Thursday, May 19, 2011

Review: Siege- New Avengers; X-Necrosha

SIEGE: NEW AVENGERS (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Dark Reign: The List- New Avengers, New Avengers Nos. 61-64, New Avengers Annual No. 3 and New Avengers Finale (cover dates November, 2009- March, 2010).
This starts out strong...real strong. Yes, the 'witty' Brian Michael Bendis dialogue was present, but there was enough going on for me to consider this a satisfying read. New Avengers Annual No. 3 was great, and had beautiful artwork by Mike Mayhew. I am largely unfamiliar with his work but hope to see a lot more of it. He and Mike McKone (Artist, Issues 63 and 64) are the modern age's answer to John Romita, Sr. Solid, photo realistic artwork that hits all of the sweet spots for yours truly. I was having a good time reading these comic books until...just when I thought it was safe to like Bendis...there he goes again. The last several pages of the New Avengers Finale were nothing more than a series of pointless double page spreads that did nothing to further the story. They were almost as bad as the last few pages of Secret Invasion era Bendis where Hank Pym was riding in the car and they were telling him everything that had happened in his absence. So yeah, Bendis still sucks...sort of

X-NECROSHA (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Necrosha: The Gathering, New X-Men No. 32, New Mutants Nos. 6-8, X-Force No. 11, 21-25, X-Force/ New Mutants: Necrosha, X-Men Legacy Nos. 231-234 and material from X-Force Annual No. 1 (cover dates January, 2007- May, 2010).
This is a clusterphuck of continuity-defying, Blackest Night riffing nonsense. Let's bring back all of the dead characters! Horrible. Even Clayton Crain's beautiful artwork on X-Force couldn't maintain my interest or save this story arc. I wanted out even faster than the characters in the story. I no longer know these X-Men, and worse still, I no longer care. Everyone has been killed and brought back to life so many times that none of it means anything anymore. I am done with all of these ancillary X-titles and events and am sticking with Uncanny X-Men only from here on out. I have to be honest, though, the next time I sit down and read a stretch of that title will determine if I stick with even the flagship title any more. It breaks my heart to say this, but I don't like the X-Men anymore. The X-Men of the '70s and '80s are some of my favorite comic books ever published, but any more? It doesn't seem to matter, and that makes me sad.

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