Eric J. Moreels
Mar 20, 2002, 09:26 pm
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/mangaverse_xmen1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/mangaverse_xmen1t.jpg" align=left border=0 alt="Marvel Mangaverse: X-Men #1"></a>Reviewer: Eric Rezsnyak, alias8725@yahoo.com
Quick Rating: Terrible!
Story Title: Equinox
Introducing the Marvel Mangaverse’s pointless version of the X-Men, who go on an equally pointless mission.
Written by: C.B. Cebulski
Pencilled by: Jeff Matsuda & A. J. Jothikumar
Inked by: Andy Owens
Lettered by: Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Oscar Gongora
Colored by: Liquid!
Editor: Brian Smith
Consulting Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
Before I begin dissecting this issue, let me say that overall I’ve found the Marvel Mangaverse event to be quite entertaining. While not a die-hard manga fan (I’m familiar with the more mainstream stuff, like Sailor Moon, Ranma ½, Dragonball Z, etc.), these manga-inspired takes on familiar Marvel properties have yielded some interesting results. Avengers featured Earth’s Mightiest Heroes mixed with the Voltron/Power Rangers combining robot motif; Fantastic Four covered the sci-fi/giant space monster angle; Spider-Man recast Peter Parker as a young ninja; The Punisher explored the quirkier and kinkier aspects of Japanese culture; and Ghost Riders provided full-on farce - and a few winged demons. X-Men features... um, well... the X-Men?
In other words, I’ve no idea what this spin-off is trying to accomplish. As detailed above, the other five one-shots all blended American comic properties with popular Japanese motifs or storytelling devices. But there’s nothing like that here. Instead, we have a fairly banal X-Men tale in which the characters, team and concept are poorly defined. The only thing “manga” about this book are the costume designs for the team, and even then only to a degree.
These X-Men consist of Wolverine (the team’s leader, sporting glowing pink claws and looking really old), Cyclops (in, to be fair, a really kick-ass revision), Storm, Rogue, Jean Grey and, um, some girl with purple hair, dark skin and bindi on her head. Seriously, nowhere in this book is this character addressed by name.
Fans who read the preview materials know that this is, in fact, Danielle Moonstar, the erstwhile New Mutant and X-Force member who very briefly hung around with the X-Men during Claremont’s ill-fated second run. But given that she neither looks like Dani (purple hair? Bindi?) or has powers remotely similar to Dani’s (she hurls little demon things that devour objects... and people, as opposed to Dani’s mirage or psychic-arrow powers), most readers probably thought this was either Psylocke, Blink or an altogether new character. And for we few, proud Dani Moonstar fans, that’s just not acceptable. Frankly, it’s sloppy.
As is the story. The Mangaverse Rogue, who shares her Marvel Universe counterpart’s sudden passion for sullen and self-destructive behavior, runs away from the X-Men in search of magic user Amanda Sefton. This makes sense, apparently, since she’s trying to bring back the electromagnetic demon called Magnus, who has been secretly working with her to control her powers—something she accuses the X-Men of ignoring. That genuinely good point aside, her plan in seeking out Sefton is suspect since, as we discover, she and Storm were part of a coven (wha?) that initially summoned the demon in the first place. But after bringing him to the mortal realm, he fried their little group. Storm and Sefton, the two survivors, then banished him to the electromagnetic field “where his spirit is still held captive by the stronger forces present there,” Storm tells us. Then how the hell was he screwing with Rogue to begin with?
And, why would Magnus have his love slave turn to the woman who banished him for help? Storm has the answer, that the only way to kill a demon is to destroy it in its earthly form, and that Amanda still hungers for revenge enough to make that idiotic move. It’s an acceptable answer, but still flawed (are there no other magic users out there that Magnus could convince to do the deed?). Anyway, it gives us a plot for our heroes to follow.
But not follow well. The team figures out that Magnus needs a host body to come back in, and a typical flesh one won’t work. So they realize that a magnetic demon would need a metal body. They fly to the Xavier Institute, where Sefton and Rogue work on bringing back the baddy and the group confronts a team of lackeys called the Azure, featuring Nightcrawler, Mystique and Beast, who are apparently all evil because they’re blue. It’s never clear whom they work for - at first Sefton is with them, but later Magnus acts as though he brought them in. No matter, as the X-Men destroy them. Literally, I mean Wolverine pops Nightcrawler in the head with his claws, Storm fries Mystique into charcoal and Dani’s little buggers devour Beast from the inside out.
The big payoff is that the Xavier Institute apparently held the body of Colossus, who here is an enormous metal sumo wrestler, which Magnus quickly co-opts for himself. Amanda is killed two panels later, leaving the X-Men to clean up her mess. They get their asses kicked until Rogue absorbs the abilities of both Storm and Jean (through her gloves, no less) and becomes a magic/mutant Phoenix combo decked out in duds rejected by the G-Force crew for being too outlandish. She rips the demon’s essence out of Colossus’ tubby body and it dissipates, realizes what she’s done, and flies off. Does that actually count as destroying Magnus’ “earthly body”? How did she absorb Storm’s magic abilities when she said earlier that Amanda’s counteracted her mutant abilities? Why does Jean act like such a vapid whore? (Sorry, had to ask.)
These are only a few of the logical problems with the story. They might be nit-picky and easy to ignore, but the enormous holes in character motivation - or just plain characterization - cannot be so easily overlooked. I ask again, what is the point of these X-Men? Are they fighting for peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants? If so, that is not once addressed. What’s the basic origin story here? Since they operate out of an X-Mansion (but not the Xavier Institute, which is a separate, industrial-type facility), do they even have a connection to Xavier? If not, what’s with the name? And where does all this half-formed magic nonsense fit in?
And what’s with the characters? Aside from Rogue’s whininess, not a single other member of the group displays any defined character traits. They all stand around posturing, then fight. Yawn. An argument could be made that it’s difficult to cover history, characterization and a full-blown adventure in one story. I say thee, nay. Check out the Avengers, Spider-Man, Punisher, Ghost Riders and especially Fantastic Four Mangaverse one-shots. They all manage to all three and come off as lighter, cleaner reads than this.
They also avoid the terribly stilted dialogue. Here’s an example: Wolverine to Magnus: “Thanks for stopping by, fat ass! Now let us show you the door straight to HELL!” Or Nightcrawler, teleporting in to stab Wolverine with a sword: “Let’s get right to the POINT!” Or Wolverine, after cutting off Nightcrawler’s tail: “So much for him running home with his TAIL between his legs, eh?” Seriously groan-worthy, and there’s more on every single page (these are even some of the tamer bits).
At first, I thought perhaps Cebulski was trying to pay homage to manga comics. He certainly is more of an expert on the matter than I. But then I realized that would be a slap in the face of an entire genre that, through what I’ve read, has proven to be imaginative and literate. This stuff reeks of someone who’s seen a few too many Michael Bay movies.
As I write this I have just read that Cebulski has been hired on as an associate editor for Marvel. From all accounts he’s done amazing things for Japanese artists in American comic books, and will therefore likely prove a huge boon to Marvel in that capacity. But that doesn’t change my opinion of this particular foray. His writing needs some serious work, if this is any indication. I’m sure that Mark Waid, Grant Morrison and Mark Millar weren’t penning classics their first times out of the gate either, but the key is that they worked at it and treated it like the craft it is. We’ll see how Cebulski develops from this extremely rocky - and extremely high-profile - start.
Also developing is Jeff Matsuda’s artwork. And I’d ask that he stops immediately. After short but solid runs on Wolverine and X-Factor, Matsuda impressed with his high-energy visuals that, while somewhat cartoony, still managed to maintain the seriousness of the stories. The new style showcased here is flat, inconsistent and lacks any of the storytelling smoothness he once exhibited - look at the abysmal two-page spread in which Magnus takes out the X-Men. On second thought, don’t. It makes his work on Image’s New Men look inspired by comparison. Jeff, I don’t know where you think you’re going. But please come back.
The real shame in this whole scenario is that, as Marvel’s most high-profile property, people will likely pick this one-shot up first to judge the Mangaverse event. What a pity. The other five are all far superior in both story and art (even the hysterically funny Ghost Riders, with production values that look so amateurish that only a genius like Chuck Austen could fully pull it off) and definitely worth your comic-buying dollar. Or yen.
ART:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
STORY:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!
Quick Rating: Terrible!
Story Title: Equinox
Introducing the Marvel Mangaverse’s pointless version of the X-Men, who go on an equally pointless mission.
Written by: C.B. Cebulski
Pencilled by: Jeff Matsuda & A. J. Jothikumar
Inked by: Andy Owens
Lettered by: Richard Starkings & Comicraft's Oscar Gongora
Colored by: Liquid!
Editor: Brian Smith
Consulting Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
Before I begin dissecting this issue, let me say that overall I’ve found the Marvel Mangaverse event to be quite entertaining. While not a die-hard manga fan (I’m familiar with the more mainstream stuff, like Sailor Moon, Ranma ½, Dragonball Z, etc.), these manga-inspired takes on familiar Marvel properties have yielded some interesting results. Avengers featured Earth’s Mightiest Heroes mixed with the Voltron/Power Rangers combining robot motif; Fantastic Four covered the sci-fi/giant space monster angle; Spider-Man recast Peter Parker as a young ninja; The Punisher explored the quirkier and kinkier aspects of Japanese culture; and Ghost Riders provided full-on farce - and a few winged demons. X-Men features... um, well... the X-Men?
In other words, I’ve no idea what this spin-off is trying to accomplish. As detailed above, the other five one-shots all blended American comic properties with popular Japanese motifs or storytelling devices. But there’s nothing like that here. Instead, we have a fairly banal X-Men tale in which the characters, team and concept are poorly defined. The only thing “manga” about this book are the costume designs for the team, and even then only to a degree.
These X-Men consist of Wolverine (the team’s leader, sporting glowing pink claws and looking really old), Cyclops (in, to be fair, a really kick-ass revision), Storm, Rogue, Jean Grey and, um, some girl with purple hair, dark skin and bindi on her head. Seriously, nowhere in this book is this character addressed by name.
Fans who read the preview materials know that this is, in fact, Danielle Moonstar, the erstwhile New Mutant and X-Force member who very briefly hung around with the X-Men during Claremont’s ill-fated second run. But given that she neither looks like Dani (purple hair? Bindi?) or has powers remotely similar to Dani’s (she hurls little demon things that devour objects... and people, as opposed to Dani’s mirage or psychic-arrow powers), most readers probably thought this was either Psylocke, Blink or an altogether new character. And for we few, proud Dani Moonstar fans, that’s just not acceptable. Frankly, it’s sloppy.
As is the story. The Mangaverse Rogue, who shares her Marvel Universe counterpart’s sudden passion for sullen and self-destructive behavior, runs away from the X-Men in search of magic user Amanda Sefton. This makes sense, apparently, since she’s trying to bring back the electromagnetic demon called Magnus, who has been secretly working with her to control her powers—something she accuses the X-Men of ignoring. That genuinely good point aside, her plan in seeking out Sefton is suspect since, as we discover, she and Storm were part of a coven (wha?) that initially summoned the demon in the first place. But after bringing him to the mortal realm, he fried their little group. Storm and Sefton, the two survivors, then banished him to the electromagnetic field “where his spirit is still held captive by the stronger forces present there,” Storm tells us. Then how the hell was he screwing with Rogue to begin with?
And, why would Magnus have his love slave turn to the woman who banished him for help? Storm has the answer, that the only way to kill a demon is to destroy it in its earthly form, and that Amanda still hungers for revenge enough to make that idiotic move. It’s an acceptable answer, but still flawed (are there no other magic users out there that Magnus could convince to do the deed?). Anyway, it gives us a plot for our heroes to follow.
But not follow well. The team figures out that Magnus needs a host body to come back in, and a typical flesh one won’t work. So they realize that a magnetic demon would need a metal body. They fly to the Xavier Institute, where Sefton and Rogue work on bringing back the baddy and the group confronts a team of lackeys called the Azure, featuring Nightcrawler, Mystique and Beast, who are apparently all evil because they’re blue. It’s never clear whom they work for - at first Sefton is with them, but later Magnus acts as though he brought them in. No matter, as the X-Men destroy them. Literally, I mean Wolverine pops Nightcrawler in the head with his claws, Storm fries Mystique into charcoal and Dani’s little buggers devour Beast from the inside out.
The big payoff is that the Xavier Institute apparently held the body of Colossus, who here is an enormous metal sumo wrestler, which Magnus quickly co-opts for himself. Amanda is killed two panels later, leaving the X-Men to clean up her mess. They get their asses kicked until Rogue absorbs the abilities of both Storm and Jean (through her gloves, no less) and becomes a magic/mutant Phoenix combo decked out in duds rejected by the G-Force crew for being too outlandish. She rips the demon’s essence out of Colossus’ tubby body and it dissipates, realizes what she’s done, and flies off. Does that actually count as destroying Magnus’ “earthly body”? How did she absorb Storm’s magic abilities when she said earlier that Amanda’s counteracted her mutant abilities? Why does Jean act like such a vapid whore? (Sorry, had to ask.)
These are only a few of the logical problems with the story. They might be nit-picky and easy to ignore, but the enormous holes in character motivation - or just plain characterization - cannot be so easily overlooked. I ask again, what is the point of these X-Men? Are they fighting for peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants? If so, that is not once addressed. What’s the basic origin story here? Since they operate out of an X-Mansion (but not the Xavier Institute, which is a separate, industrial-type facility), do they even have a connection to Xavier? If not, what’s with the name? And where does all this half-formed magic nonsense fit in?
And what’s with the characters? Aside from Rogue’s whininess, not a single other member of the group displays any defined character traits. They all stand around posturing, then fight. Yawn. An argument could be made that it’s difficult to cover history, characterization and a full-blown adventure in one story. I say thee, nay. Check out the Avengers, Spider-Man, Punisher, Ghost Riders and especially Fantastic Four Mangaverse one-shots. They all manage to all three and come off as lighter, cleaner reads than this.
They also avoid the terribly stilted dialogue. Here’s an example: Wolverine to Magnus: “Thanks for stopping by, fat ass! Now let us show you the door straight to HELL!” Or Nightcrawler, teleporting in to stab Wolverine with a sword: “Let’s get right to the POINT!” Or Wolverine, after cutting off Nightcrawler’s tail: “So much for him running home with his TAIL between his legs, eh?” Seriously groan-worthy, and there’s more on every single page (these are even some of the tamer bits).
At first, I thought perhaps Cebulski was trying to pay homage to manga comics. He certainly is more of an expert on the matter than I. But then I realized that would be a slap in the face of an entire genre that, through what I’ve read, has proven to be imaginative and literate. This stuff reeks of someone who’s seen a few too many Michael Bay movies.
As I write this I have just read that Cebulski has been hired on as an associate editor for Marvel. From all accounts he’s done amazing things for Japanese artists in American comic books, and will therefore likely prove a huge boon to Marvel in that capacity. But that doesn’t change my opinion of this particular foray. His writing needs some serious work, if this is any indication. I’m sure that Mark Waid, Grant Morrison and Mark Millar weren’t penning classics their first times out of the gate either, but the key is that they worked at it and treated it like the craft it is. We’ll see how Cebulski develops from this extremely rocky - and extremely high-profile - start.
Also developing is Jeff Matsuda’s artwork. And I’d ask that he stops immediately. After short but solid runs on Wolverine and X-Factor, Matsuda impressed with his high-energy visuals that, while somewhat cartoony, still managed to maintain the seriousness of the stories. The new style showcased here is flat, inconsistent and lacks any of the storytelling smoothness he once exhibited - look at the abysmal two-page spread in which Magnus takes out the X-Men. On second thought, don’t. It makes his work on Image’s New Men look inspired by comparison. Jeff, I don’t know where you think you’re going. But please come back.
The real shame in this whole scenario is that, as Marvel’s most high-profile property, people will likely pick this one-shot up first to judge the Mangaverse event. What a pity. The other five are all far superior in both story and art (even the hysterically funny Ghost Riders, with production values that look so amateurish that only a genius like Chuck Austen could fully pull it off) and definitely worth your comic-buying dollar. Or yen.
ART:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
STORY:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xhalf.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xfull.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/xnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!