X-Men (2010 Series) #7

February 20, 2011

Title: To Serve and Protect Part One
Writer: Victor Gishler
Pencils: Chris Bachalo
Inks: Tim Townsend
Colorist: Chris Bachalo
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover: Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson
Editors: Daniel Ketchum & Axel Alonso
Publisher: Marvel Comics

The next arc of X-Men kicks off with the X-Men deciding to branch out and become more public in their roles as superheroes. To help facilitate this, as Angel, Iceman and Pixie are busy cleaning up San Francisco, Cyclops leads a team back to New York to hunt for a monster in the sewers – a monster that has previously run afoul of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Victor Gishler is giving me really the only thing I want in an X-Men comic. While most of the other books are spending their time in incestuous crossovers and plotlines that get so complicated that you pretty much need a PhD in X-Menology to understand what’s going on, this title is giving us a very straightforward superhero story with an unorthodox group of heroes, and he’s using the entire Marvel universe as his playground. Guest stars like Spider-Man in this arc, and Blade and Namor in the previous one, help us feel like the book is part of a greater community, while the avoidance of mutant enemies does the same thing. That’s not to say that this book will never touch on the greater X-Men universe, but as long as it remains largely self-contained, it’s giving me what I want.

It also helps that Gishler is a witty writer, one that can keep the book lighthearted while still exciting, and best of all, he writes Cyclops as a leader instead of a chump, something that even Wolverine has to accept in this issue. Hell, Gishler can even use Gambit in the story without making me hate him. Do you have any idea how rare that is?

The cover, by the Dodsons, is a great, clean rendition of our heroes, and Chris Bachalo’s interiors are a lot better than he did back in the 90s. It’s funny – he was the hot new thing back then, but I find I like his artwork a lot more now.

I’m really enjoying this title.

Rating: 8/10

X-Men (2010 Series) #2

August 27, 2010

Title: Curse of the Mutants Part Two

Writer: Victor Gishler
Penciler: Paco Medina
Inker: Juan Vlasco
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover: Adi Granov
Associate Editor: Daniel Ketchum
Executive Editor: Axel Alonso
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Last issue, the vampires set off a bomb in San Francisco that’s turning people – including former X-Man Jubilee, into vampires. As Wolverine and Colossus set out to find none other than Dracula himself, they find an ally in the Marvel Universe’s most accomplished vampire slayer – Blade.

This is the title that’s supposed to mix in the X-Men with the rest of the Marvel Universe, and so far Victor Gishler is pulling that off with aplomb. Blade’s participation in this issue feels very natural and unforced, and just the fact that the vampire legions are the Big Bad here takes this storyline quite a distance outside of the X-Men’s usual wheelhouse. Gishler also seems to be doing a bit of a Dracula homage, substituting Jubilee for Lucy Westenra (which will probably upset some readers, considering how Lucy’s personal story arc ended up). “X-Men versus Vampires,” just as a concept, sounds kind of hokey, but Gishler is pulling it off.

Paco Medina is working pretty well as the artist here. His style is a perfect fit for the X-Men characters, and although the pages wouldn’t necessarily stand up as a horror comic like you’d usually find the vamps in, he’s still doing a solid job with them. Adi Granov gives us a nice cover of Blade versus – well… blades. It’s a nice piece of art, but it is fairly generic, which is my only complaint about it. I’m liking what Gishler and company are doing here.

Rating: 7/10