New X-Men: Mercury Falling (33-36)

I wanted to congratulate Craig Kyle and Chris Yost for making it through an entire story without killing anybody, but then I remembered Mammomax. I'm sure someone's going to miss him.

After making it through a series of depressing stories meant to pull the new team together, we're treated to a story about X-23. Sure, it's got Mercury's name in the title, but this is the X-23 show. Surprisingly, I've grown to like X-23 (something I never would have said when Claremont had her in Uncanny), but that's largely because her creators are writing her. I've heard both of her mini-series (also written by Yost and Kyle) are also quite good. Good thing to get a character with a very shaky premise (a Wolverine clone, for crying out loud) over in the minds of fans.

However, it can't be forgotten that this is not a book about X-23. It's about the New X-Men. While Hellion gets a featured role in the story (setting up to be X-23's main man probably had something to do with it) and Mercury plays the damsel in distress, Rockslide, Surge, Elixir, and Dust do practically nothing through the entire story. Of course, this is just one story. As long as the X-23 and Friends show doesn't continue on, the book will be fine.

The tie-in to William Stryker seemed to be weak. If scientists are going to breed horrible monsters using a mutant's power, and they just happen to be in X-23's origin, then run with that. No need to tie it in to the previous story. Again, I hope this doesn't lead to a habit in this title. If it does, it may have been a better plan to keep Stryker alive at the close of the previous story.

Since all my complaints are about the possible future, I'd have to say this book is doing quite well right now. Of course, the next story looks to be bringing back the long-dead Illyana Rasputin (see my earlier rant on death in comics), so we'll see how that one goes. As for now, though, good stuff.

Rant: Give it a rest!

When the smoke settles, nothing will ever be the same!

How many times have we heard this catchphrase, or a variation of it? If you've been keeping up with comics over the past couple years, then more often than you probably should have. Marvel readers have been following House of M, then into Civil War, keeping a side look on Annihilation, and are now preparing for World War Hulk. DC fans followed the entire lead up to Infinite Crisis, the event itself, then jumped ahead a year with the characters, but still kept up with 52 to bridge the gap, and gearing up for Countdown to keep the story going.

Both companies have been featuring a ridiculous amount of "major events" and show no signs of slowing. Sure, the events are major, but in the process, they may be overwhelming the fans who they're bombarded upon week upon week. Both companies have their own way of doing such, but both take a toll on the readers.

The mega-crossover is nothing new for Marvel. The company that brought us Secret Wars, Secret Wars II, the Acts of Vengeance and many others have largely followed a uniform process. The main story is presented in a mini-series, while some regular monthly titles will tie in to flesh out the event. It was extra, but not too much of a burden. After all, it was a special event.

House of M strayed a bit. Besides the regular books and self-titled mini-series, the event spawned numerous other minis to keep some regular titles from sacrificing their issues to contribute. Fans of Spider-Man found a new four-issue mini on their buy list, which really added nothing to the story or the character. Aftermath minis (Son of M, X-Men: the 198) came as well, showing the changes that the event caused since, of course, the regular books couldn't be bothered with such trivial matters.

If you haven't caught it yet, the changes hyped so heavily in the extra books didn't do a whole lot to the big picture.

Of course, the effects didn't have very long to take root, since Marvel immediately jumped into Civil War, again promising that everything would change. Again, side minis were solicited along with the main one, but this time Marvel promoted that most books were important to get the entire story. Civil War stretched out for almost a full year, but at least did change certain aspects of the Marvel Universe.

So, of course, they're immediately gearing up for World War Hulk, with the same promises of mass change coming forth.

If that wasn't enough for fans, side-mega events also have been popping up. Along Civil War came Annihilation, which featured many of Marvel's cosmic characters. Next to World War Hulk will be Endangered Species, an X-Men crossover that will deal with the fallout of House of M, as well as an Annihilation follow up series.

Unlike Marvel, DC chose to spend a lot of time on a single event. Before their major event, Infinite Crisis, DC launched four mini series leading up to the main story. When it was taking place, nearly every DC book was drawn into it. Unlike Marvel's tactics, though, this meant that it was a fair bet that readers would be missing at least a part of the story if they didn't pick up most of the main DC books to follow the story.

It was the aftermath, though, that really made Infinite Crisis feel important. After the final issue of the mini series, every DC book's story jumped forward one year. Mass changes were widespread, and a new direction was being traveled. To cover the gap in space, DC put out a truly unique concept. A limited series, 52, that would be released weekly for an entire year. Fans were willing to drop the extra three bucks a week to follow it, and it's been quite successful.

However, at the close of 52 (47 is being released this week), DC announced that they would immediately start another 52 issues of an event called Countdown that would, you guessed it, change everything. That's 104 issues, coming out every week for two straight years. They're pushing their luck.

The problem with these repetitive 'mega-events' is that it's just too much, too fast. Sure, an event that changes everything breathes fresh air into a setting that can occasionally become somewhat stale. But once those changes have been done, readers want to take a little while and get used to them. To change them so soon after being done takes away from the event itself, and it makes future ones seem less important that creators are trying to make them out to be. If the after effects of Civil War are washed over by the effects of World War Hulk, why did I spend so much money picking up all the extra issues to follow it?

So let's get through Countdown, World War Hulk and all the other upcoming events, then let's take a break and get the whole picture back together before rushing out to shake it up again. I, for one, could use the break on my wallet.