Writer: John Byrne Artists: John Byrne (p), Tom Palmer (I)
Publisher: Marvel
PLOT: After kidnapping the Invisible Woman, we see Magneto continue to urge Namor to increase his attack upon the human race, as he will swoop in afterwards to claim the surface world for the mutant race. Meanwhile the X-Men continue their battle against Mole Man, but they are rendered unconscious once again, when they fall into a chamber which amplifies the slightest sound into a crippling sonic assault. Meanwhile Warren is busy trying to free Havok & Lorna from the cryogenic chambers that they were sealed inside, but after he manages to free Havok we see Professor Xavier sends them both on missions, while leaving Lorna sealed inside a malfunctioning chamber. As Havok is sent to seek out a mystery ally, we see him discover Manhattan is not a place to be running around in the daytime, as he is set upon by an angry mob. Meanwhile, Warren's search for his teammates is halted when he falls victim to an attack.
COMMENTS: John Byrne's comments about this title's cancellation being unjustified would carry a great deal more weight if he had been delivering material that was something we hadn't seen before, or at the very least delivered these all too familiar scenes in an entertaining manner. I mean, John Byrne can be a talented creator, and his work for most of the 1980s is easily some of the best material delivered during that decade.
However, lately it's almost as if he's simply phoning it in, as the stories in this series over the past half-year have been sorely lacking any sense of imagination. The characters simply move from one threat to the next, and it's almost as if he's forgotten that we know all these characters are alive & well in the present day, as he seems to feel ending on a cliffhanger where the team looks to be in mortal danger is enough to hold our interest. John Byrne is going to have to work hard to convince me to seek out his next project, as his last few projects have been pretty forgettable.
What's more this series has never really managed to grab the reader with any of its plots, as almost from issue one John Byrne decided instead of focusing on one central plot, his book would be a series of smaller plots. In this issue we have Magneto's villainous plotting, the X-Men's battle against the Mole Man, Havok's battle against a mutant hating mob & Angel's attempt to find his teammates. Any chance this book had at holding my interest is hurt by the fact that no one scene is allowed to last longer than a few pages before we jump on to something else.
It also doesn't help matters when the main plot is reliant upon one having read a Fantastic Four story from the early 1970's, and cliché elements like a mob attacking Havok due to the simple fact that the see his standing amid some unconscious Atlantean troops really hurts this issue's credibility. There's are sections in this story where it's almost like John Byrne gives up on trying to keep the story readable.
Since the 1980's John Byrne's art has gone from absolutely stunning, to merely serviceable. Maybe it results from a lack of interest in the material, or perhaps he's no longer interested in going that extra mile, but it's clear that he's not putting the same degree of effort into his art. There was a time when John Byrne's work almost rivaled George Pérez's when it came to detail, so for a longtime fan like myself, his work over the past decade has had an unfinished look about it.
Now it still tells the story in a clear enough fashion, and scenes like the explosion that freed Havok from his cryogenic chamber are quite impressive. The sequence where Havok is set upon by the mob in also nicely laid out. However, the John Byrne fan in me simply can't look at this issue and sing its praises when I've seen the quality that John Byrne is truly capable of. I do like the panel layouts that he uses on his current work though.
FINAL WORD: John Byrne has done more to put me off this title than Joe Quesada ever could with his claim that this book was redundant. I understand that it would be upsetting to have your book cancelled when it appeared to be selling quite well, but rather than proving Joe Quesada wrong by producing work that is truly worth saving, John Byrne made this book even more worthy of cancellation. There's a reason why books like Deadpool and Spider-Girl can rise off the mat before the count of ten, and then there's this book where John Byrne didn't even attempt to display why this book was worth saving. This issue is utterly forgettable, and when it's gone I seriously doubt I'll miss it.
