Guest Post
When we last left our favorite Summers brother, Alex, he was on the run from his wife, Maddie, who had fully embraced the Goblin Queen persona. Is this Inferno all over again in this strange new world? Or could it be something much more sinister?
As the saga of the Goblin Queen unfolds, Alex finds himself up against his former teammates, now under the nefarious control of Alex’s wife who is poised to take over the U.S. Hope rests in the combined might of Havok, Magneto’s X-Men and the U.N. forces led by Dr. Doom. Havok leads the charge on the Empire State Building, where the Goblin Queen is being held up. With impending doom, Havok and his son Scotty eventually defeat the Goblin Queen in what I consider the cop-out of the century (or at least the series thus far). Still, the ending does make me believe in the power of a child’s love for his mother. Yeah, I just puked a bit too. Issue 13 is a filler issue detailing the background of Bloodstorm. Personally, I would have preferred a Fallen centric issue, but oh well. We can’t always get what we want.
Howard Mackie, though not the most original in his storytelling, continues to revamp some of our favorite characters: Cerebro up and moving around, a beautiful Calisto in love with the Moleman and a metal-skinned Rouge. The one thing this series lacks is in the rotating team of artists. I love the book, but I hate the change in artistic styles. Issue 8 and the Annual have a standard Marvel feel about them, issue 9 has a gritty realism I love, 10 through 12 are too cartoon-y, and 13 lacks any real inventive imagery. This hurts the book. I like stunning, I like huge, I like panel breaks and breaking the fourth wall. Mutant X rarely veers off the well-worn path of Marveldom; the only really imaginative aspect of this title is the redefinition of the characters. The revolving door of artists never really allows any one penciler to establish a clear view of the world in which this action takes place.
Don’t get me wrong, I like this series. I’m spoiled. I’m pretentious. And I hate Bloodstorm. She is the dullest character in this series, and she gets all the spotlight. Sorry, I’ll stop complaining. Mutant X remains a solid read and that cheating son of a Starjammer, Scott Summers, is still very DEAD! For that reason alone, this book rocks!