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by **Punchy** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 5:28 pm

I don’t know what to say about this issue really, or about this mini-series as a whole, it was just a weird, almost-mess. I don’t even know if I can recap the plot of this final chapter, a lot of stuff happened that I think was explained and set up earlier, but I can’t quite remember how. I think I need a re-read.

Basically, Fantomex is smarter than Agent Stirling, and beats him, even though he can turn into a monster. It looks like Agent Flemyng is going to let him go, but then she doesn’t, so Fantomex knocks her out to escape back to a life of crime, where he builds EVA a robot body that he can (presumably) fuck. I dunno.

This whole thing is weird, especially because this version of Fantomex is clearly not the same one who appears in the Marvel Universe. In this issue he flashes back to his childhood, to seeing his mother be killed by a German soldier, but as we all know, Fantomex doesn’t have a mother, he was grown inside The World. Even his characterisation is difference, in the Marvel Universe, Fantomex is always pretending to be French, whereas here, it seems like he actually is French, but he pretends to be British. I dunno, I think going so far out-of-continuity with this is a mistake.

I do think Andrew Hope shows promise as a writer, there were lots of cool, big ideas in this series, and there were some very funny lines of dialogue, but for me, as a big Fantomex fan, this was a let-down. Apart from the art, Francavilla’s covers were amazing throughout, and Shawn Crystal really grew on me too. But really, if you want some Fantomex fun, just pick up some Morrison or Remender, it’s much better.

by **Stephen Day** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:06 pm

I wasn't a fan of this character going into this series. In fact, this was the first series I've ever read in which Fantomex appears. As a result of this, I didn't have the same continuity problems you had Punchy. Having said that, I agree with you that the level of weirdness left me with a sense of reading a bit of a mess. I agree that there were some interesting ideas here, but I don't think Hope was able to put these ideas into a story that truly worked as a whole.

by **Punchy** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 8:10 pm

Stephen Day wrote:I wasn't a fan of this character going into this series. In fact, this was the first series I've ever read in which Fantomex appears. As a result of this, I didn't have the same continuity problems you had Punchy. Having said that, I agree with you that the level of weirdness left me with a sense of reading a bit of a mess. I agree that there were some interesting ideas here, but I don't think Hope was able to put these ideas into a story that truly worked as a whole.

Dude, you need to read Morrison's New X-Men and Remender's Uncanny X-Force. That is some prime Fantomex.