The Marvel Thread

[Podmark]

He still has Vanisher, but he didn't really have a choice about sending Pixie. She was their only immediate way into Limbo so she had to go. Colossus wouldn't have accepted putting off going after his sister - he just barely accepted not going himself. So Scott was stuck, he had to send someone after Illyana. Plus he wants her back anyway because she's valuable as a teleporter and she's the most combat-ready teleporter he has since Kurt died. I doubt the Hellbound team will be back in time to help though considering the last issue comes out at the end of the event.

Do Psylocke and Nightcrawler really have much history? I can't recall many times when they were on the same team for very long. I'll agree that Emma didn't make much sense there though, but she's the leading lady of the X-Franchise since Jean died, and she's one of Fraction's main characters so of course he makes sure she gets a line in.  

I like Scott the way he is portrayed now, but I also skipped most of Fraction's Uncanny so I haven't had to put up with as much bad writing. The crossover isn't prefect, but I don't expect it to be. I just enjoy a big all encompassing high stakes X-Men story.

Another thing that bugged me is Magneto's coma, and Karma's leg. The X-Men have healers. They have Elixir and Ink. Now X-Force implied Elixir was having trouble staying gold but really that needs better explanation. I'm not sure what the deal with Ink is, he was in a coma, but then he showed up in Utopia but hasn't been seen or mentioned since. So maybe that was supposed to be pre-coma? Which makes no sense because Dani and Berto were on the New Mutants during Utopia so logically Young X-Men must have occurred before Utopia. They also have Warren, whose healing blood has never been officially written out. Also they had Dagger around up until recently, I assume she must have left before Magneto's coma. And then there's Rogue. With her current abilities she could probably take Elixir's powers for a while and use them better than him if he's having trouble.

I really wish the X-writers would better address stuff like healers being on the island. I realize they cause problems with plots but they need to do better than just ignoring them.

[Previsionary]

Psylocke and Nightcrawler are a heckuva lot closer than Emma and NC.  In fact, NC and Psylocke have some sort of playful relationship, and they've teamed up quite a few time to help out their best buddy Wolverine... the last time being in Weapon X during the Rotwell arc. In fact, Psylocke and NC were the only two X-men to go out and save Wolverine during that arc because Wolverine only left information for those two characters to be contacted, iirc. Then there's the Pixie mini that I don't care to keep up with at all + the Proteus arc in Legacy. There's a bond there, so I can only imagine she'd have something to say (and weren't they together during Claremont's Uncanny run?).

[Actually thinking about it, Psylocke and Nightcrawler have been paired together and active more so now than they have been since her initial return]

Fraction creates this weird conflict with me. I mostly enjoy his Ironman work, I liked his Thor/Ironman free comic, but then we hit X-men, and I want him to go away. That funeral was just a bunch of inappropriate moments one after another....
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Re: Healers

I don't think Elixir is on that island anymore. I think he took a leave of absence... or maybe he's off somewhere trying to hook up with all three cuckoos again. Angel... they really do need to get around to that plot point again. I'm assuming his healing factor/blood is a bit different now because of his secondary transformation into Archangel, but they could always say his blood type isn't compatible with Karma. Dagger and Cloak did, in fact, leave before Second Coming in their one-shot. They're back in New York... or should be. It's funny that you mention Dagger, actually. I've said for awhile now that it's weird that Dagger never got used while Cloak is off helping Wolverine (and Hulk) with their various problems. I always thought Dagger would get more use during her tenure as an X-man than Cloak. As for Rogue, I don't have anything to say about her. Ideally, Bastion should be taking out the X-men's healers and teleporters (do they still have Vanisher? I was pretty sure it was said he and Domino were off doing stuff). I was actually wondering when Rogue made it back to Utopia myself.
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I guess I should review something. I'll do it later. Maybe.

[Podmark]

I think most of Kurt and Betsy's time together is in comics I haven't read. But either way they have to have a better bond than Kurt and Emma considering I can't really recall a scene between the two.

I didn't really like the Thor/Ironman free comic. It had a bunch of little things that bugged me.

They only thing we know about Elixir is that he's out of X-Force and having trouble staying gold. Otherwise I assume he's still on Utopia, especially considering he's like a 16 year old kid whose closest family is Dani. I figure Elixir will play a role at some point because he's supposed to be the only one that knows what Hope is.

Vanisher is still with the X-Men. Cyclops had him and Domino waiting in San Fran during the first act of SC. I was expecting that to go somewhere but I guess they were a contingency that Cyclops didn't end up needing.

I was wondering how Rogue got back myself. She was in San Fran, maybe Vanisher and Dom picked her up. She is back on Utopia in Uncanny.

[Previsionary]

Well, Emma's last words of remembrance to Nightcrawler was a callback to the only time she and Kurt ever had a scene alone with each other in the past 4-5 years. It was just after they moved to San Fran while their base was still being worked on. Probably just around the time Colossus brought back those Russian prostitutes that disappeared from existence (along with that horrible tattoo). It was odd that she brought it up because it wasn't a character building scene for them. It was just her being herself (the Fraction version anyway) and poking fun at NC's beliefs. Recently, however, Emma and Nightcrawler have been working together in the Pixie mini along with Psylocke, Rockslide, and some other characters.

Having read the book again, it just dawned on me that Fraction has declared Iceman a Methodist. That'd be fine and all... if he wasn't raised in a Jewish/catholic household. Bobby doesn't practice any religion in general, but I found it weird that out of nowhere, he became a methodist. I really wish Fraction would have just used Northstar for that scene (and would have studied up more on that particular religion). It would have fit NS a lot better than Iceman, who didn't have a particular great relationship with NC as is. And that's just me going with non-obvious characters who were there at the moment. Storm, Xavier, or even Beast... real Beast, not the one in this issue, would have been more appropriate.

[you know, I already felt the art was inappropriate for this part of the story, and I still think the funeral should have come at the END or as a one shot written by Carey or Yost/Kyle, but I really couldn't tell that was Domino walking with Wolverine in the last panel of the book. Who was beside her? X23?]


Ultimate Comic Avengers 2 #1 (3):

I'm a week behind, but I really had to think about buying this issue because I was really let down by volume 1 of this book. Millar didn't seem to have the same spark with the previous installment as he did with Ultimates V. 1 and 2. The plot was no where near as strong, and he emphasized the action aspect way too much. I dropped the book 2 issues in, and from what I've read from reviews, the book never recovered with the ending being pretty pathetic for what was built up. Anyway, review:

Spoiler

If you read the preview of this issue, then you know it opened up with SIX pages of wordless action where the only thing that happened was that Punisher killed people. Yes, we really had 6 pages dedicated to seeing Ultimate Punisher behave like 616 Punisher. Actually, the whole issue seems to be dedicated to showing Ultimate Punisher is all about, and I can't say that any of it is all that interesting or intriguing. He's after a particular criminal named Red Hammer. After killing more people and finally water-boarding some information from some high school kid, Frank finally gets the information he wants and goes after Red Hammer only to be manhandled by Captain America in disguise. Now in SHIELD custody, Nick Fury recruits Frank Castle into his new group of Black Ops Avengers... and Frank will be his Captain America.

Essentially, this is just a Punisher book under the Avengers's title and branding. Punisher has never been a big character in the UU, and iirc, the last time I saw him, he was nothing like he was presented here, but it doesn't bother me. I wish Millar didn't make him a direct clone of mainstream Punisher though because it defeats the purpose of making the characters DIFFERENT, which should be the key reasoning in updating these characters in a more "realistic" setting. I think the new role Punisher is being forced into might net some interesting results, and I'm semi-intrigued by what the Black Op Avengers will be doing over the next 5 (?) issues, and I really hope Millar didn't introduce yet another Hulk in the Ultimate Universe. We're hitting number 4 now, and that's a little too much, imo. I rate this a 3. It has its share of problems, but I found it more enjoyable than Ultimate Comic Avengers Volume 1 (although the connection between these books isn't immediately obvious as of right now).

Updated Ultimate Punisher costume below:

Spoiler

[Podmark]

Yeah that was X-23 beside her.

Xavier would have been prefect. I don't know why he chose Iceman either.

Just working together on a team doesn't equal a relationship. You need some actual interactions. Warpath and Elixir were both on X-Force but I don't think they shared a line together.

[AfghanAnt]

I don't understand why Rogue was left out. Isn't she his "foster sister" and haven't they shared more tender moments than he has with Angel or Emma? Also Prof X is irrelevant now which is why he never says anything and Fraction obviously wishes he was dead.

[lugaru]

Ultimate Comic Avengers 2 #1 (3):

As a huge punisher fan I've always felt cheated that ultimate punisher is you know... bland punisher. Shoot him up with super soldier serum, give him some war machine armor, change his origin... I go to ultimate not just for the streamlined origins but also for the differences. HOPEFULLY what they are doing with him will set him appart, and it looks like it has potential.

Behind on the x-books, I'll get back  to you guys.

[Podmark]

do they still have Vanisher?

Ok so I just read the preview for New Mutants 13 and

Spoiler

It appears Vanisher is dead now. So Scott is out of teleporters I'm pretty sure.

[murs47]

Oh what the crap! I really liked him!

[Podmark]

Ok so using solicited covers and summaries and interview information I've assembled a list of X-Men who will survive Second Coming (barring misinformation and blatant lies):

Spoiler

• Cyclops
• Beast
• Hope
• Wolverine
• X-23
• Rogue
• Indra
• Magneto
• Anole
• Loa
• Hellion
• Kitty
• Cannonball
• Dani
• Magma
• Cypher
• Warlock
• Karma
• Sunspot
• Emma
• Namor
• Gambit
• Psylocke
• Angel
• Storm
• Colossus
• X-Man

[Previsionary]

Heh, Pod... I was just going to point out that Vanisher meets a bit of trouble in the next issue of New Mutants. The previews already spoil that. The previews also show Domino and Vanisher off in a completely different part of San Fran... so why were they at the funeral in Uncanny. My gosh. Domino didn't even KNOW about Kurt and Ariel. It's like they keep wanting to prove to me how out of sync I already believe Uncanny is. Did they not talk about the flow of issues 4, 5, and 6 at all?

Anyway, what they did to Vanisher was so wrong. So wrong.

[Podmark]

Unless Fraction or Dodson messed up (which wouldn't surprise me) I'm assuming that the New Mutants scene is meant to happen before the funeral. I don't remember Vanisher being shown at the funeral but Domino was definitely there at the end.

[Previsionary]

We haven't talked about Shadowland, guys. Is there no interest in it or the characters? Well, one of the writers I really like, Fred Van Lente, will be writing a Power Man mini! And since we had a thread that was closed and erased (not sure why) dealing with new heroes (to a degree), I think you all would be interested in knowing that this mini will introduce a NEW character into the Marvel verse. A young'n at that. Unfortunately, this new teenaged hero is taking on the role of becoming the next Power Man (and for once, he has a costume!), so we'll see how well that works out for him.

Among all the gritty, street-level brawls inherent in a story like this summer's Shadowland event, one tie-in mini-series promises to lighten things up a bit while introducing a new young hero to the Marvel Universe.

Shadowland: Power Man, a four-issue mini-series by Fred Van Lente, starts in August with a teenaged hero in the lead role. This new Power Man has ties to both Iron Fist and Luke Cage, with a slew of newly revived street villains and a power set and origin that links him to Bullseye.

With art by Mahmud Asrar, Shadowland: Power Man takes place within the framework of the Shadowland event, which focuses on the battle between Daredevil and the heroes who oppose his reign as a kingpin of New York City.

Newsarama talked to Van Lente about his mini-series to find out more about this new Power Man, how he's tied to Danny Rand, and which obscure Luke Cage villains will be showing up in his story.

Newsarama: What's the story behind the Power Man mini-series? And how does this arise out of the battle for New York City?

Fred Van Lente: The catchphrase for the Shadowland event is "The Battle for the Soul of New York." And I think the more we learn about Power Man, the more we come to understand that he is, in fact, the soul of New York.

And so this battle is playing out in a grand scale in the main book, and sort of microcosmically in our book, where we introduce the all-new, all-different, all-awesome Power Man.

Nrama: You say "all new," so this doesn't have anything to do with the old Power Man?

Van Lente: I didn't say that. That's an excellent point. It has quite a lot to do with Luke Cage and Iron Fist. A new Power Man comes on the scene, a hero for hire who advertises on the internet, of course, where all good classifieds can be found now. Unfortunately for him, this is not good timing for becoming a superhero in New York City, because in the areas controlled by Daredevil and The Hand, they have forbidden all, what they call, "costumes" to operate without their sanction.

So he has the Hand after him, and he also has Luke Cage and Iron Fist after him, ostensibly to save him, but also to find out who he is and what the heck he thinks he's doing. Is he going to join The Hand? Is he going to ally himself with Daredevil? Or will he ally himself with the heroes who are attempting to stop Daredevil before he goes insane with power?

[Podmark]

I don't know about this new Power Man. I'd feel better if I knew there was a plan to spin him off into another book like Young Allies or something. Too often they introduce these new characters, some of which are really cool, in minis or an arc and there's no real plan to use them beyond that.

Although his design is kinda cool.

Speaking of Young Allies, Arana is getting a new costume.
I'm wondering if this might be related to events in Grim Hunt.

[Previsionary]

Well, if you're gonna bring up Young Allies, I'm gonna bring up this interview, which mentions their rivals: The Ba****ds of Evil!

I'm actually kinda shocked that they're going to revive another Heroes Reborn character. Welcome back, Manbull/Toro?

[lugaru]

Love the art and I love Gravity. I'm in a good mood now.

[marhawkman]

Crap, if they have Arana and Tarantula in shadowland I might have to get it....

[Previsionary]

So, I read Siege #4, and my overall feeling for this issue was a serious case of "MEH." I was so unimpressed. From parts of this story being spoiled 2 weeks ago to the actual issue being pushed back twice and then not actually having much weight to it, there's a real sense of disappointment for me. Bendis didn't even see fit to explain what was going on with Norman's face (I believe he just called it paint... must have been a random idea he just added for no reason), and the fight was VERY underwhelming. Both of them. But I guess it's nice to see yet another character explode? I thought that was a Sentry only thing as he exploded at least 6 times in Dark Avengers alone.

Anyway, the majority of the issue was a fight scene that seemed incredibly one sided (no big moments at all... but that's been every fight scene in the main book), and the ending put the Avengers on even ground trying to find their way in the world. I want to say that Steve Rogers's scene tied back into Captain America Reborn, and I really hope this is the LAST TIME I see Bucky and Capt go through their little song and dance about who should be Cap. We've been over it 5 times now, and that's all Siege: Captain America was about. We don't have to keep going over it. I'd rate this issue a low 2. I probably expected too much but is that my fault? Marvel hyped it, Bendis hyped it, and it's an event. I should expect more, and it should deliver on some level. It didn't.

[Previsionary]

UGH! Can someone please explain to me why a character that is just one big retcon continues to retcon history with characters he's not even associated with? Why in the world would Paul Jenkins find it acceptable to alter Rogue's history with this nonsense. I'm so annoyed.

Spoiler

Seems The Sentry was Rogue's first love now. Yes, he and Rogue had a romantic fling because he was apparently the only one she could touch.

[murs47]

Siege #4 was as eventful as reading a spoiler.

[GhostMachine]

UGH! Can someone please explain to me why a character that is just one big retcon continues to retcon history with characters he's not even associated with? Why in the world would Paul Jenkins find it acceptable to alter Rogue's history with this nonsense. I'm so annoyed.

Spoiler

Seems The Sentry was Rogue's first love now. Yes, he and Rogue had a romantic fling because he was apparently the only one she could touch.

Because Paul Jenkins is a complete and total hack?

[Podmark]

I read four books today: Siege, Second Coming, Initiative and Spider-Man. I found all of them were reasonably enjoyable.

Siege was fairly predictable. The art, which I've really liked, seemed less cool in this issue. I think Coipel was in a bit of a rush. the story was alright, but nothing special. One thing that did bug me was that the SHRA was just thrown out, it just seemed like a waste.

X-Men was alright, mostly just more setup and some character development. It was my worst of the week because little happened. Will probably read better as part of a whole.

Mixed feelings about the Initiative. This has been one of my favorite books over the last couple years, but the Siege arc was a low point. Too much repeating scenes from Siege and some of the books weakest art. This last issue was better, Gage tried to stuff alot of stuff into the issue and give the series a good conclusion. Some characters who have been barely used in the last few issues like Cloud9, Hardball, Komodo, and the Nazi have some scenes - which I loved because I like those characters alot - but they come out kind of tacked on since these characters have been lightly used. And Hardball got some kind of redemption for no reason apparently. But don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that Gage touched on so many of the characters in the book. Some spoilers:

Spoiler

• Tigra had her baby back when Osborn took over. It's a cat boy and the cat people she got her powers from have been taking care of it.
• The New Warriors are thinking about getting back together.
• Hardball gave Komodo her powers back
• Gauntlet went back to fight in Afghanistan
• Tigra decides not to kill the Hood
• Tigra and Justice decide they want to teach - setting up Avengers Academy

I think that's it...

The art was nice in some spots, but inconsistent. I could see Molina being pretty good in a year or two but right now he needs a lot of refinement.
Anyway, good book, I'm going to miss it.

Last book of the day was Amazing Spider-Man. Part 2 of the Lizard story line and I'm really liking it. It's got this horror vibe to it with the Lizard being portrayed more a giant monster. Also it's using the Kravens in a significant way which for me is a big plus. Bachalo is the main artist but theres a second artist who did the opening sequence and I was very happy with both.

Spoiler

Thanks to Ana and Alyosha Kraven's intervention the Lizard eats Dr. Connors son, apparently killing Dr. Connors. Very powerful sequence.

The issue reminded me alot of the Rhino story. This was my favorite book for this week.

[Previsionary]

GM, that's extreme. Why do you think that about Paul? I remember his original Sentry stories, and some of them were OK.

Anyway, Red Hulk and Red She hulk were finally revealed this week (almost 3 years later?).

Spoiler

They are Thunderbolt Ross and Betty Ross respectively

Pod, one of your initiative spoilers is incomplete. Hardball gave Komodo what?

ETA: Just going to add this here until I actually review something else. Avengers #1 preview featuring the NEXT AVENGERS!

[AfghanAnt]

GM, that's extreme. Why do you think that about Paul? I remember his original Sentry stories, and some of them were OK.

Anyway, Red Hulk and Red She hulk were finally revealed this week (almost 3 years later?).

Spoiler

They are Thunderbolt Ross and Betty Ross respectively

Pod, one of your initiative spoilers is incomplete. Hardball gave Komodo what?

That reveal was so obvious. Urgh this whole Red Hulk thing lost it's novelty to me. I still like the character design though.

[Podmark]

Oops, sorry Prev. That must have been when I decided to add in the list. It's fixed now.

So that's who they are. Interesting.

[Ares_God_of_War]

I still dont get how red hulk is who he is.

[lugaru]

Siege #4: give or take exactly what I expected. Probably would have packed more punch if it did not come out delayed and after some comics that spoiled what was going to happen but I liked it.

Spoiler

It is nice to see that the "obligatory self sacrifice" that every arc has was by a character with some motivation (bittersweet revenge for Asgard) and the power to do what he did.

Otherwise still catching up... zero comics budget but I need to pick up the initiative ones, did not know ALL THAT happened. Hope to see more Komodo in the future.

[GhostMachine]

GM, that's extreme. Why do you think that about Paul? I remember his original Sentry stories, and some of them were OK.

Anyway, Red Hulk and Red She hulk were finally revealed this week (almost 3 years later?).

Spoiler

They are Thunderbolt Ross and Betty Ross respectively

Pod, one of your initiative spoilers is incomplete. Hardball gave Komodo what?

ETA: Just going to add this here until I actually review something else. Avengers #1 preview featuring the NEXT AVENGERS!

1. Paul Jenkins' work on Civil War cheesed me off bigtime, and may cloud my judgement towards his other stuff. (And I hate Sentry, so to me there's no such thing as a good Sentry story....unless they do one that completely wipes him out of existence)

2. The Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk reveal sounds to me like a case of "we had absolutely no clue what were were doing and never thought this out, so lets just go with two of the most obvious choices because we're lazy and an original thought would hurt our brains." SOOO glad I don't read the Hulk books.

[Previsionary]

My biggest problem with Siege is the main books. If you didn't read ANY of the tie ins (or New Avengers, Thor, and Siege: LOKI), you wouldn't know anything at all about Loki's motivation and why he did his sudden 180. He wasn't even in the first 3 books, so his appearance was very jarring. None of that was expounded upon in the book. That's bad story telling on Bendis's side. I also find it highly ironic that one of the 500 books he writes spoiled what was going to happen to Loki. All this did for me is just affirm why I hate when Bendis is writing events (along with the majority of the tie ins). Marvel needs to reduce his role and show more love to their other talents NOT originally from Ultimate Marvel.

[Yes, I find it very annoying that he managed to work in the Bucky/Steve "passing of the torch" dialogue for the 5th time, but not actual plot points]

With that said, I really disliked the fight scenes. No creative planning there at all. Just punch, punch, kick... basically, the heroes button mashed the boss and somehow came out on top. Once again, if over 3 years weren't dedicated to making NORMAL Sentry seem like such a top tier character, w/ more emphasis put on his dark side, then maybe it'd be more believable. I just can't get behind the way they beat him. He became a giant tentacled monster that just hovered about in place waving his tentacles around while the heroes beat on him (and he healed). He did nothing to fight back, then 2-3 pages later, a single hero can beat him. *shakes head*

BTB, I remember Bendis saying this issue would have been double sized. Did I just imagine that?

ETA: Ya'know, I just noted how many ways were set up to help take down Sentry. Spear of Odin, Phobos, and the Norn Stones, yet only one of them came into play. Heck, neither Spider-man or Tony were part of Norman's downfall. So many potential good stories wiped away in one moment.


Namor: The First Mutant  -- about time Namor gets a new book!

Second Coming Ch. 8 preview -- Look at those Land mouths!

[Podmark]

As someone who didn't read any of the Bendis tie-in books I didn't really have much difficulty following Siege. Yeah I'm probably not getting the full picture but I thought it read alright by itself. So what was I missing with Loki?


So will this Namor book be working off X-Men or will he be doing his own thing?

And in the Legacy preview did Luke Cage join the X-Men between scenes? Honestly I have no idea who the bald black guy with the goatee is supposed to be.