X-Men #20
As the X-Men battle the Brood, Jean Grey and Magik go to Broo to help, and Forge and Monet struggle on Knowhere in X-Men #20, by writer Gerry Duggan, artist Stefano Caselli, colorist Federico Blee, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This issue’s writing dips below average more often than not, but the art is fantastic.
Jean and Magik go see Broo and ask him about the Broo attacks. He denies they’re doing it, but Jean tells him she needs to look into his mind. Meanwhile, the X-Men battle the Brood. On Knowhere, Forge and Monet are back in their bodies and figure out a way to bring the station back to normal space. As the X-Men finish evacuating, Jean and Magik discover why Broo doesn’t know about the attack: Nightmare wants revenge for when Jean beat him. On Krakoa, Typhoid Mary asks for asylum and brings her husband with her, something which is going to cause a lot of trouble.
Gerry Duggan and tone don’t work very well often. Marvel comics are known for using humor, and it can be hit or miss, especially in this issue. The first few pages are an example of humor being used terribly. Jean and Magik’s confrontation with Broo is way too casual in the beginning, full of dumb humor - with Broo making the Brood dance like the “Thriller” video - then the whole thing gets ratcheted up when Jean tells him she’s not asking for permission to read his mind. This is a life-or-death situation, and the humor at the beginning of the book is completely out of character for Magik and forJean to let it go on that long. This isn’t the end of the bad writing in this issue.
The X-Men fighting the Brood is just sort of there and doesn’t really build to anything, beyond looking good. The Knowhere scene jumps past the interesting stuff to Forge and Monet in control of the situation. Finally, bringing back Nightmare shows that Duggan cares a lot about his own plotlines, but that’s all. It’s fine, but reminding people of the worst issue of this book isn’t a good idea. The Typhoid Mary thing is more humor that doesn’t land and leads to a reveal that seems more annoying than intriguing, as anyone can see what kind of story Duggan is building here. It looks like he’s going to call back to his own work once again. All in all, the writing in this comic is as bad as it usually is, dipping far below the average level it reached in the last issue.
As bad as the writing is in this comic, the art is fantastic. Caselli and Blee make an excellent team, and this issue is some of Caselli’s best art in a while. The detail and figure work are all wonderful, and he does a terrific job with Nightmare. Nightmare is often a silly character - he looks like Dream of the Endless without any fashion sense - but Caselli gives him a more menacing look. On top of that, as the exchange goes on, Blee keeps darkening up the palette, selling the whole sequence even more.
X-Men #20 is not a well-written comic in any sense, but the art is amazing. That’s pretty much par for the course for this book.
