Wolverine MAX 15, Marvel Knights Hulk 2, Night of the Living Deadpool 1

Wolverine MAX 15
Starr (w) and Ruiz (a) and Brown (c)

Logan searches the house of the people he just killed trying to defend for a means to start his new life. He finds a little bit of money, showers, and takes some new clothes with him back to Vegas where he gambles the money into a good amount more money. Before he can take off, though, he's drugged and brought to Mickey Gold's penthouse again and put in an adamantium cage. Gold comes in and soliloquizes about who Wolverine is and a little about his past (apparently he was hunted by a Frank Castle in a weird plot twist that will go nowhere as this is the last issue) before revealing that he was the one who paid for Wolverine's adamantium claws and that he also put adamantium claws into himself after finding out Wolverine was a disappointment (guys, this doesn't make any sense. Gold himself admits to not having a healing factor. How would he make his bones the hardest metal ever without a healing factor? Okay, I run a comics review blog, there's no need to call me a nerd for that statement specifically). They fight to the death over Gold's dead son and Wolverine eventually wins out. He also kills the security guards who come to assist Gold and he gets out of town. His last stop before movie on to a new life is to some train tracks, where he sticks his arms out to be run over by a coming train, hoping that his claws won't regrow next time.

I continue to not be sad about this book ending as it still disappoints more than anything else. Frankly, I think this and SAVAGE WOLVERINE should probably be one book, the all-the-gore-you-could-want Wolverine title. A friend of mine was talking with me a couple years ago about the brief introduction of Wolverine to Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and how excited that friend was to see Wolverine disembowel a villain on the show (it's shown through a shadow on the show to avoid showing too much gore but it's very clear how violent Wolverine is in the moment). Not because my friend loves grisly deaths but because that's what Wolverine does and, if I may be so bold, is the best at doing. He doesn't typically do that much in a standalone WOLVERINE series because they want to show him with heart and with a moral center that hates doing the violent things he does, which is totally fine. But if you're going to make a book about Wolverine that promises a return-to-basics Wolverine or if you're making a book that exists in order to show gore and sex and you have the ability to use Wolverine, you should be having a blast. This book was never having a blast. SAVAGE WOLVERINE seems like it often has more fun than this one but can't go as far and this one never has the fun it feels like it should. I don't know. Anyway, not upset this one's ending (though I will sincerely miss the monthly awesome Jock cover). It feels like it was meant to do something different and just never got around to it. Speaking of...

Marvel Knights Hulk 2
Keatinge (w) and Kowalski (a) and Filardi (c)

The two gamma-infused super soldiers detonated on Banner and took down much of a city block to do it. SHIELD officer Molly Fitzgerald is sent to collect Banner from the French authorities holding him but doesn't get there before Banner's stolen away by the very people who were trying to capture him anyway. They're apparently an off-shoot of AIM, led by a High Commander Harrow, intent on permanently separating from AIM. To do that, though, comes at the cost of making AIM an enemy and, in that respect, Harrow and her off-shoot are a bit outgunned. Harrow wants Hulk on her side but can't get Banner to remember anything nor to actually Hulk out. She injects him with the same serum the super soldiers had that will hopefully enhance his Hulk powers and make him loyal to her. Eventually all of the torture and everything else works and he Hulks out, possibly remembering who he is in the process, but the serum works as well so after he defeats the attacking AIM forces, he bows to Harrow.

There are three MARVEL KNIGHTS series currently running in the Marvel Universe, between this, MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN, and MARVEL KNIGHTS X-MEN. Each book seems to mix some sort of interesting new self-involved story with a really interesting and different art style that might not work thrust into the mainstream series but that really differentiates itself from anything else out there. Except, I would say, MARVEL KNIGHTS HULK. MARVEL KNIGHTS HULK tells a story where Banner has amnesia (which is, I suppose, maybe a new-ish idea but it's mistaking the idea that we really care about Banner and, since by issue two we've seen Hulk, the stakes are quickly lowered on that front) and Hulk is controlled by someone else, which is kind of a running theme for Hulk books. Not that it happens all the time, but that it happens enough (particularly if you've ever read just about anything in the Ultimate Universe). Also, the art is fine but it doesn't stand out in any way from other books on the market, particularly not in the same way that Marco Rudy's amazing MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN art flows around a page or the way that Brahm Revel's pastel-like art creates a tone for MARVEL KNIGHTS X-MEN. This one just kind of is. I don't think it's an awful story or something particularly poorly written, I'm just not that engaged by it and I'm finding it hard to see why this is in the MARVEL KNIGHTS line. Maybe I would be more lenient on it if it was called "HULK: THAT TIME HE HAD AMNESIA" or something like that but putting it in the MK line means that it has a sort of implied standard to live up to and I don't think it's doing that.

Night of the Living Deadpool 1
Bunn (w) and Rosanas (a and c)

Deadpool awakens after a food coma to find the world almost empty but for the zombies roaming every corner. Despite the papers flying around with headlines like "Dead Walk!" and "Dead Rising From the Grave!" and the hints he may have seen in the previous few weeks (of which there are plenty), it takes Deadpool actually running into a zombie and attracting a horde to himself when he fires a gun to realize that maybe there are such thing as zombies. He's ready to start slicing and dicing as he's surrounded on all sides before a human tells him to duck and promptly mows down a path of zombies so Deadpool can jump into their truck. They tell him they're headed to a potential army outpost that's hopefully still okay (assuming the contact they have with them can live that long) and inform him that the virus spread remarkably quickly, quickly enough that he missed it in the couple of days he was asleep in a chimichanga restaurant. Also, all the other heroes are apparently dead.

Hope you're not tired of zombie stories because HERE'S ANOTHER ONE. There are parts of this one that make it enjoyable still and if you're a zombie fan, likely you're going to want to flock to this. This one spends a lot of time establishing the zombie-run world (these zombies are a bit different as they still seem to have a human consciousness trying to reach out but unable to actually fight their body from attacking) and showing Deadpool ignoring the signs of the virus as it was happening. It's hard not to compare this one to THE WALKING DEAD, the major zombie series in comics and now in other media. For starters, the zombie world is all black and white (except for Deadpool), like THE WALKING DEAD comics. Even Deadpool waking up from a "coma" and finding himself in the middle of a city overrun and saved by a group of other survivors harkens back to TWD (though it's not unique in that respect). Still, the book obviously won't continue to be exactly the same as TWD features a sheriff with a complex history and a family to look after as its protagonist and this one features Deadpool. It's a pretty book (though I couldn't help wondering if I'd feel that way if it weren't black and white with splashes of Deadpool color) and, I mean, it's a zombie story, so you probably already know a lot about it, right?

What I'm Reading (non-Marvel edition)

Pretty much every post of this blog is, in truth, "what I'm reading." However, it's pretty much always on the Marvel side of things and there are, despite my unending affinity for Marvel, plenty of really great books out there that aren't Marvel. Clever readers that you are, you'll likely recognize some of the creators, as I tend to follow creators more these days and they never seem to disappoint. Let's just name a few.

Batman
The most well-known book on my what-I'm-reading list, though I haven't read it in a couple issues (got a little thrown by some of the recent events in that universe, which I'm not so up-to-date on at current). Scott Snyder writes a really fine book and it's a fascinating take on the character. Some good stuff. I didn't hate Batman Incorporated either and I'd like to read Batman '66 but I haven't really had the time (I love Jeff Parker though and I've heard good things so maybe at some point).

Pretty Deadly
Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, Jordie Bellaire, Clayton Cowles, goodness, it's a list of truly wonderful people. The first issue just came out this week to resounding numbers and I highly encourage you to read it. Not a superhero book, though it certainly already has supernatural elements. It also has a real Western feel to it. Very cool first issue, gorgeous book with really pretty writing and an intriguing story. Looking forward to issue two. Pick up book one, though, if you haven't already.

Velvet
I fell a little behind on Ed Brubaker's Fatale (though I have every intention of catching up at some point), though I heard wonderful things about it and Brubaker has just about never disappointed before. Velvet is his newest creator-owned book and it's pretty neat already. It's a spy book, still in Brubaker's noir-obsessed tone, and with an already interesting protagonist in Velvet Templeton. Art by Steve Epting (who Brubaker worked with back in their prime Captain America days) and gorgeous Bettie Breitweiser colors to make it all come together. Really looking forward to this book as it continues.

Sex Criminals and Satellite Sam
Two different Matt Fraction books that are, perhaps, a little less family-friendly than I tend to recommend. Sex Criminals, as you might imagine, is proving itself the less family-friendly of the two but it's still pretty clever writing with some quirky ideas and mostly likable main characters. Chip Zdarsky's art is clean and pretty and fits the tone well. Satellite Sam is a bit more intensive, following the mystery around the death of the lead actor in a 1950s space television show. There's a huge cast of characters (which makes it a little head-spinning from issue to issue) but the writing is tight and Howard Chaykin's art is my absolute favorite from him that I've ever seen. This one is a little risqué but, even if it didn't revolve a bit around sex, I wouldn't recommend it for a particularly young audience because I think it requires a little more patience and enthusiasm for characters, period pieces, and/or writing. Really good book though.

Lazarus
Greg Rucka and Michael Lark have created a fascinating dystopia predicated on the idea that pretty much all of the wealth in the world is held by a few families. They have so much wealth, in fact, that they were able to bioengineer one of their own children to be the family's protector. For the Carlyle family, their youngest daughter Forever is her family's Lazarus, capable of fighting and strategizing and, you know, coming back from the dead for her family. It's left her feeling a little unsure of her humanity, which comes at a bad time for the Carlyles as they're embroiled in a bit of an internal struggle for power. There's a lot to really like here. The ideas are pretty fantastic, the world is very well-created, and the characters are interesting. Michael Lark's art is fantastic, perfectly matching the tone of the writing and the seriousness of the characters.

Crossed: Wish You Were Here
This is the only book I'm reading that's free to read online. Si Spurrier's take on Garth Ennis' original series (I never read that so you can definitely pick this one up just from Spurrier's take, though I'm sure Ennis' work is phenomenal) which focuses on a group of survivors of some sort of horrible epidemic that makes people worse than zombies. I used to have fears of zombies but, after reading this series, that all changed. It can definitely get worse. This is another one definitely not meant for kids. Very good writing, very good characters, extremely compelling story, it's all here. Like I said, it's free to read but definitely not for everyone. Looking forward to Spurrier's next free-to-read series, Disenchanted, which should actually be live by the time this posts so maybe click that link and check in? This one is supposed to be, after a fashion, about fairies and other similar fantasy tropes, but in a very, very dark and bleak world. It goes live today (10/28) so I trust it's there now (I'm writing this Sunday night, okay?).

The Walking Dead
Robert Kirkman's most well-known series is certainly still as intense and good as ever. This is typically just about the fastest read I have, one that constantly surprises me when it ends. Well-written, well-developed characters, always interesting plot, plenty happening to keep it fresh. I've heard from a reliable source that Kirkman's superhero comic Invincible is actually better, but I've not read that yet so you'll have to deal with this pretty stock suggestion.

Uncanny
It's hard not to draw comparisons to X-Men with Andy Diggle's new Uncanny series, particularly with a name like "Uncanny." Of course, it's less like X-Men and more like "criminals with mutant powers," or even like "questionably good people caught in a bad situation or, perhaps, bad situations with questionably bad people and all of them may or may not have mutant powers." Okay, it's maybe a little bit long for a tagline but that doesn't make it any less apt. Good writing, questionably likable characters, a plot involving criminals and double-crosses and regular crosses and just so much. Good stuff.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Okay, don't just rule me out now, alright? TMNT creator Kevin Eastman has returned to the Turtles and is delivering a heckuva story for us. The characters are largely the ones you remember, though, depending on what iteration you've seen, they may be a little more intense than you remember. Really broad, sweeping story that involves most of the Turts universe at any given time and that constantly draws you in. The art fits really well with the tone and it's a pretty mature story for a property that has had something of an identity crisis over the last couple of decades, trying to decide who it's for. For the record, I also really love the new Turtles cartoon on Nickelodeon.

Sandman
Guys, if you haven't read Sandman, you should really do that. Obviously this is a bit of an older series but I've never actually read it all the way through. I had read the first few arcs several times over in the last few years but hadn't ever kept going; not for lack of interest, just from lack of ability. I'm working my way through the whole series now and GEEZ, it's just really good all the way through. Beautiful and thought-provoking story with amazing characters and a full history and world all its own. Neil Gaiman's writing is as strong as ever and the art, despite the revolving door of artists, stays consistently wonderful throughout. One of the most timeless and meaningful comics available.


I'm sure there are more I'm not thinking about right now but these are the biggest ones I can come up with off the top of my head. This blog's intent, of course, is to review Marvel comics but that doesn't mean that's where my interests stop. These are my favorite non-Marvel titles at the moment though I'm willing to read just about anything so there could always be more that come up from time to time. I'd recommend all of these to just about anyone. Support indie comics and all that, a message I never really have time to give in a blog about the biggest comic company around.