Weekly Comic Book Review

By: Jason Aaron (writer) Nick Bradshaw (artist) Justin Posner (colors)

The Story: It always sucks to be the new kid.

What’s Good: While I was sad to see Chris Bachalo leave this series, rest assured that the art is in good hands with Nick Bradshaw. His round, friendly lines make the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning just as wonderful as Bachalo did, and his attention to detail is incredible. From the picture of Cyclops on a dart board, to Quire’s copy of the Art of War, to Glob’s papers sticking to him, every panel feels rich and resplendent. The change in art style also reflects a change in tone. The faculty are no longer fighting off external forces that threaten to destroy the school, but are still burdened by the day-to-day difficulties of managing and teaching twenty super-powered adolescents. As such, the atmosphere has lightened, and things no longer look ready to come apart at the seams. There are some truly beautiful shots of Angel against the sun, and everyone’s body language is as expressive as their dialogue.

One of my favorite parts of this new series has been just how well  Jason Aaron has been able to capture the dynamic between the students and the teachers, while keeping everyone in character. Wolverine and company are truly teachers, not team leaders or mentors as they’ve been in other books featuring young mutants, and this relationship informs nearly of their interactions.

The story in this issue centers around the introduction of Angel and the Kid-Apocalypse Evan, who calls himself Genesis. The two  face very different challenges; Evan will have to decide his fate, whether to be savior or destroyer. Worse, he will have go through puberty, bullies, high school drama as figure it out. This has me concerned for his treatment by writers: it will be only too tempting to repeatedly pen stories about him “going evil” only to “redeem himself” in endless and unsatisfying cycles. I’m really hoping that Jason Aaron has a very specific character arc in mind for him, and that he can convince editors and future writers to try to adhere to as tight a story as possible. For Angel, on the other hand, I think the struggle will not so much be about finding himself as it will be about convincing others that he is a very different person than the one they remember. This, I like. At the very end of the Dark Angel Saga, I was concerned that all that the only reprecusion was that he had developed amnesia, and that after maybe a few months, we’d get a story line about him regaining his memories. If the changes in him are as far-reaching as they are implied to be here, the writers have been braver than I would have dared to hope. There’s a lot of potential for some very interesting stories here, not only for this new character, but also for all of Warren’s friends as they adjust to his “condition.”

What’s Not: While Bradshaw’s art is wonderful for the scenes at the school, there are also some violent scenes that his art style simply does not match. The scenes that show snippets of the X-Force, while beautifully rendered, continue to look friendly despite the copious amounts of blood (there is one exception where the violence is visceral and shocking as intended, but I won’t say anything more about it to prevent spoilers). Also, I am not fond of how Bradshaw draws Logan. His face is too carefree, too young. I have a hard time buying this is the same guy who’s been to Hell and back, figuratively and literally.

On the writing side of things, I only have two problems. First, Wolverine’s speech about his involvement with X-Force to the faculty, while working fine as an introduction, was pretty clunky as dialogue. When he repeated this again later in the issue, it was simply weird. I get that Logan might have a hard time coming up with a way to talk about X-Force, but rehearsing such an awkward, self-centered  diatribe is out of character. Then, once again, the last page reveal did nothing for me. I have faith in Aaron, but this is one plot twist that almost never pays off well. Alas, we shall see.

Conclusion: A respite after an intense opening arc, I recommend this book heartily. There are still some flaws, in my mind, but what’s good is so good that it more than makes up for them.

Jumping on point?: I would initially say yes, as it is so much better a jumping on point than the last two issues, but this issue still moves too fast to be a perfect introduction. If you want in on this book, do it now, but don’t expect this issue to hold your hand.

Grade: B+

-Jim Middleton

Some Musings: -Poor Husk. Even among the teachers, she can’t get people’s attention.

-Toad has to be the best janitor ever. After the fiasco of the last three installments, he has managed to make the school look great. Can’t hurt to be located on a sentient landscape, I suppose.

-Kitty, You’re teaching about future history and the first two people on your itinerary are Cable and Bishop? Really? Not the people who shaped the world those two come from? I mean, wouldn’t the men who created Nimrod or even Hope Summers be better topics of discussion than a couple of guys who shot a at a bunch of stuff in the future?

Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Angel, Apocalypse, Bishop, Cable, Chris Bachalo, Comic Book Reviews, Cyclops, Genesis, Glob Herman, Husk, Jason Aaron, Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, Justin Ponsor, Kitty Pryde, Marvel Comics, Nick Bradshaw, Quentin Quire, Regenesis, Sun Tzu, the Toad, WCBR, Weekly Comic Book Review, Wolverine, Wolverine & the X-Men #4, Wolverine & the X-Men #4 review, X-Force, X-Men