X-men #195

X-men #195
Writer: Mike Carey
Pencils: Humberto Ramos

I get it. Mike Carey is an idea man. As in chock full o'. He also has a rather flagrant crush on putting well-known villians in the somewhat unfamiliar role as heroes. Not that he has these villians always act like heroes mind you, just that they appear in the void where a hero should be with startling frequency. It doesn't get much more villainous than the Prince of Darkness himself, and it is Lucifer (through Gaiman) which made Carey a household comicbook name. Lucifer has always struck me as much more of an idea piece rather than a functional comic. What I mean by this is that Lucifer served Gaiman well, animating his protagonist Morpheus and providing some pretty breath-taking moments (Dear Neil, You had me at "A Hope in Hell"). Just as Jack animates Bigby (and others) in Fables. Yet when you send characters such as these out on their lonesome, a certain something is lost. Of course Carey had enough ideas to propel his dark knight through 75 issues, an enviable run for any series.

And now we find Carey taking the reigns of Xavier's X-men with all of his various tics and trademarks on display. Who does he select as team leader? Hint: Her very name is synonomous with dishonesty and mischief. Not that Rogue is a particularly devious customer. But oh what a team Carey has her leading. Lady Mastermind, Cannonball, Sabretooth, Iceman, Mystique, and Cable: virtually every frame of Carey's story features some former baddy turned reluctant goody. It certainly keeps things interesting. Personally, I am waiting for one of these 'heroes' to snap. And it will happen. My money's on... but i digress.

It has become increasingly apparent that Carey does not need the villain-as-hero gimmick to carry his X-men franchise. As I said before, the man has ideas. Catering to an ensemble comic like X-men truly plays to Carey's strengths. During his first story arc "Supernovas" the reader is blistered by a plot that juggles a fistful of feldgling story-lines, any one of which would have been enough to fuel most series. Suffice to say, many of those strands remain active in the new three-part arc "Primary Infection." And for the remaining portion of this review I'll focus on the swing issue of that series, #195. I'll be judging it on its own merits which as you can see by the thoughts above, may be a little unfair. But this isn't a trade review, nor has it been released as such... yet. If these little 32 page nuggets are going to be released as individual issues, they'd best have feet to stand on. And the verdict?

Decidedly mixed. Writing aside, the visuals pop even if Ramos is at times violently inconsistent in his drawing style. There is a sort of dynamicism there that works well with kinetic characters like Iceman and Cannonball but call me crazy if I'd like other characters drawn uniformally throughout a single issue. Lady Mastermind in particular seems all over the map. She is quite stunningly rendered when seen from afar or in a mixed group. Ramos is an unabashed fan of the female form, of this there is no doubt. But when we zoom in on Mastermind for dramatic emphasis her thin whip-cord thin frame becomes overwhelming, almost hulking. A certain level of detail is lost as well. Long story short, keep your charcters in the middleground Humberto! When positioned there the man has few peers in comic art.

Its hard to analyze a story which has yet to be completed. Yes, there are more questions raised. And to be fair a few answers delivered. A dangerous villain is (re)introduced and it looks as if he might actually hang around a while. As a swing issue we begin in the lurch and end... in the lurch. Yet stories can function like this, think Jackson's Two Towers, tho the man did have 3 + hours to pull that off. Carey just packs as much as he can into a pretty tight space and the results are what you might expect. An excellent dish with a half dozen too many overpowering spices. I think everything inside is essential, it just might be months until it gets sufficiently unpacked. Welcome to Mike Carey 101.

Rating: Somewhere between a Lando and a Snake-eyes, but leaning toward the latter
^^^^ wondering what this ranking means? ^^^^