Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates, Review | Tagged: cyclops, marvel, wolverine, x-men

Wednesday Comics Review: Cyclops #1 and Wolverine #7

I usually like to review disparate books together if possible. Well, despite having two X-Men comic books, that couldn't more so be the case with this pair.

Cyclops #1 by Lee Black and Dean Haspiel is a solo story of a silver-age Cyclops. Set during the earlyish school days of the X-Men, and clearly with an eye on First Class, it centres soley on Scott and keeps him out of the school as much as possible ad he has to fight against his hard worn stereotype in order to foil

It's got one of those awful covers that gives you no idea whatsoever of the content or tone of the comic, save that Cyclops is in it. It's all grim, and hard edges and delineated muscle groups. But inside you get something very different, Dean Haspiel channeling Mike Allred a little, an an introspective Scott Summers in a cafe questioning his self appointed role in life.

And then Batroc The Leaper and friends drive through, smashing everything up. I dunno, you wait for ages for a Batroc The Leaper comic then you get two at once.

The comic skips, jumps and pirouettes along a fine path, it's both in the sixties and the present day. It has the look of Kirby X-Men with its bold simple lines belying a host of structure beneath them, and a simplistic plot to go with it, but it's roughed up by moden day references to technology and a much deeper look at a character going against type, to prove something to themselves even if to no one else.

It's trivial, it's a slip of a comic, it won't have earth shattering cataclismic effects, things will probably always be the same, but it's a fun comic and you care – even what happens to Mr Herman's bicycle. Oh and you get a totally gratuitous shot of one of Brooklyn artist Jen Ferguson's pieces.

And then there's Wolverine #7 written by Jason Aaron. Which has a Jae Lee cover on the front with Cyclops head, amongst others, on a spike and Wolverine looking at us, all moody, claws extended. It's creepy, it's eery, it's a good indicator of what the inside should be like. But isn't.

Daniel Acuna gives us his patent pending half painted, half inked art style, portraying the world inside Wolverine and the world outside. Which is all very pretty but ends up signifying very little.

There's a Doctor Who fanfic trope of all the Doctors teaming up. Well here we get all the Wolverines. From Madripoor Wolvie to Weapon X Wolvie teaming up inside his head to fight a possessing demon from hell. Wolverine may be able to heal his body, but his mind seems seriously fractured. Or it's just a cool scene to replicate by cosplayers. Anyway.

So a bunch of superfolk try to smack him down in the real world, fail, so then have to go inside his head to help him out, and possibly unleash something worse. There's very little left to tell. It's very pretty and long time Wolverine fans will enjoy seeing all the various versions. But pinups aside there's little left here. You don't get the feel of dread created by last week's Neonomicon and Hellraiser, it just washes over you. And even moments with Magneto facing his holocaust past seem inconsequential, having no more meaning or impact than the half page it takes up.

This is the kind of book that should be creepy, invasive and disturbing. Instead it's inconsequential. Pretty and inconsequential though, so there's that.

I know I said Cyclops #1 was slight, but it seems a heavy tome compared to Wolverine #7. Which is also a dollar more expensive…

Comics courtesy of Orbital Comics, London.

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