After ten issues of breakneck plotting, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost finally give X-Force a break, as they fill in the backstory for the one original threat they’ve added to the hotchpotch of influences from the franchise’s history. With Warpath having been conveniently presented with a vision of Eli Bard’s origins courtesy of the Demon Bear, here he narrates to the majority of the cast the origins of the opposition, courtesy of guest artist Alina Urusov. Although the team’s initial mission statement was a pro-active hunting of threats to mutantkind, Bard’s tale is more in keeping with what’s become actual theme of the book- the difficulty in burying the past.

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What at first glance looks like a screaming unoriginal continuity fest is in fact a much more curious beast, bordering on self-parody. Both of the book’s antagonists, Bastion and Bard, have the power to resurrect any X-character they choose as a zombie-fied shell, providing a very challenging metaphor for some of the franchise’s more creatively challenged moments. There’s something distinctly cheeky in this book’s acknowledgment of its true nature. In story terms, it’s X-Force’s willingness to dive in and deal with these problems that allows the regular X-Men to adopt their more pro-active and open approach to mutant relations. In terms of the franchise, this book caters for continuity-starved fanboys, keeping the franchise’s loyal followers in check while Ellis and Fraction break new ground. However, the writers’ refusal to simply rehash old plots turns this book into more than a mere nostalgia piece. The creations salvaged from the depths by Kyle and Yost invariably have something to fresh contribute, and the book’s infamous long-term perspective is a refreshing contract to the two-year amnesia found in most comics franchises.

After nearly a year’s worth of stories, X-Force resembles the initial expectations of the title- Childhood’s End with teeth. The only concern remaining is whether the writers can sustain the juggling act they’ve set themselves. Their previous X-book enjoyed a wonderfully sustained set of plots, but were dealt with in a linear sequence. The Purifier offensive lead to the resurrection of Nimrod and the creation of Predator X. Here, there are a sea of storylines, with Bastion’s undead cohorts fighting with Eli and Selene for the book’s attention. With Cable and Stryfe just around the corner, there’s a risk that the book could end up either suffocating under the weigh of its own plotting or denying its characters the development which they’ve so far enjoyed, particularly if it achieves the length of run merited by its quality to date.

You may recall that the function of Amazing Spider-Man Extra #1 was to plug some continuity gaps in a rather half-arsed way – indeed, one of the stories from #1 takes place at a point in continuity that, six months since it was published, still hasn’t yet arrived for readers. The series itself is now about the become the de facto “second” spider-title on a bi-monthly release schedule, so if it wants fans to actually buy it, we need two things from this issue: good stories, and a compelling reason why they couldn’t be told in the main series, neither of which we got with the first issue’s page-filling offcuts.

Shockingly, this issue manages to turn that around and provide both.

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The opening piece is an Anti-Venom solo story by Dan Slott and Chris Bachalo. Although it doesn’t feature Spider-Man at all, it maintains a strong focus on a recently-developed corner of the spider-verse: the FEAST shelter, and new villain Mr. Negative. While the material attempts to concentrate mostly on Brock’s new status quo as a kind of homeless-rescuing Venom-like hero/monster, it’s not half as interesting as the few scenes we get that show what Martin “Mr. Negative” Li might actually be up to, and his plans for all those refugees that Oscorp was experimenting on. It’s a nice trick, delivering this valuable (if non-essential) information to readers in a side-story, and whether or not you particularly enjoy the way Brock’s lot has been recast, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t a well-constructed short with something to offer both regular and infrequent readers.

By contrast, the second feature, showing Wolverine and Spider-Man heading out to a bar, is utterly throwaway in terms of continuity, instead offering a fantastic character piece that neatly defines the relationship between the two heroes. Surprisingly, Wells even manages to out-perform Slott in the humour department, offering some decent comedy of the kind that Wolverine and Spider-Man together can’t help but generate. Even better, Wells also contrasts that with some genuine emotion that manages to cast Wolverine in a sympathetic light. It’s better than any of the multitudinous Wolverine one-shots that Marvel has flooded the shelves with over the last year, and it’s one of the best things I’ve read from Wells in ages to boot. Paulo Rivera’s artwork certainly doesn’t hurt either.

It’s unexpected, but Amazing Spider-Man Extra #2 actually convinces me that the series might be worth sticking with after all. Neither story would work in the main title – the former because it doesn’t feature Peter at all, and the latter because it’s not a 22-page story, however you stretch it. Strangely, by jamming the two together in this special, Marvel have ensured that they both complement Peter’s world perfectly. If future issues stick to the formula set down by this one, well, I’ll be glad to buy it.

Well, okay. If you’ve hated the series so far – and there are many, many readers out there who’ve done just that – you’re going to hate this. But if in the previous six issues you saw increasing hints that there was something worth paying attention to in it; that you were kept reading by the fact that Morrison is still capable of awe-inspiring ideas and moments, and you were finally gripped by the story at some point during issue #5 or #6 then there’s a chance – not a huge chance, admittedly, but a chance – that you might love it.

I loved it. Absolutely and completely.

Alright, look. Final Crisis, if it needed repeating, has pretty much been a failure as a summer event story. The format was entirely unsuited to what Morrison was trying to do, the pre-publicity promises he had to make in order to whip up enthusiasm among the fanboy community never stood a hope of matching their expectations. Doubts remain, therefore, over his ability to write this sort of blockbuster – probably one of the few things in comics that he hasn’t mastered. But I tell you what, for someone who can’t do blockbuster events and can’t always do endings, this is one hell of an ending to a blockbuster event.

It’s frustrating, of course, because you realise just how little of what went on in the first four issues actually mattered. A number of subplots could have been stripped out of the series entirely and left it none the poorer – because what makes this issue work isn’t its culmination of an intricately structured set of story layers (although, that said, the single-page culmination of an entirely different download eagle eye free comic’s intricately structured set of story layers is one of the things that people will be talking about the most – and it pretty much confirms that Morrison is in no way finished with this particular character). What makes it work is that the scope is absolutely massive, characters everywhere get to have their triumphant moments (in the “punch the air” stakes, it comes close to matching Captain Britain and MI:13), and it has all the satisfying epic resonance that the likes of Infinite Crisis lacked. The gathering of an entire multiverse’s army of Supermen is exactly the sort of huge ending that this type of story should be doing.

There are ideas and moments that I want to sit here and list, but to say too much would give away things that are a joy to discover as they happen. Then again, I can’t help myself, so I’ll try and be as vague as I can : a one-panel appearance by someone you’d never

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expect to see in the DCU. Another perfect Lex Luthor moment (”Not a single word, Superman”). The human race in ice-cube trays. Firing the bullet into the past. The Black Racer. The way the Flashes talk. The heart-rending failure of the Black Gambit. “Darkseid always hated music”. Captain bloody Carrot. Superman’s wish. That

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final page. If you’d spread the contents of this issue over the course of a seven-part series, then it’d be up there with Crisis on Infinite Earths. The sheer amount of quality material packed in even makes up for those parts that still seem superfluous.

Some will complain about the ending of the story, given that it doesn’t appear to have had the massive, DCU-shaking ramifications that many expected. To be honest, though, if the most we can hope for is a resolution of the garbled, confusing mess about the status of the multiverse that has hung over the last half-decade of DC stories, and finally be done with the bloody Monitors once and for all (honestly, who thought that a group of characters that were a cross between Uatu and the Time Lords would be a good idea?), then the story has already served its purpose. Others will complain about the structure, given that it jumps around in time and narrative with no real explanation – but it’s really not as difficult to follow as some early messageboard commenters and bloggers would have you believe. If you’re one to actually pay attention to narration (and of the interweaving multiple narrations and perspectives, it’s Lois Lane’s that drives the story in a truly elegant way, especially in the first half of the issue), and you can cope with non-linear storytelling – and don’t mind reading things more than once – it’s hardly a struggle.

Of course, as far as critical opinion on the book goes, I know I’m fighting the current rather than following it. On the whole, Final Crisis was a disappointment. There’s no denying that. And structurally, the entire thing was a mess. Readers who persisted in the belief that they only had to read the core series have been downright cheated by the fact that Superman Beyond’s one major carry-over is a character who turns out to be the “final” threat that the Supermen and the Green Lanterns have gathered to face. If you haven’t read that story, thinking it was a throwaway “this is what happened to Superman while he was gone” type affair – and at $4.50 an issue, you couldn’t be blamed for ignoring it – then you will be genuinely baffled by Mandrakk’s appearance. It’s deeply unfair, and it almost casts a nasty shadow across the whole thing.

free extreme ops movie download But. For all the problems with the structure, the delays, the change in artists (and hey, Mahnke does a decent job here, even if some of the panels are, like in #6, too small for what they’re trying to convey. It’s amazing what a difference having a consistent artist makes, though), and the fact that it went a good four issues before making clear just what was going on, I honestly feel that the way in which it’s managed to come good at the end – and it really has done that – almost makes the whole thing worthwhile. After all, this issue thrilled, entertained and gripped me more than almost any other in-universe superhero title I’ve read in quite some time. And in the end, what more can you ask of a comic?

This week’s issue of X-Factor marks the beginning of a concerted effort by Peter David to elevate his mutant detective agency into a “must read” monthly title, with the writer promising shocking revelations with each issue. Whilst arguably a run of in-house ads for the book featuring the face of former penciller Larry Stroman and the words “It’s okay. He’s gone now.” might have been the obvious way of raising sales, the writer duly delivers a radical shake-up for the team, but the awkward halfway-house nature of the plot development means that it falls a little flat.

For the first half of the book, there’s nothing unexpected in terms of plot, with the story following the tribulations of Madrox and Siryn as the latter gives birth to their child. With the rest of the team sat in the hospital’s waiting area, this issue is very much focussed on this pair, interspersed by brief cameos. Given the brilliant large-scale character interactions which initially characterised the book, this is a slight disappointment, but perhaps understandable given the situation and the fact that neither Longshot or Darwin have come close to replacing the much-missed Wolfsbane and Layla Miller in the book. X-Factor has always really been Madrox’s title, and the reader shares his uncertainty and joy at events. A valuable contribution is made by Valentine De Landro, who effortlessly sets the mood for each scene despite the constraints of setting. There’s no mistaking the varying atmosphere in each of the hospital’s wards, despite the similarity of décor.

David has gone to the lengths of including a plea in the issue’s recap page for readers not to spoiler the twist in the tale. While there’s no reason not to respect his wishes, readers who pick up the issue looking to be shocked rather than to experience a beautifully written down-at-heel team book are likely to be disappointed. The over tagline “The Future of Mutantkind?” is frankly disingenuous, with the story’s revelation having nothing to do with the wider X-Men franchise. Although the events here may well come to define the two characters directly affected by them, the reader is left under whelmed due to the semi-trailed nature of the story. With hindsight it’s possible to see the links which have lead up to this moment, stretching all the way back to issue eight, but they are too few and far between for the event to have been part of a genuine plan. Little moments such as Madrox’s conversation with his religious duplicate serve to deaden the impact of the issue’s conclusion, depriving it of the impact a truly leftfield development would have enjoyed.download razor s edge the dvd

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And so, with Andy Diggle’s disappointingly brief run at an end, Hellblazer moves into “new writer” territory once again. I must admit to being surprised to discover in this month’s editorial that Peter Milligan had never written Constantine before his story in the previous issue’s Christmas anthology – perhaps I’m just getting confused by virtue of his having briefly written Animal Man, or something – but he slips into the character like a glove, with dialogue and character tics present and correct.

Story-wise it’s not hugely engrossing at this point, to be honest – although after two hundred and fifty issues, you do start to wonder just how many stories along the pattern of “Constantine investigates some weird creepy magical goings-on that also have some kind of connection to himself” are really left to do. The dual meaning of the arc’s title – “Scab” – is played up to, although to be honest it’s just as discernible from that excellent cover – and kudos points are also due (in my book, at least) for setting the opening couple of pages in Liverpool (although it’s weird seeing the place appear in Hellblazer in a way not immediately directly connected to John himself).

The most intriguing aspect of the run’s opening salvo for now, though, is the apparent setting of a new status quo. It feels a bit like winding the clock back – this Constantine isn’t as weary and haggard as he was over the closing stages of Carey’s run and for much of Diggle’s. There’s no real sense that this follows on directly from the previous run and the character changes that went on – rather, this could just as easily be taking place at any point in the character’s life (post-Ennis, anyway, due to the mention of Kit), particularly given how young he seems, both as written (a bit more carefree than previously) and drawn (looking more early thirties than the early-to-mid forties he really should be by now). What makes the setup interesting, though, is the sudden appearance of a new love interest – without explanation, Phoebe seems to be a bigger part of John’s life than anyone we’ve seen in a while; and while she’s perhaps a bit too much of a “too-good-to-be-true” character at the moment, there’s a nice dynamic going on between the pair.

Giuseppe Camuncoli comes onto art duties, meanwhile, and it’s a fairly solid start with some nice imagery. But he’s on a bit of a hiding to nothing in following the brilliant Leonardo Manco, and the massive shift in style, complete with bright colouring job, is jarring (and, admittedly through no fault of either creator, conjures up memories of Brian Azzarello’s godawful stretch on the title). As I said when he stepped in for a couple of Diggle’s issues, it’s a very Vertigo style, but I’m not sure it’s entirely right for Hellblazer. We’ll see, though. All in all, it’s a fairly solid start – and I’ve enough loyalty to the title to keep buying it so long as the quality never dips below “shite” – but it would be nice to see Milligan take the sort of risks that Diggle showed willingness to do.

The usual weekly capsule reviews, this time of Angel: After the Fall #16, Astonishing X-Men #28, Thunderbolts #128 and X-Men: Manifest Destiny #5 (continue reading…)