Uncanny Avengers 19, Original Sin 0

Gahhh, I'm all behind because I couldn't get my hands on UA until late last night and I didn't want to post it that late and GAAAAH, sorry for the slow release Wednesday!

Uncanny Avengers 19
Remender (w) and Acuña (a and c) and Cowles (l)

Havok has brought Kang and his army to Planet X but Kang reveals the only way this whole venture will work is if Havok gathers the surviving Unity Squad members (made easier since Thor came back with Kang and his army) and they send their consciousness back through the wall on the other side of the trip. Alex isn't prepared for this development and refuses until Kang takes his daughter Katie, promising to return her when everything is set right. Meanwhile, Eimin has caught wind of the plan and told the X-Council, a council of mutants that you'd pretty much expect to be on that council (Cyclops, Cable, Storm, Jean Grey, Psylocke, etc). Their job is to stop Havok from succeeding or else watch the planet cease to exist. Tricky battles upcoming, you guys.

Story
Plenty happening here as Planet X has to fight for its own existence against the hope that Earth could be restored. As Eimin herself points out, the mutants are happy on Planet X so even the death of any hope that Earth could come back (or the death of the X-Council, as Eimin's secretly planned with remaining Horsemen Banshee and Daken) won't really hurt their spirits. It's a classic storyline where the ethical quandary is front and center and it's certainly a good enough story to hold that up. 5/5

Character
There's maybe a little more telling than showing here, though it's almost strange the way it's done since there's still an awful lot of showing JUST AFTER the telling. Look, that's confusing. What I'm saying is that there are a lot of points where someone will say something about another character's personality and then that trait will show itself. For example, Cyclops will say something about Havok being frustrating or stubborn and then Havok will be, to him, frustrating or stubborn. Just giving us the "showing" is fine after a certain point. Still, there are a lot of characters here and plenty that we kind of want to catch up with or understand more (practically alternate versions of everyone since we're seeing mutants after six years on a mutant-only planet plus alternate versions of several heroes/villains in Kang's army including that one future Psylocke Remender introduced way, way back in UNCANNY X-FORCE). Not really enough time to do it but most of them still get some sort of personality check and it's definitely neat to see. 4/5

Writing
Gone are the days of a separate narrator, the interesting throwback to an omniscient narrator telling us strange little guarded secrets. It was pretty cool to see it in this book while it lasted but the book is no poorer for its absence. Aside from the mildly strange "tell and show" thing I mentioned in the character bit, there's nothing really to worry about here. Even the necessary name checks to let the audience in on some changed appearances and new status quos work and fit mostly seamlessly in. 5/5

Art
I love Daniel Acuña's art and it continues to impress here. The art and the colors are so epic and yet they manage to also be remarkably expressive. Everyone looks different and everyone has a very distinct personality to their actions and to their expressions. It's incredible. No complaints from me! 5/5

Miscellaneous
The only kind of jarring thing here is that occasionally the speech bubbles change colors and I'm not totally sure why? Sometimes that happens for a specific character's speech but it happens to different characters and it doesn't happen often enough to show anything particularly different.

Total score: 4/5


Original Sin 0
Waid (w) and Cheung w/Medina (p) and Morales w/Ortega, Meikis, Vlasco, and Cheung (i) and Ponsor (c) and Eliopolous (l)

After a fight with a purported Aztec deity who turns out to be a robot that probably Roxxon sent out to devalue Native American oil rigs, Nova asks the Avengers why the Watcher does what he does. They admit they don't know but he's determined to find out, so he visits the moon to ask Watcher himself. When he arrives, his helmet immediately starts warning him of danger and he sees some of it first hand, including stumbling into a massive armory at the Watcher's home. Finally he begins to understand Uatu as he shows him the origin of the Watcher and his race of Watchers. They had decided, in large part due to Uatu's father Ikor, that they would assist races weaker than their own to realize their potential. It went poorly then and Ikor decreed that they would be Watchers from here on out, only observing and never interacting. It's a pretty terrible life and Uatu combs the multiverse for examples of universes wherein his father had been right to try to help, unable to find any. It bonds Sam, who wishes things had turned out differently with his father, and the Watcher, even making enough of a difference for Uatu that he reveals to Sam that Sam's father is still alive.

Story
This is our lead-in to ORIGINAL SIN, the big Marvel event of 2014. Like most of these lead-ins, it's a little exposition-heavy without being altogether plot-heavy (have to build up excitement and background for the main series without giving too much away from a potentially shocking first issue) but it gets to what it needs to get to. In this case, we get a much better look at the Watcher for those who already know him and we get a solid introduction for those who may be less familiar, all through the eyes of perfect audience stand-in Sam Alexander, someone still new to superheroing and this universe. 4/5

Character
Aside from some choppy writing, Sam's character comes out pretty well in this. He handles a big monster, gets really excited about the appearance of the Avengers, shows a little naivety and idealism, and gets awkward when he realizes how weird it is that he just visited the Watcher at his home. As good as the characterization of Sam can be in a book that has to explain so much, the characterization of Uatu is better. A new audience can get a firm grip on a seemingly intangible character. There's background, there's personality (albeit limited to "he wanted to help people" and "he wishes his father had been right") and it very nearly makes us care about the Watcher, which is the biggest pothole Marvel may need to face with this big event. 4/5

Writing
I have some sympathy here. There's not a lot you can say about the writing because the aim of this issue is to be really exposition-laden. You have to establish the Watcher, you have to explain what it is he does and why he does what he does and more, and you have to have a few more characters make appearances here and there, let alone establishing our POV character Sam for audiences who may not know him well. Still, this book is really exposition heavy, which makes it a bit of a long read. The other major problem I have is one that I tend to have with a number of writers which is that it's hard to write a believable teenager and Sam never truly comes off as authentic here. I think that Jeph Loeb had trouble at the start of this series doing just that before Zeb Wells, who did a pretty phenomenal job under the circumstances, and Gerry Duggan, who is doing a perfectly fine job. Again, it's hard because Waid's introducing Sam to maybe first-time Sam readers and his goal here isn't to write a believable teen for the long run, it's to write a believable Watcher origin and get us excited for ORIGINAL SIN. Still, the writing isn't Waid's normal pretty top-notch stuff, though I'm going to show some leniency for getting the job done regardless. 3/5

Art
Jim Cheung does a pretty great job here drawing a slew of characters and making each of them, even the ever giant-headed and bald Watcher, look very human. There's even a little turn where Iron Man, in full Iron Man armor, manages to perfectly show emotion on an emotionless iron face as he turns to Cap. It's good art and it gets the job done, particularly as we see the sadness (helped by the inks and the colors) in Uatu as he recalls his own dark origins and wishes that things had turned out differently for his people and for his father. 5/5

Miscellaneous
As I said above, the biggest hurdle Jason Aaron and everyone else behind this new series will face is making people care about the death of the Watcher. I don't dislike the Watcher but, you know, he's just kind of there. He's a device at its most device-like. The thing in their corner, of course, is that whoever shot him must have access to all the information he was carrying. So, you know, this is me defining ORIGINAL SIN, I guess?


Total score: 4/5

This week's picks

Geez, didn't quite realize how hard these three would be to choose until I actually started to think about it. Sometimes I'm not particularly confident in my pre-game picks so the pull list is pretty up-for-grabs. This week I was totally sure of my pre-game, barring possible freak inexplicably bad issues from really talented creators, so I had a good feeling that was where the picks would go. With the exception of one possibility jumping into the fray, I'm torn. The worst part is I know two of my three picks already. Alphabetically, though, they're the last two and I just hate working out of order. Well, let's see what I decide! It's a journey for ALL OF US!

She-Hulk 1

GUYS, this was a really tough pick and I'm writing these words without knowing if I'm going to use them or delete them later. SHE-HULK beats out, just by a hair, SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN 27, which gets lots of points for tying together all of its plots and constructing a very interesting upcoming arc to lead us back to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and WINTER SOLDIER: BITTER MARCH, which established an amazing tone and is just a really well-constructed book. SHE-HULK wins the day, though, as it's hard to come away from a first issue with such a good grasp on who this character is and what to expect from this book. I'm not going to say that things won't change or that the book won't be dynamic or anything like that, that we're just going to get this style of issue every time out; quite the opposite, in fact. SHE-HULK shows itself as an interesting and quirky book with a real sense of its main character and of the world she inhabits. I can't imagine how hard it is, though Soule is helped by his many forebears, to take a character who is constantly giant and green (by choice, mind you) and drop her into a real world and make it still relatable and not crazy. Soule does it, though, with absolutely no problems and with a nice little flair for humor and personality through every single character. This book was almost hurt by the next book on the list if only because I don't want to look stupid when I say that "number ones are rarely this good" twice in one post but, hey, whatever, I think I've proven just how stupid I can look already.

X-Force 1

Number ones are rarely this good. This one doesn't have the kind of shock value of the sheer beauty of something like BLACK WIDOW or NEW AVENGERS but it has such a well-defined sense of itself and such a wonderful sense of the narrative that anyone, whether they're new to X-MEN, new to X-FORCE, new to Marvel, or probably even new to comics, can, I would speculate, pick up what's happening in this book so far. Despite the amount of information that kind of comfortability requires, Spurrier makes sure the book isn't loaded with exposition. It leaves us with exactly the right amount of questions and the right tone for this series as it moves forward. Our team is well-established, their purpose even more so. Spurrier even knocks it out of the park with the decision to cast our initial narrator as Marrow, easily the least visible member of the team in recent years. He took the risk of alienating readers by putting in a relative unknown with a relatively unknown point of view and a rather crazed perspective as our narrator and it pays off well, allowing us to understand her better than we would have if it were, say, Psylocke or Cable's more tempered narration, or no narration at all. Rock-He Kim's art flows well with the book and I look forward to the way that Spurrier and Kim continue to improve as they work more and more together. There is, of course, also a measure of trust in this pick. As I said earlier, the book leaves us with exactly the right amount of questions by the end and the trust comes in as I trust Spurrier to eventually reveal those questions before they fade into "does anyone really care any more?" territory. I think one of the big problems with, say, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD is that they prodded the watchers to ask so many questions (and like, explicitly told them to ask, unlike something like Lost where the characters were just as in the dark, or lost, even, as the audience) and refused answers that it's gotten fairly monotonous and annoying. I don't want to have to ask questions that I know you have the answers to and that you'll only divulge at the right time. That is, I don't if you don't overstay that time. Like a good mystery novel, the satisfaction is in the figuring it out, not in the asking. I trust Spurrier to lead us to that point because he's done it so masterfully across his other works.

X-Men Legacy 24

If you didn't think this book was going to be on this list after the "review" I posted this week that was less review and more open love letter, I can't help you any more. This is the kind of book that will stay with me for years to come and this issue has been on my mind as much as anything else in the last week. I can't stress enough how much I want you all to read it. I've made just about everyone who's come into contact with me in the last few days read it because I need people to talk to about it or even just to know it exists. Every bit as meaningful as the comic itself was to me, so too was Spurrier's little letter to the audience at the issue's conclusion. There's so much to love about this and it's so hard to be sad that the book's over since, you know, kind of the point of this is that we shouldn't be sad that it's over. David himself told us not to be, you guys. As a whole, this series has been one of the best Marvel, or any publisher out there, has put out in quite some time. David is one of the most well-characterized and, despite all of his power and the scale of his problems, relatable characters I've seen. Check this title out and tell me what you think. Am I overblowing it? Maybe. But I suppose that's my right, isn't it?

X-Men Legacy 23, Uncanny X-Force 17

X-Men Legacy 23
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

David's world worm is in full effect as he finds himself trapped in his own mind while the sum of his powers begin to envelop everyone around him, calling forth all mutants to join him, which they do, convinced by David's powers that it's for the best. The only one who isn't called into David is Blindfold, who tries to stop the other mutants from being taken but who also recognizes that she won't be able to. She enters David's mind as her physical body keeps fighting the world worm outside and the two of them talk. It's a surprisingly soft talk with everything that's happening outside and it has a lot to do with his regret that he won't be able to spend more time with Ruth. It's then, though, that the smallest of loopholes occurs to him (particularly notable since he also spends a fair amount of time lamenting that the beautiful people in this world always get loopholes and manage to worm their way out of death but he just worms his way into it. Get it? Worms. Guys, I'm working on LAYERS here): one of the powers he's gestalt-ed into him is the powers of the Chronodon, who can make time stand still. He uses these powers not to stop anything that's about to happen but to give himself and Ruth just a little more time. And then they make love in that time.

This series and this story have been incredible all the way through, highlighted by a very distinct narrator and protagonist but certainly helped by a well-developed and maintained supporting cast. In the end, though, this was always meant to be a love story between David and Ruth and finally, after 23 issues, they get their moment. Albeit, it's a short lived one as they had to literally stop time to have it and their return to time will return their physical forms to fighting with one needing to kill the other to ensure their better future, but it's still a moment. It's a lovely moment at that and it's backed by an issue that gives us exactly what we've come to expect from this book; it's a solid mix of action, high stakes, and character drama with the typical comic book world-ending possibility and, as David knew it would, it all comes down to punching. Really great visual issue too. Striking images and jarring colors (lots of yellow and grey) really help to highlight everything that's happening and give it sort of an epic feel. So excited for the last issue but also so incredibly depressed by the idea of it.

Uncanny X-Force 17
Humphries (w) and Tolibao, Soy, Tadeo, Young, and Paris (a) and Curiel (c)

The conclusion of UNCANNY X-FORCE, CABLE AND X-FORCE, and the VENDETTA crossover itself kicks off with Hope plunging the psimitar into Bishop's gut. Bishop, though, convinces her to take the psimitar out without actually killing him by again pointing out that he's totally sorry but more so that she shouldn't throw her life away by killing and that she shouldn't throw her life away on him. Not to say he wouldn't deserve it, he admits, but that it's still not worth it (it doesn't hurt that he's not a threat any more). With this, the rest of the X-Force teams locate and attack Stryfe, splitting into two groups, one to attack Stryfe and one to locate their missing teammates. The attack on Stryfe is well-managed by Psylocke but ultimately fails to the omega-level mutant. Stryfe captures everyone in a telekinetic hold except for Spiral, who had left earlier, and Cable, who was still removed from the fight. Spiral, though, hadn't actually left officially but had, instead, gone to pick up Cable and they return to stab Stryfe with the psimitar, which does not kill him but does force him to flee. However, before he goes, he forces Hope to take his powers, knowing she can't contain them and will likely kill them all with the psychic reverb. With Stryfe gone, everyone is free to worry about Hope exploding but, before she can, Bishop rushes forth and talks to her, understanding what she's going through as someone whose powers also rely on absorption and release. Bishop manages to get her to contain the power and then blast it upwards, impacting no one. With everyone safe, the two teams reconvene and hang out a bit, effectively ending the books with Psylocke and Cable walking into the sunset together.

It's not a bad little ending but most of it hinges on Bishop and Hope, which is certainly a worthwhile story and one that's executed as well as anything in these two series has been. However, it also means that the rest of the players in this book kind of get pushed to the side a little and actually end up feeling a little unnecessary. The story was never about them and their rescue of the hostages only ended up serving as a distraction for Cable to get to Stryfe. Kind of a weird way to end the two series, which is kind of what I've been saying since the get-go. I've also been saying that this crossover has hit every beat in a sort of predictable fashion and, with the quality of the issue aside, this issue is no different. Still, like I said, the story of Cable, Hope, and Bishop was one certainly worth telling and I think it's told pretty well here. I don't think either of these series got to end on a particularly strong note with this crossover, sadly, but it's certainly an acceptable note and it paves the way rather nicely for Si Spurrier's X-FORCE next month (woo!).

All-New X-Factor 2, Cable and X-Force 19

All-New X-Factor 2
David (w) and Di Giandomenico (a) and Loughridge (c)

X-Factor enters the AIM lab to try to find Dr. Hoffman and Quicksilver and Gambit are almost instantly whisked away into traps, leading Polaris to start ripping the place apart. As the lab reacts and launches gas at her, she vaults into the holding cell where they're keeping Fatale. The traps that Quicksilver and Gambit were pulled into are ultimately beatable and the two reunite pretty quickly. The invasion, though, has drawn the notice of Hoffman and he's begun to launch into his testing. He had been draining the power from mutants Fatale, Reaper, and Abyss to charge himself up and to give himself a bunch of energy based powers. As Polaris tries to fight back, Quicksilver and Gambit rush on to the scene, with Quicksilver giving Gambit an opportunity to toss a kinetic card into the monster Hoffman's ear, destroying him from the inside out. Hoffman himself is alive but unconscious as the power dissipates. As the team regroups, Fatale, Reaper, and Abyss want to kill Hoffman but Polaris and Quicksilver won't let them. The appearance of Quicksilver, though, gives them an ample enough hate to turn their focus to him (fun fact: Quicksilver is hated by like, everybody). They leave, though, and swear their revenge someday.

Bit of a strange issue. It's also one of those issues that annoys me because it highlights some possible level of hypocrisy in me. I often think about long first arcs and wonder if it maybe hurt the book to stay in one story for so long to kick it off. In some cases, I think it works really well, like with CAPTAIN AMERICA and with THOR: GOD OF THUNDER (which did eventually wear on me a bit but was mostly solid and was technically two arcs, though it really was just one). Yet when this book comes along and gives a two issue arc to establish our characters, at least half of our team (the splash page indicates there may be more on the way) has been introduced, and we see a plot resolved, I'm left wanting maybe a bit more. It's not a bad issue, per se, just one that feels like we missed chunks of story that were maybe important. It also does the Marvel thing of playing with what exactly it is to be mutant. Right now, Rick Remender has Red Skull walking around the Marvel Universe with Charles Xavier's actual brain in him to give him telepathy while Peter David here explains that Dr. Hoffman was able to drain the energy from mutants to gain powers that may or may not be THEIR powers but are powers. Kind of have to overlook that. The ending is also a bit abrupt as everything winds down quickly and the issue ends with Gambit quipping about Quicksilver. Bit of a strange read, really.

Cable and X-Force 19
Hopeless (w) and Unzueta (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The two X-Force teams have met up and things have calmed down a bit between them since last time as they try to figure out what happened to Cable, Spiral, Bishop, and Hope. Psylocke can't locate them anywhere until Forge suggests that they get to a junkyard where he and Nemesis can whip up a power amplifier for her. Meanwhile, Stryfe has contained everyone in his vicinity and force-teleports Spiral away, not caring about her. He then makes Cable watch as he leaves Hope and Bishop in a room with a psimitar and he taunts Cable about how, despite all of his wishes, he built a daughter who knows how to be a killer. Back in California, the power amplifier works and leads the teams right to Spiral (sent to a fishing ship). Betsy says that the power amplifier can help her take the blocks out of Spiral's head as far as remembering where Stryfe is if she's willing to take them there. Spiral agrees and they prepare to take off.

It's a bit sad that this crossover is the way that both of these books will end because it means that we don't get to see a real Hopeless send-off to the book he so neatly crafted. Instead, this is the final issue of CABLE AND X-FORCE and it's very clearly not the final issue of the story. Sad to see it go and sad that it has to spend a lot of its time focusing on characters who weren't even in this book. Sure we'll see a little bit more of Cable's X-Force team as VENDETTA wraps up next week but it would have been nice to get just one more book to see the finale for this team, which Hopeless wrote so well and made so fun. As an individual issue in the crossover, this isn't a bad one. As I said in the last VENDETTA review, you can pretty much map out the beats of a four-issue crossover like this one and this issue is hitting those same beats now as the two teams come back together and put their differences aside to prepare for the final fight against the big bad with the stakes raised to their highest points. In a way, maybe that's what's so sad about this being the final issue. We don't get closure for the team we grew to like but we also don't get anything we weren't expecting in the course of this crossover. Kind of a buzzkill. As much as I want the new X-FORCE series to start, I wouldn't mind a true final issue for this book, no matter the outcome of the next issue.

X-Men Legacy 22, Uncanny X-Force 16

X-Men Legacy 22
Spurrier (w) and Pham (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The evil mind-Xavier has launched a missile containing all sorts of nuclear firepower at Washington, knowing that the very act, once it shows on the radar, will cause a chain reaction around the world currently filled with hate that the gold Xavier has permeated. David, though, unknowingly has called for his allies. From Wolverine's team to Cyclops' team to Abigail Brand and Sydren to Pete Wisdom to anyone he's teamed up with and they all show, helping to take apart the nuke before it can cause too much trouble (as David points out, taking apart a nuke was the first thing the X-Men did). The gold Xavier is less a gold Xavier at current and more a giant rock monster thing with crazy seemingly disintegration ray powers so it'll take all the X-Men and David's considerable might to bring him down. There are casualties in the fight that David, as a leader, has to be able to move past, including the apparent deaths of Abigail Brand, Chamber, and Karasu Tengu. David pushes through and gets the X-Men to push through and work together, to put aside the hate they have stored up in them and the hate that Xavier is trying to force to the surface. David destroys the body and pulls the power into the astral plane. It's at this moment that Blindfold wakes up, with the power taken by her brother restored (now that Luca's body is destroyed), and projects herself to the fight while her actual body hurries its way there. David squares off against the gold Xavier, who begins to weaken and transform away from the Xavier image and into something small and sickly, goblin-like, in his mind. David prepares to either cage the personality or destroy it but the personality denies him, asking David how a person with a sickness of the mind cures it. The answer is, of course, that he doesn't: he finds ways to live with it. With that, he dives into David's legion and David, unprepared to take it on, emerges back into the real world and becomes the world worm they knew he would become.

The last time I talked about X-MEN LEGACY it was to name it 2013's best Marvel title. This issue does absolutely nothing to disavow me of that notion, even though last week saw the conclusion and therefore the wrap-up of the amazing YOUNG AVENGERS. This book is just truly something else. There's a feeling with the last year or two of Marvel books that they're all echoing something different out there. I think that has a lot to do with books like HAWKEYE, which really broke the mold of a superhero comic, and the rise of Image comics. Superhero books can be different and they can maybe be a little niche and you can take the superhero world, with all of its tropes and eccentricities and over-the-top action and death and resurrection and superpowers and supervillains, and you can, if you want, stick it in a real-ish world and tell really great, really character-centric stories. It's not necessarily a new idea when it's framed that way but it certainly feels new and the books that are doing it well are doing it with such excellence that they're about the best books I've ever seen. Even books that feel a little more traditional, like DAREDEVIL, are bringing such a level of personality and depth that they're changing the face of superhero comics. X-MEN LEGACY is a book about the mutant son of Charles Xavier who happens to be the most powerful mutant in existence. David himself says that his father thought of him as a mutant with "godlike powers and childlike control." Despite this and despite the amazing stories that Spurrier can be and has told with the character, it's remained remarkably personal and remarkably moving. This issue moves David into a spot (where he's been moving for a while, actually) where the main villain has been the sickness in himself and, instead of the typical superhero solution of "punch down the bad guys," you can't find a cure for every sickness. It's an amazing book. Khoi Pham's art is incredible here and, though his style is a departure from Tan Eng Huat (the other major series artist), gives the book a very distinct feel. Huat's art has really grown on me as the series has progressed and, honestly, it's at the point where I love Pham's art in this book but I can see it just as well as if Huat drew it. That's thanks in no small part, too, to Rachelle Rosenberg's colors, which unify the title and makes it look unlike any other out there. Amazing, amazing book. If we ever get a full omnibus style release for this title, I'd urge everyone to get it. Urge, you guys.

Uncanny X-Force 16
Humphries (w) and Tolibao and Soy (a) and Curiel (c)

Hope and Bishop have been taken by Stryfe and both Cable's X-Force and the Uncanny X-Force are interested in finding them. However, the reasons for their mutual interest don't exactly match up and the two teams begin to fight one another through LA. Cable's team shows up to support their leader as he gets knocked out by Storm and Psylocke and they play a bit of keep away as Cable's team works to get him back. Meanwhile, Bishop tries to convince Hope that he's really changed but nothing he can say, as he well understands, can make up for the horrors he's inflicted on Hope. Stryfe shows up to taunt at them for a bit and because he's sworn revenge on Bishop, who betrayed him and left him stranded in the future the last time they saw each other. He offers Hope a chance at her wildest dreams (to be revealed next issue). Back in LA, the dust settles to find Cable awake again. Cable instructs Dr. Nemesis to give Spiral a nightmare, which he does with one of his drug concoctions. In the midst of Spiral's Mojo-based nightmare, Cable convinces her to teleport him to Stryfe's location, which she somewhat unwittingly does. They arrive to find Stryfe waiting for them.

What I typically like about four-issue crossovers is that there's usually a lot to explain and not a lot of room to do it in, so you tend to get only the exposition that you truly need and the action has to move at a certain pace to convey the entire story of two separate entities (in this case, CABLE AND X-FORCE and UNCANNY X-FORCE) over only four issues. For the most part, VENDETTA is proving to be no different. The fights move pretty quickly, the inciting incident and rising action all move well, and you can feel the story both winding up and preparing to wind down at any point. On the weaker ones, you can usually map out the beats after the first issue. I wouldn't say this is entirely one of the weaker ones; the story there, particularly the story about Hope and Bishop, is intriguing enough to keep the audience guessing and to keep the crossover moving well. I will say, I almost would have preferred it if this issue wasn't a big fight issue. Not only would a quick team-up without the typical big fight be something of a surprise in a crossover of this style, it would make a little more sense. To both Sam Humphries' and Dennis Hopeless' credit, they've created a reason for the fight that's more than just "this is the second beat of a four-issue crossover." Still, these are two teams comprised of people who are friends and unquestionably heroes (well, except for the reformed villains you tend to ruin into) and you'd like to see that, just once, mean something. Still not a bad issue. There's some clunky fight-dialogue sprinkled throughout but the arguments for both side are good enough that you can get past it. Also not complaining that the resolution of this crossover will set us into the February launch of Si Spurrier's (see above review) X-FORCE.

All-New X-Factor 1, Cable and X-Force 18

All-New X-Factor 1
David (w) and Di Giandomenico (a) and Loughridge (c)

Wolverine's annoyed that Gambit keeps missing school, has taken over the Thieves' Guild, and has continued his thieving ways. He tells Gambit that he's going to have to shape up if he wants to keep teaching at the school. Polaris, though, shows up with an alternative: come work with her on behalf of Serval Industries. They go to Serval HQ to meet with Harrison Snow, CEO and president of Serval, to hear his pitch to Gambit, which is basically that Serval has plenty of resources as a huge and rising company (and poses Snow as the next Tony Stark, weapons-manufacturer-wise) and that Snow would like to see those resources used for good in the world. Gambit agrees to go on a mission with Polaris and surprise teammate (surprise to Polaris, anyway) Quicksilver and test it out. The three break into an AIM research facility harboring scientist Dr. Terrance Hoffman who is allegedly experimenting on mutants. As they make their way through the facility, Hoffman continues to test the mutant Fatale and relishes the idea of testing even more mutants.

This is definitely looking like a wait-and-see book after the first issue. Of course, plenty of books are like that and there's no shame in it (I would say, though, that both AVENGERS WORLD and BLACK WIDOW, which debuted this week as well, landed pretty squarely in the "things are looking good" camp). Right now there's just too much that needs establishing before we can start to see what these characters and this plot is going to feel like. Gambit (and probably the rest of the team but we get narration from Gambit this time out) is certainly skeptical of Serval and he probably should be, given the fact that it's a huge corporation hiring a superhero team to do good work in the world. Huge corporations don't tend to work exclusively on the side of good in comics (unless they're run by a superhero to begin with) and Gambit clearly recognizes that. The team's an interesting one and there's reason to believe we'll get good chemistry out of them and Peter David keeps up his knack for dialogue and fairly easy-flowing scenes in his return to Marvel (he wasn't gone for long, no, but it's still a return). Carmine Di Giandomenico brings a crisp art style to the book that could certainly pay off and Lee Loughridge's colors are phenomenal. Should be fun to watch this one play out.

Cable and X-Force 18
Hopeless (w) and Unzueta (a) and Rosenberg (c)

After a conveniently timed nightmare about Bishop (to be fair, we're led to believe she has nightmares about Bishop fairly often), Hope wakes up to find Boom Boom watching a live stream of Cable's visions. As she walks in, the TV flashes by an image of Bishop and informs her that Bishop is in Hollywood this very instant. Hope knocks out Boom Boom to stop her telling Cable, takes guns from the armory, and embarks on a mission to kill Bishop. When Boom Boom awakes and tells Cable, he sets off after her, hoping to spare Hope from cold blooded murder. Meanwhile, on the west coast, Bishop has angrily set off to stew in the city after learning that Storm erased his memories of hunting Hope. Now he's got them back, he's trying to learn to cope. He doesn't have much time to try, though, as Hope attacks him before either X-Force team appears to intervene. However, someone does appear in time to intervene as Stryfe, Cable's clone from the future, shows up and grabs both of them before, disappearing with the two of them as Cable arrives. It's not long before the Uncanny X-Force arrives and suddenly Cable has to explain why Psylocke can't find Bishop any more.

There's a lot happening here of interest but it's ultimately going to rely on the random Stryfe plot twist. It would have been enough to pit Hope and Cable against Bishop and eventually have the X-Force teams get involved with it (though I then would have complained about why no one is talking to one another just as I'm going to complain about Bishop's relationship with his new team) but this new wrinkle can either vastly improve the story or unnecessarily complicate it. We'll have to see which way it goes, though typically the words "clone from the future" tend to be in the latter camp. The other major issue I'm having is that UNCANNY X-FORCE hasn't exactly done a lot to show that the team actually cares about Bishop. Sure, the act of removing his memories was done out of some bit of caring and sure they already know Bishop but he's only just returned from the future and he's spent as much time fighting against them as fighting alongside them. I don't think it doesn't work, necessarily, but I would have liked to see some stronger connection between the team and Bishop. The VENDETTA crossover will pick back up in the next issue of UNCANNY X-FORCE so we'll likely get a better sense then of how this event will go.

All-New X-Men 20, X-Men 8, Uncanny X-Force 15

All-New X-Men 20
Bendis (w) and Asrar and Peterson (a) and Silva w/ Gracia (c)

X-23 wakes up in the Uncanny X-Men base, the abandoned Weapon X facility (which, I don't think I covered this, I don't really know how it's abandoned still, you guys) and, of course, it doesn't go very well. She eventually believes the ANXM are who they say they are but still runs out of the facility. Young Cyclops goes after her and talks to her there while the others watch from the door of the facility. Jean reveals to the team that Scott has already taken a bit of a liking to X-23 and starts to reveal what's happened to X-23 but Kitty tells her to stop and that there are minds you shouldn't read (because I guess we've entirely given up on telling Jean not to do things). X-23 wants to go after the Purifiers so they all do. My comic reader will not allow me to get past too many double page spreads, though, and so freezes up every time with about three pages left so I don't know how this one ends. A Christmas miracle, you guys.

Guys, I continue to truly hate this book. The entire conceit remains awful to me (who is letting these kids stay in the present? I know I harp on that every single review but it remains terrible every single issue). Kitty has proven a somewhat ineffectual leader, which is too bad because I like her so much every where else she appears in the MU, going along for the ride rather than actually teaching things. Occasionally she'll tell them something about how to fight or will, clearly the only reason she's really there, tell them who they're up against, but by and large she seems just there to say something or other about what they shouldn't do, which they then proceed to do almost immediately. Jean Grey is the single most obnoxious character in this entire universe right now which would be an interesting debate of nature vs. nurture if it didn't just come off as the way Bendis writes every single character. Even X-23, whose entire history and personality and reputation is based off the fact that she doesn't really know how to fit into human society, immediately begins talking in teenage terms. Guys. I hate this book. Also, I involuntarily roll my eyes every single time I see this cover.

X-Men 8
Wood (w) and T. Dodson, Kesel, Kitson, Hanna, and Pallot (a) and Keith (c)

Typhoid Mary has broken into the school and stolen the box Lady Deathstrike/Ana Cortez wants before being noticed by security. Psylocke chases her through the school and then, with a psychic tag on her, follows her down to Cortez's hideout where Cortez is working with none other than John Sublime. Sublime knows that Cortez has gone after Arkea and warns her not to try to use Arkea as he's still convinced Arkea will destroy the world. Of course, Cortez isn't stopped by this and reveals that Mary has stolen a piece of Arkea. She opens it (it's basically a hard drive) but Sublime realizes that it's a dead piece. Arkea, news to Sublime, can be killed. Cortez realizes that Sublime suspects there may be more Arkea pieces out there and has Mary pull the information from his mind before they leave him there. Psylocke picks him up and brings him back to the X-Men while Cortez and Mary travel to Norway to enlist the help of the exiled Enchantress. The three form a sisterhood bent on finding and freeing Arkea and benefiting from the powers she holds.

More interesting story though bringing Arkea back in seems a little over-complicating. However, she seemed a pretty worthy adversary who was trumped a little too quickly so I guess it makes sense and it could absolutely work to the advantage of the story. I hate to draw too many comparisons between this and FEARLESS DEFENDERS because it just seems too easy to draw comparisons between the only two major Marvel all-female team-up books and it seems to cheapen the idea but this book seems more comfortable just to be a comic. FEARLESS DEFENDERS never really felt like it knew what it wanted to do; the tone alternated between serious threats and wacky characters with no real need to be wacky. By the same token, the team-ups seemed arbitrary at best and there was this underlying feeling of "do you get it, it's all women!" which may have stemmed more from the fact that we were digging into serious B-listers than from a show-boating kind of way. This book very clearly does not care that it's all women, it simply is all women. Again, that might just be a result of the book starring A-list heroes including Storm, Psylocke, and Rachel Grey (at least A-list among X-Men). However, between the good characters and the "no wasted words" mentality, this book is hitting pretty well right now. I'm excited to see it continue to build steam as the issues pour out.

Uncanny X-Force 15
Humphries (w) and Briones and Talajic (a) and Curiel (c)

Psylocke and Puck are in the shadow world and need to find themselves a way out before they're overrun by the Revenants and before Cassandra Nova completes her plan to move the Revenants fully into the real world. Psylocke tries to call out to the Demon Bear to break Cassandra's spell over him but it doesn't have any effect until Storm, leading Spiral and Bishop into the battle, strikes lightning down on Nova and the Demon Bear and breaks the spell. Demon Bear rushes to Psylocke's aid and gets them out, sacrificing himself and staying behind to get them out. Spiral uses Bishop's special Envenom loaded weapons to cut Nova out of Ginny and instantly teleports the saved Ginny away. Nova latches on to the Psylocke Revenant (British form Betsy) nearby and begins to take up the fight again. Psylocke turns up though and kills her, officially sacrificing a psychic to stop the invasion (still seems arbitrary) and stopping Nova while also ending her chance at getting back into her original body. Bishop, meanwhile, has discovered that Storm is keeping his memories from him and is not so happy about it.

This whole series has seemed more than a little bogged down through its entirety. This is one of the series that I constantly have to refresh myself on or risk not remembering anything that's happening because, in truth, it just doesn't seem that memorable. I think the Revenants are a sort of interesting idea and a sort of interesting villain but it also seems like a fight that's gone on forever and that is completely weighed down by these weird and arbitrary things. Need to kill a psychic to stop the Revenants. Cassandra Nova brought a psychic Revenant into her house despite taking all other precautions to keep psychics out. Demon Bear is under a spell until he's not. Puck continues to have little to no role in the book. I don't know, maybe it's just not for me, which is too bad since I was so looking forward to this series when it started. Also, keep an eye out in this issue for appearances of Fantomex, who is on the cover (SPOILERS: none of the Fantomexes appear even a once). This series crosses over with CABLE AND X-FORCE for the "Vendetta" storyline which promises to be a fun one next before both cede to Si Spurrier's likely incredible X-FORCE next year.

Uncanny X-Men 15, Cable and X-Force 17

Uncanny X-Men 15
Bendis (w) and Anka (a) and Beredo (c)

The girls of the New Xavier School have realized that they don't have much by way of clothes or entertainment or whatever else they might need and so convince their female professors to take them shopping. Emma is excited about it and provides the needed money while Ilyana and Kitty are ambivalent but willing to go anyway. They go to London and shop and buy clothes and talk for a while until sirens interrupt a meal. They follow the sirens to find cocoons popping up all over the city and the telepaths, scanning the mind of anyone they can reach, hear about the Terrigenesis bomb. They go to one of the nearby cocoons which has a transforming Latverian in it who comes out and, after a brief talk with the X-Men, knocks them all unconscious without trying. AIM shows up right after and takes the boy into their custody, excited that he seems to be able to take out a fleet of X-Men without even trying. The women eventually wake up and they leave the scene, realizing that the world is about to get more complicated.

An INHUMANITY tie-in here and one that, I suppose, helps illustrate this new event and shows us that Cyclops' team is aware of what's happening but doesn't do a ton else. There's a lot of dialogue here, as is typical in a Bendis book, but most of it doesn't really delve deeper into character than we've already been. Celeste doesn't like Jean and Jean doesn't really like that Celeste doesn't like Jean because of what she could become and Celeste actually doesn't like Jean because she shouldn't be in this time and so on and so forth. Beyond that, not much more is discussed beyond the women's desire to go shopping and some defensive lines from Bendis about how it's not sexist, they just like to go shopping is all. There's a lot of the back-and-forth dialogue that, again, serves to slow the book a lot while making every character sound the same and somehow, spectacularly, not adding anything to the book's story. Kris Anka picks up the art on this one and it's definitely the highlight of the issue. Anka's done good work on UNCANNY X-FORCE covers this run and he's done pretty killer character and costume design work recently (he also works on the excellent new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show on Nickelodeon so I've nothing but praise for him). Overall, the story is one you're probably reading everywhere else across the Marvel Universe right now and it's done better elsewhere and, if you're reading UNCANNY X-MEN, you won't get much new out of this one unless, I suppose, these new clothes take a front seat in the next arc?

Cable and X-Force 17
Hopeless (w) and Sandoval (a) and Rosenberg (c)

The Adversary is on the loose in the X-Force bunker and Forge and Doctor Nemesis are trapped in Forge's mind while he uses Forge's body. Forge realizes that he hasn't left the bunker yet because he can't; the Adversary's incredible magic powers don't work on cold metal, such as the steel the bunker is entirely made out of (seems arbitrary). The key, then, is to keep him in there and to get Doc's consciousness out of Forge's body and have Doc kill Forge to stop the Adversary getting loose in the world. Doc refuses but Forge insists and both try to contact Boom Boom to stop her blowing holes in the bunker and to get her to get Doc out with the mind sync in the lab. Meanwhile, Domino and Colossus stop the avalanche hitting the small town below with a bit of luck and some ingenuity while Cable and Hope have worse luck against the Reavers and their Reavertron 9, made up of the lower level Reavers in the area. After a bit of fighting and some impressive fortitude on both their parts, Hope destroys the Reavertron and takes down the higher ranking Reavers and Cable carries her exhausted body out. Back at the bunker, Boom Boom manages to reach the switch, sending Doc's and Forge's consciousnesses into Doc's mind but, with the mind sync grabbing all nearby consciousnesses, it also sends the Adversary to Doc. Forge is annoyed that it seems impossible to save any of them but Doc points out that not all minds are created equal and he uses the tools in his own mindscape to indefinitely trap the Adversary, eager to hold his victory over Forge for long to come.

Nice little issue as everything here wraps up pretty cleanly and rather abruptly. Domino and Colossus get their moment together as they get to go on their date night after successfully working together to save the town and detonate the Sentinel. Cable and Hope get a bit of bonding time and Hope gets to prove herself to her father. Doc and Forge share a nice moment when Doc reveals that his plan of entering Forge's mind was a little short-sighted and he didn't have time to plan an exit strategy, too concerned was he in saving his reluctant friend's life. I'm also in favor of this issue because we get a lot of Doc Nemesis and we get to see him pretty much win outright in his constant battle of wits with Forge. Nice issue and a nice conclusion, in a way, to the series. There are still a few more issues before this book and UNCANNY X-FORCE disappear and get replaced by Si Spurrier's X-FORCE early in 2014 but the next few issues will be the crossover series VENDETTA between the two X-Force books and will therefore not exactly be based around the mission statement of this team (or of the other team but that one has less of a mission statement and more of a "we banded together because we had to in order to stop this crazy threat") so it's like the series is ending here, in a way. Bit sad. It does make me wonder how long in advance Hopeless knew about the replacement of this book, especially considering how abrupt the finale of this little arc was, wrapping things up in a hastily tied bow. Oh well, it all works out well and Sandoval's art really fits the sort of chaotic action we see throughout the issue. Nicely done all the same.

All-New X-Men 19, Uncanny X-Force 14, Cataclysm - Ultimate X-Men 1

All-New X-Men 19
Bendis (w) and Peterson (a) and Silva (c)

There's a mutant on the run for her life, though she's not convinced she's a mutant, in Miami. A group of heavily armed religious zealots have surrounded her and are ready to finish her for being an abomination when the All-New X-Men show up, clad in their brand new uniforms! There's much quipping about the mutant place in religion and how little sense it all makes while the fight rages. The new mutant runs off and Kitty follows her, hoping to help, calling her Laura and wondering why she's not recognizing her. As the X-Men wrap up the fight, the police arrive and Magik insists they go while Scott insists they stay and try to file a report for the police. Of course, the police don't want to hear it and Magik teleports them away before they're shot. Kitty finally catches up with the new mutant and we find that it's not a new mutant, it's a severely messed up X-23!

Another OG X-Men-in-action issue as they continue to adjust to this future and work together as a team a bit better. Laura is clearly a little out of sorts (and a bit out of memory, it would seem) after her time on Murder World, where she ended up rather left in the woods, feral, and extremely injured. Are they pulling X-23's first Wolverine, erasing her memory and leaving her wounded, defensive, and alone? Boy, sounds like it! The issue is a bit heavy on the back-and-forth and takes a somewhat slow pace because of it, despite being primarily a fight issue and despite so very little happening. There's one somewhat disturbing long-panel that gives rather a close-up on Jean Grey's butt, which goes rather over-the-top and both pulled me out of the issue and made me go "isn't she supposed to be like 15 or 16 at this point?" Jean Grey may be going down the Magneto road, disgusted by humans and angry at everyone, though it's sure to come in stages. The cover for next issue has X-23 throwing herself at Scott which made me groan and roll my eyes. Really sick of all these love triangles (and this isn't X-23's first) and people throwing themselves at other people. Bendis seems not to be sick of that.

Uncanny X-Force 14
Humphries (w) and Briones (a) and Curiel (c)

Cassandra Nova has opened up the portal to the Revenants' world with the sacrifice of a low-level psychic and now has locked down LA to stop communications from going out, leaving Nova herself and Psylocke as the only two psychics in the area. That makes things tricky for X-Force, who has to sacrifice a psychic before daybreak to close the veil (these rules seem arbitrary). As they send an attack force (Puck) at Nova's moving base (she called forth a ground-made creature to carry them all), Nova offers an alliance to Betsy, hoping that she'll help in exchange for her old body back, the original Betsy Braddock British body. She looks on it with sadness and longing as Puck breaks in and rescues her, taking the Demon Bear down in the process. The escape doesn't go particularly well and they end up in the Revenants' world.

Plenty of action here and a pretty neat little choice for Betsy, who has to push away probably her last chance at ending up in the OG British body to save the world. Not that she's done badly in the Hand-resurrected body and not that she hasn't had the time to get used to it, but it's still a really intriguing choice and one that you're like "I can see why she'd want that." Aside from the continually arbitrary rules, there's a lot going on here and a lot to make this seemingly final X-Force-only arc interesting; this arc will lead to the "Vendetta" crossover with CABLE AND X-FORCE which will ultimately result in the two books ending, to be replaced with Si Spurrier's X-FORCE, which will be amazing. Anyway, interested to see where this story in and of itself is going.

Cataclysm - Ultimate X-Men 1
Fialkov (w) and Martinez and Lucas (a) and Bellaire (c)

Galactus has reached Earth and it's come at a time when Kitty's X-Men have gone back to Tian to try to find any survivors, including the missing Pixie. They manage to find the small group of mutants (an oddly specific bunch that includes Pixie, a guy who has the power to calm people down, someone who can use and amplify the powers of others, Strong Guy and Beak) right as Galactus appears and Amp and Pixie both panic, leading to the entire group teleporting the entire area into what seems like maybe space, where the Gah-Lak-Tus swarm surrounds them, charging at them over and over in the hopes to consume them. Silence (the calm-people-down guy) is killed pretty quickly and the others begin to fight. Things seem a bit out of control when the new Captain Marvel, AKA Rick Jones, appears to help.

Fialkov has really orchestrated this whole event, it seems, which seems like a really big event for someone who hasn't been at Marvel for that long. I'm not saying he's doing a bad job or doesn't deserve to be doing this, but Marvel tends to give events to people they've been working with for awhile and really know they trust but Fialkov has kind of excelled this year (especially in the Ultimate universe) and has made himself worthy of the new event, apparently. It's certainly an interesting event and you can see all the pieces falling into place, as the Ultimates go after Galactus, along with Spider-Man, and the X-Men go after the Gah-Lak-Tus swarm along with Captain Marvel. That means a fight on all fronts, whether it's going to go well or not. Obviously the plot is the key to this issue, as with most event books, which means that some of the charm of the ULTIMATE X-MEN book under Brian Wood has been lost. I'm not sure that it really could have kept up into this event because, like I said, events tend to be a little too plot heavy and, also, this is going to be a limited run book, meaning it can't hit that same kind of building-tension tone that Wood had hit so well in his run. Still, should be an interesting event.

Si Spurrier combining and taking over X-Force

More news! Si Spurrier, writer of the phenomenal X-MEN LEGACY, will be taking over for both Sam Humphries and Dennis Hopeless as he combines the two ongoing X-Force teams into one team, starring Cable, Psylocke, Fantomex, and Marrow following the four-part crossover between the two series "Vendetta" early next year.

I like Dennis Hopeless a lot and I've liked his series and I think Humphries is coming along on his series so I'm a little sad to see the shift here BUT I'm not terribly sad because this sounds amazing. I absolutely love Spurrier's work and an interview of his (http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2013/11/07/x-force-comic-book-series/3464365/...I would link it more casually but I'm on my phone and there aren't many options for that) is super encouraging. I just love his take and his view on characters and I'm particularly interested in his ideas for Fantomex, who I love anyway. Very, very excited. Also in that interview is mention of an X-Force movie? I'll look into that more later, hmm?

X-Men Battle of the Atom 2, Ultimate X-Men 33, Uncanny X-Force 13

X-Men Battle of the Atom 2
Aaron (w) and Ribic w/ Camuncoli and Currie and Palmer (a) and Svorcina w/ Mossa and Guru eFX (c)

Everyone has to take a moment to deal with the SHIELD attack started by Xorn and Xavier. By and large, the X-Men seem to realize that maybe this is a little out of form for SHIELD but they do eventually have to ask some questions as some SHIELD-authorized Sentinels appear. It's these attacks that are more troubling (why do they have Sentinels?) and more damage-inducing, as they kill old Hank McCoy and old Jubilee. Xavier also kills old Colossus and I THINK that's the full casualty list. You'll note, of course, that all of these deaths are from characters that may or may not exist in the future? Anyway, time travel. So the combined X-Men manage to defeat the Brotherhood (though the surviving members scatter in the present, like real jerks) and Ilyana teleports them all back to Westchester. There are a number of epilogues by a number of different X-creators and it basically boils down to the following: the team from the future goes back, the original X-Men are staying in the present because of course they are, Storm's future daughter Kymera is staying behind to track the Brotherhood, and Kitty and the original X-Men are going to Scott's X-team.

I really hated this event, you guys. And now that it's over, I can safely say that I hated it all the way through and that nothing changed my opinion about it. There's a ton of the back-and-forth dialogue here with altogether too many quips for the seriousness of the situation. There are very few (if any) of the kind of idealogical questions that X-Men has been known for over time (other than, you know, the ethics of time travel, a thing that doesn't exist). The original X-Men are still here and now Kitty, who was, perhaps, more burned than anyone by the Phoenix Force business, is leading them to Scott's camp because she feels like she can't trust anyone at the school to have her back because they didn't listen to her when she said she wanted the kids to stay (I think? It's not a very clear argument). Just so, so glad this business is over. Hard not to compare it to Infinity as both are happening at the same time but one has wonderful pacing and a huge, epic feel to it that certainly had its share of fights but they were all meaningful and different. Guess which event I'm talking about now? Guys, it was Infinity. Obviously it was Infinity.

Ultimate X-Men 33
Wood (w) and A. Martinez and J. Lucas (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Pixie is teleporting everyone from Tian to Utopia while Kitty meets with Jean hoping against hope for a peaceful resolution. They fight for a bit but still Kitty does it with the hope that Jean will listen to reason. Jean's main argument, of course, is that Tian is a sacred and perfect place and that mutants need to be united. Kitty explains why she doesn't believe that; she believes mutants are united, they just don't want to be ruled by Jean and this has kind of shown why. Kitty knocks down Jean and reunites with a healing Jimmy before Jean knocks them both out from behind, believing she's won the war. However, she suddenly realizes that there are no more citizens in Tian and Pixie appears to take Kitty and Jimmy away behind her, saying that she'll come back for Jean if Jean wants, especially given the bombs that are now raining down on the city. Jean struggles to survive through the falling Utopian attack and is eventually rescued by Storm and brought to Utopia, where she begins to make a new life for herself, admitting a couple weeks later that Tian feels like a thing of the past and that she's gotten better than she deserves from the people of Utopia. Kitty, meanwhile, suffers no retribution for the attack on Tian, for which she takes absolutely all responsibility. The government is still rebuilding and doesn't have the time nor the funds to press any charges if, indeed, there are charges to be pressed here. Everyone seems a little more comfortable with Tian off the board and they all seem okay with mutants policing themselves for the time being. World War X isn't entirely without casualties, though, as the Sentient Seed's consciousness is apparently dead.

Plenty still happening and a very cool ending for the World War X arc we've just finished but I want to note that this is also a really good way to end the series, if indeed Cataclysm does bring the Ultimate Universe to its end. Another good issue from the Ultimate X-Men team as we get some resolution at last for the problems that have been building for some time now. It's also got a nice question, a little bigger and broader than a lot of X-Men theme questions, which normally focus on good vs. evil and the like (okay, they're bigger than that). These are questions about nation-building and the place of this race in the world in an even broader sense than in the "humans fear us" kind of way. Pretty cool and it still fits really well with the themes we've built over the last year as Kitty has taken her X-Men to the next level here. As a quick note, Magneto destroyed New York with a tidal wave once in this universe and yet these X-Men, though smaller, seem like they may be doing better than the 616's X-Men. Who is dropping the ball over there?

Uncanny X-Force 13
Humphries (w) and Briones w/ Unzueta (a) and Curiel w/ Rosenberg (c)

The Revenants, led by Cassandra Nova, are primed to enter our world and Psylocke and company realize that they could use some help with the oncoming storm. Unfortunately, Nova, an omega-level telepath herself, has locked down psychic transmissions coming in or out of Los Angeles so Psylocke cannot contact anyone quickly enough (I guess as a psychic, you stop carrying cellphones). It's up to their little ragtag band to stop Nova from opening the portal to allow all of the Revenants in and, failing that, up to them to try to help stop the Revenants, an impossible army consisting of angry shadow-duplicates of every living being on Earth. They manage to crash Nova's party just as the Revenants are starting to come through and the fight quickly turns south as Nova has counter defenses for some of them specifically and as she manages to repossess the Demon Bear that's been at Psylocke's side for the majority of this journey. Now the Great Corruption (as Bishop calls it) is open and only the death of a telepath can close it. Bad news, as Nova now has Psylocke so controls the local telepaths.

This series is shaping up nicely with a pretty intense story and some nice characterization shining through in this issue, particularly between Storm and Psylocke. I know that it's a comic book but the rules of this little venture seem a bit arbitrary, which would be my biggest complaint about this. This is a new sort of enemy (even if Nova isn't new) so there are no established rules for this sort of thing, yet Bishop and others keep throwing out rules as if we know them. I'm not complaining, necessarily, about the rules themselves, but it it a little hard to follow without anything set up ahead of time and it makes it feel like simply roadblocks when we actually get to a big moment. The psychic shut-down of LA, for example, meaning no one thinks to pick up a phone is strange. The death of a telepath thing feels like something that was well-thought out but never really explained to us so it comes off as arbitrary even if it wasn't by design. Still, overall an engaging story with signs of progress for a series that felt like it was kind of spinning its wheels for a while.

Uncanny X-Force 12, Ultimate X-Men 32

Uncanny X-Force 12
Humphries (w) and Alphona (a) and Sotomayor w/ Rosenberg (c)

We get a look at how Spiral's been passing the time with X-Force and Bishop dealing with Revenants and, as it happens, Spiral's been on the tail of the Revenant's too. She has been searching for Ginny relentlessly, holding her vicious nature in check as best she can to try to get information out of any sources. Two different sources, one woman who has lost a friend recently and another who was killed trying to save her daughter (reanimated by Spiral so she could relate the tale), point Spiral to a White Robe cult. Neither woman seems to know much about them except that neither has heard from the person they lost since they joined up with the cult. The killed woman manages to relate to Spiral where to find the White Robes and Spiral sets off their quickly, eventually (with a couple stops first) leading her to the base of the Revenants, where she finds out that the Owl Queen has taken over Ginny's body and that she's really Cassandra Nova, evil, seemingly immortal twin of Charles Xavier. Spiral relates all of this to X-Force, having realized she cannot do this alone.

Solid entry that both serves to clear up a few things about the Revenants (while also asking a few more questions) and to establish Spiral better for this series. We already know her connection to Ginny and we can trust, even more now, that it's particularly strong and meaningful to her. More importantly, though, we get the real, mostly unbiased look into her psyche as someone who has been broken and molded by Mojo into whatever it is she is now and who has stepped so far from her humanity that she's left with only the killer inside of her. We also see a little bit of her magical abilities with the reanimation of the killed woman, though she's quick to point out that her magic is far more limited these days. Finally, we get the reveal of Cassandra Nova as the big baddie and that has its own implications, especially in a world where, as she so immediately recognizes, Charles is dead. Interesting stuff and Spiral's short nature makes the book move pretty well, even with as much narration as we have. One of the better issues of this book so far, I'd say, even with just the fairly brief action sequences.

Ultimate X-Men 32
Wood (w) and A. Martinez and J. Lucas (a) and Sotomayor (c)

Jimmy Hudson is attacking Tian so, for all intents and purposes, it looks like Utopia is attacking Tian. Jimmy manages to take down a few people though he's brought down surprisingly quickly by the full might of Tian. Derek Morgan, one of the good mutants in Tian, tries to stop him from attacking and lift him out peacefully but doesn't have any luck with that, eventually ceding to a troll in the city. The incapacitated Jimmy is brought to Jean, who begins to psychically attempt to kill him. Liz Allen steps in, though, at the expense of being called a traitor to deem Jean a murderer. Meanwhile, on Utopia, Kitty has decided she is going to Tian with the help of new Utopia resident Pixie and talk with Jean, which will, one way or another, lead to the end of this fight. Either Jean listens and they sort things out in a more peaceful manner (unlikely) or Utopia prepares to bombard Tian. It's time to end things.

I've praised this series' ability to keep tension running just as high from issue to issue without really missing a beat and it pays off in issue's like this, where you see the beginnings of the end of the arc. All the tension that has built up over the course of this series and, more directly, this World War X storyline is bubbling now and is likely to dispel as we reach the end. How quickly it dispels is anyone's guess but it's a perfectly structured story with smart characters and writing. That's all it takes to make a series this reliably good. Brian Wood is one of the best in the business at this kind of pacing and at writing a complete story, beginning to end, without particularly slow beats. This issue is another great example of it and you can already see the framework for the next issue, or for however long the resolution of this storyline takes. Really solid book and another particularly good issue. If you like the X-Men, even if you're not terribly familiar with the Ultimate Universe, this is one to get into. Frankly, it's a good one to get into even if you don't love the X-Men and just want to get into a book with understandably and unmistakably high stakes, near-perfect pacing and story, and solid characters and writing. Good book all around.

Uncanny X-Force 11, Wolverine 9

Uncanny X-Force 11
Humphries (w) and R. Pérez (a) and Rosenberg w/ J.D. Ramos (c)

Bishop and the demon bear are the only ones who haven't been captured by the Revenants and are doing what they can to get the team back. The issue comes from Bishop's perspective, then, as he relies on his training and wits to stage an attack on where the Revenants are holding Storm, Psylocke, and Puck. The Revenants still have their versions of Bishop's new teammates, now standing guard. When the demon bear and Bishop break in and manage to free Storm, Psylocke, and Puck, a fight breaks out, which is pretty quickly handled. Storm kills her own Revenant and Bishop lauds her for her strength; killing a Revenant is how you join his order so he makes her a member on the spot. Before she fully dies, though, the Storm Revenant tells Storm that Bishop is crazy and wrong, that he doesn't know them by their real name and that he thinks the Queen is from the future when Storm already knows her in the present. Bishop says this fight is just the beginning, that they have to go for the Revenant Queen. As he says it, Spiral appears, claiming to know where the Queen is and wanting a piece of the action.

I've never had a particularly deep connection to Bishop as a character which might be part of why I didn't really connect with this issue. It very much does rely on feeling something for Bishop, who frames a lot of the story in thoughts directed at his own Revenant, a promising man who he killed to join his order. There's real regret there in that he had to kill what seemed like a good man but also in his longing to have been that man and not whatever he is now. Otherwise, the characters kind of fall into the roles we've already seen with Psylocke overpowering her Revenant and Storm acting decisively as needed to kill her own while Puck continues to act as comic relief with just a twinge of something more. Spiral appearing begs some questions and hopefully those will be answered next time out. I'm still finding it a little hard to connect with this book as a whole and I can't quite put my finger on why. I'm hoping some things solidify as we see what seems to be much of the team finally working together in the coming issues.

Wolverine 9
Cornell (w) and A. Davis and M. Farmer (a) and Hollingsworth (c)

Wolverine is still killable, the virus is still out there, and Mystique has just broken into and out of the Jean Grey School. Wolverine has decided he can't do anything about the virus at this point, that it's better left in SHIELD's hands (though I'm sure we'll come back to it, you never just start a story and leave it, nor do you still cut back to a story that you're not coming back to), and that he needs to focus on Mystique and, of course, Sabretooth. His friends tell him that maybe now is the time to take a break and lay low but he refuses, eventually leaving to track his foes with a note Mystique left in his room. Kitty stows away on the jet, still trying to get him to turn around but, assuming that won't work, prepared to help him. The jet is shot down by Batroc the Leaper who is apparently working for Sabretooth. Sabretooth has put a hit on Wolverine while he's killable and it seems all manner of villain will be coming for him now. Wolverine tells Kitty to get the note out of the jet before it explodes while he takes care of Batroc. It's a good fight but Wolverine eventually bests Batroc after admitting that maybe he's gotten a little slower with his healing to fall back on. Batroc teleports away before they can finish him or get answers out of him. Wolverine allows Kitty to stay with him as Batroc didn't seem to expect her, meaning Sabretooth won't either. They leave to return to the place where Wolverine was born.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I absolutely love Batroc the Leaper. There's something truly great about the character, even since Brubaker brought him back as a legitimate foe, someone who was trained extremely well in savate and who moves with grace and precision. The goofiness is still there and the character is still better for it. They can't all be Red Skulls. I don't love this Batroc though, pretty much from his start shooting the jet down. Batroc has long been focused on honor, pretty rare for a mercenary. He has no problem killing people or defeating them in combat but he wants to do it when they have an equal chance of winning, where it just comes down to skill. For that matter, Sabretooth hiring out mercenaries to kill Wolverine seems wrong to; Sabretooth has always wanted Wolverine dead but there's no question he wants it done by his own hand. At least, Sabretooth putting a hit on him is what's assumed, that he's behind the Hand's bounty. Maybe he's not. Still, the issue moves about as deliberately as every other issue of this book has. It continues to be a bit of a slow series but I wouldn't be upset if they did just drop the virus thing altogether. That's where it's been slowest throughout the series.

Uncanny X-Force 10, Ultimate X-Men 30

Uncanny X-Force 10
Humphries (w) and R. Pérez (a) and J.D. Ramos and Rosenberg (c)

Psylocke has returned to the team and everyone is eager to figure out what's up with Bishop. They ask Bishop what's up but can't really trust the words he says so Betsy checks his mind quickly, discovering that he's telling the truth, or at least thinks he is (like in Ghostbusters), which is still doubted by Puck, in particular. They learn from Bishop that Revenants, the creatures he fears from the future, are essentially spectral twins of every human alive, jealous of their counterparts' lives (they never SPECIFICALLY say "evil" but it's implied) and who have been unable to cross in large numbers until the Revenant Queen managed to figure out a way. Bad news for humanity and bad news particularly now as Bishop has followed the Revenant Queen back here. A fight ensues and plenty happens, including the capture of three of our team members (but which three? See, I don't give anything away! Though technically there are only three official members of the team and they're Psylocke, Puck, and Storm so GUESS WHO IT IS?).

Now we're starting to get into a meatier story and not a moment too late. Maybe one moment. It's issue ten, you guys. Still, there are some peculiarities about the story that are yet to be revealed (how did the Revenant Queen change things, are these guys evil or misunderstood or what, what makes this time the best time for the Revenants to come back to, etc) but we have our baseline, which is a nice start. Betsy's back with the team and ready to fight (until the capture of three members of the team, one of which may or may not be her). In addition to that, the Revenants have now captured three of these members and are preparing to unleash their Revenants on the world (another question, if Psylocke IS one of those captured, why does her Revenant look like a different version of her Japanese body? Wouldn't it look more like OG Betsy Braddock, the British blond of the Braddock brood - nailed that alliteration, by the way - rather than her corrupted self). PERHAPS ALL WILL BE ANSWERED SOON. Still, not a bad issue. The nice thing about this book, while I haven't necessarily loved it, is that it's always pretty eminently readable. There's enough going on and the writing doesn't hurt the book so it's not a pain to read or anything. Screaming endorsement, "eminently readable."

Ultimate X-Men 30
Wood (w) and A. Martinez and J. Lucas (a) and Sotomayor (c)

The war between Tian and Utopia seems to have seen its opening shots and it's led to a bit of drastic action on both sides. The Utopia mutants react to the essentially-droids attacking their home, destroying them all once they find out their not exactly alive to make a statement to Jean. Jean, in turn, blasts Utopia in a very public speech, pointing at them as the aggressors and as unwilling to tolerate another mutant community. It's a bold move and a dangerous one, one that James, Jean's newest citizen and confidant, doesn't approve of (he doesn't approve of most of what she does but he seems to see no other world for himself) and that Kitty has to react to internally. Disappointed that her ideals and hopes don't seem to be the ideals and hopes of the people around her, she cedes the leadership role of Utopia to new citizen Colossus.

Not a huge entry but still a pretty big issue. We also get a look at Magma and her powers, as she shapes the Earth around Utopia to create an even better area with which to defend Utopia. Pretty powerful lady and don't expect that she's only here to show her powers once and then fade into the ether again. Mach Two, while not being controlled by Psylocke any longer, still seems a little strange so don't count a plot with her out either. Still, those things are just icing on the cake for what is already a pretty great series and a pretty great story. I don't tend to give a lot of focus to the Ultimate Universe and it does still rank a little lower in priority for me than the 616 but this book is consistently one of the best books Marvel is putting out, and it feels like the company has a refocused effort all around in the Ultimate Universe so expect to see big things out of it. I also have found myself, on a somewhat related/unrelated note, really enjoying the Ultimate X-Men covers. They're usually more simplistic than this one but still profound and meaningful in some nice ways. And they look really good. Seen a lot of great covers recently. Always encouraging. Did you guys see the Astonishing X-Men one and the Thor: God of Thunder one this week? Rad. Probably others too, but those really stuck out. Love the colors on the Astonishing X-Men one, even if it is kind of a simple design. Less is more, ya know? Even the Uncanny X-Force issue above had some neat cover work to it, with all the ghastly looking Revenant versions of different costumes for each hero. Neat. Am I rambling? I'm rambling. Look, Ultimate X-Men is a great book, maybe check it out, you honestly don't need THAT much backstory at any given time. Maybe you do. But I didn't have a ton when I jumped onboard not TOO too long ago and I'm doing JUST FINE, THANKS. I mean, could be better, I suppose. Okay look, I'm ending the review now, only ten lines too late.