Leftovers 10-22-14

All-New Ghost Rider 8

Johnny Blaze has tracked Robbie Reyes and spirit Eli Morrow down, determined to learn more about this all-new Ghost Rider. Eli convinces Robbie to let him take the reins to fight Blaze as Johnny looks into his soul and discovers Eli is a murdering Satanist, news which shouldn't surprise Robbie but rather does. Eli is overpowered by Blaze but manages to escape, continuing to wrestle Robbie for control and eventually winning it, throwing Robbie's life into chaos and attacking an old contact of his. Still not a bad series though it occasionally gets a bit heavy-handed in this one. It's an interesting idea but it's not one that's particularly a shock at this point as anyone with a brain can see Eli's not a good dude. The art is occasionally confusing this issue, particularly as the two Ghost Riders fight, but it still looks compelling visually overall. Total Score: 4/5





All-New Invaders 11
The Invaders are trying to find Human Torch and settle him down. They suspect he's going crazy because the energy burst that he and Namor were hit with affected him differently. The exact line, and I'm not making this up, from Namor is "It stunned me but, I assume due to his synthetic makeup, drove Jim insane." That's it. End of diagnosis. Everyone essentially nods and says "Mhm, that sounds likely, great work Namor. Or should I say 'Dr. Namor?' You seem to be a pretty solid scientist now." So they find Jim and he freaks out about how he needs to be killed because all the bad energy in him and they all say no but they also kinda say yes (great friends, these dudes) and Namor steps up and talks about how Jim has always been the conscience of the team (sure, a team with constant do-gooder Captain America and the guy struggling with humanity is the conscience, whatever) and he's always made Namor a better guy and then true love's kiss from an unexpected source (Namor) saves the over-powerful and fearful Human Torch, whereupon he learns that he can control his powers and flies into the atmosphere to burn off the bad energy. Look. It's pretty much Frozen. But, and I can't stress this enough, with worse writing. I'm not even a big ol' Frozen fan and GEEZ I'd rather watch the hour and a half of that rather than read this comic again. Total Score: 1/5


All-New X-Factor 15

X-Factor is trying to keep World War Hate at bay in DC as Polaris and Gambit attempt to quell rioters, Cypher, Luna, and Georgia try to quell different rioters, Danger and Warlock provide a shield between the Pentagon and the people, and Quicksilver swaps out the nuclear launch codes the president is bringing to a remote location to use on Russia with a briefcase full of comics. Some complications ensue but they're all overcome and X-Factor stays above the hate (mostly) thanks to Danger and Warlock. However, as they regroup back at Serval, they learn that the briefcase Quicksilver stole has a tracking device on it and some Sentinels make their way over to Serval. Some interesting stuff here. The issue manages to drag somehow, despite the immense amount of action it hinges on. There's a lot of dialogue but it doesn't all advance the plot or build character, some of it just seems meant to drag, which is an odd use of dialogue. Dynamic art works in the book's favor, though, as it's a very kinetic book to flip through. Total Score: 3/5


Amazing Spider-Man 8
Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man team up successfully to bring down Dr. Minerva, who claims to be working on behalf of the Kree to procure the cocoon. When a baby pops out of the cocoon, even one of Minerva's henchman recognizes how wrong what they're doing is and turns on the others, modifying their sonic scanner into a weapon and using it on his fellow henchmen. As Kamala and the henchman watch over the baby, Spider-Man sends Dr. Minerva scurrying away, calling her bluff about her affiliation with the Kree army. He then correctly identifies the henchman as none other than Clayton Cole and tells him to call up Peter Parker at Parker Industries if he's looking for a job. He also gives Kamala a killer pep talk. Meanwhile, Silk gets a new costume and, in the second half of the issue, Spider-Girl barely escapes Daemos, one of the Inheritors (that's apparently what they're called!), though her father and mother, Peter Parker and MJ Parker, aren't so lucky. Along with her baby brother Ben, Spider-Girl follows a couple other spiders out of her world and into the rebellion. The Kamala-Peter stuff is pretty great and is a crossover worth checking in to, if just to show how much Kamala's story mirrors Peter (though obviously there are some differences). We're also officially at the very edge of SPIDER-VERSE now as the true event is meant to kick off in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 9. The table's set, now it's time to actually serve up this next event. Total Score: 4/5


Amazing X-Men 12
Everyone is falling to the Wendigos and Tanaraq is nearing the breach between his world and the real world, prepared to conquer the world with his army of Wendigos. Storm convinces the other gods, beaten and corralled by Tanaraq, to give the X-Men their powers. With those powers combined, they manage to pull Tanaraq back from the portal and, along with the previously eaten Guardian, burst that guy up, ending the Wendigo Curse everywhere and reverting all those changed back to their regular forms. Altogether a pretty good first arc for the new creative team on this series. Yost and Kyle managed to make sure everyone they brought on this first story had some sort of an impact on the plot, which is easier said than done on a big team book like this. Better yet, the story itself was interesting enough alone. This ending is a little abrupt, as Storm basically says "hey you gods, give us your powers" and the gods go "well, okay, that's something we can evidently do." Still, strong work all around. Total Score: 4/5


Axis: Hobgoblin 1
Roderick Kingsley, the original Hobgoblin who has taken to selling criminal identities to up-and-comers, has changed his method and now sells hero identities to up-and-comers, rebranding himself has a motivational speaker of sorts and making crazy money in the process. The Goblin King, though, isn't so thrilled with the arrangement and wants Menace, Lily Holister, on his side to take down Kingsley. Menace has lost her goblin powers since Spider-Man injected her with the antidote but Goblin King believes that blowing up her car and forcing her into the river will probably do the trick to remind her she needs him (specious logic). Unfortunately, it wipes her mind a bit and sends her crawling to Roderick Kingsley in the hopes that he'll give her an identity. Kind of an interesting premise here but it relies on caring about a lot of Goblins, so if you don't you'll probably end up a little uninterested in this tie-in limited series. There are some fun bits but overall it's hard to nail a tone down on this one, which occasionally goes full joke but often also backs off and tries to go darker, weakening both. Total Score: 3/5


Cyclops 6
Cyclops and Corsair have been reunited with Corsair's team but, thanks in no small part to Scott not knowing what he's doing in space, they get captured by Starjammer enemy Malafect (I'm calling all space enemies Babbleblop Spaceman from now on because that's what most space baddies might as well be named). Corsair pretends to be furious with Scott to influence Spaceman, who decides to take Scott on as his own crew member after Cyclops, playing along, blasts Corsair with eyebeams. Babbleblop is into it and adopts Cyclops as his own (crew member). This issue, with a new creative team than the original (not a hundred percent sure if that's permanent or not, but Rucka and Dauterman are definitely both busy, so it, you know, still could be either), has lost a little bit of the spark of the first arc, which focused so much on building characters and bonding. This one gets more into the action and the typical sort of plot. It's still interesting enough to keep reading, but that's something to keep an eye on moving forward. Also, these sorts of space enemies tend to be interchangeable and uninteresting to me (hence: Babbleblop). Total Score: 3/5


Deadpool 36
Deadpool teams with Magneto and his crew to take down the Red Onslaught and his hero-killing Sentinels, which kind of draws the ire of his wife, who believes he needs to spend more time at home and helping her with her kingdom. As the Inversion Wave hits, things change quite a bit for Deadpool. Most of the heroes get surlier with him and oust his refugee friends from the X-Mansion. For Deadpool himself, though, the inversion has turned him peaceful and forgiving, giving way to an all-new Deadpool. It's a pretty neat idea and it's the first real mention of the effects of the inversion, proving that there could be interesting things ahead for AXIS. Since an initial terrible arc, DEADPOOL has turned itself into something really respectable (with a couple of road bumps) and a series that really knows its way around a crossover. Total Score: 4/5


Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy 2

X-23 freaked out a bit after Wolverine's death and left the Xavier School, angrily storming out on Kitty. She goes and parties in some weird and skimpy outfit and then gets involved in a strange gang fight and teams up with and talks with The Chinook, ex-mutant formerly known as Windshear, who teaches her some things about mourning and healing and whatever else. She's all better by the end and heads back home, proud of her clone-dad. Really distracting that there's this story about a teenager who is dressed so ridiculously. I think a lot of people are having trouble with X-23, not knowing how to write her as she starts to evolve a bit, and this is no different. I think there's a compelling story (KIND OF, not really) but it's so weirdly handled and overshadowed by everything else that it gets drowned out. Total Score: 2/5





Secret Avengers 9
We are so close to done this and yet WE'RE NOT DONE YET, what's the deal? I've been writing this for altogether too long. Okay. What happened in this book? There was probably some more condescension as Kot references purportedly more high-culture literature and art. This book is rather a hipster and guys, I hate hipsters. Anyway, Tlon is coming and Deadpool is done distracting Hawkeye and MODOK escaped and is hanging out with a shaman. I still don't care about this book. The Deadpool-Hawkeye team-up is pretty alright though. Total Score: 2/5


X-Force 11

MeMe has been dumped by Fantomex and, after a lifetime of never being dumped and not really understanding how relationships work, Hope is dedicated to finding out why. In the middle of invading Volga's campus, Hope sneaks into Fantomex's mind, suddenly believing him to be scared of Cable, which is why he broke things off with her. Of course, Fantomex knows she's there and snaps at her, screaming about how he doesn't fear anyone and how he's sick of this team belittling him and underestimating him. He has Eva expel Hope from his mind and makes his next move. With Volga's team dispatched, Fantomex turns on his teammates, incapacitating them before explaining that he must kill them all to prove how much better he is than all of them. Before he can do it, though, Volga's mysterious assistant, who had been wreaking some havoc on them earlier, shoots him in the head, revealing herself to be Domino. Really great twists and turns here and Spurrier continues to do excellent work with Fantomex and the rest of the team. I think Hope is a little weakly developed here but I think he has more to say about her and to explore with her. Spurrier did CBR's X-Position this past week and gave, as ever, a really interesting interview that I've been wanting to show to you guys all week. Check it out here and learn more about his really interesting take on these guys. Anyway, continues to be great, this book. Total Score: 4/5

Uncanny X-Men 27, Wolverine and the X-Men 10

Uncanny X-Men 27

Matthew Malloy is still out there, wreaking some serious havoc and baffling the X-Men and SHIELD, nearby in a helicarrier. In an attempt to quell him, Rachel Grey creates a big psychic image in front of him, showing the X-Men and Avengers ready to fight him with Xavier leading the pack, asking if Malloy will allow him to rebuild the barriers in his mind for the good of the world. Malloy waffles between trusting him and hating him but ultimately begins to wonder if maybe he shouldn't be using this power to do much more. He sees through Rachel's trick and lays waste to the helicarrier, transporting most of the X-Men back to their homes (though some remain unaccounted for). Everyone is caught off-guard by this strange tactic but Scott Summers recovers quickly enough for Magik to teleport him back to Malloy, where Cyclops convinces him that he believes what Charles did was wrong and that he wants to help mutant kind, maybe the way Malloy wants to express his new powers. Cyclops asks Malloy if maybe he wants to talk a bit and Malloy consents.

The big plot development here, obviously, is that this sudden omega-level or beyond mutant is potentially ending in Cyclops' smaller camp of militant mutants, tipping the scales of the battle. I have my usual issues with Bendis books (namely some mood-breaking back-and-forth dialogue and quips) but my hesitation about naming this a good arc stems from something bigger here, I think. I don't like SCHISM and I don't like what's spawned from it. Do I think the X-Men probably needed some sort of a shakeup? Yeah, I guess so. Was SCHISM intriguing? Sure. I liked the idea of an increasingly more militant Cyclops and an increasingly more caring and protective Wolverine. On the flipside, I don't think it's carried well and it's clearly weighing on the writers at this point too. Obviously the added wrinkle of "Scott Summers killed Professor X" has extended the life of the split but I even think that's weak. Doing no research on the subject, I'm not sure there's a single character involved in these fights that hasn't been brainwashed or possessed or controlled or what-not. So has Cyclops been skewing another way for a little bit now? Well sure, I suppose people are starting to get more cynical of him. But should they erase their long history with him and his new people because he, very clearly under control of the Phoenix Force he couldn't contain and that they all knew he couldn't contain, was partly responsible for the death of his mentor? Look, I think not. What I'm getting at is that I don't think this whole antipathy between the two sides is warranted and that's entirely what this story is going to boil down to. I also have some amount of problems with omega-level+ mutants just appearing. ANYWAY. Doesn't mean this won't be an interesting story, just means I'm having some trouble buying into it. I also have been wanting to write a tiny bit about the ramifications of SCHISM for a little while now and the WATXM review should be pretty short so WHY NOT PUT IT HERE? Like that cover though.

Total Score: 3/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 10

Wolverine's ex-girlfriend Melita Garner visits the Jean Grey School to collect interviews for her upcoming book on Wolverine, a book that wolverine didn't want her writing but that Beast believes she should write, if just to serve as required reading for the students of the school. She talks with a number of Wolverine's friends and colleagues who all very clearly miss hero. She saves a couple of the big ones for next time, though, between Storm and Quentin Quire.

It's essentially a book of remembrance, showing how everyone is taking the loss and how everyone loved Wolverine. Plenty of books, I'm sure, will be doing this sort of thing over the coming months so I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to talk about these retrospectives, but you could certainly do worse than to read this one, which is sweet, moves pretty well, and highlights a number of different artists. Sometimes the switch between artists is understandably jarring but each section settles into its rhythm nicely.

Total Score: 4/5

Leftovers 9-24-14

Okay. I apologize both for my busy week this week and for the upcoming post. Got a lot of apologies to make. ANYWAY, let's get right into and out of it.

All-New Ghost Rider 7

Robbie is still having trouble making his personal life and Eli come to some sort of understanding and he ends up killing a guy to take the money he was owed before another Ghost Rider shows up to complicate things further. Still strong stuff with Smith spending just the right amount of time characterizing Robbie and the neighborhood, though I'm still wary of Hyde's role in all of this. Total Score: 4/5












All-New Invaders 10
Mars attacks? I don't know, man, this book is pretty terrible. They're helped by the daughter of the original Iron Cross who is an Inhuman now and then Torch goes crazy and she promises to help while Mars attacks London and Roger Aubrey, the Mighty Destroyer, literally has a line of dialogue that goes "I'm an incredibly dashing, older gay gentleman, by virtue of which means I'm incredibly vain" directly after he says to Union Jack and Spitfire "A speedster, a young man with a pistol and a vintage motor bike, and a "flamboyant" octogenarian." DOES ANYONE THINK ANYTHING IN THIS BOOK THEY DON'T SAY? Perhaps James Robinson would like to sit beside us as we read his books and explain bit-by-bit what's happening in case we don't understand? Total Score: 1/5

Amazing Spider-Man 1.5

Spider-Man finally beats Clash and we're all relieved because Clash is not interesting nor likable and looking back to this point in Spidey history means Spidey also isn't terribly interesting and isn't really likable so now we can all move on with our lives. Total Score: 2/5














Amazing X-Men 11
Wendigos! They're everywhere! Wolverine is one! The X-Men travel to the realm of monsters where monster Tanaraq is getting supercharged by the Wendigo presence on Earth and where he plans his attack on Earth, even expanding the Wendigo curse to mean Wendigos can exist outside of Canada! Where goes the Wendigo? EVERYWHERE. Pretty good stuff, drags a little bit despite all of the action, but still a compelling story and Yost brings to this book his uncanny ability to nail the voice of everyone he touches. Total Score: 4/5

Cyclops 5
Cyclops and Corsair have fixed the tracking beacon bounty hunters placed on their ship and therefore successfully lure a group to them, managing to outwit them and steal their ships, though Cyclops overrides his dad's plans a few times to show compassion for the bounty hunters. Good characterization of a young and optimistic Scott and now we can continue our journeys with the interesting father-son duo. Total Score: 4/5











Deadpool 35
MAYBE, just MAYBE, there will some day be a week where nary a single DEADPOOL book will be released. But that's not this week so, onwards. Deadpool spends some quality time with Ellie and has to fight a Spider-Slayer Dracula has put his consciousness into, which he defeats handily. He also brings the refugees from Butler's camps to the Jean Grey School and has Beast run medical tests on them, which could complicate things as Hank quickly calls Deadpool back, needing his liver for a vital operation. Bit of a break from the action here as even the Dracula fight has very little stakes (HA) and mostly plays for laughs, which are certainly there if not enough to carry the issue. Total Score: 3/5

Edge of Spider-Verse 3

Dustin Weaver introduces us to Aaron Aikman, the only Spider-Man who has sought out the Spider, injecting himself with a serum that gave him his powers and using advanced machinery to vigilânt around the city. There's a full story here about his laboratory and the woman he loved risking everything to save her daughter but the real story is the twist ending when Morlun shows up and kills Aikman, meaning that just because we're seeing these dudes on the EDGE of SPIDER-VERSE, they won't necessarily make it to the main showing. Pretty good stuff, drags like any of these have when they've had to really give a lot of backstory for one issue, but it holds together somewhat nicely. Total Score: 3/5






Guardians of the Galaxy 19
Quill continues to tell his story to Gamora and explains that they couldn't die in the Cancerverse so their sacrifice had kind of been for nothing, now they had to play eternal keep-away from Thanos with the Cosmic Cube, made more troublesome by the appearance of the Cancerverse Avengers who are all evil and who want the Cube themselves and, sadly, eventually get it. The issue is all from the memory of Quill so it's basically a big ol' flashback where we don't know the full ending but we kind of know maybe half of it (Drax, Quill, and Thanos, in the very least, survive to return to the 616) so kind of low stakes here for a story that's going to last at LEAST three issues. Total Score: 2/5

Inhuman 6

Dante and his new friends Jason (rock-based powers) and Naja (weird-based powers) find their way back to Attilan, now run by The Unspoken, and manage to, with the help of Vinatos, the medical regent of New Attilan, infiltrate The Unspoken's throne room. He still has the Terrigen crystals he found so he's still insanely powerful but Dante attacks him all the same, getting horribly wounded in the fight for his troubles. While Naja continues the distraction, Jason uses his rock powers to destroy the crystals, effectively ending The Unspoken's new reign and restoring Medusa to the throne. Good issue for the NuHumans as everything is set right once again, though Lineage seems ready to strike a deal with the imprisoned Unspoken. Total Score: 4/5






Loki: Agent of Asgard 6
Thanks to some time-and-space trickery, Doctor Doom finds himself face to face at the end of the universe with the original Loki, who derides and denounces him, causing Doom to go back to his own time and search out the young Loki, pulling him into battle at his castle. He ends up trapping Loki, who doesn't want any part of this fight, and announcing that he's captured a god, effectively weakening him by destroying his story. Though things seem lost for young Loki, he secretly brought Verity Willis (eye roll!) with him and now she's prepared to help her friend. I literally have no idea what's going on and what the point of any of this is. Total Score: 2/5

Magneto 10
Magneto has been captured by the Red Skull and is being tortured by Xavier's brain in the hopes that Skull can break him. Magneto tries to hide in all his worst memories, giving us a full tour of many of them, but finds eventually that he cannot keep Skull at bay. Before he breaks, he's rescued by the similarly captured Havok, Rogue, and Scarlet Witch. Pretty sad issue for Magneto, you guys, as we see the worst of the worst, but it follows the theme Bunn has set up for this series, which often goes back to why Magneto fights. Total Score: 4/5

New Warriors 10
The Celestials are coming! The New Warriors strike again at the High Evolutionary and his Evolutionaries. Speedball makes a great Ghostbusters reference! The Eternals show up! Action, hijinks, comedy, drama, and more! Check out NEW WARRIORS 10! Total Score: 5/5














Savage Wolverine 23
A story from Wolverine's past where someone drugs him, slowing his healing factor and tries to hunt him through the woods of his animal-times. He's protected by the runt of a wolf pack but eventually the wolf sacrifices himself to save Wolverine, drawing Wolverine out to murder everyone in sight. Typical Wolverine-in-the-woods story done with maybe a little less flare and heart and with even more hand-holding than some of the others I've seen. Total Score: 2/5

Storm 3
Storm is called to Kenya by a mysterious benefactor saying that he needs her help to bring rain and water to the people there. Though she's wary it's a trap, it's a cause that matters enough to her to send her there anyway. It's not entirely a trap, but it was Forge, with whom she has a rocky relationship, who sent the letter. He swears he can do it and she chooses to trust him, though one of the Kenyans doesn't and his interference sort of sabotages everything, though Storm does her part to sabotage the machinery, demanding that Forge first spend a year in Kenya working on the tech and working with the people so that they can all have a mutual trust and to ensure that the tech will work and not just be an experiment. It's another good issue to characterize Storm, who wants to trust Forge but knows things aren't that black and white. Instead, she comes up with an interesting plan that roots itself in trust and hope. That's what we want to see out of Storm. Total Score: 4/5

Thunderbolts 31
It's Punisher vs. Red Hulk in the final battle of the T-Bolts. It's a huge fight and the momentum swings back and forth until Hawkeye and the Avengers (though the lesser known ones, like Cannonball, Sunspot, and Shang-Chi) show up to break up the fighting. Red Hulk doesn't believe they're the Avengers but Punisher stands down, unwilling to harm the good guys. Elektra turns up to calm Red Hulk, dropping the Leader's body in between them and showing them that he was an LMD and that, in fact, it was the Leader behind all of this the whole time. Ross announces the Thunderbolts are done, leaving the Red Leader victorious for next time. Plenty of fun in this issue as the fight gets more and more elevated. Also fun to see Hawkeye lead his team of lesser known Avengers into battle and to see the Punisher and Red Hulk struggle to understand that they are, in fact, Avengers. Total Score: 4/5

All-New X-Men 32, Uncanny X-Men 26, Wolverine and the X-Men 9

All-New X-Men 32

The time-displaced X-Men have been sent to the Ultimate Universe by the uncanny powers of a new mutant they overwhelmed because they are just terrible at this and why does anyone leave these dumb kids alone for more than even a minute? Anyway, Beast ends up in Ultimate Latveria, Iceman ends up with Ultimate Mole Man, X-23 ends up in an Ultimate football game and on the run from Ultimate cops, Angel ends up in Ultimate Savage Land with Ultimate Wolverine, and Jean Grey ends up with Ultimate Spider-Man, whose mind she reads to learn where she is and who escorts her to Amadeus Cho, who has been working with the portal to the 616 universe. Of course, it's disappeared by now and the original X-Men, already stuck out of time, are stuck out of their dimension.

On the plus side, now that the X-Men have been stuck out of time and space, there are very few places they can get stuck that would be new to them. Also on the plus side, the issue moves relatively well as the X-Men are separated and largely not back-and-forthing with one another but having somewhat terse conversations with the people around them. The issue also bounces around between the X-Men, who are inexplicably separated after they run into plot-device girl, so the pacing mostly keeps up. On the downside, though, this book continues to feature very few likable characters and very few likable plots. Doesn't really leave them in a particularly good spot.

Total Score: 2/5


Uncanny X-Men 26

Xavier's will has further split his X-Men, with Scott angry that Xavier was a hypocrite for not giving the extraordinarily powerful Matthew Malloy a chance to control his powers and everyone else angry at Scott for being a hypocrite and also for being Scott. Even though Scott doesn't want to, they go to find Malloy, running into SHIELD on the way. SHIELD saw the disaster Malloy just caused (perfect timing, Xavier's will!) and is on their way to try and take him down. Meanwhile, Scott's new X-team runs simulations fighting the Avengers in their Danger Room until healer Christopher muses (that's a pretty dope joke, you guys) that perhaps they're not the good guys if they're training to fight against the good guys, which leads to an equally dumb fight about the mutant revolution.

There are ideas here but they tend to be brought up and argued so clumsily (mostly just that every point is argued so immediately and so clearly ignoring other facts or ignoring reason for their own purposes) that it's easy to roll your eyes at them. I know that from personal experience. Obviously Christopher has the right idea (and whichever Stepford Cuckoo that says he should have picked up on it soon is right too) but it's a complicated issue when thinking about Scott's resentment that the Avengers haven't helped them enough and that SHIELD isn't really on their side and SHIELD tends to work with the Avengers so they may be guilty by association. However, it's brought up by a bunch of teenagers (and the thirty-year-old David) so it has all the tact and grace of a bunch of dumb teenagers arguing then all feeling like they maybe won the argument. That would then almost be excusable if that's not how the grown X-Men fight too.

Total Score: 3/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 9

Quentin Quire has seen his future and isn't thrilled by it so instead ends up sitting on a pile of money from the Phoenix Corporation and an insane amount of telepathic ability. Where go with all of that, plus a substantial resentment of Wolverine and the X-Men (the man and the team, not the series), but the Hellfire Club? He's now the White King of the Hellfire Club and throws himself a lavish birthday part that Wolverine tries to sneak into to have one last talk with Quire. He's found out and beaten pretty mercilessly until Quire hears him out. However, that doesn't go particularly well either as Quentin starts to command the partygoers, dressed as various X-Men, to attack Wolverine while Quentin responds to Wolverine's attempts, laying much of the blame for Quentin's future at his feet (and perhaps rightfully so, perhaps not, it's complicated). Finally Quire lets Wolverine go after forcing him to look inward for the source of the problem and revealing that Quire himself doesn't believe he won, just that Wolverine lost.

It's a tough blow to Wolverine, who has invested so much time on Quire and the other kids (which hasn't gone unnoticed and doesn't go unmentioned by Quire here) only to find that maybe they don't love him for it and maybe, if the future Quire saw is accurate, he didn't necessarily help things. It's a pretty good issue and like a lot of this series it's more complicated than it has to be, for better or worse. It's better because being a little more complicated allows Latour to go deeper and really get into some of the complexities of the characters, but it's also a little worse because it continues at times to be a little hard to keep straight (even writing the summary, which tends to settle out any issues I've had digesting the plot, didn't clear everything up nicely for me, but then maybe it's not meant to). Still, it's been as deep a character study on Quentin Quire as we've seen since his creation and it's not unimpressive for it. Also pretty strong art from Jorge Fornes throughout, and he's asked to draw quite a lot.

Total Score: 4/5

ALL OF THEM

Okay.



Okay.



Okay, so we're back. Apologies for the little break (I may some day take a bigger break but one that's scheduled and doesn't revolve around my axle breaking and my car needing more assistance than my blog). For some dumb reason, I still feel determined to review every book but we're all busy people, we don't need big reviews, particularly the Sunday after the comics have come out. Most of you may already know what books you want! So let's blast through this, super super super condensed version. I may not even mention creators...hold on, I'm getting a thought - start of the week, maybe I'll post all the creators on the side like how I post the new release comics. I gotta update the look of this site anyway. Any suggestions/comments/criticisms? Okay, we're wildly off-topic now. TO THE COMICS, wherein I shall strive to give the SHORTEST REVIEWS I CAN POSSIBLY GIVE.


All-New Invaders 9

The Invaders have been caught off-guard by a bunch of Deathloks and their master, thanks to some sort of AI controlling device, is revealed to be a Martian. The book continues to be horribly slow, to over-explain everything, and to, presumably as an effect of the previous two clauses, seeming have no tension to it. Total Score: 2/5


All-New Ultimates 7
The Ultimates follow Crossbones into the sewers where they run across deformed fellow experiments of Roxxon who have been left there along with a pile of bodies. Geez, now they have to deal with Roxxon and a protracted and uninteresting gang war? This continues to be protracted and uninteresting, though at least something happened this time. Total Score: 2/5


All-New X-Men 31
While the adult X-Men are out of town to figure out Xavier's will, the ANXM find a new mutant named Carmen who can open portals to other dimensions and, in their attempt to help her understand, she sends them off to different universes, namely, it seems, the Ultimate Universe. Wasn't AGE OF ULTRON supposed to knock off this cross-universe business? Didn't BENDIS write that? How many loopholes can we create WITHIN TWO YEARS? What is HAPPENING? Total Score: 2/5


Amazing Spider-Man 1.4
Clash has made something of a name for himself but he's only doing so in comparison to Spider-Man, which enrages him. Finally Spidey invents something that should negate Clash a bit and uses it when Clash attacks the Daily Bugle (they all come there eventually) but Clash breaks it, leading Jonah to call him a real threat and Spider-Man the knock-off, to Clash's delight. Getting a little sick of all of Spider-Man's villains being crazy and wanting attention, is anyone else feeling that way? Total Score: 2/5


Avengers 34

How are we still not out of the As yet? Okay. Captain America gets brought by Iron Lad to the end of time where Iron Lad, Immortus, and Kang tell Cap he has to remain there so he doesn't interfere with events on current Earth that could lead to the end of days. Cap, of course, doesn't take that well and gets the time gem once more, going back to the present and preparing the Avengers for an assault on the Illuminati. Really interesting point to have reached and there's a great classic Cap speech in the middle of all this. Total Score: 4/5


Avengers Undercover 9
The Avengers and other gathered heroes descend on The Pit to attack Zemo and free the former students only to be trapped in The Pit while Zemo and his army attacks the rest of Earth, starting with SHIELD. The bait-and-switch worked pretty well, but it didn't account for Cammi, who broke out of her prison and has the drop on Zemo and his lieutenants. More strong stuff from this series which has reached its sadly penultimate issue. Total Score: 4/5


Cyclops 4
Cyclops and Corsair are running short on Corsair's life-saving medicine, a fate to which Corsair is resigned but about which Cyclops is angry. Corsair has set about trying to teach Cyclops to fight and to live off the land while awaiting rescue but Cyclops has already started to give up hope. Corsair tells him that hope is the difference between the Scott he knew and the Scott on Earth now, that the current Cyclops lost all hope. Not wanting to be that guy, young Cyclops sets about trying to fix the tracking unit the bounty hunters attached to Corsair's ship, which will provide rescue but in the form of bounty hunters. Some solid character work here from Rucka and a nice quiet issue before guns presumably start blazing again. Cyclops and Corsair's relationship is the driving force of this young book and it's well done here. Total Score: 4/5


Fantastic Four 9
Reed has started work with John Eden (ugh) while Johnny is depressed in the Manhattan upper class, Sue frets about the kids, and Thing finds out that She-Thing runs the prison and has an axe to grind with him. I don't know much about Fantastic Four history because I largely don't care about the F4 but She-Thing? Is that what we've chosen to dig up as Thing's greatest foe? There's finally hint of a greater scheme at work behind everything happening but I still refuse to buy plenty of what's happened so I'm unimpressed by a clear hand steering things. Total Score: 2/5


Guardians of the Galaxy 18
Gamora kidnaps Peter Quill and brings him to an interrogation chamber unbeknownst to the rest of the team, where she asks him about what happened in the Cancerverse that allowed he, Thanos, and a living Drax to return. Part one of the story involves Star-Lord and Nova attempting to nobly sacrifice themselves to see Thanos forever trapped but Thanos making a solid argument to Star-Lord about why he should hand over the cosmic cube he's holding. Not much substance, as yet, to this story that should explain some things. McGuinness' art is strong, though, so it's certainly readable. It would be more readable if there wasn't so much quipping in the CANCERVERSE. Total Score: 3/5


Inhuman 4

Medusa has set up New Attilan on the ground near New York and opened it to the public. Thor comes to hang out with her as she explains her reasons for doing so, which are mostly to build relationships and alliances while showing the Inhumans are nothing to fear. However, assassins try to kill her, wounding her handmaiden Elejea in the process. Thor delivers the assassins to Medusa, who learns they are Nuhumans (the convenient term for new Inhumans) angry that they're now different. She offers them a place in her kingdom or the opportunity to leave unharmed and without resistance, showing the people how peaceful and reasonable she can be. Meanwhile, a new and mysterious character named The Reader saves a Nuhuman in China. Plenty happening in this book and Soule is doing a solid job to really make this start feeling like its own culture and own big world, which is very important. Stegman also does really impressive work on these pages. Total Score: 5/5


Original Sin 5.4 - Thor and Loki
As Loki leads the Angels to attack Asgard, Thor summons the storm to him and annihilates his prison, breaking out and immediately wreaking havoc on Heven. Loki does indeed bring the Angels to Asgard but neglects to mention that all the Asgardians live now in Asgardia and that only Odin and The Serpent are in Asgard, finally rousing Odin back to action. Not a terrible little issue though it does drag a little at parts and sometimes the often flowery Asgardian English confuses where it should just push forward. Mostly strong work. Total Score: 4/5


Savage Hulk 3
Jean has the power of the Hulk and seemingly Hulk-strength telepathy now but...wait, it's just a dream of Xavier's as his mind has been manipulated by...wait, it's all happening in Banner's head and the Leader is there with bombs strapped to everyone suddenly and he's ready to detonate Xavier's if he even tries to get into his own mind and...look, I'm not sure what's happening here but I am sure that I'm almost entirely disinterested in it and it still moves slowly, even with a plot that's clearly ramping up. Total Score: 2/5


Silver Surfer 5
It turns out that the barrier around Earth isn't actually real, it's in Surfer's head courtesy of a nearby slumbering Lord of Nightmares. Everyone on Earth has fallen asleep except for Dawn Greenwood, who is drifting off, and it's given the Lord of Nightmares the power, thanks to a rare alignment of the planets, to essentially keep everyone asleep and in nightmares forever if Dawn, Surfer, Hulk, and Dr. Strange don't stop him, which they eventually manage. There's a lot of interesting art and ideas but this one feels a little bogged down by how much Slott wants to do and by this strange mythology. Dawn eventually, I should mention, realizes that she wants to see more of the universe and goes with Surfer. Total Score: 3/5


Thunderbolts 30
Punisher and Elektra fight while the two reminisce, both in their heads and out loud, about their times together. Elektra is a far better fighter than Punisher and doesn't really let him get a moment to rest, but even when he finally does get her pinned, he can't bring himself to kill her and the two separate less than amicably but also with neither dead. As Hawkeye relates everything he's figured out to Iron Man, particularly about the terribleness of the new Thunderbolts team, Punisher calls Red Hulk and tells him that he's next. A pretty good fight scene carries this rather nice break-up issue as the weird relationship that was Elektra and Punisher comes to an end. Total Score: 3/5


Uncanny Avengers 23
The Unity Squad needed a bit of time to recover from everything that's happened, so Janet and Scarlet Witch return finally to everyday life from Janet's family's secluded vacation home to try to put their lives back in order again. Anyone that needed healing or examination was placed in a healing chamber for Hank McCoy to study or heal, though Sunfire remains imbued with tremendous power, Havok's face will never heal again, and Rogue still has Wonder Man in her brain (no one really came out of this alright). Rogue goes a little crazy as the voices and memories she thought she expelled from her brain take over again and she runs rampant through New York until Scarlet Witch catches up to her and swears she'll help her. Meanwhile, Red Skull prepares his next major strike along with Kang's recent right-hand man Ahab. Lots of set-up for the upcoming AXIS and some good closer from the last very long arc make this one a worthwhile read, but not one that feels totally necessary to continue the story. Total Score: 4/5


Wolverine 12

It's another fight in a mall and Wolverine decries Sabretooth's hypocrisy while Sabretooth decries Wolverine's use of armor and they fight and eventually Wolverine powers through his crappy dialogue and narration to defeat Sabretooth and they get the orb back and Death is like "hey Wolvy, see ya soon, like in September's DEATH OF WOLVERINE mini-series!" and I'm just glad another heavy-handed but ultimately ineffective WOLVERINE volume has come to a close and I'm looking forward to Charles Soule's spin. Total Score: 2/5


Wolverine and the X-Men 8
Wolverine and Storm have a date in The World, where time moves differently. They end up staying there a while longer, spending a great deal of time building a life, overthrowing a warlord born of the old Weapon Plus program, and stabilizing the region. They leave after a year with Storm leaving as the queen and Logan as the inspiration for a school and so forth, their love for each other deepened but still unable to overcome their responsibilities with the X-Men. It's not a bad issue and the time jumps make it move quickly enough and stay interesting. It's also the first time in the few years that they've had this on-and-off relationship between Wolverine and Storm where I've felt like maybe it wasn't just something the writers wanted to make work, maybe it is something that can happen in this world. Nicely done, Latour. Total Score: 4/5


GUYS, I DID IT. Why isn't everyone praising me ALREADY?

Leftovers 7-30-14

Alright all my buddies, here's the deal. I am committed to telling you about every Marvel book EVEN WHEN I have no motivation to do so. So let's play a game wherein I blaze through the last ten books I have to review (TEN, WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THAT?) in thirty minutes or less. CAN WE MAKE IT HAPPEN? Only time will tell. Worth noting that secretly I'm pushing to knock out ten in ten minutes but that seems improbable, particularly given my propensity for expounding.

100th Anniversary Special Guardians of the Galaxy 1
Lanning and Marz (w) and Duarte (a) and Delgado (c) and Sabino (l)

The ragtag group of Guardians decades from now battle a Silver-Surfer-extra cosmic-power-imbued Galactus dead-set on consuming Knowhere to gain the knowledge and power of the Celestial whose head Knowhere is. The Guardians fight back alongside Galactus' saboteur herald Vance Astro, who is actually Peter Quill in disguise. The universe is saved and check out Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, in theaters now. Total Score: 2/5











All-New Ghost Rider 5
F. Smith (w) and T. Moore (a) and Staples w/Sanz (c) and Caramagna (l)

Robbie Reyes has to decide if he wants to use the spirit of vengeance within him to, as his teacher wants, change his community through positive action or, as the spirit Eli wants, burn it all to the ground. As a gang fight between Zabo and his men and Grumpy and his men breaks out, Robbie is forced into action to save his brother and the other innocents around. Mr. Hyde rips Grumpy in half and begins to beat on Ghost Rider but overdoses on drugs in an attempt to keep Ghost Rider down. Robbie decides to try to be a hero for the community instead of a monster. More good stuff from this book. Total Score: 4/5

Avengers World 10
Spencer (w) and Checchetto (a) and Mossa (c) and Caramagna (l)

All of the storylines we've seen in this book so far converge to begin to feel like some greater force is driving them. China's newly revealed SPEAR helps SHIELD and the Avengers in the fight against the dragon carrying Madripoor while Iron Man tries to "debate" Andrew Forson on live TV to poor results while Morgana Le Fey's army of the dead begins to march on Earth and while Cannonball and Sunspot bring the children of the Avengers back to the present. So much happening, so much still to come. Lots of fun writing and fun moments here and I AM TAKING TOO LONG. Total Score: 4/5

Cyclops 3
Rucka (w) and Dauterman (a) and Sotomayor (c) and Caramagna (l)

Cyclops and his dad end up stranded on a desolate planet as a result of a ship failure and Cyclops accuses his dad of being a drug addict. Corsair reveals that he's not addicted to drugs, per se, he's kept alive by the drugs he's been taking and the amount he has will only last him through 27 or so days so it's either they get off the planet, which seems unlikely, or they spend a nice final month together. Not a bad story and this certainly gets to the heart of the series quickly. Total Score: 4/5










Guardians of the Galaxy 17
Bendis (w) and Bradshaw and Oeming (a) w/Wong (i) and Ponsor (c) and Petit (l)

Captain Marvel has saved Peter Quill and he calls his ship back to him, sending it crashing out of its lock-up, before he takes it to fly straight at his dad in the city, pulling off at the last second. He and Carol need to find the other Guardians. Gamora and Angela call in quickly enough to just be picked up and they fly to a point in space where Drax is getting beaten by Gladiator, rescuing him easily enough. With J-Son's crimes revealed, the Supreme Intelligence wants nothing to do with him and returns Rocket peaceably, also giving their best known location for Groot. With the team re-assembled (except for newbie Venom, who intentionally avoids them on Knowhere), they're ready to enter ORIGINAL SIN. This arc screams of an ad for the movie: some stakes but ultimately a way to introduce each character without too much actual characterization. Total Score: 2/5

Iron Man Special 1
S. Ryan (w) and Handoko (p) and Poggi, Yeung, Livesay, and N. Lee (i) and Redmond (c) and Cowles (l)

So this story is still going then, hm? Total Score: 2/5

Iron Patriot 5
Kot (w) and G. Brown (a) and Charalampidis (c) and Cowles (l)

With Terrence Rhodes in the Iron Patriot suit punching at the villain, Rhodey has to stand around and hope that his dad hits the manual release on the other guy's suit. He finally does, launching Rhodey out of his inert suit and into the fight himself. He punches and punches at the villain, breaking plenty of his own body parts in the fight against metal, but eventually subdues him, though it comes too late to save his father, who took quite a beating in his own fight. Someone was pulling the strings on the villain but Rhodey never did figure out who and the villain himself gets smothered in his hospital bed by another mysterious character. Is this a win for America's new defender? Who knows? Still, pretty fast read and this continues to be easily my favorite book from Kot, who doesn't have the time to get into his writing patterns that tend to annoy me elsewhere. Total Score: 4/5



Original Sin 3.3 - Hulk vs. Iron Man
Gillen and Waid (s) and Waid (w) and Bagley (p) and Hennessy (i) and Keith (c) and Petit (l)

As Extremis-powered Hulk destroys Iron Man's labs in the hopes that the hero will come rushing home, Iron Man continues to investigate his own memories, praying that something is wrong. Iron Man hopes to lay low while he tries to figure things out, heading for Troy in the thought that Hulk won't realize to go there, even if Banner would have. However, he's not accounting for smart-Hulk and he's met by massive resistance when he touches down. The city, though, is built to be defensible and takes the fight to Hulk long enough that Iron Man can sneak away to his armory. On his way he realizes even more about that night that will make him look EVEN MORE VILLAINOUS. Still some interesting stuff, though I'm not a huge fan of Bagley's art here and I'm already a little tired of the "OH NO, I ALSO DID WHAT" endings of these issues. Total Score: 3/5

Secret Avengers 6
Kot (w) and Walsh (a) and Wilson (c) and Cowles (l)

Lady Bullseye is still alive and wants a meeting with Black Widow, enough that she's taken over a bullet train with a dirty bomb on it. Hill sends Widow and Spider-Woman to deal with it but they quickly learn that it's a trap (well, more than the trap they expected) as someone set another sentient bomb like their own new teammate Vladimir on the tracks and it opens a portal out of the world, sending Black Widow and Lady Bullseye through it. Meanwhile, MODOK announces that something had sex with the Fury to cause its pregnancy and Hawkeye tries to find Coulson only to be led to Deadpool hanging out with AIM. Some weird stuff here. I think the tone is starting to settle in on this book, which is an upside, but it still feels weird to have a book that's trying to go almost full-bore humor play with such big pieces of the Marvel Universe, pieces that have distinct personalities already and don't necessarily fit this way (I always dislike the Black Widow-as-bloodthirsty-killer design you occasionally see in books). Still, climbing out from under me really hating this book. Total Score: 3/5


Personal Total Score: 35 minutes or so. SO VERY CLOSE. I had to ramble on and on, didn't I? I just had to give extra summary when no one asked for it.

Uncanny X-Men 24, X-Men 17

Uncanny X-Men 24
Bendis (w) and Anka (a and c) and Caramagna (l)

Beast, using Cerebro, knows where Cyclops and his group are. He's been unwilling to disclose such up to now because he doesn't want to deal with Cyclops any more but now the team gets on a jet and flies to the old Weapon X facility to gather their old teammate. They tell him what's happening and head back home with Cyclops, Emma, Magik, and Kitty following via teleport. Amidst fears that Xavier may have left the school to Cyclops, She-Hulk begins to read the will, which reveals a marriage to Mystique and a chip with a video recorded message from Xavier that promises a big secret reveal.

You know those complaints I occasionally lodge about a story REALLY dragging forward? Well here ya go. It also plays to my more specific criticisms of this rift in the X-Men Universe being a rift in name only since they're ALWAYS hanging out together. ALSO, while we're on the subject of issues I'm having, I roll my eyes every time I see that cover and remember the punk (is that what we'd even call it? Just terrible, is what I'd call it) makeover of Dazzler. Look, what I'm saying is that there are real issues with this issue. There are some upsides, particularly in that it looks like Bendis might actually be ready to go a little deeper with some of the characters he's had in his control for the last two years or so, including Ice Man and, maybe, Beast. Still, more bad than good for my own tastes.

Total Score: 3/5


X-Men 17
Wood (w) and Diaz and Briones (a) and Mounts (c) and Caramagna (l)

The X-Men have brought the fight to The Future only to be stopped in their tracks by The Future's defense mechanism Bloodline, which allows only people with The Future's DNA to enter. At Kymera's request, Beast has brought Shogo to the fight scene. Using her future knowledge and begging the trust of her mother and the other X-Men, she brings Shogo to the edge of Bloodline and cuts his finger, wiping the baby's blood on one of the plants in the forest. Bloodline, needing to adjust, shuts down for enough time to allow Jubilee out of her prison and the X-Men into the forest. However, even Jubilee is too slow as the forest rips through the ground and kills The Future itself. Not all is well, though, as Shogo is poisoned by the foliage. Beast is forced to admit that he used Arkea to save Primal and Sprite and asks Storm to trust him as well as he injects the strain into Shogo, which he does and it saves his life. The X-Men all head home relatively happy, though Kymera sets off to live in the world, understanding that her mother didn't ask to suddenly have a teenage daughter and that the two would likely butt heads to no end. She'll still be around, ready to help and to protect the baby Shogo (her best friend in the future), but she won't be at the school.

The Future's storyline is interesting and ends up being almost more of a story for Kymera, who saves the day with some risky maneuvers and the sort of decisiveness we've come to expect from a Munroe. It's not a bad issue (a particular highlight is an unleashed Storm, prepared and able to raze the forest to stop The Future) and the art is pretty solid throughout. It does feel a little anticlimactic for a villain who, just a couple issues ago, seemed so untouchable, to die horribly tucked away from all of our heroes. Still not a bad issue, just a strange ending and one that doesn't sit particularly well, as if Wood had to rush out to finish up the other storylines and check in with all of our key characters before the issue officially ended.

Total Score: 4/5

Uncanny X-Men 23, X-Men 16

Uncanny X-Men 23
Bendis (w) and Anka (a and c) and Caramagna (l)

As the team recovers from the most recent attack of the future evil brotherhood, She-Hulk receives a startling package. While Cyclops tries to talk to Eva about whatever it is she's hiding and her suddenly faster aging and as Emma, Magik, and Magneto try to help Dazzler track down Mystique, She-Hulk heads to the Jean Grey School and calls together Storm, Beast, and Iceman, waiting only for Cyclops to turn up so that she can read the last will and testament of Charles Xavier.

The issue serves as both the start to a new arc and a bit of a rest issue after the last arc. It drags a little bit in its own way, combatted well by Bendis by jumping around the X-Universe a bit. As the team settles back in, welcoming recent overpowered hero Hijack back into their midst, Bendis sets up the new story which will, he promises, rattle the X-World to its core. That said, it comes as a big sort of GASP moment at the end when She-Hulk informs the three X-Men around her that they'll need to get Cyclops to hear the reading of the will, which would probably be more effective if the two rival teams didn't see each other every third book or so. For someone who has sort of been excommunicated by the X-Men, Cyclops has still made a number of appearances, met with varying degrees of anger and I think it's weakened the series and the death of Charles Xavier a bit. I'd have liked it more if they could have kept this Uncanny X-Men team from the X-Men team or the Wolverine and the X-Men team or whatever entirely, really giving a sense of isolation. Instead, Cyclops has appeared in every major X-Men story, it feels like, and Bendis has even gone so far as to send the O5 X-Men with Kitty Pryde to Cyclops' side. Hardly feels as dramatic. Anyway, the total score/review for this issue is only for this issue, not for the faults I'm expressing about the series as a whole. So...

Total Score: 4/5


X-Men 16
Wood (w) and Buffagni and Sandoval (a) and Mounts (c) and Eliopoulos and Caramagna (l)

The Future, thrown a bit by Kymera's appearance and actions, has altered his plan and captured Jubilee instead of killing her and trying to take Shogo himself. He retreats to a safehouse in the Adirondacks and waits for the X-Men's response. They prepare an assault, readying even the students for the fight, despite the notion that students should stay away from the fighting and acknowledging that the kidnapping of an X-Man and the brutal attacks on their home are more serious than most things they face. As they begin their attack, they learn that The Future has all manner of futuristic defenses, including a sort of bio-coded forest which would only allow entrance to people with the same DNA as The Future, stopping even the powerful Monet in her tracks. When The Future makes an offer of a trade, Jubilee for Shogo, to Storm, sure that she will give up the baby that he believes means nothing to her, she declares war.

Things are getting heated against The Future and I think that the only problem with the story as a whole is that The Future is still such a foreign entity. That isn't altogether bad; the idea that the X-Men don't really know who they're facing and that they've never faced him before opens the door for plenty of fear and poor decisions. However, it does make it kind of hard to see how much of a threat he is. Obviously Wood has done his part, showing The Future effortlessly attacking the Jean Grey School and incapacitating Psylocke (actually hard) and kidnapping Jubilee (ehhhhhh, not so hard once you're IN the school). Even with that, though, it's hard to get a read on this guy. This is where the continuity of comics hurts the current comics because the X-Men, appropriately, are treating this as one of the biggest threats they've faced but long-time X-Readers are undoubtedly thinking of all the other villains in the team's rogues gallery and wondering why The Future stacks up so high suddenly. Again, not necessarily Wood's fault or the fault of this book but it is a problem when reading this story. Still, strong issue overall, harkens back to Wood's ULTIMATE X-MEN with the sentient seed and the forest that fought on behalf of the mutants of Utopia, even if now a pseudo-sentient seed is fighting against the X-Men.

Total Score: 4/5

Uncanny X-Men 22, X-Men 15

Uncanny X-Men 22
Bendis (w) and Bachalo (p) and Townsend, Deering, Irwin, Mendoza, Vey, and Olazaba (i) and Bachalo and Villarrubia (c) and Caramagna (l)

The helicarrier continues to attack the X-Mansion while Hank brings Scott to the perpetrator and Magneto shows up with the drained Dazzler in tow. While Triage helps Dazzler, Hijack reappears, hoping to join up with the Jean Grey School, and manages to take control of the helicarriers again. Beast reveals to Cyclops that the person behind all of this is, in fact, Dark Beast, from the Age of Apocalypse timeline. Cyclops kind of inadvertently kills him when he blasts open his big suit that DB claimed was keeping him alive. Cyclops and Maria Hill have an argument on the front lawn and SHIELD and the X-Men's relationship gets a little rockier.

Things have ramped up quickly in the SHIELD Sentinels' attack on the X-Men as suddenly everything is converging on the Jean Grey School, just as Hijack deus ex machinas his way over to the campus. Overall, the action is pretty solid and the book reads a little faster for it though it's hard not to feel like simply too much happened. Between the attack and Magneto+Dazzler and SHIELD and Dark Beast, it feels like there was zero chance for the story to have meaningful impact because we're jumping too quickly from one thing to another. How can you worry about the implications of Dark Beast's actions when you're busy thinking about how SHIELD let this happen? How can you question the limits of Hijack's powers when you're busy trying to remember if there was some dumb subplot about Maria Hill being attracted to Cyclops in just another example of Hill's character being weakened by Bendis? How can you wonder about what Dazzler's going to do next when you're thinking about how terrible Maria Hill is? Too much happening, though it doesn't necessarily make the book unreadable, just smaller than it feels it should be.

Total Score: 3/5


X-Men 15
Wood (w) and Buffagni (a) and Mounts (c) and Caramagna (l)

The Future, who has trained for everything and who will, according to Kymera, manage to separate Jubilee and Shogo, is taken aback momentarily by the fact that someone in the X-Mansion killed one of his men. It doesn't line up with what he believes about the X-Men and it gives him pause about how to proceed, recognizing that there's at least one wild card out there. However, it doesn't give him much pause as he manages to take out Psylocke on the front lawn and proceed inside, where he finds Jubilee and shoots at her, grazing her head with the bullet and knocking her out to take her, though he doesn't quite take Shogo. MEANWHILE, the BROMO-SUPERIOR Wood/Briones mini-story wraps up as Psylocke saves her students by killing her danger room boyfriend (weird) in a big teaching moment.

The Future, though something of an inexplicable villain right now, becomes a little more interesting as he gets a bit of narration in this one. We don't necessarily get anything of his motive or his personality, but we start to see just how dangerous he is. He continues the theme that Arkea started, the idea that knowledge is real power and that his knowledge of a situation makes him a far more impressive villain than simply being a strong combatant. Wood also does a good job to settle out some of the team issues by having Ororo show a little more strength here, coming back to a place where the others respect her more. There's also a really nice moment in this issue where Jubilee, talking to Beast while he tries, perhaps ill-advisedly, to save Teon and Sprite with a bit of Arkea, boosts Beast up by talking about how much of a rock he is and how she knows he'll always be there to protect him. PERHAPS some ominous foreshadowing but, in the here and now, it's a nice win for Beast as a guy who hasn't had a lot of those recently.

Total Score: 4/5

All-New X-Men 28, Uncanny X-Men Special 1

<Quick note at the top here: I know I've already said I'm going down to speed rounds as the main review style for now as things in my life get a bit busier but then, as always happens, I've ended up summarizing and breaking down every part of the book almost immediately. So here's the new attempt - I'm going to really speed up my summaries and hope that my analysis section, while obviously longer, will be shortened by how ridiculous it looks next to such a short summary paragraph>

All-New X-Men 28
Bendis (w) and S. Immonen (p) and Von Grawbadger (i) and Gracia (c) and Petit (l)

The future's Brotherhood is still attacking the ANXM with a battle plan this time that revolves around their last defeat, thanks to time travel. Members of their group are maybe not 100% on board with this but they're all being puppet'd by Xavier. Jean Grey uses her newfound power to hold people in place to hold Xavier, launching the immense psychic attack on the school, while X-23 dives at him.

I think the things that could be interesting about this series are dictated by whether or not you think the concept holds up. If you're totally onboard with the time-traveling X-Men stuck in the future and gaining new powers through shaky explanations and new alliances through shaky justifications, then I can see there being interest in a story that similarly bends the timeline and aligns people who maybe wouldn't align themselves and that's explained away by Raze saying that the mutant timeline is already so screwed up that it probably doesn't matter how often they go back in time to mess with things. I think I've said this before, even going so far as to using this same analogy before (possibly because I'm uncreative and possibly because once you've spent any amount of time grading high schoolers' papers you start to see this major flaw almost immediately), but it's like reading an essay where you don't buy the thesis or, worse still, where there is no clear thesis. Everything you write afterwards will fail to hold up because it's all just information and evidence that won't prove anything because there's nothing there to prove. Setting aside those issues, the book moves well enough and the colors and art help to accentuate the tension of the issue (though it wouldn't be so bad to break away from the reds and blacks for a little bit soon).

Total Score: 3/5


Uncanny X-Men Special 1
S. Ryan (w) and Ackins (p) and N. Lee, Poggi, and Pallot (i) and Redmond (c) and Cowles (l)

Scott's team stumbles across old pictures of Magik and are shocked to see how happy and young she looked. Then they're whisked away on flight training with Scott, where they're shot out of the sky and Scott is captured by Death's Head leaving the kids to try to figure out, along with the called-in Magik and Emma Frost, how to track a mercenary they can't even identify. Irma and Benjamin are sent to infiltrate SWORD as new recruits to figure out who the merc is and Benjamin runs afoul in his search of Iron Man, who identifies Death's Head and offers to help.

There are maybe a few incongruous plot points here, things that don't totally make sense or that don't link particularly well, but overall the book (part one of three, it claims) reads fairly well. Cyclops is taken to a man actually looking for Havok which leads to some interesting questions and decisions, Iron Man's involvement with a group he doesn't yet know is actually Scott's X-Men is a possibly fun touch, and the promise of Nova having something to do with this (per the cover) is a similarly interesting touch. Can't help noticing that the Death's Head in this issue looks rather like the original Death's Head and Tony's had dealings with Death's Head II in recent days but that's just nitpicky. Still a fairly fun book with a team that has some amount of potential, however it's meant to be used.

Total Score: 4/5

Cyclops 2, Loki: Agent of Asgard 5

Cyclops 2
Rucka (w) and Dauterman (a) and Sotomayor (c) and Caramagna (l)

Cyclops and his dad are riding the galactic trail, exploring and finding some things out, all of which is old to Corsair but new to Cyke. They travel to Yrzt, which Corsair compares to Vegas. They meet with an old black market friend (since allegedly gone legitimate) of Corsair's and he buys himself some secret drugs while Cyclops hangs out in a Danger Room equivalent with the trader's daughter. As they prepare to leave the planet, they're accosted by some real jerks out to bring Corsair in for various crimes. Cyclops manages to fight them off but it costs Corsair his new drugs. Bad news for all, though, the jerks managed to get a tracker on Corsair's ship.

Cyclops is starting to learn just how big the universe is but learning starts at home as it's painfully obvious (particularly to us, MAYBE less so to him) that Corsair is hiding something from his son. The two of them are palling around the universe in a spaceship built for two with Corsair discovering how little his son knew about the universe at this age (the Cyclops he knows is a little more traveled) and Cyclops learning that his dad is a neat-o space pirate. It's a fun book and it reads pretty well, though it's maybe not the most thrilling thing out there just yet. Of course, it's very early for this book and Rucka is opening the door for bigger and better stories down the road.

Total Score: 4/5


Loki: Agent of Asgard 5
Ewing (w) and Garbett (a) and Woodard (c) and Cowles (l)

Loki arranges his heist on Asgardia, hoping to free the wrongfully imprisoned Sigurd while also, perhaps, working things to his own end. With the help of such notables as Thor (providing a distraction for Heimdall), Lorelai (helping with the actual break-in), Verity Willis (helping with a dumb name and inexplicable power), and Sigurd himself (helping to break himself out per a plan the two of them formed in a dumpster), Loki manages to free Sigurd and get he and Lorelai out before going to explore the rest of the area, where he finds the old Loki ready to strike.

Things are heating up so mildly in this book that you may just miss it. The Loki v. Loki fight has some interesting qualities to it but right now it feels like things are crawling to get there while other less important storylines (NO, I'm not going to get over Verity Willis, you guys) take center stage (it seems important to note that I've been reading comics long enough to know that the Verity Willis thing is very likely deeper than it seems on the outside but I'm still not ready to accept that as an answer to how stupid I find it). There's definitely more here than in a couple of the last issues (though they've rather bounced up and down) but I'm still not sure it's enough to really make this book overly worthwhile.

Total Score: 3/5

X-Men 14, Uncanny X-Men 21

X-Men 14
Wood (w) and C. Mann (p) and C. Mann and S. Mann (i) and Mounts (c) and Caramagna (l)

The Future has attacked two students, Primal and Sprite, and, in doing so, somehow broken past every defense that the X-Men have. Monet and Rachel tear off after Primal's shooter and track him to a train in an attempt to make a getaway. They manage to take him down before he can shoot himself, bringing him back to the school for questioning while Psylocke ups the mansion's defenses and Beast attempts to save the wounded. Storm calls everyone together to tell them that she's officially announced them as a team (AKA made it known to Wolverine) but her speech is interrupted when the Future strikes again shattering more defenses and breaking through where they were holding the original shooter. Storm's future daughter Kymera helps protect Shogo and trounces the shooter, who turns out to be a bomb, and the ensuing explosion complicates things further.

Story
The Future, despite his name, continues to be a frustratingly compelling villain, one who is able to inexplicably get past all of the mansion's many defenses and to remain hidden from even the talented psychics on the premises. Amid the fear of the Future is a story about the team forming and starting to work together as Storm begins to back down from her leadership position, allowing for more voices of dissent or more strategies and at least stalling the overthrow talk. Wood has always done a solid job at ramping up and balancing tensions and this issue is a prime example. 5/5

Character
There are a number of strong characters in this book and Wood should be praised for keeping their voices almost entirely distinct. It's the sort of book where you could focus on the words on the page and know who's speaking. The only time that that line gets a little muddied is with Rachel, who occasionally plays the side that's convenient to the advancing plot, though I'd also say that I'm not really sure I've read a really great Rachel Grey before and I'd say that I've read great versions of all of the other major characters elsewhere. 4/5

Writing
Wood bounces back and forth between locations and characters enough to make the book feel really fast-paced even when a lot of this issue is just fortifying defenses and reacting to last issue. It creates the sort of panicked and terrorized tone for the issue that allows the reader to begin to understand what the outlook is like at the school. Particularly effective with this is seeing Beast's full-on sadness at what's happening and his seeming inability to help the injured. 5/5

Art
Strong art from Clay Mann, as is typical. There's a nice panel as Ororo apologizes for her recent behavior and announces that they're officially a team where, though the camera is pulled back far enough that there's not much detail to the characters' faces, we get a good sense of the situation from the position and the posture of each character, with Storm fretting anxiously, Rachel listening o obediently, Monet with her arms-crossed, Psylocke with her hands on her hips, and Jubilee cradling Shogo. It's a nice characterization of all of them in the briefest of moments. 5/5

Miscellaneous
As in the last issue, the mini-story BROMO-SUPERIOR continues in this issue, again written by wood but with art from Phil Briones and colors from Matt Milla. It's fine, or whatever.

Total Score: 5/5


Uncanny X-Men 21
Bendis (w) and Bachalo (p) and Townsend, Irwin, Mendoza, Olazaba, and Vey (i) and Bachalo (c) and Caramagna (l)

Cyclops and Magik have lost control of their powers upon arriving at the Jean Grey School to question Beast on whether or not he's tracking their movements with Cerebro. The mutants at the mansion subdue the pair just as Dazzler arrives and demands to take Cyclops into custody. Beast fights her on it, convinced something is wrong with them and realizing he's best suited to understand what and who is attacking them. Maria Hill steps in and eventually sides with Beast, giving him an hour to study Cyclops. The mysterious entity behind the attacks sees his opportunity and uses the SHIELD helicarriers to attack the school while Beast begins to study Cyclops in his lab and realizes who is behind everything. Meanwhile, Magneto frees Dazzler in Madripoor and swears he'll help her find revenge.

Story
Though I thought that Cyclops' reason for coming to the Jean Grey School was kind of stupid and convoluted (the dude's just going to keep making excuses to go there apparently and the more he does it the less of a dramatic "OH NO, LOOK WHO'S HERE" sort of a moment it is. Soon we'll just assume he's a part-time professor), you can see here why Bendis chose to send them. Though the ends don't necessarily justify the means, we're here to examine this issue and not the last one and the at ion of this issue is compelling enough. I do have some problems with the fact that this book can't seem to go more than a few issues without pulling in the other mutants or SHIELD or anything else, but we are moving quickly to our mysterious adversary. The most compelling story of the issue, though, is Emma Frost's refusal to completely give up on Scott as a love interest. Just kidding, of course it's not that, I could not care less about that. I swear, every time I start to fight for this book, I'm reminded that I'm actually annoyed by it. No, it's Magneto. His determination to get Dazzler out and stop the MGH production is a nice arc for his character and it boosts this up from the 3/5 I was going to give this issue after remembering Emma Frost's contribution. 4/5

Character
Like last time, I'm going to fall back on Magneto's arc here because there's not a lot else to look at. There's Emma Frost and I continue not to care even a little bit about that relationship. Magneto's stuff is strong, I'm still not particularly into SHIELD's involvement though Maria Hill's agreement to let Beast check out Cyclops was both interesting and baffling. 3/5

Writing
Bendis reins in the back-and-forth dialogue here which I really appreciate since there's a lot of fighting and a lot of exploding in this issue and I really hate it in those moments. I think the tone of the book works pretty well but I'd have to put that to the colors as much as anything. Still, writing didn't hurt that and that's sometimes just as important as actively fostering it. 5/5

Art
As I said, I think the colors really helped the art in this one. Bachalo's art is typically impressive and it's extremely consistent. This issue loses a point in art for a weird gratuitous upskirt of one of the girls in the Jean Grey School (I'd call her Surge but I've not known Surge to wear a skirt and I'm unclear if she's there or not. Who knew I'd have to choose between blue-haired girls?). 4/5

Miscellaneous
I think this book has the ability to shine through some of the problems I've had with it but it keeps barely scratching that surface instead of leaping over it.

Total Score: 4/5