Humberto Ramos

I won't lie, I miss the X-Men of my younger years (late 80s/early 90s). I've been trying to reconcile their fall from popularity and the direction their stories have been taking in light of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (don't get me started on the X-Men movie franchise **shudders**), but I've been sticking with it. This book, my first post-Secret Wars X-Men experience, has left me torn: even tho every aspect of this book has already been done before (mutants being hated for being different; show more mutants needing to go into hiding; mutants being on the edge of extinction for about the third time in a decade now; Sinister conducting his weird experiments and playing around with famous mutant's DNA), it did leave me wondering what was going to happen next, so that's at least somewhat good storytelling, right? Right?! Sigh.

There are things I don't understand in this post-Terrigen bomb/Secret Wars world: what exactly is the difference between being an Inhuman or mutant and why is one seen as seemly being acceptable by the populace at large? Other than needing to push the Inhuman as the new version of being a mutant in the MCU, I see no distinction. What does it matter if the Terrigen mists are making mutants sterile? Don't normal humans give birth to mutants, as well? Maybe it's changing the structure of the entire world's DNA? What if a human with dormant Inhuman genes gives birth to a mutant? What would the Terrigen mists do to the mutant? How long does the Terrigen mist linger in the atmosphere? I'm hoping some of this is addressed at some point. show less

Summary: An alien force comes to earth, demanding that Karolina return with them to atone for the sins of her parents - namely, the destruction of their homeworld. If they want to keep their group intact, the Runaways are going to have to stand together, but instead they all seem to be falling apart.

Review: I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit. I like Runaways volumes more when the focus is on the kids and their team dynamics, rather than on the external villain or whatever Marvel show more characters can be tied into the storyline. Luckily, one of the points of this installment was the team dynamics, so I was golden. I liked the addition of Klara to the team, I loved the artwork, I thought the mixture of action to dialogue was well-balanced, and I definitely laughed out loud more than once. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Just when I'm thinking of letting it go, this series manages to pull me back in. show less

I wouldn't call Messiah Complex the best X-Men related storyline. Some of these characters are pretty far from my favorite X-Men related characters. Some of the relationships, motivations, and even art art fall short of my favorite examples of such things in X-Men related stories of the past. Some of the art was even semi-incomprehensible, in terms of figuring out what's supposed to be happening, and I'd expect Marc Silvestri to be better at body proportions after all these years.

Despite all show more of that, Messiah Complex is good enough to reinforce my long-standing, strong appreciation for X-Men stories. It addresses the major themes that have made X-Men stories so interesting, dives head-first into issues that make other mainstream comics creative teams flinch, and consistently leans on writers who can weave some serious, interesting tension into a tale, just like I came to expect from X-books in the '80s and early '90s. It kept me wanting to read all the way through like I was being led by the nose. It draws heavily on a lot of X-Men related in-world history, but still makes sense for me despite the fact I've been a very infrequent visitor to that world for most of thirty years.

The last pages set excellent tone to end the thing. I'm looking forward to reading [b:X-Men: Second Coming|8651048|X-Men Second Coming|Mike Carey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1409504479l/8651048._SY75_.jpg|13522259] next. show less

I am absolutely in love with the Champions! I had a feeling I would enjoy it given how much I adore Kamala Khan but this went far beyond my expectations. After the events of Civil War II, several of the younger Avengers are fed up and quit. They joined the Avengers in the first place because they were more than people with powers punching each other. So, when you're qualified to be an Avenger but want to do more for people? Want to change the world?

The Champions aren't out taking care of show more super villains, they're concerned with people and it shows. Their first few missions are all rescuing normal people from some of the worst problems that we have in real life. They also aren't just punching their way through things. This volume has four "missions" and none of them end with the more powerful person punching until their considered right. I love that.

There's also something pretty awesome to the missions they choose and the fact that Ms. Marvel makes a reference to Malala Yousafzai and her story while making a case for one of the missions that they do justice too. I love the focus on justice and rescue. They don't want to punch their way through. Justice isn't on the side of the most powerful and they're willing to take a beat from the people they are attempting to rescue. They'll take direction and get it done the way the people they're saving want the outcome to be and not assume they know what's best for the people who have to live with the consequences of their actions.

The team is a great ensemble of young heroes, most of which I am unfamiliar with. I only know Ms. Marvel, though I have seen stuff about the Miles Morales Spider-Man before. There's a young Hulk named Amadeus Cho and Visions daughter, Viv. There's a young Nova named Sam Alexander and then there's a young displaced Scott Summers from an alternate universe. More about the team can be found on the Wikipedia page here. Some of them know each other, others only know of each other, but they all want to do things differently and they don't want to be taking orders and sidelined by their former heroes who don't appear to be the people they expected. There's a great issue where they break down their powers for each other and some time spent figuring out who the leader should be.

I loved every moment of it, even when they got unexpected additions with expectations that didn't quite line up with theirs. It's not just about what you do, but how you do it. That's a sentiment that the movies have been attempting to drive home as well. I can't wait to read the next volume and see what else is in store for the Champions. show less