Robin Lewis
Mar 6, 2008, 06:34 pm
<a href=" http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0308/UNCX496_col.jpg" target="_blank"><img src=" http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0308/UNCX496_colt.jpg" alt="Uncanny X-Men #496" hspace=10 align=left></a> Reviewer: Brett White, brett.stephen.white@gmail.com
Story Title: X-Men: Divided – Part Two
“These are things that the X-Men have cost me…”
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Mike Choi
Color Art: Sonia Oback
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
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)
Spoilers ahead
I’m going to start with the story itself since, if you’ve read this issue, you know that the happy happenings, retro or otherwise, are not what matters with this issue. I loved the last issue. For the first time in almost ten years I felt like I was reading a normal, non-hyped, and relaxed issue of Uncanny X-Men. Good characters acting like good friends with no big mega-event on the horizon. This issue definitely stays on that path with Brubaker continuing the fanciful time warp plot introduced as a cliffhanger last issue. I have no real investment in this storyline and I sincerely doubt it’s going to go anywhere fresh and exciting, but I welcome that after being force fed events for a hundred issues. If anything this feels very much in line with classic Claremont. Brubaker’s bar scene with Kurt, Peter and Logan is definitely a nod to the classic “He’ll Never Make Me Cry” (Uncanny #183), complete with Logan asking Kurt if he is looking for Juggernaut. As a longtime reader, I’m elated to see these old friends of mine getting along so well.
And now I have to reference the other nod to “He’ll Never Make Me Cry” and the one tiny little tidbit that is, currently, making my head explode. That issue from almost a quarter century ago deals with Peter’s grief after dumping Kitty Pryde. This issue deals with Peter’s grief after losing Kitty Pryde. So there you go. Two short lines of dialogue referencing the assumed death of Kitty Pryde completely destroy this issue for me and point out everything that is currently wrong with Marvel Comics.
The timeline of events implied by this revelation are completely and utterly impossible. Kitty Pryde was last seen alive and well in X-Men #204 after the events of Blinded By the Light. That issue flows directly, with little to no time passing, into The Messiah Complex one-shot, kicking off the storyline that Kitty Pryde was noticeably absent for. The other half of the equation can be found over in Astonishing X-Men where Joss Whedon has constructed a tightly paced twelve-issue storyline that has been running for two years now. Kitty Pryde is alive and well over there, currently hitching a ride on a giant alien bullet that’s been fired at Earth. That story is concluding in April, fingers crossed. It’s obvious, given the two lines of dialogue in this issue, that Kitty Pryde does not return to Earth and that the entirety of Joss Whedon’s Torn and Unstoppable are meant to take place in the half hour between X-Men #204 and Messiah Complex. This is unacceptable.
As a fan of the X-Men, the least I ask is to be entertained. I will put up with a twelve-part epic that doesn’t have an ending (Rise & Fall of the Shi’ar Empire) because Warpath finally got his due. I will put up with Professor Xavier still being alive after getting shot through the brain because John Romita Jr.’s art is gorgeous. I will put up with Wolfsbane joining up with a pack of killers because it made Peter David write an amazing issue of X-Factor. I will not put up with being cheated out of the surprise of the death of Kitty Pryde and the aftermath that followed because a creative team could not follow through with a deadline for an issue they requested themselves or because the editors could not deny Whedon his grand finale that so tragically does not fit in with the other comics that completely abandoned Astonishing over a year ago. For a character that has been around for nearly thirty years and has come to symbolize everything that the X-Men represent, this is downright blasphemous.
Brubaker gets a couple of tears out of Peter in this issue. That feels awkwardly okay and maybe even about right for someone whose loss was a couple weeks ago...but he’s with Kurt and Logan. If anything those two should be as upset as he is. Instead, Logan is telling Peter to toughen up. Are you serious? The fact that Brubaker had these three playing practical jokes on each other last issue when a woman who was, arguably, one of the most important women in all three of these men’s lives just died infuriates me. Yes, I think they should be able to move on, but as readers we have been robbed of seeing these characters grieve. Logan telling Peter to toughen up is him also telling the readers to toughen up about a death that we haven’t even read yet.
The other inconsistencies that come up when placing Astonishing in its apparent context are staggering in number. The students that were just brutally attacked in Blinded By the Light are immediately being taught by Wolverine in Torn. Cyclops is devastated after losing his son in Blinded By the Light and is now going about his daily routine in Torn. I know that all of these are nitpicks and the kind of gripes that I usually hold back. Like I said, I’m overlooking Wolverine being in Russia while also tracking down Mystique, leading X-Force, and moving into the Avengers Apartment this month. This is completely different. Marvel never asks us to rationalize Wolverine’s jaunts across the globe and they actually make fun of it. Now Marvel is asking us to completely rationalize this mess that they have made of continuity by allowing Kitty to be “lost” in a book that is also lost en route to the retailers every month. All they had to do was say “no” to Whedon’s ending as a consequence of the book never being on time.
Whedon is a genius, though, so maybe Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men will include some crazy time travel deus ex machina that will make all this make sense. Maybe Kitty will only be lost in space, thus making Logan and Kurt’s casual attitude a little easier to accept. Until then, this issue shines a spotlight on Marvel’s current problem as a company. You cannot desperately try to make your titles connect while also ignoring continuity and allowing books to be delayed.
Mike Choi’s art is fine, but it’s not to my liking. It’s very stiff and posed and while it’s pretty, I find it the comic book equivalent of watching Make Me A Supermodel. Seriously, Logan should be on a runway.
If you are a fan of retro-style action and drama, then Uncanny X-Men is doing a fine job of that. If you are willing to overlook the gross mischaracterizations in the aftermath of a major character’s death and Marvel’s insistence on inconsistency, then you won’t have the conniption fit that I’m having right now and you’ll probably give it a higher score.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xhalf.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg
‘Buy this Uncanny X-Men online now from X-WORLD and save!’ (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1373&cat=UNCANNY+X%2DMEN+444%2DCURRENT)
Story Title: X-Men: Divided – Part Two
“These are things that the X-Men have cost me…”
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Mike Choi
Color Art: Sonia Oback
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
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)
Spoilers ahead
I’m going to start with the story itself since, if you’ve read this issue, you know that the happy happenings, retro or otherwise, are not what matters with this issue. I loved the last issue. For the first time in almost ten years I felt like I was reading a normal, non-hyped, and relaxed issue of Uncanny X-Men. Good characters acting like good friends with no big mega-event on the horizon. This issue definitely stays on that path with Brubaker continuing the fanciful time warp plot introduced as a cliffhanger last issue. I have no real investment in this storyline and I sincerely doubt it’s going to go anywhere fresh and exciting, but I welcome that after being force fed events for a hundred issues. If anything this feels very much in line with classic Claremont. Brubaker’s bar scene with Kurt, Peter and Logan is definitely a nod to the classic “He’ll Never Make Me Cry” (Uncanny #183), complete with Logan asking Kurt if he is looking for Juggernaut. As a longtime reader, I’m elated to see these old friends of mine getting along so well.
And now I have to reference the other nod to “He’ll Never Make Me Cry” and the one tiny little tidbit that is, currently, making my head explode. That issue from almost a quarter century ago deals with Peter’s grief after dumping Kitty Pryde. This issue deals with Peter’s grief after losing Kitty Pryde. So there you go. Two short lines of dialogue referencing the assumed death of Kitty Pryde completely destroy this issue for me and point out everything that is currently wrong with Marvel Comics.
The timeline of events implied by this revelation are completely and utterly impossible. Kitty Pryde was last seen alive and well in X-Men #204 after the events of Blinded By the Light. That issue flows directly, with little to no time passing, into The Messiah Complex one-shot, kicking off the storyline that Kitty Pryde was noticeably absent for. The other half of the equation can be found over in Astonishing X-Men where Joss Whedon has constructed a tightly paced twelve-issue storyline that has been running for two years now. Kitty Pryde is alive and well over there, currently hitching a ride on a giant alien bullet that’s been fired at Earth. That story is concluding in April, fingers crossed. It’s obvious, given the two lines of dialogue in this issue, that Kitty Pryde does not return to Earth and that the entirety of Joss Whedon’s Torn and Unstoppable are meant to take place in the half hour between X-Men #204 and Messiah Complex. This is unacceptable.
As a fan of the X-Men, the least I ask is to be entertained. I will put up with a twelve-part epic that doesn’t have an ending (Rise & Fall of the Shi’ar Empire) because Warpath finally got his due. I will put up with Professor Xavier still being alive after getting shot through the brain because John Romita Jr.’s art is gorgeous. I will put up with Wolfsbane joining up with a pack of killers because it made Peter David write an amazing issue of X-Factor. I will not put up with being cheated out of the surprise of the death of Kitty Pryde and the aftermath that followed because a creative team could not follow through with a deadline for an issue they requested themselves or because the editors could not deny Whedon his grand finale that so tragically does not fit in with the other comics that completely abandoned Astonishing over a year ago. For a character that has been around for nearly thirty years and has come to symbolize everything that the X-Men represent, this is downright blasphemous.
Brubaker gets a couple of tears out of Peter in this issue. That feels awkwardly okay and maybe even about right for someone whose loss was a couple weeks ago...but he’s with Kurt and Logan. If anything those two should be as upset as he is. Instead, Logan is telling Peter to toughen up. Are you serious? The fact that Brubaker had these three playing practical jokes on each other last issue when a woman who was, arguably, one of the most important women in all three of these men’s lives just died infuriates me. Yes, I think they should be able to move on, but as readers we have been robbed of seeing these characters grieve. Logan telling Peter to toughen up is him also telling the readers to toughen up about a death that we haven’t even read yet.
The other inconsistencies that come up when placing Astonishing in its apparent context are staggering in number. The students that were just brutally attacked in Blinded By the Light are immediately being taught by Wolverine in Torn. Cyclops is devastated after losing his son in Blinded By the Light and is now going about his daily routine in Torn. I know that all of these are nitpicks and the kind of gripes that I usually hold back. Like I said, I’m overlooking Wolverine being in Russia while also tracking down Mystique, leading X-Force, and moving into the Avengers Apartment this month. This is completely different. Marvel never asks us to rationalize Wolverine’s jaunts across the globe and they actually make fun of it. Now Marvel is asking us to completely rationalize this mess that they have made of continuity by allowing Kitty to be “lost” in a book that is also lost en route to the retailers every month. All they had to do was say “no” to Whedon’s ending as a consequence of the book never being on time.
Whedon is a genius, though, so maybe Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men will include some crazy time travel deus ex machina that will make all this make sense. Maybe Kitty will only be lost in space, thus making Logan and Kurt’s casual attitude a little easier to accept. Until then, this issue shines a spotlight on Marvel’s current problem as a company. You cannot desperately try to make your titles connect while also ignoring continuity and allowing books to be delayed.
Mike Choi’s art is fine, but it’s not to my liking. It’s very stiff and posed and while it’s pretty, I find it the comic book equivalent of watching Make Me A Supermodel. Seriously, Logan should be on a runway.
If you are a fan of retro-style action and drama, then Uncanny X-Men is doing a fine job of that. If you are willing to overlook the gross mischaracterizations in the aftermath of a major character’s death and Marvel’s insistence on inconsistency, then you won’t have the conniption fit that I’m having right now and you’ll probably give it a higher score.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xhalf.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg
‘Buy this Uncanny X-Men online now from X-WORLD and save!’ (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1373&cat=UNCANNY+X%2DMEN+444%2DCURRENT)