Diary of an up and coming sociopath

Once again, I findmyself with very little to get, but it’s sort of merciful. I bought a comic I was considering getting a few weeks ago, and I still didn’t get to my £8 average zone, so I’m kind of pleased to have some slow time because it frees up the comic money to try new things. I’ll get to that.

X-Men #172 - Bizarre Love Triangle, Part 2 - It must be said, the ending of this issue really justifies the title of the arc. Mystique’s appearance was telegraphed by a line of dialogue last issue which pretty much gave it away to keen observers, but I didn’t pick up on it until after I’d done my blogging (mainly because I had only read the comic properly on the tube at that point.) This is a truly great X-Men issue. Milligan took a while to get there, but this time he’s totally nailed it. He’s nailed it more than Mystique’s about to be nailed by her daughter’s boyfriend. The best thing about it all is that for all its insanity, it still seems in character. Mystique’s motivations are slightly suspect, but I think Milligan’s playing up the scheming, criminally insane aspect of Mystique, and if there’s no further justification for her actions, I won’t be too upset. One of the greatest things about this arc so far is that it actually does focus on Gambit and Rogue. One of the strengths of having an ensemble cast like X-men does should be the ability to tell character-specific stories without cramming in all the other X-Men, and while they do make brief appearances it all seems appropriate because of how they interact with Gambit and Rogue. The plot is engaging me, so much so that I’m willing to look past the way Liquid!’s colours sully Larocca’s art (see my X-Men #171 review for details) and give this an A.

Smoke #1 - This was my experimental purchase for the week/month/whatever. I’ve heard a lot about Smoke being excellent, but it carries a hefty £5 price tag, which meant in previous weeks I’ve been passing over it. This month, I put down the hard monies and bought it, and I’m glad I did. It’s by self proclaimed Hot New Writer Alex De Campi and Top 20 Artist Igor Kordey, and tells the story of a government assassin set in a futuristic London. It’s packed with militaristic versions of familiar london landmarks, which has grossly increased the novelty value for me, but if it seems gratuitous in doing so, it’s far more effective for it. It helps craft a far more complete picture of this version of London, which, all told, is by no means a radical interpretation of how things could end up. I find it quite fdarkly funny because of that, actually, it’s the small details like the congestion charge-alike where people from outside london have to pay to enter that make the world come alive for me, and all this is before I’ve begun to talk about the characters and plot. It might be expensive, but god damn, it’s worth it. Kordey’s art is far better than he has been, and I even quite enjoyed his infamous rushed New X-Men work, so it’s nice to see what he manages at a more leisurely pace. This can’t come highly recommended enough. For Brits, at least, I’m not sure how well anyone who doesn’t live in the UK, or even London would enjoy it because a big part of the fun for me is recognising the culture, politics and location. If seems expensive, rest assured it justifies that expense. A+.