Lobdell, Scott
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3.5 out of 5
(2 books)
Generation X: Third Genesis
(Art by Chris Bachalo and Mark Buckingham)
The first book of Generation X's own series, here Banshee and Emma Frost begin training a new generation of mutants at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. This disparate group of teenage mutants has to gel together into a team to face various threats to themselves and to other young mutants.
I've always had a soft spot for Generation X (Jubilee was a childhood favourite and I went to a friend's 40th birthday party as Chamber last year), possibly due to having been a teenager in the 90s myself. They're an interesting bunch whose powers might not get them front row at an X-Men recruitment drive but who figure out how to use them proactively never the less. Also, there is an interesting dynamic to having former X-Man Banshee and former villain Emma Frost be their mentors.
All that said, this a pretty messy start for the team. Here there are all too many mini-adventures featuring C-list villains packed too closely together and the book as a whole doesn't have much of a uniting narrative. I would've preferred fewer, better-realised villains and maybe spend a bit more time getting to know the main characters and developing their relationships. None of it is outright bad, but it also didn't grab me the way I hoped it would either.
I also have to say that the epilogue single-handedly almost redeemed every flaw in the book. In it we get to see Jubilee reuniting with Wolverine for the first time since his animalistic regression (if you're unfamiliar, it happened after Magneto used his power to forcibly remove the adamantium from Logan's body) and it's a genuinely touching and heart-warming moment for the tragic loner and the girl who's very nearly his daughter.
3 out of 5
Red Hood/Arsenal: Volume 1 - Open For Business
(Art by Denis Medri and Paolo Pantalena)
Following the break-up of the Outlaws, Red Hood and Arsenal decide to reaffirm their friendship and partnership by becoming heroes for hire. They set their sights on the sinister villain Underbelly and then go toe-to-toe with the team of villains known as the Hero Manifesto, encountering both the Batman and the Joker's Daughter in the process.
In a post-Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool world, the idea of irreverent wise-cracking, ultra-violent anti-heroes could easily seem a bit passe but I have to admit that Lobdell sold it to me here. I think what works about it (and about Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool for that matter) is that although the main characters sometimes act a bit goofy, the story as a whole takes itself seriously. If, for instance, Underbelly didn't feel like a legitimate threat because the heroes' capers had been cartoonish enough that they felt invincible (in that rubbery way that the Looney Tunes are), then this book would totally fall apart. Instead, the jokes and banter come across as appropriate gallows humour from two young men wading into the darker side of humanity.
I also enjoyed the genuine-feeling friendship between Jason and Roy, both of whom have a certain amount of darkness in their pasts but who have found someone willing to see past it. An interesting new dimension is added to that dynamic too by the role played by the Joker's Daughter in the latter half of the book.
Overall, pretty enjoyable.
4 out of 5
Collaborations & Anthologies:
Astonishing X-Men: Northstar (here)
Avengers/X-Men: Bloodties (here)
Banshee: The Wail Of The Banshee!/The Phalanx Covenant - Generation Next (here)
Batman: Night Of The Owls (here)
Divine Right: The Adventures Of Max Faraday - Book Two (here)
Gen13: We'll Take Manhattan (here)
Iceman: X-Men Origins - Iceman/Operation Zero Tolerance (here)
Onslaught 1: The Awakening (here)
Onslaught 3: Comrades In Arms (here)
Onslaught 6: Pyrrhic Victory (here)
Superboy: Volume 1 - Incubation (here)
Superboy: Volume 2 - Extraction (here)
Superman: Action Comics - Volume 4: Hybrid (here)
X-Men & Ghost Rider: Brood Trouble In The Big Easy (here)