About Heroes

Author: Mike Carey
Pencilers: Humberto Ramos & Chris Bachalo
Inkers: Carlos Cuevas & Tim Towsend
Colors: Edgar Delgado & Antonio Fabela

200 issues old? I'm starting to feel my age now. Wait Uncanny is almost 500 issues old? Someone get me a walker please. Has it really been that long? Have I really spent that much money on something that is less satisfying than getting head from a woman with 5 good teeth? Have the stories sucked so much ass lately that I can't remember the last time X-men was good? I think a yes will take care of all those questions.

I really have mix feelings about this issue and Carey's run. So far Carey has: A) Introduced us to villains that I don't give a shit about. B) Added characters that make an interesting addition to the team, but have had no sit down time to get us attached to them. C) Used Sabretooth and Mystique as team members for absolutely no reason. So to sum it up, I have yet to be impressed with Carey's writing, so I wasn't expecting much of this issue.

The story starts off with Rogue being crazier than usual, because she now has absorbed 8 billion minds. Iceman and Mystique seem to have a very forced moment. Cable fights Sunfire and a pale Gambit, the Marauders return, and Mystique shoots Rogue. Welcome to the 200th issue of X-men!! Now go and buy all 17 parts of Endangered Species you damn Fanboy!!!

For some reason I always get excited when they bring the Marauders back. They were the bad guys that were never used enough, at least to me. These were the guys that pushed the X-men to the edge. The villains that crippled Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Colossus. These guys wiped out almost all the morlocks and drove Colussus to lose his innocence (and I don’t mean deflowering him). How did Carey handle some of my favorite villains? Not bad. I really enjoyed how Malice (even though she died at the hands of Sinister....ohhh wait the Marauders were clones, before it was cool to have clones!) took over the Omega Sentinel. How Lady Mastermind and Mystique seem to have just been sleeper agents on the team. And seeing Scalphunter, Arclight, and Vertigo just shoot an innocent old man, just brought back that feeling of how ruthless the Marauders were.

And I mean they are all here...every single Marauder that I remember. Scalphunter, Blockbuster, Arclight, Malice, Vertigo, Harpoon, Riptide, Scrambler, Sabretooth (somewhere), and Prism...wait why the fuck do you guys always bring Prism back, just to be busted up in the next issue? It seems that Mystique, Gambit, Sunfire, Lady Mastermind, Exodus, and Random have been added to their roster. Even though I'm still not buying Gambit and Sunfire being bad guys, it seems the X-men finally have formidable opponents. This is something that has been out of the X-books for years.

Overall I was pleased with the issue, it wasn't too mind blowing in your face action, but hey it is what it is. Some of the X-men still seem to be out of character, but I think Carey is finally getting comfortable with his cast. Just little things that bothered were: Mystique and Iceman hooking up, again Sunfire and Gambit trying to kill Cable, and the art. I said it before and I will say it again: I love Bachalo and Ramos, but their art style does nothing for this book. All of Ramos' women have huge lips, big tits, and huge eyes (wait...why the fuck am I complaining?) Even Bachalo's art that seems to be cleared up seems a bit rushed.

The backup 8 pages of Endangered species just seems to be a recap of House of M and letting us know that just because most writers didn't give a shit about that story, Beast has been working on a solution even if it means getting help from Dr. Doom, High Evolutionary, Sinister, and Mojo (wait...Mojo?) There are some nice pinups in the back that reminded me of all those overpriced Annuals and extra- sized comics that included 10 pin-ups. It's not a bad start and like I said it's good to see some familiar villains finally show up, but some of the X-men dialogue really needs some help. B-