Dex's Comic Awareness

New X-Men #17
written by Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
pencils and cover by Aaron Lopresti

Weir and DeFilippis have really honed their writing skills and it really saddens me that they'll be leaving right when they really seem to be getting a hang of the book. This issue continues the growing secret around the importance of Noriko and Project Genesis. We learn that Sunfire took Noriko away from her real father to raise her as his own. We also learn that Sunfire is plotting against Magneto in the Black Panther book. So I think Project Genesis is a tool to fight Magneto, which would explain why SHIELD doesn't know about it and sent a team to find out about it.

The SHIELD team itself is setting itself up to be the bad guys. And plenty of characters are showing themselves to be shades of gray. Josh and Kevin are torture interrogators for SHIELD, Laurie is an evil bitch working for her father, and Sophie of the Cuckoo Sisters is a good guy. The rest of the characters have broken off into two opposing teams just like in the original Marvel U. It's still David versus Hellion. I hope we get to see them really duke it out.

The fighting is pretty good and clear. I especially liked Magik's use of her powers. I really am impressed with Weir’s lack of fear in having people die. They are actually letting the characters kill people! So much more realistic than say, Mutopia X where it is supposed to be the gritty one. And the plot is full of enough twists as we learn that Moonstar wanted Noriko to try and find her father.

The bad things were small and easily overlooked. Things like Kevin wearing a space suit? Why? And Sooraya and Jubilee dressing like twinkies rings untrue. Two fashion minded girls wouldn't dress like that unless it was a costume. All minor details to be sure.

This tie-in looks like it might actually matter. I'm so forlorn over Weir and DeFilippis leaving because this book is really unique for Marvel. It's fun and intelligent and I fear we are just going to get more of the same with the new team.

Rating - Good

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New X-Men #16
written by Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
pencils and cover by Aaron Lopresti

*Update* Yeah, shows how good I'm doing when I just find out that they are dropping Weir and DeFilippis after House of M. Evidently the entire storyline before this might have to be wrapped up by someone else. A bummer really because for all their mistakes, I really liked where Weir and DeFilippis was taking the book. Oh well. It's not canceled, just new creative team.

This begins the New X-Men's tie-in to the House of M. Instead of one school, we have two. One is headed by Shan and is a leadership, scholarly school while the other is a Junior SHIELD program headed by Dani Moonstar. This is good take on the characters and gives us a enough changes to make it more than interesting. Dani is a bitch and her and Shan are at odds. Each person's change is within reason and some, like Sofia's, make sense. Jubilee and Sooraya's apathetic personalities that seem to care more about the mall than they do school may ring true in a sense, but it's a little unbelievable that a girl from Afghanistan, Sooraya, in the normal reality is in New York in this one.

The opening scene of Sapien terrorism is better executed than Mutopia X's but it's nothing spectacular or anything. The idea of the terrorists being suicide bombers is a lot more realistic than Mutopia X's men and women with lasers. Weir and DeFilippis did a nice job by having some of the bombers kill themselves, but the fact that no kids were hurt was a little goofy. The attack didn't really have an impact because the rescue was so squeaky clean.

The best part of this comic, as it always has been, was the character interactions between the many kids. David and Noriko are secret lovers and Laurie and Sofia hate each other. In a world of mutant superiority, her mutant father would be welcomed and her mother would be looked down upon. With her father being an asshole, Laurie would become a daddy's girl, little bitch. That is the exact opposite of the impoverished nature of Sofia's family where her parents could care less about her so she becomes bitter here.

It's nice to see some dead characters return, Magik and the rest of the Cuckoos, as well as seeing some limbo characters like Synch and Quentin Mire. The whole thing comes off well and is one of the better tie-ins yet. Lopresti's art is as good as always, I just love the way he does hair. Yeah...I said it.

Despite some campy suicide bombers, this is a good tie-in. Despite it being a good comic though, it doesn't really impact the main story. It's not necessary to buy this one at all for the normal House of M to make any sense. But I do like matching uniforms on my superheroes, Mmmmm...coordinated goodness.

Rating - Good