Cataclysm Ultimates Last Stand 5

Posted by John Klein III on March 6, 2014
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 Comment

detail

Writer Brian Michael Bendis

Penciler Mark Bagley

Inker Andrew Hennessy

Colorist Jason Keith

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Cataclysm 5 Kitty 1

Issue opens with Kitty coming out of the wreckage of the Triskelion.  She sees Miles and hugs him, surprising him.  I guess she saw a Spider-Manish costume and figured it was okay to hug him.

Cataclysm 5 Kitty 2a Cataclysm 5 Kitty 2b

Reed tells her it is time to grow, she isn’t sure she is ready but then she grows.  It is now time for her to attack Galactus and destroy his machine.

Cataclysm 5 Kitty 3

Which is pretty cool to see a giant Kitty fighting Galactus, and not a lame alternate version of him, this is the real Galactus, the one that the Proper Marvel Universe lives in fear of and here is Ultimate Kitty Pryde, harassing him.

Reed gives her this huge speech, which seems nice until you reread it.  It is a giant of a speech, spanning pages.  All of this, done into her ear.  I like how in comics, no one needs to rehearse speeches, all dialogue comes easy to them.

Cataclysm 5 Kitty Bagley heads

Then we get a classic Floating Heads montage and we get to see how Bagley draws several characters.  The one that really stands out to me is Spider-Woman, the clone of Peter Parker.  I know Kitty and her don’t have much experience with each other but the way she envisions her (if this is Kitty’s vision, at all) looks like a watermelon with the Spider-Woman mask and brown hair coming out of it.  Not very flattering.

Galactus can hurt Kitty, even when she is phasing.  It seems like she is damaging the machines and Galactus does not look thrilled that his plans are being interrupted.

Cataclysm 5 Kitty punches Galactus

In all of his history (or my history with the character) he hasn’t ever had to fight someone hand to hand before.  He does rely on his blasting powers.

Meanwhile, Reed opens a suitcase and outcomes a floating machine and off it goes.  He tells Sue that Kitty fighting Galactus isn’t the plan, it is the distraction.  Reed came up with the actual plan and Tony came up with motorizing the Negative Zone portal.  The plan is to open the Negative Zone, which is barren in the Ultimate Universe, and trap Galactus in there.  If Kitty gets stuck in there as well, then she knew the price of victory.

Cataclysm 5 Sue tries to save Kitty

Sue doesn’t take this as an option and darts out of to save Kitty as the portal behind Galactus opens.  Miles is along with Sue for the ride.

Cataclysm 5 Kitty is saved

Kitty shrinks down and Sue and Miles save her.  As Galactus is coming out of the portal, Thor shows up and pushes him farther in.

Unfortunately, so goes Thor.  Tony is telling Reed to not close the portal as Thor will be stuck in there.  Reed gives Tony the same speech about how Kitty knew the dangers, so does Thor.  But does Thor know what the entire plan was?  Or is he there to simply assist as he saw what the immediate solution was?

We see this awesome panel of Galactus’ hand coming out of the portal and Tony realizes that this was there only hope.  They don’t have a second portal and this opportunity will not come again.  Tony agrees to finally let the portal close.  Reed starts telling Tony that that was never the plan.

The portal closes and all we see is giant Galactus and Thor floating about empty space.  I wonder what those two will eventually talk about?

Cataclysm 5 Kitty final page

The other heroes are standing around, looking at the destruction of New Jersey and what is left of New York City.  Storm picks up Captain America’s shield.  I still say Cap isn’t dead, as we saw him running towards the exit of the plane before it blew up.  If Survive, the one shot conclusion, shows Cap’s body, then I’ll believe he is dead.  The other heroes are Jean Grey and Jimmy Hudson, so I suppose they made it out of the Cataclysm X-Men mini okay, I only bought and read the first issue.

What was the point of issue three’s “Let’s got the Proper Marvel Universe” as the flashdrive Reed receives doesn’t led to the solution of how to get rid of Galactus.  All it did was name him.  I guess it shows how easy it is for the Ultimate Universe to invade the proper universe.  Reed got to meet the daughter of Reed and Sue, Valeria Richards and that makes him want to be a better person.  Plus the HERBIES attacking Superior Spider-Man and Miles thinking that was Peter under the mask.  Which I suppose it is but it isn’t Peter under the skull.  ooof is that ever confusing!  Comics!

I really like how much Bendis likes Kitty, both the proper and the Ultimate Universe one.  Making her a crucial part of the overall plan.

So Cataclysm didn’t have quite the high death count as Ultimatum had.  From what I read, only New Jersey was destroyed (and everyone living or visiting is surely dead – which is huge! but could be fixed with a time cut, not the lives but the city itself), Pixie died in Cataclysm X-Men mini, and from what I’ve read Punisher, Vision and Captain Marvel died.  They want us to believe Cap is dead and Thor is lost in the Negative Zone but that could be undone easily as well.

I really like how the Survive cover is a homage to the previous Marvel Border Covers, if not much larger than the inch border of the previous ones.  Kitty is dominant in the upper left corner.  Hopefully the issue dress doesn’t block her.  Also, hopefully I get that issue as I didn’t reserve it as when it was solicited, there was no hint what it was even relating too.  I’m for sure on All New Ultimates but Survive is going to be pretty crucial but I’ll have to see what I can do to ensure I get a copy of it.

The Ultimate Universe didn’t end, nor did Galactus, so threats and the universe live on.

For whatever reason, the page for this issue over at comicbookdb still doesn’t have the cover.  I tried adding the above image but it didn’t like it.

I only bought issues two through five, and I could have skipped issue three as Kitty was only on the cover but a completionist is a completionist.

Fun With YouTube : Missing Link

Posted by John Klein III on March 5, 2014
Posted in: Fun With YouTube. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Dinosaur Jr. from the Judgment Night soundtrack.

Great movie, even greater soundtrack.  I am a huge fan of any movie about four male friends, I am a sucker for it.  The friends are Emilo Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff vs. villains Denis Leary and his henchman Peter Greene, the heavy in so many films in the 90s, including this film in 1993.

Kitty Pryde referenced at the 1:51 mark and they rhyme Kitty Pryde with City Wide.  Couldn’t find a YouTube video with lyrics but I wanted to use this song for our 250th post!

Thanks to YouTuber Theophrast.Sequard for hosting the video.

Would love to know the story behind this song, but the Internet is letting me down.

Wolverine and the X-Men

Posted by John Klein III on March 4, 2014
Posted in: Retrospective. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

I own these 33 issues :

1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 42.  Plus the Annual.

I have these issues on my Wishlist :

1 the Nick Bradshaw Variant, 2 the 50th Anniversary Variant, 3, 4 the Venom Variant, 25 the McGuinness Variant, 32 and 36 the Kris Anka Variant.

Once I own the 25 Variant, then I can get rid of the issue proper as Kitty doesn’t appear in it besides on the last page with the names of faculty members.  The variant has a picture of Cameron Drake, her and Bobby’s son.  32, I need as Hastings never got that issue in.

Of the 43 issues, Jason Aaron wrote every issue.  Which is pretty impressive at modern day Marvel.

Chris Bachalo – 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 42

Duncan Rouleau – 3

Matteo Scalera – 3

Nick Bradshaw – 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 19, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 42 and Annual 1

Jorge Molina – 14, 15 , 18

Mike Allred – 17

Steve Sanders – 20, 42

David Lopez – 24

Ramon Perez – 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 42

Salva Espin – 30

Pasqual Ferry – 30

Pepe Larraz – 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42

Giuseppe Camuncoli – 36, 37

Todd Nauck – 41

Nuno Alves – 42

Shawn Crystal – 42

Tim Townsend – 42

Actually the only issue Aaron didn’t write was 27U, the Age of Ultron tie in which I don’t believe should count against him.  Art for that issue was done by Paco Medina, Jack Kirby and John Buscema.

Storylines included Regenesis, Mutatis Mutatandis, Avengers Vs. X-Men, the unnamed Frankenstein Monster arc, Savage Learning, The Hellfire Saga and Battle of the Atom.  Including the Annual, which was the title’s Infinity tie in.

This was the core title, once Schism happened, that Wolverine’s side had.  I was a huge fan of the title, then Battle of the Atom happened and Kitty changed sides and I quit reading the title as she no longer appeared.

Issue 17, the Doop issue, is still my favorite of the run.

Thanks to this title, not only did I gain a new found appreciation for Doop, we got to see Kitty become the Headmistress of the Jean Grey School, see her go from her red phase to a pink phase, Kitty officially getting over Colossus so we are now done with that relationship, Colossus as one of the Phoenix Five place crab legs on whales and most importantly, I discover Nick Bradshaw and fell hard for his art style.

Wolverine and the X-Men 42

Posted by John Klein III on March 3, 2014
Posted in: Homage, Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

297177_20140226212630_large

Writer Jason Aaron

Artists Nick Bradshaw, Pepe Larraz, Ramon Perez, Shawn Crystal, Steve Sanders, Nuno Alves, Tim Townsend & Chris Bachalo

Color Artists Matt Milla & Lee Loughridge

Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles

No Kitty or Lockheed this issue, but I am a sucker for Uncanny X-Men 141 homages.  Also, I adore the throw back character box with Doop.

Issue opens with Wolverine and Oya in the future.  She has to be in her late twenties, so it is at least ten years in the future but Wolverine looks like he is in  his eighties.  The two of them are getting ready to close the Jean Grey School as it hasn’t had a student in years.

During the present day, the Jean Grey School is celebrating its first graduation.  I really like that you see some parents show up as I worry about how the X-Men sort of force its members to abandon their families.

I like how both of Eyeboy’s parents wear glasses.

Quentin Quire is hating his life.  He use to be the next big mutant threat and now he hasn’t threatened anyone in months.  Oya shows up to be with her boyfriend and try to cheer him up.

In the background, Krakoa is throwing kids in the air, so fun.

Fantomax is there to be Genesis’ parent, which he sort of is.  Brand is there to be Broo’s parent.  Fantomax would like swap parenting tips with Brand, she wisely turns him down.

Quire confirms Oya’s family is dead, which is a mood killer.  Hope, in a very nice dress that resembles her hero uniform.  Hope and Oya hug, and now Quire is alone again.

Once you graduate, you becomr an official X-Man.  Those who graduate this day are – Pixie, Armor and Anole.

Quire hates how this day is unfolding.  Captain America shows up to chat with Quire.  Quire hopes that he is there to arrest him.  Instead, Cap is there to hang out and be Quire’s parent for the day.  Quire has fallen even farther than he thought.

Logan calls Quire to the stage.  On stage along with him are Rachel and Storm.  Quire is graduating today as well.

In the future, Logan is shutting down the Danger Room.  He informs us readers that Beast died, but after losing the rest of his marbles – which makes perfect sense.  Oya asks what are his plans for the Bamfs, who are also old.  They are apparently quite rich with Wall Street jobs.    Krakoa left the school some time ago, he fell in love and now has a family of small islands in the Caribbean.

Oya starts telling him while some X-Men couldn’t make it.  Broo is the head of SWORD, and Mars is invading Venus.  Kid Gladiator is now Super Gladiator, and punching Thanos.  Sprite and Rockslide are on duty in Subterranea.

Then we get confirmation that this is the Battle of the Atom future, with a reference to Iceman having his ice castle.  Storm apparently does something that the world witnessed.  There is a hint that Genesis doesn’t turn out well.

Logan tells Oya that they were the only odd school at one point.  Now the Fantastic Four’s Future Foundation started a school in the Negative Zone with four billion students.

Oya gets a phone call from Eye Man and Shark Woman, they need her to join them as they are fighting a new Brotherhood led by the terror that is Snot – he with the toxic nose excursions.  One of the Bamfs teleports her to the battle after she kisses Logan on the cheek.

Now Logan is alone with only the Bamfs, there is only one last thing to do.  In his office, he is doing whiskey shots with the Bamfs.  Then a giant DOOM sets off the alarms.  Logan starts popping his claws.  We get a sad, sni, as it takes a while to get the claws all the way out.

Quire is there, and he still has the powers of the Phoenix.

In the present day, Quire is still upset that he is now a graduate.  Logan finds him and tells him that now that Quire is an adult and responsible – the world will fear him again.

Oya catches up to Quire, she wants to see his diploma, he claims he burned it.  Then he starts to get harrassed by his student body.

Logan starts sneaking away and Storm stops him.  He isn’t going to be sneaking away this day.  She tells him he is no longer Weapon X, he is now Professor Logan.

In the future, Quire snaps his fingers and tells Logan that he enrolled the mutants of the Negative Zone and now the Jean Grey School now has two million students.  I like how it is a next page reveal, and we see that the students are actual Negative Zone inhabitants.  I had thought Reed had open a school in the Negative Zone, due to lack of space on Earth, like Prison 42 during Civil War.

Logan fakes anger, then Quire leaves and Logan is happy to be teaching again.

In the present, Master Pandemonium and Swarm are getting ready to invade the school the next day.  I don’t know Master Pandemonium but Swarm is an awesome Spider-Man villain – a scientist whose body is now consisted of bees.  Before they can begin their attack, Doop shows up with a guitar.  He fights them off with the sweet sounds of funk.  I like how Master Pandemonium doesn’t recognize the sound but Swarm does.

Issue ends properly with two pages done by Chris Bachalo, the artist who started the title.  Turns out, Quire did not burn his diploma.  Logan pops his claws, as he didn’t do it at all the other day.

Then we are ‘treated’ to things to come in the second volume that comes out immediately after this issue.  I do like how Aaron got to write every issue of this volume, so it makes sense to end it with his last issue.  I don’t see myself buying any of the initial issues of volume two, but time will tell.

Pull List

Posted by John Klein III on March 2, 2014
Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a comment

Here is my current Pull List :

Definite :

All New X-Men

All New Ultimates

Marvel Knights X-Men (mini)

Uncanny X-Men

Maybes :

Uncanny Avengers (practically getting every or every other issue as of late)

Short Term :

Guardians of the Galaxy (four part crossover with All New)

Deadpool 27, the Wedding Issue

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three Issue 12

Posted by John Klein III on March 1, 2014
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three Issue 12

Writer Brian Michael Bendis

Pencilers Sara Pichelli & Stuart Immonen

Inkers Sara Pichelli & Wade Von Grawbadger

Color Artist Justin Ponsor

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Trial of Jean Grey Part Four of Six

Issue opens with a flashback of Scott’s origin.  We get to see his mother state that she loves every part of them, which, for last words from your mother, are pretty grand.  Anyone know how the Summers boys go from landing in Alaska and be taken to an orphanage in Nebraska?

Guardians of the Galaxy V3 12 Cyclops Wake Up A Guardians of the Galaxy V3 12 Cyclops Wake Up B

Scott wakes up, once again, surrounded by everyone.  I really like how Pichelli draws everybody here, we only got a small taste of it before.  Her Bobby looks soft still in his snow form.  Kitty looks healthy which is good, though she really needs to get a new uniform.

Scott hugs Corsair, his father.  Rocket wants to know what he is witnessing, disgustingly.  Starlord tells him that that is what fathers are suppose to do to with each other.

We segue to Planet Spartax with Starlord’s father, the king.  He is being informed of Jean’s capturing from Earth and being sent to the Shi’ar throne world.  He is told this from his advisor, who is dressed all in white.  He was originally going to stay out of this and let Gladiator do whatever he had planned.  Now his son is involved, so now he has to be involved.  Neither character is named here so that’s the best I can do.

Gladiator, his Imperial Guard and Jean have made it to the throne world.  We catch up with them as Gladiator and the Imperial Guard are in training.  Manta is giving him some grief for his actions.  A Smasher states that Earthers don’t have the capability to travel from Earth to Shi’ar space.  Which is outright silly, as we just experienced Infinity, where the Avengers were in deep space, saving the universe.

Gladiator isn’t worried about the X-Men, let them come.  By the time they get there, Jean would already be punished.  For crimes she’s not even fully aware of committing yet.

Oracle stands up to Gladiator as well.  She knows he wasn’t telling her the truth earlier.  That he told her an, untruth.

We cut back to Corsair and Scott.  I love how awkward this is for Corsair.  I really get the sense that rather not rehash this entire conversation for the second time.  Scott asks if he is a space pirate.  Corsair states that they don’t call themselves that, they are the Starjammers.  I like how he doesn’t know how to refer to present day Cyclops.  He asks if they are good, and Corsair states that they are, which are they?  I guess they are.

If you ever get a chance, Uncanny X-Men 391.  Scott and his father have a great heart to heart, as they go camping.  We learn that Corsair has been under the impression that Scott’s optic blasts are heat generated but they are more of a force.  Scott is surprised that he doesn’t know how his powers work.  Another great thing about issue 391, comes right after 390, and that’s a fantastic issue.

Corsair is about to explain how Scott’s younger brother Alex even joined him for a moment when Scott asks the question.  His is mother still alive?  Which must have been devastating.  As poor Christopher has to tell his young son that his mother is dead.

All of this is a bit too much for the young Summers and he leaves to be alone.  X23 goes after him and gives him a hug.  Which is nice to see her return one to him.  Really love the coloring of the … what is it, reddish purple light in the room.

Then we get this four page sequence that is done by Immonen.  Jean is being told what needs to happen next by Oracle.  Jean needs to keep a cool head and stay as emotionless as possible.  The Shi’ar don’t care for tears on the stand.

Jean heads out where Gladiator is, and we see that it looks like a giant audience has been assembled to see this hackney trial.

Thanks to Kyle Moyer for this picture :

Guardians of the Galaxy V3 12 Kitty Quill Introductions

Back to Starlord as he officially introduces himself to Kitty, which is a very important page.  We find out his first name is Peter, which is like, oh no.  Kitty has a thing for guys name Peter.  Which is why Bobby and her didn’t work out.

The Guardians and the Starjammers finally get to the throne world.  They can see that there are spaceships and spaceships galore.  They need a plan of action to get to the surface undetected.

Issue ends with the sequence of Gladiator and his opening speech.  He shows footage of the last thing a ship saw as Dark Phoenix ate a sun and destroyed the D’bari home planet.  Jean is still stuck in that bubble.  He asks Jean how she pleads as the issue ends.

Next issue should be the issue I’ve been waiting for.  Though now I’m getting the impression it won’t be much of a courtroom drama, that I was hoping for.

What I Bought 2014.2.28

Posted by John Klein III on February 28, 2014
Posted in: Purchases. Leave a comment

Cataclysm Ultimates’ Last Stand 5

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three Issue 12

Wolverine and the X-Men 42

Back Issue

Defenders Volume Four Issue 12

Uncanny X-Men 183

Posted by John Klein III on February 27, 2014
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Uncanny X-Men 183

Writer Chris Claremont

Artists John Romita Jr. and Dan Green

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Colorist Glynis Wein

Cover Dated July 1984

So much happens in this issue!

Uncanny X-Men 183 Kitty 1

Issue opens with Colossus explaining to Kitty why they have to break up.  He fell for Zsaji during Secret Wars.  She died there, so he could not explain to Kitty what happened, though it would be so awkward with how the rest of the X-Men know what happened.

Uncanny X-Men 183 Kitty 2

Poor Kitty during this entire scene, we get her continued mental monologue.  He wishes he had the right words.  She asks him if Zsaji was pretty and he describes her like a poetic, something he could never do about her or to her.  He keeps talking and her world just shattered.

Uncanny X-Men 183 Kitty 3

The problem is that if he could fall so easily for another woman, then how much could he really love Kitty.

Then with a turn of the page, Kitty has moved on.  Or at the very least, is done with this nonsense and wants to be done with this conversation.

Kitty is walking back to the mansion, they were on a hill top.  She is thinking about calling her mother, and get some advice.  Which is nice as in 2014, she hasn’t thought or seen her mother, on page, in years.  She tried to see her once towards the end of Excalibur, during Douglock’s initial appearances but had to save lives.  Weird how joining the X-Men means abandoning your old life.

Kitty sees Storm watching her walk back.  She realizes then that all of the X-Men knew what Colossus was doing at Battleworld.

Uncanny X-Men 183 Lockheed 1

Kitty makes her way to her room.  Illyana asks how the conversation with her brother went.  Lockheed is sitting between some books on her shelf above her bed.  Which clearly she sets her books that way for him, which is adorable.

Also adorable?  Lockheed’s kwooo?  He cares for her so much.  Illyana walks over to Kitty as she starts to cry into her teddy bear.  Kitty finishes crying on Illyana’s shoulder.

Storm sees Rogue in the Danger Room.  Rogue is fighting some robots.  Last issue, the Carol Danvers’ personality came out, big time.  Rogue is hoping she is still in control, but fears she may not be.

Storm, on her own, wishes Xavier wasn’t gone this weekend with the New Mutants.  She also wishes Colossus died on Battleworld rather than have him hurt Kitty.

Colossus finally makes his way back to the mansion. Wolverine tells him that the two of them are heading out.  Kurt tags along to make sure Colossus isn’t too hurt.

Storm finds Kitty packing a bag.  Kitty is heading to Chicago to spend time with her father.  She will come back when she is done crying.  She will be heading off to what will be the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine miniseries.

In Dallas, Val Cooper and Raven Darkholme discuss that there is a building mutant problem.

In Manhattan, at Monahan’s Bar, is the true point of the issue – and cover feature.  Colossus is almost twenty and earlier, Kitty comments that she has been on the team for two years, so she is close to sixteen.  Wolverine is getting Colossus drunk.  Wolverine wants Colossus to explain himself.

The two of them talked about marriage.  Then Colossus got scared when Doug showed up, as he had so much in common with Kitty.

Uncanny X-Men 181 Colossus 1

Then Wolverine smells Juggernaut and forces Colossus to spill his drink over the villain.

Juggernaut shoves Colossus through a wall.  He armors up and charges him.

Kurt wants to help but Wolverine stops him.  He was going to fight him so this is win win.

Juggernaut jokes that Colossus should call the X-Men, and he states he doesn’t beed them.

I like that Colossus can’t place his sparring partner at all, Juggernaut has to say his name before he recognises him.  I also like how Juggernaut keeps calling him Colossus, he took the time to learn his name.

The other people at the bar try to leave.  Someone comments that it is a good thing the bar is insured against super hero battles.  It is details like that that I adore, the real day to day realities of living in Marvel New York City.

At the end, Juggernaut drops the bar on Colossus.  He tells us where this is in his continuity, this takes place after Amazing Spider-Man 230, which is a great story.

Juggernaut sees Kurt and Wolverine.  He tosses a wad of cash, to cover the damages.  Earlier, Wolverine had also offered to pay for the damages.

Juggernaut tells the two standing X-Men, that Colossus should be proud for holding his own.

Uncanny X-Men 181 Colossus 2

Colossus is upset for the two of them not helping out.  Wolverine quotes that he said he didn’t need their help.

Wolverine starts asking Colossus all of these questions.  We stand together?  Through thick and thin?  No matter what?  We go to the wall for each other?  Pay the price, make any sacrific, their lives, even their honor?

Of course, Colossus is answering in the affirmative, not seeing where this is heading.

Wolverine finally drops the other shoe.  Kitty, during the Morlock first appearance – only four issues ago, no less than two months ago, had to agree to marry Caliban to save the X-Men.  If it wasn’t for Caliban’s kind heart, she would still be living in the sewers as his bride.  She would have to cut all ties with her former life – as no one would want to visit her in the sewers.  Now, that would make an interesting What If? issue.  I swear, I believe there is an interesting What If? issue in every other issue of this era of Claremont’s X-Men.

Wolverine is angry that Colossus never even gave Kitty a ‘thank you’ for her sacrifice she was willing to make.  Colossus broke up with her, not even giving her or them a chance to deal with this.

Issue ends with Selene, willing to rule the world.

Next issue, The Past of Future Days?  Rachel is making her first appearance in this time line.

There is a full page house ad for the New Mutants, don’t call ’em X-Babies anymore!  Issue eighteen is on sale by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, which if that is your first issue of that series, your mind would be blown as that is the beginning of the Demon Bear Saga.

With this Lockheed Month comes to an end.  March will be back to basics, and I am still planning on April being Captain America Month.  We haven’t had a basic month here at S&FwM since October!

2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia

Posted by John Klein III on February 26, 2014
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: . Leave a comment

I like to keep track of the countries that only had one delegate at the Olympics, this year, we have 18 countries!  Though it may not seem impressive when you see some of the rankings, just know this, that all of these incredible athletes can beat me any time they wanted to challenge me.  I would ask, though, that they let me at least train for a year so that it isn’t as embarrassing for me.  It would still be a huge waste of their time but at least I could say that I was at my best.  These athletes are a credit to their countries and they did incredible!

People seem to only interested in the top three athletes and so these heroes, who should be known as their entire country is counting on them to compete and compete well, go unacknowledged.  I do wonder how their country’s footage of the games are covered.  Is it nonstop coverage of only them up to their competition and then you see the entire show and then the next two days is following them still?  I would like to know.  I can only imagine they have a permanent newsteam that follows them about from opening to closing ceremonies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Winter_Olympics

Bermuda

Tucker Murphy, for the second games in a row.  Men’s 15 km classical, came in 84th out of 87.

British Virgin Islands

Peter Crook, the only second person to compete at the Winter Olympics for the country.  Men’s halfpipe, came in 27th of 28.

Cayman Islands

Dow Travers, for the second games in a row.  Both men’s giant slalom, Did not Finished and suffered a mild concussion (hope he’s feeling better!) and Men’s slalom, which he also Did not Finish.

Hong Kong

Pan-To Barton Lui, the first male to represent Hong Kong in the Winter Olympics.  Men’s 1500 m, came in 5th!  Pretty impressive!

Kyrgyzstan

Evgeniy Timofeev, replacing Dmitry Treleveski.   Men’s giant slalom coming in at 61 out of 72, and Men’s Slalom, 41 out of 43.

Luxembourg

Kari Peters, the first ever athlete to qualify for cross-country skiing for his country.  Men’s sprint, came in 79 of 85.

Malta

Elise Pellegrin, this is Malta’s first time ever at a Winter Olympics.  Women’s slalom, 52nd out of 60, and Women’s giant slalom 65th out of 67.

Mexico

Hubertus von Hohenlohe, will be the second oldest Winter Olympian ever (55 years old) and also break the longest span of competing at the Winter Olympics with 30 years.  Men’s slalom, did not finish due to crashing.  Hope he’s doing okay too!

Nepal

Dachhiri Sherpa, presenting for the third games in a row.  Men’s 15 km classical, came in 86 of 87

Pakistan

Muhammad Karim, only the second athlete to represent the country and Pakistan’s second appearance in the games, they were there last time in 2010 Vancouver.  Men’s giant slalom, coming in at 71 out of 72.

Paraguay

Julia Marino, presenting Paraguay in its first appearance at the Winter Olympics.  Women’s slopestyle, came in 17th place out of 22.

Philippines

Michael Christian Martinez, the first athlete in 22 years to present the country and only the fourth athlete to do so.  Figure Skating – Men’s singles, came in 19th out of 24.

Tajikistan

Alisher Kudratov, only the second athlete to represent the country.  Men’s slalom, did not finish.

Timor-Leste

Yohan Goutt Goncalves, Timor-Leste’s first time ever at the Winter Olympics.  Men’s slalom, 43rd out of 43, not bad considering 23 were DSQ.

Tonga

Bruno Banani, Men’s Singles, coming in at 32 in the Luge out of 39.

Venezuela

Antonio Pardo, the fifth ever to present the country at the Winter Olympics, and the first ever in a snow sport.  Venezuela had missed out on the 2010 games.  Men’s giant slalom, did not finish – which is unfortunate, he had a problem with his ski falling off at the beginning of the race.

Virgin Islands

Jasmine Campbell, representing Virgin Islands after the country has missed out on the last two games.  Women’s giant slalom, 56 out of 67 and Women’s slalom, 43 out of 60.

Zimbabwe

Luke Steyn, Men’s giant slalom, 57th out of 72, and Men’s slalom, did not finish.

Uncanny X-Men 181

Posted by John Klein III on February 25, 2014
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Uncanny X-Men 181

Writer Chris Claremont

Artists John Romita Jr. and Dan Green

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Colorist Glynis Wein

Cover Dated May 1984

Lockheed with his third cover appearance!  Look how fun the X-Men are on the logo.

With the opening page, in Tokyo, there are five teenagers.  I should say that JRJR and Green are a fantastic art team.

So this issue takes place, a week later from the previous issue.  Inbetween the two issues, Secret Wars took place.  It was a very interesting concept for an event.  Publishing wise, there is no break between the two issues but an entire year’s worth of issues that make up Secret Wars.  Which must have been interesting, Shooter has to tell all of the writers what he wants to have happen (or is told what the other writers are allowing him to let happen) and the writers have to trust it all works out in one month’s time.

So at the end of Secret Wars, the X-Men are sent back to Earth along with Lockheed and his new green dragon lady friend.  Unfortunately, once on Earth, the dragon turns into a gigantic dragon, one might say that she is Godzilla size.

The teenagers see the dragon, and immediately open their character books to try to identify the creature.  Which I adore that Claremont took the extra step that by now, in the Marvel Universe, there would be an industry based around in-universe handbook that civilians would want to buy.

Uncanny X-Men 181 Lockheed 1

The X-Men teleport into the middle of the sky.  They are surprised that they are not in New York.  Wolverine is not thrilled to be back in Japan.

The teenagers look and ask if Lockheed is related to the dragon, JRJR / Green draw Lockheed with his arms cross and a “Humph!” he is not thrilled with the situation.  Lockheed really carries the issue.

Xavier reads the teenagers’ minds and discovers it is one week later.  He wants Rogue to fly to New York to see if Scott made it home and that Kitty is still safe at the Massachusetts Academy.  Rogue asks Storm if she is okay with that plan.  Wolverine thinks how unfair Xavier is being to Storm, she has sacrificed so much to be the leader of the X-Men and now Xavier is just taking the leadership position.  Now that he can walk, he can be in the field.

Mariko is in the War Room of the National Command Center, so clearly she is even more involved with Japanese politics.  She is upset that the X-Men are in Japan.

The green dragon lands on a skyscraper and starts destroying it.  Storm believes that it is the new planet and her new size that is making her disoriented.  All of these buildings being ruined and the X-Men are now trying to safe people on the ground.

Sunfire finally shows up, being the sole Japanese superhero.

Meanwhile at the Beachcomber Hotel in Tahiti, Madelyne Pryor has been enjoying her solo honeymoon when Scott drops out of nowhere in the worst outfit ever, or a very 80s outfit, barely a belly shirt and nevernude blue jean shorts.  They have a nice conversation about how Scott didn’t want to leave her, he was forced to leave.

Back in Tokyo, Storm is summoning all types of bad weather to take out the dragon.  Xavier gets all of this debris all over him, he can’t feel his legs and he freaks the heck out.  His mental thoughts are so full of panic that it causes the rest of the X-Men headaches.  Such a great touch by Claremont, Xavier barely has had his legs back and so the threat of losing them, causes him panic.

Colossus hurries over to Xavier to help him out, as enough is enough.

Wolverine enters a fallen building.  A mother is about to die and asks Wolverine to take care of her daughter.  Wolverine promises to raise her as if she was his own.  This is the very first appearance of Amiko, Wolverine’s foster daughter.

I know I’ve typed this before but JRJR / Green draw the heck out of a giant green dragon.  Storm collapses and Sunfire catches her.

Finally, Lockheed gets involved.  Sometimes, a dragon has to do what a dragon has to do.  He is the size of what one of her pupils would be.  He states a “!?!” and gets her attention.

Uncanny X-Men 181 Lockheed 2

We get a page of narration of what is happening.  He roars at her that can be barely heard whereas her roars shake the countryside.  He finally spits hot fire at her and she gets the point.  She flies away sad.

The Japanese government are tracking the two dragons when all of a sudden they fall off the radar.  We never know where these two go, or where the green dragon goes before being seen down to size in the incredible Shadow and Flame miniseries.

We see that Xavier can walk, so there’s that.

Lockheed shows back up, Colossus wonders if Xavier can read his mind.  Xavier can sense his thoughts but can’t read them – they will have to wait until Kitty can communicate with him.  We get another fantastic arms cross Lockheed, this time with a “yah!” he is better than Xavier.  Lockheed gives a “CooOOOooo!” and the team knows that he didn’t want her hearts or desired them.

Issue ends with Senator Kelly and a guy named Phillip are about to pass through Congress – Federal Bill, S.1 — The Mutant Affairs Control Act, Introduced this day, 23rd January 1984 in the Second Session of the 98th Congress by Senator Robert Kelly.  I so love how they didn’t give a dang about including real dates.  Next year, I should try to do something for January 23rd.

Wolverine answers the letters page.