Jim Lemoine
Apr 17, 2002, 03:25 am
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/bhood-08.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/bhood-08t.jpg" align=left alt="Brotherhood #8"></a>Reviewed by: Jim Lemoine, darkkelf@earthlink.net
Quick Rating: Good
Story Title: Loyalties
X’s protégés begin their work as double-agents while X forms a daring plot to get the Brotherhood the publicity they so desperately need.
Written by: X
Pencilled by: Sean Phillips
Inked by: Kent Williams
Lettered by: Jon Babcock
Colored by: Dan Kemp
Assistant Editor: John Miesegaes
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
While the last few issues of The Brotherhood have been enjoyable as a whole, what’s been the most noticeable to me hasn’t been the story, or the art, or the concept, or even the characters. What I’m really enjoying most are the great parallels that the mysterious X crafts throughout the issues, even extending to covers. X knows, the art team knows, and we know that The Brotherhood is cancelled as of #9. Sure, the book is being prematurely rushed to a conclusion, but the parallels visible in this issue, just like last issue, are fun to find.
We start with the cover, which coincidentally is my favorite cover of the month. An obvious tribute to Byrne’s classic “Days of Future Past” cover, we see X standing defiantly in the spotlight, with determination etched on his face. He’s standing in the same place that Wolverine stood in the original cover, and as we all know, that Wolverine was destined to meet his end soon. Meanwhile, Orwell stands nearby, looking a bit confused… like a deer caught in headlights. I do have to complain that the X-Force poster behind the unlikely duo made me think they’d appear more prominently within the book. Aside from that, this was an outstanding cover, and an excellent job by Sean Phillips.
Speaking of Phillips, he again handles the art chores for this issue, and he does a phenomenal job. I’ve always thought that Phillips’ pencils had something of an apocalyptic feel to them. Kent Williams’ inks seem to draw out that quality even more, and never was that atmosphere more appropriate than here in the last days of The Brotherhood. The dark and moody scenarios contribute to the storyline, and I’d be making a grave error if I didn’t compliment Dan Kemp for his great coloring of the discotheque sequence.
The art, as well as the dialog, greatly enhances the poise and attitude of the leader of the Brotherhood, X. Like his real-life writing counterpart, you get the feeling that he knows the end is near. Still, he remains determined, confident, and even sometimes likeable. However, there’s a fine line between genius and insanity, and it’s often hard to tell which side of the line he’s dancing on. Perhaps the true drive of X the leader left him after he reached the high point of his speech last issue. Perhaps the direction of X the writer was mortally wounded when word of this series’ cancellation arrived. Damn, I love these parallels.
If you bought this book because of the possible X-Force guest appearance, though, you’re in for a disappointment. The Orphan and company never actually appear in the issue, showing up only on billboards and photographs near the beginning and end of the book. I was a little disappointed by this; after all, one would think that they’d play a more prominent role what with being featured on the cover! Cheesy sales gimmick? Probably, yes. But at least we can definitely expect to see them next issue.
We’re told in this issue that the combined forces of the X-heroes have been systematically shutting down the myriad cells of the Brotherhood worldwide. A realistic approach, yes, but obviously a hurried one. It would have been great to see how fanatic devotees like Malon would react to iconic X-Men like Cyclops and Cable. Sure, it would have been a gratuitous sales ploy to have a team of X-Men do a guest shot to fight off the Brotherhood for a few issues, but the sales could use it, and you can justify it within the story. I would have liked to see it and I’m sorry that it won’t ever happen. Still, this sudden destruction of X’s terror cells by X-Men is a realistic method for X the writer to bring the Brotherhood to an end.
The interaction between X and Orwell throughout the Brotherhood has always bordered on clichéd, simply due to its necessary one-sidedness. Here, however, X the writer pulls it off without a hitch. Phillips also does an excellent job of capturing their conversations: Orwell’s face never betrays any emotion, while X has facial expressions enough for the both of them.
The storyline involving X’s three traitorous protégés is significantly less enjoyable than the story of X himself. Their dialog isn’t exactly what one would call inspired, and their altercation isn’t anywhere near as surprising as we’re meant to think it is. Similarly, the disco scene with Marshal just doesn’t fit that character at all to me. Sure, he’s seemed to be borderline psychopath for the last few issues, but dancing with a corpse and saying things like “this music makes you just want to gouge someone’s eyes out” go a bit farther than he should.
Altogether, it’s a good issue with a fantastic ending. Phillips’ art captures the mood perfectly, and some of X’s lines, like “The revolution will be televised” capture the mood of the flailing visionary perfectly.
I loved the first trilogy presented in The Brotherhood, and I hated the second. The third and final arc will be wrapped up next issue, and will end the series. I’ll be sorry to see it go. Terrorism may not be as chic as it was eight issues ago, but X has some great stories in him (or her), and there’s nothing like this book anywhere else in the Marvel Universe. These are stories that should be told, and I’m looking forward to seeing how X deals with X-Force, the antithesis of the Brotherhood, next issue.
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/xnone.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/xnone.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/xhalf.jpghttp://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: Good
Story Title: Loyalties
X’s protégés begin their work as double-agents while X forms a daring plot to get the Brotherhood the publicity they so desperately need.
Written by: X
Pencilled by: Sean Phillips
Inked by: Kent Williams
Lettered by: Jon Babcock
Colored by: Dan Kemp
Assistant Editor: John Miesegaes
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas
While the last few issues of The Brotherhood have been enjoyable as a whole, what’s been the most noticeable to me hasn’t been the story, or the art, or the concept, or even the characters. What I’m really enjoying most are the great parallels that the mysterious X crafts throughout the issues, even extending to covers. X knows, the art team knows, and we know that The Brotherhood is cancelled as of #9. Sure, the book is being prematurely rushed to a conclusion, but the parallels visible in this issue, just like last issue, are fun to find.
We start with the cover, which coincidentally is my favorite cover of the month. An obvious tribute to Byrne’s classic “Days of Future Past” cover, we see X standing defiantly in the spotlight, with determination etched on his face. He’s standing in the same place that Wolverine stood in the original cover, and as we all know, that Wolverine was destined to meet his end soon. Meanwhile, Orwell stands nearby, looking a bit confused… like a deer caught in headlights. I do have to complain that the X-Force poster behind the unlikely duo made me think they’d appear more prominently within the book. Aside from that, this was an outstanding cover, and an excellent job by Sean Phillips.
Speaking of Phillips, he again handles the art chores for this issue, and he does a phenomenal job. I’ve always thought that Phillips’ pencils had something of an apocalyptic feel to them. Kent Williams’ inks seem to draw out that quality even more, and never was that atmosphere more appropriate than here in the last days of The Brotherhood. The dark and moody scenarios contribute to the storyline, and I’d be making a grave error if I didn’t compliment Dan Kemp for his great coloring of the discotheque sequence.
The art, as well as the dialog, greatly enhances the poise and attitude of the leader of the Brotherhood, X. Like his real-life writing counterpart, you get the feeling that he knows the end is near. Still, he remains determined, confident, and even sometimes likeable. However, there’s a fine line between genius and insanity, and it’s often hard to tell which side of the line he’s dancing on. Perhaps the true drive of X the leader left him after he reached the high point of his speech last issue. Perhaps the direction of X the writer was mortally wounded when word of this series’ cancellation arrived. Damn, I love these parallels.
If you bought this book because of the possible X-Force guest appearance, though, you’re in for a disappointment. The Orphan and company never actually appear in the issue, showing up only on billboards and photographs near the beginning and end of the book. I was a little disappointed by this; after all, one would think that they’d play a more prominent role what with being featured on the cover! Cheesy sales gimmick? Probably, yes. But at least we can definitely expect to see them next issue.
We’re told in this issue that the combined forces of the X-heroes have been systematically shutting down the myriad cells of the Brotherhood worldwide. A realistic approach, yes, but obviously a hurried one. It would have been great to see how fanatic devotees like Malon would react to iconic X-Men like Cyclops and Cable. Sure, it would have been a gratuitous sales ploy to have a team of X-Men do a guest shot to fight off the Brotherhood for a few issues, but the sales could use it, and you can justify it within the story. I would have liked to see it and I’m sorry that it won’t ever happen. Still, this sudden destruction of X’s terror cells by X-Men is a realistic method for X the writer to bring the Brotherhood to an end.
The interaction between X and Orwell throughout the Brotherhood has always bordered on clichéd, simply due to its necessary one-sidedness. Here, however, X the writer pulls it off without a hitch. Phillips also does an excellent job of capturing their conversations: Orwell’s face never betrays any emotion, while X has facial expressions enough for the both of them.
The storyline involving X’s three traitorous protégés is significantly less enjoyable than the story of X himself. Their dialog isn’t exactly what one would call inspired, and their altercation isn’t anywhere near as surprising as we’re meant to think it is. Similarly, the disco scene with Marshal just doesn’t fit that character at all to me. Sure, he’s seemed to be borderline psychopath for the last few issues, but dancing with a corpse and saying things like “this music makes you just want to gouge someone’s eyes out” go a bit farther than he should.
Altogether, it’s a good issue with a fantastic ending. Phillips’ art captures the mood perfectly, and some of X’s lines, like “The revolution will be televised” capture the mood of the flailing visionary perfectly.
I loved the first trilogy presented in The Brotherhood, and I hated the second. The third and final arc will be wrapped up next issue, and will end the series. I’ll be sorry to see it go. Terrorism may not be as chic as it was eight issues ago, but X has some great stories in him (or her), and there’s nothing like this book anywhere else in the Marvel Universe. These are stories that should be told, and I’m looking forward to seeing how X deals with X-Force, the antithesis of the Brotherhood, next issue.
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/xnone.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/xnone.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/xhalf.jpghttp://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!