(no subject)

[gothwalk]

Been reading the New X-Men, on loan from puritybrown. Initial impressions were very good; the last X-men stuff I read was Dark Phoenix, and the contrast was, well, impressive. Grant Morrison's writing is notable, and the art is quite different, although somehow familiar - I suspect the artist worked on Judge Dredd at some point, or was influenced by it. This is particularly evident when you see some images of Cyclops, looking just like Dredd.

There seems to be something missing, though - and it's not just Storm and Nightcrawler. There's some core element that's not there, and a few elements thrown in to make up for it don't quite make it up.

I can't pin down the difference. It has something to do with the sheer daftness of Emma Frost's outfit (not that glued-on costumes are anything new, but this one is spectacularly unpossible), something to do with the re-characterisation of some of the others, something to do with the lack of imagination in the powers and appearances of the younger mutants in the school.

There are some very good parts. I like the Beast's new shape. I like the way telepathic conferencing is depicted (just me, or does that owe something to the Matrix?). Cyclops is approaching an actual character. I like the new outfits. Some of the dialogue is rather cool.

But overall, it's like mint-flavour, not mint.

Comments

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's not so much that "something's missing" as that the focus is different, and you liked the old focus.

That's possible. The other possibility is that I've gotten used to things like Top Ten, Sandman, Transmetropolitan, The Authority and the like.

There are three mainstream X-titles at the moment, all of them quite different (though there's a certain amount of overlap, naturally, and Wolverine shows up everywhere using his secondary mutant power of Boosting Comicbook Sales). NXM is focused on the school and the massive underlying social and philosophical changes that are occurring.

That's something I'm very interested in, alright - I'm fascinated by the effects mutants/superpowers/magic/younameit have on the world, like in The Authority or Miracleman.

UXM is more of a conventional superhero team book (though really it's been like a soap opera lately, with everyone falling in love with everyone else, sometimes to the point of absurdity). I don't know about XXM -- haven't read it, but it's by Chris Claremont, so it's probably heavy on the angst and the ponderous dialogue. Or maybe not; Claremont's pretty versatile. (Then there's UltXM, which is... I can't decide whether I love it or hate it. It's quite silly, really, but it is fun.)

I must take a look at these.



*blink* Hm. You haven't come across the Special Class, have you? Featuring Beak, Angel, a sentient gas in a suit called Dummy, a huge pink guy with one eye that emits a stunning beam called Basilisk[1], a little girl who looks like a ninety-year-old-woman called Ernst, and the brain of Martha Johannson. Oh, and No-Girl, who may or may not exist.

That's better. There were some cool elements in the ones that can be seen in the background in various places - the kid with the flaming footprints, for instance, or the transparent one. But it's got nothing on the backgrounds in Top Ten, which added so much to the depth of the setting that it's nearly bottomless.

Then there's Quentin Quire's gang, who show up later: Tattoo, who can desolidify herself but mostly uses her powers to write words on her skin; Redneck, who can generate heat with his bones; Radiant, who... I'm not really sure what he does, exactly, but it involves bright light and leaves people flat on the ground; and Herman, whose flesh is made from transparent wax. (He sets himself on fire and runs down the driveway yelling "I'm the Inhuman Torch!")

These are cool, too. I look forward to seeing them. Have you collected editions - or even single issues - after the hardback?