New Creative Team: Mike Carey on X-Men

Like Ed Brubaker on Uncanny, Mike Carey is starting his run on X-Men with a multi-part story. The difference being that Brubaker is telling a 12-part story while Carey's "Supernovas" is a 6-parter. There's a whole lot of action in this issue. Carey hits the ground running, or rather Sabretooth is running, from 4 new characters. His healing factor on the fritz, he seeks sanctuary at the X-Mansion.

Meanwhile, Rogue's been given the leadership position for an X-strike team. She picks Cannonball, Iceman, and Mystique, the latter to keep an eye on herself. From the cover box, we know Cable and Sabretooth will join her team as well. Fitting that Cable will, since he founded the first X-strike team in X-Force. With Cannonball, no less, huh.

Interesting character dynamics in the future. Rogue is the leader, Cable is a messiah (and former leader), Cannonball has been a team leader, Mystique has lead the Brotherhood, Iceman's been around long enough to command respect, and Sabretooth doesn't follow anyone. Let's see if Carey even brings this dynamic into play at some point.

At first read, the story is enjoyable. It's fast-paced, things progress, and things go boom. It's the opening scene of a summer movie, in other words. Compare this to Uncanny, where Brubaker used alot of words, other or not, in a slower paced story. And I didn't like Uncanny. I said it didn't interest me enough to get the next issue because it was too much of a commitment.

Well, Carey's 6-issue arc is less of a commitment, more condensed and..... the more I think about it, it's just not a very good story. I took for granted what Brubaker did, setting up the characters and motivations of the team in Uncanny. But in X-Men, Carey has everyone acting impulsively, things happen a little too quickly for convenience.

Damn I'm hard to please. I complain nothing happens in Brubaker's first issue to interest me. Then I complain so much happens in Carey's first issue as to interest me... until I think twice about the rationale for what transpired.

It's hard out here to begin a run on an established series. Both X-writers start with a gathering of the team. Brubaker took 22 pages, Carey 3 panels. This kind of story just doesn't ensnare me, no matter how it's wrapped together.

I'm gonna go read Detective again. I want Paul Dini to take over every book. Who do you like?

Scott Supplement - Civil War

"You know, I’m really enjoying Civil War and all, but I have to say I think the logic behind the whole thing is just a wee bit faulty. So for decades there have been super powered maniacs running around, killing, stealing, and – oh – occasionally trying to take over/destroy the nation or planet and the response of the government and S.H.I.E.L.D has essentially been, “Ho hum, the Avengers (etc.) took care of it nothing to see here folks move along move along.”

But when a few essentially benign costumed vigilantes fail to freaking register they’re all like, “We are freaking MOBILIZED and ready to MESS YOUR SH!T UP, you masked scumbag!” And just in a matter of weeks, at that. You’d think they would have put at least half as much effort into protecting people from – say – the bastards tearing around the country causing mayhem and destruction and generally being antisocial dicks as they’ve expended in trying to take down Captain America. Maybe it’s an election year?"

New Creative Teams - A How To

Last week, new creative teams debuted on Detective Comics and Uncanny X-Men. Paul Dini began his run on the Dark Knight with a single-issue story. By way of comparison, Ed Brubaker began his run on Marvel's merry mutants with part 1 of the 12 part "Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire." These two approaches worked well for each creator, but in different ways. And not everything worked.

Based on his first issue, I now know what to expect from Dini on Detective. Solid stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end all between two covers. Brubaker, working on a team book with a rotating cast, has to first establish who his players are. Rather than rush through the process, he gives us deliberate motivation for each character, and an over-encompassing purpose for the team is established. Paul over at The X-Axis reviews Uncanny X-Men far better than I can.

Based on the first issue of each new writer, you can guess at the upcoming plots: Dini will have Batman solve a crime and defeat a rogue each issue; the X-Men will go into space, fight both with and against the Shi'Ar, and win in the end at a cost. So when I say "what to expect" I mean more qualitatively than plot-wise.

At the end of Dini's first issue, we're left with a complete story to evaluate on its own merits (for a review I agree with, go read Ray at SilverBullet ). Brubaker ends his issue as part 1 of a larger story, and therefore has two choices: end on a cliffhanger (a la Y: The Last Man and Ultimate Spider-Man) or end it at a good break in the plot. Brubaker chooses the latter, and in doing so fails to excite me for the next issue.

The purpose of a first issue, be it of a new series or of a new creative team's run on an established series, is to get new readers to come back for more. Regular fans of the series will continue to buy it, but how many of the new readers will stick? I'll be buying next month's Detective, I doubt I'll be picking up next month's Uncanny X-Men. Brubaker failed to interest me enough to find out what happens next, and it's because of the type of first issue story he chose to tell. Maybe I'll wait for the trade, or maybe my interest will have waned by then. But I know I'll be buying next month's Detective, cause Paul Dini done right by me.

I SUCK

To the few the proud and the geeky (no, not the junior woodchuck campers):

I'm out of the game. Some time in January, I'm sure I'll bust a "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!" but for now, happy trails. I just don't have the time in December to keep up with this. It's all I can do to READ all the books I enjoy right now, forget reviewing them all.

Walking Dead, Volume 4: Thumbs WAY up. Man this is good. Great. The best!

Anecdote: I walked into a comic shop in Arizona while visiting my parents over the weekend, as I like to check out new (to me) shops wherever I go. They had all their recent books on shelves alphabetically, with multiple months on top of each other. The week's new books were put on top of the title's previous issues, and a "New This Week" marker indicated the week's (you guessed it) new books. Well, having checked the NCRL, I knew to get new issues of She-Hulk, Ex Machina, and some others. They were sold out of She-Hulk (thumbs way up, by the way). Fine, sold out I understand. But when I got home and read my Ex Machina, it felt very familiar.... because it was last month's book! They had sold out of the new one, and not bothered to take down the "New This Week" marker. This is just a dumb way to run a store. New books should be put in their own shelf area, for one thing. And if you don't do that then you HAVE to take down the "New This Week" marker when you sell out! Argh. If I was in town longer, I'd have gone back to the store and gotten a refund (ok, an exchange). Instead, I'm just left to ponder how poorly run this store is. Sigh.

Gobble Gobble

Just quick post about some things I read on the plane ride to Arizona. Mostly I've been catching up on Smallville episodes, but I found time for a couple of tidbits:

Local #1: Thumbs up. But this isn't super heros, it may not be your cup of tea. It's slice of life, but it's got conflict and believability. This issue was told in a kinda Rashamon style, with the main character imagining how something will end multiple times in her head. It's good. It felt real. And I loved how the art changed with each re-imagining. Same artist, but slight tweaks to the characters that were felt prominently when we saw how events actually unfolded. Thanks, Brian Wood. Good stuff.

Hellblazer #213: Meh, but a good meh. If I followed the character more (I read the Azzarello run, but have sparcely read any other issues) I would find this issue really really fascinating. Still, even without being well versed in John Constantine's world, it was still a very interesting issue. Solid stuff, I just am not familiar enough with the character and his overall story to fully appreciate it.

That's it! Now back to the turkey!

Love to Eat Turkey then I take a Nap

Happy Thanksgiving kids, time for me to slink away to visit the retired people in Arizona. Woo hoo! They do have internet access there, but they also have sports on TV and some male bonding expectations. Buff em up, buff em up, go CU. I'm rambling without comic reviews, aren't I? Let's fix that:

New Excalibur #1: Thumbs down, but it's not terrible. Meaning maybe you should give it a flip through at the store and see what your first impression is. Mine was that the story of the first issue was somewhat silly, but once the status quo is set up, this could be a fun series. Dazzler is killed by some original X-Men clones. A few hours later, Cap Brit brings her back with some CPR. (sigh). My medical knowledge is limited to television and the First Aid merit badge, but even I know that's past the credibility point. And the idea that Cyclops would send a full X-Team to England to see how Brian is doing? Apparantly the phones were mutants who lost their powers during M-Day. I could go on with more silliness, but you get the point. All too convenient just to get the team together.

Captain Universe/ X-23 #1: Thumbs down. "Hey, we need a mutant for our Captain Universe crossover. How about Wolverine? Nah, too overused. Hey, we need to promote X-23 more, use her! Yes sir. Oh, and throw the new Scorpion in, too. Uh... Yes Sir." Street characters with cosmic powers just don't work. This was forced and it felt like it.

Batman & The Monster Men #1: Meh. I wanted to like it, because Mage and Grendel are just two of the best things to ever happen on paper. But I didn't. There's plenty of story for your dollar, which is always good. Batman is written well, straight out of Batman: Year One. But this Hugo Strange story just didn't work for me. And it's a Batman vs. Hugo Strange story, and when one of those two just feels... disconnected from the overall story, I just don't get sucked in. Look, thumbs up for me means I get lost in the issue and don't notice earthquakes going on around me. This issue? I noticed grass growing around me.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #197: Thumbs down. Wow, I've been pretty negative all day, haven't I? Sorry about that, I calls em like I sees em. I love Weston's art. And I like nearly every Pfeifer story I've read. But this one lost me in the first 5 pages when I had to flip back and forth trying to decide if this was an elseworld story or not. Not good. After that it was solid enough, but I kept wondering where am I?

Toodle oo, people. I'll be back with more reviews of books I like next week. I can't believe the Mets traded Darryl Strawberry. Sorry Adam Sandler.

Bring the Noise, Bring the Funk

Bring the best you got. Not the best, just the best I got right now here in front of me.

Mutopia X #5 (of 5): Thumbs up. Nicely ties out the Mutant X and the Mutopia X series. As David Hine says in his farewell, these were the stories of officer Ortega and his family. And with the events of M-Day (is that really what they're calling it? geez), his story is over. Very good issue, brings closure to both series. And does it well.

X-Men #177: Thumbs down. Where do I begin? Two weeks after M-Day, Polaris is without powers, but in denial about it. That's fine, I understand that. But no one else around her has noticed? Didn't they do some kind of powers role call after the big depowering? Emma, you pick up on any of Lorna's angst at all? And the way the some of the characters just throw themselves at the Sentinels without thinking... just poorly done. And why do Cyclops and Havok never attack? The two heaviest hitters, who have nothing to fear shooting up robots? I have no problem with the revamped sentinel program, but the X-Men's reaction was poor. And actually, couldn't Val have just called the mansion and said "I'm coming over with some sentinels, don't weird out about it." Just illogical all the way throughout the issue.

Green Lantern #5: Meh. It was a good enough story, easy to follow no matter how new you are to the new GL series. But GL could have been any hero and this would have worked. It wasn't a GL issue, just a generic hero issue. And that's bad. So thumbs up on the well written story + thumbs down on being able to plug in any hero + meh. I like the Van Scriver art, though.

Action #833: Thumbs up. Fun story, clean art from Byrne (though Jimmy looks 10 years old). Done in one, and it wasn'c Crisis related. An issue you could give to any one and they could follow it and appreciate it for a solid Superman story, that stands on its own.

Rocketo #3: Okay, so I've heard tons of great things about this series, so I pick up this issue, the first I can find, #3.... and meh is the best I can give it. Honestly, I want to give it a thumbs down, but will reserve that opinion, since I haven't read the first 2 issues. Though issue 3 didn't make me feel like I have to read issues 1 and/or 2. The art style was pretty, and something new, definately something you should check out. But the story? Average. Fun, but trying to be fun, instead of just being fun. I see the appeal, but I just missed connecting with this book.

X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1: Meh. Rough week. And the X-books are all letting me down. This first issue was a setup with a mysterious adversary from the team's past. But we knew all that before we even picked up the issue. Next issue maybe we'll learn something interesting, but this issue pretty much just put the ads and the articles we've already seen in comic book form. It's like when you see a movie preview and feel like you already saw the whole movie. That's what happened here, too. Pretty art, but frustrating read.