Hello everybody and welcome back for more of my reviews! This was an exciting week for sure. I’ll give you an all out X-review this time and follow up with the rest in a couple of days. Let’s get to it.
First up on the list is…Nation X #3 of 4.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer(s): Chuck Kim, Grace Randolph, Chris Yost, and Corey Lewis
Artist(s): Gabriel Hernandez Walta, James Harren, Karl Moline, and Corey Lewis (cover by Dustin Weaver)
This issue was not really any different from the previous two if you ask me. I liked three of the stories, but the artwork was just OK in two of them. The very last story was just horrendous from top to bottom. The first story showed Armor confronting Danger about the death of Wing way back when Danger went crazy and tried to kill the X-Men. Some decent back and forth, and the artwork was good for the tone but it didn’t really appeal to me. The second story, which was the best in my opinion, showed Cannonball making the young X-Men learn how to farm and grow food for the rest of Utopia. Magik ends up teaching Anole a lesson about doing what he’s told, or else she’ll drop him in the middle of nowhere to die. The third story was decent, except for the fact that I have no idea who the two main characters are. Really, no idea. I was a huge X-fan in the nineties, but slowed down towards the end of the decade and been on and off since. Honestly though, it was a good read about some dude that loved some chick then hurt her feelings, then just when they patched things up – she was killed. The art was a little strange though, it made the characters look like midgets sometimes. The last story was just too painful to even try to read. The artwork looked like something from a kid’s book with an artist on acid. 2.5/5
Next up is…X-Factor #202.
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Peter David
Artsit: Bing Cansino (cover by David Yardin)
I don’t usually buy X-Factor, but when I saw a cover with Doom, that was enough for me to throw out the extra coin. I was really surprised at how good it was. Apparently, the Invisible Woman has been missing and X-Factor has been trying to locate her. They track her down at castle Doom in Latveria, and then begin an assault. Once inside, they find Layla Miller hanging with Doom. Doom explains to them that there are alternate universe dopplegangers of himself and the FF running around. He also has Sue hooked up to some wacky dream machine; she was dreaming about getting drunk and spending some “quality time” with Namor. Meanwhile the Reed doppleganger is trying to kill Valeria and Franklin, but he is slowed down by Strong Guy. Doom lets the rest of the team use his teleportation device to get to the “other” Reed, but Layla and Shatterstar stay behind with Doom for some unknown reason. Oh, and somebody (Shatterstar?) or something (the teleportation window closing) cuts off the Reed doppleganger’s head off. Cool issue! 4/5
Next up is…X-Men Legacy #233 (Necrosha)
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Clay Mann (cover by Adi Granov)
Great issue right here. Now, I know there are going to be people that didn’t like this because of Magneto, but bear with me. The issue showed what happened after Magneto ripped a chunk of Earth away and sent himself and Proteus into orbit. The two engage in a fierce battle, and there was some really cool dialogue between them. Meanwhile, on the ground, Rogue is trying to use Betsy’s powers to exorcise Proteus from the minds/bodies of her teammates. She’s doing quite well until she has to fight Paige. Rogue starts to take a beating, but Psylocke wakes up and uses her psychic knife on Paige from behind. Magneto eventually figures out that Proteus is made of energy that he can manipulate, and he puts him down. I know Magneto is like 200 years old, but it was still cool to see him kick butt! 4/5
Lastly I have…X-Force #24 (Necrosha).
Publisher: Marvel
Writer(s): Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Artist: Clayton Crain
This story is really heating up folks. We see Selene’s inner circle capture Warpath and the mystical knife. Eli Bard tells Selene that he has done what she asked now and always. She rewards him by stabbing him in the chest with the knife and killing him. Then she has Warpath’s brother smack him around and throw him into the dungeon. Wolverine and his team arrive on the scene and are almost immediately confronted by Selene’s army of the undead. Once the crap is about to hit the fan, Vanisher teleports out of there, but it’s pretty obvious that he’ll be back. Inside the dungeon, Warpath’s brother is starting to gain some control and he tells James how they can beat Selene. Vanisher shows up to save him, but Blink removes his arm to try and stop him. Vanisher still saves Warpath and teleports out of there. All of this seems futile though, as we see Selene use her magic as all the souls that have been gathered ascend to godhood. Warpath shows up to tell the team that he knows how to kill her. End issue. I can’t wait for next month; the Necrosha conclusion can’t arrive fast enough! 4/5
That’s it for my X-titles, but I’ll be back in a couple of days for the rest!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
Yeah, this issue of Nation X was without a doubt my least favorite so far. Just pretty “meh” all around. And the people you didn’t recognize were Jeffries, part of Beast’s science team, and some chick who died in Alpha Flight. And you said it about the last story…wtf was that all about?
Yeah X-Factor is amazing. Did you notice the coloring glitch at the end? Where Layla is colored to look like Monet? Oops!
I also really liked the Legacy issue: the art is great, just what I want to see in an X-book, and I’m all about developing Rogue’s character further. You won’t hear any gripes from me about Magneto either, I though the part he played was solidly written.
And I haven’t read X-Force yet… I know, I know; what kind of an X-fan am I?
@Andy-lol, yeah, at the end of X-Factor I thought…”That’s Layla?”
And here I thought that issue of X-Force that featured Ghost Rider would have NO relevance whatsoever.
I’m behind on X-Factor 🙁
XML was just a great way to finish the arc from the action to the characters it was just fun!
Nation X? The money spent to make this series could have been used to feed the homeless…this series is just wack!
@Speech-Yeah, NX was just awful for the most part. X-Factor was very good though as was Legacy. I liked Mags going off like that. Made me remember back to the ’90s when he was a beast to deal with.
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