Written by Rick Remender
Illustrated by Greg Tocchini
- Wolverine and AOA Nightcrawler face a strange and deadly new foe in Otherworld
- Fantomex’s sentence is carried out and he is injected with an anti-reality serum…
- Psylocke becomes Lady Briton!
- Deadpool is decapitated!
The best written X-Book continues! Wolverine and the gang are back; on a mission to rescue their teammates Fantomex and Psylocke from The Captain Britain Corps. Does Remender bring his regular magic to the book, or does it fizzle out?
Find out behind the cut!
I really love this book. I do. I fell in love with it fairly recently, and part of that affection for the book came from the fact that while it had unique art, the art was great. Sidic and Opeña’s art was among the best artists that had ever been on an X-Book in recent memory. It complemented the stellar words that Remender put on the page, making a book more special than it could have been without any of those creators.
But now there seems to be a slide in creativity that’s hurting the book on a serious level.
Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the words that Remender is telling a lot. One of my earlier memories of reading comics were not X-Men books, but the spin-off Excalibur and the adventures of Captain Britain and his merry band of international mutants, who protected the Omniverse from threats such as Necrom. This new arc seemed to be a return to that great series from Claremont and Alan Davis. And it really is. It’s taken a darker turn from that series, but it has the same overall feel.
The characters continue to be told in a consistent manner with some of the best character development in comics today. The faux-Kurt, who is settling into his role on the team, is even given some time to shine, with some reflection on his role in the new universe, working for a man who, in his universe, is a monster. Even Fantomex gets some great character work as well, even if his mind is slipping out of existence, one brain at a time (how many does the guy have anyway?). Everything he says is a trip into his childhood, with his parents, assuming he has any, that is. One of the funniest parts belonged to Deadpool, as always, but not necessarily in the way you might think. Decapitated in the previous issue, he spent most of the issue as one of the supporting cast from his eponymous Corps: he was Headpool. While it’s a simple gag, it works well for Deadpool to be a talking head (literally) while Logan lugs around his body through the Overworld.
Remender even brought in Brian Braddock’s lover, Meggan, who had a particularly awkward moment with Not-Kurt-But-Kinda Kurt, who had no idea who she was. The little things like that prove he knows what he’s doing in the universe, and he belongs there. The sheer knowledge is appreciated, especially when it’s told in a way that anyone can enjoy.
By now you must be thinking “man, he REALLY loves this book what on Earth could be wrong with it?” (or you could be wondering how silly putty picks stuff of of comic books. Pipe down, it’s my article)
It’s quite simple: it’s the art. The art is positively atrocious. Not one redeeming factor comes from the art, with odd character designs, strange inks, and muddy colors. Nothing looks as clean as it should, and looks like excrement when compared to the incredible art from earlier arts. Fellow Multiversity Writer Brandon Burpee said it best yesterday in the Monthly Round-Up when he said the following:
Continued below“Uncanny X-Force this month — what happened there? That was like the art you’d see in a movie scene mock-up. You know: the ones where they are just testing out the shots and the way everything should look. I mean, I can dig the not so finished aesthetic of some artists but for me the art in this issue just felt like it hurt an otherwise fun story.”
This brings me to my belief on the importance between art and writing in a comic: “art does not MAKE a book, but it can BREAK it.”
And it very nearly does. If the art were any worse, I don’t think I could even recommend browsing through it.
Bottom line: if you’re invested in this story and the characters involved, please pick this up because it’s still as good as it ever was. But if you’re just now deciding to jump on with a new arc, this isn’t the right place for it. It is a shame, because I just recommended the book to a friend a couple weeks ago. But I don’t think they would appreciate this art. I know I don’t.
Final Verdict: 6.0 — Browse (but still a great showing for Rick Remender)
