COMIC BOOK REVIEW - All-New X-Men: Hell Hath So Much Fury
By The Masked Medic
So I’ve been on a run of long day shifts and I’ve been looking forward to this long weekend because I’ve got comics to read and movies to watch and of course, reviews to write for you guys. This week I returned to Marvel and thought I’d give the X-Men another chance. The ‘All-New X-Men’ novels have been fairly interesting so far, giving us younger versions of iconic characters living in the same time period as their future counterparts. Things were always gonna get messy right?
‘Hell Hath So Much Fury’ almost acts as an interlude novel. It starts with a story about X-23 who is struggling with restlessness and the general decline of her relationship with Angel, aka Warren Worthington. She doesn’t have to worry though as the X-Men’s fearsome leader, Cyclops, who’s been wheelchair ridden after his battle with Toad, has got a couple of missions for her. But every time Laura gets there, the threat has been averted. She soon discovers that it’s actual Warren who’s tackling all these threats and the two finally kiss and make up. Elsewhere, Idie, Evan and Bobby are out partying, attempting to help Bobby gain the confidence to go and talk to some boys. Idie and Evan try and do their best as wingmen, but ultimately find that their tactics are not helping. Bobby it seems doesn’t need the help and ends up talking to someone and it’s going well until the three find out that this boy is an Inhuman. Cue some awkwardness and a fight with a giant bug and you’ve got a match made in heaven? The final part of the novel sees Scott struggling with his inability to not overanalyse every situation. However, when it seems that Hank, aka Beast, has been carrying out experiments with the occult, things go from bad to worse for these X-Men when a group of Demons begins attacking Miami Beach. These demons are led by a villain named the “Goblin Queen”. I know what a great name. Despite the best efforts of the X-Men, they seemed to be fairly outmatched by the monsters quite quickly. Scott attempts to band the group together to come up with a plan, but it’s soon evident that to fight these new foes, they’ll need to consider a power that none of them has access to. Can Hank find a way to undo his mess? And who is this Goblin Queen?
This is now the third novel that I’ve read in the series, and I’ve found a general decline in how much I like these novels. The only reason that I can think of is that the plots of these novels aren’t particularly exciting. The irony is that I really like the team and this iteration of a lot of the characters. There are certainly some moments in the novel where they come together to fight a single threat, but for the most part, this novel felt like the writers didn’t have a central arc and were giving us the lowlights of these characters’ lives. Sometimes those stories work out, and Marvel does have a knack for writing good stories like that, but this novel just didn’t do it for me. Another thing that I think would probably improve this series a little more is more significant interaction with other characters who are in the same time period. We know that these X-Men were flung into their futures, but I’ve not seen much if any, interaction with their future counterparts.
The artwork has remained largely consistent in this series and I found it to be one more the more promising aspects of the novel. The covers, however, weren’t spectacular. Overall, I think I was left wanting a lot more from this series, and I do hope that it picks up eventually!
Favourite Panel:
The only Wolverine and Cyclops to get along! Haha!
Favourite Character:
It’s a tough shout here. Whereas I appreciate the growth that Hank undergoes in this novel, for me, Cyclops is still the best member of the team!
Rating:
Story Arc: ★★
Character Development: ★★★½
Artwork: ★★★½
Enjoyability: ★★½
Re-readability: ★★
Level: Intermediate