About Heroes

Author: Ed Brubaker
Penciler: Billy Tan
Inkers: Danny Miki & Allan Martiznez
Covers: David Finch & Marc Silvestri

I can't believe that we are almost at the 500 mark with just a few more issues. Damn, if I wasn't feeling my age, comics are always there to remind me. Then again I'm probably as old as the X-men now or maybe even older...sonofabitch...Anyway Part 2 of Messiah Complex hits the Uncanny title like a pile of bricks. Nightcrawler is still here, but the usual Uncanny team has been replaced by the cast of Astonishing and Angel.

I know I said not much happened in the Messiah Complex one-shot, but we get our fight here! It's the X-men taking on some lame Acolytes. That's not the only conflict in the book; we also get a nice little argument between Xavier and Cyclops. It seems that Cyclops wants Rictor to go undercover and join the ranks of the Purifiers. And then, hellz yeah it's off to see Forge aka Genesis, aka the Maker, aka the fucking man!

I really enjoyed the story and the dialogue read better than the actual one-shot. It's about time we see a confrontation between Cyclops and Professor X. Hell, between the secret X-men, Krakoa, Danger, and all together responsible for Corsair's death; it’s no wonder Cyclops didn't take his head off. Of course you can sense a little bit of that father/son relationship they still have that keeps them together. I really wished they had used other Acolytes, such as Senyaka (damn, I loves me some tentacles!), Unuscione, and Amelia Voght. I would rather be reading about these group of X-men than watch Warpath make out with Hepzibah. I think up until now the problem I've had with Brubaker's X-men is that he had no clue where to take the team. He didn't seem to have a vision of what stories to tell next and when writing a book that has bounteous of foreshadows as part of its legacy; it’s a pretty damn important factor to the success of the title.

The only negative thing I can say about the script was the weird mention of Proteus. Damn, I think that Multiple Man and Cyclops were part of countless of crossovers since Proteus. What I can say that I am disappointed in is the artwork. Tan took off for a couple of months for what I thought was to tighten his pencils up, but if this is any glimpse of what his art is to become then I wish he would return to his previous art style. I'm not sure what it is, but the characters almost seem to lack emotion, with the exception of a rejected Professor X that can't play. I can't wait to see what Forge's part is in all of this and can't wait for the attack on the marauders, if only they hadn't killed Sabretooth; we could have had a proper battle. B