The Quick and Dirty

Writer: Ed Brubaker

Artists: Billy Tan(p), Danny Miki/ Allen Martinez (i), Frank D’Armata (c)

Pros: An important protagonist is revealed; Marauders (!); good dialogue and the phrase “damn it” is not even muttered; the stage is set for the final Cyclops vs. Xavier showdown; Proudstar is awesome.

Cons: Bishop forgets how to use his power

Who should buy it: Bishop fans; readers following M.C.

Overall Rating: ●●● ●●● ◦◦◦ (6/9)

The Details

The Art:

Billy Tan’s art is hit or miss. D’Armata works well with him to create depth, and their styles definitely blend well- that is all fine and dandy. My biggest issue is Tan’s facial expressions. On page 7 panel 1, Bishop is cooly giving Gambit dirty looks while Remy flicks a deck of exploding cards at him (a sweet maneuver, by the way). I know cards can be quicker than a person’s feet and hands, but not faster than a shoulder flinch or even a surprised/worried facial expression. Two panels later he’s mugging for the camera like its the cover of a rap album. Yet one panel later Tan draws a fantastic howl of agony. Like I said- hit or miss.

Despite the funny faces, there are some real winning panels in this issue. I love Bishop’s boots page 3 panel 1 (nice work done by D’Armata). The exact same can be said of the 4th panel on the next page. The vertigo panel on page 5 is the second best scene in the issue! From here on out in any comic book, whenever Vertigo uses her power it should look like this. Bishop’s shooting pose on the last panel and Vertigo’s reception of the bullet make for a fantastic and dynamic scene.

The concentration camp scenes from the future look great and are consistent with the ones done in the other books. Tan may be my favorite artist to draw Layla- too bad she has that hideous tat on her face. The contrast between kid Bishop and his adult self was very nicely done as well.

Cable on the bottom of page 20 looks great, and I almost suspect that it was drawn by an uncredited artist (much like Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, and even Joe Maduria used to do on X-Force, X-Factor and Youngblood in the 90′s).

My favorite scene in the issue, hands down, is the group shot of X-Force and the remaining X-Men at Eagle Plaza. Wolverine looks fantastic, like a Cassiday drawing. I love Guido, probably the best he’s been drawn this decade since Ryan Sook. Best of all is the three point perspective- it must have been a lot of work to do that with so many characters in the drawing. Tan always uses a lot of real perspective in his drawing, which must be why his pages always have so much depth.

It really bothers me that Bishop’s costume is colored and drawn like he’s an Alcolyte. The costume he is wearing is supposed to be the one designed by Joe Maduria back in the 90′s. He doesn’t have an “M” on his chest, just the top half of a rectangle (like one of the hoops of a Crochet game). And its not red, its orange.

I don’t care much for Miki and Martinez’s inks, but that’s probably because they are following Tan’s pencils very closely. I would, however, like to see Martinez’s inks over regular X-Factor artist Pablo Ramandi’s pencils. They would give his work a sharper edge that is needed.

The Story (possible spoilers):

I’m beginning to wonder if the difference between a good issue of Messiah Complex and a bad one depends not on the creative team, but on the events that are scheduled to occur in each chapter. I say this because typically I have not enjoyed the Uncanny chapters as much as the other chapters. Yet, issue 494 (chapter 10) has been one of my favorites thus far! We get some action, some great character interaction, great dialogue, solid art (as discussed above), and some twists. Either Brubaker stepped up his game on this one, or else he was finally given something interesting to write about.

So far, the main characters of the story have been Cyclops and Cable. With this newest issue, we can add Bishop to that list. Such a revelation is possible this late in the game because his involvement has been cleverly masked: the Marauders were unable to find and silence him, he undoubtedly was the mystery assailant who turned the sentinels on the X-mansion, and a chronal anomaly occurred during his childhood. If the rumors are true, that another X-Man dies during this crossover, my money now rests on a Bishop. He’s been an ignored character for a decade now, and he lost his popularity in the mid 90′s. Making him not only the star of Messiah Complex, but one of the antagonists, is a fit way to groom him for death. And now, with 494, he finally stars in an issue of the story.

Brubaker does a great job with Bishop’s dialogue both before and during his fight with the Marauders. “Gambit– NO! It has to die!” Awesome stuff. I wonder if Bru reads message boards and saw the complains about him using “damn it” every third voice balloon (It seems that he goes out of he way to not use the phrase: Bishop later says “blast it”)?It is also great to hear Gambit once again calling out Bishop as a traitor (an appreciated nod to the 90′s)- except this time he is right. Of course, Bishop is a kettle and Gambit’s just as black, rollin’ with the Marauders and all. The only thing that bothers me about this battle is that Bishop didn’t use his power once: he could have absorbed Gambit’s energy or Sunfire’s in addition to the little bit of charge that he usually saves up for emergencies. I am going to overlook this, and assume there was a reason for this other than Brubaker not knowing what his power is.

When Malice/Omega Sentinel is holding the baby, she mention’s their “mutant tracker”. Is this just a mechanical device the Marauders have, or is she talking about a specific person? Hmmm….

I have to hand it to Jamie and Layla- both seem pretty spunky and upbeat after undergoing such a humiliating, dehumanizing, torturous ordeal. Of course, Layla’s behavior can be interpreted as spooky and emotionally incongruent, which is very much in character. It just breaks my heart to see her disfigured like that.

One of my favorite moments in the issue is the transition between young Bishop in the future and adult Bishop in the present. It really drives home the point that he has been a major player in this event all along. Both he and Angel were brought back from non-X-men-limbo for this story, so it makes me wonder if there are any surprises in store for Warren. Maybe the Angel was brought back to prepare him for a post-Messiah complex team, or else he could be a red herring for the x-traitor guessing game.

It is nice to see Jamie Prime again back at Forge’s place. Emma is standing in the same room in which Bishop reads an entire laundry list of lies- either she wasn’t playing attention, or Lucas is very skilled at deception. It was great to see Bishop’s expression after hearing about Caliban’s death. It seems that he did not plan for anyone to die in his attempt to kill the baby, and that he still cares for the X-Men. It makes the betrayal seem just that more real. I’m liking the continued tension between James and Logan (wasn’t Wolverine’s real first name supposed to be James?). X-Force sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun. The only thing bad about the time spent at Eagle Plaza in this issue is that we are reminded that Guido, Theresa (who was missing from the group illustration) and Monet spent yet another issue doing nothing. At least they are with the group now.

I was hoping that the final showdown of the cross-over was going to take place on two fronts: one at the Mansion and the other at Eagle Plaza in Texas, bringing us full circle. After this scene, that hope is gone. It looks like the final showdown will take place at the Marauder’s H.Q. and/or the Mansion. Who knows, Cooper’s Town may even be a significant location for the Marauders’ plan. Except that we’ve already been there twice, so it is not likely.

My favorite part of the issue is end. Cable doesn’t even trust his own son- he turns to Xavier instead. Somehow he must have known that there was fighting between the two, and that Xavier wouldn’t immediately turn him in. I am assuming that Charles is out in New York City, as that seems to be the Empire State Building we can see of his terrace. Yet another of Cyclops’s mistakes comes to bite him in the ass, as now we are going to have a showdown: Scott Summers and the X-teams vs. his ‘father’ and son. I’m with the latter on this one, as Nathan has a true game plan and seems to know what he’s doing.

I am going to close with some random, last minute thoughts.

The artists have made it a point to showing that the baby has red hair and green eyes. Doesn’t Jean have green eyes (I honestly don’t know)?

Cable must have a mechanical psi-shield located on his shoulder- pretty frickin’ cool. However, he better have a damn good reason for not trusting the X-men- Caliban’s life was the cost of his secrecy.