The Marvel Thread

[Previsionary]

Let's not forget that bullet was phased. I assume it was an oversight, but I really didn't put much thought into it because the bullet was stripped of all its magical properties that left the heroes a drooling mess the first time around.

[Zippo]

Uncanny X-men 522 is problematic for the new power level this bumps Magneto to.  I mean, he manipulated an already-massive object moving at nearly the speed of light from interstellar distances.  Sure, he had to try really hard, but that's kind of ridiculous.

Which is really strange, as lately they've been portraying Magneto as getting on in years and no longer in the prime of his power.

[lugaru]

I never expected Kitty to be gone all that long, nothing against Whedon (his arc was great) but the giant bullet just did not feel all that dramatic. As for Magneto he has done similar before although usually with some boost, like the time he was high on Kick tilting the earths axis. Still I've seen him manipulate dozens of nuclear warheads or move around satelites. What I'm saying is that it is not impossible for him, just a stretch that understandibly left him beat.

[Previsionary]

I never expected Kitty to be gone all that long, nothing against Whedon (his arc was great) but the giant bullet just did not feel all that dramatic. As for Magneto he has done similar before although usually with some boost, like the time he was high on Kick tilting the earths axis. Still I've seen him manipulate dozens of nuclear warheads or move around satelites. What I'm saying is that it is not impossible for him, just a stretch that understandibly left him beat.

The confusion comes in with the fact that this is the same writer that showed Magneto having difficulty keeping an island afloat... so why is that hard for him, but using his magnetism to reach "millions of light years" into space is essentially a wait 'n see game? Also, as I said before, that bullet was phased the entire time. He shouldn't have been affecting it at all.

[Previsionary]

DP...

Anyone get any comics this week that they want to summarize and/or review? I'm particularly interested to see what people thought of X-men: Second Coming. I saw the previews and, I like Kyle and Yost, but Hope was being so whiny in it. Whinier that she ever was in "Cable."

[marhawkman]

There is only one Victor Von Doom; Nobody, not even Norman Osborne, has close to Doom's ego, Doom's ambition, and Doom's potential.  Doom's intellect is rivaled only by the likes of Reed Richards and the other great intellects of the MU.  His technology and resources are as great or greater than Tony Stark's at the height of his career.  And if technology should fail him?  He turns to sorcery.  He's no Dormammu, but his knowledge of magic is not to be scoffed at.

There is very little that Doctor Doom would not dare to do, given the opportunity.  Look at how he managed to steal the Beyonder's power in Secret Wars as one example.

Furthermore, Doom is not mentally unbalanced.  There's no psychotic personality lurking in the back of his psyche threatening to ruin his self-control and risk his schemes. 

Doom's only real weakness is his ego, his conviction that no one else's genius could possibly be greater than his own or that no inferior intellect could possibly ruin his plans.

If Marvel would write Doom the way he should be written, Norman Osborne would look ridiculous in comparison and the Void would be just one more entity for Doom to outsmart and exploit.

YEP!  Also Doom is the MU's foremost expert in mixing tech and magic.

[Podmark]

Alright I'll give some reviews.

X-Force:

Spoiler

Selene absorbs the resurrected souls and becomes like a god. X-Force covers themselves with ash to protect themselves from magic and go to fight Selene and her minions. Wolverine and X-23 kill Senyaka, Wolfsbane maims Mortis, Archangel slashes Blink, and Elixir kills Wither. Mortis and Blink escape. X-Force tries to fight Selene and Warpath kills with the spirit dagger. Afterwards Wolverine tells Cyclops that Warpth, Wolfsbane, Elixir and X-23 are leaving X-Force. We're told that some of the resurrected escaped but we're not told who or how many.

I enjoyed this issue, it was a nice conclusion to the storyline. The fights each got at least a page and were conclusive. Crain is his usual murky inconsistent self on art.

I liked this issue, I'll give it a 4/5. Could probably go to 5 on my simple scale if the art was a little better.

New Mutants:

Spoiler

Dani becomes a Valkyrie to complete her deal with Hela and takes the dead to Hel during Siege.

This was...complete a total filler. It's a harmless but pointless story. Art is ok.

This was a 2/5. I probably should have skipped it.

Second Coming 1:

Spoiler

Cable returns to the present with Hope. They return to the mansion and don't know where the X-Men are or if they're even alive. Bastion somehow knows where they are and dispatches the Right and the Sapien League to kill them. The Cuckoos detect Cable and Cyclops sends a team to retrieve him. They're one step behind but are able to save them from the Sapien League. Nightcrawler is shocked when X-23 brutally kills a defeated opponent to get another to talk. The secret of X-Force is about to come out. Cable and Hope are still on the run.

I thought this was a pretty good start. I wish a little more happened in it, but thats a standard comment against most comics these days. Art was nice. Looking forward to more.

I liked it, 4/5.

[murs47]

I was very pleased with the ending to Necrosha and the beginning of Second Coming.

Spoiler

I thought it was great Kyle & Yost used Native American mythology/beliefs as part of the story. Greek and Norse have such a strong place in Marvel, so why not the beliefs of indigenous tribes? Especially when they date back much further. I was hoping at the end John would have been brought back, but I'm not disappointed. Yost and Kyle did a good job with him and more than likely did the right thing by keeping him dead. Also, more Blink sometime in the future!

Second Coming puts a lot of things in motion, that's why I liked it so much. The x-titles seemed to have been going at a turtle's pace waiting for this event to happen.

[Previsionary]

Cloak & Dagger #1 (2):

I know AA is really in love with these characters, but I've barely been exposed to them despite knowing of their existence for years. Did this one-shot do anything to change my opinion of the characters? No. It didn't. In fact, this one shot did nothing for me, and it did even less for the characters except shuffle them out of Utopia and give them a potential new enemy on the off chance another writer picks them up. That's a long shot, me thinks, unless Marvel already has something in store for them. Like I said about the X-23 mini (which was miles better), if this was a mini, I could understand some of the plot decisions this book went with, but as a one shot, it doesn't really work for me at all.

As for what actually happened in the book, Cloak and Dagger are slowly drifting apart from each other. Dagger wants to find somewhere where she belongs, and she hopes that she's a mutant and can fit in with the X-men, and Cloak doesn't feel comfortable with mutant kind and instead finds relief in visiting his old block (and girlfriend). That's the basis of the next 20 pages of non-resolved drama except I'm leaving out the cliche'd elements and the villain plot. I actually don't even remember the name of the particular anti-mutant group (pro "reform"), so that should tell you how much of an impact they had on me as a reader and the story in general.

As for the portrayal of the X-men, I really like that more writers are using the New X-men and are continuing to develop them since they are without a home (though Carey seems to love a few of them in Legacy). However, on the same token, quite a few writers are removing Cyclops's human elements and are making him way too "leader" oriented to the point where he doesn't recognize when other characters actually need his help. It makes me wonder if the X-writers are attempting to prop up Storm as the next leader of the X-men like she was in the 80s. All in all, it's a cute story that's majorly lacking in the plot and development area. If you're a fan of the characters, you'll probably enjoy this book. As a non-fan, this won't give you anything to latch onto; it's just there. 2 out of 5.

AA, I'm really interested in seeing what you thought of the comic.


P.S., if you read the Trio #1 script, definitely give #2 a browse, if you don't mind. ^^.

[AfghanAnt]

I liked the one-shot a lot. Yeah the story was blah but the art and character development on Cloak end (it was nice to know Dagger needs his darkness just as much as he needs her light). I didn't particularly like the way Dagger was portrayed especially when in the past she and Cloak was given an opportunity to join the X-Men (the New Mutants days) but turned it down. The revelation that they aren't mutants didn't shock me, in fact Dagger stated she wasn't a mutant to Norman because the Dark X-Men mini so I'm not sure why she would go through test to confirm what she already knew. I was a little shocked at Cyclops' behavior and pleased at Storm's. I'd much rather have her leading the X-Men instead of Cyke (Storm still married?).

[lugaru]

I'd much rather have her leading the X-Men instead of Cyke (she Storm still married?).

She was last time I checked (In Doom War). Personally I would love to see a Black Panther / Storm lead international team outside of US jurisdiction (would have made more sense during civil war) but Storm leading x-men would rock... she has lost a lot of relevance to me now that I rarely see her.

[Previsionary]

New comic week. Anyone get anything? I'm curious about WWHs #1 as I wanted to read it, despite my better judgment, just to see how it lined up against WWH by Greg Pak.


New Avengers: Luke Cage #1 (3)

This is a book for Luke Cage fans through and through and it allows us to look at Luke through his Power Man days and see some of the reasons he opened Heroes for Hire and the effect he had on his community. Make no mistake, this isn't a flashback series, as the book is firmly planted in the present; it just allows us to see some smaller moments that may have been forgotten after Bendis got his hands on the character. I find it intriguing to see this character written by others because I've never been super fond of what he's become in New Avengers, and his scenes in Thunderbolts were mostly played for laughs. John Arcudi, a writer I've never heard of, has a solid take on all of the characters involved and nothing seemed out of whack from what I know. The art is kind of exaggerated and I wouldn't say it really fits the book completely, but it doesn't detract from it either. However, I'm constantly wondering if Marvel has editors because 2 errors slipped through on this book. There was a writing error (small) in one of the last pages and Hammerhead is colored incorrectly near the beginning. These may be small omissions, but they were also easily catchable. It lowers the quality of the book a bit in my eyes.

As for the story, it revolves around Luke heading to Philadelphia to investigate what happened to a kid whose mother he once helped. It also sprinkles in some New Avenger action, some relationship drama with him and Jessica and how they've changed over the years, and it ends on a cliffhanger that does nothing to make the book interesting or endearing. Despite some of its shortcomings, it's a decent read. I rate it a 3. Grab it if you're looking for solo Luke action.


Good news, everyone!

Spoiler

She-hulk is alive and trapped in a containment tube. The Shulk that died? A LMD... that strangely had bones, blood, and was trying to contact Bruce. Go figure.

[murs47]

Shield #1

First, hats off to artist Dustin Weaver. Where in the world has he been hiding? This issue has some of the most breath taking art I have ever seen in a comic.

Spoiler

Now to the tale. The book opens up with a young man, Leodis, late teens/early, twenties being picked up by members of a secret society. He is later brought to this society's base of operations. Where the leaders of this society give him a verbal tour of untold historic moments in the Marvel U. But, these moments have historical figures of our own history book saving the planet. Such as Imhotep saving Earth from a Brood infestation by slaying the Brood Queen. There are others involving Galileo, Da Vinci and Zhang Heng. As the series progresses, I'm sure these moments will be expanded on as well as other moments being revealed. However, the series will more than likely focus on Leodis, who seems to have a super natural power of his own and role he is expected to fulfill similar to those who have defended the planet from annihilation.

This issue was filled with surprise, mystique, wonder, and most importantly, ingenuity. Coupled with the incredible art of Dustin Weaver, this was a blast. Hopefully the series can continue giving off this feeling of exploration and wonder. Using the standard Prev-O-Meter, I give this issue a 5 out of 5.

[Podmark]

Dustin Weaver did art for the Kingbreaker mini, and an arc for Legacy, and he's done some amazing covers for Nation X. I was actually quite disappointed that he left the X-Office. I was hoping he would takeover Legacy or New Mutants. I like his work, and he improved since his first work.

[Zippo]

I also really enjoyed SHEILD. It might be obvious, but who else thinks that:

Spoiler

SHEILD series leads up to the reformation of SHEILD in the marvel U ====> Steve Rogers gets put in charge/in a key position ====> starts using Imhotep's sheild?

[Previsionary]

I enjoyed Shield as well. Hopefully the next few issues are just as strong, and since Hickman has 3 Marvel books under his belt, he can obviously make some of his work stick.

Meanwhile, Captain Britain is up for a HUGO award, so if you've never read the book, you can check out issue 10 and 11 (beginning of Vampire State) online for free. Give it a read, please.

[murs47]

Dustin Weaver did art for the Kingbreaker mini, and an arc for Legacy, and he's done some amazing covers for Nation X. I was actually quite disappointed that he left the X-Office. I was hoping he would takeover Legacy or New Mutants. I like his work, and he improved since his first work.

I haven't read Legacy or Nation X, except for the issue with Doop and Warpath on the cover. But ya, he's improved a lot since Kingbreaker and I thought the art on that mini was pretty good to begin with.. I really love all the easter eggs he threw in Shield.

I also really enjoyed SHEILD. It might be obvious, but who else thinks that:

Spoiler

SHEILD series leads up to the reformation of SHEILD in the marvel U ====> Steve Rogers gets put in charge/in a key position ====> starts using Imhotep's sheild?

I hope so, he'd be the right man for the job.

[The Hitman]

http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/38157.htm/

Thought youalls might be interested.

[lugaru]

http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/38157.htm/

Thought youalls might be interested.

I like him as an avenger but this is a stunt for a mini series, I'm sure. Still anyone remember the story when he askeed Hank McCoy if he was a mutant and if he had a kid with MJ would the kid be a mutant and hank basically said Yes since Peters DNA is altered.

[Previsionary]

I saw that yesterday, and from what I saw on said site, this is being set up as a one shot team-up. Of course, that could be wrong. We'll see in a few days.

Speaking of Hank, how does everyone feel about Beast being an Avenger again, albeit a Secret one?

[deano_ue]

sums it up really, my dad picked up my copy of seconding coming and asked when the hell did jean go back to being a kid

[lugaru]

sums it up really, my dad picked up my copy of seconding coming and asked when the hell did jean go back to being a kid

"Out of the mouths of old readers"  People cant be blamed for the Hope/Jean thing, she is a godess of mutants in the x-universe.

As for Hank as an avenger well Hank is one of my alltime favorite characters and growing up one of my friends nicknamed me Hank McCoy (because Im smart but hairy as heck). I will follow him to whatever book he goes an he brings science + mutant drama + smart humor + a moral compass to whatever book he goes (provided the writer is good).

[deano_ue]

i have a confession to make











i picked up deadpool corps, i thought liefeld on did the cover and i'll give it a chance. but bloody hell i haven't even read the thing it hurts my eye so much, seriously what the hell. how does this get past quality control

[BlueBard]

http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/38157.htm/

Thought youalls might be interested.

That is the stupidest thing I've heard yet.

Is he a scientifically altered human?  An avatar for mystical spidey-ness?  A mutant?

Or is he possibly a mutant with the power to draw on magical spider deities whose latent mutation was triggered by radiation?

Or maybe this belongs in the 'Traditions' thread... "We will retcon some aspect of Spider-Man's origin, history, or powers on a regular basis."

Puh-leaze.  Dumb premise if that's the hook, hopefully the actual story is better.

[Zippo]

Spidey doesn't HAVE to be a mutant. Guys like Mimic and Juggernaut were x-men for a while too. Plus Peter has a bit of a history with wolverine, it's not outside the realm of possibility that he's just helping them out for a while as a favor or something, no crazy retconning involved.  

[Podmark]

I wouldn't worry about it BlueBard. Spider-Man (Or She-Hulk if you've seen the newest one) won't be joining the X-Men full-time. At best this is a publicity stunt or it's short term team-up. Maybe they're launching an X-Men team-up book.

There are already over 30 X-Men on the team right now (and they're not killing that many), they're not going to be adding a random Spider-Man to the team. Besides Spidey lives in NY while the X-Men are confirmed to still be in San Fran post Second Coming. What I do take from these promos is that Psylocke and Magneto are staying on the team post SC.

[Previsionary]

Spidey doesn't HAVE to be a mutant. Guys like Mimic and Juggernaut were x-men for a while too. Plus Peter has a bit of a history with wolverine, it's not outside the realm of possibility that he's just helping them out for a while as a favor or something, no crazy retconning involved. 

Spider-man has a history with the X-men in general (going all the way back to the O5). Wolverine is just his closest association these days. Back during the 70s/80s, Spidey would appear periodically in the X-books... usually, Arcade was involved (see the NC/Spidey team up, UXM #122-124, or the infamous Captain Britain (an obvious associate to the X-men)/Spidey team up).

[herodad1]

lugaru, i'm also a big beast fan.i loved him as an avenger. i really like his friendship with wonderman and wish he'd go back to is blue ape look.my gripe with writers on him is despite his brains,brawn, and training over the years he was almost always( besides the vision) the first man taken down.*sigh* no beast love!

[Podmark]

Hope and Blade are the latest X-Men.

There's no way Spider-Man, She-Hulk, and Blade are joining the team, so it's either an arc guest starring the MU or they're launching an X-Men team-up book. More info is supposed to come during C2E2 this weekend.

[marhawkman]

@Prev: They've done some absurdly "detailed" LMDs in the past.  Once Fury showed Wolvie and Storm LMDs of themselves that Wolverine couldn't tell were fake except by the way they acted.

@Zippo: Mimic IS a mutant.  A better example would be Carol Danvers.

@Pod: Blade? now things get really interesting.  The only connection I can think of off the top of my head comes from the 90s Spiderman.  In it one of Blade's enemies was a telekinetic mutant who became a vampire.