New Comics!: The X-Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Before we get to the individual issue reviews, I thought I'd comment on a general theme that's been bothering me lately with the X-books.  It came to a head in this review because I happened to receive all four core books on successive days, due to a somewhat erratic shipping schedule.  It seems odd to me that, among the core books, so many authors are using the same characters.  For example, Iceman, Marvel Girl, and Wolverine are appearing both "Wolverine and the X-Men" and "X-Men Legacy," making up half of both teams.  (Beast, Husk, and Shadowcat round out "WatXM" and Cannonball, Frenzy, and Gambit round out "X-Men Legacy.)  Similarly, Colossus, Psylocke, and Storm appear both in "Uncanny X-Men" and "X-Men."  It's a little less of a big deal given the enormous cast in "Uncanny X-Men," but, again, they're half the "X-Men" team.  It seems weird to me that, given the number of X-Men wandering around the School and Utopia, we can't bring some other characters into the mix.  Maybe Scott's "Extinction Team" could lose Colossus, Psylocke, and Storm as members, becoming a more reasonable six rather than nine.  Maybe rather than crowding "X-Factor," Havok and Polaris could've stayed on Rogue's team with Marvel Girl, giving us a team with a little continuity, something none of the other teams have.  What happened to Dazzler and Northstar?  Given the fact that we're talking about the franchise with the deepest bench in Marvel Comics, why are we seeing the same characters over and over and over again?  It really undermines the sense of team dynamics that you usually associate with a specific title, leaving the only real differences between the titles to be the skill of their respective authors and artists.  Honestly, I think it's why so many of these stories have been so boring, because you feel like you're just reading them again and again.

Uncanny X-Men #8:  I've noted in my other reviews of this arc that the Hope/Namor and Colossus/Magik pairs have essentially been ignored.  Oddly, Gillen decides to give us here an entire issue dedicated to their adventures, rather than having interspersed them throughout the rest of the arc.  As a result, this issue feels like a somewhat awkward addendum.  The Hope/Namor moments were actually amusing, and I think this arc would've been more enjoyable had they been spread over the other issues, breaking up the dry material that comprised most of the Tabula Rasa story.  The Colossus/Magik story?  I have no idea why it was included.  I get that Gillen was addressing the darkness that Colossus is increasingly trying to fight, but why include it here?  Is it because it gave him the opportunity to have Colossus murder a bunch of aliens, rather than humans, in order to bring about his soul searching?  I'm guessing so, but it doesn't make it feel any less of a random sub-plot.  Finally, the main plot at hand ends in a way I don't understand.  Was the Savage returning to Tabula Rasa?  I totally didn't understand his conversation with Storm at all, despite the fact that Gillen clearly thought it was deep.  Unfortunately, Gillen seems inexplicably to have adopted the Bendis school of thinking, confusing "deep" with "obtuse."  Besides the Hope/Namor moments, the only other interesting incident in this issue is Magneto and Psylocke's conversation at the end, which implies that maybe, just maybe, Magneto is not as cowed as he's been depicted as being for so long.  Honestly?  I'm really disappointed in Gillen.  I've found this arc to be incredibly boring, and, given that it comes on the heels of the lackluster Sinister arc, I can't believe that I'm reading the guy who used to be the only author to portray a Scott Summers that I didn't want to smack.  I'm almost happy to be distracted by "Avengers vs. X-Men" at this point, because at least I'll be able to avoid the difficult decision about keeping this title or not.

Wolverine and the X-Men #7:  First, I love Bobby and Kitty.  Love it.  They're two of my favorite X-Men, and they've both been relegated so often to incredibly boring star-crossed relationships.  I love the idea that they might get together, but, knowing the two of them, I'm ready for the long haul before it actually happens.  Second, I'm really concerned about Broo, and I hope that someone at the School actually acts like a teacher and talks to him about his moment of violence rather than just picking diamonds growing on trees (but we'll get to that in a minute).

Otherwise?  I really disliked this issue.  First, the "X-Men in Kitty" sub-plot just went on way too long and eventually just wound up being a contest to see if Aaron could out-gross himself.  "Beast says cover your ears."  "What now?"  "Not much.  I think he's just about to blow up Kitty's uterus."  Really?  Aaron thinks that's funny?  I mean, I can tell that he's trying to keep a certain light tone in the book, but suggesting that blowing up someone's uterus is just the sort of thing the X-Men do on an average Thursday seems really callous.

Second, the badass alien isn't a badass...but a professor?  Really?  That revelation just seemed like a totally abrupt -- and somewhat bizarre -- shift in tone from where we had been going.  Does this professor go around the entire Universe eliminating "threats" to the natural order?  Wouldn't he therefore have to kill, um, everyone, since everyone evolved from something else?  Is he against evolution?  He seems to be arguing that, but it seems like a hard thing to stop on, like, a universal scale.

Finally, diamonds growing on trees?  I mean, seriously, it was funny at the end of "Dodgeball" when they rolled out the treasure chest emblazoned with the words "Deus Ex Machina," but, seriously?  Diamonds growing on trees?  I had a hunch that whatever resolution Aaron had to the X-Men's money problems would never again be mentioned after they were resolved here, but I really didn't expect it to be so assinine as "diamons growing on trees."  (Plus, in a little economics lesson, the X-Men aren't going to be able to sell all those diamonds at once.  You flood the diamond market with that sort of supply, and you're going to see prices fall pretty shortly.)

[Sigh.]  I wish we had more than one decent X-title.

X-Men #26:  Meh.  This issue is OK.  It's not great, but it doesn't suck.  Deadpool is always a fun addition and I'm honestly shocked Marvel didn't spoil the surprise on the cover.  I also thought Gischler did a good job reminding us about Storm's, um, "history" with vampires.  I had honestly forgotten about it and had wondered why she was so unreasonable (and un-Storm-like) for most of the issue.  Gischler and Molina deliver on the promise of this series, continuing to give us stories that are light on plot but heavy on action.  I probably would've dropped this title by now if I actually liked more than one of the other core titles.  As it is, between this series, "Uncanny X-Men," and "Avengers," I already feel like I'm in some sort of long-distance relationship with Storm. 

X-Men Legacy #263:  Speaking of the decent X-title, Gage wraps up his excellent initial arc on this title here.  Color me seriously, seriously impressed.  As Rachel said, everyone acted eminently reasonable.  Rogue gave Wolverine's team enough time to stop Exodus, but alerted Utopia that he was coming to make sure Scott's team had time to prepare.  Wolverine didn't want to call Utopia for fear that Scott would dispatch a team full of teenagers.  When it became clear that said team full of teenagers would be needed to stop Exodus, Wolverine allowed it and even allowed the team to return Exodus to Utopia, the only place where he could be held.  But, despite, everyone acting reasonably, it feels like a loss.  Dust and Surge make fairly compelling cases for why Rogue and Wolverine are deluding themselves into thinking they can even remotely protect the students at the Jean Grey School.  But, Rogue has an equally compelling rejoinder.  These issues have provided the most nuanced and thoughtful meditations on "X-Men:  Schism" despite (or, maybe, because of) the fact that they weren't written by anyone involved in it.  Gage doesn't seem to be interested in writting a humorous title like Aaron or a serious title like Gillen; instead, he's writing a realistic one.  In my book, it's the best core X-book on the market.  I can't wait to see where he goes next.