Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand

Collects Uncanny X-Men #495-499 written by Ed Brubaker with art by Michael Choi.

There is no doubt that Brubaker is one of the hottest writers around these days. The Daredevil book hasn't looked as good as it does right now in ages. Captain America is one of the most interesting Marvel reads these days. And the three Criminal books have all amazed readers and critiques alike. But his Uncanny X-Men somehow fail to make this list. It's simply not very good. It started out pretty well with Deadly Genesis. Then came Rise And Fall Of The Shi'ar Empire which was decent, but nothing special. The Extremists then started the downwards slide towards where we are today. Messiah Complex was good, but you couldn't really tell Brubaker's voice from the rest of the authors.

And now, post-Messiah Complex, we have Divided We Stand. Which simply put, isn't very good. The X-Men are supposed to be disbanded, but this doesn't stop them from sticking together. Colossus, Nightcrawler and Wolverine go to Russia to get messed up in some bland brawl. And the rest get caught in a situation in San Francisco where the city is slowly being infested with a hippie state of mind caused by a mutant psychic whose identity I won't disclose, although I suspect people really don't care that much.

This book follows the pattern of X-Men: Divided We Stand in that it seems to be a setup story, although it is more vague in what will happen and it takes a lot of time to get there. What is told in five chapters here could just as well have been told in two or three chapters, and that would probably have made it better.

It seems to me that Brubaker never really achieved what he wanted with the X-Men. Fatal Genesis brimmed with boldness and new ideas, but that sort of faded away after a while. Maybe this has to do with the infamous editorial intervention, but who am I to tell? From the next Uncanny book Brubaker will be sharing the writing credits with Matt Fraction, until Fraction takes over completely, so things are looking up.

I'm not a big fan of Choi, although I think his technique is interesting. He employs a minimalist approach to line work leaving graduations and shadings to be taken care of by the colorist. I wonder how this works out work-wise? If all Choi does is the line work, I'd think the color artist, Sonia Oback, probably put more work into this book than Choi, but I'm just speculating here. All in all, I think the art is a little too static for an X-Men book, Choi doesn't seem to be used to drawing a lot of action scenes. He does seem to have a knack for drawing tech stuff, like big robots, so maybe he would be better off on a SF series of some sort?

This book is far from the quality it should have with a writer like Brubaker, and thus qualifies as a bit of a disappointment. Here's to hoping that things will get better when the transition to Matt Fraction as the writer on the series starts with the next event: Manifest Destiny.

3/10

X-Men: Messiah Complex

Collects the X-Men: Messiah Complex one-shot written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Marc Silvestri, Uncanny X-Men #492-494 written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Billy Tan, X-Men #44-46 written by Mike Carey and drawn by Chris Bachalo, New X-Men #44-46 written by Craig Kyle & Chris Yost and drawn by Humberto Ramos and X-Factor #25-27 written by Peter David and drawn by Scot Eaton.

Before getting to the meat of this review, I will just provide a link to a former post where I aired my opinions on Marvel's policy of pushing back the publication date of tpb's that are also published as HC's, in effect messing up the publication order of tpb's. Grr, I'm still angry...

Ok, happy I got that off my chest (again). So, was Messiah Complex worth the wait? Yes, I think it was. X-Men have been keeping a high level of quality lately, in the sense that I got what I expected and a little bit more from books such as Rise And Fall Of The Shi'ar Empire, Supernovas and Endangered Species. Obviously, Astonishing has been in a league of it's own here, so I'll keep it out of the equation in this context. Messiah Complex ties up all the recent story lines of the various X-books (sans Astonishing), and makes way for a new beginning for them all.

The big X-issue since M-Day has been the lack of any new mutant appearances. As was made very clear in Endangered Species: the mutants are a dying breed. So when a new mutant birth suddenly takes place, several groupings suddenly find themselves hot on the heels of each other in pursuit of this mutant baby. As if having to deal with the Marauders and the Purifiers wasn't enough, several key members of the X-Men also turn out to have their own agendas, and, to no one's surprise, the whole shebang ends in a giant no-holds-barred all-against-all old fashioned fisticuffs. Is it formulaic? Yes, it is. Is it entertaining? Hell yes, it is. This book, and the books that lead up to it, shows the effectiveness of the X-Men formula: convoluted plot lines with multiple back-references spiced up with a huge gallery of characters, some time traveling, lots of action and regular surprises to keep the reader on the edge of the seat.

One of the things I particular liked about this crossover, is that each involved series is dedicated to the same degree. You may be reading an issue of X-Factor or you may be reading an issue of Uncanny X-Men, but you won't notice, because during the crossover they're virtually the same. Each team (X-Men, X-Factor, New X-Men) are equally featured in all chapters, and the same goes for the numerous subplots. Essentially, each monthly series was put out of effect during this crossover, giving way for a more unified story. This goes against the idea of several parallel monthly series, but works perfectly well in the tpb format, and goes to show what a powerful storytelling format this really is.

What makes it all work is how well coordinated the whole thing is between the writers. Not only are the events of the story well coordinated, care has also been taken to not have the characters act differently depending on who was writing a particular chapter. The main X-books (X-Men, Uncanny X-Men) does not give much room for individual expression on the part of the writer, and some may think of this as a bad thing. But this book is a good showcase of why this can also be a good thing. In any case, a series like Astonishing X-Men perfectly makes up for this.

Unlike the writing, the art of Messiah Complex is very heterogeneous. Bachalo's and Ramos' styles may have some likenesses, but throw in Tan and Eaton in the mix and you have a book with very differing visual styles. The cohesiveness of the book does take a hit on this account, one only has to look to Endangered Species to see how this could have been done better, but on the other hand, each of the four main artists does such a good job individually that it becomes a minor point. Even Billy Tan, whose work on Rise And Fall... didn't impress me, seems to have improved massively since then, and delivers some really good work in this book. I also want to point out the great covers by David Finch, who shows off what he can do without the time constraints of 24 pages per month, wow... It's a shame someone decided it was a good idea to slap Silvestri's cover to the one-shot on the cover of the tpb as well, because it is not only boring, it is vastly inferior to any of the covers done by Finch. Sometimes I just don't know what those Marvel guys are thinking...

Messiah Complex is by no means perfect. A lot of loose ends are left dangling, and I assume they will be dealt with in Divided We Stand and later. I would like to have seen the motivations of the X-traitor (whose name shall remain unrevealed here) explored more thoroughly, and maybe a little cohesiveness between the sub plots would have been nice. But at the end of the day, Messiah Complex delivers a very entertaining story, and if the X-books can keep up this level of quality, I would say the future for the mutant race looks bright.

Btw, if you want to read Messiah Complex, but haven't read X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor and New X-Men for the last four to five years, I suggest you also pick up the X-Men: Divided We Stand tpb, which includes X-Men: Messiah Complex - Mutant Files #1 in which you will find explanations for most of the madness in the story.

7/10

Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists

Collects Uncanny X-Men #487-491 by Ed Brubaker and Salvador Larroca.

The X-Men are back from chasing Vulcan through space and having mass bar room brawls in Shi'ar land, and are forced to face much more mundane matters such as post-9/11 Morlock terrorists and... well, that's about it.

It seems to me that Marvel's editorial line over the last few years has been working hard to make their books more relevant and to even have stories relate to real world current affairs. Civil War is the main example of that, and this story is another example of it, although of a somewhat smaller scale. This is a great direction, and something I think the Marvel Universe, which for me always was about the human side of super heroes, is well suited for.

This is a sort of lo-fi X-Men story, it doesn't have anything of the epic scale or mass battles that X-fans are used too. The mood of the story suits the subject matter, which, yes, is terrorism, and the subject is not handled in a black and white way. There is actually made room for opinion, something which is sorely missing in many other media regarding the subject.

And yet this book doesn't really fulfill the potential of the combination of Brubaker and Larroca. Yes, it is well written and the art is good. But I somehow feel it could be better. Maybe it's just that I'm a little tired of terrorism as THE subject matter of all things highly relevant (why can't they go fight pollution?). Or maybe the characters in the book are not that interesting. I'm not sure, but I will keep reading, because I think these guys have great potential.

5/10

Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire

Collects Uncanny X-Men #475-486, written by Ed Brubaker with art by Billy Tan and Clayton Henry.

This book takes over right where X-Men: Genesis ends. Professor X, feeling slightly responsible for the whole Genesis/Vulcan debacle, convinces a bunch of X-Men to go with him into space to stop Vulcan before he does something bad to the Shi'ar. Meanwhile, a coup against Lilandra involving none other than Deathbird is being planned in Shi'ar-land, and the Vulcan and the X-Men pretty much stumble their way into this. The story is an action packed race against time with several sides aiming for their own agendas. As is usually the case with these kinds of stories, the whole thing ends with a big shebang involving all the players, and when the dust settles everything is back to normal, except in this story that is not the case, but nothing has happened that will make your eyes pop out.

This is an epic story with focus aimed straight at surprising turns of events and keeping the action flowing. Attention to dialogue and characterization is lacking, but that just goes to show that Brubaker can do action as well. The plot is split up into two parallel story lines drawn by two different artists. The main story line follows the X-Men while the other story line follows Vulcan, and in the end the two story lines become one, as all participants get together and start fighting This is a great way to keep a long story interesting and keep the story moving.

I guess it's a matter of taste, but I can't get myself to like Billy Tan's art. He's obviously out of the gritty Image school of comic artists, and all those angry faces and dark lines makes my head hurt a little. He does action scenes pretty well, though, and those do play a big role in this book, so it's not all bad. But before doing X-Men again he should at least learn how to draw bald guys...

Tan handles the art of the main story line, while the art on the other story line is handled by Clayton Henry, whose art I like a lot better, although he should hire someone to do backgrounds for him, because he doesn't seem to bother doing them himself. His characters, however, are excellent and give the feel of classic superheroics without seeming dated.

Criminal, Captain America or Daredevil this is not, but sometimes a 200+ pg. brawl in space is just what the doctor ordered. If you're in the mood for something like this you are pretty sure to be entertained, if not, go read something else. The art is a matter of taste, but it does kind of suit the story. I recommend this book for those who are looking for a long drawn out action story that won't make their brains spin too hard.

6/10

X-Men: Deadly Genesis

Collects X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6, written by Ed Brubaker with art by Trevor Hairsine. Back-up stories drawn by Pete Woods.

Ok, this series isn't exactly new, I believe the tpb was published in 2006, but the story lays the foundation of what has been going on in one corner of the X-universe recently, and that's why I found myself compelled to read it.

After giving new life to Captain America (who died in the proces...) and Daredevil, Ed Brubaker takes a step up the writer's hierarchy in the MU as he gets ready to tackle the X-Men. This series was planned as a mini that would foreshadow some of the things to come in his run on Uncanny.

And it is a bold beginning. Usually, when Marvel announces a series as "changing everything you thought you knew about the Marvel Universe!", it turns out that whatever is changed is changed back in 6 months or turns out to be a skrull etc. But for once, Brubaker actually writes a story that forces the reader to change his conception of very central characters in the X-Men (well, mainly Professor X and I don't think he'll turn out to be a skrull...) and this has a great impact on the relationships of those characters.

In 'Deadly Genesis', Brubaker rewrites the story 'Second Genesis' from Giant-Size X-Men #1, in which the original X-Men are captured by Krakoa, the Living Island (this was in the seventies...), and Professor X forms a new team of X-Men to save them. As most X-fans will know, this was the first appearance of the 'new' X-Men, and this single issue laid the foundation of the popularity of the X-Men we know today. So one could argue that messing with such a classic story takes a man with some pretty big balls. After all, X-fans are known to be pretty vicious...

The story starts some time after House of M and Professor X is still MIA. The X-Men registers a very high level mutant falling out of space, and immediately goes to investigate. The mutant beats them to a pulp in a matter of seconds and flies off with Cyclops and Marvel Girl as hostages. Meanwhile, Banshee discovers some recordings by Moira MacTaggert in which she reveals some dark secrets regarding the formation of the new X-men that Professor X has kept to himself over the years. At the end of the day, one X-man is dead a new X-man is born and the beginning of the X-Men have been rewritten in a way that could potentially alter the structural backbone of the X-Men.

Changing old stuff like this is risky business, but fortunately Brubaker takes advantage of an admittedly slightly questionable original plot and fills in the holes in a way that both makes sense and makes the story stand out in a completely different way. The original story was really just an excuse to introduce a new generation of X-men and to get rid of (most) of the old heroes who simply did not sell enough magazines. It is not remembered as a particular well told story, and as such, rewriting it in this way will not provoke any complaints from me. Brubakers version of the story makes it seem much more up to date and essentially relevant than previously, and this is a good thing for a story that serves as the starting point of a series. By rewriting the genesis of the series, Brubakes makes the X-Men stand out more fresh and modern than before. Taken to the extreme, this could do for the X-Men, what the Ultimates did for the Avengers, only in the real MU.

Brubakers writing is good as usual. The story unfolds itself in a way that keeps the reader glued, and it doesn't go off-track in unnecessary directions. Each chapter is backed by a short stand-alone story that introduces a new character that is related to the Krakoa-incident. This is a good way to introduce characters from the past, and helps the reader establish some involvement with the characters before she learns of their horrible fate by the end of the story...

Hairsine's art is not spectacular in any way, but it is solid and moody. Hairsine is actually capable of drawing a multitude of different facial expressions, I think many of his colleagues could learn some from him. His action sequences leave a little to be desired, however, the action sequences are not really at the center of the story, so it works out very well in the end. One thing that Hairsine needs to improve is tech, e.g. the Shi'ar space suits at the end of the book. His characters are great, but his tech leaves a lot to be desired. Again, this seems to have been dealt with by simply not having too much tech in the story. Pete Woods' art in the back-up stories is very nice, I'd like to see him do a full book.

I hope the consequences of this story will be felt for some time, and I also hope that the writers who write the other X-books will not neglect the plot points that it introduces. It is a story that needs to be followed up upon, otherwise it will simply become yet another amazing plot twist that never took off. I also think it would have been a great idea to include the original Krakoa story in this book, but unfortunately it is missing. I guess readers will have to dust off their Essentials to (re)read this story.

All in all this is a book that I recommend to anyone who enjoys reading the X-Men and who likes classic Marvel stories. Unlike most other X-publications it is not exactly action packed, it probably contains more dialogue than you'll see in most of the other books, and for some, me included, that is a welcome change. Brubaker is a great writer, and his first take at the X-Men serves to show that to the fullest.

8/10