the X-men and there have been quite a handful of very positively reviewed and fondly remembered creative runs on various x-titles. For every New X-men or Astonishing X-men, there has been an X-men Forever or Uncanny X-men by Chuck Austen. What makes Jason Aaron’s first eight issues of Wolverine and the X-men so good is the quantity of story and the surprising depth for what seems to be a humour and action comic on the surface.

Two of the things that make these issues memorable are two of the now often ignored elements of X-men comics: 1) A school for mutants, 2) being a mutant means something and 3) uses the x-men’s expansive history to his advantage but also contributes embellishments to it. Mutants are often confused by writers and fans as being a type of superhero. Although that is often the case, mutants are forever separated from the Avengers, Spider-man and the Fantastic Four because being a mutant makes them different. For Aaron, a mutant is an allegorical device for the awkward years of teenagers. By writing a comic about mutants, Aaron is actually writing a comic about learning to get to know yourself and others. Many of these characters are put in situations where they have to reflect on the type of person they are be it Broo who discovers his dark and violent self or Kitty Pryde who realizes she’s afraid of growing up or maybe even Wolverine who leads a not so secret double life as Headmaster by day and mutant assassin by night or, yet another example of Genesis having to (eventually) deal with the past of the mutant he was cloned from.

There's so much going on inside this
issue, Bradshaw haw to draw a
split screen cover! How great is that?

Aaron also has a healthy respect and admiration for some of the better X-men comics of yesteryear. He regularly references or alludes to past stories and characters arcs but he does so without copying them. Sure, he creates a new school for mutants but his story is contextualized within the x-universe and the characters are as aware of the forthcoming destruction of the school grounds as the readers are. Aaron also finds a way to capture the frenetic day to day life of a school for teenaged mutants run by mutant superheroes. It’s craaaazy! Interdimentional demons teleporting all over and creating mayhem, supervillains attacking the school, young mutants taking out their angst and frustrations on the world by using their powers, and so much more.

I’m having a difficult time focusing my thoughts on this comic because there’s just so much about it that I think is great! Like the art. I’m a fan of Chris Bachalo’s art on X-men titles in general. He brings a nice chaotic beauty to x-characters and it suits X-men comics more than quite a few other artists. His art on the three opening issues match the writing so well it’s nearly impossible to think of a better collaboration between artist and writer. Then comes issues #4 to 6 where Nick Bradshaw takes over on pencils. His style is radically different from Bachalo’s but he brings a detail heavy quality that somehow contributes to the frenetic tone established in the first three issues. His lines are clearly defined and there’s cleanliness to it all that’s absent from Bachalo’s art but it works. I found myself liking one artist over the other with each issue I read until I realized, it doesn’t matter. They’re both good and they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, Bachalo exchanges clarity for energy but that doesn’t mean his action scenes are unreadable. It’s all there for us to see but compared to Bradshaw, things do look a little messy in Bachalo’s issues.

I’m not sure how to conclude my review. I just feel like gushing. There’s so much about Wolverine and the X-men volume 1 and 2 that I liked and quite a bit that I loved. I got so excited while reading the comic. It’s just great superhero comics. It’s so fun, it has plenty of action and it’s also very, very funny. Aaron demonstrated he can right funny comics during the several years he wrote solo Wolverine series and mini-series but he takes it to a new level in Wolverine and the X-men. More important than anything else, this comic has heart. Aaron and the rest of the creative team pack a lot of story, character development and more into these 20 pages issues. It’s a comic that I liked while reading but it’s also a comic that I could think about and enjoy after the fact. My one complaint is that the writer and artists don’t give the comic a lot of room to breathe. Ah, who am I kidding, I’ll take a breath once I’m done rereading these issues.

Krakoa, Kid Gladiator, Warbird, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Husk, Quentin Quire, Idie, Broo, Rachel, Beast, Doop, Wolverine and Toad. What a great cast! Notice how many of these characters were introduced by Aaron in the first three issues.