GN Review -- X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga / Chris Claremont and John Byrne

In a lot of ways, this read was a long time coming.  I've read about the Dark Phoenix Saga for years, and I knew all about it: the seduction of Jean Grey, the Hellfire Club's involvement in her corruption, Phoenix's fall to malice and power and destruction, and Jean's final sacrifice so that her friends, her universe would live.  I've even read small segments of it: Jean holding in Scott's optic blasts so she could see his face, establishment of their psychic rapport, even a few shots of Dark Phoenix's debut and assault on her former teammates.

If this story proves anything, it's that knowing about a story and reading it are two entirely different things.

Collecting Uncanny X-Men #129-137, this arc does way more than I realized it did before finally cracking open the source material to read.  Sure, Jean Grey is manipulated, falls from grace, becomes a force for evil, and sacrifices herself during her final period of clarity; we all know that.  But a lot of other classic events occur during this story arc.

Kitty Pryde and Dazzler are introduced and foreshadowed as potential teammates.  Emma Frost is introduced as the White Queen, who will plague the X-Men in future storylines and eventually become one of their most prominent members.  And Wolverine finally throws down on the Hellfire Club by himself in a classic moment that has become the basis for his establishment as Marvel's badass-in-residence.

One other noteworthy feature about this story is the sheer density of the material.  It took me much longer to read this volume than it takes me to read most modern comics.  Chris Claremont packs every single panel with paragraphs of narration, exposition, and literary exploration as he weaves his epic tale of tragedy.  By comparison, most of today's comics seem to be written for an audience with a much lower attention span.  While I admit it could be a little exhausting to get through at times, I came through with a much deeper understanding and enjoyment of the story than I have with many.

The denouement of the story is what makes it particularly tragic, as the X-Men are kidnapped by the Shi'ar Empire for Dark Phoenix's crimes, and it is revealed that, though Professor X was successful in shutting down the Dark Phoenix, the possibility of her recurrence was all too real.  Jean, who was in control of herself at the time, knew maintaining that control for the rest of her life would be impossible, and engineered her own demise in the duel to the death between the X-Men and the Imperial Guard, regardless of the outcome and despite Cyclops's own plea with her to find another way.  Her explanation of how difficult it would be to keep the Dark Phoenix at bay is particularly moving and revealing, as we see that her absolute power would not only corrupt her absolutely, but also plague her for the rest of her life.

Artistically, I have to give props to John Byrne's work, and the many faces he so adeptly gave Jean as she switched from pure to decadent, from helpless to all-powerful, from angelic to demonic.  His depictions of the characters is widely considered classic, and while it looks less hyper-realistic than some of the art styles widely seen in comics today, it is nevertheless an excellent rendering that allows for a wide range of expressions and dynamics.  Emotion, action, and drama are all convincingly conveyed, enhancing the narrative immeasurably.

Overall, this classic storyline is a must-read for any serious comic book or X-Men fan.  It not only contains one of the X-Men's most heart-rending trials, but is well-told and well-drawn.  Highly recommended.

Posters from Comicpalooza

Tonight's post will be a short one due to unforeseen circumstances.

Here are some quick photos of the art I picked up at Comicpalooza last month.  I will be putting them up when I make a space for my video reviews space.

Artist Miguel Zamora did this poster, along
with the Nightwing and Batgirl to the left.

This Tentacle Kitty poster is a gift for my
girlfriend...

... but I had to get one for myself, too.

Very nice Wolverine done by Houston comic
creator Mark Nasso.

Reflections on Comicpalooza

As you can see from the pictorial posts from the last couple days, I was at Comicpalooza this last weekend, and had a wonderful time meeting the fans, creators, and professionals that came to Houston to show off our vibrant comics and pop culture scene.  Aside from taking a bunch of pictures of people in costume, I was also there in a professional capacity as a librarian, working the Houston Public Library booth on Friday and giving a presentation on libraries and their benefit to the comics industry with several co-workers.  Both experiences were fun, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

I bought a couple of art items from local vendors as well, as I'm very eager to support Houston- and Texas-based artists and creators in the comics industry.  Some of the vendors I patronized this year were:

• Tentacle Kitty, a monstrously cute creation from Houston, according to their website.  They had cute posters and other arty things on their table, featuring their mascot.  Check them out for ultra-cuteness!
• Mark Nasso, whose Land of the Rats I reviewed and enjoyed recently.  Mark creates his own comics here in Houston, and had an excellent Wolverine print that I had to have.
• Miguel Zamora, an artist based out of San Marcos.  His prints were excellent, and after my younger sister bought one of his Harley Quinns, I got a Nightwing/Batgirl and a Spider-Man from him.
• After Twilight, a comic published in Houston, set in Houston, about a dystopian future.  The protagonist is a librarian, so I can't wait to read it!
• Brass Comics, another local publisher, composed of Bruce Small and Zach Q.  Each creator had a comic I picked up, and can't wait to read and review.
• A few titles from CCP Comics, which is based in Austin.  I talked with the artists and creators for a bit, and was impressed with the quality of their products and happy that such a publisher was only a little ways away from Houston!

I bought wares from several other tables, but can't currently find contact information or cards for them.  Hopefully I can correct this soon.

I also spoke with some of the creators as an aspiring professional, particularly about gaining exposure for my work and finding an artist for it.  I've had lots of positive and challenging experiences working with artists on my comic, and it was good to have other creators give their perspective, experience, and advice on how to forge ahead.  I got lots of good advice and made a couple of prospective contacts among them, and hopefully they won't be too annoyed to hear from an aspiring comic script writer in the near future.  I hopefully at least made a good impression!

This was the first time I went to a con with even a semi-developed idea of what I wanted to get out of it.  I'm proud to say that I accomplished most of what I set out to do, and look forward to attending other cons in the future, as time, finances, and energy allow.  For now, thank you, Comicpalooza!  I enjoyed you this year, and look forward to 2013!

Comic Review -- Avengers vs. X-Men #4 / Jonathan Hickman, John Romita, Jr., Scott Hanna, and Laura Martin

I know I've been pretty critical of this series, but I must admit I like this cover.  It says, "Get Hope."  We've got the young lass on the run, the Phoenix getting nearer, and two teams full of heroes hot on her trail.  It sells the issue pretty well, and Jim Cheung's pencils here really make it look pretty.

Wolverine, who has done a hilariously admirable job of surviving in the Antarctic since Captain America marooned him there last issue, is picked up by Hope Summers, who tells him he's the only one she trusts to finish her off if she can't control the Phoenix--but, she stipulates, she deserves a chance to try.  Wolverine reluctantly agrees, and as the other teams fight each other while trying to track Hope down, he raids  the A.I.M. Worldworks and helps her secure a shuttle to the moon.  Once there, she is confronted by the Avengers and the X-Men, who threaten to start fighting over her fate once more, until Thor comes careening into their location.  He's been hit hard by the Phoenix Force--which has just appeared to all of them.

It's too late.  For better or worse, the Phoenix is on hand.  If it's gunning for Hope, it will probably get her.

Things finally got a lot more interesting in this issue.  I'm not sure if it's due to Jonathan Hickman's deft handling of the material or if there was an emergency editorial meeting that mandated things actually get more readable, but either way, this issue is a marked improvement over what's come so far.  Hope's seeking out of Wolverine for the reason she ostensibly ran away--that he was willing to kill her--was unexpected, and makes me a little more willing to give the girl a chance in the hero department.  Up until now, she's just been a badly written teen, full of snot and noise at all the wrong times; now, she's shown a real willingness to own up to how big all this Phoenix business is, and I do like that.

The beginning of this issue had me in stitches, for two reasons.  First, seeing that Wolverine killed a polar bear and used it as a gory overcoat was nothing short of hilarious.  And of course, Hope using beer cans as bread crumbs to lure Wolverine to her aircraft was a tension-breaking touch of genius that showed that Hope--along with Hickman--knows how to motivate the tough-talking mutant.  Brilliant.

The montage of fight scenes between the two teams as they work their way around the world in search of Hope felt a little obligatory and really did little to add to the story except remind you to BUY AVX VS FOR THE FULL STORY OF THESE FIGHTS.  While I intend to do so--the writing in the first one was better than the writing I'd seen in the first three issues of this main series--I think it's worth saying that this kind of blatant salesmanship is a little insulting to the reader.  If you want to make these fight scenes important to the main narrative, I'm all for them, but for fate's sake, MAKE THEM RELEVANT.

Finally, there's the artwork.  I don't think I've made any secret that I'm not fond of John Romita, Jr.'s artwork for something this expansive and wide-ranging, so I'll stop crowing as much about it for a while.  I will say there's been some moderate improvement in various scenes, particularly the ones where he's just focused on one or two characters per panel.  I really did like the partially shadowed Wolverine at the A.I.M. base after he's just gotten done slaughtering a bunch of bad guys.  His renditions of Hope are also pretty good in some places as well.  It's like when he's just got a little to concentrate on, he does decent.

Overall, I'd say this issue is worth picking up.  The writing is engaging, the artwork is a little more palatable, and things really appear to be coming to a head.  Highly recommended.

Comic Review -- Avengers vs. X-Men #3 / Ed Brubaker, John Romita, Jr., Scott Hanna, and Laura Martin

I really like the cover of this issue.  It's intense, personal, and vicious as Cap and Wolverine struggle for dominance.  Costumes are torn, sweat and what appears to be blood are flying, and both men are determined to beat the other.  The artwork itself is wonderful, and it really sells the idea that this issue will contain some violence.

Wolverine recovers from his ordeal with Hope and is told that Cyclops and the X-Men have surrendered.  While Cap and Iron Man argue about how to handle their new prisoners, Wolverine immediately recognizes that the X-Men are merely playing possum, and isn't able to prevent them from escaping by using Magik to teleport away.  Both teams set out to locate and retrieve Hope, but she's gone and found a way to scramble Cerebra's sensors into putting her at five different locations across the world, forcing them to split up.

While talking with her over the intercom from Wolverine's school, Wolverine detects some attitude from Rachel, who it turns out is feeding information to the X-Men.  Cap confronts Wolverine about his inability to follow orders and how he tried to kill Hope, and Wolverine responds that he knows how to deal with the Phoenix, and that Cap won't be able to save Hope from the Phoenix Force.  A fight breaks out between them, and Wolverine is expelled from their shuttle.  Calling Cap a blind old-fashioned fool, Wolverine pulls himself up and sets out after them, convinced that their fates are all up to him.

I will say, the writing in this issue has gotten a little better than what I saw in Round 2, but that's actually not saying much.  I think Ed Brubaker is doing what he can to ameliorate the poor direction of this story, which has clearly been written by committee.  Great swaths of action get glossed over, and some plot points are just flat-out ignored.  So the X-Men all surrendered, off the page?  Not impossible, I suppose, but given the amount of event skipping already portrayed in this series, I'd think the writers would want to keep bridging events on the page.  And why was the fight between Dr. Strange and Magik not shown?  If she can beat the Sorceror Supreme, I want to see how!

Also, if Emma was effectively de-psionicized in the last issue, why does she only regain her abilities after they've escaped from the Avengers?  If she actually had recovered her telepathy at that point, she could have just shut all the Avengers down psychically.  Why didn't she?  It just seems the logical effects of the storyline are discarded or ignored at the whims of the writers, no matter how ridiculous it looks.

I was happy, however, to see that Wolverine's conflict with Cap didn't directly involve him having a change of heart and deciding he wanted to fight on Scott's side now.  It came about for a perfectly plausible reason, though I am more than a little skeptical that Captain America is only now realizing how far Logan would go to defeat the Phoenix Force.  It really raises the question of just how much research Cap's done about the Phoenix Force and the X-Men's brush with it.  Any idiot should know that the X-Men have faced this thing several times, and are both more experienced and more vicious in dealing with it.

I was also glad they at least acknowledged the parallels to the Civil War in this issue, as they were becoming very obvious.  While Scott is not free of blame here--he was written like a crazy person in issue #1--Cap is increasingly showing his lack of preparation and realism in this arc.  He's brushed off the input of two X-Men experienced in dealing with the Phoenix; he was willing to imprison the X-Men for getting in his way, when there was technically no call to do that--I'm glad Iron Man was the one to call him on that; and he basically pulls a Spock on Wolverine when he won't start marching to his orders, ejecting him out the shuttle.

Art-wise... John Romita, Jr. is again drawing far too wide a scale for his work to come off as anything but rushed, blocky, and distracting.  Nuff said.

Overall, I'd say this is an improvement over the last issue, though between JRJR's art and the flawed storytelling, it still leaves a lot to be desired.  The fight between Wolverine and Cap is pretty cool, and while I'm not surprised to see the X-Men still have a few tricks up their sleeve, they didn't really do much this issue.  Recommended.

Game Review -- X-Men Legends / Activision

Back in 2004, when the Playstation 2 and the X-Box were slugging it out for dominance in the console gaming market, Activision put out one of the most epic comic book games of its time.  It was an action-RPG, featuring Marvel's X-Men characters, who were enjoying a massive upswing in popularity due to the success of two feature films. It ended up being a milestone, not just for the acclaim brought about by its own performance, but also because it was the start of a legacy, becoming the template for 3 sequel games.

I am, of course, referring to X-Men Legends.

Admittedly, it ended up being a few months before I got around to playing X-Men Legends.  The basic plot centers around the emergence of teenager Alison Crestmere as a mutant, one with the power to control and manipulate molten earth.  Fittingly, she eventually takes the codename Magma, but before she does, she become the target of an attempted kidnapping by Mystique and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.  The X-Men arrive on the scene and manage to stop them from taking her, and bring her back to the mansion to offer her a place at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.  As the X-Men try to figure out what Magneto wants with her, they engage in a series of adventures against a multitude of some of their most dangerous adversaries.

The action-RPG style of X-Men Legends combines the best of freestyle button-mashing, combos, and basic hack-and-slash fighting with the kind of layered, engaging character advancement you get from the best role-playing games.  At the heart of it all, you have a wide-ranging, dynamic story featuring an enormous cast of playable X-Men, their most memorable allies and enemies, and a plot that, while not the most complex in the world, leaves plenty of room for a sequel to follow--which, it totally did.  While you experience a lot of story through Magma's eyes and character, there is plenty of development that occurs among the main X-Men characters, including a few very nice flashback scenes that recall old comic book stories and show some of the retro looks the characters sported in earlier years.

There's also a high level of versatility incorporated into the game world and mechanics behind utilizing your characters.  Some puzzles can be solved in multiple ways, through use of force, thought, or clever use of mutant abilities.  A wide range of powers and abilities, both passive and active, are available to every character as they level up, and they're managed through a clever and intuitive scheme of button combinations that make good use of controller layout.  There are also combination moves that grant extra experience and damage, when you manage to combine one mutant ability with another against a foe in battle.

Leveling up your character is also an engaging process, with more than just their raw powers up for improvement.  With the utilization of gear and ability points, you can also upgrade their basic combat characteristics as well.  That means you can make them more resistant to damage with armor, increase their defense, attack, stamina, and HP stats with ability points, and upgrade their powers and abilities, often all in one go.  This is the game that came before you got the option of alternate costume skins for your character, so that element is missing, but gets addressed and taken care of in the sequel, Rise of Apocalypse.

In the area of play control, there's plenty to praise and a little to gripe about.  Overall, it's very intuitive, with directional, attack, and other mechanical necessities rendered smoothly.  I do have issues with how the camera will occasionally zip to a highly inconvenient angle, but this occurs fairly infrequently, and can usually be corrected with a quick moment on the directional stick.  By and large, the game handles extremely well.

The graphics are also awesome, with plenty of faithfully rendered cel shade animation for the characters, and believably destructible environments.  It's not the most advanced graphics work, but again, this was the first of its kind, and subsequent titles update based on the classic look of this game.  The voice work is stellar, with the most notable bit of casting going to Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, reprising his role from the hit movies.

Overall, this is a great game, and a wonderful beginning to the franchise that spawned X-Men Legends II: The Rise of Apocalypse, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, all good-to-excellent games in and of themselves.  It combines an engaging story with good graphics, dynamic action, excellent voice work, and a feel to the X-Men universe that is very genuine and well done.  Highly recommended.

Comic Review -- Avengers X-Sanction #4: Sundown / Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines and Morry Hollowell

Oh, jeez.  Let's get into the laundry list of issues that I have with this issue, and the mini-series.

What was the point of this cover?  It lies, even as it tells the truth.  Sure, Wolverine and Spider-Man "fight" Cable in this issue, but why are they wearing completely different costumes from the cover?  I'm also none too impressed with the artwork, particularly how Wolverine's claws are sticking out of Cable's knuckles with no blood, no torn or strewn metal, and no reaction from Cable to that.  Underwhelming.

We start with an arguably unnecessary flashback to how Spider-Man and Wolverine realize their comrades are missing, and go off to find them.  Then, back in the present, Wolverine tears into Cable, disarming him of his gun, which Hope takes and fires at Spider-Man.  He dodges, pulls the weapon away from her, and then gets blasted by an annoyed Cyclops, not to be seen for the rest of the conflict.

While Cable struggles with Wolverine, Blaquesmith directs Hope to disarm the bomb Cable has planted on the captured Avengers.  With little time left, she yanks the bomb wiring out, with no harm.  The Avengers come to, and Red Hulk burns out the techno-virus Cable porcupined him with in the previous issue.  Against his own techno-virus and them, Cable stands no chance, and is handily defeated as the virus kills him.  Cap agrees to let Cyclops take Cable to Utopia as long as Cable's technology and weapons remain with the Avengers.

Hope visits Cable in the infirmary, where the techno-virus starts to infect her, but she engulfs both herself and Cable in a vortex of phoenix-shaped flaming energy.  It burns out the virus completely, apparently resurrecting Cable, who is now appears to be free of the techno-virus.  Cyclops and Cable have a conversation on the astral plane sometime soon after, and Cyclops promises Cable he'll protect Hope from the Avengers, if and when they try to attack her.

While I will admit this is the best segment of the story, I'll also qualify it with the realization that it's not saying much for the whole story.  As a setup for the upcoming Avengers vs. X-Men storyline (AvX), it is a success: it sets up the coming conflict between the two groups and teases the fact that this all-out fight will be caused by the return of the Phoenix Force as it seeks out Hope.  But it really doesn't do much more than that, the rest of the story feeling all too much like filler material that gives Cable an excuse to fight the Avengers.  Because, you know... that'll sell comics.

It's not due to any failing of the story plot, which is actually very simple.  It's basically due to poor execution, a sense of glossing over some very important details (Cable's continued ability to keep on going and capture prime superheroes, even as he gets progressively worse; Red Hulk's ability to simply "burn out" the techno-virus), and the feeling that many of these characters, who have such history together, simply ignore or miss out some prime opportunities for characterization and development... even as they bash each other's brains out.  And don't even get me started on Spider-Man's brush-off in this issue.  There's no way he would have stayed out of the fight that long.

Art-wise, things look passable, even good in places.  The 2-page splash featuring Wolverine and Cable joining the battle looked really good, and I think Hope's moment of Phoenix scariness looked appropriately powerful and unsettling.  Scott's reaction to her was right on the money.  I did, however, think the floating heads shot of the Avengers as Hope huddled over Cable's body could have been done differently.

Overall, I'll damn this issue with faint praise, since it's the only one of the whole mini-series that deserves it.  It does try to flesh out Cable's reasons for doing what he does, but the flimsiness of his present actions ruin the narrative too thoroughly for it to be truly saved.  If you can be happy with pure superhero slugfest action, then you might like this series.  If you need a little substance, this issue is really the only one that I feel has any of it.  Recommended.

GN Review -- Wolverine & Black Cat: Claws / Joe Linsner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray

Beware, weekend redneck game hunters with more money than brains: if Kraven the Hunter offers to set you up with the opportunity to hunt Wolverine and Black Cat on a deserted island, chances are that something is not on the level.  You're very likely caught in a snare by the insane villain Arcade in some permutation of his Murderworld assassination parks.  If by some miracle you manage to survive that encounter, please don't expect a refund of your money, a ride back to civilization, or even the means to call for help.  You've clearly given up your rights to those thing by buying into this endeavor in the first place.

At least, that's the level of contempt I feel for the creation that has been given the title Wolverine & The Black Cat: Claws.

I won't say this was a difficult read, and I won't say it wasn't fun in a very few places, but this installment of lore between these two Marvel characters left an overall bad taste in my mouth.  So many poorly handled plot elements and visual decisions combined to give me an overall distasteful impression of a story that featured two heroes I actually really like.  I'd say it takes a lot to do that, but really, if you're willing to take any weakly plotted story, slap the poorly rendered skins and labels of a property on it, and call it riveting, creative, must-read material, then Linsner, Palmiotti and Gray really passed with flying colors and made it look effortless.

After a brief establishment of who these two are by interactions with their teammates or occasional allies, they are quickly captured and spirited away to an island, where they are hunted by the aforementioned mouth breathers from earlier.  Despite the many various booby traps and enhanced weapons of their assassins, the due of course prove too much for the amateurs hunting them, and once the fake Kraven is taken out of the picture, Wolverine quickly deduces who the real culprit is: Arcade, an amusement park-themed madman who's menaced the X-Men and other heroes on multiple occasions.

Before Wolverine and Black Cat mount a serious counterattack against him, they spend a good deal of time bickering and insulting one another as they try to escape, giving Arcade plenty of time to take his paramour, the White Rabbit, and flee with little risk.  They eventually catch up to them, capture them, and after regaling them with the story of how they got off Arcade's island, leave them in the Savage Land as payback for what he did to them.  Wolverine and Black Cat then go out on a date at a fancy restaurant, while Arcade pays for the fact that he called White Rabbit stupid as he slowly roasts over a spit, courtesy of the natives.

I think my biggest problem with this story--and there are many of those--is how Felicia and Logan are portrayed.  Simply put, Felicia's nowhere near as friendly as she normally is.  Don't get me wrong, she'll never win any awards for welcoming committee, but her witty banter has always had a limit on the cutting remarks.  She's always been fun, flirty, and a bit of a tease.  Here, the fun is basically taken out of her, she uses far too many mean-spirited insults, and her flirting comes off as far too superior.

Logan, on the other hand, is written like a teenage boy who hasn't yet learned how to properly communicate with others.  He's much worse at handling Black Cat's jibes than his age and experience would normally suggest (as well as how he normally handles similar situations), and instead of riposte any of her subtle gotcha flirtations, he simply grumps and stomps off like a petulant boy.  It's hard for me to escape the fact that Wolverine, much like Spider-Man--the two men who mainly interact with her--are simply juvenile, drooling morons who are clumsily and hopelessly obsessed with hitting on Felicia, and she's all too aware and high-handed about it.

I suppose all the zingers and insults between Logan and Felicia were the writers' attempt at romantically witty banter.  The truth is, it got really old, really fast.

Don't get me started on Kraven.  Or how easily Wolverine and Black Cat got taken.  Or what point White Rabbit served in the narrative.  Or why there had to be a flashback so Logan and Felicia could tell them how they escaped.  Just suffice it to say that there's plenty more about this story that I could have picked apart.

I'm not too impressed by the artwork, either.  Wolverine is drawn too thick, he has no nose, and basically looks like a hunchback.  Felicia's costume--where the hell did that come from?  The mask and cat ears in particular offend me, as she's never been particularly obsessed with looking like a cat to this extent.  I can understand wanting to take a more practical approach to her costume, but to simply slip it all in with no buildup or explanation really toys with the classic look of the heroine, which I found a bit insulting.

Overall, I can't really claim to have enjoyed this piece.  It had all the characters I liked--even Arcade and White Rabbit could have been intriguing--but it all felt to trite, too contrived, and simply lacking in interesting story elements.  While there's an occasional chuckle to be gleaned from the dialog, neither the overall story nor the art satisfy me.  Not recommended.

GN Review -- X-Men: Days of Future Past / Chris Claremont & John Byrne

I've read about this story all my life, or at least all of my life that I've been acquainted with the X-Men.  Any fan can't have gone long without hearing about this iconic narrative about an apocalyptic future in which our favorite mutants--and the rest of the world, it seems--are either dead or enslaved by Sentinels.  There have been stories spun off from this story.  The cartoons have tackled it in various interpretations.  So I'm very familiar with this story, and have been for years, but I had never had a chance to read the original, source material.

Until now.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is actually a collection of the run of Uncanny X-Men #138-143 from the early 1980s, so it encompasses more plots than just the two-issue "Days of Future Past" storyline.  But let's be honest: it's that particular story that's going to make comics readers buy, rent, check out or otherwise act to read this volume.  Still, there are other noteworthy events happening during this phase, from Kitty Pryde's recent arrival to the X-Men fold to Jean Grey's recent death, necessitating Cyclops's presumably brief departure from the team and Storm's replacement as team leader.  We also see appearances by Alpha Flight, Doctor Strange, and a vicious foe from Wolverine's past, the Wendigo.

Reading the stories from this era, it's easy to imagine reading comic books as an exercise for the brain that's very nearly as demanding as reading a prose novel.  Seriously, these stories are packed with text, to an extent that I virtually never see in today's comics.  The first story, in which Cyclops basically narrates the team's history up until Jean Grey's most recent death up to this point, is so text-heavy that it took me the better part of an hour to read (compared with Millar's The Ultimates, where I read the majority of six issues in about an hour).  In addition to viewing and analyzing the accompanying illustrations, it's arguable that reading these comics is a comparable--if not greater--exercise in reading comprehension than purely prose pieces of comparable length and subject matter.

Chris Claremont is a legendary name when it comes to the X-Men, and his stories are always memorable and remarkable.  With that said, "Days of Future Past" itself seemed a bit of a let-down when I finally got around to reading it.  I attribute this to no fault of Claremont, but to any possible number of factors, from the passage of time, the building up of expectations for this story over the years, and the fact that many interpretations and re-tellings of it have taken some of the most iconic moments and images and amplified them to a degree that the genesis story in its initial form simply wouldn't be designed to match.

It seemed tamer in tone and content than I'd been expecting, possibly due to the manner in which the narrative was conveyed over the two issues.  I mean, I understand that the future is dark, and that heroes have been killed, and that Kitty is going back to the X-Men on a desperate mission to change the future.  But then the narrative jumps to focus on the X-Men versus the Brotherhood, and it's hard to see it as much more than another superhuman slugfest, with presumably higher stakes.  Of course, I've also only read it once, and plan to read it again at a more leisurely pace, so I can soak in more of the overall story.

The artwork, of course, is amazing.  John Byrne is nearly as legendary as Claremont, and his pencils show you why during this run of issues.  The man's eye for detail, expression, and characterization shines in his line work, and he handles dramatic poses and pulse-pounding action scenes with equal aplomb.  In particular, his action shots of Colossus and Wolverine stand out as remarkably iconic representations of these men during a crucial time in the X-Men's history.

Overall, this was a delightful treat to the X-Men's sterling past.  If you're wanting to see some of the X-Men's classic storylines by a masterful dream team of creators, you should definitely check this volume out.  Highly recommended.

GN Review -- X-Force: Sex + Violence / Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost and Gabriele Dell'Otto

If there's a guilty pleasure I have in comics, it's gotta be this story.  It really doesn't offer up much more than its title states, but hey, at least it's honest.  And it's one hell of a fun ride.

I haven't really read X-Force since the days when its membership roster included Cable, Shatterstar and Boom-Boom (among others), and even back then I couldn't escape the vaguely nagging thought that this was a team that was superfluous.  Individually, some of them were cool, but collectively, they didn't even really feel like a team.  So when an X-Force title was announced after years of apparent slumber, I wasn't so enthused.  But if this is a representative sample of what the team is about today, then I can definitely see why this darker, grittier incarnation of the them is getting such rave reviews.

Sex + Violence starts with Wolverine finding out why Domino is suddenly in need of some serious healing from teammate Elixir, which leads to her explaining a job she worked with the Assassins Guild that ended up getting the ninjas of the Hand on their bad side.  Throw in some previously unmentioned slave girls and a stash of hundreds of millions in cash, Domino decided to double-cross her employers, who of course are now trying to kill her.  Wolverine takes her to square things away with the Guild, where they bicker, shed assassin blood, and rip each other's clothes off while they try to stay alive and remove the death sentence hanging over Domino's pretty little head.

One of the things that really grabs me about this story is the sheer amount of blood spilled from the get-go.  I'm not used to seeing this much carnage in a Marvel title, but when it's done this well, I don't mind in the slightest.  Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost may not have picked a particularly imaginative plot, but they executed it extremely well, bringing the two stars into the middle of a conflict involving two of Marvel's deadliest and, likely, bloodiest villain groups, and making full use of the setup.  Using Wolverine's claws and Domino's guns to maximum effect, they make sure they give every bit as good as they get, and it's extremely satisfying to watch.

I also am intrigued by how Domino has changed over the years.  She was on the original X-Force team, and as I recall seemed something of a mother figure.  That's clearly gone out the window by this point, and now that she's free of Cable and the kids, she really shines as a greedy, manipulative, but way too cute and cocky femme fatale.  It really works for her character, as does her "I'm on board with killing our enemies" attitude that, I assume, places her on this team.

I'm very much in love with the art in this story.  Gabriele Dell'Otto's painted work makes every page look like a poster book with words.  They bring all the blood, violence, and lust that permeates the narrative directly to the forefront in an immediate and urgent way that both shocks and titillates.  It kept me reading, and I won't deny I re-read this story a few times to just admire some of the illustrations.

Very suggestive in its premise, and delivering as much as possible on it without tipping into adults-only territory, Sex + Violence is a fun romp through the X-verse, pairing two very entertaining characters who work well together, despite all the bickering.  If you don't mind a bit of lust and blood in your comics diet, I strongly suggest you check it out.  Highly recommended.