Firstly, I'll be reviewing the House of M TPB (written by Brian Michael Bendis, pencilled by Oliver Coipel, inked by Tim Townsend, Rick Magyar, Scott Hanna and John Dell, coloured by Frank D'Armata and lettered by Chris Elipoulos), which also The Pulse, which is pretty much just advertising in comic book form (or newspaper in a comic book form?). I mean, sure, it does show (sortof) what's happening around the Marvelverse, but it's just advertising and is pretty ignorable really...
The first problem I have with this book is that after issue 1 (with alot of talking, which I don't mind), issue 2 just shows us what people's lives are like in this new world. That's fine and dandy in itself, but it's an event book, and it really shows the problem with this book - the pacing is all a bit off. I get that this new world needs to be established, but it probably was a big letdown for people reading this as it came out. For me, it's fine, but for others it might've caused a few issues.
The main problem with this book is that it suffers from Wolverine Publicity (thank you TVTropes). This is one of the few books where him being centre star of the series actually makes sense and works (which I don't mind, even though I really don't like him) - the problem is that he's been in everything else ever for the last who knows how many years. We've been inundated with him, which really drags the book down, though it isn't it's fault.
Another problem with this is a general problem with Brian Bendis - his endings of each issue aren't that great, and generally I find hamper the story a little bit:
- Issue 1: It should've ended a page earlier. Instead of showing Peter and Gwen, it should've just ended with that mahusive white flash, a whole new world, who knows what to expect from it kindof thing. And it would tie in with the ending of issue 7, a complete full circle of 6 issues, as it were...
- Issue 2: Yeah, it looks pretty, sortof. And? That's about it, it doesn't hold much significance for me. I mean, sure, Sentinels, SHIELD, what you have to assume is something important (the House of M flag) etc.
- Issue 3: A classic superhero comic flaw. They're having a standoff after they've told Wolverine he's got a tracking device in him. Wait, what? And it just carries on into issue 4 exactly how you would expect because superheroes can never agree, talk or do sensible things. They just have to fight...
- Issue 4: Yeah, let's just have a beer while saying the whole world's buggered. Great...
- Issue 6: It's meant to install hope, as it were, but, I dunno, it just rings slightly odd to me...
Anywho, enough complaining about endings, I mean, I've probably complained enough on this TPB anyway. Because, even though I've just made loads of complaints about it, and haven't even mentioned how convenient the whole Layla thing is, I did enjoy this book. It was fun, didn't really have a message in it, Emma Frost didn't dress like a slut (a good thing, as I actually enjoy reading it more when she's just wearing the suit and coat then when wearing, well, almost nothing. It's something irritates me with comics. Though Polaris wearing almost nothing in places did bring it down a bit...), Hawkeye's costume was pretty damn cool, the artwork was solid and interesting, but not brilliant. So yeah, I enjoyed this one.
But on a bad note: Peter Parker. Shut up. You're complaining when everyone else has suffered the same shit you have in this one. What right do you have to complain any more than the others here? Shut up, move on, and stop whining. Unless you want to turn into Toby Maguire...
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After that, we've now got X-Men: The 198 (written by David Hine, pencilled by Jim Muniz, inked by Kevin Conrad, Jonathon Glapton and Don Hillsman III, coloured by Matt Milla and lettered by Joe Caramagna), pretty much dealing with the aftermath of House of M.
The problem here is that is suffers from so much wasted potential, and the typical superhero fight at the end. It's got some many point that could be taken further, showing the real schism about what's happening here - the 'voluntary' capturing of mutants, the camps, all that stuff. But it really looses it's message because it ends up being your typical superhero comic when instead it could've been something so much better, something much cleverer. Something that really would've caused a lasting impact on the Marvel world. I mean, there's so many paths that they could've gone down. But instead, well, it fails at any message it was trying to deliver.
And yes, I did enjoy reading this, but it really does suffer from it could've been so much better syndrome. And the ending, well, er, what the hell was that?
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Now I have to move onto Secret Invasion (written by Brian Michael Bendis, pecilled by Leinil Francis Yu, inked by Mark Morales, coloured by Laura Martin and Emily Warren, and lettered by Chris Eliopoulos). I don't know whether I can or not... I mean, do I have to?...
It was a mess, from start to finish. Issue 1 started badly by just jumping off from some other comic I've missed, which is always a problem. I mean, it's like starting Civil War from the cleanup operation, instead of beginning at Stamford... And then it just get's confusing, I didn't really have much idea what was going on. I get that might be because Brian wanted it to be confusing to show how it was for the characters themselves, but it was just a jumble really.
And it doesn't explain at all why suddenly Osborn gets power over everything. Because he shot the Skrull Queen, when there were about five heroes about to kill her, he becomes the hero of the hour? Er, right. Yeah...
The artwork was alright, but much worse than House of M and The 198 (which was cartoony, but in a good way). It wasn't terrible art, but it's definitely on the lower scale of alright, heading towards bad...
I honestly can't review this one anymore, it just makes me want to bludgeon my head against a brick wall. Repeatedly. It's that bad. Actually, that brick wall sounds delightful. Maybe it'll erase the stain of this comic from my mind...
