X-Men #11
As Jean Grey, Wolverine, Polaris, and Rogue storm Gameworld, Cyclops and Synch go after their own quarry in X-Men #11, by writer Gerry Duggan, artist Pepe Larraz, colorist Marte Gracia, and letterer Clayton Cowles. As usual, the art is phenomenal, but the writing is abysmal.
It's yet another issue of the X-Men splitting up, as the team's women try to infiltrate Gameworld and fail miserably. Meanwhile, on Earth, Synch and Cyclops track down Doctor Stasis, splitting up with Synch going after one of his animals, mutates and killing it using Wolverine's claws. At the same time, Cyclops tackles Doctor Stasis and learns his true identity.
Larraz and Gracia are the best part of this book, but that's no surprise. The first couple of pages take place on Mojoworld, and the two render one of the best Mojos ever. These two pages are amazing, and it would be great to spend an entire story with these two drawing, Mojo, but that's not this book. The Gameworld sections are also beautiful, with some deft character acting and a very cool design for Cordyceps Jones. Finally, the sections on Earth have some killer action scenes. From a quick battle between Synch and an animal mutate that ends with it cuts in half and is gorgeous to a hard-hitting duel between Stasis and Cyclops that's worth the price of admission and leads to a full-page identity reveal for Stasis.
As for the book's script, it's a Duggan written X-Men, so it's terribly written. The caption boxes try to be stylish but just sound dumb, the dialogue is just sort of there, and it's pretty hard to care about any of that. At one point, the X-Men and Iron Man, and Captain Marvel, when they ask Sunfire where the other X-Men are, reference how many alien attacks have been hitting the Earth since Arakko's establishment on Mars, implying that it's Gameworld's fault. The thing is, though, there have only been like two, from the first and second chapter. It's almost like Duggan doesn't care enough to keep his own continuity straight. It's possible that there have been attacks happening between issues, but they're not referenced at all. It's yet another example of the shiftless writing that fans of this book are subjected to. The fact that some fancy the script is astounding.
As usual, Duggan does nothing with Sunfire. It's almost like a running joke in the book, except it's not funny, and it wastes a great character that fans haven't seen in years. It's also kind of hard to care about the Gameworld plot. It's been so long since it was referenced in any meaningful way that it's just sort of there. Jobbing Jean and Wolverine out to Cordyceps Jones is a strange choice as well. The section on Earth is okay, mostly because of the action and the art. As for the reveal of Doctor Stasis's identity, it's supposed to be a big moment, but it's honestly not hard to figure out why it is who it is. Beyond that, there was no build-up, no clues, and no one really wondered who he was. It's a reveal just for the sake of a reveal. His identity never mattered, and even with this reveal, it doesn't matter that much. This can go two ways, and both of them would be way more interesting if they were in a book by a better writer, like Immortal X-Men or X-Men: Red.
X-Men #11 is yet another example of a beautifully drawn book that fails completely when it comes to the script. Duggan seems to do his best writing in the art direction because anything he does on his own that the artists don't have a say in is terrible. At least in this issue, he remembered the Phoenix never actually had control of Jean Grey. Honestly, this is the type of comic where the reader should just look at the pictures. They'll still understand what's happening and save themselves from reading some weak writing. That's why there will be two grades for this issue- one for art and one for writing because the art doesn't deserve to be bogged down by this kind of terrible writing.