One thing I love about this era of Marvel is all of the Art Adams annuals we get. But, ye gods, Claremont's dialogue is just terrible. The use of the thought bubble has gone out of vogue in comics these days, and I really think that it was the Claremont X-titles that signaled its death knell. There's just too much. A comic panel is meant to move fairly quickly, especially an action one involving superheroes. So if we have a huge diatribe in thought holding our attention as someone is flying through the air, it makes all of the action seem like it's in slow motion. I'm sure have much more to say about this when I get to reading the voluminous run of Uncanny that sits in the collection.
But, y'know, on the other side of things, there's Art Adams. He's up there for me with Frank Quitely as one of the artists who really grasps the stylized ridiculousness of the superheroic form, but manages to tell compelling stories using it nonetheless. His Jonni Future stuff for Tom Strong's Terrific Tales is beautiful to behold (and self-consciously hyper-sexualized), and the ways he makes these characters move connotes a sort of grace that one expects of mythic figures - even when they're falling over or making fools of themselves!
Story-wise, there's a few more connections to the other annuals in the crossover, but not much. I'm glad to have read the Avengers issues recently in which Terminus destroyed the Savage Land, as this comic made much more sense this time around.
To be continued.
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