New Comics!: The X-Edition

Generation Hope #9:  The fact that Gillen basically gives us a “It Gets Better” video in comic-book form without wading too deep into the “After-School Special” end of the pool is a testament to his skill as a writer.  This issue blends together a number of real-life stories involving teenagers pushed to suicide by their peers in order to deliver us Hope’s first failure.  Although Gillen manages to present the story in a fairly grounded way, I think he’s still got to be careful not to go to the “It Gets Better” well too often.  For example, I’m on the fence about the Kenji/Logan conversation.  On the face of it, it’s extremely well done, with both characters staying totally in character:  Logan is exactly the right person to talk to Kenji, who’s always been the darkest member of the team, about the consequences of murder.  Logan treats him as a colleague, but also a teenager who's contemplating something that, from his experience, Logan knows he's not ready to handle.  However, that said, the whole idea of Logan literally telling Kenji “it gets better” comes really, really close to eye-roll inducing.  Again, Gillen manages not entirely to go there, but I think I’d rather us return to Kenji and Laurie’s suspicions that Hope is manipulating them and other stories related to the relationships between the characters than spend too much more time focused on the horrors of being a teenage mutant.  That ground has been covered so well by so many others that it’s not going to be enough to sustain this series.  However, the relationships will, and, after this detour, I think Gillen should return to focusing on those. 

New Mutants #27:  Dani goes fist-to-fist with the Sugar Man, capturing him while Bobby and Amara battle Sugar Man's mutates and Doug and Warlock free Nate Grey.  It's a pretty satisfying conclusion to the storyline, with a newly de-powered Nate returned to the X-Men and Dani getting to show up Victoria Hand.  I will say, however, that we need a little more character development in the non-Dani department in future issues.  I love Dani, but this arc read more like a solo series than a team book.  Since this series re-started, Amara and Bobby have been little more than pawns on the chess board.  With Sam, Illyana, and Xi'an in the background and Doug unlikely to develop a personality any time soon, it's time to give these two some screen time.

New Mutants #28:  This issue is great.  Dani brings in a therapist who used to work in her community in Colorado to help with the more troubled members of the New Mutants team.  DnA's work with Cannonball here was the most interesting to me.  Across three writers – Wells, Carey, and DnA – we’ve seen a slow but steady push to bring Cannonball's character to the next level.  Wells laid the foundation in the “Fall/Rise of the New Mutants” arc, with Sam losing all control in the face of brutal torture and overwhelming odds.  Carey went the other way, showing Sam as the extremely capable field leader of the X-Men during “Age of X.”  DnA are now reconciling those two extremes and, hopefully, setting up his return as the leader he’s had the potential to be since the “New Mutants” graphic novel.  Meanwhile, DnA’s treatment of Nate Grey is equally fascinating.  By essentially de-powering him, they’ve made him even more like Cable, who also had limited telekinesis abilities as a result of constantly fighting off the techno-organic virus.  I’m excited to see him become part of the team, because I’ve always liked him (and, incidentally, finally got my hands on “X-Man” #1, the only “Age of Apocalypse” issue I had been missing).  Finally, DnA give us some insight into Magik, confirming that she is actually interested in redemption and (allegedly) not plotting something darker.  All in all, it was a really stellar issue of characterization and I continue to be excited about where they're taking the series. 

X-Factor #222:  This issue is...odd.  The characterizations were kind of bizarre, almost like someone other than Peter David wrote the issue.  Rictor yelling at Rahne seemed completely out of character for him, particularly since, as far as I'm aware, they had resolved the issues between them several issues ago.  Rahne slapping Rictor for apologizing for yelling at her was equally weird.  She's mad at him...because he apologized to her?  What?  I liked the first few issues of this arc, and I'm intrigued to see where it's going, but this issue doesn't really advance the plot much.  It leaves you mostly just wondering why everyone was in such a bad mood and feeling like you missed an issue.

X-Men #14:  A lot is going on here, and I’m not entirely sure I follow it.  The back-and-forth between the past and present is starting to remind me (in a bad way) of the recent 1950s Avengers storyline in “New Avengers.”  It’s getting hard to keep all the plot details straight.  For example, in the past, the Scarlet Witch gave the X-Men Emma Frost’s name and location so they could stop Magneto from getting her.  You’d think Magneto would figure out that happened when the X-Men appear at the institute where Emma is being held just in time to battle him, but he doesn’t seem angry at Wanda when they all later rendezvous at the Mansion.  So, either Magneto didn’t put two and two together (which seems unlikely, but possible, I guess) or Wanda sent them to the institute on purpose to clear out the Mansion.  The problem is that Yost doesn’t really do a great job of giving us enough information to decide which is which.  In the present, I’m still not entirely sure who the three mutants attacking the Stepford Cuckoo on Cerebro are and what their motivation is.  They want to know more about the Evolutionaries, but why?  Who are they?  I don’t recognize them from anywhere, so they can’t be major players.  I like Yost, and the previous issues in this arc have been pretty good, but I feel like Yost loses some focus here.  It’s time to address some of the question marks before the failure to do so starts to get really, really annoying.

X-Men #15:  Meh.  This arc really started with a lot of potential, but, I have to say, I’m kind of disappointed with the ending.  First, Yost actually leaves some dangling threads.  For example, who were, exactly, the three mutants who attacked the Stepford Cuckoo?  After she blasted Cyclops' memory to everyone on Utopia, we never see her – or the villains – again.  Also, if Beast’s machine killed all the Evolutionaries other than the prime Evolutionary in the past, then who are the other ones – the yellow ones – who accompany him in the present?  I mean, where did he find more Evolutionaries?  Did the Eternal make more?  Also (again), how did Jean "remind" Scott of the events of the past?  At first it seemed like she was actually the one to hide the memories, but, with the reveal of this issue, it's clear she wasn't.  So, how exactly, if she's dead (allegedly) did she know to activate Scott's memory in the present at just the right time?  Second, I don’t know if I buy some of the characterizations.  For example, it’s revealed that Magneto didn’t realize that Wanda had in fact betrayed him by telling the X-Men the location of Emma Frost, which, frankly, I don’t really know if I believe.  Also, the Evolutionary decides to betray his millennia of training and preparation to kill Cyclops?  Really?  Finally, what happened to the cliffhanger in issue #14?  Magneto asks Scott what he did, as if the memory that the Stepford Cuckoo shared showed Scott make some deeply reckless or suspicious decision.  Um, as far as I can tell, he merely asked the Evolutionary for more time.  I can't say it's exactly shocking.  The most interesting part of this issue was Scott's decision to activate the newly re-made Beast weapon, which results in the death (again) of all the Evolutionaries but the prime one.  That characterization is more or less in line with the Scott we’ve seen over the last few years, but, as Iceman notes, it’s definitely a departure from the X-Men’s usual “no killing” pledge.  However, it makes me wonder what's going to happen in "Schism."  If Scott is ordering the deaths of the Evolutionaries, is he really THAT far apart from Logan philosophically?  Overall, I’m glad this arc is finished.  Looking over the last fifteen issues, I’m pretty disappointed with this title.  The Spider-Man cross-over was really the only arc I’ve fully enjoyed from start to finish at this point.  Given that I’m usually disappointed in “X-Men Legacy,” I continue to wonder if Marvel hasn’t really stretched itself too thin when it comes to the X-Men, focusing on quantity over quality. 

X-Men Legacy #252:  I haven’t necessarily been thrilled with this arc so far, but, I have to say, this issue made me re-assess that position.  Frenzy actually gets some moments here – dare I say, even some funny moments – and Legion actually does something more than cower.  I’m actually really looking forward to seeing where Carey goes with this story.  Who would’ve thought it?