New X-Men: Assault on Weapon Plus

Collecting both the "Murder at the Mansion" and "Assault on Weapon Plus" storyarcs, this TPB is more of a calm before the storm of Grant Morrison's now legendary run on New X-Men. Picking up where "Riot at Xavier's" left off, Jean Grey catches Cyclops and Emma Frost and learns of their psychic affair, sending Cyclops running off, and eventually leaving Emma in a pile of shattered diamond. From there on, Bishop and Sage make guest appearances as they investigate the murder, which leads to the beginning of Morrison's stunner twist in the next TPB, Planet X. Phil Jimenez, who provides the art for this arc and the Planet X TPB as well, creates some mouth watering renderings of Jean and Emma, and his art is nothing short of beautiful. The second arc kicks off as a drunken and depressed Cyclops is reluctantly teamed up with Wolverine and the mysterious Fantomex as they travel to the space bound the World so Wolverine can learn the secrets of the Weapon X program that made him what he is today. While this arc is a solid and innovative storytelling from Morrison, the chopy art by Chris Bachelo just looks plain sloppy. The action scenes are incoherent, and the character models are funky looking, but if you can get past that, you might enjoy the story. All in all, Assault on Weapon Plus isn't as revolutionary as the rest of Morrison's run, but it's still a solid X-Men yarn that sets forth the pivotal events in Planet X and Morrison's stunning finale, Here Comes Tomorrow.

I didn't love this story the first time I read it; but it's much better when you read it as a whole, rather than one issue a month. Grant Morrison writes incredibly well, as always. Wolverine and Fantomex play off of eachother very well, as do Cyclops and Wolverine. More importantly, Morrison fleshes out earlier ideas regarding the Weapon Plus program. This is a very original take on the Weapon X (or Ten) project that's been done to death throughout the eighties and nineties. There are some important character moments for Scott and Logan here, as well. Whether or not you like the artwork depends on yor personal taste. Bachalo's style is sloppy and somewhat cartonish, but that works for him. I' not a huge fan, but I don't hate it either. Wolverine does look a little like a fat, old man in a few scenes, though.

I know of a great companion piece in the form of a book entitled "The Adventures of Darkeye: Cyber Hunter" whose odd manner of having log-entries over chapters reads exactly like the script for a graphic novel, even though it is in the science fiction/high-tech and cyberpunk genre along with books like "Cryptonomicon", "Snow Crash", "Prey", and "Altered Carbon". Very fast-paced, incredibly visual, and very exciting due to its action-packed pages.

The first story is "Murder at the Mansion" [art by Jimenez], and it's fun for mystery fans. It picks up where NEW X-MEN: RIOT AT XAVIER'S left off. Jean gives Emma Frost a Very Hard Time indeed (although not as hard as she could have, given the situation). In the process, we learn about Emma's origin.Bishop and Sage come to investigate the murder. The faculty and students are all suspect. Bishop makes reference to what happened to him (and Sage) when they were at the Institute the previous winter [see X-TREME X-MEN: SCHISM]. As in NEW X-MEN: NEW WORLDS, Mr. Morrison shows more respect to his guest stars than Mr. Claremont did in SCHISM. Prof. X's method of assuring Bishop that he is not an impostor or possessed made me smile. I laughed aloud at Basilisk's declaration for the game of "Clue" he and the Beak were playing when Bishop enters Mr. Xorn's classroom. The prisoner Bishop visits in a jail does not support SCHISM's suggestion that the main X-Men believe that mutants are above the law.We get a confession! Is it real? What's in the shack out back? What secret is the Beak so frantic to hide? Can you spot the killer?The "Assault on Weapon Plus" section [art by Bachalo], gets a rousing start that makes me chortle with delight whenever I reread it. Scott is at the Hellfire Club. I found his reply to a gorgeous dancer quite funny. Even funnier is Scott's conversation with Sabretooth. Suave Sebastian Shaw's appearance is not dull. His opinion of Scott's drink is more elegantly worded than Sabretooth's, but no more flattering. I'm not a big fan of Mr. Bachalo's art in general, but he was perfect for the Hellfire Club scenes. The guys' expressions are great. I loved Wolverine's invitation to Scott, his men's room conversation with Sabretooth, and his advice concerning Scott's problem. Wolverine's expression at the end of this section cracks me up.Unfortunately, "Assault on Weapon Plus" went downhill after part one. If you like explosions and slugfests, you'll probably have more fun with Cyclops', Wolverine's, and Fantomex's adventures in parts two through four than I did. I did enjoy Cyclops' nice speech about Wolverine, as well as his order to Fantomex and Fantomex's response in part three. From part four I also liked Cyclops' reason why he and Wolverine should remove their x-jackets, the man who may or may not be Fantomex's boss telling him why they're disappointed in him, and Wolverine's first response when he's asked the purpose of life. "Murder at the Mansion" and part one of "Assault on Weapon Plus" get a big "thumbs up" from me. Parts two and three have good spots. More importantly, you'll want this book (and E IS FOR EXTINCTION, IMPERIAL, NEW WORLDS, and RIOT AT XAVIER's -- or NEW X-MEN HARDCOVERS one and two) when the PLANET X volume comes out. I, for one, am extremely impressed with Mr. Morrison's long-range planning, careful planting of clues, and going back to what appeared to be mere throw-away lines in the e