This week’s capsule reviews cover Amazing Spider-Man #598, New Avengers #54, The Last Days of Animal Man #2, X-Factor #45 and X-Force #16

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This review is virtually impossible to write, due to a curious quality which books written this decade by Chris Claremont possess. Pick up any single issue, and you’re sure to be impressed, with a story central plot, well-judged characterisation and a near instinctive understanding for the medium. Read them for more then three months, however, and elements of style, together with the external façade of conservatism that appears no matter how radical the long-term gameplan, and you’ll soon become disenchanted with the insistence on retaining the dayglow trappings of the early eighties. It’s this curious habit that has seen the opening of ever one of the writer’s recent ventures, from his multiple returns to Uncanny together with side projects, all hailed as returns to form, only for interest to subsequently wane.  For what it’s worth then, the first issue of X-Men Forever is another thoroughly entertaining “return to form”, with a paradoxically refreshing twist.

Working to track down the fugitive Fabian Cortez, the X-Men find themselves in an unexpectedly tough fight, but the biggest challenge they face could well be the teams’ “elephant in the corner” finally rearing its head. This isn’t quite the hypothetical setting of X-Men (Legacy) #4 that we were promised, but the introductions of Nightcrawler and Claremont’s pet character Shadowcat to the action don’t detract from a tone very familiar to fans of the early nineties X-Men cartoon. When looking at the reissue of X-Men #1-3, James talked about how this series introduced him to comics as a whole, and my backstory is utterly identical: while the Hidden Years and First Class series have left me cold, this effortlessly pushes my nostalgia buttons, making an objective look at the issue even more difficult.

The only part of the old-school feel which grates is Claremont’s determination to reintroduce each character’s powers ever time the appear on panel, but otherwise the character-based interactions of these old favourites overcomes the straightforward nature of the story, creating an issue that doesn’t feel even slightly decompressed. What distinguishes this miniseries from the likes of eXiles is that the writer is given absolute control over his cast of big guns, but being forced to pad out the team with lesser figures or resort to alternative universe iterations. ‘Forever’ is an extremely long time, but I’m certainly looking forward to having this book around for the next few months.

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