"Come On Die Young 1 of 4" Writer: Brian Wood (based on a story by Warren Ellis) Artist(s): Steve Pugh (P), Bob Wiacek, Scott Elmer, Derek Mei, Rod Ramos (I), Kevin Somers (C) Publisher: Marvel Comics
The Plot: As Emma Frost's sister comes to the Massachusetts Academy, Monet and Everett seem to be falling in love.
This is the month where the Counter X writers either get a chance to shine or they fall flat on their face as Warren Ellis takes a smaller role in the creative process. This month is also when the dramatic changes in the character are finally explained, hopefully in some logical manner. Considering that these characters went through one of the most dramatic changes, I was curious to see if the explanation manages to win me back to a title that had lost me even before the dismal conclusion to the last story arc.
Unfortunately, this issue doesn't do much to alleviate my skepticism about how these characters evolved into the ruthless, no-nonsense "kid avengers" of the last few issues. Instead, the issue shows lots of high school hijinks, plus the awkward romance of young mutants in love. It isn't much better than the moronic "School of Correction" plot from the last story arc, except that now there's less of a story! It's fairly obvious that Emma's sister is going to do something that is going to "out" the mutants at the Academy forcing them to leave, but I hate to read things as predictable as this.
It's also immediately obvious that Ellis is no longer handling any of the scripting, as none of his normal "Ellisms" are present, but Wood's solo writing doesn't do much for me. It is rather trite and bland, doing little to endear these characters to me. At least, Ellis tried to be funny; there's just nothing even remotely entertaining about this story.
Though the issue is inked by committee, most of the pages look better than the last four issues, which were inked by Sandu Florea. The lines are stronger and clearer, probably closer to Pugh's original pencils. Now that he is being inked better, Pugh does a decent job, particularly with the facial expressions of the Gen-X kids. I do have to say that the colors or separations may have been a bit off-kilter, as Jubilee looks a lot darker-skinned than normal.
Sadly, this series has failed to impress me even with better art, and at this point, I could care less what happens to the characters to turn them into the ruthless anti-heroes, which they are to become.
