Uncanny X-Men #492, X-Factor #25, New X-Men #44 & X-Men #205
Writers: Ed Brubaker, Peter David, Craig Kyle & Chris Yost, Mike Carey
Artists: Philip Tan, Scot Eaton, Humberto Ramos, Chris Bachalo
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price $2.99
Last month I took a look at Part 1 of Marvels X-tastic X-over Messiah Complex. While not a mind blowing issue by any means, it was a competent introduction to a fairly complex and continuity heavy story, with some nice art and a great sense of nostalgia. This month I’m back to continue our coverage with a review of the next 4 parts of this paradigm shifting event…
Part 2 sees Ed Brubaker pick up pretty much where he left off at the end of part 1. We get a very brief recap presented as newscast and then we’re straight in. The team here is also much the same as part 1, which is good as Brubaker has a fairly good grasp of them, particularly Scott, Emma and Xavier. Much of this issue is taken up establishing the new leadership status quo. Following the events of Deadly Genesis Scott’s trust in the Professor has been much reduced, which together with Xavier’s absence in the Shi’ar arc, has pushed Scott to be a stronger, more confident, a role he has found easier due to the strong back up that Emma provides. This issue sees Scott finally vocalise this to Xavier, essentially telling him to butt out and leave him to do what he does best. Brubaker is never as great on team books as he is on solo stories, but he’s great at personal conflict and he does a grand job of handling this showdown and the resulting emotional fall out for the characters of Scott and Xavier.
The rest of the issue is taken up moving the overall plot of the cross over along. In the ubiquitous fight scene the rest of the team chase up leads on the location of Sinister, members of X-factor are brought in to the mansion by Scott to help in specific roles, incidentally Brubaker writes a great Layla but then everyone does, and the last page sees Predator X showing up just to, you know, remind us we care about it for some reason. Throughout, the art by Tan is actually very good in my opinion. The lines are clean, a lot of the facial expressions are spot on in terms of conveying the emotion of the characters and Miki/Martinez’ inks together with D’Armata’s colours really bring out the best in his work. Despite the talent involved, the issue was once again nothing mind blowing, and it seems Brubaker is cursed to just moving the story along in his issues, which is a shame because he’s worth more than that and in parts of this issue his talents really shine.
Part 3 sees the baton passed to the capable hands of Peter David. Blessedly David is allowed to stick to his favoured X-Factor characters here, I say blessedly not because David isn’t capable of dealing with the other X-men but because hopefully if he gets the lions share of the X-factor crew no one else will get to ruin them. Plot wise this issue is split two ways, in one part we follow Layla and Jamie as they visit Forge while in the other we follow Rictor undercover with the Purifiers. There isn’t much to say about this issue to be honest, apart from a couple of pages set aside for a brief conversation between the New X-men and Scott which serves as set up for part 4, it reads exactly like an X-Factor issue, which is to be honest no bad thing at all given that X-Factor is great. Scott Eaton’s art is something I find it difficult to get excited about, but it’s detailed, it tells the story well and as always D’Armata’s art only embellishes the linework.
Part 4 was a bit of a new experience for me, I don’t think I’ve picked up an issue of New X-Men since issue 12 or there abouts, so most of the writers and most of the team were completely unknown to me. As the story begins to pad out, the writers are having to cover more ground and, unlike Peter David, Kyle and Yost have to deal with more than their own characters here. This issue is split about 50:50 between the New X-Men kids and maintaining the other on-going plots. To that end we get a couple of pages each for catching up with the X-Men as they finally chase down Sinister, seeing Layla and Jamie trapped on a future earth, being reminded Predator X exists and that we care that he does, and finally we pop in on Rictor undercover with the Purifiers. The rest of the issue sees Kyle and Yost play with there own characters as the New X-Men decide to defy Scott’s orders and Xavier’s advice by going after the Purifers themselves. The eventual showdown with the purifiers allows Rictor’s storyline to re-join that of the main X group and also provides and entry point for another classic X villain. I can’t say that this issue really did much for me. The writing has a rather young and teen soap kind of slant, which I guess is the point but wasn’t for me, and the fact none of the characters are even vaguely familiar to me meant it was really quite hard for me to engage with them. The saving grace however was Ramos’ art. I know some people hate it, and admittedly it is stylised, but damn it just jumps of the page.
This months final chapter sees Mike Carey take the reigns, and also thankfully sees some kind of forward momentum begin to take hold. Most of this issue is concerned with the main X team as they finally showdown with Sinister and his marauders, although we also get a single page catch up with Jamie and Layla, and couple of pages that provide a resolution to the New X-Men face off with the Purifiers. Of all the chapters so far this is by far the most engaging with respect to the overall story arc, we get to see the field team in action, we get to see Scott in his role as leader and we finally find out who has the new mutant baby. There’s a lot more confidence in the story telling in this issue, which suggests that most of the drive for the whole event has come from Carey, and after 4 issues of things just meandering along it finally seems to be heating up now. Bachalo’s art is, for me, incredibly confusing. The quieter scenes you can just about follow, but the fight scenes are just total chaos with almost no sense of progression or sequential story telling. I realise a lot of people love Bachalo’s work, and for them this will be a dream given the number of iconic characters involved, but for me it just doesn’t benefit the story at all.
So far Messiah Complex has been a bit of a slow burn. It’s taken 5 issues of various books to get not terribly far. A lot of this could have been compressed or done away with. The New X-Men, Purifiers and particularly Predator X are adding almost nothing to the event in my opinion, although with 8 chapters left they may yet play an important role. I’m still enjoying Finch’s covers and the presentation of the whole thing, and the decision to allow each author to focus primarily on their own characters, with only a few pages put aside to keep the other storylines active, was a good one. It means no one issue feels too busy, and that there is at least some progression for one group of characters each time, however slow that progression might be. So far I’ve found Messiah Complex competent but uninspiring. So far it’s been same old same old really, but after Carey’s issue injected some much needed momentum you get the feeling that we are at least building to something. The journey however is taking a bit too long, so whatever is at the end of it had better be worth the wait…
Having recently finished a PhD in Immunology Ross is currently working for a UK biotech company. He lives in Cambridge where he reads comics, spends too much money on music and attempts to learn Portuguese. He owns at least 7 lightsabers, yet still manages to have a very attractive girlfriend who he misses very much, thus proving anything really is possible.