Stuff I Read This Week: March 5, 2014

Jupiter's Legacy #4: Mark Millar sure takes his time getting a book out which is probably what loses some of his readers. Be that as it may, many of his books tend to be worth the wait in the long run....most of the time, anyway (sorry, Kick Ass 3). In the case of Jupiter's Legacy, I think I can find a way to forgive him.

This issue picks up nine years after Walter Sampson orchestrated an epic coup against his revered superhero brother, the Utopian. The fast forward gives an abridged tour of a more totalitarian sort of world in the wake of the "supers," also introducing yet another generation of hero to Millar's saga. This installment makes the lofty generational sprawl he's shooting for obvious, mirroring that of ancient Roman mythology. There will be readers familiar with his previous work who will be somewhat unimpressed by the deconstruction of superhero culture since Millar seems to have practically made his own genre out of it at this point. However, Jupiter's Legacy seems to hold up pretty well if you don't hold his other books against him.

Though Millar's plot might be divisive among some readers, Frank Quitely's artwork is beyond undeniable. Anyone who's read All Star Superman will tell you that Quitely is king when it comes to broad landscapes, broad shoulders and viceral battles among godlike beings. His rendering of a brave new world under the rule of the supers is absolutely beautiful and takes up a good deal of the issue which works well in it's favor.

Bottom Line: If you're not burned out on Millar's brand of superhero story telling, this is definitely a gorgeous book worthy of consideration. 7.75 out of 10.


Uncanny X-Men #18: Brian Bendis' run of All New and Uncanny have received a lot of praise from me over the past year and rightfully so. With the years of backstory to sift through and team rosters that rotate more than Taylor Swift's dating schedule, it's nice to have a set of X-books that are accessible to anyone who wants to dive right in and get a decent read without consulting Wikipedia every ten minutes. They're funny, relatable and easy on the eyes. Having said that....

...this issue isn't Bendis' best work. It has the best of intentions, trying to be equal parts chronicling the some moments in the arrival of the Original X-Men to the New Xavier School, catching awkwardness between Young Cyclops and Old Cyclops, and catching Old Scott's reaction to the disappearance of the Kitty Pryde and the original five. The flashbacks and flashforwards just aren't as tight here as they should be. The issue meanders with little direction, dipping out of one plot point and into the next almost randomly. Still, there are some instances in the story that makes this very random rollercoaster worth the ride. Watching Kitty and Cyke hash out their guilt over the death of Charles Xavier was an intriguing piece of reading. And Emma Frost's Jean Grey issues are always nothing short of hilarious. However, this issue in particular doesn't leave a whole lot of air in the room for the young recruits which is weird considering they're a man short as of the issue before.

The art in this book has been eclectic to say the least and Marco Rudy seems to keep that tradition going very well. Using Cyclops' recently uncontrollable optic blasts as borders between panels is a stroke of genius. And every unorthodox panel seems to jump right off of the page thanks to Rudy interchanging inks and watercolors.

Bottom Line: A wonderful, good looking concept....that feels really rushed in execution. 7 out of 10

Stuff I Read This Week Episode 12 or You Don't Have Superpowers Because You Wouldn't Do Anything Constructive With Them....

A Note From the Writer: I am more than grateful that my little dog and pony review garnered the attention of such a writer as David Mack. However, I am thankful, first and foremost, to you all for continuing to read it. It was really just a side project (at first) that decided, through force of will, to stick around. To thank you all, I wanted to do deviate from the usual schedule for Free Comic Book Day. Doug E. Fresh would call this "crowd participation."

Basically, send me comments, requests, questions on all things comic nerd and I'll talk about them. You can ask them here in the comment area, inbox them, email me or....you know....whatever. I'll try to keep this as fun as possible. Thanks in advance. :-)

Email: letsgetfree13@gmail.comTwitter: @letsgetfree13



And Now.....To The Reviews!!!

Uncanny X-Men #5: I'm just going to start off with the simple truth of what I've gotten from the past two issues. This book is getting weird. Since the events of "Avengers vs. X-Men", Magik has become the wild card of Cyclops' outlaw revolution squad. We haven't seen the full extent of what's she capable of since the Phoenix screwed with her abilities, but it's been suggested for a while that she's the Uncanny team's Thor. Here is where we see her dealing with the ramifications of her unpredictable abilities in a fashion not too unlike how the Scarlet Witch went wrong (or, depending on your point of view, how she was never right to begin with). Brian Bendis, while not making too much of a detour from the ongoing plot, is making a bit of a rest stop to flesh Illyana Rasputin out since she hasn't gotten much focus aside from the occasional "I might be batshit crazy" one liner. We are reintroduced to an old unexpected villain which seems like a "make-up appearance" after a semi lackluster third act battle during Bendis' run on New Avengers. Here, he is given the "holy shit" factor that a baddie of his caliber deserves. One of the high points for this book was the S.H.I.E.L.D. meeting in which Maria Hill groans in the wake of the the X-Men "dropping the mic on the Avengers like it's 8 Mile." I have to appreciate Bendis' ability to make the Avengers either look like jackbooted thugs or spoiled punks who tuck their collective tails between their legs and "don't feel like talking about it" when they get owned. It's good to be able to handle characters realistically while still letting the reader know who's boss in their book.

Frazier Irving's art come across as a sudden, slightly out of place change for this book. The switch itself is already a bit distracting, but his style feels a little messy and too all over the place for my tastes. I also take issue with nobody being able to decide on a baseline set of characteristics for Cyclops' face with the mask off.

Bottom Line: This book suffers no illusions in the fact that it's semi filler. But it's good filler. 7.5 out of 10

Jupiter's Legacy #1: I was going out of my way to not pick up a mainstream superhero title when I bought this and winced when I figured out it was one. But I shouldn't have. Mark Millar has an interesting penchant for being able to introduce superhero archetypes into a world closer to the one we live in. It's a theme he seems to have gotten progressively great at as times goes on and this title, thus far, is the proof. 

Whereas Spider Man will break off a date to go fight crime with little remorse, many of the superpowered people in this world are more likely to wait until their iTunes download of Scandal finishes before running off to beat up on the alien would-be conqueror. And let's face it. That's about right. How many times have you asked someone to do something first thing in the morning and received "Not until I've had my coffee" as a reply? That's just taking out the trash or putting WD-40 on the door hinge. I shudder to think how fucked we'd be if a planet sized meteor were hurtling towards Earth.

This book centers around a generation of Golden Age heroes with a stiff moral code that seems to be getting left in the dust. The setup seems to be leaning towards questioning whether or not the current generation will be up to the responsibility of fighting for good. So far, Millar's answer seems to be a "No" so big, The Rock couldn't lift it. To his credit, doesn't just judge the Twitter era from the cheap seats like an old codger shaking his fist from his porch. He goes behind enemy lines and asks, "Can you blame them? You guys had Hitler to deal with. They have Justin Bieber." Frank Quitely's artwork is, as usual, a godsend to compliment Millar's story appropriately, stirring realism and a powerful sense of the unbelievable into an alphabet soup that's hard to ignore. Though it seems to make you wish for a slightly stronger action beats, it seems to do everything right as far as inaugural issues go.

Bottom Line: Mark Millar is definitely at the top of his game while making you wish you had superpowers and hope your roommate never does all at the same time. 9 out of 10.


East of West #2: Jonathan Hickman is certainly swinging for the fences with this one. He brings a fresh, unapologetic voice to the pantheon of dystopian future visions with his unconventional saga of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War, Famine and Conquest are still on a bloody tear through this brave new world, jumpstarting the end of civilization as we know it. Meanwhile, Death, their fourth, goes on a similarly bloodlustful revenge run. This is the kind of sci-fi/fantasy work Hickman was born to do and the kind of quirky, badass characters he was born to write. The body count's still pretty high, but the story seems to be getting slightly more coherent as pieces of the endgame peek out from under the cracks of maiming, mauling and lush environments that keep your eyes bulging out from their sockets thanks to Nick Dragotta's masterful artwork and shrewd coloring. The first issue was ambitious and slightly experimental, but the sophomore effort is coming across more of a uniformed venture.

Bottom Line: All there was to appreciate last time has been magnified more as the plot begins to come together. 8.5 out of 10.