Trying to Prove Its Own Relevance

     Dark Reign is in full swing, and it’s time for the obligatory one-shots.  In Dark Reign: The Cabal, each of the members of the Cabal, minus Norman Osborn, get their own stories in which to shine.  First, we have Dr. Doom’s little story of what he might do a year from now should the status quo be maintained.  Then, we have another little tale of woe about Emma Frost, attempting to make her seem sympathetic.  Next, there’s a rather ridiculous story about the Hood, detailing his contradictory nature.  Namor gets a story after that, all about an Atlantean mutant and his duty as a king.  Lastly, we have the first interaction between Loki and Dr. Doom in person after the Asgardians’ return to Earth.

     This is a pretty pathetic anthology issue, as most are.  The first one, written by Jonathan Hickman, makes Doom out to be nothing more than a power hungry backstabber.  That doesn’t bode well for his upcoming run on Fantastic Four.  Adi Granov’s work is still top-notch, but the script doesn’t deserve it.  The next one, written by Matt Fraction, is more of his character assassination of Emma Frost.  It’s matched only by Daniel Acuña’s terrible art, which is only marginally better than normal.  The Hood one, by Rick Remender and Max Fiumara, is just boring.  The Namor one is a bit more interesting, though I don’t know what Namor’s doing underwater again.  Carmine di Giandomenico’s work is still superb, and I’m glad to see him doing more work.  The Loki one is actually quite good, even though I’m not sure when it actually takes place, based on Doom’s odd reaction to her arrival.  Peter Milligan has a great grasp on Loki, and Tonci Zonjic draws the best Loki after Olivier Coipel.  Overall, I’d say that you should avoid this book.  Maybe read the Loki story if you can just grab it for a sec off the comic book rack.  That’s all.

Plot: 5.2      Art: 8.2      Dialogue: 7.6     Overall: 5.9

Somebody Pinch Me

     The Exiles are back!  And not the crappy Chris Claremont version!  Okay, so it’s written by Jeff Parker, not Tony Bedard or Judd Winick.  And the artist isn’t Paul Pelletier or Jim Calafiore; it’s Salvador Espin.  But this creative team gets the Exiles!  It’s the first time that I’ve really enjoyed them since Chris Claremont destroyed the series.  Which is why I stopped reading it.  Somehow, the New Exiles team is gone.  We know that Psylocke is back in Earth-616, but we don’t know what happened to the rest.  Anyway, we have five new members: the Witch, an alternate version of the Scarlet Witch, an alternate Polaris, an alternate Forge, an alternate Beast who’s a bit more beastly than the usual one, and a Black Panther who seems to be different from the classic one.  Plus, we’ve got the greatest leader of the Exiles, Blink, and Morph acting as the Timebroker.  We get to see a bit of all the new characters’ origins, and they get the spiel from Morph before being sent off to help an alternate Wolverine defeat an alternate Magneto.  Except that Wolverine is already dead.  Uh-oh.

     So, already, we’re off to a good start.  The book has two of the things that made it great: Blink and Morph.  It also has the fun spirit of showing alternate universes, as indicated by the hilarious but brief Hitler/Gandhi scene.  That’s likewise detailed by the colorful origins of each of the new characters, which gave a window into their realities and their personalities all at once without telling us too much.  Now, I’m a big fan of the old characters, like Nocturne and Mimic.  The latter is dead, but the former is not, and I would love to see her and maybe Thunderbird and Sabretooth back on the team.  However, this group is extremely intriguing.  I can’t wait to see what happens here.  The dialogue and Salvador Espin’s art are both totally appropriate, so I have my hopes up.  Here’s to the Exiles being back!

Plot: 8.6      Art: 8.8      Dialogue: 9.0      Overall: 8.7

A Hint of Betrayal

     Is this arc still going?  Yes, Rogue’s arc in X-Men: Legacy isn’t over yet.  And I have no idea why.  Mike Carey clearly didn’t have enough material to actually last five issues, so he added pointless stuff like the Shi’ar pirates and introspective, nonsensical babble to fill up space.  In this issue, Professor Xavier backsteps on the whole Danger issue, claiming that he was simply trying to understand the first of a new species.  This is taking an already bad plotline and further confusing it, like Mike Carey wants to redeem him or something.  Meanwhile, Rogue takes more trips down memory lane with Ms. Marvel and Magneto, and at the end of the issue, she’s glowing for some reason.  Which technically, we never even see.  We just see people staring at her, a dialogue bubble from off-panel, and some light.

     Meh.  That’s all I can say.  I have no idea what point about Rogue Mike Carey is even trying to convey with this arc.  From what I can tell, it’s going to end with her in control of some new form of her powers, which is potentially interesting.  But I really wish that this could have been done in less issues in a better way.  Coupling Danger and Rogue was a big mistake, since the former is an inherently bad idea, and the latter is one of the best characters the X-Men have ever seen.  And may I say that I don’t care about freaking Happy Pills at all.  Scot Eaton’s art is still superb, but like with many comics, it’s much better than what it is actually depicting.  I hope that, when Rogue returns to the fold, she’s allowed to be interesting again.  And I also hope that Gambit does more than make mostly idle threats with a scattered moment of coolness here and there.

Plot: 7.8      Art: 9.0      Dialogue: 7.3      Overall: 7.8

Completed

     At long last, I have finished fixing the old reviews as per the current grading system.  I also got bigger cover pictures for every old review that I could.  All of the grades now better reflect what I say in the reviews.  None of them really required much actually review-tweaking either.  Please, feel free to browse and comment as you see fit.

Last-Minute Fumble

     So far, Dark Avengers has been a logical extension of the Thunderbolts idea as a result of the Secret Invasion and Dark Reign storylines.  The first arc’s villain, Morgan le Fay, also makes perfect sense as relating to the Cabal and the events of Mighty Avengers.  However, in this issue, some problems arise.  The Iron Patriot, A.K.A. Norman Osborn, and Dr. Doom go back into the past to finally deal with le Fay.  Meanwhile, the Dark Avengers fight off le Fay’s horde of demons.  Ultimately, the Dark Avengers are victorious and head back to their tower, leaving behind a somewhat ungrateful Dr. Doom.  As they arrive back home, the Sentry appears, in perfect condition.  They can only wonder what will happen once he finally completely snaps.

     Brian Michael Bendis has some problems with characterization.  He’s got Ares and the Sentry down pat, since he’s worked with them before.  He’s given a nice new twist on Norman Osborn that, while not perfect, is still a work in progress.  However, the other characters seem to have lost a lot of their uniqueness.  Particularly the other three former Thunderbolts members: Moonstone (Ms. Marvel), Venom (Spider-Man), and Bullseye (Hawkeye).  All the little quirks that Warren Ellis showed have mostly been lost, and they’re all kind of generically crazy.  As for Daken and Noh-Varr, thus far, Bendis has spent so little time on them that I’m not even sure why they’re there.  The other problem is the fact that Morgan le Fay is one of the top ten sorcerors in the Marvel Universe, on par with Dr. Doom.  There’s no way she’d get beaten so easily by both Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel.  The Sentry, yes.  But not them.  Now, Mike Deodato Jr. still draws extremely well, so the art is quite pretty.  But Bendis is going to have to get in these characters’ heads a bit better for the remainder of the series.  His somewhat weak grasp on them was okay for the first arc, but it’ll have to get better if he wants to emulate the quality of the beginning of this arc.

Plot: 8.4      Art: 9.5      Dialogue: 7.5      Overall: 8.2