Carey on X-Men, Ferreyra on Rex Mundi (Redux)

Got a comment from Quality Control correspondant and Image Comics Big Wig, the inimitable, insatiable Joe Keatinge, following Monday's post about Rex Mundi. I quote:

I have it on good authority that Juan [Ferreyra]'s not going anywhere either. Expect him to be on board for a good long time.

Let the celebrations commence.

*****

So, Mike Carey's writing "adjectiveless" X-Men, eh?

Well.

I'm a huge Mike Carey fan. Lucifer has easily been the best Vertigo book since Preacher. My Faith In Frankie was a really fun read, available now in a B&W digest. And after I'd warmed up to it, I thought his run on Hellblazer was among that title's very finest periods.

I've hated almost all of his Marvel work so far. Ultimate Elektra was boring to the point of being depressing. Spellbinders wasn't as bad, but then he did the Fantastic Four movie adaptation. A pretty lousy track record.

But wait! Somehow, like a rocket out of hell, Carey kicked my ass with his two-issue fill in story in Ultimate Fantastic Four #19-20. Frankly, I thought that was the best two issues that series has seen, and it shocked me. Carey can write super-heroes!

So, then... what to expect from his X-Men run?

Well, I guess The Big Deal is that he's putting Sabretooth "on the team". Which sounds fine to me. I guess there's some hubub about it, but here's what Carey had to say:

Okay, I knew this one would cause something of an outcry. I mean we're talking about a vicious murderer who'd have about a million unforgivable sins on his conscience except that he doesn't have a conscience in the first place. I’m aware that putting him on a hero team is not the same proposition as bringing in, say, Rogue... or even Mystique. He's got blood on his hands – lots of it – and he can't be rehabilitated. I'm not going to duck that. I want people to bear that in mind as they watch what we do. And I'm not going to sentimentalize the character or give him humanizing touches that will make you love him. That would be sick.

All I can say is keep watching: I think I know what I'm doing here. I think it will work.

Sounds cool to me.

I'll give it a shot. X-Men isn't really my tickly soft spot lately, but what the hell? I thought the same thing about Fantastic Four and since the Mark Waid run I've been unable to let them out of my reading list for more than a month.

How's Brubaker's X-Men stuff been, by the way? I've been skipping it 'cause I didn't have faith Trevor Hairsine would keep the schedule.