X-Force 10, Punisher 11

X-Force 10


With Pete Wisdom's advice to watch out for the bugs, Cable's X-Force team recognizes that they're being watched. They're intent to make the surveillance work for them, though, and Dr. Nemesis has a plan to do it. Thanks to Psylocke's keen noticing skills, she has recognized that something has been going on at the X-Mansion, that there's been some unseen entity there, and MeMe has learned which toilet the entity uses, allowing them to teleport the mutant, who Nemesis suspects can only be remembered when seen, to their base. The mutant is ForgetMeNot, from Si Spurrier's (among others') X-MEN LEGACY 300. Nemesis intends to use a power suppressor to make ForgetMeNot, who doesn't have a bug watching him because Volga doesn't know/remember he exists, appear to Volga's systems, at which point Volga will send a bug after him and Nemesis will put a tracker on that bug before removing ForgetMeNot's suppressor and making the bug and Volga forget he was there, sending the bug back to Volga's base. After a long time trying to catch ForgetMeNot (and many viewings of a video Nemesis recorded to fill the team in on ForgetMeNot's presence, which of course is forgotten every time they lose sight of him), Nemesis is finally able to talk to him and reveal the plan, which ForgetMeNot, who absolutely hates these guys after spending some time in their presence, agrees to help with. Unfortunately, when the bug is dispatched, it doesn't forget him when the suppressor is removed. Fantomex knocks Nemesis out, reveals to ForgetMeNot that he knew the whole time he was there (the benefit of his advanced brain) and promptly kills the mutant, causing everyone to forget he was there and sending the bug back to Volga.

Boy, this book is something else. It's often so smart and so self-aware and so much fun, all at the same time. This is a perfect example of that as the ultimate plot and plan is extremely compelling and fun, as is the inclusion of Spurrier creation ForgetMeNot, and as we get a great characterization of everyone here. I wrote a summary that was altogether much longer than I wanted it to be and still couldn't convey everything I wanted to say about this book. There are so many great things happening in this issue between great looks at the viciousness of X-Force and of the broken people who have been chosen by Cable. This is a book that uses its space remarkably well, dragging very little while getting so much across. Excellent stuff. And it's great to see Tan Eng Huat and Craig Yeung once more teamed up with Si Spurrier (as well as the great X-MEN LEGACY homage cover by Rock-He Kim).

Total Score: 5/5


Punisher 11

Punisher gets out of the prison after learning what he wanted to learn for both himself and for Black Widow, who worked out a deal with him on the way to the prison to try to learn information from one of the inmates. After breaking out, Frank calls on former partner Rachel Cole-Alves to pick him up. As they talk on the ride back, he admits that he's thinking about hanging it up, feeling too old and broken for everything that's happening. She tells him how bad things have gotten in LA, even indicating that the Dos Soles are stronger than ever and looking for political sway (which they are). She convinces him by asking if maybe the Dos Soles and the American commandos trying to kill him are connected. Meanwhile, Officer Stone has taken the Punisher route to exact justice on the thugs who put Lou in a coma.

Edmondson, who has really been getting back to Punisher's roots, goes a little deeper into Frank's personality as he shows a rare moment of "maybe I'm done" from Frank. He also does a lot to show the effect Punisher has had in the last few years, obviously showing what Officer Stone has been inspired to do but also revisiting Rachel Cole-Alves, who last was investigated for killing a cop as Punisher's partner and for whom he took the fall, drawing the ire of the Avengers in last year's (I think, I was definitely doing the blog at that point) PUNISHER WAR ZONE. Edmondson is doing a lot of world-building here as we're seeing so much of what's happening in LA and with the Dos Soles looking to extend their reach. Another strong issue with some really good Mitch Gerads art.

Total Score: 4/5

Amazing Spider-Man 6, X-Force 9

Amazing Spider-Man 6

Black Cat unmasks Spider-Man on live TV but Jameson inadvertently blocks the shot the entire time in a swing and a miss at humor. Silk manages to bust Peter out of the fight before any lasting harm can come of it but they know now to be prepared for Electro and Black Cat at every turn, which is good because the villains, on the sort-of coerced advice of Sajani, plan an attack on Parker Industries' big reveal of their new Electro-depowering tech. Everything at the press conference goes crazy but the ultimate result is a massive explosion that falls on Parker Industries and Spider-Man's rep, though it does indeed manage to depower Electro. Black Cat escapes and finds herself back in the good graces of a slew of underling supervillains, pledging to become the queen of the thieves, while Silk gets an internship with a news station in hopes of finding more about her family, and Peter feels rejuvenated by the success of the Electro device and believes he's in a good place with his work and his friends Sajani and Anna Maria, who are whispering even now about undermining some of his work.

I've already voiced some disapproval and concern about this book as it has focused on a pair of villains who just come off as crazy and well out of their own character, particularly Black Cat (I think Electro has been slightly better and a little more interesting). Cat has oscillated between petty criminal and vigilante for some time now so this full U-turn to hardcore crime boss because she's been wronged continues to seem really far-fetched. It may seem overkill to keep harping on that but right now that's what the entire story hinges itself on so it's impossible to overlook or to overstate its significance. What's more, the writing has been exposition heavy and the repeated attempts at jokes and humor have come off forced and mostly weak. I think there are interesting nuggets here and there (Sajani's sort-of betrayal, Anna Maria as sort-of sidekick to Spider-Man, Peter's determination to "heal" supervillains, etc.) but they're hard to find right now beneath the problems of the book.

Total Score: 2/5


X-Force 9

X-Force has been revealed in the desert and, despite Dr. Nemesis' hopes for a dialogue, a fight breaks out between X-Force and Pete Wisdom's team. Meanwhile, Agent Mel, the leader of the soldiers, is taken right from under their noses by the guerrilla Quaddees they were chasing in the first place, which, along with the insane power the seemingly least powerful soldier has, serves to end the fight and open a dialogue, to Nemesis' satisfaction. The soldiers in this unit have volunteered for superpowers, essentially, that will kill them all within a year but that will aid Volga until then. Now aware of their situation and the stakes, they agree to accompany X-Force to find their missing commander. When the team finds her, they're overwhelmed by powered-up Quaddees. Psylocke and Meme manage to bust through and read the captured Mel's mind, learning about the experiments and the power of the soldiers. Unfortunately, there seems to be no reasonable way out of this scenario so X-Force is x-forced to stick to Mel's plan, which involves her own team self-destructing, more or less, to take out the Quaddees and to stop their own powers from getting out into the work. Wisdom leads his team back home, though he warns Cable first about the bugs around them as Volga's spies (which we saw just two issues or so ago).

Things remain a little confusing this issue, as they were last issue, but Spurrier's managed to clear up enough and to keep a lot of the banter entertaining enough to allow us to proceed with the story. It's a true in media res story overall as we only get bits and pieces of the soldiers' mission, only the parts we need to know as they pertain to X-Force, which makes for a bit of a confusing issue but still allows us to come out the other side with a slightly better sense of our team and of Volga's capabilities, not hurt by Wisdom's reveal. It's a particularly strong Dr. Nemesis issue (a character Spurrier unabashedly loves, and rightfully so) as his unending disdain for superheroes finds a real home with this team. Some strong writing and fun character moments (one of the constant joys of this series is watching Fantomex repeatedly assert he is the best as whatever he's doing only to be proven wrong immediately, a joke that never seems to get old) carry this one.

Total Score: 4/5

All-New X-Men 29, Amazing X-Men 9, X-Force 7

All-New X-Men 29
Bendis (w) and Immonen (p) and Von Grawbadger (i) and Gracia w/Keith (c) and Petit (l)

X-23 hits Xavier Jr. from behind, breaking his grip on the Stepford Cuckoos and releasing everyone, including his own Brotherhood, from his hold. As he attempts to regain control or to get the X-Men to kill one another, Jean Grey and the Stepfords team to keep him at bay while Laura keeps Raze busy. Eventually, after much banter, the X-Men capture Xavier and Raze, sending them to SHIELD with the explicit direction that they keep strong power dampeners and sedatives on the pair, while the innocent "members" of the Brotherhood are sent back to their own time. STILL, somehow, worst-character Maria Hill allows Xavier to write a message to himself in the future, warning them that this plan didn't work either (presumably she didn't know that's what he'd write, but come on). Also, Warren takes X-23 out on something of a date.

The cyclical and continuous nature of comics means that you almost never see a door explicitly closed. Even when, say, Si Spurrier erases David Haller from the Marvel Universe entire, there's almost always some sort of backdoor. Spurrier didn't really leave one but he acknowledged that someone could certainly come along and change things back anyhow. Still, this "enemies of the future can't be defeated until their dead" sort of backdoor is a dangerous and cynical one, one that allows a seemingly infinite amount of second chances. What might be more dangerous (and perhaps more cynical from me) is that I'm already totally sick of Xavier Jr. and his story. I was sick of it in BATTLE OF THE ATOM. Also Maria Hill continues to be terrible simply to move the story forward and now X-23 and Warren are a thing, apparently. I feel like this is all a new coat of paint on an obviously old story (guys, it's not even THAT old).

Total Score: 2/5


Amazing X-Men 9
Yost and Kyle (w) and Barberi (p) and Wong, Meikis, and Barberi (i) and Rosenberg (c) and Caramagna (l)

The Wendigo curse is spreading, having already enveloped an entire town, and no one is quite sure how to handle it. The US military wants to keep it across the border, though they're eventually outvoted by Thor and Captain America. Meanwhile, officials are suggesting people move south, hopefully keeping the plague behind them. The X-Men, of course, are trying to find Wolverine in all of this. Eventually they manage it, tracking Wolverine and his newfound allies Talisman and Puck, but they're still heavily outmatched by the power and numbers of the Wendigo. Talisman thinks, given enough time to perform the spell, she can change the Wendigo back to their true human form. The X-Men circle her to give her the time but the fight has proven too much for Wolverine, who collapses, turning into a Wendigo himself, and attacks Talisman.

Yost and Kyle, in their second issue of this young series and of this arc, keep the action up here, showing a true Wendigo infestation and making sure to illustrate just how devastating it is. It's so big that two prime Avengers make an appearance in an X-Men book. There's a bit of characterization mixed in with all of the action and the tone, with each character getting a little bit of time in the spotlight, at least long enough to establish a bit about his or her personality. It's a strong issue though I think it suffers a little from a strange desire to jump around in time and to cast the scale of the disaster against a running news broadcast about it. It stretches the issue a bit longer than it needs to be, slowing things where you don't want anything to be slowed. Still a strong issue and another good look at the new creative team.

Total Score: 4/5


X-Force 7
Spurrier (w) and R. Kim (a and c) and Sabino (l)

X-Force has the closest thing they're likely to get to a day off and they're spending it at home, mostly hitting on one another. Psylocke flirts clumsily with the guaranteed one-night-stand Cable but retracts it later when he goes a little too fundamentalist for her liking, MeMe pulls Fantomex into her world, using the Nantes in his head to tell him that she's bored and maybe they could hook up at some time, and Marrow is convinced that Doc Nemesis wants to sleep with her, even as he explains to her all the ways she's broken. Meanwhile, a past Cable had sent Domino to follow a money trail that would point to Volga's investors which pits her directly against Volga in his new robotic body even as Cable forgets she's out there. The issue ends darkly as Volga (who has been spying on X-Force) captures Domino and as Fantomex reveals that he's been killing Cable the last few days to make himself feel more important.

I talk frequently about the occasional need for a series to take a slight break, something to reset the action and slow things down a bit. X-FORCE, unwilling to really take time off, keeps the pace and the darkness off by introducing frequent Cable collaborator Domino to the series and immediately having Cable's "die everyday" revelation have some serious repercussions. Cable going fundamentalist by promising that X-Force will not cease and will even spy on possible threats to make sure their goals are achieved is paralleled by Volga making a speech to Domino that says more or less the same things Cable is, even ending with a pair of panels that put Cable and Volga's faces side-by-side. METAPHOR.

Total Score: 5/5  

X-Force 9, Wolverine 9

X-Force 6
Spurrier (w) and J. Molina (p) and Yeung (i) and Rosenberg (c) and Petit (l)

Volga's thrown Cable out the window and subsequently exploded him and now has the team trapped and even MeMe, our narrator in this issue, rather trapped in a computer. She seems to be taking Cable's death particularly hard but takes the time to give us a brief rundown on what happened in Alexandria. She had been there, working for Volga, and saw the bomb explode, aiming for mutants, and had seen Cable and Hope affected. Back with Volga in the present, the villain prepares to start experimenting on the surviving team just as Cable and Dr. Nemesis teleport into the room, revealing that Cable has been sending copies of himself into fights as the real Cable, poisoned during the bomb, is in stasis and continually sends his copies out to die while receiving the memories and information they gain in his headband. They escape Volga's grasp and Psylocke again tells MeMe that she has to reveal to Cable who she really is...Hope, piggybacking on the real but brain dead MeMe's powers.

What do I have to tell you people to get you to read this book? Or are you all doing it already? Let me know, okay? Because seriously, it's so great. I explained this whole series to someone today and, even with my babbling summarization (familiar with those?), the book sounded AWESOME. To me, at least. I think the audience I was telling it to was genuinely interested but, you know, babbling. Really great issue and how crazy is it that the reveal of the bomb's real impact and that Cable's been sending copies of himself out into the world while he slowly dies at home AREN'T the biggest reveals. Check this series out.

Total Score: 5/5


Wolverine 9
Cornell (w) and Anka (a) and Curiel (c) and Petit (l)

Wolverine continues to chat with Death while Iron Fist and Shang-Chi fight the Hand outside. Wolverine learns from Death that he's still rather afraid of dying but that he also still has honor and pride and whatever else. He also learns that Sabretooth has Pinch, her daughter, and Lost Boy and he's ready for a rematch.

THE DEATH OF WOLVERINE is looking more and more like a rebranding than an actual, literal death. There's talk in this issue about what a name means and what his name is and other things of that vein. Death also scoffs at the idea she told him he'd die in three months. ANYWAY, I still can't get behind this book. The talk with Death as an actual person continues to not be that compelling to me, particularly as Death just espouses super basic psychology kind of stuff that should absolutely blow no one's mind. Also Rose makes another appearance and his dumb rose tattoo does the same. Hoping his healing power comes back just to get rid of that.

Total Score: 2/5