Comic Review -- X-Men #28 / Victor Gischler, Will Conrad, Guru eFX

While I'm these days more than a little sick of Skrull covers, I will say that this is one gorgeous cover.  Of course, I'm also probably a little biased in favor of just about anything Will Conrad does.  The dark tones and foreboding leers of the Skrullified X-Men makes even the presumably light-hearted presence of Spider-Man take on an air of intensity and desperation.  Very well done.

We start off with Pixie teleporting a man into the Baxter Building to steal something from the Fantastic Four, because of a bluff he told her that they have Franklin Richards held hostage.  The Fantastic Four quickly subdue him, and the X-Men show up to take Pixie and the Skrull away, after pointing out that the Skrulls are accomplished shapeshifters and never had Franklin.  They go to Horizon Labs, looking for something in their equipment, when Pixie figures out that the "X-Men" she's with are the same Skrulls who sent her to the Baxter Building in the first place.

After they subdue and gag Pixie, we find out that these Skrulls are soldiers from the Secret Invasion, trapped behind enemy lines after the war was over.  They're looking for a way home, and are raiding high-tech facilities looking for a captured Skrull ship so they can do so.  Horizon Labs, however, is the second home and workplace of Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, and he happens to see what's going on and surprises the thieves.  The fight moves to the sidewalk outside of Horizon, where one of the Skrulls activates their ship--a War-Bringer, a ship of destruction.  As the Fantastic Four and X-Men arrive on the scene, Pixie, Spider-Man, and three of the Skrulls look on in horror as a drone marches out of the ship, intent on destruction.

This is my first real exposure to the character of Pixie, and since we've just seen Jubilee's departure from the X-Men for at least a little while, it's hard to avoid the feeling that the writers just can't bear the thought of not having a young inexperienced team member for the others to watch over.  Pixie certainly fills that role in this story, berating herself for making a series of presumably rookie mistakes in front of her "teammates" and several other superheroes.  Still, it's understandable that she'd be deceived by experienced Skrull soldiers desperate to get home--deception is what they're good at, after all.

I also like the use of guest stars in this issue, as it fits well with the plot.  The Baxter Building and Horizon Labs are logical-sounding locations to house Skrull equipment, and make the FF and Spidey's appearances credible and relevant.  Being a Spider-Man fan, I wish he'd been used a little more, but it looks like he'll get more mileage in the next part of the story.  Everyone's characterization is spot-on when given the opportunity, from Spidey's quips to Reed and Susan and Ben's dialog and reactions.

Art-wise, I can't help but enjoy Will Conrad's work.  It's realistic and distinctive, and he seems to instinctively know the most recognizable look for each character and delivers it in a consistent, beautiful package with each illustration.  I remember once saying that if I could draw like anyone, it'd be Jim Lee.  I'd say if anyone else could share the stage with him, it would be Mr. Conrad.  Everyone and everything in this issue just looks fantastic.

Overall, I'd say this makes for an interesting start to a multi-part storyline that has plenty of promise.  The setup is amusing and intriguing, the art is fantastic, and the resolution is one I actually care about and want to see in the next issue.  Highly recommended.

Comic Review -- New Avengers #24 / Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato, Will Conrad, Rain Beredo

Okay, the event is here, I get it.  Now please get rid of the banner.  Is this what I get to look forward to with all the AvX tie-ins?

I like the composition of this cover, with Wolverine in the middle of a fighting Cyclops and Captain America.  Where he's going to ultimately fall remains in question, and is of keen interest to many readers of this event.  Cyke's head seems a little over-large, even with the visor, but overall the illustration flows pretty nicely and keeps things intense and interesting.  Not bad.  My only complaint is that, given the story inside, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones should have been featured on it.

In the lead-up to the events portrayed in AvX #1, there are problems aplenty at Avengers Mansion.  Protesters outside seem to have issues with the heroes' very existence, while Luke Cage is panic-stricken and upset that Jessica Jones has taken their baby and disappeared in response to a threat Norman Osborne has made against their child.  Jessica re-emerges, much to Cage's relief, but tells him that she can't live such a dangerous lifestyle, and that their child doesn't belong at the Avengers Mansion.  Cage is torn between his desire to have a family and to be an Avenger, and when Captain America assembles the team to tell them about the impending approach of the Phoenix Force, he must make a decision.  Electing to stand with his Avengers teammates in the face of the current crisis, he kisses his daughter good-bye, and Jessica leaves the mansion.  As the Avengers jump from the Helicarrier to engage the X-Men in the present, the focus is on Cage, who has sacrificed his ability to be with his family to fight against this crisis.

I know that there's no real new action that really advances the AvX plot, but I actually really liked this facet of the story.  What we have is a relatively minor crisis--Luke and Jessica's domestic dilemma--juxtaposed against the bigger, more urgent crisis of the Phoenix Force coming to Earth.  It's a poignant reminder that there's always more to a story or conflict than simply the immediate, bigger crisis, and it lends depth to Cage as he chooses superheroism over family life.

It's obviously a painful sacrifice, and makes you wonder what other crises or situations are going on in everyone else's private lives, be they Avengers or X-Men, as they participate in this macro-crisis.  It also makes you wonder whether or not Cage's little speech about putting your own house in order before trying to solve the problems of the world applies to his current situation.  It was a good speech, and a very relevant outlook to the situation with the protesters, but it seemed to have to give way to larger concerns. The current situation would seem to demonstrate the opposite, that there are some macro-crises that simply must be addressed before the smaller ones can be fixed.

Artistically, everything looks excellent.  The intimate heart-to-heart scenes between Luke and Jessica convey a lot of emotion from each character, and the larger scenes with the other heroes look spot-on.  The resignation and pain on Cage's face as he kisses his daughter goodbye are plain, as is the steadfast resolve he wears as he hurtles down to Utopia to help take Cyclops and the X-Men down.  Wonderful work here.

Overall, this isn't a necessary part to the larger story, but I think it will reward those who read it, giving a little more depth to what could easily be described as a season-long cage-fest match-up between the teams.  I'm eager to see where more of the larger story goes, of course, but I think this is a good piece that still falls in the "round 1" part of the story.  Highly recommended.

Comic Review -- X-Men #24-26 / Victor Gischler, Jorge Molina, Guru eFX, et al.

X-Men #24
I like the cover for this issue, especially since this is my first direct exposure to Jubilee-as-vampire.  It clearly shows that she's still struggling with the situation, and gives a good insight to the story contained within.  It's also a Will Conrad cover, which is a bonus in my book.

Jubilee is in the care of the Forgiven, headed by vampire Raizo Kodo, as she tries to overcome her hunger for human blood, which she apparently craves without regular injections of Wolverine's blood.  She's having a tough time of it, refusing any of the animal blood they offer her, and stubbornly repeating her desire for human blood over Kodo's suggestions.  She finally breaks free from them, and is about to feed on an unsuspecting villager, when she sees her lack of reflection in a mirror, which sends her back to Kodo, begging for more help.  On the final page, we see her teammates on the X-Men have been searching for her, lair by lair, and won't give up until they find her.

I've seen Jubilee as a stubborn teenager before, so while this experience is technically nothing new, it's a little disconcerting to see her hardheadedness in action concerning the desire to drink blood--specifically human blood.  She uses a myriad of techniques to make her point: shattering glasses, throwing blood in the face of her captors, even seduction, before finally getting the drop on one of the Forgiven and trying to escape.  Her realization that her humanity is really leaving her--driven home by her inability to see her reflection as she's about to feed on a human--feels genuine, and her turnaround points up how vulnerable she feels in her new condition.  Writing-wise, this felt like a good, solid story.

Artistically, I enjoyed Barrionuevo's pencils.  The linework seemed more lush and full in the scenes set in the darkness, and took on a more smooth and fluid feel in the daylight scenes.  Lacombe and Smith use shadows and shade effectively in a story that emphasizes light versus dark in several ways, though occasionally I was a little thrown by how often they were employed.  Finally Rosenberg's colors seemed to support the rest of the creative team with the daylight scenes done in very light, almost faded hues, while there was more depth to the darker scenes.  Very interesting work.

Overall, a good story to enter this series on.  I'll be looking for more stories about Jubilee becoming and vampire and dealing with it, but this sets up a good character development for her.  Highly recommended.


X-Men #25
Wow, now this is a beautiful cover.  The positions and composition, the light and shadows, even the relative tranquility on the subjects' faces in what should normally be a tense moment of struggle.  It makes for a beautiful moment between two teammates who have a long history together despite their current conflict.

The X-Men have been searching for Jubilee for weeks, clearing out lair upon lair of vampires with no luck.  Finally, they get a break and are sent to the South China Sea to find the current location of the Forgivens' mobile base.  After an initially tense meeting in which the Forgiven are forced to defend themselves against an overzealous band of X-Men, Jubilee forcefully steps in and demands they stop fighting.  Moments later, Colossus arrives, with a couple of bounty hunters and a message from them: there's a huge bounty on Kozo, and mercenaries for hire are currently swarming the island to find him...

This is a good continuation of last issue's story, where the focus now shifts to the team Jubilee left in her quest to overcome her darker nature.  Storm, Colossus, Psylocke, Domino and Warpath have remained single-minded in their quest to rescue their young teammate, and the fact that they've spent weeks searching for her shows their dedication, particularly when you consider that Jubilee could have gone rogue vamp at any point in that time, and they wouldn't know it.

Call me a party pooper if you like, but I have to say I'm getting a little tired of the frequency with which the whole shoot-first-ask-later bit happens in these situations.  Storm, particularly, has no excuse here: she's led the X-Men for years, and she's been the queen of a country.  She should know when and how to keep a cool head during potential standoff situations.  I know she has her issues with vampires, but that's still no excuse.  She has her team and Jubilee to think of.

Artistically, I think the issue succeeds overall.  I have a little bit of reservation about some of the faces Molina does in this issue--they seem slightly off in places--but they are also extremely well detailed and very expressive.  Even in the dynamic flow of the action, he does an uncanny job of drawing my eye to the feminine charms of his heroines, of which there are plenty.  Guru eFX does a vibrant job with the colors throughout the issue, bringing a variety of hues and shades that are pleasant to behold.

Overall, a good continuation of the previous story.  I'll be interested to see where the arc goes from here, now that the X-Men are in the position of having to work with the Forgiven.  Highly recommended.


X-Men #26

This cover feels pretty cinematic to me.  It's what I'd expect from the poster for an action film.  It's very balanced and dramatic, and another awesome, beautiful effort from Jorge Molina.

The X-Men and the Forgiven have taken positions to intercept and deal with the hired mercs who've just swarmed the island--except for Deadpool, who Domino has convinced to help them by agreeing to go on a date with him afterwards.  Storm and Kodo argue about command styles and strategy until Jubilee snaps at them both to put their differences aside for their people.  They hold off most of them, but one group manages to infiltrate the base, knocking out Psylocke, Storm, and Inka, and impaling Kodo almost fatally.  Enraged, Jubilee, not knowing who the masked assailant is, picks up a sword and challenges the would-be killer to a fight.

There's not much to this issue, plot-wise.  The firefight and slugfest was set up last issue, and now it's being executed.  It is fun to watch the fireworks, though, and I always enjoy the opportunity to see Deadpool get in on the action, switch sides, and make insane, juvenile quips.  The X-Men and the Forgiven work well together, despite the intense dynamic between their leaders and particular teammates.  It'll be interesting to see how things are wrapped up in the next issue, with Kodo's life hanging in the balance.

I think I've still got some issues with Storm's characterization in this arc so far.  She's far to obstinate and headstrong.  I've always known her to be diplomatic, level-headed, and cooler under pressure.  Maybe I need to read about her encounters with Dracula to get more perspective on her experiences with vampires, but she comes off as too childish and too eager for a fight with Kodo.  She's not thinking of Jubilee's long-term welfare, which should be a central concern, nor the fact that she's survived several weeks with Kodo and still hasn't fed on human blood.

Artistically, Molina continues to delight.  His characters are well-drawn, and the action scenes are fast paced and cool.  I'm still occasionally distracted by the faces and forms of some of his characters--Storm has several such moments in this issue, particularly page 5, panel 1--but for the most part am willing to overlook them in the face of the more frequently good renderings.  I do think he's doing a good job of fleshing out Jubilee's vampiric state in a more subtle fashion, be it through slightly extended fangs, or red eyes that don't glow.

Overall, I'm eager to see how this story concludes.  I'm also eager to see if Jubilee actually knows how to use a sword, as I've never known her to be proficient with them.  Either way, I think it will be good to see how she comes through this, and how the X-Men resolve their conflicts with both the assassins and with the Forgiven.  Good story, mostly good art, and well presented.  Highly recommended.

GN Review -- Serenity: Better Days and Other Stories / Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad, Zack Whedon, Patton Oswalt, Chris Samnee, Jim Krueger, and Patric Reynolds

It is with a heavy heart and a hopeful longing that I review the final volume of Serenity comics that are currently in existence.  While I won't go into much detail about how very awesome is the show they were spun from, the all-too-brief Firefly, I will say that it was the show that made me love Joss Whedon's writing skills.  It's the show that made me give Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and, by extension, Angel) a second chance, and when I got through the show and the feature film it spawned, I was upset that there weren't more stories to tell.  The emergence of the comics from Dark Horse were like a god-send.

Better Days and Other Stories is chronologically the second volume of stories, after the magnificent Those Left Behind and before the surprisingly disappointing The Shepherd's Tale.  It includes several stories from various creative teams, including "Better Days," in which the crew happens upon an obscenely wealthy payoff and muses on what they plan to do with it before typical circumstance pulls it away from them; "The Other Half," a short piece where the crew wards off a pack of Reavers while River saves them from a fate they couldn't have known about; "Downtime," a character study of the crew that gives an idea of what they get up to when they're not actively thieving; and "Float Out," a post-movie story about several of Wash's old friends christening a ship in their deceased comrade's name.

The writing in all four stories is very well done.  It's always fun to see Serenity's captain and crew both in and out of action, and the dialog, pacing, and plotlines all work like short episodes of Firefly.  Whether they're pulling Mal out of yet another grim situation, bantering and bickering with one another, or guessing slyly at one another's secrets, the characters are true to the portrayals of their on-screen counterparts.  The storytelling might not stand on its own for the casual reader, but I think it's safe to say that these books are meant for the fans, and they are a treat for those Browncoats who wanted more stories from the show.

Art-wise, I think it's unfair to compare anyone else's illustration work to Will Conrad's uncannily spot-on renditions of the characters.  It's honestly like some photographer took still shots from some lost Firefly episode, filmed but never distributed, and gave them to Conrad to do the line work.  His portrayals of the characters look that close to their actors.  Patric Reynolds's work is pretty close to the mark as well, while Chris Samnee's efforts are the most cartoonish, though I will say that doesn't detract from the story in "Downtime."  It's merely a different form of expressiveness that satisfies in a different way.

Overall, I think this is a wonderful collection of stories, certainly the most varied in the Serenity volumes that have been released.  This is definitely fan material--while I'm sure the stories are good enough sci-fi/western/action fare on their own, there's definitely more of a payoff for those who have been devotees of the show, the movie, and anything else Firefly.  For my part, it's a complete and total treat, one that makes a worthy addition to my own collection.  Highly recommended.

GN Review -- Serenity: Those Left Behind / Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews and Will Conrad

I seem to be on a tear of comics that are made from pre-existing series these days.

For those of you who haven't seen it, Firefly, the short-lived sci-fi/western show off of which Serenity: Those Left Behind is based, is one of the best shows you've likely never seen.  It only lasted 14 episodes, but developed a dedicated following that endures to this day.  The writing, characterizations, and story arcs were intriguing and gripping, and even though the show was cancelled, it managed to get a movie to wrap up the story in Serenity.

Those Left Behind takes place between the end of Firefly and the beginning of the film Serenity, serving as both a bridge between the two stories and a decent enough action tale on its own.  Starting off with a situation typical of ship captain Malcolm Reynolds' bad luck, we come to see that the crew of Serenity has fallen on hard times and is struggling to make enough money to keep their ship running.  When an associate appears and gives them a job that seems to easy for the money it offers, they find that more than one enemy of theirs has laid a trap for them, and will stop at nothing to tear them apart.

It's a fun little story, and feels just like an episode of the show on which it's based.  This shouldn't be any surprise with series creator (and director of forthcoming movie The Avengers!) Joss Whedon penning the script in conjunction with Brett Matthews.  The crew of Serenity is where they normally are: down on their luck, on the move, and scrounging to make ends meet.  They're the classic underdogs in any fight, and yet they always manage to pull off the slimmest of victories in a fashion that is both convincing and endearing.

The dialog and characterization are also spot-on in this story.  From the judicious use of Mandarin Chinese to the slight country cadence that comes through in their speech, we know that we're in the Firefly 'verse from the dialog alone.  The main characters are also well preserved in speech, manner, and action.  Wash, the ship's pilot, whines at Mal in a manner reminiscent of Alan Tudyk, the actor who plays him, while ship's engineer Kaylee Frye continues to epitomize cuteness, even in high-stress situations.  For fans of the show, these little touches are invaluable to the narrative.

The artwork is wonderful throughout.  I'm not familiar with Will Conrad's other work, but looking at his renditions of the characters was about as close as I figured you could come to seeing the show again as you can in comic books.  It's a step above what I consider the norm for comics, and keeps you looking the book over even after you've read the story.  This volume also contains reprints of the covers by various artists featuring the various crew of Serenity originally done for the single issues that made up this story, and they are also a beautiful addition to the story.

Overall, a highly enjoyable read that won't take you very long.  If you're a Firefly fan and haven't read this book, what's wrong with you?  Read it!  For anyone looking for a good action sci-fi tale with beautiful artwork and interesting characters, definitely check out Serenity: Those Left Behind.  Highly recommended.