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X-Men 2021 project continues!
Previously:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Ahoy Muties, THIS IS WHERE IT'S AT! Gerry Duggan does not disappoint, and has in fact raised my hopes again for mutant books. What we get here in Marauders is what I found sorely lacking in the Hickman written books: character work, relationship work, and interesting storylines that both worked as a story and as a way to develop characters.
There's fun and sass, there's introspection, there's plot, there's CAPTAIN KATE PRYDE and Lockheed! All good fun.
I appreciate that this book is having characters be completely wary of the fact that Krakoa is open to all mutants, and that someone like Lucas Bishop is 100% correct in saying hell no to being part of anything Hellfire Club. Of course, he comes around to becoming Kitty's Red Bishop, but mostly because he can spy on them.
I also love that this book didn't forget that Sebastian Shaw is, you know, SEBASTIAN FUCKIN SHAW. The tension and power plays between him and Emma Frost! The games within games! We love to see it.
The end of the volume is a great cliffhanger that I'm anxiously waiting to see resolved in Volume 2...but first, I need to get through the first volumes of everything else so far.
Previously:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Ahoy Muties, THIS IS WHERE IT'S AT! Gerry Duggan does not disappoint, and has in fact raised my hopes again for mutant books. What we get here in Marauders is what I found sorely lacking in the Hickman written books: character work, relationship work, and interesting storylines that both worked as a story and as a way to develop characters.
There's fun and sass, there's introspection, there's plot, there's CAPTAIN KATE PRYDE and Lockheed! All good fun.
I appreciate that this book is having characters be completely wary of the fact that Krakoa is open to all mutants, and that someone like Lucas Bishop is 100% correct in saying hell no to being part of anything Hellfire Club. Of course, he comes around to becoming Kitty's Red Bishop, but mostly because he can spy on them.
I also love that this book didn't forget that Sebastian Shaw is, you know, SEBASTIAN FUCKIN SHAW. The tension and power plays between him and Emma Frost! The games within games! We love to see it.
The end of the volume is a great cliffhanger that I'm anxiously waiting to see resolved in Volume 2...but first, I need to get through the first volumes of everything else so far.
X-Men 2021 project continues!
Previously: House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
Hickman continues to do the same thing here in this first volume of the X-Men flagship title as he did in House of X/Powers of X. He's a fantastic ideas man, but his writing when it comes to the personalities, emotion, and intricacies of the actual relationships between all these characters just isn't up to par. He writes the X-Men as though he's writing this title in a vaccuum, as though there isn't half a century of history of these characters and this world.
Yes, he does include some big beats that call back to previous stories - Magneto will NEVER forget Genosha, at least he keeps that part of the character alive - but only in service is the larger story. He does nothing to show any sort of character work or relationships between these characters.
I do have to say that some of this, especially the dinner with the heads of state issue, is pure delightful wish fulfillment for long time X-Men fans. Mutants have been pushed to the brink time and time again and finally they are taking NO SHIT anymore, and are putting the world on watch.
This doesn't really work as a whole volume for me, either; it felt like 6 single issues put together with none of the storylines running through to the next issues. What was going on with the old horticulture ladies? Great dinner with the heads of state issue, now what? What's going on with X-23 and the gang that went into that vault, and why do they have to?
I hope all these questions and storylines come together in some cohesive way in this series, because right now it feels like Hickman has a ton of ideas he wants to work out, but isn't necessarily putting them together in a way that makes sense.
I'm also hoping the other titles that AREN'T written by Hickman delve more into the actual characters and personalities and relationships and emotions of the mutants on Krakoa, because lord knows Hickman doesn't seem to care about that.
Previously: House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
Hickman continues to do the same thing here in this first volume of the X-Men flagship title as he did in House of X/Powers of X. He's a fantastic ideas man, but his writing when it comes to the personalities, emotion, and intricacies of the actual relationships between all these characters just isn't up to par. He writes the X-Men as though he's writing this title in a vaccuum, as though there isn't half a century of history of these characters and this world.
Yes, he does include some big beats that call back to previous stories - Magneto will NEVER forget Genosha, at least he keeps that part of the character alive - but only in service is the larger story. He does nothing to show any sort of character work or relationships between these characters.
I do have to say that some of this, especially the dinner with the heads of state issue, is pure delightful wish fulfillment for long time X-Men fans. Mutants have been pushed to the brink time and time again and finally they are taking NO SHIT anymore, and are putting the world on watch.
This doesn't really work as a whole volume for me, either; it felt like 6 single issues put together with none of the storylines running through to the next issues. What was going on with the old horticulture ladies? Great dinner with the heads of state issue, now what? What's going on with X-23 and the gang that went into that vault, and why do they have to?
I hope all these questions and storylines come together in some cohesive way in this series, because right now it feels like Hickman has a ton of ideas he wants to work out, but isn't necessarily putting them together in a way that makes sense.
I'm also hoping the other titles that AREN'T written by Hickman delve more into the actual characters and personalities and relationships and emotions of the mutants on Krakoa, because lord knows Hickman doesn't seem to care about that.
Thus starts my big X-Men 2021 project: reading ALL the X-Men titles in this new Hickman era so I can catch up and understand how the hell they got to where they are now.
Hickman is a big ideas man, and he knows how to execute them. There's no question about that. I can't fault the guy for being so damn good at what he does. It's the reason I rated this 3 stars instead of 2. The problem is, what he does never actually translates to who the characters ARE.
These are the X-Men mostly only in name. These are mutants who have been pushed to the brink, and have started down a path that I never really thought someone would take them. From a story standpoint, this is an interesting way to go - what would happen to make Professor X and Magneto team up to create another Genosha? Decades and decades of trying to save and unite with humans, only to be pushed back and hated and killed over and over again. I get it. I get where Hickman was going with it.
BUT THAT'S THE ONLY X-MEN THING ABOUT THIS BOOK.
Everything else reads as a really interesting high sci-fi story. Krakoa is formed. Moira is given a HUGE presence, which I kind of loved and hated in turns. Charles and Erik bring in every single mutant - literally, every single mutant, no matter their history in the Marvel world. The Hellfire club is here. Mr. Sinister is an ally/being used by Charles and Erik. Fucking Apocalypse is on the Krakoan council. It's mind boggling. Then, they have the audacity to have their first council business be judging Sabretooth for killing humans. When Mystique is right there judging him! Magneto is! Sebastian Shaw is! HUH?
The worst part, I think, is that there is nothing emotional or personable about this creation of Krakoa. It's Genosha 2.0. It's bringing so many mutants together in one place, and they look happy. That would have made for some amazing stories and tiny scenes dotted throughout - a way to humanize and emotionally connect to this new idea of Krakoa.
Instead, we get an emotionally cold story, lots of text pages explaining scientific concepts that tie into the story, a scarily religious/cult-like scene, and some weird Year 100 and Year 1000 X-Men storylines that I didn't care about but eventually had a part in the overall Krakoa story. I think. Probably. I hated both.
Plus, mutants can't ever die now. So, there's that.
I really hope that other writers that focus on smaller team books will have a lot more interesting emotional character and relationship work.
Because I got three small panels of the Cassidys (who have one or the other been dead/a goddess and haven't reunited in about 10 years) in this whole thing:
And as my friend Leshia said: "man, I bet that was an amazing reunion, full of emotion and complex character beats, but lololol who wants to see any of THAT, amirite?"
Hickman, in a nutshell.
Hickman is a big ideas man, and he knows how to execute them. There's no question about that. I can't fault the guy for being so damn good at what he does. It's the reason I rated this 3 stars instead of 2. The problem is, what he does never actually translates to who the characters ARE.
These are the X-Men mostly only in name. These are mutants who have been pushed to the brink, and have started down a path that I never really thought someone would take them. From a story standpoint, this is an interesting way to go - what would happen to make Professor X and Magneto team up to create another Genosha? Decades and decades of trying to save and unite with humans, only to be pushed back and hated and killed over and over again. I get it. I get where Hickman was going with it.
BUT THAT'S THE ONLY X-MEN THING ABOUT THIS BOOK.
Everything else reads as a really interesting high sci-fi story. Krakoa is formed. Moira is given a HUGE presence, which I kind of loved and hated in turns. Charles and Erik bring in every single mutant - literally, every single mutant, no matter their history in the Marvel world. The Hellfire club is here. Mr. Sinister is an ally/being used by Charles and Erik. Fucking Apocalypse is on the Krakoan council. It's mind boggling. Then, they have the audacity to have their first council business be judging Sabretooth for killing humans. When Mystique is right there judging him! Magneto is! Sebastian Shaw is! HUH?
The worst part, I think, is that there is nothing emotional or personable about this creation of Krakoa. It's Genosha 2.0. It's bringing so many mutants together in one place, and they look happy. That would have made for some amazing stories and tiny scenes dotted throughout - a way to humanize and emotionally connect to this new idea of Krakoa.
Instead, we get an emotionally cold story, lots of text pages explaining scientific concepts that tie into the story, a scarily religious/cult-like scene, and some weird Year 100 and Year 1000 X-Men storylines that I didn't care about but eventually had a part in the overall Krakoa story. I think. Probably. I hated both.
Plus, mutants can't ever die now. So, there's that.
I really hope that other writers that focus on smaller team books will have a lot more interesting emotional character and relationship work.
Because I got three small panels of the Cassidys (who have one or the other been dead/a goddess and haven't reunited in about 10 years) in this whole thing:
And as my friend Leshia said: "man, I bet that was an amazing reunion, full of emotion and complex character beats, but lololol who wants to see any of THAT, amirite?"
Hickman, in a nutshell.
X-Men 2021 project continues!
Previously:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excalibur, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X ⭐⭐⭐⭐
After the promise of the X-Men/Fantastic Four crossover, X-Force falls flat on its face for me. It's nothing but a gory mess, with characters that act nothing like themselves, and decisions made because the story demands it.
Death means nothing to the X-Men anymore, so the gory deaths shown here are just for the sake of making X-Force the badass book. That's cool and all, but the story doesn't hold up, nor do I care one bit about it. is shot...and lives. Wolverine is cut in half...and lives. is sliced up by crazy scientists...and lives. There are no stakes any longer, and that in turn makes the need for the creation of X-Force feel inauthentic.
My favorite part of this was seeing Black Tom Cassidy finally back in action. I love all three members of the Cassidy family, even the crazy uncle that Black Tom is.
Previously:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excalibur, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X ⭐⭐⭐⭐
After the promise of the X-Men/Fantastic Four crossover, X-Force falls flat on its face for me. It's nothing but a gory mess, with characters that act nothing like themselves, and decisions made because the story demands it.
Death means nothing to the X-Men anymore, so the gory deaths shown here are just for the sake of making X-Force the badass book. That's cool and all, but the story doesn't hold up, nor do I care one bit about it.
Spoiler
XavierSpoiler
DominoMy favorite part of this was seeing Black Tom Cassidy finally back in action. I love all three members of the Cassidy family, even the crazy uncle that Black Tom is.
X-Men 2021 project continues!
Previously:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'm not exactly sure where the heck I stand on this book, mostly because I never read much Captain Britain and my knowledge of that backstory is shaky. I have no idea what's happened to Psylocke either, so...it's very strange jumping into this and trying to figure out what the heck is going on with these characters. The book doesn't do the best job at explaining it either, it kind of assumes you have some knowledge of what's going on. Guess what! I don't!
Anyway, moving on to the story...still not sure what's going on there, either. So Morgan LeFay is in charge of the Otherworld and hates mutants and the Krakoan gates are infecting the Otheworld or something? There are druids and witches and Apocalypse is totally into magic? Apocalypse did something very Sleeping Beauty with Rogue and she kills him and gets all his power and...okay? (He comes back because mutants can just be resurrected, remember.)
Like, I really don't have any fucking idea what this plot was supposed to be.
But! The character work! There were some good attempts at giving the characters some emotional weight and importance. There were relationships that were inferred and shown on page. These people know each other and are friends or frenemies or just plain enemies, and it all shows. This is a huge plus for me compared to the Hickman title, and I know I go on about that a lot, but it's just so important to me that these characters feel like real people, and no just pawns Hickman is moving across a giant plotty chessboard.
Anyway, I liked this in bits and pieces, and at least I can say I'm looking forward to watch volume 2 will bring.
Previously:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'm not exactly sure where the heck I stand on this book, mostly because I never read much Captain Britain and my knowledge of that backstory is shaky. I have no idea what's happened to Psylocke either, so...it's very strange jumping into this and trying to figure out what the heck is going on with these characters. The book doesn't do the best job at explaining it either, it kind of assumes you have some knowledge of what's going on. Guess what! I don't!
Anyway, moving on to the story...still not sure what's going on there, either. So Morgan LeFay is in charge of the Otherworld and hates mutants and the Krakoan gates are infecting the Otheworld or something? There are druids and witches and Apocalypse is totally into magic? Apocalypse did something very Sleeping Beauty with Rogue and she kills him and gets all his power and...okay? (He comes back because mutants can just be resurrected, remember.)
Like, I really don't have any fucking idea what this plot was supposed to be.
But! The character work! There were some good attempts at giving the characters some emotional weight and importance. There were relationships that were inferred and shown on page. These people know each other and are friends or frenemies or just plain enemies, and it all shows. This is a huge plus for me compared to the Hickman title, and I know I go on about that a lot, but it's just so important to me that these characters feel like real people, and no just pawns Hickman is moving across a giant plotty chessboard.
Anyway, I liked this in bits and pieces, and at least I can say I'm looking forward to watch volume 2 will bring.
X-Men 2021 project continues!
Previously:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excalibur, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X ⭐⭐⭐⭐
X-Force, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Okay, so we're here! The nostalgia series! I have to be honest, this was one of the volumes I was most looking forward to reading despite the Hickman author credit. I enjoy the New Mutants, and there's a lot of nostalgia and love locked into some of these characters for me; particularly with Rahne, Sam, and Magick.
Did this book hit those buttons? ...eeehhh, partially.
Was it fun? Sure was.
Did it start off with basically 2 pages of Rahne being magically cured of all her past trauma after being resurrected on Krakoa, thus leaving a bad taste in my mouth right from the start? SURE DID!
As the Hickman era continues, my wariness and weariness of the resurrections on Krakoa grow. What's the point of anything if the characters just come back?
New Mutants at least does its level best to buck most of the greater Dawn of X plot and do its own thing. Though it starts off rocky with some truly awkward exposition to catch everyone up to speed, a tongue in cheek fourth wall break sets up the reason the team even goes to space, and then we're off.
It was funny and enjoyable and great for the first one or two issues and then just kinda felt a bit off. At least an attempt to make the characters likeable and charming was made, though only for Roberto and Magick...everyone else got a couple of pages of some nice moments when the book remembered they existed as more than just background.
I just wish this was a little more consistent and that it kept up with the team focus that it first started with. It was GREAT when it was the kids and the Starjammers and Corsair just peaced out and left them behind. That was fun! That was a promising opening! Hickman could have done a whole lot more small scale stuff with the team before jumping onto the Shi'ar. This plot WAS pretty small scale for Hickman, but still felt too large.
In conclusion, this was fun and has potential moving forward, but I'm still mad about that Rahne thing and that fully knocked a star off my rating. No lie.
Previously:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excalibur, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X ⭐⭐⭐⭐
X-Force, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Okay, so we're here! The nostalgia series! I have to be honest, this was one of the volumes I was most looking forward to reading despite the Hickman author credit. I enjoy the New Mutants, and there's a lot of nostalgia and love locked into some of these characters for me; particularly with Rahne, Sam, and Magick.
Did this book hit those buttons? ...eeehhh, partially.
Was it fun? Sure was.
Did it start off with basically 2 pages of Rahne being magically cured of all her past trauma after being resurrected on Krakoa, thus leaving a bad taste in my mouth right from the start? SURE DID!
As the Hickman era continues, my wariness and weariness of the resurrections on Krakoa grow. What's the point of anything if the characters just come back?
New Mutants at least does its level best to buck most of the greater Dawn of X plot and do its own thing. Though it starts off rocky with some truly awkward exposition to catch everyone up to speed, a tongue in cheek fourth wall break sets up the reason the team even goes to space, and then we're off.
It was funny and enjoyable and great for the first one or two issues and then just kinda felt a bit off. At least an attempt to make the characters likeable and charming was made, though only for Roberto and Magick...everyone else got a couple of pages of some nice moments when the book remembered they existed as more than just background.
I just wish this was a little more consistent and that it kept up with the team focus that it first started with. It was GREAT when it was the kids and the Starjammers and Corsair just peaced out and left them behind. That was fun! That was a promising opening! Hickman could have done a whole lot more small scale stuff with the team before jumping onto the Shi'ar. This plot WAS pretty small scale for Hickman, but still felt too large.
In conclusion, this was fun and has potential moving forward, but I'm still mad about that Rahne thing and that fully knocked a star off my rating. No lie.
X-Men 2021 project continues!
Previous reviews under the spoiler:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excalibur, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X ⭐⭐⭐⭐
X-Force, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
New Mutants (Hickman), Vol 1 ⭐⭐⭐
This was fine.
I can see why these two different New Mutant storylines were split and told separately; Hickman's New Mutants was a fun space romp that got the band back together and featured lots of Shi'ar alien fun. Brisson's New Mutants stays very much on earth, dealing with very mutant topics.
Unfortunately, this story has been told five million times before, and it's been told so much better. Were it not such a lukewarm story, I may have been invested. As it was, all I could think of was tons of other classic anti-mutant storylines I'd rather read instead, particularly [b:X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills|299947|X-Men God Loves, Man Kills (Marvel Graphic Novel, #5)|Chris Claremont|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1288400749l/299947._SX50_.jpg|1410200].
Everything here was heavy handed and boring. The cartel thugs holding Beak's family and the New Mutants were boring. The Eastern European country trying to hurt the mutants who came in to save them was boring. The team going in to take on the website that doxxes mutants was boring (and manages modern social commentary terribly).
There was a lot of cool art in this, particularly with the new mutant they find that deals in nightmares - lots of really neat nightmarish, psychedelic spreads. That's about all I really liked about this.
I didn't really care about any of the story or the characters, in the end.
Previous reviews under the spoiler:
Spoiler
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excalibur, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X ⭐⭐⭐⭐
X-Force, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
New Mutants (Hickman), Vol 1 ⭐⭐⭐
This was fine.
I can see why these two different New Mutant storylines were split and told separately; Hickman's New Mutants was a fun space romp that got the band back together and featured lots of Shi'ar alien fun. Brisson's New Mutants stays very much on earth, dealing with very mutant topics.
Unfortunately, this story has been told five million times before, and it's been told so much better. Were it not such a lukewarm story, I may have been invested. As it was, all I could think of was tons of other classic anti-mutant storylines I'd rather read instead, particularly [b:X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills|299947|X-Men God Loves, Man Kills (Marvel Graphic Novel, #5)|Chris Claremont|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1288400749l/299947._SX50_.jpg|1410200].
Everything here was heavy handed and boring. The cartel thugs holding Beak's family and the New Mutants were boring. The Eastern European country trying to hurt the mutants who came in to save them was boring. The team going in to take on the website that doxxes mutants was boring (and manages modern social commentary terribly).
There was a lot of cool art in this, particularly with the new mutant they find that deals in nightmares - lots of really neat nightmarish, psychedelic spreads. That's about all I really liked about this.
I didn't really care about any of the story or the characters, in the end.
X-Men 2021 project continues!
Ratings and links to previous reviews under the spoiler:
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excalibur, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X ⭐⭐⭐⭐
X-Force, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
New Mutants (Hickman), Vol 1 ⭐⭐⭐
New Mutants (Brisson), Vol 1 ⭐⭐
LOL WTF WAS THIS HOT MESS
I'm not sure I can even properly review this. I ended up skimming the last few issues because I hated it so much. The plot is nonsensical. The writing is awful. Psylocke's backstory is convoluted enough without whatever the fuck Bryan Hill was trying to do here. I have no idea what the story was doing with X-23 and Cable.
And apparently this is called Fallen Angels because...Krakoa is heaven and they don't feel like they belong, or that all the safety Krakoa promises feels like a lie to them. Because they're all dark angsty killers. Okay LOL.
I'm not even going to try to touch on the art. It's mostly close ups and everything is shaded in blackest black because the artist sucks at faces. And limbs. And details in anything that isn't an extreme close up of just eyes or just lips.
God, this was trash. The terribly low Goodreads rating makes sense now.
Ratings and links to previous reviews under the spoiler:
Spoiler
House of X/Powers of X ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
Marauders, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Excalibur, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐
X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X ⭐⭐⭐⭐
X-Force, Vol. 1 ⭐⭐
New Mutants (Hickman), Vol 1 ⭐⭐⭐
New Mutants (Brisson), Vol 1 ⭐⭐
LOL WTF WAS THIS HOT MESS
I'm not sure I can even properly review this. I ended up skimming the last few issues because I hated it so much. The plot is nonsensical. The writing is awful. Psylocke's backstory is convoluted enough without whatever the fuck Bryan Hill was trying to do here. I have no idea what the story was doing with X-23 and Cable.
And apparently this is called Fallen Angels because...Krakoa is heaven and they don't feel like they belong, or that all the safety Krakoa promises feels like a lie to them. Because they're all dark angsty killers. Okay LOL.
I'm not even going to try to touch on the art. It's mostly close ups and everything is shaded in blackest black because the artist sucks at faces. And limbs. And details in anything that isn't an extreme close up of just eyes or just lips.
God, this was trash. The terribly low Goodreads rating makes sense now.