Never let it be said that my negative reviews of recent X-Men comics stemmed only from my disdain for Chuck Austen's and Chris Claremont's writing.
I had looked forward to Peter Milligan's debut as the regular writer on this title. He's done some amazing work for DC's Vertigo line, and he tackled the notion of celebrity filtered through a super-hero lens, in the unusual and original X-Statix (formerly X-Force). I had hoped to find something new and refreshing in his handling of Marvel's most profitable property, but instead, I find the same sort of confused plotting and dialogue that's been hurting this title for the past year. The unclear art doesn't help matters any. Milligan sticks surprisingly close to the setup Austen left behind.
The Havok-led team of X-Men travels to Antarctica to investigate a large group of mutants that has established a new home and society in a massive complex in the middle of a frozen wasteland. They discover a broken barricade and piles of dead bodies, mutants slain by each other's hand, by his or her own and some by an unseen assailant. There are others lurking within the complex, and though they wish only to learn what happened -- and why the word "Golgotha" is written in blood on the wall -- the X-Men must instead contend with attacks by zombies and mutant psychotics.
In an attempt to establish tension and an eerie and almost supernatural atmosphere, the art and colors embrace a darker look, which makes sense, given the context of the plot. But the lack of detail in the designs of the Antarctic mutants, the lack of definition in the inks and the lack of any color but a cool blue makes it almost impossible to tell what's going on. Larroca holds back when it comes to the aftereffects of violence; only the script's descriptions make it clear how grisly the scene the heroes are witnessing. What's really aggravating is that Larroca demonstrates with his cover art that he can offer up some nicely detailed work; it's just not to be found in his interiors for this issue.
The interplay among the characters is awkward and ham-fisted here. Havok's annoyance with Iceman's interested in Polaris, long ago established, makes no sense, given the emotional roller-coaster ride Havok's romance with Annie thrust upon the green-haired mutant. Furthermore, Milligan doesn't establish exactly what's going on with Gambit and Rogue here. Their powers and abilities have undergone a lot of changes in the last little while, and I'm a lost as to what the status quo is at the moment.
The beginnings of the plot here strike me as being rather generic in nature. Furthermore, Miligan turns to one of the most tired cliches of X-Men storytelling: the secret mutant society hiding to escape the persecution of humanity. Furthermore, using Rogue's powers as an information-gathering method is interesting, but doing it twice comes off as uninspired and repetitive, especially if one is going to incorporate a telepath into the story. 1/10
