Jason Grasso
Jan 27, 2008, 09:35 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11730" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/xmenv2-207t.jpg" alt="X-Men #207" hspace=10 align=left></a> Reviewer: Jason Grasso, Desperad07@aol.com
Story Title: Messiah Complex (Chapter Thirteen)
Character assassinations!
Writer: Mike Carey
Penciler: Chris Bachalo
Inkers: Tim Townsend with Victor Olazaba, Jon Sibal and Al Vey
Colorist: Brian Reber with Edgar Delgado
Letterer: Cory Petit
Assistant Editor: Will Panzo
Editor: Nick Lowe
Executive Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published By: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
BEWARE! DESTINY PREDICTED THERE WOULD BE SPOILERS!
It only took thirteen chapters, but the finale of Messiah Complex is finally here! Yet, by the end of X-Men #207 there are still plenty of parts of the story left unresolved. And of those that were resolved, they have only served to catapult the X-Men into further unknown.
The issue picks up on the many cliffhangers from the previous chapter, starting with Predator X’s entrance into the grand fray on Muir Island, along with the young X-Men. Much of the issue becomes an exercise in how many characters and how much action artist Chris Bachalo can fit into a frame. The catalysts for much of the action are the newly-christened X-Force, particularly Warpath, X-23 and Wolverine. The latter ultimately delivers the final visually-extravagant blow on Predator X, an all-too-predictable character to put an end to a frenetic fight. But at least it looked cool!
Meanwhile, everybody’s still out for the baby, who was handed off to Professor X by Gambit after Mystique tried using the baby to restore Rogue to health. Rogue eventually does awake, proving Destiny’s diaries to—SHOCKER!—be true after all! Wiped clean of the people she had absorbed over the years, Rogue quickly adds one to the newly-clean slate by taking down Mystique. Rogue then heads off to think things over, but not before warning Gambit to not follow her and thus maintain decades-long predictability.
With the baby now in the hands of Xavier and Cable, much of the focus of the battle is now on retrieving said baby. Cyclops confronts Cable to give the baby to him, which Professor X actually supports. Once in Cyclops’ hands, the baby illuminates all sorts of banal story contrivances it was hard to keep track. Not only does the baby seem to soothe Cyclops’ recent gung ho attitude, but it also pulls a Dickensian trick by getting Scott to think of his sacrifices to save his own son many years ago. The baby also pulls a little visual trick as a nod to the rumor that the little girl is Jean Grey reincarnated. In turn, Cyclops leaves the baby back in Cable’s care, to take it far away from harm. As Cable teleports away, Bishop frantically targets the duo but ends up shooting Xavier, who appears to be dead or in a coma (perhaps awaiting someone to make a deal with Mephisto and restore him to health). Almost immediately after seeing this beloved figure fall, Cyclops foregoes the excruciating pain and sadness of the shocking act to deliver what can only be called a pitch for Divided We Stand. Meanwhile the rest of the stiff X-Men stare at Xavier’s body like it was a hatch to an underground bunker. Nobody collapsed in sadness, clutching the body of their fallen mentor? The body then mysteriously disappears on the last frame. I get that comic books aim for a certain segment of entertainment but it wouldn’t kill the writers to inject a little more passion and a little less cornball symbolism into the proceedings.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11731" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/xmenv2-207vt.jpg" vspace=10 hspace=10 align=right alt="X-Men #207 (variant)"></a> While this crossover event certainly served to shake things up and offer an exciting sequence of events for all of the X-teams, it had too many flaws. The overuse of Destiny’s diaries is a downright annoying storytelling device in X-Men comics and needs to be put to rest once and for all. Unfortunately, every once in a while a new writer comes along and drags them out to give power and knowledge to a villain by way of the diaries predicting the very events happening at that moment. Combined with futures which conveniently keep including every new major event, stories are robbed of their uncertainty and surprise by having characters sitting in a corner saying things like “Destiny saw it all!”
The fates of many characters are left uncertain. We are meant to believe that Sinister is dead. It was a lame death for a character that was so powerful and intelligent that he’s almost been impossible to use, instead becoming the looming presence in the shadows of so many conspiracies, many of which have never been fully explained. Here he’s thwarted by Mystique, which is hard to believe. I’m sure we’ll see him again. The same goes for Exodus, whose fate is not known. Lastly, Xavier’s fall stands as the shock ending to this massive crossover and yet there is absolutely no reason to believe he'll stay dead.
It’s too bad Cyclops is a Skrull and all of this character development will be jettisoned by the next big event! I jest, but there is certainly reason to have such doubt given how close to the edge he walked in this storyline. I like that he’s become a more realistic, aggressive alternative to the seemingly archaic optimism of Xavier. It is a good reflection on real world sensibilities. But it’s been a bit overdone, with the creation of X-Force and what some of the solicits for the new Young X-Men are describing. It's too drastic of a 180 degree turn for the character, who recently was having layers of his one-dimensionality slowly peeled away in Astonishing X-Men.
The characterization of Bishop in recent issues has been so bad you might as well go ahead and call him a Skrull, too. His betrayal was never properly explained; instead he was displayed as a raving lunatic with a very poor reason for wanting to kill a baby, especially given how many events the X-Men have recovered from or prevented that supposedly led to a dire future (pick any you want, but Onslaught and “the traitor” come to my mind). You need look no further than Cable to see how they could have handled the inability to trust the X-Men and the uncertainty of the baby’s destiny. Instead of bloodthirstily aiming to end the baby’s life, Bishop could have done a better job explaining to the vast array of long-time X-Men he had banded with the important of the baby’s fate. Even the artists started drawing Bishop looking crazier than Norman Osborn. The idiotic desperation of his final shot, endangering someone we have been meant to feel is Bishop’s hero, only solidified how badly the writers botched this development. As a soldier and a cop, Bishop of all people would’ve known the potential ramifications of firing at a target encircled by his own allies.
Messiah Complex was an uneven event; with this issue of X-Men the perfect microcosm of the good, bad and ugly of it. Too much time was spent building up stories that didn’t need to be drawn out (i.e. Madrox and Layla’s future trip, the Purifiers and Predator X) when more time should have been spent on Bishop, Cable, core X-Men and only select Marauders. Some bad storytelling techniques muddied up the plot. However, the crossover succeeded in redefining the X-Men and giving a few characters much-needed purpose. Much of the art was top-flight. Unfortunately, the event cannot be completely judged in and of itself because far too many fates have yet to be played out. Call it another example of Marvel using a wallet-busting mega-event to catapult one of their franchises into a new era that’s likely only subtly different than the one before it.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg
Buy X-Men #207 online now from X-WORLD and save! ( http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=25726)
Story Title: Messiah Complex (Chapter Thirteen)
Character assassinations!
Writer: Mike Carey
Penciler: Chris Bachalo
Inkers: Tim Townsend with Victor Olazaba, Jon Sibal and Al Vey
Colorist: Brian Reber with Edgar Delgado
Letterer: Cory Petit
Assistant Editor: Will Panzo
Editor: Nick Lowe
Executive Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published By: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
BEWARE! DESTINY PREDICTED THERE WOULD BE SPOILERS!
It only took thirteen chapters, but the finale of Messiah Complex is finally here! Yet, by the end of X-Men #207 there are still plenty of parts of the story left unresolved. And of those that were resolved, they have only served to catapult the X-Men into further unknown.
The issue picks up on the many cliffhangers from the previous chapter, starting with Predator X’s entrance into the grand fray on Muir Island, along with the young X-Men. Much of the issue becomes an exercise in how many characters and how much action artist Chris Bachalo can fit into a frame. The catalysts for much of the action are the newly-christened X-Force, particularly Warpath, X-23 and Wolverine. The latter ultimately delivers the final visually-extravagant blow on Predator X, an all-too-predictable character to put an end to a frenetic fight. But at least it looked cool!
Meanwhile, everybody’s still out for the baby, who was handed off to Professor X by Gambit after Mystique tried using the baby to restore Rogue to health. Rogue eventually does awake, proving Destiny’s diaries to—SHOCKER!—be true after all! Wiped clean of the people she had absorbed over the years, Rogue quickly adds one to the newly-clean slate by taking down Mystique. Rogue then heads off to think things over, but not before warning Gambit to not follow her and thus maintain decades-long predictability.
With the baby now in the hands of Xavier and Cable, much of the focus of the battle is now on retrieving said baby. Cyclops confronts Cable to give the baby to him, which Professor X actually supports. Once in Cyclops’ hands, the baby illuminates all sorts of banal story contrivances it was hard to keep track. Not only does the baby seem to soothe Cyclops’ recent gung ho attitude, but it also pulls a Dickensian trick by getting Scott to think of his sacrifices to save his own son many years ago. The baby also pulls a little visual trick as a nod to the rumor that the little girl is Jean Grey reincarnated. In turn, Cyclops leaves the baby back in Cable’s care, to take it far away from harm. As Cable teleports away, Bishop frantically targets the duo but ends up shooting Xavier, who appears to be dead or in a coma (perhaps awaiting someone to make a deal with Mephisto and restore him to health). Almost immediately after seeing this beloved figure fall, Cyclops foregoes the excruciating pain and sadness of the shocking act to deliver what can only be called a pitch for Divided We Stand. Meanwhile the rest of the stiff X-Men stare at Xavier’s body like it was a hatch to an underground bunker. Nobody collapsed in sadness, clutching the body of their fallen mentor? The body then mysteriously disappears on the last frame. I get that comic books aim for a certain segment of entertainment but it wouldn’t kill the writers to inject a little more passion and a little less cornball symbolism into the proceedings.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11731" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/xmenv2-207vt.jpg" vspace=10 hspace=10 align=right alt="X-Men #207 (variant)"></a> While this crossover event certainly served to shake things up and offer an exciting sequence of events for all of the X-teams, it had too many flaws. The overuse of Destiny’s diaries is a downright annoying storytelling device in X-Men comics and needs to be put to rest once and for all. Unfortunately, every once in a while a new writer comes along and drags them out to give power and knowledge to a villain by way of the diaries predicting the very events happening at that moment. Combined with futures which conveniently keep including every new major event, stories are robbed of their uncertainty and surprise by having characters sitting in a corner saying things like “Destiny saw it all!”
The fates of many characters are left uncertain. We are meant to believe that Sinister is dead. It was a lame death for a character that was so powerful and intelligent that he’s almost been impossible to use, instead becoming the looming presence in the shadows of so many conspiracies, many of which have never been fully explained. Here he’s thwarted by Mystique, which is hard to believe. I’m sure we’ll see him again. The same goes for Exodus, whose fate is not known. Lastly, Xavier’s fall stands as the shock ending to this massive crossover and yet there is absolutely no reason to believe he'll stay dead.
It’s too bad Cyclops is a Skrull and all of this character development will be jettisoned by the next big event! I jest, but there is certainly reason to have such doubt given how close to the edge he walked in this storyline. I like that he’s become a more realistic, aggressive alternative to the seemingly archaic optimism of Xavier. It is a good reflection on real world sensibilities. But it’s been a bit overdone, with the creation of X-Force and what some of the solicits for the new Young X-Men are describing. It's too drastic of a 180 degree turn for the character, who recently was having layers of his one-dimensionality slowly peeled away in Astonishing X-Men.
The characterization of Bishop in recent issues has been so bad you might as well go ahead and call him a Skrull, too. His betrayal was never properly explained; instead he was displayed as a raving lunatic with a very poor reason for wanting to kill a baby, especially given how many events the X-Men have recovered from or prevented that supposedly led to a dire future (pick any you want, but Onslaught and “the traitor” come to my mind). You need look no further than Cable to see how they could have handled the inability to trust the X-Men and the uncertainty of the baby’s destiny. Instead of bloodthirstily aiming to end the baby’s life, Bishop could have done a better job explaining to the vast array of long-time X-Men he had banded with the important of the baby’s fate. Even the artists started drawing Bishop looking crazier than Norman Osborn. The idiotic desperation of his final shot, endangering someone we have been meant to feel is Bishop’s hero, only solidified how badly the writers botched this development. As a soldier and a cop, Bishop of all people would’ve known the potential ramifications of firing at a target encircled by his own allies.
Messiah Complex was an uneven event; with this issue of X-Men the perfect microcosm of the good, bad and ugly of it. Too much time was spent building up stories that didn’t need to be drawn out (i.e. Madrox and Layla’s future trip, the Purifiers and Predator X) when more time should have been spent on Bishop, Cable, core X-Men and only select Marauders. Some bad storytelling techniques muddied up the plot. However, the crossover succeeded in redefining the X-Men and giving a few characters much-needed purpose. Much of the art was top-flight. Unfortunately, the event cannot be completely judged in and of itself because far too many fates have yet to be played out. Call it another example of Marvel using a wallet-busting mega-event to catapult one of their franchises into a new era that’s likely only subtly different than the one before it.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg
Buy X-Men #207 online now from X-WORLD and save! ( http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=25726)