Welcome back to This Week in Comics, my reviews of whichever comics I’ve bought for the week. As always, reviews contain SPOILERS. Like to read it? Here it go.

Angel #19 | Uncanny X-Men #507 | X-Factor #41 | Young X-Men #12

ANGEL #19
Writer: Kelley Armstrong
Penciler: Dave Ross
Publisher: IDW

While Armstrong and Ross seem to be setting up a new, interesting status quo, something feels off about this issue. Very off. Specifically, the characters are almost unrecognizable. Angel himself is okay for the most part, but Kate might as well be a new character altogether. She doesn’t resemble the actress, and it’s difficult to imagine the original actress doing or saying some of the things the Kate in this comic does and says. Gwen is another character who no longer resembles her actress (in fact, she looks a bit like a dude), and appears to have an all new personality. Not only is her personality different in terms of what it was during her few episodes of the TV series, but she’s also written differently from how she was a few issues ago.

As for the story, Angel spends this issue teaming up with a were-cat named Desdemona, a would-be assassin who defects and decides to help Angel for no givven reason. Meanwhile, Connor has decided to officially join the team, with Gwen tagging along until he forgives her for what she did while they were in Hell. Later, the team heads to the hospital, where they encounter one of the strange men who propositioned Angel during the last issue. It turns out he’s an angel (complete with wings), and he says that he has a message from Cordelia.

Angel is currently a comic with the potential to be interesting once again, but is falling short. Armstrong has only started, however, so it might be worth seeing where she’s going.

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UNCANNY X-MEN #507
Writer: Matt Fraction
Penciler: Terry Dodson
Publisher: Marvel

Previously in Uncan– WHO CARES? FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

This issue starts with a bang. Two bangs, in fact. On an island between Japan and Russia, Beast and Archangel’s team are getting ready to fight a monster that somewhat resembles but is clearly distinct from Godzilla. Dr. Nemesis gets a few good one-liners in during this scene, and Beast explains that he wanted to call their team the X-Club, named after the group of like-minded scientists associated with Charles Darwin. Archangel also uses this time to transform into his old Death form, revealing to Beast for the first time that he has this new transforming ability.

Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, Colossus and Emma are getting ready to take on the woman-smuggling Russian mafia types that Colossus encountered earlier. Colossus starts the fight in his metal form, but transforms back to flesh for his one on one fight with the tattoo-powered old man. The old man manages to smash a bottle across his face and graze him with a bullet, but Colossus manages to beat him into submission. Using his vaguely defined telepathic tattoo powers, the old man senses Colossus’ loss, and creates a tattoo on his own chest that appears to be a collage of Kitty Pryde. In the end, Colossus goes to a tattoo parlor to get a tattoo of his own. Meanwhile, Cyclops is busy burning his bridges with the mayor of San Francisco, Pixie and Armor are hanging out, and the High Evolutionary has found a way to give Magneto back his powers.

This issue was fun, action packed, and amusing in a few places. Fraction also attempted to explain one of the hanging plot threads from issue #500. That still doesn’t excuse how horribly written #500 was, but it’s nice to see some things explained. This same scene also touches on the end of “The Extremists” arc, where Qwerty’s book of predictions said that Magneto still had his powers. It was also nice to once again see Armor with Pixie, as Armor has been mostly neglected outside of the rarely seen Astonishing X-Men.

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X-FACTOR #41
Writer: Peter David
Pencilers: Valentine De Landro and Marco Santucci
Publisher: Marvel

Once again, Peter David has issued a personal plea to hold back on the spoilers when discussing his comic. So instead, I’ll just say that I loved every moment of this issue, was happy to see the last page after having read the X-Factor: Layla Miller one-shot previously, and definitely recommend this issue. And here’s a panel of Darwin and Strong Guy, just for fun:

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YOUNG X-MEN #12
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Pencilers: Rafa Sandoval and Daniel Acuna
Publisher: Marvel

It’s the final issue, and time to say goodbye to the Young X-Men. This issue was a mixed bag if there ever was one. All of the scenes that take place during the present are just great. The characters all mourn Dust’s death, we’re shown that Ink really does care about the team, and there’s a tender reunion when Ink sacrifices himself to bring Dust back. There’s also this moment which I found particularly interesting, where Anole decides to quit the team, and nearly breaks the fourth wall when he talks about how often his teammates die– something that nearly convinces the entire team to disband. I also happen to love Rafa Sandoval’s artwork, and I hope to see more of it in a future X-title.

This is all thrown off kilter by the future sequences, in which it is heavily implied that Ink’s attempt to resurrect Dust caused her to lose her soul and become evil. And that’s how the book ends: with us knowing that Dust will become evil one day. It’s a horrible downer for an otherwise good final issue.