New Warriors: Defiant + #7
So: short version(for anyone who didn't just skip past because it's superhero comics and hasn't read ahead of me.) House of M(anure) depowers most of the mutants, Civil War makes freelance superheroing illegal after the New Warriors get blamed for a lot of deaths(how it can be viewed as their fault is beyond me, but we won't dwell) and a person calling themselves Night Thrasher gathers up a bunch of depowered mutants, gives them powers through technology, and calls them the New Warriors.
I've read I think 3 scattered issues ofthe relaunch before, but it has remained annoyingly elusive, so this is the first chance I've had toread it properly.
Where shall I start...
Aside from clunky dialogue(which seems to be improving) Grievoux is clearly suffering from some "Marvel at large" editorial dictates. The cops in particular...I was hoping Night Thrasher was just going to squash them when he shrunk them. Sadly, he didn't. There's also the fact that every character(including Night Thrasher, despite being a NW-proper carryover) is a depowered mutant, and the plot is very Initiative/Civil War driven. Almost a necessity given that current status of the MU, but very annoying to someone who actively despises Marvel's never ending "event." There's also Marvel's requisite "red shirt." She was barely written here and I've never seen her before, so I don't really care. In addition, I'm only familiar with 4 of the characters, and I'm not given any reason to care about the rest here (and I'm not sure I'd care about the 4 is I didn't already.)
That said...Grevioux is pretty clearly trying his hardest to work within the editorial restrictions and requirements, while still trying to make it "feel" like the New Warriors. The characters, by necessity(both plot and recent events in their lives) are written with authority and abandonment issues that would normally annoy me, but there's a logical sense to it, so I'm willing to let it slide. As for the character's I'm familiar with...
Wondra/Jubilee has lost most of her snark and cheerfulness and is instead almost obsessively focused on leadership and goals, and the harder parts of life. Grevioux seems to largely be taking the "Wolverine's kid, but not a killer" approach with her. Decibel/Chamber, on the flipside, is pretty much over his emo now that he has a face and a full set of internal organs, and now that he doesn't risk frying people if he gets too close without dressing like a mummy, seems to be a bit of a touching fiend. While neither characterization is what I would have expected to see, or really wanted with the characters, I can at least follow the logical progression of their pasts and recent experiences to how they're written here. Except the absence of Jubilee's snark. I want it back. And I want a ceremony where that awful outfit is burned. I also like to think that the sonic powers and the ill-considered kilt Jono is wearing are a deliverate nod to Banshee on his part. He also seems to largely be of the "stick to Jubilee and follow her lead" thinking right now, which does largely fit their past, when one takes her growing up into account.
Night Thrasher/Bandit actually largely makes perfect sense to me. Have him get over his mad-on for Dwayne, get a chunk of guilt over what he'd done to him and then add the dead brother factor, and with Grevioux's "we only recently started patching things up before he died" nod, and I don't really have to make any logic jumps or make myself follow Donyell's characterization to this point. There are some Dwayne-specific character traits-such as the business sense and tactical abilities-that don't quite fit, but I'm willing to handwave those as picking them up during the limbo-ed bonding. I am, however, having to do some massive handwaving with the "our father taught us" bit and telling myself it means Papa Taylor checked in on his illegitimate son.
The characterization problem I'm having is Sofia/Wind Dancer. The transition from "sweet and reserved with very cautious speech but passionate and with a spine of steel" to the generic smart talking sassy All American "approachable" girl is something I can't follow at all, and I mostly cringed, as she was supposed to be the identification character.
One other thing is that Grevioux seems to be keeping the anti-Stark/Initiative sentiments to be held by the characters, as opposed to the message of the book, something Marvel's big writers can't really seem to do. It also started to feel more like the New Warriors around issue 6, with the traditional "Night Thrasher tries to disband the New Warriors and they don't put up with it" story, as well as a spot(and in character) appearace by justice, and in character Silhouette(who, it seems, has no tolerance for Donyell's self-inflicted guilt trip amo emo and displays admirable restraint in not beating the crud out of him for his emo, as she obviously wanted to) as well as Midnight's Fire at the end.
I'm also very fond of the origin of the team's tech, which is that, after Scarlet Witch blew up Avenger's mansion, the city dump tossed everything they could, and before Stark found out they'd tossed tech along with rubble and quarantined it, one of the Night Thrashers(or possibly both) had gone in and grabbed as much as possible.
Far from the best comic ever, but there's at least a lot of effort put into it(despite the clunky dialogue) and a marked improvement from the beginning. Not to mention being better than most of the Marvel stuff I see these days.
I've read I think 3 scattered issues ofthe relaunch before, but it has remained annoyingly elusive, so this is the first chance I've had toread it properly.
Where shall I start...
Aside from clunky dialogue(which seems to be improving) Grievoux is clearly suffering from some "Marvel at large" editorial dictates. The cops in particular...I was hoping Night Thrasher was just going to squash them when he shrunk them. Sadly, he didn't. There's also the fact that every character(including Night Thrasher, despite being a NW-proper carryover) is a depowered mutant, and the plot is very Initiative/Civil War driven. Almost a necessity given that current status of the MU, but very annoying to someone who actively despises Marvel's never ending "event." There's also Marvel's requisite "red shirt." She was barely written here and I've never seen her before, so I don't really care. In addition, I'm only familiar with 4 of the characters, and I'm not given any reason to care about the rest here (and I'm not sure I'd care about the 4 is I didn't already.)
That said...Grevioux is pretty clearly trying his hardest to work within the editorial restrictions and requirements, while still trying to make it "feel" like the New Warriors. The characters, by necessity(both plot and recent events in their lives) are written with authority and abandonment issues that would normally annoy me, but there's a logical sense to it, so I'm willing to let it slide. As for the character's I'm familiar with...
Wondra/Jubilee has lost most of her snark and cheerfulness and is instead almost obsessively focused on leadership and goals, and the harder parts of life. Grevioux seems to largely be taking the "Wolverine's kid, but not a killer" approach with her. Decibel/Chamber, on the flipside, is pretty much over his emo now that he has a face and a full set of internal organs, and now that he doesn't risk frying people if he gets too close without dressing like a mummy, seems to be a bit of a touching fiend. While neither characterization is what I would have expected to see, or really wanted with the characters, I can at least follow the logical progression of their pasts and recent experiences to how they're written here. Except the absence of Jubilee's snark. I want it back. And I want a ceremony where that awful outfit is burned. I also like to think that the sonic powers and the ill-considered kilt Jono is wearing are a deliverate nod to Banshee on his part. He also seems to largely be of the "stick to Jubilee and follow her lead" thinking right now, which does largely fit their past, when one takes her growing up into account.
Night Thrasher/Bandit actually largely makes perfect sense to me. Have him get over his mad-on for Dwayne, get a chunk of guilt over what he'd done to him and then add the dead brother factor, and with Grevioux's "we only recently started patching things up before he died" nod, and I don't really have to make any logic jumps or make myself follow Donyell's characterization to this point. There are some Dwayne-specific character traits-such as the business sense and tactical abilities-that don't quite fit, but I'm willing to handwave those as picking them up during the limbo-ed bonding. I am, however, having to do some massive handwaving with the "our father taught us" bit and telling myself it means Papa Taylor checked in on his illegitimate son.
The characterization problem I'm having is Sofia/Wind Dancer. The transition from "sweet and reserved with very cautious speech but passionate and with a spine of steel" to the generic smart talking sassy All American "approachable" girl is something I can't follow at all, and I mostly cringed, as she was supposed to be the identification character.
One other thing is that Grevioux seems to be keeping the anti-Stark/Initiative sentiments to be held by the characters, as opposed to the message of the book, something Marvel's big writers can't really seem to do. It also started to feel more like the New Warriors around issue 6, with the traditional "Night Thrasher tries to disband the New Warriors and they don't put up with it" story, as well as a spot(and in character) appearace by justice, and in character Silhouette(who, it seems, has no tolerance for Donyell's self-inflicted guilt trip amo emo and displays admirable restraint in not beating the crud out of him for his emo, as she obviously wanted to) as well as Midnight's Fire at the end.
I'm also very fond of the origin of the team's tech, which is that, after Scarlet Witch blew up Avenger's mansion, the city dump tossed everything they could, and before Stark found out they'd tossed tech along with rubble and quarantined it, one of the Night Thrashers(or possibly both) had gone in and grabbed as much as possible.
Far from the best comic ever, but there's at least a lot of effort put into it(despite the clunky dialogue) and a marked improvement from the beginning. Not to mention being better than most of the Marvel stuff I see these days.