Joss Whedon

“Your Guess Is As Good As Mine” part 2 - Writer: Joss Whedon - Art: John Cassaday - Publisher: Marvel Comics

It’s good news about Whedon and Cassaday sticking around on this title past the first year. Perhaps if they get settled in a bit more, then they’ll be able to be more consistent, because this is a stinker compared to previous issues.

Cassaday’s art is as good as ever, and he does a good job with both the action and the more sedate moments, but it’s hard to tell if Whedon even saw this issue. The scripting could have been done by anyone, and as far as plotting goes, only two things happen: A Sentinel turns up to cause trouble, and while the X-Men are dealing with it, the students at the school get locked in the Danger Room, which is apparently now living up to its name. That’s it. The same week’s Wolverine #25 has a vaguely similar set up (and doesn’t that play merry hell with the notion of inter-title continuity), but that takes considerably longer to read than the thirty second pass we get here, and is both more memorable and more interesting than this comic. To be fair, we do get a bit about a mole within the mansion working for the woman-who-looks-like-Madame-Hydra-but-isn’t, which is a point of some interest; and there’s a bit more development regarding Emma Frost’s apparent return to villainy, which, if it happens, will be the single most cretinous bit of post-Morrison-retconning Marvel will have done so far, and as a point of interest is more negative than positive.

But those are merely blips in what is a surprisingly bland and uninteresting effort from creators who should know and do better. This title has the potential to be the best X-book Marvel is publishing, and sometimes it is. But this issue is rubbish that’s only just salvaged by some effective visuals, and as such, this week’s best X-book is bloody Wolverine. With the characters and creators involved in the two titles, that’s an utter abomination of logic.