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New X-Men: Assault on Weapon Plus (New X-Men, Book 5)

New X-Men: Assault on Weapon Plus (New X-Men, Book 5)

List Price: $14.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: New X-Men Vol.1Hardcover Ed. : Reprints 114-126 + Anual 2001
Review: Amazon said it collects the stories found in New X-Men Vol. 3 and 4. IT'S A MISTAKE!!! They didn't update the info correctly.

It really collects the stories found in New X-Men book 1 (E is for Extinction), book 2 (Imperial) and also reprints the New X-Men Anual 2001. At the end is the Grant Morrison's manifesto to Marvel proposing the New X-Men changes (new clothes, new characters like Cassandra, etc)

There are good pencilers in this book... you'll be absorbed by this book. I hope some of this will be in a movie.

It's a great book. It's better than buying book 1 and 2. Excellent presentation! Excellent stories!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excelsior
Review: As one of the characters says, the X-Men must be nothing less than fabolous. Grant Morrison has given them a vivid personality and an intelligent plot. I have not read the last decade of the X-Men and after read this book I know I did not lost anything. It is amazing how a good idea can be wasted during years and how it can be rescued with a little bit of smart.
I hope DC comics takes advantage of the growing number of Morrison's and publish his Animal Man and Doom Patrol.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "I can heal you!"
Review: First, the good news: Morrison's apocalyptic storytelling just shines here. The climax to Imperial is absolutely first-rate, and the plot twists are perfect (there's some great foreshadowing here as well - the phoenix force casts a long, fiery shadow over the proceedings). This book is actually the long, long conclusion to E is for Extinction, so the one volume doesn't really make sense without the other. Quitely's sections are unsurprisingly brilliant - his lines and layouts are clean and inventive, exhibiting a great eye for detail and sense of pacing. Ethan Van Sciver is also a pretty solid contender, though perhaps not in the same league as Quitely.
Now the bad news: Igor Kordey's sections are very bad. Very, very bad. Good Lord, are they awful. The layouts are cluttered, the pacing is off, and the character depictions are downright lazy. Memo to Marvel: Please, please kick this loser off the book before he ruins your sales. People will stop reading if they can't figure out what's going on.
Final assessment: Marvel exhibits business acumen, if nothing else. Climactic issues are always pencilled by Quitely, and Van Sciver gets his licks in. Morrison's writing miraculously transcends Kordey's godforsaken art, so the book is certainly worth reading. Pick it up just to read the great writing and to see the occasional beauty, and write a letter to Marvel protesting bulk-rate comic art.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Changes
Review: Grant Morrison breathes new life into a title many serious comics readers had left for dead years ago. He starts with the destruction of an entire country's population and just keeps on going. A mystery villain from Xavier's past has an agenda: to destroy the world's mutants -- and it looks like she has a very good chance of succeeding.

As you can see, Morrison isn't afraid of shaking things up. In fact, this is exactly what he was brought on to do. Included as an appendix is "Morrison's Manifesto," a look at the creative process behind this reenvisioning, as well as the original concepts for this particular storyline. It helps one (particularly a long-time reader) understand why certain changes were implemented. I won't go into detail, but there are quite a few surprises.

Morrison writes a gripping story. Forget the usual comics status quo. Forget how everything always turns out okay in the end. You really feel that the characters are in serious danger from a threat that seems to have all the cards stacked in her favor. This could well be the X-Men's darkest hour, and that's not hyperbole.

The art, for the most part, is very good. "Regular" artist Frank Quitely, odd stylistic quirks aside, has a clean, detailed look to his work that I've liked for some time. It's nice to see Cyclops looking "Slim" once more, after the ridiculously over-muscled nineties. Unfortunately, Quitely apparently couldn't keep up with the schedule of the monthly series so there are some fill-ins. Ethan Van Sciver does well on his installments, but Igor Kordey's art is sloppy and unclear and is the only thing that drags the book down. Quitely returns for the final chapter, ending it on a positive note.

This book reprints NEW X-MEN #114-126 and the 2001 annual. Some of this material previously appeared in a trade paperback called E IS FOR EXTINCTION, but I'm glad to have the entire story in a quality hardcover volume.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Weakest Thus Far
Review: Grant Morrison brought the X-Men back to life for me. After decades of status quo, he manaaged to allow the X-Men growth while staying well within their established rules and boundaries (no small trick). His run is better read in collections, and I applaud Marvel for putting them together so quickly.

Assault on Weapon Plus has been the weakest of his run. In it, Wolverine and Cyclops (my two least favorite X-Men) team up in buddy movie fashion to look into the Weapon Plus program. Instead of tying into the bland (my opinion) Weapon X book currently on the market, Morrison intelligently uses his own manifestation of the government-approved Weapon Plus Program.

Bachalo does not produce his most dynamic work in this story - in fact, much of the pages look posed and static. The innovative design work, characterization and beautiful visual rhythm that made him one of my favorite artists is lacking here. Granted, Bachalo on a bad day is still better than most.

The high points in the story include Morrison and Bachalo's read of the Hellfire Club (which is a fun look at mutant red-light districts), as well as their creations in the Weapon Plus Program (who resemble another group of Earth's Mightiest Heroes orbiting the world in their Super-Sattelite). I giggled at the prospect of other legends being injected into the X-Universe. Morrison proves yet again that fiction readily blurs lines. Morrison's usual sense of wonder, madness and brilliance seem muted in this story. Maybe it'll read better when put together in a hardcover (which should be soon enough).

All in all, if you're a Cyclops or Wolverine fan, or a completist with the X-Men, pick it up. Otherwise, save for the volume 3 hardcover (which is - considering what you get - priced pretty economically and the pages look better in that format anyway).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: level of quality still tops
Review: Grant Morrison has bred new life into the X-Men. The stories and characters are fleshed out, fresh, and kept interesting. I love what has been done here. The art is still as good as in the previous volumes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: X-Clamation Point!
Review: Grant Morrison is the only person in comics today who can write both deeply moving stories (as in The Mystery Play) and tightly paced, cosmic action adventure (any of his JLA books). He tried to combine the two in The Invisibles, to my mind successfully, but not in a way that could gain mass acceptance. Jodorowsky does a better job there. So for the X-book he just produces the action adventure plots. But what plotting! The fate of the universe hangs in the balance all because of something Prof X did as a foetus! The only other person doing cosmic stuff at this pitch of insanity in the Marvel universe is Jim Starlin. But because Morrison understands the post-modern and New Age esoterica better, his story's a lot more intense.

As for the art. I say to you comics fans who didn't like Kordy's art: you're the same one's who didn't like Kirby's art in the Fourth World series. You lack vision. Expressionism needs an outlet in commics. There is no better place for it than in the adolescent daydream playland of the X-Men. Quitely is quite good in a non-quiet way. Though I find his women's faces sometimes look masculine. Van Skiver's art was also quite stunning. Oo-la-la some of those drawings of Emma Frost look like they came from Playboy.

And Marvel needs to be congratulated on the format of this book. Because (a) it's hardcover and collectible (they have limited print runs from what I understand) and (b) it's not a throwaway chapbook and (c) the art is 100% visible and up front. Which means that comics are collectible in a serious way, unlike the late 80's and early 90's where comics were collectible merely because we were told they were. Probably the smartest thing they've done since the days of Lee, Kirby and Ditko.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: New X-Men Vol.2 Hardcover Edition : Reprints Nos. 127-141!
Review: Grant Morrison's New X-Men is constantly surprising me. It makes good twists in the stories. There's only one thing I don't like: the face of some characters changes too much from one number to another (check Wolverine or Emma Frost). There are diferent pencilers so there's nothing to do about it.

Note: Amazon said it includes the stories found in New X-Men book 3 (New worlds) & book 4 (Riot at Xavier's) and some behind the scenes (drawings). It also includes some stories from the book 5 (Assault on weapon plus) because it REPRINTS Nos. 127-141!

It doesn't include the New X-Men Anual 2002. New X-Men Vol.1 Hardcover edition does include the New X-Men Anual 2001

Don't get confused with the links to paperback edition. The paper cover is the same from the paperback edition of volume 3 (the one with wolverine and one claw)

I love the hardcover edition because if you need something to show in your bookshelf, you can remove the paper cover and you get a nice black book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Morrison's great as usual, but the art hurt's this volume...
Review: Grant Morrison's writing in this book is up to his usual great standards but, this time out the inconsistant art really hurt's the overall enjoyment. As many know, Frank Quitely, the book's "regular artist" can't keep a deadline to save his life, so we have Ethan Van Sciver as his back-up, Sciver, while having a style that dosen't really mesh with Quitely's still look's good on the X-Men and during the issues in this book, he really started to come into his own. Then, he start's having trouble keeping up, so Marvel does the worst move they have done in recent year's by bringing Igor Kordey in to become the book's main artist. Kordeys art is just plain ugly. Totally clashes with Morrison's style of writing and Kordey draws a couple of the pivotal issues of this storyline killing the flow of the story. Still, through all the ups and downs of the art, you still have Morrison's awsome writing injecting these characters with excitement and life for the first time in many years, however watered down it is.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Morrison's great as usual, but the art hurt's this volume...
Review: Grant Morrison's writing in this book is up to his usual great standards but, this time out the inconsistant art really hurt's the overall enjoyment. As many know, Frank Quitely, the book's "regular artist" can't keep a deadline to save his life, so we have Ethan Van Sciver as his back-up, Sciver, while having a style that dosen't really mesh with Quitely's still look's good on the X-Men and during the issues in this book, he really started to come into his own. Then, he start's having trouble keeping up, so Marvel does the worst move they have done in recent year's by bringing Igor Kordey in to become the book's main artist. Kordeys art is just plain ugly. Totally clashes with Morrison's style of writing and Kordey draws a couple of the pivotal issues of this storyline killing the flow of the story. Still, through all the ups and downs of the art, you still have Morrison's awsome writing injecting these characters with excitement and life for the first time in many years, however watered down it is.


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