I decided with the finale of Son of M, so ends Decimation so I'm giving you my overall feelings on each title in a paragraph. I'm not including Wolverine Origins and Endings, because most of you already know how I feel about that series and it would take me several pages to let my hatred out again, so if you want to know, just click on reviews and look for the reviews I posted a few months back. So in a nutshell here you go:
House of M: The Day After
Author: Chris Claremont
Pencillers: Randy Green and Aaron Lopresti
Inkers: Rob Hunter, Norm Rapmund, and Don Hillsman
Colors: Lare Molinar
Such a fantastic start, such high expectations. This issue not only succeeded in laying out the new status quo and kicking off new storylines, but it brought us back home. Back to what makes the X-men what they are: A family! Everyone working together and acting as a team (with the exception of the forced exit by Storm) and still keeping it together despite the disaster that has affected each of them. Claremont at his best, writing about what he knows best: X-men! It worked on so many levels, although it's supposed to be an epilogue to House of Meh… it works like a prologue to the various Decimation stories as well. What a great way to start off a sense of continuity in the X-books again. This book laid down an agenda for the next few months and it actually got me excited about the all the Decimation tie-ins and miniseries. A
X-men # 177- 179
Author: Peter Milligan
Pencils: Salvador Larroca
Colors: Liquid
These books are a continuation of the events that ended in HOM: Day After. It starts off with the X-Men running around in a panic and fighting the Sentinels which turned up on their doorstep and at this time the X-men have no idea why they are there. Again Iceman, Havok, and Polaris have a love triangle that kills the book and ultimately they all come out looking like five-year old little bitches. Iceman is dealing with his lost of powers and Polaris has the bright idea that she will not tell anyone about her powers being gone and to be honest at the time it worked as a nice idea. We get to see the story through Lorna's eyes and her insecurities and mental health problems are brought to light again. But, by the end of the arc this amounts to nothing, because Lorna gets abducted by some green shit and Iceman has his powers restored. With some much potential, this arc went to shit faster than Pat Lee could get in his Porsche and left Dream Wave. D-
New X-men # 21- 24
Authors: Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Pencils: Paco Medina and Mark Brooks
Inks: Juan Vlasco
Cover: Mark Brooks
Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir's New Mutants (volume 3) really caught my eyes. They took the remaining ladies from the original New Mutants run and returned them to the X-books as teachers. Then Reloaded happen and the editors had a ball with that and New Mutants became New X-men to improve sells of the books. After Reloaded the students became more of the focus point of the book and some of the teachers left. I really lost interest in the book after this; I really didn't like any of the characters with the exception of Surge. They were bland and whiney and if I was 14 again, I probably would have enjoyed the book more. Funny thing was that I liked the secondary team (New Hellions) better than the regular cast of characters. That's when Kyle and Yost came and saved the day. Destruction and despair did not end with M-day, as a matter of fact it gave Striker an advantage to strike and kill the remaining students. That's what this book has been about lately, one massacre after another, but it fucking works! I love what this title has become and look foward to it every month. The characters I didn't get attach to are gone and the semi-new faces are a nice change, ohh yeah and Nimrod is back! A-
Uncanny X-men # 466- 470
Author: Chris Claremont
Pencillers: Chris Bachalo and Billy Tan
Colors: Studio F
End of Greys. In the wake of M day the Shiar send an elite group of warriors to destroy what remains of the Grey family line. Of course this is at the time when Marvel Girl decides to drop in and pay her family a long over due visit. Needless to say all the Greys get slaughtered with the exception of Jean's mom and Marvel Girl makes the decision not kill her family's murderers. Because X-men don't Kill! The story was actually interesting and silly at the same time. Claremont made us feel for the characters that he just introduced in one issue, that is one of his strongest talent. But the idea that by killing off the Greys to prevent a catastrophe like the Phoenix from happening again is ridiculous. The Phoenix was a force from the cosmos her power isn't inherited in the genes. Bachalo makes everyone look like a child and Tan just makes everyone look like a child with some nice Silvestri finishes. Not what I expected, but better than half the crap with a Decimation label stuck to them. B-
X-facor
Author: Peter David
Pencilers: Ryan Sook and Dennis Callero
Inkers: Wade Von Grawbadger and Dennis Callero
Cover: Ryan Sook
Probably the best damn thing to come out of Decimation. So what makes X-factor#1 my favorite comic of 2005? Easy...David's love for the characters. He could have easily killed Rictor or Siryn in the first few pages for shock value. Instead he uses all his characters to slowly set the stage for a damn good story. Rahne screaming her head off at Rictor not to jump, because he lost his powers showed the love these characters once shared for each other. M's pompus attitude, Siryn's accent and Rictor's self centered attitude are all here. No one acts out of character, this is what we should recieve out of every writer when they take over a book. Of course the ending really sealed the deal for me; The look on Rictor's face as he is pushed off the building by one of Madrox's dupes was priceless. I am the X-factor! How bad ass is that? The art is superb, Ryan Sook follows the style set by the Madrox miniseries. Its got a dark tone to it, like a film Noir, nice little detective feel to it. If you haven't picked this book up yet go and read it! A+
New Excalibur
Author: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Michael Ryan
Inks: Rick Ketcham
I have no idea why this book was even sold as a Decimation tie-in. Well, other than to cash in on the Decimation name....yeah like that worked. I haven't seen any depowered mutants, with the exception of Black Tom, well is he or not? Claremont just takes the characters nobody was ever going to use and has fun with it. This book works as a classic superhero team book. All the characters serve a purpose on the team, other than the writer just saying...ohh he's a cool character I'll put him on my team book. It's has a very solid Claremont late eighties feel to it and that is of course a plus in my book. Michael Ryan is a good artist and can deliver some great action sequences, but we need a solid backup artist on this book. Ryan is notorious for being slow and can use a constant backup artist. Perhaps change them out every other arc. B+
Sentinel Squad O.N.E.
Author: John Layman
Penciller: Aaron Lopresti
Inker: Norm Rapmund
Colors: Chris Walken
Sentinel Squad O.N.E The book all kids wanted! Yeah, that was sarcasm, seriously was anybody interested in these people that control the sentinels. Hell one of them died in Deadly Genesis and no one shed a tear. This book could have worked it only the X-books would follow through with this concept. Other than this book, the characters have no personalities or act as individuals when they rarely appeared in the rest of the X-books. The book does a reasonable job of setting up characters like Slayton and Lexington, but in the end no one will remember either. With very little structure Layman and Lopresti try to do what they can, but it still turns out to be an average miniseries that will go on being overlooked. C
Generation M
Author: Paul Jenkins
Pencils: Ramon Bachs
Inker: John Lucas
Colors: Art Lyon
Cover: Stuart Immonen
No More Mutants!!!! As of M-Day 90% of the mutant population have lost their power; by the covers you would think that is the focal point of this series. But guess what sucka? It's not! This book is not about Chamber, Jubilee, or Mirage; it's actually the adventures Sally Floyd, an alcoholic journalist covering the aftermath of M-day. Someone going around killing no name mutants didn't do anything for me either. There was very little keeping me reading this book, I was happy to see Angel loose his power (mainly because he's been a pussy since he lost his blue skin and metal wings). Then we find out we were just being cockteased and turns out Angel and the rest of the X-men were setting the killer up. By the end of the series it is revealed that Sally's daughter died, due to her mutant gene in her body. I'm not really sure what happened to the killer at the end, if the killer died or teleported, but then again I really don't give a shit. Like I stated earlier, this would have been a good double-sized X-men Unlimited story instead of dragging us along for a long boring ride. D+
X-men Unlimited # 13
Authors: Hugh Sterbakov and Damon Hurd
Pencillers: Sean Scoffield and Clay Mann
Inker: Mark Pennington
Cover: Mike Deodato Jr.
Probably the best story to come out of the whole Decimation fiasco and the most overlooked. Damon Hurd writes the second story that is probably my favorite out of the two. I am serious this should have been a mini series to itself. It is a story about Mark Hawkins who is known as Marvel, a retired sort of a Miracleman type of hero. After M day, like everyone else he loses his power, but the twist in this story is that he also looses his whole existence. Nobody remembers him, his entire life just disappears as if he had never been born. We are led to believe that Hawkins' delusions and his mutant powers are the reason his world even existed. Nice Twilight Zone feel to this story, because they never come out and say it. Clay Mann's artwork really help the flow of the storytelling with some nice panel to panel sequences. Surprisingly I am recommending you read this book, just for this story alone. A-
X-men: Deadly Genesis
Author: Ed Brubaker
Layouts: Trevor Harisine
Finishes: Scott Hanna
Cover: Marc Silvestri
The series that set the events to make Xavier a bastard and rejoined Banshee and Moira in DEATH!!!!!! It started off decent, but ended predictable and bad. To me the story of Vulcan is one I have already read back in 1994, with the character of Adam X as written by Fabian Nicieza. Vulcan as a villain? I think not, I don't buy that shaky plot what so ever. This is a character that is going to be carrying a major storyline for the next year, but all there is to the character is an angry boy. I actually saw the retcon working, but what bothered me the most was some of the X-men acting out of character. I liked some of the covers by Silvestri, but I want to know who the fuck considers Hairsine an A list artist? Scott Hanna should have had his name in front of Hairsine. Hairsine is horrendous and can't keep a schedule! Overall I give this series a C- Because NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE FUCKING SAME and they are really trying despite the flaws!!!!
X-Men: The 198
Author: David Hine
Pencils: Jim Muniz
Inker: Kevin Conrad
Cover: Juan Doe
This is a book that was supposed to let us know what happened to the remaining mutants. I mean, the mutant population went from one million to 198!!!! But this whole time it felt like I was reading about Erg (whom I thought was dead), Mr. M (who is still a suck-ass), and John Dee (who has a shitty mutant power). WHAT THE FUCK?!!!!! 5 issues trying to make me believe that Mr. M is going to be a new mutant messiah and probably a martyr in the end. This book had so much potential, come on show me what happened to some of the powered mutants, not these shitty characters. Did I miss something? Did anyone else understand the ending? Motherfucker!!! This whole series the X-men act out of character, the Sentinels are still at the mansion acting like dicks, and Johnny D kills Mr. M....ohh and Mr. M turns into butterflies!!! Really stupid story with a disturbing and ridiculous ending. F
Son Of M
Author: David Hine
Artist: Roy Allan Martinez
Color: Pete Pantazis
The last issue to come out of Decimation and I will be completely honest with you. It was not easy staying with this book, as a matter of fact it hurt sometimes to keep buying it and reading it. There are some nice scenes and character interactions in this book, but it really dragged at times. It seems that Marvel just needed a title to show how much of a good guy and a bastard Quicksilver can be. Hine was the perfect writer for this task. He made Pietro a pathetic figure reaching for a past glory,but his actions are quickly turning him into a new kind of villian. It seems like you can forget X-factor (vol. 1) 87, it looks like Pietro is following in his daddy's footsteps even if it wasn't his intention. Pietro can now reactivate ex-mutants, but no one knows yet how long the effect will last. Could this tie into Civil War? Maybe....I hope Peter David brings that into his upcoming X-factor issue featuring Quicksilver. Martinez has grown on me and his art seems to have gotten stronger over the course of the series. I'm glad I stuck with the series, because the payoff was nice at the end and has the potential for some interesting stories. Ohh and looks like Unus will be dead again...poor guy just can't get a break. B+
There you have it folks, just this guy's opinion on this Decimation story. Overall I believe some of these stories would have better been told in X-men Unlimited or just over a course of 2 issues or an annual. Here is hoping Civil War won't have that many mini-series based on the aftermath!