There are a few pros and cons to three issue story arcs. Pro: not a drain on the wallet. Con: might be too condensed to be successful. X-Men #3 finishes off Brian Wood’s first arc; is it good?
X-Men Vol. 4 #3 (Marvel Comics)
Check out our review of X-Men #2 if you missed it.
Welp, this resolved fast. Last issue the sister, an entity that’s technology based, went into Karima’s body and took her over. She left the Jean Grey School but left behind a bomb that infected the Danger Room. Her brother went with Rogue, Rachel, Storm and Jubilee to track her down.
What are you, the Borg?
This issue cuts between Kitty facing Karima bots generated by the Danger Room and Storm and her team taking on Karima herself. Considering how big a concept that is behind this brother and sister duo I was surprised how little was touched on them. And, frankly, how easy it was for them to beat the bad guy. In the scene below, writer Brian Wood seems to even admit the story is a bit…well as Rachel puts it, “stupid.”
So are you admitting the plot is dumb?
Maybe this is due to artist Olivier Coipel only sticking around for three issues, because this story really could have used a couple more issues to build up and branch out. As it stands it’s not a terrible arc, it’s just so short there’s not a lot to even chew on. Coipel however, simply stuns from panel to panel and could probably draw the phonebook and still dazzle.
This looks lewd, no?
The issue is also very dialogue heavy, even during the action sequences, as there’s way too many close ups and not enough fighting shown. Even the opening pages are heavy on the dialogue, to not only set up what is going on, but recap what we’ve just read too. These elements slow everything down and make the reading experience a bit of a bore.
Pixie has a cool moment.
6.5
- Coipel shows us why Marvel has the best artists
- Balance between characters is good
- Slow moving, dialogue heavy affair
Without the excellent work by Coipel this opening arc could have been a disaster. The ideas are good, with snippets of great dialogue too, but overall it’s a let down. Clearly Wood isn’t finished with the brother sister characters, but with such a robust focus on them to open the arc it’s odd they’re not even discussed a little in this issue.
Is It Good?
Meh. Without the amazing art this is very skippable.
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