X-Statix #14 Review

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Reviewer: Manolis Vamvounis
Story title: Back from the Dead part 2

Written by: Peter Milligan
Pencils by: Mike Allred
Inks by: J. Bone
Colors by: Laura Allred
Letters by: Cory Petit (Virtual Calligraphy)
Assistant Editors: Warren Simmons and John Miesegaes
Editor: Axel Alonso
Publisher: Marvel Comics

– What if you squint a bit?

– Squint??

– Squint a bit and cover her hair. See it now?

– Um, … YEAH! You’re right she looks just like Diana!! But how am I gonna read
the comic now; with my hand over the word balloons and my eyes half-closed?

-sigh- C’mon, I’ll read it to you…

The Story So Far…

– Princess Di is dead.
– No, she isn’t!
– Yes, she IS!
– Then, who’s that on the cover of X-Statix?
– Take a closer look!
– Diana in a bad wig? What is this, X2?

(Haven’t heard of the nigh-famous Diana-Henrietta swap? Head over to the Leave Your Spandex @t the Door archives, and read the dirty gist. Long story short, a few weeks prior to publication, the ‘Diana joins X-Statix’ storyline was butchered to remove all references to Di, thus bringing us to this…)

Henrietta Hunter, a pop star formerly known as the Princess (Diana), was the biggest celebrity in the world, until she was murdered by Engl– oops sorry, European government officials (who made it look like an accident). As of X-Statix #13, she is reincarnated and hunted down once more by the Engl– European (damn those tongue slips :-p) government. So, she does what every sensible zombified celebrity would do…she joins a mutant superhero team obsessed with fame and money!
The Europeans (see? I didn’t say ‘English’ this time! …Waitaminute … D’OH!) don’t give up so easily though at the sight of trouble, and recruit their own washed-up pop culture obsessed mutant team, the Euro-trash! Euro-trash is oddly named, since its membership is 3/5 European, but 100% crude stereotypes, as noted in the issue. The most blatant example being the ‘Surrender Monkey’ (Milligan’s reference to a Simpsons episode), a French simian in a beret whose mutant power is to let his teammates know when it is the correct time for them to take the prerogative! Je t’adore monsieur Milligan!!!

Di you take me for a foo’?

A conspiracy theorist’s links between Diana and Henrietta:

– Henrietta is the artist ‘formerly knows as the Princess’
– Her ‘dear friend’ is Elton (John)
– She is the ‘most photographed woman in the world’
– She ‘raises money and awareness for AIDS, landmines and eating disorders’
– She’s a ‘cross between J-Lo and Mother Teresa’
– She speaks in an English accent (What? Is that just me?)

And most importantly:
-‘Henrietta Hunter’s’ name is an anagram for ‘Hints are true then’…
(if you got any other funny anagrams from her name, send them over and I’ll include them in my next column)

Would it have been better with the Diana imagery intact?

‘Hell’s yeah!’: It would have gone down as Marvel’s top story of the year, the highlight of this title so far, and the most publicized Marvel storyline of the decade! (Origin? heh).

In the previous issue, the newly resurrected Hen-di-etta went on the talk-show rounds and revealed how her death was no accident and that she was murdered. Remind you of any recent British tabloids’ headlines (Diana’s letters found post-mortem, showing she was expecting her death…latent mutant talent?)? This story made the scandal rags sell out like crazy, and saw their print run increase exponentially. Mucho lost dough for Marvel.

‘On the other hand’: I can’t help thinking what kind of backlash this story would have on Marvel’s public ventures. This story does NOT paint Diana in a good light. Sure, the public face of Hen-di-etta in the story is an exact replica of the goody-two-shoes Diana as we knew her from newscasts (were we really far from ‘Save Saint Diana’ before she died?), but behind the cameras, she’s portrayed as a highly intelligent and manipulative individual. She easily talks herself out of a tight spot using naught but her wit and flawless smile. She ‘uses her powers for good’ all right, and devotes herself to charity, but she’s a far cry from the blissfully innocent persona some might have expected (and as she was characterized last issue, now easily chalked up to Hen-di-etta playing everyone along). After all, there are a lot of philanthropists out there, but you don’t see any others gracing the covers of half the U.K. newspaper circulation, or a nation grieving for their death (does anyone even still remember Mother Teresa died on the same day as Di? Do any of the newscasts devote nearly as much time every anniversary?). This kind of celebrity doesn’t just ‘happen’ to someone; it has to be nudged along by the individual and her circle. That’s essentially what Milligan is saying to us with his Diana/Henrietta, and it’s a highly controversial take on the dead princess. So in some degree I don’t really blame Marvel for chickening out. I DO blame them for doing so at the last possible minute, leaving us with a hastily patched up storyline and a very frustrated and out-of-breath creative team…

(I would love to hear your opinions on this, maybe arrange for a special discussion column, or just take over the Overlord’s Corner for a bit of fun. Do you think this is an accurate depiction of Diana? )

Spider-facts

This issue also boasts the first on-page meeting of Spiderman and the X-Statix, and is the focus of the now Diana-less cover. To recap his appearance:

– 6 panels (in 3 pages) plus the cover
– 3 word balloons plus one sound effect
– no effect whatsoever on the plot

Sum it up, and you get one heckuva ‘gratuitous’ appearance!

Still, it was fun seeing him, if only for a while, and colored properly from Mike Allred’s art this time, unlike the botched job in the Spiderman/Iron Man Ultimate Marvel Team-Up storyline. Here’s hoping for a Madman/Spiderman or Spidey/Doop crossover soon!!!

And what about the issue?

Not too shabby! After the previous issue’s bad experience, I didn’t come into this with the best expectations, but I was surprised by how well structured it was and how good the art was.

Last issue was new regular inker J. Bone’s official debut (although not mentioned in the credits box). It was something of a letdown, since I’m used to seeing Mike ink his own pencils, and was thus accustomed to a greater volume of detail then was to be found in that book. With this new issue in my hands though, I now see that it may have been the overall rush to get the edited version of the book on the stands that caused the drop in quality. In this issue, J.Bone compliments Mike’s pencils incredibly, especially in the facial close-ups.

This issue also marks Laura Allred’s return to an older coloring technique; painting everything in flat-tones, after several issues of experimenting with touches of gradients here and there. I’m of the school of thought that prefers the all-flat approach, because it does marvels (pun intended) to Mike’s line work.

ah, the good old Dr Manolis, the original comics Greek. He's been at this for sometime. he was there when the Comics Nexus was founded, he even gave it its name, he even used to run it for a couple of years. he's been writing about comics, geeking out incessantly and interviewing busier people than himself for over ten years now and has no intention of stopping anytime soon.