Welcome to the first installment of ComicsXF’s new regular X-book review roundup column! With so many X-Men related comics coming out each month, we’ve enlisted a crack duo of writers to tackle an assortment of the notable or intriguing offerings. This week, they kick off the column with three big “Judgment Day” tie-ins!
The X-Men face judgment in X-Men #14, written by Gerry Duggan, drawn by CF Villa, colored by Matt Milla and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Kraven the Hunter challenges a deity and begins the hunt for the most dangerous game in X-Force #31, written by Benjamin Percy, art by Robert Gill, colored by Guru-eFx, and lettered by Joe Caramagna.
Lastly, Moon Girl rescues her best bud with the help of our favorite mutants in X-Men & Moon Girl from Mohale Mashigo, David Cutler, Marika Cresta, Jose Marzan Jr., Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham.
Tony Thornley: Welcome everyone to the beginning of our new featured column! This will be where Matt Lazorwitz and I take a look at books in the X-Men umbrella that maybe we wouldnāt feature otherwise, as well as some of the flagship books that weāre not otherwise covering! And to start off, welcome to my co-conspirator, Matt!
Matt Lazorwitz: Yes, you all know me as the Batman guy, but what I have kept secret is my deep love for all things X, especially all things Summers. Because it makes complete sense that I would also love Marvelās hyper competent leader type with deep emotional baggage.
Tony: Well, youāll fit right in!
Ice, Ice Baby (X-Men #14)
Tony: The X-Men are intended to be big damn heroes. Avengers level, really, especially now that they donāt have to be fighting off threats to their entire existence every other week. So this monthās issue of X-Men explores how they need to deal with that in light of “Judgment Day”. This is firmly a “Judgment Day” tie-in, but Duggan gives it kind of a fun angle.
What happens mid-event when another threat just decides to barrel haplessly into the middle of it? I like that. Often we get mini-bosses or āthis threat was caused by/is taking advantage of the big badā in event tie-ins. Here, itās a bunch of alien dumbasses (who havenāt heard Gameworld has been dismantled) try to cash in and destroy the planet. Oh and for some reason theyāre wearing black Nova helmets. So the team has to take a break from the everything to save the planet from a completely different threat.
And also Iceman gets to stand up as a public figure and make sure heās seen as a whole person.
What did you think of this Matt?
Matt: Weāre still getting a feel for our new squad of X-Men here, and still seeing how they play as a team, but this is a good showcase for that. Nearly the entire team gets to show what they can do; the notable exception is Havok, who we are going to have to spend some serious time with to figure out how he figures on a team with Cyclops after years of the two of them not interacting a whole lot.
Tony: Yes, and the Hellfire Gala seemed to imply that Forge will have something to do with that in a big way.
Matt: The Iceman stuff is the strongest part. This is a character who it feels like no one has been really sure what to do with in a team book, with grown-up Bobby anyway, for a long time. In X-Men #14 we not only see him flex his muscles as an Omega Level mutant, but also as someone who has a certain charisma that is going to allow him to be a spokesperson for mutantkind that doesn’t carry the gravitas of a Cyclops or Storm, but makes him relatable, even if he is othered not just by his mutant gene but by his sexuality. Give me more of this Bobby.
Tony: Yeah, Bobby is the X-Man who I think could transition to any other Major Marvel Team the easiest for exactly that reason. Heās not just majorly powerful, but heās friendly and charming. I thought this big hero moment was a perfect extension of his growth as a hero that started in Wolverine & the X-Men. Beyond that though, Duggan wrote him as his whole self here better than he did the entire initial volume of Marauders.
Also, good job on making his relationship with Angelica believable. It feels like they have history, but it doesnāt lean into the āAmazing Friendsā shortcut that it could have.
I think where this issue failed was in using the writer and editor who were complete throwaways. By using characters we donāt know, their motivations were non-existent on the page. Great that the writer stood up to the editor, but if it had been Betty Brant and Robbie Robertson, just for example, the their dynamic, and the writer insisting the discussion of Bobbyās sexuality stay in the piece, would have had more emotional impact.
Matt: Yes, it was an unnecessary framing narrative. You could have still gotten Bobbyās speech without it, or set something up differently to get the reporter in there. So much of this volume of X-Men has been about public perception and the media, it makes sense to keep that focus. Ben Urich wasnāt going to work for this particular story, but that scene would have been earned even if we had spent more time with that reporter last issue to make her anything more than the “good” voice vs. her stodgy old editor.
One other quibble; Forge does a bunch of calculations to figure out how best to handle the solar flare. Is that how his power works? I mean heās a gadget guy. I suppose he had to make the gadget to do those calculations, but if he had come up with some kind of machine that Bobby needed to couple with his powers, that would have made sense. Seems like weāre seeing some power creep, or at least a functional misunderstanding of what Forge can do.
Tony: Yeah, good point, I didnāt think of that. I mean Forgeās power is basically āgeniusā but itās machine-specific genius. Physics could definitely be an extension of that, but it is a little odd. I do dig that the extent of Forgeās membership on the team so far has been hanging out on the beach being smart though.
Other than that, I think artist CF Villa is starting to break away from the Marvel House Style with his art, and come into his own a bit. I think weāre about to see him make that breakout, so thatās cool. Colorist Matt Milla is doing a solid job too, especially since color is quite literally a big part of the story here.
Matt: Villa and Milla are definitely firing on all cylinders, especially when we get to the last few pages, with the judgment of Cyclops. Like I said in the intro, Cyclops is my favorite X-Character, so seeing him more or less telling the Celestial, āYou want to judge me? Get in line behind my wife,ā was a delight. But the art sells so much of this. The snow blowing across the page. The glowing eye of the Celestial, glowing a similar red to Scottās optic blasts. Scottās body language and smirk? Itās perfect.
Tony: Oh Cyclops was just plain great in this issue. From the opening fight, including blasting helmets off bad guys like they were Magneto, to this closing scene, this was a great Scott Summers outing. I almost wish that Duggan had saved the Bobby plot for next issue and did an all-Cyclops issue so there was a thematic throughline.
All in all though, solid issue with some flaws, but I think year two of this volume is shaping up to be better than year one.
To Hunt A God (X-Force #31)
Tony: I have to start by saying that I need more villain mixing within shared superhero universes. Kraven versus X-Force, even with Logan off in Wolverine #24, is just plain fun, even though weāre really only just starting that story.
Following up on last issue, Kraven is having a day. Heās trying to be manly (which does involve challenging a Celestial in his birthday suit) and prove his worth through a layer of bravado. Percyās narration is a LOT of fun. Itās literally, āIām going to attack and dethrone godā and in this case he sees the mutants as demigods, so heās going to destroy their divinity to prove their lack of it. Iām not totally clear the āwhyā and āhow,ā but itās a fun angle.
Meanwhile, Beast continues to prove heās awful. When *Omega Red* looks good compared to you, youāre in a bad place.
Matt: Boy howdy, every time I think Hank McCoy canāt become any more of a heel, he finds a way. Percy has slowly turned Beast from someone who makes morally questionable choices for what he views as the right reason to an out-and-out fascist. In this issue he not only attempts to manipulate the news cycle using innocent mutants as PR props, but when they instead wind up on Krakoa as refugees, he honestly wishes they werenāt there and wishes he could imprison them or exile without any input from anyone else. Now, the Quiet Council has a myriad of faults, see any issue of Immortal X-Men, but Hank actively says he wants to basically control everything himself. Thatās not a good look, Henry.
Tony: I really do not see how Beast is going to be able to eventually walk away from this run with any semblance of redemption, outside of Xavier reverting him to an earlier back-up the next time he dies. Admittedly, that could be a very interesting story, but it could easily be a cop-out as well. The only solace I have is that it seems that Sage is going to kick his fuzzy blue ass. Hopefully she does it sober though, as she definitely seems to be going through some shit.
Matt: Oh, most definitely. While Beastās slide into crapulence is something central to the plot of the book and has been a quick downward spiral, Sageās gradual decline into alcoholism is a character beat that is being slow-played. Itās obvious, but itās not like she went from sober to constantly, painfully drunk over the course of an issue. It feels uncomfortably real for anyone who has seen a loved one go through this, and Iām glad Percy is handling it well.
So, two issues into this new era, Tony, how are you feeling about Deadpool as the comic relief for this title? I love some body horror as much as the next guy, but Iām still waiting for Deadpool to feel like heās more than just a, āHey, look! Deadpool!ā part of this title.
Tony: Iām really disappointed that Deadpool went from an emotionally resonant story in Wolverine to booger jokes and dismemberment here. I mean, heās Deadpool, so some of that will come with the character, but I was starting to think we were getting the same sort of emotional depth that he had in the Duggan Deadpool run. Instead, we get that REALLY gross booger panel, and some majorly obnoxious jokes. I almost didnāt feel bad that Kraven dismembered him again.
Matt: You mentioned him briefly in the first paragraph, but the last major piece here is Omega Red. And this is a ticking time bomb. Krakoan amnesty was always going to be tested, and after Sabretooth, the solutions to problematic mutants have grown more limited. Sage giving Red his own murder holodeck time to settle his serial killer urges is a stop gap at best. This is all going to end so poorlyā¦
Tony: Yeah, this is a messy plot. But I think messy good, at least as far as dramatic potential. Iām really stunned that no one stopped Red from hauling the human trafficker onto the island for ājustice.ā I think weāre leading towards something interesting with him, but I worry with how Percy paces this book, we might not see it for a while. Or we will see it soon, but itāll suddenly be in Wolverine instead.
Best Buds (X-Men & Moon Girl)
Tony: These stealth miniseries really are an interesting quirk of Marvel publishing arenāt they?
I mean, I get it with characters like the Forgiven (the vampire superheroes no one has thought of for a decade), or concepts like the upcoming Murderworld. But for Ms. Marvel and Moon Girl, who both have headlined wildly successful series in the past and are both stars of multimedia stories, itās weird, right? I would think itād be easy to just make them āMs Marvel Team-Upā or āMoon Girl Versus the Marvel Universeā instead?
Matt: The truly cynical part of me is just sure that it is because #1s sell better than the other issues of a series, so why not just make every issue an issue #1? I can see this being part of Marvelās new publishing gimmick moving forwardā¦
Tony: And also, good way to get the big seller ā Miles Morales, the Avengers, the X-Men ā on the trade dress for the individual issues to give them a boost.
Regardless of the quirks in publishing stuff, I thought this was a lot of fun.
Matt: Absolutely. It’s a Meltdown reunion, with Havok and Wolverine on an adventure together, and Lunella, the 9 year old, has to be the grown-up with these two boneheads. And theyāre fighting the High Evolutionary, who is just infinitely punchable. Love that.
Tony: Yeah, writer Mohale Mashigo does a great job with the catch-up, and then throws us right in: theyāve got to go to Counter-Earth to rescue Devil Dinosaur from High Evolutionary. Logan and Alex are an underappreciated friendship lately, so focusing on just the two of them simplifies the X-Men side of this story (though two grown men with a pre-teen girl is an odd choice ā youād think Logan would ask Jubilee, Kate, or Rogue to tag along for that reason. But my goodness, the Lunella and Devil Dinosaur side of it? Iāve only read maybe four or five issues of Moon Girl prior to this, and in just this issue, Iām completely bought in emotionally on them as a pair.
In my opinion, this issue did exactly what the cynical part of us said it would: by using the X-Men, weāre drawn to and have bought into on a Moon Girl story, and maybe itās got us hooked for the future.
Matt: It definitely has me hooked. I got most of the run of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur out of discount trade bins as a con earlier this year, and this moved them right near the top of my to read pile.
Havok comes off as pretty goofy in this issue. Heās itchy and nearly gets them caught. He just seems out of his depth. Seems a bit out of character for him, who has been at best kind of unhinged and at worst a sadsack since the Krakoa era began, but Iāll take it as a contrast to Logan and Lunella
Tony: Yeah, agreed. He didnāt seem totally incompetent at least, but itās kind of odd to see Alex as the dopey comic relief. Heās a lot looser and more fun than Scott, for sure, but Iāve never really thought of him as a dope.
This was a surprisingly solid action comic for an all-ages book. It didnāt talk down, or sugarcoat things. Logan was pretty bloodless, which is understandable for story reasons, but otherwise, it was a lot of fun. It even had some extremely mild body horror as itās revealed that High Evolutionaryās plan is to permanently pop Lunellaās mind in Devil Dinosaurās head. That goes wrong and MG and DD have to struggle with that a little bit. My gauge for all-ages books is whether itās just as good for the adult buying it for the child, and I had a lot of fun. Solid slightly cartoony art, with two complimentary pencillers, and overall a win. Iām going to buy my seven year old this collection as soon as itās out.
X-Traneous Thoughts
- Bobby and Angelicaās rainbow absolutely ruled.
- X-Force is the first on-page acknowledgement that the current Kraven is a clone of the original since Nick Spencer left Spider-Man. Glad it was done as a plot point and not just to throw continuity nerds a bone for a terrible story arc.
- The final page of the X-Men & Moon Girl is a great set up for a new series (coming in December!).
- Lunella giving Logan a porcupine mask instead of a more obvious animal was a really fun touch.
- Got any suggestions for a clever, punchy title for this column? Drop us a line @ComicsXF on Twitter and let us know!
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. Heās also very humble.
