SUPER QUICK REVIEWS: Amazing X-Men 7, Wolverine and the X-Men 4, All-New X-Factor 8

I was trying not to get into SQRs until later (Wednesday and Thursday I tend to review the most Avengers/X-Men related books or the biggest releases or what-have-you) but then I felt KINDA like there was no other way to do this one? Look, let's just get into it.

Amazing X-Men 7
K. Immonen (w) and Medina (p) and Vlasco (i) and Rosenberg (c) and Caramagna (l)

Firestar and Iceman are sent to the local mini-mart to pick up snacks for "the big game" only to find themselves hurled into an interstellar negotiation as Spider-Man shows up tracking a baby that's just appeared in their cart. After some fighting (plenty of which has to do with resentment about Doc Ock), it's explained that the baby is actually an alien that serves as the only trade-bait that Spider-Man has to re-acquire the mascot for one of the teams in "the big game" that was taken by the aliens for reasons. After much fighting and chasing and squabbling and other actions, the aliens come back down and Spider-Man successfully works out the deal and returns the mascot, a goat, to the game while Firestar and Iceman return to the X-Mansion.

I really love a lot of the stuff I've seen from Kathryn Immonen (I will defend her JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY run with my very LIFE) but this book borders on absolutely inexplicable. There are fun moments throughout, certainly enough to make for an enjoyable enough read but it sometimes does seem to get a little bogged down under the weight of so much joke-making (also, Spider-Man kind of comes off like a jerk, which I suppose is not sacrilege in an X-MEN title). The plot is admittedly thin with plenty of references to "the big game" that don't particularly add weight. Still, it's hard to mistake the tone of this issue as more a fun issue and a throwback to the old Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon so it's also hard to judge this one harshly because I do think it hits its mark, it's just not a mark I'd be looking to buy.

Total Score: 3/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 4
Latour (w) and Asrar (a) and Silva (c) and Cowles (l)

While reaching out psychically for help, Quentin was discovered by the Cuckoos and co and Cyclops gave the order to pull him to their base. He throws a little simulated psychic fight at him to see how trustworthy he is and he fails pretty miserably but Cyclops decides to listen anyway, hearing about what Quentin saw but unable to offer much advice about the right way to handle news of the Phoenix or Apocalypse. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Storm continue to push forth in their fight to Edan Younge before Wolverine sends Storm back to the school, knowing they'll need her help to stop Faithful John, who is currently pushing through the X-Mansion and convincing some of the students that Evan will be Apocalypse. Preparing to enter the fight to protect Evan, though, is Fantomex, who has secreted Evan to the World and emerges out of it to defend the mansion.

There's a lot happening here and a lot of it is interesting but some of the Younge stuff starts to get a little convoluted in the midst of everything else that's happening. It feels rather like there's just one too many stories happening here (which could, of course, all be skillfully linked together when the arc is said and done) and that one seems compelling but doesn't feel like it fits yet. Obviously Younge was the catalyst for all this but it's still such a weird and disjointed story that it's almost distracting from the other stories which are just as if not more compelling. Still, it's a pretty solid issue and Mahmud Asrar has some pretty strong art to go with it. I also rather like Latour's Quentin Quire, a character I tend not to like.

Total Score: 4/5


All-New X-Factor 8
David (w) and Di Giandomenico (a) and Loughridge (c) and Petit (l)

Cypher has had all the water drained from his body and the team is a bit startled by it. As things very slowly piece themselves together and the situation starts to go crazy as Dakei calls all the cops on the mutant intruders, the team convinces Georgia to do what she can to restore the incredibly weak Cypher. She's never done it before but she vows to try. They bring her past all of the guards and to the kitchen where she can get some water to transfer into Cypher. She eventually succeeds as the team yells at Dakei for berating and hating mutants while his daughter was one and then, as things reach a boiling point, Harrison Snow shows up and has a private meeting with Dakei (who he apparently knows) and the two emerge having come to the decision that Snow will take Georgia.

The tone of this book jumps around so quickly that it's hard to really latch on to it. Sometimes it's tense while they hope for the best for Cypher but then it turns into strange humor but then it jumps into mutant-rights outrage but then it shifts to almost casual conversation. Not helping anything is the inability to lock down an age for Georgia, who occasionally acts like a five-year-old and occasionally acts like a ten-year-old and occasionally acts like a fifteen-year-old. I think we're supposed to get that she's incredibly sheltered (various characters tell us that repeatedly) but I've met some incredibly sheltered people in my life and they still manage to act a consistent age. The humor in the book occasionally works but it also occasionally feels really out of place, which is sometimes pointed out but sometimes ignored. A book that cannot settle on a tone is a book that has some fundamental problems. Hopefully this one straightens it out next time.

Total Score: 3/5