Illuminati #3
Marvel Comics
Writers: Brian Michael Bendis & Brian Reed
Artist: Jim Chueng

Okay, I’m going to come right out and say it: so far, every issue of Marvel’s Illuminati series feels like a trailer for a different upcoming movie. So far, all this series seems to be doing is rewriting various points of the Marvel Universe continuity and promising that, sooner or later, outstanding accounts will have to be settled. Issue #1 left us with the Kree Empire more than a little upset with the Illuminati over the way they showed up unannounced and generally caused havoc. The issue ended with the Kree king brooding revenge. Issue #2 unearthed the legendary Infinity Gauntlet in a story that served absolutely no purpose other than to say “Hey! Remember the Infinity Gauntlet? It’s still out there! Watch out!” And now, here’s issue #3 doing more of the same. This time, the six puppet masters track down the Beyonder, tell him to go away for good—which he pretends to do until they leave, at which point he goes back to just hanging out and existing—and that’s about it for the latest Illuminati misadventure. The overall message is: “Hey! Remember the Beyonder? He’s still out there! Be careful!” No mutant ability for precognition required here to tell you that, soon enough, the Kree, the Infinity Gauntlet and/or the Beyonder will all reappear for a huge, MU-shattering crossover. Someone should get a pool going and take bets over when it comes.

Bendis and Reed are doing what they can with this series of movie previews. The characters are all behaving as they should. The dialogue is smooth enough. And the panels all flow pretty well into one another. Of course, the team is rewriting some pretty major points of Marvel Universe continuity. For instance, now, apparently the Beyonder wasn’t really an entity from Beyond. Turns out he was just a mutant from the Blue Area of the moon where the Inhumans hang out. Yeah, you read the right. The Beyonder is now some mutant/Inhuman mix. I’m not sure how I feel about all that, but I’m sure it’ll become very important whenever he returns to threaten the Marvel Universe during some upcoming summer crossover. Maybe he’s lost his mutant half in the Decimation and he’ll show up only half as strong and that’s how the good guys will win. Who knows? Bendis and Reed seem as if they aren’t really getting the chance to write the stories they want to write. It almost feels as if they’re being forced to write ad campaigns or the fall release of a new wardrobe line. They’re doing what they can, but they don’t have a lot to work with here.

Jim Cheung continues to do what he can with the artwork of Illuminati. His strength is that he’s definitely got a knack for panels filled with clouds of energy blasts, explosions and overall melee. However, his weakness remains facial expressions. There are simply times when, if it weren’t for the costumes, I wouldn’t be able to tell Tony Stark, Namor and Mr. Fantastic apart. Even Dr. Strange starts to look like the other guys in certain panels. Thank God for Xavier’s bald head and wheelchair—otherwise I’d swear this whole group was a team of clones. Not to be too hard on Cheung, I’ll go back to his strengths; he knows how to get some good action going and seems to get even better when more and more characters are added to the action. He can really throw down some “Where’s Waldo” action spreads when he wants to that do a good job of making the battles seem truly epic.

Overall: 6 on 10. If you like watching movie previews, this is your book. If not, keep moving.