Start Spreadin’ the News…Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Carlos Pacheco (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Comicraft (lettering), Liquid! (colors)
Summary: A stabbing victim is brought into Our Mother of Mercy Hospital, where he’s treated by Dr. Cecilia Reyes. After he flatlines, he suddenly returns to life as a Prime Sentinel. More Prime Sentinels emerge in the hospital and attack Cecilia. She’s forced to use her mutant ability to create forcefields to protect herself. Iceman arrives and saves her, leading her to safety inside the Morlock Tunnels. Meanwhile, Bastion visits Professor Xavier in his New Mexico prison. He shows him a hologram of his captives, Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine, Cannonball, and Phoenix.
Continuity Notes: Cecilia Reyes says that she wanted to become a doctor after she held her father in her arms “as he bled to death on the sidewalk”. She says she was six when this happened nineteen years ago, making her twenty-five. Three years ago, Xavier offered to train her, but she refused. Iceman says that he was assigned to protect her if the X-Men’s files were ever compromised.
Review: This is an issue-long introduction for Cecilia Reyes, a character who was quickly dismissed during the early Quesada years, even though she seems to have developed something of a following. Her gimmick is that she wants nothing to do with supervillain fights and just wants to be normal. That’s an idea that’s certainly conveyed in this issue, because she keeps repeating it. It is a rare angle to take with an X-character, but it’s hard to pull off without making her seem whiny. I do recall liking her during the Seagle/Kelly run, so I can’t deny she has potential. Unfortunately, too much space is devoted to introducing her in this issue, causing the overall plot to drag. The X-Men are in the exact same spot they were in last issue, and the only new element is that Iceman and Reyes are on the run from Prime Sentinels. Still, Pacheco seems to be having fun with the action scenes, and the story manages to maintain a reasonable level of excitement.
Cecelia Reyes was a character I initially didn't like, but she grew on me eventually, and I disliked how casually she was discarded in Weapon X (I heard she has or will shpwwo up in NYX, so that's good). She does have potential. My initial dislike of her was due to the fact that, I always thought we had seen this storyline before with Dazzler...
ReplyDeleteCecilia was fresh at the time, I guess ... I think that's why she caught on with me and apparantly many others. She was also pretty likeable as well. This, in my opinion, is actually a great comic. The art is stunning and it's nice to see Iceman act confidant and heroic for the first time in years. Ignoring the OZT nonsense (which isn't even that bad here, just a simple Sentinel fight), and it's got some great character work and interaction.
ReplyDeletePacheco does such an amazing job, that the issue had not, at any point, stopped from being exciting for me.
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