About Heroes

Author: Rick Remender
Artist: Dave Wilkins
Colors: Anthony Washington
Cover: Marko Djurbievic

Probably the last good story to come out of the 90's X-men titles were the Age of Apocalypse books. OF course that's saying a lot from me, because it was the collaboration of both Scott Lobdell and Bob Harras, not necessarily two of my favorite creators. I had high hopes for the four issue mini and the one-shot that came out in 2005 and of course most of us that read it know how that turned out. This issue although better, still lacks something from the formula to make a good What If book.

Remender uses the absence of both Xavier and Magneto in this story as the big twist. We get some new faces (like the new Dr. Strange) and some old AoA like X-man and Nemesis or Holocaust or whatever eeeevil name he went by before he bit the dust. To be honest I think Remender just had fun with alternate versions of characters, because there is an overabundance found for a single issue. There was no space to get some character development from these new/old faces.

I really don't know what to think about the art. It's really sketchy at times and some of the character's bodies look completely awkward. Not sure if it's an art style or if Wilkins is trying to develop something dark to fit the mood of the story. Either way it's not bad, but it's far from great.

The colors really help portray how dark this world really is and it helps the art really shine during battle scenes. I really am starting to miss the What If issues of old, with original stories instead of rehash material. Unless you are an X-men completist or can't find anything else interesting to read, I would just walk pass this one. Or wait for it in trade where you don't have to be interrupted by a cum-wad of ads all over the place! D+