The Fall of X comics have generally been pretty terrible because it appears that it was editorially mandated that nothing notable could occur between The Fall of X comics have generally been pretty terrible because it appears that it was editorially mandated that nothing notable could occur between the Third Hellfire Gala and the Fall of the House of X. So we got four months of wheel-spinning, with the worst occurring in the interminable solo miniseries.
Fabian Nicieza tries to do better by suddenly sidestepping to a different threat: the Neocracy. But they come out of nowhere, they anticlimatically disappear into nothing (even the comic says so!) and so no one cares. Even the fun idea of having young and old Cable together does nothing for the story.
The only saving grace of United We Fall? Nicieza remembers that Cable & Deadpool happened (after all he wrote it!) and even reverses the stupid death of one of the major characters from that comic courtesy of timey-wimeyness (in a single sentence of explanation)....more
The first half of this was shockingly violent, feeling very real-world in the way that Percy's best X-Force and Wolverine did. This second half is mucThe first half of this was shockingly violent, feeling very real-world in the way that Percy's best X-Force and Wolverine did. This second half is much more comic booky, with its Sentinels and Super Armor and all the rest.
But worse, the pacing is a mess. The antagonists are all over the place, and we barely get any time with our secondary protagonists like Laura. Instead we get lots of Graydon Creed, but with absolutely no depth to his character story.
So, this is an OK finale, but it doesn't hold up to the previous voluem, sadly.
(And, hey, with From the Ashes up next, we're going to get much more of this quality level, I suspect.)...more
A shockingly violent "final" battle with Sabretooth that deserves the name Fall of X better than almost anything else from this era between the third A shockingly violent "final" battle with Sabretooth that deserves the name Fall of X better than almost anything else from this era between the third Hellfire Gala and the Fall of the House of X. This is Sabretooth at his best/worst, right up there with some of the classic stories.
What surprises me most is that Percy incorporates the really mediocre Sabretooth stories written by Victor LaValle. But, good for him, as picking up the storylines of a shared universe is exactly what you're supposed to do (and it turns out that LaValle is a cowriter of these stories, but working Percy, his mediocrity becomes great).
This story could still trail off into nothing in the second half, but the setup of this first volume is high-adrenaline and terrific....more
Last Mutant Standing (37-40). As usual, we've now got the wheel-spinning that has been endemic of the early Fall of X run, as mutants were on the run,Last Mutant Standing (37-40). As usual, we've now got the wheel-spinning that has been endemic of the early Fall of X run, as mutants were on the run, and no one could make positive plot movement against Orchis. Wolverine resolves that with a bunch of one-off teamups. Percy has the advantage of needing to close out old plotlines, so we get one issue of killing Wolverine clones and another issue of shutting down the auctioneer, but from there we're on to pointless fights with Orchis. Overall, a pretty forgettable arc other than the need to close up old plotholes (and some nice references to classic Wolverine stories such as Hulk #181 and whatever X-Men issue had the flashback with Captain America and Black Widow) [3/5]....more
The Beast Agenda (26-30). Beast has geen going bad for a *very* long time. For me it dates back to at least the Second Coming era, but he was clearly The Beast Agenda (26-30). Beast has geen going bad for a *very* long time. For me it dates back to at least the Second Coming era, but he was clearly a morals-challenged mad scientist by the time he brought the O5 forward for All-New X-Men. Percy has only been playing that up in his run of X-Force and Wolverine. So what finally happens in this volume is no surprise.
But I'd sure like to know why. Author after author has shown the darkening of the Beast, but they haven't bothered to tell us what's going on in his head. So this heel turn is a surprise in another way, because we don't understand what's going on because we don't understand what's going on.
With this said, other than some unnecessary playing with timeframes that just muddles the story and a dull issue spent fighting The Pit, this is a good conclusion (or at least major milestone) in a very long-running arc. [4/5]
Weapons of X (31-35). At last, we get a view into Beast's head. It doesn't tell us HOW he got to be the way he is, but it tells us WHY he does the things he does. And that this is definitely the original Beast, not the Evil Beast (though some future author will likely still retcon that).
Though it's great to see a final confrontation with Beast (another final confrontation?), it also feels a bit pointless, because the ending status quo isn't that different from the start. This should have been the conclusion, but not only does it drag to keep the story going, with a few pointless issues, but it also fails to conclude. Sigh.
Still, a lot of amazing imagery and totally over-the-top plotting with legions of Beasts and Wolveirnes motoring about in a kaiju skull island. Wow. [3+/5]
Last Mutant Standing (37-40). As usual, we've now got the wheel-spinning that has been endemic of the early Fall of X run, as mutants were on the run, and no one could make positive plot movement against Orchis. Wolverine resolves that with a bunch of one-off teamups. Percy has the advantage of needing to close out old plotlines, so we get one issue of killing Wolverine clones and another issue of shutting down the auctioneer, but from there we're on to pointless fights with Orchis. Overall, a pretty forgettable arc other than the need to close up old plotholes (and some nice references to classic Wolverine stories such as Hulk #181 and whatever X-Men issue had the flashback with Captain America and Black Widow) [3/5]....more
If Marvel was going to insist on rebooting the Krakoan Age (an of course they were going to; it's part of the toxic bottom-line to mass-market comics If Marvel was going to insist on rebooting the Krakoan Age (an of course they were going to; it's part of the toxic bottom-line to mass-market comics that is slowly poisoning them), then this was a fine volume to do so. It's not up to the quality and surprise of HoX/PoX, but it's nonetheless a nice complement and bookend.
Gerry Duggan's volume (Fall) is the battle against Orchis that was a required follow-up to the disastrous third Gala. It's a fine action-adventure, but ultimately the weaker half of the story.
Kieron Gillen's volume (Rise) is the battle against Dominion that has haunted the latter half of Krakoa, and it's what really makes FoHoX/RoPoX a nice complement to the original, because it's full of timey-wimeyness that's original and innovative, plus the capstone to Moira's story.
Then we get #35, which is a nice close to anything.
I'm bitter over Marvel's dismissal of Krakoa for the mediocrity of yet another status quo reboot, but good stories have an ending, and this is a pretty good one....more
So many of the Fall of X miniseries are simple water-treading.
And Resurrection of Magneto sort of is, and it takes a single pre-determined plot point So many of the Fall of X miniseries are simple water-treading.
And Resurrection of Magneto sort of is, and it takes a single pre-determined plot point (highlighted in the title) and stretches it out over four issues.
But Ewing is a strong author, and he does a good job of describing the mutant afterlife here (though the connections he makes between a number of foes are never entirely clear). Then we get a single issue about Magneto in the Orchis-Ascendant era, which is quite nice.
So, overall a fun read, despite it being a Fall of X miniseries....more
Painfully bad, to the point where I likely would have DNF if I was borrowing this from the library as opposed to having bought it. (Isn't that weird tPainfully bad, to the point where I likely would have DNF if I was borrowing this from the library as opposed to having bought it. (Isn't that weird that when we waste money we're also more likely to waste our time, so as to feel that the money wasn't as wasted? Yeah.)
The biggest problem is that it's entirely pointless. Much like the Jean Grey Fall of X volume, it leaves things in approximately the same state as the start, so as not to get in the way of the next plotline. Which makes this just another cash grab.
But the writing is quite bad too. The individual issues are entirely formulaic. Orchis mercenaries try to kill pseudo-mutants. Bobby intervenes. Bobby succeeds but falls apart and reforms in the Fortress of Solitude. Rinse, Wash, Repeat.
There's also an entirely bizarre conceit where Romeo is basically playing the Bobby video game down at the Fortress, even having an action-icon that shows him how Bobby is doing.
Wow, I hope this is all entirely forgotten by the time Bobby returns.
And it's going on my giveaway pile. Even though I keep almost all of my X-Men books, really bad miniseries get a pass (off)....more
Is there a good, coherent story here? It's hard to tell because this omnibus organization is such a wreck that I'm not convinced I want to keep it insIs there a good, coherent story here? It's hard to tell because this omnibus organization is such a wreck that I'm not convinced I want to keep it instead of the individual volumes. (I think my answer is that I won't.)
The problem is that the original AvX collection was already a mess because they separated out the main miniseries and the short fights AvX comic. For these omnibus they maintained that and they just stacked all of the crossovers on the back. They even choose to keep the crossovers in arcs rather than integrating them. It's a mess to read. You're constantly going back and forth over the story line, which is why this omnibus has no value as an omnibus. If they're not going to try and tell a story, then you might as well just have the individual collections.
Marvel is usually much better with their omnibus mapping. This is deeply, deeply disappointing.
As for the story: not one of the best X-crossovers, not one of the worst. The core storyline is overly decompressed, mainly to have lots of big fights. The fights miniseries, AvX, is almost total trash (especially when you don't really see where they occur in the larger story). But a lot of the crossovers are pretty good. UXM, Bendis' Avengers, even the weird cosmic storyline in Secret Avengers: it's all worth read and some of it's pretty good. Then it all ends with Consequences, which is terrific.
I'm not thrilled by the mass character assassination that happens in the story (with all of the Phoenix Five being treated like criminals despite the fact that probably every hero in the Marvel Universe has been mindcontrolled into doing terrible things at this point). But the setup for the rebel-Scott-Summers arc is nice, as is the use of the Phoenix to deal with the No-More-Mutants problem....more
This is a slow-moving book, I think because of the author's over-reliance on text (both captions and full-page text walls). But it's nonetheless a gooThis is a slow-moving book, I think because of the author's over-reliance on text (both captions and full-page text walls). But it's nonetheless a good story. A return to Asgard for our mutants, but not quite Asgard (Vanaheim instead). And some of the characters (particularly Magik, Mary, Curse, and to a lesser extent Dani) get great characterization and growth. Yeah, Dust and especially Marrow are barely there, but they're the exception, not the rule. And then we get an antagonist that really ties in nicely to one of the main Krakoa story threads.
Not sure why this gets so many bad to mediocre reviews, other than the slow pacing, it's a good read....more
Duggan's X-Men supplement in the Fall of X, Uncanny Avengers, has an unfortunate feel of artificiality to it, like he's just coloring by the numbers tDuggan's X-Men supplement in the Fall of X, Uncanny Avengers, has an unfortunate feel of artificiality to it, like he's just coloring by the numbers to advance his plot points before the curtain falls. Beyond that, the strong support of Captain America but not the rest of the Avengers is hard to believe. It feels like it'd be all or nothing. Finally, the characterization of this whole volume is so shallow as to be almost non-existent.
About the other strong point is the revelation of who Captain Krakoa is. It's a pity there wasn't a strong story around it.
And why is it exactly that a nuclear bomb makes Rogue revert to one of her worst costumes & hair styles? (Part of this is the artist. It looked awful in some classic volumes like Rom, great in some of her early X-Men run, and awful again here.) I mean maybe it's an all-my-hair-was-burned off thing, but if skin regenerates one thinks hair would as well. Weird....more
The muddy story of Piotr, Mikhail, and the Chronicler gets a good ending here, with everything finally coming into focus. But what happens to Piotr neThe muddy story of Piotr, Mikhail, and the Chronicler gets a good ending here, with everything finally coming into focus. But what happens to Piotr next? Is there even a next in the mess that is Fall of X?...more
Emma and Tony are _so_ charming together that this is a marriage that you want to see last for the long-run. (Sadly, I suspect it's over and forgottenEmma and Tony are _so_ charming together that this is a marriage that you want to see last for the long-run. (Sadly, I suspect it's over and forgotten as soon as Duggan's run ends, as the idiot editors at Marvel look like they're throwing the entirety of Krakoa into the wood-chipper.) Beyond that, it's a nice side tale for Fall of X, every bit as important as the main events....more
Gillen's strength is in his standalone issues, and that's what made the first three volumes of Immortal X-Men x-cel. So it was great to see #14 focuseGillen's strength is in his standalone issues, and that's what made the first three volumes of Immortal X-Men x-cel. So it was great to see #14 focused on Xavier defending Krakoa. But less great when that story went on and on through the whole volume.
It's still a strong story, of the Dominion that Gillen has been hinting at for the last year or so, told in two parts. Also the revelation of what happened to mutantdom at the Gala. All vital stories, well told, even if they're perhaps dragged out a little.
And a big setup for what comes next that surprises me because we're so near the end of the most awesome of all X-Men eras....more
Ewing does a great job of bringing to an end the plots of not just X-Men Red, but also going back Swords of X. It's a fine finale for this story that Ewing does a great job of bringing to an end the plots of not just X-Men Red, but also going back Swords of X. It's a fine finale for this story that we can only hope is respected as we enter the next, degraded phase of the X-Men's history. Much of this is epic plot, at the expense of character, other than a great focus on Ororo (and to a lesser extent Bobby). Still, a lot of fun. ...more
Howard's books have all been slow and dry. Some of them improved on rereading, as you could appreciate the long-term plots she was setting up. This onHoward's books have all been slow and dry. Some of them improved on rereading, as you could appreciate the long-term plots she was setting up. This one was a struggle to get through the first time, so I can't imagine trying it again.
Is it a capstone on her Excalibur run? Maybe. Was it really needed? Maybe not. I'll be thrilled to never hear mutants referred to as witchblood or whatever it was again....more
To a certain extent, this feels like wheel-spinning between the Hellfire Gala and the Fall of the House of X. But, it's real good wheel-spinning, almoTo a certain extent, this feels like wheel-spinning between the Hellfire Gala and the Fall of the House of X. But, it's real good wheel-spinning, almost a modern-day Days of Future Past. Shadowkat's rebirth is horrid and believable at the same time. The fate of characters like Juggernaut and Cyclops is terrific. I don't love Ms. Marvel in the group and I found the last issue in Latveria the weakest of the set, but otherwise this is a terrific volume.
(And did Doom get his apparent foreknowledge from a certain Layla Miller who interned with him 'lo these many years ago!?)...more
I've stopped buying these Flashback X-Men comics, meant to satisfy people who don't like Krakoa, because frankly they haven't been too good.
But I was I've stopped buying these Flashback X-Men comics, meant to satisfy people who don't like Krakoa, because frankly they haven't been too good.
But I was willing to check out a comic about a beloved era of the New Mutants from the library. It was just about as meh as the rest. Oh, the core idea of trying to harmonize early and mid versions of Magneto is worthwhile. But this was just so dull. Lots of internal monologue. Then some fighting. Then some more internal monologue. There were some nice scenes between Erik and Rahne that were charming, but this otherwise had no redeeming value....more
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