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Well, this was uneXpected–and not in a good way.
Part of me had a hunch this might happen. I mean, it was even teased last issue. I guess I just didn’t think it would happen… so fast.
There’s really no point beating around the bush–you know what I’m talking about: The Poisons are back.
OK so, not the Poisons, specifically. It’s a Poisonized Jimmy Hudson. Except, now he goes by Poison, because that just sounds cooler than, uh, Jimmy Hudson. I guess?
If you’re a regular reader of my X-Men Blue reviews, you know I was no fan of the story that spun out of the Venom crossover that was “Poison-X” (which itself spun out of previous Cullen Bunn Venom stories I never read). So I’ll spare you from any more whining (for now) and dive right into X-Men Blue #29’s story.
The issue’s called “The Search for Jimmy Hudson Part 1.” Any guesses as to what it’s about?
Basically, the son of Ultimate Wolverine went missing after the events of “Cry Havok,” but pops up at a bar in California (like father like son), where he flirts with a redhead (like father like son) and gets into a bar fight (you get it the joke, bub). But there’s one thing dad didn’t have (except on variant covers)… a symbiote!
So yeah, Poison seems to be in control of a conflicted Jimmy’s body, and Jean and the rest of the gang arrive in time to spend an entire issue fighting and trying to save Blond Wolverine. And that’s pretty much it. Now do you see why I was disappointed?
Really, I have no one to blame but myself. After slogging through “Poison-X” and Venomized, I felt the worst was behind us. After all, the original X-Men were back in their home title–why wouldn’t we get back to the character-rich stories I remember loving so much? Unfortunately, Bunn can’t seem to shake his fascination with this Poisons concept. After so many issues watching Jean and various Marvel characters grapple with symbiotes and Poisons, do we really need to watch Jimmy do the same?
While I’m sure this new story arc will help further Jimmy’s character, I hate to see the original five as nothing more than background players after being gone for so long. It feels like ages since we’ve spent time with Scott, Jean, Bobby, Hank and Warren without Venom or symbiotes in the picture–I’d happily take 28 pages of the team just chilling back at their mansion.
But, it doesn’t look like that story will be happening any time soon.
The issue’s art by Nathan Stockman is more on the cartoony side, which kind of gives it all a Saturday-morning-cartoon vibe. The pencils are fine, but the action figure-like nature of Poison makes me feel like I’m reading an all-ages book from the ’90s.
So, definitely not my favorite issue of X-Men Blue. Unfortunately, until Bunn can fully separate this series from symbiotes and Poisons, it’s hard for me to get too excited about things to come. Someone call Anti-Symbiote Spidey!
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