I have to say, Spider-Man #549 was worth buying just for the sequence where Spidey sings his own theme tune (and changes the words) whilst rescuing the falling construction workers. Daft I know, but Spider-Man comics haven't made me laugh in years, and since the relaunch they have - at least twice! Still hate One More Day, though.
Moorish | 02.11.08 - 9:12 am | #

A couple of weeks ago (might actually be a little more) Rich Johnston claimed in his Lying in Gutter column that the Divided We Stand storyline would end with a "whole new direction" for the Uncanny X-men series. I can't remember what rating he gave the rumor though.
Rory Abel | Homepage | 02.11.08 - 12:46 pm | #

I'm getting concerned about the change in Larocca's style.

There was a more fluid change when he went from FF to Uncanny X-Men/X-Treme, and those issues towards the end of Claremont's second run were a treat to look at.

Then he wasn't inked on X-Treme, but it was still good. Miki inked him on Uncanny when he was with Austen, and it looked good again.

Now, since he changed his style with Milligan, it's getting to be too reliant on photo-realism. His Spectacular Spidey annual was like that, his New Universe is similar, and the recent pages for his & Fraction's new Iron Man book are going the same way.

I read someone's opinion that he's turning into Greg Land, and that worries me. Because a few years ago he was such a great artist when given an inker and respectful colorist.
Ken B. | 02.12.08 - 11:54 am | #

You know, there's using photographs as a reference for pencils, and then there's outright tracing. Greg Land is the latter. Larocca has far too much talent to turn into Land.
Julius | 02.12.08 - 1:53 pm | #

Ooh, I don't know, Hitch's Fantastic Four is showing quite a strong Landian influence, sadly.
kelvingreen | Homepage | 02.12.08 - 3:25 pm | #

Kelvin- How so? I didn't notice anything that stood out as being outright traced or stolen from another source.
Rory Abel | Homepage | 02.12.08 - 3:28 pm | #

Some artists may be straying towards more photo-realistic styles, but they'll never achieve Land's level of outright lazy tracing. He can't even keep consistent sources for most of his characters.
Martin Smith | 02.13.08 - 6:36 am | #

But Land could draw once upon a time too, before he went to CrossGen and discovered Teh Lightbox...
Somebody | 02.13.08 - 3:57 pm | #