Paradise X #0
Story:
Art:

Story by Jim Krueger & Alex Ross
Script by Jim Krueger
Pencils by Dougie Braithwaite
Inks by Bill Reinhold
Colors by Pete Pantazis
Lettered by Todd Klein
Cover & Character Designs by Alex Ross

Published by Marvel
Price: $4.50

My Verdict: Um.

There's something about the trilogy of X titles from Marvel and the mind of Alex Ross. I say it's a trilogy, but you know that they'll have Purgatory X or something else coming soon enough. Earth X was a meandering beast that had momentary flashes of brilliance. Favorite moments: Tony Stark's home is the Red Ronin armor; The Skull's throne is the hollowed-out shell of MODOK. Universe X had, at its core, a brilliant concept which was hobbled by a plotline that seemed to go all over the place. Reading the entire extended series is like the morbidity of witnessing a train wreck: you know it's a mess but you just can't seem to look away.

Thus we enter into this next phase in the saga: Death has been slain, there's a new paradise for the denizens of the Marvel Universe who are dead, and the people who are still among the living are stuck there. The paradise needs guardians, though, and seven have been chosen--including Steve Rogers, formerly Captain America. And just like before, there's confusion. Paradise is going to grow and suck up everything around it. And apparently it's going to piss off a bunch of people, including denizens of the Negative Zone. And then there's the Guardians of the Galaxy, who have shown up for some reason.

Like I said, the high concept version of the X series is fascinating and rather brilliant. How their story holds up, God only knows. When you get down into the individual issues, it breaks down on the narrative scale. The good news is that with Braithwaite on pencils instead of Krueger, the series looks a helluva lot cleaner. So that's something.

I don't read this series for its quality. I read it because I can't stop reading it. So be forewarned, if you had started with Earth X, you're probably trapped like me. If you didn't get in on the ground floor, don't start now, you'll just be completely lost.