Dracula Lives! X-Men: Curse of the Mutants

 

Review:

Xarus, son of Dracula, has manufactured a synthetic vampirism virus and turned it into a "dirty bomb". With massive numbers of infected San Fransisco residents, even the X-Men are not immune. First Jubilee, then Wolverine are turned, threatening the entire team. Can the X-Men make common cause with a resurrected Dracula?

Victor Gischler has spun a fine tale with intense action and mounting tension. It never lags or lets up, resulting in a fantastic rumble of a story. The strong leadership of Cyclops, especially his diplomatic showdown with Dracula, hilight some strong characterizations in the midst of the chaos and carnage.

With dark tones, decapitaions and carnage galore, Paco Medina's art is at times very intense, at times sexy, always gritty. Page-filling action and drama abound cover to cover.

There are no shocking new revelations about these characters, and a couple plot twists are telegraphed, but none that diminish the bloody pleasure of this creative team's efforts.

Description:

A human bomb explodes in San Francisco's Union Square. Dozens are covered in blood. Jubilee is one of them. The former X-Man soon falls victim to a strange manufactured virus - all part of the plan of Xarus, son of Dracula! Xarus is the new lord of the vampires, having slain his father, and he has an ultimatum for the X-Men: join his ranks as vampires, or perish! The X-Men enlist the aid of vampire-hunter Blade and even bargain with a resurrected Dracula himself, but who will win the ultimate battle between mutants and vampires in the streets of San Francisco?

Collects: X-MEN (2010) #1-6 and material from X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS SAGA and X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS SPOTLIGHT

Authors: Victor Gischler
Artists: Paco Medina
Published By: Marvel 
Published When: Aug. 31 2011
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-0785148470
Pages: 176 pages

World War X - Ultimate Comics X-Men by Brian Wood Volume 3

Review:

It's Utopia vs Tian in the so-called World War X. Tian, led by Jean Grey and her approach of militaristic, forced unity of Mutants on one side, Utopia and its hippie-commune life in the desert, led by Kitty Pryde's pacifism approach on the other. The oddly-numbered "volume 3" collects issues #29-33 that concluded this second ongoing series of Ultimate Comics X-Men.

Artist Alvaro Martinez includes lots of visual clues that help to set the atmosphere of both Tian and Utopia, as well as the tonal shifts in the narrative. Jean Grey's clothes and hair style evoker her heavy-handed, fascist approach, apparently from the same style experts as Kim Jong-Il in North Korea. Rogue's minimal clothing and acres of bare skin tell us something different about the philosophy and lifestyle in Utopia.

"World War" is an overstatement for this narrative. Its scope is limited to the 5 chapters collected here, no tie-ins or cross-overs to round it out. It leaves us with a handful of battles, attacks on each side's home base stronghold. Sure, they are located half a world apart, but with so few combatants and very limited areas of conflict, it is hardy a "world war"

Still, the final confrontation between Jean and Kitty leads to a decisive final victory for Utopia and the destruction of Tian. It is a reasonably satisfying conclusion for this Western reader, although the imagery and symbolism of the battle between Western Freedom and Eastern dictatorships is far from subtle. Much in the spirit and tradition of early days of comics where heroes waged overt battles against Nazi fascists.

Description:

"World War X" begins! It's Tian vs. Utopia when Jean Grey takes on Kitty Pryde! Will the planet be torn apart when the two mutant nations go to war? Alliances are broken, sides are chosen and betrayals abound - but after a sneak attack on Utopia, and Jean's strict warning that the rest of the world should stay out of the war, will the global mutant-on-mutant conflict finally unite...or divide mutants forever? As World War X claims its first casualties, Kitty Pryde becomes a revolutionary redux, Mach Two displays startling new powers, and James Hudson proves he's more than just his father's son!

Collects: ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN 29-33

Authors: Brian Wood
Artists: Alvaro Martinez
Published By: Marvel 
Published When: March 4 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-0785167211
Pages: 112 pages

Ultimate Explanations - Ultimate Comics X-Men by Nick Spencer volume 2

 

Review:

Author Nick Spencer is weaving in this collection a tapestry with many threads, all of which will pull taut the relationship between humans, mutants and the lands they control. So much betrayal is in these 6 chapters that new twists cease to surprise and by the end we're ready and almost eager for the fire to catch and spread around the world.

Issue #7 is the artistic highlight. Carlo Barberi does a stellar job with the fluid, dynamic layouts, centered around Quicksilver's multi-page sprint. His sister Wanda - the Scarlet Witch - has never looked hotter or seemed so scheming and manipulative. And the gradual reveal of the face at the end unfolds so naturally from one image to the next.

He repeats the hidden-face reveal trick in #12, although its effect feels more forced the second time, and is drawn out too long.

Paco Medina's three issues in the middle are a self-contained tale of the revolt at Camp Angel. The torture of Colossus and his eventual head-crushing revenge are gruesome enough to merit the T+ rating.

Ultimately, though, this collection suffers from too much explanation. A graphic medium like comics needs a "show me don't tell me" approach and there is too much telling, affecting at least three of these six collected chapters.

Description:

Quicksilver's scheme to lord over the world's mutants goes horribly awry when his army of Nimrod sentinels goes rogue and commits mutant genocide. Val Cooper probes S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury for information on the Ultimate X program, and the identity of world's most powerful psychic, Jean Grey, is revealed - but she may not be playing for the right side. And the mutants interned at Camp Angel stage a bloody revolt when they learn the true origin of the X-gene. The ghosts of the Ultimate Universe's past drive the world's mutants toward an explosive confrontation in this thrilling chess match crafted by writer Nick Spencer (Iron Man 2.0)!

Collects: Ultimate Comics X-Men 7-12

Authors: Nick Spencer
Artists: Carlo Barberi, Paco Medina
Published By: Marvel
Published When: Jan. 22 2013
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-0785161349
Pages: 136 pages

"Time Travel Gives Me a Headache" - All-New X-Men Volume 5: One Down

 

Review:

X-Men of the past. Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from the future. Colliding with the fragmented school of X-Men, led by Kitty Pryde. Beast of both present and future wrestling with the conundrum of what he's done. Young Jean. Baby Xavier. Old Scott.

There are so many ripples through time in this story and these characters. A newcomer to the All-New X-Men could be forgiven for getting lost. Author Brian Michael Bendis makes every effort to help us through the mélange, and mostly succeeds, although some extended stretches of exposition are unavoidable.

The longest such stretch produces the most visually intriguing chapter. Dr. McCoy / Beast and the Watcher hold a long, pensive chat, a sleepless night of tossing and turning, wrestling with the results of Beast's actions. Who among us cannot relate to that? The visual interest is maintained, even enhanced, by the parade of artists and styles. From pencil and charcoal sketches to water colors, from cutesy cartoons to dramatic poster-worthy pinups, every couple of pages turns another artist loose, to dramatic effect. The beauty of issue #25 carries the endless exposition.

The mores standard structure of #26-29 makes them less able to carry my interest through the talky bits. Fortunately, internal and external battles break out so frequently in this section that us action junkies are satisfied, if confused by the muddled soup of timelines.

The collection ends with a sweet issue #30. Angel and X-23 take some steps, both small and bug, toward one another and love. Young Jean and older Emma lock in a psychic battle to the entertainment of the others. All this and more reveals just how human these mutants are!

Description:

Infinite pasts, infinite futures...infinite loss! The Beast is tortured by his decision to bring the original X-Men into the present, but can he repair the damage he's done while the future Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is still gunning for the time-tossed teens? The young X-Men will need to rally to save themselves, but Jean Grey is...different. The Shi'ar trial has changed her. What does this mean for her future, for the past of the woman she's meant to become, and for the rest of the X-Men? Timelines collide when the future Brotherhood exacts its final judgment on the All-New X-Men!

Collects: All-New X-Men 25-30

Authors: Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: Various
Published By: Marvel 
Published When: May 26 2015
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-0785189688
Pages: 152 pages

Mutant Romance in the Sun - Rogue & Gambit: Ring of Fire

 

Review:

Writer Kelly Thompson was nominated for an Eisner Best Writer Award in 2019 for her work on several titles, including this 5-issue limited series. It's easy to see why - this series blends romance, intrigue, deep character revelations and old-fashioned super-powered melees into a delightful read.

Rogue and Gambit have had an on-again-off-again flirtation and relationship over the years. They're forced to confront their pasts, their feelings, their present and future possibilities in an undercover assignment. Mutants keep disappearing in connection with a healing therapy retreat.

Their past is raw enough that no acting is needed to play the part of a dysfunctional couple. But as the retreat affects them, they discover anew their love for each other. But to save the day, they may have to sacrifice their growing happiness.

Pere Perez has fun with some innovative layouts as thy battle memories of the past. Lots of historic uniforms, lots of kissing and signs of affection or other emotions, and he brings them all across very naturally.

Teen+ is Marvel's default rating, it seems. In this collection, there is some minor sexual suggestion and intense relationship content, but otherwise these could be PG for its discretion in language, violence and other visuals.

Description:

Everybody's favorite X-couple is reunited! And boy, are they not happy about that... Kitty Pryde must send Rogue and Gambit on an undercover mission to fi nd a group of kidnapped mutants. What they discover on this mission will shock them. But will it also bring them closer together...? It's a high-stakes adventure caper that only the two hottest X-Men can deliver!

Collects: ROGUE & GAMBIT 1-5

Authors: Kelly Thompson
Artists: Pere Perez
Published By: Marvel 
Published When: July 17 2018
Parental Rating: T+ officially, but closer to PG
ISBN: 978-1302911607
Pages: 112 pages

All Those Lost Scotts - Astonishing X-Men - Volume 9: Exalted

 

Review:

The strongest of superhero team titles needs a strongly defined and complex cast of characters. Layers of relathipship and history between them is a must. By this point in the Astonishing X-Men series, there is a vast set of major and minor characters and many sophisticated and mature elements to their personalities and intra-team dynamics.

In Exalted, Greg Pak weaves a fascinating and multi-dimensional narrative with a subset of those characters, ones who have both deep connections and yet no shared history. Cyclops (Scott Summers) is ripped from home into one of the infinite dimensions of the multiverse. Storm is there, but exhibits subtle differences. Emma, Kurt and Logan too: recognizable yet clearly different.

They discover they are mutant batteries, being drained unto death to save and power a shattered world. Hostage to the cleverest subtle twist of all: the Charles Xavier of that place is now pronounced "Savior" for his role in trapping, chaining and killing mutants from other dimensions. Most poignant is their discovery of the crypt, filled with dozens of visors from all the previous Scott Summers who have died in Savior's hands, as well as phoenix emblems and other mementos of fallen heroes. All of which drives home the scope of Savior's monstrous crimes. Can our heroes free themselves and still find a way to prevent the destruction of Savior's world?

Pak is at the top of his game with the depth and complexity of their reactions to this horror, and to the relational dynamics. So, too, is artist Mike McKone, whose work matches Pak's in subtlety and nuance. It is strong, sexy and visually striking art, with the passion and strength of the characters shining through each page.

Description:

Cyclops - destroyer of worlds? After presiding over a mutant schism as leader of the X-Men, it looks like a visit from Storm may make Cyclops himself again - but it quickly becomes apparent that Storm is not herself, either. She's from another reality - one in which Cyclops soon finds himself a prisoner. And the key to his survival rests in his fellow captives, although they aren't the X-Men he knows. Alongside General James Howlett, Cyclops will battle this world's so-called "Savior" to save himself and countless other mutants. But there's a reason Savior has been gathering and sacrificing mutants from other worlds. And if Cyclops is to liberate himself and his strange new friends, it may mean dooming this planet and all its inhabitants!

Collects: ASTONISHING X-MEN (2004) #44-47 and material from ASTONISHING X-MEN: GHOST BOXES #1

Authors: Greg Pak
Artists: Mike McKone
Published By: Marvel 
Published When: Nov. 7 2012
Parental Rating: T+
ISBN: 978-0785161783
Pages: 112 pages

Attack of the Pink Skywhale Xavier? X-Treme X-Men Vol. 2: You Can't Go Home Again

 

Review:

Filled with elements of classic horror comic series, the Greg Pak run on Xtreme X-Men is a brisk romp through some bizarre corners of Marvel's multiverse.

The team includes several characters introduced by Pak a few years earlier in his run on Astonishing X-Men: James Howlett, the Wolverine of Earth 1225 and former Governor General of the Dominion of Canada; Kurt Waggoner a 14-year-old version of Nightcrawler, a floating head of Charles Zavier. Also in the team is Corporal Scott Summers, an African American Civil War era Cyclops, and team leader Dazzler. Their mission is to hunt through the multiverse and kill 10 evil Xaviers.

In this volume, collecting #6-11 and 7.1, they battle sentient robots in a story with undercurrents of the damages of colonialism; they save a world from a skywhale version of Xavier and the Brood queen that controls him; they get shot at by bazooka-wielding unicorns and their rainbow-cupcake blasts - a mirage of a beastly demonic Xavier, and more.

The creativity of the concept is almost unmatched in my comic-reading experience. But they move along at such a  breakneck clip that ultimately the series disappoints, once the dizziness passes. I'd prefer that these situations be explored and unpacked more, instead of being so swiftly resolved. As episodic and standalone as a Twilight Zone TV series.

Artistic styles shift dramatically between art teams. Stephen Segovia and Paul Valdes are vertically oriented in their layouts and tend to be over-inked. Paco Diaz brings more horror sensibilities to his panels, and the Andre Araujo / Paul Valdes pairing gives a more cartoony feel to the skywhale and its attack.

The series is bursting with imaginative concepts and ideas but, like with old-fashioned channel-surfing, the bites we get are too quick and eventuallly blur into a mush.

Description:

The team's mission hits home, as they land in the United States of California, birthplace of Kurt Waggoner! What happens if they can't defeat this Xavier...and what does it mean for Nightcrawler? Then, Dazzler and her team find themselves in a war against the Brood...but the dimension they've landed in is a little too close to home. Plus: meet the X-Treme X-Force! Dazzler's team finds that they can't seem to shake their new X-Force "teammates"...will Dazzler be able to take back control of the team?

Collects: X-Treme X-Men (2012) #6-7, 7.1, 8-11

Authors: Greg Pak
Artists: Stephanie Hans (Cover Art), Stephen Segovia & André Lima Araújo
Published By: Marvel 
Published When: Jan. 7 2016
Parental Rating: T+
ISBN: 9780785165651
Pages: 172 pages