That’s right folks, we are back to deliver our batch of X-Title reviews for your mutant loving pleasure! Unless you’re not a mutant lover, and in that case you’re probably spending too much time trying to build your own Sentinel than reading this. So, for those that are mutant and proud sit back as The Comic Book Clergyman, Spider-Man Geek, Infinite Speech, and Capekiller (who we found roaming the Canadian wilderness naked with knives taped to his hands) return for your All-New Uncanny X-Piles!
Wolverine #2
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Ryan Stegman
Filler. It’s hard to believe that we are only on issue #2 and already we’re being forced to pay $3.99 for a filler issue guest starring the superior webhead, which is honestly the only reason to even consider picking this issue up. No wall-crawler fan in their right mind would want to miss out on a Ryan Stegman drawn Superior Spider-Man.
The issue opens up with a three week jump backwards in time. Spidey is fighting off some Goblin Nation lackeys in the sewers when Wolverine shows up. The thugs, knowing full well that Logan lost his mutant healing ability (Really? How would they even know that? Was it on CNN? Random exposition device much?), take it upon themselves to attack him to see if they can achieve what so many couldn’t; kill the Wolverine. They fail, naturally. Logan proceeds to chase down Spider-Man. After some pointless and uneventful stuff happening in “present day”, the issue ends with Spidey and Wolverine on a rooftop. Turns out, Logan just wanted to see if Spidey’s heard anything about Sabretooth having dealings with the Green Goblin in his quest to take control over organized crime in New York City. Sabretooth? A crime boss? Ugh.
Why Marvel insists that Paul Cornell can and should write Wolverine is beyond me. Cornell is a talented and capable writer, but he just doesn’t get Wolverine in my opinion. There’s something about the way he writes the character that feels wrong. Having a different take on Logan is one thing. A lot of writers have done it successfully, but Cornell’s Wolverine acts so completely out of character that you’ll think this title takes place outside of 616 continuity. Look, we all understand that this is a fictional world, but we also understand the basic rules of that reality and that means that if Wolverine loses his healing factor, he would more than likely die or at the very least, be crippled. If the adamantium wouldn’t poison him, his muscles would fatigue instantly from trying to haul that 300 pound skeleton around. It makes no sense. None of this does, and it’s completely uninteresting.
Ryan Stegman does what he can with the script he was given. It’s apparent that he got all fired up from being able to draw Spidey again though. This is a much better looking issue than the last one. Morales’ inks and Curiel’s colors are beautiful and clean overall and really make Stegman’s line art pop, especially whenever Spider-Man’s on panel. Kudos to the art team because I can’t imagine that the writing is what’s going to be bringing people back to this book every month.
The bottom line is that it’s a shame Ryan Stegman’s talents are being put to waste on a version of Wolverine that I don’t really care for. The character needs a solid solo title that he can call home and this just isn’t it. –SG
Rating: 2/10
Uncanny Avengers #17
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Steve McNiven
This book is just crazy! It’s like Marvel said to Remender, “OK, you do whatever you want in that book,” except they forgot to tell them that they wouldn’t market it at all. This title was the first Marvel NOW! book to be published, but the last 10 or so issues have been so under the radar that I almost forget it’s there. Marvel instead has chosen to feature their “big event” books like Infinity and Inhumanity over this book, which as far as I’m concerned, should be the “big event” going today.
It has all the makings of an event. All the Marvel heroes (and some villains) are gathered to create a machine to stop the impending Celestial from destroying the world. Heroes and villains have died, some have been horribly scarred, and there is an epic battle between the Apocalypse Twin Eimin and Thor. There is an awesome save by Captain America. The Watcher shows up. And at the end…the world blows up. What’s more epic than that? Plus, it’s drawn by McNiven!
I honestly have no idea what will happen next. Obviously the world won’t be destroyed. The killed heroes will return. But how Remender gets us there will be the real adventure. If he chooses an “Infinity Gauntlet” solution where they’re all blinked back into existence, I’ll be a little disappointed. I hope he has a better exit strategy for this story.
This book continues to push the edges, so it’s a shame that Marvel doesn’t make a bigger deal out of it.
My only complaint is that McNiven needs a strong inker. Jay Leisten really doesn’t make McNiven’s art pop like other inkers can. This book could really look more epic if the art was a bit tighter.
Who knows what will happen next, but I can’t wait to find out. –JJ
Rating: 7/10
Wolverine and the X-Men #42
Writer: Jason Aaron
Aritst(s): Nick Bradshaw, Pepe Larraz, Ramon Perez, Shawn Crystal, & more!
It should be pretty obvious from the homage cover of Uncanny X-Men #141 that we’d be doing some time jumping in this issue. It’s graduation day for the students and as Quentin and the others deal with becoming X-Men we also get a peek at what may or may not happen many years from now. However, as fun as these little visits to the future can be there’s some issues with this story that can’t be ignored. Though we’ll get to those a bit later.
This issue really shines when Aaron is focused on Quentin and his apprehension about moving to the next stage. He’s given this character a lot of development in this series which allows him to carry the bulk of an issue successfully. There’s some really great dialogue as he’s disappointed in himself for not being the terror that he set out to be in the beginning of the series. Aaron also provides those really good moments where we see Logan as a mentor and teacher. There’s also some great hints at where the students will end up later on though some are bit more darker than others.
It’s when we jump to the future where things get a bit weird. Though it’s more on the visual side than with Aaron’s story. As we see Idie and Logan walking the empty halls of the school we get a cane dependent old Old Man Logan and the Bamfs are looking just as aged. However, Idie looks to be anywhere between her late twenties to her early thirties. So basically in about twenty to twenty-five years Wolverine will be retired completely. Sure this may seem small to some but it was enough to take me out of the narrative every time we went to the future.
There’s also a large amount of artists on this issue and it’s usually the number you’d see on some specialdouble-sized-gold-hologram-foil embossed issue. That’s not the case here as it’s a regular sized issue just crammed with a lot of artists. And though we get more consistency in the future time line the present suffers from the varying styles clashing together.
By the time it’s over you get the sense that maybe things would have been better with just one or two art styles in this thing. The closing of this chapter for Wolverine and the X-Men wasn’t it’s strongest issue but as far as the story goes Aaron did some solid work. Plus, we get to see Doop use the power of Funk to take out some bad guys which was an unexpected hilarity! – IS
Rating: 5/10
That does it for this round of All New Uncanny X-Piles folks so let us know that you thought of this batch of X books and you can check out more right here!
spidermangeek@comicattack.net
jeff@comicattack.net
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
