Thursday, April 14, 2011

Give Me Something to Break!

Originally Published: April 13, 2011, on Comicvine.com

All seems well at the moment on Utopia until Cyclops gets a message from Abigail Brand, agent of SWORD, that a Breakworld armada flagship has appeared on the edges of the solar system. Considering their previous dealings with the people of Breakworld and that Colossus is technically their Powerlord still, she figured they would be best suited to see exactly what that ship is up to.

The Good

I could read Kieron Gillen written X-Men comics all day. The subtle humor inserted into each scene was a joy to read. Whether it was Namor and Colossus, Doctor Nemesis and Magneto, or Cyclops and Wolverine, the banter back and forth was a thing of beauty.

And since this is the first issue of a new arc, Gillen made sure to make it action heavy in the front in order to use the rest of the comic to build up the plot of why exactly there is a Breakworld ship heading for Earth. Not to mention it is nice to see the Abigail Brand and the Breakworlders come back after a decent length hiatus as this is shaping up to be a pretty interesting story centering on Colossus.

The Bad

Kitty Pryde is still intangible. We get it. Her and Colossus can’t hold each other. Fine. Either fix her already or put her back on the damn giant bullet. I’m tired of every issue of X-Men comics I read that isn’t taking place in an alternate universe having to devote 2-4 pages to “How do we fix Kitty?”

Also, I get that it is his catch phrase, but can we put a hold on the “Imperius Rex” stuff with Namor. It just comes off as cheesy for the king of the seas to have a catch phrase that doesn’t have any meaning. You want him to come off as regal and elite? Get rid of the catch phrase. The Thing and Wolverine have catch phrases. Namor doesn’t need one especially when it wastes several panels per comic usually where we get a close up of his smug face exclaiming it.

The Verdict

This is looking like the launching point for a great story arc revolving around Colossus and it is good to see the Breakworlders returning to the comics. The dialogue is very well written and helps keep the comic light and enjoyable even though here go the X-Men saving the Earth from an unimaginable threat once again.

I wish they would wrap up the entire Kitty Pryde intangibility problem though because it is just becoming redundant at this point. Aside from this, Uncanny X-Men #535 is a great read with a perfect balance of action and plot development. Add in this is the start of a new arc and it is a good time to get back into things if you’ve fallen off the X-wagon recently.