motteditor
11-10-2005, 02:03 PM
Stan Lee, with the help of Kyle & Yost, Brooks, Mendoza, Reber, Ryan, Lowe, Marts, Quesada and Buckley, presents New X-Men 20, "Childhood's End."
So, the somewhat controversial introduction of the new creative team begins with this story and so far it's much ado about nothing. Which I mean as a compliment.
Kyle & Yost begin their run on this book with a very smooth transition, as so far it feels very similar. We know some of the characters focused on in DeFilippis and Weir's run won't be included in this, but they aren't just simply gone. (In fact, the biggest change I noticed was the Academy X part of the title seems to be gone, which is actually a bit of a shame as I preferred calling this book by that name instead of New X-Men, though I can understand why it was done.)
We begin with a two-year flashback of a downtrodden Rev. William Stryker (from the brilliant "God Loves Man Kills" story) having a crisis of faith, nearly killing himself before he gets a sign from, he thinks, God. Nice setup for the character, though I do think they need to make sure his history is known for people who haven't read GLMK. I would like to know where GLMK2 fits into this, even though that story was nigh-incomprehensible.
After that, we're back to the Mansion, picking up immediately after the end of House of Murderers, as Emma realizes what's going on and begins to react. Most of the issue then involves seeing the students react, some happily, some sad. It gets a bit repetitive, with everyone screaming, but I'm not sure that could be avoided. It's a good portrayal of what I think would happen in such a situation, but there's only so much wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of sackcloth I want to read. (I did chuckle that Santos just slept through the whole thing, giving a moment of levity and a break from the crying for the reader.)
I think my biggest compaint here is I would have liked to have a better idea of which of the main cast did or did not lost their powers, since that's not completely clear. Goldbug is on the cover, so I'm assumng he still has them, but I'm not 100 percent sure. I was also happy to see the Cuckoos remain. I would have liked to have seen Hisako, though, if only in a cameo.
Which brings me to the fact I think they missed out on something that needs to be explored, though that may happen. Astonishing's first arc was about a "cure" being found for mutantdom, which caused a lot of strum und drang at the Institute. Given that, and what happened to Wing, and Kevin's powers being under control in the Hellions miniseries, I'm not sure those stories can all be ignored in this situation. They still may be dealt with in the next couple issues, though, so we'll see.
I was disappointed to see Dani lost her powers and was kicked out, but hopefully someone will have some plans for her (maybe down the road in X-Factor?) or she'll at least get a nice ending to her story where she goes and lives happily ever after in Colorado.
The ending's a bit ambiguous. I'm not sure if we're supposed to think Jay Guthrie had his wings ripped off, or they fell off, or what. It's a cliffhanger, so I guess we'll find out next month.
And then there's the two pages of Wolverine Girl, which fall right before the end of the story. That's the right place to put them, as it adds to the smooth transition and doesn't make the book suddenly feel like it will be Wolverine Girl and Friends, which was my fear. Unfortunately, it doesn't make a lot of sense, and I feel like the writers are assuming I've avidly followed everything this character's been in. I haven't. I read the first Claremont story with her in it and that's it. I don't know who she "misses" -- characters from Nyx? (And was that even ever finished?). I don't know who her only friend was. I don't know when Wolverine lied about knowing her and the growling and whatnot (though that seems vaguely familiar from Claremont's run and I assume that's the writers way of just undoing all of it). But most importantly, I don't know why Wolverine thinks the kids at this school need her? They don't even know her, and my impression is she's just as unreliable as Wolverine, in that she's as likely to gut them as anyone else. With friends like her, who needs enemies? Anyway, needless to say, I'm still awfully dubious about this character, though this issue did reassure me some in that regard.
Will I get the next issue? Very likely. The book's still on probationary status with me, and I'll keep deciding issue by issue, but I said I'd give the new creators two issues at least and nothing here made me change my mind about that.
So, the somewhat controversial introduction of the new creative team begins with this story and so far it's much ado about nothing. Which I mean as a compliment.
Kyle & Yost begin their run on this book with a very smooth transition, as so far it feels very similar. We know some of the characters focused on in DeFilippis and Weir's run won't be included in this, but they aren't just simply gone. (In fact, the biggest change I noticed was the Academy X part of the title seems to be gone, which is actually a bit of a shame as I preferred calling this book by that name instead of New X-Men, though I can understand why it was done.)
We begin with a two-year flashback of a downtrodden Rev. William Stryker (from the brilliant "God Loves Man Kills" story) having a crisis of faith, nearly killing himself before he gets a sign from, he thinks, God. Nice setup for the character, though I do think they need to make sure his history is known for people who haven't read GLMK. I would like to know where GLMK2 fits into this, even though that story was nigh-incomprehensible.
After that, we're back to the Mansion, picking up immediately after the end of House of Murderers, as Emma realizes what's going on and begins to react. Most of the issue then involves seeing the students react, some happily, some sad. It gets a bit repetitive, with everyone screaming, but I'm not sure that could be avoided. It's a good portrayal of what I think would happen in such a situation, but there's only so much wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of sackcloth I want to read. (I did chuckle that Santos just slept through the whole thing, giving a moment of levity and a break from the crying for the reader.)
I think my biggest compaint here is I would have liked to have a better idea of which of the main cast did or did not lost their powers, since that's not completely clear. Goldbug is on the cover, so I'm assumng he still has them, but I'm not 100 percent sure. I was also happy to see the Cuckoos remain. I would have liked to have seen Hisako, though, if only in a cameo.
Which brings me to the fact I think they missed out on something that needs to be explored, though that may happen. Astonishing's first arc was about a "cure" being found for mutantdom, which caused a lot of strum und drang at the Institute. Given that, and what happened to Wing, and Kevin's powers being under control in the Hellions miniseries, I'm not sure those stories can all be ignored in this situation. They still may be dealt with in the next couple issues, though, so we'll see.
I was disappointed to see Dani lost her powers and was kicked out, but hopefully someone will have some plans for her (maybe down the road in X-Factor?) or she'll at least get a nice ending to her story where she goes and lives happily ever after in Colorado.
The ending's a bit ambiguous. I'm not sure if we're supposed to think Jay Guthrie had his wings ripped off, or they fell off, or what. It's a cliffhanger, so I guess we'll find out next month.
And then there's the two pages of Wolverine Girl, which fall right before the end of the story. That's the right place to put them, as it adds to the smooth transition and doesn't make the book suddenly feel like it will be Wolverine Girl and Friends, which was my fear. Unfortunately, it doesn't make a lot of sense, and I feel like the writers are assuming I've avidly followed everything this character's been in. I haven't. I read the first Claremont story with her in it and that's it. I don't know who she "misses" -- characters from Nyx? (And was that even ever finished?). I don't know who her only friend was. I don't know when Wolverine lied about knowing her and the growling and whatnot (though that seems vaguely familiar from Claremont's run and I assume that's the writers way of just undoing all of it). But most importantly, I don't know why Wolverine thinks the kids at this school need her? They don't even know her, and my impression is she's just as unreliable as Wolverine, in that she's as likely to gut them as anyone else. With friends like her, who needs enemies? Anyway, needless to say, I'm still awfully dubious about this character, though this issue did reassure me some in that regard.
Will I get the next issue? Very likely. The book's still on probationary status with me, and I'll keep deciding issue by issue, but I said I'd give the new creators two issues at least and nothing here made me change my mind about that.