Customer Reviews

X-Men: Messiah Complex

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really can't believe just how long it has been since there was a mega X-Men crossover. Back when Marvel had ump-teen X-titles, X-Men crossovers happened just about every few months it seemed; with a majority of which not fulfilling any promises of changing any status quos, or really amounting to much of anything in general. Well, things have changed apparently. X-Men: Messiah Complex is undoubtedly the best X-Men story you will read that doesn't have the names "Morrison" or "Whedon" attached to it, and it is undoubtedly the best X-Men crossover event since...well, maybe ever. Spanning over X-titles including Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Factor, and New X-Men; Messiah Complex finds Cyclops, Wolverine and co. tracking a baby. This baby is the first new mutant baby since the events of House of M, and everyone is after the child. From Mr. Sinister and his crew of Marauders, to the mutant murdering Purifiers, to the warrior from the future Cable, and some surprises in between. Yes, there are events that take place in Messiah Complex that you WILL NOT see coming, and by the time this hardcover collection comes to an end, the status quo of many will have changed. Featuring a bevy of talent behind it, including writers Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Daredevil), Mike Carey (Hellblazer, Ultimate Fantastic Four), Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (X-23), and the great Peter David (Incredible Hulk); as well as artists Billy Tan, Chris Bachalo, Humberto Ramos, Scot Eaton, and legendary X-Men artist Marc Silvestri; Messiah Complex is a blast. If there are any downsides to Messiah Complex, and this is purely personal, the artwork of veteran X-artists Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos doesn't match up to the rest of the art here, and comes off as cartoony. Despite that one flaw, the rest of Messiah Complex is a fantastic X-Men event that does not disappoint one bit, and only promises for more intriguing developments to come.

I haven't bought comics for a long time and only resort to buying Hardcovers or Trade Paperbacks for my comic book fix. I was reluctant to buy Xmen Messiah Complex because I've heard that most crossovers have not lived up their billings. But after reading this at one sitting, I must admit that the art, story,characterization, action, tone, and complexity was very very impressive and well-done.

I found the new X-teams hard to grasp,but after a few more pages, it wasn't that hard to follow. The backstories or what comic book enthusiasts call continuity was done so that we all can understand without a back history of stories. The art was fantastic to the max.

I'd recommend this hardcover if you enjoy a good "mystery" style story with tons of action, killings,and kids learning how to fit into being heroes. This is a good Marvel crossover and there's not that many out there.

Highly recommended.

The "Mutant Massacre" story is the only X-Men title that may even hold a candle to the "Messiah CompleX". We have it all here, folks! Destruction! Death! Lies! Betrayal! Compassion! Sadness! Action! Loyalty! Basically everything you could ever want in a comic masterpiece. Oh, and did I forget to mention the birth of the first mutant since M-Day? All of the story lines are great, and the only art that wasn't really to my taste was some of the stuff from New X-Men. For the quality of entertainment that you will get out of this series, the price is well worth it. Just one question for anyone out there. Can Sinister really be dead? I hope not. He may be one of the best of the detestable ever created. Peace and Love,Jake.

I picked this one up because the reviews were great. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this immensely but don't really know the flow of where this story started or the next book in the series. Amazon should have some sort of "If you want to read this graphic novel, wait because the story starts here" type of feature.

With three little words, "No more mutants," Wanda Maximoff reduced the mutant population from several million to a few hundred. In the blink of an eye, the entire mutant race became an endangered species. A year after this holocaust comes the first mutant birth, a birth that can mean either hope or annihilation.

Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Daredevil) kicks off Messiah CompleX with a grisly start. Cooperstown, Alaska, has come under assault by warring factions of mutants and antimutant extremists, both hunting for the newborn. The entire city is on fire, and every child has been murdered, except one. When the X-Men arrive, they quickly learn of the child's abduction and the race is on to save what could potentially be the most important mutant on Earth.

Some believe the new mutant to be a messiah; others believe this birth is the harbinger of doom. Multiple factions are competing with one another for control of the child, for control of the future. It is a hunt that spans both time and space, with the search carrying from Alaska to Canada, from Texas to Scotland. A team is dispatched to two possible futures in the hope that the identity of the abductor and the location of the child can be found, and why this baby is so important.

X-Men: Messiah CompleX collects the entire 13-issue story arc in a single oversized hardcover. Originally published through single-issue format across the various titles of the X-Men franchise, Messiah CompleX was the crossover event for Marvel in 2007-08, and the largest crossover between the X-comics in many years. It harkened back to the `90s, when these type of big-event stories were published with annual regularity, drawing in numerous titles and hosts of characters, writers, and artists.

Messiah CompleX recalls the glory days of the X-franchise and the brilliant, huge stories that were told through X-Tinction Agenda, X-Cutioner's Song, and Fatal Attractions. Built upon the few years worth of stories, beginning with House of M, this story was a huge event for X-Men readers, and Marvel Comics did right by it.

The storytelling is set at a rapid-fire pace and never lets up. There's a compelling sense of urgency as heroes and villains are pitted against one another to find this missing child, and the narrative flows well across the various writers tasked with bringing the plot to life. There's some great twists and turns throughout. It's an epic chase story, filled with danger and nonstop action that gives plenty of fan favorites a moment to shine, certainly a feat by itself considering the large cast of characters.

The art is, by and large, top-notch. Action scenes (and there are many) are deftly handled. While some are more chaotic than others, they are, thankfully, never confusing. Marc Silvestri's art in the opening chapter is simply beautiful, and Billy Tan does some excellent work on the Uncanny X-Men portions, serving the flagship X-title well. The pencil work by Humberto Ramos in the New X-Men sections of the book are a bit too cartoony when stacked up against the more refined artistic talents in the book. It's a minor quibble since it does not distract from the proceedings and is easy to overlook considering how fast readers are propelled through the pages.

Messiah CompleX is an epic book that is only part of a larger saga. While it builds off earlier works that have impacted the entirety of the Marvel Universe, it stands well enough on its own that there is no required reading list before diving in, but it does not end here. It marks the beginning of a trilogy that continues with Messiah War and Second Coming, which is good, because by the time readers reach the end of this book, they'll definitely want to know what comes next.
-- Michael Hicks

I just jumped back into comics and this book is a decent place to jump. Don't get me wrong the story and art are awesome, I'm talking strictly about new readers. You won't get all the story but you'll get enough and what you do get will leave you wanting more.

Messiah Complex is well complex. There are lots of teams, characters and motives intertwining to create one big game changing event that is actually part one of a trilogy.

If you're a new reader or old X-Men fan than keep this up and be ready to pick up the next two books, not to mention X-Force, Uncanny X-Men...

The X books used to crossover Quite often, now not so much. Some of the best stories (Age of Apocalypse, The Onslaught Epic, The Asgaurdian Wars, Executoiners Song, and the Twelve) were crossovers. This one trumps them all. With writers like Mike Carey, Peter David, and Ed Brubaker and artists David Finch, Humberto Ramos, Chris Bachelo, Billy Tan and Marc Silvestri you cannot go wrong. It ties into continuity nicely being the first major mutant event ( the birth of a new mutant ) since House of M which left only 199 mutants on Earth. With a new Mutant birth the fightis on pinning the X-men,and X-factor angainst the purifiers and the bad mutants. Everbody wants the baby for their own reasons and the purifiers want it dead. A few X-Men reapear after a long absence like Cable, Bishop, and Forge. Collecting Uncanny X-Men 492-494, X-Men 205-207, New X-Men 44-46 and X-Factor 25-27 and the Messiah Complex One-Shot. This book is smooth reading and it makes one hell of a story.

This book has the latest battle between the X-men and the terrible future, the story begins with the first new mutant since "M-DAY" and all the people (purifiers, predator x, marauderers, Mr. Sinester and X-men) who has an agenda with the new born. The art is relly good, and the structure of the arc is perfect, and besides is one of the fierst X-men event where Cyclops gtes the respect as a leader that he deserves, and I asure you that this is a MUST HAVE.

While I read a lot of Marvel titles, I haven't kept up as well as I apparently need to in order to know all the characters in this crossover.

Some positives:

Even though this section is much smaller than my complaints below, I want to be clear that I enjoyed the storyline. The overall plot was well thought out, and I enjoyed reading the Summit notes at the end of the trade paperback. The writers did a good job of keeping you interested. There were so many sides pulling at the same thing, and you only had a good idea of the agenda of the X-Men. I loved seeing the members of the different teams working together, and crossing over into different books.

Some negatives:

Art:

I echo some other thoughts I read in reviews about the "manga" style art in some of the books. I really don't enjoy that style, but especially not intermixed with other art. It's not even always easy to tell which characters are which.

Also there were several frames where the action was confusing. For instance it looked like Predator X ate Bishop, or at least chewed his arms off. Of course he seems fine a few frames later when he shot at Cable and missed (don't want to spoil anything).

There were other scenes too that were difficult to decipher, many of them involving Predator X. Graphic novels are stories told in part by text, and in part by picture. If the message isn't well communicated because the reader can't figure out what is going on in some frames, mission officially not accomplished.

Story:

I have a few complaints about the story. While others have said that the story moved too slowly, I found a few parts where it moved too fast. For instance when Rogue wakes up, gets up immediately and somehow gains an understanding of what has happened since she's been out from three semi-incoherent sentences by Mystique. That was hard for me to believe. She's not groggy from being in a coma? Other examples: The short arguments between Xavier and Cyclops, for that matter, most of the story as it pertained to Xavier, and how the X-Men escaped the Mauraders toward the beginning.

Other plot holes:

If the purifier soldiers with guns can kill several of the X-Men with a few shots, how were they completely ineffective until the one soldier was overlooked toward the end of the battle when he shot Caliban? (That speaks to a larger problem in comics, not just this line).

How were the telepaths taken out so easily in the battle with the Sentinels? How did they recover so quickly? - that was unresolved.

Why was Sinister so easily killed? What was his agenda? Is he really dead?

For that matter, who is really dead?

Lady Deathstrike
Mr Sinister
Vertigo (eaten by Predator X or not?)
Caliban
Bishop?
Xavier?
The mutants that Predator X hunts on his way to find the baby?
There were several Marauders that were stabbed through the stomach by Wolverine or Pixie or X-23, are they dead?
Some students were killed by the Sentinels
2 members of the Marauders are found dead in Alaska (then certainly remain so since they're bodies are eaten by Predator X)

It seems that they made a big deal of the 198 existing mutants, but then several nameless mutants are killed. How many are left? It seems kind of important. I count at least 9 mutants that were killed in this story arc.

I gave the story 3 stars because I will read it again. It wasn't spectacular, but it wasn't as frustrating as some of Marvel's other big story lines (Civil War, Secret Invasion).

I nearly went crazy waiting for this hardcover to arrive at my library (being broke and unable to buy it, as I would've liked to do) because I kept hearing so much about it: "Messiah Complex" this and "Messiah Complex" that and "the best X-Men crossover in decades" and such. Naturally, I couldn't wait to see if it really was worth the hype and was immediately hooked the instant I got ahold of it.

Well, it's worth the hype, at least in my opinion.

I might be just a tiny bit biased, seeing as some of my favorite characters (Nightcrawler, Rogue, X-23, Gambit, Cyclops) are involved, as well as some of my favorite writers (Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Ed Brubaker) but I really enjoyed this story. The writing and art were spot-on, as well as the plot being engaging, and I love the way it ended, with Cable taking the baby into the future (though I can't help but be curious about what will happen to her there). Only a couple little things bothering me: it distressed me extremely that Caliban, whom I've always had a soft spot for, was killed. Also, it irked me that Shadowcat was too busy guiding a stupid bullet through space to appear here, even in a passing remark. Other than that, an excellent story well worth my time and a beautiful hardcover I'd love to own one day.