X-Men #29

X-Men #29 Review

Overview:

The X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man continue their team up against Skrulls

The Good:

Well this issue is still Pixie centric, which is awesome. It was nice seeing a secondary character take control of the problem and be able to make good decisions that don’t immediately backfire. The issue almost entirely focuses on Pixie’s actions with only brief glimpses of the rest of the team and the Fantastic Four. It was nice watching an old-fashioned team-up that was NOT an AvX tie-in.

The writing in the issue was really good; it referenced a lot of current goings-on in the other series; the most obvious being that only the Thing, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman were present because in this week’s FF Johnny is in the Negative Zone. There are also a few references to recent activity in Spider-Man as well. Victor Gischler is able to capture Spider-Man’s joking side pretty well and it adds a bit of levity to the situation because without him the issue would have almost no humor.

The art was quite good as well, Will Conrad did a great job capturing the atmosphere and tone of serious but not super-serious.

The Bad:

I liked the art but the colors still bother me. I mentioned this in my review for the last issue and while they have improved, even though Guru EFX is still doing them, it fits this issue a bit better. The problem is two-fold: one the colors are very saturated, this is unique among the books I am reading and it makes it stand out but sometimes it makes it look bad; and two the shadowing is either black or not shadowed and this makes the outdoor scenes look weird. There are also a few proportionality problems with the characters sizes and angles but they don’t really detract from the quality of the art, they are just annoying.

While the cover is a nice piece of art, 15 out of 25 characters on it don’t appear in the issue. In fact Wolverine, Beast, and Gambit are on the other side of the X-Men; Alejandra is no longer the Ghost Rider; Jubilee left the team for the Unforgiven; Cyclops and Emma haven’t been mentioned; Doom isn’t part of the FF; Lizard and Blade are there for no reason; and the people form the other dimension that the X-Men and Fantastic Four are still in the other dimension. This in no way detracts from the quality of the issue but it is misleading if you were hoping for a huge team-up.

Still hoping for that line-up change that will probably never come but I can dream.

Verdict:

A fun team-up issue that is not tied in to AvX and fans of the series will definitely enjoy. The story isn’t special but seeing a secondary character starring makes it better and the art is solid even if the colors are different. It was nice seeing that things like Spider-Island and Secret Invasion matter after they are finished and the amount of continuity in the book is very high, just not the cover.

3.5 out of 5