Leftovers 8-13-14 PART TWO

Alright, let's try this again and hope this is the conclusion of this two part arc on the blog. I can DO IT.

Nightcrawler 5
Claremont (w) and Nauck (a) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)

Total Score: 2/5

Nightcrawler is sad about Amanda and sad that the X-Men appear to be in such disarray but sometimes you just gotta grit your teeth and move on, so Kurt accepts a job at the Jean Grey school teaching whatever he can. For his first teaching assignment, he leads a handful of students in Danger Room exercises. Later that night, he takes the Blackbird out for a spin along with bug-like student Rico, who bonds with Nightcrawler over scary physical mutations. While out, Storm sends them to find a new potential student, a genius girl named Ziggy Kurst (??) but, unbeknownst to the X-Men, Ziggy has already been targeted by a group of aliens looking to profit off the girl's potential. Claremont's strength was always in building characters even in the midst of big, sweeping stories. Let's hope that strength comes to bear here as he's re-energizing the reborn Nightcrawler but the plots and the ancillary characters have left me less than interested.

Brief detour here just to note that if all goes well, I'll be finishing up this post today but I'm hoping to go even faster as I'm only able to keep working on this today because I'm out sick from work but ALSO I'm sick so lucidity might be right out the window and staring at a small computer screen almost certainly is.

Nova Special 1
Ryan (w) and Timms (p) and Poggi (i) and Redmond (c) and Cowles (l)

So this story continues as the bounty hunter Monark Starstalker has kidnapped Cyclops, who turns out to be the wrong Summers brother, and asks Nova's help to smooth things over with the man for whom Scott was kidnapped. Meanwhile, Scott's students try to track their teacher and Iron Man tries to track the kids who tricked and evaded him. The story ends up being better and more fun than I had expected though I can't help but still feel like it's a bit of a strange choice as some weird characters get teamed up here. Still decent fun and solid writing and art propel this one high enough that it's worth a read if you're interested in any or all of these characters. Total Score: 4/5


Spider-Man 2099 2
David (w) and Sliney (a) and Fabela (c) and Caramagna (l)

Miguel has been trying his hand at the heroing business in the present and finds the same sort of ease with street criminals and the same sort of anger with cops as the modern Spider-Man. He also deduces that his building's super is sick and boss Liz Allan deduces that he's the Spider-Man who "broke into" Alchemax, though he convinces her he's just a man from the future hoping to investigate Alchemax at its roots. She kisses him and leaves. There are bits and pieces of this issue and, so far, of this series that are interesting but there are plenty that are predictable and uninspired. I like Peter David and I think his strengths tend to be in dialogue, though his habit of tongue-in-cheek winks to the audience about the comic format (referencing how often people die and come back, pop culture references, and mentions of superhero tropes in casual conversation) do tend to wear a little thin, particularly, for some reason, here. Total Score: 3/5



Thunderbolts 29
Acker and Blacker (w) and Jacinto (a) and Silva (c) and Sabino (l)

Punisher is still pretty mad about the assassination attempt on him (here we learn that everything in his safehouses is bomb- and bullet-proof so the mini-fridge in which the bomb was placed softened the blow) and takes it out on the team by tracking and destroying each member. First is Deadpool, who he cuts up and places in jars despite Deadpool's protests that he quit the team. He also has a long and impressive battle with Ghost Rider that ends a little differently than Frank would like as he frees Ketch of the Spirit of Vengeance, but it works well enough as the threat is removed. Finally, Elektra tries to talk to him but it seems Punisher isn't in the mood to talk. MEANWHILE, Hawkeye keeps his search up. This is really an extreme Punisher story as we learn that Frank has long been planning, as you would assume, the ways to kill his teammates and now starts to enact his plots. Some cool stuff and a fun twist on the Ghost Rider fight but the end of the series looms large over this one. Total Score: 4/5


Ultimate FF 6
Fialkov and S. Moore (s) and S. Moore (w) and Araujo (a) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)

Sue is having baby as a portal to a dangerous world opens outside her hospital room. The thought is that it's the baby of Sue and Reed, as recommended by Miles Morhames to save their universe, but Sue reveals once the little girl is born that it is, in fact, boyfriend Ben's child, which Reed helped to obtain and artificially Sue with. Not a way to make that sentence sound good. Anyway, they fight off the aliens and then the series ends. I feel bad for Fialkov, who I think has largely done well in his time with Marvel, that the series ended so abruptly here before he could really get into the crazy designs he seemed to have. Still, not a particularly strong series. Total Score: 2/5


Wolverine 11
Cornell (w) and Woods (a) and Curiel (c) and Petit (l)

Wolverine strikes Sabretooth's compound with SHIELD's help as Sabretooth prepares to start his new world with the help of the orb. Wolverine breaks out Lost Boy and Pinch and together they catch and interrogate Mystique before knocking her unconscious. In pursuit of Sabretooth, Lost Boy and Pinch get trapped behind a forcefield as Wolverine moves on to his final test, another friggin mall. I think there's stuff in this series and in the last that could work if it wasn't so incredibly full of itself. This one is complete with, as the mall is revealed, a sudden and inexplicable narrator announcing dramatically the "zen joke" of the mall. I also really hate this Sabretooth, which negates pretty much this entire series for me. Could he use an update after decades of pretty much being a one-note act? Sure. Is it weird businessman with a sense of irony/humor? Nope. Total Score: 2/5




Wolverine and the X-Men 7
Latour (w) and Veltri, Deering, and Messina (a) and Silva and B. Smith (c) and Cowles (l)

Wolverine's ex-girlfriend Melita Garner wants to write a book about her old boyfriend, hoping to show a human element to him as opposed to just some cartoon monster and is undeterred even when she's given a cease and desist by Wolverine's lawyer Daredevil. She explains what she wants to do and he goes to present the case to Wolverine, also telling him that he can't live in fear. The speech at least works to the extent that Logan calls Storm to ask her on a date. Meanwhile, Idie sulks about what she's seen and Fantomex wonders who the Jean Grey School's enemies will fear with a powerless Wolverine. Plenty going on here and lots of places for the book to go as it focuses on Wolverine and his story but certainly keeps a light on the rest of the school. The art changes with just about each scene change and sometimes it works well and sometimes it falls a little flat. Not a bad book but certainly not a great one either. Total Score: 3/5


X-Force 8
Spurrier (w) and Kim (a and c) and Sabino (l)

With Volga thought defeated, we follow a British army troop as they, with mega top secret clearance, try to show themselves capable in the Middle East to win a contract to take over superhuman affairs back home. Embedded with them is an American journalist, from whom we get all the narration. The team itself seems to have powers, though they attempt to keep them hidden but they also keep getting guerrilla attacked by X-Force out in the desert, eventually provoking them to use their powers and signaling to current British superhuman affairs contract-holder Pete Wisdom and MI13 to come check the situation. They had been monitoring it for a bit and the only discrepancy they found was dodgy paperwork allowing the journalist, who Wisdom quickly attacks, revealing MeMe controlling a robotic body and forcing X-Force to reveal themselves. Certainly one of those issue where I can't really judge the content because it's clearly so tied to the coming issue(s) and this is just a set-up for that. It's a confusing issue for sure and one that merits reading over a couple times, though it drags a little more than this series usually does, undoubtedly a drawback of such a new story with so many new characters. Still some fun parts and more than enough happening (and enough leeway) to rep going with this series. Total Score: 4/5