Uncanny Avengers 25, Death of Wolverine 3

Uncanny Avengers 25

Magneto manages to attack Red Skull, freeing Scarlet Witch, Rogue, and Havok from his mind. They all fight with Skull's S-Men for a bit while Magneto, helmet on, attacks Skull. Magneto forces Skull to the ground, beating him with all of his might, using his fists instead of his powers. After restraining Wanda so she couldn't stop him, he picks up a slab of concrete and slams it on Skull's head, horrifying the Unity Squad and bringing the fighting to halt. As Magneto explains his actions and shows no remorse for them, Skull emerges as the Red Onslaught.

There's obviously a lot happening here, between Remender exploring Magneto's youth and his understandable hatred for Skull, who is a Nazi, a mutant-hater, and who stole the brain of his dead best friend, and showing us the mutant contingent of the team he's spent the last 25 issues building. The way to connect the stories, of course, is through Wanda, so she's our narrator here, explaining the best she can the complicated relationship with her birth father. She also lets us in on the secret that she has to really restrain herself to not act like him, to not revel in his rage and allow him to do what he's doing, particularly against the Skull, for whom such rage is warranted. As a result, there are a lot of interesting things happening but it happens on a backdrop that is so chaotic and so necessary that it's easy to get lost in the jumble of things. We're still trying to get acquainted with the S-Men (especially since we haven't seen them in twenty or so issues now) and there are many moving parts here and yet they're not meant to be our focus. Remender, understandably, wants to get a lot done here in the preparation for next week's AXIS launch. However, the rush sets this one back a little bit.

Total Score: 4/5


Death of Wolverine 3

Kitty Pryde saves Wolverine from Lady Deathstrike, forcing Deathstrike to flee as Kitty injects a fading Wolverine with a quick regen serum, something that will heal him temporarily but certainly won't substitute for or replace his healing factor. She insists he allows her to come with him to help him fight off the assassins after him and get to the bottom of things. Unfortunately, Wolverine quickly discovers that her mind has been taken over by ninja master Ogun, who has a long history with these two and who is ready to deliver Wolverine to the one asking for him. Wolverine fights him and Kitty, who is somewhat used to having Ogun take over her mind at this point, fights back against him as well, forcing him out into a nearby innocent's mind. Wolverine follows him while Kitty comes back to her senses, though she reveals that the one orchestrating everything is a guy named Abraham Cornelius. Wolverine catches up to Ogun, who shows him the body of the killer Cyber, another one on Cornelius' list, which seems to at least have some tie-in to adamantium-enhanced individuals. Ogun just wants Logan to leave Japan and tells him so, saying that he'll spare the innocent man he's inhabiting of Logan just leaves. Logan agrees to, but tells him to warn Cornelius that he's coming.

I was legitimately surprised when I got to the end of this issue and found that there was only one issue left in DEATH OF WOLVERINE. It's really refreshing to see a major event like this start and finish in four issues (though I'll believe it when I see it, and when I'm satisfied with the aftermath stuff that's already been announced, THE LOGAN LEGACY, maybe it's called?). It's the first time in a long while that something with this magnitude has wrapped up so quickly and I'm one hundred percent onboard with it. I'm also really enjoying this book. There is a bit of a complicated note to make here too; I was reading this issue and had quickly decided this was the best Kitty Pryde I'd seen in literally years, someone who was strong and self-assured and loyal and smart and not some weird caricature of herself. Of course, then Ogun happened to be in her mind. Was it really Kitty steering the ship up until Ogun revealed himself or was Ogun the one who I thought was the best Kitty I'd seen in a while? I prefer to think it's the former, that Ogun just piggybacked on Kitty until it was time to make his move, because that way I can still credit Soule with the best recent Kitty. ANYWAY, it's been a really interesting series so far and it's moved extremely well, aided now by the revelation (that isn't so much a revelation as it is a known and expected fact) that the next issue is the last.

Total Score: 5/5

Avengers 35, Uncanny Avengers 24, Avengers World 13

Avengers 35

We're eight months into the future and the entire world is completely different. Cannonball lives off world with Izzy and their newborn baby, though Sunspot, the new leader of AIM after he managed to hostile-takeover their business (one of the drawbacks, he says, of running your evil scientist group like a corporation), needs them to come back to Earth for what's coming. Hyperion has been working with his children in the Savage Land to build a device for...reasons, which he and Thor, now Mjolnir-less, will use to cross over somewhere. Likely it has to do with incursions. SPEAKING OF INCURSIONS, the Illuminati, comprised of the original members plus a bunch of other super scientist types like Amadeus Cho, Brian Braddock, and Hank Pym, is on the run from SHIELD and the now-SHIELD sanctioned Avengers. These Avengers catch up with Cho as he breaks into the old Avengers Tower trying to salvage some of on-the-run Tony Stark's data but the Avengers, led by Sue Storm, capture him, though he has no information for them.

Okay, so there's rather a lot that's changed, hm? This isn't an alternate dimension, this isn't a WHAT IF... story, this is the main Marvel Universe just eight short months from now. It's a bit reminiscent of CIVIL WAR but with a very different schism at the center and with a very specific sort of hero going up against SHIELD and the Avengers. The story, of course, is very interesting and compelling to get into because, as you'd expect with a story like this and particularly with Hickman, we just into a fully formed world just the way it is, no real explanation given yet besides what you can surmise from the natural dialogue and your own assumptions about the situation based on what's been happening. It's a strong start to the ambitious TIME RUNS OUT storyline and it looks like Hickman, as ever, has this well in hand. Have I mentioned that I adore Hickman's EAST OF WEST? That it's one of the best comics I've ever read? Good.

Total Score: 5/5


Uncanny Avengers 24

As the Unity Squad gets back to Avengering, the greater mutant part of the team (Havok, Scarlet Witch, and Rogue) finds itself abducted by Red Skull's S-Men and brought to his new concentration camps on Genosha. While unconscious, Rogue sees Charles Xavier (seen here with Banshee) in her mind. Charles says that he's just the last psychic residue in his old brain, now in the Skull's head, and tells Rogue that she has to keep Scarlet Witch away from Skull, that he has some horrible plans for her. He also reveals that she's the secret weapon because Skull knows all their powers but doesn't know yet that she has Wonder Man in her head. She wakes up and tells the others, chained up next to her, and together they break out, running into and rescuing Magneto on their way. Magneto wants to save all of the mutants and is furious and derogatory when he learns that they want to go and get more help first. The fight is interrupted, though, when Skull and his S-Men confront them.

AXIS seems ready to burst forth (I know it's now called AXIS: AVENGERS AND X-MEN but that's a dumb name and AXIS is a solid name) as Skull's fight with the Unity Squad continues, now more hateful than ever. There's some good character work here as Remender catches new readers up on all that's happened by having Havok talk about his disfigured and burned face and having Wolverine meet with Scarlet Witch and Rogue to talk about his part and his guilt in the whole last arc and to say how proud he is that the two of them are working together and have put the past behind them. It's perhaps a little too eager to chew some scenery, but it gets the point across and doesn't feel nearly as expository as it could. Running into Magneto helps the issue too as more characters are developed and as the plot advances nicely. Strong stuff, looking forward to AXIS. It's nice to have events every so often that seem like they stem from current events in the books (not like certain other events, particularly ORIGINAL SIN, AGE OF ULTRON, FEAR ITSELF, and BATTLE OF THE ATOM, which all spawned from nothingness and meant fairly little).

Total Score: 4/5


Avengers World 13

As the Hand, Gorgon, and the ancient dragon on whose back Madripoor sits fight against the newly revealed SPEAR, we get an introduction to the Ascendant, the superteam SPEAR has put together or, more appropriately, the superteam Weather Witch (formerly of The Dynasty) put together and leads with the go-ahead and support of SPEAR and the Chinese government. Included on the team are Saber, another former Dynasty member, Devastator, a Skrull loyal to the Chinese government and wearing the former Russian Devastator armor, Vector, a rebellious protestor with Darkforce powers similar to Cloak's, and Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. They hold their own in battle but it won't be enough to fully stop the dragon and SPEAR's Director Zheng calls up Maria Hill in the hopes for some aid, specifically in the hopes of technological aid, SPECIFICALLY in the hopes of getting some Pym particles, which Hill gives but only under the condition it be given to one of her team. Enter Shang-Chi, giant master of Kung Fu.

Spencer, interestingly, has gone back-to-back AVENGERS WORLD issues introducing a new team from another part of the world. It's a real WORLD style move, showing perhaps the inspiration of a team like the Avengers on the other parts of the world and allowing us to see how the world has reacted to the presence of superheroes all over. It's a pretty strong issue and gives us a sense of this Ascendant team and of SPEAR, which separates itself from SHIELD in a number of ways in this book. Also not going to act like I'm not excited about the idea of a giant Shang-Chi fighting a dragon. That feels like maybe it was the pitch of this entire book. "Giant Shang-Chi fights a dragon," said Spencer, and the rest was history.

Total Score: 5/5

Amazing X-Men 5, All-New X-Factor 5, Marvel Knights X-Men 5

Amazing X-Men 5
Aaron (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

With all of the X-Men by Nightcrawler's side again, they prepare for war with Azazel's ship. Nightcrawler and his friends do what they can to keep Azazel and his pirates at bay but they begin to make a real push against the X-Men and, after Wolverine is stabbed through his back, Nightcrawler is forced to consummate his deal with the Bamfs, the terms of which are still unknown to us. He goes through with it, despite the pleadings of an also-Heavenly Charles Xavier in his head, and the Bamfs pile on Azazel, forcing him to Earth, while Nightcrawler and the X-Men make their way back out of the portal. The deal that Nightcrawler made chained Azazel to Earth, meaning he can't take over Heaven or Hell or anything out there at the cost of his own soul. But hey, Nightcrawler's back!

I still don't really like this arc in its conceit. I think it's a dangerous move to bring Heaven and Hell into a universe that can't possibly abide them. Well, okay, Hell already exists in the Marvel Universe so I suppose it's not that much of a stretch to say that Heaven is there too but the truth of the matter is that Hell works in a somewhat different way than the typical model of Hell. Heaven, then, seems just like a place that would contain the souls of all of the heroes that have ever died and how do you close that door once it's been opened? Obviously heroes don't exactly suffer from overly long deaths, but dropping Heaven into the equation seems both like it's going to bring up religious issues and just be a possible panacea for any deaths that are still to come. On top of that, the scale of the story almost didn't seem big enough; I don't know that it ever truly found its footing here and I particularly don't like introducing Heaven so blatantly with a story that doesn't really shine. I continue to be very torn on Ed McGuinness, who has all the basics of drawing really mastered but whose characters (particularly the women) have really child-like faces (Storm on the cover of this issue terrifies me more than most things in the world). But hey, Nightcrawler's back!

All-New X-Factor 5
David (w) and Di Giandomenico (a) and Loughridge (c)

When Gambit wakes, Danger is standing in his room. She explains to him that his kiss introduced organic counteractions to the programming Nil had done to erase what she once was but that she fears it wasn't enough and needs more counteracting. Gambit doesn't really know what this means and he leaves more than a little shaken. Meanwhile, the introduction of Danger to the team has made things a little trickier around the office as she recognizes immediately that Quicksilver had left through the bathroom window and run somewhere before running back and pretending to be finished with the bathroom based on his heart rate and she deduces that Harrison Snow is having an affair with his assistant when she scans that the assistant has Snow's DNA on her in ways that suggest such an affair. Of course, everyone denies these allegations and Danger is left doubting herself even more. Finally, when X-Factor is brought into a business meeting with the head of an up-and-coming tech business that Snow wants to buy out, Danger immediately recognizes that the man isn't human. As everyone protests Danger's accusation, she plunges her hand through his chest to reveal his true nature. It's the Magus, head of the Technarchy and father of former New Mutant Warlock, who turns up apparently on the side of his one-time enemy Magus as X-Factor faces off against him. Warlock appears to save his father and the two escape while X-Factor tries to put everything together. Polaris decides they need to go see Cypher to understand what's happening with Warlock.

The introduction of Danger to this team has already made the book a good deal more interesting. It's thrown another dynamic in with this team and it's already showing how much more difficult it's going to be to keep secrets around here. With the reveal that Danger can sniff out everyone's little lies, we're able to see just how much of a powder keg Peter David has built with his core three characters and with Harrison Snow, who is still obviously set to be the villain of the piece. In that way, this issue has to be the strongest so far of the bunch and it hints that things may continue to improve as we get a little deeper into a new plot and as we start to establish new members for the team (color me surprised if Cypher and/or Warlock doesn't end up on the team when all of this is said and done). There are perhaps a few too many nerdy references in here for the characters - I have no doubt that they don't sail over the head of anyone reading it but I don't believe that some of the characters would actually make them let alone make them in the situations in which they are made (Snow makes a Doctor Who reference to the head of the other company and then quickly explains that it's a Doctor Who reference for literally no one's benefit in his first time meeting the other company's head). Still, the plot is moving, the characters are coming into their own, and everything's working out one way or another so let's hope this ball keeps rolling.

Marvel Knights X-Men 5
Revel (w and a) and Peter (c)

The dream-Xavier shows up at just the right time as he gives Kitty all of the inspiration she needs to continue fighting and to inspire Krystal into doing what she can to give them an army and to find her way to Darla. Meanwhile, Rogue and Wolverine, their recent fight put aside, re-enter the fray near Darla and manage to keep things chaotic for the young mutant while she begins to panic and tries to use the drugs she got from the head of the cult to up her powers. Kitty and Krystal, leading a Krystal-controlled team of bikers back into the town, cut a swath through the battles and all of the X-Men present begin to get added help when they create their own backups in the form of dream-Storm, dream-Nightcrawler, and dream-Colossus. While the fight rages, Krystal makes her way to Darla and tries to talk her down. Though it's a struggle to convince Darla that she's not doing the right thing here, Krystal eventually succeeds and gets Darla to give up the fight and let the X-Men help her. Finally everything begins to calm down and, to help a little bit more, Krystal convinces the press that everything they'd seen from the outside of these fights were created by a mine cave-in and subsequent explosions from that.

It's a nice little ending for what has been a nice little series. One of the most apparent things about writer/artist Brahm Revel throughout this series has been a true love for the X-Men. He cares who these characters are and where they've come from and, while this story was a sweeping tale about two scared mutants in a town that hates and fears what they are, it's what really drove the story all the way through, right up to its ending with the dream-X-Men team coming to the aid of fellow X-Men Wolverine, Rogue, and Kitty Pryde. The book reads as a real love story to the X-Men while managing to create and craft a story all distinctly its own, aided by Revel's outstanding art. I liked a lot of the things that were happening in MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN (thanks, in large part, to the incredible Marco Rudy art) but I think this series stands a little better as a complete story. Certainly a story worth telling and I think we can safely say, now that the newest batch of MARVEL KNIGHTS books have all been completed, this little experiment of reintroducing the MARVEL KNIGHTS line was a success.

Wolverine and the X-Men 41, Marvel Knights X-Men 4

Wolverine and the X-Men 41
Aaron (w) and Larraz and Nauck (a) and Milla (c)

After his switch from X-School janitor to Hellfire Academy janitor and given his shady past, the teachers at the Jean Grey school decide it's best to part with Toad. He regrets his involvement with the Hellfire Academy as he's come to like his job with the Jean Grey School but he ultimately accepts his fate. As he leaves, Husk apologizes for not remembering him and for going crazy recently but asks to meet him after work for coffee to try to understand what she felt for him. Instead, he intercedes in a breakout by the Hellfire Academy kids currently studying at the Jean Grey School. He's not out to stop them, though, he's out for a second chance. Max Frankenstein wants him to prove it and he pounces on Manuel Enduque and the two leave him for the X-Men to find, with Toad claiming he has to leave while he still remembers what it's like not to be a toad. He and Frankenstein leave on jetpacks.

An almost interesting end to Toad's story with the Jean Grey School but the ultimate problem remains that Toad was something of a joke to start the book and was slowly to become a big part of the mythos but I don't think he ever really got there. In that way, his heartfelt departure from the school and his impassioned plea to Manuel explaining why he needs to leave (while he beats him up) kind of fall a little flat. It's hard when a big emotional issue doesn't have enough of a background on it. Aaron's done a lot to try to make Toad a worthwhile character for his part in this book, particularly seen in retrospect after this issue, but, at the end of the day, it's still just Toad and the audience still doesn't really have a connection to him so this issue, instead of feeling bittersweet, feels somewhat unnecessary and distracting. As ever, I can't speak for everyone but I honestly feel like this series could have ended (as it will next issue before its reboot with Jason Latour at the helm) without addressing Toad and I'd not have been surprised when he just wasn't there next time.

Marvel Knights X-Men 4
Revel (w and a) and C. Peter (c)

After fighting some of their demons, with Wolverine facing down the slew of his enemies borne out of Rogue's memories and Rogue fighting Carol Danvers back in the days when Rogue was busy stealing her memories and powers borne out of Wolverine's memories, everyone starts to get things settled. Kitty starts to learn from Krystal about the history of this town, which mostly revolved around her corrupt sheriff-uncle using her powers to cut his way into the horrible cult at the top of the hill, profiting on drug sales and torturing a mutant. When Krystal tried to break the mutant out, the cult shot him in the ensuing chase. She (accidentally) used her persuasive powers to convince them that mutants were better than them and that that cult's days were numbered. So the cult rededicated itself to worshipping mutants and trying to appease mutants before the last days of mankind. Now everything is going crazy and Darla has teamed up with the cult and they've come across a reconciled Rogue and Wolverine, who Darla wants dead.

Things start to clear up a bit with this town and some of the history comes out. More importantly, we get to see a little bit of where everyone's loyalties lie, which has been a mystery throughout and now it's pretty well revealed. The twists are reasonably good ones and it's a neat little portrait of a small and horrible town dealing with mutants. It can also kind of serve to highlight just how tortured the X-Men are, what with their memories floating into reality, and raining chaos on the town. Brahm Revel's art continues to really drive the book and it works perfectly in tandem with Cris Peter's colors to look unlike anything else on the shelves right now. I think the story probably holds up alright as a limited series even without the impressive art, which is a nice little bonus for this series and one that I'm not totally sure can be applied as much to MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN, but the art really sets this one a step above. In truth, I think I still like MK SPIDER-MAN more because Marco Rudy's art real appealed to me and struck me but I think this one may be a more complete series.

Wolverine and the X-Men 40, Origin II 2, Cataclysm - Ultimate X-Men 3

Wolverine and the X-Men 40
Aaron (w) and Larraz (a) and Milla (c)

The kids of the Jean Grey School (well, the kids we always see, anyway, sorry Young X-Men) have figured out that Joseph and Josephine are not quite on the level and, though they're disappointed that they couldn't sway them to be cool about everything (particularly saddened by Joseph, who seemed to actually be taking to the school), they resolve to show them everything by having them take a tour with the bamfs. The bamfs jump them from dangerous spot to dangerous spot to dangerous spot in the school and eventually the pair return, shaken and more uptight. The students are still ready to fight if need be but Joseph finally makes his decision and uses his guns to stun his sister. They resolve to have Quentin put new memories into the pair of them, making them forget this whole thing, and to go report back to Dazzler with no real information. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Cyclops have finally finished fighting all of the Sentinels at the mostly abandoned SHIELD base and they search around for first aid. Wolverine is satisfied when they come across the beer supply and the two of them sit and drink beers and talk about things. Cyclops prods Wolverine to figure out why exactly he (and everyone else) hates him so much and Wolverine reveals that it's largely driven by the fact that they shouldn't be hating him. They don't want Cyclops to be the image of the militant mutant or the mutant that people need to be scared of. That should be Wolverine's job. The two don't necessarily bury the hatchet but it's one of the best interactions they've had together since SCHISM and they leave amicably enough.

Not a bad issue. I didn't really need the Joseph/Josephine storyline at all, let alone for as long as it took. I think that storyline will perhaps mean a little more after the next couple of issues drop, with Jason Aaron ending his 40+ issue run on the title with issue 42. If this was his way of mostly saying goodbye to the kids and the school, I think it works fine. If he goes on to do another big goodbye to them all or something, I'm not sure how necessary it is. It's certainly readable but it does carry on a bit past when you get the point and know how things are going to shape up. The Wolverine and Cyclops bit, though, is very well done and hints at the sort of thing that's been happening a little more recently, building on the last issue of X-MEN LEGACY which saw the two fight side by side and even on the ongoing A+X storyline which finds Cap more willing to work with Cyclops than when the story started. It's a nice conversation between the two and it's pretty real. It's also the second book this week (coming in after MARVEL KNIGHTS X-MEN) that posits that Wolverine is allowed to kill and be the dangerous one because he knows who he is. Weird moral, you guys.

Origin II 2
Gillen (w) and Adam Kubert (a) and F. Martin (c)

There's been rumor of a polar bear who wandered too far south into Canada and killed a wolf pack before being murdered by some other unknown creature, like a wildcat but as big and strong as a man. There are two entities that have heard about the strange happenings, Dr. Nathaniel Essex, to whom the bear belonged, and, thanks to one of Essex's blabbermouth trackers (no longer employed/alive), an independent businessman named Hugo and his trackers Clara, good with animals, and Victor Creed, ace tracker. As the two units set out on their own ways, Essex's Marauders run into Wolverine after a gas-based attack draws him out of the woods. He attacks Essex's men but leaves as quickly as he came. After that, Creed tracks him down to an undergrowth and helps capture him for Hugo, to the chagrin of Clara. Hugo, of course, then quickly puts him center-stage in his circus.

I still like this story, its presentation, its characters, and the art of the book. I will say that I have a feeling that ORIGIN II, even as a concept, is a little flawed in a world where we suddenly know SO MUCH about Wolverine and his history. Sure he's lived for over a hundred years at this point so there's plenty out there we still don't know but we now know more than we did. ORIGIN, the first book in this story, came out in 2001 and a lot has changed in a little over a decade for the character. On top of Wolverine's actual memories being restored, the Marvel market has been absolutely saturated with Wolverine in the last several years. He's starred in an untold number of comic books, he's been in a score of major motion pictures, and we've delved pretty deep into his past in every medium in which he's appeared. That doesn't make ORIGIN II a bad book or a bad story or not worth reading, it just means that it almost can't feel necessary. I will say, masterstroke by Marvel in putting Kieron Gillen on this book. Gillen's a guy who, just in the last couple of years, rewrote Loki, one of Marvel's earliest full-fledged villains, into a totally new character and managed to give Iron Man, founding Avenger and star of his own set of major motion pictures, an almost entirely different backstory that somehow still perfectly fits with his history. If anyone can make this meaningful, I trust that Gillen can. Worth sticking with it if just for that, particularly as the price of this one dropped to a more reasonable 3.99.

Cataclysm - Ultimate X-Men 3
Fialkov (w) and A. Martinez, J. Lucas, and R. Fernandez (a) and Bellaire (c)

Rogue powers herself up with everybody's power set (except Beak, turns out she didn't need any of that) and amps THAT up with Amp's power set. She vows that no one else will die and charges headfirst into the swarm. She goes a little crazy up there but manages to do a solid amount of damage to Gah Lak Tus. Unfortunately, she's too late to safe Pixie, who is dying pretty quickly on the ground. The X-Men have to pull her back down and out of her rage so that she can take Pixie's powers and get them all home but getting her out of her rage is a little harder than they bargained for. Rick Jones leaps into action and helps fight alongside Rogue but, more importantly, relates to her about his recent past and everything he's learned from it and who he's chosen to be as a result. The talk (and the fact that he can touch and kiss her without dying thanks to his cosmic powers) inspires her to come back down but she refuses to take Pixie's power since the energy she'll take will certainly kill her. Pixie wants it done, though, as she's dying either way and wants the others to live so she touches Rogue's face and dies peacefully. Rogue prepares to make the jump but, to her continued disappointment, Rick stays behind to give them a chance to go without the swarm. He swears he'll make it out and, I have to say, we have no reason not to believe him. They arrive back home and see that Galactus is still out there and Rogue rallies them to fight him no matter the cost.

It's a nice little story and a fitting finish for the Ultimate X-Men as Rogue has to overcome her issues and understand who she is before she can save the world. The pacing is good as each beat seems pretty necessary, either for plot or for characterization (there's even a nice little moment between Beak and Pixie as Beak helps to care for her while she slips away), and the action moves particularly well. There was maybe a little too much happening in this issue to drop focus on too many of the people there but I don't think it hurts the book in any way. You don't need to know what Guido's doing if Rogue and Rick Jones are fighting against time to destroy the Gah Lak Tus swarm and only have twenty pages to do it. In fact, you never really think about the characters on the ground not integral to what's happening through all of the action, which seems like a pretty good misdirect for Fialkov to pull off. That guy knows how to handle a script and how to handle action. Marvel took a risk putting this event pretty much into the hands of someone who hadn't worked a ton on their books before but I think it's really paid off and turned into a nice and pretty well-structured event, though there might be one too many books out there because it's starting to feel like it's dragging a bit. Fortunately, that doesn't really bite the X-Men because their story is so different from everyone else's. Good work all around.

All-New X-Men 22, X-Men 9, Marvel Knights X-Men 3

All-New X-Men 22
Bendis (w) and S. Immonen and von Grawbadger (a) and Gracia (c)

The ANXM team is back from their meeting with the Purifiers and everyone's relaxing their own way. For Scott and Jean (and, inadvertently, Warren), that means arguing about her knowing the future and being upset and Scott being upset and drama and so on and so forth. The fight ends as Jean storms off and is promptly kidnapped by suddenly attacking aliens who, according to Kitty, seem to be Shi'ar. They put everyone attacking them in bubble forcefields and take Jean away in one without a giant fight. As soon as they've left, the Guardians of the Galaxy pop by and realize that they're too late.

Right off the bat the pacing feels a little strange in this one. Things move pretty well for the second half of the book but the first half is largely made up of Scott and Jean fighting across a cafeteria table (and across Warren for comic relief). Though the back-and-forth dialogue is pretty prevalent in this scene, I actually think that it works here because they're meant to be kind of quickly shouting at one another and it doesn't often step into strange asides and quips. Instead, it feels like a real fight. So my problem, then, isn't with the writing of this scene, it's with the length of it. Maybe halfway through it I think it's safe to say it could have ended. There's even an out there that could have still sent Jean walking away and the issue progressing from there. It might be an attempt by Bendis at trying to give just a little more characterization to the three characters present in whatever way he can but it feels like it just overstayed its welcome, causing readers to have to push through the end of a fight they already fully understand and, worse still, to which they know the ending. Still, it's not one of the weaker issues of the series for that, as the pacing almost immediately picks up (though again, I'd say there's a bit of waste in the second half insofar as how often people explain what's happening in the fight, but that's pretty petty, even by my own admission) and the ending paves the way for the now started TRIAL OF JEAN GREY. Solid Immonen artwork on this one but, then again, it's always solid Immonen artwork.

X-Men 9
Wood (w) and T. Dodson and R. Dodson (a) and Keith, Woodard, and Mossa (c)

Lady Deathstrike has moved her operation, along with Enchantress and Typhoid Mary, to a new office in Dubai where she hopes to power her small team up and hopes to bring Arkea to life. The X-Men are trying to track them but not finding much until Jubilee and Karima find a Cortes jet landing in Dubai. Monet is ready to strike and aimed at the top seven floors of the building, all of which are owned by Cortes and seem empty, aside from the villains. Monet blasts through but it's just too late; Arkea has already been revived, taking the body of Cortes' assistant Reiko, and amped up the powers of the other three. Enchantress, her powers fully restored, manages to grab and hold Monet until she loses consciousness while Mary and Arkea escape. Mary and Arkea talk about the X-Men, whose databases Arkea still retains from her first appearance, and it gives Arkea an idea: she begins to take over other entities all over the world (including, possibly, Karima again) and plans to attack the X-Men on every home base she knows.

The stakes are pretty quickly rising here as Arkea comes back online. There's still plenty of intrigue and questions as Sublime returns to the X-Men to help for one reason or another but it's largely out in the open now as the audience is privy to Arkea's rebirth and her plan going forward. The team building and characterization is mostly in the actions of characters as everyone has her role and takes to it immediately, with Jubilee and Karima trying to track Arkea, Storm and Psylocke meeting with Arab superhero and peacekeeper Sabra to ensure their fight with Arkea keeps from starting a war, Monet as the strike force, and Rachel probing Sublime for information and directing the others. Everyone has an individual voice, even as some of our characters have fewer lines and are maybe a little out of focus. Meanwhile, the plot is running full tilt now and our players are largely accounted for, though there are hints that Arkea might be picking up new enemies for her sisterhood, as Enchantress deems it. As X-MEN moves firmly out of the event it was wrapped up in, it's progressing extremely well with Brian Wood doing his "raising all the stakes" thing perfectly as expected. Good stuff, excited to see what comes of it.

Marvel Knights X-Men 3
Revel (w and a) and Peter (c)

As the X-Men onsite begin to see their memories come to life as a result of Darla, powered up by Krystal's drugs, things start to break down pretty rapidly. Tons of old X-Men villains and horrors descend on the town and tensions immediately start running high, particularly from Wolverine, who has apparently gone crazy and is set on killing Darla for what he saw in her memories and what's happening all around them. As he and Rogue fight pretty brutally over it, Kitty tries to get Krystal to safety. Meanwhile, a mysterious group practically running the town and creating the drug that everyone in the town has been using, a mutant drug born of a mutant who arrived in the town some time ago, is ready to jump into the fight and do so by killing the sheriff of the town, Krystal's uncle Jasper. As Kitty and Krystal try to get away, an entity that Krystal refers to as Jasper appears in the car and attacks Kitty from behind, forcing her to phase through the moving vehicle and stranding her on the road in front of a mob of angry townspeople.

The chaos of this book is really ramping up and it's easy to lose track if you miss a single panel. In that respect, the interesting and rather gorgeous art is almost a hindrance to the book as you kind of want to skip the writing just to look at the artwork. It's the sort of book that might take a couple read-throughs to really comprehend (and even then I'm not sure I've got it all) and to really see it. I'm not the type to start complaining about pretty and experimental art in a book. The plot is maybe a little convoluted but this is the sort of story that I'd like to see the results before I officially condemn the plot. I think that it's something that could wrap up really nicely or could go entirely south depending on how Revel moves from here. This serves, then, as a very interesting midway point for the limited series and continues to set itself apart from a lot of the other books on the shelves with its action, its intimate team, and its artwork. Pretty neat issue, looking forward to how this one wraps.

X-Men Legacy 21, Amazing X-Men 2, Marvel Knights X-Men 2

X-Men Legacy 21
Spurrier (w) and Pham w/ Leisten (a) and Rosenberg (c)

David’s newfound sense of self isn’t exactly thrilling everyone close to him…or really, anyone close to him since Blindfold is the only one close to him. He visits her before he sets off on his journey and he lets her into his mind again, explaining why he has to fight the evil Xavier and where he has to do it. It has a lot to do with the psychosphere, the kind of collective subconscious that Xavier is warping and filling with hate, filling the human hivemind with hate and anger. Ruth understands all of this but doesn’t like that it’s David who has to end it and really doesn’t like that David has become something different and strange as she loves the imperfect David. As ever though, David reveals that his visit, though he loves her, was using her to try to bond his remaining personalities, as he’s always stronger and more complete when he’s around her. It, uh, it doesn’t totally work and he leaves her behind while still bemoaning all of his non-participation medal personalities. He goes to fight the gold-skinned Xavier and, despite his growing power, still can’t best him. Xavier announces that it’s worthless, that he was always the strongest piece of David, whatever he might have been in relation to David. David keeps pleading to his strongest powers to join up with him and they keep refusing. Blindfold, still in her bed at Winchester, pleads too. Xavier makes David watch as his hate bleeds into a man on a nuke-carrying submarine who goes on to kill all of his shipmates and launch the nuke before killing himself.

Despite all of the growing plot and the rising tension as the gold-skinned Xavier starts polluting the world and making humans attack one another to pave the way for mutants, everything that happens here is so fundamentally driven by Spurrier’s insistence to make David a fully realized and wonderfully compelling character. Without David’s character, it’s just another superhero-against-insurmountable-odds story, which can be perfectly fine but right now we have extra levels to it because there’s so much happening with David. In fact, by and large, I’m far more interested in what’s going to become of David as a character than I am about whether or not he’ll stop the gold-skinned Xavier. That’s not a slight on the story nor the threat, both of which are impressive, rather it’s a ringing endorsement of how interesting David is as a character and how invested the audience is in him. More great stuff, looking forward to the last few issues, sad that it’ll be ending.

Amazing X-Men 2
Aaron (w) and McGuinness and Vines (a) and Gracia (c)

After coming through the portal, the X-Men are all separated, with Storm, Iceman, and Firestar landing in what seems to be Hell and Wolverine and Northstar ending up in what seems to be Heaven. Wolverine is contacted by Xavier, who kind of explains where he is and tells him not to let go in his fight against the captain of the ship he’s fighting, Captain Jack (??). He does, of course, let go in the physical sense of the plank he’s holding on to (like, walking the plank sort of plank) and falls into what seems to be nothingness. Storm, Iceman, and Firestar look to fight their way out but pretty quickly realize that they’re not the only target of the demons below, who are also not so thrilled with Azazel. They best their adversaries, though it comes with great exhaustion to Iceman particularly. Firestar tries to help him out of Hell as Storm is captured by some of the red bamfs and the captain of the ship leaving Hell, Captain Kid, as in Billy the Kid (??). Watching the ship and ready to hijack and take it over, though, is Nightcrawler.

It’s probably wrong to say that a book is moving slowly after two issues but, I mean, this book is moving pretty slowly, right guys? It’s not that there haven’t been fights or that there haven’t been big dramatic reveals or villains (kind of, if we’re counting the weird ship captains which I’m still not really counting) because there have been. Still, the book is moving pretty slowly, which might have to do with the amount of narration and character explanations that sometimes come with the beginnings of books. In this case, we get definitions of major X-Men like Wolverine, Iceman, Storm, and Northstar, and a perhaps would-be more useful definition of Firestar if it didn’t basically just say “I don’t really know her.” The narration is from Nightcrawler which makes me wish that the issue was just about Nightcrawler already, and not about this weird Heaven/Hell thing. I’m not totally onboard with that, you guys. The art isn’t bad and I’m less bothered this time out by the similarities between this and the first few issues of NOVA (also drawn by McGuinness) which made everyone look a little more childlike than I would have hoped. I guess ultimately I just wish this book, like Aaron’s time on WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN (which I just found out will be continuing without Aaron and will pass to WINTER SOLDIER writer Jason Latour), was maybe a little less childlike than I’ve seen so far.

Marvel Knights X-Men 2
Revel (w and a) and Peter (c)

Wolverine fights off Sabretooth who reveals him to be Mystique to fight Rogue before being joined by Blob and Pyro and a cadre of Hellfire Guard, all of which rings strange to Wolverine. He realizes that something else must be causing it and sees a girl in the middle of the house, holding a gun and hiding from them. He asks if she’s doing this and she tells him that she’ll shoot him then goes ahead and shoots him. He shakes it off and she cuts her arm, making all of the manifestations disappear. They talk to her and, along with Kitty and the girl they picked up last time, determine to bring her with them until they can figure some more things out. The new girl, Darla, reveals that she can pull out memories from people’s minds and manifest them, which led to the suicide of her mother and abandonment from her father. Wolverine accuses her of killing the mutant they’re there to kill and freaks out a bit at her, which makes Rogue a bit suspicious. They probably all should be suspicious of the other girl they’re with but no one is so the adventure continues!

The story continues to be compelling as we get roped into a backwoods world of mutants and drugs and dirty cops and all sorts of other things that Wolverine, Kitty, and Rogue were never expecting. More compelling than the story and these characters, though, is the art, which continues to stand out and really looks like nothing else in comics today. Between the fluidity of the art and the almost-pastel like colors, the panels look almost like paintings, though not in the same sort of ways you get near-painting-like panels in comics occasionally, like I'd say MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN is kind of looking right now. The story itself is good and the new characters Revel has created are plenty interesting, just as it's interesting to see three core X-Men finding themselves out of their depth in a small town, but it's really the art that's drawing me in, again, not unlike MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN.

Avengers Arena 18, Uncanny Avengers 14, Avengers Assemble 21

Avengers Arena 18
Hopeless (w) and Walker and Gorder (a) and Beaulieu (c)

Katy and Death Locket watch the teen heroes fight from Arcade's bunker with Katy's finger on the trigger the entire time. The raging battles between Cammi and Nico and Anachronism and Reptil come to a grinding halt when attention is directed at the imploding Hazmat, ready to wipe them all out unintentionally. Reptil transforms into a a bigger dinosaur, one with more speed and a longer mouth, and promises he'll help her, picking her up in his mouth without a second thought, despite her protests, and rushing her into the water, where everyone sees her explode. Katy, angry that the fights have stopped, unleashes some of Arcade's last tricks, forcing the kids to fight for their lives until Tim takes a brief moment of control over Katy and demands Death Locket, still in love with Tim, kill them. Suddenly, the insect swarm, sand people, and napalm winds subside and Death Locket appears by the other survivors to explain. With the game over and Arcade gone, they decide, with the insight of the returning Hazmat, now out of her suit and not glowing but alone as she leaves the water, that they won't say anything about what happened. SHIELD and the heads of the schools come to pick the kids up and investigate but they refuse to say a word about what happened, not wanting to give Arcade the satisfaction, though Arcade gets his satisfaction as he begins to upload his 30 part video series "What Really Happened in Murder World."

Really great series, very nice ending. Our final survivor count sits at nine, I believe, leaving us with Cammi, Death Locket, Nico, Anachronism, Hazmat, Cullen, X-23, Chase, and (this is the only "I think" on the list) Chris Powell. I'll be honest, it never really occurred to me for some reason that Reptil could die in this series and, only looking back do I realize, I have no idea why I thought that. First and foremost, he wasn't that big a character, no bigger than, say, Mettle, who was exploded in the first issue also trying to save Jen. Somehow he always felt off the table so I'm a little sad to see him go here. Still, there's a nice finality to the series as the kids all get off the island and get to go home with their respective school heads. Even the discussion of how they address all of this is interesting, though I'm not sure if it takes into account the idea of the video getting out. Regardless, it's a very exciting set-up for the next step in this teens-in-peril streak Hopeless is on as some of our characters aim to infiltrate the Masters of Evil in AVENGERS UNDERCOVER. Pretty excited to see Hopeless and Walker pick up again in March. Sad this series is over, glad the characters will move on.

Uncanny Avengers 14
Remender (w) and McNiven and Dell (a) and L. Martin (c)

At various points in the future, Kang is gathering an army of supers presumably in the hopes that they can help him defeat the twins. Meanwhile, back in the present, Shiro and Rogue rush to the Ark to stop Wanda and Simon from completing the spell they think will separate mutants and humans forever, not knowing that Wanda intends to bring the mutants to the Ark to stop the twins. Rogue is dead-set on stopping Wanda any way possible but it will have to wait a moment as Daken and Grim Reaper lie in wait and pounce as soon as Rogue and Shiro appear. Wolverine, apparently following Shiro and Rogue, jumps into the fight to give Shiro the chance to remove Simon from the spell. Wolverine continues to insist no killing but is held by Daken long enough to watch Rogue escape Reaper and charge Wanda, stabbing her through the chest with her borrowed Wolverine claws. Wanda falls and Simon follows her down. Grim Reaper gets the drop on Rogue as she reaffirms to herself that it was the only way to stop Wanda. Reaper stabs her through the heart with his scythe and then, with his enhanced powers, leaves no room for doubt that she's dead as Wolverine, dispatching Daken, sprints towards him, watches him electrify her. Simon rushes to Wanda's side and, as she dies, he pours all of himself into her to power her spell, dissipating himself to help her finish her plan, calling all the mutants to rise against the twins.

Geez. Huge issue. Two major characters die and one Wonder Man maybe dies. I'm not sure how much more I have to say about this. The past thirteen issues of UNCANNY AVENGERS built to this, from Rogue and Wanda's feud to Wolverine's insistence that everyone find a no-kill solution to Wonder Man's non-violence to the return of Grim Reaper and Daken, among the other horsemen, to Rogue's killing of Grim Reaper to the mutant solution to just everything all comes down to this issue, where Rogue kills Wanda and then Grim Reaper kills Rogue all while Wolverine watches. Nearly perfect culmination of everything that Remender's been working towards all along and something that very clearly isn't a conclusion but a climax. Although it's something that we've been building towards, it's not the final step, we still have plenty to look forward to. Let's also not overlook the fact that he just killed off a couple major Marvel Universe characters, for however long. What a big and well-executed issue.

Avengers Assemble 21
DeConnick (w) and Buffagni (a) and Woodard (c)

INHUMANITY has started and the Avengers have to deal with the slew of Terrigenesis cocoons that have started popping up. Among those cocoons is the social studies teacher of Anya Corazon, aka Spider-Girl, who brings her case to the Avengers, hoping they'll be enticed by the fact that he was kidnapped while in cocoon. Spider-Woman and Black Widow team up with Anya to form a full blown spider-lady team and strike at an AIM lab that has connections to the kidnapping. They hit the lights, giving them ten seconds to dispatch of the beekeepers inside, which they manage to do with relative ease. As they start to question one of the fallen, they're surrounded by a secondary AIM team led by Widow's former foe Kashmir Vennema, the inter-dimensional arms dealer Widow ran into back in CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BLACK WIDOW. Vennema reveals that one of the cocoons they captured died (Anya's teacher) and the other is still available for sale. She also decides to have the three Avengers killed, knowing she's protected because AIM is an officially recognized entity that has now been invaded. Meanwhile, June Covington aka Toxie Doxie is on the hunt for cocoons and for vengeance for her purchased and subsequently exploded cocoon.

Nice to have a little bit of a less tense book following up AVENGERS ARENA's conclusion and UNCANNY AVENGERS' biggest issue probably ever (kind of willing to say it might be one of the biggest issues of any non-event series in recent history). Not to say this doesn't have its tension...actually, it kind of doesn't. I feel like maybe it should have had more but it's really hard to say if the lack of tension is created because it's, you know, just AIM and they're Black Widow, Spider-Woman, and Spider-Girl or if it's less tense because I'm so fresh off reading these darker and grittier books. Not to say this isn't still a fun book; there's a lot of great characterization stuff between the three leads of this issue as well as between Captain Marvel and Spider-Girl, who spar a bit over what's important and who's being condescending to whom (hint: it's Captain Marvel to Spider-Girl). Fun issue, nice little arc developing. I still really like this book as a bit of a more relaxed and character-focused Avengers title. Nice issue.

X-Men 4, Cable and X-Force 13

X-Men 4
Wood (w) and D. Lopez and C. Smith w/ N. Lee (a) and Peter (c)

The new team is fresh off their first adventure together wherein Storm was prepared to make the call to kill their friend Karima to protect the world from Arkea. It's a decision that's not exactly sitting well with her teammates, particularly Rachel, who also feels that Storm has installed herself as leader prematurely. The team has to work out their issues as they save a jet with a malfunctioning engine from crashing by hooking it to their Blackbird. Meanwhile, Wolverine escapes the school for a bit to hang out with Jubilee for the first proper time in a long while (they hung out at some point in the last couple years but it was amidst Jubilee turning into a vampire and a clan attacking Wolverine to find he doesn't turn into a vampire very well so it's not a real hangout, you know?). The two friends and Jubilee's adopted son Shogo hit a couple of Jubilee's old favorite places in the California town where she grew up and share a very nice day which ends with Wolverine buying Jubilee's old house, unbeknownst to her. He's a good guy, that one. Also featured prominently on the cover.

Lot of really good stuff in here. It's a bit wordy, particularly as we get accustomed to this team and the way they talk and the issues they have to work out but the words aren't typically wasted. There are a few bits that feel a little forced, particularly with Jubilee as she and Wolverine decide that subtext is for suckers and that they'd rather lay their history out on the table in front of us for all to see but it's still not the worst decision. Jubilee has been removed from the spotlight for a while now and it seems like she's going to be a major player in this book full of people who have stayed very much in the spotlight lately. Best to get everyone caught up. Besides, her relationship with Wolverine does allow for that sort of talk. It's not perfect and you do catch yourself reading a lot of bits like "hey, I was a pretty lost kid myself when the X-Men found me!" but it gets across the points we need and generally keeps pretty uptempo. The other storyline, featuring the actual X-Men team, is even stronger, showing the team dealing with problems and giving us a good sense of personalities on the team. On top of that, it's a little nice to see a crisis solved efficiently and effectively and without a single supervillain showing up. You guys, there wasn't even a supervillain in this book. Kind of neat to just see them being heroes because they can do things like save jets, not because they're the only one matched to fight a supervillain. Solid issue, I think the best that's come about so far. Also a nice side of Wolverine that certainly has existed but isn't focused on a ton.

Cable and X-Force 13
Hopeless and Bunn (w) and Larroca and Sandoval (a) and D'Armata (c)

Hope is still in the future talking to future Hope and Blaquesmith while X-Force, starting to come back together again, is still dealing with problems in the past. We finally get the Dr. Nemesis and Forge bit that I've been waiting for and it does not disappoint, though it's incredibly short-lived as the two argue about the best way to destroy a giant horrible monster (kind of Cthulu-ish but not exactly, for reference), with both shooting down the other's ideas one by one. Domino, Boom-Boom, and Colossus show up and, with a combination of punches and explosions, defeat the monster pretty quickly. As the team talks, Domino reveals that Cable's in trouble and they head out to attack the Uncanny Avengers again. Cable himself is trying to explain things to Alex who finds himself in the difficult position of believing Cable but still unsure how to deal with what seemed to be a terrorist attack to the media by Cable's team and the fact that Cable's seizures are getting worse and worse, causing his powers to go out of control and hurt people nearby. Finally, Hope, in dealing with her future self and Blaquesmith, has found that she's not particularly fond of her future self and the solutions they've come up with. They've made Cable have these visions in the hopes (ha, get it, two Hopes) that he stays in the superhero game (he would have quit, future Hope relates, if not for these visions and it would have doomed the world). Of course, the downside is that now it's killing him and present Hope has to figure that out herself.

A lot going on here and, as I said, the Dr. Nemesis and Forge bit is exactly what I was reading for and I was not disappointed, except in that it's so quickly over. I just want to read them talk with one another. PRO-TIP: read Dr. Nemesis as a 1950s detective or, more accurately, as the Venture Brothers' Cardholder and Doe. It's the most fun in the world and hopefully you'll understand what I see in him. Anyway, the team's stuff is mostly interesting, the Hope stuff feels a little protracted and a bit weak and Cable's stuff is good but we already pretty much know it all, it's just him explaining it to Havok now. Some decent writing carries a bit of the bad stuff though the Hope sections still feel pretty slow and they're the majority of this book. It's tough to wade through a bit of time as Hope can't quite figure out what's happening and, when it all clicks into place, she's angry at future Hope for not realizing her plans might kill Cable. The issue ends with Blaquesmith and future Hope preparing to send Hope back to the past with the corny and shoe-horned line that the weapon she's carrying with her back there is "a fighting chance." Come on, don't leave us with that, you guys. Leave us with Dr. Nemesis finding a new hat! His excursion to a hat store!

All-New X-Men 13, Uncanny X-Men 7, X-Men 2

All-New X-Men 13
Bendis (w) and Immonen and Von Grawbadger (a) and Beredo (c)

Wolverine, Kitty, and the young original X-Men team are on the search for Mystique and company, fresh off being framed for crimes she committed with their appearance. Wolverine and Kitty teach Jean how to use her powers to keep them unseen at the crime scene and the rest of the team starts investigating. Wolverine recognizes that Sabretooth is with Mystique and says that he can track them. Jean can't keep up the illusion and soon they're found at the scene. Bobby makes an ice wall to cover their escape but they've again been seen on the spot. In the X-Jet, Jean frets about letting the team down while Scott tries to comfort her and they all watch Alex Summers' press conference from Uncanny Avengers, where he says that he wants people to stop using the "m" word and start viewing everyone by their character. Wolverine and Kitty both express levels of distaste for this plan with Kitty's coming as an impassioned speech about anti-Semitism she's faced and how she'd rather see prejudiced people coming or something of the like. They crash Mystique's hideout where she's trying to pay Madame Hydra for control of Madripoor. The entire team instantly starts fighting everyone but Lady Mastermind spots Jean Grey and creates an image of the original Mastermind to toy with her mind, which sends her into a panic and makes her go Phoenix on everyone.

I have a number of issues with this series that are pretty documented at this point but there are a handful that are specific to this issue that are worth mentioning. At one point, when Wolverine is discovering that Sabretooth is with Mystique, Scott asks how long they've fought Sabretooth and how well Sabretooth knows them before deducing that Sabretooth and Mystique will know Wolverine is going to do this and is coming, to which Wolverine responds "Yeah, you're right," as if the thought hadn't crossed his mind. I understand Bendis' need/desire to make Cyclops look like a good leader/strategist but it comes at the expense of showing Wolverine, someone who literally thinks about fighting more often than anyone in the world and who knows these specific enemies better than anyone, as incompetent. The speech from Kitty about a moment in her past when her heart was broken by a boy who made an anti-Semetic comment is a nice character pice for her but it gets pretty muddled in there. I thought she was going to agree with Alex's point about judging people for their character before judging them for their race or religion and then I had to read it over again a couple times to see where I'd lost the thread of it. And, of course, it ends with Bobby going "You're Jewish?" because he's incapable of keeping his mouth shut at any point in this series for any amount of time. These may seem like nitpicks but they all do strike an unpleasant chord with me that makes this story feel like lazy writing. Scott is a strategist because he improbably out-strategizes Wolverine and Kitty has a full page talk about how people are prejudiced. In six panels, there are 27 word bubbles, all from Kitty. I don't know. I still can't get my head around this series. Seriously, why are these kids still in the present?

Uncanny X-Men 7
Bendis (w) and Irving (a and c)

Magik has managed to magic Scott's X-Men out of Limbo at great personal cost. She tells her story to a somewhat confused and stunned Doctor Strange and it carries throughout the issue. She tells him about how they got into Limbo and about her connection with it before explaining the fight that went on. The X-Men are losing the fight and she knows it. She manages, then, to really take control of Limbo, sending the X-Men out of it to safety and taking the whole dimension within herself. That's why she's come to Doctor Strange; she needs to get the dimension out and learn to control her powers more than she ever has. Doctor Strange accurately realizes in the midst of the story that Illyana has traveled through time to talk to him and we learn that she is talking with him in a point before he's ever been an Avenger. Illyana explains that the Avengers and X-Men don't see eye-to-eye right now and that she couldn't go to him in present day because he might not help her. He agrees to teach her what he can. Meanwhile, the X-Men, back home, are starting to figure out that maybe Scott doesn't have the level of power they think he does and he tells them that they're all going to train more. The kid who produces gold balls (what) doesn't want anything to do with the team any more. Oh, and one of the kids died in Limbo but their healer managed to bring him back.

Time travel is popping up a lot in books recently and, used well, it can be pretty effective. The problem with time travel is that it too often comes as a panacea to problems and typically an uninteresting one in that role. Someone like Kang, who is known for time-traveling, tends to use it best because it's part of his character and it's what we expect him to do. It would be weird if he wasn't time-traveling to wreak havoc. However, I think I've made it pretty clear that I'm not impressed by Bendis' time-traveling capers. I didn't care for Age of Ultron and I don't care for All-New X-Men. Throw time-traveling in again here and you can bet that I'll be on my guard.

X-Men 2
Wood (w) and Coipel, Morales, and Hanna (a) and L. Martin, Milla and Strain (c)

Arkea has taken the body of X-friend Karima Shapandar, the Omega Sentinel who has been in a coma for some time but who has all sorts of technology in her, and it using this body to attack the X-Men. She takes Hank out and locks down the entire Jean Grey school. Rogue goes immediately to try to stop her and is surprised to see Karima up and moving. It catches her off-guard long enough to keep Arkea ahead in the fight. Storm sends Kitty in next, which legitimately worries Arkea, who has accessed the X-Men files. When Kitty arrives, Arkea attacks her and Kitty gives Karima one chance to fight back before she threatens to compromise the system. Arkea, with all the files downloaded and with Karima's circuitry repaired, escapes. Sublime stresses to them again how much trouble they're in as Rachel tracks Arkea's movements. The team, except Kitty (and maybe Rogue, it's hard to tell where she's at right now), all get on a jet to track Arkea. Storm allows Jubilee and the little baby Shogo to come as well and Sublime has a somewhat nice moment with them, where he tells Jubilee that the baby is safe of control from Arkea and, to Jubilee's delight, refers to the boy as Jubilee's son. Kitty, heading up the clean-up efforts at the Jean Grey School, is surprised when one of the students unearths what looks like it could be a bomb.

The action keeps on rolling with issue two and it definitely puts this series in a good place going forward. We have an interesting and very formidable villain and a definite feel for the team. It's still a little too early to get a complete read on how this team is going to hold up but we can already start to see the pieces falling into place. Storm has quickly assumed the leader role (well-deserved) and dispatches orders with efficiency. Every piece works pretty well together and it feels right; all of these X-Men have worked with one another innumerable times and it makes sense that they would so quickly fall into the appropriate roles and trust that everything Storm was directing would make sense. It's a solid issue of what looks like it could be turning into a solid book. There are a few nice character moments, including the question of whether Kitty would have phased through Karima to try to take out Arkea. I'm sure we haven't seen the end of that.

X-Men 1, Uncanny X-Force 5

X-Men 1
Wood (w) and Coipel and Morales (a) and L. Martin (c)

John Sublime, powerful enemy of the X-Men, has returned to the mutant corner of the Marvel Universe but seemingly only to ask for help. Also returning to the X-Men is former-mutant-turned-vampire (this is comics, this is how things work out here) Jubilee, now with a baby in tow. It's not her baby and these events aren't unconnected. Sublime followed Jubilee in Europe and in the New York train station while she made contact with the X-Men. He then pushes ahead to the Jean Grey School, where Rachel Grey and Psylocke accept his surrender and begin interrogating him. They learn that he had a sister strain of bacteria who he had more or less pushed away and forced to evolve on her own. She has returned to Earth after millennia in space, feeding off alien technology before riding meteors back to Earth, and seems destined both to do the jobs Sublime couldn't and to kill Sublime, who has come to the X-Men for protection and aid. He reveals to them that Jubilee is connected to this whole situation through the orphan baby she's adopted. That baby seems to be carrying the strain, which Sublime reveals can take over machines the way he takes over people, and the strain causes the train Jubilee and her escort force of Kitty Pryde, Storm, and Rogue are on to switch tracks. The X-Men save the people on the train (if not the train itself) and manage to make it to Westchester. When there, the baby makes contact with a phone that Jubilee has been given and the strain transports itself to Beast's lab, where it takes on a new form and reveals itself as Arkea Prime.

The series starts off with a bang, considering how much information and story we're given to process. It's nearly impossible to make judgment calls on the first issue as there is too much that needs to get done in that time so it's tricky to make definitive statements about a series as a whole and I wouldn't want anyone doing it, let alone myself. So I won't do that. However, I will say that I'm looking forward to seeing all these characters interact. I was looking forward to it before the series started and I'm looking forward to it even more now. I appreciate the way that it was handled this issue and I'm hoping that more time grants more opportunity for that. Though she's already been somewhat quieter than the rest, I love the way Storm is being developed so far. She's quiet and thoughtful and seems to always have something processing. It's a bit early to get a read on everyone at this stage, but hopefully little characterizations come up like that more. For now, though, enjoy this Skottie Young variant cover for X-Men 1.

Uncanny X-Force 5
Humphries (w) and Alphona and Soy (a) and Strain and Curiel (c)

Storm and Psylocke have entered Bishop's fractured mind to try to understand what's going on with the crazed mutant while Puck watches over them and Spiral, their captive. Inside Bishop's mind, Storm and Psylocke move through the memories of their old friend and learn a bit about what the time traveler has been up to since he was exiled in the future by the X-Men for trying relentlessly to kill Hope. They have some sympathy for him, especially when he spares the life of a possessed girl and cures her, despite what his new leaders tell him and when he tells that girl that he now can see how much he tortured Hope and how unconscionable it was. They also manage to see who it was that possessed him, finding the White Owl and the Bear that Psylocke fought and trying to stop him from ever being possessed. As Storm and Psylocke are at work in Bishop's mind, their bodies are taking a bit of a toll, both nose-bleeding as tough mind-reading is wont to cause. Puck doesn't really notice (nor can he really do anything) as Spiral offered him alcohol and now he's telling stories and doing flips and the like. She uses this moment to try to escape but finds Puck isn't quite so incapacitated as she thought and he puts her back down but, at that point, notices that something's wrong: Betsy's body is missing. Cut to Cluster, the Lady Fantomex, driving away with Betsy and swearing that she's safe now.

The way that Bishop's mind is presented and illustrated is pretty stunning, as Storm and Psylocke trek through the ruins trying to figure out what went wrong and what they can do to save it. It does carry on for quite a bit to give us a sense of the person Bishop is now and to create questions for the reader (how was Bishop brought back from the dead? Who is the mysterious Order that Bishop joined up with? What is the White Owl and how are they going to find/stop it? Why did Bishop save the possessed little girl against orders? Where did the White Owl end up? When will we find all of this out?) but there's enough to keep the reader interested. However, it's hard not to feel, still, like the best story is going on in the shadows. Granted, I'm a huge Fantomex fan and it was the Fantomexes that really drove my curiosity about this book, but we're getting their story very slowly or quietly, if at all. I can't say I blame Humphries for this and perhaps the payoff of waiting so long for this story (yes five issues is SO LONG) is going to be enhanced by the way its being divulged, but it's a little hard to get to the end of the issue and go "THAT'S THE STORY I WANTED TO READ, THE ONE WITH THE THREE FANTOMEXES FIGHTING." Still, paves the way for a solid Fantomex issue next time, right? Right?

Uncanny Avengers 8AU, Fearless Defenders 4AU

Uncanny Avengers 8AU
Remender and Duggan (w) and Kubert (a) and F. Martin (c)

I can't help feeling, again and again, that the AU tie-in books are stronger than the AU series books. That might not necessarily be a really bad thing (though it's a little hard to argue the point) because the event is producing good comics somewhere. It is weird, though, that I understand more about the Age of Ultron event from reading the side books than I understand from the Age of Ultron main title. Not about the "Ultron is here, go back and time and kill Hank Pym bit." That plot is really easy to understand (if a little hackneyed) despite the series' insistence that it's not and they need to spend four issues telling you all about it. However, this issue goes out of its way to explain the dynamics of the new world that's been created by Hank Pym's death, showing us more than what the main series had, which had pretty much been "LOOK, NOW HE'S COLONEL AMERICA AND HE HAS AN EYEPATCH AND LOOK OVER THERE, WASP IS CAPTAIN MARVEL WASP." Here, Remender and Duggan attempt to explain how some of the relationships in this world work and how the world itself functions without the Avengers (I'm going to be honest, I still don't see how Hank Pym dying ends the Avengers in total. I know he was a founding member and he did a lot of big things here and there but, let's be honest, he's Hank Pym). On top of that, we understand a good deal more about Eimin and Uriel's upbringing at the hands of Kang and what Kang's plans are.

Kang is trying to raise Eimin and Uriel (this seems to happen before their attack in UA, not to be confused with AU) to be prepared to kill human. He wants them to kill Colonel America in this dimension (which he also knows is inconsequential, just like the audience of AU) to get some practice. Meanwhile, Steve is going to talk to Havok, the leader of the Morlocks, underground in the hopes of bringing Caliban, who has killed someone, to court. He and Alex and Rogue (Alex's wife in this dimension) argue a bit about mutants and humans and everything else before Uriel and Eimin attack. Cap leads them away from the Morlocks and is starting to lose the fight when Alex intercedes. He gives Steve time to escape before getting sliced in half himself by Uriel. Rogue attacks Uriel and is fatally wounded, but absorbs his memories and finds out about their past at the hands of Kang. She tries to talk to him as she's dying, trying to get him to understand how evil Kang is and how he and his sister are being used. She starts to get through to him but Kang directs Eimin to finish Rogue off. As punishment for letting Steve escape, Kang sends the Apocalpyse twins back to the mutant camps to learn to hate humanity some more. It's a good standalone issue that serves as a solid addition to both AU and UA. Can't ask more of a tie-in book than that.

Fearless Defenders 4AU
Bunn (w) and Jimenez and Kesel w/ McConnell (a) and Fabela (c)

This one was a bit less telling. It still follows the basic functions of the the tie-in; we learn a little about the world of AU while also focusing on a character from the Fearless Defenders. In this case, we learn an awful lot about Hippolyta. Ares rules Latveria under the guise of Dr. Doom and we find out that Hippolyta, who is Ares' daughter, was killed by her own daughter who had decided her mother wasn't fit to rule the Amazonians. Ares then sought retribution on the Amazonians for killing his daughter but Hippolyta knows that it was Ares who stoked the fire in her daughter, even if Hippolyta's death wasn't his goal. And Caroline le Fey wants to meet Dr. Doom who is her father. So there are some daddy issues abound. However, I can't say there's too much more.

We learn a bit about Hippolyta, who is probably the character who has most risen out of the ashes (literally and in terms of the Marvel Universe) from this Fearless Defenders team. We also learn a bit more about the AU universe, including the state of Latveria and its people, and what has happened to Mjolnir (it now rests with Ares, though it's "worthy" magic has dissipated now that Thor has died, which I would say isn't really how Mjolnir works but whatever, I'm not a Mjolnir historian, despite my wishes). Oh, and Caroline le Fey has a sort of Cable-like origin story but without the "raised in a hellish war zone and forced to adapt" bit. Instead, she was sent to the future by her mother to be raised by wealthy followers of her mother. Okay, I'm reaching a bit for plot pieces so let's just wrap it up. If you're trying to complete your AU collection, pick this up or if you're a diehard Hippolyta fan. Otherwise, worth a miss.