Dex's Comic Awareness

Mutopia X #3(of 5)
written by David Hine
pencils by Lan Medina
cover by Andy Park

This comic does get better, but it still can't quite get all of the pieces to fit together. Some things Hine does well and some things are just dumb.

The opening scene is a good example of the good and bad of the issue. The crazy human terrorist has a real gun and fires off a round at Ortega. She gets wasted and they are good enough to not chicken out but to show her full of holes. The fact that Bishop catches the bullet in his hand, to save Ortega, seems pretty lame to me. Not cause Bishop's powers don't relate to normal guns issue, but because he CAUGHT A BULLET WITH HIS HAND! Is he Superman now? And then to make it more confusing the main human terrorist has a laser gun? Whatever.

The whole plot is extremely convenient and doesn't seem natural at all. Kaufman catches the main human terrorist before the cops can and then takes her back to his lair to convince her to kill Ortega, or maybe Hine will surprise me by not being so obvious and have her go after someone else like Ortega's daughter. But let's not hold our breath waiting for Hine to be original. You see the terrorist wants to kill Ortega already and her words about not killing humans ring untrue.

The best scenes in the comic are the ones with Ortega and his wife. The dialogue for them is good and natural. Hine does get adultery down well at least.

The whole issue is so different than the first two. This one has gore and realistically graphic scenes that the first issue missed in its fight scenes. Why are they suddenly here now? And I really can't find myself to care about any of this because none of it's real because this is all House of M reality. This comic is just for those who were reading District X and wanted some kind of closure with the characters.

Rating - Mediocre

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Mutopia X #2(of 5)
written by David Hine
pencils by Lan Medina
cover by Andy Park

Now we get the fallout of last issue: Kaufman rants about his image being tarnished, Lara and Ismael's secret relationship, and the growing relationship between Ismael and Bishop. Kaufman egotistically demands that the head terrorist die because she made him look bad and NOT because she tried to killed him. His ranting definitely makes him look gross and demented but evil doesn't come to mind, just petty.

Lara and Ismael's affair is odd in that Ismael seems to have all that he wants. At least we get a glimpse of some marriage problems here as Ismael and his wife argue about their kids and Ismael seems sexually frustrated. But it's hardly portrayed as a bad marriage. Ismael just comes off as a childish brat. But rarely are affairs not selfish in nature. Lara's attraction to Ismael seems thin and isn't really ever explored. Kaufman finds out and has Ismael beaten up but he just destroys Lara's stuff rather than hurt her.

Ismael's kids are looked at in depth here as we find out that only his son is a mutant while his daughter may not be one. He take's his daughter to Mr. Mercator to be turned into a mutant. A cult like religion has grown up around him and Gregor. Other characters from District X are here as members. Ismael throws a fit when Mr. Mercator talks about his daughter becoming a mutant. His fight with his wife about it only adds to his childish nature. His hyper-sensitivity to the issue comes off well but I'm not sure if they meant for me to dislike the main character. The obvious allusions to modern racial issues permeate the whole thing. The two issues of racial/species friction and the affair are handled well after you accept the thin reasons for them in the first place.

Bishop on the other hand is relegated to even more of a side character as we only get a small glimpse of him blowing up some walls. Hine doesn't do action well. His bad guys are all pathetic and utterly campy. I could nitpick the panel of an rpg busting through glass and not blowing up, but let me focus on the fact that these terrorists give up after Bishop blows a single hole in the wall. First they were suicide bombers, then they ineptly attacked Kaufman and failed, and now they give up at the first sign of resistance. Wouldn't the terrorists who are fighting a mutant government expect some heavy firepower? God the terrorists plot thread should just be dropped but then the whole pretense of an action comic would be gone. That's all it is: a small acknowledgement that "yes, they are cops."

This is an improvement over issue one but it still can't seem to pull everything together convincingly. Medina's art is sloppy at times and the inking is distracting in it's habit of making some panels feel like night when it's supposed to be day outside. The fact that none of these characters, minus Bishop, is probably going to be seen after this mini-series begs the question of why it exists at all.

Rating - Poor

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Mutopia X #1(of 5)
written by David Hine
pencils by Lan Medina
cover by Andy Park

This is the House of M version of District X, a book I don't normally read. So it was with a little reservation that I decided to pick the first of five in this limited series tie-in. It was better than I expected but worse than I hoped for.

The story is like the rest of the House of M tie-ins: what would it be like if mutants were dominant? This aspect of the story was the enjoyable part for me. Seeing the police department putting Ismael Ortega on the normally all mutant squad for PR reasons was believable and done without being trite. And seeing the mutant cops use their powers for non lethal things like protecting the singer in the beginning was also nice to see.

The clichéd villains, Daniel Kaufman and a stereotypical "Mutant hating terrorist," were nothing great but maybe they can make it interesting by doing something new with them, like maybe tying Kaufman directly to Magneto as a pawn? Not likely but we'll see. The Marilyn Monroe look a like on the cover is his Kaufman's wife. Her power to look like any celebrity isn't particularly new but they make it fresh enough to not get boring. No, the boring part came in when the "terrorists" trying to kill Kaufman at a movie premiere. They used laser guns when bullets could have killed all their targets and they somehow they got at least ten individuals right up to the red carpet, all armed. That’s pretty weak and uncreative writing. I wonder if Hine is forced to make them carry lasers just so Bishop can use his absorbing powers. Either these terrorists are idiots or none of them watch a television as the head of the mutant task force being able to absorb lasers would seem like pretty standard information to gather BEFORE the strike. Whatever, that's typical of the "terrorists" they use in the X books.

The rapper who was obviously modeled somewhat after Eminem was ok. I really groaned upon seeing it as it's a natural law of physics that comic book writers can't portray rappers without seeming REALLY white, but it actually wasn't that bad. It wasn't great by any measure but it was forgettable and therefore forgivable.

I'd only pick this up if you REALLY wanted all the House of M tie-ins. Otherwise, leave this one for the District X fans.

Rating - Poor