Astonishingly Awful's Profile

Although I like the way Trujillo connects the series to the classic movie, revisiting scenes and places deeply embedded in my childhood brain, the novelty factor of #1 is gone. What remains is a well written, averagely drawn comic that could have been more exciting with different creative choices.

Eve L Ewing attempts to reinvent the current situation the X-men are in with this soft reboot attempt. Of all writers on the X team , and believe me I know talent is very scarce ...Why give it to someone who sells no books and wrote the terrible Exceptional X-men that was canceled? This is a soft reboot full of rehashed ideas that haven't worked. Cyclops is still angry Cyclops, Kitty and Emma se em to be all over X-men leadership in recent years. I'm not sure why. Wasn't Kitty a Barista unable to balance coffee and dating women? wasn't she also a pirate? wasn't Emma married to Tony Stark? Yeah... modern X-men comics are terrible and this book does little to change anyones mind and this creative team was never going to do it. X-men are broken and Marvel is intent on doubling down on DUMB IDEAS. Here is a dumb idea … it’s a virtual school of the mind … why is there a cafeteria and they eat? Nothing makes sense. X-23 is not Logan’s equal. Get her the hell out of being a teacher. Eve also rehashes her lame creations as teachers also. This book never had a chance.

You can take this Graymatter Lane idea and put it in the trash can next to R-LDS. more

First of all: what kind of message does this comic give younger readers by telling them that the only safe space is the virtual (astral) world? But even if we ignore the fact that this is basically transhumanism for kids, it is also a bad idea from a writing point of view to have all your characters interact in an imaginary space that for some reasons functions just like the regular world - comple te with toilets for the disabled and hospital ward - but isn't the regular world. This is just stupid, confusing and unnecessary.

It almost goes without saying that the creative execution of this horrible idea isn't great either. Not only does Eve Ewing's writing for this issue reach a whole new level of stupid, the art by Tiago Palma is equally retarded.

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The bad art makes this issue unreadable. I tried, but gave up halfway through. What is Marvel even thinking? If you want great female characters like Storm at the forefront of your franchise, you have to put in some effort and hire the best artist possible. Just compare this series to DC's Wonder Woman (which I'm not reading since I'm not interested in that character, but which looks top-notch), a nd you know what I mean.more

It’s the second time in a month I say that a book is the worst comic I’ve read in a long time, but it's true. Generation X-23 #1 was bad, but X-Men Annual #1 is so much worse. Writers and artists have been inserting themselves into their stories before, but never in a less entertaining, more off-putting way. The book reminds me of the classic Uncanny X-Men #7, in which the X-Men fought the Impossi ble Man, but that one was actually fun. X-Men Annual #1 isn't. It's basically Ryan Stegman ejaculating all over the pages, proving he's not only a terrible artist but also a terrible writer. There's no setup, no real motivation and the whole thing makes me wonder why Phoenix (in her hideous new costume) is even there.
Steve Skroce‘s art isn‘t bad, but I’m tired of rating a book higher just because it has okay art. There really is no excuse for publishing this kind of bullshit as a full-length annual. If anything, it should have been a forgettable five page backup story in an annual with an actual main event.more

I'm a fan of the character Iceman dating back to the original X-men days. Bobby is awesome. His design in age of apocalypse is among my favorite looks. His coming out was an awesome moment for representation in comics. However it really seems that all that can ever be said or done with the character since his coming out... is that he's hyper sexual and gay. Nothing more or less. This is the 2 nd or 3rd time in a series he's making out with random dudes after he saves them ... why is a heroic character who has had awesome battles with Magneto, Apocalypse, hellfire club etc limited to lame campy villains ? This is the real problem with Iceman. all we get told is he's gay and extremely sexually active vs being a goddamn hero and having awesome adventures as an Omega level mutant bad ass.
This book is pathetic, offensive in its stereotypes and poorly executed on every level.
This series used to be only available online as a Marvel voices comic. shame its now made print as I forgot about this.
my actual score is -100/10. more

I'm gay but even I hate this.

I remember a time when a comic book featured a complete story, not just one scene. Fraction and Jimenez waste a whole issue on a conversation that could have taken up four or five pages (and that could have been more interesting). Jimenez knows enough about layout to make it look good, but all those black panels with text could have been put to better use.

Incredibly dull writing and art. Dani deserves better.

The writing is stupid beyond comprehension and Diaz‘s art sucks as usual. Why am I still reading this crap?

The new Iron Man series continues to be underwhelming, despite solid art and some interesting story ideas. I don’t know what it is, but it just doesn’t feel exciting or important - and it should, considering the fact that Iron Man is one of Marvel's central heroes.

Although I miss Ivan Reis’s art, Portela‘s clean and elegant lines are perfect for the tale of the Sisters Hood and 1920s it is set in. As always, the story ends too quickly and I feel there‘s something missing that would make it perfect. But maybe that’s what draws me back to Hyde Street each new issue.

As great as Skinbreaker looks, the story is a repetitive string of conflicts that at first glance look meaningful, but that the reader ultimately can’t care about, since the book has never really shown the struggles the tribe has gone through and that the chief and former chief are now fighting over. At least we are introduced to a new color palette in a literally breathtaking underwater scene.

Despite the fact that this is a continuation of Punisher Red Band, a mini series I really enjoyed, Benjamin Percy gives new readers a good introduction to the Punisher that feels like an actual jump on point. New artist Jose Luis Soares is pretty good, especially at conveying the street level grittiness of Frank Castle’s world. The dilemma of Frank’s old alily Microchip and the mystery of his brai n injury infuse the enough intrigue into the story to make me want to come back for issue 2.more

A satisfying finale to a story that wasn’t really my cup of tea.

Excellent art and a story that makes the reader ponder some big moral questions rather than give a prefabricated answer. It’s nice to see that Marvel is still able to produce quality.