Age of Apocalypse #1 – When it was first created, the Age of Apocalypse was new, exciting, and incredibly innovative, and it even warranted 2 one-shot issues to fill in some background on these incredible new takes on classic characters. Then for the 10 year anniversary of the storyline (yes storyline, as in it had a beginning and an ending) we got another one-shot plus a 5 issue limited series to catch us up on what had happened to these character, all of this is still good. I was skeptical to say the least when I heard about the crossover with X-Force, and more than a little leery about AOA Nightcrawler, but please someone tell me how they strip Jean Grey and Sabretooth of their powers, have them join up with B-class human villains and then call it a new series?! This is honestly just a huge mistake, and it will undoubtedly ruin the legacy of this incredible storyline. I suspect it will not have more than 12 issues or less so I will buy them, but this is just an insult to the original concept.
Avengers Academy #27 – Eh…not as great as I would have expected it to be. First of all, I am not as into the Runaways as I am Young Avengers or even the defunct Young Allies so this issue was already at a disadvantage. I find the entire Runaway crew to be kinda lame and mostly just knock-offs of the Young Avengers so when they came here and started acting like their bratty superior selves it was even more of a turn off then I had anticipated. Why do they keep associating the Academy with these cheesy “Next-Gen” teen teams? Why don’t they every actually meet the Young Avengers? Or the New X-men/Generation Hope? Instead we get the Young Allies (which was an slap in the face to Firestar since she used to be an honest to goodness Avenger) and the Runaways? This book has come such a long way so we can definitely bury one or two bad issues but let’s get it together people!!
Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week #1 – On the other hand, this issue was significantly better than I would have expected! When watching the various Marvel movies, it seemed like it was one story after another with no connection and Nick Fury showing up at the very end of all of them, but this series is showing us that that wasn’t the case. According to this book, not only was Fury involved behind the scenes of all of the scenarios from the beginning but in some cases, they were happening practically simultaneously! I thought that was a really cool twist to the stories. Other than that, this doesn’t really add too much new information to the mix, it more just added continuity to the separate stories in an effort to bring them all together for the big showdown. Nothing terribly exciting but still worth a read.
Defenders #4 – I’ll be honest, I am not really clear on whats going on with this Prester Omega character and the giant squiggle but I loved this peak into the past of Stephen Strange. I mean we know all about his life as a vain surgeon before learning magic and we know about his long time love with Mistress Clea of the Dark Dimension, but this seems to be from even before any of that. Before his time as a world class surgeon he dated a woman names Martha who left him and began her own life and family, and now she had returned to him by some untold magical means (probably to do with the squiggle). Unfortunately this is not to last and she once again left him to discover the meaning of her new life, but she did lead Stephen on the path to let someone new into his life, his grad student Molly…who he already slept with. Ignoring the clear ethical violations involved, she’s nothing like what you would expect him to go for and yet might be exactly what he needs.
Fear Itself: The Fearless #10 – It’s really at the point now where my eyes and ears bleed every time I have to type the words “Fear Itself”, but yes this series is still happening. On the bright side, this issue is finally making the series exciting! I’m bored to death of Valkyrie moaning and whining across the globe and I’m tired of Sin’s maniacal posturing too, but the idea of the Serpent having it’s own Destroyer is a pretty cool concept. I also found it intriguing that Crossbones doesn’t seem to be as on board with her grand schemes as he once was. The big battle scene at the end was truly epic though. I mean you have ALL the Avengers (not to mention the Fantastic Four and the Thunderbolts) present at once and every demonic supervillain that Marvel has churned out in the last 25 years like (Master Pandemonium, Witchfire and Blackout just to name a few). Maybe after 4 months of boring drawn out nonsense, we will actually get an exciting ending to this endless epilogue.
Uncanny X-men #8 – Great ending to a bit of a strange story. It started out as a mission to save the inhabitants of Tabula Rasa from what amounts to rampant lethal skin cancer, but what really made this issue was some of the finer character moments that were seen. Namor putting his harpoon to good use with the Tapeworm Queen while Hope develops more than a small crush on him. Cyclops putting the needs of an entire species first (and they WEREN’T even mutants). And my personal favorite: Illyana and Peter fighting for their lives in the underground caverns of Tabula Rasa. It is truly amazing to see how far these two siblings have come. Colossus becomes more of a powerhouse on the verge of losing control with every issue while Magik has gone from demonic princess to powerful voice of reason. Watching him lose control of his very form from tapping into the power of the Juggernaut was one of his more intense moments ever since Illyana died back in 1993. Of course we can’t forget the foreboding scene between Psylocke and Magneto at the end. What side are they really on? Was that just tough guy talk from Magneto or is something more sinister going on that we don’t know about yet? Or even worse, is he just implying that they are both killers and therefore alike…
Venom #14 – And Circle of Four comes to a close…and what a close it is! First let me get it out of the way and say I HATE ALEJANDRA! This incarnation of the Ghost Rider has one horrific issue after another. I honestly just don’t know what the writers are even thinking at this point. Watching her flat out push Flash from a moving taxi in the middle of a firefight in Hell was just the absolute last straw! I mean really, who the hell does that?! I’m just glad her own title is ending. On the bright side, we got to see when Venom officially joined the Avengers (or Secret Avengers)…the only annoying thing is that we knew that was coming weeks ago if you’ve been reading that title.
Wolverine & the X-men: Alpha & Omega #3 – It’s…interesting. I am not sufre I love it or that it was a necessary storyline but it’s definitely interesting. I love the whole idea of Quire’s construct, it’s like a huge video game that Wolverine and Armor can’t find the end of, and I like even more that he loses control of it when he goes to sleep. One thing I am not really into is that Wolverine’s body wakes up as the “Berserker” when his mind isn’t in residence. I am not going to dig through my back issues to find out where, but I am sure at some time in the past his mind has been removed from his body by some force and I am pretty certain that this didn’t happen. Either way I still maintain that this could have been a one-shot instead of a 5 part series, but whatever.
X-Club #4 – I love this series. It started out a little strange…and now it’s just completely out there weird! Is it me or did we find out that not only is Danger somehow pregnant but she and Madison Jefferies are in love? What the hell are these people doing over there on that island!? The best part of this is entire story however is the telepathic starfish stuck on top of Nemesis’ head. He’s just such a douche all the time it’s nice to hear the ridiculousness that goes on in his head. I’m looking forward to the conclusion of this story, but also just for the series to be over.
X-men #26 – AGH!! I AM SO BORED OF VAMPIRES! If I wanted to read about vampires I would pick up some old Chillers or Tomb of Dracula issues. This is X-men…X-MEN…I want mutants, and world saving. Not undead vegetarians. I have said it before I am bored of Raizo Kodo and his band of creeps and I am even over Jubilee’s storyline. They need to get her under control or just get rid of her but either way they need to be done with the vampire storylines.
