Much like Spider-Man the X-Men have gotten a new start although in their case there was no deal with the devil and memory erasing, thank God. What the X-Men do have is a new home town and base of operations. So much for accessibility issues, take that Robert Kirkman.
Like in the previous issue we see the X-Men getting adjusted to their new situation in San Francisco, but this issue is not entirely set up for the new status quo things are starting to pick up. Fraction starts us off right where one of the epilogues in issue 500 left us with Pixie leaving a concert with some thugs from the Hellfire Cult right behind her. We see some action here, but I think the best is yet to come from that situation especially after the light that was shed on the Hellfire Cult in this issue. Aside from the Pixie situation the issue is mostly dominated by quick light-hearted character moments which provide some laughs; each character also received a small introduction box and these also provided some laughs as well as useful information for new readers. The exception to the full on light-heartedness is a nicely done exchange between Emma and Scott which hints towards the possibility of some interesting developments in the future. I am grateful that Fraction and Brubaker are trying to make this title fun again and so far they have been successful. A far from perfect issue but I am confident that in time this book will be great.
Apparently a lot of people really hate Greg Land's artwork, but I am not one of them. Even though I have always been more concerned with the writing bad art can still take some of the enjoyment out of a book for me. Land's art does not come close to doing that.
Captain America #41
Let me start by saying that Steve Epting rules. Normally I do not care much about art unless it is so bad that it distracts me, but Epting's work on Captain America is too good to simply mention in passing. Brubaker is about to wrap up a story for the ages and of course you have to give him all the credit in the world, but it sure does not hurt having a guy like Epting turn your ideas into images.
As I said the Death of Captain America epic is finally about to come to an end next month so this is the penultimate issue and like almost all the others it does not disappoint. Most of the major developments in this issue have to do with the bad guys, and who could possibly be upset about that considering how well Brubaker has crafted this rogue's gallery over the past fourty issues. Hopefully the end of this story next month does not mean that these guys will be sitting on the shelf for an extending period of time.
After slowly, at times too slowly at least for my tastes, moving along this grand storyline Brubaker has things ready to boil over and explode next month and I can not remember the last time I was so excited and eager for an issue to hit.
Scalped #20
If they decide to give out an award for "Most Depressing Single Issue" at the Eisner's next year Scalped #20 is a goddamn shoe in. This issue up out the two issue arc centered around Red Crow's daughter Carol and her relationship with our favorite undercover reservation police officer Bad Horse. We get to see how the cliffhanger from last issue finishes out. Depressing. Then we catch a glimpse of the start of one of Carol's many dangerous habits. Depressing. Meanwhile in the present Dash has to deal with even more aftermath from the tragic death of Shelton. Depressing. Sense a pattern yet?
Kudos to Jason Aaron for making me care this much about his characters. In addition to that "Most Depressing Single Issue" award which may or may not come to pass, Scalped has got to be at the top of the list for "Best Ongoing Title". I have noticed a lot of people lump DMZ and Scalped together when they talk about the current Vertigo titles, but Scalped is truly in a league of its own leaps and bounds above DMZ and the rest of Vertigo's roster.
The sketchy art style of this issue is fine with me aside from a few close ups of characters' faces which just looked weird. However, at other times, thankfully in the more important panels, the same person looks a hundred times better. Regardless of how one feels about the sketchy art style of Furno and the few miscues mentioned above I hope all can agree that he perfectly captured the emotions Aaron was trying to get across with this issue. Many of the more poignant scenes in the issue feature almost no text leaving Furno all on his own, and he knocked them out of the park especially in the last few pages.
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