Title: House of M #6
Published By: Marvel
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Oliver Coipel
Inkers: Tim Townsend, Rick Magyar, Scott Hanna
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover: Esad Ribec orGreg Land, Matt Ryan, Justin Ponsor
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Oh sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
The tale of the House of M…
That started when Wanda Maximoff,
freaked out and changed her friends.
The King was the Lord Magneto with,
his children by his side.
The mutants now rule all mankind,
And hey, Hawkeye never died.
(Hawkeye never died)
Nobody seemed to notice that,
the entire world was changed.
‘cept Layla Miller who makes them all,
remember whence they came.
Like Wolverine…
And Spider-Man…
Luke Cage and his friends..
The A-vengers…
The X-Men and
Logan again…
Here on the House of Emmmmmmmmmm!
When we recieved our review list this week, not on the list was House of M. I was at first a bit surprised, but I realized these things do happen occasionally and volunteered to do it. Of course I’d want to write it, it’s supposedly what the entire Marvel Universe is hinged upon right now. In a few weeks, the Marvel Universe is going to change supposedly, and House of M holds the secrets.
…then I read the book.
STORY!
Like I mentioned in my song, the X-Men know what the old world was like. They know that Magneto and Scarlet Witch are at the head of it all, and they’ve joined forces with a crew of the strongest heroes in the world to go confront their greatest adversary of all time. This time though, Magneto has not only homebase, but home planet. They SAY that they are there to find Xavier and make him remember, in the hopes that he can change it back. We, being smart people though, know that this book is leading up to the big throwdown.
Now, I shall list off what happened in this issue, using bullet points:
* – The team connives their way into Genosha
* – The team argues as to whether they should try and change the world back.
* – Magneto’s big meeting of world leaders begins.
* – The throwdown begins.
* – They find Xavier’s empty grave.
That’s all. I know that sounds like it might be enough to fill an entire issue, but it’s not. Not in the least. As a matter of fact, the end reveal of Xavier not being dead is useless when compared to last issue’s reveal that Xavier was in fact, dead. As a matter of fact, it’s sloppy storytelling.
House of M hasn’t been a complete letdown if you’ve read the associated tie-in titles, but the main book is by far the weakest. This entire issue could have been combined with #5 and there would be no problem, but instead you walk away feeling empty.
ART!
With Coipel on pencils, and a team of some great inkers – there is no way that House of M isn’t going to look good. The page layouts are noticably done with great care, and each character is distinctive and easy to identify (with the exception of Dagger and Emma Frost, who occasionally look a bit too similar). The dramatic layouts though sometimes give way to confusing segues. With panel within panels, at times for no other reason than to show a dramatic facial expression, you feel torn as to where your eyes should go on the page.
Given Bendis’ love of long text-filled pages, followed up by huge dramatic action, the flow of it feels natural under the hands of Coipel and company. They couldn’t hide the fact that pages 13 – 21 are spacefiller that could have been covered in two or three pages, leaving more room for the action though. There is even a double page spread that is nothing more than a pin-up, or at least seems to be as the characters are floating on some limbo like background.
OVERALL!
The idea of the world being changed isn’t new. The idea of putting mutants at the head of the world, with humans as the underlings, again is not a new idea. It at least enough to make an interesting diversion for a summer cross-over.
The problem here is that Bendis is notoriously bad at ‘the big book’. Ultimate Sinister Six, Avengers: Disassembled, and now House of M have all proven to be weak ventures in what is, overall, an amazing resumé of work. My hope is that the payoff is well worth the build up, because the story has not.
