X-Men Forever #3 Review: A Wicked Storm

Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here…Here’s my second review for the week. I’m tackling ‘X-Men Legacy #226’ next.  Hope you enjoy it.

X-Men Forever #3 cover X-Men Forever#3 (details)
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Tom Grummett
Inkers: C. Hamscher

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP:The issue opens with a shadowy group of men discussing the events of the past couple of issues and the status of their agent. They decide to leave her to be dealt with by the X-Men.

Those mutants are still in the Danger Room dealing with a blinded Sabretooth and an unpredictable Storm. Storm wants Creed to be dealt with but Scott orders a medkit so he can be helped.

We then join Beast and Xavier who are looking after the unconscious Jean in the MedLab. Xavier decides to probe her mind to find out what happened to her. He immediately discovers the depths of her bond with Logan, one that they were hiding from everyone else.

He then replays the events of the evening from Wolverine’s perspective, seeing him break into an apartment and search the place. Only moments later he is confronted by the owner and blasted to bones. His killer is Storm. The effect of the memory throws Xavier out of Jean’s head and wakes her up.

The rest of the X-Men have Sabretooth restrained and he tells them that Storm killed Logan, his son. Storm denies this and tries again to get the rest to agree to kill Creed. Xavier interrupts and tells them to make sure both Storm and Creed are held. Sabretooth points out that Storm was the only one missing from the mansion when Wolverine died.

Jean chooses then to attack Storm with a powerful telepathic attack, screaming that she killed Logan, the man she loved. But her strength has not recovered enough to follow through and the attack peters out. The X-Men try to stop Storm but her elemental powers prove stronger and she escapes sealing the door behind her. She activated a dampener so they can not follow but Kitty is able to go through the door anyway.

She confronts Storm and her intangibility counters Storm’s attack. She pops out Logan’s missing claw and slashes across Storm’s face and costing her an eye.

MY TAKE: This is a good issue and we are finally starting to get into the heart of what is going on and find out some of the important answers. Of course we are getting more questions piled on top of those but that least we are getting a much better picture overall. The plot is good and it is definitely keeping me interested from issue to issue and characterizations remain strong. The next couple of issues should provide a strong opening arc for the series.

The story is well done and engaging in a way that is both new and still has a retro feel. It is good to see these characters interacting again in more comfortable and relaxed setting. So much is being done in the present of Marvel that it seems like every comic is all about gloom and doom with little brightness or color to be found. Not that death and betrayal are easy subjects but the setting still feels more hopeful.

That said their are still several problems that continue to plague the book. The biggest one right now is that he is telegraphing his surprises far too much. We knew it was Storm that was behind the death pretty much from the first time we saw it, so there was no need to wait to reveal it. Same with Wolverine missing a claw only to have it turn up with Kitty. It would have been better to not make the lost claw such a big plot point prior to showing her having it.

Another issue is the redundancy. While it is definitely a huge event, we have now seen Wolverine die in each issue from different perspectives. While we are given a little bit more information each time it seems like they could save some page space by not reshowing the events. I also hope that he addresses how Kitty can go through a door and phase when an inhibitor has Kurt’s power negated in the same location.

Finally while the characterizations feel real, some of the relationships are off. Creed has never shown an ounce of concern for Wolverine before his death and we never saw anything close to the Logan and Jean bond that is being shown here. Since Logan is dead, for awhile at least, it seems pointless to make these changes now.

In the end the series is still going strong and most of my doubts about Claremont’s ability to tell a story are gone. I just hope he at least explains the sudden attitude changes and tightens up the pacing and foreshadowing a little bit. Still, I am definitely looking forward to the rest of this arc.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.

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Ace
14 years ago

I’m pleased to see Claremont overcoming the slump he’s been in for so very long. There’s still a bit too much exposition for my liking, but each issue seems to be an improvement on the last from a writing perspective.

I find myself hooked, and I’m not sure why. But this week I was not only eager to read the issue, but upset when I knew it was coming to an end. Hopefully he keeps up the good work, because he’s got a winner on his hands.

jrpbsp
14 years ago

Yeah it’s hard to point a finger at what makes the book such a good read but it definitely is climbing up my list rapidly. I think it’s because the plot is really well done and since it’s our 616 characters but in an alternate setting anything really goes.

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