Mark Texeira

The Wolverine story is quite good. The premise is good, the execution is good, the ending is good. I'm unsure if it adds anything much to when Mystique shows up in the main story (this being the background for how and why she does), but it definitely is worth reading in its own right. The Black Panther story is alright, with some decent moments, but it feels a bit facile, a bit overly easy and shallow. Magneto rules the whole world and yet his efforts at toppling T'Challa seem so lacklustre, weak half-measures that even the terrorist version in the regular comics could have pulled off. It is also the only story here that feels like a random "here's a story set in the House of M world" type story (like the Iron Man and Doctor Doom stories in another one of these volumes), rather than an actual tie-in that relates to and takes place in part during the main "House of M" arc. Which isn't a problem in itself, but as the other three do a pretty good job at this, the weaker of the four also having to stand on its own is probably not very good for my enjoyment of it.
The Pulse story is good, and actually adds something to the main story if read as a tie-in (as one might expect, it being written by Bendis himself). Finally, the Captain America story feels a little empty. Though perhaps that's the point. The end page certainly feels very powerful, though I'm unsure if it's undermined by or actually made more sad by knowing what happens directly after in the main story.… (mehr)