FrancisMH

October 13, 2012 12:14 am Stark and friends were 1) Working for the government, and 2) Never attempted to destroy the earth, like the Phoenix Force ended up convincing Scott to do. Yes, Goliath was killed in CW but it was unintentional at the hands of robot-Thor and no one cares about Goliath anyway. Agreed about Rogue but she's dealt with those issues with Carol directly and has done a lot to redeem herself since then. Though I wouldn't put it past Remender to not bring up that thread in future issues. And yeah, if you've read any of his previous works you'll know he knows plenty about Marvel history.

October 11, 2012 12:53 pm LOVED this book. When Remender announced he was leaving X-Force to do this, I feared as an X-fan that we'd lost our best writer to the machine-like, more impersonal world of the Avengers, much like how I felt AvX treated the X-Men. However, this reads much more like an X-Men book, with Cap and Thor thrown in as ancillary characters. I'm incredibly intrigued with Havok's role. Remender has shown his knack for turning B or C-level characters into superstars (ie. Fantomex) and you can already see the seeds of a star-making run for Alex with the plot points brought up in this issue. Also the scene with Wanda and Rogue was cool. Served to show the mutants' lingering hatred for her, setting the scene for what will hopefully be a rewarding redemption. And I don't get all the criticism of Cassaday's art. I found it just as good as any of his work on Astonishing. To me, Cassaday excels in his facials and ability to express the PERFECT emotion on his characters faces. His posing and anatomy aren't ultra-realistic like others, but as a storyteller he gets it RIGHT. Critiques: I was hoping for an explanation for the costume changes. In Astonishing Whedon gave a perfect excuse and timed the new costumes perfectly. In this... Havok is wearing a trenchcoat in one moment... then all of a sudden appears in his 80's garb. A little sloppy. Also, I have to believe that the way the villain group spoke was done to be tongue-in-cheek camp. While this isn't made completely clear, something like this definitely fits in with Remender's um, vivid, sense of humor. Overall, I'm stoked with this book. 5 stars.

October 2, 2012 12:46 pm Definitely. Honestly, not much happens after the first arcs.

September 29, 2012 1:06 am It was also a sneak attack in which Ozy was able to kill Comedian, seemingly with ease. In a UFC-like fair fight, I'd give a slight edge to Comedian. I continue to enjoy this series. I think it contains the best art of them all, though we've only been through one cycle of the Rorschach and Manhattan books, which are my other candidates. Wein does a very convincing job extending the character's mythos, though I feel we're already seeing a fully developed character, rather than someone turning into what they are in Watchmen. I guess these aren't meant to be origin stories but simply "more adventures" of the fully formed characters we already love.

September 14, 2012 1:36 am And shit... I just read on Jason Aaron's blog that this will be Bachalo's last issue! Drag!

September 14, 2012 1:32 am That Fantomex scene was cold, both to the character and to the reader. Seems like he's staying dead for a while, unfortunately. And any guesses as to who Wolvie was holding on that first page? Looked like Nightcrawler to me.

September 14, 2012 1:29 am I liked this issue. I have also started to really enjoy Bachalo's artwork. I'll take his style any day over boring, unoriginal art that we see in many other books. The linework and the shapes he uses for his figures are really interesting and actually quite pretty. The way its inked and coloured is really unique as well. I think it just takes an X-fan to accept a more anime-like style in order to appreciate it. I liked this issue. It really had nothing to do with AvX and is basically an origin story for that new kid leader of the Hellfire Club. It rounds out his character more and makes the whole concept of a kid-run terrorist organization seem less ridiculous. Should note that this probably takes place sometime between AvX 6 or 7 and is not in line with the current issue. Looking forward to next month with Allred and Doop!

September 14, 2012 1:13 am Really like Andy Clarke's art and hope to see him take over once Capullo's finished up the run.

August 9, 2012 12:51 am Pichelli/Ponsor absolutely NAILED that teary-eyed hug with May and Peter. Good review, Conor.

August 9, 2012 12:34 am I picked this up a week later after hearing all the hype. I echo others' sentiments about the issue's ability to warm someone unfamiliar with Hawkeye in the way Fraction grounds the character. In marketing, it's often taught that once you identify your product's weakness, you expose it and turn it into a selling point (ie. Buckley's: "Tastes bad, but it works.") In this case, taking Hawkeye's lack of superpower and his proneness to human injury already makes him stand out. I found the landlord and his tracksuit goons endearing, despite being a little over-charicatured in voice. They were fun and it was enjoyable to see Clint pound on them. I also loved Fraction's closing line about Cap not being there finally allowing Hawkeye to be the badass anti-hero he's supposed to be. The art, as everyone says, was wonderful. Much kudos also needs to be given to colourist Matt Hollingsworth for his ability to separate warm and cold scenes to help us navigate the non-linear timing of the story while enhancing Aja's highly stylized and chic look. Both in art and story, this felt like it had the heart of a creator owned-title. Will be checking out next month.