Inks Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Mark Irwin, John Livesay, Victor Olazaba & Jaime Mendoza
Letters Cory Petit
Last Days of Magic, Part Two
Years Ago. And Very Far Away. We are given the leader of the Empirikul’s origins. His parents were scientists in a land of magic. They put their son and the eyebots into a ship and sent him away – Superman style. I do like how his parents’ home is all in white (and they wear white too) and then the mages start coming in and all of this red is in the scene.
They worship Shuma-Gorath, who I recognize as an established character – he has a giant eye. He was the threat in Wolverine First Class 12. Such a great comic, he has mostly dealt with Doctor Strange and the Fantastic Four.
I must have read him in Marvel Knights 4, Marvel’s hardest series to do a search for.
Now, New York City. The leader, does he get name checked, I don’t believe so. The eyebots refer to him as, The Imperator, in the Last Days of Magic oneshot. I’ll start calling him that then.
Imperator is haunting the tied up magicians. Strange is familiar with Shuma-Gorath, he has fought it several times. Imperator doesn’t care about Shuma-Gorath, he cares about the type of people who would worship that sort of thing. Imperator reinforces how much he wants to rid the universe of magic. Strange saves some brave words but Imperator is going to burn him last.
Who will Imperator burn first? Magik! Makes sense to start with the biggest threat. Bachalo draws the heck out of Illyana. Imperator finds her attractive but that doesn’t impress Magik much.
Before fire can be set to her boots, Monako arrives – who strikes me as the magic world’s Puck but with a top hat. He wasn’t taken captive and Imperator underestimates him. Strange wants him to run but Monako has a plan. Monako reveals that magic isn’t dead, it is merely hiding.
Monako uses the last of his magic to teleport the captured heroes away. Imperator, a word I just can’t keep in my head. It usually means a great general or emperor – an empire’s commander. Imperator is going to give Monako a world of hurt!
Strange is adamant about getting back to Monako, Magik seems to be in shock.
Imperator tells the eyebots to search the entire planet for the mages. Smart to go to Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum. Zelma hears the droids and goes into the cellar to hide. Even though the door to the cellar is clearly marked “NEVER ENTER” she does it. I imagine she didn’t read the door.
Damion Hellstrom wants to honor Monako’s memory by moving forward. Magik wants to go back to save Monako. Strange is all for going back, but no one hasn’t a teleportation spell they can cast. Which is insane! Magik’s teleporting has nothing to do with magic, that relates to her mutant powers – she has never had to say a mystic word to port around the place. Why doesn’t she left her soulsword and teleport out of there? Bachalo should have told Aaron that, or maybe an editor? Maybe that’s why Illyana is never involved in these situations or crossover, she’s to powerful. Everything turns to Strange for guidance.
Meanwhile, Monako is putting on a brave face to Imperator, who has tied Monako to one of those trees of his.
Strange jumps off a ledge and lands on a hidden platform, which confirms that magic is still around. He wants everyone to split up and find as many mystical items as possible.
Magik, who can be a downer from time to time – she had a rough childhood, doesn’t believe they stand a chance. Maybe she could call in the X-Men and the Guardians to save the day? What are they doing where they can’t help out?
Issue ends with Monako burning on the stake.
Hopefully Magik keeps appearing in this storyline, as it is getting good. I may have to read issue eight, even if she isn’t in it.
After wasting five issues and months, Sam Humphries gets back to writing who he writes best!
That isn’t fair, I’m sure Marvel told him that he had to spend five issues reexamining Peter Quill’s origins, even though no other All New All Different Marvel title spent five issues retelling anyone’s origins. Did Marvel want StarKat to be over? Did Bendis want it? If Bendis wanted them broken up, did he not want to deal with the heavy lifting of examining that plot in his Guardians title? Both Bendis and Humphries write a terrific Kitty Pryde so last long as both get to keep doing it, I’m okay with her being out of the relationship.
I really enjoyed Garron’s work on Secret Wars 2015’s Inferno miniseries, his Nightcrawler redesign (if that’s even the word for it, transformation might be better) and how delightfully evil Darkchylde was, he got to handle some twisted material. I”m glad he got this opportunity to do some lighter fare.
Issue opens with Pryde and Quill evoking Kitty’s classic “Xavier is a Jerk” phrase. We also begin a nine page sequence where we get both of these character’s point of view. It climaxes in an awfully fun way.
Quill is talking to Gamora, who has no sympathy for him. Pryde is talking to Rocket, who really need a buddy book! Garron does a great job of staging with these mirrored pages.
Humphries gets crazy amount of points for having Pryde be on the planet of the Kymellians, the horse race that gave Power Pack their powers.
Rocket mostly wants Pryde back as she has made game nights so much better. I want an issue of those, or at least, the ending scenes of those. I do like the tight continuity of Pryde’s complaints about the weird steam shower that they have to use on the Guardians’ ship. Grimm enjoys it.
She doesn’t want to live on the same ship as Quill but he has moved to his own ship, to avoid her.
Pryde implies that she was the one that was dumped, which surprises both Rocket and myself. I would always imagine that she just came to her senses.
Gamora is right, that Quill is the jerk in this situation.
Both Quill and Pryde evoke Taylor Swift’s “we’re never ever ever getting back together again.” Both of the other Guardians recommend the other talk to the other.
We get the highlight reel of StarKat. Quill proposing to Pryde during Black Vortex. Holographic Pryde breaking Quill out of prison during Legendary Star Lord 3 and one of their later dates (issue 6). They finished with Quill apologizing to Pryde, in snow -from Legendary Star Lord 4.
One of the Kymellians invites Pryde to the Twilight Festival but she’s exhausted. I do like her in her outfit there.
Kitty is watching James Stewart’s Oscar-winning performance in The Philadelphia Story – an amazing film! Humphries is continuing proving how big of a Katherine Hepburn fan Kitty is. She can’t sleep and decides to text Quill.
This begins a bit of a textng-athon.
This climaxes in the two of them coming together, which is a pretty sensational way of bringing the mirroring to an end. I like how both of them instantly regret doing this, which feels super real.
The two try to begin an awkward conversation, they finish an old joke –
A joke that I’ve never heard of before and had to look it up as I wasn’t sure if it was from a movie or not. Took me a second longer than I care to admit for me to get it.
Quill, proving he is the worst, really is upset that Pryde took the name “Star Lord” while he was King of Spartax. Of all of the childish shit to be upset over. I’m glad she didn’t change the moniker to something silly like “Star Lass” or some other knock off of a Legion of Superheroes name. I also don’t think she really needed to take the name either but in a very short time, she proved his superior – again.
Pryde is right that Quill abandoned his job, his team and her. He’s right that she is in fact the galaxy’s sweetheart. They both get calls and part ways.
Back on Quill’s ship, his computer Lydia, is giving him a hard time for being a colossus idiot. He gets a call to meet Tony Stark, a previous member of the Guardians – under Bendis’ tenure. Quill thinks Stark is super kewl, so they are both idiots. Stark needs Quill for a mission but not just Quill.
Tony needs two Star Lords! Pryde even looks better in that outfit than he does!
Neither one can believe the other is tagging along. How did Stark even convince her to go on this mission? Once they are gone, we see that he was really Raksor the Skrull.
Raksor has eight appearances to his credit. His first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men 137, Phoenix 1 is in my wishlist. He was part of a Fantastic Four (Annual 19) and Avengers (Annual 14) crossover. He naturally was in the Skrulls 1 one-shot in 2008, which I own and is a complete history handbook style book, so he first appeared in 1980, showed up in an issue that explains the background of the Dark Phoenix Saga and then appeared in a comic properly four years later for those two annuals. He took off for 23 years for that one shot retrospective and isn’t seen again in an official capacity until Humphries brought him back in Legendary Star Lord 5 & 6 in 2015, another seven years later but a full 30 years after his last in-story appearance. That’s some deep backlog searching and I’m all for it.
On a frog shaped space ship. The two Star Lords are bickering as this is clearly a fool’s errand. While investigating the ship, they end up fighting alternate outfits of themselves. We see classic X-uniform Kitty, Excalibur blue sweater Kitty, the classic roller skater outfit from Uncanny X-Men 149 and her green Ariel outfit.
I’ve seen these previous outfits of Quill’s before and I’m not impress.
Both Star Lords enjoy punching the Quill outfits, they have to be Skrulls, right?
Both Star Lords are knocked out and wake up strapped to chairs. Pryde lets us know that the chairs are comfy.
The Collector, who Howard the Duck recently took care of (and Kitty was part of that adventure, in a smaller role) is back hosting the galaxy’s hottest talk show – Kiss and Tell!
We’re for sure getting next issue, these are exciting times for this title!
This series is the sole title that bridges Secret Wars 2015 with the All New All Different Marvel. As in, it makes reference to Secret Wars 2015 that no other title is bothering with.
This issue promises to have The Collector and The Grandmaster versus Maestro and Punisher 2099 – Jake Gallows.
I’m not quite sure what happened in the other five issues as this issue reads like an origin story – which probably would have been good prior to the sixth issue but dems the breaks, I guess.
Will this issue finally reveal that the soulsword on Maestro’s back is Illyana’s? Let’s find out!
The Battlerealm. After the Secret Wars. Before the Contest. Maestro wakes up, he was left behind after Battleworld crumbled. He was confronted by The Elders of the Universe. They are – The Collector, The Runner, The Gardener, Father Time, The Explorer, The Trade, The Obliterator, the Astronomer and The Judicator. There are also – The Professor, The Champion and The Grandmaster. The only ones I recognize are The Collector, The Champion and The Collector. I suspect the other ones are madeup. The Judicator looks like Kid Gladiator.
The mutliverse did indeed die and was reborn. Now this new omniverse is full of potential. No one is sure how to divide the power. Typically, The Grandmaster proposes a Contest of Champions. I like how the Professor predicted that and is unimpressed with the suggestion. Each will pick a champion and whoever wins, gets all of the power.
Maestro promises to kill them all, so Collector picks him for his champion.
Mark is her Darkchylde persona but since she isn’t all red, I doubt she’s from the Inferno Secret Wars 2015 series. Though that would have made sense, if she was pulled from before she died. The contests were not “to the death” but that’s just how Maestro fights.
These fights only take place in these flashbacks, the fights prior to this issue are all overseen by Maestro. Punisher 2099 also fought to the death. On top of that, these two made it to the finals. The two start forming a plan. Grandmaster’s champion is Punisher 2099. The two final champions finally face off but Maestro refuses to fight. So now these two are going to pick their own champions and this apparently goes on and on until we get to the beginning of this series.
Maestro teleports to Grandmaster’s headquarters and four-and-a-half minutes later, has beaten the elder utterly. Now he has the bulk of the power, which they call ISO-sphere. Which is what they call the energy in Avengers Alliance, so is this a game related comic? I feel like I’ve seen Contest of Champions in the Google Play store.
I had no interest in it until I saw that Magik is a playable character. Since I stopped playing Avegners Alliance, I’ve been sort of looking for a new game to play. Does anyone know the fastest route to recruiting her? The game is 375MB and my phone is lousy with data, I really need to buy a SD card or something. Maybe one of these days.
Anyway, Maestro teleports to The Collector and defeats him. Now with the ISO-sphere complete, he becomes the God-King that Doctor Doom was during Secret Wars 2015.
Punisher 2099 starts getting the heroes in line, I guess he’s cool with being Deputy God-King.
Earth. The Triskelion. New York City. Issue ends with Black Panther’s Ultimates team now taking notice of Maestro. I imagine that this is leading to a crossover but I’m out until Magik gets another appearance or namechecked.
Not a bad issue but definitely feels like an outlier of the series instead of a typical issue. Of course, I could be wrong about that.
Correspondence with Champions, letters are from – Andrew J. Shaw, Challenger, Alex Martin, Joseph D. Urbick, Fernando Valencia, Chris Velayo of Manilla Philippines, Dan Tandarich and Naiajah. I do like this issue having two pages of letters. There is also a Marvel Games Team Spotlight, which is really worth reading as well.
So this is definitely a game tie-in comic and we still don’t the deal with the soulsword that Maestro has.
Not only did he make the list, he gave me a special shout out in the article! Which after the week I had when this article came out, I really could use the smile seeing my name on his incredible blog.
I really need to do reviews of these issues that I haven’t gotten around to it.
Oh man, I thought I had reviewed the bulk of these posts but I must have had the same thought that I have now, that I have to get to reviewing these other issues.
This is a pretty great list. Not great is how many Anti-Shadowcat peeps out there who make up the bulk of the comments of that thread.
We have been really enjoying watching the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Everything has been running smoothly, from what we can see on the NBC Sports app on the Roku. I like that app has the Primetime Special and the Overnight Special so we can catch up with those and we have access to full events.
Like I do with every Olympics, I like to track the countries that only have the one Olympian. Amazingly, only one country has sent the one athlete.
The good folks at Wikipedia are pretty great about updating it as it happens so I’ll probably edit this post to write his official time. Here’s hoping he does very well!
I’ve checked and apparently I’ve never had a visitor from Tuvalu so I had to look them up, as I try to read up on any countries that I’m not that familiar with.
for the image and for stating that there are 20 countries with three or fewer athletes presenting them. I was going to count them but I wanted to find a current image of Etimoni Timuari and I’m glad I’m not the only one featuring him. I suppose it is an easy concept to write about but I like to cheer for other countries besides America, especially the smaller ones that could be overlooked at the big event.
Edit with Results :
On August 13th, Etimoni Timuari ran the Men’s 100m with a time of 11.81 – which is like a thousand times faster than I could do it. He ran in the third heat, and came in seventh, so unfortunately he did not advance. But he represented the great nation of Tuvalu very well. Great job out there, good sir!
Who wins Veto? Will they use the Power of Veto? Who will be the replacement nominee?
I’ve heard the news of Big Brother 19, like the new Star Trek series, will be completely on All Access. We do know that it is going to be only ten weeks (down from twelve or the thirteen weeks). That is pretty much is everything we know about the upcoming season. Oh and it starts almost as soon as this season ends. I’m not sure if I’m going to be covering it like I’m covering this season. That seems like a lot of Big Brother posts to me. To be honest, I don’t really have that many special posts planned, so I have an open blogging agenda so I could very well review season 19. November may be tight, with my planned Doctor Strange Month and my Wedding Anniversary posts but July was tight and we got through that one. I can make it work.
The last thing we do know is that next summer, Big Brother 20 will be on broadcast television, like a traditional season.
Hey, this episode came on like thirty minutes early! That’s terrific! Apparently there will be fights this episode, as tempers rise.
Did Michelle just punch Paul in the back, while crying? If she was a man, Production would have kicked her out of there!
Da’vonne wasn’t aware that Paulie was going to be a pawn. PP is becoming quite the duo! Zakiyah calls Paulie a homie, that seems like an odd choice for a showmance partner.
Bridgette is leaderless so Da’vonne tries to take her under her wing. Bridgette is fully aware of Da’vonne’s scheme.
Paul tells Bridgette the plan, if Veto is used, Da’vonne is being backdoored.
The boyz are in the spa, having a great time in their undies. Nicole comes out, she had a dream about Derrick. The boyz start teasing her. She tells them that Derrick’s wife was there too, so it is even sexier! Cody was in the dream too! The boyz are – James, Victor, Corey and Paulie. Zakiyah was not impress with the boyz’ reaction.
The houseguests are talking about room assignments. Zakiyah and Paulie have been sleeping in the same bed, until Paul won HoH. Looks like their showmance may be done. She tries to talk to him but he is pretty dismissive of her.
Michelle states that the showmance partners have hanged. Michelle is now with Zakiyah and Paulie is with Paul. Paul wants Paulie to keep Zakiyah happy so she doesn’t try to blow up everyone’s game. She knows a lot.
Paul and Zakiyah get real. It is odd that PP are sleeping in the same bed, right? Paulie is concentrating on Veto, as he’s a nominee. Zakiyah isn’t happy that they are being so uncomfortable with each other. Look at Zakiyah getting television time! She starts to cry so they are not being productive and walks away.
My wife thinks that Paulie needs to go as he’s a big arse dick with a small dick, most likely.
Paul has put shaving cream in someone’s cup. That cup belonged to Michelle, I guess she drank from it. Michelle kidney punched Paul! Michelle starts crying as she left a bruise. #SadMeech
Is Michelle going to pull an Audrey? She doesn’t want to be seen as mean, but he is HoH and it is before Veto so it isn’t timing.
Veto Players.
Paul – Corey
Paulie – House Guest Choice – Victor
Bridgette – Natalie (Spy Girls!)
PP. Friendship. Plan is still on. Da’vonne joins them as it probably isn’t a good idea to let these two keep talking to just each other. She’s worried that she’s going to get back doored. Like usual, she walks into a conversation, talks a quick game and leaves.
Corey is wearing Tiffany’s glasses, they should give those back to her! How did she not take those with her?
Nicole, Corey and Paulie want to put Da’vonne up. Paulie wants to put Zakiyah up, as she is drama! The plan is to get rid of Da’vonne first.
Kevin James doing television again seems like a major step back, right?
Veto Comp.
Nicole is the host. It is a track lane theme.
There will be five races, this is the one James did decently at but Austin won – from last year. They have to wait until they see “Go” and have to hit the button. Let’s hope this is better than last season when people kept falling off the starting buttons.
Corey – Bridgette – Victor – Paulie – Natalie – Paul
Race One : Corey is out first, as he falls over. He won track.
Race Two : Paulie wins, as they all waited until GO. Bridgette is out!
Race Three : Paulie wins and Natalie is way behind! She’s out.
Race Four : Paulie wins again. Paul is out!
Race Five : Victor v Paulie – Paulie wins it!
Paul is a big Sound of Music fan – I’m not. He apparently is rather quick in the bedroom too.
Victor’s hair is in pigtails, as he’s super confident.
Da’vonne wants Nicole to be the replacement nominee but she’s the only one.
Zakiyah tries to make up to Paulie, the Veto winner. Paul confirms with Bridgette that Da’vonne is the target. Paulie makes a giant mistake of telling Zakiyah that Paul is going to put up Da’vonne! That isn’t going to work out well for them. Zakiyah thinks that the target really is Bridgette then they need to get Paul out. Wow, she is way out of the loop. She’s most likely jealous of PP. Paulie is going to tell Paul and I bet Zakiyah is going to tell Da’vonne.
Looks like we have a giant boy alliance (of course) with Natalie being the sole gal in it. Paul may want to get Zakiyah out.
Production isn’t revealing what the Care Package will be but they revealed it last week.
My wife says that I should be a full service blogger and reveal what the Care Package is. Turns out, the above website has all five weeks already revealed.
Week One – Never Not Pass
Week Two – Eliminate Two Eviction Votes
Week Three – Super Safety (the House Guest is safe but has to wear a “Super Safety” costume for the week)
Week Four – Co-HoH (gets all the perks of being HoH AND gets to pick one of the nominees)
Week Five – BB Bribe (gets $5,000.00 to give to a second house guest, for one action, for this one week)
The website even has More Info on each of the Care Packages.
Da’vonne comes to the HoH room to talk to Paul, who is committing to getting rid of her. He’s trying to sell Da’vonne on her being the replacement nominee.
Veto Meeting.
Paulie uses the Veto on himself. Paul nominations . . . Da’vonne! She be going home!
. . .
My sister-in-law, Teri Cole, passed away this morning. It has been a very hard day.
I’ve been holding off this post for a while but now that it is official, I’ll provide my commentary. Hastings Entertainment will cease to exist, come October 31, 2016.
I’ve worked for Hastings since 2010, mostly as a Lifestyles Associate. In Arizona, it was one of my favorite stores, even when Best Buy eventually came to Yuma.
Since moving to Montana, it has been a source of additional income as well as my main source for comics. Once Hastings leaves, there goes my source of comics. I don’t see it being very feasible to create a pull list with the Kelly Komix as Great Falls is a three hour round trip for me. Nice town but what, am I going to go there once a month for comics? I doubt it.
My plan is to do what I do now, which might show how crazy I am – unless other people do this and then I will be comforted by that fact.
I Google “Week 30 2016 Marvel Database” on Tuesday, write all of the titles down on my handy small notebook. Which is barely is big enough, per page, to list every new comic for the week, often I have to make a second column on the same page for two or three titles. Then I check on it every evening until I know which comics I need and which ones I don’t – which are most of them. But sometimes I’m caught by surprised by a mention or a flashback sequence.
I’ve pretty much given up going to comicbookdb and checking for appearances that way. I still use that site to catalogue my collection and maintain my wishlist, that will never change but I don’t go there for second opinions anymore. I also don’t seem to go to UncannyXMen.net as much as I use to either. Just changing my habits I guess.
Anyway, so I will create my To Buy list every week and then once I have $40 dollars worth of comics, I’ll go to Mile High Comics and play my order as it is free shipping once you get to $40. Ideally, by the time I get to $40, those first week of comics wouldn’t be considered new anymore and maybe I can get a percentage off with one of Mile High Comics’ many sales. But I’m fairly certain new comics are considered new for months.
I was tempted to go the DCBS route but since I haven’t sold comics to My Comic Shop in a year, I rather not risk buying comics I don’t need and add them to a box that I will never get around to selling. My goal is still to sell a piece of my collection with our tax money as shipping the 125 comics to Texas essentially eats half of the profit of selling the comics so it is expensive to do it that way.
So going through Colorado, that means I get the comics that I need for my collecting purposes. Ideally, you dear visitor, wouldn’t see the effects of this with the way I do new comic reviews every other day, and I’m still currently having to post comics I bought way back in January. Then again, I’m not buying as many comics as I use to so the day may come when I am more current than I’ll like to be. But don’t worry, I have plenty of back issues to get us through then. Especially the comics I got from two years ago from both Father’s Day and Christmas that I have reviewed but haven’t posted as many of those. So I have quite the backlog waiting to be published.
It’ll be nice if another comic store could open up, but without my sweet discount of a dollar per comic, that will hurt. I had to pay full price for comics in Missoula, Muse Comics, and for two comics, it was nearly ten dollars, which isn’t great. It is nice though that we don’t have a state tax but paying full price is crazy with comics.
Also, I’ll be out of a part time job. I’ve applied to both Target and Shopko and haven’t had much luck getting hired by them. Hastings has like thirty employees so that’s thirty people also looking for retail jobs. I won’t try Wal-Mart again as I still see that one horrible manager is still working there so I can’t work there again until she is gone. I’ll try to apply at Albertsons too, but it isn’t easy finding a place that will hire me with what I’m hoping to work as – like a Friday evening and Saturday morning person. Hastings, in a cost savings measure, has really cut back our hours. I went from working both of those shifts to maybe getting one of those, so I barely make $60 in two weeks, down from around $150 – which worked.
I also started working for a new law firm that I’m making a dollar less at. I was hoping the pay increase would be after six months but it is a wait of a year. So I’ve lost money there and then Hastings is going belly up so I lost money there too. That is the main reason we put up the Support link but I wasn’t going to count on anyone’s generosity from that. Thanks to those that did click on the link, that has been helpful!
I still have a few comics at Hastings I still need to buy – Civil War II 3 and Civil War II X-Men 2, Old Man Logan 8, Guardians of the Galaxy 10 and another one as I know the total is $12 and I am not slated to buy any from any that shipped on July 20th. So that’s a huge relief. I think that last one is Star Lord 8 but Hastings didn’t receive that issue but it is on my Wish List.
Speculation is that Hastings will probably cease carrying new inventory (as why keep bring in new product just to box it up?) so maybe this Mile High Comics plan will come into effect before October.
Typing about October, I saw that Marvel October comics are suppose to have X-Titles still, not just Death of X, so that’s good news but I haven’t seen the October Solicitations yet, probably won’t get those until next week once San Diego Comic Con is over.
So lots of questions still up in the air, too many questions. I was going to post something regarding the bankruptcy a few weeks ago but I was holding out hope that this wouldn’t be required. Now that we are here, it is a sad day.
Helena, Montana really needs Hastings. There isn’t really another place to buy new books. Target’s small section can’t compare, which is the same for new movies. Target and Wal-Mart are decent for new releases but they don’t get that many copies of each release and they don’t have the floor space for older films either.
I guess there is always Amazon which is what has been hurting the brick and mortar stores, not just Hastings but Best Buy & Barnes and Nobles have been hurting too. I’ve read that even electronic book sales are going down, so I guess people are not reading like they use to.
We have Amazon Prime now, but we don’t really take advantage of it like we should. Mostly we just stream films. I’m so out of practice of buying BluRays that I essentially only buy superhero films now. Once Walker Dennis starts to show real interest in feature length films, we’ll start buying those animated films but we have been able to skip out on those. We bought Inside Out but besides the opening scene, it didn’t hold his attention. I wish that film was more about the daughter with quick shots of what is in her head and not the full-on head adventure it became.
I’m really hoping to take advantage of another 3 for $10 used book sale as I missed the last one. I do love me some cookbooks (I do enjoy cooking Sunday dinners) and for $10, there are still quite a few cookbooks I would like to own that the store has. Especially for that price, even if the book only had like six recipes, it is worth throwing three dollars down for.
I imagine the video game sales won’t go into effect for a while but I’ve been wanting a few games for my dying XBox 360. Games such as – Red Dead Redemption, Arkham Origins, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Deadpool. Those games I’ve been wanting for years now but haven’t had the time to really play nor the $20 to buy each of them. I doubt there will be a sale for 3 for $10 but that would be amazing. I wouldn’t mind trying Fallout New Vegas (I’ve always been on a mind that Fallout 3 was and still is enough for me) and maybe that maybe LA Noir, I want to say there was another game I had my eye on but I can’t think of it.
For films, I want to say we have the ones that we want, not on BluRay so we might take advantage of those sales.
Then again, we probably won’t do any of that as the store closing couldn’t come at a worst time for us but I keep having these thoughts of amazing 75% off sales but by that point, corporate would have shut the store down or the only items would be less than stellar items. The sale to take advantage of would be the 25% off everything but who knows when that happens.
I predict the Helena store is closed by October, maybe even mid-September but I’m hoping we can stay open until the very end. Or at least until I get another retail job, for purely selfish reasons.
I know I’m not looking forward to having to essentially recite the article that I linked above. My plan is to have a copy of that article in my back pocket so that I can just cite it or lend it to people so they can read it themselves.
There is an Original Trek meets Original X-Men (plus Bishop, Storm and Wolverine – of course) but that one doesn’t involve Kitty so it lacks being in my collection. This one, involves the best series of the Star Trek franchise – The Next Generation. Largely due to them having the best captain, Jean-Luc Picard. Though those first two seasons are hard to watch, largely due to the heavy focus on Wesley Crusher and Data. So the next generation of the Enterprise meets the next generation of the X-Men.
This story takes place a minute after Star Trek : First Contact –
Thanks to YouTuber Nathan Travis for hosting the trailer!
In that film, old nemesis (and possibly the most dangerous) The Borg go back in time to stop humans “first contact” with an alien race. Hence why this is titled, Second Contact. The Enterprise is in back in time, already but not only go further in time but they also go into an alternate universe where the X-Men are.
In fact, this comic starts one minute after the end credits of that film. Which I really need to see if I can find a copy of the film to watch.
The cast of the two teams are –
Star Trek : Next Generation : Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Rider, Commander Data, Commander Deanna Troi, Dr. Beverly Crusher, Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge, Lt. Commoner Worf and the Borg. X-Men : Wolverine, Storm, Angel, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Banshee, Kang, Sentinels and the Thunderbolts.
Captain’s Log. April 5, 2063 – or so. The Enterprise is trying to wade through time to get back to their present. Once out of warp, they notice they are not near their Earth.
Editor “Continuity Chief” Timothy Tuohy lets us know that this issue takes place before X-Men Zero Tolerance, Heroes Return and Thunderbolts 10 – so we know exactly where we are.
Their attempt to go forward in time has caused them to go backwards in time. Geordi informs them that they need to replace their processing core. Crusher tries to explain that this primitive Earth shouldn’t have that type of continuity. Riker corrects her, there is Shi’ar tech that has been located and will work. Little do they know how much alien life has come into contact with this Earth. Picard is going to send two away teams – to the two locations in North America that has the technology they need.
The first team – Worf, Riker and Crusher, come across the Thunderbolts. In the late 90s, in Star Trek time, New York City should be in the Eugenics War. The three have come to the Baxter Building, which is currently the homebase of the Thunderbolts. Their twelfth issue is so great.
Since the first team came across costume folk, they abandon that goal and try a nice country home in Westchester.
Banshee likes that the X-Men have come together, not during a time of crisis, but to just hang out. This really is a decent group of seven X-Men. Angel serves as the Original Five placeholder; Kitty, Kurt and even Colossus represent Excalibur as well as the inclusion of Storm and Wolverine adds to the 35th Anniversary era. Banshee is the lone holdout, except he adds another face from the Second Class of X-Men.
Kitty likes it when they gather too.
The second away team is – Geordi, Data and Troi. Geordi locates the Shi’ar tech behind a panel. Before he can make much progress, Wolverine pops his two outer claws around Geordi’s throat. Data grabs Wolverine by the shoulder and merely flings him across the room. We get a fun match up between Data and Colossus. Colossus throws a punch, Data tries to catch it but ends up on the other side of the room, as well.
Troi gets between the boyz and quickly explains that they are from the Enterprise. Wolverine recognizes the name of the starship from the previous teamup.
Later, Picard can’t believe that he is following in the footsteps of his most illustrious predecessor.
Such a great double splash page of two groups together. The X-Men took the time to get dressed, as did Geordi, Data and Troi.
We get a very quick recap of the previous crossover. Picard also recaps his film, so now everyone knows what happened before they each woke up this morning.
Kitty, as the smartest person in the room, announces that the Enterprise being here is causing a major upset in the timestream.
I love how much Wolf and Wolverine (who are great together) are so over timelines and alternate Earths. A stable of both franchises.
Troi states that an evil presence is is about to arrive.
That force is . . . Kang! An Avengers villain but the X-Men don’t really have a time traveling foe so the villain borrowing makes sense. Always better to use an established character instead of creating a new one.
Is only Banshee facing Kang? That’s not good staging on Kang’s behalf.
Kang doesn’t waste too much time explaining the stakes. There is a grave disruption in the time space continuities, so the two franchises’ histories are about to mix. As fun as it is to read, it isn’t great for the characters. There are two huge anomalies that need intimidate attention.
I do like Picard and Storm having asides with each other.
Riker’s providing a log. Kang gave them eight chronal compass watches, so there will be two groups of four characters. Team One is – Colossus, Picard, Troi and Kurt. Team Two is – Wolverine, Data, Storm and Worf. A bit of an odd grouping for both sets. At least Wolverine and Worf makes sense. Surprised the writers didn’t try to put Colossus and Data on the same teams, or some other fun combo like Picard and Storm on the same team.
That leaves poor Kitty, Angel and Banshee just standing around on the Enterprise-E.
Team One goes to the Days of Future Past timeline – the most famous of the X-Men’s alternate histories. Makes sense that Colossus is on this team as his future self is in the storyline. Storm was too so she really should have been on this team. I guess Wolverine and Kitty could have been there too.
Kurt talks about this as if it makes perfect sense, I guess Rachel probably painted a very visual telling of this future. 2013 is still the far future, in the late 90s. Filthy flatscans begin to throw rocks at the mutants and Starfleet officers. Sentinels arrive on scene and everyone scatters.
Team Two. Data recognizes that they are in the middle of The Battle of Wolf 359 –
This happens during Star Trek Next Generation’s Best of Both Worlds Part II and Deep Space Nine’s pilot, Emissary, during Captain Sisko’s flashback. Picard was assimilated into the Borg fold at this point. The Borg use his knowledge of Starfleet to make short work of the opposition.
The battle from Emissary –
Thanks to YouTuber Psyker Sith for hosting this video.
The aftermath (and the lead up) from Best of Both Worlds, Part II –
Thanks to YouTuber Mad Monkey for hosting this video.
So for those folks who are not familiar with Star Trek / Borg canon, that’s the best I can do. I hope it helps.
Worf and Wolverine start tearing into the Borg. Storm whips up a tornado, which may not be the smartest move on a spaceship. With a lightning strike, the Borg are taken out.
Days of Future Past. Picard takes down a Sentinel. As do Colossus and Kurt. Troi feels like something is missing. Kang, talking aloud, to himself. He reveals, to himself, his own plans, that the anomalies are keeping history together, so once the heroes fix those two pieces – history should be for Kang’s taking.
On the bridge of the Enterprise. Two officers are getting restless, as Kitty has to watch on. Just then, Wesley Crusher and the Traveler arrive.
Traveler explains how Kang is tricking them into doing his bidding. The anomalies need to stay in place, as time fixes itself.
I do like the idea of Wesley and Kitty being a pair. Traveler is going to guide the Enterprise to where Kang is. Mr. Crusher and Ms. Pryde are going to warn the teams.
As the two youngsters leave, Banshee and Angel reflect on how Kitty has grown up.
Battle of Wolf 359. Sisko is giving orders to Thunderbird, so we know he is the anomaly. Now we just need Sunfire and all of the Second Class folks would be present. Well, and Cyclops too, I suppose.
Wolverine is about to kill Thunderbird (as he’s better than Count Nefaria, I guess). Luckily, Kitty arrives and hugs Wolverine. Wesley is forced to yell at Data to not do anything that Kang told them to do. Storm wants an explanation, I would have just taken Kitty at her word. I’m good like that.
Just then, Sisko is about to be killed when Proudstar takes the hit – like a champ.
Data suspects that Kang wanted Sisko to die so that he never becomes the Emissary of the Prophets. Wesley tells them to use their watches to go back to the Enterprise. Kitty and him need to catch up to the other team. Worf respects how brave Kitty is.
Kang breaks a monitor, as the Enterprise attacks. Kang isn’t gong to go down quietly.
Days of Future Past. We get to see Tasha Yar filling in for Rachel Grey, as Kate Pryde sleeps. Well, as she’s back in the 80s and it is really Kitty’s mind that is taking the nap.
Kurt is able to work in the phase “Days of Future Past” which can’t be easy to do.
Troi confirms this isn’t their Tasha Yar.
Picard can’t bring himself to kill Yar. Wesley and Kitty arrive to stop what Picard has already decided to not do.
Borg inspired Sentinels break through the walls.
I don’t quite get how Tasha Yar was able to send Kate’s mind back to the past, that isn’t part of her skill set. She was a kick arse Security Chief.
Troi volunteers to replace Yar and get the two Prydes minds back to their rightful bodies.
Colossus and Kitty are taking out SentiBorgs.
Wait, did Colossus fastball special Kitty? He’s been doing that since before Whedon did it, that’s pretty awesome.
Kitty destroys a head of a SentiBorg and lands. She sees Troi syncing Yar and Kate’s minds.
Kitty, for the first time, witnesses the event that has been a pretty pivotal moment in her history. One of the first real defining stories of hers.
Wait, am I reading Troi’s dialogue correctly? Kate’s mind is going back to Tasha Yar’s younger mind? Shouldn’t this have been Rachel doing this to a sleeping Yar? That would have make more sense.
Riker, Banshee and the Traveler are on Kang’s ship. As soon as Traveler is finished tampering with Kang’s ship, the come back to the bridge. Picard and the gang are waiting for him.
The two ships begin a fire fight. The Enterprise ends the duel with a win.
Captain’s Log, Kang’s ship imploded onto itself. Kitty kisses Wesley on the cheek! If only we could get a tad more of that relationship. The two teams say their good byes.
The X-Men return to Earth and one second later, are beginning the adventure of Planet X, which we’ll be reviewing in a few days.
Like a few years ago, these start in October but it may take until December before all of the new number ones are fully out.
Newsarama counts 30 new series, 29 continuing ones. They also have the creative teams too. Comic Book Resources has the cover images, which I’ll be using here.
The titles I’m mostly interested in or have an opinion on are –
Champions by Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos. Featuring the cast of – Teen Cyclops, Ms. Marvel, Nova, Miles Morales and Awesome Hulk. I do like this cast and I really like the team name legacy. Good for Teen Scott for breaking away from the X-Men.
Great Lakes Avengers by Zac Gorman and Will Robson. I don’t really know the creative team but the GLA is such a fun team.
Black Panther 7 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Chris Sprouse. Black Panther and Storm back together!?! That could be interesting! Luke Cage and Misty Knight too, so that’s pretty awesome!
Doctor Strange : Sorcerers Supreme by Robbie Thompson and Javier Rodriguez. I was really hoping this title was going to be the magic users of the Marvel Universe, that we’ve seen in Civil War II. I was really hoping this was going to be Magik’s escape from the X-Titles, like how Teen Cyclops and Storm are getting. Maybe it will be that team title but I would imagine they would be on the cover to the first issue.
Death of X by Jeff Lemire and Charles Soule with Aaron Kuder on art. This is the big X-Event, in that this is the only X-Comic coming out in October (that we know of) along with two titles that feature mutants. This has to be the big reveal of what happened during the missing eight months between Secret Wars 2015 and the All New All Different Marvel. So we should get the official story of what happened to Proper Cyclops.
It is also nice to see that Chris Soule hasn’t left Marvel, after killing off Wolverine and wasting some time with the Wolverines weekly series. Also, that is Kitty Pryde just under Havok on the right side of the image, right? It sure looks like her.
Super annoying the Inhumans look on the bottom of that image. I know it is suppose to look like that, with the super contrast but good grief!
Star Lord by Chip Zdarsky and Ramon Perez, possibly only on covers. I guess I’m not getting my wish of Kitty Pryde becoming the official Star Lord. Looks like all of the Guardians are being stuck on Earth too.
Guardians of the Galaxy 15 by Brian Michael Bendis and Valerio Schiti. The final arc, so there goes Kitty being safe in space! So Kitty and Illyana could be in super jeopardy.
I’m hoping Death of X is only five part sand come January, we get the slow rollout of X-Titles again. Extraordinary X-Men was pretty good and was heading in an interesting direction. We just needed less Teen Jean. Shame the latest batch of X-Titles were detoured with the Apocalypse Wars non-crossover as that’s going to be the legacy of those X-Titles and the few other stories they were able to tell since Secret Wars 2015. We’re taking a look back, not a step back, to get one of two major plot holes filled. The other would be the official story with whatever happened to the Richards family.
I’ll probably just end up buying Guardians (unless Kitty isn’t in the final arc) and Death of X. I don’t see Teen Scott making any references either Kitty and Illyana. Same for Storm too, over in Black Panther’s title. So maybe I’ll only be getting one title in this another new era of Marvel.
Inks Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Mark Irwin, John Livesay, Wayne Faucher, Victor Olazaba & Jaime Mendoza
Letters VC’s Cory Petit
My first comic of 2016!
John Livesay and Wayne Faucher are new inkers to Team Bachalo. I wonder how that studio actually works.
I’ve been, unofficially, following this series – as I do enjoy the creative team. Glad to finally have a reason to buy this title. I figured I would, eventually, as Doctor Strange has been keeping a posse of magicians with him. That isn’t all he’s been doing for three issues.
More and more, each day, supernatural forces are coming to New York City. Magic beings are running from their original locations to our world. Someone is killing Sorcerer Supremes. I didn’t even know there were other Sorcerer Supremes. I suppose, Brother Voodoo would still be considered a Sorcerer Supreme – even if he isn’t the current fellow.
Years Ago. We’re getting a training session with Strange and the Ancient One. We didn’t get scenes like that, in the early issues – so it is nice to see these scenes. Strange doesn’t want to punch the Ancient One, for one – his hands are still crippled. Plus, he’s trying to learn sorcery from him.
I do like how the flashbacks are in black and white – that’s a nice touch.
Strange throws the punch and hurts his hand. The most important lesson of being a sorcerer is – the harder you punch, the more it hurts you. Which sort of makes sense, that’s how head butting works.
I also like seeing a young Strange, not knowing the names of spells and not really taking it seriously. Even though he is successfully levitating a yak, so he knows there is magic in the world – but he doesn’t quite have a handle on it. Apparently, every spell comes at a price – sort of like on Once Upon A Time – all magic has a price. Strange has been casting spells for a week, and now is throwing up.
Now. Strange is throwing up. Which is embarrassing, as he is throwing a party. Chondu, the other Wong, isn’t thrilled about the throwing up. It took a lot of stronger magic, to clean up the mess. So we’re to believe that Strange has been throwing up for fifty years? That isn’t a great idea. Throwing up is the worst.
The Bar With No Door. So glad that Magik has made it to this series! I knew she had to, as the solicts have stated that Strange was going to be keeping in touch with his magical friends. Plus, Bachalo drawing Magik again, is always a good thing. I would have liked, her in her current outfit but I understand Bachalo wanting to keep her in his own design outfit.
The magical inclined heroes are here to hear the bad news that they know Strange has. I wish I recognized more of these characters. Damian Hellstom, I know from Facebook : Avengers Alliance. Alpha Flight’s Shaman has been in this series thus far – plus, as a X-Fan, I know who Alpha Flight is. Looks like a guy with Cloak’s . . . cloak but with a messed up jaw, is in attendance. Who is that next to Magik? I imagine that is Wanda (who has also been in this series, thus far) is sitting next to Shaman.
Strange has buried seventeen Sorcerer Supremes. They were the top sorcerer of their respected dimensions. Each was killed, horribly – hours of torture that ended with being burned alive. Not only are they dead, but their dimensions have been cut off. Their bodies were hidden away so that someone like Strange, would have to look for them. This threat is now coming to Earth.
Brother Voodoo asks how many Sorcerer Supremes are there. Strange doesn’t know and the Ancient One never revealed it. Strange sent out a call to the rest of them. He stood around, for hours and no one answered the summons.
I like how Count Kaoz name checks himself. Plus, he seems very interesting with that bear attack story.
Magik, being as great as she is, volunteers to invest in Limbo and see if anyone is taking credit for the murders.
Damian Hellstom is going to investigate Hell, which seems like a place to get some answers.
The Cloak cloak borrower is either Professor Xu or Mahatma Doom, suggests that they all mindlink so that they can be better informed.
El Merico Mistico, in Spanish, is willing to fight to the death.
Monako (none of these people are familiar to me) is under the impression that Strange brought this on himself (and them) for not being more active. Which seems silly, to me.
Strange doesn’t believe any of his rogue gallery is responsible for this.
Wong calls the bar, there has been another murder.
Zelma Stanton, the character that brought this threat to Strange’s attention, is found the book that hit her. When it hit her head, she had a little creature forming in her hair – it looks like Strange dealt with that. Now she is hanging around.
marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Zelma_Stanton_(Earth-616)
I looked it up and she is now Strange’s librarian.
Zelma is telling Strange that the book that hit her on the head – The Grimoire of Watoomb – is now blank. She says the book died, which surprises Strange as well. Which isn’t good, if Strange is in uncertain waters, don’t follow that guy, too closely.
Since the pages are empty, that must mean that something horrible has happened at the Temple of Watoomb. Strange plans on investigating. Before he can do that, he collapses. Wong brings him to the table, so he can eat lunch. Wong lets Zelma know, that after these years of being who he is, Strange has a very special diet. Strange tells her not to watch him eat, once she does, she can never unsee it. She describes the dish as, culinary afterbirth. Which, really, is all I need to know. Jason Aaron seems to be really getting into the day-to-day of what it is like to be Doctor Strange. Hopefully Brother Voodoo was warn of all of this, when Strange was making him the next Sorcerer Supreme. The food would kill a normal man and it should kill Strange, eventually.
Later, Zelma is worried about books being murdered, or if magic is being murdered. Strange wouldn’t have thought it was possible to murder magic but someone is doing a fine job of doing just that.
Strange opens a portal, that appears to be to the ocean floor. He instructs her to go home, as he enters the ocean. The Temple of Watoomb is deep beneath the Indian Ocean. Watoomb, seems like such a familiar word, I’m sure it is one of his go-to spells. Strange is able to simply swim pass defenses, so clearly something is wrong. A machine that disrupts sorcery stops him. Apparently, that shouldn’t be a thing.
This reminds me of Waid / Wiering’s run on Fantastic Four. When Reed had to fight Doctor Doom. Reed doesn’t know magic so Strange gave him some simple spells, I believe that all Reed had to do, was repeat one phrase and had some simple spells at his disposal. I wonder if he threw up after that?
Zelma calls Strange, via the spell he cast on her phone. She tells him that all of the books are dying. Her phone gets disconnected, I’m not sure how he was talking to her. Maybe the call just appears near his head?
Issue ends with Strange, triumphant over the machine. He makes a conference call to all mystical beings. He was wrong, the enemy isn’t coming – they are already here! dun dun DUN!!!
Such a great issue! I should be reading this series properly.
. . .
I’m writing this on January 9, 2016 – let’s see how long it is before it is published!
This is being published on July 12, 2016. So seven months to see the first comic of 2016.
Like I do every year, I keep track of what the best comics were of 2016 – typically, it is always my first ten comics.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 