Another summer, another X-Men event that will “shake the status quo to the core.” Right. I've heard that one before. When word of this story hit the internet a few months ago I had no intention of picking it up. I figured I’d already be knee deep in the disappointment that is Fear Itself. Why should I add another event book to my pull-list? But once I realized that Jason Aaron would be in charge of this story I had a change of heart. I’m a big fan of Scalped and his work on the Punisher series has been stellar so far.
The premise of this book is thin. Wolverine and Cyclops don’t like each other. Logan is an undependable drunk and Scott has a stick up his ass. We get it. Apparently this is the moment they finally have had enough of each others shit and break the X-Men into two teams. If that's what takes to clean up the overlapping stories of the past few months I’m all for it.
While the story covers familiar ground, Aaron does a good job of not making either character a caricature of themselves. I feel the animosity between these two will gradually build as the story unfolds. A lesser writer could have lost the subtlety needed here.
I’d like to throw some praise Carlos Pacheco's way. Having spent the majority of his career toiling on mediocre books like Superman and The Flash he finally gets to step up to the major leagues. He has a trait that I value in an artist: his ability to make the simple moments seem exciting. There’s a lot of talking in this one but Pacheco executes each panel with grace. His action scenes are just as good. My Panel of the Week is a prime example.
Schism #1 was what I expect from my event books. Excellent writing combined with a superstar artist to tell a story that will have long lasting effects. -$
Panel of the Week: Pacheco displaying his mastery of the splash page.
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