Paul O'Brien's THE X-AXIS Reviews

[Nubian]

What are your guys' thoughts on Paul O'Brien's long-running review site, THE X-AXIS?

http://www.thexaxis.com/

For me, it's a must-read every Sunday, and has been for well over a decade now.

[rilokyle]

Yeah, I must admit that I too read it every Sunday. Its like my Sunday comic tradition lol. His reviews are usually pretty accurate, although he totally graded X-Men: Die By The Sword waaaay too generously.

The only thing we see differently usually is the art. He doesn't like Bachalo, and I do!

[w00tmaster93]

one of the only online critics i agree with, the only problem is that i get my comics before he reviews them.

[Chris_SVK]

I'm also a subscriber, not sure why cos i didn't buy a comic since 1997 :-)

I like the humourous asides and general cynical approach to anything resembling corporate Marvel...

From this week:
"But then, common sense is apparently at a premium in this book, because
the deniable, secret black-ops X-Men team are wearing X-Men uniforms
with X-logos on them, and are led by the world-famous X-Men member
Wolverine, wearing a slightly recoloured version of his world-famous
costume. As secret teams go, these guys suck."

[La Fea]

His reviews are on-point and put into words what I feel a lot of times. I can't remember the last time our tastes were that different.

[Butters]

Read it every Sunday. Even if I disagree on something, I feel he makes very good points.

[Michael P]

I don't always agree with him, but at least he's thinking about what he's reading. That puts him one up on about 90% of all reviewers of everything.

[CaptainCanada]

I make sure to read them every Sunday; I enjoy his perspective, even if I don't always agree with him.

[rilokyle]

I'm also a subscriber, not sure why cos i didn't buy a comic since 1997 :-)

I like the humourous asides and general cynical approach to anything resembling corporate Marvel...

From this week:
"But then, common sense is apparently at a premium in this book, because
the deniable, secret black-ops X-Men team are wearing X-Men uniforms
with X-logos on them, and are led by the world-famous X-Men member
Wolverine, wearing a slightly recoloured version of his world-famous
costume. As secret teams go, these guys suck."

Yeah, that made me crack up. It's so true too, if you think about it. There's nothing black-ops about Wolverine. He's like most recognizable character in the Marvel U. I'm sure the Purifiers know its him.

[Flight]

He makes me LOL.

[rilokyle]

You know, he's always so unbiased. Like, he never talks about who his favorite characters are. I wonder if he likes Havok?

[Phil Hunn]

I read the guy's reviews every week as well. While I might not agree with everything he says, his reviews are always enjoyable to read and get right to the crux of the matter pretty much every time.

You know, he's always so unbiased. Like, he never talks about who his favorite characters are. I wonder if he likes Havok?

Read some of his old Mutant X reviews. They're hysterical :)

[Flight]

You know, he's always so unbiased. Like, he never talks about who his favorite characters are. I wonder if he likes Havok? Of course he does!!!!!

[rilokyle]

I LOVE this particular paragraph from Paul.

Austen seems to be trying to sell us on the idea of Annie and Alex as joined by destiny, but the sheer bizarreness of Annie falling in love with a comatose patient gives the plot an inherent creepiness that he never really manages to get away from. And Lorna, of course, has been reinvented as an one-dimensional bitch for purposes of plot convenience.

SO so true.

[w00tmaster93]

When Austen was bringing Havok back,

"To be honest, I'm deeply sceptical that Alex is a character worth bringing back at all - he hasn't been used in a decent story since around 1994, and I would have been perfectly happy to leave him in limbo after Mutant X was axed."

[Flight]

Oh, shut up w00tmaster93!!!~~~

[rilokyle]

When Austen was bringing Havok back,

"To be honest, I'm deeply sceptical that Alex is a character worth bringing back at all - he hasn't been used in a decent story since around 1994, and I would have been perfectly happy to leave him in limbo after Mutant X was axed."

That's so mean!!!

I also found THIS beauty of a quote:

Austen's version of Lorna is so thoroughly unsympathetic that it eliminates any real tension or awkwardness from the triangle, and makes it highly implausible that Alex would have agreed to marry her in the first place - she's been written so far out of character that it's astonishing the X-Men didn't wrestle her into a straitjacket several issues ago. Lorna's reduced to a crudely-written blocking character, a status pretty much acknowledged when Alex and Annie don't even seem to care about jilting her on her wedding day - they just fly off to Paris as if she didn't exist. Still, at least she gets to singlehandedly knock out an entire congregation of superheroes in one panel because the plot demands it.

[w00tmaster93]

Oh, shut up w00tmaster93!!!~~~

I didn't say it, he did. I love Havok.

[Flight]

You pointed it out!

[w00tmaster93]

You pointed it out!

I was just telling you that he doesn't like Havok

[Flight]

X-actly~~~

[darknessatnoon]

His reviews are a must-read. Plus he once wrote: "Sage is certainly a character with potential..." She certainly is.

[Bic]

For me the true sign of a good critic isn't that I always agree with their opinions but that I'm intriguied to hear what their views on the material are. It's for that reason that I always read Paul O'Brien's reviews.

The one thing that amazes me about his reviews is that not only will he review comics that he obviously doesn't enjoy but that he will continue buy, read and review them month in and month out. I appreciate him suffering through them so the rest of us don't have to but that level of fan dedication is a rare sight.

[rwsmith]

I'm also a subscriber, not sure why cos i didn't buy a comic since 1997 :-)

I like the humourous asides and general cynical approach to anything resembling corporate Marvel...

From this week:
"But then, common sense is apparently at a premium in this book, because
the deniable, secret black-ops X-Men team are wearing X-Men uniforms
with X-logos on them, and are led by the world-famous X-Men member
Wolverine, wearing a slightly recoloured version of his world-famous
costume. As secret teams go, these guys suck."

Perhaps Scott wants his enemies to know who it is that's taking them out, and the secret part just goes for the rest of the X-men and the government?

Regardless, I'm sure the cat will get out of the bag soon enough. With Wolverine and X-23 involved, the body count will eventually rise to the point where SHIELD sits up and takes notice.

[Hi-Fi]

I love this quote from him:

Carey's basic angle is that Rogue is either an unconventional tactical genius, or a reckless maniac on a streak of good luck. Or maybe a bit of both. There's method in her madness, at any rate, and so the bizarre collection of X-Men ends up working. This seems to be the big idea for Carey's run, and I'm happy to follow along with that.
LOL

[Tobias March]

I've been reading him since the grand old days of ninthart.com (http://ninthart.com/) (well worth ploughing through the archives there as well if you enjoy Paul's writing).

The advantage of his writing is that he discusses X-titles intelligently without any elitism or arrogance. It's a welcome change.

[RickyD410]

As many people have already said, I always catch his reviews every Sunday. I look foward to them. He's a funny guy, and is always really interesting. I dont always agree with him, but I really do enjoy thinking about his take on everything. He's unbiased, and knows how to analyze both the story, and the writer behind the story, which I think is important as well.

I'm a big fan.

[Pach!]

I don't seem to share his taste in comics for the most part so I don't read it anymore.

[Butters]

Here is a quote I rather liked from his review of an issue of New Warriors:

... This issue brought the real problem with New Warriors crashing home to me - a singular failure to define the characters properly, or indeed at all. Half the issue is about Night Thrasher, and depends on a working knowledge of old stories from twenty years ago if you're going to care. The rest consists of the team sitting around discussing whether they're terrorists in a badly thought-out scene. (They're clearly not; and if the concern is that they're criminals, surely they knew that all along. The whole point of the group is that they're defying the Registration Act.) Reading this scene, I realised the grim and depressing truth: eight issues in, I couldn't tell you the names of any of these characters. I don't know which civilian matches up with which costume. I don't know what their powers are. I can't tell them apart in conversation. They are just an interchangeable mulch of non-personalities. Artist Jon Malin apparently only knows how to draw one woman, and a scene with the four female members is frankly embarrassing, as they look like identical quadruplets in different clothes.

[Novaya Havoc]

What are your guys' thoughts on Paul O'Brien's long-running review site, THE X-AXIS?

http://www.thexaxis.com/

For me, it's a must-read every Sunday, and has been for well over a decade now.

He's a Claremont Apologist! He gives my Dreamboat a false sense of security!

Other than the CC reviews, I dig them.

[That JonoGuy]

I've read some of his reviews on occasion. For the most part i disagree a lot of the time.

It's pretty obvious in his reviews when his bias gets the better of him.

[Expletive Deleted]

I agree with his reviews more often than not, but he's always worth a read even when I don't.

I particularly liked his breakdown of Millar's writing on FF #554, this week.

[Novaya Havoc]

See? O'Brien is a CC ENABLER! He's like Sam Lutfi with Britney Spears!

He ripped X-Force a new one and gave it a C. Then in the capsule:


NEW EXILES #2 - The bad news is that some of Chris Claremont's bad habits are resurfacing. We have yet another mind control villain, and we have a bad guy loudly proclaiming his name as if it amounted to a personality. (Which is bad enough at the best of times, but... "Rough Justice"? Really?) But if you can live with those, it's actually a decently constructed story, and if Claremont has taken a bunch of familiar concepts and hit the shuffle button, at least he's put some work into figuring out a world for the resulting hybrids to inhabit. Taken on its own terms, it's actually very readable, but I suspect it's still one mainly for the Claremont fans. B

Bad habits "resurfacing"? They've always been there. He says if you can live with all of the terrible CC ticks that overshadow the story, you're fine.

And like with every CC review it's "If you're a CC fan you'll like it!"

Then gives it a B.

BOLLOCKS!

[La Fea]

See? O'Brien is a CC ENABLER! He's like Sam Lutfi with Britney Spears!

He ripped X-Force a new one and gave it a C. Then in the capsule:



Bad habits "resurfacing"? They've always been there. He says if you can live with all of the terrible CC ticks that overshadow the story, you're fine.

And like with every CC review it's "If you're a CC fan you'll like it!"

Then gives it a B.

BOLLOCKS!

Lower expectations, probably.

[filterpunk]

His reviews are among the few I tend to trust. As with every critic, I take him with a grain of salt, but I find myself agreeing with him more often than not. The most glaring difference I've run across is that he seems to love the crap out of just about anything Alan Davis touches, whereas I really don't understand why so many people think Davis is even slightly interesting or noteworthy.

As is usually the case, my opinion is probably shared with only about 1 out of 1000 other people.

[xmanson]

I liked too how he pointed that Mystique seemed to be dead at the end of MC and now suddenly she's alive far, far away. I don't think the X-men would just let her body there and go home.

[ANewHope]

No offense, but if this guy couldn't figure out the twist in Wolverine 62, why does anyone bother reading his reviews??

Who is this wanker? Ex-comic writer? Or just some fan that thinks his reviews are worth posting on the net?

[creaky]

No offense, but if this guy couldn't figure out the twist in Wolverine 62, why does anyone bother reading his reviews??

Because making a mistake in one review doesn't mean his other hundreds (or is it thousands?) of reviews are bad? Because he tends to elaborately explain his pov in an eloquent, entertaining fashion and often from different angles and because he generally knows what he's talking about?

[La Fea]

Because making a mistake in one review doesn't mean his other hundreds (or is it thousands?) of reviews are bad? Because he tends to elaborately explain his pov in an eloquent, entertaining fashion and often from different angles and because he generally knows what he's talking about?

Yeah, that seemed like an empty dig at O'Brien.

[ANewHope]

Because making a mistake in one review doesn't mean his other hundreds (or is it thousands?) of reviews are bad? Because he tends to elaborately explain his pov in an eloquent, entertaining fashion and often from different angles and because he generally knows what he's talking about?


Ok.. I'll give him another chance. For the most part, I respect the views of comic fans on these forums.

Obviously I dont trust all the statements on these forums, but I don't think people are lying when they say "they enjoy a comic" or "they hate a comic." That much I can trust.

[darknessatnoon]

Ok.. I'll give him another chance. For the most part, I respect the views of comic fans on these forums.

Obviously I dont trust all the statements on these forums, but I don't think people are lying when they say "they enjoy a comic" or "they hate a comic." That much I can trust.

His reviews are fine. God forbid he give more than a visceral thumbs down or thumps up reaction. If he said "I like it" or "I hate it" for every x-related issue ever published the site wouldn't be worth visiting.

In reference to his reviews of CC: Yes, he is an enabler. He used to be much harsher towards Claremont, but I gather he got sick of fanatics spamming him with hate mail and death threats for it. So now he grades on a curve (i.e., more or less horrible than usual).

I object to his hatred of non-mainstream presses (basically non-Marvel/DC presses... actually, he really doesn't like DC much either). He's got strongly ingrained prejudices against comics that aren't oriented to the general superhero fan market. That's neither here nor there since it doesn't really affect his review of X-men comics.

[Brian "Vash" Ashby]

he has /had an anti claremont bias for a while. He ripped good CC comics. Although he has praised bad ones. His opinions are basically as valid as anyone else who ever comments on comics. He is more fan than legit reviewer

[jarrod]

Love the reviews, O'Brien's one of the few to really share my Milligan love. Pulse and Bling! 4-eva! :D

He's generally pretty fair and insightful too... except when it comes to Millar invariably, that seething FF "review" really turned me off. He's a bit rough on Kyle/Yost I think also, but hey, we can't help what we like or not. Gotta give him props for dedication.

[metalgorgomon]

His reviews are alright. But I won't rely 100% on them. I always read them every Monday. I usually read his and IGN reviews for comparisons.. And of course.. this forum's :)

[Disco Jess Minge]

This guy has a lot more dignity to me. He's very neutral to everyone, they only get GOOD reviews when they do GOOD work.

http://www.thefourthrail.com/reviews/critiques/112904/uncannyxmen453.shtml

[La Fea]

Love the reviews, O'Brien's one of the few to really share my Milligan love. Pulse and Bling! 4-eva! :D

He's generally pretty fair and insightful too... except when it comes to Millar invariably, that seething FF "review" really turned me off. He's a bit rough on Kyle/Yost I think also, but hey, we can't help what we like or not. Gotta give him props for dedication.

I didn't read Fantastic Four, but his review did seem a bit picky.

He seemed to like Yost's X-23 minis and Emperor Vulcan but not his New X-Men.

[streator]

What are your guys' thoughts on Paul O'Brien's long-running review site, THE X-AXIS?

http://www.thexaxis.com/

For me, it's a must-read every Sunday, and has been for well over a decade now.

i read his stuff just about every week as well. i generally agree with his reviews and i think he does a decent job with his site.

[Flatscan]

The X-Axis is great, but I still think he gave Milligan way too much credit.

His indexes are pretty entertaining as well...
Iceman and Cannonball have gone undercover in the Creed campaign team. Obviously the now-departed Professor X had all the imagination in the team, since they're using the pseudonyms Drake Roberts and Samson Guthry. (Yes, that's right, Sam Guthrie uses the pseudonym Sam Guthry.) Plainly only a complete moron would fail to see through identities like that. Fortunately, Creed is a complete moron.

[MarvelGirlBoy]

His refusal to see any merit with C&C annoyed me, except that, ultimately, he did have a point. He just needed to make it and move on, rather than let it sink his reviews for what was generally a good title.

His Claremont patronising is annoying too, statements like "it jogs along rather well" are not something that it's fair to put in every issue, without pointing out the lack of direction. He treats Claremont like each issue is a new start and holds grudges against other writers for past mistakes.

BUT, in general I do like reading him. He's one of those critics that manages to verbalise the nagging issues in the corner of my brain.

[Blade X]

he has /had an anti claremont bias for a while. He ripped good CC comics. Although he has praised bad ones. His opinions are basically as valid as anyone else who ever comments on comics. He is more fan than legit reviewer

I thought I was the only one who remembered him ripping CC a new one in many of his past reviews. The guy can go either way when it comes to reviewing comics.

[Frodo-X]

I read his reviews every week. I don't necessarily agree with them all the time (though my tastes do run closer to him than the guy who does The Buy Pile here at CBR), but I enjoy his insights and his take. His review for the last issue of Loeb's Wolverine arc is probably my favorite that I've read so far, as I agreed with it totally.

His monthly sales analysis is usually a nice read, too. Not as much as his reviews, but interesting just the same.

[Novaya Havoc]

I thought I was the only one who remembered him ripping CC a new one in many of his past reviews. The guy can go either way when it comes to reviewing comics.

He was negative on X-Treme. Ambivalent on Uncanny.

Way too nice on New Excalibur/Exiles/Die by the Sword, which were all waaaay worse.

[Blade X]

I gave New Exiles 2 a C-, foo!

Calm down. Criticism does not always imply "bias" when it doesn't go the way you want. Paul O'Brien has stated he's an old-school Claremont fan and has consistently rated his titles on par with writers like PAD, Bru, Carey at various stages. Not to say those other writers didn't have poor/mediocre issues, but O'Brien gave Die by the Sword #4 the same grade as Uncanny X-Men #493.

Now that is a bias. Me finding Claremont consistently mediocre-to-abortionlike? That's not a bias. That's a critique with which you disagree.

I know criticism doesn't always equal "bias" when it doesn't go the way you want. By the same token, a positive review DOES NOT always mean a reviewer is giving a particular creator a pass or has an agenda.

So what if he gave DBTS #4 the same rating as UXM #493, that's his own personal opinion, regardless if you agree with him or not.

You finding CC's current work consistently mediocre to crap is definitely your opinion and critique of his work. You questioning the integrity of a reviewer (or anyone else) for liking CC's current work, smacks of bias.

[Ann Nichols]

I've been a subscriber for years!

[Blade X]

He was negative on X-Treme. Ambivalent on Uncanny.

Way too nice on New Excalibur/Exiles/Die by the Sword, which were all waaaay worse.

So what? That's his own personal opinion.

[Novaya Havoc]

I know criticism doesn't always equal "bias" when it doesn't go the way you want. By the same token, a positive review DOES NOT always mean a reviewer is giving a particular creator a pass or has an agenda.

So what if he gave DBTS #4 the same rating as UXM #493, that's his own personal opinion, regardless if you agree with him or not.

You finding CC's current work consistently mediocre to crap is definitely your opinion and critique of his work. You questioning the integrity of a reviewer (or anyone else) for liking CC's current work, smacks of bias.

I'm not questioning his integrity. I'm saying Paul O'Brien joneses for some vintage Claremont. Almost EVERY NEX/Exiles/DBTS review has a spin on the "this is really for CC's fans" meme, resulting in a C average.

If that were the case, wouldn't every writer's book basically be "for their fans?" Using that as a defense for Claremont exclusively demonstrates a bias. Like I said: he's more than happy to rip a new one into Chris and Craig's "X-Force," but suddenly New Exiles (like DBTS or New Excalibur before it) is basically published for the Claremont fan-bloc. Bias in reviewing the content as-is.

His tastes are another matter. If he prefers Claremont's story style, he prefers Claremont's story style. But he doesn't. He'll criticize the dialogue and even the plot -- but still he constantly says that these books are printed just because CC fans buy them. And then he often drops that CC fans will like them, so who is he to really judge? End result? B-!

Debate the points. Show me how -- in the past two years -- Paul O'Brien hasn't demonstrated this "free pass to passing grades" mentality.

[Frodo-X]

Well, he often says the books are probably for Claremont fans, and is a self-proclaimed Claremont fan, so it's really not a surprise that he cuts those books some slack.

Thing is; he's offering his opinion. That's all. I've never seen him claim that it's an impartial opinion, and if he has then that's his mistake. Like any critic, it's simply his views and his tastes, so trying to hold them to a standard of complete fairness is impossible. No critic is impartial, because every human being has their own likes and dislikes to influence their opinion.

[Brian "Vash" Ashby]

He was negative on X-Treme. Ambivalent on Uncanny.

Way too nice on New Excalibur/Exiles/Die by the Sword, which were all waaaay worse.

indeed. though i dont think he liked genosha exclaibur, which was awesome. wicked and freakshow ftw

[Flight]

Is it true he has crabs?

[Brian "Vash" Ashby]

only when he cant afford lobster

[Phil Hunn]

I'm not questioning his integrity. I'm saying Paul O'Brien joneses for some vintage Claremont. Almost EVERY NEX/Exiles/DBTS review has a spin on the "this is really for CC's fans" meme, resulting in a C average.

If that were the case, wouldn't every writer's book basically be "for their fans?"

Not really, since the mission statement and point of every new CC project seem geared towards one specific (and apparently quickly-dwindling) group of fans, and nobody else. Contrast that with, say, the dreadful new X-Force, and the difference is clear. Kyle & Yost are not just being given a book to placate a bunch of their fans, they're being given a title because Marvel has faith in them. Lord knows why, since their main forte seems to be showing gallons of blood splattering everywhere with extremely little justification...

[Teh m0nk3y]

Not really, since the mission statement and point of every new CC project seem geared towards one specific (and apparently quickly-dwindling) group of fans, and nobody else. Contrast that with, say, the dreadful new X-Force, and the difference is clear. Kyle & Yost are not just being given a book to placate a bunch of their fans, they're being given a title because Marvel has faith in them. Lord knows why, since their main forte seems to be showing gallons of blood splattering everywhere with extremely little justification...

Which is your opinion and not some sacred objective truth. I would hardly believe Marvel would give them a new tittle if Kyle and Yost weren't doing something right. Then again what do I know... I'm clearly a biased fanboy.

(please forgive my tone. I'm just sick and tired of what almost feels like a religious zeal of harsh critism by people who clearly have not enjoyed New X-Men or X-Force, yet can't just let it go. A common trait by those who don't like the current direction is the inability to accept that Scott has left Xavier's dream. He has left it. He isn't practicing it. And he is not acting like a iconic super heroic character. It's an inability to accept this direction and of where it might go. The dumb critism that only childish people would love it because it's "COOL".
I'm almost finding this insulting. I have enjoyed many tittles out there. In many different genre. Lowest Common... argh!!! my ass! )

[Phil Hunn]

Which is your opinion and not some sacred objective truth. I would hardly believe Marvel would give them a new tittle if Kyle and Yost weren't doing something right. Then again what do I know... I'm clearly a biased fanboy.

As are we all, I think :)

(please forgive my tone. I'm just sick and tired of what almost feels like a religious zeal of harsh critism by people who clearly have not enjoyed New X-Men or X-Force, yet can't just let it go.

Don't apologise - if you like what Kyle & Yost are doing, then by all means carry on doing so. We all should read what we like and like what we read, after all.

[jarrod]

He was negative on X-Treme. Ambivalent on Uncanny.

Way too nice on New Excalibur/Exiles/Die by the Sword, which were all waaaay worse.
Agreed, X-Treme was really harsh I thought at the time... felt a bit like O'Brien was still holding Revolution agianst Claremont or something.

He did seem to generally like (Genosha) Excalibur though... which I personally thought was bit mixed. :/


If that were the case, wouldn't every writer's book basically be "for their fans?" Using that as a defense for Claremont exclusively demonstrates a bias.
He doesn't use it for Claremont exclusively though.

<3 <3 Milligan <3 <3

[That JonoGuy]

Agreed, X-Treme was really harsh I thought at the time... felt a bit like O'Brien was still holding Revolution agianst Claremont or something.


That is probably the case. His reviews during Claremont's initial return during Revolution were quite harsh. I remember his review of Claremont first issue of Uncanny during revolution didn't even seem like a review at all, more like a out of control rant.

[Phil Hunn]

That is probably the case. His reviews during Claremont's initial return during Revolution were quite harsh. I remember his review of Claremont first issue of Uncanny during revolution didn't even seem like a review at all, more like a out of control rant.

His reviews of Howard Mackie's crack-tastic later issues of Mutant X read far more like rants, I think.

Considering the totally demented and nonsensical nature of those comics, though, I'm not surprised...

[filterpunk]

Agreed, X-Treme was really harsh I thought at the time... felt a bit like O'Brien was still holding Revolution agianst Claremont or something.

I didn't read Revolution, but I have to say, the first 9 issues of X-Treme X-Men were almost unbearably bad. That first TPB was one of the first things I picked up when I got back into comics a couple of years ago. I figured hey, it's Claremont! That'll be good, right!?

So, so wrong.

If I hadn't read Transmetropolitan about a week prior, that awful trade might have put me off comics again. To be fair, CC got better around the Schism story arc, but I'm afraid to try any of the rest of it.

[Ann Nichols]

Most of the X-Axis reviews of Genosha "Excalibur":

#1 http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur1.htm

#2 http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur2.htm

#3 http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur3.htm

#4 http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur4.htm

#6 http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur6.htm

Review of 2004: http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur8.htm

#9 http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur9.htm

#11 -- rather favorable: http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur11.htm

#13 http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur13.htm

#14 http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur14.htm

Overall, his view was not favorable.

[darknessatnoon]

Most of the X-Axis reviews of Genosha "Excalibur":

#1 http://www.thexaxis.com/excalibur/excalibur1.htm


Ah, for those innocent days before readers even suspected how big the Xorn cluster-fuck would be:

"Oh, and Magneto turns up at the end. They can fuck right off with that one. Theoretically, the explanation for Magneto's appearance might not be crap. Or he might be another hallucination. But I'm not holding my breath. Why should I? Look at the quality of the rest of the issue!"

[Ann Nichols]

It was so unnecessary, too!


As for "X-Force" #1, I felt so dim because I'd poured over the issue when I was recapping it and never noticed this flaw until I read it in the X-Axis review:

"But then, common sense is apparently at a premium in this book, because the deniable, secret black-ops X-Men team are wearing X-Men uniforms with X-logos on them, and are led by the world-famous X-Men member Wolverine, wearing a slightly recoloured version of his world-famous costume. As secret teams go, these guys suck."

http://www.thexaxis.com/xforce/1.htm

[dotdotdot]

As much as the guy sometimes gets things right, I want to throttle him for giving dcu 0 a D+ and Divided We Stand a B. insane......

what do you think of this site?

[RickyD410]

I always enjoy reading his reviews. I think they're interesting. Do they influence what I like or what I buy? No. But it's always interesting to read his take on the books that I read.

[twilight]

As much as the guy sometimes gets things right, I want to throttle him for giving dcu 0 a D+

Why?

It sounds absolutely awful and a terrible starting place for anyone hoping this could be their way to start getting into DC.

-Twi

[The Black Guardian]

Why?
It sounds absolutely awful and a terrible starting place for anyone hoping this could be their way to start getting into DC.
I seldom agree with Paul O'Brien, but his reviews tend to be ertertainingly humourous, regardless of whether or not I agree. As a general rule, I dislike the act of giving opinions under the guise of helping other people make up their minds (iow, what reviewers do). I don't even care about the opinions of members of my family, so why would I care about the opinions of someone I don't know.

His review of DCU #0 was one of the multitudes that I disagree with. As someone who has barely kept track of DC for years, I found the book whetting my appetite for more. I never really was a major reader of DC's books, and stopped altogether when they screwed Hal Jordan up. Since Hal's return, I've been reading a few DC books, and because of this book, I'm considering adding a few more to my pull-list, including one of the Trinity (whom I don't like, at all). Everyone who bought DCU #0 got precisely what they should have expected: a preview of upcoming stories--nothing more; nothing less. That's what it was solicited as. We weren't promised a story in the book. We were promised an intro to stories, and that's what we got.

I do agree somewhat with his assessment of Divided We Stand #1. I probably would have given it a higher grade, though.

[Fede]

I read it every sunday, and most of the times i agree with his opinions

[darknessatnoon]

There is another thread for this discussion.

[worstblogever]

Since when do we discuss reviewers here? Should we start a thread to discuss Cronin's "Comics Should be Good", too?

[metalgorgomon]

There is another thread for this discussion.

You're correct. Here it is:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=209964&highlight=Paul

[dotdotdot]

There is another thread for this discussion.

oh my bad, point the way

[dotdotdot]

You're correct. Here it is:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=209964&highlight=Paul

oh thanks.

[pariah-1972]

I usually end up agreeing with him for the most part on X-men related stuff.

he has a really good memory of minute x-men trivia, but he doesn't really talk about the art much which i think is sort of a shame cause what would comics be without the art?
anyways i think he needs a search engine on his site:cool:

[claimtosubclaim]

He's got strongly ingrained prejudices against comics that aren't oriented to the general superhero fan market.

I don't find this to be true (at least not recently). Most of the non-mainstream and non-super hero comics he's reviewed in the last year or so have good ratings. Note 'The Nightly News', 'The Boy Who Made Silence', and 'Y: The Last Man' for example.

[darknessatnoon]

I don't find this to be true (at least not recently). Most of the non-mainstream and non-super hero comics he's reviewed in the last year or so have good ratings. Note 'The Nightly News', 'The Boy Who Made Silence', and 'Y: The Last Man' for example.

He's gotten better. For a while, I think reading all those issues of Mutant X had rotted his brain. His bile against DC is amusing.

[xmanson]

For a while, I think reading all those issues of Mutant X had rotted his brain.

Man, those were some crappy comics, but great reviews.