X-MEN #207
Written by Mike Carey
Art by Chris Bachalo
There have only been a few conclusions to an event that I have enjoyed as much as I did this one. Recent ones include Sinestro Corps War and Annihilation Wave and that's about it for the past decade of cash grab events from the Big Two. So, that puts Messiah Complex with some pretty exclusive company.
Getting right down to the nuts and bolts of this, the issue takes all the assorted storylines and throws them all into one big rugby-like scrum and let's them beat the crap out of each other for 22 pages.
Cyclops is actually Cyclops this issue, not that Skrull or whatever that was forming kill squads, ordering the death of his son with no questions asked and so on from earlier in the series. He's the leader of the X-Men and he takes charge the way he should here, even giving up the baby in the end to Cable.
However, everyone was represented here, not just Cyclops. The New X-Men are given the task of taking down the Marauders, despite them being a credible threat to the X-Men themselves, giving the NXM team their due. Pixie and Dust, specifically, get some serious moments with Dust teaming up with Emma to kill Exodus and Pixie making use of her Soul Blade to take out another Marauder.
Team Claw X-Force were also on display and Wolverine shows everyone why he's the best there is at what he does as he allows himself to be eaten by Predator X before ripping the monster apart from the inside in a grusome display.
The biggest shocker came at the end as Cyclops gives the baby back to Cable so he can take it to the future. As Cable prepares to jump to the future, the critically wounded Bishop, whom Pred X took a chunk out of earlier, opens fire on Cable in a last ditch effort to stop him and the baby. Cable fades out and the bullets strike Xavier in the head, killing him instantly, if Wolverine and Beast are to be believed. The new X-titles seem to suggest otherwise though. Back to Bishop where Cyclops immediately turned and blew him away with a huge Optic Blast. There was no kill confirmation on Bishop though, but I think it's safe to assume he's as dead as any other comic character. The issue ends with Cyke stating the X-Men are no more.
I loved the issue, but it still has the senseless death's. Does anyone expect Xavier to stay dead? Does anyone expect the numerous Marauders, Mr Sinister and Exodus to stay dead? What about Bishop? Well, maybe him. If you take all the death at face value, the crossover is the biggest event ever. With the fact none of them will be dead in a year or two, much of the impact and weight this crossover carries disappears. It's a small complaint, but something that still nags at me.
Finally, what's up with Xavier's "corpse" disappearing at the end? The last page where it fades out, the X-Men are all standing there crying over his body and then the final zoomed out image shows Xavier clearly missing from where he was lying. Is this artist error? Someone supposed to photoshop the same image into the shrunken box and messing up? It actually disappeared?
Verdict - Must Read. Very satistfying conclusion to a crossover. Most fizzle out after 6 issues. MC got better and better as it went on and finished incredibly strong. Even if you weren't following this event, I think you'd really enjoy this issue.
Getting right down to the nuts and bolts of this, the issue takes all the assorted storylines and throws them all into one big rugby-like scrum and let's them beat the crap out of each other for 22 pages.
Cyclops is actually Cyclops this issue, not that Skrull or whatever that was forming kill squads, ordering the death of his son with no questions asked and so on from earlier in the series. He's the leader of the X-Men and he takes charge the way he should here, even giving up the baby in the end to Cable.
However, everyone was represented here, not just Cyclops. The New X-Men are given the task of taking down the Marauders, despite them being a credible threat to the X-Men themselves, giving the NXM team their due. Pixie and Dust, specifically, get some serious moments with Dust teaming up with Emma to kill Exodus and Pixie making use of her Soul Blade to take out another Marauder.
The biggest shocker came at the end as Cyclops gives the baby back to Cable so he can take it to the future. As Cable prepares to jump to the future, the critically wounded Bishop, whom Pred X took a chunk out of earlier, opens fire on Cable in a last ditch effort to stop him and the baby. Cable fades out and the bullets strike Xavier in the head, killing him instantly, if Wolverine and Beast are to be believed. The new X-titles seem to suggest otherwise though. Back to Bishop where Cyclops immediately turned and blew him away with a huge Optic Blast. There was no kill confirmation on Bishop though, but I think it's safe to assume he's as dead as any other comic character. The issue ends with Cyke stating the X-Men are no more.
I loved the issue, but it still has the senseless death's. Does anyone expect Xavier to stay dead? Does anyone expect the numerous Marauders, Mr Sinister and Exodus to stay dead? What about Bishop? Well, maybe him. If you take all the death at face value, the crossover is the biggest event ever. With the fact none of them will be dead in a year or two, much of the impact and weight this crossover carries disappears. It's a small complaint, but something that still nags at me.
Finally, what's up with Xavier's "corpse" disappearing at the end? The last page where it fades out, the X-Men are all standing there crying over his body and then the final zoomed out image shows Xavier clearly missing from where he was lying. Is this artist error? Someone supposed to photoshop the same image into the shrunken box and messing up? It actually disappeared?
Verdict - Must Read. Very satistfying conclusion to a crossover. Most fizzle out after 6 issues. MC got better and better as it went on and finished incredibly strong. Even if you weren't following this event, I think you'd really enjoy this issue.
Follow each of us on Twitter:
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for checking out the Weekly Crisis - Comic Book Review Blog. Comments are always appreciated. You can sign in and comment with any Google, Wordpress, Live Journal, AIM, OpenID or TypePad account.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.