justderek

April 16, 2010 3:47 pm This book's wordiness stands out to me. I think comic writers have come a long way in just the last ten years, learning to wring a lot more momentum and implication out of fewer words and to work more closely with their artists to tell a compelling story. I love this book, partly because it reminds me of "the good ol' days" with the original X-Factor lineup, partly because Simonson and Panosian are both rockstars, but it's a funny reminder of how ham-handed comics used to be. (Also digging the Apocalypse origin back-up.)

April 16, 2010 1:26 pm Something that struck me about Flash #1 was how Silver-Age-y it felt, while still grounded firmly in modern storytelling and art conventions. Maybe it was the bright colors, maybe it's just a byproduct of the characters, but it just felt darn optimistic. It was a breath of fresh air after Blackest Night, or, crap, I guess after what feels like ten or fifteen years of melodrama and angst. I'm hoping the signs I see in Brightest Day, Flash, and the solicits for the Heroic Age are indicative of an era to come in which comic creators aren't afraid to look on the bright side everyone once in awhile.

April 16, 2010 11:53 am I was so bummed when James Jean announced he'd no longer be doing covers for Fables. That's an awfully heavy mantle to take up, but that cover by Ruas stacks up against just about any of the series' previous 93.

April 16, 2010 11:51 am Great panels, all, but I was rooting for the two-panel sequence in New Mutants in which one smiley-faced robot - possed by Karma - blew the head off another smiley-faced robot. All while smiling all robot-face-ily.

April 7, 2010 10:33 am Glad it didn't turn out to be Venom.

April 6, 2010 3:06 pm Methinks the camera had one too many.

April 6, 2010 3:04 pm

Who's that next to Colossus? Psylocke? Kitty? One of the Stepford triplets? Curse you, colorless art!

Regardless, my money's on Cable. As others have noted, he's had a rough go of it recently and his whole raison d'etre right now is to sacrifice whatever's necessary to keep Hope alive. I'd be pissed if it was anybody else. 

April 6, 2010 10:08 am Great list! I like ActualButt's suggestions of both Lockjaw and Chamber, the latter of which got me thinking: the Generation X roster had 3 mutes on it at one time: Chamber, Penance, and Gateway. Must've been awfully quiet 'round the mansion in those days. (Though I guess having Banshee yalping it up all the time would've negated that. And Jubilee never shut up, so okay, just scratch that.)

April 1, 2010 1:44 pm For all the buzz I've heard about Jason Aaron, I don't know that I've actually read any of his work. Looking forward to this nonetheless, though; these two characters always seem to play well off of each other and this looks like some of Adam Kubert's best (expecially after some hit-and-miss work on, ironically, Wolverine and Spider-Man).