Review: This Week in X-Books #96 (Nonspoilers/Spoilers)

Wow, I'm getting closer and closer to review #100. Bizarre.

Anyhow, this week sees the release of three titles, all of them
offering something completely different. Aimed toward the younger
female crowd, from what I've heard, despite the contrary evidence of
the cover, we have Emma Frost #3. We have Morrison on New X-Men for a
second week in a row, and for an alternate look at how the X-Men could
be when modernized, we have Ultimate X-Men #37. 

So how do these three vastly different titles compare?

*****

Emma Frost #3 - "Higher Learning 3 of 6" - Bollers / Green / Ketcham

This week we have Slut Cover #3... er... I mean Emma Frost #3. And...
wait wait. I thought that this was supposed to be aimed at younger
teen girls, but I notice that the raiting is "PSR+", which I assume
maps to PG-13. a) Why does this have a higher rating than New X-Men,
and two categories higher than Ultimate X-Men? Am I missing something?
And b) if they are aiming this comic at a somewhat-younger category,
why don't they change whatever it is that's bringing the rating up?
I'm confused. Totally.

Anyhow, as a summing up, this issue and the book in general is doing a
decent job of bringing Emma from a fairly sympathetic girl toward the
Emma Frost we know today - although some of the changes don't quite
seem to have as much reason behind them as I'd like. But I guess the
implication is that *knowing* what everyone things makes Emma more
confident. But whatever - I can live with it.

The main sticking point for me though remains the fact that "the
opposition" to be somewhat vague is still, well, completely
over-the-top and unrealistic. Parts of the issue still seem like
they're there because, well, that's the way the plot is supposed to
go, not because they make a lot of sense. And there are other parts
that seem frankly completely anticlimactic - the story is definitely
feeling at times more like a "let's have things move quickly along to
show how Emma became Queen Bitch" rather than a story in its own
right, developing at its own pace.

As for the art, it's perfectly serviceable and easy on the eyes. Well,
the interior art at least. Although there are still moments even on
the inside art where I have to wonder just what they're thinking (or
at least what the artist is thinking) - are these supposed to be young
high school girls, or sex objects? But that's just at moments.

So the general verdict is that this book does some things pretty well,
and is for the most part a decent read, but a few flaws get in the
way.

Recommenation: Still worth a read for someone wanting an X-Book coming
from a different (especially young female) angle, or who is a big fan
of the White Queen. Worth a try for other readers, but not recommended
to the point where you must run out and get a copy ASAP.

*****

New X-Men #146 - "Planet X 1 of 5" - Morrison / Jimenez / Lanning

One word: whoah. Just... whoah.

Okay, so a review that Keannu could write isn't going to cut it. So
I'd better say a bit more. Namely, that this issue isn't flawless by
any means, and even with all of the other stuff going on I have to
wonder about... things. But in the main, while I normally don't like
Morrison's "big reveals" or "moments" or whatever you want to call
them if they're expected to just sweep any objections under the rug,
this time around I'm just a bit stunned. And really wanting to know
what happens next.

Let's just say that events in this book sweep some previous
complaints/speculations away (mine and others), while opening up
various other cans of worms - but it's definitely....

Whoah.

(Not to just sound like a repetetive idiot, but really any main
discussion is gonna *have* to be in the spoiler space. And this will
be a very big spoiler, so be prepared for it if you go down to that
section.)

Recommendation: Not flawless, but still something that you're not
really going to want to miss.

*****

Ultimate X-Men #37 - "Blockbuster Part Four" - Bendis / Finch /
Thibert

And after an issue with some major happenings, we get back to, well,
sort of the same story here.

Well, not completely. There are a few things moving forward finally -
but for the most part this is still reading more like an issue of
Marvel Team-Up than Ultimate X-Men. Understandable I suppose since
this is Bendis' first story arc and he wants a memorable introduction,
and he's also more comfortable writing Ultimate Spidey by this point -
but it's really dragging on to be a much longer story arc than it
should be, if it's going to do something like this. 

Still, at least things do pick up pace-wise this issue, and the
dialogue and character dynamics get interesting in places. So it's on
an upswing again - it's just taking the story a bit longer than I'd
like to get to this point.

Recommendation: Worth picking up if you've read the arc thus far -
it's picking up from last issue again, but still dragging on a bit. 

*****














Spoiler












(Down down to goblin town)










Space






(Warning: I really mean it this time. I don't always give huge
spoilers even in the spoiler section, but this time *major* spoilers
for New X-Men lurk below. Be forewarned.)




*****

Emma Frost #3 - "Higher Learning 3 of 6" - Bollers / Green / Ketcham

Okay, frankly the comic would be a lot stronger if it weren't relying
on the main antagonists (in this issue, the father, and to some extent
the sisters) being such caricatures rather than realistic
personalities. Cordelia isn't too bad - she's the typical rebel, but
at least in a realistic fashion. But Adrienne sitting at the table
talking about not caring about working starving people in a sweat
shop, as long as she looks good... less so. And Emma's father? He just
comes across as a complete lunatic control freak, and not at all
realistically. Which really pulls me back out of the story.

It also doesn't help that at times we can really see the strings too
plainly, so to speak. For instance Emma's father sets Emma up, but
such a sympathetic servant wouldn't try to even give Emma a hint in
*some* way that something wasn't right? How the hell would he know
that Ian would be by just at the time (understandable I guess if it's
his normal time/route to go home), that he'd stop for her, that he'd
offer her a ride instead of some other assistance, that someone *else*
wouldn't stop to assist first...? And why the hell would Emma getting
a ride home from a teacher be in any way an implication, if she hadn't
then (in an, as far as I can see, really out-of-character moment)
suddenly decided to try to jump his bones right in front of the
surveillance camera? Why all of the above? Well, because it moves the
plot along.

At least the story is doing other things, like moving the protagonist
along from a fairly normal, fairly sympathetic teen girl into the Emma
we know and love, loathe, or however else you feel about the White
Queen. And even throwing in things like why it is that she ended up as
a headmistress. But the story would be a lot better all around if it
didn't have a few glaring flaws in the construction.

*****

New X-Men #146 - "Planet X 1 of 5" - Morrison / Jimenez / Lanning

Again - whoah. So... Xorn is Magneto. I'll admit, I didn't see *that*
one coming. 

Part of me even as a reviewer is just sitting, stunned, at the news
and implications, and at what this might be bringing in the near
future. Of course, other parts of my brain are already going back
through the previous story and trying to figure out "okay, how did
*that* work, then?" and so on. Like, how has he pulled off the whole
"healer" thing for months, if he's no such thing? I doubt that "nano
sentinels" or whatever are going to be able to account for all of it.
And I'm also not sure I buy that even Magneto could keep Professor X
walking 24/7 by controlling metal. And perhaps biggest of all - what
about that whole one Xorn issue, where he spent the day in Jokert...
er... Mutant Town? Oh, and how did Xorn keep himself secret from some
of the strongest telepaths in the world? Not to mention setting up his
whole little scenario from the start?

I also do have to wonder just how it is that Wolverine and Scott know
what's going on, since it doesn't seem like they were scanning the
files thoroughly enough to penetrate Mag's secret, or why Logan was
apparently nuts last issue and then this issue is not only sane, but
quite capable of suddenly kicking Weapon XV's ass off-panel.

But that's all still pretty much in one little corner of my mind right
now, as I reel from the revelation, am just happy that Magneto is in
fact alive and well, and wonder what's going to happen next. I'm a bit
disappointed that he's still "the adversary," but at least he doesn't
seem to be totally insane now.

*****

Ultimate X-Men #37 - "Blockbuster Part Four" - Bendis / Finch /
Thibert

Okay okay. So we get to see Ultimate Wolvey, Ultimate Spidey, and
Ultimate Daredevil all together. Yeah, it's kinda neat, but come on
already. At least we *do* finally get to see the rest of the X-Men
this issue (and Kurt is with them! Yay!) But geeez. It's taken long
enough for most of the X-Men to get into their own book, on Bendis'
run. 

Frankly I'm starting to wonder if story arcs aren't getting dragged
out to 6 issues as the standard to more easily go into a trade
paperback, and I'm thinking that the stories are suffering for it.
Obviously not all story arcs are like this, but it's cropping up more
and more, and these arcs almost always seem to really slow down in
momentum partway through, or else just get off to *way* too slow a
start. Cases in point: this story arc, the current Wolverine relaunch
opening arc, the current New Mutants opening arc, Sentinel, God Loves
Man Kills II over in X-Treme... just off the top of my head. 

But back to the issue at hand (so to speak)... at least we get to see
the aforementioned "big three" actually DO some stuff this time
around, not to mention that they play off of each other in nice ways.
And as I mentioned above, we finally get to see the X-Men come into
the picture, so things should pick up even more next issue.

I just wish that we could have maybe lost an issue's worth of putzing
around getting to this point, so that the momentum could have held all
the way through.

*****

And... wow, done? That went quicker than expected at the end. Well, it
looks like that does it for this week, with nothing really actually
bad, though with nothing flawless either. It looks like next week
we're back to five comics, assuming they all make it out. (Overwhelmed
much?) One of these is Agent X, which makes it a "yay!" week, even if
other of the issues are Weapon X and  Spider-Man/Wolverine (boo!). The
other two are a bit neutral, being Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine Snikt.
We'll see how they all pan out when they actually do hit the store
though.

Until that time - ciao!