Anthony Zisa
Mar 9, 2002, 05:10 pm
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/uxmen404.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/uxmen404t.jpg" align=left alt="Uncanny X-Men #404"></a>Reviewer: Anthony Zisa, PopinFrsh@aol.com
Quick Rating: Great!
Story Title: Army Ants
As Chamber delves deeper into the mystery locked in the X-Corps basement, the X-Corps/ARM conflict escalates!
Written by: Joe Casey
Art by: Sean Phillips
Lettered by: Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Saida Temofonte
Colored by: Hi-Fi Design
Assistant Editor: Pete Franco
Editor: Mark Powers
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
Finally, after four issues of X-Corps madness, Joe Casey’s message becomes clear. This arc is not about deeper messages, or about playing with the form, as Casey’s previous arcs have been. This arc is Casey’s take on a Claremontian style arc, replete with betrayal, death, and angst against the backdrop of conflicting methods of bettering human/mutant relations.
For what it is, Casey’s doing well with the form. The last two issues have been shockingly mundane, acting more as an introduction to all the various characters Casey’s pulled out of the depths of limbo for the arc (Sunpyre, Abyss, Fever Pitch, Radius, etc), while at the same time setting up the basic conflicts for the point when all hell breaks loose.
And in this issue, it finally did.
My problem with the X-Corps arc, as it stands, is this – the ever increasing number of secondary or tertiary mutant characters being dredged up for the arc flies in the face of what Casey and Morrison stated were their plans for the books; that is, the streamlining of X-Men continuity. On the other hand, if Casey were to just place his own mutants in the places of characters such as, say, Abyss or Fever Pitch, the story would work the same. Perhaps even not work as good, as the history of antagonism with the X-Men directly increases the interest in why the villains are working with Banshee.
My problem lies in this – too much dialogue is being contrived to, as per the Claremont era, reveal who these characters are, what their powers are, etc. Casey’s infinitely more successful than other writers at doing this a bit more naturally, but in the end, it sounds contrived. Which I truly dislike, considering how naturalistic Casey was able to make his X-Men sound. The dialogue was always one of the strong points of Casey’s stories, and right now, the dialogue is not up to snuff (although, in all fairness, it’s gotten much better this issue).
As for the story itself, it is actually quite good. There is real suspense in what is really happening, and Casey’s leisurely pace aids the story. There are some interesting plot points slowly converging, from Banshee and company’s real desire to help wayward mutants (I enjoyed some of the silent stuff with Abyss… powerful, and hopefully it will spark character development), to the impending hostile takeover of the X-Corps, to the fact that the X-Corps are being manipulated by some mysterious villain (two to one it is either Mystique or Sinister), and the honest question of whether or not the last two points are interrelated (signs point to yes, but it is ambiguously written, and will hopefully be clarified next issue). Likewise, the death this issue is handled well (in that it is quick, and surprisingly meaningful due to background work and facial expressions), and gives me hope that part of the point of this arc is for a Spring Cleaning of mutants.
One of the most interesting points, however, is that Banshee might not be in any state other than his right mind. Earlier in the arc, it seemed that Banshee was under the influence of some more sinister being, and was not acting within character. After “Army Ants,” the feeling is that this is Banshee, regressing from the loss of Moira back to his police days, with the best of intentions. His motivation is to genuinely help mutants by stopping the violence that makes humans fear them, and helping wayward, dangerous power and power level mutants overcome their inability to control their talents while at the same time putting them to use protecting the world from dangerous mutants like them. If this direction is truly where Casey is going with the story, kudos, because on that strength he has already avoided on of the terrible clichés of previous X-Men stories. The story will have repercussions, with some of the coming deaths on Banshee’s conscience. Personally, I can’t wait.
As for Sean Phillips’ art, it is absolutely nothing less than gorgeous. It’s a shame he wasn’t the original penciller tapped for the assignment, because his art works perfectly with Casey’s story, conveying precisely the tone Casey wants with his story. There’s a synergy between the two that carries over from WildCATs and works within the framework of the X-Men. Just one look at the double-page spread of Multiple Man waging single-handed war on the ARM makes one realize that Phillips working with Casey, rather than the artistic shuffle that happened, could have made Casey’s work on par or supercede Morrison’s work over on New X-Men. It’s a shame that the work comes this late in Casey’s run, when he’s already announced his departure. Perhaps one day down the road, Casey and Phillips will return to an X-book and show the world what they can do.
Overall, the storyline is progressing nicely, and my previous misgivings are slowly but surely giving way to optimism. X-Corps, despite an unsure start, has found its footings and promises to give the reader an immensely entertaining story (and, hopefully, quite a few deaths).
ART:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
STORY:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
And, on a personal note, a big thanks to Erwin Rafael for pulling my butt out of the fire on the first issue. I was going through some stuff, and coupled with the fact that I wanted to give Casey a chance by trying to figure out where he was going with the story, made my first review very tardy. I'm on the case, but I can't thank Erwin enough for his save. I had toyed with the idea of having a fill-in, as a joke to spoof the rampant Uncanny fill-ins, but, alas, the joke quickly became necessity. Thank you, Erwin. As we used to say back home, "You da man." We also used to get beat up, but that's another story.
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!
Quick Rating: Great!
Story Title: Army Ants
As Chamber delves deeper into the mystery locked in the X-Corps basement, the X-Corps/ARM conflict escalates!
Written by: Joe Casey
Art by: Sean Phillips
Lettered by: Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Saida Temofonte
Colored by: Hi-Fi Design
Assistant Editor: Pete Franco
Editor: Mark Powers
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
Finally, after four issues of X-Corps madness, Joe Casey’s message becomes clear. This arc is not about deeper messages, or about playing with the form, as Casey’s previous arcs have been. This arc is Casey’s take on a Claremontian style arc, replete with betrayal, death, and angst against the backdrop of conflicting methods of bettering human/mutant relations.
For what it is, Casey’s doing well with the form. The last two issues have been shockingly mundane, acting more as an introduction to all the various characters Casey’s pulled out of the depths of limbo for the arc (Sunpyre, Abyss, Fever Pitch, Radius, etc), while at the same time setting up the basic conflicts for the point when all hell breaks loose.
And in this issue, it finally did.
My problem with the X-Corps arc, as it stands, is this – the ever increasing number of secondary or tertiary mutant characters being dredged up for the arc flies in the face of what Casey and Morrison stated were their plans for the books; that is, the streamlining of X-Men continuity. On the other hand, if Casey were to just place his own mutants in the places of characters such as, say, Abyss or Fever Pitch, the story would work the same. Perhaps even not work as good, as the history of antagonism with the X-Men directly increases the interest in why the villains are working with Banshee.
My problem lies in this – too much dialogue is being contrived to, as per the Claremont era, reveal who these characters are, what their powers are, etc. Casey’s infinitely more successful than other writers at doing this a bit more naturally, but in the end, it sounds contrived. Which I truly dislike, considering how naturalistic Casey was able to make his X-Men sound. The dialogue was always one of the strong points of Casey’s stories, and right now, the dialogue is not up to snuff (although, in all fairness, it’s gotten much better this issue).
As for the story itself, it is actually quite good. There is real suspense in what is really happening, and Casey’s leisurely pace aids the story. There are some interesting plot points slowly converging, from Banshee and company’s real desire to help wayward mutants (I enjoyed some of the silent stuff with Abyss… powerful, and hopefully it will spark character development), to the impending hostile takeover of the X-Corps, to the fact that the X-Corps are being manipulated by some mysterious villain (two to one it is either Mystique or Sinister), and the honest question of whether or not the last two points are interrelated (signs point to yes, but it is ambiguously written, and will hopefully be clarified next issue). Likewise, the death this issue is handled well (in that it is quick, and surprisingly meaningful due to background work and facial expressions), and gives me hope that part of the point of this arc is for a Spring Cleaning of mutants.
One of the most interesting points, however, is that Banshee might not be in any state other than his right mind. Earlier in the arc, it seemed that Banshee was under the influence of some more sinister being, and was not acting within character. After “Army Ants,” the feeling is that this is Banshee, regressing from the loss of Moira back to his police days, with the best of intentions. His motivation is to genuinely help mutants by stopping the violence that makes humans fear them, and helping wayward, dangerous power and power level mutants overcome their inability to control their talents while at the same time putting them to use protecting the world from dangerous mutants like them. If this direction is truly where Casey is going with the story, kudos, because on that strength he has already avoided on of the terrible clichés of previous X-Men stories. The story will have repercussions, with some of the coming deaths on Banshee’s conscience. Personally, I can’t wait.
As for Sean Phillips’ art, it is absolutely nothing less than gorgeous. It’s a shame he wasn’t the original penciller tapped for the assignment, because his art works perfectly with Casey’s story, conveying precisely the tone Casey wants with his story. There’s a synergy between the two that carries over from WildCATs and works within the framework of the X-Men. Just one look at the double-page spread of Multiple Man waging single-handed war on the ARM makes one realize that Phillips working with Casey, rather than the artistic shuffle that happened, could have made Casey’s work on par or supercede Morrison’s work over on New X-Men. It’s a shame that the work comes this late in Casey’s run, when he’s already announced his departure. Perhaps one day down the road, Casey and Phillips will return to an X-book and show the world what they can do.
Overall, the storyline is progressing nicely, and my previous misgivings are slowly but surely giving way to optimism. X-Corps, despite an unsure start, has found its footings and promises to give the reader an immensely entertaining story (and, hopefully, quite a few deaths).
ART:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg
STORY:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpghttp://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
And, on a personal note, a big thanks to Erwin Rafael for pulling my butt out of the fire on the first issue. I was going through some stuff, and coupled with the fact that I wanted to give Casey a chance by trying to figure out where he was going with the story, made my first review very tardy. I'm on the case, but I can't thank Erwin enough for his save. I had toyed with the idea of having a fill-in, as a joke to spoof the rampant Uncanny fill-ins, but, alas, the joke quickly became necessity. Thank you, Erwin. As we used to say back home, "You da man." We also used to get beat up, but that's another story.
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!