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A review by crookedtreehouse
Reign of X Vol. 9 by Leah Williams, Benjamin Percy, Zeb Wells, Al Ewing, Vita Ayala
4.0
After a couple of flat volumes, a welcome surprise.
Hellions #11: Continuing the Sinister/Mastermind/Arcade arc from the last volume, this wasn't the welcome surprise. This was, at least, a resolution to a fortunately short disappointing storyline. There was some potential for this team when the book started but it's mostly been a drag, as I don't care about any of these characters except for Kwannon, and I only care about her when she's in the pages of Excalibur. 2/5*
Wolverine #11 & 12:: Speaking of storylines I wish would end. Vampires. Vampires in the X-Men universe have almost always been dull. There was a brief moment where the Dirty Bomb Vampire storyline had potential, but that was a decade ago, and it quickly fizzled out. I never want to read the word "Dracula" in the pages of an X-book again. 2/5*
This doesn't seem like it's going well, does it?
New Mutants #18: I have been super down on every X-related issue by [a:Vita Ayala|16130337|Vita Ayala|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1598534913p2/16130337.jpg]. I haven't enjoyed their story ideas, their pacing, their dialog. So where did this issue come from? It's leaps, bounds, and other cliches better than anything I've read by Ayala. I don't think the Karma twins storyline has been this interesting since the 80s. All of the character development that's been missing from both New Mutants and [b:Children of the Atom by Vita Ayala, Vol. 1|52723490|Children of the Atom by Vita Ayala, Vol. 1|Vita Ayala|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631895120l/52723490._SY75_.jpg|78662396] is here in glorious color. Even the Scout/Shadow King/New Mutants interaction, while mildly hokey, is at least written with each character having their own dialogue and personality. Finally. Rod Reis's art has been the highlight of this book for the entire run. It's nice that there's finally a story worthy of showcasing his dynamic use of color. 4/5*
SWORD #5: From enhancing 80s characters to shining a spotlight on the early 90s, Fabien Cortez gets his moment to address the High Council about the whole Don't Murder Humans law, which he thinks is unfair. It's fun to watch them talk around the issue, good to see Amelia Vogt interacting with Professor X, and fun to see Jean Grey give Zero Fucks about Fabien's well-being. I wasn't invested in the whole background war/Brand origin story, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment. 4/5*
X-Factor #7: I felt like X-Factor spun its wheels for a couple of issues, which isn't great when we're only on issue #7, but this issue had a tight knot of excellent storylines: the investigation around Siryn's multiple deaths, Polaris's possession, Dakken and Aurora's relationship, Prodigy and Speed's research into when Prodigy died, Speed's fascination with Northstar, Northstar's preoccupation with everyone, there was a lot there, and it ends on a massive cliffhanger. 4/5*
Hellions #11: Continuing the Sinister/Mastermind/Arcade arc from the last volume, this wasn't the welcome surprise. This was, at least, a resolution to a fortunately short disappointing storyline. There was some potential for this team when the book started but it's mostly been a drag, as I don't care about any of these characters except for Kwannon, and I only care about her when she's in the pages of Excalibur. 2/5*
Wolverine #11 & 12:: Speaking of storylines I wish would end. Vampires. Vampires in the X-Men universe have almost always been dull. There was a brief moment where the Dirty Bomb Vampire storyline had potential, but that was a decade ago, and it quickly fizzled out. I never want to read the word "Dracula" in the pages of an X-book again. 2/5*
This doesn't seem like it's going well, does it?
New Mutants #18: I have been super down on every X-related issue by [a:Vita Ayala|16130337|Vita Ayala|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1598534913p2/16130337.jpg]. I haven't enjoyed their story ideas, their pacing, their dialog. So where did this issue come from? It's leaps, bounds, and other cliches better than anything I've read by Ayala. I don't think the Karma twins storyline has been this interesting since the 80s. All of the character development that's been missing from both New Mutants and [b:Children of the Atom by Vita Ayala, Vol. 1|52723490|Children of the Atom by Vita Ayala, Vol. 1|Vita Ayala|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631895120l/52723490._SY75_.jpg|78662396] is here in glorious color. Even the Scout/Shadow King/New Mutants interaction, while mildly hokey, is at least written with each character having their own dialogue and personality. Finally. Rod Reis's art has been the highlight of this book for the entire run. It's nice that there's finally a story worthy of showcasing his dynamic use of color. 4/5*
SWORD #5: From enhancing 80s characters to shining a spotlight on the early 90s, Fabien Cortez gets his moment to address the High Council about the whole Don't Murder Humans law, which he thinks is unfair. It's fun to watch them talk around the issue, good to see Amelia Vogt interacting with Professor X, and fun to see Jean Grey give Zero Fucks about Fabien's well-being. I wasn't invested in the whole background war/Brand origin story, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment. 4/5*
X-Factor #7: I felt like X-Factor spun its wheels for a couple of issues, which isn't great when we're only on issue #7, but this issue had a tight knot of excellent storylines: the investigation around Siryn's multiple deaths, Polaris's possession, Dakken and Aurora's relationship, Prodigy and Speed's research into when Prodigy died, Speed's fascination with Northstar, Northstar's preoccupation with everyone, there was a lot there, and it ends on a massive cliffhanger. 4/5*