My Weekly Pull List - 2/22/12

Cyclops' and Wolverine's X-men come face to face for the first time since Schism in X-men: Legacy!  Intergalactic gambling for the future of Kitty Pryde and the Jean Grey School!  The final battle between Magneto and deranged clone Joseph!  And the final fate of vampire Jubilee!

 

Avengers Academy #26

Avengers: Solo #5

Avengers vs. X-men: Program #1

Magneto: Not a Hero #4 RG

New Mutants #38

Secret Avengers #23

Uncanny X-Force #22

Venom #13.3 C4

Wolverine & the X-Men #6

X-Men #25

X-Men Legacy #262

C4 = Circle of Four

RG = ReGenesis

Hellfire Comes Calling - Review Generation Hope #14

This is going to be a bit of a short review this time guys because, to be truthful, nothing really struck me too strongly this week (for good or bad).  So I picked the issue that I felt like the most happened…this one!  For what it’s worth, a lot went down for the Lights in this issue, I guess I wasn’t thrilled because typically the storytelling in this book is a bit underwhelming…  Sorry James Asmus!  But moving on, a lot still did go down here so let’s take a look at what transpired.

Sebastian Shaw.  They’ve been teasing us for months about him joining Hope’s team I was wondering how they were going to justify it, and here we are!  Amnesia (courtesy of Miss Emma Frost) is just what the doctor ordered for this storyline.  Now the question remains: Why does he register as a new mutant (or Light as it were)?  And why did he just randomly pop up on Cerebra, shouldn’t they have registered a Sebastian Shaw blip the entire time?  Hopefully answers to these questions are forthcoming in upcoming issues.

Martha Johansson.  It always a good time when they take familiar characters and give them an updated new look.  So it’s about time that Martha got some face-time (pun completely intended).  It’s also really cool to see Kenji finding new and innovative uses for his powers.  They are a little creepy to begin with so finding helpful, productive ways to use them really helps!

So basically the point of this crappy ReGenesis tie-in is to set up the new team status quo.  As long as you look at it that way, this issue is pretty good.  Pixie’s in there, now so is Sebastian Shaw, and I don’t see Martha giving up her new body any time soon even if it is connected to Kenji at all times so I bet we should expect to see her stick around for a while.  And thank god someone had a proper reaction to Shaw’s presence!  Scott’s “What the $&%# is he doing here?!” was the perfect ending and was just what was on everyone’s mind for this entire issue.  It looks like we’re gearing up for some serious Phoenix action involving Hope soon so I really hope (heehee Hope) that the writers can get it together and come up with some better dialogue and storytelling because I would hate to see the issues of this book that pertain to it go to waste.

Something Sinister This Way Comes - Review Uncanny X-men #2

     And the fun keep coming!  This new volume is already becoming everything that the mutant superhero team should be!  For too long I watched this book decline, odd stories, pointless team-ups and then the final straw was when they took the "flagship" status away from this book and gave it to Astonishing X-men.  From there it was a slow decline into Dark X-men nonesense, silly mutant "plagues" (that don't hold a candle to the Legacy Virus), just pointless story after pointless story as they tried to be the "mutants in the global view" book.  Well that's over with!  I don't really know what the plan is for Astonishing but this Uncanny X-men 2.0 seems to be where the mutant action is and is going to stay.  With Cyclops' new mission of proactive action to make the X-men more of a peacekeeping force, like the mutant Avengers, I think we can expect to see more of the mainstream stories occurring here (such as the teased Phoenix story) rather then getting limited and one-shot to handle major events and changes.

     So on to the new Extinction team.  WOW.  That all I can say is WOW.  First of all I am shocked that Namor is actually staying on the team.  When his book got cancelled and then I heard about Schism, I assumed his tenure with the X-men was done and I wasn't too broken up about it either.  But the longer he is there the more he feels like he belongs with the team.  His connection to Emma Frost seemed really out of left field at first but the writers have really taken the time to develop this relationship into something that might really happen and I am sure there are already people that would prefer Emma with him instead of Scott.  It's also really interesting to see Scott and Ororo on the same squad again after so long.  I went back into my old back issues and realized that Scott and Ororo haven't been on the same squad since Uncanny X-men #201.  After that he left to form X-Factor with the other originals, and when he came back they split the team into Blue and Gold squads, and from there they jsut never really made it back onto the same regular squad again.  So it will be nice to see her playing Jiminy Cricket to his Pinocchio.  And it comes as no surprise to me at all that having Hope and Magik on a regualr X-men team is amazing!  Illyana has always been such an amazing (and favorite of mine0 character but I almost felt that they always had her too bogged down in her demonic fate to explore her truly.  And in New Mutants most recent volume, she was soulless for much of that time so it was more Darkchild then Magik.  Now we get to see her really come into her own and for once we get to see her watching out for her big brother instead of the other way around.  Oh and where the hell is Emma's arm??? Has anyone been watching it??

     And how about Sinister?  This megalomaniac has come a long way since being Mr. Sinister leader of the Marauders and ordering the death of the Morlocks.  This issue explained to us exactly what he was doing in the closing chapter of the previous Uncanny X-men volume.  This new 'Sinister System" is leaps and bounds more creative and innovative then that Miss Sinister debacle.  It is also worth mentioning that Scott thinks nothing of killing these Sinisters (even when he thought that there was one lead one).  Back during Inferno, Cyclops was heartbroken when he thought he destroyed Essex with his optic blasts and he readiness to do it as many times as needed in this case is a sure showing of how far he has fallen in his moral standing.  Uh, and did everyone else see how Jugger-lossus just squeezed his head like a grape?!  YIKES!

     As I've stated in previous blogs and reviews, I wasn't really sold on splitting the X-men into two separate camps at first but after two months of this new title and the new Wolverine & the X-men I think that this new status quo could be an even better set up then the legendary Gold/Blue split.  I am still curious as to where Professor X is going to end up because he was clear that he's not staying at the school but he also hasn't been shown any sort of role yet in the new Uncanny situation either so only time will tell.  I look more and more forward to these main book every single month, thank god they are finally pulling X-men out of the rut they've been in these last few years.  I can't wait to see what the creative team has in store for us in the coming issues...is that a Celestial thumb I see baring down on Cyclops in the "Next Issue" spot...?

An Island Getaway - Review Wolverine & the X-men #2

Its official!  This new title and its KILLER creative team have won me over!  I really was dead set against this series as there just didn’t seem to be a need for it.  With the swarm of X-books out there right now I felt like Wolverine’s new school could have appropriated one of them and made it their new home (like Legacy or Astonishing).  After a wonderful first issue, the Grey School student body kicked the action into high gear, and with so much going on they even still found time to develop some of the newer characters as well as some older ones too.

First the character development side.  It’s about time that someone laid into Bobby “Frosty” Drake and told him to grow up.  Now maybe that’s not exactly what Logan said to Bobby in the ruins of the former Xavier Institute for Higher Learning but the was the jist of it.  As one of the original X-men, Iceman has a responsibility to set the bar for excellence as high as he can, but for years he’s just joked his way through one situation to the next.  He didn’t even feel the need to develop his powers to their fullest until Emma Frost did it first when she took over his body in Uncanny X-men #314.  It took her giving an embarrassingly powerful display of HIS power for him to even try.  Wolverine and Iceman’s conversation left me thinking that we should watch for him to do great things at this new school and then the army of frosted dupes (each controlled by Bobby) appeared…Multiple Iceman? Jaime Madrox is going to be furious.  And how about Oya and Broo?  LOVE IT!  It’s wonderful that a girl as jaded as Idie is can still find an attraction in one of the ugliest forms of alien that we know of in the Marvel Universe.  And it was hilarious to watch Broo (who, it hadn’t even occurred to me, we hadn’t even heard his name outloud until she said it) verbalize his thoughts as he logic-ed his way through the parts of “a crush” as he felt them and really showed that despite being a mutant Brood, there is still some residual Brood in him.  I see this being a brand new Angel and Beak scenario…you know…minus the creepy mutant bird/fly babies and trashy hut to raise them in.  If the writers can keep the emotions churning and development coming then this book will be a smash hit!

                Now the action!  They were NOT kidding with this battle!  I guess I understand they want to really grab people’s attention but DAMN.  We were given fair notice that a classic villain was going to return so I was already prepared for some sort of “wow” moment.  Then Sauron and Wendigo showed up (if you can consider state examiners mutating into them “showing up”).  I was already a little floored, as far as classic villains go they were pretty good.  Neither character gets used very often and used well even less so I was happy with the villains guest stars…and then an army of Frankenstein’s monsters appeared from inside bullets!  Ok, not really an X-men villain but definitely classic (maybe they didn’t mean a classic X-men villain specifically I thought)…and then…KRAKOA showed up.  KRAKOA??  Ok you just don’t get any more classic then Krakoa.  I mean the Island Who Walks Like a Man is basically one step down from Magneto when you consider milestone villains, and talk about out of left field.  I t was amazing!  It was a great touch for them to keep with the Deadly Genesis version of things, and not have the living biomass talk too.  Meanwhile, all the way up on a nice safe hilltop is the Hellfire Brats.  I’m really torn on them at this point.  They’ve seemed really cool up until now but they are always starting to sounds cheesy and corny with their constant “evil chatter”, for example it was funny the first time the blond girl (whose name I cannot remember for the life of me, and it isn’t mentioned in the issue) talked cutely about hitting penguins with a hammer and then it got old.  I would hate to see this new Hellfire Club go the way of the Upstarts, cool as hell right off the bat and then quickly becomes tired and lame.

                As I already admitted, I am totally sold on this title now.  All thoughts of oversaturation from X-books are gone (not that we aren’t oversaturated but I don’t mind it is what I mean) and I can’t wait until next issue.  I mean, we don’t exactly have Cyclops, Havok and Polaris to send Krakoa into space this time do we?  I am expecting a gorgeous combining of powers to whack this weed and get the school finally opened.  If I had to have one complaint it would be that we didn’t see enough Rachel or Paige, but I suspect they are going to have bigger roles over in Legacy once that title joins ReGenesis next week.  And what about the examiners??  Or am I the only one that noticed they disappeared after transforming and weren’t seen again?  Hmmm, that’ll look bad on the report…

Not Your Average Joe - Review Magneto: Not a Hero #1

Can I just say that I LOVE Magneto lately? When he went all “good guy” I was a little skeptical to say the least.  Like “Didn’t we already do this once before?”  But no we haven’t!  He may be one of the X-men now and dutifully following Cyclops’ orders, but he really isn’t all THAT changed from his super villain days.  It’s not like last time he joined the team and he suddenly became this new and improved good person with feelings and a heart.  NOT EVEN CLOSE.  No he is still a hardcore mutant advocate and borderline human hater, but he is at least willing now to accept that his methods and goals were not working and Cyclops had accomplished (for the most part) what he tried for years to do.  He showed us his disdain for “ordinary humans” in no uncertain terms with the way he dealt with Iron Man in this issue.  “The Invincible Rubber Man” is a classic line from a character not really known for his sense of humor and “I’ve entertained you human long enough” tells us that he really has changes his mindset that much since Asteroid M fell and Genosha was leveled.  But that was far from the only stellar part of this issue.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love X-leader Emma Frost over Hellfire Club White Queen any day of the week, but I never get enough of these issues where we see glimpses of the old Emma.  Whether it’s Danger over in Astonishing X-men or Magneto in this issue, every mutant knows that if you need help with something shady and underhanded (not to mention keep it secret) AND you want the sanction of a high ranking X-man, you go to Ms. Frost for help.  But Magneto was right…the students don’t fear her, they respect her and her experience and her power.  These are all the makings of every hardass teacher (that you probably hated) that ever helped you when you needed it.  And even without her telepathy, there is no getting ANYTHING past her.  Whether it’s a student or its Scott or Magneto, she knows when she’s being buttered up and she’s not interested.   But she’s always up for a glass of wine and some playful banter (at the other person’s expense of course…

And then of course there’s the pay off at the end.  JOSEPH.  I’ll be real honest here…I did NOT see that coming in the slightest!  Forget his deformed “Brotherhood” cronies surrounding him, just the fact that he has returned after almost 15 years is astounding enough.  Now last time around, Magneto was still evil and Joseph, his poor clone, was trying his hardest to be an X-man and atone for, what he thought were, his crimes.  This time I’m not so sure though.  The real Magneto has somewhat mended his ways and now Joseph, by all appearances, is going around murdering people.  Also, and this could just be how it was drawn, Astra didn’t look deformed to me like the rest of the brotherhood was.  Is it possible that she’s also back and in cahoots with Joseph or is she a deformed version of herself like the rest and it just wasn’t as obvious?  There is definitely more to this story then meets the eye but the writers of this ReGenesis spin off have definitely caught my attention with this one.

I know in my reviews I usually have at least one section where I complain about the stuff I didn’t like but I have to say, I loved it all!  From the fighting with Iron Man and Captain America and Iron Man somewhat inappropriate (but hilarious) jokes with each other to Magneto’s Emma-guided tour through the magnetic mindscape this issue was fantastic through and through.

My Weekly Pull List - 11/16/11

There weeks just keep getting smaller and smaller, as much as I loved Fear Itself, it is nice to have some spending money back each week!  Shattered Heroes and ReGenesis collide in Avengers Academy this week! Valkyrie continues her quest in Fearless while ReGenesis keeps on going in New Mutants, X-men (Vol. 3) and Generation Hope!  Also, a team member dies in X-Factor...who will it be?!

Avengers #19

Avengers Academy #22

Fear Itself #7.3 FI

Fear Itself: The Fearless #3

Generation Hope #13 RG

New Mutants #34 RG

X-Factor #227

X-Men #21 RG

FI = Fear Itself

RG = ReGenesis