16 Apr, 2008

X-MEN: DIVIDED WE STAND Book 1

by David Uzumeri of Funnybook Babylon

The title of this comic could easily give the impression that it’s a major event for the X-Men. After all, every X-book since Messiah CompleX has had the “Divided We Stand” banner; surely, therefore, the Divided We Stand miniseries must provide some kind of throughline, right?

Well, no. It’s a collection of short stories, each by fairly well-entrenched X-writers, that resolve or continue individual plot threads hanging from the major shakeup that was Messiah CompleX. In the aftermath of that, a decent number of characters got (at least for now) put by the wayside so that the new books can establish their identities.

Since this is an anthology title, I’m gonna go through this story by story and then give my overall thoughts about the quality of the stories as well as the appropriateness of the format.

1. DANGER ROOM (w/Mike Carey; a/Brandon Peterson; c/Justin Ponsor) This is a low-key Cannonball/Husk story that gives Sam some much-needed face time, something he’s been lacking since Carey’s first “Supernovas” arc on X-Men, where he experienced like 10-20 years of an alternate life with a wife and family and then came back to the present. It’s clear this is an angle that Carey wanted to take with the character in his run but didn’t get a chance to with the upheavals; it’s solid character work that’ll hopefully be carried through to his next ‘assignment’ (which would seem to be Young X-Men).

2. HOME (w/Craig Kyle & Chris Yost; a/Sana Takeda) This follows up on the small amount of development Nehzno/Gentle got under the Kyle/Yost run, and his brief contribution to Messiah CompleX of punching the shit out of a Sentinel. It’s good enough, I suppose, and it sets Nehzno up for a believable return to the mainline books, but it suffers from Kyle and Yost’s typical stilted dialogue, especially when writing characters traditionally written with more formal dialogue styles (like almost everyone in Wakanda). Nice art by Sana Takeda, though, and if she keeps this level of quality up she may even live down Heroes for Hentai.

3. BLEND IN (w/a/Skottie Young; c/Jean-Francois Beaulieu) This is really well-done, and the highlight of the book for me. I didn’t know what to expect from Young’s writing talents, but the chops are unmistakable. It’s interesting to see him comment so bluntly about the status quo of the series he drew, but this Anole one-shot is easily the most effective of the stories at both following up on dangling character threads and making me want to see more of the character. He even brings in the homosexuality angle without making it seem like an after school special, despite the momentum all these stories have to go that way. Young’s art is gorgeous as always. The gem of the book.

4. BELONG (w/Chris Yost; a/David LaFuente; c/Guru eFX) Like the other stories in this book, this is another transitory story, this time about Julian “Hellion” Keller. It’s the least impressive of the stories in the anthology, largely because it doesn’t have much new to say about the character or the status quo, it’s just a repetition of the “mutants are lost!” theme of the other instalments, with fairly pedestrian art from David LaFuente.

5. MIGAS (w/Matt Fraction, a/Jamie McKelvie, c/Guru eFX) This is a story that follows up on, of all people, Scalphunter, as well as another X-Man for whom Matt Fraction displays a great degree of affection and propensity – it’s all there on the page. It’s a well-constructed, taut short story that feels entertaining and complete by itself. Considering Fracion’s coming on Uncanny, I’m curious to see if it’ll come back into play – not that it matters either way, it’s just a good story with expressive art from Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram, Suburban Glamour). My only argument with the book would probably relate to Guru eFX’s full-on Morry Hollowell color treatment, with a great deal of Photoshop rendering that draws away from the elegance of McKelvie’s linework. Still, a great story.

Overall, this had its ups and downs, but I really feel that, if these story beats had to be hit, it might have been better served to place them as backups to the monthly comics rather than getting relegated here. At the end of the day, I can really only recommend this comic as a unit to people who are following the X-Men and curious about the fates of certain characters who got lost in the shuffle; without reflecting on the quality of the stories, none of them seem particularly vital and they all seem fairly secondary to the main books. So if you were following the X-books before Messiah CompleX and want to know what happened with a bunch of plot threads, you won’t be disappointed by the quality within. However, if you’re just a casual reader looking for some X-Men stories – or to get into current continuity – you’d be much better off with the more vital mainstream titles such as Uncanny and Legacy.

Overall rating:

-