A+X #2
Black Widow and Rogue by Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend
Iron Man and Kitty Pryde by Peter David and Mike Del Mundo
The short of it:
It’s the Black Widow’s day off, and she intends to spend it at a spa admiring her new car. She absolutely loves that thing; fast, rare, and it even has a heated steering wheel. She gets a text about something going on in the area, asking her to check it out, but it’s her day off, screw work! Work comes to her, however, as a Sentinel crashes right into her new car; now Tasha is pissed. She gets geared up, armed, and starts trying to blow the ever loving crap out of the mutant killing robot, but there’s only so much a non-powered individual can do with gymnastics and guns. Cue her backup, in the form of Rogue with Captain Marvel’s powers. The two bicker as the Sentinel escapes, and the real problem arises. The thing has a disrupter capable of knocking all the power out in New York, and they wind up with one long shot at stopping it. Literally. Can our heroes stop the Sentinel, save the city, and still have a day off? And what about Natasha’s car?!?!
Meanwhile, in the lands of STORY NUMBER TWO, Kitty Pryde is doing a tour of Resilient with Pepper Potts, Lockheed in tow, and suffering from….A COLD! Or maybe it’s allergies, point is she can’t stop sneezing and isn’t sure why she’s even there because Wolverine is horrible at giving messages. It seems they want to give her a job, and that Tony has been fully aware of her technological prowess for years, but Kitty has a job she likes. Still, she can be amazed by all the cool science stuff, like Iron Man armors and Pym Particles. Kitty has another sneezing fit at the Particles, and things go to hell. Remember a few months back when she was pregnant with Brood? Well, she wasn’t totally cleared out! Now it’s Kitty, Lockheed, and Iron Man against some big nasty Brood! With Phasing powers! Can Iron Man blast them to death? Can Lockheed burn them down? Or will Kitty have to outsmart them? And will she get the job?!
What I liked:
- Chris Bachalo. Seriously, if I wasn’t already sold on this book by the premise, his name would have forced me to pick this book up. I love his art style, and generally I can look at a series and pick out the best issues, and he’s always on all of them. He’s the kind of artist that makes the writer better, and this is one of those rare cases where he’s writing it himself.
- I found wayyyy too much amusement in Widow’s text alert.
- And her method of passing knowledge to Rogue. It was a very Black Widow moment, and the things Rogue pulled out of the brief connection were great.
- Kitty being the brains in a room with Tony Stark worked pretty well. In X-Men they tend to put her in a room with Beast or the Science Squad and making her seem a bit more average, so it’s nice to see her put over for her brains.
- I love Lockheed.
- For as much as I didn’t like the way Del Mundo drew Tony, Kitty, and Pepper….he does a great job with Iron Man and the Brood. And Lockheed.
What I didn’t like:
- I wasn’t really a fan of the art for the Iron Man/Kitty story. There were times where it didn’t bother me, but they were exclusively the panels with either Iron Man, or the Brood. Del Mundo had no trouble with the armor or aliens, but his regular people just looked weird.
- I’m supposed to believe that Tony Stark is just now discovering that Kitty Pryde destroys any electronics she phases through.
Final thoughts:
OMG you have a text!
Seriously, my brain has invented a theme for that, I keep hearing it and it won’t stop. Make it stop.
The second story wasn’t bad, but holy crap that first one was absolutely perfect. You like Rogue, Widow, or Chris Bachalo? Hell, are you in the mood for the best ten page story you’ll read all week? Chris delivers it.
I want to know who Widow had the affair with.
So last issue I got the feeling that the book was building up some sort of time travel arc after both stories used alternate futures sending people back as the means for setting up the stories. This issue we have AIM stealing a science fair project and sticking it on a Sentinel, and some blowback from an earlier arc of Wolverine and the X-Men. Now, the book doesn’t need a long term ongoing plot to keep me interested, I just sorta want to know if I should go in expecting one or not.
Why doesn’t Bachalo write more often?
Can we have a women of Marvel book by Chris? I know Cullen is getting Fearless Defenders, but how about Women of Marvel by Bachalo? I’d buy it!
The editors notes brought me amusement, Nick Lowe has fun with them and it shows.
The last page with Kitty and Iron Man is priceless. Sure, Tony should have been smarter, and there’s no reason he would be honestly surprised by the results, but the dialog in the last two panels makes the story completely worth it.
Overall: 9/10
