X-FACTOR #37 Written by: Peter David
Art by: Valentine De Landro
It's back. In spades. Peter David has long been hampered by crossovers, and X-Factor has suffered under the weight of stories that really didn't do anything to forward the ongoing plot that had been developing between the characters that David had done so much work to bring together in such a satisfying way. In all actuality David has done a great deal of interesting character work in the intervening stories, such as the introduction of Longshot into the group. Now that we are finally back to telling the kinds of stories that had become so satisfying to the readership it is only going to be a matter of convincing the readers who left the title behind during the Messiah Complex debacle or the more recent Secret Invasion unnecessariness. Valentine De Landro is also back and his art is a welcome return to the kind of style that we had all become so familiar with during the establishment of the series. De Landro and his cohorts like Khoi Pham, and Pablo Raimondi did a great job of continuing the sort of style that had been established in the Madrox miniseries as well as the beginning of the ongoing. I honestly think that if you left the title at some point that now it is time to come back. We are once again dealing with shady bad guys who want to bring about the end of the world. we are dealing with an oppressive government that wants nothing more than to control the chaos that X-Factor Investigations presents, and we have the kind of delightfully complex inter-character relationships that we have all come to know and love Peter David for. This is the sound of the dinner bell, it's time to come home again.
Young X-Men #8Written by: Marc Guggenheim
Art by: Rafa Sandoval
For a long time I have not cared one little bit about any of the X books. Sort of. I've never been a big fan of the a-list mutants. But, like the way I feel about under appreciated comics I also feel about under appreciated characters. So for years while I have never been a fan of Uncanny X-Men or the adjectiveless X-Men or Cable or Wolverine or books of the like I have been cultivating a unique appreciation for the lower tier X-titles. In the last few years this has manifested in my enjoyment of titles like New X-Men: Academy X, X-Statix, Exiles, X-Factor and so on. When I heard about the new series Young X-Men I wasn't sure whether or not this was going to be the kind of title that would be worth my attention. It has, admittedly, taken a while but I have come to the conclusion that this is a book right in my wheelhouse. Action packed enough to be a good superhero book, character driven enough to be the kind of story that you can really sink your teeth into, and just the kind of creative team to really get you excited about how the series is going to progress. Marc Guggenheim is the kind of writer who can find time to work in both comics and television at the same time (if only Alan Heinberg could do the same). He has the kind of skill sets available to him to craft a group of characters who manage to have similar goals without speaking with once voice. And with this issue Rafa Sandoval contributes art chores and the series looks rather great as well. If you are looking for a good time to jump in then now is the time. This week the first trade hits the shelves, which collects the first 5 issues, and now is the time to start checking in with the Young X-Men.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment