About Heroes

Author: Ed Brubaker
Penciler: Billy Tan
Inkers: Danny Miki and Allen Martinez
Colors: Frank D'Armata

The saga of the Mutants in space continues and I'm still being fooled that Warpath is a badass! I don't think there has ever been a time I have liked James Proudstar this much, well he was pretty cool when John Francis Moore had him running around with Risqué and made him sport that badass Thunderbird tattoo on his back. But enough about Warpath....on with the review.

Have I mentioned how badass an Indian with two blades in space is? Solid! Professor X is still held captive while the X-Men and Starjammers plan their assault. Leading that offensive are Korvus and Warpath. So this issue splits between the Warpath/Korvus team-up fighting across the Shi’ar Empire, and the remaining characters making their assault on the Shi’ar fortress. Lilandra confronts Major General Ka'ardum and thinks that he can help join their fight against her own people by promising to restore his honor. It was really nice to see Rachel cut loose and mention the fact these are the same people that killed her family and tried to imprison her!

The issue read real well, between the flashbacks and the fighting scenes and Brubaker manages to even sneak in some character development. Although the romance between Korvus and Marvel Girl seemed really fast, this issue explains that both of them have been spending a great deal of time together subjectively while they have only known each other for a couple of days. There is also a sign of Havok and Polaris rekindling their relationship. There was a really good scene between Darwin and Vulcan which shows how strong willed Darwin really is. Although I don't like Vulcan's Iron-Spider with a cape costume, he is really starting to grow on me. Now, things I missed in this issue: No signs of Warpath's full powers are showing (the guy can fly), no Brood anywhere in sight not even one of their Acanti, and of course no signs of Adam-X even showing up as a cameo.

Billy Tan is really getting used to these characters, nothing against Clayton Henry, but I really miss Tan when he is not drawing it. He reminds me of an early stage Marc Silvestri, but with help from ink-master Danny Miki it evolves into a style all of its own. The colors look like they have been painted on and that gives this story an epic feel to it. I like what Brubaker is doing here and I'm curious to find out how it all turns out, but bringing D'ken back while killing Banshee is still an unfair trade. The overall story seems to drag at times, but fortunately this was not one of those issues. Of course any writer that can successfully use a character like Warpath has accomplished more than 75% of writers out there. Now let Shatterstar and Feral (oohhh wait House of Crap ruined that one) join the team and we'll see how great Bru can be.
B+