X-Men 10

X-Men 10
Wood (w) and Anka and C. Mann (a) and Keith and Mounts (c)

Arkea and her new sisterhood have moved from Dubai and plan to continue their journey and to combat the X-Men with their newfound power and with a a couple more tricks up their sleeves. Their first obvious trick is that the original meteor that brought Arkea back to Earth broke apart in the ocean and managed to find itself some old Sentinels that had long since sunk and now Arkea controls them and can constantly repair and adapt them to the X-Men's attacks. The second trick is that Arkea wants to resurrect Madelyne Pryor (the horribly messed-up continuity former wife of Cyclops/Goblin Queen/mother to Cable/whatever else she may or may not be) and Selene Gallio (psychic vampire and former Black Queen of the Hellfire Club), to the chagrin of Lady Deathstrike. Meanwhile, the X-Men are trying to track and stop the spread of Arkea before it gets too out of hand. Their efforts aren't going particularly well (though Monet isn't dead after last issue so that's a win for them) and things are made more complicated by Rachel's feelings for and ultimate denial of John Sublime. A group of the X-Men students (or recent graduates or something, not ever quite sure of the way the school works) go to meet the Sentinels coming up on the beach and quickly discover the fight is going to be more of a challenge than it seemed.

This isn't a bad issue to jump in on if you're a new reader looking for a solid way into this series. What I will say is that the somewhat extensive recap that this one gives is somewhat lacking in describing Arkea's endgame, what her plot is actually meant to achieve beyond destroying the X-Men. I believe she's looking for world domination still but there is a sense that maybe she should have a little more drive. Still, the plot is fairly well-explained in a way that should be engaging to new readers and which isn't too exposition-heavy. There are a few mistakes in this issue that kind of take people out of the issue a little bit, even if only for the moment (at one point, an empty helicopter is given speech bubbles meant to be directed off-panel to Arkea and one of her sisterhood. Also, Selene Gallio is referred to as Selene Gallo, which seems like a small error but made it difficult for me to look her up. THAT'S RIGHT, I need references sometimes you guys). While I don't know much about Gallio so I can't really speak to adding her to the story, I don't love the idea of adding Madelyne Pryor (as savvy readers may have gleaned from the first paragraph) as I think her continuity is so totally in shambles and I don't find her interesting enough to justify attempting to unravel that history. Maybe Wood has a great idea and a plan to disentangle some of that but we'll have to see. The art stands out in this issue as Kris Anka does pretty solid work on the first fifteen pages or so before Clay Mann (I assume it's Clay and not Seth but the book doesn't give much indication on that) takes over (Mann's stuff is good too but I prefer Anka's). Either way, decent issue with a good jumping-on point and a little bit of a better look at our opposing factions.



Sorry about the solo review post; I tend to avoid those unless I have something I think is worth saying beyond my norms. In this case, it was simply a hard week in which to break up the posts, with four new series launching and every other book worthy of somewhat early-week examination. Dedicating a full post to X-MEN 10 was the smartest way, it seemed, to keep with my self-assigned themes and still get X-MEN reviewed before Saturday. Little look behind the curtain there.

Gambit 15, Journey into Mystery 654

Gambit 15
Asmus (w) and C. Mann and S. Mann (a) and Rosenberg (c)

After weeks of impressive thievery, Gambit finds himself at a bit of a crossroads. Is the thievery fulfilling enough to return to full time? Should he go teach at the Jean Grey School again? Would he make an awful Avenger if he took up Rogue's offer of joining the Unity Avengers? Could he and Pete Wisdom get along together if he went to work for him, taking up an offer that I'm not sure was ever extended? To add to it, he's brought more than a little attention to himself in the thieving community with his recent exploits and now someone is trying to get to him by stealing the NYSE bell, which signifies the start of the day for the stock market and which was always a goal of Gambit's, and leaving clues that he's sure to respond to. He and Fence investigate but it's likely Gambit won't like where the investigation leads.

This probably final arc of Gambit (not sure how long the arc is planning to go but the book isn't far from its final issue) will see Gambit pitted against his past, among probably other things and it's off to an interesting start as Remy has to start piecing things together here to try to get a jump on someone who clearly has a significant jump on him. This isn't like Joelle or Cich, who he had to get involved with before they knew who he was; this is someone who is targeting Gambit for one reason or another who Gambit has to work backwards to match. The writing of this book, as it has for a while, alternates between fluidity and somewhat clunky dialogue with Gambit throwing in a few somewhat forced jokes to keep up his "wisecracking Cajun" persona. There are a couple of vague references to distaste with the 1% and wealth and everything but none of it really adds to his character as none of it is said with any sort of passion beyond "ah well, I'd like ta steal from more people and they have a lotta money and Robin Hood, ya know?" (Perfect Gambit, nailed it) That's been kind of an issue with this series throughout; for everything we've seen from Gambit I'm not sure we've actually learned anything new about the character or anything even particularly compelling. Sure he had a love interest in Joelle mixed against his love for Rogue but the things we knew about Gambit prior to this, the things that were set in stone for his character, were essentially "thief," "Cajun," "womanizer," and "wisecracking." I don't know that anything in this series has characterized him beyond that in any way, leaving the series still readable and enjoyable, but somewhat forgettable. Can every issue bring some revelatory truth about a character? I don't know, probably not. But some should. I can't honestly say that any have, to this point, in this series.

Journey into Mystery 654
K. Immonen (w) and Schiti (a) and Bellaire (c)

Sif and Bill are dealing with their problems in their various manners, with Sif trying to track Gaea and Bill agonizing over the loss of Skuttlebutt. Sif manages to find Gaea in the garden Bill had been rejected from and discovers that the garden has worked wonders on the All-Mother, leaving her rejuvenated and fresh. Sif doesn't feel comfortable with how quickly it's happened and wants to return Gaea to Asgardia but Gaea is wary of that, as she feels her sickness was brought on by all of the Stark Technology used to build Asgardia leaving her with little real plant life to keep her happy. Meanwhile, Bill has been found by Skuttlebutt, now inhabiting the thought-dead body of Ti Asha Ra, pulled out of the ship by the entity that's driving this whole story and put into the new body. Something sinister is afoot and Sif needs to get to the bottom of it before it corrupts everything.

Unlike Gambit, there's less that's been explored in Sif's character over the years so there's more for Immonen to really introduce for her. That said, I don't think it's been an easy task for Immonen to take a great warrior of Asgard(ia) and cast her in this new light, one that really gives her a full-fledged personality and one that, at times, has the ability to be something silly and fun. Frankly, this book has been astoundingly good each issue and it's almost entirely on the back of Sif, who does exactly what's needed of her for the plot but does it with a character that's wholly entertaining. This story is certainly an interesting one with some sinister machinations behind it and a solid mystery for Bill and Sif to get to the bottom of but the driving force is certainly the writing and the characters themselves. Like I said with Gambit, there are times where certain writers know that the dialogue should be fun but don't seem to have anything particularly fun to say, so they strong arm some predictable joke in to take advantage of the timing. Here, as with just about every issue of Immonen's JiM, the writing flows pretty naturally and the quick and fun writing catches you off-guard. Sometimes the humor comes from the situation, sometimes it comes from the snappy dialogue, sometimes it comes from the tried-and-true Asgardians talk funny method but it almost all always works. Schiti's art perfectly compliments it, giving exactly the right feel to every situation and Bellaire's colors continue to be among the best in the industry. Letterer Clayton Cowles gets in on the fun too, setting up word bubbles nicely to give a sense of flow to the conversation, directing your eyes to read the dialogue the way its meant to be read (I don't highlight letterers enough but they do some pretty astounding work. The general rule of thumb is that if you're pointing out a letterer, it's never because they've done something well, just because they've screwed something up. They're kind of the referees of comics). Solid book throughout and another particularly good issue. Here's a panel from this issue because I found it especially funny (not sure it is out of context but whatever, my blog my rules) and I don't think I'm going to highlight it at any other time this week.