Ok... so this is one of those runs where nothing really happens until the end. The only solid thread before that is around Apocalypses new Death horseOk... so this is one of those runs where nothing really happens until the end. The only solid thread before that is around Apocalypses new Death horseman, which isn鈥檛 Death-bird for some reason.. who is also a horseman but she鈥檚 War.
None of this makes any sense in context as it really emphasises at one point that Apocalypse recruits his horsemen by offering them something, so Angel wanted his wings, Caliban wanted the power to avenge the Mutant-Massacre, the old War wanted to be able to move.. but the new Death and War (Death-bird) what did they get? Anyway there are lots of little continuity and logic problems like that I鈥檓 not going to get into them all. Oh.. and Famine is Ahab, apparently? Which is a guy named Rory i think, anyway he hung around with Excaliber back in the day and is 100% human (apart from the cyborg bits) so.. bit odd that he鈥檚 a horseman. Sidenote: there鈥檚 an episode of the Sarah Connor Chronicles with a character played by Richard Schiff that seems based on Ahab.
The art is ugh... the mid-90鈥檚 is as bad but somehow feels more charming than this stuff.
The involvement of Apocalypse seems like it was meant to be a surprise, you have people in almost every comic wondering who is behind it all despite it being revealed in pretty much every issue.
Apocalypse鈥檚 plan seems dumb and nonsenseical but we鈥檒l get to that. Lets start with the hero鈥檚 plan. They launch an attack on Apocalypse with basically all of the people he wants to capture, while another section of the team go on a different rescue mission, a mission which Jean Grey would seem to have been very useful for given her personal connection to the target of that mission. While this would also have avoiding giving Apocalypse everything he wants, great strategy guys!
The one bit which you might have thought would be interesting here is the reveal of who the 12 actually are. That really could have been an interesting mystery... but its not, in one or close to it they just get a list of all the names... great. Way to kill the tension.
Its all really bad.. until issue 377? The main event scripted by.. i don鈥檛 really pay attention to writer/artist names but i made a special note, this script was by Terry Kavanagh. He does a really admiral job of making this kinda make sense. He really manages to mostly make it work which is quite the achievement. And yeah those last few issues are pretty good, but i can鈥檛 really rate it any higher given all the rest of the plot....more
So this is pretty good but also quite a mess. I havn鈥檛 read the first Contest of Champions and no one here makes any references to it so not sure who So this is pretty good but also quite a mess. I havn鈥檛 read the first Contest of Champions and no one here makes any references to it so not sure who was even in that one.
At its core this volume is an X-Men story but the closest to a main character is probably Iron Man. The setup is convoluted and the evil alliance doesn鈥檛 make a great deal of sense.. but at least some of the bad guys know it doesn鈥檛 make any sense.
The editing is choppy with some pages obviously cut out to save room. I don鈥檛 mean in this edition but rather the original plot. There鈥檚 also some new hero鈥檚 introduced who seem like this is their debut but they鈥檙e terrible and i really can鈥檛 see any need for them given all the heros present.
The match-ups are sometimes fun but mostly very short one-to-two panel affairs. One of the oddest things for me is how badly Clairemont seems to know the x-men, perhaps there were continuity errors with other characters too that i just didn鈥檛 notice as I鈥檓 more familiar with x-men than others.
Oh before i get to those, the new Spider-Woman is here and is like described as super sexy? Even though i feel like she鈥檚 probably younger than spider-man, maybe I鈥檓 wrong? Anyway at least she isn鈥檛 drawn too sexy, infact it would be nearly impossible to tell here apart from standard Spidey except for the very thin pony-tail.
But the X-men... they do something with Rogue here which is quite a stretch for how her powers work.. but I鈥檒l allow it. However twice it claims Shadowcats basic nature is to be intangible.. that鈥檚 not true, i think that may have happened to her once, maybe, don鈥檛 recall, but it isn鈥檛 true at this point in the comics. That would mean she would have to concentrate to remain solid instead of concentrating to become intangible, a very different proposition. She also seems to be wearing epaulets for some reason, she looks like a judge from 2000AD.
My main gripe would however be Psylocke. Last i recall she had a face tattoo due to make Crimson Dawn nonsense, that鈥檚 gone, turns back up in one panel late on in grey instead of its proper red color. She also had a brief ability to teleport through shadows but no mention of it here. The very last time she appeared they effectively depowered her by having her trap the Shadow-King inside her mind. If however she ever uses her telepathy again he will get out. This fact is actually brought up in this comic! It then not only proceeds to let her use her telepathic knife (the literal concentration of her telepathy), but even worse, in her first appearance she went full telepath! So... that鈥檚 a mess.
Psylocke aslo sports a new look later on which would be much cooler if we saw her get it but once again that page must have been cut. I鈥檓 assuming they gave her that look as one of the new characters looks suspiciously like psylocke.. or at least one of psylockes previous costumes.
In one section, Storm has a vision of Death-Bird, i thought for a moment we where actually going to get a resolution to the Death-Bird/Bishop plot which was dropped.. way back when. The last we saw of Death-Bord and Bishop they where crashing into some big alien ship. But apparently that was just a misdirect or something.
Oh and i forgot about Cyclops... which this comic also did. He appears on a list of losers but we never even see who he lost too. That鈥檚 just sad :lol .
There is some good x-men related character stuff however. Overall a fun messy time....more
As a child of the 80's i often got one of these annuals as part of my christmas presents so i grabbed a couple this year (not 80's era issues though) As a child of the 80's i often got one of these annuals as part of my christmas presents so i grabbed a couple this year (not 80's era issues though) as destressers, to help get me through the holidays.
In terms of that they worked pretty well. Probably going to try that again next year.
However after reading the 2006 annual i came to the conclusion that my adult brain probably wasn't going to be able to differentiate any difference in quality between these things. I was thinking they were all basically going to be 3-stars.
I was wrong though this one distinctly better than 2006. A little front loaded maybe but overall still definitely better....more
There were times when i was considering 3-stars for this. Not necessarily on it alone but because the 'journey' involved i still feel has a level of dThere were times when i was considering 3-stars for this. Not necessarily on it alone but because the 'journey' involved i still feel has a level of diminishing returns, due to being spread over so many issues. However the production values are still as high as ever. Even is you don't enjoy some of the artistic choices in places one would be hard pressed to say it lacks in effort.
There are also many sections of greatness, even revelation and the journey does eventually complete with 2 issues to spare, which made for an exciting ending.
Four stars with a extra one for a couple of reasons. Firstly it feels quite chunky for a single volume, lot of story in here and secondly, the informaFour stars with a extra one for a couple of reasons. Firstly it feels quite chunky for a single volume, lot of story in here and secondly, the information pacing. I've seen other reviews complain its too confusing but for me it hit that sweet spot of giving me enough information to start and good pacing with when to drop each additional piece of history and social details. Many other comics i've read either had too little or too much information but this was just right but i do think it might vary from person to person as to how much detail you need to begin with.
Also the cuteness of it, is both used to mitigate some of the horror and on occasion enhance it. Reminded me a bit of Valkyria Chronicles, which is never a bad thing ;) .
Merged review:
Four stars with a extra one for a couple of reasons. Firstly it feels quite chunky for a single volume, lot of story in here and secondly, the information pacing. I've seen other reviews complain its too confusing but for me it hit that sweet spot of giving me enough information to start and good pacing with when to drop each additional piece of history and social details. Many other comics i've read either had too little or too much information but this was just right but i do think it might vary from person to person as to how much detail you need to begin with.
Also the cuteness of it, is both used to mitigate some of the horror and on occasion enhance it. Reminded me a bit of Valkyria Chronicles, which is never a bad thing ;) ....more
I like this, it is really the quintessential X-Men story. The same plot they鈥檝e been exploring since their inception, but it does go further. The X-MenI like this, it is really the quintessential X-Men story. The same plot they鈥檝e been exploring since their inception, but it does go further. The X-Men comics have never gone to this sort of spot before. They have explored past it in some of the dystopian future storylines like Days of Future Past but they鈥檝e never really dared to tackle the moments when the United States turns on itself.
There are still some issues with it of course. In fact there are many surrounding issues which you won鈥檛 know about if you only read the collection as presented here. I in fact did not read this particular collection but rather all the comics it includes individually.
But lets start with what you get. Its still a little messy as these big crossover events tend to be but much less so than the previous mid鈥�90s garbage. Not all the writers fully commit though. I mean this is a huge event which deserves full attention and yet you still have some meaningless subplots happening here and there. Also none of the writers seem to know what to do with the main cast. Everyone is so well established by now that i guess they鈥檙e finding it hard to make them interesting? Or perhaps it was a conscious decision to give a different view on things. For whatever reason the story is mostly told by side characters but it works pretty well. This is the best Jubilee we鈥檝e ever gotten, there's some good Iceman stuff, a random issue of Spiderman although they call it Uncanny its clearly just a spiderman issue but a pretty good one. Domino aswell gets something to do for once kinda. And also Marrow.. which works less well as she is a terrible character. But maybe i鈥檓 just biased as i can鈥檛 forget Marrows last appearance in which Storm punched her fist through Marrows chest and ripped out her still beating heart with her bare hands... that happened people! Someone wrote that down, someone drew it and some editor approved it, i shall never let that go! :P . Oh and all the Cable issues feel like filler.
So end of main review its good solid X-men fair. Even if just rating it by itself, of course if your grading on a curve against the previous events (Phalanx, Onslaught, Age of Apocalypse) then it looks even better.
------------------------------------- Now onto all the surrounding mess. As i mentioned i haven鈥檛 read this particular collection but i鈥檓 assuming there鈥檚 a summary at the start telling you the current state of things but just in case. At this particular time in Marvel history, The Avengers, Fantastic Four and the Hulk are all dead. In a desperate bid for sales they were killed off and rebooted into a brand new more 鈥榬ealistic鈥� continuity not unlike the later Ultimates comics and even less successful.
So Zero Tolerance is supposed to be the natural culmination of the growing Mutant hatred fanned by the Legacy virus, assassination of anti-mutant presidential candidate Greydon Creed and the attack of Onslaught in which earth鈥檚 mightiest heroes fell. The problem is that these 3 events are a complete mess. The Legacy virus no one ever really got a handle on and its effects vary from issue to issue. The assassination came and went from nowhere.. also given the abilities of the badguys they could easily have made it look like a mutant was responsible but didn鈥檛. There鈥檚 no evidence a mutant was involved and people just have to assume. Finally Onslaught, if there had been any witnesses or photos, you would have seen the X-men literally shoot the Avengers in the back (it was Captain Americas plan but still) that would have been hard to explain away. But ok no one saw that fine.. however the badguys and many other people in the US government DO know that Onslaught was created by mutants, however accidentally and yet no one reveals that to the american public, that would have been quite the boost to the anti-mutant camp. They don鈥檛 even reveal that Xavier is a mutant which would also have bolstered their cause. So my point is all the legs this event stands on are made of sand (or garbage).
Gen-X鈥檚 appearance in this event also required quite the Deux-Ex Macina, i was also going to say the same about the Uncanny X-men however despite a ridiculous and sudden return to earth, they don鈥檛 even get involved in Zero Tolerance, instead going off on some Gambit related tangent. Which is why only that one issue of Uncanny (which is really just a spiderman comic) is included here. Another odd thing is the lack of inclusion of X-Factor. Now x-factor worked for the government including people directly involved with Zero Tolerance so you鈥檇 think if any x-group would be at the heart of an event like this it would be them. In fact their issues do tie in, however most of the team is sidelined and the rest are dealing with the Hound Program an offshoot of the main threat and so none of their storyline has made it in here. Interestingly as with most other plots a lot of theirs is told by sidecharacters again with Valerie Cooper and Sabretooth getting the most limelight.
What else? Oh that's right during the original publication there was an entire month off in which the story was put on hold and filled by unrelated Flashback issues detailing various backstory bits that were never revealed before. There鈥檚 also the similarity to the not too distant Phalanx plot line. The Phalanx where made up of a group of mutant haters who gave up their humanity and had themselves transformed into living techno-organic machines so they would have the power to exterminate mutant kind. So not exactly the furtherest thing from this event ;) ....more
Ok.. so lets get the first couple of issues and the last 4, out of the way. The first one an X-51 comic, i don鈥檛 even know why its here. Its not like Ok.. so lets get the first couple of issues and the last 4, out of the way. The first one an X-51 comic, i don鈥檛 even know why its here. Its not like it would have made this mess make less sense if it was left out. I guess they just needed the extra pages. Anyway it follows on from an issue last volume where we found out the X-mansion was being hacked and the Xavier Protocols (how to kill each x-man) were being undeleted.
The main issue here is that Bastion took everything from the x-mansion. Meaning none of these computers (and where did all the replacement furntiure, new computers, danger room etc. even come from this time?) EVER had the xavier protocols on them. If you wanted to recover them you鈥檇 need to do it in Bastions base where that equipment was taken.
Anyway.. whatever.. then we have an annual, probably the highlight here but ruined by plastering Exodus鈥� face all over the cover.
Skipping forward the last 4 issues are the Search for Cyclops which came out about a year later then the rest of the material. This is actually ok stuff. Although isn鈥檛 Ozymandias an omnipath? I thought that was how he did his job.. and yet he can鈥檛 find cyclops? And even if cyclops was somehow hidden from him, he also can鈥檛 find the person he sent after cyclops? But he can also presumably track them to a particular city, so he can track them sort of? In addition Cable and Jean think apocalypse is dead, why? I can accept them thinking cyclops is dead but they literally saw Apocalypse teleport away the last time they met.
The other person, sent to kill cyclops is, just really crap, like if you gave the Toad a gun he鈥檇 be twice the assassin this guy is. Was he really the best option available? The ending is also a bit too pat. Oh yeah.. and Cyclops had a plan? What was it.. was it really necessary to go where he did. Was his entire plan just to ask Cable to kill him, kinda seems like he could have down that earlier?
But now to the real reason this gets 1-star. All of the Ages of Apocalypse stuff are like rejected What If ideas at best. At other times it feels like pure market research to see what people think of different lineups. There鈥檚 a little moment of poignancy seeing super old Xavier just because of Patrick Stewarts age now. I don鈥檛 even object to a What if? now and then, 鈥榃hat if Xavier was Juggernaut鈥�, 鈥榃hat if Phoenix didn鈥檛 die on the Moon鈥�, 鈥榃hat if the New Mutants stayed in Asgard鈥�.. but this crap, its just all so pointless and yet sort of mandatory by being in main continuity....more
Ah... the Shatting. Well this isn鈥檛 the worst thing ever written and in fact has many good points. It still feels like a reversion and incapsulates maAh... the Shatting. Well this isn鈥檛 the worst thing ever written and in fact has many good points. It still feels like a reversion and incapsulates many of the worst facets of the 鈥�90s.
Now I鈥檝e been reading every appearance by an x-man (pretty much) in order and at this point things were finally getting better. It took a lot longer than i expected but here in the relative time of 1999 we were finally making some progress to clean up the mess left behind by the mid-90鈥檚. Xavier had been found, Joseph had been dealth with... it was slow going but progress was being made. But this period, as i said its a real reversion.
The setup here, the incredible event that will change things forever! Is that some of the x-men decide to take a few days off... that鈥檚 it.. that鈥檚 the big event. Unless!, you read the other issues, because every subsequent comic claims that Xavier cancelled the x-men everything is ended.. blah blah, none of which actually happened in the first comic you read.
There鈥檚 lots of stuff like that, its just messy, and desperate to feel big. Even some of the art reminds me of the mid-90鈥檚. I really thought it was uphill from here, but this along many of the other works being released around this time, suggest we鈥檙e back to the bad old times.
Desperate really seems the best description of what is happening with all x-men related properties at this point despite as mentioned, a few previous months of good recovery....more
Finally finished this run. Really not sure its getting any better than the previous '90's stuff and there's still plenty of hang over from all that meFinally finished this run. Really not sure its getting any better than the previous '90's stuff and there's still plenty of hang over from all that mess.
Edit: I also hate allllll of the art. I feel like its sort of 'good' in a way i don't appreciate, but i find it overdetailed and just sort of trying too hard. I just don't like it....more
I'll admit i was pretty generous giving Operation Zero Tolerance, 4-stars. But i was grading on a curve against other events etc. Here we have what thI'll admit i was pretty generous giving Operation Zero Tolerance, 4-stars. But i was grading on a curve against other events etc. Here we have what the other x-men were up to during that event instead of doing something useful. It also with a couple of random Flashback issues for.. publishing continuity i guess? I just read the issues as listed on the description not this edition so maybe the listing is wrong.
Anyway the main issues are nonsense. I don't know why they try to put some sort of title on these things, really its just a bunch of issues that occurred in a row its not a single overarching plotline.
However just considered as a bunch of stuff in a row rather than looked at expecting a complete arc, its still nonsense. Nothing really makes sense, nothing is explained, nothing is resolved, the art sucks, and only the sheer emotional momentum i have invested in the x-men prevents me from giving it 1-star....more
A low 3 stars as a set of individual comics but less than that based on the titles implication. Then again the Onslaught storyline was a complete messA low 3 stars as a set of individual comics but less than that based on the titles implication. Then again the Onslaught storyline was a complete mess so the Aftermath never really had a chance.
There isn't really any Aftermath to Onslaught, mutant prejudice isn't appreciably worse than it was with the announcement of the Legacy virus. Despite Graydon Creeds presidential run and the death of the most of the worlds heros in the battle with Onslaught.
Nobody even knows what happened there, i mean they know the X-men where nearby but no one ever got any footage or even witnesses who saw the X-men shoot the Avengers in the back. Also one of the worst things is that Xavier still somehow has a secret identity... i mean all his worst enemies know who he is but despite the Onslaught incident even his enemies are for some reason hiding the fact that he's a mutant not to mention the leader of the X-men, from the general public.
Also, again for questionable reasons, no one outs Graydon Creed as the son of mutants, and while it's briefly addressed as to why the main X-men don't out him, there's no reason given why his parents don't tell the world, or any of the many government people who must also know.
I also hate the team switch-ups that started in Onslaught and continue here, with the writers seemingly trying to recreated the teams used in Age of Apocalypse.
Anyway the '90s comics period is justifiably reviled, not because of a necessary lack of quality to the comics but the constant need for new storylines which continuously interrupt the previous storyline, leading to an endless number of loose ends and half baked ideas....more
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