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I enjoyed it, but it didn't knock my socks off. The cosmic bullet idea felt very zeitgeist, and when combined with Cassady's artwork it caused me to feel like I was reading Planetary. Agent Brand's big reveal was a little -- I don't know. I think it would have been more interesting if Hank had deduced it, and the apparent personality shift felt a little forced.
I liked the ending, particularly in what it said about the X-Men's relationship with death and endings -- it treads much the same ground that Morrison did with the Emma/Scott graveyard scene but doesn't need to say it, it's more of an atmosphere than something for snide Emma to comment on.
It was all about the Scott/Emma relationship for me, I think. Loved the faux-Star Wars back-to-back fighting and relationship talk.
I can't say I really cared that much about the Breakworld or its people. Which may have been the point, but as far as alien worlds go I don't think it's much of a keeper.
It was a good final trade, and I'll probably reread the whole run in the near future for the full effect, but it didn't grip me as much as I expected it to. I think the emphasis on the Earthbound heroes was a bit "too little, too late," in that it wasn't woven through enough to justify their using up X-pages -- it's like the big arctic encounter over in Hitch/Millar's Fantastic Four; the new paradigm that Civil War has established is that all the Marvel Heroes have to get together and face random big threats on a fairly regular basis now, but they have to pay lip service to why they're not at each other's throats, and it's really just to remind the readers that this, yes, a shared universe and what happens in one book will effect another, although that's also only lip service. "Oh shit," they think. "Big war-fleet coming to Earth! Guess we better hear from the Avengers!" Even though we're more interested in what's going on with the actual main characters dealing with the actual situation.
Hisako can stay, though I'm not a fan of "Armor." Missing a 'u' for one thing. It's nice to see some genuine new blood (particularly post-M-Day) and I hope she continues to kick around as a new breed of X; I still love the reference to her in Runaways when they encounter the future Gert.
So, not a bad ending. I was more entranced with the third and fourth trades of Peter David's current X-Factor, though, even with the spotty art and presence of Layla Miller, which is probably saying something. |
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