The Good

Fantomex has become a remarkable character recently. With an outlook where he basically does whatever he wants, a MAX comic may just be the place he's been longing for.

Andrew Hope is able to show us a more realistic take on Fantomex. There's always that fine line when it comes to regular comic dialogue and situations. In other words, this isn't a candy-coated story.

Fantomex is a thief at heart. When he finds himself in dangerous situations, it makes sense that things might get a little messy. Again, the MAX line allows more room for that sort of mess. While Fantomex may not always take things seriously, he's allowed to be in more serious (and deadly) situations.

We are also introduced to some new players. This allows Fantomex to get mixed up in a new world of espionage and danger. It also means you won't necessarily know what's coming.

Shawn Crystal's art is pretty sweet. The characters have a great amount of detail and we get a variety of different looks for the different ones. There's some nice page layouts and if you're looking for some intense action and violence, you will embrace what you see here. Lee Loughridge does some really cool things with the colors and backgrounds. This definitely has a nice and different feel to it. It's a great style that really suits the story and character.

You have to love that Francesco Francavilla cover as well.

The Bad

It's a MAX title so you know what that means. It's practically a free license to get over the top with language and violence. As I mentioned, it can be refreshing to see the creators cut loose but there were times it started feeling gratuitous. Yes people swear in real life. But here we get quite a bit of it. It's almost like this comic is making up for the lack of profanity in other Fantomex stories. This isn't saying Fantomex is the one with the potty mouth. It's almost everyone else.

Then there's the sexual nature of the characters. There are some...perky women present. The main female character is apparently wearing what's less than a sports bra when on a military transport with other agents. And the other female character has a tight outfit with the front zipped down practically to her navel.

What it comes down to is these factors may allow the story to cut loose more but they don't necessarily make this a better Fantomex story. I wouldn't necessarily want this story to be censored or cleaned up a little but it's a shame that younger fans of the character might not be able to read this story.

The Verdict

If you're looking for some MAX style storytelling with Fantemex, this will be right up your alley. Not having to play nicely by the X-Men's rules, this story allows Fantomex to get into some stickier situations. The freedom to allow more violence and profanity gives it a harder edge but at the same time, feels a little gratuitous and unnecessary. If you are a fan of the character, hopefully you are mature enough to buy this comic. It's great seeing Fantomex get the spotlight to himself and this is shaping up to be an intriguing story.

This was very gratuitous. Boobs and sexy sexiness everywhere, because it's MAX and so you can. I never thought I'd say this, but Ennis did it right.

Love the cover, though.

Liked this a lot. Will be picking up the rest of the mini series.

@citizenbane: Good to hear I wasn't the only one that felt this way. I don't have a problem with boobs or sexiness. But it's not essential for a great story. It just got to be a bit much.

Bewbs.

I might check this out, I really no nothing about fantomex though?

I picked this up at my shop this morning but haven't had a chance to read it yet. I am kind of disappointed that is it a $3.99 comic but does not include a digital code. I guess the extra buck is for the MAX boobs and language.

This comic was not for me. I was hoping for a Mature Fantomex title, but what I got was something that read like an immature Deadpool book........

This is my kind of comic. Going to check this out for sure.

Boobs sell :P

Fantomex sounds like a soda from mexico.

I came close to getting this but the Witching Hour anthology set me back this week. Looks like I made the right call. If opinions improve I'll grab it in trade, if not that's just one less thing to buy.

I want nothing more than a good Fantomex solo book, but not one with just gratuitous nudity for nudity's sake.

Still, I have to support Fantomex any way I can. I'll probably check it out.

@g_man: I'm finally glad there's another good Max title coming here. I have read many others and the only one of I seem to like was Punisher's. The problem with Max titles is the OVER-exaggerated-ness of violence and sex is all over the place. Wolverine, Deadpool and Fury Max was all about that as repeated storylines over and over. The plot was like hero meets girl, has sex, then meets villain, kills villain. So simple and boring. What I like about Punisher's was that we learned about his tragic past with his family and why he is so violent. We need more Max titles like this. I still haven't read this one. But I definitely will when I get the chance.

Get the latest Fury Max instead.

BB

@billy_batson: I did get the latest Fury Max and I still didn't like it. It had a lot of over the top violence and many bad stereotyped characters. It didn't not satisfied me not one bit. The only Max title I see worth getting is the Punisher. I'm sorry to be so harsh about it. But that's my take on it.

Garth Ennis is the master of the Max.

Everyone else seems to take what amounts to your usual comic book plot, then interject profanity, nudity and gore and somehow that's 'cutting loose'.

Ennis does the same things, but a> its always in context and b> the plot itself is also mature.

The 'sexy' scenes in the latest Fury Max, for example, are in context. A nude panel is when what's her name is getting it on with Fury... but she's not running around the jungle or Washington DC in lingerie or an outfit that makes zero sense.

The other thing about Fury Max was that it was really a political story. Its not just Nick Fury running into Vietnam and riddling people with bullets... there's a complicated mess of politics going on... from Vietnam to Contras. Is it anything we haven't seen before IRL? No... but its neat to take Fury and see where his fictional place would have been in the Cold War years and the 'fight' against Communism.

I tried reading the last Wolverine Max and hated it. The first spoken word in issue one I believe was 'Fuck'. Ohhhhh so edgy! I'm not a prude, draw all the tits you want and have characters screaming 'fuck' every other sentence... but it doesn't make the story edgier or more mature. Ironically, it makes it more childish in some cases.

"I wouldn't necessarily want this story to be censored or cleaned up a little but it's a shame that younger fans of the character might not be able to read this story." It's a MAX title, isn't that kind of the point? They can always read it after they get a little older!

I mean to be fair, I read this issue and wasnt turned off by any off the Maxiness lets call it. I liked it cause I knew what I was getting myself into, to eachs own.

More like FantoMax. Am I right? Up high. Down low. Too slow.

@g_man: Nevermind..I read the issue today and I didn't like it at all. I'm giving it a 1 star mainly because seeing Fantomex "in" love with himself or with Eva is just gross. Ewww. lol And seriously, why is she talking like a black southern woman if she looks a white woman and seriously what is up with purposely stripper's outfit? lol