The List #2

X-Men Legacy #226

Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Dustin Weaver

X-Men Legacy is a book I tune into here and there, but never consistently follow. While Carey is talented, I wouldn't say all his work on this book has been. Nonetheless, I had to check this book out as it turns its direction from Xavier to Rogue especially because of her coming to San Fransisco. I'm also thrilled to see the return of her green and white costume since it's her best in my opinion.

To start, I have to say that I'm bored with Danger's reformed villainess thing. It's highly uninteresting and she should have stayed in comic book limbo or been shipped back to her homeland. Luckily enough, it seems she leaves this book after this arc I believe. She's just a character I've never liked and to make her reform makes her that much less appealing.

I was thrilled to see Psylocke in the previews, but not so psyched to see that was all we see of her. Lot of cameos in this book as well as anything Fraction does. I understand in this crossover it is to demonstrate the community rather than the teams we always see, but this should also be a chance to take some characters out of limbo especially the ones who have not been there for a decade. The cameos of Dragoness and Nekra are especially pointless because I believe that Nekra has never really appeared in the X-Universe or never significantly and there is no oppurtunity for them later. With someone like Carey who actually can write a character with personality, he should be made to use the characters longer than a scene to really give a less shallow feel to this. However there was one cameo I grudgingly did like:

Careful Gambit, her portal may return you to the 80's.
Honestly, the only reason I liked her is because of her flashy factor.

I was absolutely surprised when Moonstone as Ms. Marvel showed up to battle Rogue. It's a fight I didn't think of that totally works. I would also like to thank the artist for this:

Successful crotch coverage. More on this when we get to Ms. Marvel.

To summarize, I felt Carey was sort of lackluster in his writing for this issue. It was sort of plain and not altogether interesting except for a few moments. While I do not recommend this issue, I will be adding the next issue as either review or to the list because I have a feeling next issue will be better. The artist on the otherhand was sort of poorly fit for Utopia. This crossover is more of a dark note in X-History, so the cartoon-y looks of his work ruin some of the feel. Also, the colorist seems to have been focused on using Crayola's basics because this issue is too bright and colorful for me. Leave this one on the shelves unless your a diehard Rogue or Carey fan, but do keep this one in mind next month.

Ms. Marvel #41
Writer: Brian Reed
Artist: Sergio Arino

To start off, let me just say that I love Moonstone and I love her as Ms. Marvel. Unfortunately, this title is on a downhill adventure since she's come aboard. #38 is a must-have for a Moonstone fan and was wonderful, but since then we find ourselves in less and less interesting stories.

What I do enjoy this time around is that the crappy anime artist is gone. This is a book focused around a villain, not a pathetically anti-feminist relationship. So when you see this bullshit:

You sort of want to kick the artist's ass to an Austen book or to some crap attempt at capitalizing on romantic but pathetic tweens like Twilight.

Another point of bitchery that I have that especially affects this issue is the guest appearances. We've got Deadpool's pointless appearance which is really cheesy and f#%$ing annoying. Out of place in fact. I'm not a Deadpool hater, but he needs to be used correctly and in this case i only enjoyed him when he said, "You fight like a psychologist!" The other guest appearances are less annoying, but still irritating sine it's Moonstone! She can carry a book by herself and make it infinitely more interesting than what we're being served now.

This issue also continues the story of the split up Carol Danvers and the baby Modoks. Fucking shitty story that I'm not going to get into except I like Osbourn's reaction to Karla's report of Danvers probably being alive.

I happen to support only four resurrections at this point: Jean Grey because I miss her, Kitty Pryde because it'd be against everything Marvel believes in if she didn't come back, Gertrude Yorkes, and the Dead means Dead rule. This thing of resurrecting someone every two minutes at Marvel lately is more than tired and leaving people unamused. I don't want Carol dead for real, but this "death" thing needs to get reeled in.
Whatever, Carol's back everyone:

And that costume's not covering the crotch correctly. Seriously, Photobucket will probably delete it for how indecent it seems. Marvel artists, please take note of what I'm saying and correctly cover up the Marvel women's crotches and fannies. That or you will be forced to endure every mistake you've made by living it in Hell, unrealistic waists with no coverage with massive boobs while superheroing and all. Leave this one of the shelves, but remember that it's not Karla's fault.

Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1
Writer #1: Paul Cornell
Artist #1: Leonard Kirk

To start, I'd like to say that it seems every time Namor get naked it seems an artist that's too gritty gets assigned. Seriously Marvel, just get Bianchi and his gay porn pencils on this one, you have to serve more than one type of fan and there's one kind that likes Namor mainly for his speedo.

That aside, I have to say I can see the hype about Paul Cornell is well-deserved. He is an excellent writer and I enjoyed this story very much. I also have to come out of the Osbourn-loving closet. Since discovering this Dark Reign event for real, I have to say I've found Osbourn and all his manipulative tactics absolutely thrilling to read. I recommend this part of the story since it's a well written dialogue and there are a couple moments that get a bit dry, but this helps:

Can I wrestle with him next? I'll get naked too to make things fair.
Seriously, folks, he was naked allllll issue.
Writer #2: James Asmus
Artist #2: Jesse Delperdang

The second story featured Mimic and was surprisingly a good read. Not the most interesting, but a good story. Unfortunately, I have a feeling this is the nicest thing I will ever say on Mimic. And I still hope he's one of the casualties of this crossover.

Writer #3: Shane McCarthy
Artist #3: Ibraim Roberson

First off, the art was pretty good for this part of the story. The writing on the otherhand was subpar. I'm convinced that for as long as Dark Beast is in this dimension he will never be interesting because so far this has proven to be true. Endangered Species practically a criminal offense. I've never read AoA, someday I will and I imagine that Dark Beast is wonderful in his native dimension. But here? Never. Especially that lame taunt to Osbourn about letting the beast inside out. Overplayed theme that Ellis did WAY better. And Bendis as well. McCarthy just gave us the cliche.

Overall, I'd say this issue, despite Cornell's wonderfulness, is pretty forgetable. Hopefully next issue improves on this. With an Emma story not written by Fraction.