Weapon X #7
Writer: Frank Tieri
Pencils&Cover: Georges Jeanty

The Underground: Part 1 of 6

Part on of The Underground arc. I'm going to start this off by saying that I've actually been reading this series from the start, which probably gives me a decent perspective on the book as a whole. I'm also familiar and reasonably fond of Tieri's writing. That said, let's jump right in, shall we?

There are already errors on the recap page. That's both amazingly sad, and somewhat disheartening. He have, of course, listed Cable as 'Soldier X,' to go along with the fact that that's what he's been calling himself over in his own book (for no real reason than the fact that Marvel seems of the opinion that the more Xs there are, the better it is. Is there even a mutant book at this point that *doesn't* have an X in the title? I can't think of one, and if there is, X-Treme X-Men and X-Statix are picking up the slack.) They've happily shortened his name down to just 'Nathan Summers' to spare us all the mental pain. Domino is listed as 'Neena Thurman' and while those are two names she's used, they've never been used together, nor is it her actual name. Her powers are also listed as 'psionic aura,' to which I say, "The hell?" I've been told that she's also listed this way in the new Marvel Encyclopedia, which is also riddled with such errors as listing Cannonball and Husk as hailing from West Virginia. I could hit the person who wrote that one with about 50 issues where Kentucky is listed. Good grief. Also amongst the boo-boos on this page, Mavrick is listed as 'Identity Unknown,' despite the fact that we've known his name is David North for years. But that's enough of that. It's sad when I have to waste a whole paragraph on the recap page.
      The issue opens in Washington D.C., where we've got Mesmero playing PR man, and assuring the world there is no such thing as Neverland (Neverland, for those uninformed, is the Director's new top secret mutant concentration camp and clearing house for Marvel characters no one gives a crap about anymore. They seem to be systematically working their way through the ranks of the old Mutant Liberation Front, at this point.) Domino and Meltdown are on hand to take in the whole thing and relay it back to Blaquesmith, Cable (screw Soldier X. This is shorter, and everyone's calling him 'Nathan anyway, as if Tieri couldn't stand how ungodly stupid 'Soldier X' sounds. I don't blame him), and Mavrick, who stands around in shadows all issue, as if we can't recognize his armor. The plot we get at this point is that Nate and the others have come together to get rid of Neverland. Logical enough, as Cable's spent most of his life trying to fight for equality in one way or another, and with the exception of Mavrick, this is a pretty normal entourage for him (I should note that with Tabitha's appearance here, we finally have confirmation that, in fact, no one died at the end of X-Force 15. Big surprise, there. *snort*). Then we skip to the weird and disturbing romantic sub-plot with Aurora and the Director. I'll say one this about this. Ick. Oh, and Agent Jackson is plotting something, and I still hate him. Okay, back to the story. Mesmero, Kane, and *pauses* Washout (who picked that name? Good god.), get intercepted strolling in a park, by Domino... in... er, a clown costume. So Tabitha can plant a micro-camera on Mesmero, and they can figure out Kane is Kane. Yes, you heard right. Apparently, they decided to ignore all of Dom's skills in favor of using her as a cheap distraction. Now, let us never speak of this again.
     Nathan makes colourful threats to Kane's life. This pleased me, mostly because I wanted to see how much of their history would make it into the book, and because I'd personally like to see Garrison Kane end up in tiny itty bitty pieces. But I digress. The rest of the issue consists of jabs at Blaquesmith (he was, apparently, quite interested in the footage of Mesmero in a car with two women, which caused a collective shudder in those of us who know about his look-alike and the Russian prostitute), two unidentifieds tear apart a burger stand in Colorodo with the message 'Free Neverland', and Mesmero going home to see his dying mother.

So, in the end, it was an okay issue. The art had problems I will attribute to Jeanty getting accustomed to the new characters, as it's usually quite good in this book, and an unfortunate choice of wardrobe by Cable, which I will attribute to his mother dressing him. Not an *amazing* issue, but nothing (aside from the clown costume) made me want to stab my eyes out. On a scale of one to five, I'd give it a 3.

Back