Last Week's Comics Reviewed 09.11.2019

               Hi Y’all! I’m so excited to be back and sharing my thoughts with you. It was a very mixed week with nothing outstanding. I apparently missed an issue of one of the Power Rangers comics so I have to get that, and I might throw a review of that in with next week’s issues. But let’s get into it!

Comics Reviewed: House of X #4, Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #1

House of X #4

Writer: Jonathan Hickman

Artist: Pepe Larraz

Colors: Marte Gracia

Letters: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Design: Tom Muller

Cover: Larraz and Gracia

               I love Jonathan Hickman. I love the X-Men. I love everything House of X and Powers of X have done so far. It has been incredibly fascinating, beautiful, and exactly what I wanted. This issue is not that. It remains beautiful and fascinating. But what’s the point? There are about six mutants that die in this issue that have zero chance of staying dead. And that saps the entire sequence of its emotional power. Well, there is an exception. Two panels where Nightcrawler, always a zen badass, tries to comfort Wolverine in the face of death. Its awesome. But Scott and Jean and 100% alive or will get better.

Kurt's so good.

               Beyond that, the final three pages are interesting. To include the Tom Muller-designed in the story is very cool. Apparently, X has been staring at the statistics of the various mutant genocides inside his helmet and the overlay gets messed up as some of his oldest pupils die and he says, “No More.” The Muller prose pages have been one of my favorite parts of the two X-Men series. Because I’m a nerd that wants info dumps, a better way to categorize Omega-level mutants, and the exact number of mutants killed or depowered at various points in time. Inject it into my veins.

               While Hickman is great and I will always focus on writing, I tend to just stop and gape at this comic. Pepe Larraz is one of my favorite artists in the business right now and Marte Gracia is similarly one of the best colorists. Together, they create a gorgeous comic and I wish they were on the upcoming X-Men series (Leinil Francis Yu is very good though).

Verdict: Borrow

Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #1

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Pencillers: Jim Lee, Dustin Nguyen, Andrea Sorrentino, and Andre Lima Araujo

Colors: Alex Sinclair, John Kalisz, Dave Stewart, and Jordie Bellaire

Inks: Scott Williams, Dustin Nguyen, Andrea Sorrentino, and Andre Lima Araujo

Letters: Dave Sharpe

Cover:  Ryan Sook

               So, what’s the point of this comic? And why is it two extra sized issues instead of one 60ish page giant issue? I love Brian Michael Bendis and I love the Legion, but neither of those things are in this issue. Aside from the Batman Beyond vignette, this feels nothing like a Bendis comic. That would be fine, but this issue also has nothing to do with the Legion of Super-Heroes. This is a weird comic about Rose (But not really Thorn) and how she stopped aging at 28(ish). She meets President Supergirl, Batman Beyond, and Kamandi. At some point, the world became an apocalyptic wasteland, but it got better. Cool.

 

I miss Lil' Gotham.

               This comic is a series of vignettes where Rose freaks out about not ageing, but never does anything about it. Nor does she attempt to as far as I can tell. Nothing is accomplished here, and I could not care less and this character. How does this even tie in with the Rose and Thorn story Bendis is telling in Action Comics? She questions Batman about the same things she is questioning in that comic. So, she hasn’t come to a conclusion in 60 years? What has she been doing this whole time (Chilling in a cabin in the woods apparently). Cool.

               At least this is a good-looking comic. Until the final section that is. I do not Araujo’s art. It is very Mike Allred and I find that style flat and uninteresting. If you like Jim Lee (I do), you’ll like the opening section. Dustin Nguyen’s Batman Beyond section is the best. The moodiness of the art really fits the tone and dialogue of the scene. Nguyen also has the most clear and interesting facial expressions in the issue. Andrea Sorrentino’s art is good but not great here. It serves its purpose, but Sorrentino is also not given much more than barren landscapes to play with. Bendis loves art jam issues and I do as well, but I think it made this specific issue feel very disjointed and exacerbated my problems with the story.

Verdict: Pass