Amazing X-Men 1, X-Men Legacy 19, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 1

Amazing X-Men 1
Aaron (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

Nightcrawler is still around in some capacity (whether or not to say he's technically alive, as it were) and has been peering down on his old life from what, for all intents and purposes, is Heaven. As much as he longed to qualify for Heaven as a religious man when he was alive, he finds himself unfulfilled there, wishing he was still back with his friends as an X-Man. We seem to have peeked in on him at the right time, though, as he suddenly finds himself embroiled in a siege on Heaven led by none other than Nightcrawler's father, the demon Azazel. Meanwhile, back at the Jean Grey School, new teacher Firestar is having some problems getting adjusted to the fast-paced style of the school. On her first day, she helps Hank McCoy follow a couple of bamfs to a portal they've built deep within the recesses of the school. They call the rest of the staff down and worry about what the portal is and what it can do when a bunch of red bamfs (Azazel's crew, apparently) jump out of it, trying to keep the X-Men from entering. Eventually, though, the portal pulls a couple in and Wolverine and Northstar find themselves in Heaven, watching Azazel's pirate ship attack and hearing tell of a blue elf.

I wondered what kind of tone Aaron was going to bring to this book. Right now he's writing two major ongoing books at Marvel, THOR: GOD OF THUNDER and WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. The two are entirely different books starring entirely different casts of characters (BREAKING NEWS FROM THE MARVELS BLOG: Thor and the X-Men are different!) and, thus, have entirely different tones. I appreciate the difference in tone; if the two books featured entirely different characters and plots but had the same tone, it would seem incredibly incongruous. However, that doesn't guarantee that both tones will fit both books. I have often pointed out that I don't particularly like the tone of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN and that it feels more goofy and less serious. I think there's a place for that in comics, a medium birthed from that sort of thing (not with, say, the golden age stuff, just with comics in general, hence the name), but it permeates and leaves a sort of disconnect between characters from one book to another. Again, I think there's a place for it and I think there are ways to make it work even within these titles, but it doesn't work for me as the ongoing feel. This is my roundabout way of saying that that's the feeling I'm getting right from the start from AMAZING X-MEN. I was a little on edge waiting for this book, wondering what approach Aaron was going to take; the seriousness and weight of THOR or the zaniness and comedy of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN. It seems the latter and I'm a little put-off already. McGuinness' art is solid though I most recently saw him in NOVA and I can't help but see Nova's face on just about every front-facing character, particularly tricky to see when that face is someone like Azazel. We'll have to see how this one shapes up.

X-Men Legacy 19
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

The Xavier that was in David's head is loose and wreaking havoc on an unprepared world while David himself is contained at the Peak, the base of SWORD operations, by Abigail Brand. The weight of the situation is expressed to him by one-time foe Aarkus the Aetheric, the original Vision who went a little crazy in his solitude on the moon and decided mutants were a threat that needed to be purged (way back in X-MEN LEGACY 9, true believers). Aarkus has seen the errors of his way and snapped out of it in time to try to help the world defeat the evil Xavier. He explains to a power-suppressed David that Xavier is essentially a manifestation of David's hate and it's spreading that hate all around the world, powered up by its new body. David, though, is doing his best not to listen as he tries to wrangle the powers in his brain, even with his powers being suppressed by SWORD. He manages to take down old standby Tyrannix the Abomanoid and start hunting through Aarkus' head. He can't help but hear the state of the situation from Aarkus as he tries to ignore it and push forward, trying to get any sort of idea of where this is all heading from Aarkus' mind, where he finds Aarkus thinking about "the weapon," something vague and undefined to David but that is clearly the next part of the plan. He eventually pushes his luck and asks Aarkus about it, realizing too late that the weapon is meant to be tested on David before being set loose on evil Xavier. That weapon? Aarkus explains that it is the clutch-mate, rescued by a younger Aarkus himself, of a more powerful bird in the Marvel Universe. It's the shadow of the Phoenix.

More really cool stuff here and my feelings on this book are pretty well-documented. That's why it pains me to say that it seems like this series is officially ending with issue 24, as documented by Si Spurrier both from his own Tumblr and on the X-Men Legacy Tumblr. Okay, I actually want to rephrase that. Nothing is official, first and foremost, and certainly not about the series itself. However, it does seem as if Si Spurrier's run on the book will end with issue 24 and I have to imagine they won't put David on anyone else either. If the book continues past that, I'd expect it to focus on another character or another couple of characters. I could be wrong but that's the feeling I'm getting from Spurrier's responses and just from the conceit of the character on the whole. No one has done more for a severely complicated character than Spurrier has for David, even if it meant complicating him more. This is another stellar issue with David forced to face the consequences of his actions which certainly seem a little less than noble when seen from an outside perspective, as Aarkus displays them here. It's been a phenomenal book and I'm really sad to see that it's ending, though we all kind of knew this was coming and I'd rather have Spurrier leave it on the top of its game instead of letting it stagnate. And it just makes me all the more excited for Spurrier's X-Force.

Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 1
Hastings (w) and Camagni (a) and Milla (c)

Longshot, the luck-based superhero born from the Mojoverse and most recently a member of X-Factor, gets his own improbable mini-series helmed by Dr. McNinja writer Christopher Hastings. We get a bit of a look into the day-to-day life of Longshot, who doesn't totally understand the workings of his own luck powers but understands enough to know how to make them work for him. He can use the power to help others and be pure of heart or else he risks the luck turning sour. For example, he considers using his powers to get money to buy a taco (or to be given a taco) and, as his powers begin to activate, an explosion occurs in the house behind him as criminals bust into a safe, a series of events that Longshot claims were put into action by his eventual decision to luck his way into some tacos. Longshot enters the apartment to help the people inside, a woman and her scientist father, who he feels responsible for putting in harm's way. Meanwhile, a strange new villain searches the streets of New York for Longshot, going on a killing spree of people who happened to have good luck any given moment. This does not include an incredibly unlucky Reed Richards and Tony Stark, who have discovered something in their lab and are trying now to get rid of it in a safe way. Eventually, all the storylines converge as the villain tracks Longshot to the apartment and Reed and Tony end up detoured by at the same time. The scientist Longshot saved attacks the villain with his own cosmic radiation gun but the shot goes through him, hitting Reed and causing him to lose control of his shape-shifting and destroying the truck he and Tony were traveling in. A briefcase flies to Longshot's side and reveals a cosmic cube inside, which Longshot inadvertently uses to tell the villain to "get lost." The world reorganizes on the moment and we see a reimagined day where the woman Longshot saved thwarts the explosion in her apartment before it starts, Tony and Reed don't discover anything, and SHIELD has laws in place against unregistered sorcerers that allows a hit squad to attack Longshot.

Wow, that summary went on WAY longer than I expected it to. There are books that do that sometimes, for better or worse, and leave me with a better understanding of what happened or leave me confused as to why it took so long to explain it. I've tried on occasion to tone my summaries down and inevitably end up with long summaries again, maybe after a week or so of doing relatively well with shorter ones. Infinity hasn't helped that, with double long books regularly requiring extra explanation and therefore skewing all of my summaries in general longer. Clever readers might notice that currently I'm stalling for time as I try to think more about my opinions on this book. Here's the thing: it's not a bad book. It's fun enough, there are nice character moments, there are neat little ideas peppered throughout. It just feels...odd. I can't put my finger on it. Part of it might have to do with the wordiness of it; for all of its fun atmosphere and dialogue and characters, it's one of those books where you reach halfway through it and go "geez, there's HOW MUCH more of this left?" Unfortunately for Hastings, I think that's inherent to a book like this, which features a character readers don't know too much about and who hasn't really headlined his own book, even strange mini-series, in a couple decades. Still, the book is fun and the art fits it really well. I'm hoping that the next issue, which will certainly need to explain more of this current plot, will be able to kind of solidify its tone and will have to dedicate less time to simply explaining who Longshot is.