X-Treme X-Men 13, Wolverine 2

Some sad news upfront: Marvel has apparently made the decision to cancel the ongoing Winter Soldier series with issue 19 in June. I'm rather disappointed but not entirely surprised. More on Monday (likely, assuming I write the post in advance; like I said, I will not be around most of next week).

X-Treme X-Men 13
Lapham, Liu, and Pak (s) and Pak (w) and Mogorron and Valdes, Tadeo, Cuevas, Ho, and Wong (a) and Loughridge (c)

The pressure stays on for the X-Termination event with X-Treme X-Men 13. The creature who made it to the 616 has successfully brought down the Dreaming Celestial and imbibed it, but not before the Earth team found the Celestial's memory banks and realized that this creature is intending to bring millions more back that way to destroy the entire universe. Kurt (I'm calling kid Nightcrawler "Kurt" and AoA Nightcrawler "Nightcrawler," for a bit of a key here) helps teleport people back and forth through the portal but the strain of it shows on him. Meanwhile, Jean and Nightcrawler try to snag the Apocalypse Seed back from Dark Beast so that Jean can use it. In the ensuing chase, the seed gets close enough to one of the creatures that the teams can see the reaction to the seed's appearance. The creature shies away from it, so it does seem like using the Apocalypse Seed is a possible method to destroy. Prophet still believes that Jean can handle it so she'd be the natural choice. However, Prophet also decides that it's too late to save both worlds. Simple timing means that only one world is possible to save so they'll have to choose. Dazzler refuses to accept this and they decide that they could save both if all three creatures were in the same place. Sadly, the creature on 616 seems to have no plans of returning to the AoA. Kurt, already affected by the strain of everything, sacrifices himself to teleport the creature in. Dazzler catches him on a light slide as he falls. We're not given any final signal that he's dead, important to note, but it does seem pretty final and EITHER WAY it's pretty sad, probably more sad if the cover didn't have his team surrounding his fallen body. Nightcrawler stabs Beast through the back and they recover the Apocalypse Seed as the book ends.
So a few more twists, a few more turns. At least for now the 616 is safe but they have limited time to destroy these creatures before more show up and the seed seems the only way. The last couple books in this series have a lot of ground to cover, as they need to defeat the enemies, show us the seed's effect, and, presumably, give us a sense of what happens to the X-Treme X-Men and this whole Age of Apocalypse, as both books are officially over now. Two more books left in this event and it somehow seems like both too many books left and too few. It's a weird feeling. I suppose that could be a good thing, though, as it could just leave us right where we want with length. The event continues to be, in my opinion, the best one currently happening at Marvel.

Wolverine 2
Cornell (w) and Davis and Farmer (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

This book is confusing, so let's try to work it out. First off, there's some sort of weird maybe drug deal happening where cops and gangsters alike have joined up and at least one gang member was surprised by this and shot by everyone involved for his surprise. Then we cut back to Wolverine. That in itself raises a few questions. Is the business with the child Alex a distraction? Are the drugs the ones mind-controlling Alex? Are the people behind the drugs behind all of this? I don't know. So Wolverine continues to chase Alex, who is acting very strange but is still not hesitating to shoot people with the new gun. He's acting strangely enough that Wolverine quickly realizes that Alex is no longer in control of his own body. Alex momentarily evades Wolverine and Wolvy starts asking around for information in the street. A homeless person offers him a protein booster that will help his powers for a dollar, which Wolverine accepts, much to the surprise of the homeless person. Instead of rubbing it on his chest, as the homeless person suggests, Wolverine drinks it to "clear his palate." It seems like I'm going into a lot of detail for a throwaway scene, but it is kind of interesting to note and might come back later (Chekhov's gun and all, yes?). It's interesting in the "clear the palate" kind of way, but also in his attitude when he explains what he did to the thing inhabiting Alex, saying that it doesn't really matter what it was because he'll heal from it. So Wolverine and "Alex" have a chat about how much "Alex" has learned about Wolverine before he loses the gun and throws Alex off the building, saying goodbye to Wolverine and that maybe they'll talk again. Wolverine dives after them and saves Alex, allowing the gun to leave his sight to save the child. Alex snaps out of it and remembers Wolverine as the person who killed his dad and starts crying. The entity inhabits another guy who picks up the gun, but new Nick Fury shows up and shoots him before having a chat with Wolverine about how they want to play this. The Watcher shows up as the issue ends.
So there's a lot going on here and it doesn't all fit together just yet. It's still pretty interesting and it promises to keep up the pace as the Watcher makes his appearance. Some payoff's going to have to start seeping through, though, or else all this confusion for confusion's sake will wear a little thin. I like the way Wolverine's being characterized though. He comes off as quick thinking and weathered and like someone who has been in these sorts of situations before. He pretty quickly recognizes mind-control (as I feel more heroes probably should by that point) and does what he can to learn more without hurting Alex. His interaction with Nick Fury is nice because it's not the kind of typical interaction, wherein they have to get acclimated to one another or it's just an exposition dump or anything like that. Instead, Nick and Wolverine talk like two people who have known each other's histories and know each other's roles pretty well. Nick asks which of Wolverine's teams he wants to call in on this and Wolvy tells him that he wants them all to hang back for a bit. Wolverine also takes charge, saying that he has evidence in his shoulder (a bullet that went in and never came out) that will have to be removed delicately. It's the way I suppose I'd expect Wolverine to act. A lot of Wolverine comics prefer to go the surly route with Wolvy, which I think is in his personality, but it ends up kind of overriding some more sensible things I'd imagine Wolverine as knowing to do. Here he's acting sensible and taking help where it's offered, instead of shoving Fury away and chasing after the gun. So let's keep that up.

Comics this week

After 11 new releases last week made it tricky to find five to be super excited about, we return to 17 new mainstream Marvel releases this week and it gets tricky to narrow it down again. The problem with the format of this pre-game business is that we're going to pretty quickly start seeing the same books over and over on the list. I'll be honest, it's not a huge problem. It just means that there are some really fine books coming out from Marvel these days.

Avengers Arena 7
Guys, I just watched The Hunger Games on Netflix last night. It was too long. Anyway, I'm a little interested to see how knowing some of the source material affects my enjoyment of this series. I don't expect it to have a huge impact, as I knew the gist of it all back when Arena started but I'm interested to see if I'll pick up on things I wouldn't have otherwise now that I've seen it all (I'm mostly interested in the comparison between Arcade and that one guy in Hunger Games). Also, you know, I'm just excited for this book. Excitement and twists at every turn. I love the pacing of the book so far, allowing us to see a bit from every group before letting us view all groups in one issue. Well constructed series so far.

Hawkeye 9
Hawkeye is one of those books that comes out every month and feels like we haven't seen it in ages. I constantly ask myself when the last time a new Hawkeye issue came out and am stunned to find it was some time in recent memory. I don't know what the cause of that is but if I had to speculate I'd say it's because I always want to be reading Hawkeye. I feel the same way about New Avengers, particularly, and I'm getting that way with Captain America. The problem with the five-months-in-advance solicits too is that we've known a particular plot point is coming but it feels like it takes forever to get here. This issue suffers from that (or perhaps benefits, we'll have to see) as we've known that some Hawkeye-Spider Woman relationship stuff is going to come up this issue, as well as some Hawkeye-Black Widow and Hawkeye-Mockingbird. It's the meeting of the friend-girl, the work wife, and the ex-wife, as Marvel has been saying. Very exciting to finally get some insight into all of that.

Secret Avengers 3
This book is going to hang out on the pre-game list a little bit longer as I'm having some trouble getting a handle on it. I found both the first and second issues to be better on a second read through or after a lot of time thinking about it. However, that meant that neither of the first two issues particularly blew me away. I still love almost all the characters involved in the series and I'm looking forward to seeing Hulk and Winter Soldier meet up with the Secret Avengers, as we've been promised, as well as a new Iron Patriot (particularly as we move ever closer to May's release of Iron Man III) and I'm interested enough in the plot that they've put forth to certainly be intrigued by the series, but I'm still grasping at the shape of this book as a whole. However, after two issues, maybe it makes for a better book when you can't immediately suss it out. We'll see where that leaves us this week.

Uncanny Avengers 6
On top of this being a great title overall, I received a promotional poster at my comic book store that featured the cover of UA 6. It's a dark image with Apocalypse facing down Thor (in their, I believe, first meeting) while a town burns behind Apocalypse. I was particularly interested in this issue after reading issue five, which had a bit to do with Kang taking the two children of Apocalypse and his horseman (horsewoman?) Pestilence and plotting to put some things in order in time. However, beyond that there's very little mention of Apocalypse and it certainly didn't feel like things were falling into place that quickly. Still, matching Thor against Apocalypse is an interesting plot point and character battle made even more interesting when you realize that Kang is involved and Red Skull is somewhere in the background of everything. Three major Marvel villains all within arm's length of each other doesn't bode well for any Avengers team.

X-Treme X-Men 13
The X-Termination event continues and I don't know that I have to explain my excitement for this again. I'm very happy with the way this event is turning out and I'm anxious to read each new issue. The pacing is strong, the threat is real, the characters are intriguing, and the story is compelling. All signs of a good comic and a good event. I've also written about this event every week for the past month or so, so there's probably not much else for me to hype here. Strong week, hopefully it all comes through.

Recent Marvel news

There's probably more to cover here, but I've got a few pieces of news I've heard recently that I want to weigh in on.

X-Treme X-Men and Age of Apocalypse cancelled

I am more sad about this than I would have thought. I liked both books well enough as their runs went on but, more importantly, they were different. The X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe is pretty vast but so many books feature the same few mutants. That doesn't make those books bad or anything but you expect a certain tone from them. Both of these books featured almost entirely new and different casts, bar Dazzler. The plots were interesting enough in each book to keep people reading (though presumably not enough) and the characters developed pretty nicely throughout each series. I hope that this kind of cancellation doesn't scare Marvel off from developing books with characters they have to make us like. Hopefully it won't (and given the other piece of news I'm going to write about, I have a feeling maybe it won't make a huge impact just yet) but it has to be a concern for comic readers. I'm not saying you should read a book you don't necessarily love just because it's different and you should support new ventures. I'm mostly saying that I'm sad about this particular venture ending and I hope it doesn't have lasting repercussions on the Universe as a whole.
However, the cancellation comes at an interesting time. Both books will end in April (THAT'S THIS MONTH) following the completion of the X-Termination event spanning X-Treme X-Men, Age of Apocalypse, Astonishing X-Men (not cancelled) and the two-issue X-Termination. A lot of events kind of peter out because you know that, by the end, most things will remain the same. I'm not necessarily complaining; a major upheaval in the Marvel Universe would either be upsetting or would feel like it was asking to be thrown away (like, most recently, with Flashpoint in the DC Universe, which featured several months of a universe different to the normal one that everyone knew would be reset with the New 52). You know at the end of Fear Itself that Captain America will go back to his own book, unless someone else replaced Cap or something (which is a possibility we saw around Civil War, but it's not one that's used particularly often). However, with these cancellations, we're suddenly looking at an event that won't end with the titles being restored to what they were. Anything horrible that happens in the Age of Apocalypse universe doesn't have to be reset as the event comes to an end. Any of the characters from AoA or from X-Treme X-Men could potentially die. TECHNICALLY anything could happen to the Astonishing X-Men crew, but I'm not betting on it (unless something happens to Karma or Northstar, the only characters with the team right now who aren't with eight other teams, if I'm remembering who's in that book correctly). Even in their cancellations, these books are interesting.

Avengers AI announced
The loss of two X-books brings us the addition of one new Avengers book in the form of Avengers AI. It's set to spin out of Age of Ultron and has to do with the Vision's possible new role in life (who was just seen in Age of Ultron 3 ripped in half and taking Avenger-bribes). It will focus on a lot of heroes who may not have the most pleasant experiences with humanity, including the new Vision, Ultron's son Victor Mancha, a new character Alexis, and a Doombot that's been held by the Avengers. There are also two humans on the team; Hank Pym, the man responsible for Ultron, and Monica Chang, a SHIELD agent currently starring as the head of SHIELD in the Ultimate Universe but previously unseen in the 616. Sam Humphries (who writes the book Monica stars in over in the Ultimate Universe as well as the new Uncanny X-Force) will write the book, which will deal with the idea of the singularity; the point when machines are intelligent enough to create/rebuild themselves. That's always been the key to Ultron. Pym and Tony Stark have always been worried that he'll eventually reach the point where he can improve on himself so much that he'll destroy mankind (is that day happening RIGHT NOW, in Age of Ultron? Probably not, but SOMETHING's happening, right?). It's a pretty common science fiction theme and, especially in our world with the growing popularity of machines and AI, it's becoming a more and more intriguing question.
I'm not totally sold on the book just yet, but I do think there are ways this book can go that are incredibly intriguing. This is also coming right on the heels of Remender's run on Secret Avengers which ended with the Descendants (ever-improving AI that intended to reshape all of humanity to act more like them) being destroyed by the Human Torch (an android) and Hank Pym and the Secret Avengers. The idea is there, pretty recently too, and we know it works (even without the Secret Avengers run, we know it works because science fiction continues to exist and we've all seen Terminator). Personally, I've always loved the Vision. Marvel has a longstanding tradition of creating characters who are outsiders. Peter Parker is kind of the go-to example for that but, in truth, there may be no one more set apart than the Vision. It's always been a point of contention with him and it seems as if that has only amplified recently. We'll have to wait until July to see how this book shapes up but it certainly has the possibility to go quite a ways in the Marvel Universe.

Uncanny X-Men 3, X-Treme X-Men 12

Uncanny X-Men 3
Bendis (w) and Bachalo, Townsend, Mendoza, Vey and Olazaba (a) and Bachalo (c)

Maybe my problem with Bendis now is that there's just too many words. I've said before that I think he's writing as if comics were a TV show or a movie but the mediums are completely different. Bendis has come out before as a fan of Gilmore Girls, which totally fits with his dialogue. I'm not saying Gilmore Girls is a bad TV show, just that it is a TV show. You can do the snappy dialogue and the fast back-and-forth in TV and in movies but I still maintain that it doesn't fit in comics. In comics, it's just a lot of word bubbles distracting from the point everyone is trying to make. And it appears in ALL of Bendis' comics. Each comic that comes out has someone (or some group of someones) in the background making extra but unnecessary points or quips or "geez, how did I do that...I still don't know how I did that!" kinds of remarks. It doesn't fit because it doesn't flow and because it distracts from whatever seriousness might be going on. All the kids, perfectly ordinary kids before their mutations appeared only days ago, are stunned by the appearance of the Avengers (which they should be) but won't shut up about it. We get it, you've never been in this situation. Frankly, I think most kids would be stunned silent in this instance. Apparently, though, they'd all be telling each other how they don't understand what's going on and making jokes behind everyone. So maybe it's not the right format. Maybe if this was a television show or a movie, this would all make sense and flow beautifully. Or maybe it's too many words for any medium.

Anyway, the Avengers show up to take Scott and Emma into custody and Bendis still writes Captain America as a one-dimensional jerk. No one in this comic seems to listen to anyone else in this comic. Cap doesn't listen to Scott and Emma saying that they weren't the ones who broke apart the Phoenix and forced it into their bodies and Scott and Emma don't listen to Cap saying that, no matter what, Scott still killed Professor Xavier. Cap then throws in the fact that Havok is on the Uncanny Avengers and it FEELS like Cap is admitting to making a PR move with his new Avengers team, which the Cap in Uncanny Avengers would probably also admit to, but not as a weapon. He did it because mutants need the press and the world needs to see mutants as friends, the same way they might see Avengers. Here, he says it as if he's saying "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M BAD AT MUTANTS? I'M GREAT AT MUTANTS! PRAISE ME!" Look. I have some issues with this issue. And with this series. And with this writer. I think I'm going down a pit of disdain for Bendis that no amount of "oh, but remember his run on Daredevil? And Ultimate Spider-Man?" can save. Magneto comes and reveals to Scott and Emma that he betrayed them to gain the Avengers' and SHIELD's trust. He says that now they'll totally trust him and he's done something no one saw coming and everyone hails it as a brilliant move even though it's so common, we have a regularly used name for it: double cross. I don't know. Guys. I'm having trouble being objective about this any more. Maybe I'm not. Maybe this is my objective reasoning. I think I would still feel this way without knowing Bendis wrote it, or without his back catalogue. But I don't know any more. Let's just move on.

X-Treme X-Men 12
Pak (w) and Araujo (a) and Kholinne w/ Caeli (c)

Things are again heating up in the X-Treme X-Men set of universes. The three evil Xaviers who had teamed up last issue opened a portal to the multiverse and offered sacrifices to it in order to take over the world only to find that whatever was inside was far worse. Dazzler and her team rebelled against the Xaviers but too late to stop the portal from opening, killing the Nazi and Witch Xaviers (the head-in-a-jar Xavier claims to have been manipulated by the other Xaviers but says he has done what he could to prevent them from finding Dazzler's team, which kind of fits, so they keep him alive for now). Now they're going through the portal to save the multiverse but quite possible sacrificing the world they left behind to whatever horrors are coming from the portal. Interestingly, this was billed on the "Road to X-Termination" event postcard as a prologue to X-Termination, the event that will center around AoA Nightcrawler trying to return to his dimension from the 616. So this portal seems to be something of a hinge to those events. We'll see.

Anyway, not too much else to talk about here. Basic character stuff, mostly stuff we already knew. Dazzler is taking the kid's gloves off and swears that, if killing needs to be done, she's willing to kill and to die. She makes sure her team is prepared for all of that too. So we'll see if that changes as the book goes on or if she'll have to kill to accomplish her goals. Lot of mini-X-Forcing around the Universe right now. I guess that's what happens when you have a book that's as great as Remender's come through the wires; everyone wants to use something of a similar formula. It seems the original threat of the ten evil Xaviers has subsided but given way to a whole new threat, which is probably Xavier-related anyway but I guess we'll have to find out later. AoA Nightcrawler might make a good fit for this new, suddenly violent team, should he find his way into it. Two Nightcrawlers on one team! Can you imagine? Probably. It's probably happened before. I don't know, comics are weird, you guys.

X-Men Legacy 6, X-Treme X-Men 11

X-Men Legacy 6
Spurrier (w) and Molina, Lee, and Wong (a) and Rosenberg (c)

This book never stops moving, it seems. Six issues in and David's still harnessing new powers and, don't be put off by how lame this sounds, discovering himself. I KNOW, I wouldn't have bought it if I read that either. But for real, he makes some incredibly important decisions that benefit his characterization like mad. On top of that, he finishes up the story in this arc with a bang and leaves us with an idea of the sort of things to expect all while creating a new and very complex villain for us to be on the lookout for. Not bad for one issue.

Legion, held at knifepoint by the rescued child Karasu while her possessed brother attempts to kill Blindfold, decides that he's fed up with being led and grabs a new teleportation power that sends him straight to Luca possessing Karasu's now-dead twin brother. Luca is one thrust away from killing Blindfold when Legion stops him, but he leads Legion on a chase through the X-Mansion. Luca, now in control of half of Blindfold's power, has set up a number of traps and contingencies for Legion to fall into. In some cases, Legion does, but in others, he avoids narrowly. Legion keeps a step or two away from Luca before Karasu appears again, threatening David to stop him killing her brother. As David faces a moment of weakness, an unseen personality in his head takes over and easily knocks the girl aside, telling Luca that he'll be useful someday, before giving way to David's true personality again. The fight against that personality takes a lot out of David so he's winded when the X-Men show up and Luca puts on the guise of a little boy again and blames David for attacking him and his sister. Before the X-Men can react, Blindfold, recovered, leaps in and slices Luca across the middle. She goes on to cool things down with the X-Men, who offer David a chance to stay and find help. Claiming again that he won't be led, he leaves, determined to go the extra step of his father's dream, actually accomplishing something in the fight for mutant equality rather than just being reactive. His evil personality is revealed, telling him that Blindfold will eventually kill David to save mutantkind. That personality is a disappointed Charles Xavier.

Lots of demons here, lots of plot, lots of character building, lots of support characters, just lots of everything. And it's all executed really well. David's personality (and his powerset) has grown stronger and stronger with each issue without sacrificing any actual feel for the character. His resolve is stronger, though this new demon is bigger than one he's faced yet. It'll be very interesting to see where we go from here.

X-Treme X-Men 11
Pak (w) and Segovia, Valdes, Crisostomo, and Ruggiero (a) and Kholinne, Noor, and Sotomayor (c)

Geez, lot of creators on this book. ANYWAY. So Nazi Xavier, unlike the cliffhanger of last issue might have led readers to believe, is totally a friggin' Nazi. Namor has lost too much at his hand and has been waging war on the psychic for about ten years, by Nazi Xavier's count, and he looks primed to kill the last 500 humans on Earth in his latest attack, all to get at Xavier. Though the X-Treme X-Men hate this new Xavier, they refuse to watch Namor kill the last humans, so they all work together to take out Namor before Dazzler sneaky-stabs Xavier, allowing the wounded Namor to finish the job. The team's Xavier tells the team that this completes their journey and that, in the morning, he'll bring them all where ever they want to go.

There's a little bit of characterization to follow, including a new relationship for Dazzler and Cyclops and Dazzler's admission that she's changed so much in this journey that she's not sure she can go back home. The others celebrate and recount the ten evil Xaviers they've killed and, of course, come up with only nine. They hurry off to find their Xavier, who is now bonding with two previously-deceased Xaviers (including the friggin' Nazi), promising the destruction of worlds. So there's somewhere for this book to go yet, as the team faces three evil Xaviers at once. Then they'll probably cut away real quick for the X-Termination event (I'm not sure if that will slide in neatly or if it'll be in the middle of this arc or at the end of this arc or even at the beginning, I'm not sure when it happens and, frankly, as I type this sentence, I'm only kind of sure that it WILL happen). That's about all I've got here. A lot of stuff happened but it was largely plot. I friggin' hate Nazis. Always worth mentioning that.

Age of Apocalypse 12, X-Treme X-Men 10, Ultimate X-Men 22

Age of Apocalypse 12
Lapham (w) and Arlem (a) and Loughridge (c)

Interesting things happening all across here. I continue to like this series even when I'm not totally sure who everyone is. I know the major players from the 616 who pop up in this Universe (Jean, Weapon Omega, Colossus, Cyclops, Havok, so on), but I'm less familiar with our main characters, which is weird. Not that I haven't read this series, just that I even still have trouble remembering who everyone is at any given time. Here's the weird thing about that: I don't know that it's a huge flaw of the series. On the one hand, I know (to a point) it's absolutely me. I read a lot of books and the 616 is far more deeply ingrained in my head after decades of continuity. This book, even though it's been a solid run, has only had 12 issues and has been otherwise developed here and there so I pretty much only know it from this series. STILL, I should know it better. I don't. But I don't think it's hurt the book. You understand everyone's roles from what they do and how they act. That's a sign of good character, even if I'm really bad at remembering who the characters are.

On top of the characters who are PROBABLY more compelling than I can rightly say I find them, there is an exciting story going on. First off, one of the great things about a universe in Marvel that isn't the 616 is that characters can die. I have a lot to say on character deaths in the 616 which maybe I'll actually say sometime, but everyone knows very few deaths there are permanent. It's still sad and it's still a major character moment when someone does die, but it's never permanent so, as soon as someone dies, there's speculation as to how long it will take to bring them back. In offshoot universes, like this one or the Ultimate Universe, there are far fewer examples of resurrected characters, meaning that death really is final and a huge, real threat to the characters. Every character will always treat death as a threat (it would be stupid if they didn't), but only in these situations can the reader fully see it that way. So there are always things at stake. Second off, the threat of Apocalypse is very real in this universe. It's the driving force. This is the Age of Apocalypse (keen-eyed viewers might have noticed). So when, in this issue, the Death Seed that grants the power of Apocalypse is rejected, it's a real deal. Very interesting. It also leaves us in an interesting place in this world. Civil war is looming and the sides are going to be very blurred. Also, Nightcrawler is coming back, according to the upcoming arc that I quickly referenced on Wednesday's excuse post. I'm looking forward to it all.

X-Treme X-Men 10
Pak (w) and Segovia and Crisostomo (a) and Kholinne and Noor (c)

As I said after last issue, I have some trouble viewing Dazzler as a real leader, given what we know from her past and even her recent past. Apparently I'm not the only one. This issue dedicates a good amount of time to the backstory of our new characters (a black Civil War Union corporal Scott Summers and a gay Hercules from the same universe as our team's gay Wolverine - yes, they are dating) and forces us to look at the backstories of everyone involved. We saw Kurt's recently, as he went back to his homeworld to try to find his parents and ended up attempting to kill an entire planet of sentient robots (kind of a theme lately, HMM OLD SECRET AVENGERS?). Everyone, they recognize, has had a horrific backstory rife with mutant-hunting with the exception of Dazzler, who kinda just didn't make it as a huge disco artist. Cyclops thinks she shouldn't be leading the team because she doesn't have what it takes. Howlett thinks she should be leading the team because she knows where the line is. It's an interesting little question and it gives some clarity to why she's leading. I'm still not totally sold just because of how fast she kind of got serious, but then I know I don't have a particularly extensive knowledge of Dazzler's backstory.

On top of that, I'm not sure it matters. I tend to read comic books from Marvel as part of the scale. I think it's wrong to handcuff writers with continuity, so they have to constantly check everything they want to do against everything their predecessors have ever done. If you have a good story to tell, tell it. However, I do think these characters are pretty nicely defined in a lot of ways. What I really love about the new Captain America series is that Remender is taking a character who has already been defined so many times and showing him from a new angle. It still fits within the old angles and still allows his character to act in very much the same ways he always has but it gives him a new layer of depth. I'm willing to say that this kind of "new angle" approach is what Pak is doing with Dazzler. I don't mind it.

This issue continues like most of the rest, giving us a look into a different universe and trying to find an evil Xavier. This Xavier seems to be heading up the Nazis, so that's something. He insists that the Nazis he leads are not the Nazis everyone is familiar with (after he reads their minds to see what Nazis THEY'RE thinking of) and that the enemy isn't him, it's a Japanese-Atlantean Namor flooding the Earth. That's about where the issue leaves us, so we'll just have to find out if things are what they seem around here.

Ultimate X-Men 22
Woods and Edmondson (w) and Barberi and Vlasco (a) and Aburtov (c)

I continue to like the way this series shapes up. I chose this book as one of my ten best series of 2012 and issues like this make me feel good about that choice. Not a ton happened in terms of action or beat-up-bad-guys plot, but a lot happened in terms of the structure of this book and of mutants as a whole in the Ultimate Universe. The Ultimate Universe isn't nearly as big as the 616 and, while I love the really wide feeling of that universe, it tends to help a lot in books like these. Instead of spending the time asking "how is Kitty here when she's over there" or "how is Tony Stark spending all this time with them when he's with the Ultimates ringing in a new football season," you can more easily see the way that these pieces all fit together. It's very manageable and very compelling. It also makes you feel more like the mutants are truly alone than even when they set up Utopia in 616.

Woods and Edmondson have done a great job to really set up the feeling towards mutants in these books. They've also done a great job to show that Kitty really does want peace and that she's trying to lead through peace and establish her nation peacefully. She's looking for cohabitation in the true X-Men way. There are, like there always were with Magneto, plenty of reasons to look at what Kitty's doing and the results she sees and ask if Kitty's doing the right thing. So when Nomi and her band of rogue (but not Rogue) mutants set out for a new home that they'll try to establish through shows of force, you can understand why she'd see it as the right way to do things, even if you support Kitty's view. Then, to add further to the intrigue, we see a shadowy Washington group set on overturning President Cap's executive orders to protect Utopia and showing mutants as a threat to humanity. Like always in this book, things are boiling and, little by little, we're ready to see what the end results will be.

X-Men Legacy 5, X-Treme X-Men 9

X-Men Legacy 5
Spurrier (w) and Molina (a) and Rosenberg (c)

Boy, this book sure is a fun one. On the one hand, I don't think I'm ever going to get sick of the idea of David fighting his many powers inside his own brain to contain and control them. It's rife with action, interesting new abilities, character building, more or less everything I'm looking for. Meanwhile, David himself has become a pretty compelling character in his own right. He spends the beginning of this issue calling his mother, with whom he hasn't dealt in a while and hasn't really been a part of his life. It's an interesting look at David, who has recently lost the father who brings forth many conflicted feelings. He eventually hangs up before actually speaking to his mother and continues the issue. Stationed outside of the Jean Grey School, David uses some of his "200 omega-level split personalities" to find and transport a pack of dire wraiths to the school to distract the faculty and students as he mentally looks for Blindfold, who had previously told him that she thinks she's supposed to be his nemesis. That's right, everyone, Blindfold has an interesting story.

We learn in this story that her background, which, to my knowledge, hadn't really been revealed prior, is extremely dark. This by itself isn't a huge differentiator from many other mutants, as plenty dealt with hate and fear in their childhood. However, Ruth did watch her anti-mutant brother kill her mother for protecting her before nearly killing her. Then, in an unforeseen twist, we find out that the two children Legion protected last issue are working against him. The little boy Sojobo has been possessed by Ruth's powered-up brother (he ended up accidentally stealing some of her powers) and Sojobo's sister Karasu has been sent to distract Legion to ensure he doesn't stop Sojobo/Luca from finally killing Ruth. Legion, who is trying to turn his life around and affect the world positively while trying to wrestle down his own 200 inner demons, has been played and delivered everything to right where it was needed to kill Ruth, with whom he bonded last issue.

Like I said in the first paragraph, I'd've been thrilled with a book that was just Legion fighting down his split-personalities. Maybe, as with what happened last issue, occasionally whipping a recently contained one out to defend himself or someone else. I'd've been thrilled. But instead, there's all that PLUS actual meaningful plots with actual weight to them and real threats. It's very exciting to see where the story goes and how David reacts. How he reacts to this newest turn will be a pretty defining thing for this book. David's personality is clearly established and it's very clear that Spurrier knows where he wants to go with it, but I get the feeling that this kind of a twist is the sort of thing that will really illustrate what we can expect of David as we move forward.

X-Treme X-Men 9
Pak (w) and Diaz (a) and Kholinne, Noor, and Sotocolor (c)

I'll start this off by saying this isn't a book I typically look forward to. I'm not a big Dazzler fan (because I'm like most of the world) and I already care a ton about a lot of characters in the 616, I don't need NEW universe characters to care about. Also, the premise of the book is pretty neat, but always feels a little 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo to me (or a more relevant reference, whatever, I work with what I know and I know that REALLY well). I also have, even still, some trouble believing Dazzler would automatically ascend to team leader on a team that has not only a Wolverine, but a Wolverine that is USED to leading. In one of the more recent books Dazzler appeared in, she was grilling Pixie on her accent and dialectic words. Those kinds of moments are big in Dazzler's recent history. I'm not saying it's unlikely she'd ever become a leader, I'm saying it seems like a really fast transformation for our benefit, as the audience who knows her and not the rest of the team.

Still, this book moves pretty quickly. I was surprised to find that I was already done when it ended and that's usually a pretty good sign. I do like the idea that there are plenty of Xaviers out there who weren't so prone to good because it's interesting to see the world without his positive influence. There also has always been a real sense with Charles that he has some villainous qualities to him. I do think our Charles always believed whole-heartedly in his dream (though you have to imagine somedays he had to remind himself of that) but he was often stern and withholding to his students and, though he shaped up eventually, did occasionally read their thoughts to accomplish something or other. Not stellar qualities (though hard to curtail, I'd imagine, as a telepath), no, but he still fought for the right side. These are the Charleses that didn't or that didn't need to or something.

All and all, I recommend this book, though a little cautiously. It's typically a pretty quick read and the characters are endearing enough. If you're not a huge X fan, some of the alternate reality appearances and the weight of evil Xaviers might be lost on you and that might undermine your enjoyment. Such things happen, and I could understand it happening here. Even if you're not a big X fan, though, you should be able to follow the basic gist of the books solidly enough. Now might not be a bad time to jump on if you were considering it, as there seem to be a couple of permanent additions to the team just making their way in pretty recently and we might have some interesting and traitorous developments on their way. Also, totally respectable by me if my calling it similar to 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo gets you onboard. Totally respectable.