Avengers: The Initiative #7 - "Triple Threat" (Writer: Dan Slott,
Artist: Stefano Caselli, Color Art:
Daniele Rudoni)
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The Scarlet Spiders go publicly into action when something is stolen from one of the Initiative's top scientists... and Peter Parker is annoyed to see three people swinging around in his suit.
The basics of the plot is okay, but some of it's a little stilted... Peter Parker's verbal monologue bemoaning his fate, for example (it would have worked much better as a thought bubble). It was also full of a little bit of oddness, like the idea that if May dies she'll be buried under the wrong name. One would assume that once she dies (if that were to happen), the main reason for giving her a fake identity would be passed, and you could tell the doctors that she was really May Parker.
As to the revelation of the identity of the Scarlet Spiders... well, I had a feeling it was going to be that way about halfway through the issue, and I have to say I'm getting a little tired of waiting to see certain people in the Initiative leadership get what's coming to them.
So, a little bit of a weaker issue. I also find I'm tiring a bit of the title's tendency to focus on one character with every issue, because the fact is I don't really care much about most of them, and the one issue of spotlight seems to give short shrift to everybody else. Even when a character I like is spotlighted, it feels like it's going to be so long before I see them again. I'd prefer a more standard approach which allows the reader to get attached to groups of characters at once.
Review: 3 stars
Rictor attempts to infiltrate the purifiers, and Jamie goes on a mission
to investigate the future for Forge.
This is my first taste of Messiah Complex. I decided not to go and read
the whole crossover because, frankly ever since Decimation my interest
in the X-Books has been severely waning. Messiah Complex will either
reverse that bad idea, in which case I might become interested in
the books after that, or it will not, in which case I really don't
care much what happens in it. However, I do still like a few of the
X-books involved in the crossover, like X-Factor.
The problem then becomes, do I bother to read those parts of the
crossover in the titles I'm already buying? Or should I just sit the
whole thing out?
This issue didn't really sell me on one plan or the other. Since I'll
be buying the next part of the crossover (New X-Men), I'll have a better
idea then. I didn't feel spectacularly lost reading this issue, because
I've read some of the press for Messiah Complex. I suspect my ease in
following the story is also indicative of a slow start to the mini as a
whole... in short, it doesn't seem that a whole lot has happened.
In this issue really not a whole lot seems to be happening either, at
least in terms of the overall storyline, but there are a few cool
developments for X-Factor's cast as a whole, which elevate the book into
my Pick of the Week.
Review: 3.25 stars
Well, that's it for this week folks. Next week, according to the
shipping list, there'll be two books. There's New X-Men #44 and
Loners #6.
See you next time...
Peter Dimitriadis
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X-Factor #25 - "Messiah Complex, Chapter Three" (Writer: Peter David,
Penciler: Scot Eaton, Inker: John Dell, Colorist: Frank
D'Armata)
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