Shadow and Flame with Magik

Writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost

Penciler Ed McGuinness

Inker Mark Farmer

Colors Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna

World War Wendigo Part One of Five

So great to have Kyle and Yost back on an X-Title!  They have been amazing in the past with New X-Men and X-Force.  They killed characters in New X-Men before but the way they killed people in X-Force was mind bending!  So, of course, the best way to show that they still have it after these years of not being on an X-Title, is to do what they did at the start of this issue.

At the CC&E Meat Co., Ontario, Canada.  52 Hours Ago.  Rick believes Eddie is assisting with his wife with cheating on Rick.  He doesn’t listen to reason and kills Eddie with a punch and Eddie falls back, breaking his neck on a corner of a table.  Proving that hardhats are pretty limited on how they protect people.

That death is gruesome but not Kyle and Yost gruesome.  So what does Rick do?  He puts Eddie’s body into a meat grinder and lets that meat mixture get packaged up.  So we obviously know now how the Wendigo portion of the story gets involved.  Wennnnnndiiiiigooooo!  If a person eats human flesh, and in Canada, then you are prone to become a Wendigo.

Ottawa, Canada.  We get to the reason why I own this issue :

I only own this issue as when Logan is hanging out with Heather Hudson, he gets a call on his cell phone which displays an image of Kitty Pryde phasing her hand through Iceman’s head.  Logan really needs to change that picture.  I like the idea of Logan telling Bobby to stand still for the photo and then Kitty having a little fun and Logan shrugging his shoulders and just going with it.  Feeling silly in the first place for taking the picture and not wanting to ask for a second one.

My good buddy Slicknickshady was nice enough to screencap this for me :

I bet he keeps it on there just so he can see Kitty’s face every so often.  I mean, how often can Bobby be calling Logan, anyways?

I really like the way McGuinness draws Heather in this scene.  She looks like a normal lady but also, pretty great looking.

Turns out Heather’s husband, Gladiator, is missing on a mission the Canadian government sent him on.  Good think Wolverine brought his new body armor – though the art makes it seem like it is mostly clothe.

There is an ad for Legendary Star Lord 1, I can’t wait for it!  I already know that I have to buy, one day, the Midtown Comics variant for the first issue as the Dodsons are placing Kitty on the cover.  So excited!

The Jean Grey School.  This is the part of the issue that seems to be getting people talking.  Colossus is joining the title!  We first see him bear hugging Nightcrawler and cracking his ribs!  What a horrible human being!

They joke about how each of them has been to the other’s funeral.  Then they joke about how often their friends died.  Storm enters the room and notes Colossus is there and moves back on to looking for Logan.  She’s one track mind, at the moment.

She goes around asking where he is.  Firestar is seen with a horse, which must be a shout out to her miniseries.  Her poor horse, then, was killed by Emma Frost to try to make Firestar sad and easier to manipulate.  Firestar hasn’t seen Logan but also that he stinks.  Beast follows this up with how Logan stinks too.

Iceman has seen Logan and knows he is in Canada.  Storm is mad as everyone is apparently under orders to tell her of any Wolverine sitting.  This must be, before he left all of the titles.

Forrest, Canada.  McGuiness and Farmer make the old school Vindicator costume look good!  We get a neat way of Logan tracking Guardian’s movements by having both of their movements mirror each other.  Pretty great use of the format.

Logan can tell this wasn’t a good situation.  Logan tells Heather to run, to get everybody she can here.

The Jean Grey School.  Storm is hassling Rachel and strangely, Rachel is taking it.  She really should just be pushing Storm to the ground and kicking her in the gut, that’s the Rachel I know.  She doesn’t respect Storm, as she hasn’t deserved it.

Storm makes a reference to how she can get teen Jean to use Cerebro to locate Logan.  This, somehow, manages to motivate Rachel and she finds Logan.  Logan is apparently scared – Storm can’t believe it, as Logan is never scared.  Which is silly as by this point, we’ve gotten seven issues of Wolverine’s newest volume of his, and the previous six issues of his last volume, all dealing with his lack of a healing factor and how scared he is all of the time.  Poor guy can’t even shave without getting the sweats!  Which I never get the sweats when I shave, thus, I am better than Wolverine.

Heather is freaking out and trying to call Puck.  He doesn’t answer his phone as he is boning his teammate’s daughter.  I wonder if Shaman knows about this?  Talisman should know better!

We see Windigos just beating up Heather, one even bites her!

We find out why Logan is so scared … there are eight Windigos in front of him – and they are all mad!

Next issue, the team goes after Wolverine!  I doubt I’ll be getting that issue but who knows.  With Nightcrawler and Colossus on the same team, and Kyle & Yost’s love for using continuity – which I adore about them – maybe the Kitty Pryde references will keep up!  If they do, that’s one issue they have sold!

Iceman, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Firestar – that’s the five team members of this title.  I’m a sucker for five member teams of the X-Men.  This is the Paul Smith team but Firestar instead of Kitty and Iceman instead of Wolverine.

Not a horrible team, a little heavy on weather mutants – Iceman, Storm and Firestar.  But I also like how they are all mainstays too, with Firestar being the introductory character here.