I’ve got the rest of this week’s comics. While they’re a fairly middling lot, I’ll still take a crack at them. Comments contain spoilers, so be warned.
DISTRICT X 2: This issue builds on the strengths of the last, revealing more about the setting and the characters in satisfying and interesting ways. Officer Ortega takes Bishop on a tour of his beat, meeting more of the citizenry and circling around what may be a budding gang war. The mutations continue along the same vein, more grotesque than useful, giving the neighborhood sadness and a strange resilience at the same time. There are moments of pathos (a promising athlete turned aquatic exotic dancer), horror (a mother addicted to her mutant son’s narcotic perspiration), and genuine pain (the moving revelation about Ortega’s home life). Bishop remains something of a peripheral figure, but that isn’t really a problem. It’s wonderful to see a comic create a genuine sense of place and to explore the dynamics of an unusual community.
EMMA FROST 12: “Mind Games,” the second major arc of the book, comes to a conclusion as Emma extricates herself from her kidnapping predicament. In doing so, she demonstrates what seems like a heretofore unseen level of control over her telepathic abilities. In previous issues, she’s shown as having only marginal control over her powers. Here, she’s intruding in a half-dozen minds, planting telepathic illusions, and exhibiting not a hint of strain. Maybe the peril and adrenaline of the situation is giving her a boost, but that isn’t really made explicit, and it leaves me wondering when she picked up such mad psi skillz. Still, it’s satisfying seeing her pull her own fat out of the fire, and it’s pretty a great device to have the protagonist pretty much immobile throughout. This title is solidly entertaining if nothing special, and the cover is probably the best Greg Horn has done to date.
IDENTITY CRISIS 1: I can’t possibly comment on this title with any objectivity. The driving event of it strikes me as so crass and misguided that there’s no way I can make any kind of qualitative evaluation. I will say, though, that the subset of Justice League members starring in this book (Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Green Arrow, Hawkeye, and Zatanna) have always defined who the League is for me. They were the core of the group when I started reading it, more than the big guns. To have them spotlighted in a story I find empty and repulsive only compounds the aggravation. I won’t be buying the rest of this series.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN 84/428: The fanboy in me couldn’t resist the “Disassembled Prologue” teaser on the cover. Iron Man finds his roles as Secretary of Defense and member of a United Nations strike force in conflict, which is a perfectly reasonable premise for this title. He is asked to retrieve something from Avengers Mansion for the government without alerting his allies. Since the Avengers aren’t stupid (in this title if not their own), they catch on fairly quickly. Mayhem ensues, and there’s sure to be fallout in future issues. The conflict is explored on a couple of different levels, including an anti-U.N. protest outside the mansion. The protestors are played for laughs, so it doesn’t really add anything to the theme. For a millionaire superhero cabinet member here, Iron Man seems too subject to the whims of the government, with underlings scolding him at just about every turn. There’s nothing seriously wrong with this comic, but I don’t really have any desire to pick up the next issue. I think it’s inoculated me to future tie-ins. Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t take note of the Wasp’s terrifying body thong and giant breasts. Is this some side effect of her recent dabbling in growth powers? She looks like a pornographic version of Tinkerbell.
ULTIMATE X-MEN 47: And my interest in this version of Xavier’s mutants comes to a screeching halt with the Ultimate Universe introduction of some villains who soured my enjoyment on the Marvel Universe version. It’s nice to see writer Brian K. Vaughan pick up on some of the themes and developments his predecessor put in place, and he’s making progress towards giving the rather large cast distinctive personalities. Art by Brandon Peterson serves the book well, too, and I’m pleased by the fact that none of the women resemble auto-show hostesses. They’re attractive but realistically proportioned, which is always nice. Still, when Apocalypse enters the building, I start looking for the door.
