Saturday, September 15, 2012

Wolverine and the X-Men #16

This issue manages to avoid complications with the whole Avengers vs. X-Men mess by (mostly) avoiding both the Phoenix Force and Wolverine and the X-Men, and instead focuses on the group of villains that may be the team's greatest opponent.

And it may just be my impending geezerhood, but I really, really don't like the idea of kids as evil criminal masterminds.

Perhaps because, in this day of protecting children, how do you punish these bad guys? You can't have the good guys punch them out - they can't even get a paddling from the principal!

Oh, how you'll love this origin! Apparently born evil, young Kade Kilgore demonstrates amazing know-how and evil cunning as he plots to kill his own father, take over the Hellfire Club and then kill all the grownups involved in that organization.

Now he's taking aim at the X-Men, and with great power, unlimited funds and any weapon that can be imagined, he promises to make lots more trouble for the students at the Jean Grey School.

The art by Chris Bachalo is quite good - he does great work with mood and setting, though he's a bit dodgy sometimes with action sequences.

So, if you like seeing stories about children with no souls, gleefully enjoying murder and destruction - this is the book for you. I prefer my villains with some mileage on 'em - that way they have, like, a reason for being evil.

Grade: B

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