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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A multi-car pile up - X-Men style, November 3, 2005
This review is from: X-Men: The End Book Two: Heroes and Martyrs (Bk. 2) (Paperback)
There's a phenomena of `rubber necking' - slowing down to see a car wreck. X-Men Heroes and Martyrs isn't a car wreck, it's a multi-car pile up. While it's worth slowing down to view this book, it's a painful process at best. Let me explain.
** The Storyline: With Xavier's mansion destroyed in X-Men- The End: Demons and Dreamers most of the children, teachers, and former X-Men are dead. Only a small handful survive into this book. It's hard to see so many favorite characters dead, or to imagine the carnage.
** The Characters- This graphic still manages to have more characters than Youngblood. Yes, X-Continuity is full of rich, diverse, interesting characters, but by trying to give each character their own moment, almost no one has a chance to really shine. With few exceptions, the characters are in and out, without contributing much. The exception is Gambit but I'll talk about him later.
** The Loop Hole- There are lots of loopholes in this graphic. Most of them I can't discuss because it would give away spoilers. However, one I can discuss, is where are the new mutants? This book takes place years in the future, yet, with the exception of a few offspring of original characters there are no new faces. Where are the original characters in the 10 years since we last saw this group? Where?
** The Good- There were a few great moments, most notably a very cool origin for Gambit. Gambit and Rogue's children interacting with Cyclops and White Queen's children was too much fun. These things alone made the book worth checking out.
** The Overall View- X-Men fans might enjoy this, but even they need to get ready for a continuity headache. Also, this book is only part of a series. Demons and Dreamers comes out first, and soon, The Stars My Destination (vol. 3 of X-Men, the End) will begin. Without the framework of the other books, this doesn't do well as a stand alone book.
Recommended to X-Men fans and Gambit admirers. Not recommended to comic book newcomers.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A mixed bag of good, bad & ugly, March 7, 2007
This review is from: X-Men: The End Book Two: Heroes and Martyrs (Bk. 2) (Paperback)
The good thing about the series is the overwhelming tsunami of action that will keep hearts jackhammering in the chests of true X-fans. While "The End" doesn't always bring about a true conclusion in some books in the Marvel series, the X-Men are certainly getting hit where it hurts from beginning to end -- and fans must be prepared to watch their favorites fall in a variety of horrible ways.
It's all-out war on mutants, generated largely because of a conflict among alien races the X-Men and other mutant groups have confronted over the years. And that means pulling out all the stops, with overwhelming forces that simply cannot be halted with fisticuffs and a quick quip. Deaths range from the personal level -- for instance, the heroic final seconds of Rahne "Wolfsbane" Sinclair as she's engulfed in a fireball -- to the widescale destruction when the Xavier school is destroyed in a huge explosion that leaves scores of mutants dead.
It's certainly a different face on comics, where regular readers know favorite characters are never in any real danger. (Actual deaths are rare, after all, and are almost always foreshadowed far in advance as "events" that usually aren't permanent anyway.)
But there's badness here, too, particularly for those of us who aren't diehard X-readers. Sometimes it feels like this is a "cast of thousands" production and, often, I found myself wondering who the heck some of these people were. It's hard to get wrapped up in the fates of strangers, and the absence of much real backstory on them makes for bewildering reading.
Even worse, however, is the pace with which "X-Men: The End" unfolds. While nonstop action -- filled with major developments, sudden twists and tragic deaths, no less -- can be a very entertaining storytelling technique, there are some limits that must be observed. In this case, things happen so quickly that readers don't have much time to digest one turn of events before they're on to the next. Writer Chris Claremont juggles numerous threads so wildly that it's easy to get confused, and the potential impact of the big stuff is diminished accordingly. Did someone just die? Oh well, I'll worry about it later.
Among the various bad guys at work here, however, the prominent use of Charles Xavier's evil twin -- yes, you read that right, his evil twin -- is a weak choice. And, by story's end, some readers might feel the tone is getting a little too preachy, as X-books are prone to do, as Xavier's "why can't we all just get along and leave in peace?" agenda is pushed.
by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(n e t) editor
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The final tale continues..., January 16, 2006
This review is from: X-Men: The End Book Two: Heroes and Martyrs (Bk. 2) (Paperback)
Must have for X-fans. This is the second installment (of 3) of the final story of the X-Men, how it all is going to end. Titled "Heroes and Martyrs" for a reason, it does carry a sense of finality, as did the first book in the series. Well written, and includes references to some old stories that you may have to know in order to fully grasp what is happening. Don't make this your first X-purchase.
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