I found Milligan's fannish jokes fun, though I suspect that a different generation of readers — the ones who grew up with the original X-Force as a serious superhero group, say — are less amused. This is the kinda stuff that reportedly kept the serious X-fans away from X-Statix in droves (and ultimately pushed Marvel into unsuccessfully reinstating Rob Liefield's more thudding X-Force in its stead), but I got a kick out of it.
Milligan's treatment of Doctor Strange ("a B-Lister," Alicar notes) is also welcome: afflicted by existential doubts and hemorrhoids, Strange is really the story's central figure. Though Milligan's treatment of this character could easily spill over into pure ridicule (he does have a lotta fun playing with the sorcerer’s high-flown speaking patterns), he somehow manages to keep from deflating the character.
One of his essential aids is the book's Allred (in collaboration with Nick Dragotta) art, which is surreally otherwordly in the best Ditko-esque comic book fashion. Though the recent trade paperback reprinting all five issues of Dead Girl at times seems to wash out the linework, making it all look like a third generation photocopy, the artists' composition remains choice. Too, these guys have a knack for comically overdone expression that's in keeping with the larger-than-death material. Allred remains one of mainstream comicdom’s wild treasures, and it's great to see him still working his weirdness on the Marvel Knights Universe – fannish stuffed shirts, bedamned . . .
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!