ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL #3"Chapter Three"
Plotters: Joss Whedon & Brian Lynch
Scripter: Brian Lynch
Illustrator: Franco Urru
Colorist: Jason Jensen
Letterer: Robbie Robbins
Editor: Chris Ryall
I'm having a hard time buying this series, both conceptually and justifying spending the $4 a month on it. Issue #2 was an improvement over the first, maybe because the shock of the series had worn off. With #3, I'm starting to get a grasp on the world the comic lives in. It lives in hell. And that's my big problem. Before, Angel was set in what could possibly still be Los Angeles. It was relatable and contained real human character and heart. Now it's set in the most fantastical hell I've seen in a while and is constantly exploiting the medium's whatever-you-can-imagine scope. Angel rides a dragon. Seriously. This is Angel in such a large scale that it almost doesn't feel like Angel. The characters are all there and Lynch captures all their voices very well. It's just depressing seeing all these characters carrying on in this horrid existence when I would much rather picture every single one of them dead fighting for their cause in "Not Fade Away." Even that episode's one definitive casualty, Wesley, is back as a ghost.
This issue is half a fight with Illyria and half setting up the climactic battle with the demon powers of Los Angeles that will probably close off this first arc. The fight with Illyria is done well and part of it hints towards the issues big surprise twist. The challenge proposed by Angel at the end of the issue is a good old Angel moment and I'm really interested to see how it plays out. Angel as L.A.'s king, trying to put the city back together again is so much more interesting than the freedom fighters in hell angle.
The art is still dreadful, though, no matter how solid the story is (and the story is solid, even if it all seems like a bit too much). Urru's art seems sloppy, malformed and unfinished in 70% of his panels. He gets the likenesses down, no problem, but there's an overall lack of detail and a rushed quality to the work that makes the series a huge let down. It might not be his pencils but the fact that he also, apparently, inks his own work. The inks are so thick that they muddy up the pictures. It's not so pleasant and I'd really like to see what another inker or artist could do with this series. A Bryan Hitch or Steve Epting, a dramatic and realistic artist could do wonders with this (but that's just a dream, kinda like Adrian Alphona on Buffy season 8).
MY SCORE: 8.3/10
NEW WARRIORS v.4 #8"Reunion 2 of 2"
Writer: Kevin Grevioux
Penciler: Jon Malin
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Nic Klein
Production: Anthony Dial
Editor: Daniel Ketchum
Executive Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Okay, the actual New Warriors bits are pretty good. Seeing Midnight's Fire again is a nice shout out to the past, even if he isn't identified until the bottom of the fourth page of this story. Also, the possible subplot of Justice and Rage rejoining the team makes me so happy since this story could actually use some characters. Which brings me to my biggest problem with this series...
Who are the New Warriors and why should I care?
I was fine with the secrecy surrounding the roster initially; as a storytelling device it worked well for the first issues of the series. After the revelation that the cast is made up of former Xavier's School students and X-Men, I was hoping we'd finally get character development. That's what these two issues were meant for (I would guess so by the super Kraft cheesy toast they all make) but the utterly disgusting and dreadfully amateurish art makes it all bland and confusing. First of all, look at the women. Do any of them look different? No. They are all anorexic amazons with foot long necks. This is such a horrific throwback to Image art that I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight. At least Liefeld and company had some sorta style. Malin's art is so void of style it's....I don't know. That's the problem. There's nothing to this issue at all because the art is so bland. A thoughtful discussion about whether or not the New Mutants are terrorists is completely undermined by the fact that I have no idea whose opinons are what. It doesn't help that Grevioux is, apparently, depending on the art to fill us in on who is saying what since no names are given.
The art is awful. With that said, I have to wonder what regular artist (I hope) Paco Medina will do with these characters out of costume when he returns. The transformation of Beak (scrawny) and Angel (chunky and short) into David and Victoria Beckham in this issue is flat out mind boggling. Really, how are these two pictures of the same character?
Not only that, how are we supposed to believe that the Junior Guardsmen are an equal threat to the New Warriors when they look about as old as Beak and Angel's KIDS (how they aged so quickly, I'm not even going to get into that)? I know they're supposed to be the same age, actually, since the entire cast of New Warriors is in their mid-to-late teens. Apparently all teenagers are 6'4" with rippling muscles and huge jugs unless you're sponsored by the government, then you look like a kid that Screech could pound on. Great.
New Warriors has serious promise and a solid cast. Beak, Angel, and Redneck were created by Grant Morrison, who gave each one of them very defined personalities which only seem to be half present and character designs which have been completely jettisoned. On top of that, Jubilee and Chamber have been around for 20 and 14 years, respectively, and have actually maintained a fairly consistent personality. Why are they so bland? And really, if any character is easy to write, it should be Stacy X, a former mutant prostitute with a major 'tude. She's mildly saucy here. Mildly. Like I said, I almost hope Justice and Rage come back just so we can maybe see some characters with real emotion, unlike these who aren't being done justice yet.
MY SCORE: 6.6/10
NEW X-MEN v.2 #46"Messiah Complex 12 of 13"
Writers: Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inkers: Carlos Cuevas w/ Dave Meikis
Colorist: Studio F's Edgar Delgado
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Assistant Editor: Will Panzo
Editor: Nick Lowe
Executive Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
New X-Men is bordering on becoming an adult MAX title, right? Last issue, Warpath launched a knife into the head of a Purifier, this issue we get Wolverine getting shot through the noggin, blood spurting out of his eye, and then Scrambler getting both his hands cut off and his intestines opened up on the following page. Yeah, the Marauders are bad news and this battle is horrific, but do we need to see intestines? And since when could we see intestines in a Marvel comic? Later on, Scrambler is stabbed in the shoulder, sending bright red and gooey blood flying, and later Vertigo is bitten almost in half by Predator X. This level of gore takes the action to an almost campy Grindhouse level, which is not the desired effect of what is supposed to be a very serious and dramatic storyline. This was probably the first time that I double checked the rating of an issue and then thought the "T+" rating was too lenient. The coloring is the goriest part, actually. Blood used to always be black to lessen the impact; now it's bright red and all over the place. It's kinda disturbing. And so far, only in New X-Men. The book with the youngest cast is the bloodiest.
The storyline continues merrily on, though, and there are some moments in this issue that truly make me smile. The first lines of the issue are Mystique reflecting on what Muir Island means to her. Destiny died there in Uncanny X-Men #255, she killed Moira MacTaggert there in X-Men #108, and now Rogue is dying there. This touch is welcome, as is any time the X-Books acknowledge any event prior to the year 2002. This does come with a bit of "why didn't they say anything before now"-ness, much like the previous chapter's revelation about Bishop and Cable's knowledge of the mutant messiah. Apparently Mystique has known about this moment since before Destiny died. Okay...sure. Not a big complaint, though.
The other moment I enjoyed came when Gambit realized that he's free of his debt to Sinister. The character's connection to Sinister has been a hindrance ever since it was alluded to in X-Men #45 well over ten years ago. Mr. Sinister may be my favorite X-villain, but if his death means that Gambit is free to be a decent character again, then it's worth it. I don't completely buy that Mr. Sinister could be tackled by Mystique and then killed by Rogue so quickly, unless her power absorption has been upped by her illness (I can't remember). Something else I can't remember, when did Sunfire become such a blood thirsty jerk? Sure he was always a little cold, but now he's downright psychotic and evil, actively trying to murder people that used to be his allies. I know he was manipulated by Apocalypse, but so was Gambit and he seems over it.
As for Rogue, if her death is part of the climax, I'll be of greatly mixed emotions. Rogue has long been one of my favorite characters, moreso because of who she was in the X-Men cartoon and in the years prior to when I started reading. She fell into a horrible rut around the turn of the century and has only become recognizable under Mike Carey's recent run on X-Men. If she is a goner, then I'm glad that she went out as the character she should have always been but I'll also be upset since we'll be robbed of a character who was nearing the top of her game. We'll see.
The art is typical Humberto Ramos, so...well that's it. It tells the story okay, is hard to follow at times but at least it has high energy and an overwhelmingly unique style.
The penultimate chapter of "Messiah Complex" offers much of the same wham-bang action that we've seen before, but it gives us nice character moments with Mystique and Gambit and finally gets that darn Predator X plot thread into the main focus.
MY SCORE: 8.5/10
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