Freedom Reborn Archive

So I've been seeing rumors around the net that Adjectiveless X-men is pretty much canceled after the next event and I wanted to see how you guys felt about that? I personally think the core books have been on a pretty good upswing ignoring the many many many many delays of astonishing.

[edit] With the messiah complex main event over, This thread can now be used to be talked about the aftermath and any other X-related comic.  ;)

Yep it's all but official, X-Men ends after Messiah Complex. Mike Carey will be moving on to another X-project supposedly a mini series rumored to be either a Xavier or Magneto solo book.

I've been quite happy with the X-books lately, and I'm looking forward to next week's Messiah Complex start. I'm holding out judgement on X-Men's end until we know more.

In other news Chris Yost and Craig Kyle are confirmed as the writers of X-Force. The Cable writer was revealed too, but I don't remember his name.

Just an update, Carey's X-Book is called X-Men: Legacy and starts someone who's been around since the beginning, with a large supporting cast.

http://www.livewireworld.com/review/interviews.htm

Are Yost and Kyle staying on New X-Men? Better yet, is New X-Men still going to be around after Messiah Complex?

Quote from: murs47 on October 27, 2007, 12:01:44 AM
Are Yost and Kyle staying on New X-Men? Better yet, is New X-Men still going to be around after Messiah Complex?

No one knows. There's been alot of baseless speculation either way but Marvel hasn't really said anything, except Mike Carey saying the the story of the kids would continue post MC. What that means exactly is unknown.

I do find it really interesting, that just when almost all of the x-men books are quite good (excluding Exiles & Excalibur, which are in the crapper) Marvel's going to have a "big event" and shake everything up.  New X-men might or might not continue, Adjectiveless is gone; Cable & Deadpool is ending, and I think X-factor is getting "retooled" as well. 

But we're getting new X-force and Cable books, so that makes it worthwhile *heaviest sarcasm possible*.  At least Astonishing gets to basically ignore this stuff until Whedon finishes his run, and I hope Warren Ellis gets that same get-out-of-the-continuity-quagmire free card when he takes over the title. 

I didn't expect adjectiveless to get canceled because it's in a really good place right now and the x-men need another book to house the other part of their team, but i may change my mind on that after MC so we'll see. Heck, maybe cyclops will finally remember that his father died and his brothers + daughter are in a space war before the book finishes its run...one can dream.

As for suckxiles and crotch shotcaliburs (see the crossover for that reference), exiles is being relaunched with a new writer (if i remember correctly) as new exiles with a fairly different team (as in most of the new crew claremont brought in + sage...which I hope is false) which means Blink, T-bird, and TJ get the shaft and New excalibur will possibly be renamed into Excalibur with Cornell writing in 2008.

I've got bad news Prev. Exiles is being re-launched and Claremont will still be the writer. :thumbdown: :banghead: :doh:

Let's join and look deep into the mind of Joe-Q:

"Hmmm, X-Men is doing really well, let's cancel it. But Exiles, it's doing horribly. I think we'll relaunch it but keep Claremont writing it. I'm such a genius!"

Honestly, I think I'm going to write Chris Claremont a letter. What do you think of this?

"Dear Mr. Claremont,

Are you even trying anymore?

With Utmost Sincerity,
murs47 of the Freedom Reborn forum"

Quote from: murs47 on October 27, 2007, 11:12:43 AM
"Dear Mr. Claremont,

Are you even trying anymore?

With Utmost Sincerity,
murs47 of the Freedom Reborn forum"

LOL! The funny thing is there still are some die hard Claremont fans out there loving his stuff.

Keep in mind that X-Men was pretty terrible before Mike Carey came on and he's leaving the book so there's no guarantee the next creative team would have been any good.

This whole X-shakeup had to do with Axel Alonso becoming the new head X-editor. He wants each book clearly defined and of there's 3 books that really only differ by the creative team and lineup (Uncanny, Astonishing and X-Men). New X-Men has a confusing title so there's rumors it's getting another name change.

The X-books have been pretty good lately so I'm not worried about the changes just yet. I'll need more information first.

X-Men is NOT cancelled. I'm not sure where the original interview is at the moment, but this thread has quotes from Jim McCain, one of the X-Editors: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=5721774&postcount=38

So it appears Carey will still be writing an altered version of X-Men...

Quote from: Podmark on October 30, 2007, 08:48:56 AM
X-Men is NOT cancelled. I'm not sure where the original interview is at the moment, but this thread has quotes from Jim McCain, one of the X-Editors: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=5721774&postcount=38

So it appears Carey will still be writing an altered version of X-Men...

Music to my ears! ^_^

very good. Now...if only New exiles didn't hurt my heart!

*it seems we're the only 4 x-men fans on FR ...*gasps**

Quote from: Previsionary on October 30, 2007, 08:56:22 AM
very good. Now...if only New exiles didn't hurt my heart!

*it seems we're the only 4 x-men fans on FR ...*gasps**

I used to be an X-Men fan, but Chris Claremont cured me of it...

...twenty years ago. That's when I thought he got burned out on mutants.

Quote from: Previsionary on October 30, 2007, 08:56:22 AM
very good. Now...if only New exiles didn't hurt my heart!

*it seems we're the only 4 x-men fans on FR ...*gasps**

i've been trying to keep as spoilered free until i can start reading MC.

Quote from: detourne_me on October 30, 2007, 10:42:25 AM

Quote from: Previsionary on October 30, 2007, 08:56:22 AM
very good. Now...if only New exiles didn't hurt my heart!

*it seems we're the only 4 x-men fans on FR ...*gasps**

i've been trying to keep as spoilered free until i can start reading MC.

Which starts tomorrow! yay!

Quote from: Previsionary on October 30, 2007, 08:56:22 AM
*it seems we're the only 4 x-men fans on FR ...*gasps**

Oh, I'm an X-Men fan but I've been spending most of my time reading the comics with my fingers over my eyes on certain titles because they seem to butcher my characters more and more instead of actually making them "grow up". New X-Men: Academy X and Astonishing X-Men were the light at the end of a dark tunnel after DeciMation which had it's good moments and bad moments. I loved seeing some elements from Age Of Apocalypse enter the titles in some fashion (most the designs for Sunfire and Rogue) and the return of the Marauders (which held some WTF? moments of betrayal from certain team members).

I'm hoping that Messiah Complex finally gives all the X-Titles some direction without making me refer to uncannyxmen.net every issue because I can't seem to follow the overall storyline of this "big arc" they made for TPB sales. I so really want to see an X-Team that finally has some battle scars and shown they haved learned something that actually sticks to the characters longer then a few months or until the writer gets bored using his handbook to make sure they are not acting out of character.

New Exiles is just Chris Claremont getting saddled with Exiles and New Excalibur then deciding to just put both titles in a blender on frappee until they no longer make any sense at all. As much as I like the UK angle that Claremont keeps putting in Excalibur it doesn't belong in the Exiles and pulling a "Destroy The Green Lan.. oops..Britian Corps." angle on things to justify a team reshuffling for a post-Messiah tie-in just makes me roll my eyes.

- CrimsonQuill

Quote from: Podmark on October 30, 2007, 02:28:44 PM

Quote from: detourne_me on October 30, 2007, 10:42:25 AM

Quote from: Previsionary on October 30, 2007, 08:56:22 AM
very good. Now...if only New exiles didn't hurt my heart!

*it seems we're the only 4 x-men fans on FR ...*gasps**

i've been trying to keep as spoilered free until i can start reading MC.

Which starts tomorrow! yay!

Along with New X-Men #43. JOY! ^_^

EDIT: For some reason I'm a bit nervous about MC. Not out of the possibility of it being poorly done. More along the lines of how much is it going shake up the x-universe. Civil War did quite a number on the rest of the Marvel U, do you think MC will leave the same drastic effects?

I'll be happy to buy Messiah Complex which I look forward to, but let it be known I hate New X-Men, at least the Kyle/Yost incarnation. I've liked work by the two, specificly their writing on superhero cartoons like X-Men Evolution, Ninja Turtles and Fantastic Four, but I think thier comic work on the book is terrible for a number of reasons including content, pace, and accessibility. I liked #42, but only because for maybe the second time in the entire run they put charactarization first and mile-a-minute action last. I expect I'll like #43 and hate the Messiah Complex crossover issues of it. Time will tell.

Quote from: Previsionary on October 30, 2007, 08:56:22 AM
*it seems we're the only 4 x-men fans on FR ...*gasps**

I read X- Factor... does that count...?

So....what did all 3 of you think of the MC one-shot?

:P

The thread got a name change, so if we all could (even if there's only...3 of us?) keep the MC event in this thread and keep the spoilers behind tags, that'd be great.

My thoughts on MC (since i havent read New X-men yet):

[spoiler]I have medium confidence that this story might actually turn out very well and won't be a major let down like WWH is (imo) and Civil war was. I do have a slight problem with the art in this issue because um...NC looked odd to me. I confused him for Darwin in a panel and that's usually not a good sign. It was probably his hair. :P

The story was a little grim and I really didn't expect to see burning children so that was quite a shock to me. On the other hand, Angel is finally back with the team (and still wearing his old costume which was reintroduced in the hulk books) and he seems to be missing his young gf. YAY! So overall, I'd rate the one-shot a 3.5 out of 5 since it kept me interested and all. BTW, can anyone tell me where astonishing currently fits into the X-men universe? I usually keep it out of continuity for the most part, but it seems Joss's last arc actually affects something this time around...character-wise at least.[/spoiler]

P.S. Yes, Hitman. X-factor counts. :D

[spoiler]My feelings for Messiah Complex are similar. I felt the one-shot was very much dissapointing, though the crossover itself could still be good. And I too think Nightcrawer looked off-his hair look somewhat inconsistant between scenes. Over all I didn't like Silvestri's art for the same reason I usually don't like his more modern work (creepy cheekbones, women look like prostitutes, ex.). The dialogue was decent enough (I found Rockslide of New X-Men's line "Are we being attacked? AWESOME!" to be both in character and probably the funniest thing he ever said) but I found the actual plot and pace left me a bit cold.

I have read New X-Men, and I HATED it. Young's art (which I am not naturally inclined to hate) was straight out abysmal, his worst issue by far. Cyclops looked horrible, Wolverine apparently had a foam hand and Jolt (I mean Surge) continues to be the chimpansee/wildly unflattering depiction of a Asian person Young has always drawn her as. Apparently Dust's powers are not to turn to dust, but a hurricane or tsunami. Scottie? Her codename is Dust. It's not that hard. I found Cyclops to be written very out of character (I refuse to believe Cyclops would say half the X-Men's battles were won by luck alone and mean it). Alani (who I also think looks badly drawn in this) asking Elixir if he wants to make out with her was lame and came out of nowhere. I'm not sure the two characters have ever once interacted together on screen in all of New Mutants and New X-Men, and I always disliked the series' compulsion to pair as many of the characters up as possible. The writers apparently forgot to add in the narration boxes for the Predator X and Elixir pages in post production, and I found Beast's line "Attention, my little X-Progeny, I--say, do I smell S'mores" to be quite possibly the most OOC line I've ever read from him. I'm really tired of the book catering to David Alleyne/Prodegy,  a character I never cared for, and here they actually give him his powers back in a fashion. I call bull on that. Rockslide looked like crap, though I'll will say I think Match looks kinda cool and this was a rare glimpse into the character's personality. Finally as soon as I saw Beast give them new uniforms I knew a crappy group shot was coming up and it sure enough was both a group shot and crappy.

In closing, If not for Messiah Complex, I would be dropping this book, and downgrading it to "wait for the sale" status along with Thunderbolts which I used to buy regularly. Also the Bryan Hitch New X-Men girls pinup was all kinds of wrong, and I love Hitch's Ultimate work. I'll also add that I'm looking forward to Ramos' stint on the book, as he probably can't be worse than Young by default, and the sketch (cover?) he did look great in black in white, but I always thought the colored product looked flippin' AMAZING (seen in the back of Messiah Complex). Ramos is a funky artist, but I think he'll be carrying this book while he's on it.

Naturally, YVMV. I'd appreciate if the vast majority of devoted New X-Men fans don't lynch me for having a polar opposite opinion. Thank you. [/spoiler]

Also, I should hope X-Factor counts. I've been buying it longest of all the X-books (I don't usually buy Uncanny, but I will pick up the crossover issues) It's also my favourite X-Book.

[spoiler]Was I disappointed? No. Is it amazing? No. But, it strongly kept my interest. I'll agree with Prev on what the Purifiers did in that town, it was a little too much. I liked the art, but Kurt did look a bit peculiar.

While I think Brubaker is an excellent writer, I don't think he has a strong a grasp of our favorite x-characters (yet) like David, Carey, Kyle, and Yost do on their respective titles. So, I think the event will get a lot better when we reach chapters of it written by those writers.

On to New X-Men #43:

You are so getting lynched for your comments/opinions on that issue Shocker :P

I didn't agree with what Cyclops had to say in the beginning either. Him win by luck? Please. He's a tactical leader. The man with the master plan. Other then that, I thought he was pretty much in character.

As for Loa asking Prodigy to make out, probably one of my favorite scenes. In previous panels, the adults are all worried about him and have no clue on how to turn his frown upside down. But in comes this adolescent girl with raging hormones wanting to spontaneously make out and he cheers up. I thought it kind of poked at "parents don't understand kids, and vice versa" saying. It just made sense to me.

On to the art. I'm with you on this one Shocker. I personally love Young's urban style of art. I especially think it's very fitting for this title. But not when he uses a sharpie and does it in two seconds. Shame on him for that.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]If I'm to be lynched by one who only disagrees with me on the writing of side of things.....

Young's done work I like. His abstract style in earlier gigs (especially the old short-lived Human Torch ongoing that came out of tsunami) was very much like that of Ramos and Herrera. I would say it was around the time of the New Warriors mini or perhaps his Legend of the Spider-Clan work that he became really fun.  However, yes, you summed it with the "Sharpie" comment. My huge complaint with the entirety of the "Quest for Magic" arc (other than it sucked royally, but I digress) was that the art was accompanied by the muddiest, murkiest, sloppiest coloring since D'armata's work on Avengers Dissasembled. The one issue I liked a little (both in terms off writing and art) was colored partly by Young, and the colored actually didn't suck sludge. #41 was also by Young and the colors in that were fine. Young did the colors in this issue and it was a mess. It was sketchy and grainy all over the place. I'd have guessed Scott Summer's was the one codenamed "Dust" from the amount of particles visable on his costume. Before now I didn't know it was possible to make him suck wearing the super-cool Cassaday costume. I have a love-hate relationship with the cover, and the hate part comes strictly from the grainy effect.

Oh, HO NO, Kyle and Yost don't get the X-characters. Not the decades-old ones. The ones who by thier pen adandon the kids to go to a wedding after they were attacked by an enemy that got away, because they didn't beleive them about Nimrod, and didn't call in any of Marvel's hundreds of other characters, particularly old allies to stay over to help keep them safe.  Emma Frost trying to guilt Carol Danvers, who was a longtime ally of the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men under Claremont, for not helping them bury thier dead because she and every other non-mutant superhero were too busy fighting thier own battles which the X-Men didn't help with. Just how many big Avengers storylines did the X-Men (not counting Beast, who WAS an Avenger) actually help for? Where were they during Dissasembled when the mansion blew up and three of thier boys (well, two) died? You can cut the hypocricy with a knife. And Cyclops kicks Xavier out of the mansion over that Deadly Genesis thing but continues to be with Emma after she tried to have one of the kids killed? I'm sorry, but I call serious bull on all of that.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that the issue didn't explain at all why Indra turned into Galvatron in the middle of a scene. I mean, I can assume that's his power, but all the imagination I have couldn't explain why a purple guy with a gem on his forehead turns into a blue amored form with a crown-like helmet.

The book's accessibility issues sucked badly. This is the FIRST storyline where Indra is anything more than a background cameo or a name-drop and they don't even introduce him for new readers or readers who forgot about some of the other more obscure half-a dozen characters.  They could have used the Elixer and Predator pages to explain who they are, with a few small narration boxes. like half the other comics in the business do, but that would-what?- obscure Scottie's amazing black background or snowy mountain over the horizen? That was my biggest problem with Quest for Magic-half the cast was 3rd-stringers upgraded to top billing, yet few of them were even properly introduced by name. I wasn't even sure what their powers were for the bulk of it. If they can tell you "Cyclops has otic blasts, Wolverine has adamentium bones and a healing factor, and Emma Frost has breast implants" enough times over the years for you to memorize the exact wordings, I think we can do with a little "Elixir has the power to both heal and kill with a touch, the latter he used on both Reverand Striker and the girl he loved, Prodegy once had the powers to learn the powers of anyone in a room, Indra can transform into Galvatron, at which point he is voiced by Leonard Nemoy".

I think I've  made my point, annoyingly picky as it may be. But hey, I'm a comic book reader, it comes with the territory! Now if you excuse me, I have to go complain that Reed Richards is wearing white boots after Arbor Day and Tony Stark isn't grooming his beard in character!  :thumbup:[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Shocker, I was just joking around about the lynch thing. Sorry if I offended you. :(

Apologies aside, I looked back at the past few issues of New X-Men and realized that they don't really introduce the characters with a caption like all the other x-books do. That's not really fair to new readers, and I agree; it's a bit less accessible to them.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I was joking too. I was just pointing out that at least you agreed with me on the art, which I consider to be 50% of the creative process of any comic book. S you only half disagreed with me which I thought was pretty good.
The fact that they're not all that new user friendly is something I as well only noticed recently. During Quest for Magic I was frustrated because I didn't know Nezno's powers (and didn't realize that the characters and readers didn't either), and didn't know that hairy wolfman's name (still don't). I also can never remember Match's real name.

When Predator X was mentioned in MC solicits, I realized I had no idea who that was despite the fact that I had read its first and only appearance, the "Murcury Falling" storyline. So I decided it was in my best interest to reread the past year of issues (except for Quest for Magic, which had just came out) so I could remember certain things I forgot. One was a bit with Hellion practicing TK on a paper clip, something he mentioned just last issue. I would not have remembered that referance otherwise. I also realized that in the "Whatever happened to Wither" storyline (still waiting with that storyline, Kyle and Yost. It's been a year), Selene, who's kinda important in the storyline, is never referred to by name. Kinda important, as she's not exactly Magneto in terms of how well known an X-Men villain she is.

In addition, any background or personality traits about many of the more obscure characters only now being used in the last two storylines could previously only be found in the New X-Men Yearbook one-shot, which was mostly a handbook with handbook entires for main characters, some "yearbook" style entries for all or most of the characters, and a rather short story. I'm not sure just how many people would buy that. I don't buy handbooks or "Sagas", the only OHTTMU issues I have are from the bargin bin. [/spoiler]

[spoiler]Since I'm not a regular New X-men reader (since i stopped just after Jean ascended or died or w/e it is she did in that issue), I agree with SS on some of his points. I tried to read the magik storyline awhile ago and I really couldn't get into it and the art turned me off as well...that and magik seemed so different from the way I remembered her. With that being said...I still haven't read the latest issue yet but I will...one day. Probably around the same time I read all 8 issues of ultimate power. :P

Anyway, my major problem with MC art wise was that it seemed kinda...off? I dunno if it was the coloring (emma's lips in a panel) or just the pencils (they looked rough in some areas...a cyclops scene comes to mind), but it didn't fit my tastes. Also, emma seemed to just be randomly posing in very odd positions in some panels and ya know...I don't need more reasons to think less of emma. :D Oh, Karima makes Emma look tame and that's saying something.

Anyway, SS, cyclops's behavior is a different issue entirely. He hasn't really been written all that great in a long time and I think I just block him out a lot of the time. That's why I liked x-men 204...he finally reacted to something! He took yet another small dig at emma and he remembered he had alternate future kids (and jean made an appearance). Lately, it just seems cykes is just there and never really reacts to anything. Him remaining with Emma and allowing her to basically run the school and talk down to people is also odd for him because I highly doubt he'd let Jean get away with half as much, but that's another debate in itself. I just don't really like emma and she's not done that much to redeem herself, imo, and the writers keep ever so gracefully tying emma into Jean/Phoenix's life so I don't think their rivalry will ever end...ever...

And so to conclude, I'm finding that I like characters created by CC when they're not written by him. So...one day, when CC let's go of sage, I might actually tolerate her!

Also, perhaps Cyclops will get his emotions and hypocrisy, as SS called it, in check and try to repair his relationships with those around him. Perhaps even NC will do something again because he didn't really do much in his leadership role in uncanny, sadly...hey, perhaps emma and kitty will get along but that's pushing it, right? ^_^. Most importantly, maybe Xavier and Magneto can find a purpose again because lately they've just been around.[/spoiler]

With the spoilers out of the way, can anyone confirm whether or not the young avengers will go looking for wanda? I remember there being talks about that happening and I figured now would probably be a good time since wanda's location is no longer a secret...how everyone found out her location (exaggerated) is another story in itself.

Back in YA #12 (the last issue of the series before it's excrutiating hiatus...that was my favourite book at the time), they said their next big goal was to find Wanda. They got distracted because the Zodiac attacked the UN and they went to fight them. Then Civil War started, at which they were a little busy. Now the team's seperated, with some on the run, anti-reg, and most became registered dogs of the military. The upcoming mini doesn't seem like it will be about that because each issue focuses on a single member of the team. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I guess I haven't put up my thoughts on MC1 yet. I've been reading pretty much all the interviews and preview put out over the last couple of months for this event so honestly I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen in this issue. There wasn't any real surprises for me, and I honestly wasn't expecting to like it much at all.

But actually I thought it was pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but a decent story. I liked how effective the X-Men were; they got in, helped the survivors and got to the bottom of things nice and quick. Cyke was taking charge like he should. However, there wasn't much to the plot, I knew this coming in and I'm giving the issue a free pass on this because it's the prologue, I expect more from the rest of the chapters.

From the previews I didn't expect to like the art but I found it didn't really bother me when I actually read the issue. It wasn't anything that I went back and stared at in amazement, but it didn't really detract for me either. However Silvestri butchered my beloved Cat-Beast :(

I'd give it a loaded 7/10. It's spared potential negative points because I expected worse. It's probably more of a 6/10 maybe even a 5/10, but I felt it was a good start that showed the seriousness of the situation.

[spoiler]I liked it.  it was good seeing Cyclops lay down some decent orders. i thought the cyke, emma, warren and wolvie characterizations were spot on.  refreshing to hear logan call scott "slim" and kurt "elf" once again.   i also like how the marauders weren't totally invincible either (that was one of the reasons why the original mutant massacre was so cool.  just the plain mortality and vulnerability of the characters)
the last page totally lost me though...   what the heck is predator x?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Predator X is a relatively new (set of) character(s) that was introduced in New X-men. I don't know much about it either but it was created on Stryker's command and survives by eating mutant DNA. IIRC, it can track down mutants for a great amount of time without getting tired and it seems to be hard to take down since it's only been shown to have one weakness so far (energy beams).[/spoiler]

Hope that helps, Det.

[spoiler]Yeah Det, I wasn't really impressed with how they just threw Predator X in there at the end, and the page in the back didn't really explain it well enough.

Here's the story, in New X-Men Reverend Stryker found a broken Nimrod from an alternate future and tapped into it's databases so that he could learn about the future. Through this he found out about the mutant birth and contacted the Facility (who created X-23, they specialize in organic weapons) to create something to destroy this new mutant "anti-christ". Stryker created the Purifiers and declared war on the students of the Institute and was killed. The Facility continued to build the weapon, known as Predator X. They captured Mercury to use her metal skin to complete it. There were a few Predator Xs but the X-Men, New X-Men and ONE killed all but one that escaped. For currently unknown reasons it's form has changed to the one seen in MC1. Recently it detected the birth of the new mutant and raced to Alaska. The Purifiers have been tracking it and extrapolated it's destination to arrive in Alaska to battle the Purifiers.[/spoiler]

Uncanny X-Men -Messiah Complex pt 2


[spoiler]The X-Men fight some Acolytes, Xavier and Cyclops trade some more fighting words, Emma for once doesn't act like a rhymes-with-witch, and Rictor shows up along with Layla and her boytoy Jamie Maddrox (yay on all three! X-Factor fan speaking here). Rictor, being a former mutant (whose powers are somehow slightly resurfacing) is going to infiltrate the Purifiers. Layla and Jamie are sent to go visit Forge. The X-Men recovered a gun from the Purifiers which apparently is a familiar design....

I really enjoyed this episode, though I'm not quite sure why. I just enjoyed the writing and really liked the art. I've never really been a big fan of Billy Tan but I think this is the best work I've seen from him, I really enjoyed the art by him. The only character I didn't like drawn by Tan here was Layla, who looked--I don't know, too tall? Too old?. Otherwise, I really liked this issue.

If this installment is any indication, I think Messiah Complex is going to be a lot of fun. [/spoiler]

[spoiler]This issue was fairly good and it seems this event will be really good in the character development dept. for Cyclops. I say this because he's finally going back to his roots and leading the team and he once again reacted to his family members' various situations (but no rachel love...poor girl). Between this and astonishing Cyclops (I urge you all to read issue 23...cyclops gets his moment and it's quite good), it seems he's finally changing up a bit instead of being the stock brooder he's come to be. Though I hope his issue with Xavier will end in this event, Cyclops is no saint either and we all know as the years go on, Xavier will suddenly have more skeletons revealed and Cyclops will find a way to hurt the people he cares about.

It was also nice seeing Logan lead the field team, though, that really makes me wonder what Nightcrawler's job is suppose to be. I don't think we've seen him actually lead his team at all, not even when they were all trapped in space.

Another question I have is, why didn't the x-men look for the parents of the baby mutant? If the person(s) was/were still alive, they'd provide several clues. Of course, I'm assuming the baby gave off some powerful display of power and if they did, it would most likely have a strong link to its parents (or mother) and that'd put the x-men back in the race against the big bads.

New exiles preview saddened me. At least sage cut her hair and got a new costume so she could stand around the crystal palace in style. Also, Sabretooth (AoA) is slowly morphing into a  Logan clone...even in clothing style.[/spoiler]

So yeah, those are my thoughts...though any x-men comic that uses some of the original New X-men (+ an original X-member) will automatically get some points with me.

Actually, I was going to comment on the New Exiles preview. I thought the design ideas were kinda nifty. And as someone who read New Thunderbolts, which had Grummett as the regular artist for Fabian's entire run, I'm glad to see I don't hate his work here (I kinda hated his Thunderbolts work because all his characters tended to have the same face, somehow his work here didn't bother me as much). I was really happy with all the bonus stuff Marvel stuffed in here. I mean, the full page next issue blurb with both covers shown (varient smaller in black and white though), the fun facts, the preview, the interview, and the survey, it really seemed like they were trying to go out of their way to make thier fans feel like they were getting an extra treat.

Hah! I knew Bendis was in love with Luke Cage!

[spoiler]I liked part 2, this storyline is building nicely. So far it's a Cyclops story and he's really coming off well. I've heard what happened in Astonishing and it's looking like a few good months for Cyke fans. The Acolytes fight was very fun, and it's nice to see the X-men continue to be effective. Also the Scott/Charles confrontation was very good, but I'm hoping it doesn't continue to be a big plot point. I'm not really a fan of "evil" Charles Xavier. I was very pleased with the way they worked in X-Factor too, using Rictor to infiltrate the Purifiers makes prefect sense.

Couple of things kinda bugged me. How could Layla know they were going to see Forge without knowing who Forge was? It just kinda broke the Layla mystique for me. I wasn't totally sold on Bru's take on Madrox and Layla so I'm looking forward to David taking over with them next issue. The whole Acolytes thing was kinda weird, all of those guys were on Genosha went the Sentinels attacked and should be dead, I think Neophyte even showed up as a zombie in New Avengers. That's not really a huge deal to me though, the thing that really bugged me is that it didn't explain how the X-men knew how to find them. I also found it odd they'd be in costume if they're not actually aligned with Exodus. Lastly Tan's art is hit or miss every time I see it. Love some shots, others not so much. He kinda reminds me of Copiel. Generally I find his art kinda stiff. Anyway those complaints were pretty minor ultimately as I did enjoy the issue.

Prev, Kurt wasn't the leader of the team that went into space, it was Havok or arguably Charles. I'm not really sure who lead the team in the next arc. [/spoiler]

The New Exiles preview was nice, the designs were nicely done but this whole New Exiles thing seems like a perversion of Exiles. Couldn't Marvel just make up some new title to hide Claremont?

Quote from: Podmark on November 08, 2007, 11:47:07 AM

Prev, Kurt wasn't the leader of the team that went into space, it was Havok or arguably Charles. I'm not really sure who lead the team in the next arc.

That's kinda my point. Nightcrawler assumed leadership position after storm left (and he had it previously before with Angel) but he never actually did anything that could be considered leadership worthy, iirc. After the space adventure, he stood by charles the whole time and it seemed like storm (who was part of the fan4 then) came in and temporarily reclaimed her role. I dunno, it just seems like Nightcrawler isn't really being given any development this year, imo.

I don't mind some of the New eXiles costumes, but I generally just don't like CC's writing style...in fact, I haven't liked any character CC has created and written for until after he let go of them (Ex: Sage). With Sabretooth, it's more of a matter of that I would expect Wolverine to wear that and not so much any version of sabretooth. Also, the lineup kinda makes it seem like just another X-team which wasn't really the case with the other incarnations of the team....but, I'm willing to give one or two issues an honest shot...

[EDIT] To clarify my opinion on the next lineup, the new team seems like a core X-book team and it'll just feel like the readers will be getting a double dose of most of them.

I think part of it is the two many X-men in the fryer situation, only one can lead thing. Also Kurt, as an X-men (I'm not counting Excalibur), is never shown as a comfortable leader Casey showed that in his run.

Uncanny 492 was a lot of fun, particularly the team action sequence.  Overall, I thought it was a step up from the one-shot.

New Exiles fills me with sadness too.  It's not the art, just what Claremont's done to the team and concept and writing.  It used to be one of my favourite titles, then at least a consistent one, now I've dropped it.

I don't read a lot of X-Men, but this series sounded interesting. I must say, I was disappointed with the latest X-Men issue. It was basically the same comic as the one shot. I mean, they were back at the mansion, instead of discovering the attack, but they discussed the same things:

"Cerebro's broken, we better fix it."
"Sinister and the ministry fought, but we don't know who won."
"There was a new mutant there, who may have manifested at birth... that's weird."
"Both the ministry and Sinister are ahead of us... how'd that happen?"

Aside from a fight scene with third stringers and Xavier's "I need a hug moment", it just seemed like a re-cap of the one shot. I liked the beginning of the story, but I already read it. Let's have a new issue now.

Is there a preview of New Exiles someone can post? I had no idea there was going to be a new team. Summary please.

There's some cover art circling the web, but this issue had a double spread of Tom Grummett's New Exiles sketches with some short commentary.

The team is:
Sabretooth - AoA
Morph/Proteus
Pyslocke - regular MU
Sage - regular MU
Mistiq
Rogue
Cat Pryde

It's down to one original, and technically he no longer exists.

Where's blink?

Quote from: thanoson on November 08, 2007, 05:09:11 PM
Where's blink?

Blink and most of the old team (issue 98-99 at least) leave in issue 100 which takes place after X-men: Die by the sword. So, you get a full claremont team + Morph. I'm pretty sure Morph is only sticking around because he has nowhere to go and like Pod said, he doesnt really exist anymore (which i think was one of psylocke's original purpose on the team).

[EDIT] Added clickable preview pages behind spoiler tag and claremont's hints about what's to come...

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_preview.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/preview.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_preview_2.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/preview_2.jpg)

claremont's plans... (http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12353)
[/spoiler]

So wait, they brought back T-Bird just so they can give him the boot again?

My letter to you is one step closer to being mailed Mr. Claremont. :angry:

But seriously, it actually sounds a bit interesting, and once again I'll be giving Claremont another chance. Even though I hate him. :doh:

Ok, I know 16 year old girls. They do not kneel on their knees while everyone else stands. Hmm... that could have been taken out of context. Still, I don't like that pic at all. Wasn't Sabes hanging around to protect Blink? What's his motivation now? Psylocke? Here's hoping they visit more What If worlds. Would love to see them visit these following tales:

1. What if Proffessor X had become the Juggernaught?
2. What if Dracula had lived?
3. What if the Inferno had not been stopped.

four words:
To me, my X-men.

Quote from: detourne_me on November 11, 2007, 06:23:50 AM
four words:
To me, my X-men.

That was a bit weird to me. I've never heard Cyclops refer to the team as "his." Sounds more like something Magneto would say.........if you know......he led the X-Men.

Is he a Skrull? :unsure:

But, he was still so cool in that issue. :wub:

well its kind of a parody of silver surfer right.  maybe its cause in that moment scott felt almost god-like... as the silver surfer must feel all the time.

Quote from: detourne_me on November 11, 2007, 09:36:41 AM
well its kind of a parody of silver surfer right.  maybe its cause in that moment scott felt almost god-like... as the silver surfer must feel all the time.

I wish I would have interpreted it that way, it just sounds so much cooler.

My train of thought is so linear sometimes. :mellow:

Quote from: detourne_me on November 11, 2007, 09:36:41 AM
well its kind of a parody of silver surfer right.  maybe its cause in that moment scott felt almost god-like... as the silver surfer must feel all the time.

How is it a parody of SS? And I can't believe you guys didn't connect that with Xavier...he used to say that a good deal of the time. IIRC, he said it a lot during the 60s and I'm sure he said it in X-men: First class.

Anyway, I took it as a homage to his old mentor and a signal of cyclops finally taking control of the team (See Messiah Complex). That and he seemed to have humor this issue which he rarely has. With this issue, it really seems like Astonishing happens sometime before MC, but we'll see when the final 2 whedon books come out...one day.

...On cyclops dialogue, i cringed every time cyclops said a pet name for his dear emma...gruh

My mom was still wearing diapers in the 60's so I can't say I've ever read Xavier saying that before. But, I'll take your word for it.

As for First Class, haven't given it a shot, yet. But I here some pretty good things about it.

First my linear thinking, and now my young age makes me a victim of not understanding a cool piece of dialogue. :(

I think...I think you just called me old! :angry:

Actually, I remember the line fairly well since I read a good deal of the early X-issues (while working on my mod) and said issues are on dvd now. I want to say that Xavier says that exact line at the end of the confrontation with magneto in issue 1.

lol I love that line. Didn't get Astonishing so for a while I was sitting there going, what are they talking about :P

oh man thats right!! hah! i completyely forgot.
i just remmeber SS saying it a lot "To me, my board"
i guess Stan the Man wasn't always completely original

X-Factor #25-Messiah Complex pt 3

[spoiler]

Rictor infiltrates the Purifyers and learns that they have a large number of very large hideouts all over the states. Jamie and Layla meet Forge how gets Jamie to send two dupes into alternate timelines that may help them, as they havn't completely "flatlined" mutant-wise, but Layla follows one in not knowing it's meant to be a one-way street. Wolverine, Storm and Nightcrawler go after Amelia Voght of the Acolytes in order to find the Marauders. And when the New X-Men insist Cyclops let them go out and help, he shoots them down (literally! He knocks Rockslide down on his butt with his optic blasts!) and tells them "And you will [help]. But it will be where I say so, and when I say so. If any of you has a problem with that, you know where the door is." "You'd do that...Just let us go?" "Then I'd go after you, haul you back here, and chew you out for abandoning your own species in its time of need. They also serve who stand and wait. And when your time comes...you may wish it hadn't."

Now we're talking!  PAD's been a favourite of mine lately and he shows he's got the chops to write X-Men comics with his installment of the crossover. He continues to write the X-Factor characters just as well as he normally does, and although it doesn't inherantly feel like X-Factor because of the sheer amount of characters the plot divides time between, the focus is still mostly on Jamie and Layla. PAD shows how to make new readers feel a bit more comfortable (take note, Kyle and Yost!) by introducing the core characters quickly and succently without making the writing seem expository and taking you out of the story. Even with Wolfsbane and Siryn's limited dialogue you get a feel for thier personalities. Jamie and Layla's dialogue explains everything you need to know about the characters for this story while simultaneously moving the plot forward. It's really nice to see the New X-Men both written and drawn well for once while still acting in character, and at the same time, great to see Scott put them in thier place. I've quickly become a fan of Eaton's art, but I really liked his art here. There were some great little touches, like Layla's freckles (I don't know if she's had them before, and they're not consistantly drawn in but they look cute on her), and her wearing a t-shirt with a a number sequence that reads the same forward and backward, that somehow seems fitting for her. Another nice touch was the drawing of a cocky Surge zooming into the room, reminding me of when Alan Davis drew Quicsilver in Busiek's Avengers. This issue has made me realize that I really want to see PAD write New X-Men, I'd probably love it if he wrote it (he has experiance with teen heroes by way of Young Justice).  I don't know exactly who decided to give Scott a pair (either Morrison or Wheadon)  but I'm loving him right now. I didn't use to be a big Cyclops fan but he's really stepping up as a leader.

My guesses for who dies in this storyline: Rictor and/or Cyclops.
[/spoiler]

:thumbup:

Quote from: Silver Shocker on November 14, 2007, 04:14:39 PM
I don't know exactly who decided to give Scott a pair (either Morrison or Wheadon)  but I'm loving him right now. I didn't use to be a big Cyclops fan but he's really stepping up as a leader.

I haven't read the issue yet, but i've seen good reviews. I'll check it out tomorrow along with captain marvel and all those other books I bought. Anyway, Cyclops didn't get his *ahem* manhood until after Morrison. Cyclops was at his lowest during New X-men (Morrison) and he cut himself from everyone and psychically cheated on then ran away from Jean and refused to face anything. I give him some slack since that was after the apocalypse thing. I would say he really started to turn around after Vulcan returned and he found out yet another Xavier secret, though it really wasn't until astonishing and then Messiah Complex that he really took up the mantle.

On another subject, is it me, or are the current New X-men lacking some respect for the older team? I haven't really noticed until now when I was looking through some old issues. The current team seem to do and say whatever they want to their respective leaders and the new mutants/Gen X didn't do that half as much...but I guess it goes both ways since the X-men haven't really protected or shielded the New X-men from all that much. *shrugs*

[spoiler]I would have said Wheadon (who wrote Cyclops totally hardcore during the Ord/Danger/Nova thing), but Morrison had Scott go all hardcore on Magneto at the end of Planet X.

I totally agree with you about the New X-Men team being disrespectfull towards the big cats, the leaders/instructors/ect. That was kinda what I was trying to get across when summerizing the (two page) scene. They say things to Scott like "Oh, you remembered my name, I'm surprised." Again, I don't hold it against PAD (who has proven his worth to me on books like Captain Marvel, FN Spider-Man and X-Factor), because it's pretty much in character for them, and they do kinda have every right to be bitter (the thing with Nimrod was pretty much exactly the same as Kitty home alone with the Brood except this time it felt more like the X-Men adandoned them ("good luck, try not to bleed on the furniture")), but it may have been a bit more extreme than Kyle and Yost would have done. Cyclops shooting Rockslide may have been a bit much, even if Rockslide is a jock and bully born, and tends to respect force and violence more than words. But you KNOW it's not just the kids, it's everything else that's gone wrong in Scott's life lately. He's agitated, and he's looking for any chance to lash out that he can without compromising his integrity as a leader. So I both understand and agree with his decision, if not the way he went about it. [/spoiler]

[spoiler]Chapter 3 was indeed good. Seemed a little short. But, time flies when you're having fun, I guess. ^_^
Cyclops once again shines, but I felt the optic blast to Rockslide was a bit extreme.[/spoiler]

Messiah Complex part 4  :thumbup:

[spoiler]Looks like the kiddies are out for blood! :o
.......Hellion..... :(

I didn't really feel the event progressed, besides the reveal at the end, but the issue was still darn entertaining.[/spoiler]

I haven't read the issue yet, prolly will later on or this weekend, but marvel's long events seen to be slow moving in the beginning and pick up major pace during the middle and end (WWH, CW, Rise and fall of the shiar empire...), so you probably shouldn't expect major progression until probably the next uncanny issue. All those details (pointless, rehashed, or important) are padded into the book and then slowly disappear throughout in an usual event, so I'm hoping there's not a repeat of that OR it's significantly less than it usually is.

Just some general things I'm noticing in X-books lately, discuss as you will (or won't):

[spoiler]

• Cyclops, Havok, and Vulcan are really being defined and differentiated from each other in ability, skill, and leadership techniques
• Rachel seems to be somewhat more tolerable
• Iceman is getting some type of development as well
• Angel is finally being used again even though he's been reduced to a scout
• Cyclops may or may not have control over his powers [see cover to Giant size astonishing #1]
• I'm thinking that X-factor will be dramatically affected after Messiah Complex
• Lorna is sane again + her and Havok seem to be a couple again.

[/spoiler]

Quote from: murs47 on November 22, 2007, 11:05:01 PM
Messiah Complex part 4  :thumbup:

[spoiler]Looks like the kiddies are out for blood! :o
.......Hellion..... :(

I didn't really feel the event progressed, besides the reveal at the end, but the issue was still darn entertaining.[/spoiler]

you don't think it's been progressing??
[spoiler]it seems like a LOT of moral boundries are being forgotten here, how many X-men now are willing to kill?  and the madrox story is great.  i want to see the future the other dupe got sent too.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I meant more in terms of this mutant baby thing going on. Sorry, should have been more specific.

The only thing we learned in regards to that is the Purifiers don't have it. Which was really obvious in the first place because it would be dead already if they did have it.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Firstly, I will say that the art is a step up, imo, from issue 43. I'm for alternative art, but issue 43 kinda turned me off...so, to the story:

I kinda have a problem with everyone downing Xavier. He may as well be a bad guy with the way everyone is constantly yelling at, downing, or belittling him. Has everyone suddenly forgot that they live in HIS [500th] house, use HIS gear, and eat HIS food while they train under HIS supervision (not true now, but...)? Xavier may not be as morally great as he used to claim to be, but they really need to lay off the guilt tripping when said characters have done shady things themselves (CYCLOPS!). I think that's one of the main reasons I didn't like Deadly Genesis...it painted Xavier as morally corrupt very early in the X-men career and it gave the X-men another reason not to trust Xavier's leadership (and really linking him to Magneto in some cases).

I feel bad for Madrox since it looks like he'll be dealing with trust issues, losing Layla, and w/e damage his clones dying did to him thanks to forge and cyclops (and by virtue, I don't expect cyclops to be down xavier's throat anymore with this decision he made regarding layla/Jamie especially when he let emma force suggestions into their psyches)

I agree with Murs about not much progressing this issue. It felt like a filler to me so I'm hoping next issue really picks up pace. It seems the New X-men have altered cyclops's plan by once again rushing off and not obeying orders and someone had to pay the price for it. I don't expect hellion to die thanks to what Blindfold said, but I assume he'll be greatly injured. Also, I don't expect the New X-men to be able to hand Lady D (her costume looks...odd...especially if you read this book while half awake) by their lonesome so I'm predicting that pixie *may* be hurt trying to get them out of there...and possibly rictor.[/spoiler]

Well X-Men 205 is in and comics worst kept secret is out
[spoiler]Cable is still alive and has the baby.

This was easily my favorite issue. Tons of action and I'm a huge Bachelo fan so the art was a real treat. Plots still kinda slow but the action made up for it, plus this is one of the first issues that I didn't know 90% of what was going to happen. I had no idea how the New X-men would escape their fight (just that they didn't teleport back to the mansion), I didn't know Rictor would help, or how the X-Men's fight would end up.

Also bonus points to Mike Carey for using the Sentinel pilots and for knowing Pixie's teleport spell. I'm really wondering who took over the Sentinels. I don't think it would be Cable, so I'm leaning on Malice, but I really don't know.

Silly X-Men, 6 vs 15 is really bad odds.[/spoiler]

And Cyclops' secret weapon?
[spoiler]Gentle![/spoiler]

[spoiler]Easily the best issue so far. The story progressed ever so slightly, but in a big way. Cable has the baby! :o
It was just pure non stop mutant on mutant action. Plus Reaver and Sentinel action as well.

Possible dead X-Men in the immediate future: Nightcrawler and Hellion. :([/spoiler]


Podmark:

[spoiler]What do you mean Nehzno being Cyclops' secret weapon? :huh: Spill the beans Pod, you know something the rest of us don't.  :P
[/spoiler]

Yes, it was a good issue.

Podmark:

[spoiler]What do you mean Nehzno being Cyclops' secret weapon? :huh: Spill the beans Pod, you know something the rest of us don't.  :P
[/spoiler]

[/quote]

[spoiler]On the page that shows the next cover it implies that Cyclops has a secret wearpon and beside that text is the variant cover with him and Nezhno. Previews for the next issue show Nezhno in action.[/spoiler]

oh....I guess I didn't catch that..... :doh:

I know Podmark has seen this already, but has anyone else?
[spoiler](http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7026/deadxmanpy1.jpg)
I wonder who's blood they're covered in.
[/spoiler]

Quote from: murs47 on November 30, 2007, 11:21:26 AM
oh....I guess I didn't catch that..... :doh:

I know Podmark has seen this already, but has anyone else?
[spoiler](http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7026/deadxmanpy1.jpg)
I wonder who's blood they're covered in.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Rumor is that it's Hellion's. There's conflicting theories over whether he lived or died.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]After reading X-Men #205, I think it's Nightcrawler............time will tell though.[/spoiler]

My Marauaders' knowledge is hazy at best...

[spoiler]
the character who turned off Wolverine's healing, is that long term?  And I can't be the only person who was happy when Wolverine ventilated Gambit's chest, can I?
[/spoiler]

Quote from: Talavar on November 30, 2007, 09:41:33 PM
My Marauaders' knowledge is hazy at best...

[spoiler]
the character who turned off Wolverine's healing, is that long term?  And I can't be the only person who was happy when Wolverine ventilated Gambit's chest, can I?
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Scrambler's ability is short term.[/spoiler]

But, he can do weird things with your powers too. Like super amp it up. Or, shoot your friends with your power.

Just read through the latest Uncanny

[spoiler]I really enjoyed this issue but there's some hiccups. Did Bobby pick up all the kids or just some of them? How exactly did the X-Men escape Sinister's? Did Brubaker forget that Angel has healing blood? (which won't work for Nightcrawler and only for people with the same blood type) And Elixir's off panel write-out was kinda lame. Also minus points for the old random students trick, and Cable's abrupt new costume.

On the positive side, we finally see Warpath, Hepzibah, Cannonball and Caliban. At least some of the random students were somewhat recognizable, and Tan did a decent job on the mecha sentinels. Actually Tan's art was pretty good here (cept Bishop he looked pretty lame) much better than the previews looked. The action was good, but still not a whole lot happened. Nano sentinels were pretty cool but I really doubt Cable was responsible, I'm thinking the Purifiers and Reavers for the moment or perhaps...a traitor?? Kinda dissappointed that Lexington has been taken down like this.

Looking forward to the next one.

[/spoiler]

Pod,
[spoiler]
I thought this cable was from a different point in time or something? Since I haven't read the book yet, I guess I'll see.[/spoiler]

Also, did Darwin finally show up again? He kinda disappeared off the face of the Earth after Hulk kicked his ever-adapting butt.

Quote from: Previsionary on December 05, 2007, 12:50:05 PM
Pod,
[spoiler]
I thought this cable was from a different point in time or something? Since I haven't read the book yet, I guess I'll see.[/spoiler]

Also, did Darwin finally show up again? He kinda disappeared off the face of the Earth after Hulk kicked his ever-adapting butt.

[spoiler]
No Darwin yet but previews show him appearing in New X-Men which I think makes Kitty the only missing X-Man. I think Brubaker isn't comfortable with larger casts. I read that he purposely left Darwin out of the Morlocks story because he didn't plan for him to have a role and didn't think he needed a "and this is where Darwin is" panel. Not a fan of that treatment.

Not sure about Cable, in X-Men 205 he was wearing the same costume he "died" in and said the same phrase that Gambit and Sunfire mentioned so I've assumed it's the same Cable but I don't really know yet.

[/spoiler]

I haven't picked it up yet....my comic shop didn't get their deliveries on time today. <_<

I didn't check your guy's spoilers, but was the issue good?

I liked it.

[spoiler]First and foremost, I loved this issue! Heck, I love this arc...IMO it's living up to the hype. This combined with the last issue have given me the feeling that the X-Men are the underdogs in this event, which is what I was waiting for.

There are some "huh?" moments though. When did Bobby go rescue the children? How the heck did Wolverine's team get to the Blackbird safely? Is Nehzno dead? How does Cable find the time to change uniforms while on the run from murderous mutants and X-Men all while carrying a baby? That Nathan Summers sure is talented.[/spoiler]

this issue was ok. It seems that Brubaker just fast forwarded through all that backstory to jump into the full out action sequences. Also, was that jean in cyclops's locket? She sure has been showing up/referenced a lot this year. She'll be out of that white hot room soon, I suppose. I would like it if COlossus would get a bit more action. He's been incredibly underused since his return (I'm rightfully ignoring his mini).

[spoiler]I'm pretty sure nehz isn't dead. I remember seeing him on a cover...for w/e that's worth. I'm starting to expect that kitty just disappeared in whedon's arc. Or maybe the rumors about her death are true? If so...more reason to pick up Wolverine: First Class.[/spoiler]

So, any thoughts on X-factor this week? I've no spoilers to spread, but I thought it was ok, definitely not as action packed as the other issues, but still ok. I'll assume the cyclops/charles thing will last for awhile. *shrugs*

I thought it was a step back from the last two but still decent. It was one of those mid-arc set-up issues. The Madrox plot is starting to annoy me, it's just taking too long to get anywhere. I also didn't like the Cable/Reaver fight, it just seemed off. Cable was way outnumbered and I don't know if he has his powers, so I'm kinda wondering why the Reavers didn't just rip him apart. Fight looked great though, that was Eaton's spotlight on art.

And a prediction
[spoiler] there's supposedly a death coming up in one of the next two issues and I'm thinking it's either Caliban or Hepzibah, most likely Cal.[/spoiler]

My thoughts on the new X-force...
[spoiler]
Cyclops described them as the best trackers and fighters - are Caliban and Rahne really among the X-men's best fighters?  Seems like a stretch to me.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Cable is so talented...he once again finds the time to change costumes again while babysitting and being chased down by persons that want him dead.

The issue was okay, I guess. The action wasn't up to par with the past couple of issue, and there really wasn't any progression. I kind of expected the Madrox/Layla segment to really take huge strides forward because it was an X-Factor title, but no.

The reality is not every issue is going to be non-stop action; set-up issues are necessary. [/spoiler]

Murs,

[spoiler]I don't think us readers want non-stop action, but we do want consistency and progression. Setup issues are fine, but you also need to keep the story moving fast enough to keep the reader enticed and wanting to know more without rehashing certain elements to death (IE: yet another cyclops/charles fight). Of course, a lot of things were referenced in this issue...but the general story is kinda slow and I fear that the final issues will be speedy...like the typical marvel event. Also, let's not forget that certain questions are still left up in the air: A) who attacked the telepaths? B) How are the fallen xmen? C) Kitty is where (astonishing can't come out fast enough...-_-) D) How did Sinister know Cable was back?  E) How did Storm and her team survive/escape?  F) Is Gentle dead (though wizard confirms him as dead)? G) etc. and so on...

Oh, most importantly, and I can't stress this enough, how is that baby still alive in the cold wilderness with no type of support and it's an infant/newborn.  *arrests cable*  :P[/spoiler]

Easy answer on the last one. He's a mutant. Hell, Cable was making energy bubbles as a baby too. I wouldn't be suprised if this was a Summers kid. Thus the interest by Sinister so bad.

Quote from: Podmark on December 13, 2007, 03:34:32 PM
And a prediction
[spoiler] there's supposedly a death coming up in one of the next two issues and I'm thinking it's either Caliban or Hepzibah, most likely Cal.[/spoiler]

I love it when I'm right :)

Quote from: Podmark on December 19, 2007, 12:34:06 PM

Quote from: Podmark on December 13, 2007, 03:34:32 PM
And a prediction
[spoiler] there's supposedly a death coming up in one of the next two issues and I'm thinking it's either Caliban or Hepzibah, most likely Cal.[/spoiler]

I love it when I'm right :)

[spoiler]So, without having read the book, I'm assuming caliban died since he's not on any X-force cover, correcto?[/spoiler]

Quote from: Previsionary on December 19, 2007, 12:45:10 PM

Quote from: Podmark on December 19, 2007, 12:34:06 PM

Quote from: Podmark on December 13, 2007, 03:34:32 PM
And a prediction
[spoiler] there's supposedly a death coming up in one of the next two issues and I'm thinking it's either Caliban or Hepzibah, most likely Cal.[/spoiler]

I love it when I'm right :)

[spoiler]So, without having read the book, I'm assuming caliban died since he's not on any X-force cover, correcto?[/spoiler]

Correcto.

[spoiler]The issue is mostly a big fight, that I probably would have loved if it wasn't drawn by Ramos. Actually Ramos' art wasn't really bad in this, but he's not my first choice. I actually really liked his Caliban though.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I loved the way he drew the baby. :rolleyes:
I did like his Warpath, however. That opening shot of Cable was pretty cool as well.

All in all, great issue! X out doing Deathstrike was awesome for me. Now we see that Beast and the kids were covered in blood from operating, and their sad look was from exhaustion. What a relief. :wacko:
[/spoiler]

When I saw the cover...
[spoiler]
I thought X-23 vs. Deathstrike would be lame - another case of an uber new character outdoing the character she was based on.  But when Wolverine was simply dismissive of Deathstrike in a, 'I don't have time for this,' kind of way, and X taking revenge for Hellion, those 2 details turned it around for me.

Having Elixir still be knocked out when all these people are at death's door is kind of a cop-out/authorial fiat sort of thing though, and it's kind of bugging me.
[/spoiler]

Talavar, X-23 isn't really new anymore. She was introduced shortly after she appeared in X-men Evo...so she's been around for at least 4-5 years. Of course, that's still new in comparison to Cyclops or wolverine, but I wouldn't really call her uber.  She's slightly less uber than Wolverine...usually. Just slightly.   ^_^

I love X-23, by far my favorite character of the X-kids. Verbally blunt, deadly, and flat out weird sometimes. The struggle for redemption also adds to her even though we've seen this kind of thing in other characters already.

This issue was pretty good and it's nice to see all of X-force characters interacting and showing some characterization in some shape or form since many people worried that a bunch of feral characters would be way too...similar and a bad idea in general. Though, I hope by the next arc of the actual X-force book, they add some non-feral members just to create some diversity. Perhaps they can take on Rachel? With news of a new X book in the horizons--Young Mutants--I'm actually hoping that Laura ends up there instead of remaining with X-force; but that's just me.

[spoiler]And isn't our little cable so smart and resourceful? He really is cyclop's son.  ;)[/spoiler]

Quote from: Previsionary on December 21, 2007, 01:25:30 AM
[spoiler]And isn't our little cable so smart and resourceful? He really is cyclop's son.  ;)[/spoiler]

He must be, if he can find good uses for Deadpool. Who I must say was pretty hilarious in this month's C&D issue.

Hmm... maybe the kid is Cable's son.

New book came out friday and all reports seem to point out that it was majorly interesting (and the next issue helps answer certain questions), but I'm not gonna talk about that right now. Instead, I'm gonna talk about Marvel Spotlight: X-men.

Twas a fairly interesting read and it's nice to know that everyone involved actually did a lot of planning with this event and it really does have several ties into the X-men histories. Not to mention a bit of info was revealed about upcoming books and it seems X-men Legacy will finally attempt to answer some danglin' plot lines from the X-men's histories. Also:

Quote from:  Ed BrubakerCyclops was always my favorite character. When I used to play Freedom Force years ago--the video game where you make up a team of superheroes-- eventually you could go online and download different characters to play. I'd have Cyclops and Darkseid [the classic Jack Kirby DC villain] on the same team!

So, what I'm getting at is...Ed Brubaker is one of us FF players...or was. Also...FF was mentioned in a marvel book. Free advertisement. :P

Ed Brubaker played FF? Nice.

-MJB

[spoiler]Bishop's a skrull![/spoiler]

:P

Gotta wait 2 more weeks to get my books. Must avoid spoilers....

Reading the newest issue made me want to finish skinning Carey's team. God, that man is very good a story pacing.

Preview of X-Men Legacy:
http://comicnewsi.com/article.php?catid=231&itemid=10936

I'm pretty excited about Legacy. I really enjoyed Carey's run and what I've heard about this book sounds interesting. Currently it's the only post MC book I'm sure I'll get.

Well, I don't feel like doing a whole synopsis of the latest issue, but there's two things I'm sick of in X-men comics in general...

[spoiler]
1. Mystique being presented as an uber-hardcase.  Sure, she's sneaky, and can shapeshift to look like other people - but that's it.  She's got no powers, yet she seems to have easily defeated Iceman earlier, and now apparently killed Mr. Sinister, who has a couple of dozen powers.

2. Wolverine stabbing someone in the chest, someone without healing powers or enhanced durability, and that person apparently walking it off.  I mean, Gambit got skewered what, a day ago in story-time?  It sure doesn't seem to be slowing him down any.  I bet Lady Mastermind will wince slightly after this issue, and then be fine.  I'm not someone who wants Wolverine to be the ultimate hardcase, & beat anyone in a fight - but if you get stabbed through the chest with the equivalent of 3, foot long knives have the common courtesy to require some medical attention.

[/spoiler]

Despite my quibbles, a good issue, but I'm getting eager for some resolution.

Tal, about gambit:

[spoiler]You forget that he's been augmented by Apocalypse so his durability may have been increased...even though he returned to his old look. Regardless, Mr. Sinister couldve helped with his healing. That probably won't be the case with Mastermind unless she's cloned [I don't think sinister will be 'dead' long] or she used her illusion based powers to throw Wolvie's aim off.[/spoiler]

Quote from: Talavar on January 11, 2008, 06:09:51 PM
Well, I don't feel like doing a whole synopsis of the latest issue, but there's two things I'm sick of in X-men comics in general...

[spoiler]
1. Mystique being presented as an uber-hardcase.  Sure, she's sneaky, and can shapeshift to look like other people - but that's it.  She's got no powers, yet she seems to have easily defeated Iceman earlier, and now apparently killed Mr. Sinister, who has a couple of dozen powers.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]In fairness, all that was shown was that Sinister is dead (or at least really, really , really, badly injured  :P) and presumably Mystique was somehow involved.  That doesn't necessarily mean she offed him all by herself.[/spoiler] 

Quote from: Talavar on January 11, 2008, 06:09:51 PMDespite my quibbles, a good issue, but I'm getting eager for some resolution.

I agree.

[spoiler]I definately understand all the troubles with some people being hurt for a long time (hellion, nightcrawler forge, etc.) but yeah,, others are just walking off life threatening injuries...
i also don't understand why everyone went after cable in the first place....
regardless this is turning out to be really interesting, and i can't wait for new x-men to come out.

hey did they ever explain what happen to madrox's second dupe?  i'm assuming he traveled to cable's timeline, while tatoo dupe went to bishop's.[/spoiler]

For those that care:

X-force previews on Marvel/java (http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.2212.The_All_New%2C_All_Different_X-Force)

or

X-force Preview on Newsrama/no java (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=142803)

Your pick.

Quote from: detourne_me on January 12, 2008, 03:16:32 AM
[spoiler]I definately understand all the troubles with some people being hurt for a long time (hellion, nightcrawler forge, etc.) but yeah,, others are just walking off life threatening injuries...
i also don't understand why everyone went after cable in the first place....
regardless this is turning out to be really interesting, and i can't wait for new x-men to come out.

hey did they ever explain what happen to madrox's second dupe?  i'm assuming he traveled to cable's timeline, while tatoo dupe went to bishop's.[/spoiler]

The second dupe is going to be used in a story down the road. I believe in X-Factor.

I've also been enjoying the story. It's got it's flaws, but it's been good overall. The last X-Factor was one of my favorite issues.

Wow, so that's how Mystique did it. Interesting. And this whole thing has been for what? Didn't see that coming at all.

I actually liked the result of Mystique's planning as it's ironic and it goes back to something Rogue and the x-treme x-men learned long ago when chasing Destiny's diaries:

[spoiler]Rogue realized that Destiny's Prophecies were only possibilities and that trying to follow them was more dangerous than ignoring them. --Wikipedia[/spoiler]

IIRC, Gambit missed that lesson as he was close to death after being speared.

Since I read x-factor/new x-men back to back, it read pretty good to me. I was hoping for a little more madrox/layla action, but I guess they're leaving that for X-factor to tie up. Also...poor poor

[spoiler]Vertigo. Eaten by predator X that's done nothing of note until the last few issues.[/spoiler]

Oh, all of you that thought Lady Mastermind was gonna just shrug off that claw...I think, you got your answer. I won't say I was right or anything but... ^_^

An interesting, action paced book, though Mystique still bugs me.

And is it just me, or...
[spoiler]
Is it pretty clear that Kitty Pryde dies in Whedon's last Astonishing Arc?  I think we've seen every other X-man accounted for by this point, with Armour showing up briefly in this issue.  Still no Shadowcat though, so I'm assuming something major happens to her.   
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Yeah, kitty's only shown up in the messiah complex one shot and no one seems to care that she's missing so I don't *think* she's dead. If she were, I'd expect some grieving for her by Colossus or Wolverine somewhere during their downtime or after this arc. Perhaps She and lockheed stay on that planet or teamup with agent brand.[/spoiler]

Anyway, Kitty will be in wolverine first class so you can get your dose of her there and the amazing New Exiles.  :rolleyes:

Kitty hasn't been in the crossove at all, her last appearance were X-Men 204 and New X-Men 43 which was the night of the baby's birth. According to the handbooks the Astonishing arc takes place after the Acolytes attack on the Mansion in X-Men 202 or 203. So technically the timeline doesn't work out but obviously something happens with Kitty in Astonishing.

I really liked the lastest, and last, issue of New X-Men. Lots of action and some good twists. Can't wait for the ending.

So anyone else read 207 because I was actually shocked.

Quote from: AfghanAnt on January 23, 2008, 06:19:48 PM
So anyone else read 207 because I was actually shocked.

Yeah some pretty crazy stuff went down.

[spoiler]Me too. I was just reading along, nice brisk pace. Y'know, sort of reading with the action, then BAM, and I just stopped and sat there for a good minute.
Overall I thought it was pretty exciting and everything, but did anybody else think right away that Cable taking the baby into the future is just an excuse for it to come back somewhere down the line either at New (or rather, Young) X-men age or fully grown?[/spoiler]

Quote from: Zippo on January 23, 2008, 08:23:30 PM
[spoiler]Me too. I was just reading along, nice brisk pace. Y'know, sort of reading with the action, then BAM, and I just stopped and sat there for a good minute.
Overall I thought it was pretty exciting and everything, but did anybody else think right away that Cable taking the baby into the future is just an excuse for it to come back somewhere down the line either at New (or rather, Young) X-men age or fully grown?[/spoiler]

It's been confirmed for a (few) month(s) that cable and the baby would be in a new solo book and bishop would be chasing them through time. So, I think that may be the plan...eventually. This post will be edited later on tonight after i read young avengers and astonishing. So... *wanders off*

BTW, should I change this thread's name considering the main event is over or should I leave it as is or what?

Edit:

[spoiler]Ok, the final issue was pretty good. Wasn't really plot heavy nor did it really tie anything up beyond disassembling the team, getting the baby into the future, and setting up the new status quos, but it was handled fairly well and it gives them quite a bit of stories to work with as you can see by podmark's link (plus previews posted throughout this thread). Thank the heavens that it was done much better than both of the avengers disassembled arcs. I'm glad Rogue finally woke up and I feel bad that as soon as she realized she finally had her mind to herself, she had already drained mystique. This opens up quite a few rogue plotlines, though I was looking forward to her having to deal with sinister's intense/psychotic psyche. This also leaves the question of what power(s) she has now.

To me, messiah complex was also kinda messy with some of the characters reappearing and dropping throughout the issues for no reason. It heavily focused on a few characters, and I can understand that, but I would've loved if more people would've gotten shine time. I can live with the decisions they made [otherwise I'd be dead now, no?], I just wish there were a little more consistency. Storm surprisingly wasn't a major player and her and Emma didn't even interact, Darwin appeared in one issue then never again, nothing was really explained with Rictor and he just stopped appearing (I assume x-factor will tie that up as well), and etc. were just some of the things that stick out to me.

The ending: I wasn't expecting that and I even found myself rereading that page. It just made me want to pick up X-men: Legacy more quickly than I already wanted to. Though, I'm wondering why the previews keep saying magneto is depowered. I thought he was repowered by the collective? Was it only temporary? Not to mention that the diary he has reconfirmed he was a mutant. Maybe he'll be fully repowered down the line. Anyway, it should be a good read.

Speaking of mutant powers, I hope Quicksilver reappears soon and plays a part in an upcoming storyline, preferably with X-factor. He can time travel now, so he could possibly be used to get Layla back considering their rivalry.

So overall, I would say Messiah Complex was a hit. Unlike so many marvel events, it kept me entertained all the way through and I was able to ignore a lot of errors in the books itself. Also, it amazingly came out on time EVERY WEEK! That's amazing for a marvel event book that's been super hyped. When was the last time that happened? Annihilation? [/spoiler]

So my overall rating for Messiah Complex: 7.2 or on the star scale, 3½ stars. It has its problems, but you can mostly overlook them. If you missed the event, I really suggest you pick up the trades. Yes, I did pull a Zulu. Can you blame me?


Astonishing X-men 24:

I didn't really like this issue as much as issue 23. I hope the annual is much better. It's hard seeing Kitty living past this, but she'll probably return later this or next year if she does die. Illyana was brought up, Rachel is still around, and hey; she could just go hang with Jean [in the white hot room] for a year. :P

Call it the X-Men thread?

Also people might want to read this:
http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.2272.Divided_They_Stand%3A_X-Men_Declassified

Thanks for the name, Pod.  ;)

Anyway, most of that looks interesting though Wolverine is appearing all over the place. Looks like he gained his power to appear in several books a month back. I must say, I actually like emma's look as a flower child. I guess I'm finally softening up to her...for now. Plus, Angel is finally back in action, though I'm assuming he's no longer seeing Paige. Side-thought, what happened to the soulsword angel was wielding? Also, it's very nice to see Arcade make his return since he's been MIA for a long while. Finally, I'm glad to see that the New X-men/Young X-men are getting some new recruits, though I don't know how I feel about cyclops sanctioning them to kill.

On to Messiah Complex, what would you guys rate the whole event on a 10 point scale [1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest]?

where are the new recruits coming from? wanda promised me no more mutants (stinking muties)

Re :Kitty

I have no interest in massive crossovers that require me to buy books I don't read, so I have no idea what happened in Messiah Complex (other than what's in this thread, of course) nit here's the latest on Kitty:

As of today's issue of astonishing
[spoiler]
She is trapped unconcious inside a planet sized bullet that has been fired at Earth.  Yes I know, I was all huhbuwhut? about it too.   Oh, and we wont get a final resolution till Giant Size Astonishing #1, whenever that arrives :roll:

[/spoiler]

I was suitably happy. The ending was pretty sad. Man Lucas has some splainin to do.

My post was updated with a rating and a semi detailed review along with my brief thoughts about astonishing 24.  ;)

I can see where Lucas was coming from though Young Bishop should have been seen with Young Shard (unless that wasn't time anomaly Bishop's true timeline). Though, taking out the baby could have resulted in something much worse like his sister never being born (Bishop wouldve been fine) and such. Those are the risks you take with time travel, I suppose.

Re: Thor

The new recruits could be old students that were at the mansion before the team disbanded. There's still less than 190 mutants running around.

*interesting sidenote: Vertigo has died twice in one week. Once in Messiah Complex and again in Deadpool (which was a very good read. Symbiote dinos...unique). How many clones of the maraunders are running around anyway?!*

I'd give Messiah CompleX a 7.5 to an 8.0.

It was a pretty good story and I greatly looked forward to every issue. The last 3 were especially good. However it had it's poor points: some art gaffes like changing costumes (I'm looking at Tan's Cable here), some poor pacing at times, characters drifted in and out of importance (Storm is a perfect example) or disappeared altogether (Armor in everything but New X-Men). The art was pretty strong throughout (Silvestri and Tan were my weak links by the end) and I think the story played out quite well and set up some good stuff for the future. One weak point though is that after all that we still don't know what the deal with the baby was. They fought all those battles and Caliban died and they don't even know what it was worth yet.

But the Cable series just got a big boost in my mind [spoiler]Cable vs Bishop through time is pretty cool. Big gun totting X-Men with metal arms from the future battling just seems so right.[/spoiler]

Young Bishop was cool, I assume Shard was just elsewhere at the time. Pietro would actually be an interesting way to get Layla Madrox back.

There's speculation that one of the new recruits is Wolverine's son Daken.

There's supposedly two Vertigo's Prev. One cloned by Sinister with the Marauder, and another that lives in the Savage land. Course Predator X shouldn't be eating Vertigo because she's not a mutant but whatever..

So, nobody thought to check on Bishop after the initial blast? They know what his powers are. Also, doesn't he come from a timeline where he and his sister are in the XSE and things are good?

[spoiler]where does charles' body go in the third panel?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Xavier lives![/spoiler]

[spoiler]what?[/spoiler]

Quote from: murs47 on January 24, 2008, 10:37:56 AM
[spoiler]what?[/spoiler]

Just read this interview:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12806

more previews of X-force:

http://comics.ign.com/articles/847/847482p1.html

Young X-men interviews and lineup:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12815
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=144435
http://comics.ign.com/articles/847/847666p1.html

[spoiler]So I'm guessing the new Brotherhood that shows up in Young X-Men is the rest of the New X-Men.....

....which wouldn't make any sense. Well, Nori, maybe.

:thumbdown:[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I'm guessing the new Brotherhood is either some combination of remaining New X-Men, Wither and Selene (though that may end up being in X-Force), or most likely I think some combination of the original New Mutants.[/spoiler]

I really urge you guys to go out and pick up X-men first class, the single issues or the tradebacks, because most of those stories + the mini marvels have been excellent. Last issue (well, it was an arc really, but each issue was stand-alone in its nature) was very well made and it was nice seeing all the alternate versions the young X-men feared they could become. Also...Manthing guest starred along with a cameo by Dr Connors/The lizard. So yes...go out and buy it, especially if you don't like current complex, slightly murky mainstream X-men.

Ultimate X-men 90: Apocalypse

My thoughts on this issue even surprise me. I haven't liked most of kirkman's run, but this single issue actually caught my attention in a good way. That may be because I ignored a lot and I completely avoided X-men 89 after I knew what happened to storm's ongoing plot. The book actually seemed kinda short to me and I don't know if that's because not enough happened, too much happened, or I was actually really into the book, but it took me like 5 minutes to fully read (I read fast, but not usually that fast).

[spoiler]Anyway, all the x-men finally come back together, bar Nightcrawler, and the australian team head out to find Sinister, who has dug himself from the grave. Sinister is out to still kill 10 mutants--he has 6 to go-- so he heads into the morlock tunnels by telepathically dominating Leech. Once he's there, he starts a minor killing spree (nothing too bloody or gory) before Nightcrawler stops him. The Australian X-men port in and a full out battle ensues. In the end, someone is shot, people are sad, sinister killed 10 mutants, and apocalypse (with his XML2 design) is born.[/spoiler]

Overall, I rate it a 5.3 out of 10. Good, but could be much better. I'm actually thinking that Kirkman is trying to combine several elements into 4 issues. I originally connected it with Apocalypse's appearance in X-factor Volume 1. Oh, for those that like a challenge, 'Lost' easter eggs are supposedly planted in both UXM and USM this week.

X-men First Class is a nice little book, but while it's consistently good, I don't think it's yet been great.

I like most of what Kirkman does, and love Invincible, but his run on Ultimate X-men has nearly been enough to make me drop the title altogether.  I don't know why it's so bad, but it's bad.  I always get the impression that he hasn't actually read the rest of Ultimate X-men up to this point, but that editorial just filled him on on the broad strokes.  Characters behave in ways that are very inconsistent with earlier portrayals, plot threads have done 180's - and not for the better - and he may have even done the first Ultimate Universe death-retcon.  Maybe there are secretly 2 Robert Kirkman's?

I keep hoping the book will improve, but at this point I think my continued reading of UXM will depend on who takes over for Kirkman when he's done.

well, you probably won't be happy to know that Jeph Loeb is taking over Ultimate Fan4 and Ultimate X-men for like 6 or so issues (combined, I think) to tie into his ultimatum event. If you don't currently like his ultimates run...then I'm pretty sure you'll dislike his UXM/UFF run too just basing it off his other ultimate work and his general disdain of previous history. I'm really worried that the ultimate verse will collapse soon since USM is the only good consistent book as of now.

Quote from: Previsionary on February 03, 2008, 05:41:06 PM
I'm really worried that the ultimate verse will collapse soon since USM is the only good consistent book as of now.

I'm thinking that would be a good guess.

Quote from: Previsionary on February 03, 2008, 05:41:06 PM
well, you probably won't be happy to know that Jeph Loeb is taking over Ultimate Fan4 and Ultimate X-men for like 6 or so issues (combined, I think) to tie into his ultimatum event. If you don't currently like his ultimates run...then I'm pretty sure you'll dislike his UXM/UFF run too just basing it off his other ultimate work and his general disdain of previous history. I'm really worried that the ultimate verse will collapse soon since USM is the only good consistent book as of now.

Really, Jeph Loeb is taking over both Ultimate Fan4 & Ultimate X-men?  Crap.  Ultimates 3 has been so bad I'm incapable of doing it's badness justice.  To be honest, I'm hoping they do severely curtail the Ultimate universe at this point.  I like Ultimate Fan4 & Ultimate Spider-man, but the Ultimate universe is no longer what it once was - an easy jumping-on point for new readers.  It's internal history is becoming nearly as confused as the main universe, and the whole line has become diluted with inferior or rather pointless mini-series, like Ultimate Power, Ultimate Vision, etc. 

Ultimate Spider-man is still a top notch title in my opinion. ^_^

Quote from: murs47 on February 04, 2008, 02:09:29 PM
Ultimate Spider-man is still a top notch title in my opinion. ^_^

iawtc

Yes, USM is a great read. Last issue and the green goblin arc (last) were fairly nice.

Tal, I'm thinking some guy [or girl, just to be safe] from heroes, Aron Coleite, is taking over for a few issues, then Loeb will get both books. Either way, if UXM gets a brief revival, when loeb takes over, I fear it'll all go downhill as each character begins to become ultimized '616' versions of themselves with attitudes and dialouge to match. He won't have to touch emma though. Kirkman already threw away her ultimate personality and made her the white queen.

Which brings me to a point. The main reason I can't stick with kirkman's run is his characterization and some of his plots. I liked "Date night". It was just a good story and, iirc, the characterization was just about right and I was actually interested in the shiar/phoenix part of the story. I don't really know what happened, but once Magician came to the forefront, then cable, then bishop, now apocalypse...I just don't like the book anymore. In fact, now that 2 time travelers are in the book, that means the ultimate universe has at least 2 dimensions/universes now because of the time divergent and that *ultimately* goes against what the ultimate line was created for. I dunno, Kirkman's good at writing, but I think team books are out of his league right now. Even in date night he kept the team split up among many stories and that just isn't really working for him anymore. In fact, now when a character *dies*, I can't even take it seriously (IE: Beast, Xavier, etc.)

Quote from: AfghanAnt on February 04, 2008, 02:37:04 PM
iawtc

I'm not familiar with that acronym... :huh:

I think it expands out to say: "I agree with this comment"

The first aftermath issue of Messiah complex came out this week and it was okayish, imo. It's a down issue, something marvel needs in general since they ran so many events last year (spidey didn't even have a down issue between Back in Black, OMD, and BND, so you know last year was too event crazy when you can't even register the changes).

One thing that confuses me is how important is registration in the marvel universe? It was full on heavy during civil war and the aftermaths, but it slowly lost its weight when Ms. marvel was willing to disobey it, no one is really chasing down the new avengers or spidey [spoiler](he's no longer registered)[/spoiler] or even Gravity (newish hero who was just revived). I don't even know how to react to registration threats anymore since it's not being made out to be a big deal or an issue beyond some mild mentions.

[spoiler]Anyway, it's nice to see cyclops having a mental convo with Jean and his father (since this is the first or second time he's acknowledged his dad's death) while he's sleeping with emma. It's also nice to see emma not so (word here) since everyone seems to write her that way and her development seems to have cooled quite a bit after Gen X or New X-men [Morrison].

Also, wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler adventure = nice. Kurt even returns to the image inducer.[/spoiler]

So, all in all, I'm interested to see what cyclops and emma come up with and it's nice that they acknowledged the Xavier mystery. It's nice to see more of the savage land and a reason for them being there other than fighting magneto or dinosaurs. Heck, it's even nice to have cyclops actually think and analyze things instead of reacting for once. It's just a nice issue so I'll rate it... 7 out of 10.

What happened to Hepzibah in Messiah CompleX?  I read X-force today, and...
[spoiler]
it opens with a statement that she was badly wounded.  Did I miss that?  There was no other follow up in the comic, so I was left wondering.
[/spoiler]

She was hit by acid from Predator X in the final issue, but it wasn't made out to be a huge deal.

I'll post again with my thoughts on the newest issues in a bit.

Update:

Uncanny
[spoiler]Nothing wrong with this issue but I didn't find it overly interesting. I really only picked it up because it was still on my pull list from Messiah CompleX, and because I was hoping for some aftermath of the crossover, of which there was little. I'm not planning to follow the rest of this arc.[/spoiler]

X-Force
[spoiler]This book has a bloody variant, and trust me that's what you'll find inside. Easily the most graphic X-Men comic I've ever seen. But it's a really good issue. The Purifiers have restored Bastion and Rhane has been captured, maybe even shot. [/spoiler]

Ok, My minor, not so spoiler heavy, thoughts on:

X-factor:

[spoiler]Another down time issue that seems to be setting up some storylines and sending off Rahne to appear in X-force. The purifiers have been featured heavily this week and oddly enough, Rahne isn't really getting any shine time in any of the books she appeared in. Well she got some here, but she doesn't really do much as compared to the others in the book. I will say that it was kinda brave of Jamie to go against the purifiers on his lonesome. Oh, I was all ready to make a point about his tattoo, but that was solved pretty nicely. One point for you, X-books...one point to you.[/spoiler]

X-force:

[spoiler]When I read Pod's comment about the blood, I thought he was joking. I didn't see a drop of blood through most of the story and then...wow. Ignoring that, it's nice to see wolverine as the voice of reason again and he's really protective of X-23. Too bad no one listens to him. Oh, I'm kinda disappointed with Rahne's lack of use in this issue...but, I'll give it a chance.
[/spoiler]

So overall, it's nice to see most of the xbooks dealing with the aftermath and they all seem on the same page for once. Now, if the space xmen could finally come home and the writers would give Vulcan some off-time and actually make him likable or actually give him depth, I'd be happier. In fact, I hope Marvel girl or someone comes to earth to update the team (CYCLOPS) or at least tie into the annihilation event considering the ending to Emperor Vulcan.

What was the deal with Madrox's tattoo?  Most of the time it wasn't there, but I noticed it at least once...

And please, spoil me: how did the Emperor Vulcan mini end? 

Edited to add:

I was just looking at the end of Messiah CompleX, and Hepzibah is well enough after the acid splash to fight lots more afterwards - she's quite obviously on-panel a lot beyond that point.  Weird.

Quote from: Talavar on February 14, 2008, 03:22:39 PM
What was the deal with Madrox's tattoo?  Most of the time it wasn't there, but I noticed it at least once...

And please, spoil me: how did the Emperor Vulcan mini end? 

Jamie's tat:

[spoiler]It was explained in a bit of exposition/thought that Jamie's tattoo is hidden by makeup. It reappeared when he was fighting because it was washed off by sweat.[/spoiler]

Emperor Vulcan:

[spoiler]The ending wasn't great but...going by memory

• Havok was willing to kill Vulcan, but he was caught off guard by the imperial guard. Vulcan then captured him as a hostage.
• Lorna and the starjammers were captured by the imperial guards and used to get alex to surrender
• Marvel girl and Korvus were sent off to deal with a weapon Vulcan fired off. As a result, they escaped captivity and are stuck in space with Lilandra
• Lilandra's uncle allowed her to escape and joined Vulcan's side
• Vulcan is accepted as the new shi'ar emperor because he saved them by taking out the Scy'ar
• The final scene is vulcan, the guards, and the captured x-men on the shi'ar planet as he declares to return the sh'iar empire to glory and his ongoing disdain for Xavier continues...

[/spoiler]

So as a mini series, nothing was really accomplished...just vulcan's story dragged out across another book and now it'll have to be dragged out even more  since the characters in space are important to the general x-men community and have several ties to all the x-men. I expected more from Yost especially since most of the series was good.


EDIT: Cable 1 preview- http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12946

There's not really anything to review this week, X-men wise, except Ultimate X-men and probably new exiles from last week (as I dont read wolverine origins), so I guess I'll do that. I doubt anyone cares at this point, but, whatever.

New Exiles 2:

[spoiler]Um, I can honestly say it was better than the first issue. That's about it. It's a claremont book. You either love it or hate it. I happen to hate most of his current work. Enough of that, the book: Mind control is already in the picture, vampires, aquagambit, aqua black panther, storm, wolverine, fan4 dead except susan who adapted to underwater life and married aqua black panther and aquagambit is her son...that's about it. This story, as far as I can tell, is only better because sage isnt weighing down the book with her lame personality and her ever so complex issues/backstory that gets worse every time claremont touches her. Rogue is kinda annoying and she calls gambit, "G", alot. Like...it appeared 12 or so time within a few pages. Sabretooth still has a major crush on psylocke and he kisses her next issue. Psylocke finally got a new costume and more of her torso is shown. There's really nothing I can expand upon. All the previous problems with claremont's work and the exiles in general still persists as he's yet to give them a reason for staying together fixing realities and I still don't know what male mystique (mystiq) can do. He won't get around to addressing these issues until probably next year since he has long drawn out plans for everything.[/spoiler]

All I can say is, I can't wait for Cornell's new book. It's no longer named Excalibur but...Captain Britain and the MI:13 and it ties into the secret invasion. You can find more info here: http://comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=13031

Oh, next issue, Susan apparently creates an invisible plane. Points for that. But this...2.5 out of 5

Ultimate X-men:
[spoiler]
This book was slightly better but it really takes effort to stick with Kirkman at this point. Anyway, Angel died last issue and Dazzler is upset. The team gather up and battle apocalypse who barely flinches. Wolverine's arm is ripped out and apocalypse can apparently steal powers now. Nightcrawler and the morlocks show up to help out and the New X-men turn on them. Elsewhere, Kitty turns on Spider-man (and her costume seems to be purple now instead of blue...3 versions of that ugly costume...shame), and even further away, cyclops's team turn on the fan4. Apocalypse also has the power to control mutants. Overkill really. Fighting continues and apocalypse upgrades his armor. At the end, ultimate stryfe and ultimate onslaught show up. The end.[/spoiler]

If any of that excites you...go for it. I'd rate it a low 2 out of 5.

Next arc seems to deal with the legacy virus if the cover is anything to go by.

Extra:

Wolverine: Get Mystique

[spoiler]Suprisingly, I loved this issue. Such a simple premise and I don't know how far they can go with it, but it was a fine book for what it was. I can't say too much without spoiling like... a good part of the story, as you have to read it to really enjoy it, but this is probably the second time in recent history that I've liked a wolverine solo adventure. One thing though, it's kinda annoying that wolverine is written into everyone's history...let's cut that out marvel. He can't be everywhere regardless of what you want us to think. [/spoiler]

Though, I'm still wary of Cyclops's new direction. Sure he's more interesting, but he'll catch the Xavier symptom soon if they don't limit the darker tone.

Misc:

For those that care, Claremont will have another xbook soon: Genext...a book about the future kids of the xmen. It sounds interesting, but unless claremont has his mind together and his writing skills are finally tamed and polished, I may have to skip on it. Other upcoming books: http://comics.ign.com/articles/852/852987p6.html

All I can say is...YAY, Angel book! Perhaps he can be the first other xman to have a successful solo book...but its based on his origins so...*shrugs* Same thing with Colossus.

I'm actually enjoying Wolverine as well. I started picking this up during Loeb's run and decided not to drop it when I heard Aaron was coming on board. I haven't been disappointed.

Wolverine: Origins

I expected big things from this title when it was first announced. It's finally taken 20 issues for Way to produce an entertaining story arc.

[spoiler]Starting with issue 21 (or the epilogue of #20) Deadpool is hired to kill Wolverine. I think Way has a real knack for writing Deadpool. Though he portrays him as being a bit more intelligent. But, also a bit weirder then the comedic assassin with randomly vague analogies and quick one liners that Nicieza writes him to be.

Anyways to the story. Wolverine continually brushes of Wade's challenges as a joke for 2 issues until he eventually pisses him off at the end of #22. Wolverine is finally ticked off. Doesn't sound very intriguing, but Way executes it pretty darn well, surprisingly.[/spoiler]

Warning, detailed reviews ahead:

Reviews:

X-men Legacy:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_xmencover.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/xmencover.jpg)

Well, the first issue of Legacy and no one has posted. I guess I'll start.

[spoiler]This issue is all about Xavier and he's traveling down that lane we call memory. The book actually starts off (Xavier has a weird head sometimes) with Xavier and Moira having dinner to discuss mutants. This memory takes place after their engagement and probably just after he and Magneto parted ways. Doesn't matter as his memory is altered by the image of Bishop shooting him in the head...again.

For those that thought Mastermind would walk away unharmed, well, she still hasn't appeared yet. She may be extremely hurt or actually dead and therefore spending time with her father. If they really want another illusionist, they still have one "Lady Mastermind" to go. Odd that that whole family seems to have illusion powers.

Anyway, it seems Xavier psychic blocks are automatic and they were built up during his time in the Korean war. I kinda like that explanation and it would explain how he is able to teach the x-men how to resist psychic probes on a level, me thinks. Anyway, Exodus and most of the marauders want to rebuild Xavier's psyche because they realized that the mutant race needs its champions and protectors. What a noble cause...

You know, this brings to mind a problem that I wasn't able to suspend long. All of the remaining marauders and most of the X-men seem fine and without scars. Everyone just seems to be up and walking again and I doubt even a week has passed. Come on writers, we can at least acknowledge that every one fought hard and should be sore. That's all I ask.

Back to the issue, Karima seems to be back to normal. Thank you Pixie as I kinda like Karima. It's also nice that she's looking out for Xavier. Xavier needs all the friends he can get now. It'll be interesting to see her interact with the X-men again considering...

You know, Chuck must have something going on if he can keep getting women to fall in love with him. It's odd...the x-men must have some type of power over the opposite sex. Their lovers never seem to want to let them go. I'm not sure if that's good or bad yet. Also, the O5 X-men are referenced in another memory...perfect lead-in into my next review.

[/spoiler]

This issue, I give a 4 out of 5. It got my attention and it references a few stories from the past that old time readers might enjoy. Also, a certain mutant shows up in the end...finally doing something since we last saw him in Uncanny. However, this is not an action book. Consider it yet another downtime issue.

X-men First class:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_cover.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/cover.jpg)

You guys know by now how much I love me some X-men first class as I believe the early X-stories were fun and unique for the time period. You guys really need to go back to that time period and look at some of the stories Stan and co pulled out of their collective butts that made the X-men what they were. And hey, Polaris wasn't crazy yet...but her daddy issues were set in stone very early.

Why am I talking about Polaris when this issue has nothing to do with her? No idea. Anyway, this issue focuses on the girl trio of Jean, Scarlet Witch, and Natalia...I mean Natasha/Black Widow. Nick Fury also makes an appearance plus the very odd named Dum Dum Dugan.

I want to mention that I like that First Class capitalizes on the friendships of the X-men and some of their associates. That's something current marvel really doesn't do. I can't honestly remember the last time Scarlet Witch talked to the X-men just to talk. Anyway, Jean and Wanda are out ice skating and Natalia is looking for Wanda to get her to join shield. That's pretty much the whole plot in simple terms although, it's not the main idea behind the story at all.

[spoiler]I'll expand a bit though. Natalia gets Wanda alone and takes her along on one of her missions. Their mission: to stop Hydra from stealing the annorax (sub) for their own use. Of course they fail and are eventually captured, but we all know who wins in the end, right? My only problem? I wish there were more action scenes with the girls and the males barely did anything outside of Angel and Professor X. Not to mention this felt more like a Wanda issue that a Jean/Wanda issue, but whatever. Coming up next, Cyclops and Angel get their own issues to finish off the solo focus issues (Beast and Iceman already had theirs...unless they get another).[/spoiler]

Overall, I give it a 3.5 out of 5. This is taking into account that I didn't really like some of the art. The mini strip at the back of the book was also nice, but not as funny as the others. In fact, I'll just post it here for you guys to enjoy.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_mini.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/mini.jpg)

Bonus Review: HoM: Avengers- Complete series

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_HoMA.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/HoMA.jpg)

Well, this book came way too late for anyone to even care. I mean, HoM isn't exactly a loved series and it really crippled the X-books for a bit of time, but this series isn't really about mutants. It's about Luke's avengers and this time, the human race are equivalent to what the mutant race is in the 616 universe.

[spoiler]There's quite a few interesting ideas going on here. Luke was a prison inmate (wrongly accused and set up by a friend) and got his powers through a super soldier formula. He then goes on to build up his own team of Avengers after he takes over Hammerhead's gang and moves to Japan town. What's interesting is that in this book, Luke is clearly a criminal (in the government's eyes), but he's leading a team that is known for their righteous deeds. However, he's fighting for what the X-men have always fought for...equal treatment between homo-sapiens and homo-superiors. I like the role reversals. Just to note, this series takes place over a few years.

Another interesting idea, the relationship between Luke and tigra (and later...find out). I wouldn't have expected it. There's way too many moments to really name, so I'll focus on some stuff that really caught my attention. It seems with the mutants in control, the humans are treated much worse than the mutants were/are in 616 marvel. Way worse. The mutants even seem to be taking over the police force. I kinda like that idea as it reinforces what the humans on 616 Earth fear. Oh, Thunderbird works for the FBI...that's pretty cool. He's a total (word) though :P Not to mention that Punisher is actually on a team for a short time in this book; a strike force consisting of Boom Boom, Avalanche, Blob, Wolfsbane, and Taskmaster. Quite a team, I'd say.

Another thing I liked, Thunderbird (John Proudstar) is shown to be quite conniving and cunning. He's quite a bad guy in this book and he's not above manipulating people to do his dirty deeds (See Misty Knight). He literally doesn't care about sapiens at all. Quite a spin on his character. To counter that, Luke is just as smart and convinced his old enemies to join his side. Imagine, if you can, Luke Cage teaming up with Kingpin, Elektra, Black Cat, or even Bullseye...then imagine it not lasting long. I also enjoyed that Shang Chi and Iron Fist got fairly big roles in this series. Shang Chi isn't a character I see much of, nor mockingbird, so I'm loving getting alternate takes on all these characters. Though, Tigra has to have the worse luck ever. In the past 3 years, I've seen her beaten, bruised, shot, and now killed (from what looks like a bullet to the breast?)...it doesn't pay to be a catwoman. Lesson learned.
[/spoiler]

So yeah, this book is a very good series and you guys should go pick it up (hopefully it'll come out in trades). You don't need any knowledge about the HoM event or the characters at all, imo. It's pretty self contained and everyone is written in an interesting way. Gage is a good writer (probably should've taken over New Avengers as I like his Luke more), so go give him a shot. This book...4.2 out of 5. Very entertaining and nice art...Win/Win. It just came too late for anyone to really consider it. It's easily the best HoM/elseworld book I've read...that's not saying much but still. The extra .2 points come from the Power Man joke. :D

Hopefully someone will add a New Warrior's review as...I haven't read the last 2 issues yet.

I got Legacy. I wasn't blown away or anything but it was kinda interesting. I'm expecting more in the next issues. I'd probably give it a 3/5. [spoiler]I like Exodus and the Acolytes, and having Karima and Magneto show up is a treat for me.

Lady M is considered deceased until proven otherwise by most fans. There's an easy out since she was never actually shown dead. She was a true traitor so I think the writers wanted to show her getting what she deserved. But she was a really well liked character so I kinda think she might show up again.

As for injuries. Exodus has a boatload of crazy powers, I'm sure he's got some healing ability in there somewhere. Tempo was hit in her helmet so you wouldn't actually see anything. Karima can self repair in a few minutes so nothing would show. Frenzy is fully invulnerable so she wouldn't have any visible injury. As for the X-Men Kurt's still got a limp and no one else was significantly hurt that couldn't have been healed in whatever vague downtime has occured between issues. And Chuck's got his nice bullet hole.

Karima was one of my favorites of Carey's X-Men. I like that Carey plays on her history with Charles from New Excalibur: Genosha. [/spoiler]


Some people, including you of course Prev, seem to love First Class but I can't seem to muster any interest in it. Maybe one day.

Hmm so the HOM mini was actually good. That's kinda cool, but I'm not really interested.

I could post some New Warriors reviews, but I'd probably have to go back and reread them.

New Warriors 8 & 9 reviews for Prev.
[spoiler]
8:
Donyell and Midnight's Fire fight until Silhouette stops them with her powers. Midnight's Fire is convinced that Donyell is indeed the original Night Thrasher. Then Night Thrasher enlists him for some mission. Sil isn't impressed. They go their separate ways. Midnight's Fire meets with a mysterious individual.

Then we see the rest of the New Warriors hanging at Beak and Angel's pad with their kids all running around. They question whether they're doing the right thing and bond.

Over at the Initiative base Ultra Girl is training her Junior Guardsmen, while Justice and Rage talk about the New Warriors. Rage thinks they should join the team.

comments:
The art in this is the complete opposite of Medina's in every way and I wasn't big on it at all. The Night Thrasher scenes were ok as was the Justice scenes, but the new team just looked too different. It's also a very stiff art, not the best for this book.

Beak's kids seem too old, but I was recently told that they might age faster because of the fly aspect of their former mutation so maybe meh. All the team scenes bugged me. I know lots of bonding happed off screen before the series started but the team seems way too friendly and normal for only the second story arc.

However all the old New Warriors stuff was a treat. I hope we see more of them in this book.

Also on a sadder note my center page in the issue has come off it's one staple :(

9:
The New Warriors (minus Thrash) fight the Alpha Clan. Most of the New Warriors have new or updated costumes. Sofia makes her debut as Renaissance using Doc Ock's tentacles. They're losing until Thrash shows up and uses an intangibility mode built into the team costumes. Chamber defeats them all with a sonic scream.

Jubilee complains to Chamber about Night Thrasher's mysterious ways and secrets. She's considering a mutiny. Chamber sticks up for him and admits that when Thrash brought him onto the team he was about to commit suicide because of how Apocalypse had changed him. Chamber confirms that Apocalypse didn't give him powers when he changed his body.

Kaz tells Thrash about Jubes, and then Thrasher enlists him for help in a secret project meant to deceive the team. Thrash alludes to...whatever his true plans are.

We get a scene with the cops and learn some of their backstory.

comments:
Nice to have Medina back. I like his art. New costumes are mostly neat but I wish he'd adjust Angel and Beak so they're altered looks are less drastic.

Cops bore me. I wish they weren't such a big part of this book. Thrash and his secrets is kinda interesting but it's going to get old eventually.

I really kind of wish this series had started at the beginning with Thrash first forming the team. I don't like how the characters interactions are working. The battle at the beginning of this issue gives no motivations for the villains. It just starts with them fighting and that's it.

Chamber being powerless is technically a retcon and I don't like it. Clan Akkaba wouldn't have altered his body without giving him powers and it was stated that he had a omega level power signature. It just seems Grevioux wants his whole team to be depowered mutants.

This book has serious characterization issues, and structurally it's not working right, but somehow I still enjoy it. [/spoiler]

It was nice to see that Karima survived, and is de-possessed.  It kinda bummed me out that she was sort of written off as a traitor by the X-men, when she was actually mind-controlled, and no one made any attempt to de-mind control her.

Quote from: Podmark on March 02, 2008, 12:26:48 AM

Some people, including you of course Prev, seem to love First Class but I can't seem to muster any interest in it. Maybe one day.

Yes, I loves me some first class. I can honestly tell you that my liking for the original 5 x-men came during my work on my X-men: Classic mod (which psychopanda got me to do...the freak) cause before that, I didn't really care too much about a few of them. That was probably around the same time I was reading the first volume of X-factor and I realized that I liked the original dynamic but I still didn't like cyclops much. Ha. It's also my only source of Jean since she's "dead" (IE: white hot room finding herself) and appears irregularly now. First Class just happens to have the original X-men + guest stars + good stories, a win/win/win for me, if you will.

Many thanks for the New Warriors review. I lost interest sometime ago and Jubilee doesn't seem to have her personality anymore. She finally ages pass highschool student (again) and the personality she's always had seemed to just disappear.

On the injuries, yes, some characters are still limping about, but a pretty big battle went on. Some of them should still be a little sore or MIA for a bit, no big deal, but really. It was just harder for me to believe with the Marauders since they all seemed to be pretty good *seconds* after the big battle.

ANYWAY: PREVIEWS!

for those that liked the skunk (or now, cat skunk) hepzibah:  http://comicsnewsi.net/g/?mode=album&album=Marvel%2FUncanny_X-Men%2F496&dispsize=800&start=0

*note: Astonishing can't come fast enough. I don't know how I should read Colossus's emotions, or lack of, regarding his lover.

secret invasion- http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=13195

*it'll eventually tie into X-factor*

and that's it. Oh, um, anyone read the cable/deadpool final issue? Seems Deadpool is getting a solo book again and my hopes on that book lasting aren't so high right now.

Yeah New Warriors is getting bashed all over the place for poor characterization.

I've heard that this week's Uncanny spoils Kitty's fate.

I like First Class myself, but I don't love it.  It's been nice, solid tales of the X-men's early years, but nothing beyond that really grabs me. 

QuoteKarima was one of my favorites of Carey's X-Men. I like that Carey plays on her history with Charles from New Excalibur: Genosha.

She was a nice change of pace from the usual stand by characters that always make the rounds on the team, that was the nice thing about Carey's team, it included some more obscure characters by way of the ladies (Lady M and Kirima) that some fans might not have been aquinted with.

QuoteSome people, including you of course Prev, seem to love First Class but I can't seem to muster any interest in it. Maybe one day.

You're not alone, I feel the same way. It's because it takes place in the past and I've always found the original 5 as a team to be REALLY boring (it took me over a year to get through Essential X-Factor vol. 1, fortunately it picked up near the end)

QuoteHowever all the old New Warriors stuff was a treat. I hope we see more of them in this book.

I really want to see the Loners show up, hot on the heels of thier successfull mini. I'd also love to see Firestar show up.

QuoteThis book has serious characterization issues, and structurally it's not working right, but somehow I still enjoy it.

The writer does take some strong liberty with some of the characters, I also find myself liking it though for whatever reason.

QuoteOh, um, anyone read the cable/deadpool final issue? Seems Deadpool is getting a solo book again and my hopes on that book lasting aren't so high right now.

[spoiler] Yep. I bought it. It was a perfect sendoff for the series. Deadpool earned some temperary respect from Earth's Mightiest, Cable's presence was felt, if breifly (which was actually the artist/co-writer's idea, not Fabian's. He didn't want Cable in it. He's a bit bitter right now). Agent X is losing weight apparently, so future writers could potentially bring him back to his roots.  The book was full of great bonus material for fans, like pinup pages by several of the more prominent artists who worked on the series. I frequent the Deadpool message board and fans were all very happy with it. [/spoiler]

I'm not going to buy the new Deadpool ongoing until Way leaves it or some of the Simone/Fabian supporting characters show up.

Quote from: Previsionary on March 02, 2008, 11:38:34 AM
Oh, um, anyone read the cable/deadpool final issue? Seems Deadpool is getting a solo book again and my hopes on that book lasting aren't so high right now.

Congratulations! You managed to bring my hopes up, then quickly kill them, all in one sentence. :P

Quote from: Silver Shocker on March 03, 2008, 12:01:07 PM
I'm not going to buy the new Deadpool ongoing until Way leaves it or some of the Simone/Fabian supporting characters show up.

Has this new series been confirmed with Way on writing duties?

Quote from: murs47 on March 03, 2008, 01:41:16 PM

Has this new series been confirmed with Way on writing duties?

Yep it's confirmed.
http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.2705.Deadpool's_New_Way

That's good news! :D I've actually enjoyed Way's take on DP in Origins so far. Whether or not that's something I'd still enjoy after 8-12 issues is a different story. Way writes him as being actually crazy. You know, hallucinations and everything. Weird but funny still. DP's a bit more dry too, not as colorfully humorous as Nicieza writes him.

Hopefully Bob will still be a supporting cast member.
<--------- :)

I've looked at Way's wiki page and I haven't read anything on that list by him. I know Origins wasn't good, but can anyone actually name something they actually like by him (Yes, I have read at least one of his origins books, one of the deadpool issues, and I doubt I'd like to see him written like that for X # of issues)?

First class:

I realize it's not for everyone kinda like Wolverine: First Class (or Wolverine in general) won't be for everyone, but it's my fun time book since I barely have to keep up with continuity and their actions have been consistent thus far. Nothing epic or big has happened, but that also means I don't have to think much about what I'm reading to connect pieces. :P

What're the details on Wolverine: First Class?  Is this what First Class is turning into (boo) or another new title?

New title and it seems to focus on Wolverine and his first teen sidekick, Kitty Pryde. The New X-men (original/giant size) may show up irregularly because we all know we need more Wolverine books! :P

IIRC, the first arc is the usual Sabretooth fights Wolverine story. I think I posted more details a few pages back. In fact, I think it comes out...March 26th along with Legacy issue 2 and X-men First Class 10.


Off-topic, but, I didn't know Hobgoblin would be in the next Amazing SPider story. I might actually tune in to that story...maybe.


* http://www.myspace.com/xmenfirstclassfanpage  <---covers of several X-related books*

I've only read maybe one thing by Way, but I've never been impressed by him as a writer. I also doubt Way would use Bob or any other regular supporting characters from C&D.

Where'd you hear about the Hobgoblin Prev?

Quote from: Podmark on March 03, 2008, 06:08:41 PM
I've only read maybe one thing by Way, but I've never been impressed by him as a writer. I also doubt Way would use Bob or any other regular supporting characters from C&D.

Where'd you hear about the Hobgoblin Prev?

I was actually reading solicits and confused Amazing spider-girl with amazing spider-man...blah. Getting it either way. :P

LOL. Actually Spider-Girl has been pretty good lately. Hobgoblin is very cool in it (though he's actually been an active villain in the book since before the relaunch to "Amazing Spider-Girl")

Way wrote a fill-in issue of Agent X, the Venom ongoing that came out of Marvel's Tsunami line of new titles, and was the guy from the infamous Ant-Man MAX series interview.

I've heard really bad things about his Wolverine: Origins, but ironically really good things about the Deadpool arc in it.

Way has claimed he has some ideas for a supporting cast for his Deadpool book, and has said on the Cable & Deadpool message board that there is a very good chance he will have Siryn (a heavily recurring love interest in Deadpool's comics) appear.

Uncanny X-men 496:

[spoiler]Ok, the latest Uncanny issue is out and it's the only X-book I read so far. The down time issues aren't action heavy, but some questions were answered this issue. Seems Kitty maybe actually dead (no one knows for sure) and I'll assume she went out a hero (like Buffy) rather than a victim of circumstance. I'm really interested in why a certain celestial member is standing in [appropriate location] and yay for a Blob shout out. I figured he'd become as obscure as Pyro and his other friends have. NC's disguise really is interesting, to me, and it kinda reminds me of someone. Not sure who though. I am wondering why Hepzibah isn't with her latest beau and where exactly all these adventures fit in with each other. I mean, did Wolverine travel with his friends, then join X-force, then go to the middle east to track down Mystique? The boy gets around.[/spoiler]

Anyway, this issue...a stagnant 3 out of 5. I'd like a little more action, though the fight scene was nice, and the new direction needs to become more apparent in one of these books soonish. Oh...yay for a new emma hairdo.

As for spider-girl, yes, it is a good series, but Hob Goblin in Spider-man would've meant more to me as it'd mean the old villains were still running about and they were attempting to untangle some of the issues BND has hanging on it. Silly me. :P

I actually really enjoyed Uncanny this week.

It wasn't action intensive at all, but I really enjoy when the more up-tight/reserved characters like Colossus and Nightcrawler get to just talk for a while. The dynamic between them and wolverine was really nice to see in this issue. They acknowledged the long history X-men has had. These guys get nearly zero downtime, so I can appreciate a few downtime issues. It does a nice job of breaking things up and makes things feel a lot more natural than the recent trends of jumping from one major event to the next that some books are going through.

Skipped Uncanny but I got I read X-Force and it was just as good as the last issue. A nice twist too. I give it a 4.5/5 I didn't like the art quite as much this time around.

Did anyone get Cable? I'm waiting on reviews before giving it a shot. Might wait for a trade.

I find myself agreeing with Zippo. That whole segment of those three in the bar really brought a great sense of nostalgia and it was good just to see them sit and throw back a few after the MC debacle.

Cable - Fairly decent, I will definitely be picking up the next issue. The cliffhanger at the end isn't surprising at all. We all know who's going after Cable and the baby already. Hopefully Deadpool will show up soon. :lol:

No no, I think the book is good, probably one of Bru's better books as he gets to work with characters he likes, but the book also needs to make it's new direction more clear. That's a problem a few of the X-books have at the moment which is why I'm lenient on it for now. Not to mention that the timeline in the X-universe is pretty hard to figure out right now and we just came out of a crisis. It should be semi streamlined for a few issues at least, but of course wolverine had to be in 3 books + a mini and whedon's astonishing story is still going on. This makes, what, year 4?  ^_^

I really liked this issue of Uncanny X-men myself.  Logan, Colossus & Nightcrawler are my favourite X-men, and too often the latter 2 are pushed into the background.  It had a lot of nostalgia, particularly with the shout-out to Blob & a reference to looking for Juggernaut in the bar.

The celestial is standing around in San Francisco due to the events of the Eternals mini Neil Gaiman wrote last year I think. 

It's too bad the issue spoiled...
[spoiler]
Kitty's apparent demise, though I'd already figured as much, since she was the only current X-men character totally absent from Messiah Complex.  My theory on her death: to save Earth from the giant super-metal bullet, she has to make the whole thing insubstantial.  The effort (they mentioned several times how difficult it is for her to phase through this metal) either kills her, or she's trapped on it as it speeds through earth & into parts unknown).
[/spoiler]

Logan #1:

Ok, let's say it...OH MY GAH, WOLVERINE...AGAIN? Yes. Another wolvie book because he's the most profitable x-man ever and marvel won't take many chances with the other X-men for obvious reasons.

[spoiler]This book mainly stays in Wolverine's past in Japan during World War 2. He meets a soldier in prison and helps him to escape. During their escape, they meet a Japanese woman who the American soldier wants to kill. Wolverine refuses and he and the soldier part ways (though the Soldier continues to keep watch on him). Wolvie and the Japanese woman apparently...share a bed. Oh...apparently he's in Hiroshima...during a certain event.[/spoiler]

Ok, it's really hard for me to like Wolvie stories because Wolverine is written so...I dunno, bad lately. Everyone tends to overdo the grit and forget that he's a smart man and he does occasionally spit wisdom to his teammates. With that said, I liked the book so far. I'll give it a 3.5. It loses points on some of the art though. Someone needs to write a wolverine book I'll hate, dannit. :P

X-force #2:

[spoiler]Rahne, rahne, rahne...listen to the man named Wolverine sometimes. Her situation in X-force seems like it'll be something to really shake up her core character. Although, I feel like her big reveal was done before...somewhere. I'll need to check. Of course, I'll just assume this is introducing the concept to new readers and I'm ok with that.

X-23, I really want to know why she's on this mission. I really hope she doesn't lose all her humanity and Young X-men can't come soon enough to help fill in some of the gaps on some of her behavior...if it even does that. Maybe Cyclops gave Laura more info than the other X-forcers...who knows. Though her thoughts, if one can call them that, are starting to become sage-esque and that worries me. Sage is one of the worse X-females I've ever seen of late.

Bastion...I want Iceman to come back and fight him. That was probably Iceman at his strongest until recently. Iceman hasn't pulled off any of the tricks he's used on Bastion in forever and a day.[/spoiler]

Overall, I give this book a 4. I'm not really keen on most of the art, but it is interesting and fits the book. I also like that this book clearly has a direction...but it is full of violence.

Cable #1:

Cable is one of those X-men I like in small dosages. I can't get behind his character, but he's so intertwined in X-history. I'll try to stay objective in my thoughts.

[spoiler]The first thing that stands out to me is the art. It looks like 3d images or photos were used for the background and a photoshop filter were run over them. Me no likey that.

Secondly, Cable really needs to find a better way to secure that baby. I just can't imagine a baby surviving in the conditions Cable is putting her in. Also, this is the second bloody X-related book. If you don't like blood, guns, or knives...skip-a-hoy, matey.

Anyway, this is a dystopia or something right? Diners aren't usually in dystopias. Unique. Also...Bishop's actions didn't make any sense, but that's just me. Not to mention...I want that metal arm to go away. [/spoiler]

This book...2.5. I've nothing more to really say about it. Oh, is it me, or did this book feel kinda short? Maybe it's just me...whatever.

---------------

For some spoilers, check out this link: http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=13229 . Info and pics for X-factor and Wolverine. YAY in a CAN!

Don't forget this:

Young X-men (out in april, btw): http://images.comicbookresources.com/previews/marvelcomics/youngxmen/01/Young-X-Men-Alt-Cover-Final.jpg

Sidenote: X-O Manowar is being re-released as a hard cover if any of you guys care. It was a good series initially. I urge you guys to check it out if only to know where he came from (if you only know him from the Great Hunt mod).

Another sidenote: If anyone reads Buffy...color me shocked.

Don't expect Young X-Men to fill any gaps for X-23. I expect that book to be a fairly clean break.

Wolfbane's reveal was from an Excalibur issue back in the day.

And Buffy...yeah it was...interesting.

You know, after reading X-Force #2, Uncanny and Cable weren't really that great compared to it. It's a blood fest, but at least that's not the focal point. I'm pretty happy with the direction of this title, surprisingly.

The Last Defenders #1:

That's right, they're back and the new team is: Colossus, She-hulk, Blazing Skull, and Nighthawk

[spoiler]Starting with the art, it was average. Nothing really stood out to me except the quetzacoatl and I barely remember that at the moment. I really wasn't into this book and I only got it to see what Colossus was up to. It's nice to see that Jen and Tony are still at odds and that played a part into why she joined the team, but it doesnt seem like anyone but Nighthawk and Colossus want to be on this team anyway. Speaking of Colossus, I don't understand his purpose on the team at all. Everyone in the book comes off as bland and the conflict between Blazing Skull and Colossus just came off as forced to me. Now, I'm not a big Blazing Skull fan, so I don't know if his goofy/non-serious attitude is the norm, but he was reminding me of a badly written Iceman/human torch or even a non-4th-wall breaking Deadpool. Anyway, this book didn't hold me, but it's easy enough for new readers to jump into...well...until you get to the villains. Actually, no, it's not new reader friendly, really. Forget I said that.[/spoiler]

So overall, I go with a 2 out of 5. A lot of plots/ideas were stuffed into this issue (many villains...and it's supposedly a mini-series...), but nothing that I particularly cared about. I guess because I don't have a huge interest in half of the cast and their histories. Oh...this is the New Jersey team of the 50 states plan...this is probably team number 13 (out of 50) or so...

*note* Blazing Skull, not the Blazing Skrull...just clarifying.


I'll add the other X-related reviews later when I have time to read them...unless Podmark or someone beats me to it. :P

edited to add: Defenders Defenestrate!

I think Blazing Skrull always acts like that. Haven't really read much with him but I've seen some preview pages and such and thats the impression I got.

Quote from: Podmark on March 12, 2008, 07:22:19 PM
I think Blazing Skrull always acts like that. Haven't really read much with him but I've seen some preview pages and such and thats the impression I got.

Yeah, he does. I did some quick research and realized that (missed New Invaders). However, he just wasn't written well in this issue. None of the team particularly were and it just felt awkward. Even taking into account the Invaders's general premise.

Wolverine #63:

[spoiler]Ok, it's very scary that I'm liking so many wolverine stories at one time. I expect the world to explode or something because that should never happen. Not for Wolverine! Anyway, this is a continuation of the mystique storyline. This issue was pretty fun and pretty bloody. Wolverine was shot...alot. He also cut off someone's fingers in a flashback. I'm kinda liking the Mystique/Wolverine dynamic (regardless of the retcon magic [I think] going on). It's really nice to see how sneaky Mystique can be with her shapeshifting without really having to lay a finger on anyone. Heck, she didn't use a gun or a weapon at all this issue...but she did...[go find out][/spoiler]

ANYWAY, Wolverine has slept with every woman in the X-universe, I'm convinced of this. What is it about this short, dirty little man that makes women want to be his? The world will never know.

Rating: 4 out of 5

X-factor #29:

[spoiler]Rictor and Rahne will probably have a little drama between them later on. Interesting. The fight between Siryn and Jamie was interesting because like M said, it was like an episode of Three's company because the misunderstanding arguments happened like every episode. The twist in the middle of the book really caught my attention, so I'm currently interested in what happens next. It's sad that the whole team is falling apart though, but it's expected. I'm just surprised that Jamie didn't confront Cyclops or Emma about the situation. BTW, is forge still kicking or what? No one seemed to care about him...not even Storm. *shrugs*
[/spoiler]

But yes, I enjoyed the issue and that the team stopped focusing on Rahne and Layla long enough to do a mission, forced or not. Also, Spider-man shout out. I give it a 3.5 out of 5. The extra points come from the re-emergence of a villain that I haven't seen in awhile.

New Exiles #3:

Ok, um...what's there to say.

[spoiler]Well, this issue focused on sabretooth, Psylocke, Rogue, and the alternate Gambit, alternate Sue, and alternate Namor again. Yes, these three without the other exile members actually make the book tolerable, but not by much. This issue features mind control. You might be thinking, "of course," but there's a twist. Sabretooth and Psylocke are immune to it. WOW... Anyway, somewhere in there, Rogue calls Gambit "G" again, Sabretooth kisses Psylocke, and the three fight the lame Bloodforce with members including, don't laugh, Bloodwitch, Blackdog, Sandstorm, Iron Maiden, etc. Oh, Black Panther is an actual african female this time around and Ororo and her lover, Wolverine, hate her or whatever. oh, Mystiq (male mystique) is still missing or something. I don't know...I don't even know his powers yet. I'll just assume he shapeshifts and leave it there.[/spoiler]

My problems with Exiles lately is that no matter how hard I try, I can't get into the book. Even reading/browsing it at the store feels like a chore because it feels so ridiculous. Psylocke hasn't used her teke powers in a very long time now and I don't even know if she has them anymore. There's interesting things here and there, like why Rogue is so afraid of flying and wants to hide, but it's not enough to really hook anyone that doesn't like claremont's work (see letter pages). Speaking of the letter pages...I've never laughed at an exiles book like that in a long time. Thank you letter page writers for your undying love of claremont and your blatant lies that you clearly do not see. I will treasure it for a few more seconds and then it will be purged along with psylocke from the recesses of my mind.

Ranting over...I give it a 2.5 or whatever. Does it matter? You're not reading it.

Prev, I'm with you on Wolverine, it's a good ook right now. I really like how Aaron actually delves into, and reveals parts of Wolverine's past. More importantly, he makes it interesting and entertaining. This is what I thought Origins was going to be.

Wait, why does a Russian immigrant suddenly have the urge to be one of New Jersey's sole protectors? That makes no sense, no matter how well you try to write it. I know it's all fictional, but you have to have some semblance of believability to immerse the reader.

X-Factor was more of the same. Which is good, cause I like it the way it is.

I'm curious as to who the X-Factor villain's client was. I imagine we'll find out in an issue or two, but like one of the characters in the book said, who would have a reason to go after X-Factor?

Quote from: Silver Shocker on March 13, 2008, 01:08:28 AM
I'm curious as to who the X-Factor villain's client was. I imagine we'll find out in an issue or two, but like one of the characters in the book said, who would have a reason to go after X-Factor?

Quicksilver?
Madrox from the future?
Tryp?
Wolverine?
Tony Stark?
Skrulls?

New Exiles review (http://freedomreborn.net/archive/index.php?topic=44997.msg638735#msg638735) added.  :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Where is Quicksilver anyway? He's been MIA for quite awhile now.

Quicksilver will be in a X-Factor one shot next month I think. Or the month after. Can't remember.

Also new X-Factor news:

[spoiler]Darwin and Longshot will be joining the cast:
http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.2890.X-Factor_Week%7Ecolon%7E_Enter_Longshot_%26_Darwin
[/spoiler]

I knew about Darwin...but Longshot? That's interesting. And Dazzler will be in X-men, iirc. Wonder if their relationship, or whatever it was when Claremont wrote them off exiles/excalibur, is still intact.

Darwin is cool, but god I hate Longshot.  Couldn't one of the X-events have quietly purged him?

I dunno, I've never had a problem with Longshot. I just hate that he's stuck with the "Sting in DUNE" look for so long. Anyone know if the lucky mullet man is going to get an image update?

X-Men news from WWLA panels:

Layla Miller will get a one-shot like Quicksilver.
X-Factor will have a She-Hulk crossover and a tie-in to Secret Invasion.

Matt Fraction will be joining Ed Brubaker with Uncanny X-Men 500 and their run will feature a rotating cast and Greg Land and Terry Dodson rotating on art. Dazzler will join in 501. Pixie was also confirmed to be a member. The X-Men will apparently be moving to San Fransico.

From preview art Astonishing appears to feature Cyclops, Emma, Beast, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm and Armor.

Wither and Elixir are confirmed to appear in X-Force.

Interesting news from WWLA.  I expected more of a roster mix-up for Astonishing; aside from Storm & Nightcrawler added, and Colossus out, that's basically the current line-up.

Matt Fraction joining Brubaker on Uncanny is probably good.  Bru's run on Uncanny has never felt like it's quite as good as it should be.

My problem with Longshot is multi-part.  I hate his look, his luck-power, Mojo-world & almost everything associated with Mojo (need I mention X-babies?), Dazzler...

Interesting news and I find it odd that all 5 x-men leaders (including emma who has a bad relationship with storm) are on one team. I kinda wanted Iceman/Angel to come back because they just came back out of limbo recently.

Anyway, I don't think they'll be playing with Mojo for awhile. Mojo wasn't mentioned at all during Longshot's tenure with the exiles...but then again, he didn't do anything special either. He is constantly happy and his luck powers should prove useful to the X-factors....I just don't know his reasoning for joining them. Maybe the first story arc will involve a haircut. :P

One of the main reasons cited for brubaker's um...uncanny arcs were that he didn't get to work with the characters he wanted. I'm hoping that's not the true excuse because that's just a sucky reason.

Anyway, depending on when Last Defenders take place, I guess this explains why Colossus is protecting New Jersey...with She-hulk. -_-

Here's something interesting, X-Force #1 was the #1 comic in February based on these sales rating system that I don't really understand:

http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Feb08sales.html

EDIT:
I'm hearing that the Astonishing cast is actually just Cyclops, Emma, Wolverine, Beast, Storm and Armor. Apparently Bianchi is designing costumes for all the X-Men though.

Since X- Factor is the only X- book I read, the new addition to the team is... interesting. Not a fan of Longshot, but hey, the team needs some good luck. Darwin, on the other hand, I think is great. An interesting power and next to no backstory makes him perfect for Peter David. I mean, look what he did with Layla Miller! She went from a one- note plot point in House of M to one of Marvel's favorite characters.

So true. Layla was for me the most enjoyable part of the book.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I've grown to like Longshot. I've been reading the Essential X-Men volumes that reprint the "Fall of the Mutants" era/Australian era stories, and I found Longshot to be very funny. Of course, I havn't really read any modern stuff with him, so who knows if I'd enjoy how he is generally written these days? I also think Darwin is a character with a lot of potential so a good writer or two could do wonders with him.

X-men First Class #10:

The all cyclops issue, coming your way. I should preface this by saying that I don't really like cyclops and I havent liked him in years. His cool factor may have risen a bit, but he's still Mr. lame McPout pout to me. :P Bobby captures my exact feelings on cyclops with this joke: "What happened to the piece of wood when Cyclops talked to it? It got board! HIT ME!"

Exactly...lame and correct.

[spoiler]Lameness aside, the actual review starts here. This story focuses solely on Cyclops, though the other x-men make cameo appearances. Apparently they all got sick on a mission, excluding cyclops, and are having the runs of sorts. Meanwhile, cyclops is sent on a mission to hunt down a mutant killer. Since Xavier can't really track the killer down himself, Cyclops has to do the footwork alone and he doesn't really shine at it from his own admission. While he's traveling in the forest tracking the mutant killer down, he's attacked by some deformed mutant that seems to know his name and that he also is a mutant. The Killer easily overpowers cyclops until he uses his cunning to overthrow the giant killer. The killer, Frederick nolastname, seems to have the power of telepathy, but he doesn't know how to turn it off. This allows him to be able to read cyclops mind, and later block Xavier, with ease and pull out all sorts of information--like the red-head that cyclops claims would kill the killer. The killer mutant also seems to have a high healing factor and above-normal strength and durability. It is revealed that the killer kidnapped a bunch of people because they ruined his life (and his father's) and he wanted to make them pay by keeping them in a cave and lecturing them everyday about the parts they played in ruining his life.[/spoiler]

Overall, I enjoyed this issue and I'm kinda surprised that they dealt with cyclops having to potentially kill another mutant in a generally light-hearted book. I give it a 3 out of 5. Not only does it tie in really well with current Cyclops after Messiah Complex, but it held my attention. The only thing I didn't like was how cyclops was drawn in costume in some panels.


Wolverine: First Class #1:

Look, y'all! A new wolverine book. The market is probably saturated with all the Wolverine books that keep popping up. He's not that interesting marvel, just an fyi. Anyway, if you need your non-spidey, non-exiles, Kitty fix, find her here in her younger, more carefree, bad style days.

[spoiler]The book starts out with kitty writing in her diary and we get the first indication of her crush on Peter...who speaks really good English in his first panel for some reason. All the New X-men make a cameo in the first 2 pages while playing a game of volleyball. Only person missing is the star of the book and he shows up a typical fashion, by ruining the fun for the others. There's the old moody wolverine we used to know and love...or hate. Anyway, I'm not sure where exactly this story should fit into continuity because Kitty and Nightcrawler seem to get along pretty well, but kitty and storm don't seem especially close right now. If you know their history at all, then you'd also point out that Wolverine had his brown costume when Kitty arrived. I guess they're going for the costume that more people know about. But back to the story, Wolverine is sent on a mission to track down an exceptionally strong mutant in west virginia (Cyclops went there too in his solo issue...) and only one mutant will be sent as backup. Wolverine wants colossus because of the speedball special, but he also wants Angel because it'd allow him to catch a hockey game on tv. Instead, he gets...you guessed it, Kitty Pryde on her first mission ever! Of course Wolverine isn't too thrilled about this and the dialogue between Xavier and Logan is pretty good. Point is, Kitty goes with him and that's that. The dialouge between Kitty and Wolverine in the X-jet is also quite good. Anyway, the duo make it into a town and are attacked by a large group of humans. The two are forced to run for cover and, after a short jog, are trapped inside of a store to fight for their lives. Kitty escapes, but Wolverine goes into classic berserker mode and even attacks Kitty when she returns to the scene with the truth behind the town's actions. Eventually, Wolverine loses his rage and the pair find the cause of the problem. A mutant with the ability to project her emotions to those around her. She was in trouble and, being a rookie and completely untrained, her powers sent the town that completely embraced her as a mutant, into a fear-induced rage. With the problem solved, the x-men go home and a nice thing happens...Kitty and Wolverine begin to bond...by wolverine popping wheelies without a helmet. Such an aww moment if I ever heard of one.[/spoiler]

Ok, I...enjoyed the book. The art was very nice and I enjoyed it over X-men first class. Wolverine didn't annoy me like he usually does and he was written pretty nicely. Kitty didn't annoy me like she started to once she joined Astonishing. Every thing was just good. So, I'll give it...a 3.5 out of 5. Read it if you don't want blood, murder, swears, and the epic-ness of the typical X-book. Oh, next issue...typical Sabretooth/Wolverine birthday fight. Fun in a can.


I'll add the other reviews later since no one else has. We missed a whole week...well...one Wolverine book. Where were ya, Murs? :P

For now, I'll leave you with Young X-men previews: Comic Book Resources (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=215224)

Quote
For now, I'll leave you with Young X-men previews: Comic Book Resources (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=215224)

Character defining banter, expositionary narration, Blindfold's unique speech conventions, a surprise (to me at least, the character in the last scene) good art (again, IMO).

I approve.  :thumbup:

X-men Legacy #209:
         [spoiler]I find it interesting that Carey is addressing how the marauders feel about Magneto now. I really wish they'd get to the bottom of whether Erik is powerless or not.  I'm pretty sure he got them back in Uncanny when he found those diaries, but every issue since has pointed out he's powerless. I guess I'll wait to see where this heads. I love that Karima is still around and she's interacting with both Xavier and Magneto. I also loved all the references to the fights the X-men have had against Magneto and his various brotherhoods. Karima seems to have some of the worse luck. Cargill beat the stuffing out of her, but, Cargill was also blinded and had her brain damaged. Magneto, even as a powerless hume, you can still wreck some damage. I can't wait for next issue, Xavier vs. exodus should be fun.

     Oh, I did skip over a good amount of this issue because a lot of it has to be read for you to truly get the jist of it. The dialogue between Xavier and Magneto (and even Magneto's speech to Karima) were all very good. It addresses some things that people have been thinking for awhile.  Xavier, and Magneto, have become largely irrelevant to the survival of mutant kind ever since Wanda pulled off her magic mojo.
[/spoiler]

This issue, I give it a 3 out of 5. Tis a nice issue, but if the book hasn't grabbed your attention from issue 1, then this issue won't grab it either.


Ultimate X-men #92:

    First off, I just want to say that I can't wait until Kirkman leaves this book because his talent isn't showing through on this series at all. I have read a few issues of his invincible run, and while I didn't like the dialogue in the early issues either, he seemed much better over there than he does here. There's just too much wrong with his run pass, um, Date Night to really praise anything about it.

    [spoiler]Anyway, the book starts off with Wolverine in the hospital. His arm is still missing and if he's truly Cable, it might not ever grow back since Cable doesn't have a healing factor. Wolverine is bandaged up and a doctor is telling him to go back to his room and wait for help. Wolverine does the typical thing of a patient and tells him off and asks for the direction of the nearest exit. Ahhh, Wolverine, doing the smart thing since 1970. Last issue, we were left with a cliffhanger of two new challengers entering Apocalypse's war. Ultimate Onslaught and ultimate Stryfe (I believe). Their identities are revealed to be, Cable and Xavier. I can tell you now that I was so surprised that I had to drink a bottle of water. Ok, no I wasn't. Xavier reveals himself to Jean and explains that he now has the power to block out apoc's control over the other mutants. Yay? During the battle that is taking several lives, The X-men, Cable, and Xavier decide it's a great time to explain what happened and why Cable kidnapped Xavier, took him into the future, fixed his spine, and gave him a new ugly costume. Great minds think alike. Cable also reveals that Bishop and he were working together. Too bad Wolverine probably killed the poor sap. Side note, Ultimate Onslaught/Xavier has some ugly hands/claws.

    Xavier is the ultimate plan to stopping Apocalypse. It doesn't happen the way he planned, like usual. It seems that in cable's future, Xavier is killed by apocalypse and ultimately, apocalypse won the war. Now that Xavier is alive and has been prepared for the battle, the tides should have turned. Too bad Apocalypse is resistant to whatever psychic trick Xavier pulled and headbutted the frick out of him. After a few more blows are thrown, and Apocalypse is clearly winning, Xavier tries to block his powers and pushes himself too far. Apocalypse once again over powers him and attempts to steal his powers. Jean, watching nearby, won't allow that to happen and begs to the phoenix avatar to save her mentor. The phoenix is fully born and, as of now, reminds me of magma or the girl from ultimate spider-man. And the issue ends. The next cover shows wolverine with his arm back...hrm...conundrum.[/spoiler]

    I still don't really care for kirkman's writing, but this issue was probably one of his better ones. 2.5 out of 5. Some of the art brings it down and that's about it. It's also nice he finally does something with the phoenix since he's been teasing it for the longest time.


Special Review:  Ultimate Spider-man #120

Why you ask? Well, the X-men guest starred. It is an X-thread, people. I guess you're wondering why the other issues weren't included since Kitty and Iceman have appeared; well, Kitty is no longer an X-man and is now supporting cast material and Bobby was just a cameo. Now the whole team is crossing over so it seems more...X-worthy. As such, I will only focus on the X-related scenes and give minor details here and there.
If you're reading the book, then you all know the past two issues has been about Liz coming to terms with her mutant abilities and the book is kinda referencing the old Spidey and his amazing friends cartoon that was on TV just last year. I will say that these issues didn't turn out like anything I initially expected, but I've enjoyed every issue. None of them has been action heavy so far, but that's ok when the writing can pull it off. Not every issue should be fighting and explosions...we don't want power rangers on our hands.

[spoiler]Anyway, this issue, Magneto shows up and confronts Liz on her newly discovered mutant abilities. He's trying to tell her something about her father, but Bobby and Peter keep fighting him off. Of course, they expect the worse from someone that has pulled off so many evil tricks in the past. Do you blame them for caring about the girl's safety? I find it hilarious how often Ms. Allen finds herself without clothes. Looks like she'll need to talk to Johnny about how he keeps his clothes from getting burned and such.

Eventually, the truth about Liz's father is revealed and she's more confused than she's been in awhile. A normal person probably would have crumbled over all the secrets in this book that are being revealed. Also, the x-men conveniently show up at this time. It's quite an odd lineup so I can only assume this happens before the UXM annual or way after the apocalypse dilemma. I'm not sure; I'm not going to think about it. Eventually, all of this attention on Liz gets to her and she splits. Magneto then warns the X-men that she will come to him just like Cyclops and Wolverine did. Yay for references to good stories![/spoiler]

Anyway, Liz's father...is disgusting. DISGUSTING...Gracious. Other than that, the x-men didn't do much and Magneto played the chasing game the whole issue along with Iceman and Spider-man. I enjoyed this issue and, even though it lacked action the whole arc, I'd still rate it a 3.5 overall. I'll consider it a down time issue since the Goblin arc was full of action.

I probably will not be covering New Warriors as I havent read that book in ages. Anyone else wanna hit it up? Go for it.

Cable #2 preview:
CLICKDEECLICK (http://www.comicbookresources.com/ne...m.cgi?id=13504)

I'm really enjoying X-men Legacy, more than Carey's work on X-men before the title change.  It's a more introspective approach, to be sure, but I like it.

I thought the sort of 'epilogue' to Ultimate Spider-man 120 was interesting.

[spoiler]
Blob wants to bring Liz's mother & baby Liz to Magneto's Savage Land, and Magneto is totally against it, and has absolutely no interest in Liz unless she gets powers.  It just shows that the X-men & Spidey are totally right about Magneto; he can try to pass himself off as understanding, but he's a total user of people.  I also find it funny that, with yet another reveal, the secret identity of Ultimate Spidey is the worst kept secret in the world.
[/spoiler]

And as to Ultimate X-men 92, was Robert Kirkman hired to make me long for the dissolution of the Ultimate Universe?  Between this & Ultimates 3, I think the line is in serious need of pruning, say, down to Ultimate Spider-man again.  How is this written by the same guy who writes Invincible?

Quote from: Talavar on March 28, 2008, 01:11:28 PM
And as to Ultimate X-men 92, was Robert Kirkman hired to make me long for the dissolution of the Ultimate Universe?  Between this & Ultimates 3, I think the line is in serious need of pruning, say, down to Ultimate Spider-man again.  How is this written by the same guy who writes Invincible?

Heh, I've heard Kirkman's work on UXM wasn't great. Kinda a shame eh? Maybe he's better at writing a universe hehas more control of (Invincible) than playing in a more shared "sandbox"?

How is the new Cable book? Anyone out there like it?  I'm not really that interested in it just because I'm not a fan of the art style and I'm not familiar with the writer.

hey pod is this you or a skrull thats asking these Qs
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=13091 (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=13091)

Quote from: Thor Reborn on April 02, 2008, 06:21:27 PM
hey pod is this you or a skrull thats asking these Qs
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=13091 (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=13091)

Yep tis me, and yes I am a skrull.
Though my first question was edited, originally it was asking about Prodigy only.
I've asked a couple other qs on X-Position.

And ack CBR has changed. It's weird and different. Podd scared.

Spider-man #555:

First review and I'm only doing it because wolverine guest stars therefore qualifying it for an avenger/xmen review. Dang. Side note: I didn't buy the issue so apologies if my memory is hazy.

[spoiler]The book starts out in mid action. A villain carrying a bow is tracking Spidey. It's apparently spidey's fault for not staying away or something. Anyway, we get a flashback to when spidey and wolverine are standing in the kitchen talking about cereal. Spidey apparently likes his fruit loop prizes. Wolverine confronts spidey about the murder rumor and spidey denies it. Wolverine says he doesn't have to explain and other boring stuff. Anyway, apparently, a villain is causing a snowstorm and it causes doc strange to faint. I would like to take this time right now to say that the art in the last few spidey issues have been very subpar. This issue was sooooo blah that I'd rather not talk about it.  Peter looked younger though...like 20ish. Ok, I know I'm biased when it comes to this book, but nothing about it seems new even with JJJ being replaced by Bennett, peter being younger, cocky, and making rookie mistakes; and betty being brought in from friendly. It just seems so...been there, done that, and the only new thing are some cast members. Anyway, spidey and no...well, wolverine fights some ninjas and spider-man drags the ninjas back to prison while escorting a doctor. He reaches the police station, the typical thing happens, and he heads back into the cold. Fun issue...not really.
[/spoiler]

Dropping my bias, I still can't rate this issue any higher than a low 2. I want to say 1.5, but that's prolly my bias sneaking and taking over. It still sucked though...wolverine should not be having the action scenes in a spidey book, writers. Oh, nice way to avoid the identity issue by making everyone call him spidey and never having him unmask the whole issue. At least his web shooters didn't jam for the 8th time.

Young X-men #1:

Ill preface this by saying I was never a big new x-men fan, but I wasn't against it either. It had some nice stories, but all over the net (and of course, SS agrees), the high death count has been a common criticism/comment about the book. So how appropriate that the new book starts with one.

[spoiler]Anyway, if you saw the preview, you know how the book starts. It immediately strikes me that even with my limited knowledge of blindfold that she seems to have changed her wardrobe a bit. In addition, I see that a complaint from the previews is that some characters aren't written correctly. I don't know about that for sure since it's issue number 1, so I expect things to be a bit rocky. I will say right now that if wolf cub is going to be a wolverine clone, I don't want him around anymore. I have enough Logan already and I don't need a younger generation of him outside of his obvious clone.

Anyway, this issue reminds me of ultimate xmen number 1 in a way. Cyclops is running around gathering up a new team, even using an image inducer. Also, there is a nice reference to the Santo/Cyclops moment from messiah complex. Maybe now with Cyclops smiling, maybe people will realize he understands how Santo's powers work and he's not being oh so cruel.
[/spoiler]

I didn't really reveal much about this issue since there's nothing to really reveal. It's a setup issue. I did find the ending somewhat interesting but other than that, it's just an average book. The new x-men fans probably liked it much better, but I give it a 2.5.

Other reviews to come later when I read all my secret invasion books...one day.

I have similar thoughts on Young X-men. It was alright, but it's just a setup issue and not much happens.

[spoiler]Rockslide is more or less spot on. Dust is ok. Blindfold is good except the wardrobe shift. Feral Wolfcub seems to be a common complaint from most posts I've seen. Ink was kinda annoying "cuz". The last page might have been more shocking if Marvel hadn't shown it weeks ago on their site. Still the book could be quite good. [/spoiler]

But...
[spoiler]that's not Cyclops.[/spoiler]

I also picked up Spidey 555 but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Honestly I picked it up for Bachalo's art. Which is weird because i never pick up books purely for creators, but I'm also somewhat interested in Spidey too.

Before the issue came out I went and reread all of the Guggenhiem interviews to get an idea of what his approach was going to be.

[spoiler]
Yeah, I think anyone you ask will agree this was a setup issue, as such it's had to judge. I think the writer did a decent enough job of making Rockslide consistant, Blindfold's such a bizarre character it's hard to say if she's in character or not in any appearance by a later writer, but her unique kind of dialogue was retained pretty well. I get the feeling she's speaking to someone else. Split personality maybe? Character from another dimension who can only contact her?
Anyway, Pre mentioned that the issue reminded him of the first issue of UXM, but really it was meant to channel the original Giant Size X-Men #1, as Guggenheim himself said. I got that vibe, and so I'm hoping that Ink plays the role of "Thunderbird" since I also find him annoying. Plus, it wouldn't be the proper equivilent if one of the "veterans" was the marked man, since a little known fact is that John Proudstar wasn't originally even supposed to survive his first appearance. One issue I kind had was during the initial Dust scene with the Taliban she seemed unusually cruel and more than willing to used her powers in the way she did. This seemed odd to me as I always got the impression she was more of a pacifist.

I'm thinking Cyclops shooting Rockslide again is pushing it. I mean sure, he knows the guy can take it, but was that really worth "five thousand dollars" worth of property damage?

I'm no fan of Yannik Paquette's art, so the fact that I like it here says something about his evolving style. I don't think it's spectacular, but I think it's alright.

Quotethat's not Cyclops.

So is it a Skrull?  :P

[/spoiler]

This book definately requires another issue or two, or even the initial arc before I can really judge it.  But so far I don't mind it.

I also thought the questions Podmark submitted that were used in the article brought up good points. New X-Men really could have used an issue or two to send off the series, cast, and creative team. I'd say editorially the creators and fans kinda got screwed over.

Quote from: Silver Shocker on April 03, 2008, 07:46:31 AM

[spoiler]

Quotethat's not Cyclops.

So is it a Skrull?  :P

[/spoiler]

[spoiler]lol funny story. There's a variant cover out there where Cyclops' face is coloured green.
http://www.mycomicshop.com/viewissue?IVID=14071561

But he's not a skrull. One guess is that he's Sebastion Shaw or Donald Pierce trying to take out Sunspot and gain control of the Hellfire club. [/spoiler]

I could see some of the "giant size/new x-men" connections, but i've read Ultimate x-men more recently so my mind immediately connected to that point.  I also semi-connected it with the new mutants, but that's for another reason all together.

Anyway, next reviews/opinions will be up later. Those reviews/opinions (revpinions?) include the following: Logan #2, New Exiles #4 (just to finish out the arc, -_-), and cable #2.

Side note: i checked around the net yesterday and i feel like I'm in the minority with the latest spider-man issue, heh. I will say that until BND brings something new and worthwhile to the table to justify all the changes, I'm holding it to a much tougher grading system. So a 2 from me regarding 616 ( 2 ) Spidey is equivalent to a 3 for the old 616 (1) spidey. :P

Carey interview (pixie's new look also): CLICK (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=152328)

Wow, Young X-men really left me cold.

[spoiler]

Sure, it's a set-up issue, but characterizations are way off.  Rockslide is fine, but he's also easy.  Blindfold is a terrible character to use as a point of view character, as it destroys the rational for her unusual speech - that her precognition has so altered her viewpoint that she is unable to interact totally normally.  Dust seems both more violent and way more proactive than she's ever been before - as where she's never quite been a pacifist, she has always regretted violence.  She's also always been a follower, and quite hesitant to take action.  Cyclops acting weird has been commented on, and the theory that he's actually manipulating these kids to take out the original New Mutants is intriguing.  If it's not the case, I have trouble finding a convincing motivation for Dani Moonstar or Cannonball to go evil (I'm not as familiar with Sunspot or Magma).

Assuming Cyclops really is trying to gather a serious team here though, why would he pick these characters - or only these characters?  A lot of the New X-men aren't doing anything right now, but we're provided with no story-based reason for Cyclops not just to grab them all.  Hopefully that'll be forthcoming.

[/spoiler]

Finally read ASM 555

Some wonky Bachalo art here and there, but that's usually from him. He does a really nice Spidey though. I'm not as thrilled with his Peter Parker which I found really inconsistent. It amuses me that Wolverine personally escorts Bachalo from the X-books. I wonder if he'll be back in the rest of the arc or not.

Oh yeah the story...nothing special. Some allusions to ongoing plots with Jameson that might be interesting if I was following the book regularly. Issue is a 2/5 bumped up to a 3/5 because I happen to love Bachalo. I may or may not pick up the next issue. Haven't decided yet.

Best part of the issue though is the letters page where they actually acknowledge that the time line of this issue and New Avengers makes no sense.

New Exiles #4:

K, gangers, here's the final part to this oh so wonderful arc. If you can't smell the sarcasm off the last sentence, leave the kitchen now.

[spoiler]The book opens where it last left off. Black Panther, not t'challa—he's dead, is holding a struggling Susan storm while the exiles and Namor + family stand back and watch. The other aggressors stand on the sideline as Panther2 explains that T'challa was a fool for wanting peace. So, upon hearing those words and the threats thrown out at her family, Susan breaks free of panther's grip and gives her a good left punch to the jaw. GRRRRL POWER! Wait, it's not Susan...it's a girl that looks exactly like Susan...! Susan has doubles apparently...and it had its neck clawed very badly...or was it the real Susan. Find out later. Anyway, girl panther runs away as namor lifts a rock. As she runs, we're treated to this sweet little gem in response to Namor's honor question: "Are you serious? Rules are for losers. All that truly matters is winning. If you don't know that, you don't deserve your crown."

That's right, people, you're a loser if you have an honor system and don't run from battles. Don't be losers. Anyway, battles happen all over the cave and I don't think Rogue is awake since I haven't seen her since the battle began. Psylocke continues to use her katana as a bat and she shows some signs of still having mental related powers, I don't know if she did a psyblast or a telepathy attack. The art was confusing on that part. She did something and it hit panther.

Anyway, Panther and her team teleport to the entrance of the cave and gloat. Rogue finally reappears and apparently, Panther is going to blow up the cave or something. Susan suggests that Psylocke and herself combine their powers to create an impenetrable wall. Surprisingly, it works and everyone is safe...even though they were like right next to the detonator. I won't question it, but apparently, teke that can crush mountains and a strong force field can contain a powerful nuclear explosion and also block out radiation. That's nice to know. Finally, Susan 2 is revealed to be...Mystiq! Mystiq was also the very lame named Black dog.  Anyway, the group is still stuck in a bubble to avoid radiation poisoning and psylocke is too out of it to use her mountain crushing teke again and then...THEN attuma and valeria fen appear, through the floor in a submarine, to help their rivals out. Valeria is apparently related to gambit...but he's not blue...but she is. I'm questioning the exploits that went on in this family. Anyway, somehow we get to a point in the story where the crew split up from attuma and head into space to avoid being trapped on earth by Panther. Betsy faints again...um...Ultron appears but he's good and a projection as of now,...Amara and nick fury appear on a space station...tony stark appears in his iron armor (2 iron people on one world...hrm)...Gambit joins the exiles so we can have a rogue/gambit adventure across space and time...and the exiles finally return home leaving the other world in a planetary war. It leaves me to wonder...why were you visiting that world again? Which is quickly answered, their whole mission was to recruit gambit. Sounds like a last minute explanation that could've been done in 2 issues. The book ends with the mystery of what happened to morph, crazy lady (sage), and odd girl (Kitty). [/spoiler]

This book had a lot going on. A whole lot and rogue barely did anything though she led the last two issues. If you like Claremont, you'll like this. I don't happen to like most of his work lately (dino Rachel for instance), so...I give it a 2. He jumped the story along and left us in a middle of a war he spent four full issues on just to gather one member of the team. He also introduced subplots he probably won't even touch for years and because of that, I can't grade it any higher. I fear for the next arc since it's crazy lady heavy. Sage brings books down since Claremont upped her annoying personality.

Logan #2:

The first thing I can say about this book is that it has some odd art. It's not exactly pretty or even standard, but it helps to make an interesting atmosphere. I'm torn on it because it's not something I really like, but I think it works ok for this story if for nothing else.

[spoiler]Anyway, the book starts with wolverine confronting the fiery ghost from last issue. They have a mini fight and wolverine is shocked to see that his ever so faithful claws can't hurt this enemy and he's quickly tossed aside and onto, and through, a roof. Flashback time. Wolverine is back in old Japan during WW2 and his lovemaking didn't go as planned. He tells the woman that he's good at a lot of things, but what they did last night wasn't one of them because he didn't believe she belonged with him. She was a real/perfect woman and he was only fit for trashy women...like mystique. Ok, the mystique part wasn't in the book, it still fits. I want to point out how odd it is for me to see wolverine saying sorry...a lot in the first few pages of this book. I'll probably never see it again. *treasures*

As Gomen, the woman wolverine bedded, is telling wolverine to stop apologizing before she gives him something to be sorry for, a shot is fired and wolverine Is struck in his head. The American soldier from last issue stands at the door with a gun  and points it at Gomen's head because she's an enemy. Gomen's not the typical woman, people. She's part warrior and she aims to fight for her life; so she does. She puts up quite a fight before a bayonet slides right through her ever so fragile body. Poor girl.

Of course wolverine awakens and goes into a rage. Wolverine shoves a sword deep into the soldier's gut, but to his surprise, the soldier pulls it out like nothing happened. The soldier seems to have powers as well. He can't feel pain, but he doesn't seem to be able to heal from his wounds either. This, he claims, is how he stayed a live for so long during the war. The book ends in quite an explosion. An explosion that Logan easily lives through but his friend looks like he was burned to bones. Sad.[/spoiler]

This issue was awesome. I enjoyed it and it's honestly something that the origins books should be tackling. I give it a high 3.5, borderline 4. I'd rate it more if the art was a little better, but it's a style choice I can live with.

Cable #2:

The x-books have been taking on some fairly stylized art these days and the cable book sports a style I just don't really like. It's very stiff and very odd looking. Upon looking at bishop for the first time, several thoughts came to mind. A) He reminded me of akuma from one of those street fighter movies; B) his skin color apparently became very light between books, and his costume sucks. It sucks hard and it doesn't want to let go of the thing it's sucking. It's a selfish sucker and...this paragraph is quickly veering off of the path I intended so like Claremont—

[spoiler]I'm trying to figure out why Cable thinks Bishop was dead. As far as he knows, Bishop just had his arm bitten off by a mutant eater; not exactly something you can say he died from. Unless I'm forgetting something Bishop related, that little point doesn't make sense.

I'm concerned about the baby carrier Cable keeps on his torso. It's not only impractical, but the guy literally fell on it after he was shot. Not to mention that he keeps her under a cloak (heat/air issues) and she's a giant target because of the X-insignia. 

Moving on, Cable acknowledges that the last time he saw Bishop he only had one arm. That makes his earlier statement odder, but I'll assume he's wondering how bishop lived long enough into a dystopian future. That also doesn't make much sense since Cable knows Bishop can time hop. Get on the ball, Cable.

Seconds later, we're introduced to the oddest thing bishop related ever. Tendrils shoot out of his arms and wrap themselves around Cable's neck. You know what, I want that arm gone now more than I did during Cable #1. In fact, I'm curious to see how his absorption powers work now since he's down a fleshy arm.

Anyway, we get a perspective change midscene and Bishop reveals how he stopped his bleeding arm. Cue...Sunfire cameo. Also, apparently history changed a bit since Bishop magically got a new costume in a flashback to messiah complex. Another thing of note is, Bishop didn't have any remorse for what he did to his mentor. He also knocked out Forge AGAIN and stole one of his mechanized arms. I swear, Forge gets some of the worse treatment of late. Leave the guy alone. Finally, I think Bishop's idea of jumping through time until he bumped into Cable was particularly dumb. He's a detective, but he decides the best way to find cable was to jump through random points in time and conveniently stumble upon something that suggested Cable was there? That's too much of a stretch for me.

Bishop finishes his backstory and the perspective changes again. Bishop takes out the interferers and Cable runs off. I believe he's shot again and, unless his hand grew several sizes to cover the carrier, the baby disappears for a few panels. His aggressors don't seem to care at all that Cable is carrying a baby. Also, I still don't know why Cable came to this period, and honestly, I'm beginning not to care. We're left with a cliffhanger with a Cable trapped behind a car as his aggressors threatened him and Bishop teleporting back in, tossing a giant truck, and teleporting back off. SHOCKER![/spoiler]

Ok, I think the cable book is the weakest X-book right now. The pace may have sped up a bit, but the art and the plot aren't that good right now. The book also seems a bit short, but I realize now that it's because of all the big panels the artist is utilizing which means less of the story is being told from the writing and art side. I give this issue a low 1.5. Maybe the book will pick up soon or we may have another canceled cable book on our hands.

Not much out this week from the marvel camp, but we got one x-book and it happens to be wolverine...again. We also got Last defenders if you want to include that. Anyone got any reviews/thoughts on those books or even the next spidey issue since wolverine is guest starring there as well?

nope nothing from me. Don't pick up Wolvie or Defenders and I decided against getting the next Spidey. might do Amazing by trades eventually.

Next week is Divided We Stand book 1 which i am greatly looking forward to.

Sorry it took awhile; it's just no comic this week really caught my attention and I haven't even read Secret Invasion yet. So, these will be pretty short (ill add the other part later).

Spider-man #556:
[spoiler]
Continuing on from last week, Jonah is fine from his second heart attack and he's forced to accept that he no longer owns the bugle. Good for him. If you believed that, then you haven't been reading comics, much less literature, very long because nothing is ever that simple especially with JJJ. He walks out of the hospital in a gown, right into the snow, and...is captured by hospital staff before he wonders off too far. Stubborn old man.

Meanwhile, Spidey is still looking for that guy's friends from last issue. He hates the cold and wishes he was bitten by a radioactive polar bear. Fun.  The doctor or explorer, I forget what he was (mathematician apparently), is being tossed in jail because he's obviously in cahoots with spider-man even though he was rescued and dropped off. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks the heavens that carlie, new spidey cast member, was there or he'd be tossed in a cell with the people that tried to kill him.

Anyway, the math guy and his colleagues apparently realized that space goes beyond the time dimensions we can perceive and claims that the universe has over ten dimensions. Suprisingly enough, binary numbers no longer worked in the algorithms and the team began using pictures which brings us to his attackers. His attackers, the popul voh, believe that the pictures the math guy was using were sacred glyphs. To get the rest of that story, read the issue or find a more detailed review, I won't be tackling it. :P

Ok, just to wrap this up, spidey falls into the snow, meets a man hiding from shield, complains about a jacket and realizes it's not his jacket, Carlie helped keep the doctor out of a cell because his story amazingly checked out, subplot about peter needing a roommate is brought up by carlie and a cop that likes her,  spidey and shield-runny walk around in the snow, spidey is attacked by the guy the Popul Voh warned the math guy about, um...spidey finds the people he was sent to get only to be warned about someone else, that someone else ends up in the police station and confronts the mayan and that's where we end. Oh, I think the cops that were there died.[/spoiler]

Um.............I've nothing really to say about this issue. I didn't like the art and it was confusing in some places for me (something attributed to bachalo's style) and Wolverine didn't show up at all. So, 2 out of 5, I guess. Also, we get another webbing issue. Spidey can't use his webs during the cold because he didn't bring the thinner fluid...elasticity issues.  I do enjoy rookie spidey so much, you guys. Who lobbied for the mechanical web shooters again because it's becoming more and more of a joke in my eyes. I mean, this excuse wasn't exactly a bad one...but those web shooters are really pulling me out of the stories because now the first thing that crosses my mind is, "hrm, wonder how those things are gonna be useless this week."

Wolverine review to appear laterzzzzz.

Edit:  Astonishing X-men #25 colored pages (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=217175)  -- I think those are some costumes I'll have to get accustomed to...

So was looking at the solicitations for July and...
[spoiler]ARCHANGEL RETURNS!! Colour me super interested![/spoiler]

Pod:

[spoiler]As in blue archangel or just the code name since I don't think he ever abandoned the name.[/spoiler]

Anyway:

Wolverine #64:

This is clearly the better serial wolverine book at the moment and I wish marvel would cut down on wolverine because his history is confusing enough without the constant retcons. All I'm saying is, I don't see a major point to origins right now since most of the stories in that book are pretty poor and I haven't even made it through the deadpool arc. I lost interest one issue in and from the mini reviews ive seen...deadpool and wolverine are still fighting away and I can't deal with that. :P

[spoiler]Anyway, in this issue, we continue down memory lane with mystique and wolverine. Mystique wants to rob a federal bank so her and her crooneys can escape the grind of everyday life and apparently, wolverine and mystique were very close at one time if the pic of wolverine feeling up her back end while making out with her is anything to go by.

Back in present time, Wolverine is  driving through Al Anbar while some people with guns watch from the mountains overhead. Wolverine relates that people think he can't feel anything just because he has a healing factor, but in actuality, he can feel every wound and the healing process hurts him the most. This book is really powering him down back to a level where he isn't so uber. I think that's a good idea because he was really ramped up in the 90s/00s. And then he explodes...

That's obviously a ploy because wolverine can't die in a car explosion. Get real, people! Wolverine set up a plan to have himself "killed" with an old friend from a war. The plan, you ask? Wolverine planned to have himself blown up and ID'ed as a suicide bomber while his friend and his crew steal some IDs and get them into the military headquarters of Baghdad which would allow him access to mystique. Isn't that the smart wolverine we all know and love?

Obviously the plan works without a hitch and wolverine and mystique (in disguise) come face to face and have the inevitable showdown. Obviously mystique escapes again and wolverine is left in another compromising position where he has to fight the good guys.  We then get the visual of wolverine stabbing mystique and it's pretty bloody.

Finally, to wrap this book up, we go back to the past where wolverine and mystique + crew break into a bank. We're left with mystique abandoning her crew and wolverine as the police arrive. In the final scene, either mystique clothes are morphing on, or morphing off, while she goes Rambo with a bunch of guns and bullets and waits for Wolverine to come to her again.[/spoiler]

My thoughts on this arc aren't dropping and this is probably the best wolverine book in the serial format that I have read in awhile as I mentioned earlier. If this book comes out in trades, as of now, I'd suggest grabbing it. 3.5 out of 5.

Some extra stuff you x-fans might like:

X-factor Preview (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=87&disp=table)

UXM #500 interview with Alex Ross (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=15876)

X-force 3 preview (http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.3037.EXCLUSIVE~colon~_X-Force_%233_Preview)

[spoiler]The blue faced, metal winged Archangel. Now its just the cover so I don't know what the deal is but I'm sure it'll be interesting. He appears on the cover to X-Force #5.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=15975[/spoiler]

Picked up X-Men Divided we Stand Book 1 today

[spoiler]There's 5 stories in this book.

Cannonball: Sam returns back to Guthrieville and meets up with Paige. Sam decides to stop for a drink at a bar but what he really wants is a fight. The guys he fights are the Cabots from Chuck Austen's story that introduced Icarus. Sam beats the four guys and explains that he needed a fight to him work things out, then he flies off. He's pretty angry after the events of the past few story lines.

This might have been the weakest story in the book. Art's ok but lacks anything exciting, it's all just civilian stuff.

Gentle: In this story we get our first real glimpse into who Nezhno is and what his life is like. He returns home to Wakanda and gets updated tattoos to control his powers. Nobody but Storm and the Black Panther will talk to him, and it's not because he's a mutant, it's because he's half Russian. He meets his mother and a younger brother he never knew about but neither will talk to him. He's really alone. We learn that he can't feel any touches because of his condition. He desires order and found the school too chaotic but at the same time it's the only place he felt accepted.

This was probably my favorite story in the book. Art was very nice and we got to learn alot about an interesting character thats only had very limited panel time.

Anole: Northstar is called to look in on Victor who has been out of contact for 3 months. He's returned home and everyone has welcomed him back in open arms but something is wrong. Victor finds that after the X-Men he can't go back to being a normal kid. The X-Men turned him into a soldier and now he's behind on his education and attacks his dad when he makes an expected sound. The X-Men have abandoned him and he's ticked. Northstar tries to get through to him but Victor leaves his home telling Jean-Paul and everyone else to leave him alone.

I had one issue with this story, Victor used to be the well adjusted one and here he's about as emo as Hellion is. Wasn't what I expected. Still it's a great piece about lost childhood and an abandoned soldier. This will probably lead into his upcoming appearance in Young X-Men. Art is similar to Young's work in Children of the X-Men, I love his work but it's not for everyone.

Hellion: Julian wakes up in a hotel room recovered from his injuries in Messiah Complex. Emma explains what happens and then leaves him. His parents have disappeared, not wanted him anymore. Lost and abandoned Hellion seeks out Magneto and offers his service. But Magneto doesn't want him. He tells him to enjoy his time away because the war is coming and it will consume him.

This was the story I was most interest in because Messiah Complex really left Hellion in an ambiguous place. It was an unsolicited bonus story. It's similar to the Anole story in it's themes and excution. Arts a little different but I liked it.

However I'm really disappointed in the portrayal of the X-Men in this and the Anole story. They come off as extremely callous and uncaring. Purifiers could be murdering these kids at any moment and Cyclops has just totally left them out to dry. It's one thing to just not acknowledge this fact, but another thing entirely to actually have it be part of the story. My respect for Cyclops plummets with this issue. Hopefully this will be fixed when Uncanny 500 comes out.

Nightcrawler: This isn't really a Nightcrawler story, it's a Scalphunter story. Scalphunter is hiding out from the X-Men at a little dinner in the middle of nowhere but Nightcrawler finds him. There's some religious discussion but the end result is that Nightcrawler lets him go because he's only a clone. Scalphunter actually comes off as redeemable here.

In theory I shouldn't like this story all that much. Of all of them it seems the least likely to actually lead somewhere it's fairly well written. Art's nothing special though.
[/spoiler]

I'd probably give the book an 7 or 8 out of 10. It's short character pieces so you got to go in expecting that but they're pretty good and will set up some interesting stuff later on.

Also today CB Cebulski revealed that the bonus story in Divided We Stand book 2 we be about [spoiler]Magik.[/spoiler]

thanks for the reviews, podmark. It means I don't have to do as much this week except...X-factor. :P

Those stories, for the most part, sound interesting. I would rather have an Iceman story rather than cannonball right now because the guy just disappeared off the face of the earth...again. Does no one have any iceman love? The omega mutants are so mistreated. :P

Book 2, from what I remember, will probably be more serious than this book from the cast list + the spoiler Pod posted. Just a little clue, Havok is supposedly in it (meaning polaris will probably be in it too) and his story didn't end off in a good place at all.

I read X-Factor this week.

[spoiler]Arcade's client is revealed to be a former Purifier who's fallen on hard times and blames X-Factor because he got kick out of the group after recruiting Rictor during Messiah Complex without realizing who he was. The town has been sealed off from the outside world and the town has been rigged with bombs set to go off if the former Purifier dies. The issue ends with him poisoning himself. [/spoiler]

I found this issue can be summed up in a single word: peril. From Goldfinger style death traps to Indiana Jones style boulders, this issue has the characters placed in dangerous situations with more of a light-hearted approach to the danger. I got more of a sense of "Oh for the love of..." than "Oh my god we're gonna die!" from this issue and I think that's what the creative team was going for. There is one notable exception in the issue though, where a civilian meets a fairly grisly fate. This story kept me entertained and excited for the next issue, which is good for me as my interest in this title wanes and waxes based on the storyline or direction.

I'd give it a 6 or 7 out of 10. It probably would have gotten a higher rank from me except I wasn't a huge fan of the art.

since i don't have anything to add this week, haven't read the books yet, I'll just show off this pic (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3163/2418302583_2207c14e91_o.jpg) I found from here (http://forums.millarworld.tv/index.php?showtopic=80290&st=0&gopid=1766199&#entry1766199)


EDIT:  Captain britain and the MI:13 interview (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=12826)  <----I can't wait for a [possibly] good book about Captain Britain.

Actually that pic's been making the rounds lately. It also was among the pics from the NY comiccon reports at Comicscontinuum, Newsarama and Comicbookresources. I think it was also in the Newsarama article that revealed that Divided We Stand book 2 would have a Magik story. But I might be wrong about that.

Spoilers for Wolverine and his stabbity friends AKA X-Force #3:
[spoiler]Bastion has the Purifiers gather known mutant haters both living and dead, while Risman decides to continue his own plans while supporting Bastion. Bastion reveals that he has no knowledge of Risman's associate Eli Bard the man who led him to Bastion's head. X-Force finds Rhane alive, despite Risman's earlier assurances that he killed her. She's been pumped full of Heroin but not to a lethal level and Wolverine tells Angel to go find Elixir to help her. Bastion uses a part of Magus he found last issue and implants the bodies of the gathered mutant haters with the technarchy virus. And thus he reveals his new zombie army of Graydon Creed (Mutants killed 147), Donald Pierce (348), Stephen Lang (29), Reverend William Stryker (414), The Leper Queen (221), Cameron Hodge (178), and Bolivar Trask (16,521,618)[/spoiler]

This issue is a little slower than the last two, but still it's exciting with two big surprises and alot of intrigue with the two main villains. And so far thats what X-Force has all been about big surprises and exciting villains (and lots of blood). I'd give it an 8 out of 10.

thanks for the review, sir Pod. Lot of interesting stuff going down in that book.

Wolverine first class #2:

Ok, yet another x-book this week and this one is wolverine first class. Pod already took care of the mainstream book for this week, so I'll do the other. Today, we're in for another treat...a sabretooth treat...and a birthday. Why is it a treat, you ask? Let's take a look...

[spoiler]This book starts out with young kitty asking the professor for his limousine. She and her girlfriends have tickets to go see a dazzler show and Kitty wants the night to be special to show up those stuck up Chicago brats she used to hang with. The life of women; so complicated, so unique. The professor agrees if Kitty can find a license driver to escort her and her friends. As a sidenote, I'd like to mention that this book's timeline still isn't clear to me since I don't know if Jean is "dead" or why kitty and Kurk are friends at this point, but I'll roll with it.

Anyway, of course Kitty can't find anyone to take her so she goes to the most obvious choice in this book—Wolverine. I find it amusing when Logan said, after Kitty was bugging him, "You never want to spend time with just me"

Kitty: Do you want me to spend more time with you?:

Wolvie: "NO."

I dunno. I found it amusing, but I am comfortable in admitting I find a lot of small things amusing. SHUTUP! Moving on...Kitty, having not found a driver, refuses to give up. This girl MUST go to that lame Dazzler concert (current dazzler bias creeping in), so here comes her handy computer skills. A few seconds later—literally a panel later--, Kitty finds out the most interesting news on Wolverine she's ever known...it's his birthday. SURPRISE! Cue one of Wolverine's lovers showing up plus some more "All New" X-men cameos.

Several pages later, Wolvie and his lady friend, and Kitty for w/e reason, are on a date at a ninja themed restaurant. Cue Sabretooth's appearance. I think we all know what happened next so that's where this summary/review ends.

I will say that the mini marvel backup was kinda cute. Earth season 3 dvds...the skrulls are silly stupid and I like that. :P
[/spoiler]

Overall, I didn't like this issue as much as number 1. I'd give it a 2.5-2.8 out of 5. Sabretooth stories really don't hold my attention long because no one has breathed new life into him in forever...I did kinda enjoy him on Carey's run, but that's only because he was forced into a situation he didn't want to be in...his old shtick is just that...old. Don't let that sway you out of the book, it did have some awesome and creative scenes (wasabi in the nose), but I'd rather not have another sabretooth appearance for a few good issues. However, this is good for those readers that don't remember how cunning sabretooth used to be in his original appearances.

New Exiles #5:

First thing that catches my attention from the cover alone...giant green dragon. It flashes me back to Rachel as a dino. Second, Kitty is in a dress and Sage is baring most of her torso...yeah, let's dig in. I'm going by memory of what I scanned so apologies to those that actually care for the book.
[spoiler]
As of this book, the team is effectively up to 8 members. This should be interesting, I suppose. The book starts out with a bloodied sage fighting for her life against some odd creatures and robots. From the looks of it, it looks like the crystal palace now has a danger room. How many other teams have that thing now? Anyway, the dynamic between Morph, Kitty, and Sage is pretty easily described as...Ice, lemon, and sugar. All three can work together well enough, but lemon and ice taste horrible without the sugar. I think that analogy works, I didn't put much thought into it. What I'm saying is, Kitty is pretty nonchalant about Sage and Sage wants to fight stuff on her own. Morph wants to help Sage but Kitty says no. Got it?

During her fight, Sage remarks that Kitty seems to hate her and they've never met. I'm inclined to say that current sage has that affect naturally...it's her other mutant power. I'll stop now. :P Anyway, sage is still fighting with her other identity from the final story arc in new Excalibur. I don't know how many of you read it, but she became Diana Fox in that series and took on a captain Britain type moniker and style. You'd have to read it to get it...and you'd only be disappointed.

Back to the story, Sage is taking a bath when she hears Cat and Morph screaming. She contemplates whether or not there is really danger and runs off. We got a shot up her towel and are greeted to blackness...it was quite an unnecessary angle and image. Anyway, Cat and Morph have fallen into a "rabbit hole" which I assume is a break in time and Sage just jumps in with her towel. She's a brave woman. We then get another sexy shot of sage getting out of the water she landed in as the towel fits snuggly around her chest and a bird flies directly across her lower area...ridiculous really. There's also a scene of kitty in a giant pink dress.

Moving on, the team eventually comes upon a scene of a dragon being attacked, they assumed, and the exiles decide to help out. We then get a full page dedicated to sage taking off her towel, fighting a knight fully nude,  and having her butt and other sensitive areas covered by bushes and trees...it's...beyond ridiculous. Sage makes emma look tame and I already hated sage enough.

Sage finally puts a fabric over her body that covers all her naughty areas and we meet a prince. The prince was sent to kill the dragon but he fell in love with it and...im done.[/spoiler]

This book...I don't know what this is. It's not the exiles book I used to enjoy and I thought it'd get a little better after last issue...but...I didn't even finish scanning through this because my limit was reached. I've no rating for this book at all. If you enjoy Sage fanservice and Claremont writing, this is your cup of tea. Be careful of how you drink it.


More reviews to come laterzzzz.

Oh Claremont, how far you've fallen.

Quote from: Previsionary on April 23, 2008, 06:28:34 PM
[spoiler]Sage finally puts a fabric over her body that covers all her naughty areas and we meet a prince. The prince was sent to kill the dragon but he fell in love with it and...im done.[/spoiler]

WTF? Now I'm really glad I dropped this. &lt;_&lt;

Uncanny X-men #497:

Let me preface this by saying one of you awesome skinners need to skin hippie Emma. I like it...this is probably the only time I will say something positive about Emma until...she does something else I like. :P

[spoiler]The book starts out with the trio of NC, Colossus, and Wolverine on the train. Wolverine wakes up, has a majorly bad feeling, and wakes up the others. Wolverine realizes that they are the only passengers on that section of the train and fears they may be jumped/attacked soon. You gotta love that wolverine, as he was completely correct with his assumption. Three giant mechs land outside and kidnap a section of the train. MYSTERY!

Wolverine, not being one to surrender even out of costume, jumps out the window and attacks his "giant-sized" kidnappers. Eventually Colossus and NC join in and....they are completely overwhelmed. We now know that Wolverine can survive a fall from hundreds of feet in the air while carrying an unconscious NC and acting as a pillow or buffer system. There's also quite a lot of blood from Wolvie but NC is as clean as a bar of soap. Nice. Suffice to say, all three mutants are captured and taken in.

The scene then shifts to Emma and Cyclops walking through hippie town. Emma, tired of being mocked for their far out appearances, uses her telepathic powers to create illusions (see the cover) so her and Cyclops can easily blend in. Cyclops loves his new look while Emma cringes. We then get a line so perfect, imo, that I must commend Cyclops for once, "Although, it is a bit less...naked...than your usual look." and then he follows it up with, "that's a definite minus". It is indeed, Cyclops...a minus for you! *only thrown in to taunt Beyonder*.

Anyway, Emma realizes Cyclops wanted to be a "filthy" hippie and tells him to be quiet. That's interesting since Cyclops actually was around during the hippie movement...and he didn't want to be one then. How times have changed. Anyway, Emma focuses and tries to find the source of this citywide illusion.

Another scene shift and we finally get to see the goddess who's doing this...and another Eli for those that read X-force this week. The goddess and Eli speak a bit and we get confirmation that Emma was trying to crack her thoughts...call in...the police!

Seconds after Emma is repelled from the goddess's mind, the police show up and ask Emma and Cyclops to freeze. Emma tries to force them asleep, but someone is blocking her powers. If someone can block one of the more powerful telepaths around, then you know they're probably near the omega rank. Anyway, Emma realizes the cops aren't going to arrest them and a barrage of bullets heads towards them. Emma goes diamond and Cyclops "does his thing". At this point, it's X-men vs. Goddess woman.

Back to the trio, Colossus finally wakes up and his capturer wants to know one thing: How did he and his friends survive M-day....end![/spoiler]

I enjoyed the issue a bit, but I wish Angel or Hephzibah would have shown up for a scene or two. Next issue should be interesting. Overall, I'd give this issue a solid 3. I'd suggest reading it as I did leave out some details, not many, but a few.

X-men- First Class #11:

You all know I love me some first class. If I ever get my modding spirit back, I might just have to do some more work on my x-men classic mod and expand it a bit more...yeah, that won't be happening.

This book starts out with a girl heading to a comic shop and we get some nice little easter eggs referencing Stan and Kirby.  Anyway, there's some type of threat going around that would usually be handled by the fan4 or the avengers, oddly enough, they're not around right now so...it's up to the x-men to help save the day with the help of...3 continuity nerds! That's right people, CANON is attacking the x-men!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111o1n1e1eleven111! So, you kids sit right back and listen to a tale of the Continuiteens...because continuity is being threatened and these kids made a choice of fighting it!

[spoiler]I'm not joking, that's their actual team name. In this issue, we get a bunch of villains appearing and even Galactus makes a showing when he tries to grab the x-jet, and he later shoots it out of the air.  Anyway, the x-men crash land and have a minor spat with green goblin that refers to Iceman as, "a pathetic stand-in for spider-man". The spat is short lived before goblin disappears and the Continuiteens reappear to help our favorite X-teens. They "hit the books" to help the x-men come up with a way to stop Galactus and correctly informs Iceman that Cyclops doesn't have laser eyes, but force beams. CLARITY, people!

Moving on, eventually, Galactus begins to lose his appearance and it turns out to be a giant Mysterio asking for spider-man. Angered by the x-men's interference, he warns them that he will return because they have earned his wrath. He then disappears and Xavier realizes that his powers have grown.

Back to the continuiteens, they realize, by reading an issue of x-men first class, that the x-men can help solve their little problem by going back to the Nexus of Reality (#9)  and they even remind us that this book is NOT the original series, if anyone was confused. The teens want you all to know this. They also want you to know that the Prof should have detected Mysterio back in that issue...lazy writing they say. Hard critics and conspiracist. Reminds me of some actual comic fans. They kids even referenced Jean's Phoenix drama...yay!

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_firstclass.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/firstclass.jpg)

So who are the continuiteens you asked? They are three kids who used to work in a comic shop in Brooklyn. One day, a shipment was delayed so the kids had to get them from DIAMOND DISTRIBUTION located in the Florida everglades (#9). Eventually the kids realized that some of the books shouldn't have been published yet. MYSTERY! Another little joke is also thrown out there, "Luckily, marvel created few new characters in the future so we could make sense of the special tie-ins and crossovers!"

Anyway, the continuiteens took it upon themselves to intervene whenever their continuity was threatened. Quite a noble gesture. Eventually, they realized that they were beginning to effect natural events and...well...
Anyway, the kids explain who they are and what they do and they + the x-men head towards the water tower to deal with mysterio. Jean also finds herself in her second costume and is flabbergasted. Ok, I'm just gonna skip ahead because many people/villains showed up and a lot went down. Jean figures out a way to stop mysterio's illusions as the continuiteens read the issue they are starring in.  Doop then randomly appears, as does Venom for a few panels, before everything disappears and the continuiteens are cut off from their reality. They want you to know that the first class of x-men + wolverine (bleh) are the greatest x-men around...and then they're erased from time and will only be remembered through a single comic that Jean and Bobby find. Sad.[/spoiler]

I enjoyed this issue. Not so much for the plot, but because of how many villains/heroes were played with and how mainstream continuity was jabbed at. You couldn't do an issue like this in mainstream so it'd only fit in a book like this. The Continuiteens were ok for the most part, but they didn't really do much. I think the writer was just jabbing at the general concept and clichés of a comic fan and I found it interesting. Anyway, this book, I say 3.5 out of 5. Fun issue and not heavy. If you want the heaviness of Mainstream, just skip it...as you already do! :D And...I think I got every x-book so...

Next Week, all Angel, all the time!

Wow, Claremont really HAS fallen far.

Quick review of Legacy
[spoiler]Xavier fights Exodus and wins. Exodus offers him leadership of the Acolytes but Charles declines. Charles goes out on his own leaving Erik and Karima. Somethings going on with Shaw and Rogue, separately.
[/spoiler]

This issue is about on par with the others, arts a bit weaker. There were two things that bugged me in this one [spoiler]That Xavier turned down Exodus I'd have liked to have him and the Acolytes continue on, and more so that Karima and Magneto were cut loose. I really liked those characters being part of the cast, in fact it might have been the main reason I liked this book. [/spoiler]

I give this a 6/10 might have given it a 7 if the art was better.

Ultimate X-men #93:

Well, here we are...the conclusion of the apocalypse storyline. Just to catch up the few of you that care, Beast returned and everyone was surprised even though some of them knew he was back already. Sinister returned and killed ten mutants to bring about the apocalypse. Xavier and Cable return and Jean went phoenix...finally.

[spoiler]We pick up where last issue left off. The fan4/x-men are still responding to the x-men not being under mind control while Xavier is getting his butt kicked. Meanwhile, carol orders shield off attack mode and tells them to run around and save the civilians while Phoenix and apocalypse have a showdown. They'll worry about the outcome of it later. Just a note, Phoenix looks like magma in a way.

Phoenix makes quit work of apocalypse and literally melts his armor, and later his skin, with very little effort. It reminds me of when apocalypse first showed up, a little bit overpowered in a short amount of time. If the x-men couldn't handle Apocalypse and he's uber level, how are we supposed to think they can stop and help with Phoenix? Anyway, Phoenix begins using her full powers while everyone just stands back and watches. She plans on killing apocalypse and he's begging for help. Wolverine, who seems to be the only person of wisdom lately, asks how do they expect to handle Jean if she defeats apocalypse.

Anyway, Jean has merged into phoenix and she has more important things to do that don't concern the x-men. She then tells Xavier that he set mutant kind back 100 years. She then tells Xavier she expects him to start over. She then sends everyone back to the mansion as if nothing happened. Only one thing is different...Jean is gone. In addition, Manhattan is calm and angel is alive and is sharing an intimate moment with dazzler. Wolverine also has his arm back so I don't know what to think about the cable situation. Anyway, the book ends with Xavier and all the active x-men in a room and Xavier announces that they're going to change the world.[/spoiler]

This book was very um...rushed. He built this giant threat up for 3 freaking issues then tosses him away with an even bigger threat known as Jean "I've been in waiting for almost 10 issues" Grey. I'm not impressed. 1.5 out of 5. The art didn't help, but im not gonna deduct points for that. The story did enough to make me dislike it.

Double post. I guess I should have included the free x-men comic in this post, but I read it awhile ago and hey...it's free. To sum it up, it's a pixie adventure in her home town and she joins the x-men at the end of the book. The astonishing team is pretty much the same minus Kitty. Pixie, in that book, was a bit more violent and confident and she looks older now. Moving on...

Cable #3:

Well, I can honestly say that cable hasn't interested me since Carey's run and that's a little sad since Cable has a small little curse behind his character. No matter how interesting he becomes, his solo stories usually end up failing and this book seems to be on a similar path right now. Until this book finds a legitimate reason for existing and pushes that story to the forefront, I really don't see a reason to be following this book as messiah complex barely plays a part in the context of things right now. Anyway, in this book, we continue the bishop/cable battle for yet another issue.

[spoiler]We last left off with a giant truck hurling towards cable and the red headed baby. Well, this issue picks up there and all cable has done is sit in place with a horrified look upon his face...like any scared human that had a huge truck ready to aerial stomp their body into the pavement. I want to pause for a second and say the art style is hard for me to take and I think they're misusing the space they have. 3-4 large panels on a page really reduces how much story you can get across, but I also realize the stylized art wouldn't work in a regular format. Anyway, the truck lands nose first where cable was...

Meanwhile, Bishop is standing back and hoping the truck killed cable and the baby. While he's vomiting, the people that were shooting at him earlier hit him on the back of the head. They then surmise that Bishop is a mutie and they haven't been around for awhile. So, they calmly drag bishop down the street while random blonde woman screams at the scene and comments that cable had a baby.

Obviously, cable is all right and he seems to be covered with a shield of some sort. I assume it's telekinetic, but I'm not sure. Point is, Cable lives and blonde woman takes him somewhere safe so he can bleed in private. Nice. Able then shows how protective he is of the baby by yelling at the woman for trying to touch her and then coaching her through removing a bullet from his arm...

Back to bishop, who still reminds me of a bald akuma with a large metal arm, he's chained to a wall with a bunch of men standing around him. Bishop is out of energy so he attempts to antagonize the cops/men holding him captive. He gets what he wanted as the men pound the living daylights out of him unaware that he's absorbing their energy.

We then flashback to Cable who has just got the last bullet removed from his arm and is no longer bleeding up a storm. We finally get some information on this new timeline and learn that the rich are the new government. This continues for a while and we learn that blonde girl, from the diner iirc, is named sophie and she wants cable to help them or whatever. Meanwhile, Bishop is still getting beat up by pretty much everyone that talks to him. He finally fully recharges and I assume he cut off someone's head with those newly equipped tentacles. Bloody. Bishop kills everyone in the room with the reasoning, "you don't exist. You won't exist once the baby is gone," and walks out of the room that contained him.

Back to Cable, he and Sophie continue to talk and Cable wonders if the "cops" have an aircraft. Before Sophie can fully answer, trouble arrives and we're left with...future cannonball![/spoiler]

Despite my starting pgraph, I did enjoy this issue because it moved stuff along while finally giving out details. The book still needs to define its direction so I can know the point of the series other than leaving it a "bloody" cable/baby vs. Bishop in the future book. If that's all it's going to be, it could have been a small arc or subplot in one of the many X-books we have already...X-force perhaps so they could play with blood and death all they wanted. I give this issue a solid 3 just for entertainment value. Oh, can someone confirm whether Bishop is able to gain energy back from physical attacks? I didn't think he could and that's kinda a Sebastian Shaw power...not a Bishop power.

Logan #3:

The final issue of this marvel knights miniseries. If you read my previous summaries/reviews—sumviews?—you'd know that I pretty much like this book and wolverine in general is on an upswing with me for the most part until I read spider-man and new avengers. Anyway, last book we left off with wolverine surviving a nuclear explosion as his rival died. This issue, we pick up wit wolverine falling through the air and breaking a tree branch. Let's see what happens, why don't we?

[spoiler]After breaking the tree branch and landing in the snow, Wolverine muses to himself for a few short moments and confronts the fire creature from his past with his claws. He slices through its neck and realizes he didn't do any damage at all. That's when he begins using his words to try to calm the beast, which he calls Warren, down. That's right kids, violence and fatal attacks first, and if that doesn't work, talk about it. Very important actions from a very important man: Get it, learn it, and know it!

When then flashback to Logan and Atsuko (his woman pal of japans descent) in the tub. Wolverine fell hard for the girl, as he wanted her to come with him to somewhere peaceful. After a few panels of dialogue, and a full page of Atsuko standing in the sunset while Logan tells us how much of her he remembers, we return to a scene of the fire creature holding wolverine's bleeding heart. Toasty. If that wasn't enough, the creature then eats said heart. I don't think Mortal Kombat has crossed that line yet so I've no appropriate quip yet.

Anyway, somehow Warren regains his full body and taunts wolverine a  bit. He also doesn't know how his body reformed, but he doesn't care. Wolverine growls and Warren tries to force him away with some sort of energy (plasma/heat?) blast. It's obvious that warren doesn't know wolverine's abilities well enough at all as he's shocked that wolvie is still standing and contributes it to spasms until he's thrown into a wall and plows into the snow. Sad. He then begs for mercy. How the mighty have fallen. I mean that as literally as a head falling into the snow before the rest of its body. Welcome to Mortal Kombat: Wolverine edition, folks.

Wolverine passes out and awakens in a dreamscape with his lost love who offers to remove his memories of Hiroshima and Warren. I'll leave you to guess what he did as he lies in the snow. The answer is never stated. :P[/spoiler]

This was an ok end for the series and those that thought the fire demon was his Japanese love will probably be disappointed. However, I didn't like the usage of Warren, really. I thought they could have done a little more with him in the final issue, but it's ok. I give it a 3.

The other xbooks will have to wait. I'm sure Pod will have young x-men done before I even return. :P

EDIT:

Quick review of X-factor: The Quick and the Dead:

If you've been wondering where Pietro was, well, here's the book for you and it's quite a good read. It's basically a character study on pietro's current mind frame and his path to redemption. He's falling off the evil path he's been on for the past two years and heading back to the good guy he's been for the majority of his career. There's also some cameos by Wanda, Magneto, Layla, and his daughter and ex-wife. I suggest you Quicksilver peeps check it out. 4 out of 5.

Extra:

Check out this new thing marvel is trying out. Astonishing number 1...with a multimedia twist: http://www.marvel.com/news/comics.3515.Astonishing_X-Men_%231_Like_You%27ve_Never_Seen_It

It's ok...but some of the voices were way off, imo. Emma comes to mind.

I am very much a "Quicksilver peep". Good one shot but I found it was less fun during the final act where there wasn't much words. Layla and Pietro play off each other so well.

I read Young X-Men #2 this week. It was a bit better than the last issue as a little more happened and a good deal more happened to make you question what's really going on.

[spoiler]Cyclops puts the team through a simulation of the X-Men's first encounter with the original New Mutants to practice fighting them, and he stresses the point that the New Mutants are much more experienced and would beat them badly in a fight. They're given miniature versions of Cerebro to scan for the New Mutants, but during a scene where new character Greymalkin is spying on them, the scanner only picks up 5 mutants meaning two of the characters present are not mutants, which only serves to aid fan belief that Cyclops is an imposer. Blindfold and Ink go after Moonstar while Rockslide and the other go after Magma. Things don't go as planned at all as Magma unleashes her powers right in the middle of a street causing a panic among citizens, and Blindfold is knocked out by Ink, who seems to be a traitor. [/spoiler]

There seems to be some funky characterization with Cyclops, Amara and Dani, but it's hard to judge by that because things might not be as they seem. Ink was considerably less annoying and Wolfcub wasn't trying to emulate Wolverine. Characterization could have been a bit better especially since Wolfcub didn't really say or do anything memorable, but there was a moment in the book that fits Rockslide's previous personality to a tee. I'm pleased with this book for the moment but this is definitely the kind of book that you need to give at least an arc before passing serious judgment on. I'm definitely be looking forward to future issues, especially since Anole's supposed to show up at some point.

What is up with Young X-men?  Either something funky is going on, or this is the worst characterization of Cyclops & the Old New Mutants I've seen.

Something funky is going on.

Quote from: Previsionary on May 08, 2008, 03:36:20 AM
Logan #3:

The final issue of this marvel knights miniseries. If you read my previous summaries/reviews—sumviews?—you'd know that I pretty much like this book and wolverine in general is on an upswing with me for the most part until I read spider-man and new avengers. Anyway, last book we left off with wolverine surviving a nuclear explosion as his rival died. This issue, we pick up wit wolverine falling through the air and breaking a tree branch. Let's see what happens, why don't we?

[spoiler]After breaking the tree branch and landing in the snow, Wolverine muses to himself for a few short moments and confronts the fire creature from his past with his claws. He slices through its neck and realizes he didn't do any damage at all. That's when he begins using his words to try to calm the beast, which he calls Warren, down. That's right kids, violence and fatal attacks first, and if that doesn't work, talk about it. Very important actions from a very important man: Get it, learn it, and know it!

When then flashback to Logan and Atsuko (his woman pal of japans descent) in the tub. Wolverine fell hard for the girl, as he wanted her to come with him to somewhere peaceful. After a few panels of dialogue, and a full page of Atsuko standing in the sunset while Logan tells us how much of her he remembers, we return to a scene of the fire creature holding wolverine's bleeding heart. Toasty. If that wasn't enough, the creature then eats said heart. I don't think Mortal Kombat has crossed that line yet so I've no appropriate quip yet.

Anyway, somehow Warren regains his full body and taunts wolverine a  bit. He also doesn't know how his body reformed, but he doesn't care. Wolverine growls and Warren tries to force him away with some sort of energy (plasma/heat?) blast. It's obvious that warren doesn't know wolverine's abilities well enough at all as he's shocked that wolvie is still standing and contributes it to spasms until he's thrown into a wall and plows into the snow. Sad. He then begs for mercy. How the mighty have fallen. I mean that as literally as a head falling into the snow before the rest of its body. Welcome to Mortal Kombat: Wolverine edition, folks.

Wolverine passes out and awakens in a dreamscape with his lost love who offers to remove his memories of Hiroshima and Warren. I'll leave you to guess what he did as he lies in the snow. The answer is never stated. :P[/spoiler]

This was an ok end for the series and those that thought the fire demon was his Japanese love will probably be disappointed. However, I didn't like the usage of Warren, really. I thought they could have done a little more with him in the final issue, but it's ok. I give it a 3.

I was trying to avoid this thread for fear of reading anything Logan #3 related (I usually get my comics a week or three late), but I couldn't resist seeing what anybody else though of this mini-series so far.

Oh well.

My previously high expectations for the story were tempered somewhat by the developments (or lack thereof) in the second issue, so seeing you give it a mediocre grade (I'm assuming when you say you give it a "3" that means you're grading it on a five-point scale and not a ten-point one) doesn't really surprise me. Somewhat disappointed that the mutant Warren (and not the deceased Atsuko) turned out to be the flame creature... I thought Vaughan was trying to tell a superhero-flavoured take on the classic American horror/ghost story (à la Washington Irving), wherein a chance encounter with the supernatural re-contextualizes the protagonist's life experiences and the American cultural perspective. I guess it was too much to hope that a writer of Vaughan's impressive resumé and record would attempt to write a more unconventional Wolverine story. By your description of the issue, it doesn't really expand on the character anymore than, say, issue #47 (http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/wolverine/47-8.jpg) of the 1990s Larry Hama series... a decent "character-driven" Wolverine story, but nothing to get excited about either.     

In any event, I'll still be picking this up... already have the first two issues, might as well complete the set. And the Eduardo Risso line art and Dean White colouring is still worth the price of admission, no matter my concerns about the story.

Is anyone else extremely bored with Young X-Men and Uncanny X-Men?

Quote from: AfghanAnt on May 14, 2008, 11:31:50 PM
Is anyone else extremely bored with Young X-Men and Uncanny X-Men?

Yes to Young X-Men, last week's issue was terrible enough for me to drop the title. However, I'm sticking with Uncanny even though this whole San Francisco/Hippie arc is a fiasco, I'm more then sure the next will be decent.

Didn't bother with the hippie arc but I'll probably check out 500. Young X-Men certainly isn't anything special but I found the 2nd issue was slightly better than the first and I do believe the book will get better.

Wasn't too impressed with this week's Legacy either.

Quote from: Podmark on May 15, 2008, 11:55:45 AM
Didn't bother with the hippie arc but I'll probably check out 500. Young X-Men certainly isn't anything special but I found the 2nd issue was slightly better than the first and I do believe the book will get better.

Wasn't too impressed with this week's Legacy either.

what happened in legacy? I don't plan on doing reviews this week. :P

edit:

Captain Britain:

I found this book to be an awesome read and the scene with captain britain and that skrull were pretty awesome. It was a bit skrull-gory though as each of the main characters in the book got rid of a skrull in a pretty hardcore way. I had high expectations for this book and they were met for the most part. I guess I am also a bit lenient because I wanted to see Brian and the British heroes shine for awhile, but I liked what I read. 4 out of 5.

Wolverine:

Twas a good end to a nice arc. Lots of blood and stabbing and oddly enough, vomiting. Wolverine came off as his usual self in the end and I don't really understand why Mystique choose to stay nude the whole fight. She may have caught the sage disease. Whatever. 3 out of 5.

Quote from: Previsionary on May 15, 2008, 11:59:36 AM
what happened in legacy? I don't plan on doing reviews this week. :P

I don't have my issue here, and my memory is shoddy, but here's what I remember

[spoiler]Juggernaut is hit with a psychic attack more powerful than Charles.
Charles goes to see Carter Ryking (a character I've never heard of before) who is part of his past. Ryking is a former mutant and going kind of nuts and then dies. Xavier is attacked by assassins who are stopped by Gambit.
Shaw tells Roberto about the device mentioned last issue, it's detected something but we're not told what. [/spoiler]

Ultimate X-men 94 preview: http://comics.ign.com/articles/874/874171p1.html

I must say that since Kirkman basically retconned his whole run for the most part and this writer seems to be ignoring more of it, I think I might actually pick up the next few issues. I'll just keep my hopes very low as a guard. :P

Speaking of which, Ultimatum and Ultimate Origins, from what I've seen thus far, don't seem to have anything to do with Loeb anymore...or he's not involved in the whole run, so that pleases me.

Quote from: Previsionary on May 20, 2008, 08:01:52 PM
Ultimate X-men 94 preview: http://comics.ign.com/articles/874/874171p1.html

I must say that since Kirkman basically retconned his whole run for the most part and this writer seems to be ignoring more of it, I think I might actually pick up the next few issues. I'll just keep my hopes very low as a guard. :P

Speaking of which, Ultimatum and Ultimate Origins, from what I've seen thus far, don't seem to have anything to do with Loeb anymore...or he's not involved in the whole run, so that pleases me.

Origins is Bendis, Loeb is the Ultimatum mini. Also I don't like Loeb. Not big on Bendis either for that matter.

Bah, I really was hoping things had changed around considering that's a large load for one subpar writer and his other book, Ultimates, is already months late (enter: the ultimates delayed curse). Whatever.

Ultimate X-men #94:

I don't feel like doing a long sumview today, so I'll just write a small summary and give a rating.

This issue was mostly about Colossus. His origins are explored a bit and a secret about him and his metal powers are revealed which causes a rupture between him and Jean (who's struggling with her powers and status among the team). Also, Ultimate Alpha flight made their appearance and came for their target which turns out not to be Wolverine like it usually is. At the end of the book, some mutants get power enhancements and go off to fight their newest foes, Alpha Flight! Oh, Iceman is in the book for like two pages but is generally useless...kinda like his 616 version is from time to time. Sadness.  :rolleyes:

Overall, I'd give this issue a 3.5. Much better than most of the kirkman issues, but it highlighted several problems that the ultimate marvel team needs to address. There's toooo many X-men at the X-mansion and inviting Alex and his friends made it much worse to show all the action during the x-men/alpha flight showdown. 25 good mutants vs. 5 threats could've been quite a showdown if all the action wasn't so jammed together and in a small space at the X-mansion. Besides that, several mutants didn't even show up despite being part of the team such as Toad, Psylocke, Pyro, Lorna (who's been missing for awhile really), etc.

X-Force #4 came out today :D

[spoiler]Elixir heals Rhane but upon seeing Angel she attacks and eats his wings and leaves to return to the Purifiers. Risman has enlisted the Facility (makers of X-23 and Predator X) to extract Apocalypse's technology from the wings they retrieve from Rhane. They use it to create the Choir which appears to be an army of Archangels...to go along with their Robot from the future, Magus technology, Cyborg Zombies, and army of merciless religious soldiers. Meanwhile Elixir tells X-Force that he can't heal Angel's wings back because they weren't actually biological and that they were part of Apocalypse's technology just as the metal wings were (some more explanation on this might be necessary), Angel then goes through an agonizing transformation back into his blue skinned, metal wings Archangel personae.

I loved this issue. It's actually very frightening in a way, and would make an awesome transition to a film version. The art fits prefectly, Crain sets the mood just right. And the latest developments make me yet again go "how on earth can X-Force (3 X-Men with claws) beat the Purifiers??" Yost and Kyle are creating one of the most credible threats I've ever seen reading comics and I can only hope that the rest of the story will live up to the setup.

But I have some issues. One is that maybe not enough happened, but the mood and execution is so good I never noticed. Second is Elixir depiction. He's not golden in this, and instead just glows gold when he heals. This doesn't fit with what we last saw of him, however returning to his original pre-gold form is certainly possible in the context of his powers. But I liked him gold. My other complain is that there's no X-Force #5 next month :( it's going to a long wait.  [/spoiler]

I've been loving this series and I give this issue a 9/10. I was a big fan of Yost and Kyle's New X-men and was disappointed they left (which ended that title), but honestly X-Force totally makes up for it.

I'll probably post about Legacy later.

thanks for the post, pod. Marvel.com said no comics were coming out until the 29th so I didn't even buy any. You can post reviews to all the X-comics if ya plz. You know you want to. *hypnotizes podmark* :P

[spoiler]So archangel is actually back, eh? I guess it makes sense since, iirc, his old wings just grew back on his back and everyone just accepted it as his old wings without any thoughts about apocalypse...I dunno.[/spoiler]

Comics are out Thursday in the US. But up here in Canada we got em Wednesday.

Just read Legacy
[spoiler]Gambit saves Xavier and then the two go to the hospital to find out about Carter Ryking's death. Then they travel out to the desert to see the power plant that Charles parents worked at (least I think that's the deal) where they are again attacked by assassins and Xavier has a flashback that seems to reveal he was experimented on by Sinister as a kid.

Well this was better than last issue, but it's a weak read. Arts fine, but too much of the story is filled up by seemingly irrelevant flashbacks. Plots not that interesting either but the Sinister tag intrigues me. I'll make a final decision when previews come out but this might be my last issue of Legacy for the time being. I gave it more leeway when Magneto, Omega Sentinel and the Acolytes were involved, and Gambit helped this issue but it's not enough. I'd probably give it a 5/10. It's not terrible, but its just not interesting enough. Carey can do better.  [/spoiler]

Didn't get Uncanny or Astonishing. Got New Warriors and it's as bad as the rest of the arc has been. I'm just holding on til the Counter Force issues (loves me some Old School New Warriors) then I'm done with this book barring some unforeseen awesomeness. Warriors was probably a 3 or 4 out of 10, but I like Medina's art (even though this is a weaker effort on his part). Grievoux is just terrible, he needs to go. His Young Avengers issue wasn't much better.

You probably won't like legacy because it's so continuity heavy. It really seems like a book for the hardcore fan with a lot of x-men/xavier knowledge and those people don't really exist in today's time. I assume New Warriors isn't trying to tie into Secret Invasion to boost its sales because the last sales numbers I saw were...really bad. *accepts that jubilee is going back into limbo*

I really really wish you'd have grabbed astonishing just so I could get a clue as to how this 2 year long story ended and what happened to Buffy...I mean Kitty. I guess I'll try to sumview it and angel: revelation later...some ultimate spidey might slip in too...if I love it enough. :D

BTW, when did divided we stand #2 come out? Last week? Blah, I think I might have missed picking it up.

As the mantra goes

I.....AM......JUSTICE CANADIAN!

QuoteI really really wish you'd have grabbed astonishing just so I could get a clue as to how this 2 year long story ended and what happened to Buffy...I mean Kitty.

I was this close to picking up the Giant Size Astonishing Man-Thing (I mean X-Men) but didn't really feel like it by the time I got to the store. But I'm by no means a regular follower of Astonishing anyway. The Buffy comment is kinda funny because Wheadon has cited Kitty Pryde as an source of inspiration for some of his strong female characters, among them Buffy.

Quote from: Previsionary on May 28, 2008, 10:44:35 PM
You probably won't like legacy because it's so continuity heavy. It really seems like a book for the hardcore fan with a lot of x-men/xavier knowledge and those people don't really exist in today's time.

I hardly have an encyclopedia like knowledge of the X-Verse but I love continuity and am totally willing to look up stuff, but the Legacy flashbacks just don't seem relevant enough. That wouldn't bother me that much if the present story seemed more interesting but currently it doesn't. I really wanted this book to be good too. I love Carey's approach to X-Men.

Quote from: Previsionary on May 28, 2008, 10:44:35 PM
BTW, when did divided we stand #2 come out? Last week? Blah, I think I might have missed picking it up.

Yeah that was last week. I got it, so here's some quickie off the top of head spoilers:
[spoiler]Beast does cleanup duty at the Mansion, destroying files and whatnot, then closes shop.
Magik recaps her situation and laments how she wants to rejoin her loved ones. She returns to the Mansion only to find it abandoned and returns to Limbo thinking she can only get her soul back by stealing more souls like she did with Pixie.
Havok is imprisoned, Vulcan tells him a version of the events of Messiah Complext to demoralize him but instead it gives Alex hope.
Forge can't remember how to rebuild his time machine after Bishop steals his plans and components and goes after Cable.
Surge goes to see Dani looking for advice on how to handle everything she's been through, but doesn't like what she's told.

I found this issue was weaker than the first, but the Beast story was great and reminds why I love Carey's work even though it is sometimes hit or miss.[/spoiler]

Then I shall pass on Divide #2 as not even the stories I would be interested in are worth buying right now.

I have read Legacy and I liked it for the most part. Nothing really happened beyond Gambit entering the story and them being chased the whole time, so there's not really much to say about it without going deep into the overall story. I can see how you wouldn't like all the flashbacks because they don't serve to "this issue's" plot (don't know how it'll pan out since the flashbacks did answer questions and such which may be relevant later), but I  kinda see it as a unique take on writing someone with memory issues. In real life, our thoughts and flashbacks aren't always so logical and linear so I can appreciate Carey trying to write out his scenes like that. It just seems like Xavier is reflecting on a lot and his flashbacks are trying to...reflect/represent that without really adding much to the story, but it does add a bit to the character. I guess I'm trying to say that I don't know how else he could write a 12 issue reflection story with a partial amnesiac psychic while trying to move a plot simultaneously. I only really appreciate it because he's trying something that hasn't been done in awhile with a character that's not well liked at all in the comic community.

My only real problem is that he keeps introducing stuff and then never following up on it for issues on end. I can barely remember the plot of this story (as is the problem with long arcs) as is so don't bombard me with a new subplot/teaser every issue and then take forever getting back to it. What was the point of showing me Rogue last issue if I haven't seen her again? Was it to let me know her whereabouts and that's it? Why did I need to see Juggernaut in his hideout? Is it to let me know he's still in his suit and pretty much shut off from the world after Excalibur and WWH? I guess I'd appreciate it much better in trade when I can read it all at once.

[No rating]

*Sidenote*

[spoiler]I hear news that Lady Mastermind is still alive (credited to something Carey said apparently), so I think it'd be interesting if a certain uncanny villain and her meet up again.[/spoiler]

Giant Size Astonishing X-men #1:

Ok people, I'm gonna say it, I'm gonna shout it, I'm gonna take a picture and commemorate it. OH MY GAH, THIS BOOK IS FINALLY OUT AND WHEDON'S RUN IS OVER AFTER TWO WHOLE YEARS OF A LONG, DRAWN OUT STORY! Now that that silliness is out of the way, let's move on to the story. First, let's do a minor catch up.

The X-men traveled to the Breakworld directly after the Emma storyline ended to take care of Ord and Colossus's legacy. The team pulls off a brilliant plan to take down the big bads by sending Cyclops into space to die and sending the other X-men to other assorted areas to take down the main headquarters. Last issue, several months back now, we were left with a huge cliffhanger and rumors that Kitty was going to die. Let's see what went down. I'm going to mention this now: I won't go into my usual depth with this review.

[spoiler]
-The cover alone let's you know this will be a big crossover single issue book. Yay for more guest characters to keep up with.

-The first page starts with Spider-man. His "voice" seems to channel the old spidey before BND. Anyway, three of the X-men—Storm, NC, and Iceman (surprise)—appear before him and warn him that something is coming. Cue the giant mechanical demonic thing floating above them. It's a broken sentinel they use for transportation apparently.
   -I want to note that some of the voices seemed a bit off for these characters. I'll give Whedon a break since he hasn't worked with any of these characters.

-Next page, we see most of Marvel's big guns standing around in a room trying to figure out what's going on and warpath notes that the mutants are always the last to know anything even when it's affecting their own people.

-Random scene with Kitty still in the space bullet asking God for help. We then shift to Colossus confronting the big bad (Aghanne, the person the X-men originally thought was good) and threatening to pull the core to fulfill his "destiny".

-Emma actually punches someone! This isn't important at all, but I'm very accustomed to Emma just standing around like wallpaper during fights. I'm surprised.

-Agent Brand makes a joke about not being ganged raped and shows off her glowing fist again.

-Kitty is still laying around and I assume Dr. Strange is trying to teleport himself and the others to her. Strange is fried (most useless sorcery ever these days) and Ironman suggest doing things the old school way.
   -I must note that thing and reed are drawn oddly. Reed looks like a very old man in some of his scenes.

-Colossus is getting his tail kicked because he refuses to pull the core. The big bad refuses to accept this and will use colossus's arms himself to pull and drop the core!

-Agent Brand is hot for the furry man beast known only as Hank McCoy...freak.

-Ord breaks into the reactor and attacks Aghanne once he finds out the truth. He successfully helps Colossus overcome the foe but he basically sacrificed himself.

-Reed does a usually Reed action and stops the giant bullet in space by sending it into the negative zone. Now they must save Kitty.
   -very odd scene with everyone drooling...very odd. Even old Pixie was drooling. Freaks.

-Ironman, Sentry, and Spidey stop the bullet while Kitty and Emma discuss the situation telepathically. Kitty reveals she won't make it out since the bullet is affecting her. Poor Buffy. Stuck in the cage she saved Colossus from. Irony.

-Odd scene of Spidey punching Storm and them arguing over it...then more drooling

-Colossus confronts the powerlord and tells him to reveal the weakness/design flaw in the bullet. Wolverine then cuts off his arm and Colossus threatens he'll rule breakworld. Brand then says that if Earth is destroyed, they'll need somewhere to stay and he (powerlord) doesn't want a bunch of angry super people on his planet.

-More Kitty/Emma dialogue about what was supposed to happen. Emma tells Kitty that something should be in the bullets path in mere seconds: enter demonic robot thing. Big explosion. It doesn't work. Goodbye Earth

-Kitty asks for strength and begins to phase the giant Bullet through Earth. Colossus is told Kitty may never come back by Cyclops and Emma (scene shift) in the X-mansion.

-Kitty is said to have bonded with the bullet...

-Emma cries over Kitty. Aww, she has a heart.

-Armor punches a grieving Wolverine to stop him from becoming poetic and says, "You need to grieve, I need to train". I'm liking her more already.

-Beast and Brand talk, Beast tells her he's certain he hates her. Brand is happy to hear that...on the job. Off, she wants to break him like a pony...freak.
  -We find out she's part alien on her father's side...who was also blue

-Cyclops eyes begin to glow red again and emma gives him his visor while exchanging ILYs...sick. This probably hints at emma giving him temporary control...dunno.

-A few shots of the aftermath and Colossus is walking around holding his heart and thinking of Kitty. End!

-The next few pages are just variant covers. [/spoiler]

I really didn't plan on giving out that much info but, a lot did happen and some of it confused me. I'll have to reread it before I can give a clear rating or any real thoughts. I mean, the long delay and the general confusion this issue caused me is just making it very hard to give a definite review or rating at all. I guess most of my problems come from being tired, but the drooling scenes caught me a little off-guard. I don't know if that was some magical backlash or just general oddness.

[No Rating]


More to come later...I guess. Also, I might edit the astonishing review when I'm more awake...yeah.

Ok, I'm just gonna do a new post since the astonishing one was pretty long and I don't want to actually see that review until I have time to reread the issue and make sense of some of the stuff that broke my brain. The more I actually look at the review, the more my opinion begins to lower so, moving on.

Uncanny X-men #498:

Many of you are finding this filler arc (a 5 issue long san fran arc is really out there, imo. A 3 parter + 2 parter or 5 one part issues dealing with several members of the team would've been much more appealing to me) boring and to that I say, you got two more issues to go before #500.  Suck it up and let's take a look at what happened.

In the last issue, Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler were captured by someone in Colossus's past while Cyclops and Emma battle off the police the goddess sent after them.

[spoiler]The book starts by addressing that the goddess first appeared around the ending to House of M—when the mutants began disappearing off the face of the earth. We meet up with Eli (see last issue) who's talking to a man on the street about naivety, drug use, and being judgmental. While talking, the woman in their small little trio sees a woman on sitting near a wall rambling on about her inability to feel or hear "them". She apparently has amnesia and can't remember anything nor does she know anything. This is where her powers first show themselves and begins to change the world around her. Eli invites the woman to his home while his two friends stand in the street and wonder what just happened (or if they're tripping). Over several days, the goddess begins to change everything around her. After months, the people knew she was going to change the whole city. Flashback to the present and this is where we find out the goddess's real identity. Martinique...lady mastermind's sister.

Back in Russia, Wolverine is being electrocuted to force Colossus to talk. The X-men's captor warns he won't stop until Colossus reveals his secrets and Colossus says, "I'm sure he can take it". The man then reveals that he cares for mutants and they were highly useful until they all began losing their powers. He initially believed Russia was being targeted until he received reports that it was happening all over the world. He wonders how the X-men survived the brunt of the attack. The man then wonders if the X-men engineered M-day.

The man did reveals Kurt and tells him he will receive the same torture as Wolverine and if he tries to escape, 10,000 volts will surge through every cell of his body. Colossus still refuses to talk, so a gun is shot closed ranged at his head, nearly missing him because he teleported, and hit a fellow comrade. Kurt is then electrocuted, but he uses the machine he's tied to release Wolverine before passing out. You can imagine what happens next.

The old man that held the X-men captive runs away as Wolverine and the gang follow. After a few random guards are disposed of, Wolverine + gang are shocked to see the man they're chasing slammed into a wall by a pair of tentacles and dying before them. Welcome the return of Omega Red.

Back in San Fran, Cyclops and Emma are still following the path to the goddess using emma's telepathy. Emma comments that it's become too easy now compared to earlier and that worries her. We then get a scene of Running Sun (Warpath) and Frosty (ICEMAN! YAY). *sidenote: If I read one more "love" from emma or scott...I will destroy them* Iceman and Warpath seem to be under mind control along with Lady Kitten (Skunk! Hepzibah) and Angel (...angel). THE END.

Next issue, 4 vs. 2 X-fight and the conclusion to the Omega red showdown. [/spoiler]

Well, this issue was fine for what it is. I liked that more focus was given to Colossus and his story as opposed to the goddess and Cyclops. It's an even 3 and the people that are bored of it, will probably still by bored by it. Still a good issue though if nothing else.

Well, Astonishing X-men was pretty good, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't realized the ending 5 months ago.

Quote from: Talavar on January 17, 2008, 03:29:08 PM
And is it just me, or...
[spoiler]
Is it pretty clear that Kitty Pryde dies in Whedon's last Astonishing Arc?  I think we've seen every other X-man accounted for by this point, with Armour showing up briefly in this issue.  Still no Shadowcat though, so I'm assuming something major happens to her.   
[/spoiler]

Basically, what happened was exactly what I figured would happen. 

As to Uncanny X-men, the Wolverine/Colossus/Nightcrawler stuff is great; the hippy stuff is lame.  It makes for an odd storyline, but it's not terrible by any means.

Pre, I'm not gonna lie to you, half of that didn't make any sense to me. [spoiler]Why is everybody drooling? What, are they hot for Reed or something? Why the sweet heck would Spidey punch out Storm? What, is Spidey a woman-hating jerk now? You lost me. Brand wanting to jump Hank's bones intrigues me though. I loves me the Beast but that's pretty bizarre and kinda ick. I'm positive those two characters didn't get along at all in previous Astonishing X-Men issues (I seem to recall Beast jokingly considering eating her just out of sheer dislike of her) [/spoiler]

Quote from: Silver Shocker on June 01, 2008, 08:45:11 PM
Pre, I'm not gonna lie to you, half of that didn't make any sense to me. [spoiler]Why is everybody drooling? What, are they hot for Reed or something? Why the sweet heck would Spidey punch out Storm? What, is Spidey a woman-hating jerk now? You lost me. Brand wanting to jump Hank's bones intrigues me though. I loves me the Beast but that's pretty bizarre and kinda ick. I'm positive those two characters didn't get along at all in previous Astonishing X-Men issues (I seem to recall Beast jokingly considering eating her just out of sheer dislike of her) [/spoiler]

I told you i read it late and i was gonna reread it...I just avoided editing the review because everytime i saw it, my opinion of whedon's ending kept dropping.

What basically happened is, Dr. Strange's attempt to get into the giant bullet Kitty was trapped in sent a magical backlash into every heroes mind and they all thought they were stopping the bullet. Spider-man broke the trance over himself and punched storm to break her trance (some nice dialogue was shared if it makes up for it). He then went around punching everyone else to save them. I assume the random drooling scenes was to indicate all the heroes being in a dream state.

Beast and Brand got a bit closer in Breakworld as they shared sometime alone in a cave. Beast still isn't really fond of her, but from reports, I think she and Beast are dating by the time Secret Invasion rolls around.

Finally, I would like to mention that this giant sized issue with all these cameos was totally pointless. Not only did all the cameo heroes just stand around and be totally useless, they didn't even add to the story.

Now, I'm gonna rant a bit so you all know why my opinion dropped after I read the final issue. This book took several years to get to this point and the wait time was ridiculous. When it got to the point where all the other X-books had to hold back on their stories to keep Astonishing's plot safe, then it became beyond ridiculous. The way Buffy, I mean Kitty, was trapped in a giant bullet that Dr. Strange couldn't penetrate, it really dwindled the number of options to bring her back unless she runs into a space team, Rachel, or Jean out there.  It also proves the point that writers don't know what to do with dr. strange because he fails much more than he wins lately. He's sorcerer supreme...show him as that or don't use him in the story. He's not the only mage around.

Not only did it take forever to get to whedon's ending, but he didn't even tie up plots he introduced THIS arc. Danger made a deal with Emma that apparently didn't go through, but she was only in one scene. Lockheed wasn't mentioned at all. Everyone got over Emma's weirdness and Casandra wasn't really mentioned. What emma did to give Cyclops temporary control over his powers and why she never tried it before wasn't brought up...just a bunch of danglers that probably should have gotten some type of resolution...but playing with cameos half the story and seeing Kitty on the floor of a bullet struggling was much more important.

So yes, I enjoyed a few arcs of Whedon's story and a few individual stories/issues, but I think I'm at the point now that I don't want Whedon to touch an X-book for a good long while because he got severely messy near the end.  Rant over...also, there's a few more x-books that haven't got reviewed so I may add those later.

Ultimate Spider-man #122-

It's ultimately just a filler issue until the return of venom which will finally begin the process of tying the game back into continuity like it was originally planned to be. I will say this is a great issue and really gave ultimate shocker some much needed development that he even lacks in the 616 verse where he's rarely used and probably won't be seen for a long time. Go out...buy it...read it. 4 out of 5.

[spoiler]*sidenote* Secret identities don't last forever in this universe...maybe they need mephisto.[/spoiler]

X-men First Class #12-

This is the all angel issue. I don't know if you guys know this, but I really liked Angel in his heyday right up until the end of X-factor. Then he just became fairly uninteresting and mostly a flying scouts man who hooked up with that girl known as Paige Guthrie...who he no longer mentions to my delight.

[spoiler]Anyway, this issue mainly focuses on Angel in search of his favorite relative who went missing in Brazil. Jean also is featured heavily and we get to see Angel's parents for the first time in this book. It seems that Angel's aunt went to a waterfall and went inside the "Devil's Throat" which turns out to be a secret passage into a city called "The Land of Mists". It's an interesting city where all the people have seen strange things and a mutant doesn't surprise them in the least bit. They also don't shake hands in this city and say hello by kissing. Eventually, the x-men arrive to save Angel, or so they think, and find out he's in paradise and doesn't want to return home.[/spoiler]

I rate this issue yet another 3. Not a bad issue, not a good one, just walking the borderline like most of the other issues. The backup issue was *cute* and was also Warren centric.

MK Angel: Revelations #1-

This book is supposedly the origins of Angel retold so I assume it will include his heroic career before joining the x-men. Origin books for the X-men really worry me because they fail more often than not. The latest failure, imo, that comes to mind is Colossus: Origins (which I didn't buy) which totally made him into something he's not. However, I will give  this and Jean Grey's book an honest shot because...I like them. Moving on...

I'll start off by saying this book has some interesting art that I wasn't expecting to see. I'm always glad when any mainstream company takes risks and tries out art that isn't super realistic, bright, and colorful. Something about this art really builds that atmosphere around it and it kept reminding me of a cartoon or something I used to watch earlier in my life. I can't think of the name right now, but I give the book 1 bonus point for even making me remember stuff I've long forgotten.

[spoiler]
The book opens with a preacher or priest praying to God. He's off to meet a woman who wants him to see her little daughter. Apparently she has a problem with her hands continuously bleeding. The bleeding began six months ago and she also has dreams about a boy with fire in his eyes (Cyclops) and snowman (bobby), and a boy that has wings (Angel).

The book then goes into the actual story. Warren is back in Vermont competing in a high jump competition with his teammates (The St. Joe Knights). Not only did he break the school's record, but also his stats are Olympic worthy. This alarms his coach and Warren informs him that he's never taken steroids in his life and maybe he should be more concerned with his teammates lackluster performances. I'll let you figure out how well that went with his friends.

Skip forward a few pages, Warren writes his parents a letter telling them he's afraid that he may be dying. Not only is he losing weight, but he's becoming faster, more agile, and stronger. Not to mention those huge bruises on his shoulder. Point is, he wants to come home and he's really scared.

We then zoom back to the priest talking to the little girl. She informs him about Angel a bit more and says he's "worthy". His name...it's "worthy". After getting all this information, the little girl is silenced with a BLAM and so is her mother. I have a minor issue with this scene, but I'm letting it pass. However, I'm slightly tired of the violent religious figures.

We're left off at a scene with Angel waking up and finding a feather on the floor in shock.[/spoiler]

This book...I liked it. It's an interesting setup that I wouldn't expect and I especially like that Warren is finally getting some more attention which may make him a relevant and 'top-billing' in the X-universe again. Not only is his original origin story pretty vague compared to the others, but this may play up as to why his original name was "The Avenging Angel". I rate it 4 out of 5.  3 out of 5 without the bonus point. I would advise people to wait on the trade, but it's way to early to suggest that *looks at wolverine*.

Wolverine FC #3-

You know, almost every week I write this little corny intro before I sumview a book. I think I'm gonna skip that for this issue. That's right, I'm not gonna make an inane little intro. You can sue me if you'd like, but those things are hard to continuously come up with. They're like...hard! With that said, I don't know why this is named wolverine first class or who it's really aiming at. The old school fans will be a bit happy since this was when wolverine wasn't annoying, but he's not nearly as violent in this book, so the kids can buy it and enjoy it as well. Violence is a vital part of wolverine, but ok. Anyway, this should be named "Kitty" or something since everything is from her POV...I'm just saying. Intro...over. *Bows*

[spoiler]Onto the actual book, Wolverine and Kitty travel to Wundagore to see if Magneto is anywhere near the vicinity. Two locals warn them that going there is hazardous to any God-fearing man and they should turn back. Wolverine and Kitty decide to go ahead anyway and we get our first shot of Cyclops (flashback) since the series began.

A few panels later, the duo manage to make it into the town. Before they can even check out the scenery, they're attack by a knight riding a mechanical transportation device. Wolverine takes care of him in typical wolverine fashion and crashes into a tree. Seconds later, he crashes into a window and is taken out of action. The second knight (whom I should've pointed out earlier) then goes for Kitty (who's hair magically grew longer for a few scenes) and she passes through the object with no problems and short circuits it.

Wolverine then re-emerges and goes right for the downed second knight and plans to make him pay. Kitty stops him and we find out the knight is just a talking rhinoceros. Wolverine, in inner monologue, scolds himself for not maintaining his rage. Seconds later, a bunch of hiding wundagorians appear and alert Wolverine and Kitty about a man with a cape levitating metal around in a cave. Wolverine decides to check it out and he sends Kitty to the X-jet to wait for the other "kids".

Wolverine and Bova (Bessie the cow) head towards the cave and stare at the round table of the Knights of Wundagor. Bova points out that Wolverine resembles Gulo who evolved from a wolverine. Seconds later, a lost wundagorian (who's been modified) attacks Wolverine and spits in his face (MYSTIQUE!). Wolverine easily subdues the reptilian beast until he begins to run for the sword of wundagore. Wolverine snatches it first and the high evolutionary is summoned.

Back to Kitty, she reaches the X-jet and notices a bunch of fallen men. She notes that two of them must be the men from earlier and that the jet's defenses didn't get them at all. Also, someone stole their radio. Outside, an opossum wundagorian watches from a nearby tree.

Back with Wolverine, the high evolutionary de-evolves the beast and questions Bova and Wolverine. H.E. then removes Wolverine's rage and knights him. Skip back to Kitty reaching the cave (another entrance I suppose) and being tricked into a trap by a lemur evolution. She's zapped by a ray beam just as Wolverine figures out that the missing villagers from Wundagore are being Re-evolved into new creatures. Upon seeing the purple caped figure, Wolverine figures out that the figure isn't wolverine, but is infact...MAN-BEAST! The last scene is Kitty finding wolverine and she's half dog...or cat...she's furry.[/spoiler]

And that was part 1. I really don't have a coherent thought on this issue. It's ok for what it is, so I guess it's another 3 out of 5. The art is fine and I guess I'd rank it over X-men first Class. The only thing that bothers me is that this could have easily been, "Kitty and the new class" or "X-men: New Class" or "X-men: Second Class" and worked in the New X-men because I liked them as a whole more so than just Kitty and Wolverine tales. That can only go so far without involving the other X-men.

QuoteI told you i read it late and i was gonna reread it...I just avoided editing the review because everytime i saw it, my opinion of whedon's ending kept dropping.

I didn't mean that you explained it poorly, I'm sure your explanation of it was pretty good seeing as you didn't seem to understand it yourself, it's just it sounded like some of the actual writing in the story was jimmies-to-the-wall ridiculous. I think I may have read fanfic that made more sense than that.

Yeah, I'm kinda happy I declined to pick it up last week in the shop as it doesn't sound like it would have been worth my money, plus reading a story built around "Sorry, Kitty's gone, there's no bringing her back" probably would have made me a bit sad as I have fond memories of reading the original Claremont stories (yaknow back when he was still sane) reprinted through the Essential line, including the first stories with Kitty Pryde.

It's funny about Dr. Strange. In Avengers Dissasembled he was a complete deus ex machina, explaining everything, wrapping the threat with his powers while making the Avengers look even more like chumps than they already were in the story. Now he shows up in an X-Men story and it's "I cannot help you." I guess we now know why the X-Men usually stick to thier own little corner of the Marvel U, eh?

Something I think is worth noting is though I havn't read any of SI I've looked at previews of the book and found that Bendis' version of Brand seems WAY too nice, compared to Wheadon's surly, snappy version. I'd almost figure he did it so Maria Hill would look more unfriendly in comparison, either that or I'd guess Bendis didn't read any of Wheadon's run of X-Men. However the way you described that issue, maybe she actually is nicer now.

Quote from: Previsionary on June 01, 2008, 10:12:10 PM
Ultimate Spider-man #122-

It's ultimately just a filler issue until the return of venom which will finally begin the process of tying the game back into continuity like it was originally planned to be. I will say this is a great issue and really gave ultimate shocker some much needed development that he even lacks in the 616 verse where he's rarely used and probably won't be seen for a long time. Go out...buy it...read it. 4 out of 5.

Well, it's not an X-Book, but I'm glad you summerized it anyway, it's kinda cool to hear that Ultimate Shocker is getting a little respect. I remember fondly how much of a running gag he was in the book. I dropped Ultimate Spidey a fews ago after the really dragged out Venom and Carnage arcs but I've kinda missed it lately and have been considering picking up a few recent issues.

Quote*sidenote* Secret identities don't last forever in this universe...maybe they need mephisto.

LOL. "Ultimate Brand New Day"

I like ultimate spidey enough to break the rules, dannit. :P Not only that, but Kitty was a moderate part of the story and she is an ex-X-man...so...the story applies, or something. I think my favorite X-story of this week was easily the angel solo book.

K, x-fans, check out Nick Lowe interview (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16676) and Greg pak interview (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16615) for what's to come for the x-men in the upcoming months. I'd just like to note that bishop has horrible luck. I don't think Peter Parker should complain anymore about his luck when his colleagues have it worse than him...ouch.

Cable #4-

We pick up on the finally moving plot where we left off...with the arrival of an old friend from Cable's past. I don't have a real intro for this, so I'll keep the actual summary short.

[spoiler]Bishop escapes his capturers and goes back to where he last fought Cable and confirms he's gone. He then goes into the restaurant and asks everyone if they know where cable is in an aggressively Bishop fashion. Meanwhile, Cannonball alerts Cable that he's one of the remaining mutants (also, last X-man) and he only found Cable because of using the remains of cerebra. Bishop eventually tracks down Cable and Sam/Cannonball stays behind to keep him occupied as Cable and the waitress high-tail it out of there. Scene shift to Sam and Bishop having a showdown as the two air their beliefs and hurl insults. I'll just say the ending to the fight made me hate Bishop more than I already did.[/spoiler]

It was an okay issue and it was at a much better pace than the first two issues. We got a little info on the world Cable and Bishop are occupying even though the story didn't progress very far at all. I'm really just holding out on this arc because X-force and Cyclops will be appearing soon and Bishop will get his just dessert. So, if I have to rate it, it's an even 2...out of 5.

Ultimate Origins #1-

The Bendis book the ultimate universe has been waiting for! The origins of the universe and certain characters that populate it. What could be better than this other than a sub-sandwich? Well...? Let's take a gander at what happens:

[spoiler]The book starts off with Spider-man being confronted by a crazy guy. "It's all connected!" he screams to a confused Peter Parker. Turns out crazy guy is Bruce Banner and the military is hunting him down (like a typical Saturday night for this guy) again. As the military men persist in trying to obtain Banner as Spidey tries to calm everyone down, Banner suddenly turns into the Hulk and hops across the city towards New Jersey.
We then get a flashback to 1942 during WWII, as the first super soldier tries to take out the opposition and ends up dead during the same page. The super soldier project was a bust. A year later, we're still in the war and we get out first scene of Wolverine as James Howlett. He and a couple other soldiers are in a home ransacking it. They're soon found out and one of the soldiers makes a run for it, but is quickly taken care of. I'll note that one of the soldiers was Fisk.

Shift ahead a few pages and we find Fury being picked out of jail for a special experiment. Whatever the scientists injected into his body makes him extraordinarily hot and he soon explodes. He doesn't die though, but he does manually take out the rest of his capturers before releasing all the other prisoners and escaping. As the scientists and military men recoup, we shift to a scene of a nude wolverine in a test tube. I think you know what this means...

Moving on, Wolverine escapes into the cold wilderness with the military grunts following him. He's eventually shot and is believed dead. We then get the first scene of his healing powers activating. Wolverine is dragged back into the base and we shift back to a scene with a scientist explaining wolverine's mutated DNA. That's right, people, in the ultimate universe...the mutant gene was created while they were trying to create a super soldier. They got wolverine instead...or mutant zero. END[/spoiler]

I left out quite a few details and it's kinda late, so I may have typed incoherently or something, but I enjoyed this issue. I would have liked a little more Spider-man/Hulk action, but I can live without it. It's a nice read and it does tie together quite a few things that were more or less vague before this issue came out. So, I'll give it a 3.2 out of 5.

On that note, it's been confirmed that one of the ultimate books is being canceled and their have been reports that Loeb is running wild and doing stuff that D. Finch can't believe. Reports of a lot of death especially in the UXM camp...typical.

TRIPLE POST!

New week, new comics. If anyone has any thoughts on any x-books this week, let 'em rip. Otherwise, expect to see this post updated with reviews on X-force and um...w/e other x-book is out. Maybe even some captain britain just because of the ever so lightly association with X-men.

Captain Britain and the MI-13:

I'm going to keep this short especially since I don't have the book near me right now. I'm glad that Cornell is working on this book and making me like the characters again while working in some old classic literature that's slowly falling out of the public's eye (IE: Green Knight). There was a certain scene with the Black Knight that I loved and he seems to have some issues with the avengers that I hope gets fleshed out later on. Also, Captain Britain is off meeting Captain America. I mean that metaphorically/symbolically, don't go crazy. Basically, this is the only side book that shows how calculating and cruel the skrulls can actually be and making them a viable threat WHILE advancing a plot. I can't say the same for the main book of SI that reads very quickly and has reduced half the dialogue into alien language. The skrulls in Captain Britain speak actual English and actually do damage...yay for that. I just feel a let down coming my way from this skrull invasion thing and I expect this from most Bendis events as sad as that may be.

[spoiler]Also, it's pretty much confirmed that a certain vampire is joining the team later on. You guys probably can guess who that person will be.[/spoiler]

In response to below...

Pod, that's true. It's more of an introspect/character development issue from what I've seen that probably could have been saved for later or used other members of the team like...um...Wolfsbane. I'm mostly giving it a try because Jason Aaron writes a VERY good wolverine. Consider him endorsed by me until he fails...then I'll deny this part of the post. :P

Passed on the X-Force special. It's a one-shot with seemingly little to nothing to do with the current title. 

I was gonna write some more reviews but my pc recently decided to die, so i'm working on that...so, basically, consider me on hiatus for a bit.

Found this interview today. Some small insights. I'm definitely looking forward to what's ahead.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080618-Xforce05.html (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080618-Xforce05.html)

This has easily become my favorite x-book since the conclusion of MC. There's a bitter sweet quote for me at the end of this interview. I can only imagine how much more I would love this title.

QuoteNRAMA: Are there any characters that you wanted to include in X-Force that were already being used? Are there any characters that you still would like to see in this motley crew of murderous mutants but you just can't land them?

CY: It rhymes with 'Fredpool'. We didn't even ask, actually, but Craig and I have talked about it. Just imagine the fun. But we're very excited to see him in his own bloody series again.

Totally random post, I know. :P

Murs! Haven't seen much of you lately!
Also on X-Force there's this article at CBR: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16840
I agree Deadpool would have been a great addition.

Read X-Factor today and thought it was a great issue. No spoilers right now.

I've been logging on all the time. I just haven't been saying much.

More good info from that link, thanks Pod.

The way I see it is, if Way fails with Deadpool, CK and CY will pick him up for X-Force. If he doesn't fail, that means he's doing a darn fine job with the title. Win-Win situation.  ^_^

nice to see you posting again, sir Murs. Hopefully you'll be doing that more often?

Quote from: Previsionary on June 18, 2008, 09:27:35 PM
nice to see you posting again, sir Murs. Hopefully you'll be doing that more often?

Yes, and in other threads as well. ;)

Quote from: murs47 on June 19, 2008, 09:50:45 AM

Quote from: Previsionary on June 18, 2008, 09:27:35 PM
nice to see you posting again, sir Murs. Hopefully you'll be doing that more often?

Yes, and in other threads as well. ;)

YAY! And maybe we could work together again? Deadpool mod anyone? I'm kidding of course.

No, I'm still not doing any sumviews, but I do have links!!!

UXM 499 (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16866)

X-men Legacy (http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.3998.FIRST_LOOK~colon~_X-Men~colon~_Legacy_%23213)

X-factor #33 (http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0806/18/marvelfirsts.htm)

That's about it for now, but Im at the point now where I want Legacy to end. 12 issues is a bit too much, me thinks.

note: Deadpool #1 has a Liefield variant cover. *prepares for loads of insults towards Liefield's cover when it shows up*

September solicits (http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?date=2008-09)

Pod not like Stroman :(

Quote from: Previsionary on June 19, 2008, 04:35:47 PM

YAY! And maybe we could work together again? Deadpool mod anyone? I'm kidding of course.

:o Why would you joke with me like that? :(



:lol:

Quote from: Podmark on June 19, 2008, 08:28:50 PM
Pod not like Stroman :(

At first I kept reading that as "Strongman" and was thinking, "what an odd thing to say!"...but yeah, his art is...um...

Angel Revelations #2- Hell Night:

I'm still on break, but I seriously like the angel focus of late (and all the original 5 getting origin books is pretty cool), so I'll do a quickie even though my pc is possessed and still dead. Also, don't want this thread to die yet as it's pretty useful in keeping readers up on X-history, especially me concerning books I don't read.

I'll start with the cover. The angel books have some of the most unique marvel covers out right now. Pretty artistic and how many mainstream comics reference classical/mythological/religious figures on the cover while showing off a nude angelic mutant? NONE. Weird to mention but also noteworthy, I think.

[spoiler]The book opens up with Warren and Amanda (his girlfriend) sharing a private and intimate moment in her bedroom. They have to keep quiet unless they want to get caught and get in trouble with the administration. Just before they can get hot 'n heavy, Amanda notices two stubs on Warren's back and is freaked out. She covers herself with a blanket and questions the stubs that resemble bruises/injuries and Warren lies to her and leaves the room heartbroken.

Scene shift to a boy named palmer who is sweeping up the floor as a priest walks into the room. It's time for confessionals and Palmer doesn't want to do it this week. The priest is a little upset and chastizes the boy, but ultimately forgives him and we move onto a new scene.

Amanda goes to Brandon, Warren's teammate and rival, and vents after having been humiliated and dumped by Angel. She says that the perfect target for hell night would be her ex and Brandon asks why. He then figures it's for revenge but says seniors are untouchable on hell night...but Warren's friend isn't.

We then shift to Warren going to Mr. Walsh, a biology teacher, for help in identifying the species that may have produced (or have ties with) his feather. He surmises that the feather is strong and could support a lot of weight like an eagle, hawk, falcon, gull, or dove; but notes that it's too big to belong to a dove.

We finally get to a semi-action scene/partial-climax where Andrew Palmer, Angel's friend, is about to go through the ritual of hell night because what use is it to lock a door against tradition. The kids surround him and tell him if he screams, he suffers more. Meanwhile, Warren is studying molting to try and make sense of his situation when he hears someone calling for help. Jump pack to Palmer and we see him being held against his will in a bathroom where he's about to have his bare back scorched by hot water. Enter our hero and the inevitable rival vs. rival showdown.

In the final few scenes, Brandon returns to Amanda and reports what happens and claims Warren is "dead" while Warren and Andrew Palmer talk about his back stubs. END![/spoiler]

I'll say it again, this book has an interesting style and it's definitely not for everyone. Action junkies really won't like this book much at all. I think it's a pretty interesting book and it seems to have this dark tone going for it which really fits the art. I hope things get moving by book 3 since it's only a 5 part story and I'm not a big fan of stretching out a story for longer than it needs to be. But yeah, if you like angel, you'll most likely like this book. Solid 3...out of 5.
-------------

X-factor fans: click here (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080624-Xfactor32PAD.html)

Quote of interest:

Quote from: PADNRAMA: For those of us who are missing Layla Miller, what can you tell us about her one-shot coming up in August?

PD: It's set in the future, it features the advent of the fabled Summers Rebellion, and Layla has a significant role in it.

NRAMA: Will she be returning to the regular title?

PD: Yes, she will be back.

Astonishing fans

Only gonna do one book and one book only. I hope someone else takes up the rest or at least entertain me with some witty debate on my next review.

Astonishing #25:

Crappy? End.

2 out of 5.

....

Actually, I'm confused on how I really feel about this issue. I disliked the art and the costumes, the dialogue felt off for several members of the team, and the storm/emma interaction was such a let down to me because storm seemed to be anyone BUT storm. Let's get to what went down.

[spoiler]Basically, we open up with wolverine half nude on a tree as Armor talks via IM to someone about getting a new name. She then goes to see Beast and chats with him. meanwhile, Cyclops and Emma are in bed and he makes some sex joke and they get ready to meet Hisako and Wolverine. We also get to see their new car that was donated by the city. WOO. Moving on, Beast, Emma, Cyclops, and Hisako are standing around the base doing nothing of interest while they wait on Wolverine. Storm arrives instead and they all wonder how to address Storm.

- I'm going to take a break here and say this scene is odd when you consider they all ran across Storm several times AFTER her marriage by now. Why is this an issue all of a sudden? She was just in the last issue and spidey and iceman didn't have a problem with calling her Storm/Ororo. The fan4 kept calling her Ororo...get with it, X-men.

Anyway, Wolverine finally arrives and Storm notes that shopping and constant love making is boring and she wants to rejoin the team. She asks Emma to let her back on and says, "I missed all of you,". Emma is shocked by her love making comment and her claim of missing her and they get into a minor argument where emma says she's tired of everyone claiming she's an evil witch every time they walk through the door. Storm just wants someone to argue with her since no one will in Wakanda. Emma says shutup and drink her tea. WOW! FUN!

Anyway, the police call and Wolverine explains that the police of SF like them. Cyclops then explains their mission and tells storm the basics including the use of the new costumes. Instead of being costumed vigilantes, they wear certain costumes to bypass all that crap so no one can be upset. Storm says it's not like the old days and cyclops confirms it by saying, "No, it's not like Xavier would have done it."

- Another break, why are they writing Storm like she was an Xavier follower. Did they miss most of her progression AGAINST Xavier? Please.

I have no comments on their street gear other than they look like street clothes rather than costumes. Anyway, they meet up witht he police and come across a floating man on fire. The police can't put him out, so they ask Storm to help out. She does and the burnt body falls to the ground. Beast surmises that something must have been acting independently of the brain to keep the body floating. Beast asks WOlverine to cut out a sample of unburnt skin/organs so he can determine who the person was and whether or not he/she was a mutant. Emma does a bit of um...detecting and reads some conveniently written notes and figures out where the killer will go...spaceship grave yard: Chaparanga.

Moving on, Beast determines that someone was trying to create mutants because of the gene he found on chromosome 66 and such. HE also notes that cerebra can't track these fake mutants. Anyway, Beast stays behind and the other X-men take an experimental jetplane to the graveyard. Hisako vomits on the back of cyclops's mask. On the jet, we get more backstory on the spaceship graveyard. Nothing of note really happens here. END![/spoiler]

I don't know what it is exactly that turned me off so much, but I didn't agree with several things. Storm was drawn badly, the art in general fluctuated but was mostly bad, the dialogue...bad. Storm felt so out of character that I don't even know why they chose to use her and drop Colossus. Making Storm out to be an Xavier follower is completely wrong as she hasn't been that in years. That's cyclops's department and let's not flip the script since he recently refound his danglers. I liked some stuff, but...bleh, I hope things get much better. 2.5...out of 5. Maybe I'm just bitter? ^_^

I'll probably enjoy it better when I reread it...but I doubt it.

UXM interview and pics (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17068)

I don't agree at all about Astonishing.  It was a solid start to Ellis' run on the title - not great, but pretty good.  For the most part the characterizations aren't drastically wrong (ie. the new Young X-men book), and even Storm comments on things being different than when Xavier ran things, not worse.

Quote from: Talavar on July 04, 2008, 09:50:16 AM
I don't agree at all about Astonishing.  It was a solid start to Ellis' run on the title - not great, but pretty good.  For the most part the characterizations aren't drastically wrong (ie. the new Young X-men book), and even Storm comments on things being different than when Xavier ran things, not worse.

I wouldn't expect ya to. :P I did rate it a 2.5 which is in the range I rate most setup issues, so it's not like I had total hate for it. I just didn't like it much for some of the reasons I stated earlier. Also, your storm comment confuses me. She didn't bring up Xavier, Cyclops assumed that. I don't know why since Xavier hasn't done anything in years (months in marvel time) and cyclops and emma have been leading since the end of New X-men (Cyclops and Jean during). Storm hasn't been following the Xavier way since before X-treme X-men, so you can't really make any type of logical sense of that OR her sex comment since she hasn't had time to do anything since she's barely been in Wakanda long enough to shop, climb, and do anything with BP. I'll just assume this takes place many months into the future. Also, yes, most of my opinions on this issue is biased based on an interview I linked to that indicated Storm would get a minor personality shift to be more of an Xavier follower than she should be, so I'm waiting to see how that plays out or if Ellis was just playing a mind game.

re: the X-Factor interview Pre linked to. I've been really happy with X-Factor lately (especially that last issue that came out) and the stuff in that interview (especially Layla Miller appearing again) makes me very happy for the future of that book. I find myself looking forward to Longshot (a character who I've found myself surprisingly fond of) and Darwin (a character who's mostly a blank slate characterization-wise) being put in the hands of PAD on his heavily character-driven X-Factor. However, I'm dreading the art y Stroman. However, I'm looking forward to the crossover with She-Hulk mostly because of the artist on that book. I wish he was X-Factor to tell the truth.

This was a very disappointing issue.  Some dialogue was far too forced, and the colours were so dark and drab that it was sometimes hard to really see what's going on.  If Astonishing continues like this, I will drop it and focus on something else.

W.Ellis usually doesn't let me down and I had the same complaints about his Thunderbolt run until it all started tying together so I'll give him a few issues before I curse his name. What Marvel really needs to do is bring back Nextwave, we don't need three core x-titles.

Oh, Nextwave, how I love it.  At least Machine Man is still acting like he did in Nextwave in his supporting role in Ms. Marvel.  Most of the other characters have either vanished into the ether, or been reset to their pre-Nextwave appearance/character, like Monica.

Ill add some random review (probably origins) later but...

Uncanny X-men #500 art (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17132) looks really pretty.*

Also, dave crockum art from X-men: Odd men out (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17157).

Check it out, yo.



* - color wise and the costumes look MUCH MUCH better

Yeah I love the Dodson art so much more than Land. I'm picking up 500, if I like it maybe more. We'll see.

Quick Young X-Men spoilers:
[spoiler]Cyclops is really Donald Pierce (big surprise  :rolleyes:). Young X-Men attack Sunspot and Cannonball. Greymalkin is someone who seems to know Cypher.[/spoiler]

Wasn't impressed with this issue either. I got this feeling the book will get somewhat better with the next arc but right now its a very contrived mystery story. 1 maybe 2 out of 5.

New Exiles #8:

Ok, I'm going mostly off of memory here which may be hazy, but hey, you don't read the book; why would you care? :P Now, I openly admit that I don't think highly of current Claremont or his Exiles/New Excalibur run, but I must have a reason for continuously torturing myself by even browsing...but he has psylocke and I aim to keep track of her. DARN YOU, 'MONT! Dramatics over, I'll give a quick* review.

Anyway, this and last issue finally gets back to a story introduced way back in Exiles (claremont's run). You may not remember it, but basically Psylocke ran into Slaymaster in a world run by evil Susan storm/Hydra and he's been chasing her down ever since making sure to kill EVERY incarnation of her he can find. I'm sure he's doing chronal damage, but as of now (ignoring this issue until I actually review it), it hasn't been addressed. Point is, Psylocke went crazy last issue for some reason and left her team during an important issue and ran into her foe who happens to be Slaymaster...actually, she arrives there too late and runs into a dead version of herself that was just killed by Slaymaster. Same difference. ^^

[spoiler]Now, it's a bit difficult for me to explain everything going on in this book using memory and other resources, but during the first few pages, Psylocke's confrontation with Slaymaster results in her splitting into every incarnation of her we've seen in 616, IIRC. That means Captain Britain, old pink costume, armor, red X-men costume all make an appearance for some reason and claim they all have the power to beat him. They all lose and Psylocke wakes up.

In a room she doesn't recognize, Psylocke realizes she's been redressed and she has the crimson dawn mark on her face again. She's confused by this and then realizes a man is in the room with her. The man claims Psylocke isn't in control of her destiny and reveals himself as Ogun. He reveals that his student, Lady Mandarin, died but her soul was seeking another body and it ended up in Psylocke. This story seems a bit familiar, huh? Ogun reveals that his pupil was killed by Slaymaster and offers to help Psylocke beat him by teaching her a new technique (IE: training).

Scene shift:  Gambit is jumping with the dolphins in the cleanest ocean he's ever seen or be in while commenting on the plot to no one in particular when he's attacked by naval ships (outdated tech...again). Aquaman...I mean Gambit is then hit by a projectile and notes that he's glad he's built for high pressure situations. He's then attacked by a scuba diver in body armor. Gambit continues explaining every move and story plot to us as he's attacked, but he manages to take one of the divers down (Female) as well as the boat.
-   For some reason, Gambit feels the need to openly describe every action he's going to do to us or to his attackers while switching from atlantaen and French. Gambit...shutup.

Um, Gambit is then "attacked" by a giant squid which he learns is trying to help them and they can talk and I just remember that page being full of dialog...every panel. Then some other atlanteans show up and Gambit continuously forgets he's in a different universe and keeps reminding us of that. Moving on...

As Gambit talks to his alt. grandmother about wars and whatever, Storm (wearing a costume reminiscent to her 90s costume) appears on the scene and provides trouble for the french, under the rule of emperor Napoleon, by summoning a storm. Of course, Claremont has to explain what she does and that this is fun for "ro'ro". Also, this is the second time she's appeared in Claremont's New Exiles...she was last seen 2 arcs ago. Also, she seems to be attracted to her alternate universe son.

Anyway, Napoleon proves that he answers to no one and his ships "vanish"—actually becoming airships ala final fantasy—and we finally see the other members of the team. All that's really important in the scene is that Morph's team + Queen's guards/supporters must protect her. Also, Sage can apparently fly now.

MEANWHILE, the other team of Rogue and Mystiq with the kid (prince) from last issue fly to Department X (X-mansion) and speak to the professor (Emma Frost). The kid wonders where his mother is. Emma reveals that the French have control of Manhattan island and that they're on their own. Emma then mentions her team...Force X.

We THEN move to Kitty who is still dealing with the realization that worlds are ending. I won't go much into this scene, but Kitty questions Heather about what's going on in the omniverse and Heather basically speaks in riddles. We end the book with Heather (she's a program now, keep that in mind...the real heather is with Blink and friends) disappearing.[/spoiler]

Finally done. Woo. That's quick for a Claremont book, mind you. Anyway, the exposition in his books kill me. I don't need to know every last detail of what characters are thinking or how they use a power if we've seen it before or if it should be a simple visual. I don't need every freakin' page full of dialogue and thought bubbles and exposition boxes. I don't need a team book splitting everyone up into teams of 2 or being solo for individual stories when you spend too much time on the story less relevant to the current situation. The fact that he showed every character in this book across several different areas probably hurt him (I forgot Heather existed for a bit...), but he didn't show Sabretooth, team leader, at all. Anyway, solid 2. I'm being generous.

Gah, I hope to add another review later...of a good book...people can enjoy.

LOL Pre you still read New Exiles. Why do you punish yourself? Join us on the ooooootttthhhher siiiide.....it's BLISS.  :P

Quote from: Silver Shocker on July 10, 2008, 11:58:23 PM
LOL Pre you still read New Exiles. Why do you punish yourself? Join us on the ooooootttthhhher siiiide.....it's BLISS.  :P

I browse/read summaries. It has Psylocke, ok. I like her...liked her...Im confused about my feelings concerning her character these days. Claremont wont drop her! She'd rock in Captain britain + MI13 since she's...you know...English.

   I really didn't want to write more than one review as, well, pc is still dead and that's taking a lot of energy but...the incredibly quick (long) Claremont based review left a bad taste in my mouth and I needed something to remove it. So, well, here we go:

Captain Britain and the MI13 #3:

   Just to play catch up, in issue one, the MI13 come together and Captain Britain sacrifices his life to save the sage perilous and to protect Britain (and magic) from the skrulls, who are a surprisingly effective force in this book unlike the SI main book. In Issue 2, Faiza gains some sort of powers and Wisdom and some other members of the MI13 try to remove Excalibur but fail while the mystical creatures of Britain do battle with the skrulls. Now for issue 3, I'll start by saying it has an awesome cover of Spitfire biting into a skrull. HARDCORE!

   [spoiler]The book opens up with a full page of the skrull forces lead by a skrull that sort of resembles Doc. Strange with a flaming head and horns. He reports that the skrulls now have the magic and they'll soon take out Avalon and rejoin the main forces to finish conquering the world. This team of skrulls is known as the Pendragon force, and honestly, they seem like a bigger threat than the New York skrulls. Meanwhile, on Westminster's bridge, the British military prepare for the upcoming skrull attack and note/clarify that the skrulls now have magic under their control and are considerably more formidable. They must prevent the skrulls from taking over parliament (extending into the media) to keep them from making the world think they (skrulls) have won the war.

   In an open field somewhere, Pete and Spitfire take out a few skrulls and Spitfire is worried about John the skrull. She resolves to save him while Pete tells her that magic needs a sacrifice, but it's too much. Spitfire tells Pete that if he has one final card to play, then play it.

Meanwhile, John is surrounded by skrulls and makes a speech about not changing his form to resemble his true nature because he refuses to die as one of them. He then tries to pull Excalibur again and fails.
Back at the bridge, Black Knight, the army, and Faiza have a standoff with the skrull forces. Black Knight tells Faiza she should leave, but she refuses, so he tells her when he tells her to run when things get bad—run!

Going back to Pete, he finally decides to listen to the voice in his head and runs off to release the creature speaking to him. He finds the tomb, uses his powers, and breaks the seal. Welcome back, Merlin! Merlin explains that he's good now and sends Peter into a spiritual trip of sorts by forcing him asleep. Merlin then strikes the ground and an agonizing scream is heard across Britain as a pair of hands tries to dig their way out of the Earth. At the same time, a bunch of British flags is flying towards the same source and begins to form around a body.

Finally, as the other British forces try to fight off the skrulls, they notice something in the sky and are shocked. They note that someone is back and someone has the sword, but whom?! We then head into the final scene of the book. Skrull Doc's forces have all but destroyed the British forces except for Faiza. As the skrull mocks Faiza, someone from behind kills him. That someone, you ask, is Brian Braddock—Captain Britain.[/spoiler]

Basically, this is an action packed book and I urge all of you guys to check it out. It and Avengers: The Initiative have been the only skrull related books so far to actually make me take the skrulls seriously and present them as actual masterminds and threats rather than page fillers that are taken out with little effort. I enjoy how urgent the situation seems for Britain and how literally EVERYONE is trying to fight off the skrull forces and I also like how the skrulls here have this big bad attitude (ego) about them where they don't even feel threatened until excalibur is pulled again. I'll have to rate this a high 4. I hope the book keeps this momentum after the skrull tie in (and I don't doubt Paul Cornell of Dr. Who fame will let me down) and I'm interested to see how Blade will play into the story when he finally shows up.

I didn't mention this in the sumview, but several creatures escaped the tomb Pete wisdom went to...here's a pic of it and you can play spot the demon or w/e:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_cb3monstersrc1.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/cb3monstersrc1.jpg)[/spoiler]


X-factor #33 preview (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=697&disp=table). Podmark, close your eyes. :P

X-force #5 preview (http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.4185.FIRST_LOOK~colon~_X-Force_%235)

You mentioned that Heather went off with Blink & friends - as a fan of Exiles a long time ago with a morbid curiosity, what happened to them?

Quote from: Talavar on July 11, 2008, 09:02:01 AM
You mentioned that Heather went off with Blink & friends - as a fan of Exiles a long time ago with a morbid curiosity, what happened to them?

*opens memory box*

Well, this happened after the Reed vs. hydra Sue Storm story, iirc, but Heather basically went insane and began to drink heavily because she thought the Exiles were dead. In reality, Reed Richards had allowed the world to die/explode and magically restored it in a later issue. The Exiles couldn't return home, so they remained on the world and helped rebuild it as Psylocke healed from a wound she received from Hydra Wolverine. Heather didn't find this information out until she was already gone. When the Exiles finally returned home, they noticed that the crystal palace was empty (the bugs left during Heather's breakdown) and are worried. Blink and Morph eventually think to check her home world and find Heather in her house. They learn she's pregnant and she won't be returning to the team. The same or next issue, Kitty Pryde appears as do the old couple (that served no purpose to the story other than being a tribute) and we eventually get to the return of Thunderbird.

By the time issue #100 rolled around, only a month or so after that thing that was Excalibur: Death by the Sword; Blink, Talia/Nocturne, and Thunderbird are tired of doing missions and decide to stay with Heather in her homeworld. IIRC, Nocturne's reason for going, other than being with Thunderbird, was for Heather to keep track of her health since she was still recovering from her ever-so-random stroke she had in New Excalibur.

And that's what happened to Blink and the other original Exiles. They're effectively in limbo with a pregnant Heather.
------------------------------

Finale review for me this week...I hope:


Ultimate Origins #2:

   I don't have any expectations for this book, so keep that in mind. My overall enjoyment of the ultimate universe is severely low, so any good story will easily make me happy. With that said, I want to take the time now to recommend Ultimate Human and Ultimate Iron Man II as they are both good ultimate books that put UXM, UFF, and Ultimates #3 to shame. With that said, on with the sumview.

   The cover is of Captain America, and while covers aren't typically an indicator of what's to come, this one is accurate as Captain America is introduced into the story with this issue. That's just a side note before I jump into things.

[spoiler]
   We open up the book with Carol Danvers welcoming the Fantastic Four to, I suppose, a shield base in the mountains. The crew is surprised that Carol is acting as director of shield and Johnny keeps asking about Nick Fury as no one knows where he is. At this point, I should mention that I guess this comes before the last issue of Ultimate Fantastic Four as Reed and Susan are still together. Anyway, Reed inspects all the material he finds there and is alarmed that all these items are just kept together in a room somewhere.

   New York, 1942, we see a young Steve Rogers at a movie theater watching a documentary about Hitler and the war. He runs into an old friend, Gail, from High school and she introduces him to a friend who's shipping out to a war. Gail notes that they, her and Steve, should get together sometime before finding her seat. Several minutes later, Steve leaves and heads for a recruitment office where we find out he failed the physical portion of his examination. Steve refuses to take no for an answer and wants to do anything to help aid in the war, but he won't work in a factory with the dames. As Steve is pleading, Sergeant Dugan asks for him. Dugan asks Steve to explain why he keeps trying to be recruited and Dugan later tells Steve that his job was to find him. This leads into Project: Rebirth. You know the outcome of that, so I'm gonna skip all the middle portions as you can easily grab those details from common sense/ultimates #1/Wikipedia. The project was successful, but unfortunately, a German spy was among the experiment dressed as an American soldier and shoots both Steve and Doctor Erskine (who dies). Steve makes easy work of the spy, using his first discus as well, and passes out.

   Next scene is Steve in his room and the president enlists him in the war telling Steve that he must go overseas, wear the flag, and help stop the war otherwise the president will have to drop a bomb killing everyone and...he can't have that on his soul. Later, we see Steve walking over to see Gail and he informs her that he's shipping out and that he's loved her since Middle School. The book ends off with the first shot of Captain America jumping out of a plane heading into battle.[/spoiler]

   Not a lot really happened in this issue and that's fine as it mostly focused on Cap and the rest of his origins. I would have liked if they'd covered a little more though, but I'm sure issue 3 will take care of that. From what I can tell, Origins fits pretty nicely into Ultimate continuity and nothing seems to stand out as being incorrect. It is a slow issue with very little action and if you don't like solo character focused books, you might want to skip this. I'd rate it a 2.5 out of 5. It lost a few points because of the art, which wasn't the greatest.

Quote from: Previsionary on July 11, 2008, 06:12:31 AM
   
X-factor #33 preview (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=697&disp=table). Podmark, close your eyes. :P

X-force #5 preview (http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.4185.FIRST_LOOK~colon~_X-Force_%235)

Oh no! The Stroman art has blinded me so that I can't see the X-Force preview! Oh woe is me!  :(

I keep hearing great things about Captain Britain and MI13. I might trade it eventually.

X-factor #33:

Podmark, I'm sorry, but the art in this book will probably kill you. I'm protecting you right now because that's what caring people do...also, I don't feel evil today. You're lucky.

Let's get some of the facts out of the way. This is a three part arc and Larry Stroman is doing the art. It also serves as a crossover for both She-hulk and Secret Invasion. It also introduces two more characters to the story. I'm not going to go real in-depth with the review, so if you really want to know everything...buying the book or finding a better summary will be your best bet.

[spoiler]The story starts off with Longshot trying to start a fight so that he can test his powers. Darwin gets caught in the crossfire and easily adapts to the situations he's put in. This includes growing gills when exposed to water.

The scene then shifts to X-factor investigations where Darwin's father has arrived. He's there to ask for help and the XF team agrees to aid him in finding his son. It's revealed that Darwin's father abandoned the family (or more accurately, was driven away once the family found out about Darwin's condition as a mutant) and his mother placed the blame and guilt on Darwin.

Back to Longshot and Darwin, Darwin is still being attacked and Longshot is just standing around. A riot then breaks out after the thugs figure out Darwin is a mutant, but Darwin speeds off leaving Longshot to be jumped on. To the thugs' surprise, Longshot disappeared and they run off to find him. One of the thugs runs into a lady who was watching the scene go down. MYSTERY.

We then come to a scene featuring a skrull who is putting down humanity once again. The skrull then shapeshifts into Longshot (couldn't find anyone better, I suppose) and a talking rat spots him. This rat is Jacinda for you none She-hulk readers.

-An interesting note I want to make. Every time I saw Siryn in this book, her hair was mysteriously floating. Pregnancy must have giving her "floating hair" power.

Next scene, Maddox and Guido are in the bar talking to Val Cooper. She tells them to forget about Darwin as she has a more important assignment for them. She then threatens them and Maddox does his typical wise cracking thing. Val then threatens Jamie with a secret and tells him he has 24 hours to wrap up the Darwin case before reporting to her.

And to end this, we go back to Darwin and Skrullshot. Darwin reveals that he thought skrullshot could lead him to Professor X (that makes no sense to me). Skrullshot reveals that's not how his power works and he's not a tracker...he just relies on luck and chance. He then clams up when Darwin notices the girl from the thug fight following them. He screams out her name and makes a run for it. Jacinda (girl) gives chase, but Darwin trips her up. Jacinda easily dispatches of him and continues her chase. We then get the classic misunderstanding between Darwin, She-hulk/Jacinda, and XF and...this is the worse I've ever seen She-hulk and Monet drawn in a very long time. She-hulk resembled a deformed skrull and that's not cool.
[/spoiler]

The art really distracted me and I don't know how other readers adapted to it so quickly or even...like it. Upon seeing this art, I immediately remembered that Stroman also did the art to What if: ...Vulcan/X-men and it made me sad. I give it a 2. The art took me way out of the story and it seemed to be a bit slow because of it. Also...double crossover is pushing it for me.

Yeah I got no compliments for the X-Factor art except that it didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. I think the preview prepared me. Thought the story was good though.

Also read X-Force last week. Didn't quite have the punch of the first 4 but I still love that book.

Just noting...X-men 500 is out today, so expect a review at least by Sunday. :P Longshot is back...so let's all be happy for the return of Dazzler without the pink low cut!  (*chirps*)

X-men #500:

Well, this has been a long time coming, but we finally made it to #500. Uncanny had some good and bad runs and really, in the past few years, the bad has been prominent. I'm sorry, but there's no way to really forget dino Rachel, the death of most of the grey family, and (both) finales to RAFOTSE. It's been rocky, but it's also had it's own little gems like returning Psylocke continuity and making her a friend of X-23, some Messiah Complex issues, and the added confusion about Magneto (not good...but I needed something!).

This is basically what happened in this issue:

[spoiler]The team are having a new compound built just outside of San Fran because A) it's hard to get to and B) rent is high + they can reach many parts of the city through tunnels and such (which Wolverine is using to test out his motorcycles). The X-men have also gone green and everyone is wearing improved versions of their astonishing costume except Storm who is still wearing her old black costume. It should be noted that the X-men are going green. They can do it, why not you? ^_^

The mayor arrives via storm and checks out the base. She's impressed, but she has some dark knews to shar. Guy "Gee" Demondue, a confrontational conceptual artist, has acquired three mark one sentinels and plans to show them off. This results in some very ugly angry X-face (hi, Emma! That's you right?), minus wolverine, that tell the mayor those things are horrible. The X-men will be at this showing!

Next scene, a page full of Jean! She's been cloned again by Sinister. It's quite a horrible scene because Jean clones are crazy...But what actually happens is that a bunch of people are dressed in several of Jean's costumes. Sorry to scare you. Also, several mutants are protesting the event. As the X-men scout the event, Wolverine wonders if he can kill some of them and cyclos refuses. He then notes how F'ing angry he is and Emma wants to mindwipe some guy because that's her specialty. Cyclops jokes it off.

Somewhere else at this event, Colossus and Angel are sharing a conversation. Angel is happy to let his wings hang out and Colossus finds it strange. Someone walks by in a Magneto costume and hands Colossus a drink. Colossus is confused and tells the man he's not part of the staff before Magneto attacks and sends Colossus flying. Magneto then brings the sentinels to life--so to speak--and the X-men respond to the chaos. Angel and Emma lead the robots away, so that innocents aren't hurt and...FASTBALL SPECIAL!

Moving on, The remaining X-men try to fight Magneto and have little luck--Cyclops: SUCK IT!--in stopping him. Emma has Warren lead a remaining sentinel towards the bay while her, Wolverine, and Colossus rush back to Cyclops side. Emma notes that it's weird that Magneto could power up the sentinels, yet they never targetted him. Cannonball then arrives on the scene and rams directly into Magneto's back. It's then revealed that magneto is in a suit of some sort that "faked" his powers. Cyclops then states they'll find a way to reverse engineer the suit if Magneto tries it again.

--I'm skipping some parts of this scene, sorry


Switching gears, We come upon Storm who alerts the X-men that the Celestial in San Fran seems to be awaking. She then points out that Magneto must have been a distraction. The X-men, sans Warren, rush off to the Celestial's location. Storm prepares to stop the high evolutionary from attacking and...he just disappears (like Magneto) leaving only Kingo Sunen there to remain. To book buyers, you'll note that Kingo was mentioned/seen in the first few pages of the book. The day ends with Magneto and the high evolutionary on a ship above earth discussing their plans.


NEXT DAY:

The X-men are standing around commenting on the view of their surroundings. NC then arrives and Cyclops prepares to have his thoughts transmitted across the mutant race (less than 198 now, im sure). Cyclops calmly announces that the X-men are still alive and going strong.

We then shift to Wolverine on the streets. He congratulates Cyclops on his announcement and then goes to check up on Guy (GEE!). He tells Cykes that they won't be getting anything from him as Guy (GEE) appears to be dead.So dead that his face is locked in a surprised expression and...um...it's facing backwards while his torso and such is facing forward and slammed against a desk...yeah.

TWO WEEKS LATER:

We pick up with an Older Pixie and friend at a Dazzler show (she hasn't sung since New Excalibur, btw) and they sing odd words like, "pop and freak," and "tweeting"...kids. The two are being scouted by a man and some thugs in a van. These people want to save humanity and they reveal themselves to be...the Hellfire cult![/spoiler]

WOOO! *wipes brow* Well, there you go. It's a pretty big book and a lot happened, but I did have quite a few questions pop up and I'll just accept that Magneto is powerless now since Uncanny finally addressed it again. I do want to know what he did with the diary he picked up though. It was nice seeing a good deal of the X-team working together to handle a crisis even if it seemed just a tiny bit rushed, imo. I enjoyed seeing another Fastball special and I guess that means Colossus is no longer a Last Defender (don't read the book). Um,  I'm still trying to decide where the free comic fits in because I'm certain it's in continuity. I'll assume it took place either before issue #500 or in the two week period afterwards. So, yeah, it's a good issue for what it is. It's not very compelling and darnit, I didn't get to see Dazzler outside of the cover. She will need to appear soon or I'm attacking someone if only because I want to hear her thoughts on sleeping with Pete Wisdom when she knew Juggernaut had a minor attraction towards her. *mumbles*...3.2 out of 5. The art was pretty good, so it got extra points. I should note that I've adapted to greg's art so his similar faces, alleged tracing, and *censored* faces don't bother me as much as they used to. *nods*

*note* I should say that this issue is completely blah as a milestone issue and by itself, you probably won't enjoy it; however, it sets up the new quo and sets up a few stories.

I thought 500 was simply horrible. Highlighted by Land art (which bugs me MORE than Stroman) and poor use of Magneto. Really liked Dodson's art though. My rating would be like 1/5 I really didn't like it. Won't be picking up the next one but I'll keep my eye on the title in case it picks up.

On the other hand She-Hulk was pretty good. It's part two of the X-Factor storyline. I'd give it a 3 or 4 out of 5.

Quote from: Podmark on July 23, 2008, 09:01:41 PM
I thought 500 was simply horrible. Highlighted by Land art (which bugs me MORE than Stroman) and poor use of Magneto. Really liked Dodson's art though. My rating would be like 1/5 I really didn't like it. Won't be picking up the next one but I'll keep my eye on the title in case it picks up.

On the other hand She-Hulk was pretty good. It's part two of the X-Factor storyline. I'd give it a 3 or 4 out of 5.

why did you think it was so horrible, sir Pod? I'll admit it wasn't great, milestone worthy, or even compelling; but if I look at it as a bunch of setups, with a side of setups + a setup soda, I can accept it as average. I'm ignoring magneto, some of cyclops's dialogue where he contradicted himself, emma's semi-uberness, lack of NC/Cannonball, and Storm being very dumb. :P

Looks like posts died again. Pod, to your erased reply, I said I understood and consistency isn't anything current Land is known for and I just ignore it now. I also do the same thing with Brubaker because his writing seems to fluctuate on X-men. I think it's a combo of him not getting the characters he wanted (he has cyclops/astonishing now...but wrote them pretty blandly) and him not being all too great at team based books. I don't know, I've adapted...like Darwin.

She-Hulk #31 (I refuse to re-edit this):

Usually, She-hulk wouldn't grace this thread, but thanks to the crossover, you get her here. I must admit that I just got into She-hulk recently and I find her sort of refreshing. I can take her in much larger doses than I ever could Ms. Emma *becoming too powerful with little training* Frost and she has this whole fun vibe going on about her. If anyone needs to get out of her B/C list game and become a header, I'd choose She-hulk...for now. Also, I'm going to note that I misspelled Jazinda's name last review, so my bad.

[spoiler]The book starts off where we left off in X-factor: She-hulk is about to bust some heads open and she especially doesn't want to deal with Monet (who does?). I'll note here that I find it weird that Monet's skin color keeps getting lighter and lighter as the months go on. It's an odd thing to do to a character. Anyway, Monet tells Shulk that she's looking for Darwin and she refuses to get into a catfight and then work together with She Hulk. Seconds later, she's splashed with water. Fun.

As you know, once a girl is splashed with water, the fight is on. The women go at it while Darwin sits back and puts Jazinda in a headlock. Jazinda easily escapes and gut kicks him before returning to her mission. Meanwhile, Shehulk, by her own admission, immaturely keeps battling Monet because it's much more fun. MORAL LESSON, Y'all! ^_^

We then go several hours into the past which will inevitably lead us to the showdown between Monet and She-Hulk. Jacinda begins to explain the skrull situation to a confused She-Hulk and reveals this plan has been thought out for too long and the attack will be simultaneous. She-hulk protests and says they need to head back to New York. As She-hulk and Jazinda fight over the wheel, they crash through a railing and flip over and  crash. Shulk then punches Jazinda and questions her alliance. Jazinda explains herself and Shulk finally accepts her explanation and inquires as to why they had to go to Detroit. Jazinda explaisn that the "Talisman" is there and if they capture him, they may be able to short circuit the invasion.

We're all caught up and flashback to the present. She-hulk flips Monet into a vehicle just as Guido slams her into the ground. She-hulk then does something very unlady like and Guido may need to visit a hospital to make sure he's still...functional.

Back in the past, jazinda continues explaining who the Talisman ('Nogor') is. He's one of the holiest skrulls on the planet. He's only below the skrull gods in hierarchy. Talisman is said to be a representation of the gods and his prescenese is required to ensure that the gods are in agreement on particular endeavors such as invasions. Jazinda then explains that the Talisman is kept from battle because if he dies/loses, it's a blow to morale.

Flash Forward, we find Jazinda holding a gun out on poor skrullshot. Darwin then appears and protects skrullshot. Jazinda tells him Longshot is a skrull and Darwin doesn't belive her. Jazinda then shoots Darwin, he adapts, and the bullet smacks into Jazinda. Ouch. Longshot and Darwin run off and She-hulk runs off to find Jazinda. Madrox gets in her way for a second and Shulk tells him off while continuing on her way. DOUBLE TASKING ROCKS! However, a slew of Madrox's jump her and she realizes that being impulsive is stupid. Poor shulk.

Monet rushes to rejoin the fray, but is told to go after Darwin and Skrullshot. Monet goes, but warns that she'll be back to get a crack at Shulkie. This upsets She-hulk enough to push all her reasonable thoughts elsewhere. Monet catches up with Darwin, he gushes, and she begins to question longshot. Darwin reveals what Jazinda said and Monet read Longshot to make sure. She found nothing. Darwin then touches him and...Talisman is revealed!

--Note, this is um...I think the third device for identifying skrulls so far.

The book ends with monet being knocked out AGAIN and Darwin calling for help.[/spoiler]

In a nutshell, it's a good book. More enjoyable than Uncanny and the art is much better than X-factor...which isn't saying much. I still think it's a bit slow because some of the plot devices were used to stretch out the book longer than it needed to be, but it's forgivable because it was acknowledge in the book and I can accept that Darwin is uber naive. Anyway, 3.5 out of 5. Better than Uncanny, but still suffers a few problem. Go out and get it.

X-men Legacy 214:

[spoiler]
If you haven't been reading it, then you probably still won't be. it really picked up with the Xavier/Sinister plot and the Gambit/Shaw team up was great. I actually liked Sebastian a lot in this book and he got a bunch of great lines. Meanwhile, Xavier and Sinister went through more memories (Onslaught, etc.) and continued their psychic battle. Xavier eventually got the upper hand and Sebastian + Gambit destroyed Sinister's machine. The book ends with Shaw speaking to a very sexually dressed "MISS" Sinister. SHOCK![/spoiler]

Solid 3. I don't have much more to say about it really. It a book for continuity hounds or people who like to look up memories and events. This arc is a bit better than the last and much better than the first few issues, but it probably won't hold your attention too long.

Ultimate X-men #96:

[spoiler]
I'm a bit worried about this issue. It feels like I missed a whole middle issue, but I guess that's because I feel like Cyclops and the MGH X-men fell too quickly into their addictions. Anyway, Cyclops's X-men are addicted and this worries NC. Meanwhile, Jean is pushing the X-men to their limits to make sure they're ready for battle. Magma is annoyed and Iceman says they shouldn't have to worry about dying with Jean around. Jean points out that they can't rely on her. NC then contacts her and asks for help and Jean + her team head out for their eventual showdown. Meanwhile, Wolverine heads to spider-man + Kitty (awful costume) to figure out how he's a MGH mutant when he's never taken the drug. Spider-man reveals that Wolverine is the source of MGH and Wolverine plans to make someone pay. That someone ends up being Colossus. On a sidenote, Jean also has daddy issues and she realizes she can't bring her father back.[/spoiler]

This is an ok book. It's nice to see some of Kirkman's stories addressed and not just dropped even if I want them to be. I felt this issue rushed a few things and Alpha flight wasn't addressed again, but they have a whole issue to go. The last panel was a bit shocking and it looks like Colossus may have lost a friend and a crush. Aww. 2.5 out of 5.

And that's about it for this week. Tune in next week for more rushed out reviews! Same X-time, same X-channel...which means whenever I want it to come out. :P

I leave you with this:  October solicits (http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?date=2008-10). Looks like the X-men are gonna have an interesting ride and Wolverine's son ties into a story...bluh. Also, you rare cable fans: Family ties (http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.4350.Cable~colon~_Family_Ties). Maybe Cable can redeem himself.


EDIT: Anyone find it ominous that neither ultimate X-men nor Ultimate F4 are in the October solicits...but we get two new Loeb ultimate books...eew.

Quote from: Podmark on July 23, 2008, 09:01:41 PM
I thought 500 was simply horrible. Highlighted by Land art (which bugs me MORE than Stroman) and poor use of Magneto. Really liked Dodson's art though. My rating would be like 1/5 I really didn't like it. Won't be picking up the next one but I'll keep my eye on the title in case it picks up.

On the other hand She-Hulk was pretty good. It's part two of the X-Factor storyline. I'd give it a 3 or 4 out of 5.

Agreed. I found reading 500 painful. I am really disappointed with the writing of the x-titles.

Yeah my post and later post are gone. Recap:
Pod don't like 500
500 uninteresting
Land = horrible: inconsistent, poor backgrounds, stiff, lack of energy.
poor use of Magneto

That was it more or less.

Quote from: AfghanAnt on July 24, 2008, 01:17:47 PM

Quote from: Podmark on July 23, 2008, 09:01:41 PM
I thought 500 was simply horrible. Highlighted by Land art (which bugs me MORE than Stroman) and poor use of Magneto. Really liked Dodson's art though. My rating would be like 1/5 I really didn't like it. Won't be picking up the next one but I'll keep my eye on the title in case it picks up.

On the other hand She-Hulk was pretty good. It's part two of the X-Factor storyline. I'd give it a 3 or 4 out of 5.

Agreed. I found reading 500 painful. I am really disappointed with the writing of the x-titles.

I'm quite happy with X-Force and X-Factor. And I can't really say Legacy is badly written, I just don't find it interesting.

Young X-Men and Uncanny are pretty bad. Can't speak for the Wolverines, Cable, and whatever else.

I'll fill out the rest then! Whee!

Angel revelations is great and I forgot to add in that review...maybe later to fill my writing quota.
First Class is great.
Wolverine is good for now (Millar's arc) and it came off a good run with "Get: Mystique!"
Origins is...something. I didn't read all the deadpool arc to form a conclusion on how Way will handle Deadpool.
Wolverine First Class is average but a bit odd in title and theme.
Cable is a big mess, but has the potential to be great with the upcoming arcs.

And...that's it until hundreds of X-books flood the market again in the upcoming months.

[rant] On a side note, I find cyclops to be the worst brother/dad ever and Emma to be herself...which is not a compliment. Hey Cyclops, in your time off, your brother has been missing for months while your other brother and his psycho wife tortured him. Oh, and your "daughter" is out in space somewhere with her ex-lover...how about getting Uber Emma to finally contact them, ya jerk! Oh, Rachel...how about coming to Earth and getting some help? Oh hey, Cable, I'm glad you conveniently remembered you could jump forward in time after spending 4 dumb issues being a victim after Bishop broke your "jump backwards in time" function of your watch. Summers = global idiots, but they're allowed to keep sleeping around giving us more summers...horrible. :P [/rant]

As you folks might already know.. today is the start of San Diego Comic-Con and this afternoon just moments ago Marvel held their X-Men Panel with lots of news on the coming year...

Click the link for the full report: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080724-comiccon-x-men-panel.html (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080724-comiccon-x-men-panel.html)

Highlights of the panel include..

QuoteFraction mentioned Uncanny X-Men #500, which came out this week, and said they're starting out with the "Hellfire Cult," and that there will be a "Sisterhood of Evil Mutants."

McCann then asked Cebulski to announce the new big X-Men event, "X Infernus," or as McCann called it, "Inferno 2."
Cebulski said he pitched the story as an annual, but the higher-ups decided it was "too big" of a story, so it'll be a mini-series, with David Finch doing covers. Cebulski noted it was too early to announce the artist, but said it'll feature the character of Magik (actually, he didn't directly say that, but hinted extremely heavily).

Lots of news and Q&A material answered at the end of the panel.. Of couse the reveal of Magik being part of Inferno 2 was blown with a picture released at the Marvel Booth.. (http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0807/24/xmeninferno1.jpg (http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0807/24/xmeninferno1.jpg))

- CrimsonQuill

Interesting, crimson, and I'll be sure to check out your link. A lot of the solicits look like they're setting up for it and I'm pretty interested in the Emma/Jeanesque (Maddie?) cover. :P

Anyway,

Angel Revelations #3:

Too many X-books came out this week and I planned to only write on the mainstream related ones that affected continuity, but...I need to fill my writing quota somehow and i already 'sumviewed' issues 1 and 2, so may as well fnish the whole series. I find Angel to be an somewhat interesting character when he's used correctly and I enjoyed him back during the 05/New X-men/X-factor tenure. Over the years he's basically become a mockery and without his various weapons, he's more or less useless in actual combat against the high grade mutants and enemies with piercing weapons...but hey, that's marvel's fault, not his!

[spoiler]Issue 3 starts out with Warren's parents. It's christmas time and Warren informs them that he won't be home for the holidays. He lies and tells them he's getting some last minute things done before college. His mother is worried, but she understands. Warren is also upset that his father is such a hardcase and he tells his mother that she shouldn't have to be treated that way before she hangs up the phone and rushes off to a fundraising event.

Out in the courtyard, Amanda and Brandon talk outside the school. Brandon notes that Warren didn't pack anything and Amanda notes she doesn't talk to Warren anymore. Amanda is not amused by Brandon's obsession with her ex and claims they'll get him back for what he did to them. Brandon remarks that something strange is going on with Warren and refuses to ease up (stalker in the making).

Back in school, a few days later, Warren and Andrew sit at a table talking. Andrew wants to know when he can see Warren's wings. Warren says, "soon." Soon turns out to be the next day. Warren has Andrew turns around as he unbinds his wings from the tape he used to keep them down. He notes that the tape, "hurts like heck," and Andrew likens it to when women binded themselves to pass for men. After a few more seconds, Angel finally releases his wings and Andrew is shocked.

   -I, too, was shocked because those things were drawn ridiculously huge. Big enough to spread the entire width of the page and look awkward.

Andrew wants to know if Angel can fly, he can, and how fast he is. Warren recruits Andrew to help him find out. The easiest way to do this, you may be asking yourself, is to have a race outside in the snow across a river. That's science for ya. As Andrew is skating across the frozen river, he looks back at Warren to check his progress. There's an old adage that says, "watch where you're going!" and Andrew should heed such things as he fell through thin ice. He goes under and Warren rushes to save him. After a bit of quick thinking, Angel saves him and puts in his dorm room to resuccitate him.

A day later, Andrew and Warren are walking around when FR. Reynolds, the priest from earlier, addresses Andrew and explains that he's been wanting to spend some time with Andrew but he's been hard to pin. Warren jumps into the discussion and volunteers to help out as well. The friar is visibly upset but accepts Warren's proposition. Once the friar leaves, Andrew reveals that the friar isn't a good person and that he forces Andrew to do things to him.

   -I suspected this cliche to fully form...i was just hoping for something different.

Christmas, the scene opens up with the man from issue one, I forget his name, and Mary Magaret (who I thought was dead). It's revealed that marry has been held captive for three months and the man killed her mother and buried her a long time ago. He goes on to spout information about Satan, God, wars, and followers which rightly freaks the little girl out. It's also revealed that Mary would be dead if it weren't for her gift: Divine sight.

The woman in Illinois who healed by touch, the boy in Georgia who spoke every language, the conjoined twins in Nebraska who walked on water...mary was the source that led the man to all of them. The man killed them all and claims to have set their souls free. He goes on to spout that they were undeserving and only those who believe without seeing can enter the gates of heaven. He also shot off Mary's foot so that she may never escape his clutches. The book ends with the man claiming he'll be hunting down the FALSE angel next.[/spoiler]

This issue was sort of creepy especially near the end and when the friar came into play again. I'm also a little worried about Andrew and his mental state, but that's for different reasons entirely. Since he's not in 616 continuity at all, from what I can remember, I see him having some sort of grim ending. The art is still great, but it does seem odd in a few places. It's certainly not mainstream and is a required taste, me suspects. I was glad to see Mary return as I was almost sure the little girl was dead. I give it a 4 out of 5. It's a great book and more of you need to be reading it. It's certainly something different and not action heavy at all, but hey, it gives Angel the development time he needs while fleshing out his early history. However, i can easily admit this book doesn't fit Angel's Classic X-men/First class personality at all...but, i also don't care. HA!  ^_^

So um...where are the reviews, summaries, and opinions? I take a two week break and the thread dies?  :banghead: ^_^

uhh......I read SI X-Men today...

[spoiler]Skrulls invade San Francisco and Cyclops leads the X-Men against them. Skrulls weren't expecting the X-Men and our being taken down pretty well. X-Men take down a Skrull ship and Scott gets his tech guys searching for information on it. Nightcrawler finds some kind of Skrull orb that's talking to him telling him it will tell him what he wants to know. Skrulls send in the Super Skrulls.

X-Men that appear:
Armor, Beast, Cannonball, Colossus, Cyclops, Dust, Emma Frost, Iceman, Mercury, Nightcrawler, Pixie, Prodigy, Sunspot, Stepford Cuckoos, Surge and X-23.
Angel, Anole and Rockslide are mentioned, also reference to "other students is made". I expect we'll see other X-Men in the rest of the issues.

Wasn't huge on the issue. It's mostly setup kinda, nothing exciting really happens. Art is kinda blah and I didn't like the colours. Probably too much focus on the Skrulls, who are fairly generic in this one. The artist Nord didn't draw the most exciting fight scenes which is a concern for a series that is basically X-Men vs Skurlls. However it is nice to see so many X-Men showing up, New X-Men especially since I'm a big fan. Also liked seeing more of the new costumes. Haven't decided if I like them yet but it's nice to see change every so often. Cyclops is pretty good here, it's a good use of his recent general persona. Nightcrawler is the other star, and Mike Carey has Kurt speaking a fair amount of German here which is cool, but I don't speak German which is not as cool. Cannonball, Colossus, Armor, and Emma get decent use but the rest are mostly cameos in this one.

This issue was a solid 5 or 6/10. First issue is kinda blah but I still think the series could end up being decent.

[/spoiler]

Thanks, pod. Did the cuckoos do anything particulary important? They've kinda been on stall since that blah phoenix followup story

Anyway:

CB and the MI13 #4:

I know I've been absent for a few weeks, so consider this a catchup review. As you know by now, this is my favorite skrull related book and, as of now, only the initiative have come close to making the skrulls a formidable opponent that didn't just rely on plot devices. So, yay to Paul Cornell for that AND FOR making Captain Britain good again while tying together other writers' plots into his own almost seamlessly (Hi, Claremont). Anyway, Issue 4...let's roll.

As you can remember, last issue was a huge battle in Britain between the skrulls, the heroes, the magical creatures, and the military. The good side wasn't doing all too well and Captain Britain was dead. At the very end of the book, Brian was reborn with a brand new costume to boot. Oh...and he was about to fight weird amalgam skrull with magic abilities. I guess that's important too.

[spoiler]This issue begins where it left off. Brian and Dr. Strange skrull are still trading blows and we get a panel of mutilated, nearly melted bodies of the army men that were killed. Among them lies Black Knight and he's telling Faiza to carry on his mission. She tells him to shutup and she got her powers to help people. He's not going anywhere—she's a trooper. Meanwhile, the random skrulls in the background are chanting for Dr, Skrull to fight Capt. One on one.

Meanwhile, Pete, John [skrull], Tink, and Spitfire are hanging about with chains attached to their wrists. Well, I call them chains, but it's skrull technology or something. Flashback to Brian, he takes out a whole lot of Skrulls in a single swipe and frees his friends—John/Spitfire. They warn him about what's happened to magic and Capt takes off leaving the others behind as they suggested. They attempt to leave the cave when a bunch of skrulls stand before them...holding Pete. They offer Spit and John a place in their new world because they're not direct associates of Reed. John rants and ends up being shot...that catches us up to them being placed in...holding devices that I misnamed chains. :P

Back to Faiza, she's "knitting" Black Knight back together who only has some muscles and bones showing. Faiza isn't aware of how she's doing it, she just...does. She's also shocked by Black Knight's stone heart. Flash over to Brian and Dr. Skrull. Brian isn't holding his own well at all and finds himself smashed into the ground.

Back to Pete—wooh—a skrull is going on about what will become of Britain once they're done. Pete questions the skrulls' intent on the magical beings in Britain as something hides in the bushes. The skrull responds that they will be put to their God's use. No magical being will be allowed on THEIR island without serving them.

Over at Brian and Faiza. Brian is fighting back trying to win back the upperhand. Faiza, meanwhile, reports that she can't help the Knight. Every time she heals him, magic pulls him apart again. Dr. Skrull then insults Brian and his "flag wearing" and Brian has had enough. Suffice to say, this ticked Brian off and the skrull is killed. Magic then returns to Britain.

Returning to Pete, he mocks the skrulls for losing their hold over magic and the skrull replies that science will always trump magic. Sounds a little Reedish, no? Anyway, the thing behind the bush decides to attack now and STOMPS the skrull into the ground. It's SATANNISH—capitals necessary—and Britain is under "their" rules. Also, Faiza finally heals Knight and his shirt. The skrulls are nervous.

Back to Pete...again, Tink is almost happy that Peter released the evils upon Britain because it means the tides have turned. She then asks him out on a date. They're still chained up, but SATANNISH saves them. By the rules of magic, if you help them, they help you. As an aside, I assume Pete knows Kitty is "dead" as he apologizes to her as he's about to grant his wish which is a throwback to Wanda—"No more skrulls."

The Skrulls in Britain disappear in one swoop and any thay try to enter get the same treatment. Pete, while speaking to Brian, reports that every hero in Britain is a part of the MI13 now and he wants to honor John since he sacrificed himself and he killed all his people. In the final few pages, Brian establishes that they need a team to fight off dark magic and other threats, but not just any team: "A team not of intelligent officers, but of super heroes. Together because they want to be. Who are friends and support each other. Who DO NOT kill..."

That continues on and Pete finishes it off. They walk off to help honor the fallen and Faiza stays behind confused as to whether she's one of them or not. She then begins to follow them when Merlin suggest to her mentally that she should take them Excalibur...so she picks it up and takes it to them. Besides, she can always put it back. [/spoiler]

And there we go. This was quite a good arc, but issue #4 was a bit of a downfall in some places, imo. It's still a very good issue and I'm going to miss a certain character I really began to enjoy.  The new Excalibur team looks like it'll be quite a good team to read about and I can't wait to see how Brian and Pete interact now since they have a rivalry between them. Also, Blade appears next issue, iirc, and if he joins the team, he'll finally be relevant enough for me to actually look into his character. So, I'll grade it a 3.5 out of 5 and a solid FOUR out of five for the whole arc.

Well not really. They're helping to evacuate SF and get hit by the Skrulls' anti telepath device. It's their first appearance since Messiah Complex.

Quote from: Podmark on August 14, 2008, 08:54:46 PM
Well not really. They're helping to evacuate SF and get hit by the Skrulls' anti telepath device. It's their first appearance since Messiah Complex.

Blah. I was hoping they'd be bigger threats now...I mean, they have a bit of the phoenix trapped in them, iirc.

Minute reviews:

With that increda-long review out of the way, these reviews only took me a minute to write. Today's installments are X-men: First Class #14, New Exiles #9, and Astonishing X-men #26. I'll add more later...or something.

X-men First Class #14:

[spoiler]Starting from where last issue left off, the remaining X-men and Machine Man are confronted by Lava men. The battle doesn't go well initially, but once Machine Man joins in on the fray, they make quick work of them, though, they aren't defeated. Instead, the lava men travel through the soil towards their base and the X-men follow them. Meanwhile, Xavier alerts the team that the other robots in the X-series lab have become erratic and they should wrap up their investigation quickly before it's too late. Seconds later, Aaron/Machine Man begins to act weird and ask the mutants questions. Before they can give full answers, the team is attacked again by the Lava men who are much stronger in their environment than they were before. The X-men eventually prevail and Aaron snaps asking the X-men to return his humanity before he runs deeper into the cave. Suffice to say, Machine Man is destroyed by the lava men and the X-men escaped. The book ends on a positive note though. Machine Man will be rebuilt...but with a new outlook on humanity.[/spoiler]

It's an average issue. 3 out of 5. The backup strip is cute and ties into the situation/atmosphere of the series nicely. I enjoyed it.

New Exiles #9: 

[spoiler]It has a nice cover...from what I can make of it. This was a store browse, so keep that in mind. The books opened up with Rogue meeting Force X...which were mostly flipped versions of the original X-men, hank McCoy as Puma, and Peter Parker as...Spider. Rogue isn't impressed with the team, so to prove themselves, they fight. Rogue basically schools them and only Spider is any match for her...but he also loses. Storm and Aquagambit appear on the scene and remind us there's a war going on (I kinda liked Storm's simplistic costume). Um...a lot of dialogue I skimmed over about finding and capturing the queen. Over with Psylocke, she's finding it harder to keep her identity on this world. Basically what follows is a DBZ montage of her training including a room where she can meditate and learn years worth of lessons in a short amount of time. She even begins calling herself Lady Mandarin. Moving alone, basically the French capture the queen and imprison Sage and Morph and the remaining eXiles are left to save the day with Force X. Back in the crystal palace, Sabretooth and Cat discuss saving the omniverse and making decisions or something.[/spoiler]

Overall, minus all the dialogue, this is probably the better issue of this arc. Still, I'd pass on it unless you have a Claremont fetish...or something. 2.7 out of 5.

Astonishing X-men #26:

[spoiler]
First off...I'm not very fond of the art and it makes Storm seem manly from time to time. There, I said it. And darnit, why is her and Emma's hair ALWAYS FLOATING?! Ok, serious time now. Book opens with Emma giving the team the lowdown of what to do and what not to do in Indonesia though it wasn't necessary at all other than establishing it as a textbook method they've adopted. The place looks horrible, dirty, and run down.  They land and Emma does a search for the one guy who's thinking in English. We then get this odd panel with Emma pointing up and, going by the pic, screaming, "he's up there". The X-men head up and Armor/Wolverine do a Fastball special thing (maneuver is overused now, imo). The man and Wolverine eventually come face to face and do battle. The other X-men and Cyclops's girlfriend eventually show up (and it's nice to see Armor change her armor form from time to time) and basically do what amounts to just standing around and talking. The X-men retreat as the "firestarter" powers up the ship he's in. Storm hits the ship with lightning and it crashes and all the X-men (minus Storm) fall to their dooms. She catches them via wind but Wolverine crashes into the mud because he's too heavy (also, he's fond of "shaddap" this issue). Anyway, the X-men then discuss checking out the ship and finding the man's body. Storm has problems with this because she doesn't want to have killed the man and Cyclops basically doesn't care. He's more concerned with saving the mutant race, everything else is second place...though he does state he'd rather the man be alive than dead (though he'll lose no sleep either way). He basically tells Storm, if she can't handle a situation where she might have to kill...then to go home. The book ends with Cyclops telling Storm not to tell him he's changed and that they've both killed before. Also, the firestarter is still alive He says some things and pretty much sets his head on fire.[/spoiler]

Um...again, I don't know what to say about this issue and how I feel about it. I'm hovering around the 2-2.5 area really because I didn't really enjoy it. I don't care for the art, I don't like how Storm and some of the other member of the team are characterized, and in this book alone...Storm and Cyclops basically dominated this issue but didn't DO anything of note for over half of the time. I don't consider this a good follow up to Whedon's run, but I hope it gets better after this arc. I think my major problem with this run is that the transition was too great too fast. Also, I may not remember a lot of things perfectly right now, but I don't think Wolverine's adamantium has ever been a problem for Storm or any other "lifter" in the carrying department


X-men Origins: Jean Grey:

[spoiler]If you ever wanted to relive some of Jean's developmental moments and have them expanded upon, this is the book for you. This book goes all the way back to when Jean was a little girl and first discovering her powers. What I found interesting about this book is that, even though it's fairly light, it showcased Jean actually learning to deal with her powers and being scared to try simple things like walking through a mall. It even shows how her family was affected by her powers developing. The mall accident is actually what drives Xavier to block off some of her powers. Simple, but effective enough. We eventually reach the scene of when Jean first joins the X-men. I found that panel to be pretty. Scooting on ahead, during one of their training sessions, Jean doesn't seem to be able to focus. She notes that something is missing and actually goes AWOL during one of their missions instead choosing to hang out in the city. An accident happens where an ambulance flips over and heads for a crowd of people and Jean showcases her powers publically and saves a woman and a child from being crushed. She also just barely stops the ambulance from sliding ahead. That scene particularly sticks out in my mind because it showed how powerful she was becoming in a short amount of time and she was able to accept that she was a mutant pretty early on.[/spoiler]

So overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a nice, quick read, but it doesn't really add much to Jean's background. It does end off early in her teen years, so if someone decides to pick it up, they won't have much trouble adding anything in. Also, I enjoyed her relationship with Xavier because I'm beyond tired of Xavier's current "good guy with a horrible past" shtick the writers are now utilizing. So, it's a 3 out of 5 for this book. Not something to rush out and buy, but something Jean fans can enjoy. Coming next: X-men Origins: Beast.

X-men: Odd Men Out:

[spoiler]This is just a tribute to Dave Crockum by using some of his art from unreleased stories. It's nothing more and nothing less. The first story is a reunion between Prof X and Fred Duncan. What basically happens is Professor X and Duncan catch us up on the past events and the forming of the X-men and their progression. In the long run, it's a fairly pointless story in today's age (Legacy is much better) and compared to modern comics, the dialogue will send you for a loop with its more innocent style. But really, it's nothing more than a history lesson.

The second story is still pretty pointless, but it's a New Mutants story and easily puts Young X-men to shame even with this bland story. What basically happens is that the New mutants ice skate while the Mad Thinker constructs a plan to take them out that involves creating a giant robot with ulterior motives. The robot knocks Mad Thinker out and we eventually get to the New Mutants battling it. The robot easily absorbs all of their abilities. Through teamwork, the team eventually overcome the robot who simply leaves for repair and all is right.[/spoiler]

So there you go. Two stories and really nice art that stands the test of time well enough. These aren't stories I'd recommend to anyone unless they A) wanted brief history in a short amount of time B) really adored Crockum's art C) had a fondness of New Mutants or D) just wanted to add this book to their collection for one reason or another. Other than some nostalgia moments, it's a complete pass as far as I'm concerned. 2 out of 5.

Cable #6:

This is more or less the book that would help me decide my final opinion on this series. Did it disappoint or will it keep me glued for a few more reads? Let's see...

[spoiler]The book opens up with Cable running about in a dystopian setting. His leg is shot out and he's kicked to the ground. Bishop appears before him and shoots him. BLAM, he's dead. Cyclops awakens and Emma asks if he's ok. He says he is, but in his head he feels guilty for letting the baby go with Cable. Then we get this very disgusting kiss that would disturb me even if it was Jean...or Maddie...or any other girlfriend in Cyclops's past.  Emma, being un-slutty for once, suggests Cyclops talk about his nightmare instead of trying to bed her. We flashback to the past with Cyclops telling Wolverine to track some woman down (Mystique). We then get a scene of Cyclops telling Warpath and Laura to find some guy and bring him back, dead or alive (Bishop, I assume). Cyclops realizes he overstepped a line in the heat of the moment and I'm glad someone acknowledges this. Laura and Warpath end up at Forge's lab who, after being attacked twice, is taking the initiative this time to setup a defense system. They eventually come to an understanding and Cyclops receives a list of items Bishop stole. Cyclops then deducted that Bishop returned to Muir Island to track Cable because Cable can no longer body slide all over the world.

Back in the present, Cyclops is still concerned over Cable and he notes that Emma doesn't know anything about his decisions and he tries not to think of it at all when he's around Emma. We immediately jump back into the past—3 weeks—and Beast is working on a way to track Cable. It's not looking well, but Beast has come up with an idea which he relates to the "message in a bottle" idea. He'll send a bunch of nanosized bottles through time and have them lock onto Forge's stolen mechanical arm and report back to them.

2 weeks ago, Cyclops is drilling Sam on Cable's plan and location. He basically got nothing from the talk. This sparks an epiphany in Cyclops he should have had years ago. He doesn't really know his son—or any of his children. Emma then brings up some particular events between Cable and Cyclops. 1. Cable telling Cyclops it'll take awhile to get over being dumped into the future and 2. Cyclops and Jean giving Nathan to Asanki/Rachel. Emma pushes him more and Cyclops eventually breaks down and rests his head on her shoulders (he feels helpless), but he still refuses to tell Emma the truth about how far he's gone. Eventually, Beast finds out that Bishop returned to the present for a short time and he has a chance to track him. Cyclops reports to Wolverine and Beast happens to catch the conversation. He hopes the X-men haven't become killers. Anyway, skipping ahead, Emma asks if Cyclops is regressing to "mopey" Cyclops because she assumed he was replaced with "alpha" Scott. So...Scott kisses her and begins the bedding ceremony. Bleh. The book ends with Cyclops returning to the X-mansion and leaving Cable a note that basically explains his thoughts and states that he believes in Cable because he's his son. While the note is shown to us, we get the obligatory Cable vs. random nobodies shots.[/spoiler]

Well, on the whole, this book was a major step up. It answered quite a few dangler questions that needed to be explained/asked since the ending of Messiah Complex. We also have some sort of timeline as to when Wolverine went after Mystique, how Cyclops is keeping secrets from Emma, and some reflection on Cyclops's relationship with other characters. I enjoyed it and that's a major plus in my book. My complaints is that this felt more like a Cyclops and the X-men book than a Cable book and because of that, it felt out of place. The pacing and art worked much better than whatever the previous artist was doing. But really, this story belonged in Uncanny or something more so than Cable. 3.2 out of 5.

The following reviews will be minute reviews and I hope someone else responds to them or expands them out.

X-factor #34:

This is part 3 of the She-Hulk/X-factor crossover and the skrull tie in. As you may recall, Longshot revealed himself to be a skrull after Darwin touched him and She-Hulk and Monet are fighting each other like the immature women they can sometimes be. Let's see how the story wraps up, huh?

[spoiler]-   Darwin's father feels like a horrible person and Rictor reassures him he's not.

-   Madrox and She-Hulk continue to fight and eventually escapes

-   Darwin is upset with Skrullshot for lying to him

-   The skrull explains to Darwin that he may be the missing link as he has abilities similar to the skrulls. Darwin needs allies. Darwin needs the skrulls

-   Monet, Jazinda, and the others attack the skrull

-   Skrull overpowers everyone and the group believes Darwin is their only hope.

-   Darwin absorbs skrull's powers and She-hulk knocks him out. Jazinda nullifies him and they load him up.

-   Tony being a skrull is brought up, She-hulk considers it.

-   Madrox and She-hulk's parting words aren't so...sweet.[/spoiler]

This is basically a 3. Nothing spectacular and the whole arc fits in the 3 category. I'm still not accustomed to the art, but I won't dock any points this time as I was already prepared for it. This also pretty much marks the "beyond" half point of Secret Invasion and I must say this event is so drawn out and not even answering the questions it should be answering. I mean, I recall in several interviews that Bendis said the Skrulls wanted to save the human race and some people embraced that...so why are we only at the "wanna help by invading" part and no one is embracing them yet? I figured someone would finally address it with all the SI books that came out last week. Speaking of, SI: X-men was pretty mediocre, but I liked that a book tried something new rather than the typical, "someone here is a skrull!"

Uncanny #501:

501, the first book with a purpose since Cyclops and friends went on vacation. Fraction is also added to the writing credits and we'll have to deal with Greg Land's "porn" faces for a bit. How well do they pull off this issue? Let's check it out:

[spoiler]-   Picking up from last issue, Pixie and her friend are leaving a Dazzler concert. They are attacked by the Hellfire cult and Pixie is beat up pretty badly (bat to the head), but she put up some sort of fight.

-   Back at the Worthington towers (k...), Emma is showing Cyclops her new sexy lingerie...which seems to cover nothing at all. They play under the covers which is typical of Emma.

-   Cyclops runs off to build a crib. This is basically a reference to Cable #6

-   Later, Cyclops and Angel take a drive. Angel has to fly off to a meeting. Cyclops continues on to Greymalkin industries while thinking about the new X-base.

-   Beast's happy his hands are working again (he can cook eggs!)

-   Bruised and bloody Pixie finally appears in the base.

-   Back with the hellfire cult, we get to see that they're a pretty large group run by the "Red Queen"...a dominatrix, leather wearing red head. Also, Empath is second in command or something.

-   Wolverine, NC, and Karma pull off a trap and attack a few goons.[/spoiler]

I dunno, this is an average read, but Land's art is a problem for me. Ignoring my usual quips with it, none of his art made me connect to anything that was going on. In general, the book was just bland and I could have done without it. It's a 3. Also, I'm a bit concerned. No new characters have really shown up beyond Karma and Dazzler has yet to even make an appearance. Longshot and Dazzler will actually need to appear someday, you know...I know, Dazzler can replace Storm and Longshot can replace Wolverine on Astonishing! Yeah, that'll work. Also, I don't appreciate pregnancy being brought up in the X-men. The last thing I want to read about is two certain characters having a kid when neither can handle the spawns they already have.

Young X-men:

[spoiler]No review. I'll just say some feral character may have bit the bullet...or however that saying goes. :P[/spoiler]

X-force preview: http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.4602.FIRST_LOOK~colon~_X-Force_%236

i actually really liked 501, the series is a bit more optimistic now and i like it. they're still setting up camp, so i don't want a deluge of x-men coming back into the fold.

i can live with the artwork for now,  at least it's clean, but we haven't seen any decent combat yet.

Proto you missed the most important X-Book of the week...the Layla Miller one shot!

Quick [spoiler]Layla is in the future and uses her Laylaness to escape the camp and make her way to Atlantic City where she meets Cyclops (old with robot arm and leg) and his daughter Ruby. They've been waiting for her. We're told Layla will get back soon and Layla gets Ruby to start the Summers Rebellion (part of Bishop's history).

Admittedly not much of importance happened in this issue, but it's a fun read if you're a fan of Layla. Art is probably the best I've seen out of De Landro, much better than Stroman. Solid 4/5 for me.[/spoiler]

Read X-Factor too. Story's kinda meh but I can already tell I'll enjoy David's Darwin. a 3.

Also quick Young X-Men [spoiler]Greymalkin fights Pierce, Dust is broken in her glass form, Magma helps beat Pierce who escapes and fixes Dust by changing the bits of glass into sand with her heat. Magma and co meet with the fighting Young X-Men and Cannonball and Sunspot and tell them about Pierce. Young X-Men are all bummed out to find they were duped. Group are led by Ink to Pierce's base to save Moonstar and Blindfold. New Mutants split up leaving the Young X-Men behind. Greymalkin finds the girls, then Blindfold dream from issue 1 plays out. Wolfcub is killed, Santo is all set to kill Pierce but in his dying breaths Wolfcub tells him X-Men don't kill.

End of the issue features previews including Doug Ramsey, Spider-Man, Magik, and the Y-Men who all appear to have tattoos like Ink.

I wasn't happy with this arc, but I did feel this issue was an improvement. I'd give it a 3 maybe 3.5[/spoiler]

TY for the missing reviews, sir pod! Also...did you just call me proto? :P I was saving Layla's book for later when I got to read incredi Herc and Guardians. :P

Sir Det, going by interviews and the cover of last issue, Dazzler was supposed to have shown up already and be a part of the team...which is why I brought her up. Also, she has quite a few stories attached to her that kinda need to be resolved (maybe she needs to go to legacy?). I dunno, if they'd tone down on the "Cyclops/Emma bed each other a lot" scenes, they could work in a little more story.

I like in 501 when Pixie does her kick and gets hit in the head by a bat, she looks like she's moaning in pleasure.

Quote from: Previsionary on August 21, 2008, 03:08:07 PM
Also...did you just call me proto? :P

:unsure: Seems I did. Sorry mate.

i dunno, maybe it's just me, but i like reading the relationship stuff in x-men...
i could tell you all about emma and banshee or paige and jono from the generation x years but i honestly couldn't name one villain they fought  (maybe penance's brother.... starts with an E?)
also, all the times in Uncanny when they went shopping in new york, ice skating at rockerfeller centre or blayed ball. i always remember those scenes... the only other direct stories i vividly remember are the morlock massacre, pete n juggs fighting in a bar, and a few wolverine/sabertooth scraps.  
to me the fighting isn't as memorable as the relationship stuff,
so when i see cyke freaking out because he wants to build a crib,  that just touches me.


ps what happened to pixie's friend. and if the greymalkin ind. complex is in marin, and it takes like 30 minutes in traffic from san fran, how does she get from oakland to the compound? maybe her teleportation spell?

Pixie's friend just ran away or something. You misunderstand me. i don't have a problem with drama because that's the X-men ammo since the 60s. I'm TIRED of being told Cyclops and Emma sleep together a lot. More is less with me there. I don't care if they sleep together all the time and that Emma buys lingerie that apparently covered nothing. I already have a general problem with the ways Emma is portrayed by every writer these days and I have more of a problem when Cyclops/Emma in bed keeps being thrown in my face. It has barely been a week since I last saw them in bed together. They've had a "sex" scene in 3 books and they've been one week apart each time. It's overkill to me. Also, Emma was written much better in Gen X than she is now, imo. She switches between witchy, snobby, and sex fiend currently and I only remotely liked her in Cable #6 which covered what you brought up (Cyclops and crib) a lot more effectively than this brief mention. In fact, this shot was probably only put in to make a connection to that scene cause, as I said, the story in Cable fit better in Uncanny.

So to sum up,

1) I don't care for Emma (current) and Cyclops to begin with

2) They can do a lot more together than play together under the sheets and I don't need it thrown in my face in EVERY X-book. Jean and Cyclops were barely shown in bed together and they were always going off somewhere. Why don't Emma and Cyclops try that sometime?

3) Instead of overloading those scenes, tell actual relevant information that could further the story. How Pixie got back and what happened to her friend could've filled that space.

4) If you want actual relationship drama and to see how Emma helps Cyclops, how Cykes feels about Cable, and the gratuitous sex scene, Cable #6 fulfills all of those and it's a much better read...surprisingly.

5) If Emma and Cyclops end up pregnant, I'm going to destroy someone because...
  A) Emma has yet to rebond with the cuckoos even though she holds an intense grudge towards the phoenix right now

  B) Cyclops JUST started thinking about Cable while his other daughter that saved Cable is in space with his brothers in trouble.

...Way to set off my rant, Det. :P

Quote from: Previsionary on August 21, 2008, 09:14:25 PM

5) If Emma and Cyclops end up pregnant, I'm going to destroy someone because...

Well considering the Layla issue....

heheh,  ruby quartz glasses, ruby is a precious mineral, like diamond... ;)

you know i live to see you rant prem!

edit: yeah,  cyke doesn't really seem to care about rach and alex...  where the heck's hepzibah? last we saw with her she was a hippy.   has she shown up in x-force to be with warpath?

Pod...blah! That's in the future. Emma and Cyclops are like...different there. They so don't count. NANANANANANANANA *closes ears* :P

Well, I need to get the thought of Emma and Cyclops very far out of my mind AND I still have one book to review, so let's move on to young Cyclops and his old love, Jean Grey. That's right, X-men First Class, coming at ya. Let's play catchup for you non-readers.

A few issues ago, Angel left the X-men because he wanted to stay with his aunt in a place that accepted mutants and was cut off from the general populous. The X-men were surprised, but ultimately accepted his decision. So they went home and pouted about it until Machine Man showed up. He was a guest member for two whole issues and ended up destroyed.  And now you're caught up, let's dig in:

X-men: First Class #15- Bad Hair Day:

[spoiler]•   This issue picks up mere moments after Aaron was destroyed. As the X-men head home, Prof X picks up distress signals at an airport and heads there.
•   A spacecraft is attacking the airport and the X-men abandon ship to take it down. Bobby is scared since he has no chute.
•   The X-men—Cyclops,  Beast, and Iceman—land on the ship and Iceman freezes it to slow it down. Jean also helps out with her teke while in the jet with Prof.
•   The ship lands and out steps...MEDUSA!!!
•   A fight immediately breaks out and Iceman makes a women being bad drivers joke and a hair joke while freezing Medusa's locks.
•   The X-men report that they're going to turn Medusa in and she asks what her crime is as she hasn't done anything. All she wants to do is figure out what she is.
•   Medusa and the others return to the mansion and Xavier tries to scan her mind for answers. It fails, more or less, and Medusa is offered a chance to stay at the mansion. This seems to worry Jean for some reason.
•   Back at the ship, two civs are checking it out before being tossed aside by a mysterious man
•   Medusa and Jean share a small talk about Angel and Medusa sympathizes with him.
•   While Beast tries to show Medusa around (FLIRT), someone rings the doorbell and attacks the X-men. It's Wizard.
•   Wizard dispatches of all the X-men with his antigravity discs and tries to retrieve Medusa who is now wearing an X-uniform
•   Wizard convinces Medusa to leave with him, but his victory is short lived as Cyclops returns and breaks his helmet.
•   It is revealed that Medusa has a contraption on her neck that is preventing her from reaching her memories. Medusa is reasonably upset
•   Meanwhile, Jean, beast, and Iceman are floating aimlessly pass the clouds and it's getting hard for them to breathe. Mark, the return of Angel, who saves them![/spoiler]

This is yet another average issue, but I like that they're developing storylines that don't HAVE to rely on previous issues.  I'll assume Angel and Medusa will have their stories pushed next issue, so I won't make any judgments on that right now. I will say that all these guest appearances so close together is pretty odd, but they couldn't do that with any mainstream book, so why not take advantage of it? Actually, going back to Angel and Medusa, I think they tied it up in the one page short and I guess that's ok. I'm semi excited for next issue though...Spidey, Iceman, and Human torch. Spidey and his amazing friends...version 2! Oh, this issue...3 out of 5.

Um...hepzibah hasn't been seen in X-force at all as far as I know and she was last seen in Uncanny #499. She Might just be a rotating member of Uncanny.

Quote from: detourne_me on August 21, 2008, 09:50:02 PM
 has she shown up in x-force to be with warpath?

Not yet but she's supposed to appear in future issues.

X-Force #6 [spoiler]
Risman is confronting Bastion for control of the Purifiers when Archangel breaks in and starts killing the Choir. X-Force arrives shortly after and join the fight. Warren's not quite with them though, he's pretty much just killing the Choir.

Over at the Facility, Wolfsbane gets the drop on her father, after a confrontation Reverend Craig steps in front of Angel's hanging wings, creating the appearance that he is an angel triggering Rhane's programming and causing her to attack and kill (I'm pretty sure eat) him as she did Angel.

Risman tries to escape and comes upon his ally Eli Bard who is absorbing the Magus offspring and reveals himself to be...some kind of vampire thing that was luring the Purifiers as a offering for his queen. They fight but X-23 appears and puts a bullet in Risman's brain. Eli is able to dissipate  into smoke I think dodging several bullets and attacking X-23 seemingly absorbing her lifeforce or something. Warpath appears and saves her and Eli dissipates into smoke.

After fighting Archangel, Gabriel, the head of the Choir, and a few survivors escape. Wolverine fights Bastion but mostly just gets burned by energy blasts as Bastion escapes with the Zombie mutant haters (who aren't really zombies but I like calling them that). X-Force find Angel, white skinned again with white feather wings laying naked in a pile of bodies. Somehow he changed back. In the aftermath we find out that the team recovered Rhane and Elixir has healed both her and Angel, but Rhane is traumatized. Cyclops goes on to show Wolverine a board with all the escaped villains and asks him who's next.

Review:

• I was really happy with this issue. Lots of action, couple surprises, and a decent conclusion that keeps things still in play, which is what I wanted. I really like the art in this book, it fits prefectly but it is a bit darker than I'd prefer, sometimes hard to tell what is going on and makes for tough ref pics (wink wink).
• The Eli Bard reveal was interesting, honestly had no idea what to expect but I suspect he ties to Selene who will appear eventually in this book.
• 
  Was really sad to lose Matthew Risman, I'd realy grown to love him as a character especially in this book. Thankfully the rest of the villains escaped so there's plenty more toys for X-Force to play with.
• I expected something like this for Warren, and it's cool, but I'm curious how it will play out. In Uncanny he flies around as feathered Angel, but what triggers the change to Archangel for X-Force, should be interesting.
• I'm sad for Rhane, she's really going to be put through the wringer in this book it seems.
• I liked that Elixir had the cameo. I hope he sticks around in this book.

My final grade for this issue is 5/5 but admittedly I'm very biased. I'm really into this book so it's hard for me to really see any flaws. That said its dark, bloody book and certainly not for everyone.

[/spoiler]

Thanks for the sumview, Pod. It was an interesting issue and it's nice to see Angel get so much focus lately..and without his jailbait at that! YAY!  ;)

X-men Legacy #215-

Well, here we are at the lead in to the lead in of the big Wolverine + Son crossover or whatever. You know, it'd be nice if the X-books could like take a break or decompress before heading into another event. They JUST got a direction going for the main books and it'd be nice to actually "work" into that before dumping us into another adventure that won't get a proper aftermath because every event for the past few years has had this problem. Spider-man had this problem at one point recently and though I don't think BND is super great or anything, at least they took an adequate amount of time to build up their new world and set up some stuff before dumping us back into a new event. It doesn't feel jarring that way. Take a note, X-men. Yes, I am getting this out the way now so that I can focus on the book later when it comes out. :P

Actual sumview below:

To catch you peeps up, last issue Xavier finally broke free of Sinister's control with the help of Sebastian Shaw and Gambit. Once it was all over, Xavier ran off to talk to Cyclops as Shaw disappeared and had lunch with Ms. Sinister and Gambit...did something.

[spoiler]The book opens with Xavier returning to the remains of the mansion and contemplating what the x-men are now becoming now that they are scattered and are basically near extinction. We then flash over to Rogue in one of her retro outfits (90s style...you know...her iconic look) riding on a motorcycle in Australia. We then flash over to Cyclops and the astonishing X-men + friends building a new school/base/mansion...w/e function it serves these days. Cyclops and Emma talk a bit about testing possible points of attack and Emma makes yet another reference to sex...cause apparently it's all she thinks about these days. She's such a stereotypical man. At least she's drawn nice. Anyway, Scott rushes off to find Charles.

Xavier explains he pushed a thought into Cyclop's head to bring him there and Cykes is not amused. Cyclops does his typical rant thing he's so fond of lately, and never lets Xavier explain his situation, but Xavier forces him to remain in the clearing and talk. We then shift to the hellfire club and shaw has returned to them. I'm not gonna explain this short scene, sorry.

Moving back to Cyclops and Xavier, Cyclops threatens to break Xavier's jaw once he's released and Xavier calls his bluff. Xavier then tries to rebuild his memory. It's revealed that Sinister was toying with Cyclops for a very long time. In fact, Sinister was most of the people Cyclops met in the orphanage. They continue to talk and Xavier releases Cyclops from his psychic hold and Cyclops promptly tries to fire at him (warning shot as he missed or something). This scene ends with Cyclops doing the rant thing again.

Flash over to Rogue. We get a flashback to the past when Carol was able to take over Rogue for a short amount of time. Rogue is upset and Storm points out it was her fault for absorbing Carol. As Rogue ends her flashback and angsts all over the place, she asks someone if they have something to say and Mystique appears. Don't worry, it's just an illusion. Rogue states that for the first time, she was alone in her head and now she has her "mother" in there too. We return to Rogue's ammo of being tired of wearing gloves and now she plans to do something about it.

Meanwhile, Xavier continues trying to explain himself to Cyclops, but Scott refuses to listen and remains on his pedestal and chastises Xavier. Xavier is tired of arguing and tries to walk away only to find himself almost falling off a cliff. Cyclops retorts that Xavier doesn't just get to walk away once he's had Sinister in his head. Someone else can also read his thoughts and spot what's wrong...and that's Emma. [/spoiler]

So there we go. It's actually a good issue and much different that the previous issues of Legacy because it's not just focused on Xavier and his need to remember his past, but I'm tired of Cyclops. His cool factor wore off for me. He's not really much different from his portrayal post MC, but his constant need to rant is tiring. Also, while he may bring up good points most of the time, he continues to ignore the fact that he's very similar to Xavier and in some cases, worse. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Cyclops once all his little secrets start to flow out and how judgmental and self-righteous he'll be then. Also, Emma wasn't really annoying in this issue...but she wasn't really in it either. :P  3.5 out of 5. Basically, like Cable, this book got a bit better when the actual X-cast was involved again.

Hope this review actually made sense as I zoned out and kinda...just rushed through it. ^^

Also, just to note some stuff of interest:

1. How many queens are running around now? White, Red, Black...
2. The hellfire club (+variants) is getting a lot of prominent screen time lately
3. Cyclops and his many secrets. Others are catching on a bit now.
4. If Ellis would get his act together...Emma/Cyclops vs. Storm

I'm actually curious to see if they'll do anything big with the hellfire club and it could actually give Emma something to do other than oogle at Cyclops because she's lacking in development as of late. In fact, she hasn't had any development since New X-men ended as far as I can see as she became a caricature of herself.

Quote from: Previsionary on August 28, 2008, 11:15:55 AM
it's nice to see Angel get so much focus lately..and without his jailbait at that! YAY!  ;)

they're going to be in Secret Invasion X-Men together ;)

why do you keep ruining my happiness, Pod? You're so evil.  :angry:

Ok, here we are again. This week on "Minute Reviews", we find out if New Exiles can have an adequate ending with the new and improved Crimson Dawn-esque Psylocke, if Angel can handle his revelations, and if a certain feral canadian can handle a sleepover. Oh, and something about Ultimate X-men. Let's go inside...in 3, 2, 1:

Angel Revelations #4:

[spoiler]The book opens with Andrew and Warren coming up with a plan to scare Reynolds for molesting Andrew. They can't just report him, he's friends with Father Gavin. So instead, they'll test his fate and get him to stop. Cue, Angel appearing in the monastery with a sword and lack of clothing bar a cloth thing around his midsection. The plan works and Reynolds quits his job and turns himself in so that he would not continue to anger God.

After Reynolds is arrested, Andrew finds himself picked on again by the school bully as Amanda confronts Warren. Warren tries to move Amanda aside and reach palmer, but Amanda slugs him a good one in the jaw. Meanwhile, Palmer closed fist uppercuts the bully who's name i keep forgetting (Brandon). Of course, a giant fight breaks out and the 4 main characters are reprimanded.

Meanwhile, Mary Margaret and bad guy with name wait outside the school. Mary reports that Angel will be most vulnerable on Holy Saturday--day before Easter. Flash to that day and Warren, Andrew, Brandon, and his ex, Amanda are sitting in weekend detention when he [warren] begins to hear voices in his head. Brandon is annoyed and goes off on Warren forcing 
Warren to reveal his wings. Then the sprinklers go off. The building is on fire.

The kids run to the roof and Angel carries them to safety. The weight of them all is a bit troubling for him, so they fall to the ground. Andrew breaks his leg. The book ends with Mary and the man who believes he's doing God's work hovering over Angel with a shotgun pointed at him.[/spoiler]

It's honestly a good read and I haven't been let down once. I only hope the finale is as good as the leadup. Not much else to say other than I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

New Exiles #10:

[spoiler]Books open with a ridiculously dialogue ridden recap page and then MORE dialogue as Purge, a villain, threatens Sage and Morph. Suddenly, Sage takes on a new form and begins to fight Purge. It's noted that new Sage (Diana from New Excal...I guess) doesn't have Sage's soul.

Back on some ship, some men with partially translated french (-_-) are stuck in a storm. It's Storm and this world's X-men preparing to attack Napoleon's forces. They fight and one of the X-men equivs falls into the water where Gambit kisses her and gives her an oxygen pack. Fight continues.

Meanwhile, Psylocke, having finished her montage, sneaks into the French base or something. She reaches the emperor and finds she can't do anything to him. He says Ogun shaped her mind and she will be under his and Ogun's control. Psylocke is not amused and breaks free of their control and regains her body.

Back at the ship. The fight continues. Suddenly, the bad guys begin to disappear and Psylocke and the emperor appear as an hologram. The war is over. Book ends.[/spoiler]

Um, what to say...what to say. This book is full of dialogue, partially translated French, and fight scene after fight scene. It's so completely average that it's almost boring. Also, Sage taking on a new form and the Psylocke arc seemed more or less pointless to me. Well, it didn't deserve four issues to tell. 2 out of 5.

UXM #97:

[spoiler]Book opens with a flashback to 15 years ago. Xavier and Magnus are in the savage lands and a dino attacks. Xavier pops wolvie claws and takes it on. Xavier wins and we find out he's on banshee. Xavier states it's unstable and has addictive qualities. He then comes upon a test tube with Wolverine in it. He says he'll never remember this.

In the present, Colossus and Wolverine continue their fight. Colossus is upset with Wolvie for cutting out his heart. Colossus is so upset that he orders the X-men to battle the X-men. He then rips off Wolverine's leg. Colossus is so crushing.

Seconds later, Jean (who was just knocked out...) reappears with Jean-Paul. Jean-Paul is now paralyzed. Colossus breaks down and apologizes. While the X-men return home, Cyclops runs off to do something as he's still under the effects of Banshee.

Back at the Mansion, Jean replaces Colossus's heart and leaves as Wolverine and Colossus share a talk. Hulk vs. Wolverine is mentioned and the duo continue their heart to heart. Flip over to Cyclops in space as Jean tries to talk to him in phoenix form. Cyclops snaps and attacks her and then loses his high.

The book ends off on Wolverine tracking the vial of banshee given to him by Colossus to Xavier who's on Muir Island with Moira. Wolverine once again attacks without thinking and Xavier assures him he didn't distribute any Banshee though he discovered the technique. If he didn't, then who did?! Moira...and she lets him have a siryn blast. In retaliation, Wolverine destroys all the banshee he can find and the base basically explodes. Xavier and random mutants escaped, but Moira is greeted by Quicksilver in a new costume. Apparently, Magneto has another plan...

ULTIMATUM!!!one11![/spoiler]

Well, I dunno what happened, but this arc really took a nosedive for me. This book is more or less ok, but I didn't fully enjoy it. The alpha flight just disappeared from the story an issue or so in and then Colossus and his rage and Cyclops going power hungry and Wolverine running around attacking people while he's searching for the distributer of Banshee. It's just...I dunno. It's a 2 for me.

Wolverine First Class #6:

[spoiler]The story opens with Wolverine sitting on the couch watching his favorite sport of Hockey as the other X-men hang out with Moira and Banshee who have come for a visit. Colossus asks Wolvie to watch his sister as they head out. Kitty, Siryn, and the girl, Michelle/Amp, from W:FC #1 also remain behind. We then get this cute scene where Colossus gives Siryn a note and Kitty...must...kill...Siryn! I mean destroy.

So, Siryn wants to look into the dangerroom and Kitty isn't so sure about it...so she has a glimpse into the future where Siryn and Colossus are dancing around talking about her. She knows what she must do. She must...lead...Siryn...to the dangerroom. And since you can't be in the dangerroom without danger--enter the robotic Brotherhood of evil mutants version 1.0.

As the future X-women battle the robotic foes--and Illyana and Michelle take cover--, Kitty asks Siryn about Colossus and totally overreacts via thought. The Bhood eventually get the upper hand and Magik finds herself falling through a portal into the control room, bumping it, and setting it onto pause. Total cliche, but hey. Anyway, the villains fall and Siryn is so bored. So they leave....and the program resumes. Meaning the robots leave the dangerroom.

Meanwhile, the kiddies play spin the bottle with a rule modification. Instead of going in the closet and kissing, they'll go in the closet and reveal secrets. I'm sure there's a metaphor in there. There's not much of interest to note here, so moving along to Wolvy. Wolvy continues to watch his hockey game as robots fill the room. Wolverine is totally off his game today. Swinging back over to Kitty, she and illyana are in the closet now and Mahik shows her a picture of what happened in the dangerroom. Kitty is amused though she doesn't think it's true.

So, flipping over to Wolverine, he's so into the game that he doesn't care about the robots blocking the tv until they start advancing towards him. And back with the girls, Michelle and Siryn are in the closet now and Michelle reveals that she likes someone from Muir Island. Siryn reveals that she and the intern--guy Michelle likes--kinda have a thing going on and the intern is scared of Michelle. So Michelle overreacts and uses her empath powers to make Siryn angry.

And to wrap this up: Wolverine fights the robots and Siryn and tries to beat up Kitty. Wolverine destroys the robots while ranting about Hockey and Kitty and Siryn fall through the floor and break the tv. Wolverine snaps and chases the girls up the stairs. Michelle calms him down and rants at Kitty and Siryn over their boy problems and how no one will like her. Wolverine makes her feel better. The next day, as Amp and Siryn head home, Michelle reveals that she has a new crush and it's Logan.[/spoiler]

This was an eh issue. It's not something I'd recommend anyone buy, but a browse...maybe. It's like a downtime issue that lacks the main star and mainly focuses on Kitty and her crush + friends. Also, Illyana didn't play a big part in the story and that makes me a sad psychic. I dunno, it felt less like a Wolverine book and more like a Kitty book and that makes the name a little bit inappropriate. I'm not saying it's a bad issue, btw. This issue just wasn't for me, but it's always nice to see examples of old Logan and Kitty before they became the people they are today...a ninja that's written  like Buffy and "killed" and a "loner" that kills a lot. It's a solid 3.
----------------

And there we go folks. Most of the X-books were alright this week and I haven't read a truly horrific book in quite awhile. I will rant that all these X-vents going on in the next few months will irritate the heck out of me. We have Original Sins starting up soon with Xavier and Wolverine, Manifest Destiny which is in effect now, and a new Storm mini coming out to address Storm's latest position which, you know, could actually be explained in one of the 3 books she appears in now, but ok.

solicits for november: http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?date=2008-11  <---Emma should join X-force already if Cyclops is just gonna sic her on everything that moves.

manifest destiny (out this week): http://comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=943&disp=table

Quote from: Previsionary on August 29, 2008, 10:37:32 PM
solicits for november: http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?date=2008-11  <---Emma should join X-force already if Cyclops is just gonna sic her on everything that moves.

That's just silly. Emma doesn't have claws  :P

then what do you call those things that pop put when she's in a particularly witchy state? Icicles? ^_^

Some interesting quotes:

Which marvel couples would you like to settle down?

Quote from: CHRISTOPHER YOST (co-writer of X-FORCE)Havok and Polaris! These two have been through the wringer over the years, having little obstacles like death, insanity, exile in other dimensions, blood feuds, demonic possession, Marauder possession and more all getting in the way of true love. But even though they're being tortured by Havok's little brother right now in X-MEN: KINGBREAKER—on sale in December!—you know their love will be stronger than ever. Even in death. That's X-Men love for ya.

Quote from: PAUL CORNELL (writer of CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI: 13)I really like Scott Summers and Emma Frost. I don't care if she's not actually British, she should be. She'd be a strict but fair Mum, although it'd be hard for her to tell a teenage daughter that they're not going out dressed like that. And her strength and interest in happiness are actually far better for Scott than Jean's investment in his angst. And she kept on dying and coming back, and what kind of absentee parent is that? Scott and Emma would have great kids.

Actually, can we arrange to have this happen? In the current Marvel universe, I mean? I'd write that.

How disappointing. :P You can find other responses here. Pete and MJ are mentioned a few times as well as some other wacky characters. Yay on a stick?

X-men: Return of Magik

The return of Magik. People have been clamoring for her return for ages and I must admit that I'm pretty impartial to her especially in her current form. Her being back doesn't affect me one way or another unless she sets out to bring back Kitty and make Colossus interesting again cause the boy's kinda lacking in that department especially since no one has seen fit to use him correctly and he barely even "fights" these days. Though, iirc, he's going to get some focus in the upcoming storylines in Uncanny/Manifest. Now, onto the story.

[spoiler]The book opens with Magik reflecting on her brother. This reflection takes us back to the Mutant Massacre. Magik is so upset that the morlocks have been killed and she plans to find a way to bring them back despite Colossus's protests. Ironically, Colossus is preaching the finality of death to Illyana and Illyana points out that they have friends that have returned from being dead. Colossus mentions time and Illyana instantly has an idea and goes to limbo to Colossus's disappointment.

Her stint back in the past is very short and she witnesses a morlock killed in front of her eyes. Her belief in saving them is shattered and she returns to mansion crying as she realizes she can't help them. So, she makes Peter promise he will never die or leave her. He does so.

We then go back to the present with Illyana standing just before Colossus's statue calling him a liar for promising that to her. Switch to Colossus standing at Magik's statue apologizing for telling her there was a finality in death. Colossus is wrecked with guilt and notes he'd do anything to get her back and even in death he's left her all alone. He asks for forgiveness and the chapter ends.[/spoiler]

Chapter 2:

[spoiler]You New X-men fans should be familiar with this section of the book. The book opens with Santo bragging about all the feats he's "accomplished" while being an X-man. And when I say bragging, I mean lying and the other New kids know this. The kids ask if Blindfold has a story to tell and she says she does. So...she does. She tells them the story of Magik and Belasco. I won't be reviewing anything that happened in this chapter as you can catch it all in the 5th  TPB. :P[/spoiler]

Chapter 3:

[spoiler]This section opens up with a young Illyana in Russia running around in a field of flowers asking to drive the tractor. We then get over small glances of her life as Illyana explained traits she possessed.

Flashfoward to the present and we have Illyana stating that she needs five bloodstones to get her life back. She refuses to put anyone else through what she experienced and she holds a major grudge towards Belasco...obviously. She remembers who she was and who she loved (pic of Kitty and Colossus) and points out that Colossus must have been so hurt to have seen her and be sent away so quickly. I wouldn't know, Colossus never got any spotlight after that. Magik explains that she couldn't allow him or Kitty to see her in her current form...but maybe they could help her feel human? But first, she has to reclaim her heart and she descends through a portal. She arrives...at the destroyed X-mansion and fears everything is gone.
             -Put up a sign already X-men. :P
She finds her bed and has a flashback of Kitty and Piotr reading to her and basically breaks down and comes to the conclusion that she'll only get her soul back through suffering...but she will not suffer alone! She'll find the people who wronged her and take their souls.[/spoiler]

Wooo! And there you have it, the Return of Magik, which isn't so much a return but an update to her storyline with some flashbacks and character notes. I enjoyed all three parts of the book and I hope this means she'll get a storyline in Uncanny soon enough and maybe she WILL bring back Kitty. Anyway, this book is a pretty solid 3.5 for me. It's enjoyable to read and you don't have to be a major Magik fan to understand anything that's happening in the book and you can easily go back and read the stories that are important to her story arc. Also, I like that they had a pretty good focus on Colossus, Kitty, Magik, Belasco, and the New X-men.

More to come...whenever.

I'm pretty sure the 3rd chapter is a reprint of the Magik story from DWS book 2. Is the first chapter new content? I didn't recognise it but I thought the book was all reprints.

I'm pretty sure the whole book was reprints, but I didn't read any of the parts from book 1 or 3, so I'm treating it as new. :P I didn't read any of Divided we Stand (the compilation book), iirc, and I doubt I'll be reading Manifest Destiny for the same reason: the stories seem to hold no true importance to anything that's going on other than giving brief updates on characters. Also, from what I've seen, the Iceman story in manifest makes me question when it takes place because Iceman has been running around without power issues (for the 100th time) and the presence of a certain character makes me question its placement.

Quote from: Previsionary on September 05, 2008, 10:31:43 PM
I'm pretty sure the whole book was reprints, but I didn't read any of the parts from book 1 or 3, so I'm treating it as new. :P I didn't read any of Divided we Stand (the compilation book), iirc, and I doubt I'll be reading Manifest Destiny for the same reason: the stories seem to hold no true importance to anything that's going on other than giving brief updates on characters. Also, from what I've seen, the Iceman story in manifest makes me question when it takes place because Iceman has been running around without power issues (for the 100th time) and the presence of a certain character makes me question its placement.

The Iceman story takes place just prior to Uncanny 500. Though I think it will match up with 500 before it ends but I'm not sure. This is from interviews with Carey BTW.

I figured, but that still leaves me scratching my head a bit because of a recent arc in Wolverine. I just wasn't expecting that character back for a few more months...dunno why I expect it to make sense anyway. Wolverine has a messy timelime and the X_men have a messy timeline, so...*let's it slide until more is revealed*

Quote from: Previsionary on September 05, 2008, 10:40:50 PM
I figured, but that still leaves me scratching my head a bit because of a recent arc in Wolverine. I just wasn't expecting that character back for a few more months...dunno why I expect it to make sense anyway. Wolverine has a messy timelime and the X_men have a messy timeline, so...*let's it slide until more is revealed*

Yeah i was a bit surprised they brought that character back so quickly, but Aaron said he left the ending ambiguous purposely. He probably knew this was coming up.

Actually most of the timelines for the post MC X-Men stuff is starting to come together. And the book that I think helped the most was Cable of all books. It kinda set out some of the immediate aftermath.

Young X-Men could be a problem depending on how it and X-Force use Donald Pierce.

Any thoughts on the new Magneto mini? I'm not any good at reviews so I'll just leave it open for someone else *cough-cough-Prev-cough* I will say it's a nice start.

Quote from: murs47 on September 10, 2008, 10:03:58 PM
Any thoughts on the new Magneto mini? I'm not any good at reviews so I'll just leave it open for someone else *cough-cough-Prev-cough* I will say it's a nice start.

Say what now? I didn't think people actually wanted me to review things?! This changes nothing! :P On your request, I'll add it either tonight or tomorrow. Along with Deadpool as I know you love him. :P

If anybody has read both X-Force and X-Men: Secret Invasion...

[spoiler]Can anybody explain to me just what the deal with (arc)angel is? I mean, first he has feather wings, then grows back metal ones and turns blue, then regains feathered in X-force. Now in SI we see him feathered at first (in his blue/white costume with halo on the chest) getting hit on by Husk (I believe), but later in the same issue ol' blue skinned, blue/purple costumed, metal winged archangel shows up (and is even acknowledged by some of the young x-men as "that new guy with metal wings"). Am I going crazy? HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE CRAZY??? [/spoiler]

Seriously, this confuses me to no end.

It's confusing in general right now, bud, but it'll probably be explained later. Since I'll be reviewing SI:X in a bit, I'll give my thoughts on that later, but it hasn't been explained anywhere yet and it's assumed that he can willingly change forms or something triggers it and this basically comes from X-men #500(?). Whichever one had him fighting a sentinel by himself. I'm assuming the explanation will come out of X-force sometime soon.

Quote from: Zippo on September 11, 2008, 12:52:15 AM
If anybody has read both X-Force and X-Men: Secret Invasion...

[spoiler]Can anybody explain to me just what the deal with (arc)angel is? I mean, first he has feather wings, then grows back metal ones and turns blue, then regains feathered in X-force. Now in SI we see him feathered at first (in his blue/white costume with halo on the chest) getting hit on by Husk (I believe), but later in the same issue ol' blue skinned, blue/purple costumed, metal winged archangel shows up (and is even acknowledged by some of the young x-men as "that new guy with metal wings"). Am I going crazy? HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE CRAZY??? [/spoiler]

Seriously, this confuses me to no end.

To answer your question...

[spoiler]I believe the X-Writers are trying to establish that Angel/Archangel are like flip sides of the same coin. Angel is the calm team player as well as the moneybags member of the X-Men, while Archangel emerges when Warren is wounded or angered enough that the Apocalypse nanines in his blood transform him back into Death mode until his wounds heal and he calms back down. This transformation of course is a loophole power to explain why he appears in X-Force in death mode and in X-Men as his normal self.

Only the older X-Men that were around during Fall Of The Mutants/Inferno would recognize Warren in his Death mode.[/spoiler]

Edit: Ack.. Ninja Prev strikes as I type..

My gosh, me and my big mouth. I'll have to learn not to say I'll do something during a big X/SI week. Darn you, Murs, but if I weren't already doing this for myself to keep my hands unidle and my writing talents in the green somewhere...I'd shoot you. Well...not really, but you know...I'd shoot you. :P

So, this week on Prev's Sumviews, we'll look at Magneto: Testament, Deadpool #1, King Size Cable, SI: X-men, Origins, and maybe the Wolverine one shot. MAYBE. I guess this will be the minute reviews edition. Giddy on up on the review express! Choo Choo.......


This is the five part miniseries written by Greg Pak of Phoenix: Endsong (and that other one) fame. It attempts to reveal the origins of our favorite misunderstood villain/hero known as Eric/Magneto during his time in Germany in WWII. There's not really much to actually spoil or talk about here because if you know his basic history, you basically have this book figured out. I'll give you the very basics and the rest is up to you fine folks:

[spoiler]•   The book opens firmly in Eric's (Max Eisenhardy) as he watches his Dad and uncle work on some chains.
•   In school, Magnus has his young eye on a young lady, Magda
•   While training, Max isn't well liked and is criticized for his shortcomings.
•   Magnus excels at Javelin throws.
•   One of his teachers warns him to be careful with his gifts
•   Magnus gives Magda a chain he made
•   Magnus realizes that his uncle is being beaten up at a speech given by Hitler.
•   The Uncle suggests the family run away and Magnus's dad is unsure of what to do.
•   Back at school, Eric is informed that his javelin was defective and he has to throw another one—which is heavier
•   He throws it just as far and the teacher that warned him yesterday looks worried.
•   Eric is expelled and as he leaves the school, he's beaten up by ex-classmates.[/spoiler]

And there you go. It's a fairly quick read, but it's enjoyable if you care about Mag's history at all. What I find interesting and encouraging is that Pak acknowledges in his afterword that he and Warren (his editor) have researched this and plan to use accurate history as much as possible while keeping the key events in Magneto's past present. Honestly, I consider it a good read, but not particularly compelling or anything right now. It's a 3 out of 5. This isn't a book for you if you want a ton of battles or superheroics...this is similar to Angel: Revelations...low on fighting, more on development.


So, here's Way's official run of Deadpool and now I truly get to judge his ability to use the character without Wolverine around to distract me...and vice versa. This is yet another SI tie in (please end soon) and I think the book has some pretty good art considering its competition in the X-field. Let's go deeper.

[spoiler]•   At a baseball game, a skrull ship arrives
•   Skrull mentions that an interesting DNA mutation exists on the field
•   Flash to Wade on the field in an mascot uniform with two guns strapped to his back
    o   Weird thing here, Wade apparently developed another personality he narrates to...
•   Deadpool basically takes on the skrull himself as the rest of the humanoids escape
•   Wade hallucinates that the skrulls want his autograph...
•   Skrulls think the killed DP after firing on him from the ship
•   Wade is missing from his costume and the skrulls deploy a superskrull
•   Wade is on top of the ship singing. He's obviously laying c4 or some other explosive
    o   At this point, I'm tired of the expletives even if they're skrullanese
•   Ship explodes and Wade discusses to...himself that POV stands for Pool-O-Vision which is basically a game or something
•   Wade gets to the boss and puts a gun to his head.
•   Basically pulls a joker with the "Bang" flag
•   Superskrull grabs DP. DP reveals he was just making aan impression and he's reporting to duty. Skrulls are shocked.[/spoiler]

So, um, yeah. I didn't like this book at all. I didn't like the way Way wrote DP in Wolverine Origins and I don't like the way he was portrayed here. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since this is issue 1, but he better pick up his game. Also, the previous DP humor seems to be gone and replaced with schizo DP which I was already pretty much over in Wolverine. 1.5 out of 5. I liked the art.


They may not share a book anymore, but that doesn't mean they can't share a week together and it doesn't mean I can't sumview them together. I found the last issue of Cable to be a great read and I generally dislike the character, but I found him to be most tolerable in C&D and the last few issues of X-men before MC. Let's see how he fares this week.

[spoiler]•   Book opens with Bishop 80 years in future Chicago tracking Cable.
•   The baby now has red hair down to her shoulders...(Jean rumors)
•   Bishop suspects he found Cable, but sets off a trap. He barely escapes and sets off an alarm.
•   Um, I guess Bishop was knocked over a cliff or something. Art was too busy.
•   Back with Cable, he and the baby walk through the woods or something and a wolf growls at the baby who is wandering off on her own.
•   Bishop learns that tracking Cable is going to be more difficult that he thought. -_-
•   Bishop continues searching and eventually asks a mutant or something to help him pinpoint Cable a bit more accurately
•   Wolves attack the baby, Cable shoots one, and tells the girl to run. She does so.
•   Different time, different town, Bishop asks some indigenity about a statue he comes across. They're shock and speak of a prophency
•   Baby is almost struck by a wolf and is killed by Cable
•   Bishop is considered a threat and is attacked. He's stabbed in the shoulder
•   Bishop returns to Merryweather (New Siberia, 2592) and realizes he was also a helper of Cable
•   Mutated bear attacks cable and baby.
•   Cable's guns are helpless against it
•   Bishop killed Merryweather and he buried him and searched his room for info. Everything he found was fake.
•   Bishop realizes Cable can only jump forward in time moments after he finds some clues on Cable's whereabouts.
•   Bishop finds blood is attacked by a bear (I'm going to call it a dire bear from NWN)
•   Bishop kills the bear, but he sees Cable
•   Cable gets to his device and asks the baby to jump. She refuses. Bishop sees her.
•   Cable and the baby jump through time and Bishop realizes he just rewrote history and saved the baby
•   Bishop returns to 2008 in North America. End[/spoiler]

Wow, long read. It felt longer because it wasn't really interesting to me all that much. I'm not sure if it's Ken Lashley's art or the colors, but I found several portions of this book difficult to decipher and that was really off-putting. Also, did they really need +40 pages to tell the same story they were already telling in Cable's regular book? Not much of the story really advanced, but the baby is apparently at the age of 1 or 2 or so now since she can talk a bit. Basically, this is a complete pass because the little things that did advance could have been done in a regular book with less padding. 2 out of 5.


Busy week, busy week. Well, A busy week is much better than a single busy day. Hi, Secret Invasion that seems to hover on a single day invasion. Um, sadly, I don't remember last issue very well and I guess that's because I don't remember reviewing it. I think Pod did. Oh well. Going from memory, last issue was just skrulls attacking SF and NC having his emotions played with over religion or something. Spoilers after the Jump:

[spoiler]   Book opens with the X-men fighting the skrulls
   Cyclops lets a beam flare to get the attention of his backup squad
   Pixie, I guess, teleports them off the field. Skrulls think they won but realize the X-men will be back.
   Cyclops and the X-men discuss the current threat and how to handle it.
   Scott asks Hank to build a doomsday weapon for the ships
   Husk, Dazzler, and Beaubiers are recruited
   NC talks to the ball thing he got last issue off a skrull
   Iceman, Aurora, and Northstar (wow) attack the skrulls
   In fact, the X_men pull off their hit and runs pretty effectively
   Meanwhile, Emma and the cuckoos try to get past the psi walls using Cerebra
   Pixie, who looks like her old self, is attacked by a superskrull. X-force saves her.
   Emma fails and passes out. The Cuckoos discuss who will tell Scott and who will get Em's dresses.
   Book ends with Warpath bringing a skrull body to Scott and Hank[/spoiler]

Well, this is an ok book and it's different than the other SI books out there because the X-men don't have to worry about skrulls infiltrating them, but instead have to be anxious about a war (Scott vs. Skrull leader in strategies), a psywall (Emma), and Nightcrawler and I'm glad they tried to distinguish the book a bit. The art is wonky and sometimes I can't tell who certain characters are and to be honest, it could and should be MUCH better than it is. It's way too vague and it's almost like the artist (Cary Nord) isn't taken the art as seriously as he should. I enjoyed the use of the X-men and it's nice to see them attack as a full team and even including the Cuckoos and the other New X-men. In fact, the New X-men need to be gradually worked into the main books to create a sense of roundness ESPECIALLY the cuckoos because of their connection to the Astonishing team and they've been more or less the catalyst for several late X-arcs. Sorry to ramble, but I'm more or less over the skrull thing. It's an adequate read for what it is. 3 out of 5.


I know I haven't been keeping you guys updated on this book, but it kinda lacked X-characters for the most part. Though, it's odd that I didn't review issue 3 since it was Wolverine, Charles, and Eric heavy...my bad. I'll assume it came out during one of those weeks when I was slacking or my quota had been filled.

[spoiler]   Book opens with the return of Nick Fury (not current times) who is dragged to a hospital by Weapon X. It's revealed that Nick is basically the first super soldier (like Isaiah Bradley in 616)
   Nick rejoins the army
   In the future (for this book), Nick gathers a few thinkers into a room to help develop the super soldier serum. They are Hank Pym, Frank Storm, Bruce Banner,  and Richard Parker.
   Nick gives them a sample of his blood to reverse engineer
   In the present, The "watchers" are popping up all over the world.
   Back in the past (15 years ago), Bruce and the others minus Storm think they have figured out the Soldier Serum. Bruce will test it first.
   Richard goes outside to meet his wife and son as Hank and Bruce test the serum.
   Hank runs out of the building and Richard enters. Second later, the building explodes and Mrs. Parker is killed as well. Last thing she sees is Hulk. I'll assume the debris and explosion took her out.
   Bruce reverts and is horrified by what he's done.
   Nick appears, knocks out Bruce, and takes Peter to a helicopter
   Present, Reed calls up Tony to see if he can help out with the "watchers".
   Sue seems to be hypnotized by one of the "watchers"
   Sue reveals that the machine is a Watcher with the same functionality as a 616 watcher. It's there to witness the upcoming devestation[/spoiler]

I'm seriously wondering why I reviewed THIS issue instead of last issue as Wolverine was only in one whole page. Anyway, it's a fairly ok read. You have to have knowledge of the ultimate verse to really care about anything here, but some of the reveals were nice. The Parkers part of the story does open up a few continuity question in regards to Peter and Eddie from a certain USM arc, but I'll assume Bendis will sort that out. This also shows why Fury had such an interest in Peter throughout most of his career. The book STILL has a few questions to wrap up especially in regards to the mutant gene as Wolverine seems to be the start of it in the Ultimate verse. We'll see how well that goes down in the ending to the series. I give this book a solid 3.


Wolverine needs less oneshots.

[spoiler]   I'm not sure of the timelime as Prof X seems to be in good graces in this book, but Wolverine is on vacation and a bunch of kids steal his bike.
   One seems to have magnetic powers as he makes quick work of Wolvie and the kids ride off.
   Wolverine tracks down his bike and witnesses that the kids are being ganged up on.
   Wolverine kicks their butt and gets his bike back.
   Wolvie and kids escape
   Wolverine finds out that one of the kids is a mutant and offer him a place at the mansion
   Thugs from earlier return and attack Wolvie and the kids
   The kids plus Wolvie are overwhelmed and they're taken in. Wolverine is dragged by a truck and shot. He;s eventually tossed off a cliff.
   As he drifts deeper into the ocean, his necklace glows and some strange eel/woman creature greets and kisses him.
   Wolverine is the hairiest thing I've ever seen in a comic...he needs a Sage dove
   Wolvie calls Prof and updates him then goes to confront one of the thugs
   Wolvie is all set to kill him when the guy's kids show up. The guy is spared
   Wolverine catches up with the big bad who happens to be a healer. His people attack Wolverine, but the healer calls them off and fights Wolvie himself.
   Not sure what type of powers the baddie has, but it seems he can stop Logan's muscles and blood flow.
   Wolverine guts the healer and learns what happened to the mutant kid
   It's revealed that the kid is basically brain damaged, but Xavier allows him into the school. It's revealed that this story takes place sometime around Morrison's New X-men by Wolvie's costume and the appearance of Jean.
   Book ends with Wolverine thinking and imagining things that don't exist yet. He's a bit down and he ends his talk with Jean with the word, "Saudade", which basically means longing for something or someone that you are fond of that is lost[/spoiler]

I felt this book was interesting and I really liked the art for the most part. It was a little odd in places, but it was tolerable where it counted. I especially like that this book jumped back to the New X-men period and the only other known cast members it included was Xavier and Jean for a few pages...and some "New X-men" kids from that time period. There's a few things that are odd and seem to serve very little purpose, but it's generally a good story and it's certainly doesn't have an American feel because...it's not American. It's actually done by Europeans this time around which contribute to the different tone and I enjoyed that. Wolverine wasn't really like any incarnation I've seen in the past, but he was fairly likeable and within character the whole time. After a small amount of research, I have confirmed that this book would take place during the time in Morrison's New X-men that Wolverine took a vacation to Brazil...so I guess it's in continuity. Also, this book is marked for mature content. I'll assume it's because of the gore and the uncensored hard swears...but probably just because of the swears. It has less blood in it that a single issue of X-force. I rank it...3.5 out of 5.

Surprise, peeps...Psylocke will be returning to 616 soon and there's a few details on an upcoming X-event and other Marvel books here: http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/09/10/diamond-retailer-summit-news-round-up/

And those are my reviews for this week. It was a fairly mediocre week for the X-men and my biggest disappointment lies in the hands of Deadpool. Hopefully that book and Cable will find a stable ground to land on otherwise the split from their single shared book was more or less unnecessary. Also...*dies*  :rolleyes:

Quote from: Previsionary on September 11, 2008, 03:38:15 AM

Deadpool #1

So, here's Way's official run of Deadpool and now I truly get to judge his ability to use the character without Wolverine around to distract me...and vice versa. This is yet another SI tie in (please end soon) and I think the book has some pretty good art considering its competition in the X-field. Let's go deeper.

[spoiler]•   At a baseball game, a skrull ship arrives
•   Skrull mentions that an interesting DNA mutation exists on the field
•   Flash to Wade on the field in an mascot uniform with two guns strapped to his back
    o   Weird thing here, Wade apparently developed another personality he narrates to...
•   Deadpool basically takes on the skrull himself as the rest of the humanoids escape
•   Wade hallucinates that the skrulls want his autograph...
•   Skrulls think the killed DP after firing on him from the ship
•   Wade is missing from his costume and the skrulls deploy a superskrull
•   Wade is on top of the ship singing. He's obviously laying c4 or some other explosive
    o   At this point, I'm tired of the expletives even if they're skrullanese
•   Ship explodes and Wade discusses to...himself that POV stands for Pool-O-Vision which is basically a game or something
•   Wade gets to the boss and puts a gun to his head.
•   Basically pulls a joker with the "Bang" flag
•   Superskrull grabs DP. DP reveals he was just making aan impression and he's reporting to duty. Skrulls are shocked.[/spoiler]

So, um, yeah. I didn't like this book at all. I didn't like the way Way wrote DP in Wolverine Origins and I don't like the way he was portrayed here. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since this is issue 1, but he better pick up his game. Also, the previous DP humor seems to be gone and replaced with schizo DP which I was already pretty much over in Wolverine. 1.5 out of 5. I liked the art.

One of the most disappointing single issues of my life. I have no problem with Way making DP a crazy, hallucinating, bi-polar, mercenary. I just have a problem with his sense of humor. Or lack there of. I mean, he's had how long to come up with some proper humor for his opening issue of Deadpool? 6 months maybe? And the best he can do is DP hallucinating Skrulls asking for his autograph. *sigh*

Using the standard Previsionary rating scale, I give this issue a: 1 out of 5. I also liked the art.

On another note, is NYX considered an X-Men title?

Murs, you should write an angry letter to Way telling him what you think...then you should take over the book. :P

I dunno about the return of NYX. I mean, X-23 was in it during volume 1, but she's nowhere near it in volume 2. The book does involve mutants, but they have no relation to the X-men from what I hear. Eh, if ya wanna talk about it, go for it. I'm sure whatever happens in X-men will probably trickle down to that book. :P

Oh, it's been confirmed (http://comics.ign.com/articles/908/908687p1.html) that both UFF and UXM are being canceled after issue 60 and 100 respectively, but Marvel will have 4 Ultimate books running around (does Ultimates count? It's not an ongoing and it's always late...).

Quote from:  Mark MillarFans of Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, however, will be disappointed to hear confirmation of the popular rumor/fact that both books are being canceled. "Following issue #60 of Ultimate Fantastic Four and issue #100 of Ultimate X-Men, I believe those books will go dark. After that we're reformulating our plans in light of Ultimatum. As to what happens to UFF and UXM, we have some thoughts, but nothing I'd like to mention just yet."

And, that's about it unless I get a sudden urge to review Civil War: HoM...

ETA:

Speaking of the Ultimates, maybe someone will be excited for this?

Quote from: Previsionary on September 11, 2008, 11:11:19 AM
Murs, you should write an angry letter to Way telling him what you think...then you should take over the book. :P

But then I couldn't read Deadpool because I would be writing it. :(

But I'm taking my stance against Marvel's new direction with DP. I changed my avatar. It reflects happier times.

Quote from: Previsionary on September 11, 2008, 11:11:19 AM
Speaking of the Ultimates, maybe someone will be excited for this (http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.4841.Millar_Launches_Ultimate_Avengers)?

Me! I'm excited! :D

The whole Archangel thing may be explained in the next X-Force. But the basic thing is he transforms now. Also X-Force showing up made that issue of SI:X for me, it just made so much sense.

So UFF and UXM are both gone. Not really surprised but I thought they'd just knock out one. I'm somewhat excited for Ultimate Avengers. Love Miller's Ultimates.

I liked the X-force appearance and it was even better to see them out in the open..but not really in the open. They all wore their normal costumes except for Warren, iirc.

Anyway:


   It's no secret that I'm a fan of the original X-men (O5 fo' life!), and I was looking forward to this issue for awhile. Not only does it focus on Iceman, one of my fave X-men when used correctly, but it brings in the fun and liveliness of Spider-man (classic) and Human Torch. What more can you ask for other than Firestar? Well, sadly, Firestar fits into the Wolverine: First Class timeline and setting, so I don't see any possibility of her showing up anytime soon. Sadness, but I'll live...I HOPE! Now, let's look at the book.

   Book opens with Bobby and Iceman talking about how awesome and ladykillerish they are. They're total playa playas *shakes head 'no'*. Sadly, after this issue, the first class kids are gonna go on a small hiatus only making occasional appearances in the minis and the giant size book coming out next month. I'll try to live...I HOPE!

   [spoiler]Ok, the book really opens with a matching shot of Bobby and Johnny getting in trouble from their respective teams. The twin shot continues as the teams continue to scold their younger members before both Iceman and Human Torch decide they've had enough and leave. Bobby decides to go to Coffee-a-GoGo to see Zelda while Johnny goes looking for crime. Zelda isn't at work today, but yay for happy coincidences, trouble shows up just down the street and Torch is already on the scene. The baddies are using armor Reed made for the city, so Torch knows how to take them down...until his flame is extinguished. Cue the Iceman showing up and putting the armored thugs on ice. They break out, but Torch got a hand unfree and melts the ice...cue...short circuiting robotic armor!

   Later, Torch and Iceman talk about their team and decide to have a bit of fun together. By now, the news of their teamup has hit the news and their respective teams are a bit shocked. Bobby and Johnny head to a warehouse Reed allows Johnny to use when they're having problems and Bobby decides to reveal his secret ID to his new buddy. Torch isn't really amused since IDs mean nothing to him.

   Moving on, we get to Spider-man in the alley staking out some minor thugs. He makes mention of Gwen Stacy, which makes the placement of this story a bit odd for me since I'm sure there was a camera phone in the earlier pages, having a pool party and his senses go off. It's Bobby and Torch (his senses went off because Bobster threw a snowball at him) and they tell Pete they're the baddest duo in town...they just need a villain to practice on. Pete offers up one of his (the one he was staking out) and leaves for Gwen's party.

   So, the elemental duo take over the stakeout and bond over their brooding members (Thing/Cyclops) and the one girl on the team issues. Two trenched coat men appear and the duo spring into action. It's Scorpion and Beetle and their "leaked" info was supposed to bring them Spider-man. Making lemonade out of a bad situation, the villains attack anyway because either way, they're gonna beat up some heroes...and they proceed to do so.

   At the pool party, Pete is a bit withdrawn and this worries Gwen. Pete says he's  just thinking about something. He then points out there's something he must do. Gwen tries to argue with him, but Peter cannonballs into the pool. Gwen laughs. Young love...cute.

   Back at the fight scene, Scorpion and Beetle bury the elemental duo in the house they were thrown through earlier. As they celebrate, Scorpion is offended by Beetle's vocabulary. As they continue to talk about team names, Torch and Iceman surprise them and take them out. The reporter from earlier appears and takes another picture and writes an article.

   The next day, Bobby wakes up a bit late (almost noon) and calls for Johnny, who's not around. So, he grabs a paper and walks to the Coffee-a-GoGo and sees Zelda talking to Johnny. Bobby si visibly upset. So, Bobby returns to the X-men and all is well again.[/spoiler]

   I liked this issue. It had three of my fave heroes in it and two villains I don't particularly care about. I think the ending wrapped up a bit too fast though, but you can only do so much in 22 pages. Um, I liked the dynamic between the two jokesters and I'm glad they didn't totally overcome the big bads in this issue on their first try. It's an average read, so I'll rate it 3.5 out of 5. The .5 comes from the use of an OLD Spider-man supporting cast member I totally didn't expect to see. I'll give you a hint, it's not Harry nor is it Flash. Other reviews to come later, I guess.

So read Young X-Men and X-Factor today:

Young X-Men 6:
[spoiler]The X-Men gather up the Young X-Men and discuss their future. Scott basically decides they'll be trained as soldiers by Dani and Berto. Despite working for Pierce (who is in custody of the X-Men, no I don't know how this synchs with X-Force) he is given a second chance. Greymalkin is revealed to be 200+ year old mutant related to Xavier  :huh:. Blindfold leaves the team as an active member. Rockslide has a heart to heart with Cyclops. The team will live in a church in San Fran (why not the regular X-Base I have no idea), and finally Dani recruits Anole to the team.

This issue is maybe an improvement, hard to say as it's just a setup for the current status quo. Art was kinda blah, ok in some places, not as good in others, colours are poor. This issue did make me laugh like crazy though in 3 spots that I'm sure were not meant to make me laugh:

First was a full page picture of Rockslide with tears in his eyes hugging Cyclops. Why it's so funny I'm not sure. The scene does capture the correct effect but I think its the fact that Santo just doesn't seem the hugging type and of all people Cyclops seems like a weird person for him to connect to. Whatever I was laughing for a while.

Second was the horrible new costumes for Sunspot and Moonstar. Essentially they're both wearing Cyclops' new clothes and it just looks silly.

Lastly we have the dramatic last page reveal of Anole...cept he barely looks like Victor. It looks like they spray painted some 20-something model green. Epic fail.

So did I like the issue? I...don't really know  :huh:

[/spoiler]

X-Factor....number escapes me:
[spoiler]Now this is a great issue. Terrible art, but great issue.

Darwin has been captured by some sciencey group for the betterment of something. X-Factor arrives at the hospital to find his dad shot in the head. miraculously he's still alive. Longshot arrives and explains logically how he can't be a skrull and helps them discover that Darwin's dad actually hired X-Factor to find his son so he could give him to these science guys the Karma Group (not to be confused with Darma or Karma of the New Mutants) for a cool half a mil. Course he got a bullet for his troubles. A Madrox dupe tries to smother him with a pillow but Madrox stops him.

Why is Longshot here? He saw the Skrull Longshot's picture in the paper and decided to check it out. Where is Dazzler? They broke up because it wasn't working out and because every girl is attracted to Longshot (including M and Siryn).

I give this issue a 4/5. If Raimondi was still on board it'd probably be a 5. Darn Stroman.[/spoiler]

thanks for the reviews, Pod. I think you just cracked up at Young X-men because it was so bad that even the slightest improvement is funny. :P

So, were there any flashbacks of Dazzler who now looks like Emma with shorter hair as drawn by Land? In fact, I guess I'll review Uncanny and Captain Britain later when I get to reading again. Oh, also, did Longshot mention hating Dazz's uber pink hair and her weird thanking rituals of sleeping with men she barely has a connection to? :P

Quote from: Previsionary on September 17, 2008, 08:06:28 PM
thanks for the reviews, Pod. I think you just cracked up at Young X-men because it was so bad that even the slightest improvement is funny. :P

So, were there any flashbacks of Dazzler who now looks like Emma with shorter hair as drawn by Land? In fact, I guess I'll review Uncanny and Captain Britain later when I get to reading again. Oh, also, did Longshot mention hating Dazz's uber pink hair and her weird thanking rituals of sleeping with men she barely has a connection to? :P

Nope none of that stuff. I'm just glad that David did mention her.

Look, I'm just gonna say that you KNOW you have an art issue when the opening page with the characters has a closeup of Emma and a far-away shot of Dazzler. The women shouldn't look that much alike and, depending on how much time has passed since WWH, Dazz's hair probably wouldn't be Emma length anyway, but ok. It's nice to see some members of the team show up that I haven't seen in awhile and maybe they'll get around to why Dazzler is finally ready to rejoin the team, what happened to her Excalibur membership, her crush on Juggernaut/Wisdom, and what happened on Mojoworld...maybe she needs to go to Legacy. :P

[spoiler]Book opens up where it left off, with Karma being jumped in the alleyway. Wolverine and Nightcrawler appear and take care of business. NC and Logan defeat the cult with no major issues and Cyclops reminds them to bring one back for him to talk to.

In the medical bay, Pixie is spaced out and Beast brings her coffee like the gentleman he is. Ali then shows up—FINALLY—with her dazzling effects. She's totally fabulous...I feel like that's a shout out. Megan is shocked and Ali asks Pixie to come dance for her and let her dust make everyone crazy. Um...I guess Pixie dispenses drugs through her wings. ^^

Back to Cyclops, he's interrogating the one cult member NC brought back. Well, actually he's playing bad cop. When I say bad cop, I mean he had needs stuck in the man's face and optic blasts the needles every time he doesn't get an answer he wants. Cyclops is a much darker character these days...just an inch away from Wolverine territory. Anyway, Cyclops finds out everything and learns that the helmets they wear shield the cult members from psychic probes and attacks. So, Emma and her very huge breasts diamond up because she thinks she can actually fight when she's had no type of combat training from what I can remember of late. HA!

Meanwhile, Pixie tries to sneak out and she declined Dazzler's offer to shake her tailfeather. Wolverine catches her and she asks if his car actually works...so they go speeding through the city. They reach their destination and Wolverine drills her. Pixie just wants to be a normal girl. The same thing Buffy wanted for years. Cute. Anyway, Pixie leaves and remarks her wings were broken (theme).

Back at the mansion, Emma finds herself in a chapel where NC is. NC is needed for the mission since Pixie took off. NC asks if Emma prays and in so many words involving kneeling, she says no.

Move over to red-headed dominatrix drilling um...I forgot his name, but one of Emma's long lost students, for information on Emma. The dominatrix is interested in Emma's cold side and we get this flashback of Emma in her hellfire/stripper gear teaching the kids (the shot is VERY odd looking and incorrect, btb). So um, later that night, Manuel (the guy being drilled for info) sneaks outside of Emma's window and tries to read her mind. She catches him (she sleeps nude a lot) and allows him to see how cold she really is. Manuel is impressed. Dominatrix girl then takes her form and we get to see Land repeat his image from a few pages earlier.

Anyway, the X-men gather outside their target and attack. The team consist of Wolverine, Storm, Angel, Cyclops, NC, and Emma. The team easily handle the cult until Wolvie finds his mind probed by Manuel/Empath as Domi-Emma disappears. Wolverine reveals that Empath is better and NC chases him. Empath easily takes him out as well. His powers have been greatly magnified. Empath escapes and Beast alarms the police.

The book ends with Megan heading back to the X-men asking what's the worse that could happen. Famous last words, Megan.[/spoiler]

MMMMkay. The book was a pretty good read. I guess I liked it, but the art, good gosh, the art was not really great. I mean, it's totally passable, but it was very bad in some areas imo. I also have a problem with Land using the same image of Emma twice only a few pages apart. Can you be any more lazy, Land. 3. Total 3.

As a New X-Men fan I'm not really happy with Pixie's depiction in Uncanny. She just doesn't seem the same, and seems less fun and more groan worthy here. Admittably it may be all the arts fault.

That's true, Pod, but considering the circumstances behind her behavior, I can accept it as it is for now. It's amazing that she's this happy considering her year. Magik, MC, this, and Magik again...let's be glad she's not insane or brooding yet.


   I guess this doesn't truly count as an X-book anymore since Excalibur disbanded and it's really just a marvel universe book now, but I don't care. Brit has a major connection to the X-men and I'll use that as a good excuse to review him and his team. Suck it up! ^^ Now that the SI tie in is over, we get to see how Cornell can stand on his own with his own campus to draw upon. Will he do well? Let's check it out. Also, this issue brings into play Blade whom I haven't seen in...man...years.

   [spoiler]The story opens with Brian training against an agent in a metal like suit. It doesn't last long and Wisdom remarks that Brian is as strong as he used to be before death. He also reveals he didn't take a medal for helping in repelling the skrulls from Britain because of John and because Skrulls are still roaming other parts of the world. Seconds later, Brian gets his results from his training and it's revealed that Brian strength and endurance fluctuate depending on his emotions. Brian isn't too worried and asks who the new possible recruits are. Enter Blade and Union Jack.

   Union and Spitfire team up and battle some serpent goons. Union notes that he will not be joining the MI-5. Anyway, not gonna go on too much about this scene other than Spitfire has a secret she's embarrassed about sharing and Union Jack is trying to charm her.

   Elsewhere, Faiza and the Black Knight walk and talk. Faiza reveals that she's getting trained, but her Mum and Dad are scared for her. She continues explaining herself and her muslim background and it's revealed she's bringing home a childhood hero. BK is surprised.

   Back with Brian, Blade has just arrived and Brian notes that he didn't even know Blade was British—many people don't, Bri. Blade wasn't worried about the Skrulls at all, but he reveals he came to Britain because of the recent leak in demons. His calling brought him there.

   Meanwhile, Spitfire is not at John's grave. She's a bit upset and reveals his funeral was very low key. She notes that Pete took his death hard, but he won't show it and—she notices something near her.

   Flash back to BK and Faiza, her family isn't taking their meeting very well at all. Her dad literally explodes at BK. He's a little taken aback. Everything is a bit weird and BK reveals he wants Faiza as his new steward. He continues to explain (Pete also explains this to Blade). Seconds after the explanation is done on Brian's side, an alarm goes off.

   Continuing with Faiza, she reveals to her family that Excalibur chose her. Her father finally accepts her decision.

   Anyway, Pete, Blade, and Capt learn that Captain midlands is being attacked in Birmingham by something. Brian rushes off to be the first on the scene while the other members prepare to join him. Blade and Pete together, BK and Faiza on his horse, and Spitfire running along land until she joins Blade. The book ends on a cliffhanger as Blade instinctively stabs Spitfire through the heart...[/spoiler]

   I liked it. I really liked it and it's nice to see Blade get some shine time since he's not really a big player in the marvel verse. The cliffhanger ending doesn't really do much for me because I don't expect anything big to come from it now except maybe some tension and secret reveals. The art was fairly adequate and, though nothing really happened this issue, I consider it a 4 out of 5.

This potentially X-men related. If anyone has read this weeks Avengers: Initiative, Mutant Zero is featured quite prominently, with some hint as to exactly who she could be.


[spoiler]Is it looking like it might be Jean Grey to anyone else? They never show her face, but she's got red hair, demonstrates telekinesis, and her biggest fear (according to Trauma) is her own dark side (or something along those lines).
Now, I'm not the biggest X-men buff, so does anybody else fit those criteria? I really don't want Jean to come back from the dead again, especially as some sort of emotionless super-assassin.[/spoiler]

It's been said that Jean WILL be back some time (as is her nature), but I doubt she's back already. She was originally the baby in Messiah Complex until they changed it, iirc. I would have said Maddie...but I think she's the red queen...i dunno. I have to read the issue...which I'll do tonight!

Speaking of Jean grey...X-men Noir is based on her death...the girl can't escape death.

X-force #7:

It feels like it's been forever since I last sumviewed this book. Last issue, Wolverine and the team finally rescued Rahne and Angel broke free of his Archangel persona. We're left with a cliffhangerish ending of several newly revived villains running about the world. Seems to be a theme (*looks at CB&MI13*).

[spoiler]For those looking for hepzibah, she finally returns and her dressing style is more girly than what I'm used to from her outside of her hippie gear. She's on the phone and screaming at it because she's not accustomed to our primitive technology. Warpath just listens on the other end of the phone until Wolverine arrives. They talk a bit and Warpath reveals that he's going away to talk to someone. Wolvie tells Warpath to tell his brother he said, "hi".

Back in the mansion, Elixir and X-23 discuss Elixir's knowledge of the team. For you savvy art peeps, you might notice some famous drawings in the background. X-23 says that since he knows and here's a good chance he'll tell someone, the appropriate thing to do would be to kill him. *gulp*

Anyway, Elixir, X-23, Cyclops, Angel, Wolverine, and Rahne meet up in a room somewhere to test Rahne's trigger. Once she sees Angel's wings, she becomes feral and tries to kill him. This in turn forces Angel to transform into Archangel! BTW, Angel was safe behind glass the whole time, but his darts almost break it. Archangel tries to attack Rahne, but Cyclops sends him flying out the room. Rahne continues to gnaw on Wolverine. Elixir puts her to sleep and Wolverine helps Angel break Death/Apoc's control over him. Wolverine tells Cykes they need Emma to deprogram them, he refuses, and restates that Elixir will have to be dealt with.

Later, we learn that Cyclops brought in the cuckoos and he pulled an Xavier. Wolverine explodes on him and tells him he's becoming just like Xavier and that's why they all pulled away from Xavier in the first place. X-23 reveals she summoned the cuckoos to help Rahne because the three-in-one are more loyal to Cyclops than Emma (as they should be regardless of their daughter status). Elixir then reveals he wanted the cuckoos to erase his mind so he wouldn't be tempted to kill again. Wolverine wants to keep him now and Cyclops states he's not replaced, not evil, but the X-men are entering dark territory now.

Over a series of pages, it's revealed that Creed is back in Washington and the other revived villains are back in place as well. Wolverine wants to know the first target and Cyclops says: "none of them. The Vanisher is back." Wolverine is shocked...as was I. He's not really the target...but what he's taken is. Legacy Virus.[/spoiler]

I enjoyed this read. It's a major downtime issue, but enough happened to keep me interested. Angel's transformation question is answered, Rahne is dealt with, Elixir and the cuckoos get some screen time, and Hepzibah is still around somewhere. It's nice to see all the villains getting back in play and a classic villain re-emerge after a long absence. Now...if only this old villain could meet up with NC again. 3.5 out of 5.


Angel Revelations #5:

This is my favorite non-mainstream/non-continuity X-book and it's not because I like Angel more so than two of the other 05 X-men. It's mostly because he has a lot of potential that many writers don't even try to expand upon (like Beast and Iceman) and he just waddles about being a scout and forgetting his projectile + melee weapons. Last issue, Warren, Andrew, Amanda, and his bully friend were trapped in the school for detention after a fight broke out. As they were there, Mary Margaret and crazy man claiming to do God's work showed up and set the school on fire in an attempt to kill Warren. This...is the conclusion. Also of note, the cover has Angel in his champions costume (red and white).

[spoiler]The book opens with Warren composing a letter to his Mom and Dad mentally. He and his friends/rivals/ex lovers/posse are standing in fear as the guy from last issue points a gun at their head. In the background, the school is going up in flames. Just as the guy is about to shoot...Mary Margaret jumped to Angel's aid and knocked the attacker's aim off. Seconds later, Brandon tackles the would-be murderer to the ground effectively sacrificing himself so the others could escape.

The others escape into the woods with Mary + murderer on their trail. Mary reveals that Warren + others like him will do tons of good in the world, but her "master" will hear none of it. He eventually finds Angel and the others and shoots at them. Angel flies up to...do something as Amanda runs further into the woods (Andrew is hidden somewhere with a hurt leg). Warren finally comes up with a plan, claims himself to be an angel to the insane gun wielding man, and overpowers him. As Angel flies him to the police station, the man let's go of the gun and falls to his doom.

Angel retrieves the group + Margaret and returns to the school where Brandon is found alive. Amanda is relieved and kisses him. Mary tells Angel to return to his room so his secret isn't revealed and his companions agree not to say a word until he's ready. In the aftermath, Angel is sitting about looking at a picture he got from Mary. She sent him a picture of the X-men and Warren is a bit confused...but he likes it. Andrew shows up and talks to Angel about the voice he heard. Warren doesn't know if it was God...but he hopes to meet the voice one day (Xavier?).

The book ends on a happy note. Warren, still reflecting on that night and all the changes he's occurred, graduates and his friends cheer up a storm. The final few pages is Warren wondering about his friend's future and his own...and he comes to the conclusion that maybe Mary Margaret was right with the hero idea. END[/spoiler]

Trade it. Is that nto a good answer for you? Ok...the book ended in a way I was happy with. I really liked the supporting cast and it's too bad they don't really exist in mainstream marvel because Angel could use more friends that aren't X-folks or Husk. I'm impressed that they worked in religion, a school, friends, and a non-powered human villain into a story about Warren's early life. I dunno...it's a great read especially for you angel fans and the art is great if a little unconventional for a Marvel book. 4 out of 5 for the book and the whole series.


WOLVERINE ORGINS: #28- Original Sin Prologue

Ok, I haven't read a way book based on Wolverine since...that ridiculously long Deadpool arc and I only read one issue. Since the next few issues of Wolverine will tie into a small X-event...I'm going to try and keep up...but really...Wolverine's son can go away for all I care. The story from the last few issues is that Wolverine has tracked down his crazy son and captured him. Wolverine wants to help his son escape the influence of Romulus.

[spoiler]The book opens with Daken remembering nothing. Wolverine goes through a long list of thoughts and comes to the conclusion that he's going to take his son to a friend for help. Wolverine stops a man on the highway to get a ride and Daken attemps to kill him. Wolverine calms him down and they take the car. Wolverine realizes that unlike Sabretooth, Daken can be saved.

Wolverine continues to think... a lot. He decided that the X-men will have to help with Daken, but he doesn't really want to. Not only because he doesn't like to involve them in his personal business, but because he doesn't want to involve them with Romulus. It's revealed that Romulus gave Logan the mission to get recruited by professor X during the "all new, all different" period. So this mission required Wolverine to fight...HULK—while he's fighting Wendigo! You should know how that ends even though it's replayed here in the book. The book ends with Xavier and Wolverine finally meeting.[/spoiler]

Compared to the last few things I read by Way, this prologue was actually pretty good and the art was passable. I will say that Daken wasn't a major part of this story and basically...this story would fit into Legacy if Wolverine was the main character and more recognizable past plots were referenced instead of the obscure ones from Carey's book. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. 3...out of 5.


--------
In other news, I truly believe the Black Panther SI tie in was "pretty" good and I felt a little bad for a skrull...just a little. Thankfully this one day invasion will end soon. Though, i'm kinda tired of the Reed/Panther effect...you know...the uber weapons know one else knows about saving the day.

More to come...eventually.

Loved the latest X-Force. Answered alot of questions, made use of basically every character in the book including Agent Morales, nice art, and the threats continue to grow. Using the Cuckoos was an inspired choice, and I like that Yost and Kyle cleared up the Young X-Men continuity.

X-men Legacy #216:

Emma's on the cover mind raping Xavier. I don't like that. I don't like it at all. Not only has Emma's powers been ramped up too high (going from only using manipulation and mental suggestions to break down her foes to full on telepathy that rivals the stronger telepaths), but she's had this same stagnant attitude since New X-men and I'm bored by it. But anyway, last issue had both Xavier and Cyclops crossing lines and Emma's here to make it all better...in her own Emma way. Oh...Rogue was in that issue too continuing to deal with her angst and mental anguish. I don't think I've known of a time where Rogue wasn't being incredibly angsty.

[spoiler]The book opens with Xavier revealing he's stronger than Emma, but she turns the table like any plot device would. She tells him that she implanted failsafes and they're in her mindscape now. She owns him. Scott tells Xavier he does want to punish him, but the Sinister thing is much more important...so Emma scans him.

So, Emma and Xavier walk through his memories. First one up is the one of Xavier recruiting Beast. If you know anything about Beast's story, you know that everyone in his town ended up hating him and Xavier mindwiped the town...as was common to him back in the 60s. Xavier isn't impressed or affected. Next memory is of Rogue back when she was dealing with the fallout of her actions with mystique. Xavier left Rogue in tears and Emma equates him to God. Charles gets her point, but explains his reasoning.

Xavier then goes on about his arrogance/personality flaw and Emma slaps him and tells him to turn off the pathos. She asks him where her arrogance comes from and he says from her privileged upbringing. She tells him off and tries to make him understand that they have greater sins because they also have a greater reach. She tells him to move forward because the other way is closed. This all goes on while the memory of Scott returning from Krakoa plays in his head. Not only playing...but he's reliving this day.

Emma begins to scold him because he won't tell her why he put Scott to sleep or his reasoning. He admits that he accepts his guilt, so Emma sends him on a guilt trip...literally...with the memories of the God acts he's pulled in his dark career. This continues on for a bit and Xavier breaks down. Emma is upset with Xavier's decision to keep Gabriel's death away from Cyclops, but she can't do anything about that. The mental walkthrough ends with a quote from Moira before she passed away and Emma looks bored. In the end, it's revealed that Sinister is nowhere inside of Xavier.

So, Emma makes another sex comment and Xavier says he wants to see Moira's quote in full context. Another flashback and this one involves the X-men—Jean and NC—back at the mansion as Moira is dying on the other side of the world. The memory makes Xavier cry. Emma and Scott begin to leave and Prof tells them a quote Jean once told him. Cyclops asks if she really said it, she did, and he says she would know best (life and death quote). The book ends on a good note for Cyclops and Xavier as they shake hands. Next issue...Original Sin.[/spoiler]

This book...this arc...it was much better than most of what came before. Even though Emma and Xavier shared most of the screen time, I wasn't annoyed by her presence...much...and Emma didn't talk about sex 300 times a minute like she usually would...though she does reference it. I think Xavier is finally being pushed beyond the mentor state and I like that so many of his past memories (recognizable) were brought up and Jean was featured. I will say that Emma's role here was reminiscent of something Jean would do...minus the tone...and sex references...and arrogance...and fake blond hair...and...it's a 3.5...out of 5.

Deadpool #2 - The plot was.....fitting to a Deadpool story, but guess what? Deadpool's still not funny. Mr. Way if you're reading this, just hire someone to write your dialogue, please. I can't say Way isn't trying to be humorous, at least there's effort.

Using the standard Prev-O-Meter, I give it a 2 out of 5. The art is great, there was a decent plot. Lack of "lol" moments kills it. If the first two issues are any indication of what's to expect from the series, then not even Bob (Agent of Hydra) can save it.

very true...BUT...issue 2 was a minor improvement over issue 1.

Anyway, Weapon X: First Class #1 (http://marvel.com/digitalcomics/titles/Weapon_X~colon~_First_Class_(Gambit).0000.1) is free on marvel.com. Go read it before it comes out...especially if you're a gambit fan. That's right...all zero of you. :P

Quote from: Previsionary on September 25, 2008, 08:00:39 PM
Go read it before it comes out...especially if you're a gambit fan. That's right...all zero of you. :P

Who's Gambit? That the green guy with a pet horse named Pokey?

Quote from: murs47 on September 25, 2008, 09:55:41 AM
Deadpool #2 - The plot was.....fitting to a Deadpool story, but guess what? Deadpool's still not funny. Mr. Way if you're reading this, just hire someone to write your dialogue, please. I can't say Way isn't trying to be humorous, at least there's effort.

Using the standard Prev-O-Meter, I give it a 2 out of 5. The art is great, there was a decent plot. Lack of "lol" moments kills it. If the first two issues are any indication of what's to expect from the series, then not even Bob (Agent of Hydra) can save it.

We must support it even during the lean times in hopes that another writer will come! V for Victory!

I'll start truly judging that book when it's NOT tied into secret Invasion and DP's supporting cast begin to pop up. He hasn't been interacting with anyone but skrulls so far. I did the same thing with Capt Britain...but that book was already good and was setting up it's quo at the same time. Obviously Way isn't as talented as Cornell...so I won't hold that against him. Today.


Final sumviews:

Ok, gonna wrap up the sumviews for this week. I'll probably rant...maybe. I'm just warning you, so watch out for it. :P

Wolverine: First Class #7:

[spoiler]The story opens up with a fun fact: reindeer hide is totally invisible to thermal gear.  Cue the obligatory "Wolverine surprises minions and takes them out with his non-brutal claws" scene. He did this to save a bunch of animals. It turns out the mooks he took out where gathering up the animals so they couldn't spread their fur further. Why? Radioactive fallout from a nearby company is polluting the area.

Two days earlier: Kitty is upset because her would-be beau has a girlfriend. Wolverine says he doesn't and that Kitty misunderstood...but she's convinced that the Russian girl on the phone was Pete's girlfriend. So to make Kitty feel better and to stop her whining, Wolverine agrees to spy on Colossus for her. And...so they do.

The woman on the phone turns out to be Laynia Petrovna and she demands Colossus get on the plane and return to Russia to help them. Before Wolverine and Kitty can do anything, they find themselves attacked by Crimson Dynamo. Colossus notices this and tries to help his friends when he's shot in the back by Laynia and placed on the plane. Kitty phases onto the ship and demands to know what's happening to her boyfriend and is instantly shot unconscious. Meanwhile, Crimson and Wolverine continue to fight and Wolverine is knocked back as Crimson escapes to the plane. Wolverine barely gets a claw into the bottom of it and is knocked out only to be awakened as he's hurling towards the Earth in Russia. He's gonna be out of the fray for 24 hours so his body can heal.

Back to the present, Wolverine is in the company and searches around for Kitty.  He finally finds her phasing away from Crimson Dynamo and Dark Star. She's holding her breath and Wolverine is rushing to her. Kitty passes out and Wolverine cracks.... The book ends seconds after Wolverine leaps towards Kitty's four captors.[/spoiler]

It's an ok read. I'm not into this book as much as I am with the X-men book. It's mostly because this book focuses on Kitty and Wolverine instead of the whole New Class of X-men. They're fine and all, but I would rather them interact with the whole team more often as there would be a whole lot more story opportunities. Sticking with Kitty and Wolverine will require them to push the age of Kitty up eventually because Wolvie and Kitty didn't share all that many solo adventures back then. It's a mediocre 3.

Ult. X/F4 annual:

Um, this is a book that ties into the ultimatum and I didn't review the last one because I didn't want to. I'll review this one because...I don't even know why. Short review: The X-men, Fan 4, and some of their future counterparts team up to take out...some of their future counterparts. Confusing right? Basically, in the future, Reed and Sue figured out how to reverse Ben's mutation and cure mutant kind. They began to lock people up in the N-zone as well...but future Johnny died, Reed was locked up and powerless, and Sue went crazy.

It's basically a book to show a possible, dystopian outcome of the Ultimatum. You know...to build up the threat of the event. I don't agree with quite a few things in the book (Jean being so comfortable with her phoenix powers after all her struggling) and the art was kinda rough. It's a 2 for me. At least they finally gave the banshee plot some type of resolution since Rogue and Wolverine are good again. Odd how he has two protégés at one time and his third one, Jubilee, dropped off the face of the earth. Also...I guess we might get a marriage soon...if a certain book wasn't being canceled. Oh...new ultimate character was introduced as well.

Wolverine: Roar Annual #1:

In short, this story is about Wolverine going to some western town and finding it in trouble. The town is being attacked by some lupine creature—that was buried in the dirt. It's a Navajo Cayote—and it weighs a ton. Wolverine finds it hard to fight the creature because its howl destroys his hearing and sense of balance. Wolverine eventually takes down the creature and is shocked by what he finds.

It's a very simple story and it does what it sets out to do well. There's no real depth and I don't understand why this story was even made other than to give us MORE Wolverine. It's a story where Wolverine fights a beast in a western town. If you're looking for more than that...avoid. 2.5 out of 5.

Rant:

[spoiler]Ok, the first class line...I love it. Well, I like it, but the "First class" adjective is making less and less sense the more they use it. STOP IT! And you know what else you need to stop, marvel? Stop throwing wolverine everywhere. He's important to the mutant population, their popularity, your bank, and whatever else...but he does NOT need two first class books and he barely needs his first one. He's not child friendly regardless of your marketing patterns. He's just not, so stop trying to pass him off as one. He kills people...regularly. He swears, he smokes, he loves beer, and he likes to sleep nude whether he's with another person or not. He's a short (sometimes tall...) Canadian furball that's not really for kids regardless of his oh-so-cool claws. Now...stop over-saturating EVERY good idea you get with Wolverine. Go push a character that actually needs screen time...like Bobby...Storm...Havok...Rachel (heavens forbid)...Beast...you know those characters that make the background look pretty? Go use them. BUUUUT...I appreciate you putting deadpool in a first class book. Yep. Done.[/spoiler]

Now...I'm off to read Ultimate Spider-man. ^^

As a hardcore Deadpool fan (just look at the avatar Charlie! Nuff said! Excelsi....I mean LONERS!) I am very dissapointed to hear the book's not doing well, but not remotely surprised. The fact that it's not funny and lack of a supporting cast is especially a deal-breaker for me. I was against Way on this book from Day 1. It's kinda sad, because this is the first time I haven't bought Deadpool since I was introduced to the character during Simone's run (my favorite run on the character BTW) and I've considered myself a solid supporter of the character through thick and thin (and Cable & Deadpool had some stinkers about as often as it did gems). I've always been of the opinion that you can get an idea of what kind of sense of humor a Deadpool fan has by what run was their favorite.

QuoteWe must support it even during the lean times in hopes that another writer will come! V for Victory!

I'm of the opposite standing. IMO it's put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is-time. Because Marvel listens to the sales more than it listens to what "teh fanboys are saying on teh innernets. " Cynical as it may be, the modern industry-like the entertainment industry in general-is concerned about one thing above all else: mo' money. I wouldn't want to be spending my money on a book I don't enjoy, especially one starring a character I've got a special fondness for, and I think that if fans want Way off the book, NOT buying and letting the sales drop is the way to go. If the sales are good Marvel would potentially keep Way on longer as a result. On the other hand bad sales could lead to cancellation, but I've been prepared for an absence of a Deadpool book since Cable stopped being in C&D.

QuoteObviously Way isn't as talented as Cornell...so I won't hold that against him.

On the topic of Cornell, while I`ll probably never try out MI: 13 due to lack of interest in the characters and concept, as a Young Avengers fanboy I was extremely impressed with Cornell`s issue of YA Presents. Even though I`ve never read anything else by the writer I gained a lot of respect for him. So I agree with you that he is a talented writer.

Quote from: Silver Shocker on September 28, 2008, 03:48:22 AM

QuoteObviously Way isn't as talented as Cornell...so I won't hold that against him.

On the topic of Cornell, while I`ll probably never try out MI: 13 due to lack of interest in the characters and concept, as a Young Avengers fanboy I was extremely impressed with Cornell`s issue of YA Presents. Even though I`ve never read anything else by the writer I gained a lot of respect for him. So I agree with you that he is a talented writer.

I've liked the few things I've read by him (CB [and he's fixing some of claremont's goofs], FF: True Story, The Young Avengers issue). For you Dr. Who fans, he works on that as well (plus books and audio plays), so you might already be familiar with his work. He's done quite a lot of stuff, so I do believe you may have come across his name at least once.

Speaking of Claremont:

New Exiles #12:

Not a heavy X-week this time around because they all decided to come out last week. Well, that's not true. We still have this lovely baby and Cable. So, what I meant was all the important X-books came out last week and somehow Deadpool got that week as well. Ok, people make mistakes. Anyway, last time around...stuff happened. Ok, not just stuff...important stuff. Psylockes were still being chased by Slaymaster (kill him already) and Sabretooth went off to confront Madame Hydra, Wolverine, Slaymaster, and the new guy whose name I don't remember at all. Sabretooth was overpowered and Kitty rushed off to help him after she figured out what had happened. Oddly enough, I really don't remember reviewing this the last time it came out...so, I'll assume I didn't.

[spoiler]After the 500th description of the omniverse and settings ever, the book opens with Madame Hydra + her team searching for Sabretooth and his little helper. Wolverine is being his stereotypical self while Slaymaster seems to know more than he shows. Meanwhile, Sabretooth continues to slide through the earth with caption boxes on every single panel and he finds himself ghostly, but alive. Eventually, he finds himself on solid ground....well above it...he solidifies and falls to the ground and is shocked to see Kitty. It seems Kitty's powers are so advanced that she can either turn fully invisible and phase others OR phase others from very long distances without going for them herself. Anyway, she warns Sabretooth to catch his breath and to stop being stubborn. Finally deciding to go home after Kitty whines a bit more, they find out they can't leave and they're trapped.

On the other side of the mountain the Exiles 2 phased through, Sue surmises that Sabretooth phased while standing in place to get away from them and that he can't go much further because of the water. Kitty grabs Sabretooth and phases him through more rock to gather more distance and hijacks a plane only to phase out of it a few seconds into the trip. They land on the ground and remain phased while the plane continues to move forward. It's caught a few seconds later by Sue and Kitty can somehow tell this (empathy with her tech or something). Having had that plan fail, the two remain phased and Sabretooth notes that he isn't healing from his earlier wounds at all. So...they sit there and Sabretooth tries to get Kitty to open up and she refuses.

Flashback time! Kitty remembers that Xavier and Sage came to see her, but she had already accepted Emma's offer. Under Emma's tutelage (which includes Cyclops), Kitty becomes a member of her strikeforce for the hellfire club. Kitty never felt like she belonged and there's a scene of Xavier, Sage, and Jean vs. Emma, Kitty, and Cyclops. Kitty then snaps out of it and you get this weird scene of Sabretooth looking uber sad and we cans ee Wolverine in his eyes. Sabre pushes Kitty out of the way and the fight is on! Interestingly enough, this Wolverine uses a gun. Anyway, Kitty knocks Sabretooth off the cliff into the water below and she takes on Wolverine herself. She gives him quite a fight by dodging his neutralizing attacks. The fight ends when Wolverine stabs her...and his claws fall off! The exiles duo finally return home.
The book ends with Kitty contemplating telling the others that the omniverse is dying. We get another flashback into her past when she ran away from Emma/Shadow king and it's haunted her since. She then flashes back to the event we just witnessed in this issue and she's bloodied up and popping Wolverine claws. The final scene is of Kitty talking to someone (shadow) and explaining to them that she needs help.[/spoiler]

Hrm, it's ok. They're some grammar errors (I can recall at least one at the moment) and we finally learned a bit more about Kitty (it only took...16 issues?). It's ok...for a Claremont book. I really wish he'd dropped the overly descriptive thing. That may have worked in the 70s and 80s...but having every page full of superfluous details that barely add anything to the character, the situation, or the overall tone is tedious and unnecessary. It's a 3, buds. A -3 out of 5. Yeah, I'm joking...just a 3. Don't go for it if you like AOA Sabretooth though because he was generally useless both issues.


Cable #7:

Guys, I don't remember what happened in issue 6 at all! I don't remember it at all! Wait, yes I do, it wasn't a Cable book. It was Cyclops and Emma Sex-Olympics that week. Ok, catchup. Two issues ago, Cyclops was worried about his son and began to reflect on his past and present. He also revealed a bit about how he kept Emma in the dark about his dark path. Last issue, Bishop and Cable returned to the status quo of running around in the time stream. Now we're here...with X-force! Let's take a peak, ok? Ok.

[spoiler]In Montana, we're at a base where Bishop has apparently taken down a few guards. Not even four panels later, the X-force surprise him with a full page splash! Bishop isn't impressed and tells Wolverine that he doesn't have beef with him and tries to teleport off only to have his arm sliced off. Bishop blinds Wolverine with his blue energy beam thing he suddenly acquired in this series and Warpath and X-23 tackle him. Bishop is brought back to Cyclops to finall explain himself because for some reason, Bishop forwent this whole process to be sneaky and manipulative.

Cyclops catches us up to what Bishop has done and how he caught up with him and asks Bishop if he even considered talking to them...that maybe he might've been wrong about the baby. Bishop counters that maybe Cyclops and Nathan were wrong. So of course, this being the new Cyclops with a woman who has no problems going into others minds (though she shouldn't be able to with Bishop), he brings in his attack dog. By attack dog, I mean Emma "White Queen" Frost. I'll note that Bishop looks ridiculous in this scene...almost ape like. O_o Anyway, Emma mind rapes him and leaves him screaming.

In the future, Cable is in bed with a red head as the baby...toddler...the little girl hops on the bed. She can say "mommy" now. She can actually form sentences now, so she's aged very fast. It's been two years since Cable last saw Bishop (really?). Anyway, the kid throws a tantrum and other unimportant stuff. Cable then flashes back to his earlier time with the baby and their time in New Liberty which was legend in his time.

Back to Bishop, Beast tells Cyclops that they can't figure out where Bishop has been or how many times he's teleported with Forge's arm as it has no type of recording functions, but Beast was able to figure out that Bishop is 4.5 years older. Beast then concludes that the baby probably won't fit the crib Cyclops built.

Switchover to Cable, he and a bunch of men are going off to explore some sound they heard (horror movie no-no). The sound turns out to be two men, who seem to be beaten, and everyone is shocked as no one has entered their secret town since Cable. One soldier is dead; the other is speechless. Cable is suspicious.

In the present, Emma has found out that Bishop has come into contact with Cable and he has hurt him, but she can't figure out what exactly happened or how Bishop has been tracking them because his fantasies are overshadowing his actual thoughts. Emma points out that Bishop knows he can't block her (since when? He can absorb your energy, Emma...), but he can confuse her with fake imagery. Emma does give Cyclops the note that Bishop believes Cyclops will believe him and his mission.
Cyclops confronts Bishop again and gets him to talk. Meanwhile, Emma listens in telepathically while, I guess, picking at Bishop's mind. Bishop is aware of this and tells Cyckes to call off his hound dog. The book ends back with Cable as more soldiers from the US arrive in New Liberty.[/spoiler]

Overall, this issue plus last issue is an improvement over the opening arc and the King Size issue. The art is a problem. It's a major problem because everyone either looks stiff or nothing like they should look for the most part except for maybe Cyclops (consistently). Interestingly enough, the baby still has no name and she's like 3 or 4 now. Um, I have a problem with Emma being a hound dog in every book and willingly forcing her way into people's minds she shouldn't be able to and I'm kind of concerned that Cyclops keeps allowing her to do so considering his old stance on that whole issue. Ignoring my thoughts on current Emma, if she gets too strong (like Jean), I can only see the writers having to finally cool her off because her powers are being ramped artificially with no type of training or reasoning. Go build a weapon, Emma. X-force...the main draw of this issue for me...was only in maybe two pages. I can't really recommend this to anyone as in 8 issues, the plot has BARELY advanced anywhere. This book continues to be utterly pointless in the X-continuity and that's pretty sad since it has the most important part of the story from the conclusion of Messiah Complex. I expect more from this book other than a drawn out game of cat and mouse and stiffened art, and because I have greater expectations, I give this book a measly 2 out of 5. Cable, fake-wifey, and baby...go meet Deadpool after the one day invasion and restart your partnership. It'd be more entertaining than your solo books combined. And, gravy, if I was ever a fan of Bishop in the past, thanks to his characterization post Civil War: X-men, I don't think I could ever be again. He consistently gets worse every time I see him.

Wait, so Bishop's a baddie now? :mellow:

Quote from: qazwsx on October 07, 2008, 03:06:24 PM
Wait, so Bishop's a baddie now? :mellow:

Yup. A multiple attempted baby killer. My how the tables have turned. He was such a swell guy in District X too.

Quote from: qazwsx on October 07, 2008, 03:06:24 PM
Wait, so Bishop's a baddie now? :mellow:

In theory he's supposed to have legitimate reasons for his actions. In practice? Not so much.

The way they've plotted Bishop since Civil War makes him a villain. He's actually in the grey area, but he's not being written that way and that's a writer error. The series would be MUCH better if he wasn't written so cold and inhuman. People claim he's being written similar to his first portrayal. I don't agree with that and even if he was, he's progressed too far to just go back to his old personality which he had when he first arrived and met the, then, current X-men.

Out this week:

Original Sin
Manifest Destiny
Deadpool
Magneto Testament

4 books of fun. Well, three and a tagger on. Anyone gonna hit them or will I have to do...two bad reviews that everyone will ignore? :P

X-men: Original Sin [1shot]

The lead-ins have already happened and we finally got what we wanted: An event featuring Wolverine, Xavier, Daken, and the past. OMGAH, I wanted this so badly. So badly that I can barely write this opening...so I won't. Not like you'll miss it, right? :P

[spoiler]The book opens with Wolverine in modern day China town. Logan is having a flashback to the first meeting between the "All new, all different" X-men before their first mission. Wolverine notes that out of all the new X-men, he was the only one to know why he was there. Logan notes that Xavier was different back then. He was cocky.

In present day, Logan is meeting with a Tibetan Monk named Tso Ren Wu. Wolverine asks the man, his old friend, to keep his son safe and calm. One more thing, if he doesn't return in an hour...take the kid off the grid. Wolverine, in costume, then heads off while thinking about Emma as the most powerful psychic around now that Chuck is gone. He asks her to help with his son--she surprised he has a son--and then catches a whiff of Xavier on Cyclops who has just busted into the room. This places the series just after the last issue of Legacy. I wrote a review on that, go check it out.


Back to the story, Wolverine smells Xavier's scent and is upset that he wasn't told. Cyclops claims he doesn't know what Logan is talking about (odd), and Wolverine rushes at him. Emma is tries to stop Wolverine using her telepathy (which shouldnt *easily* work on Wolverine) and she's too late. Cyclops is punched...again. His poor jaw.With how powerful Emma is lately, Im surprised she didn't stop Wolvie like she has everyone else...though she should know Wolvie is resistant. Anyway, Emma is surprised and WOlverine lays into Cyclops and taunts him. He points out that Cykes has been getting others to do his dirty work a lot lately. Cyclops tells Emma to move out of the way and Emma refuses and mentally tells Cyclops just to walk away. Cyclops warns her to be careful as Wolverine is unpredictable in his current state. The warning came a little too late as Wolverine back hands Emma across the room--THANK YOU! Wolvie, you're a few points higher than you were, buddy--and she's visibly upset. Wolverine thought he could trust her...he should've known better than to trust the WHITE QUEEN.

Chapter one ends with WOlverine back in China town thinking about Charles. On the final page of the chapter, Wolverine passes a diner where Ms. Sinister is sitting having a cup of...tea or coffee. A cup of whatever.[/spoiler]

Chapter 2:

[spoiler]The chapter picks up directly after last chapter. Wolverine finds Charles having a glass of...something and the two get to talking. Back with Daken, he's in a room with a woman and the monk. He feels like he's in prison since he can't leave. The woman and the monk take their leave and seconds later, Daken is contacted by a telepath known as Claudine. She urges him to come up to the roof so they can talk. Claudine, as it turns out, is Ms. Sinister. She's meditating on the roof when Daken arrives. She tells Daken that his memories were stolen by Wolverine and that she can restore them. Daken doesn't immediately believe her. Sinister then tells Shaw to try his hand as Daken takes his leave.

*ahem* Charles looks so weird in this book.

Like Emma before him, Charles is shocked that Wolverine has a son. Wolverine asks Chuck to do for Daken what he did for him...erase the ingrained conditioning inside of his head. Chuck says he's done that too much and Wolverine asks when he suddenly got a conscience. Xavier continues to refuse and Wolverine says, "who said I was askin'?"

Over at Daken, a group of helicopters are flying overhead. Ms. Sinister is there too. The planes drop napalms and everyone is burned to death minus Daken. Daken kills them and runs into Sinister again. She tells him she did it and if it reminds Daken of old times, he should follow her.

Back with Charles/Logan, Logan demands that Xavier read his mind to get the full story. Xavier eventually does and we go back to the day Wolverine first came to the X-men. We learn he was sent to kill Xavier (oh...like Ultimate then?). That's where the book ends. It's continued in X-men Legacy.[/spoiler]

I think it was a good showing for a crossover involving Wolverine and Logan. It's nice to see Ms. Sinister put to work every issue since her introduction and here we get her name and a indication of her powers. Hopefully, we'll get a bit more on her over the next few issues as she's showing up quite a bit in the X-verse. Oh, I'm glad they lowered Emma's power level a bit here. Someone did their homework when it comes to resistances. So, I'll say it again...Daniel Way impressed me and Mike Carey kept me entertained. Way, keep the momentum and apply it to Deadpool. The art and colors were also pretty good for the most part. Though, I will say that this crossover retcons a bit of the story and I guess that will get mixed results depending on what you like. Most people probably will dislike it since it's already been done in another universe and I don't know why it was added here. Overall, it's a 3. "Take it or leave it," type of thing.

Didn't pick any of them up. Am kinda interested in Manifest Destiny and Original Sin though.

Quote from: Podmark on October 08, 2008, 08:23:40 PM
Didn't pick any of them up. Am kinda interested in Manifest Destiny and Original Sin though.

MD...um...sumview!

Manifest Destiny #2:

Ok, this will get confusing as far as Wolverine and Emma go. If you read my last sumview, you'll notice that Wolverine and Emma were on rocky ground. Granted, MD comes before that in the timeline, I suppose, but still...conflicting scenes and personalities in the same week is a bit hard to swallow. In simple terms, this is what happened in each part of the story:

Iceman:

[spoiler]-Following last issue, Bobby is in the hospital suffering from hypothermia.
-He flashes back to kissing Mystique (Carey's issue...Rogue's run)
-He wakes up and lands on the floor at the feet of...a nurse he's mistaken for mystique!
-Mystique arrives in the room disguised as a doctor and knocks out the nurse
-The two fight. This series clearly takes place after "Get Mystique".
-Mystique injects Bobby with nerve killers.
[/spoiler]

Juggernaut:

[spoiler]-Juggy is at a bar talking to a guy. The people are scared, but they are all asked for their opinions. I've no idea why Juggy is in costume.
-Juggernaut is debating on whether he should be good or evil (you already made that decision, Juggy.)
-Juggernaut somehow knows where the X-men are (San Fran)
-police arrive and shoot at Juggernaut as he leaves
-Juggernaut decides he's "good with the bad"[/spoiler]

Emma:

*I promise to be objective*

[spoiler]-Emma is talking about new chances and new beginnings, but knows the X-men won't forgive her past
-She doesn't feel she deserves any of the things she now has (Cyclops, forgiveness)
-She's still bitter towards Jean and notes that Cyclops isn't completely open with her like he was with Jean (that took years, Emma. Literally years.)
-She knows he'll never completely trust her and she forces herself not to read his mind
-She knows Henry is judging her even though they talk so openly
-Cassandra Nova, Mojo, and other references are made in regards to Emma and tv stations...and babies. Kitty is as well
-She knows that Storm and Angel are too loyal to Jean and Xavier (no...not really) to ever forget her hell fire days
-She notes that all the students keep their distance from her
-At dinner, Emma continues to feel left out and she finally just snaps and tells everyone to judge and hate her.
-Everyone is shocked and Emma goes outside. Wolverine follows.
-Wolverine basically tells her to get over her past as everyone else has...in so many words.
-Emma takes this in and realizes that she forced herself to become so cold and began to cry. This is what forgiveness feels like.[/spoiler]


Ok, Manifest Destiny feels like a complete throwaway to me. The Wolverine/Emma thing is weird as this probably shouldn't have come out during the one shot. It's conflicting to think about. It's nice to see Emma worked on a bit and that was probably my favorite story even though it doesn't completely fit her current character. The Iceman story just has pacing issues and the Juggernaut story was almost completely pointless. I mean...I feel like every writer is ignoring the end of Newcalibur...maybe that's a good thing. Um, I can't recommend this. I give it a 2.

Thanks Prev.

The Iceman story HAD to take place after Get Mystique because it's a straight shot through Carey's Blinded by the Light to Messiah Complex and Cable showed us that Wolverine went after Mystique in the immediate aftermath of the crossover.  Actually continuities been fairly clear lately.

Quote from: Podmark on October 08, 2008, 09:11:39 PM
Thanks Prev.

The Iceman story HAD to take place after Get Mystique because it's a straight shot through Carey's Blinded by the Light to Messiah Complex and Cable showed us that Wolverine went after Mystique in the immediate aftermath of the crossover.  Actually continuities been fairly clear lately.

wasn't disputing it or saying it was a continuity flub. I was clarifying that it clearly did. I still think it came about too early as I don't care to see Mystique running around this soon. I'd feel the same way if it were Sinister. :P I will say I have literally no interest in Iceman since MC. Not even his appearances in Astonishing and SI:X have made me care for him lately. :(

Give it time. I'm sure when Legacy evolves Iceman will be there, along with Rogue and Cannonballs.

Next arc of Legacy goes to Rogue, iirc. I think Cannonball(s?) is off the market for right now, but I don't know.

Magneto Testament #2:

Last issue introduced us to Magneto just as Hitler began his war on Jews. This issue moves us forward in time. No recap or remarks here. I can't really think of anything. -_-

[spoiler]1936, Eric and his pa are on a train looking at a picture. His pa reveals that he saved a man who happens to be in the gov't. He hopes he can return the favor. Switching the attention to Max (Eric/Magneto), his pa finds out that Max has a crush on a girl. His pa wants to know one thing, is the girl Jewish.

On the streets, we find out that the olympics are happening in Berlin, so all the signs are being taken down. After a long wait, Max's father's friends finally shows up, but he's oulled away by some higher up nazis and Max + Pa take their leave. The Nazis are not pleased and a soldier is ordered to stop the jews. Max's pa is tackled to the ground and is beaten for "resisting" arrest. Max rushes to his father's aid, but he is knocked out by his pa's friend to keep him safe, I assume.

Some undisclosed time later, MAx's father is pushed down the stairs, bloody and bruised, and his friend says they are even now because he's still alive. The two get back on the train and Max's father tries to remain optomistic.

in a Detention Camp, Magda is asking her mother when they can go home. She's told to be patient and that ends that quick section.

1938, Max is digging through the trash for money and he manages to find a coin. Seconds later, he comes across some old school chums he pick on him and mock him with money. Max is less than impressed and slams one of the guys into the mud, takes the coin, and runs off and hides. As he hides behind a corner, he notices that an innocent man is being beaten because of what he did. He calls out to them and gets beaten instead (off screen).

Back at home, he lies to his family and tells them he tripped trying to reach for coins.His uncle comes in and tells them they have to leave for Poland. Max's father tells them they are staying in germany since they already know the devil there. He then goes over the rules. That night, Nazis try to break into Max's home. He warns his family and they take to the streets. As they run, they see the temple explode.

1939, the book ends here with Max and his family arriving in Poland...just as the germans invade![/spoiler]

I skipped a few parts near the end...I skipped a few parts in general. It's still an interesting story and it referenced at least four years in 20+ pages. It's not an action book, so if you want that, skip this book. I'm deciding on where I stand on this book and because I can't do that right now, I'll settle on 3.5.


Deadpool #3:

Well, at least this book has come out relatively quickly. Can issue 3 finally get it right? Probably not. Last issue Deadpool trained the skrull army and got them to off the super skrulls. Nick Fury also made an appearance.

[spoiler]Pool-O-Vision, Nicky is like a little kid that is telling Deadpool that only he can save them from the skrulls. DP imagines a bunch honeys on a bed and says he might be too busy. Nick interrupts and tells DP to look behind him to reveal...FROSTY...the fireman. Yeah...sure. Skrull calls him a traitor and DP agrees, he is a traitor to the skrullpire. He then runs away...

Back at the deadskrulls (DP/skrull), they've killed all the superskrulls and turn on each other. Two of them blow off each other's head and the skrull scientist tells the rest of the deadskrulls that the guy that did this to them is getting away.

Back at Deadpool and the superskrull...they continue to fight. It ends with Deadpool using the skrull's powers against him and he (skrull) ends up frozen.

The scientist skrull + deadskrull then appear behind him. The scientist is on a high horse and tell the Deadskrulls to get DP. DP welcomes the challenge, but nothing happens. DP then gloats that clones never work because he wasn't born with a healing factor, but he did have cancer. So, he therorizes that because of his healing factor and the way it works, the skrulls would become full of unneeded cells and explode....which happens. DP also kills the scientist.

DP then returns to the room with the holographic image of Nick and begins to input a sequence to upload something for Nick. Nick reveals that the info being uploaded is information on how to kill a queen. DP finishes and Nick says he's not getting anything. The data is being downloaded...but by Norman Osbourne! End.[/spoiler]

If you can't tell by my short sumview, I skipped a lot of stuff. This issue is...I don't even really know where I stand with it really. Murs, go review it! This tie-in felt so unnecessary to me. So incredibly unnecessary, but I guess the end puts a certain Spider-man character in a better position even though it wasn't referenced anywhere else...but then again, that character isn't even in SI right now. Anyway, compared to issue one, it's a 3. Somewhere on the same level of issue 2. I'll admit that Way is riding a high right now, but I dont know how long that'll last. So overall, we learn what DP's mission was and how it really ties into SI...it just felt unnecessary, to me, to cater three issues around its premise.  I could accept it so much better if the series was being set up, the status quo, or at least a subplot instead of three straight issues that focus only on an A-plot for 20+ pages.

I suspect the reason Cannonball and Iceman aren't on rosters right now is that they're being saved for when Carey is ready to make Legacy back into a team book. Of course that's never been confirmed, but it's been said a few times that Legacy will change at some point in the future.

Just a point: Emma's not surprised that Wolverine has a son in Original Sin - she's the one who told him he had a son in the first place.

Deadpool #3 Review:

So far Way has provided us with 66 pages of Deadpool. Two of those pages I enjoyed. Two pages for $8.97 plus tax. Money well spent! :thumbup: Much to my delight the latest issue contained those two enjoyable pages (only semi-sarcasm in that sentence.) The opening scene was pretty humorous I thought. Not "lol" funny, but my innards chuckled. The second page I liked was a very informative scientific explanation of Deadpool's regenerative powers. Take notes public education system, this is how you make science fun!
With that said, there's a small chance this series could work. And by small I mean microscopic.

I can admit to being rough on my critiques of Way and his handling of Deadpool. He is trying, for what it's worth. He can script a Deadpool story. It had direction, good pace, and it was absurd(perfect for a DP story). He just can't pull out those laugh out loud moments like Nicieza, Brown, Simone, Tieri, and Kelly. I really think he should take the Yost-Kyle approach and co-write this with someone.

So to sum up issue 3. Two pages were worth reading, the rest moved the plot to it's finish while being tied up with poor humor. Standard Prev-O-Meter Rating: 1.2 out of 5. 1 for art, 0.2 for the 2 pages I liked.

Quote from: Previsionary on October 08, 2008, 10:11:39 PM

Magneto Testament #2:

Last issue introduced us to Magneto just as Hitler began his war on Jews. This issue moves us forward in time. No recap or remarks here. I can't really think of anything. -_-

I skipped a few parts near the end...I skipped a few parts in general. It's still an interesting story and it referenced at least four years in 20+ pages. It's not an action book, so if you want that, skip this book. I'm deciding on where I stand on this book and because I can't do that right now, I'll settle on 3.5.

I really liked the 1st issue. I thought it was a great set-up for things to come. By the end of it I had some emotional investment with a couple characters. But like you, I'm not sure about the 2nd issue. If it was more set-up then I'm fine with it. But if it's going to be a history timeline then I'm done with this series. Seriously, the invasion of Poland as your cliffhanger. What kind of reaction were you hoping to get out of your readers? "omg, I can't beleive this is how it happened!" Thanks for the reminder on important historical events.
Pak's got 3 issues to turn an innocent boy into a human hating super powered mutant. I'm not expecting him to become Magneto by series end. Just a hate filled adolescent boy that gives us a glimpse of what he'll become.

You're tougher than I am, Murs, heh.

Uncanny X-men #503:

Last time, The X-men found themselves chasing down a leathered up dominatrix that resembled Jean/Maddie but took on the form of Emma. They also found themselves chasing down an older student who's name I keep forgetting. What will happen this week?

[spoiler]The book opens with Sam Guthrie in a bar getting carded. He offended an African American bar tender and got a nice history lesson from them. He then meets up with Karma and Dani Moonstar. Cannonball notes that he's surprised that they all survived considering how messed up their childhood is. He expands on that and everyone thinks about Doug. All Sam and the others want now is for no one else to die. Tough luck, Sammy, with your very large cheese-tastic smile.

Scene shift, Empath is riding on a motorcycle through town. Storm, who keeps shooting lightning everytime I see her lately, is following on his trail. Wolverine and NC take a car to cut him off and Angel flies overhead. Cyclops and Emma remain back at Empath's hideout and "sweep" through the base. Angel comes close to catching Empath, but Empath's...empathic abilities give him the upper hand.

Flip over to Pixie who is still riding a moped for w/e reason. She's heading back towards the X-men and calls Hank to get the 411 on the sitch. She gets the location of the mutant the X-men are chasing and rushes off. Hank warns her not to and we get this awkward closeup of his face.

Meanwhile, Cyclops wonders why a mutant is running an anti hate group. We then get a scene with Emma in leather gear with even more awkward art. It turns Cyclops on and he talks about it being kinky...Emma convinces him to take advantage of the situation. *SIGH*

Pixie is still on her way with that darn moped. Beast tells her to pull back and let the X-men handle it (we get a shot of his teeth...). Pixie, of course, ignores this and drops her phone on the road while driving. Meanwhile, Wolverine, NC, and Cannonball catchup with Empath. Empath easily takes down Sam by stirring up his feelings about his dead brother, Jay. NC eventually gets Empath off his motorcycle and realizes his powers work through eye contact. Wolverine plans to go blind to take out Empath whose powers are flaring out of control. Instead, Pixie arrives on the scene and completely owns Empath with her fist and soul dagger.

Skip to a concert. Not just any concert, Dazzler's concert. Pixie is dancing on stage and a cheesetastic Cyclops is hugging onto Emma. He tells Emma he had fun and Emma seems confused. The book ends with Cyclops seeing his dead ex-wife. No, not Jean...the other one...Maddie![/spoiler]

Well, I dunno, this book was OK. I'm so tired of writers making Cyclops into a complete sex fiend. It's annoying. Pixie got some type of redemption, but I don't know why she drove a moped everywhere...she can teleport. Storm and Angel once again just flew around doing mostly nothing and this also extended to Cannonball. It's just ok. 2 out of 5.


I'll add Astonishing in a bit. Maybe it won't disappoint me like it has the last two issues.

Ok, I picked up Uncanny and browsed through it. This story may be super, but I look at the art and want to wretch. This guy is horrible with his stupid porn faces and cheesy smiles. It's almost as bad as Liefelds' all grimace, all the time stuff. I'll come back to that book after he's gone.

Quote from: thanoson on October 15, 2008, 05:31:10 PM
Ok, I picked up Uncanny and browsed through it. This story may be super, but I look at the art and want to wretch. This guy is horrible with his stupid porn faces and cheesy smiles. It's almost as bad as Liefelds' all grimace, all the time stuff. I'll come back to that book after he's gone.

I agree, the awkward shots, uber wide grins from random characters, and the shots of beast, his face, and his teeth are major turn offs for me. The story doesn't do much either. I haven't been psyched on Uncanny for awhile actually. The lead up to #500 and up to now have just been mediocre.

Astonishing X-men #27:

Something happened last issue. I really don't remember much as that was at least two months ago and I wasn't all too interested then. The things that stick out in my mind are the following: Storm couldn't carry Wolverine for some "scientific" reason, Everyone was drawn very blah like, the team landed in a ship graveyard, and I think the fire "mutate" killed himself.

[spoiler]The story starts with the X-jet taking off and Cyclops giving Beast some contraption they found last issue. Cyclops wants Beast to tell them what it is, what it does, and all that good jazz. Cyclops hands over a blood sample and Beast wonders how he obtained it and wonders if Wolverine had a part in it. Cyclops tells Beast that the guy offed himself and Beast understands why, Subject X, as they call him, didn't want to reveal his helpers. He equates the situation to...a "Secret War".

As beast experiments, he notices something odd about Subject X's blood. He IS a mutant, but his X-gene is on the wrong chromosome which is why the X-men couldn't pick him up with cerebra. Beast wants to call in Abigail and Cyclops begrudgingly agrees...as long as he sees none of their "experiments". Oh Scott, that's so Emma of you.

Some skipped pages, and one sex joke later, Abigail is on the scene and reveals what a ghost box is. It's a device that allows gates to be opened to parallel earths. Beast then concludes that Subject X was from another dimension.  Brand wants it to be S.W.O.R.D business because that's her field, but Cyclops basically tells her he'll cut her head off and hide the "freaking" body if he has to. How sweet. The word is then repeated by Brand, Beast, then Beast again. It's official, Brand and Beast are dating. Wolverine tells Cyclops to not do it again. Anyway, Wolverine explains that the map they grabbed off Subject X points to a secret area in China that is cloaked. The team set up a plan and Cyclops tells Brand she can commit crimes of nature with Beast. Oh Cyclops, you're like a male Emma these days. All about sex at the most awkward times. Brand likes that idea.

Flashforward, the team is on route to the deadzone. Emma and Cyclops talk about codenames and how Cyclops should change it to "darling". They did come onto a scene of beauty and we learn "tian" means "heaven". This scene is unintentionally funny because of Cykes giant "O" mouth. Literal O.

Emma scans the area and senses nothing. Cykes orders her and Storm (who's been mostly absent in both personality and the book in general) to check out the area just to make sure. Skipping a few parts, the team lands in a super computer like area and they come across a dead body. Beast is unsure on how long it's been there, but what worries him is that the corpse is a post M-day mutant who lost his powers. The book ends with Beast telling everyone that they're in the home of a bunch of Chinese mutants that remained cloaked for year. They were left alone and able to think, research, and whatever else...well...until M-day. END.[/spoiler]

Where to begin...Im very close to dropping Astonishing all together. There're so many things I don't like compared to what I actually do. I'm tired of Emma and Cyclops and their lovey dovey, random sex talk that's beginning to extend to other characters like Beast and Brand. I'm tired of Storm being wallpaper along with Armor. I'm tired of this shotty character art. And reading Uncanny and then reading this, the characters don't read the same at all. One of these creative teams are off their game and I'm gonna say Astonishing is doing a worse job as of now. I guess I'm just not interested in this arc at all. I mean, the astonishing team basically consists of the same team I just saw in Uncanny. Could they not focus on Storm and Beast a bit more and leave Emma and Cyclops to the background until needed? Could they let Storm, Beast, and Armor do something more than be a carrier, a smart guy, and a shield/tank respectively? I just think this book could be much better than it is. I mean, Whedon didn't have a perfect run, but his stories and the art kept me much more entertained. I'm still pulling for this book, but for right now, it's a 2 as well for me.

I hate Land. But the good news is Dodson takes over for the next arc, and I like Dodson. He does the covers to Young X-Men...which I read today:

[spoiler]One member of the team isn't a mutant, Rockslide is convinced it's Ink, everyone else probably figures it's Ink, Pierce and Dani know it's Ink, even the reader should know it's Ink. This book is really bad with mysteries.

The issue has the team going to save some construction workers on a mysterious island. THe island turns out to be a Krakoa (like Giant Size X-Men #1, Guggenheim apparently loves that book. Also don't ask me why there's a new Krakoa, it's probably a bad idea). The plot is really more a backdrop for two main conversations: one between Dani and Santo, and the other between the captive Pierce and Sooraya.

Dani wants to know why Santo is on the team, fearing he's just there to bug the former baddie Ink, and Sooraya wants to know who the non-mutant is and hopes it's her. Dust reveals that she's dying (it's not expanded on in this issue) and this is why she hopes she's not the mutant because it would mean she'd have an excuse to leave the X-Men. It's actually an interesting setup for a character arc.

Anyway, Ink finds the construction workers and the fact that he's not attacked by Krakoa confirms to everyone that he's not a mutant, and Pierce reveals to Dust that it's Ink's tattoo artist that is in fact the mutant (a common theory on X-Boards). [/spoiler]

Honestly...this was a decent issue. Probably my favorite of the series and I didn't have any major problems with it, unlike most of the other issues. Art's unspectacular but otherwise fine, story's simple character building stuff with a little action thrown in. It builds well off a horribly executed first arc and is developing Santo and Sooraya pretty well. Rockslide had a slow but well done development to this point, but Dust had stalled pretty badly in Yost and Kyle's New X-Men. She's a tough character to right without taking some risks like they do here.

It's an average read, but I love Rockslide an Anole so thats enough for now. I wouldn't mind a more exciting artist though. I guess I'm spoiled from Michael Ryan, Clay Henry, Mark Brooks, Paco Medina, Mike Norton, Skottie Young, Huberto Ramos (yes even Ramos), Chris Bachalo, and Scott Eaton - I think that's everyone.

I'd give this issue a 3/5

Also reading it really made me want to skin. Must find some time...

New pod skins...don't toy with me!

CB&MI13 #6:

Last issue, Faiza was officially added to the roster, Blade came to London, and we ended on a cliffhanger with Spitfire being stabbed. I guess you guys notice I'm keeping this short this week...I'm tired and I've been let down twice. :P

[spoiler]Opening shot, Capt Britain in some place with giant, red energy flowing around. It's a building that's...not really on fire, but it is covered in red flames. Capt will take care of it, but some woman tells him not to interfere.

Over with Spitfire, Faiza tries to help her, but she discovers that she is Magic and gets a nasty feedback that sends her off of Black Knight's flying steed. She's caught by Dane, of course. Spitfire is fine, but Blade is upset. He jumps out the plane because he refuses to be associated with a vampire. The team must now find Blade and deal with their current crisis. The team finally lands where Brian was, but notice he is nowhere to be found. Spitfire realizes the fire can't hurt her and rushes into it to help the people in need.

Back to Brian, he's in the dream corridor with the old woman from before. He asks about captain Midlands, but the woman says he could spoil everything! Dream Corridor turns out to be a gateway of some sort that grants everyone their fondest wish. As the woman begins to explain this, Brian begins to feel odd. Outside with Wisdom and the gang, the building explodes or flashes or enrages. Choose a verb that fits the word 'flammmmm' and go with that. This sends Wisdom, Faiza (with Excalibur) and Dane into the building to help out.

Elsewhere, in the same building, Blade catches up with Spitfire and the two share a few words. Blade tells Spitfire she was drawn to the hellfire and that she lusts for blood. He theorizes that maybe the skrull blood did something to her. Spitfire shows her fangs and the fight is on! They're pretty stalemated, so Blade makes a proposal. If Spitfire can control her lust, then let him stake her. In the hallway, Wisdom, Faiza, and Dane continue to push past the people holed up in the building. Back with brian, he finally comes across Dr. plotka...the source of the dream corridor. He's a lord that escaped from hell.

Flipping over to Wisdom again, the team finds Sid in the basement and break him free. He explains what happened to the others. Sid was tracking down a crack house  that the coppers couldn't get to because it moved when they got too near. Sid took direct action and that's when he came across Plotka. Sid was overpowered and Plotka wanted him to join their...club. Plotka can give you whatever you want at the cost of your soul. Back with Spitfire and Blade...Spitfire gets to Blade's neck. Over with Brian, he's about to attack Plotka, but he's stopped. Plotka can tell he's a being of merlin's power, but asks Brian to see what he was going to tempt him with....MEGGAN![/spoiler]

I...I'm glad Cornell is on this book. He's finally addressing points Claremont should have gotten to AGES ago. I loved the cliffhanger and you know...Psylocke needs to be in this book. I will say that this is quite interesting with all the wishing and demons going around in Marvel right now. The art had a few issues as I'm not sure what happened in some scenes. Plotka, the villain, is something I don't have much of a problem with right now and he could easily fit into Brian and Dr. Strange's rogue gallery. So, this is my pick of the week so far and, minus so minor errors, it's a good read. 3.2.

Now...off to Origins.

Can't say I disagree with a lot of the sentiments on the x-titles recently. The fallout from MC has not been kind, despite how good the event was. So far X-Force and X-Factor are the only ones I'm enjoying. Maybe Manifest Destiny will turn things around.

Ultimate Origins #5

Final book before Ultimatum kicks off. Last issue, the watchers were officially named and took over Sue or something. That's all I remember. I wish I were kidding, but I really don't remember much this week. Ha. Oh wait, something about Hulk killing Pete's parents happened too.

[spoiler]We pick up where the last book left off. The watcher is able to talk through Sue with her permission and it tells them that it won't hurt them. It's Uatu and he informs the fan4 + shield that they lack the capacity to understand the watchers' true meaning and many of his species have been destroyed by humes. He notes that devestation is coming, he doesn't know what it is, and the watchers know this because of the events they've observed.

Years ago, Canada, Weapon X facility. Fury (who seems to be colored fairly light here) and Dugan are attacking the base because of it's status as an assassin training camp. Nick is surprised by what he finds and it's revealed that the scientist of this facility created mutants. Fury shoots the head scientist and orders that the building be burned to the ground. The mutants can't find out that "man" created them. Fury then comes across T'Challa laying on a medical bed. Fury has a flashback of his past when he was experimented on and contemplates putting T'Challa out of his misery. Instead, he takes T'Challa with him.

Next scene opens immediately with a spear going through Charles's back. It's done by Magneto and we get a lot of his thoughts. I won't recite them, I'll just post a pic for those that care. *scans* It's basically typically Magneto blabber.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_magneto.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/magneto.jpg)

Back with Sue, the watcher informs the team that a herald has been chosen. We then switch to Midwestern USA with a woman calling out for Rick Jones. The book ends with Rick naked and glowing in a small crater in his backyard.[/spoiler]

Um...What? I mean, it cleared up a lot of things...but I feel like I missed something. Wasn't Hulk in this book at one point? I wanted a follow up on Spider-man and Hulk...but I guess Bendis will get to that in USM. We found out how mutants were created (did someone forget about Namor?), got a typical Maggy speech, got more info on the Watchers, met two or three new ultimate characters—one of whom will play a big part in Ultimatum, I'm sure...I'm just...why pad it out if you're going to end two major books? The fan4 stood around for Five whole issues, I don't remember what happened to the Hulk, and I feel like bendis added more questions we won't get answers to. It's...ok, for now it's a 2. I might change my mind later when I'm in a better mood. For a series that was supposed to answer questions and set up an event, I just felt let down...a theme this week.

And just to complete my let down week, I just found out Spider-girl will be canceled next year. That's the last trace of MJ/Pete marriage. Why must everything I like disappoint me?! WHY?! *dramatic*

*sigh* This only confirms that I'll need to get back to script writing a certain idea I was working on.

Yeah I'm really disappointed about Spider-Girl. And surprised, up until issue 25 I thought the book was doing ok. It's been saved countless times but this time I think it will be the end. I hope not and I'll do what I can though. There's still the fact that it may continue as a 16 page story in Spider-Man Family.

X-men: Worlds Apart #1

This is the Storm event of the fall! Ok, overstatement, but it's one of the books I've been looking forward to because it gives Storm something to do and it defines her relationship with the X-men and BP. Also, you New X-men fans will be happy to know that Gentle is a main character in the book as well. Anyway, the book is written by supastar Chris Yost, and because of that, I have high hopes. Well, I have more hopes for it than I did with Astonishing (which people on other boards seemed to like even though Uncanny is getting more talk) and Uncanny (which continues to lower my opinion on its existence). Let's take a look at the story for those that don't have 4 dollars to spend -_-:

[spoiler]In Wakanda, a shaman is sitting around a fire. He can sense someone there and he's full of anger. He asks the child to come forward and...he's suddenly in pain as something causes him, I guess, mental anguish and kills him off panel.

In a sewer under New York, Storm and Cyclops are looking for the morlocks to offer them a home in San Fran. Storm wonders why Emma isn't there and Scott informs her that Emma doesn't do sewers...in so many words. Storm flashes back to the time she took leadership of the morlocks and considers her leadership a failure because she could never really be there for them. She was worlds apart.

Cyclops asks Storm if she's "here or in Wakanda" and Storm questions his position. They get into a discussion about the roles they play and we learn that Cyclops learned he couldn't commit to fatherhood and being an X-man. He sees the values of Storm being a queen and Logan being an avengers (yay, acknowledgment), but how many missions did Logan miss being on the Avengers? I'd think Zero...none...zip. How many did she missed? Storm instantly thinks back to Kitty (she wasn't on the team). Cyclops says no, but he tells her that one day she'll have to answer the question of what she's more dedicated to. Scott knows how Storm would answer, but he's unsure of the BP's wife's answer.

Just as the conversation ends, Storm receives a call from Wakanda. BP is away and there has been a death; she's needed. Storm has to go, so Cyclops tells her to leave. She can handle her kingdom, and he'll handle his. Storm takes off and she thinks to herself that she never thought about siccing the Wakandan army on anyone until now, but even though she's upset with Scott, she agrees with him.

Storm arrives in Wakanda and is told that there is a death. Storm is sure that the King and Queen don't see to every death and it is explained to her that it wasn't just a death, but a murder. While it may be common in America, it's rare in Wakanda. More importantly, Storm knows the murderer...GENTLE.

-Side note, Storm described Nezhno as being as strong as Colossus

Storm knows Nezhno is not a killer and explains some of his traits that make him a hero. It's revealed that the murder was caught on tape and Storm goes to watch it. On the tape, we see Nehzno in the Shaman's location and he looks back at the camera just before the shaman is killed. The camera operator suggests that maybe Gentle snapped because of his heritage and Storm takes offence. She then tells the guy to rewind the tape to the twenty two mark because she noticed something: Storm realizes that Nezhno winked at the camera and she knows something is wrong about that...so she goes to question him herself.

Back with Nezzy, Storm asks him if he did it. Nezzy explains how he felt and that maybe he was overcome with anger from always being treated as an outsider, but the shaman knew how tainted he was. This, he argues, probably set off a nightmare that didn't end until the shaman was dead. Storm asks Nezhno to wink at her and this confuses him. He doesn't know what a wink is. This is the evidence Storm needed and she demands her guards open the cell. Nezhno is released, but as soon as they head outside, they run into guards.
Storm questions the captain and he says Nezzy (who surrendered) is guilty and this isn't America where the guilty run free. He's an outsider like Storm and their filth shouldn't be allowed in Wakanda. The captain then strikes Storm with a gun. This greatly upsets Storm and we get quite the power show. She controls the wind and disallows the guards from breathing saying my favorite line: "You breathe when I allow it!"

Seconds later, BP is on the scene. He's upset with what Storm has done. He addresses his people and basically calls Nezzy a plague because of his actions. Storm tries to get him to talk to her, but BP calls their union not one of love. Storm was Wakanda's queen, but she never stopped being an X-man. BP then re-addresses his people and tells them his union with Storm was a mistake. Storm is visibly upset, but then BP winks at her and she knows something is wrong. Shadow King is back (again?) and Storm relates to us that he's the strongest TP in the world behind Charles, and he's gone. Psylocke is gone (acknowledgment!), Emma is a world away, and in the words of Kitty, "I have a bad feeling about this".[/spoiler]

There you go. Honestly, it was a very good read that addressed a lot of issues the main books continue to gloss over. For the first time in awhile, Storm has a personality and isn't just sitting back making blah jokes and being a yes man or a carrier/lightning bolt shooter. The rush up to the marriage is actually worked into the story and the Cyclops/Storm talk was much better than the other few attempts where Cyclops talked/Storm listened.  I like that they used Gentle in this story and maybe he'll be back with the X-men soonish. The villain is not one of my favorites and I once again have to wonder how he got back, but as of this issue, he was completely tolerable. I also like how side events were finally mentioned like Psylocke's disappearance, Wolverine's Avenger status, and Gentle's relationship with the Wakandans. Overall, I rank it a 4.

In other news...Havok, Rachel, and Lorna will be back soon. Oh joy joy joy.  &lt;_&lt;

I disagree about Uncanny: I'm not a big art guy, so the terrible art by Land bothers me less than others I think.  I don't think the book is great right now, but it's got it's moments.  Astonishing, however, has gone way downhill since Whedon left the title, though I suppose it does ship a little more often.

Regarding CB&MI13: since when is Spitfire a vampire?

Quote from: Talavar on October 16, 2008, 06:25:50 PM
I disagree about Uncanny: I'm not a big art guy, so the terrible art by Land bothers me less than others I think.  I don't think the book is great right now, but it's got it's moments.  Astonishing, however, has gone way downhill since Whedon left the title, though I suppose it does ship a little more often.

It wouldn't bother me if it just wasn't so static and he weren't working with so many "emotional" scenes. Last issue had a bunch of sex based stuff...which ironically fits him considering the things said about him. I just find a bunch of his current works awkward and very similar across every title he's worked on in the past few years. I mean, there're only so many large smiles and weird facial screams I can take. :P

Also the appearance of a certain character (not gonna question her re-emergence right now) and what's happening in Astonishing makes me think Nate might reappear. But overall, I think Astonishing and Uncanny are getting lower scores from me because I'm tired of certain characters appearing so much and I'm tired of certain traits said characters now have. It also disappointed me that so many characters were seen, but basically just stood around (New Mutants, Angel, Storm).

Quote from: Talavar on October 16, 2008, 06:25:50 PM
Regarding CB&MI13: since when is Spitfire a vampire?

Um, I assume she always was one since she was bitten by a vampire in Invaders #7. But to fully answer your question, she just began to show her vampyric traits in CB&MI13. Paul Cornell explained it and I'll just quote him:

Quote from: Paul Cornell, http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.3984.Very_British_VampiresIn recent years she's realized that she has actually started to be able to use certain vampiric abilities, and that the fangs appear when she gets angry. But she feels no blood lust, and has no need to drink it, and it's all completely under her control.

Click the link for full details.

I like that Nezhno is playing such a large role in the Storm series. I'm kinda interested, not really a Storm fan, but I like Yost's work. Something I'll keep in mind for a trade maybe.

Oh I forgot that it loses points for including Shadow King, who I dislike.
... ... Also Marvel loses points in general for employing Greg Land.

LOL, pod. In honesty, as a person that dislikes shadow king as Storm's arch-rival, he's barely in issue 1, but he plays a big part. He's written effectively and the way he's written makes Storm look better at least in the detective department.

http://mbreitweiser.deviantart.com/art/An-Uncanny-Announcement-101399552

Look what I found. ^^ Uncanny X-men annual two page. Only problem...written by Matt Fraction. Not that he's a bad writer, I just haven't been interested or intrigued by his X-work yet.

hmmm Namor, I think I can guess what the Annual is about. The cover shows Emma btw.

X-factor #36

I'm not gonna complain about the art. Yes, I started out with that. Last issue, Longshot arrived on the scene and offered his services after he found out about the skrull confusion. Darwin was taken by someone associated with his father and his...father was shot in the head and left at the hospital. Here's the continuation of that story...like the sand in an hour glass...

Before I even start the review...the recap page is cute. Ben10 rocks. No comments on Alien force.

[spoiler]We start the story with a buffed out, unrecognizable Darwin trying to bust out of captivity (he's being held in a tube). He's being held against his will and some guy he won't escape and he'll be used to prove some naysayers of evolution wrong. The guys seems secure in his position and beliefs until Darwin actually breaks through the glass. In the next few scenes, we learn that Darwin was given away for 500k and that Darwin cares about his father enough to cry and go into a rage when he hears his father is probably dead. Unfortunately, the guy has a concoction made of Darwin's DNA that stops him dead in his tracks.

Over with Jamie, the team has found the owner of the van from last issue, Mr. Stefani. Jamie asks about the van and Stefani tells him that his son has it and he hasn't seen it since. Jamie leaves and Stefani rushes to the phone to inform his boss of the happenings. He reveals everything unaware that Monet was in the building the whole time. He's shocked and Monet is shocked he recognizes Madrox (recently skinned by the great poddy podmark) and Strong Guy, but not her. Before she can finish her statement, the guy pulls out a gun and lays fire to her. Monet is down and the guy exits the building and runs into Longshot who...lays a fist into his skull. Monet arises and picks the guy up. Jamie asks her to put him down and she does so...very hard like.

Cue in Longshot who uses his abilities to track where the van went. He's led to a warehouse and shocked that the main baddie can "see" him. Longshot is startled and taken off guard and Monet manages to save him...and they also kiss.

Back with Siryn, Rictor and her are just hanging around the base. The doorbell rings and it turns out to be Val COoper who wants to talk about Siryn's baby.

Back with Longshot + gang, they locate the base. The book ends with the big bad ordering the warehouse to be blown up--and it is. SHOCK![/spoiler]

Hrm, minus the art, I think this is ok. The Longshot thing is getting a bit forced now. I mean, having Monet take out the target so she can't use her powers effectively just to usher in Longshot is stretching, me thinks. But, I guess it works in the story all things considered. The Val part is interesting as I kinda wanna know where they're going with that as several thoughts crossed my mind. I'd give this a 3.5, but the art hurt my eyes...so 3 will do.

X-men Legacy #217

Last issue was the finale to the tension between Cyclops and Xavier and Xavier went off to meet Wolverine. That's all you need to know. On the cover are Daken, Ms. Sinister, and Shaw. WOO. This book picks up directly after the Original Sin one shot, so refer to that review if you're confused.

[spoiler]The book begins with Wolverine slashing at Wolverine. This is a past shot, so don't worry. Xavier hates this memory, but Wolverine finally persuades him to look at the whole thing. Memory picks back up with Xavier in a sling and bandages and Wolverine trapped in a lab. Moira is also there. Xavier only survived thanks to a psi-blast. Xavier theorizes that Wolverine's mind has been broken and reassembled many times before, so why doesn't he do the same?

-really tired of writers adding dirt to Xavier's history

Back in the present, Wolverine and Xavier arrive at the hellfire clube (they were on a jet). Xavier is conerned about attacking them without a plan. Wolverine says he'll scope out the place. He wants his son back--hey, he's already two steps ahead of Cyclops in the parental department!

Daken and Claudine are in the club and are talking to Shaw who is very pleased to meet Daken. Shaw wants a favor and he'll help Daken get his memories back. Shaw, being the generous man that he is, also bought Daken a brand new mansion to recupe in. How sweet.

Skip to Ms. Sinister. She's scanning Daken's mind and she can tell he has some type of feeling for her...or that's how I'm interpreting her odd look. Before she can get too deep in his mind, she runs into a mental block. Daken is confused as he wouldn't have any idea how to do that. Sinister tries to push a bit harder and only ends up frustrating herself. Alone with Shaw, Sinister informs him that Daken has a resitance to telepathy...but deeper in his mind is a trap that kept pulling her in. She barely broke free of it.

Back to Wolverine, he sneaks into a warehouse, clocks a man, and takes his uniform. We then switch back to Daken who's staring at the sunset. Ms. Sinister enters and she and Daken end up in a lip lock...ugh.

Skip skip skip to Sinister and Shaw talking. Shaw has figured out a way to rewrite Daken's memories. Get Xavier to enter his mind first...then Ms. Sinister follows up immediately and overwrites his memories. It's here that we also find out that Shaw set Wolverine up to attack the hellfire club. The book ends with Wolverine surrounded by inner members of the hellfire club.[/spoiler]

I guess I liked this book. I'm not really sure. I'm at the point now where I just want Ms. Sinister to go the heck away. The girl is already good with her telepathy, blah. Other than that...it's a good story so far. Daken hasn't annoyed me yet (outside of his love interest) and Wolverine + Xavier = much better than Cyclops + Xavier of recent times. I just wish people would stop dirtying up Xavier's past. 2.5 out of 5.

Wolverine: manifest Destiny #1:

Nothing to say here other than...actually...nothing. Ok, this is a 4 part story by Jason Aaron who has been getting my praise of late. If he addresses Mystique or anything that needs to be tidied up, I'll love him more.

[spoiler]Moving day. Wolverine is packing the essentials...like his Bettie Page calendar. As he does that, NC appears who's escaped from Beast and his many books. He came to see if Wolverine needed help moving...he clearly doesn't as he only brought like...4 boxes.

Later, Wolverine goes to Chinatown He runs across some people playing with dominos who wonder if Wolverine is the same guy from 50 years ago. Wolverine assures their suspicions and tells them to warn everyone he is back with a dagger or something. This upsets the men and Wolverine walks away telling the men they can tell whomever where to find him.

In a bar, Wolverine drinks as a little kid runs up to him. They chat for a bit and then Wolverine is told that people are waiting for him...which is pretty much the whole town. Basically, the fight is on. The book ends with Wolverine running into his ex GF on the battle field.[/spoiler]

Steven Segovia art hurts me. It actually reminded me of New Avenger art and that's not really a compliment. Other than that, this story was just ok for me. It didn't really grip me or hold my interest, but I guess that's because I'm tired of Wolverine again. I'll give Aaron another chance, but for now, this is also a 2.5.

Ok, I really love PAD's X-Factor (especially because of Longshot) but the art is really hurting the story.

I'm looking forward to Namor's inclusion in the UXM Annual. I've always thought Marvel's First Mutant should have more interaction with other Mutants.

Quote from: AfghanAnt on October 23, 2008, 10:02:23 AM
Ok, I really love PAD's X-Factor (especially because of Longshot) but the art is really hurting the story.

I'm looking forward to Namor's inclusion in the UXM Annual. I've always thought Marvel's First Mutant should have more interaction with other Mutants.

This was Stroman's last solicited issue. Valentine De Landro comes back for at least the next 3, which makes me happy.

Yeah, the art in X-factor makes me cry, but it's otherwise a great book.

Here's a question: am I supposed to know who Miss Sinister is?  Is she the old lady from a few issues of Legacy ago?  I got the impression at the time that her plan didn't work, but I could easily be wrong.

I don't think it's been fully confirm, but when I went looking around, at least 5 sites said it was Amanda Mueller from Legacy. But...she goes by Claudine. So...I don't know. Let's just call her Claudine until it's made more clear, heh.

I think Sinister went and performed himself a self-sex change. You never know, it's all the rage these days.

New Exiles #13:

Dunno how this skipped my mind for so long. Well, I do actually, but I'm just going to get it out the way because...whatever. Last issue, Sabretooth and Kitty were on the run and ended up taking out evil Wolverine (I thought the "all Wolverine" team of Exiles was enough of him for a lifetime, really. I mean...at least a year without him in this book would be nice. I did like female Wolvie though.) I will say I kinda liked the cover...kinda...until I saw aquagambit and Rogue. They are NOT ok.

[spoiler]We open up in the crystal palace with Gambit diving into the ocean with Mystiq who took on a similar form to Gambit which also allows him to breath underwater. I'm glad Claremont FINALLY got around to describing the newbie's powers. It only took...20 issues. The duo are exploring the palace's ocean ecosystem and Gambit is surprised nothing is growing in it. Mystiq corrects him and explains they've barely cracked the surface. This seems to be said a lot with the new group. Seconds later, ocean plants and fish begin to appear before the two and Mystiq theorizes that it happened because Gambit made a wish. Suddenly an atlantean version of Cat appears and everyone, including her, is surprised. She then disappears along with the environment leaving the guys in a barren, rocky, aquatic place.

Back in the observational deck, Sage notices that Kitty is asleep and one minute, she's dry, and the next, she's wet. Sage realizes that Kitty seems to be integrated into the controls and she wonders what will happen when they both fully converge. This only serves to remind me that holo heather is rarely featured anymore and I miss her.

Next scene is a fight scene between Psylocke and Lady Mandarin...from two or so arcs ago. You know, the one with Psylocke's awesome training montage. I'm not sure what it is with the 616 women and fight alternate identities in their heads...but Claremont needs to stop it. Ogun also appears to taunt her. Psylocke is losing and with each blow, more of alternate Psylocke's markings begin to appear on her body. I really don't know "why" they are fighting other than Lady Mandarin wants a new body...I feel like a few scenes are missing. Psylocke gets the upper hand, explaining EVERY action along the way, and tk stabs Lady Mandarin. Mandarin begs her for mercy, but Psylocke isn't falling for it. Psylocke is finally free from Ogun's trap. In the background, Kitty is stalking...I mean watching wearing one of Psylocke's old outfits complete with the crimson dawn tat. Sabretooth catches her and tells her to return to her place...he'll deal with her later. He then goes to Psylocke and talks with her.

Over with Rogue and Morph, Rogue is sewing and Morph is trying to surprise her. He doesn't get the response her wanted. Anyway, he went out to buy Rogue an outfit. She wonders how he knows what she likes and if it'll fit. Morph tells her he's a shapechanger...so of course it'll fit. Besides, if she no likey, they getty morey.

Back with Kitty cat, Sage is studying Kitty's place to figure out what she's up to and she all of a sudden loses control over her inner demons. This affects Kitty and she rushes out of the room. Psylocke and Sabretooth are surprised, but Sage says she'll handle her. Sabretooth then informs Psylocke that they have big trouble to take care of.

Mission briefing, Sabre, Psy, Mystiq, Gambit, new costume Rogue, and Morph are there. Sabretooth puts Morph in charge because he needs to find Cat. Morph promises not to let Sabre down. If he fails on this mission, many more worlds will go down the tubes. End...to be continued in the annual.[/spoiler]

It's a down time issue. The Psylocke part was very weird as I'm not sure where that really came from. I mean, it needed more lead up than what just happened in the pages of this book. Claremont probably could have provided it too if he'd cut out all the useless explanations he has EVERY character spout. He'd probably be able to do it as well if he'd stop splitting up the team EVERY issue. It's a team book...have the team actually work together as a whole from time to time. That's what the original Exiles did until you took over. On the plus side, I'm glad he finally got around to making his characters a bit more interesting after neglecting to explain or show their powers for almost 20 issues. It's...whatever. 2.
------------

Bunch of previews if you're interested: http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18564

It's X time again:

X-Force 8:
[spoiler]The Vanisher arc continues. X-Force tracks down Vanisher and with Domino's help attack him and get Elixir to put an inoperable tumor in his brain, forcing him to come back to them for help. But he doesn't have the virus anymore. Warpath runs into the Demon Bear.

The plot here is a little disjointed. Domino and Elixir are kinda abruptly working with X-Force, and there's time jumps here that take a second reading to really get. Also it's a little on the slow side.

Good stuff: Art is great. Was apprehensive about Choi but he's great. Issue is narrated by Archangel and it's an excellent look into who he is now. Elixir, after almost being written out, is now wearing an X-Force costume and directly helping the team :thumbup: There's a couple of funny parts too (the tumor is shaped like an X  :D).

Not the best issue in the series but still a good read. 4/5[/spoiler]

Secret Invasion vs X-Men #3:
[spoiler]Emma breaks the Skrulls phsychic block. The Skrulls are herding civilians into a single building seemingly planning to nuke them in one shot. Beast develops a counter against the Skrulls in the form of a Skrull Legacy virus. The X-Men are left to decide whether to commit genocide...(Xavin! Hulkling! Crusader!)

This series has been pretty bland so far, and this issue is probably the best but it's still a meh read. The Legacy Virus idea picked it up a notch. Art is by a different artist (Nord can't finish 3 issues?) and I think it's a little better but the colouring is still so very blah. 2.5/5.
[/spoiler]

Wolverine Origins #29:

Since Pod took it upon himself to lower my load (thanks), I'll hit the rest. This is the continuation of the Wolverine event that we all wanted and asked for. The event that will help dirty up Xavier's past because the man just can't be strict and loving, but he must be a...monster as well. I don't know why marvel is going with that decision, but I question it in the same breath I question Wolverine being in three hundred places at one time, Spider-man's boyhood revival, and Emma's forced rising star status. Last issue (Legacy) Wolverine was tricked into going after the hellfire club while Lady Sinister and Sebastian tried to get Daken on their side. Xavier is also featured in this story though he did very little in the last issue other than provide flashback details and...stand around.

[spoiler]We open up to where the last issue left off. Wolverine is battling the hellfire club and trying to keep them off balance. He does so and even manages to blow up their psi-field generator which allows Xavier to use his telepathy.Xavier instantly picks up that Shaw set this up and Wolverine needs to get out of there. That doesn't exactly happen and Wolverine does manage to help get one member killed.

Flashback time. Xavier tells Wolverine that he's a weapon and that when he was sent to handle Hulk/Wendigo, he never thought about killing even when dealing a deathblow, but he did think about killing Charles. Xavier let Wolverine get close to him because he needed a weapon.

Present, Wolverine and Xavier are walking when they are attacked by three rifle men. Wolverine handles them easily, but Xavier asks him to keep one alive. Xavier explains that the man was sent to kill him and then he goes on to explain Shaw's plan. Xavier admits he has no idea what Shaw will do with Daken and Wolverine corrects him and says he knows Shaw needs a weapon like Chuck, himself, needed back in the day.

The book ends in the past with Xavier erasing Wolverine's coding and telling him he will remember himself as an X-man. End.[/spoiler]

This story was ok. The event so far has gone very well and this is probably the most of Daniel Way I have liked since I first came upon his work. I still don't like that so many people are dirtying up EVERY gap in Xavier's past just to make a story, but whatever. This is a 3. This event is looking like a total 3 as well. It's action heavy as a Wolverine story should be, but it does have a plot pushing it along even if it takes a back seat a lot of the time. Take it for what it is and you might enjoy it. Otherwise, it's pretty passable as I'm sure if this plays any major relevance in the future, it'll be recapped at least 10 different times before it's retconned :P.

More to come later.

Thanks for the reviews guys. :thumbup:

Only titles I picked up this week were X-Force and Rage of the Red Lanterns(I'll try my hand at reviewing that later).

It's surprising how good X-Force has been. I honestly thought it was going to be the worst post-MC title. But, wow! I salivate at the thought of it every month. The highlight for the latest issue was the use of Angel's voice as the narrative. Is he losing his marbles or what? I love it! The way the took down their target was brutally clever. Kyle and Yost have another winner on their hands.

Standard Prev-O-Meter: 5 out of 5. I was nothing but entertained throughout the issue.

I find it amusing that you refer to it as the "prev-o-meter", lol.

Wolverine First Class #8:

It's been awhile since I last sumviewed this book and it always feels like the details are lodged very deeply in the recesses of my mind. I usually have to dig very deeply just to give you the opening with a brief summary of what happened last. I figured I'd let you know this for no particular reason other than to pad out this opening. In the last issue, Kitty was jealous of Colossus because she thought he was seeing another woman. She recruited Wolverine to help her stake out Colossus's secret meeting and learned that Colossus was really being recruited for a secret mission. Things escalated and Kitty ended up being hurt as her, Colossus, and Wolverine ended up being dragged to Russia.

[spoiler]This issue begins like the previews...and by that I means it opens with Wolverine going into a rage and taking it out on the Russian forces. Wolverine gives them quite a workout with his claws and cunning, but Darkstar eventually explains that Kitty and Colossus agreed to help them save Russia. She continues on to say that if they don't stop the reactor from overreacting in time that a good deal of Europe will be totaled. This does nothing to calm Wolverine and Kitty also happened to disappear. Wolverine continues to tear through the team.

Meanwhile, underground with Kitty and Colossus, the duo are faced with the thing that was inhabiting the place that the Russian heroes called a power plant. The being had no interest in being "rescued". The being/freak explains that the Kremlin has long feared the large number of super humans in America, but in Russia the superhuman community has always been limited to four. A secret program was approved by Russia's mutant population where they would be bombarded with radiation to increase their powers. The machine malfunctioned and all the mutants/peoples in the room became one collective being. The Supreme Soviet, as it calls itself, refuses to help out Russia as they felt betrayed and hurt. Instead, they should absorb Colossus into their being! After a few moments, Kitty also merges with the collective and takes control of the being. She makes her way to Wolverine and orders him and the others heroes to leave the area at once. Once they reach safety, Kitty decollects the "Supreme Soviet" and the Russian Super Soldiers make it a point to make the people who ok'ed this program pay.

In the aftermath, Wolverine wonders if Kitty finally told Colossus her feelings. She hasn't and she explains that her feelings for Colossus helped her take over the collective thoughts of the "Supreme Soviet". The book ends with Kitty explaining that Colossus sees her as a little sister and she will spend every waking moment changing his mind about her.[/spoiler]

I've no real opinion on this story, so that places it clearly in the 2-3 territory. I was pleased that Kitty and Colossus played a bigger part in the story and I hope the other New X-men factor in more in the future. Everything tied up uber nicely in this story as they seem to do in every First Class story. If you like Tame Wolverine, Kitty run stories...this is for you. 3 out of 5.

Astonishing X-men: Ghost Boxes #1:

This is the mini series that sets out to explain what could happen if the ghost box falls into the wrong hands or something, I will start out immediately by saying that I can barely tolerate the character art any better than Bianchi's. Not to mention that I still want Storm and Emma to regain their fashion senses. Anyway, it's no surprise that I'm not particularly fond of this story and I haven't seen any convincing arguments as to why I should be other than writer bias and subjectiveness as of now, but I'm hoping this series makes me a fan again. Will it do that? I dunno, true believerers...follow me!

[spoiler]-   We open with Subject X telling us that he is not a soldier and that he was instructed to take out Wolverine first as that would allow him to survive. Instead, in this play out, he takes out Cyclops first and the whole team fell apart which allowed him to engage the ghost box.
-   Once Scott is out of the battle, the other X-men are taken out by deathloks and one seems to have Magneto strapped to it.
   o   At this point I'd like to point out the differences between Ellis and Claremont. With Claremont, I'd expect almost every panel full of text. With Ellis, there were several pages without dialogue. You can really tell the difference in the amount of time it takes to read these two books
-   Anyway, the X-men are down and only Armor is left walking and she doesn't know what to do.
-   The book ends with Subject X saying that going outside of his suggested protocol ended up being better than staying within it.[/spoiler]

Emma:

[spoiler]-   The story starts with Emma at home reading a book when she receives a call. There's a conundrum she must attend to. Of course, she has her own problems...Scott keeps talking about marriage. Emma wants to enjoy her Bohemian years and continue to enjoy the parts of Scott she finds amusing...of course, he also comes from a poor family and the scandal alone would drive her mad.
o   X-society (which I'm sure Claremont used two stories ago) consists of Beast, Emma, Wolverine, and Cyclops
-   The situation they were called upon resembles the 616 issue...man on fire and the police don't know how to put him out.
-   The story continues along the same pace as the mainstream story (in less space...), but of course we come upon a change. Wolverine is thrown out the jet to aim for the fire mutant (subject X), but he's hit midflight and causes some major issues that results in the deaths of a few people and the X-society are blamed for it and hated.
-   The book ends with Emma in her home reflecting on life. She comes to the conclusion that perhaps she will allow Scott to marry her. Outside, we see that her home is surrounded by sentinels and she's under constant surveillance.[/spoiler]

Well, two stories and I didn't fall for either one. In fact, it just annoyed me that he told the same story three times, but the latter two took way less space. I understand the working behind the idea, but that further proves that he spent soooo much time on a slow buildup when he didn't really need to. That aside, none of the characters actually had a voice in this story beyond Subject X and Emma in her part of the story. On its own merit, it falls somewhere in the 3 territory...but it is still pretty passable (completely actually). It's just alternate takes on the story from the main time line and not much is expanded upon on the ghost box which makes me question the need for a tie in. On the plus side...I enjoyed the art in the emma part of the story and I'm pretty sure it was effectively set in the steampunk era.
----------------------------------

Quote from: Podmark on October 29, 2008, 08:38:23 PM

Secret Invasion vs X-Men #3:
[spoiler]Emma breaks the Skrulls phsychic block. The Skrulls are herding civilians into a single building seemingly planning to nuke them in one shot. Beast develops a counter against the Skrulls in the form of a Skrull Legacy virus. The X-Men are left to decide whether to commit genocide...(Xavin! Hulkling! Crusader!)

This series has been pretty bland so far, and this issue is probably the best but it's still a meh read. The Legacy Virus idea picked it up a notch. Art is by a different artist (Nord can't finish 3 issues?) and I think it's a little better but the colouring is still so very blah. 2.5/5.
[/spoiler]

"Pod, I'm hiring you to do reviews next week. I shan't be doing them because I will be out spending money on most luxurious things. Do make sure you keep up with my quality." -- Prev as Emma Frost.

Jokes aside. I pretty much agree with you. However, I love that Iceman is getting his shine time again along with Cannonball and some New X-men. These are characters that should be rebuilding the X-men over in Uncanny instead of having Astonishing + guest members in two books a month. However, I found the art to be...off. And by off...I'm just going to point to Iceman and Beast and leave it at that. Coloring as well, but you covered that. Overall, I'd also rank it 2.5...and that's mostly because at this point, I just skim past certain pages and feel like I haven't missed a thing. I'm really tired of the skrull event and the X-men never seem to tie into Marvel events anyway...and vice versa. So...why should I even care what this book is about. Only Wolverine matters (and sometimes Emma) in wide-stream marvel as shown in recent times. :P And speaking of Emma...something seemed off about the three-in-one. Moving back into the past, they should be more cold than ever thanks to the phoenix thing...blah...*just nods*


In other news: http://www.wizarduniverse.com/102408xmeninfernuscover.html

I've gotta say, I loved X-force. Pure enjoyment all the way through. I like how everyone is sort of falling into distinct roles, rather than having everyone feral killing machines, which is what it looked like at the beginning of the series.

Also, was anyone else terrified of Wolverine's package on the cover of "Ghost Boxes"? *Shudder*

Yes X-Force is awesome. Agree on that wholeheartedly.

Prev the thing that really bugs me about SI:X is the art. This should be a series that is cover to cover of all your favorite X-Men kicking Skrull arse out of San Francisco. But it's not. I hate the colouring, and the characters and action scenes should be exciting and dynamic not bland, inconsistent and somewhat static. I got this series expecting to see lots of fun action, but it's not delivering. I'd probably rather drop the Nightcrawler/Skrull bible subplot, but the Legacy virus is a good idea.

Anyway go buy X-Force. Dude lost his mouth in this one :thumbup:

X-men/Spider-man #1:

Who said going old school was a crime? I mean true old school...not that BND substitute. Going by solicits, this is a mystery story that builds up into modern day...which may be just a bit awkward if it does reach current continuity, but that's never stopped marvel before, right? Cristos Gage has quite a few gems behind his name, so I went into this story hoping for the best. Did I get that? Let's find out:

[spoiler]After the X-men help save Las Vegas from a rampaging Hulk, they find themselves being discussed on the news by none other that frequent Spider-man basher, JJJ. Spidey catches the news on the tv and is glad to have a break from the constant bashing, but his mind then wanders to Gwen Stacy and how he's always letting her down and maybe, just maybe he should let her in on his secret. He doesn't get much time to consider these thoughts because as soon as he begins to finish his transformation into Pete Parker, Kraven is on the tele and declaring to bring him in lawfully this time around because Spidey just might be a mutie! This doesn't stick to Peter very long as he's out the door and meets up with MJ and Gwen and goes to their typical hangout (Harry is there as well). The X-men later pop up to find Spider-man and to warn him of the dangers being a mutant can bring. They can't track him down precisely, so they hang around hoping to see him. Minutes later, Kraven and Blob show up and the fight is on. The book ends with Kraven meeting a mysterious person in the shadows who happens to have a shiny jewel on his head.[/spoiler]

The art wasn't as good as it could be, but I liked the story. It's nice seeing Spidey and the X-men interact as that rarely happens in current MU. Um...it's a simple story right now, but seeing some old school villains and second costume X-men is a plus. 3 out of 5. That's the only book I'm reviewing this week.
-----------------

Fraction on Uncanny X-men (boredom overcomes me): http://comics.ign.com/articles/925/925911p1.html
previews: http://media.comics.ign.com/media/743/743865/img_6138104.html  and  http://media.comics.ign.com/media/743/743865/img_6138106.html  and  http://media.comics.ign.com/media/743/743865/img_6138108.html

what, no replies? Guess no one read anything last week, lol.

Cable #8

I was on hiatus last week because I was just getting over my sickness and all the typing was getting to me. I've only missed three weeks (I think), so that's a no-prize feat right? Um, last issue Cable and the baby were revealed to be a few years older and Cyclops had found out where Bishop was, captured him, and interrogated him. Back with Cable, soldiers where beginning to infiltrate his secret society. Emma is on the cover holding a baby. While I may tolerate Ruby...I do not want a pregnant Emma right now.

[spoiler]We start off with Cable returning home to his wife, Hope, and learning that the little girl is missing. This worries him and he goes on and informs us that it took him a long time to trust Hope with the baby even if he was away for a few minutes. He has no time to grab his weapons and only worries about finding the baby.

In present day, Cyclops is trying to get Bishop to tell him where he laid some bombs and Bishop refuses. I must say that seeing Cyclops swear more often is quite a departure from Mr. Perfect. Cyclops theorizes that Bishop doesn't see other timelines as real and if he destroys the world and the baby, he'll be saving mutantkind and his timeline.

Future. Cable is searching for the nameless child when he runs into a guard. He didn't want to be detected, but he punches the guard only to reveal that it's some type of creature. Present. Cyclops has Emma break down Bishop's mind. He calls this technique aggressive interrogation.  Future. Cable and the creature get into a physical altercation.  The creature effectively knocks Cable through a building and mounts him. He crotch kicks the thing, no effect, and then cuts off its head. That doesn't stop it either. Cable is tired of this and chainsaws the bastich.

Present. Emma finds out that Bishop destroyed quite a few places, but she can't tell if some of his thoughts are real, memories, or dreams. Cyclops tells her to probe further, but she declines. If she does so, Bishop won't have anything left to probe.

Future. Cable is still fighting and looking for his daughter with a helper in tow. Cable refuses to organize a group of men to fight because he has to stay ahead of Bishop and remain under the radar so he doesn't pop up in history books. In the present, Cyclops is running out of options and Beast is drilling him on his torture methods and how close he came to killing Bishop. Future. Cable finds the little girl and tells her to come on before the monsters get them. They reach their home and see the soldiers tying up some of the locals. One of those people is Cable's wife and the little girl's adoptive mother. Cable decides to leave her and the girl throws a fit.

Back with Bishop, Cyclops tells him he doesn't enjoy torturing him and Bishop tells him to go dig up something so that he may finally understand Bishop's reasoning. Back with Cable, he's digging up his costume and weapons and decides he will save the girl's mother just to avoid breaking her heart. The book ends with the roach creatures releasing bugs to  "save" America and people panicking in the foreground.[/spoiler]

It's was actually a great read. I'm shocked because Cable has been so blah up until now. The baby girl, who's still nameless, has very good speech now and Beast noticing how dark Cyclops is becoming is good development. Emma even seemed more human than she usually does and I'm all for development with her. This book gets a 3.5 from me. I actually enjoyed it more than Spider-man/X-men and parts of Manifest Destiny. A Cable book, y'all!


Weapon X-First Class #1:

Marvel showed off a few pages of this a few months ago, but it was wordless. If you missed the preview, this book focuses on Wolverine, the Weapon X crew, and a young gambit. I don't have much to say for this book because, even though I tolerate Wolverine much better lately because of all his good storylines, I don't want more of his adventures. In other news, Wolverine #69 is out today, but since I haven't reviewed the last few books, I probably won't be touching this one either. Um, there's not many main storyline X-books out this week, so...yeah.

[spoiler]The book starts with Wolverine and he goves over his typical shtick. You know the one, "I'm a regular guy when you take away the mask and powers...oh...but I don't remember nuttin', hyuck." Jokes aside, it's a typical Wolverine opening about his old mysterious past.

This opening goes on for a few pages and Logan goes on to expand about Xavier's school and the All New XZ-men + Kitty. This narration finally stops when Logan reaches Xavier's office. He has a good feeling that he and Chuck will have a breakthrough in his memories. Xavier has an idea: Instead of going into Wolvie mindscape alone, he'll take Logan with him into...Wolverine's mindscape and see what they can uncover. Xavier does so and Logan is shocked that Chuck is able to walk on the astral plane. Xavier explains and then goes on to point out that Logan has strong mental barriers in his mind that keeps his memories locked away, some constructed by Logan, himself. Wolverine goes straight to hacking and slashing through his own mental barrier and comes across...

He comes across a giant room full of some of his past heroic memories with Cap and Hulk and such. Seconds later, Sabretooth appears in Wolverine's mind and...Logan attacks him. This goes on for a bit and Chuck continuously tries to get Wolverine to stop. It only stops once Wolverine claws through Sabretooth and he disappears. Chuck explains that it was only a psychic fragment of Victor and Wolverine wonders aloud how Chuck knew Sabre's name. Sabretooth reappears and he and Logan share a bit of dialogue as the fragment points out they used to be real good buds when they ran on the same side/in the same group. Wolverine, spiritual Sabretooth, and Chuck watch as a younger Logan is jumped and dragged away and the memory ends. Sabretooth shows them where the rest of the memory picks up and refuses to join them. He ain't stupid. The book ends at Weapon X with Logan stuck in a capsule and connected to tubes.[/spoiler]

Um...this is basically one giant walk through everything you should probably already know about Wolverine and his old shtick. It's marginally interesting in the "been there, done that" sense and it stuck fully with Wolverine which makes me question why it just wasn't a Wolverine: First Class arc, special, or annual. The art was okish. A little off putting in a few spots, but pretty passable and I think the writer, Marc Sumerak, got the characters pretty close to their classic incarnations. But to be honest, this opening is a complete pass unless you don't know anything about Wolverine or you want to relive something you've already seen throughout the 80s, 90s, and some of the 00s. A 2 out of 5.

More to come...

Well I only read three X-Books Prev, and I'm only going to comment on the others if I've got something to say...and today I do:

Beast noticing how dark Cyclops is reminds of a Mike Carey interview I read recently I think on Marvel.com about Secret Invasion: X-Men. He said something like watch the Beast/Cyclops interaction, where Cyclops has just mysteriously given Hank a dead Super Skrull and has been given the choice to commit genocide on the Skrull race. Add the Cable issue to that, and I think we've been given an idea where things might be heading in the future.

Quote from: Podmark on November 12, 2008, 08:21:08 PM

Beast noticing how dark Cyclops is reminds of a Mike Carey interview I read recently I think on Marvel.com about Secret Invasion: X-Men. He said something like watch the Beast/Cyclops interaction, where Cyclops has just mysteriously given Hank a dead Super Skrull and has been given the choice to commit genocide on the Skrull race. Add the Cable issue to that, and I think we've been given an idea where things might be heading in the future.

Several books have been playing around with Beast and Cyclops now and it is pretty interesting. Beast, having also done a few dark things with Dark Beast in Endangered Species, probably would be the best person to continuously check Cyclops now that the family atmosphere the X-men had isn't really intact anymore.

New Exiles #14:

Didn't really read this, so you're getting a short summary of what I glanced through. Even though Claremont may be getting a bit better with this book at completely random times, I rarely have the threshold to sit about and actually read it most of the time. If the heavens love me, they'll take Claremont off the book and leave him to GeNext or something. You know, something I don't have ties to and don't want to keep up on. Let me dream!

[spoiler]The Exiles, led by original member Morph, land on a new world that is being invaded by an assortment of odd creatures from the Sh'iar empire like a giant rockesque monster, a metal-plated skrull-a-like, and a mantis looking being with a nice metal stripped covered, chest endowment. These creatures are chasing two girls through the street and even manage to kill one of them before Morph, Gambit, Mystiq, Psylocke, and Rogue show up to take care of business. I think it was pointed out that these creatures were Death Commandos, and if you were reading Uncanny back when Psylocke and Rachel were teammates, you may recognize that group from a certain storyline known as "Death of Greys". Oh yeah, the Sons of Iron and the Daughters of the Dragon police this world. There was some other stuff, but it more or less slipped my mind. Just know that the Sh'iar, led by (I think) Lilandra, are trying to invade another world, which makes Deathbird the good girl. TWIST! Another Twist...some X-men are her crew. The rest of the book is dedicated to Sage and her mental issues that carried over from Excalibur and that horrible DBTS miniseries.[/spoiler]

One of my many problems with Claremont is that he feels the need to work in odd dialogue and "devil" reference a lot of the time. I don't know why every villain he's introduced walks around speaking their name like it's casual conversation. I wouldn't have a problem with this if it didn't happen so often with his writing. It's not even just that, but his names are awful! Offset for the mantis creature? Really...try again. What's even worse, he keeps explaining Psylocke's powers and preference for physical fighting every time she does something.  This is probably to address new readers...but it always feels so tacked on, repetitive, and ultimately lacking. Besides that, I find it odd that she got a two whole page fight scene with a 1/3rd page splash panel to herself while no one else did...wow. Anyway, from the little I did read, I think his idea with Cat and her constantly transforming (meaning she takes on a new look depending on where she is) is unique...but seeing a young Kitty as Tigraesque is...not ok. But to end this...the Claremont only creations is really running thin because now the only thing that alternates is which X-men and X-villain will show up THIS week. Exiles used to be much more unique than that and it didn't always rely on it's X-men background. Even the small changes thrown in like the "Sons of Iron" got directly tied into an X-men race. New writer...new rules...now. No rating as I didn't read it, but it'd probably fall into the 2 area again. I will admit that I don't recall as much dialogue/captions taking up space...so that's a plus.

Magneto: Testament #3:

I know Murs had an issue with this series because he felt it was moving too slowly and spending far too much time on the WWII aspect, and I can't really say I agree, and I can't say I disagree. You see, Magneto has a long confusing past that occasionally changed whenever a writer found time to write and refer to it. I'm all for sorting out his past, but this is a 5 issues miniseries, so I can see where Murs is coming from. I can barely remember the events of last issue so this book must have taken quite a while to come out. I do remember Magneto and his family moving and coming to a village just as the Germans were invading. Will this book finally advance the plot more than 4 years at a time? Will it win Murs heart? Check it:

[spoiler]1939, Poland, airplanes fill the sky and bombs are landing all over the village. Eric (or Max) and his family are hiding just outside the village behind the support of a wall. They have to get out of there to the city, but they're informed that it was overtaken by the Germans. The next page features Eric and his family running into the woods as another family is captured by Nazis and gunned down. The family continues ahead and they're heading to Warsaw regardless of its status. In the woods, they're only five of them, in Warsaw, Eric's father theorizes, there will be thousands of Jews and anything can happen.

1939-1940 and part of 1941 takes place in Warsaw and it basically explains how the Jews lived in ghettos and were eventually caged in and starving. During one of the food rations, Eric witnesses a kid beaten up and tackled after stealing a loaf of bread and he picks up a stray piece and feeds it to the boy. The boy is bloodied up, but happy for something to eat. Eric then notices a hole in a nearby wall, crawls through it, and rushes to a nearby alleyway nearly avoiding detection. The kid he fed earlier saw and followed him and ended up being shot down as Eric watches from his hiding spot. This upsets him so much that he contemplates killing the Nazi guards with a pen knife but his Uncle grabs him from behind and keeps him from doing so just as the little boy's body is thrown back over the wall. Eric then smuggles out some meat and a tomato and makes his way home as the Nazis take up the fur and clothing the Jews have.

1942, trains have come to take some Jews to a new place for bread and marmalade in exchange for hard work. Many of them show doubts, but board anyway. Eric, during the loadup, notices something odd on the floor and heads back home. It was blood, or so he thought, and he tells this to his father. Eric's uncle then reveals that he's heard from an escapee that the passengers are taken to a village and then killed during the showers. They no longer have a choice in whether they leave or not as the Nazis are grabbing people off the street now. An undisclosed amount of time later, Eric and his family begin to sneak out of the town. Eric's uncle refuses to go as he's now going to fight and this also prompts him to stay behind and fight as well. His mother and Uncle aren't pleased, but his Father urges him to help lead their family to safety.

Eric does so and they meet up with a woman with a boat. They cross a small channel (or some body of water) and end up being betrayed because the woman was forced to work for the Party because they have her mother. Eric, his family, and other Jews are lined up and a firing squad releases a hail of bullets on them. Eric's powers FINALLY manifest and he manipulates the bullets a bit. Everyone around him is killed, but he's only knocked unconscious. The book ends with Eric awaking, sneaking around, being found, and being sent to Auschwitz.[/spoiler]

This still isn't an action book, but there is more going on this time around and it's fairly close to getting Magnus/Eric/Max to really using his powers. I don't think Murs will like this one much more than the last one, but I will say it's a definite improvement. I find it interesting seeing the full out story that helped shape Magneto into the villain he was and it really helps give him a human aspect which is something that is missing from his Ultimate incarnation. I'll rate it a 3.2. I know I settled on 3.5 with issue 2 and that's mostly because I went with a middle number. If I were to rate it now, Issue 2 would be a solid 3. As an off note, this is the first time Deadpool hasn't been out during the same time as this book. I usually sumview them together. Oh, years covered: 1939-1942...another 4 years.

Captain Britain and the MI13 #8:

Last issue introduced Captain Britain and us to the new villain known as Plokta. Plokta happens to be a mystical creature that has the power to grant wishes...at a cost. Also, in the same building as Brian, Spitfire and Blade were continuing to fight over their vampyric backgrounds as the other MI13 members searched for the source behind all this weirdness. The book ended on a cliffhanger that hasn't been addressed since Claremont was on Uncanny X-men during House of M...and there's where we'll pick up.

[spoiler]The book opens with Brian staring into an open gateway into another dimension at his "curled into a fetus" wife, Meggan. Plokta tries to use this as leverage to get Brian to commit to his dream dimension. Brian instead jumps through the doorway and tries to free her on his own without wish action. Meanwhile, a still fighting Blade and Spitfire are sought out and attacked by the "mindless ones" while the other MI13 + Captain midlands continue to march through the house trying to keep their thoughts in control.

Back with Brit, he makes it to his wife and wakes her up. She's shocked to see Brian and embraces him. Meanwhile, Blade and Spitfire continue to fight and they actually get along and share some amusing dialog. They basically make a treaty until they're out of danger and head upstairs towards their friends. Switching back to Meggan/Brian, Brian wonders how they can be in space above Earth when Meggan was in another dimension earlier. Meggan doesn't know as she has just woken up, but she's happy to be back by Brian's side. Faiza and the crew continue to head towards the source trying to keep their minds from wandering. Pete's eventually does and he sees images of himself sitting on the moon and speaking to Maureen and old school Kitty. John the Skrull even returns in his thoughts. Dane slaps Pete and breaks his trance just in time for them to be attacked by mystical creatures.

Zooming back over to Brian, weeks have passed and he and Meggan have resettled back into their old lives...making up for lost time. Brian then doubts all of this and begins to remember small details, but assumes he doesn't know his full powers yet. Seconds later, his crazy brother, Jamie, attacks them.

Back with a connecting Blade and Spitfire, the two chat as they ascend a ladder. Spitfire wonders if Blade kills vamps and he admits that he does. Spitfire states they have something in common, but she was sure that most of the vamps were wiped out. Blade then reveals that he also has a connection with Pete...he brought back all the vampires back into the world. This turns out to be what Spitfire wanted most (family thing) and she passes out succombing, I suppose, to Plokta's plot.

Flash over to Pete and he surmises that Plokta is using dream energy to make "mindless ones". Dane is then tempted with the chance to finally get rid of his blade. This vision and the ebony sword begin to heavily effect Dane. The sword wants blood! A quick flash to Megan and Jamie fighting it out. Jamie stops Megan in her tracks and sends a energy-bursting sword straight into her leaving only a burning skeleton. The book ends with Pete telling Dane that his sword isn't the real blade![/spoiler]

I enjoyed this book. I have YET to be let down and that's a great sign. I liked the character moments between Spitfire and Blade and having someone finally touch the Meggan plot after a two year absence is awesome. Another plot being touched on is the ebony blade business. IIRC, the real one is off with Black Panther for some inane reason. This book actually touches quite a few continuity spots, but you don't HAVE to know about it to keep up. I'm kinda amazed he's going after so many dropped plots and flubs so early on. The book just started...but I'm enjoying it. Though, a certain character showed up in this book (who has also been missing for around a year or two) and I don't particularly want him to stay around for too long. This is a 4 out of 5.
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Cristos Gage interview on X-men/Spidey, the initiative, and other stuff: http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18785

I'm sure Pod has already glanced it. :P

Quote from: Previsionary on November 13, 2008, 01:36:01 AM

Magneto: Testament #3:

I know Murs had an issue with this series because he felt it was moving too slowly and spending far too much time on the WWII aspect, and I can't really say I agree, and I can't say I disagree. You see, Magneto has a long confusing past that occasionally changed whenever a writer found time to write and refer to it. I'm all for sorting out his past, but this is a 5 issues miniseries, so I can see where Murs is coming from. I can barely remember the events of last issue so this book must have taken quite a while to come out. I do remember Magneto and his family moving and coming to a village just as the Germans were invading. Will this book finally advance the plot more than 4 years at a time? Will it win Murs heart? Check it:

Issue 3? I loved it! :thumbup:

Issue 2 Recap: Max watches his dad get beat-up. Then he beats up another kid. Then he see's the Germans invade Poland. Not very exciting at all.

Issue 3 Recap: Max and his family were chased into Warsaw, turning this into a story of survival(issue 2 just didn't provide that feeling for me). Max has become a smuggler and a killer(off-panel). Max and his family make an escape from Warsaw only to be apprehended, then executed by a firing squad. Max's powers manifest and save him. He is then captured and sent to Auschwitz. Now that is one heck of an issue.

Standard Prev-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Looking at this series so far, my gut tells me Marvel should have tried a different format for this series. Perhaps 3 issue of 48 pages each? I don't know. Issue 2 as a stand alone was pretty lackluster. But, reading it back to back with issue #3 and it really works. There's just so many minute details that you forget after a month waiting for the next issue.

Quote from: Previsionary on November 13, 2008, 01:36:01 AM

Cristos Gage interview on X-men/Spidey, the initiative, and other stuff: http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18785

I'm sure Pod has already glanced it. :P

But of course, and it gave me great insight to my favorite Avengery book.

Deadpool #4:

Let's start out with Deadpool because that's the one I looked through first. The last few issues tied directly into the end of Secret Invasion, an event I've not been fond of. Deadpool helped take down some skrulls, stole some data for Nick Fury, and had said data stolen by Norman Osbourne. I said I wasn't going to truly judge the book until it was out of event hell...it is as of now. Will it live up to C&D or will it crash and burn like the Cable book has done for quite some time? Let's. Find. Out. NOW!

[spoiler]We jump directly into the story with Deadpool making a deal with some unseen person which involves him going out and killing a supermodel zombie. We immediately flash back to a day or so earlier where we discover DP used all his money and ammunition on two separate missions (Wolverine/Nick Fury) and he now needs a job according to his other self. Basically, a page of DP talking to himself before he decides to go see his ol' buddy...ZEKE!

This catches us up. Zeke doesn't want his wife killed. He wants the surgeon that did this to her killed. Deadpool agrees to the deal with no problem. Well, the payout poses a bit of a problem, but that's settled quickly enough. 1 mill to kill the doctor who may be a zombie who also may have a zombie army. Sounds fair, right?

En route, Zeke explains that Dr. Druek Lovosno developed a process to make zombies and if they eat enough people, they can reverse the aging process. Deadpool cleverly (...) names them Zampires. Deadpool finally lands into the town and not even a few minutes into his walk (disguised, btw), he's shot by a bunch of armed men. DP wakes up in jail and he finds out that the people thought he was a zombie and tossed him in a cage with some other nonliving. Deadpool takes care of them, but the cops are worried that he'll kill the zombie villagers and aim to shoot him down. Before they can do that, they are killed by some of Zeke's men. DP is not very impressed and wonders how Zeke knew he was in trouble. The men inform him that a tracking device is in his gun's handle (that he borrowed) and DP kills them and continues on with his mission.

DP finally comes across a castle where he meets a hunchback. The hunchback leads him inside and has DP fill out some forms. The servant hands DP a bottle of drink and has him drink it. As DP gloats to himself, he notices that he just drank poison and passes out. The book ends with the doctor (I guess) looking at DP while on the phone. He's also surrounded by women with large breasts.[/spoiler]

I cringed the whole way through this book. I found it to be very blah. I may not be a super DP fan like...Murs, but I can tell when something seems forced. I also don't remember any funny parts, but I also zoned out. 1...out of 5. Yep...I don't have much to say about it other than it sucked worse than any Cable book i've read this year.

Uncanny X-men #504:

Last arc was full of sex and...sex.  Ok, for real, last arc was basically giving Pixie a push I don't think she deserved just to put her on the team like all the sidekicks before her. It also brought us the return of Maddie Pryor and Empath. That's about it. This issue brings back the Mojoverse...

[spoiler]We open in the Mojoverse with a bunch of robotic female torsos floating around. The sisterhood of mutants are in a room and Maddie is asking Spiral and some robotic woman to join her team to help get payback on the X-men. We immediately shift scenes to a metaled up Colossus trying to get a tat. The inker asks Colossus to leave because he's broken two of her tools because he keeps inadvertently going metal. He does so and comes across Kurt in the church. They talk a bit and Cyclops plus his girl toy appear. Cyclops tells Colossus he's no good to the X-men in his current condition and he'll have to get over Kitty.

As Emma and Cyclops leave the room, Emma, of all people, tells Scott that he was just a bit cold and that something mustve happened on the hellfire raid as she can't remember everything. She also points out that Cyclops is colder than usual and Scott tells her to read his mind if she doesn't trust him. She does so and finds herself into some kinda funky mental block where the X-women are dressed very old school. As Emma walks through his mind, she points out that she's yet to see a single red head. Suddenly, Cyclops minds begins to...space out...or something.

Peter is on the street outside a restaurant thinking about his dear Kitty. He goes inside for something to eat. As he glomps down his meal, Colossus hears someone in the background tries to help him. It's the owner of the bar and he's being held by a man covered in ink and his goons. The man in ink seems familiar to Colossus, he flashes back, and leaves the restaurant without helping the owner at all.

Meanwhile, Warren and Beast are out at lunch with Dr. Bradley. Beast asks him if he can help him figure out a way to undo Wanda's spell. Dr Bradley (Nemesis) goes on a bit about how he's modified himself and mutant genocide before pointing out that he's about to be assassinated. Nemesis shoots his attempted assassinators with some narcotics from several feet away and their car happens to flip over and bursts into flames. Henry and Warren hop into action to save the people around them as Dr. Nemesis awaits his foes. They don't move as they're dead. Getting to the point, Dr. Nemesis agrees to help Henry with the X-gene issue.

Back to Emma, she finally reaches a black door with a X over it. With the help of spiritual Rogue, she enters the room and finds Cyclops's black box. She notes that she can't open it, look at it, or even move it and Cyclops explains it's where he keeps his secrets. Emma points out that if their relationship has a rule, it's that they have no secret or shame between them. Cyclops explains that he needs to keep it that way just in case something happens to Emma or himself and someone tries to drag secrets out of them. With his box, that stuff is safe. Emma wonders how he learned it and Scott informs her that Jean taught it to him. I assume this gives Emma another psychic shock. The book ends with Karma telling Emma and Cyclops to come watch TV. A report is on that's talking about a baby mutant that was born in Alaska and what happened to the town. It was set on fire and everyone died. Basically...a report about the beginning of Messiah Complex.[/spoiler]

This...was ok...again. I was hoping Maddie would've played a bigger part, but it had 4 plots going on. It's nice to see Colossus mourn, it's cool to see so many storylines set up, and it's ok that they got around to explaining how Cyclops keeps certain things secret from Emma. It's just one giant set up issue and I wasn't particularly all that interested in anything going on with it. I would like to know why Cyclop's mindscape is full of X-women + Spider woman in old school clothing and why he's blocking out Jean/Maddie..though I can infer why. It's a 2.5 for me. Could be much better, but doesn't flat out suck either.

X-men Legacy #218:

I think I've been a bit hard this week on X-books and I guess that's because they're either setting up a storyline, not connecting with me, or ending a storyline. This one happens to be near the ending of a storyline...or more accurately, an arc. Last issue, Ms. Sinister and Daken got a bit closer, Shaw figured out a way to use Xavier in his plans, and Wolverine took out some Hellfire members. Let's go in deeper!

[spoiler]We begin in the past with Wolverine going on about not knowing who he is. Charles tells him he's an X-man and he'll do whatever he can to help Logan control his rage and regain his memory.

In the present, Wolverine and Xavier are scouting out Shaw's latest dwelling. Before landing on the shore, Xavier uses his telepathy to control a bird and used it to look around the island to pick out traps and enemies. As a side note, Xavier also recognizes a familiar mind nearby, but he can't place it to anyone specifically.

Meanwhile, Claudine and Daken are sititng out in the sun and sharing their usual dialogue about memories and wired brains. In a minor twist, Claudine "shocks" Daken and has him dragged off to a lab for experimentation.

That night, Wolverine and Charles land on Shaw's island and begin their infiltration. They run across some guards and Xavier makes quick work of them with some mental illusions from their past. Logan and Charlie cross and plot out their plan. Wolverine opens the door and is instantly concerned. The door was unlocked and...BOOM! Explosion. Shaw appears in the doorway and taunts him. The fight is on and Xavier is off to find Wolverine's son on his own. Before Charles can get too far, Claudine challenges him to a telepath showdown. Xavier recognizes her as Sinister, but she claims that's not exactly true. Before Claudine can get too far in her games, Charles flips the script and punches Claudine out leaving a small present behind with her. One of Shaw's goon's personal psi-shield.

Back with Wolverine, Shaw continues to build his strength and rip Wolverine apart. Logan counted on this and turns off the lights so that he has the main advantage. Meanwhile, Xavier finds Daken as Shaw planned and jumps into his mindscape...nude for some reason. Charles realizes that Daken's mind is more screwed up than even Logan's was and that it was made to be irreversible. Xavier gets through Daken's mind and hits the trap Claudine warn against last issue and is knocked out. Claudine then appears in the room and attempts to rewrite Daken's memories as she assumes he's mindless now. Daken hugs her and thanks her for the story...then SNIKTS her. Daken is insulted that all these people tried to mess with his mind and he aims to make them pay now that he has his memories back. Before he can pop a claw through cueball's head, Wolverine appears and stops him. END.[/spoiler]

I'll rate this one a 3.5. It was interesting, imo, and Charles and his new bird watching powers are coming in handy. I still don't care for Daken, but Ms. Sinister didn't really annoy me and it's nice to see that both sides, even with a plan, were a bit unprepared for the variables that came into play. I wanted to see more of the Shaw/Wolverine fight, but what was shown was fine. I just hope the finale doesn't let me down. Also...I hope Daken fades away for a bit because I'd rather read up on X-23 than Daken.

I read Young X-Men and X-Factor!

Young X-Men #8:
[spoiler]The team has learned that Ink isn't a mutant, it was his tattoo artist. Ink leaves saying nobody likes him and he was only using the team as protection from anti-mutant groups. He then gets attacked by some Hellfire Cult members - which he soundly beats.

Meanwhile the X-Men have discovered that the tattoo artist has given tattoos to others which were used in a prison break (shown in issue 4 I think). Cyclops sends the team to check out the tattoo guy who is uncooperative but Dust and Anole find info that leads them to an abandoned paintball park that the gang is living in.

Between this we get some interaction scenes primarily Rockslide and Anole (a followup from New X-Men - yay!). It's not bad, some lines don't sound right from some characters and it tries to be hip too much and uses too much popculture references (Law and Order etc) but it's decent. We see an illusion to Dust dying (her sand is flying away), and Graymalkin is still talking to someone unseen.

The team battles this gang who decide to call themselves the Y-Men. The Young X-Men don't do too well, Dani gets shot, but they outnumber the Y-Men and victory seems a safe bet in the end, until it's revealed there's more of them. A lot more.
The Young X-Men are outnumbered (the title of the episode).

Back with Ink, he's still in the alley when he's found by Cipher - a dark skinned female Cipher dressed in a Young X-Men uniform - who says the team needs his help. [/spoiler]

I liked this issue. Actually Young X-men seems to be getting better with each issue, after that poor first arc. It's still got it's problems - dialogue's a little off and the colour is too light - but I'm actually very intereted in the book now. New artist (name's not sticking yet) is pretty good too. I'll give a 3.5/5 on the Prev-o-meter.

X-Factor:
[spoiler]X-Factor survived the explosion from the last issue by Longshot's luck powers causing them to fall down a hole. M loses her clothes and is forced to wear a dupe's shirt. More flirting between her and Longshot follows. The team follows the tunnels and fights some Karma Institute goons which they soundly defeat.

Madrox has been questioning his murderous dupe and the usual identity issues that go along with it. Madrox tries to get information from a guard by threatening to create a dupe inside of him. It's a bluff but an accidentally created dupe hits Madrox forcing him to create the dupe - killing the guard. The dupe points out that the guard had pulled a knife but Madrox is still very disturbed. Then the Karma guy shows up with an army of Darwins.

Elsewhere Val Cooper is trying to force Siryn to cooperate and let ONE protect her unborn baby. Val tells Siryn that Jamie is working for her but Siryn doesn't believe her. At the end of the issue Siryn's water breaks.[/spoiler]

It's a solid issue, some nice moral/identity issues raised by Madrox, some fun lines and action. It's a little light on plot movement though. But the big news is that Stroman is gone! De Landro's art isn't as good as his work on the Layla special but it's a very pleasant surprise. I'll give it a 3.5/5, the extra .5 is probably just for the new art.

Oh Skottie Young will be writing Young X-Men in February. This is unconfirmed right now but it's probably a two issue guest stint to give Guggenheim some relief from his busy schedule.

[spoiler]An army of Darwins? Say what?[/spoiler]

Quote from: AfghanAnt on November 19, 2008, 09:03:35 PM
[spoiler]An army of Darwins? Say what?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Its the cliffhanger for the next issue, but I assume he cloned him.[/spoiler]

X-factor was good...and they had quite a time jump. I guess I'll review Storm's mini later. Twas quite a good read, but...I'm tired. ^_^

I quite enjoyed X-Men Legacy. Xavier has always been touted as "The most powerful telepath on earth", I've been waiting a long time to see him in a role like this. He's not perfect, but he's not being a monster. He's helping out a friend, but getting his hands a little dirty in the process. In my opinion, this is a nice place for Charlie. He's regaining the trust of his longtime friends in the same way the X-men grew to trust each other; by being side by side with them in dire situations, rather than sitting back and playing the mastermind.

Zippy! Hi, Zippy! HI! Zippy...Zippy...hi!  :o
-------------------

I agree somewhat, Zippy, but Xavier is mostly seen as a monster in current days thanks to all the retcons that have made him out as so. He wasn't nearly that bad in the old days. He had questionable morals and a strict lifestyle, but he wasn't a straight out jerk. The recent retcons make him look worse than Magneto to me in some ways. But, I agree with your final statements. Seeing how he works with Logan and attempts to maintain their friendship as his memories return is nice. It was equally nice with Gambit.
------------------

Uncanny Rant:

I didn't get to rant about this last week, but now, since I reviewed the book, I can. My problem with this book since the end of Messiah Complex has always come down to how the plots played out. There have been some good stuff here and there, but most of it has been so...uninspiring. That's not the main problem though. The main problem falls squarely on the cast. It's RIGHT on them. Why...tell me why I have to see the astonishing cast in two books? The Uncanny Team used to be different and they originally had a purpose as the core book. Now, I get to see an abundance of Emma, Cyclops, and Beast along with Wolverine. Surprisingly, Wolverine was only in one book this week and so was Xavier and Storm. There were tons of reports that the Uncanny book would have a rotating cast and so far, that's been a major lie. Only the supporting cast has rotated and the main plots have focused on those that already have their own little book. I'm not saying Uncanny isn't serving its purpose...w/e that may be (seems to be a tie up book lately), but why should I be forced to keep up with the astonishing team while several other X-men just hang in limbo. It doesn't help that Uncanny and Astonishing don't mesh well at all.

I just want the Uncanny team back and them doing something productive in San Fran. Nightcrawler or Storm need to throw together a new team with the mutants at the mansion (Dazzler, Sam, Iceman, Karma, Dani, Colossus, etc.) and do something rather than have Emma and Cyclops take up several plots at a time.
-------------

Storm review to come later...maybe. :S

Actually Prev I wish Astonishing didn't exist. It's pretty much completely in a vaccum these days that I've totally ignored it. If you locked Cyclops and Beast to that book it'd suck as those two, especially Scott, are key characters in the X-Books.

Uncanny is the core book (more so now than in past years) and it should star Cyclops, Emma, Beast, and Wolverine. It should probably also have better stories but I digress. Of course for Astonishing to exist and serve it's purpose it needs to have those characters as well. So yeah I'm actually pro them being in both books.

I do agree that I wish Uncanny was playing the rotating card better than it is. It seems currently like it's Scott and the mainstays with guest appearances/cameos by Pixie, Dazzler, Karma etc. I'd like those characters to feel more important to the ongoing stories than they seem to be from my outsider perspective.

Uncanny has always been the core book. It's just when Astonishing came out [again] with Whedon behind it, it earned more money, got more rewards, and was fresh, exciting, and new. It also did its job of progressing the main cast it had and introducing others while allowing said characters to appear elsewhere when they needed to be. Ellis just served to split the main team off from the other groups because he gave them a new direction as mutant detectives (X-factor) with bad costumes in and out of the field. The new direction doesn't immediately fit with Uncanny because they aren't being detectives in Uncanny...at all.

Also, I don't agree with the astonishing cast being the leads here. I liked the book a lot more when they didn't star because it could tackle other storylines...like going to space.  The astonishing cast couldn't go to space for 12 issues! Well, not at the time it happened. They appear too often as the heads of the X-men in other books to just disappear. It also served to help progress and highlight *several* characters that would otherwise be ignored like Cyclops's daughter and brother who he's yet to actually mention. ^^ As it stands, they have three books. One focuses on Xavier and Rogue, one has a main fixture of the Astonishing Cast + Armour + Brand, and the final one also focuses on the Astonishing cast + Pixie + New Mutants + other guest stars - Armour - Brand. Redundant, no? Besides, with Uncanny serving as a "put everything in its place" book right now...maybe they should get around to answering questions Whedon's run left open like...Cassandra Nova/Armour. :P

I will point out I'm not saying the Astonishing cast "can't" show up and have some main stories to help tie up continuity, I'm just saying I don't want them as leads every week. Especially if them being leads just means they're going to hang around the mansion and stick to their bedrooms (Emma/Cyclops) instead of dealing with things or maintaining their fading family relationship the X-men were once known for. I miss my monthly dose of Iceman, ok!

It just seems to me that only X-force, X-factor, and X-men: legacy really cover the ground they should be covering while having a unique cast. And Legacy actually has a rotating cast. ^_^
------------------

http://www.marvel.com/news/comics.6151.FIRST_LOOK%3A_X-Force_%239  - X-force #9 preview

Quote from: Peter DavidI'm glad you guys liked the cliffhanger for #37. And you'll like #38.

But I'm telling you right now:

The last few pages of #39 will stun you.

And the last page of #40 will absolutely blow you away. When #40 comes out, this board will erupt. Guaranteed.

PAD

What...a tease. Oh, I'll get to that review...eventually...perhaps.
-----------

Ms. Sinister:

There's a podcast going around where Carey explains who Ms. Sinister really is. She's really Sinister's plan B. A clone created with the XX chromosome. She's not connected to Amanda Mueller and she seems to have Sinister's memories (which fits in with Xavier comments this issue).

It's also revealed that Sinister kept male and female clones and what happened to the other clones will be a topic written about in future stories. Claudine's background will also be explained later.

When Whedon was writing Astonishing it somehow seemed more relevant. Ellis's book just feels very inconsequential at the moment, and I think it may be done purposely. The delays in Whedon's run just made the X-Men continuity too difficult to manage.

I think part of the problem considering the cast is that we essentially have 1 X-team right now. It's the Astonishing team basically, spread between two books. Legacy is essentially a solo book so we don't have that third X-team like we used to, technically we don't have the second either. X-Force partly disperses the problem but because it's this secret strike force it seems very apart to me.

But I totally agree with you that there are a lot of underused X-Men right now. Cannonball bugs me the most, but Iceman, Rogue, the guys in space, none of them have a regular home and that sucks.

Whedon's book was just as cut off from the mainstream universe. That's what made it so accessible. You didn't "have" to know current details behind the team when reading it or even past continuity, but if you did, you picked up on more than a person who had missed quite a few important storylines. Plus, it was a throwback to the 70s and 80s more or less. And Kitty became Buffy. Kuffy!
------------------

Behind the following spoiler tags are details behind some upcoming storylines. You've been double warned.

X-men Vs. Hulk by Claremont:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_XH.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=XH.jpg)[/spoiler]

Captain Britain and House of M:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_megan.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=megan.jpg)[/spoiler]

Incredible Hercules featuring X-23, MJ, and White Phoenix (Emma Frost):

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_herc.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=herc.jpg)[/spoiler]

New Warriors:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_canceled.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=canceled.jpg)[/spoiler]

SI: War of Kings:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_warking.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=warking.jpg)[/spoiler]

King Breakers:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_phoenix.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=phoenix.jpg)[/spoiler]

Astonishing X-men #28:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_astonished.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=astonished.jpg)[/spoiler]

X-men Legacy #220:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_legacy.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=legacy.jpg)[/spoiler]

X-Infernus:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_magik.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=magik.jpg)[/spoiler]

X-force #11 (return of Selene!):

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_force.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=force.jpg)[/spoiler]

Cable #10 (featuring astonishing X-men + X-force?):

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_cable.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=cable.jpg)[/spoiler]

Wolverine Origins:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_origins.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=origins.jpg)[/spoiler]

X-factor #39 and young X-men (baby!):

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_factor.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=factor.jpg)[/spoiler]

X-men: World's apart (that review is coming...shush!):

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_storm.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=storm.jpg)[/spoiler]

X-men/Spidey (90s style):

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_spidey.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=spidey.jpg)[/spoiler]

Magneto Testament #5 (plus wolvie):

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_testament.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=testament.jpg)[/spoiler]

First Classes:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_classy.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=classy.jpg)[/spoiler]

New Exiles/Power Pack:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_power.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=power.jpg)[/spoiler]

Manifest Destiny (featuring Avalanche and Dazzler and Wolverine):

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_destiny.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=destiny.jpg)[/spoiler]

X-men Noir:

[spoiler](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_Noir.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=Noir.jpg)[/spoiler]

That's about it minus a bunch of hardcovers and omnibuses. I'll also say that Spider-man noir looks so...unique. Yeah. Oh, Dark Reign will feature pretty much the whole Marvel universe. Punisher is being renumbered and gets a new creative team, The X-men are involved, Spidey, The Avengers, etc. So there ya go.

What I meant about Whedon's run is that it felt more connected to the regular X-Fan, rather than Astonishing only reader. The reason I say this is that it was that it was Whedon's run that brought back Colossus, and the slowness of Whedon's run was affecting the main continuity of other X-Books.

This time around the X-Office is treating Ellis's run very differently. It has, as far as I can tell, no real effect on the other X-books at the moment.

Quote from: Podmark on November 22, 2008, 08:00:25 PM
What I meant about Whedon's run is that it felt more connected to the regular X-Fan, rather than Astonishing only reader. The reason I say this is that it was that it was Whedon's run that brought back Colossus, and the slowness of Whedon's run was affecting the main continuity of other X-Books.

This time around the X-Office is treating Ellis's run very differently. It has, as far as I can tell, no real effect on the other X-books at the moment.

I'll agree with that. I think it's for the better because I don't like Ellis's current direction and at the rate the book currently comes out would probably have...Uncanny doing a bunch of filler storylines like it had to do in the past. They should probably keep it this way so no book has too much power and leeway. Now...if only they'd bring back Iceman and do something about keeping Storm's costume consistent. I'm fond of the costume she wears everywhere else outside of Astonishing. ^^

Quote from: Previsionary on November 22, 2008, 08:15:33 PM
do something about keeping Storm's costume consistent. I'm fond of the costume she wears everyone else outside of Astonishing. ^^

All of the new costumes are ugly. I especially hate the Astonishing X-Men costumes. I was really hoping Ellis would go for a more realistic, non-costume title but whateverz it's an ok (but slow) read.

Quote from: AfghanAnt on November 22, 2008, 08:25:23 PM

All of the new costumes are ugly.

you know nothing of design, fool. giant X's and badges are like pouches the more the better. badges and pouches for all

yes yes follow the liefeld way.

Someone has mentioned He Who Must Not Be Named and awakened me from my slumber. Mark my words, the abomination known as LIEFELD shall suffer for the pain and suffering he has caused on comickind.

I still haven't decided how I feel about the new costumes. Sometimes it depends on who draws them, but sometimes I like them.

AA I'm sure Ellis did not have a choice in whether they changed costume philosophy like Morrison did. As I mentioned before the X-Office is handling Astonishing very differently than they did in the past.

Quote from: the_ultimate_evil on November 23, 2008, 05:53:58 AM

Quote from: AfghanAnt on November 22, 2008, 08:25:23 PM

All of the new costumes are ugly.

you know nothing of design, fool. giant X's and badges are like pouches the more the better. badges and pouches for all

yes yes follow the liefeld way.

NOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo!!!

You forgot the giant, tree-trunk guns (and thighs), enormous upper body muscles and tiny, tiny feet!

Blarg!

Quote from: cmdrkoenig67 on November 24, 2008, 12:13:41 AM

Quote from: the_ultimate_evil on November 23, 2008, 05:53:58 AM

Quote from: AfghanAnt on November 22, 2008, 08:25:23 PM

All of the new costumes are ugly.

you know nothing of design, fool. giant X's and badges are like pouches the more the better. badges and pouches for all

yes yes follow the liefeld way.

NOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo!!!

You forgot the giant, tree-trunk guns (and thighs), enormous upper body muscles and tiny, tiny feet!

Blarg!

Feet? I thought all Liefeld's characters had their lower limbs terminate behind rocks/fade into nothingness/etc.

Quote from: The Enigma on November 24, 2008, 02:23:14 AM

Quote from: cmdrkoenig67 on November 24, 2008, 12:13:41 AM

Quote from: the_ultimate_evil on November 23, 2008, 05:53:58 AM

Quote from: AfghanAnt on November 22, 2008, 08:25:23 PM

All of the new costumes are ugly.

you know nothing of design, fool. giant X's and badges are like pouches the more the better. badges and pouches for all

yes yes follow the liefeld way.

NOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo!!!

You forgot the giant, tree-trunk guns (and thighs), enormous upper body muscles and tiny, tiny feet!

Blarg!

Feet? I thought all Liefeld's characters had their lower limbs terminate behind rocks/fade into nothingness/etc.

It's called bodysliding. It's an illusion of teleporters. Sometimes they even teleport into things like water or snow.

this thread finally gets new posters other than the X-crew of me, pod, murs, AA, and SS...and it's because of Liefield? He, like Loeb and Claremont, really does draw a crowd. Wow.

it's like a car crash, you don't wanna but slow down to look

Steering the conversation away from Mr. Liefeld...

A poster on CBR's X-board posted a preview for February's Wizard Magazine:
"From Wizard #209:

X-MEN GO TO WAR! -- Marvel's Merry Mutants may be dwindling in number, but that doesn't stop them from killing one another over the Messiah baby. The time-traveling Cable and his young mutant charge find themselves at the center of a conflict that will shape the X-books for the year ahead: "Messiah War"! Get all the battle plans in this ish. "

Assuming this is correct we have our first major hint of the next X-Men crossover.

Stupid crossovers.

Messiah War? That sounds ridiculous. Then again, so did "The Ultimates" and look how well that turned out.

...they're really going to draw a good story out, no? While MC may have had a little rest as an event, the X-men need a break from crossovers and events because their current one is just about to end and X-Infernus is about to begin.. Besides, the CHILD hasn't done anything to warrant being uber powerful *since* MC minus some random acts of...whatever.

All I want to know is...will the other Marvel U be featured at all? The X-men always seem disconnected from Marvel U and it's weird. This mutant thing does affect the whole universe I would think.

"Messiah War"???  Ugh...What's next, The Twenty Second Coming of Jean Grey?

Dana :P

Ok, Firstly, I'd like to point out that I've written so many sumviews that this month alone I got a character count of around 25,000 BEFORE this batch. That's situated clearly in the novella arena (the word count is much lower...so technically it'd still be a short story or some such). Now, if I were to combine all my reviews...I'd have a full fledged book on my hands. You people better be appreciative, darnit. :P


SI: X-men #4:

Here we are...the final ties to the One Day Invasion. On the cover is Magma (I think), a mutie I haven't seen in ages. Last issue, we were left with quite a cliffhanger. Was Cyclops going to allow skrull genocide or decide against it and find a better way. Let's find out now!

[spoiler]The book opens with an "unusual"* skrull with short range telepathy talking to a commander. Despite her impurity and her lack of melding with the mind wall, she will be used to send the X-men a message. The message is basically a threat to blow up thousands of people in San Francisco if the X-men don't surrender themselves within the next ten minutes. The X-men try to come up with a plan, but Cyclops is fairly certain the skrulls won't keep their word and they have a backup plan...the Legacy virus. Cyclops is ready to live with the consequences of skrull genocide, but Beast is not and he asks Cyclops if maybe he wants to consult someone else before finalizing his decision.

In the buildings, the people ar epaniced. There's still some mutant hatred going about and some people believe the X-men will save them.

Back with the X-men, Cyclops prepares the troops for war. They appear in different parts of the city in small groups of 5+ and allow the skrulls to capture them. On the skrull ship, Nightcrawler tries to be religious and pays for it with a punch to the face. Colossus and Iceman are ready to fight, but Cyclops orders them to stand down. Cyclops is brought to the commander to talk about his surrender. Cyclops says the X-men didn't surrender and just then, a ship falls out of the sky. Cyclops tells the commander that he's now ready to accept his surrender because every batch of X-men had the legacy virus sprayed on their clothing and it spread to every skrull that touched them. The skrull scolds Cyclops for his death plan, but Cyclops informs him that they WILL die if they don't stand down. The x-men also have a cure for the virus. Cyclops thinks he has this won, but the skrulls surprise him by sacrificing themselves via self-immolation. The X-men all escape just as the ships explode.

The X-men, finished with the skrulls, begin to save the people who are grateful. Beast talks to Cyclops in private and wonders about his decision to use the virus without knowing he had an antidote. Cyclops explains that he values Beast's conscious and he wants Hank to always challenge him. The book ends with the X-men greeting their adoring public.[/spoiler]

This...was ok. I wasn't all that impressed and after a fairly good cover, the art was a MAJOR letdown. I just felt like the story was bland and the X-men barely did anything. It mainly focused on Cyclops and his decision. It's a 2 out of 5 for me. Also, I don't recall seeing Magma one time in the actual story. How disappointing.

Wolverine Origins #30:

This is the finale to the Original Sins storyline, which, btw, you can grab as a hardcover/tpb sometime in January or February. Last issue, Xavier and Wolverine finally found Daken and were tricked into setting off his mind trap. Daken stabbed Ms. Sinister and Xavier was basically knocked out. Now we get a Wolverine vs. Daken showdown...or do we?

[spoiler]The book opens where it left off. Wolverine tells Daken he's in no mood to fight and Daken tells Logan that he made a terrible mistake. The fight is on. Well, a one-sided fight is on. This is one of the few times Wolverine decides not to fight back. Daken tells Wolverine he better do something because he won't be showing mercy. Wolverine still refuses and tells Daken he doesn't know what to do to help him. This sets Daken off. Meanwhile, Logan keeps thinking back to the time he lost Itsu, who, iirc, was also a major part in some miniseries I reviewed awhile back. I might be wrong. Anyway, Wolverine keeps reliving the vision because he doesn't want Itsu to go into her house. Suddenly, Xavier appears in his dream even though he's unconscious.

Xavier tells Logan he didn't kill Itsu. He also explains that the mind bomb Romulus left in Daken didn't have the desired effect on Xavier because his psyche is already fragmented. Xavier explains that Romulus was the person behind Itsu's death, not Logan. He wouldn't allow Logan to be happy. We relive some revelations that I suspect were announced ages ago that involve Romulus stealing Daken as a child and Bucky. Wolverine wonders why he was being retold all of this and Xavier reveals that he was showing it to Daken. Daken doesn't believe it and attacks Xavier.

While Daken, Xavier, and Logan are in a trance, Shaw arrives into the room and asks Sinister what's going on. She tells him they are in a trance. Shaw orders her to go get into a boat. As she runs off, Shaw prepares to bash in Xavier's head. Meanwhile, Logan, Daken, and Xavier relive Wolverine's vision of Itsu. It's not enough for Daken and he starts to get riled up again. Xavier tells him it won't work in Logan's psyche, but Daken reveals that he was talking to Shaw (Romulus in his mind)...who he stabs and kicks out a window.

Xavier finally awakens just as Logan explains that maybe he and Daken can do something together...kill Romulus. Xavier is worried and asks Logan what he is now. Logan explains that killing Romulus out of vengeance doesn't matter just like what Xavier did in his past doesn't matter. Wolverine then forgives Charles and hopes he can one day forgive him as he and Daken leave. END![/spoiler]

Well...this mini event was actually pretty good all around. Way impressed me more here than he has since I was introduced to him. I still think his issues were weaker than Carey's, but he held his own for sure. I'll rate it a 3.2. I enjoyed it enough to recommend it, but it still has some flubs in it. Ultimately, it did what it needed to do and pushed all the characters involved further along their story arcs and I approve of that. Hopefully the story between Wolverine and Daken won't be uber smooth from this point on. Also, I'd love for X-23 to be worked in so Logan can have his own little claw family...of claws.

Hrm, there're like two more X-books to review, no? I *might* get to them today...might not.

Ok, on the SI thing. This is a one day event that's supposed to be huge. Why are there not more heroes and civilians dying? The only ones dying in droves are skrulls. How P.O'd are they gonna be after this?

Quote from: thanoson on November 26, 2008, 02:38:53 PM
Ok, on the SI thing. This is a one day event that's supposed to be huge. Why are there not more heroes and civilians dying? The only ones dying in droves are skrulls. How P.O'd are they gonna be after this?

That can't happen! There's already an event going on where heroes die in the ultimate universe! It happens there first THEN transfers over. That's the formula. :P

I've said time and time again that Secret Invasion is a subpar event. I had low expectations. and outside of a few issues of the main event and some very good tie-ins, this event has left me very cold. I just don't think Bendis is good at plotting out his "big" events.
------

X-force #9:

Another Wolverine book. He was almost completely missing last week, so he's making up for it this week with two appearances. You go, Logan! Last issue, the X-force team, with Elixir and Domino added to the fray, tracked and found Vanisher and infected him with a tumor. Meanwhile, Warpath fought with Demon Bear. No idea what happened to Hepzibah. This issue...Ghost Rider appears

[spoiler]Continuing where last issue left off, X-force (X-F) have Vanisher surrounded and are questioning him to the whereabouts of the Legacy virus. It's revealed that Vanisher was attacked by the Marauders and he dropped the vial. This gives the X-F a new plan of action. Go to Sinister's lab, find the vial, and then destroy the lab.

Meanwhile, Warpath continues to fight Demon Bear. He realizes that he can't physically harm his enemy and the scene shifts to Ghost Rider who hears the bear roar. Back at the mansion, Rahne is sitting all by her lonesome as it snows. Through a window, she can see two yellow eyes peering back at her.

In Japan, the X-F arrive at a plant. Wolverine forces Porter to lead them to Sinister's lab and he begrudgingly does so. In his thoughts, he says that Cable smiled more than the current X-force does. Ha. Wolverine and X-23 soon realize they have company and we get this awesome splash page of the Marauders rushing in to attack the X-F.

Back with Warpath, he's doing miserably against the Demon bear, but he refuses to give up. If he's going to die, he'll die as an apache...a proudstar! Just as his body is slammed itno the ground by a demon paw, Ghost Rider shows up and offers a distraction.

Returning to the plant, the X-F continue to fight the Marauders as Domino thinks about how different each of the members seem. In the interim, Elixir and Porter are hiding out behind a corner watching. Porter asks Elixir why he's not out killing with the others and Elixir says he doesn't want to hurt anyone. Porter points out that Elixir did give him a tumor and that the enemies they are fighting are nothing but clones. Laura chimes in and tells Elixir not to hold back.

In S.H.I.E.L.D, Agent Morales and Young discuss X-23's troubling past and how she's been killing people since she was nine. Morales explains they can do nothing to her until she makes another move.

Zooming back over to James Proudstar, he awakens to see Ghost Rider sitting on a log. He wonders why he's in Hell and Ghost Rider tells him he knows nothing of Hell. Tonight, Warpath will be taught how to kill a demon.

Flashing back to Domino, she's found the vial. She's lucky and she alarms the others. Unfortunately, thing never go that simply for the X-men. Robots burst into the room and lasers are on every one of them sans Elixir and Porter...and that's how the book ends.[/spoiler]

This was a pure action book in every plot. Only thing, sometimes I forget Rahne is on the team because she shows up so infrequently. I can't wait for her to really get the chance to show her stuff again. Keeping Porter around actually proved to be a good move, me thinks, and I love Domino. It also looks like Elixir may get a bit more focus as time goes on and I'm all for character development. I'll rate this a 3.5. I enjoyed it much more than Legacy, but I don't think it's 4 worthy.

Quote from: thanoson on November 26, 2008, 02:38:53 PM
Ok, on the SI thing. This is a one day event that's supposed to be huge. Why are there not more heroes and civilians dying? The only ones dying in droves are skrulls. How P.O'd are they gonna be after this?

If you're referring to the X-Men mini (not the full Secret Invasion story) it's just because this mini is just a 'fun' tie-in. The X-books are run very independently so they usually don't like to derail their plans for MU stuff. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is open for debate (I'm actually pro separate X-verse).
Also I suspect there will be some deaths in Secret Invasion #8 next week.

The art in SI:X was arse. The story itself was only ok as it was but the art just dragged it down. I was very disappointed with this series, and I shouldn't have been. How hard is it to write a 4 issue series highlighting the various X-Men as they beat up Skrulls? The World War Hulk X-mini was much better in almost every way.

And yeah Magma appeared in about 2 or 3 pages (excluding the X-Men briefing scenes where I can't identify anyone) and Wolverine didn't appear at all. Great looking covers but not the best choices on them. Should have gone with a more diffused focus and included more characters.


X-Force was great. Unlike SI:X X-Force has awesome art. Choi doesn't bring the mood and tone like Crain does but his art is clear detailed and just great looking. I have some issues with how he draws characters but it's good enough that I overlook them.
I really enjoyed X-Force this week. This is how you do an action comic (yeah I'm still angry at SI:X :angry: ).

One thing about the title is stuff kinda feels like it comes out of nowhere, it works out in the end, but you go through each issue and there's this unpredictable appearance that occurs. Bastion, Magus, Archangel, the resurrected villains, Eli Bard, Legacy Virus, Domino, Demon Bear, Ghost Rider, Marauder clones. That's lots of stuff, and almost all of it you could never guess was coming the issue before without the help of solicits and interviews. It's not necessarily the best way to tell a story, but it only bothers me in a peripheral way. I still love the book.

i personally love choi, but i can see why he'd be an acquired taste for some...

i've been having problems with cyclops since messiah complex... they seem intent on making him a monster of epic proportions, and it's just wrong imo...

Wolverine: First Class #9

Another X-book and it marks Wolverine's THIRD appearance. He's really making up for last week. I don't think anyone here reads First Class, so I really don't know why I still review them. Maybe a misguided attempt to draw interest or because I hate to start something and not finish it? Maybe because of continuity reasons? Maybe I like to torture myself? I don't know. Let's call it a curse. Last issue, um...Wolverine, Kitty, and Colossus traveled to Russia to help save the country from destruction. This issue, Shang Chi appears. I haven't seen Shang Chi since.......um...HoM:Avengers?

[spoiler]We begin in Madripoor as Wolverine searches for Shang Chi. After climbing a tower of staris, Logan eventually finds him outside meditating. Wolverine wants help in controlling his rage when dealing with Sabretooth because Creed has taken someone very dear to Logan. Shang Chi tells Logan that he's misinformed and that he no longer practices Kung Fu. He now practices "Koan" and he's willing to teach Logan that instead. Shang Chi asks Logan what he sees in his hands (Shang Chi is holding onto an apple). Wolverine says this and Shang Chi instantly attacks him with a bo staff :P. Logan chops through it and isn't impressed. Shang Chi then knocks him down and informs him that mst people would think his weapon was useless after it was chopped in half, but to him, it just provided him with TWO weapons. This "koan" thing continues on for the next few pages and I won't go into it. It eventually frustrates Logan to the point that he gives up and leaves.

At his hotel, Logan receives a note from Sabretooth that details where the two will meet. He has Kitty and Logan feels like he wasted a whole day talking to a loon instead of tracking Kitty down. Logan meets him there and it's revealed that Logan helped to hide some valuables in Madripoor awhile ago. Sabretooth wants them or else he'll drop an unconscious Kitty off a cliff. Wolverine refuses and tells Sabretooth to just come and fight him. He can dump Kitty later anyway. Sabretooth leaps at Logan, but Wolverine calmly dodges every attack. As Sabretooth continues to talk/taunt, Wolverine just headbutts him over the cliff, frees Kitty, and walks away.

Wolverine returns to Shang Chi in costume and we go through the whole apple thing again. Logan grabs it and bites into it. He finally passed the test. The book ends with Wolverine coming to the realization that he is what he is...a guy that tries to do the right thing.[/spoiler]

Tis a simple story. I don't know how well it actually fits into the timeline it's trying to emulate, but it's a different take on Wolverine trying to deal with Sabretooth. Nothing fancy, but passable. A 3...out of 5.

Shang Chi attacks him with an apple?  Seriously?  Is "koan" self-defence as taught by Monty Python? 

"And then I eat the banana, thus disarming him!" 

"What if he's got a pointed stick?"

he doesn't attack him with an apple. The apple is part of "Koan" which is basically a technique based on Japanese riddles. The meaning behind it ties directly into what Wolverine came to the conclusion of. "He is what he is."

Shang Chi attacked Wolverine with a Wooden Bo-staff. Guess I kinda skipped over mentioning that. My bad. ^_^

X-Infernus preview (13 pages!?)
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=92159514&blogID=452023400

4 issue mini starting next week.

Quote from: Podmark on November 26, 2008, 09:55:48 PM
X-Infernus preview (13 pages!?)
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=92159514&blogID=452023400

4 issue mini starting next week.

oooo...what a low blow by Colossus to bring up Jean AND Havok/Rachel. I like him so much more now. It actually looks interesting and Pixie took on some of her old traits again. Nice. Thanks for the link, Poddy. ^_^. Now...go review ultimate X-men. You know ya wanna.

Quote from: Previsionary on November 26, 2008, 10:07:14 PM
Now...go review ultimate X-men. You know ya wanna.

But I don't read Ultimate X-Men  :blink:....Oh alright I'll try:

Ultimate X-Men #uhhh lets go with 346 that's a good number
[spoiler]This issue starts off with Nightcrawler, Beast, and Dazzler going to a movie or something like in Ultimatium. Then the flood hits. Nightcrawler does a blind teleport and ends up unconscious in the Candyland. Dazzler is recovered by Angel but it's too late she's already dead. This causes Angel to go crazy and transform into Ultimate Archangel ™.

He is attacked by Apocalypse and his new Horsemen: Optimus Prime, Scooby Doo, Batman and Grissom from CSI. Angel is losing the attack when Cyclops arrives with the rest of the X-Men. They fight and Apocalypse surrenders.

Having defeated Apocalypse the X-Men retire and go away to Hollywood where they all become movie stars. Cyclops and Jean get married, and Cyclops meets a woman named Emma Frost and has lots of sex with her.

Oh and Beast evolved into a fish and swam away. [/spoiler]

It's was one of the greatest issues I never read. 1,000,000/5.

Quote from: Podmark on November 26, 2008, 10:25:11 PM

Quote from: Previsionary on November 26, 2008, 10:07:14 PM
Now...go review ultimate X-men. You know ya wanna.

But I don't read Ultimate X-Men  :blink:....Oh alright I'll try:

Ultimate X-Men #uhhh lets go with 346 that's a good number
[spoiler]This issue starts off with Nightcrawler, Beast, and Dazzler going to a movie or something like in Ultimatium. Then the flood hits. Nightcrawler does a blind teleport and ends up unconscious in the Candyland. Dazzler is recovered by Angel but it's too late she's already dead. This causes Angel to go crazy and transform into Ultimate Archangel ™.

He is attacked by Apocalypse and his new Horsemen: Optimus Prime, Scooby Doo, Batman and Grissom from CSI. Angel is losing the attack when Cyclops arrives with the rest of the X-Men. They fight and Apocalypse surrenders.

Having defeated Apocalypse the X-Men retire and go away to Hollywood where they all become movie stars. Cyclops and Jean get married, and Cyclops meets a woman named Emma Frost and has lots of sex with her.

Oh and Beast evolved into a fish and swam away. [/spoiler]

It's was one of the greatest issues I never read. 1,000,000/5.

I have to agree. Greatest. Comic Book. Ever.

Prev-O-Meter: Infinity x 11 out of 5.

Quote from: Podmark on November 26, 2008, 10:25:11 PM

Quote from: Previsionary on November 26, 2008, 10:07:14 PM
Now...go review ultimate X-men. You know ya wanna.

But I don't read Ultimate X-Men  :blink:....Oh alright I'll try:

Ultimate X-Men #uhhh lets go with 346 that's a good number
[spoiler]This issue starts off with Nightcrawler, Beast, and Dazzler going to a movie or something like in Ultimatium. Then the flood hits. Nightcrawler does a blind teleport and ends up unconscious in the Candyland. Dazzler is recovered by Angel but it's too late she's already dead. This causes Angel to go crazy and transform into Ultimate Archangel ™.

He is attacked by Apocalypse and his new Horsemen: Optimus Prime, Scooby Doo, Batman and Grissom from CSI. Angel is losing the attack when Cyclops arrives with the rest of the X-Men. They fight and Apocalypse surrenders.

Having defeated Apocalypse the X-Men retire and go away to Hollywood where they all become movie stars. Cyclops and Jean get married, and Cyclops meets a woman named Emma Frost and has lots of sex with her.

Oh and Beast evolved into a fish and swam away. [/spoiler]

It's was one of the greatest issues I never read. 1,000,000/5.

I also never bought or read it. I still loved the bit where Thor-Pool fought Bizarro Superman for control of the Zombieverse and then Jubilee was made queen. double infinity / 10

Too awesome. So it's definitiely on my [never] buy list when that bad boy comes out!
-------

You know what weird? I was reading a review of Hulk 8 and it said Storm appeared in it with one of her costumes on (definitely not current). Know what else is weird...Spider-Woman was in it. Hulk takes place after She-hulk SI...so...does that mean the real Spider-Woman is back? @_@
-------

PREVIEWS:

CABLE: #10 PREVIEW (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=1319&disp=table)

King Breaker: marvel preview (http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.6097.FIRST_LOOK~colon~_X-Men~colon~_Kingbreaker_%231)

Chris Yost interview: Click (http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.6224.Tuesday_Q%26A~colon~_Chris_Yost)

Quote from: Podmark on November 26, 2008, 09:55:48 PM
X-Infernus preview (13 pages!?)
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=92159514&blogID=452023400

4 issue mini starting next week.

cyclops is my favourite x-man, has been since i was a kid, but he had that coming... love that colossus said that, and would have loved to see them throw down...

Quote from: pr1983 on November 26, 2008, 09:15:21 PM
i've been having problems with cyclops since messiah complex... they seem intent on making him a monster of epic proportions, and it's just wrong imo...

I actually like Cyclops post-MC (well except for the whole constant bedroom scenes). It's a good storyline for him with a perfectly hypocritical similarity to his issues with Xavier. It's obviously going to develop further into a major storyline.
Yeah he's not really acting like a superhero, he's more like a general or a kind. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing in my opinion.

Also I don't think he's done anything totally evil yet. X-Force could be argued a necessary action, and his actions against the Skrulls could be seen as the only possible action.

i just think that they're out of character, personally... i'm getting the impression from marvel that when they decided to do messiah complex and have him as a main character, they felt he wasn't good enough to carry his own weight, so decided to tinker with him...

imo, whedon did a great job with cyclops, showing natural progression and growth due to having emma in his life... i really enjoyed the issue of cable where he just spent the night wondering if he was doing the right thing...

if he's making decisions that would seem to be morally wrong, i'd at least like to see that it does bother him, and he hasn't lost what made him such a good character in the first place all those years ago...

Considering the story and Cyclops's new position, I can accept *some* of his coldness. The X-men don't really have a family atmosphere anymore and he treats them all like soldiers which helps him keep a distance with everyone not named Emma. If the ever growing list of mutants weren't dying out and they still weren't being targeted so often, I'd probably feel differently.
==============
UXM #98:

At one point, it was said that Loeb would write all these tie ins, but now it seems like his Heroes pals will finish off these books. I originally liked Aron, but he slowly began to grate my nerves. Will he bring me back with his Ultimatum book? Maybe...probably not...but I'm going to suffer and try to give out relevant info dealing with bore-timatum. This will be a quick review.

[spoiler]-We open to a scene a few minutes before the "ultimatum wave" strikes to a woman, her husband, and their kid.

-the Man is William...Ultimate William Stryker.

-Will goes dove watching and sees the wave. He rushes off to save his wife and child.

-His apartment is already under water and his wife and kid are missing (dead).

-Back at the mansion, Magma, Rogue, Toad, Psylocke, and Syndicate (the x-men know about him now apparently) watch the news. Rogue worries about Angel and the others.

-Jean, Cyclops, and Wolverine head out the mansion to deal with Magneto by ending him (killing). Jean tells Rogue she can't come because the older X-men don't trust her. Kurt and Dazzler are confirmed as dead...again.

-Outside of the mansion in a red cross tent, William is preaching, breaks down, and begins to fault the creation of the wave on the Lord. He also speaks about hating mutants. As the sermon is over, a friend of Stryker's dad approaches him and shows him some spare sentinel parts.

-Rogue assaults Alpha Flight's base and overpowers the guards/team. She finally comes face to face with Vindicator and he's revealed to be a man named Wraith which is why she kept his identity secret from Wolverine. She wants him to help her kill Magneto. Wraith wants to get Weapon X back together and shows Rogue a mechanical costume.

-Sabretooth and Juggernaut are celebrating with a scantily clad woman. Juggs feels bad, but Sabre doesn't care. The woman turns out to be Rogue and she touches Sabre while Vindicator blasts Juggs into unconsciousness.

-The book ends with William Stryker and some men he preached to outside the mansion in sentinel gear preparing to attack the school.[/spoiler]

Um...where to start. I don't...I don't understand some parts of this story. I don't know how Jean and such immediately jumped to the conclusion they came to with no evidence. Xavier wasn't featured at all, so I'm just trying to find the logic. Rogue's story was whatever and the other mutants standing around the mansion just watching tv was kinda boring. The tone between the actual Ultimatum book and the tie in stories found in UFF and UXM seem so...different that it's hard to take it all in. I mean, one book is uber dramatic and the other two...aren't. It's disjointing. I rate it a 2. Too bad the book Pod reviewed wasn't real. :(

the way i see cyclops (or at least like to when i write my scripts), is sort of a captain sisko thing (if you dont watch star trek, you won't get the reference), when he brought the romulans into the war with the dominion.

he knows what he's doing is wrong morally, and finds it hard to look in the mirror, but he accepts that his own self-respect is a small price to pay if it means mutants survive.

if that was how it was, i would be happy, but i'd just like to see more of it...

i haven't read ultimate x-men in ages... not since... the sinister arc, iirc...

Ultimate Stryker? That's kinda cool.
But yeah my issue was awesome. You thought Loeb was popular, wait to they see me!

X-Infernus #1
[spoiler]You can read about half the issue through the preview, I think it's linked earlier.

Colossus is ticked that they haven't saved Illyana yet. Cyclops explains that they can't reach Limbo, and Colossus insults him.
In Limbo Darkchylde is attacking allies of Belasco looking for her Soul Sword (which has been inside Nightcrawler for a while now) and her Bloodstone Amulet.
In SF Nightcrawler is testing Pixie's teleporting abilities, to his jealousy he learns her teleport is more effective than his. He tries to talk to her about her Soul Dagger but she gets upset and abruptly stabs Kurt in the chest.
Meanwhile, somewhere, the great demon lord of the MU (Mephisto, Blackheart, Hela, Satanish, I think that was all of them) meet with Belasco's daughter who wants a seat with them and full control over Limbo if she can defeat Darkcylde. She has Illyana's Bloodstone Amulet.
Rockslide, Mercury, and Beast stop her and check Kurt. Pixie is upset but Beast reveals that Kurt is fine and the dagger is stuck in him but not hurting him. Pixie pulls it out and thus pulls out the Soul Sword. Darkchylde feels this and teleports to the X-Men. She wants her sword back. [/spoiler]

I liked the issue. The art is kinda funky, but I found it very appealing. Story is pretty good so far, nothing too surprising though, we'll see where it goes. I'll give it a 4/5. I look forward to the rest.

i'm looking forward to it too... i didn't think i'd enjoy the issue that much, but i was pleasantly surprised, so i'm happy to pick it up next month...

Cable #9:

Last issue, a bunch of bug like creatures had broken into Cable's safe haven and wanted their help to save America. This help entailed capturing the residents and tying them up. Cable and the little girl were set to escape, but things changed when Cable was convinced to save his wife. Will this issue FINALLY speed up the pace? Probably not.

[spoiler]The book opens to a flashback of Cable and the baby first entering the safe haven and the meeting between Hope and Cable. Hope disliked Cable, but loved the baby. Hope was so in love with the baby that she randomly showed up to nag Cable about his efforts in handling her. Back in the present, Cable, the girl, and his neighbor begin to set up a plan to get rid of the bugs.

In the present, Cyclops has sent a team of X-men sent to the location Bishop told him about. Bishop then reveals that he destroyed several continents to make sure Cable couldn't go anywhere near them.
Future, Cable gives the little girl a bag and tells her to run. He then pulls out a gun and shoots everything that isn't human...which is pretty much everything. This did little good because he killed no one and the bugs didn't run away...so he had to do things the hard way. Cable saves his wife and carries her to safety as the bugs follow. Hope finally wakes up and as soon as she does, the president of the United States and some other bugs are surrounding her. The bug president tries to recruit cable into his administration. As this goes on, we find out a little more details about what was in the bag the little girl had. It seems that Cable had booby trapped the area around his house with enough explosives to take out a tank and the little girl had the button...and she pushed it. Cable was proud.

Present, X-force, and Warpath seems to be back on the team, they're at the location Bishop told them about and Wolverine doesn't trust it. Wolverine communicates with Cyclops and Cyclops assumes Bishop is up to one of his tricks again and shoots him with an optic beam. In the future, Hope inquires about the bugs being in new Liberty and Cable tells her they're not there for her. In the past, Bishop tells Cyclops that the 6th weapon will show up in about 30 seconds. Thirty seconds later, a video of Bishop plays telling the X-men that he loves them and didn't betray them...as things in Beast lab explodes.

Back in the future, Cable, Hope, and the little girl reach the force field and Hope refuses to leave and she refuses to let the little girl leave. Cable explains the plan to her—that they'll leave and that the other survivors will close the field saving the town—and she agrees to it. Back to the X-men base, the 6th weapon Bishop had is revealed to be a virus that was triggered by X-force going for his stash. The X-men are taken out and X-force rushes back to the base. The virus will only last 5 minutes which is enough time for Bishop to grab his seventh weapon as he towers over Cyclops.[/spoiler]

This book has been much better over the past few issues than it has since it began. My problem with it is still pacing. So little happens in one issue that it's like you're moving from point A to point A.5. Once the pacing issues are fixed and it doesn't take 4-5 issues to get the story moving, I can see this book actually standing a chance. This issue gets a 2.5. It loses points from me for not progressing the story very far until the final few pages.

X-men Noir #1:

This book is one I've been waiting to get for awhile. The premise interested me, but it seems Jean once again dies. She never gets to live anymore. How sad for her. Anyway, I really hope this book can maintain my interest and maybe I'll even grab Spider-man Noir even though the costume was weird.

[spoiler]It starts off with a murder of a young, red-headed female who is basically unidentifiable and has several claw marks over her body. Near her body is an X symbol that a young detective (Det. Peter) failed to see. The X-men have been at it again! What are the X-men in this universe? The X-men are a group of kids being "reformed" by Xavier. He's classified as a head case, and instead of reforming them, he teaches the kids how to be better criminals. Once one of the X-men did something pretty bad, Xavier was locked up and is waiting to be charged while the other X-men become freelancers.

At a club, someone is questioned about Jean Grey. He says he knows of her and it was like she had the power to control men's minds for sure. Tommy, a reporter for the bugle, then meets up with Remy and asks a few more questions about the X-men. He gets nothing. Meanwhile, Tommy catches a woman about to be hit by a crowbar. He steps in and saves her and he finds out that the man that attempted the attack was Bishop, Remy's muscle. The woman is thankful and offers to buy Tom a drink. She turns out to be the daughter of Eric Magnus.

Later, Tom finds himself in the presence of Xavier. In an interesting twist, Tom is reading a book by Mr. Trask who is actually for mutants in this universe.  Tom reads an excerpt of a never published article written by Xavier and then questions him as to whether or not the X-men killed Jean Grey. Before he can get anything, Tom is told that visiting hours are over.

Even later, at another bar, someone is being tortured and beaten. The people doing it are trying to force the guy to move his numbers out of Torchwood. It's revealed that the law only work on the law abiding, but for the criminals, the brotherhood takes care of them. Peter catches all of this, and that his father allows it, and runs away.

At Xavier's mansion, Tommy breaks in and tries to get some more information. He finds a file on Rogue and then heads into the danger room. While he's there, he's taken by surprise by Beast and Angel. He tries to tell them that he's on their side, but they don't listen. Cyclops finally shows up and he's holding a gun. "Haven't you heard, chum," he begins, "we're the X-men...Nobody's on our side." The book ends with a gunshot and the following few pages are of an article by Dr.Trask.[/spoiler]

I'm all in. This book grabbed my interest and kept it. I'm not a big Noir fan, but this intrigued me enough to want to know what happens next. It was interesting to see Magneto and his kin on the good side of the law and the X-men on the opposite side. Even more interesting, Pietro/Peter doesn't seem to be arrogant in this universe. He seems to be easily shaken which is quite the change. There are several X-references such as to the Cassidy clan, Rachel, the original Angel, Fred Dukes, etc. In honesty, it's a good read, but because it's a setup issue, it's also a bit slow. It's a 3.2 for me.

X-men Manifest Destiny #4:

In the previous issue, Bobby finally came face to face with Mystique and told her to kill him if she had the guts, in so many words, Wolverine and NC tried to cheer up Colossus, and something else happened that I don't recall. I didn't write a review for it the week it came out, so there ya go. I think the other story revolved around Karma, but I'm not sure. Moving on...

ICEMAN

[spoiler]This time, the story begins with Iceman and Mystique where we left off. Iceman in his boxers and standing next t a burning truck that doesn't affect him and Mystique on a motorcycle pointing a gun at his neck/chest. Mystique wonders why Iceman isn't being affected by the flames and Iceman explains that he's creating convection currents and expelling the heat among gradients. He shows this off more effectively by icing up his arm and sticking it straight through a section of fire. Mystique stares Bobby right in the eye as the gun is pressed against his chest and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens as Iceman's temperature tampered the gun. Instead, she smacks his head with the weapon. She then begins to beat him up. Iceman isn't worried as he knows he can handle any damage she's capable of doing to her. He thought he could reason with Mystique, but he can't, so he freezes her in place and givers her two options: hypothermia or surrender.

Mystique chooses to accept neither and this annoys Iceman. He wonders what Mystique wants and she doesn't exactly respond. Seconds later, the man who's truck was destroy appears with a crowbar and attempts to beat Iceman. Bobby freezes the crowbar, tells the man he'll be compensated, and he turns around to find a kiddy Mystique outside of his icetrap. She tosses bombs at Iceman and the man and they barely escape. She now knows the X-men are in San Fran and plans to meet Bobby there to settle their little business.[/spoiler]

MERCURY

[spoiler]This story revolves around Mercury feeling abd for herself because she's a malleable metal blob creature that her parents disowned. As she's venting, the hellgire goons show up and she takes them on as X-23 stands to the side and watches. It ends with X-23 telling Mercury to put her past behind her and move on. She's a hero.[/spoiler]

NIGHTCRAWLER

[spoiler]This book opens up with NC fighting a simulation of Apocalypse. He loses and resets the program. In his thoughts, he realizes that he's not in top form anymore and that he hasn't been as useful as he's once been. In fact, he's easily distracted these days. He loses the fight again and has the next scenario loaded. During this scenario, Kurt realizes that he misses Kitty a lot and this is messing with his performance on the field. He loses this scenario and another one is loaded. Kurt thinks he should take some time out for himself since the X-men don't really need him right now. Pixie is much better than him at teleporting and he's not really needed for teaching duties. He loses yet another scenario and realizes that he can't keep distracting himself from the problem. He ports to the danger room controls and creates a scenario of Kitty and Lockheed. The book ends with NC hugging Kitty, apologizing, and telling her he misses her.[/spoiler]

Um...this book was pretty blah to me. Iceman's story is the definition of drawn out at this point and the SAME THING KEEPS HAPPENING! I have much higher standards for Carey than this and he's letting me down while using one of my favorite mutants. I don't understand why he had to drag Mystique back out for this and not even touch on her last appearance. This is a story that didn't need to be told right away and he should've left it. The second story felt like a major rehash of something that was already explained in New X-men. Not to mention that X-23 was so out of character. I liked the third story, but it's not enough to make me rate this book higher than a 1.5 out of 5. Might be tough, but the lack of  actual mutants, some voice issues, a rehashing of info already shown instead of dealing with the here and now, and Iceman's slow story isn't gonna fly with me. But yay for kitty, skrull, and hellfire goon references.

Wolverine Manifest Destiny #2:

Last issue, Wolverine returned to a place where he wasn't wanted and got into a fight. Nothing more and nothing less.

[spoiler]-Wolverine was really worked over and looks horrible. His ex-girlfriend from 50 years ago stands over him holding a gun.

-Lin, his ex, is now the leader of the Black Dragons and she wants her men to teach Logan a lesson—though he's not looking for trouble.

-Fight breaks out and Wolverine is on the losing end. One of his foes actually has the power to punch "through" him. An note of interest is that this would be the MOST opportune moment for Wolverine to start remembering that he has had tons of martial arts training. Something most writers never reference with ol' Logan.

-After Soulstriker's attack, Wolverine notes all the key women in his life and brings up Mystique "dying" in the desert and comes to the conclusion that there's no god or heaven for him.

-Lin orders her men to kill Logan and they all overload him and his healing factor. Logan refuses to die on this day.

-The cops are called and Logan is dragged off. He ends up in a sewer just hoping his healing factor will kick in.

-flashback to 50 years ago when Logan first encountered the Black Dragon clan. He stood up for a noodle shop owner and saved his daughter.

-Wolverine awakens in a place that's underneath the city. Master Po is cooking and taking care of him.

-Master Po offers to teach Logan how to beat the Black Dragon—he wouldn't train Logan 50 years prior—because Logan is a different man now and he's tired of living in a cave.

-Book ends with logan accepting the deal.[/spoiler]

This is a Wolverine book. If you're going in hoping for more than all out fights, blood, scars, and random shows of powers and martial arts, then you picked up the wrong books. It's interesting enough to be a 3 out of 5, but it's more of the same ol', same ol' Wolverine is known for. You know, iceman could've used this solo tie-in book because his story is suffering over in the anthology book known as "X-men: Manifest Destiny".


Ghost Boxes #2 (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=1531&disp=table)

I still don't know why they'd stop mid-arc to do two what-if books. Maybe someone needs a bit of time. The Astonishing curse continues.

Quote from: Previsionary on December 04, 2008, 02:08:32 PM
Ghost Boxes #2 (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=1531&disp=table)

I still don't know why they'd stop mid-arc to do two what-if books. Maybe someone needs a bit of time. The Astonishing curse continues.

I'd guess Bianchi needs time to do the art. I knew it would happen.

Weapon X- First Class #2:

This is a ridiculous name and I still don't know why it was needed when Wolverine already has one inappropriately named book for all this junk to fit into...oh, Kitty wouldn't work for it, I guess. Whatever, last issue was a basic going-over of Wolverine's old problem of having memory issues. That's it. Wolverine and Xavier go into Logan's memories and try to unlock them and that's that.

[spoiler]The issue starts off with Wolverine stuck in a stasis tube being experimented on. The experiments are becoming very intense and are actually hurting Logan as one scientist points out, but the lead scientist refuses to quit and the experiment continues.

We flash back into the present with Wolverine reacting violently to the memory. Xavier calms him and tells Wolverine that he was warned that unlocking the past might not be pleasant. Xavier tells Wolverine that he should take a rest, but Logan refuses. So, back into his mindscape they go.

Xavier and Logan return to the room they were forced out of in Logan's mindscape. Logan still doesn't remember anything, but every part of him is tingling. We switch back to the past almost instantly and return to the point just after the bonding process has completed. The other scientists under Doctor Cornelius are becoming suspicious of him as he seems to be holding back a lot of information. As the goop is drained, Logan finds himself awake and he lashes out at the nearest thing to him...which happens to be a bunch of men. Suddenly, figment of Logan looks directly at Wolverine and Charles and jumps towards them. Wolverine is tossed through a window and is entangled in wires and relives all the pain he felt back then. This pain he's feeling is overlayed with the actual pain Logan is feeling in his past as he's being shocked into unconsciousness. The scientists that witnessed the event make sure to keep the event that took place a secret to keep their jobs. Wolverine is understandably upset and wants revenge. Xavier tries to persuade him not to do anything, but Logan says he's not a boy scout like Scott. Xavier says not all of Weapon X were monsters. A sole female scientist snuck into Logan's holding cell and fed him when no one else was around.

The next memory is of Wolverine fighting a bunch of goons and not even seeing them as real threats. His skills are much better and his healing factor is taking care of any damage he's sustaining. Xavier is being deeply affected by all of Logan's intense emotion and wants to rest, but Wolverine refuses to quit. As the past Logan continues to fight against his programming and is finally taken out, Wolverine snaps back into his senses and allows Xavier to take the break he asked for. The book ends pretty much on that note with Xavier and Wolverine taking the break and promising to see how things end.[/spoiler]

You know what? I was all ready to blast this book again for even existing. It's a retelling of something that's been explored to death...minus the blood and killing and all that junk. It's a kiddy rehash for no reason! But then...but then I saw this:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_DP5.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=DP5.jpg)

And this:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/th_dptowade.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v77/premo/?action=view&current=dptowade.jpg)

And my spirits LIFTED! They lifted and left the earth and my heart was good again. THIS, people, is the deadpool I want back. Marc Sumerak, go...go and take Way off his DP mantle and give me a DP I can actually read again! The Wolverine part of this issue is a 2 because it's been done to death with better results...the Deadpool part...4. FOUR! If only because I got to enjoy something I've been missing for awhile and he even mentioned his comic sales and not being in the Wolverine part of the story. That...is a plus in my books.

Quote from: Previsionary on December 04, 2008, 02:08:32 PM
I have much higher standards for Carey than this and he's letting me down while using one of my favorite mutants.

that right there is your problem...  :P

Those two pages are epic win!

Quote from: pr1983 on December 05, 2008, 12:40:24 AM

Quote from: Previsionary on December 04, 2008, 02:08:32 PM
I have much higher standards for Carey than this and he's letting me down while using one of my favorite mutants.

that right there is your problem...  :P

Carey's an odd writer. He gets the X-Men and when he's on he's on (His first run of X-Men), but when he's off you get very blah stories (Secret Invasion: X-Men, Cannoball DWS, Iceman). He's a fairly hot and cold writer for me, but he's never really did anything that angered me and that's good. He seems to know his continuity.

Quote from: murs47 on December 05, 2008, 12:42:12 AM
Those two pages are epic win!

No, every single page with deadpool in that issue is epic win.  I laughed my arse off the entire time.  I still haven't read the Wolvie parts yet.  >_>

I went to my LCS today just to pick up Weapon X: First Class. The Deadpool back story was well worth the price and trip alone. Like Tekkarath, I didn't even read the main story.

Prev-O-Meter: 5 out of 5.

Quote from: Podmark on December 05, 2008, 09:10:04 AM
Carey's an odd writer. He gets the X-Men and when he's on he's on (His first run of X-Men), but when he's off you get very blah stories (Secret Invasion: X-Men, Cannoball DWS, Iceman). He's a fairly hot and cold writer for me, but he's never really did anything that angered me and that's good. He seems to know his continuity.

yeah, i know what you mean... i think x-men, at least imo, can be a dodgy comic for people... they write great stuff on other titles, and then they go to x-men, and seem to lose that, i dunno what the word is... that je ne sais quo...

carey isnt the worst x-writer by any means, but i'd like to think there was at least one top x book every month... astonishing and x-factor don't seem to be what they once were, which puts more pressure on uncanny (fraction is crap on it, imo), and legacy, which isn't a bad book, but just seems to be a fairly generic piece of storytelling...

[spoiler]i mean, lady sinister? does nothing for me, and sinister is my all time favourite villain given the cyclops thing (as cyclops is my favourite hero)[/spoiler]

Yeah Legacy didn't impress me. It's ok, but not much beyond that. I do like the art though, and I really appreciate that Eaton has (I think) every issue so far.

The disappointing thing for me is that just over a year ago was the for me the best era of X-Men since Morrison. I loved New X-Men, Carey's X-Men was a favorite. Uncanny I didn't read and heard mixed things about but I found it more interesting than the current iteration. Also Astonishing was more interesting to me back then. And I really enjoyed Messiah Complex.

Jump forward to today and:
-New X-Men is gone, replaced with Young X-Men, a book that at first I thought was pretty bad but has been making strides lately.
-Carey's X-Men had become Legacy, a book I just don't find interesting enough to pick up regularly - it lacks the punch of it's old X-Men lineup and Bachalo's art.
-Uncanny seems worse to me, though not significantly. It is however more important. It's now the X-Men book, but it hasn't impressed me in that role.
-Astonishing seems far less important to me. Actually I have almost no idea whats happening in it (no prev I don't read all of your spoilers closely, sorry). Of course that's by design. Whedon really screwed the X-line with the super late books.
-X-Factor I'm actually enjoying more. Hated Stroman's art but he's gone now. It's a slight difference overall though.
-and Wolverine still has other books...
-Plus we have X-Force now, which I love. So there's that. But the rest of the line seems weaker than a year and half ago. Cable has potential but it's plot is too slow.

Thus ends my X-Men retrospective.

i'd completely agree with about 75% of that...

though i have to say, the cable issue with the cyclops introspective was one of the best issues of the year for me...

Quote from: Podmark on December 05, 2008, 11:20:10 PM

-Astonishing seems far less important to me. Actually I have almost no idea whats happening in it (no prev I don't read all of your spoilers closely, sorry). Of course that's by design. Whedon really screwed the X-line with the super late books.

You mean I do all this work and you don't even take the time to read it closely? GET OUT! I'm so done. DONE. ^_^
-----------

I don't even remember what's happening in Astonishing anymore and I wrote the reviews. It's been awhile since I've actually reviewed it and the last thing I reviewed was a what-if book that marginally added to w/e the story was. Obviously AA should write those reviews as I think he still likes the book. Good gravy, this is all pod's fault! I now realize that I barely remember the arc outside of the art I dislike and will be forced to skim it. Well, I refuse, Pod. I refuse to skim that book and if you make me...Canada WILL be mine. And I'll send you another fine!

*ahem*

I also agree with most of your thoughts; and since there's no more ongoing X-men: first class books, my fave falls directly to X-force, X-factor, and X-men: Worlds apart as of now. Pr1983, it's no secret that you love cyclops. No secret at all. ^^. Since Legacy's next arc focuses on Rogue, maybe more people will like it because the Xavier hate over the years has grown exponentially. And I know I don't review it here but it seems the Old Man Logan arc is doing well. I've yet to actually read the last few issues. I think the books need to be restructured again because with only two active teams running around + X-factor/Young X-men, it's kind of hurting the line, imo.

Quote from: Previsionary on December 06, 2008, 12:05:14 AM
Well, I refuse, Pod. I refuse to skim that book and if you make me...Canada WILL be mine. And I'll send you another fine!

OH IT'S ON!
No one can own Canada but me...or the Canadian government...which should be me...I mean who's to say I'm not Stephen Harper.
Er but yeah IT'S ON!

Quote from: Previsionary on December 06, 2008, 12:05:14 AM
Pr1983, it's no secret that you love cyclops. No secret at all. ^^.

:o

:P

somebody has to...

i do like colossus too... and psylocke, and tessa...

Quote from: Podmark on December 06, 2008, 12:15:37 AM

Quote from: Previsionary on December 06, 2008, 12:05:14 AM
Well, I refuse, Pod. I refuse to skim that book and if you make me...Canada WILL be mine. And I'll send you another fine!

OH IT'S ON!
No one can own Canada but me...or the Canadian government...which should be me...I mean who's to say I'm not Stephen Harper.
Er but yeah IT'S ON!

What's a Canada? :huh:

Quote from: pr1983 on December 06, 2008, 12:30:17 AM
somebody has to...

Actually Cyclops is my favorite X-Men.

Quote from: murs47 on December 06, 2008, 12:34:58 AM
What's a Canada? :huh:

We're a secret cabal that will soon be running everything you hold dear...and everything you don't.

Quote from: Podmark on December 06, 2008, 12:41:32 AM
Actually Cyclops is my favorite X-Men.

:mellow:

:thumbup:

Quote from: murs47 on December 06, 2008, 12:34:58 AM
What's a Canada? :huh:

the country that's supposed to solve all my ills...  :wacko:

Quote from: Podmark on December 06, 2008, 12:41:32 AM
We're a secret cabal that will soon be running everything you hold dear...and everything you don't.

Everything? If that's the case, can you make it so hot dogs come in packages of 12?

NO. That's a marketing plan. That's very intentional.
-----

Cornell talks Captain Britain vs. Dracula (http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.6092.MI13%3A_Facing_Their_Demons)
-----

Pod also likes Cyclops? Did you say this before because I feel like you have. Whateverage. I have no general opinion on Cyclops except that I liked him more in First class, X-factor, and other storylines I can't name off the top of my head. My "likingment" of him dropped in New X-men [Morrison] especially after the boy ran off to a strip club to avoid dealing with his issues. How coincidental that that's just about the same time I was getting annoyed with Emma. :P

As for Sage...I refuse to acknowledge her after New X-men. She ceased to exist to me after Claremont nabbed her again. Hmph.

Hot dog buns will soon come out in packages of 7. You have been warned!

Actually one of my earliest posts back on MyFF was my favorite X-Men.
At the time they were
1. Cyclops
2. Angel
3. Bishop
4. Nightcrawler
5. Rachel

That was maybe five years, maybe more. The list might be a little different now. I could see Rachel replaced with Beast, and Kurt would be at risk of falling out of the top 5, Cannonball might sneak in. But yeah Cyclops has always been my favorite. Angel's always been right up there too.

Quote from: Podmark on December 06, 2008, 09:52:02 AM
Hot dog buns will soon come out in packages of 7. You have been warned!

I'm okay with that. ^_^

Quote from: murs47 on December 06, 2008, 12:34:58 AM
What's a Canada? :huh:

It's where Americans go to buy their prescription meds now. ;)

I am in agreement, those Deadpool pages are most definitely epic win!  Why isn't that guy writing the ongoing? I also liked how the artist drew Deadpool.

Yeah, Uncanny X-men #500 was probably the worst comic book I've ever read. It was like the All-Star Batman and Robin of X-Men, but not nearly as funny. Cyclops says "Suck it!" to Magneto. Is that supposed to be good dialogue or a parody of bad dialogue? Also Greg Land's art is painful and frustrating to look at. How is this guy allowed to work on the flagship X-Title? Dodson's art is fine. I didn't read any other Uncanny issues since then.

I didn't mind X-Infernus #1. It was Ok. One thing that kinda bugged me was Pixie seemed more angsty than any other writer portrayed before. Not that much seemed to happen in the issue but I think that's because it was split between the X-Men characters and the demon characters.