Messiah CompleX Crossover Review

[ryanrhome]

So today I read the entirety of the crossover so that I would get the full effect of the finale. I definitely recommend reading the final issue that way! I digress. I'll start with my basic impression: this was an awesome story. The pacing, the characters, the writing, the scope, were all major. With SO many characters, some are definitely going to be in the background, but even the minor players got their moment or two throughout. The main players? What's great about this story is that it isn't a One Side vs. The Other dimension. There are multiple realistic groups taking sides and even those switched within the course of the book. We have the X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, and New X-Men who are more or less on one side. However we saw agendas exposed from within from Bishop, Cable, and to a degree, Professor X. The "bad guys" were just as diverse and fragmented. They were loosely divided into 2 camps. We had the Purifiers united with Lady Deathstrike and her Reavers on the side of the "humans". We had the juggernaut that was the Marauders and the Acolytes on the other side under the banner of Mr. Sinister, Exodus, and Mystique. What I had forgotten about the set up of this story was just how far back it has been brewing. The Marauders arc in "X-Men", the multibook Endangered Species, and even the infiltration of Mystique/Lady Mastermind/etc has been going on a for a while, all leading up to a crossover that was even epic in it's own right.
These groups weave in and out of each others lives, through hardships, betrayals, and of course huge battles. The highlights for me were definitely the New X-Men taking on the Purifiers, the smaller contingent of X-Men going after the Marauders early on, the battle with the Sentinels, and X-23 taking on Deathstrike.
Everything led up to the last 2 and a half parts where most of the aforementioned groups go head to head on Muir Island. The action in this part is by far and away my favorite. These battles were full of great moments and great victories. The New X-Men got a chance to shine and once again proved themselves worthy (particularly victories by Pixie and Dust). I think at this point, we were just so used to seeing our characters getting canned that we cheered even harder when the fought back big time.
The end left lots of things open, which is what a good crossover is supposed to do. If it tied everything up in a neat little package, what was the point?
Each of the books left/created after this have been shown their purpose in this ending.
I would say the only element of this story that was built up and built up only to have a moderately satisfying outcome was Predator X.
In short, this is what happens when a well-edited group of talented writers gets together, stays on schedule and puts out a massive effort in the form of weekly books. I thought the Brubaker/YostCraig/Carey/David takeover of the X-Books was the best thing to happen to these book in a long time, but they one-upped me here. Anyone who has ever been a fan of the X-Men, pick this up.

[makeham98]

The end left lots of things open, which is what a good crossover is supposed to do. If it tied everything up in a neat little package, what was the point?

The point would be writing complete stories that have closure, not leaving plot points unresolved. A well-written series does that, and open possibilities for further developments to occur in the aftermath.

[clarkv]

I though it was a good read. But something is still bugging me...no one has reacted to Kitty being gone...in all 13 issues, her name doesn't come up once. I don't get that. And as for the baby--it has to be tied to Cyclops in some way, shape or form (Jean Grey reborn), it wasn't just a baby--the red hair, the green eyes, the fact that Professor X knew that once he held and saw the baby, he would change his mind. The locket with the photo of him and Jean that the baby clinged to and eventually took with her...come on!

[ryanrhome]

The point would be writing complete stories that have closure, not leaving plot points unresolved. A well-written series does that, and open possibilities for further developments to occur in the aftermath.

I guess I just disagree...I think there was plenty of closure here. The main points I'm talking about that were set up is the Purifiers needing to be dealt with, the Rogue/Gambit continuation, and the fate of Charles. These were not major points in the crossover as a whole, but their stories intersected with the main plot and left to be dealt with by the series coming out of it.

[Samy Merchi]

I found it was written competently, but not connectingly. The pacing and structure were okay from a technical standpoint, but none of the characters really just felt very much like themselves.

* Scott telling Chuck to pack his bags and get out of the mansion was a poor idea when Whedon wrote it, and it's a poor idea now. Didn't feel like Scott to me at all.
* Rahne telling Jimmy that "he has a history with Cable" -- as if *she* doesn't? Cable trained her into a soldier before Jimmy even met the man! It was like the writer didn't even read those issues of New Mutants! It really felt off when Rahne didn't share any of her own experiences with the man.
* I don't buy for a moment that the Bishop written in XXM would seriously execute premeditated murder against a helpless baby. I don't care if it's the future Hitler, that just isn't Bishop to me. The story entirely ruined Bishop's character, making him very villainous and not enjoyable at all anymore.
* Storm got a moment to shine in the first fight against the Marauders, but other than that, she allowed Scott to totally walk over her. The Ororo I know would have repeatedly engaged Scott in arguments, what they should do with the baby, whether they should trust Cable, whether they should disband the X-Men...but no, she's just standing there quiet, pretty window dressing. She's just a woman, after all. It's not like she's as much the X-Men's leader as Scott is. Disgusting trampling of the character.
* Rogue would *never* try to kill Mystique. I don't care how frustrated she is with her, that's damn well not the Rogue I know.
* Scott telling Wolverine to "kill everyone who gets in his way". Sorry, that's not any Scott I want to be reading about. Why on earth not just tell Storm to clear the path with a huge gust of wind? It's like the X-Men have forgotten every nonlethal tactic, and the only ones that occur to them anymore are gutting their way through enemies. Total tactical lobotomy. Disgusting, and not something I want to read about.

All in all, there are just so many *feel* things, characterization things, *mood* things that felt incredibly off and wrong to me, even if the technical execution of the story is okay. These just did not feel at all like the X-Men I'm familiar with.

By contrast, I should say I'm not opposed to increased killing in every circumstance. I also today read Sinestro Corps War in its entirety, then followed it up by reading Messiah CompleX in its entirety, back to back. I felt the handling of lethal force was *much* more maturely dealt with in SCW, where multiple protagonists expressed reservations about it -- Arisia refused to kill, Kilowog refused to kill, and overall, Johns portrayed lethal force as a necessary *but undesirable* option. In comparison, CompleX just portrayed lethal force as "just another day at the office", as if it's supposed to be totally normal and acceptable. I thought Johns' handling was superb, a way of giving the modern readers the killing they seem to so crave, without portraying life-taking casually and giving it due weight and portraying it as a negative thing. I thought CompleX's handling of it was, at best, reminiscent of 90s Image KillBludDethStryk period.

Messiah CompleX was not for me. I suppose it's yet another of those bold Marvel initiatives where they're trying to hook new readers who don't already have firmly ingrained ideas of how characters should behave. Good luck with the new readers, I guess. The crossover only succeeds at pushing me further away from the franchise.

[blehbeh]

I don't buy for a moment that the Bishop written in XXM would seriously execute premeditated murder against a helpless baby. I don't care if it's the future Hitler, that just isn't Bishop to me. The story entirely ruined Bishop's character, making him very villainous and not enjoyable at all anymore

I agree with the Bishop issues. But what makes it worse, is that the man barely got two words in during the crossover to explain his motivations. Basically all we saw of Bishop was a bloodthirsty villian who shot first and asked questions later. Hopefully he'll be treated better in his upcoming Cable appearances. However, you would think that such a drastic turn by a character we've known as a noble hero for nearly 17 years would at least warrant more of an explanation WITHIN the crossover....

[mistavez]

im still not sold on the baby being jean or rachel at all. Maybe someone could explain how this would be possible (especially if most of the grey family is dead, and how could id be rachel is scott isnt the father). I could have my info seriously jacked up so correct me where im wrong.
I liked the cross over-wasnt impress that predator X died (how it happened was okay, but it was made to be this bad ass thing after getting gutted from the inside out that was the end of that)
The kitty thing bothered me cuz i felt like it kinda spoiled the end to astonishing (but since thats arc isnt over i guess i could be wrong there too).
I also didnt mind that bishop turned, but i agree that he had zero talk time to justify why he was doing it (other than being a angry kid over his parents dying and the future being the way it was). I never understood time travel though-if the other X overs had dealt with the future, wouldnt solving that fix that problem for that future, or was everything the same in the future due to all of this happening after they thought they fixed? Or am i just overthinking this?:confused: