OK, so it’s the boring ol’ X-Men. Except I must say this might be among the classic X-Arcs. Cassaday has got to be possibly the best character artist (and arguably one of the best, period) in comics today, and Whedon’s plotting and dialogue is both true to the characters, dramatic in classic comic book style, and consistently wry and clever.
Plus, the latest issue – #23 – has one of the most satisfying cathartic moments I’ve seen in comic books in quite some time.
Anyone else following this?
I am, and think it’s very good. The delays have really hurt this serious, however - we’re heading into the 5th year of trying to get 2 years of stories. It lost franchise relevance and is now just a cool, standalone arc. But I can’t recommend it higher in TPB form.
I haven’t read the last two because I can’t be bothered to reread the preceeding issues just to figure out what was going on, knowing I’ll just have to reread them all again when the next one comes out.
If the delays are Cassaday’s fault, then no, he’s not one of the best artists in comics today. For my money you’re not a good artist if you’re not hitting deadlines. I have no idea who’s really at fault though, to be clear. It’s usually the artist, but obviously not always (Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine, lol).
These are AAAmazing in TPB, (which is how I buy almost all my comics now). I aint even worried about how long it takes for these to come out. Plus, as Marvel (and DC for all I know) continuity is more of a ridiculous burden than asset I prefer “Stand Alone” stories.
As an aside, I just picked up the Brubaker Iron Fist TPB, I’m very happy.
Now Aja is a good artist. So’s Yu. You can be dependable and great.
And these days DC continuity makes Marvel continuity look simple and elegant.
FWIW Warren Ellis’ is going to be taking over Whedon’s continuity and continuing this version of the book.
Ellis and Cassaday together again? What do you know. They had fun on Planetary. (Well, except for the infamous “torture scene” which turned my stomach along with everyone else’s, but the rest of the book was plenty entertaining.)
Er, I guess I should confirm… will Cassaday be continuing alongside Ellis?
I don’t so much care about timely. I sometimes go a month without making it to the comic shop anyway. Though I must say, if you want to talk about untimely, consider the last incarnation of The Authority. Got off to a festive start, and then POOF. It’s been easily six months or more since the last freakin’ issue!
I just read the first cycle (ending against the danger room).
It is good, probably the best characterization and dialogue, but Whedon can’t be arsed to follow what other writers are doing and his continuity sucks.
And then there’s Claremont that continues desperately to try to rebuild what other writers destroy.
It’s exactly what went on in Marvel for the last four years: too many writers that can destroy things spectacularly, but that can’t be arsed to build again, or put the many pieces together.
It’s too easy to work like that. Get to a character with years of history, destroy everything, then quit to write something else.
Honestly who gives a fuck what the “official” continuity is? Between Dissasembled, House of M, Civil War and I heard something about skrulls it’s all kerscrewy. i’m sure it will at some point get “magically” reset back to the Lee/Kirby mythos anyways.
The best superhero comics of the last 10 years (and there have been some great ones) totally ignore “continuity”.
HRose, you’ve got the other 26 X Titles that are in continuity to futz around with. Give the casual fan who hasn’t picked up the title in years and years like me our Astonishing that gets back to the core of the characters, and adds in some great witty banter to boot.
(And brings back Colossus! YAAAAAAYYYYY!!!)
I think that was more true in the 1990s, at least in respect of Marvel - I can’t speak for DC, since I’ve only read out of continuity stuff of there’s, so it may still true for them
But I actually really like Marvel’s sense of a connected “universe” that it’s reestablished over the past few years, for really the first time since the 80s, – largely because Marvel finally, once again, has a driving “team” that’s basically in creative control - Bendis, Millar, Joey Q, Brubaker, and Greg Pak (who are all pretty great, imo), and Babylon 5 guy, with help from guys like Jeph Loeb and Ellis.
They’re really evolving characters and developing interesting ongoing themes, which aren’t just thrown up as the “crossover of the summer”-type stuff like happened over the 90s(although superficially it may resemble it). I think 80s Marvel was cool largely because of the contributions of a few key creators, who really did their own independent stuff - Claremont/X-men, Byrne/FFour, Simonson/Thor, Miller/Daredevil, Stern/Avengers - surrounded by a bunch of crap. The 90s were mainly just crap. But now, for the first time really since the Lee writing/editorial days there’s a more cohesive, central vision for the Marvel universe, and I think it’s cool – they have a great team of creators that are making some great products.
No, he’s not. Simone Bianchi is the new artist.
Couldn’t agree more with this entire post, though I’d add that the 70s is still the best decade within my lifetime; though childhood nostalgia probably so heavily colors my perspective that I can’t truly be objective when evaluating the various decades against each other.
Continuity and consistence don’t come at the expense of accessibility.
This problem aside, good writers of today just destroy, they rarely build. Even if they don’t care about the continuity they still end their cycles poorly and leaving very little treasure.
Too many times new writers simply rewrites old stories, while destroying the few that is left. They ARE better writers, but they just don’t have the patience to stick to a series and build something over time (Claremont is the only one who try to do it, even if every 6 months a different author arrives, breaks everything, and leaves Claremont to pick up the pieces again).
Old stories had more content packed, more ideas and always meticulous building. They were poorly presented though. Today the presentation is much better, the writing is much better, but there’s no building and stories either destroy or leave nothing after they end.
Mutants in particular wade through a period of mediocrity and lack of direction after Morrison. It also doesn’t help that the awesome Bachalo left and was replaced by Ramos, totally inappropriate. (and I’m closing both eyes on the cycle of Milligan, I like the writer, but that cycle is one of the lowest points I’ve ever read)
Oh, and Simone Bianchi is even superior to Cassaday, but I think he can be even slower.
P.S.
Example of a recent series that didn’t destroy continuity and was an awesome read: X-Factor by Peter David.
Sadly the wonderful artist it had only last for two issues or so before he got replaced.
Yeah, I like the 70s a lot too. It still kind of had the “anything can happen” feel of early Marvel, with Gwen Stacy dying, the New X-men, Fantastic Four was still a flagship title for crazy sci-fi action – plus all the fun horror stuff, like Tomb of Dracula. I’m more attached to the 80s just because it’s what I grew up with, and didn’t have the chance to read a lot of the 70s stuff until later.
Yeah, Milligan’s run was surprisingly disappointing. I guess the magazine wasn’t a good fit for him.
It’s true the mutant stuff at Marvel hasn’t been on track really since Morrison left - there were so many ideas and changes during that period. I wish Claremont hadn’t been booted from Uncanny again, but he seems to struggle in the current environment, as his narratives really seem abruptly drawn, with some strange deus ex machina resolutions, and some weird new fetishes like giving new abilities to established characters almost every issue. He’s now got a lot of history he’s contributed to since he came back in 2000, but I still kind of wish his “exiles” magazine was a “what if” alternative line starting with x-men 279 when he originally left.
Yeah, Milligan’s run was surprisingly disappointing. I guess the magazine wasn’t a good fit for him.
It’s true the mutant stuff at Marvel hasn’t been on track really since Morrison left - there were so many ideas and changes during that period. I wish Claremont hadn’t been booted from Uncanny again, but he seems to struggle in the current environment, as his narratives really seem abruptly drawn, with some strange deus ex machina resolutions, and some weird new fetishes like giving new abilities to established characters almost every issue. He’s now got a lot of history he’s contributed to since he came back in 2000, but I still kind of wish his “exiles” magazine was a “what if” alternative line starting with x-men 279 when he originally left.
I’d rather have solid stories than be bogged down in the utter mishmash morass that is X-Men continuity.
Maybe the meta arcs were good for much of the stuff I’ve skipped over, but I’ve read some of the individual issues of things like Age of Apocalypse and others from that time period, and they are garbage.
I just want us to be on the same page when we’re debating the merits of X-Men continuity.
Oh, and any Peter David run on X-Factor is pure gold.
I think we’re all on the same page - the stuff you’re talking about is 1990s continuity/meta-arcs, which were just quagmires of bad writing and editorial driven storytelling.
I’m a big x-men fan, but the only good x-men runs, ever, are:
Of the 1990s dreck, Age of Apocalypse is about as good as it gets.