This should be obvious, but this title replaced Wolverine's solo series.
The last we saw of Logan and Jean, they had just brought some
information from Sinister to the Human High Council in England,
informing them that Apocalypse intended to betray their truce.
Their reward for their efforts is to be sent on a rather dangerous mission to try to penetrate the Atlantic Sea Wall and take out its control center. Apocalypse's goons call in Havok to help fight them off. Their fight is really just there to grant us a bit of exposition. We find out that Logan lost his hand to Cyclops while rescuing Jean from Apocalypse's camps and he took out one of Cyclops' eyes in revenge. Havok throws a lot of nasty words at Jean and Logan pounds him for it. Their battle is interrupted by dozens upon dozens of sentinels being launched, and a footnote assures us we'll find out what that's all about next time in Amazing X-men #1.
Meanwhile Cyclops informs Apocalypse of Sinister's defection while Beast interrupts to let them know that Havok fused with a sentinel hand when he was teleported out, and this dark version of Beast is about to gleefully use a bonesaw to free him.
It's a quick little moment but it's also pretty twisted and amusing. Of course it may just be that any temporary reprieve from Logan hates Scott and Scott hates Logan is always welcome with me after so many years of following the X-men. Like so many other men in a love triangle, you just want these two to kiss and make out already.
But for now, Logan is making out with Jean instead. And while doing so he assures us that he loves her completely, though he worries that she only cares for him because he rescued her. For what it's worth, I like the chemistry and partnership the two of them have going on in this issue. They seem good for each other in this crazy world they are living in.
Once they're done kissing they rejoin the human high council which at this point is shown to contain Mariko Yashida and Brian Braddock besides Emma Frost, and Moira and Bolivar Trask. I think there were some errors in the art here, as it seems like Braddock wants to let Mariko talk, and then strongly disagrees with her shortly afterward. Regardless, some of the humans want to give peace a chance, but Brian does not.
You gotta love that big THROOOOM sound effect there.
Magma was the mutant above who interrupted their meeting before Logan killed her. However she assures him that she won't be the last mutant they see, and that Apocalypse is determined to kill them all. Brian says this proves his point, and that they have no choice but to launch a nuclear strike on America aka Apocalypse's territory.
The art in this issue seems a little sloppy to me over all, and when I looked at the credits, I noticed it said "Adam Kubert - breakdowns, Karl Kesel, Dan Green, Chris Warner - finishes" so I guess that means they were a bit pressed for time on finishing this one. As such I won't be too harsh. There's not a whole lot happening here, and I had to go back and review a few moments to see just what was going on exactly. But I do like that Logan and Jean's relationship shines through as something positive amongst the mess.
No, go ahead. Be harsh. Adam Kubert's art *always* looks like this. It's amazing the guy gets as many gigs as he does.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm definitely not a fan of his art over all. I sometimes like his ladies, but Logan especially always comes off pretty ugly looking.
Delete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteThis is another one I read! I really wanted to read the series to the end and get to the root of all that angst, but I got distracted by other things.
Well I'm glad this will allow you to experience in some way now after all this time. :)
DeleteYeah, while I think Kubert's layouts are strong, and they very capably block a lot of action in so short a running space, the fact that they had three different artists doing finishes shows as both the quality and style of the detailing constantly jumps from page to page. And I don't think it's so much the art that made some exchanges confusing, as I noticed a good handful of occasions where word balloons were pointing at the wrong characters.
ReplyDeleteRushed sloppiness aside, I really like this book as the action is strongly choreographed (love the Sentinel, especially how he ends with his feet sticking out of Big Ben), Havok is a deliciously hateful asshole who gets his just deserts in a magnificent way, I like how there's epic sweeps going on behind our story (the next issue may prove me wrong, but wasn't their fight here a diversion to allow the wave of Sentinels to carry that human population to safety?), and yeah, the Logan/Jean chemistry is great as they make a perfect team while still having their disagreements and anxieties.
A solid issue.
Yeah, given the many people involved in creating comics, I guess I should specify that it's not just the pencillers I'm blaming. I have a feeling that the panel with the bubble "Let Mariko Yashida have her say!" is quite possibly meant to be Bolivar Trask, but the colorist made him blonde by accident. But of course I'm just guessing.
DeleteThere's also a bit where both he and Moira are giving a speech, but both balloons are pointing at her. And a bit where he snaps at something Emma says (mentioning her by name), but the balloon he's responding to was again pointing at Moira.
DeleteMaybe Moira is a latent mutant with the power to magnetically draw in word balloon tails. ;)
And going up to GonzO's comment and your response, I agree that I find Adam Kubert's detailing work really ugly most of the time, and was just praising his layouts, which are nice. Some of the best finishes in the book are visibly those of Karl Kesel.
So wait, are we supposed to believe that Logan's hand held out just long enough to take Scott's eye, while Scott's eye simultaneously held out just long enough to take Logan's hand? Because there's something both ridiculous and awesome about trying to picture that. :D
ReplyDeleteI had assumed that Logan had used his other hand to take out the eye, but now that you've presented this version, I'm accepting it as canon. :)
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