Joined again by the Astonishing Arnab! Sorry for the delay folks!
Deadpool #53
Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Ale Garza
When it comes to being the king of badass, there are few individuals that have a greater claim to throne than Deadpool. He’s got a magnificent healing ability, he’s super rich, he can teleport, and he can kill you over a thousand different ways. This issue, or rather this arc, perfectly illustrates the one man wrecking team that Deadpool is. He easily manipulates the likes of Kingpin, Daken, Tombstone, and even the X-Force all in an attempt to do one thing: die. However, with all that time and effort spent on manipulation and deception, what he neglects to think about is the repercussions his actions will have on the one guy that cares about him, Bob.
Daniel Way is writing one of the all time best Deadpool stories. Most writers tend to harp on just one aspect of the character, be it his humor, his insanity, or his assassin profession; they just pick one and go with it. What Way is doing here, is he’s taking everything that makes Deadpool, Deadpool and combining it all to make one awesome story. Ale Garza, Sean Parsons, and Dommo Amara make for a remarkable art team. Their art works great in tandem with Way’s action heavy story. With just one more issue left in his arc, you can be sure that it will be a great one. –AP
Cover: 8/10 Writing: 10/10 Art: 10/10 Relevance: 7/10
Uncanny X-Men #10
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Carlos Pacheco
From deep in outer space came an enemy so powerful that Earth’s most powerful team was called in to help. That team was the X-Men Extinction team. What made this enemy even more of a threat, was that a group of teenagers, including the mutant messiah had previously gone to its location. Naturally, it makes sense that Captain America, leader of the Avengers, would oppose Cyclops taking his team to rescue said teenagers. Oh wait, it doesn’t make sense. Initially, this story read as a fantastic standalone story. Alien enemies from a space prison scatter across the Earth and the Avengers call in the X-Men for help. Unit is one of the most formidable foes that has graced the presence of Uncanny X-Men. He rips apart the Extinction team like they were a newly formed group of heroes. That’s the premise of an exciting story, one that doesn’t need a major event involved. Right at the end however, that’s when it all ties into the major event: AvX. As aforementioned, after it all goes down Captain America throws a major hissy fit about Cyclops taking his team to rescue Hope. While Kieron Gillen has taken a while to get going with this series’ reboot, these past two issues have been solid. –AP
Cover: 9/10 Writing: 10/10 Art: 10/10 Relevance: 9/10
Wolverine #304
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artists: Steve Dillon, Ron Garney, Paul Pelletier, & a bunch of other guys
Well, I thought last issue was Jason Aaron’s last one on this book, but it appears I was wrong. In order to make way for new writer Cullen Bunn, it looks like Marvel editorial mandated that Aaron wrap up everything in this one issue and in wrapping it up, including everything that Aaron did previously. I have to say, Jason Aaron has been one of my favorite Wolverine writers in the last 20 years, but this issue landed with a complete thud. By including everything, Aaron leaves us with nothing. My earlier comment about editorial mandates refers to my hypothesis that Aaron is incredible, but only when left to his own devices. When he has to write in a group (see AvX #2 in next week’s X-Piles), or quickly wrap up his run, his usual creativity flies out the window. In this issue, we get all of Wolverine’s villains in Aaron’s run from Sabretooth to Lord Deathstrike to Dr. Rot showing up for a party. Wolverine shows up too, and fights all his baddies, which makes you wonder why they were such a threat in previous issues. The thing that really cripples this book is the plethora of artists. You would think having all the previous artists who have offered an arc thus far would provide some excellent nostalgia, but when you have such a diversity of artists from Steve Dillon to Daniel Acuna, every page is jarring. This is one of the worst issues I’ve seen on this book, and it provides a great jumping off point for me on this book. Sorry, Cullen Bunn, but I have to make some cuts in my pull list, and this issue solidified it. –JJ
Cover: 6/10 Writing: 4/10 Art: 3/10 Relevance: 1/10
Briefly X-Posed
New Avengers #24: This issue is the first tie-in to AvX, and it’s completely shoe-horned. The book actually focuses on Luke Cage, which you wouldn’t have know otherwise and obviously wraps up a previous storyline while being framed by the events of AvX. Stupid. 3/10 –JJ
Most X-Cellent Pick of the Week:
Arnab: I’m going to have to go with Deadpool #53. Deadpool is featured in a lot books right now, but this one is easily the best.
Jeff: I guess if I have to pick one, it would be Uncanny X-Men #10, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.
Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net
Jeff Jackson
jeff@comicattack.net
