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X-Statix: Back And Still Dead

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The Falcon

15:57 / 19.01.06

Mm. I never did go back to collect my fiver deposit after being coerced into a standing order. There's an interview with Graeme 'FBR, one-time Barbelith poster' McMillan on the 'net where he's talking about going there in the, I dunno, late 80's, early 90's and not much has changed. Brill back ish sleckshin, but it's like the horrible kid having all the great toys. Not right, you feel a bit dirty after you've bin round.

Anyway, this comic is absolutely brilliant. I like Dr. Strange's occult laptop the best. Any worries about allred only inking went right out the door. I think this may be comics' proudest week.

Haus of Mystery

19:48 / 19.01.06

3 things:

1)That was a brilliant read, from a re-energised Milligan. Funny, weird and original, without sacrificing the plot.

2)That was the best Dr Strange I've seen for ages. Exactly how he should be written, nicely humourous, but still the good swinging Doctor.
Milligan + strange = Perfect comic? Get him on it now!

3)The artwork surpassed the final tired year or so of X-Statix, and the addition of Allred as inker gave a nice sense of continuity.

All in all, the best comic I've read in a while. What a nourshing week it's been.

yawn - thing's buddy

21:23 / 19.01.06

fuckin guaranteed!

man, what was tike doing in hell?

bummer!

milligan's words seems to evoke the kinda graphics we see today in this lovely comic no matter who he works with - ewins/j mcarthy/allred - their inks seem to exude a similar oddness, call it uncanny (hey, yeah, that IS it), when they work with the comic genius (hey, I probably enjoy sitting down with good, funny milligan comics more than any other writer . . . . if I'm going to be the most truthful man on the net tonight)

or maybe he works with them cos they're all alike in graphic style in the first place?

they're his bitches, whatever.

Mr Tricks

22:44 / 19.01.06

Fun read.

GREAT color work.

made a sort of fun incontinunity bridge between the recent DEFENDERS series (did that ever finish? I don't recall) and the Doc Strange of New Avengers and such.

Tyke in Hell... must be for his betrail of SPIKE on the space station way back when.

Haus of Mystery

09:27 / 20.01.06

No way. It's a mistake. If he's in hell, then all those selfish cunts should be...
Unless it's that old 'black guy on the team' luck?

The Falcon

14:53 / 20.01.06

Tike supplied Saddam, if I recall. He didn't read the small print. Anyway, fuck him - poor Miss America ended up there, for no reason at all (she's Golden Age, so I make this assumption) and her costume in a DC Universe museum (see Klarion #3.)

Un-lucky.

Grady Hendrix

21:49 / 20.01.06

This is the best I've ever seen Doctor Strange. His title has almost never lived up to the potential in the character (or to his groovy blue and red costume) and finally Milligan writes a Doc that I can get behind. I wanna see an ongoing series that's this weird and funky.

yawn - thing's buddy

11:50 / 21.01.06

it is both rum and uncanny, his doctor strange.

Axolotl

13:28 / 21.01.06

This was really good. I like Milligan's Dr Strange - he strikes the right balance between using all the "by the hoary hosts of hoggoth" style dialogue that makes Dr Strange and acknowledging the ridiculous nature of it. The art was excellent as well, with Allred's inking leaping out the page. I'd be interested to know exactly how Dragotta and Alred split the art duties as some panels came off looking very, very Allred-y. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Bring on issue 2 and more Dead Girl.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

03:27 / 23.01.06

Yes, the Robert Goulet-ishness of Dr. Strange is wonderful.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

05:39 / 23.01.06

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

05:40 / 23.01.06

That's the first time I've ever posted an image, so I hope you can see it. The likeness is uncanny.

FinderWolf

14:37 / 30.01.06

This was fantastic. Feels like a return to greatness for Milligan and the X-Statix characters. Can't wait for issue 2.

Loved "Speak proper English - we both know you can" and Dr. Strange's psychological problems, whatever they are.

So has no one played the "Who is The Pitful One?" guessing game? Milligan gives us clues with who he's taken on in terms of Marvel U. superheroes...but as of now I have no guesses. (The Thor/Daredevil team-up concept seems fun, a product of the late 60s/70s Marvel) Or could it be that there's no clues at all, it's just a random Marvel villain who Milligan made up for this and doesn't really have a precedent?

Alex's Grandma

15:20 / 30.01.06

Deathstalker?

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

12:15 / 03.02.06

Not sure if this is the right place for it (but I didn't think a new thread was warrented) however:

There's a Doop solo piece out this week in "I *heart* Marvel: My Mutant Heart". It's pure Milligan with hard-boiled yet soft-hearted PI's, adultery and secret affairs with a twist.

The Falcon

12:36 / 03.02.06

Yeah, I flicked through it - didn't feel like shelling $3 equivalent for 10 pager; the guy Marcos Martin is excellent though. did that Breach, which I'm sure was no use, but always looked good - definitely in the Pulido/Cooke vein.

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

19:08 / 04.02.06

Yeah, the art and the dialogue tics made it seem like an issue of Human Target guest-starring Doop.

sleazenation

21:08 / 04.02.06

and that is a bad thing because...?

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

03:43 / 06.02.06

When did I imply it was a bad thing? It was, to quote the bard, pretty fucking awesome.

Ben Danes

10:02 / 06.02.06

While the Doop story is a winner, check out the Marvel Love Re-Dux, or whatever it's called, with one of the best stories ever, President Stripper. The Romita(?) art makes it so much the better, as your mind is telling you that the script has been dubbed over, but the art seems so in-synch with the redub anyway.

LDones

20:40 / 15.02.06

Issue 2 of this is out today. I'm getting gleeful enjoyment out of this thing already.

Marvel cosmic weirdness plus DC-Style insanity-from-the-past with the sex and death and detachment amped up so high. "Don't get any in my hair, honey."

Recurring theme of racist caricature is intriguing.

Just go buy it.

Mysterious Transfer Student

21:05 / 16.02.06

Also, recurring Milligan trope of James Joyce references.

Meat-incarnated DG was weirdly sexy... reminded me of Kim Gordon with those big shades.

Also, with this line:

"In a totally non-sexual, non-possessive, easy come, easy go kinda way, of course."

... Lenny lives!

sleazenation

21:52 / 16.02.06

This comic reminds me just how great comics can be, leaving me simultainiously invigorated at the shear joy of it and deeply melancholic over the fact that most comics, including Milligan's X-men or not even on the same planet of great as this. Sharp, witty and emotionally well-observed...

Grady Hendrix

01:57 / 17.02.06

I loved this issue and wished this was the team doing a regular Doctor Strange series. Not only was I turned on by Meat Girl in a deeply inappropriate way but I sobbed to see tiny Ant Man engaged in his Herculean penance, I laughed to see silly Whizzer and his peanut butter brain, and I spontaneously orgasmed to see Ghost Rider looking for a little posse.

Today I also read the debut of Jack Kirby's Machine Man in 2001 and wriggled in glee as Machine Man "solved the gravity equation" and began to fly. He's so smart he just THINKS his superpowers and they appear. There's a direct line from this comic book to DEAD GIRL.

ursula1000

05:53 / 17.02.06

This is so good in so many ways. My fave line was "Ant-Man...You're bigger than this".
Everything's so tight and the art really pops, like they're almost animation cels.
They have got to continue this. Really rocking stuff.

2:

Brilliant!

and I spontaneously orgasmed to see Ghost Rider looking for a little posse.

uh uh - that ain't the ghost rider - its the phantom rider... someone who Mockingbird once killed - so i'm expecting that to crop up at some point...

Grady Hendrix

11:06 / 17.02.06

I thought this guy was the original Ghost Rider?

http://www.catskillcomics.com/grell/GHOST%20RIDER%2011X17.jpg

But I'm wrong a lot.

sleazenation

13:25 / 17.02.06

Actually, I think you are sort of right, Grady...

The Phantom Rider was at one point known as The Ghost Rider... but after the introduction of the flaming headed john Blaze (and subsequent flame headed characters) he was called the phantom rider instead... I vaguely remember a Marvel Age article that stated that Ghost Rider was a character created by another publisher that Marvel bought the rights to at the request of Frank Frazetta...

But, yeah. He was Ghost Rider, but is now called The Phantom Rider to avoid confusion with flame-headed Ghost Riders...

doyoufeelloved

14:16 / 17.02.06

Yeah, this is totally great. My favorite bits were "A little death, as it were" and Wong's post-meat "Oy."

Not sure if I like the really intrusive color (all the defocusing, and the adding of detail that's not in the linework, is kind of distracting, and the whole comic looks slightly blurry as a result), but if they'd just told me the pencils were Allred, I'd've probably believed it.

Triplets

02:58 / 19.02.06

Today I also read the debut of Jack Kirby's Machine Man in 2001 and wriggled in glee as Machine Man "solved the gravity equation" and began to fly. He's so smart he just THINKS his superpowers and they appear.

Shades of Flex Morrison's Walter Ego?

The Falcon

15:19 / 30.03.06

So, onto the third issue and this is still pretty much note-perfect Marvel Comics.

The logistics of deadery! The Piano Player (please tell me this guy already existed)! The miscegenation! The love of fighting! The madness of Ant-Man! The return of Edie fucking Sawyer! God, I hope Strange and Dead Girl become an item! I can't stop exclaiming!

Better than All-Star Superman?! I think it just might be, true believer!

The Falcon

15:25 / 30.03.06

Oh, here, Milligan was so good this month he actually got them to color Larroca's art so it looked pretty f'in sweet* in X-Men, in a surprisingly amazing issue. His Apocalypse is pretty much the bomb by now; bestest lines, intriguingest motivations.

*Honestly, the confrontation between Apoc and Ozymandias looked great! Larroca's normally appalling - I know!

FinderWolf

15:32 / 30.03.06

issue 3 was amazing. more later.

COBRAnomicon!

15:36 / 30.03.06

I agree, this thing rules the school right now. For my money, at least, the best thing coming out with a Marvel logo on it. And I'd be jazzed if a Dead Girl/Dr. Strange ongoing sprang out of it...

A silly, probably-incorrect theory: the temporary-resurrection symbol the baddies smear on their heads is an E, for Editorial mandate. Like, it's their way of faking/simulating an editorially-contrived character return.

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