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Angel: The Million Dollar Angel/Psylocke & Archangel - Crimson Dawn

featuring Arnold Drake, Roy Thomas and Ben Raab

(Art by Werner Roth, Vinnie Colleta, Sam Grainger, Salvador Larroca, Art Thibert, Sean Parsons and Hack Shack Studios)

Marvel's Mightiest Heroes Book 18.  In the first of these two stories, we learn the backstory of how Warren Worthington III, setting out to be a masked vigilante, first encounters and joins the first class of X-Men.  The second story sees Archangel and Psylocke's relationship put to the test both by the traumatic changes in each of their recent pasts and by the demon Kuragari.

I can't claim that Angel/Archangel was ever one of my favourite X-Men (probably wouldn't even make the Top 20) but the fact that he comes from wealth and privilege, as well as having a mutation which could be considered beautiful and have religious connotations, means that he is at least an interestingly different X-Man.

The first story told here, from the 60s, is pretty straightforward and predictable, following the somewhat tedious Marvel trope of having a hero fight other heroes before eventually, inevitably, joining forces.  That said, I did enjoy Warren's initial determination to be a solo crimefighter, showing his independent streak.

The second story is also a somewhat overfamiliar Marvel trope of 'uninspiring demon villain pops up out of nowhere to claim someone's soul'.  However, what makes it a bit more interesting is the dynamic between the two main characters.  Warren and Betsy have been lovers but find themselves beginning to become estranged by the devastating recent events of their individual histories (Archangel became an evil servant of Apocalypse and was given metal wings, was eventually redeemed and had his organic wings restored, whilst Psylocke almost died at the hands of Sabretooth and was only saved by merging her lifeforce with that of a ruthless ninja warrior - you know, those old chestnuts).  I mean, it doesn't make the story great, but it does add an interesting, albeit lore-heavy, aspect to it.

3 out of 5

Arrow: Volume 1

featuring Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns, Ben Sokolowski, Beth Schwartz, Lana Cho, Wendy Mericle, Mary Iacono, Katherine Walczak, Moira Kirland, Emilio Aldrich, Tiffany Williams and Jake Coburn

(Art by Omar Francia, Mike Grell, Sergio Sandoval, Pol Gas, Jorge Jimenez, Eric Nguyen, Mico Suayan, Julian Totino Tedesco and Xermanico)

Nineteen vignettes tying-in to The CW’s Arrow.  Here we get background stories for characters from the show, unrevealed scenes and expansions of the series’ storylines.

I had one massive problem with this book; I have never seen a single episode of Arrow.  I mean, I also have the problem of never having liked Green Arrow as a character but, from what I gather here, they’ve more or less just changed the character to be Batman anyway.  So, going into this book cold just as a graphic novel and not as a tie-in, it’s not a particularly great experience.  These stories are specifically intended to expand on elements and episodes of the show and have very limited narratives of their own.  (Some people may ask "Why read a tie-in to a show you haven't watched?" and to those people I would say; "Shut up!").

I’ll give the book credit for engaging me more than I expected given the circumstances but I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who, like me, isn’t already invested in the show.  If you are, then maybe this will give you some valuable insight.

2 out of 5

Astonishing X-Men: Exalted

featuring Greg Pak and Warren Ellis

(Art by Mike McKone and Adi Granov)

Book 9.  Two stories.  In the first, following a schism among the X-Men, Cyclops finds himself pulled into a parallel world where a mutant calling himself Savior is draining the energy from mutants stolen from alternate Earths.  In the second we see another alternate Earth where Emma Pryde leads a gang of adventuring detectives.

The 'hero finds themselves in an alternate world' trope is one of the oldest and most overdone cliches in all of comic-bookdom.  It's always interesting to see alternate versions of familiar characters, but the concept itself has been done to death.  Honestly, the only truly original element to the main story here is how it explores the morally grey areas that Cyclops has been drifting into, showing that his path is somewhat darker than most alternate versions of Scott Summers.

The second story is a short and, honestly, pointless affair that serves little more than to show the world of the X-Men with a steampunk aesthetic.

2 out of 5

Astonishing X-Men: Monstrous

featuring Daniel Way, Stan Lee and Larry Lieber

(Art by Jason Pearson, Sara Pichelli, Nick Bradshaw, Karl Story, Norman Lee, Jay Leisten, Craig Yeung, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers)

Book 7, featuring two stories.  When Armor returns to Japan due to a family tragedy, Cyclops, Wolverine and Emma Frost decide to accompany and support her.  Their presence proves fortuitous when Tokyo is attacked by a huge monster.  The second story features the first-ever appearance of the gigantic dragon Fin Fang Foom.

The main plot of this book is a perfectly serviceable but unremarkable story of the X-Men fighting monsters who are under the psychic control of the villain Mentallo.  It has to be said that the giant dragon attacking Tokyo was just a little too on-the-nose for my tastes too.  That said, seeing Scott take the 'let's kill it' stand whilst Logan takes the 'let it live' stance is a nice early hint towards the schism to come.

However, there is a really interesting and engaging subplot going on too.  In the few stories I've read featuring her, Armor is proving to be one of the best new X-Men to have joined the team.  Here her torn sense of obligation between her grieving family and the new family the X-Men represent is the emotional core of the book.  It's sadly not explored as much as I would've liked, but I was really engaged in seeing her tap into her loss to perform feats with her powers far beyond anything she's done before.

The second story, from 1961 (before there even was a Marvel Universe) is a nice bit of comics history but is bogged down by both the storytelling tropes of its time and by some pretty awkward representations of Chinese people.

3 out of 5

Astonishing X-Men: Northstar

featuring Marjorie Liu, Tim Fish and  Scott Lobdell 

(Art by Mike Perkins, Andrew Hennessy, Tim Fish, Mark Pacella and Dan Panosian)

Book 10.  Three stories focusing on the titular Canadian superhero Northstar, revealing how he came out as gay, his relationship with partner Kyle and their eventual marriage.

I'm pretty sure that Northstar is no-one's favourite superhero but I have to say that I very much approve of Marvel's effort here to include gay characters as part of their storytelling repertoire.  The third story here, from a 1992 issue of 'Alpha Flight' shows Northstar coming out as gay to open a dialogue around the AIDS pandemic.  In hindsight the issue is handled pretty ham-fistedly (an angry superhero from WWII fights Northstar because everyone cares about an AIDS infected baby but no-one cared when his gay son died of it) but for all that it was a progressive issue to tackle at that time and is very much in keeping with the civil rights issues Marvel took a stand on in the 60s.

The main story here, by Liu, is that of Northstar and Kyle's engagement and wedding amid mind-control attacks by a mysterious enemy.  Having a gay wedding in a mainstream Marvel title like X-Men is a brilliant bit of inclusivity and its interesting to see that even some of the title character's friends aren't entirely comfortable with the idea, showing that these issues aren't quite as simple as 'rainbow flag-waver versus bible-basher' (seriously though, if your gay friend gets married and you're not comfortable with it, just keep it to yourself).

Ultimately, the actual quality of the stories on offer here isn't great.  They're a mix of cliches, awkward dialogue and sentimental fluff.  Honestly, if it weren't for the boundary-pushing nature of the gay main character this would be an entirely dull book.  Thankfully, its inclusive attitude does add value to the book overall.

3 out of 5

Avengers vs X-Men: It's Coming

featuring Brian Michael Bendis, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Jason Aaron, Allan Heinberg, Skottie Young and Jeph Loeb

(Art by Olivier Coipel, David Finch, Adam Kubert, Jim Cheung, Clay Mann, Ed McGuinness, John Dell, Scott Hanna, Tim Townsend, Batt, Mark Roslan, Mark Morales, John Livesay, Dexter Vines, Seth Mann and Morry Hollowell)

Seven stories showing the build-up to the conflict between the Avengers and X-Men.  The Scarlet Witch de-powered the majority of the world's mutants, pushing the survivors to take increasingly desperate measures to ensure the continuation of mutantkind.  Cyclops of the X-Men looks to the young girl Hope, the only mutant born since M-Day as the salvation of his people.  However, the increased tensions between mutants and humanity drives a wedge between the former allies on the Avengers and X-Men teams.

There is some really good writing on display in this book, with most of the stories presented being well-scripted, beautifully illustrated and engaging.

The problem is that each of these seven stories is pulled out of a larger story arc of its own.  What they means is that here we just get a bunch of disparate comic issues which drop us into the middle of an already-ongoing story and then leave us hanging just as they get interesting.

As a recap of all of the poignant backstory and building tensions which lead the titular teams into conflict, this works fairly well.  As an actual reading experience in and of itself, it leaves a lot to be desired.

2 out of 5