Comic Book Reviews - 01/31/07

X-Men #195

Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Humberto Ramos

Uncanny X-Men does epic. Astonishing X-Men does hip. New X-Men does angst. X-Factor does funny. Adjectiveless X-Men seems to handle the big action chores in the mutant corner of the Marvel Universe. At least, that's been the recipe for this current story arc, “Primary Infection” and “Part Two” ramps it up even more.

So far, the story has been fairly straightforward: search for the bad guy, fight the henchmen, head up a rescue mission, get ambushed, fight the big bad, get knocked down, call in the calvary. Mike Carey still manages to sprinkle little character moments throughout the issue. Karima and Lady Mastermind appear to be the focus of character development for this arc. This is justified since these two suffered at the hands of the main villain.

Speaking of which, I’m still not sold on Pan. So far he has come across as poor man’s Mr. Sinister. He has the ability to call upon powers of mutants that he has come in contact with. Visually, it looks like Havok, Cyclops and Colossus are among those people, and he name checks Paige Guthrie and Jean Grey. This power siphoning links him to Rogue, but I’m curious to why he needs her now.

I guess I need to talk about the art since my main problems with this issue are with this area of the book. As I’ve stated before, I’m not the biggest fan of Humberto Ramos. The T & A is simply obnoxious. Plus, there are moments in this issue that it seems Carey has to add dialogue to compensate for liberties Ramos has taken with the storytelling. When the heroes reach Pan’s towering headquarters, Iceman and Karima are shown taking flight, leaving Lady M on the ground, forcing her to comment about it. During the fight, a bolt of energy lashes out from the back of Lady M’s head, leading Iceman to comment on that. The first page’s sideways splash of Cable and Cannonball invoked unpleasant memories of X-Force #4 (the entire issue was drawn sideways) and leads Sam to comment that the controls of the ship have been locked out as they rocket straight up into the stratosphere. Whether or not all these incidents were scripted this way is unknown, but they were odd enough to take me out of the book and make note.

This is probably the weakest issue of the Mike Carey Era so far, but it’s far from being bad. The final page shot of the weapon launched by Cable was hilarious and the high point of the issue. I would still like to see how Carey’s stories would look drawn by a more tempered hand. Humberto Ramos and regular artist Chris Bachelo can make visuals that pop off the page, but the exaggeration and less-than-stellar storytelling wears on me. I’d love to see a Steve Epting or a Trevor Hairsine take a crack at this book.

Overall: B-


Ms. Marvel Special #1

Writer: Brian Reed
Artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli

What was the point of making this a special one-shot and not an issue in the regular series. It could have easily fit before or after the Rogue/Warbird two-parter. Maybe Marvel is trying to do something schedule-wise and this issue was already drawn and ready to go. There isn’t anything in this issue that could be deemed special enough for a one-shot. Hell, it’s only twenty-two pages. The story was lackluster, but the art was decent enough. The cover made me believe that this might be a story of how Carol, back in her days as Binary, left the Starjammers and made her way back to Earth. No such luck. I’m simply baffled by the existence of this issue.

Overall: D