Wolverine and the X-Men 38

Posted by John Klein III on December 19, 2013
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Wolverine and the X-Men 38

Writer Jason Aaron

Artist Pepe Larraz

Color Artist Matt Milla

Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles

I like how they got to work in what SHIELD stands for on the cover.

The Jean Grey School gets a set of twins as new students, Joseph and Josephine Bricklemoore.  Such a horrible choice for names for twins, but I bet there are hundreds of twins named that these days.

Their first day, SHIELD shows up so they are quickly rushed inside.  Also to note, the Jean Grey School is located at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, the same address as the old Xavier Institute.

Joseph is a grey mutant, with three heads, six arms and six legs.  Josephine has a squid for a head.  As the twins run inside, Broo starts their tour of the school.  Hopefully this title does become the Jean Grey School title and Amazing X-Men becomes the adventure title.  Though that can’t last too long as Wolverine and the X-Men is coming to an end in March or so.

Maria Hill and Agent Dazzler walk up to the front door, we see Krakoa in the background, I wish more artists would have more fun sneaking Krakoa into corners of panels.  Wolverine, Rachel Grey, Storm, Beast, Iceman and Warbird are the presented faculty.  Rachel and Logan are the dressed the most causally.

Hill makes some great references to why the X-Men are an extremely (X-Tremely? No) dangerous force.  Also, great points about how SHIELD may have had sentinels but it was the dangerous and nuts future X-Men that triggered them.

Hill wants to have a fresh start and Logan wants SHIELD out of the Sentinel making game.

A bunch of jokes about punching and stabbing.

In private, Hill is mad at Dazzler, who still wants to be called Agent Blaire – Hill finally responds to that with a ‘shut up.’  Hill wants Dazzler to start being a proper liaison.

Broo gives some person history about his first day at the school.  He mentions the Danger Room is really the entire school, and I like the continuation of the joke about, who hears that, their first reaction is, even the bathroom?  Broo makes a claim that the Jean Grey School is the best school in the universe, and now that we read the Annual, we know this is a proven fact.

Eye Boy is a reporter for the Grey School Gazette.  He also determines what makes the first page.  We find out that the JGS soccer team beat the Latverian Academy.  The odd thing, is that we see Shark Girl with a solid red ball, so I thought it was a kick ball team.

We find out that since Kitty broke up with Iceman, which is cool that she is still being referenced in this issue, Bobby has become a real terror of the school.  Which is odd, as well, as we saw over in Astonishing X-Men, what can happen if Bobby’s rage isn’t kept in check.  He starts dealing detentions for public displays of affection.

Wolverine uses Quentin Quire’s detention time to hack the SHIELD database to locate sentinel bases.  I like that SHIELD figures this would happen eventually and placed some low bearing fruit, for this exact occasion.  I like an opponent that knows that the good guys will eventually win so why not use that initial win to your own end game?  It is a great strategy and I only really ever seen X-Men villains do this.

When we see that Dazzler had this entire plan working out, We also get an editor’s note (they’re back!!!) stating that Mystique is still Dazzler!  At least Marvel hasn’t forgotten this!  When we finally get the public reveal, I wonder where Alison has been held up this entire time?  Hopefully she is being kept well.

Wolverine and the X-Men 38 Magik

We cut to the New Xavier School, and we see Magik!  So I would have bought this issue regardless of the above Kitty reference.

Part of SHIELD’s plan is to leak the same information Wolverine got, to Cyclops’ team.  Scott is way smarter than Logan, and decides to not take his entire team and will go by himself.  Next issue promises to have a confrontation between Cyclops and Wolverine!

Issue ends with the twins being revealed to have fake powers.  Also, they are double agents for Dazzique!

X-Men 165

Posted by John Klein III on December 18, 2013
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X-Men 165

Writer Chris Claremont

Pencils Salvador Larroca

Inker Danny Miki

Colorist Alalon’s Rob Ro

Letterer VC’s Chris Eliopoulos

Cover dated February 2005, look how fun that cover is!  And the issue delivers!

There is a giant vehicle crash in Salem Center, right at the X-Men’s door.

X-23 is wearing this horrible costume that Fang use to wear, and Wolverine wore once.  She tries to save this one guy, and he straight up punches her in the face.  She isn’t savage but she doesn’t want, or deserve, to be punched.  Before she can strike back, Wolverine pulls her back.

January 14, Jennifer Garner’s Elektra is coming!  Not very good.

Storm shows up to douse any flames from the oil tanker.  Nightcrawler is on site to save civilians.  Rachel Grey is there to telekinesis the heavier vehicles, as does Polaris.

Elixir does some on site healing.  Iceman creates some ice slides to evacuate others.

Later, Wolverine tells Kitty, Lockheed and Rachel that they are getting a fourth roommate, X-23!  Once Logan leaves, Kitty goes to introduce herself.  X-23 flips the heck out.  Kitty allows her to phase through her and both of them get some sort of bio-feedback.  The reason for the backlash is that Kitty gets sick whenever someone with adamantium passes through her, or her them.  The three of them realize that she is only a kid and has been through the Weapon Plus program.

We cut to a diner in Salem Center.  We see Elixir, Hellion and Surge at the diner.  Hellion is being a jerk as usual.  Nightcrawler teleports in, grabs Hellion, and teleports the two of them into a fan with Bishop, Dusk and a few others.  They are heading to Lambda Hospice.  Apparently, Beast, some time ago, created a charity called, Mutants Without Borders.  Which I really like that idea, as that is what Xavier’s dream is all about.

Hellion calls Kurt, elf, and Kurt is quick to tell him that only his friends can call him by nicknames.  The X-Men are volunteering at the hospice.  Dani Moonstar is there, Warren and Husk show up.  This is during that time when Warren is dating her, a gal who is half his age, and maybe even a fourth of his age.

We cut to The Grind Stone, which is a cafe in Salem Center.  Kitty and Rachel take Laura there to try to get her to open up.  I guess Surge works there, which is odd to see any of these New X-Men having to work, I wonder what the story is / was there?

The ladies get a table, commenting on how much shopping they have done.  I imagine Laura just stood around and was super confused by everything.  Gambit and Iceman show up and sit with them.  This might be the first time Kitty and Bobby are seen together, I doubt it, but the times are few.

Also, at this time, Gambit is blind.  I am not sure how that happen but he wears this sunglasses that Sage is always wearing.  Bobby has a pair and he gives Rachel and Kitty a pair.  Also, he makes this grand statement about how the X-Men are great at saving the world, but off duty, they are a bunch of stiffs.  And it is so true!  It is probably the secret reason why we don’t get more issues like this, as off duty, what do the X-Men do?

Rachel and Kitty give Laura a pair of the Sage-glasses.

We get to the super fun part of the issue.

Back at the mansion, an alarm goes off.  The entire courtyard has been frozen.  Emma comes out, and gets a giant snowball to the face.

For the video game fans out there, the very first Kill Zone is being promoted.

Emma is shown, on the next page, on her butt and we see that Gambit, Iceman and Laura have made a snow fort.

Cyclops optic blasts a snowball out of Bobby’s hands.  Bobby shouts, “no powers” and the battle is on!  I do enjoy seeing Scott and Bobby in the same panel, the Original Five, as adults, seem to rarely ever be together.

X-Men 165 Santa Beast Kitty Lockheed Rachel

Someone points to the sky, something is coming down.  Something in the red and white suit and a blue face.

It is Santa-Beast!  With his two elves, Kitty and Rachel with Lockheed along!

Santa-Beast has presents, the first two are for Scott and Emma.  They both get clown noses.  This makes Scott laugh so hard.  Emma lets out a polite laugh.  I really like how everyone is still in character.  Also, that Claremont was given the entire cast of mutants to tell this story.

Lila Cheney’s band starts playing as Santa-Beast hands out presents.

We discover that Storm is making sure that there is snow on the ground but it is barely jacket weather.

Who is the bartender at this party?  None other than Lockheed.  He knows who is legal and he breathes fire.  I wonder if Kieron Gillen read this issue for his SWORD mini?  I must have missed this the first time around.  So fun.

Magma is on cooking duty.  We overhear Elixir speaking to somebody on his phone, the plan is all set.  Hellion makes a stupid joke / comment about old wings and new wings and Warren challenges him.  Hellion makes a reference to Icarus having better moves.  Icarus is Husk’s younger brother.  Speaking of which, her older brother, Cannonball, flies out to save a recently dropped Hellion.

We find Bobby with some mistletoe and he is trying to coax Laura out of a tree.  Polaris shows up, sees the mistletoe, and kisses him on the cheek and flies off.

We transition to Gambit looking for Rogue, stumbling around in the woods.  He finds a lady and kisses her.  Turns out, he kissed Sage!  He jolts away from her and turns out, he can see again!  So, worth it?

Scott and Emma are discussing the Gambit turn of events and Scott is about to kiss her when Rachel shows up to give Emma a costume.  Emma’s gift?  A wear of silk white pants, with the word, X-Men, on the rear.  Emma counters with introducing her to her grandparents, John and Elaine Grey.  Which, one would think she met them once, but the one time I am thinking of, I believe she sneaked into the house and grabbed the Jean essence that the Phoenix left behind before the conclusion of the Dark Phoenix Saga.  Also, it does not end well, much later for the Greys but we will get to that one of these days.

The folks the X-Men saved earlier have shown up to thank the X-Men in person.  Laura comes out to apologize to one of the guys she scared earlier.  She even offers to have them join the celebration.  The humans join the celebration and everyoen has a good time.

We see Xavier and Magneto, on loan from Claremont’s Excalibur title.

We get an awesome splash page with as many mutants as Larroca can squeeze in.

Next issue, new year, new writer, new stories!  As we begin, the Peter Milligan era!

Pryde’s Pride

Posted by John Klein III on December 17, 2013
Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a comment

Kitty has had various children over the years in alternate timelines and once in a dream state.

X-Men the End

She had three children.  Meredith the oldest and the twins, Douglas and Sara.  Unknown father.

Douglas is of course named after Cypher., Doug Ramsey.  Though if Doug was the father, they would probably have worked in calling him Junior at some point.  I believe you see all three throughout X-Men: The End: Book 3: Men & X-Men. Oh, the X-Men and their love for colons.

Astonishing

Evil Emma placed Kitty into a mind game, due to Cassandra Nova, and there she and Colossus had Michael.  Only thing I can think of is that he is named after Colossus’ older brother, Mikhail, the cosmonaut.  But those two are not on friendly terms, nor have they ever really been.  This occurs in Astonishing 17.

Wolverine and the X-Men

Carmen Drake, Kitty and Bobby “The Iceman” Drake’s son.  I sort of love the name Carmen Drake.  Carmen, after her father, and Drake is Bobby’s last name.   I know some Kitty fans out there will scoff at her taking a man’s last name but she’s older now.  Plus, even if she was Katherine Ann Pryde-Drake, their son will still be a Drake.  Plus, you don’t want two Carmen Prydes.  Then all of those comic websites will have to have Carmen Pryde (I – Father) and Carmen Pryde (II – Son).  First appearance in Issue 29, though on a variant cover to issue 25.

Just go to comicbookdb and type in Spider-Man or Captain America.  I checked and SpOck is officially Spider-Man 5.  I do love that the Internet came up with Spock as the name of Doctor Octopus’ mind in Peter Parker’s body continuing Spider-Man.  Makes me smile every time.  There has been ten Captain America’s in the proper Marvel universe.  If you count alternate versions, both of those characters have like 50 variations, probably each.

Marvel Zombies Halloween Special

A Son, Peter, unknown father, but one can guess.  I still have to buy this as it didn’t come to Hastings when it was originally published.  Though I have looked for it at both Mile High Comics and Lonestar Comics, and neither have it listed as a comic to buy.  I tried to broaden the search for just “Marvel Zombies” and look for the year, 2012, but that didn’t work either.  Even “Halloween,” and then skim only for Marvel titles, no results but there are other comics I want to buy in the meantime.

Lockheed and Magik, yet to have any alternate timeline or dimensional offspring.  They are lucky to even have alternate versions to begin with.

Anyways, the entire reason why I’m thinking of Kitty Pryde’s children is because yesterday, at 12:23pm, my wife gave birth to our son, Walker Dennis Klein.  Welcome to the world!

He was born December 16, 2013.  6 pounds, 9 ounces.  20 inches, and luckily and thankfully, super healthy.

Wishlist : Heroclix – Wolverine and the X-Men

Posted by John Klein III on December 16, 2013
Posted in: Heroclix. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Excalibur Base

ExCalibir_00_large

Wolverine and the X-Men Annual 1

Posted by John Klein III on December 15, 2013
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Wolverine and the X-Men Annual 1

Writer Jason Aaron

Penciler Nick Bradshaw

Inkers Walden Wong, Karl Kesel, Victor Olazaba & Nick Bradshaw

Colorist Andres Mossa

Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles

Issue opens with Kid Gladiator at his new school, giving a representation on his time on Earth.  I do enjoy seeing Bradshaw’s art, he is quickly becoming one of my current favorites.

Wolverine and the X-Men Annual 1

We see a panel with his professors – Kitty Pryde, Wolverine and Storm.  With this one panel, I had to buy the issue.  It is a nice issue, but I wouldn’t have missed it if it didn’t have the Kitty appearance.

Kid Gladiator isn’t thrilled with his new school.  His dad is the current emperor of the Shi’Ar Empire.  Also, he is the last of his species, along with his father.  he is an outsider.

The attack from Infinity 5 is going on and the empire needs all hands on deck.  Gladiator rather not include his son but they need everyone.

Nice touch that they name their flagship, The Lilandra.

Kid Gladiator saves this one Lady Smasher and they do pretty well in the battle together.  Also there is Thor, Captain Marvel and Hyperion.

After the battle, we get a nice panel with Kid Gladiator trying to arm wrestle Thor.  Thor is busy drinking and Kid Gladiator can’t budge him at all.

Another great page is Kid Gladiator sitting next to Hulk, and Hulk walks away from him.

Issue ends with Kid Gladiator rejoining the Jean Grey School.  Of the school’s cast, Broo is there and so is Shark Girl!

X-Men 109

Posted by John Klein III on December 14, 2013
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X-Men 109

Writer Chris Claremont

Pencils Thomas Derenick

Inks Rick Ketcham & Norm Rapmund

Colors Liquid!

Letters RS & Comicraft’s Saida T!

Cover dated February 2001, also this is a 100 Page Monster, so there are three reprints in the back of this issue.

We join several X-Men as they are having a snowball fight with some local children in Salem Center.

Neal Shaara, the latest mutant to take the codename, Thunderbird.  With Neal, is Nightcrawler and Iceman.  Opposing them is Colossus, Archangel and Psylocke.

Neal jumps at Warren and Betsy blocks him.  They roll in the snow and have quite the moment that makes Warren jealous.  Betsy states she is a grown woman, and if she wants to flirt, she going to get her flirt on.

Rogue and Gambit show up and this at the time when Rogue has access to every power she has ever absorbed, she just can’t control which power will kick in, or the power itself.  Except, if she wants to pop some claws, then that works whenever she wants.

This is also pre-X-Treme X-Men, in fact, this entire issue feels like it should end with a giant advertisement and a “follow the story here” tag.  Storm wants to find Destiny’s Diaries and keep those books and the knowledge of them away from Xavier.  As far as I know, that team only ever found three of the fabled 13.

Then we get this awkward cut to the circus where we see Kurt and Cercise hanging out as Kurt does his circus act.  I had forgotten that Cercise shows up here and it is always nice to see her again.  I must have flipped between the last page with Storm and this current page with Kurt a couple times as there is no transition.

We see Colossus avoiding a giant anvil and he sees a young blonde girl and she reminds him of Illyana.  Nice that he is constantly remembering her.

We see that Warren is a big baby and breaks up with Betsy.  Just let her flirt, he should know that she is loyal and it is all in good fun.  But Warren is blue so there’s that.

We cut to Bishop helping out the police, but he calls one of them a fireman, but he is in his blue shirt and black tie.

X-Men 109 Kitty bone claw

Next is Wolverine and Viper, who is his wife at the moment.  They are paying their respects to Mariko.  Viper is there to deliver a box from Kitty, it is one of Logan’s bone claws that she apparently had.  It is her way of telling Logan that she is save.  We haven’t seen her in a few issues, last we saw, she was with one of the NEO, which that story also never got picked up either.

We see Rogue and Gambit at a Nativity scene.  Rogue gets a headache and starts shooting Cyclops’ optic blast.  She claims she can’t turn it off, but really, she should be able too.  Scott can’t control it due to a head injury he suffered as a boy.  She doesn’t have that problem, so she should be able to control the power.  I suppose one could say that in her panic, she overreacts, but I also suspect that it was an oversight.

At The Xavier Institute, presents are exchange.  In Storm’s attic, we essentially see the formation of X-Treme X-Men.  Gambit is not joining as Rogue doesn’t want him near her as she is worried of hurting him.  Logan isn’t joining as he needs to be the point of contact for Storm at the mansion.  To replace these two, Sage shows up.  Gambit and Wolverine will both eventually join X-Treme X-Men.

Issue ends with Storm being given a modified version of one of her old outfits by Xavier.

On the letters page, we get told to check out Uncanny X-Men 390 first, and come back for X-Men 110 for the aftermath.  Two awesome issues.

Issues that are reprinted are :

Uncanny X-Men 98

Uncanny X-Men 143

Uncanny X-Men 341

143 is the best of the three, heck, the four!

Marvel March 2014 Solicitations

Posted by John Klein III on December 13, 2013
Posted in: Solicitations. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

http://www.newsarama.com/19790-marvel-comics-march-2014-solicitations.html

 

            Another slew of Issue Number 1s that I am not interested in. 

 

DAREDEVIL #1
MARK WAID (W) • CHRIS SAMNEE (A/C)

            Who refers to New York City as the Golden City?

MOON KNIGHT #1
WARREN ELLIS (W)
DECLAN SHALVEY (A/C)
SILVER SURFER #1
DAN SLOTT (W)
MICHAEL ALLRED (A/C)
             Cool to see Dan Slott not writing solely Spider-Man. 

ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER #1
FELIPE SMITH (W) • TRADD MOORE (A/C)
I know a guy who will be interested in this, will have to let him know.  If it isn’t Danny Ketch or Ghost Rider along with Spider-Man, Wolverine and Hulk, I have no interest.  Same sort of goes for the other three characters as well.  Well, Wolverine needs to be with

CAPTAIN MARVEL #1
KELLY SUE DECONNICK (W)
DAVID LOPEZ (A/C)

IRON PATRIOT #1
ALES KOT (W) GARRY BROWN (A)

Marvel must have gotten the numbers on how many kids were Iron Patriot for Halloween.  At the law office, we had at least 15 little guys in the suit. 

MAGNETO #1
CULLEN BUNN (W)
GABRIEL HERNANDEZ WALTA (A)

Pending on if the first issue has Magik (or any of them) I might pick this up.  I do like Walta’s art. 

 

SECRET AVENGERS #1
ALES KOT (W)
MICHAEL WALSH (A)

Boy, can Marvel NOW keep a title past 12 issues!?!  I know they sell better but ooof!  I know the Deadpool teaser made a reference to being one of the few to make it to issue 25. 

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN #1 & 2
Jason Latour (W) • Mahmud Asrar (A/C)

Since this won’t have Kitty and I doubt any references too her, I may just be Team Cyclops now.  Which is nice to finally be on one of this schism. 

AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #1
DENNIS HOPELESS (W) • KEV WALKER (A)

The sequel to Avengers Arena. 

UNCANNY X-MEN #19.NOW!
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W)
CHRIS BACHALO (A/C)
VARIANT COVER BY J. SCOTT CAMPBELL
ANIMAL VARIANT BY GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
The next stage in humankind is here, and the Uncanny X-Men are leading the way! With original X-Man Cyclops at the revolution’s helm, Emma Frost, Magik and a new generation of mutants defend and educate all homo-superior as warriors of the atom! But after relentless persecution from a society that fears and hates them, the Uncanny X-Men are going on the offensive! Their target? The international spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D! However, as Cyclops’ team fights to save their species, are they only digging themselves into a deeper and more dangerous hole?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

 

            I do wish these animal variants were Pet Avengers related.  The Bachalo cover looks amazing but I’m sure if they took the time and if he commissioned a cover, Campbell’s cover is probably cool too.  If it doesn’t have Magik on it, then I don’t care.  Content wise, looks like next year is going to be X-Men Vs. SHIELD.  Almost as if there is a movie for the X-Men and SHIELD Season One DVDs being sold in roughly six months time. 

 

Uncanny Avengers #18.NOW!
RICK REMENDER (W) • DANIEL ACUÑA (A/C)
“AVENGE THE EARTH” Part One
Welcome to Planet X, the new mutant homeworld, where everything is great—presuming that you possess the mutant gene! Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, is the last human being alive, relentlessly pursued by Magneto and his All-New X-Force and their “No More Humans” campaign, and protected by her husband, Havok! Witness the fate of the Uncanny Avengers–who survived the Apocalypse Twins’ plot, and how?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Kitty and / or Magik have been making appearances in this title so the little I have read, I have been enjoying what I have read.  I like to keep current, and it sounds like Remember is going all out on this series. 

 

ALL-NEW X-MEN #24
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • STUART IMMONEN (A/C)
THE TRIAL OF JEAN GREY PART 5!
• X-Men and Guardians vs. Gladiator and Jean Grey’s fate lies in the balance!
• One of the X-Men’s lives will be forever changed!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #13
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • SARA PICHELLI (A/C)
The conclusion of THE TRIAL OF JEAN GREY leaves two teams devastated!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Did not realize this was going to be bigger than a few parts, but it makes sense this will be at least five parts.  Still no idea if Kitty will be involved at all.   

FANTASTIC FOUR #2
JAMES ROBINSON (W) • LEONARD KIRK (A/C)
“THE FALL OF THE FANTASTIC FOUR” PART 2
• Manhattan is under attack by a monstrous killer swarm from a corrupted pocket universe, and in order to defeat it the FANTASTIC FOUR will need all their courage, powers and skill…as well as those of every other hero in New York!
• But to attain final victory one of the First Family will must make a TERRIBLE SACRIFICE!
• And so the first strings are pulled and the first pieces are put in place…
• …On the Fantastic Four’s DOWNFALL!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

 

            It states “every other heroin New York” I wonder if there is any chance that Kitty would be in town for such a moment?  I doubt it.  Shame Kitty doesn’t do more with the first family of Marvel, she would fit right in.  Also, with the Avengers.  She is truly a great character.

 

A+X #18
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
& GERRY DUGGAN (W)
KEVIN NOWLAN & DAVID YARDIN (A)
Cover by KEVIN NOWLAN
A+X GOES OUT IN STYLE!
• Superstar BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS and comics legend KEVIN NOWLAN tell a scintillating tale of KITTY PRYDE + VISION!
• Gerry Duggan (DEADPOOL) and David Yardin (X-FACTOR) finish their rip-roaring CAPTAIN AMERICA+CYCLOPS story!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

 

            I am not familiar with this legend of Kevin Nowlan but I am familiar with Kitty Pryde!  Her and Vision teaming up is awesome! As far as I know, they have only met the one time and she beat him that time as well.  They have similar powers but he is machine, so she trumps him.  Also, Bendis is writing it so that’s cool too!  Love his Ultimate Kitty Pryde, and his Proper Kitty has been cool in All New and Uncanny.  So excited! 

 

MARVEL KNIGHTS: X-MEN #5 (of 5)
BRAHM REVEL (W)
BRAHM REVEL (A/C)
• The X-Men conjure up old friends to help them subdue the ghosts from their pasts a two young mutants face tough decisions which could alter their lives forever.
• Past, present and future collide in the action-packed finale to this Marvel Knights limited series!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I am going to miss this miniseries once it is over.  Hopefully they give Revel another X-series again and soon! 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: WARHEADS #1
Another month of solicts and still no hint that Classic Excalibur is reuniting!  That is disappointing!

 

X-MEN LEGACY #300
MIKE CAREY, CHRISTOS GAGE & SIMON SPURRIER (W)
CLAY MANN & TAN ENG HUAT (A)
Cover by CLAY MANN
• In observance of the title’s 300th issue, iconic X-MEN: LEGACY writers Mike Carey, Christos Gage and Simon Spurrier return to tell an all-new tale of the X-Men!
• Mike Carey brings us a story featuring Professor Xavi—oh wait, he’s dead.
• Well, Christos Gage has penned a tale involving Rog—nope. She’s dead too.
• And Simon! There’s Simon Spurrier with a story led by Legion, who—oops. Can’t spoil the ending of X-MEN: LEGACY #24.
• Well…erm…just read it!
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

 

            So glad to have Mike Carey back on an X-Title!  Saw a preview page and Magik is in this!  Actually now that I think of it, what I read was Carey doing an Original Graphic Novel, and that had Magik but maybe this one will too!  Funny write up there though. 

 

UNCANNY X-MEN #18
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • MARCO RUDY (A)
COVER BY ALEXANDER LOZANO
• Cyclops finds himself in serious trouble.
• Who’s got Scott Summers at gunpoint?
32 PGS. /Rated T …$3.99

Oh guns and the X-Men!  I won’t worry too much but Cyclops doesn’t have much defense if you attack him not from the front.

ORIGIN II #4 (OF 5)
KIERON GILLEN (W) • ADAM KUBERT (A/C)
The penultimate issue!
• Logan, Clara and Creed are on the run from Sinister…but could Sinister offer Logan something he can’t refuse?
• Creed’s secret revealed!
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

Still can’t believe they got Sabretooth and Sinister in this!  I know people love Gillen’s Sinister but not like this.  Not like this!  I imagine at one point, we will get an Origin 1.5. 

AMAZING X-MEN #5
JASON AARON (W) • ED MCGUINNESS (A/C)
• Nightcrawler and his pirate band of X-Men take on Azazel and his hellish hordes!
• One of the X-Men must make the ultimate sacrifice!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

I will almost gladly pay the price of any of the cast members of this book to get Kurt back amongst the living!  Maybe not Firestar or Northstar.  Wolverine, Beast, Storm and Iceman are all options!  Take one of them! 

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN BY JASON AARON OMNIBUS HC
Written by JASON AARON
Penciled by CHRIS BACHALO, NICK BRADSHAW, JORGE MOLINA, MIKE ALLRED, STEVEN SANDERS, DAVID LOPEZ, RAMON PEREZ & PEPE LARRAZ
Cover by NICK BRADSHAW
Blockbuster writer Jason Aaron’s incredible, hilarious and touching WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN run is collected in one oversized volume! Wolverine returns to Westchester to start over with a new school, a new student body and a lot of surprises! But can Logan — and a staff including Beast, Iceman, Rachel Grey, Kitty Pryde, Storm, Husk and Doop — really lead the Children of the Atom into the future? Only if they survive the newHellfire Club, Krakoa, Sabretooth, an army of mischievous Bamfs, war with the Avengers, the Phoenix Five and more! As new students join the school, including the time-displaced original X-Men, new threats emerge from Frankenstein’s Murder Circus, Wolverine’s half-brother Dog Logan, Mystique, the Hellfire Academy…and S.H.I.E.L.D.! Welcome to the Jean Grey School, Wolverine — hope you survive the experience! Collecting WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN #1-35, #38-42 and ANNUAL #1.
928 PGS./Rated T+ …$99.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9024-0
Trim size: oversized

 

            One hundred dollars is asking way too much but to have the entire series in one hardcover does sound awesome and I bet it makes for a fun and great collection.  You get everything but Battle of the Atom.  They should state though to promote that trade and explain the gap.  Who is going to do the research? 

 

SPIDER-MAN FIRSTS TPB
Written by STAN LEE, ROY THOMAS, LEN WEIN, GERRY CONWAY, LOUISE SIMONSON, TODD MCFARLANE, TOM DEFALCO, KURT BUSIEK, TOM PEYER, MARK WAID, DAN JURGENS, HOWARD MACKIE, JM DEMATTEIS, GARTH ENNIS, MARK MILLAR, PETER DAVID, SEAN MCKEEVER, ZEB WELLS, DAN SLOTT & CHRIS YOST
Penciled by STEVE DITKO, ROSS ANDRU, SAL BUSCEMA, GREG LAROCQUE, TODD MCFARLANE, RON LIM, PAT OLLIFFE, KEN LASHLEY, DAN JURGENS, JOHN ROMITA JR., MICHAEL ZULLI, JOHN MCCREA, TERRY DODSON, MIKE WIERINGO, TERRELL BOBETT, ALEX CAL, JOE MADUREIRA, RYAN STEGMAN & DAVID LOPEZ
Cover by TERRY DODSON & VARIOUS
Marvel’s most titled hero has been amazing, spectacular, sensational — even giant-size! Follow the tangled web of Peter Parker and family through this superior collection of all the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man’s series debuts! Unlimited team-ups, avenging exploits and untold tales — they’re all in a Marvel Knight’s work for a web-spinner that defies description! Collecting AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #1, MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) #1, GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #1, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) #1, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN (1985) #1, SPIDER-MAN (1990) #1, UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN #1, SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP #1, SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN (1996) #0, TANGLED WEB #1, MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN (2004) #1, FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #1, AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #1, SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1 and SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP #1 — plus material from SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED (1993) #1, PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN (1999) #1, WEBSPINNERS: TALES OF SPIDER-MAN #1, SPIDER-MAN FAMILY (2007) #1 and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1.
528 PGS./Rated T+ …$34.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-8901-5

I sort of love the idea of this collection but what an odd collection.  More of a novety item but I sort of love the gusto.  It must read and look so odd with all of the different art styles and time periods it expands.  I would have called it SPIDER-MAN NUMBER ONE or something.  FIRSTS makes me think it is a collection of first appearances – which I guess it is, but of titles.  I do want to flip through a copy of this.  Some good issues are in there and some amazing stories are spawn from those first titles. 

 

Interesting, no Ultimate titles, not even Fallout or Requiem titles.  Maybe they are secretly holding any of those issues back, though they better announce them before the deadline to order the titles come up.  Smart to wait one more month, but also cool if that universe has come to an end, when was the last time one of those happened?  

So if my math is right, I have four buys and five maybes.  And really, only two of them, A+X and Marvel Knights X-Men promise to have Kitty, so it could be two buys and seven maybes but Illyana has been in every Uncanny issue for the most part so I consider those guarantees.  4 times 3 is twelve dollars so that’s way better than 4+5 = 9 times three, is 27 dollars. Ooof, my wife wouldn’t like that. 

X-Boards Awards, The Voting

Posted by John Klein III on December 12, 2013
Posted in: Lists. Tagged: . Leave a comment

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?476984-2013-CBR-Forums-X-Book-Awards-Voting-Thread

It is that time of year again, and this time, I was well prepared.  Or at least, more prepared than I was last year.  One benefit of having a blog, you have a nice resource of your opinions.  I have to figure out a way to tell which issues were this year and which were back issues, it was easy this time, but I imagine next year to be a bit of a hassle with a full year’s worth of posts.

Here are my votes for the categories :

  • Best Ongoing X-Title
    1.  All New X-Men
    2.  Wolverine and the X-Men
    3.  Uncanny X-Men Volume Three
  • Best X-Miniseries
    1.  Marvel Knights : X-Men
  • 2.  Battle of the Atom
  • Best X-One-Shot
    1.  X-Men : Gold
  • Best X-Book Cover
    1.  Astonishing X-Men 63
    2.  All New X-Men 6
    3.  A+X 8
  • Best X-Men Crossover
    1.  Battle of the Atom
    2.  Age of Ultron
    3.  Infinity
  • Best X-Men Storyline from a Single Title
    1.  Yesterday’s X-Men – All New X-Men 1 – 5
    2.  Frozen – Astonishing X-Men Volume Three 62 – 65
    3.  Wear the Grudge Like a Crown – X-Men : Legacy Volume Two 13 – 15
  • Best Writer
    1.  Brian Michael Bendis
    2.  Simon Spurrier
    3.  Jason Aaron
  • Best Artist
    1.  Chris Bachalo
    2.  Stuart Immonen
    3.  Nick Bradshaw
  • Best Hero/Heroine
    1.  Kitty Pryde
    2.  Magik
    3.  Cyclops
  • Worst Hero/Heroine
    1.  Colossus
    2.  Wolverine
  • 3.  Storm
  • Best Villain(s)
    1.  Iceman in Astonishing X-Men
    2.  Mystique, Sabretooth and Lady Mastermind in All-New X-Men
  • Worst Villain(s)
    1.  Future Brotherhood-X-Men
    2.  Hellfire Club Kids
  • Breakout Star of the Year
    1.  Teen Beast
    2.  Irma of the Cuckoos
    3.  Broo
  • Debut Character of the Year
    1.  Darla from Marvel Knights : X-Men
    2.  Benjamin Deeds
    3.  Deaf Captain America (Uncanny Avengers 13)
  • Death of the Year
    1.  Gabrielle Haller
    2.  Kurt Waggoner
  • Most Missed Character of the Year
    1.  Still not enough Lockheed, for my taste.
  • Shocking Moment of the Year
    1.  Kitty Pryde leaving Team Wolverine for Team Cyclops in Battle of the Atom 2
    2.  Phoenix’s Shadow in X-Men Legacy 19
  • Funniest Moment of the Year
    1.  Young Iceman throwing a snowball at Thor, thinking he is an illusion (All New X-Men 14)  The whole issue is full of fun gags.
    2.  Deaf Captain America (Uncanny Avengers 13)
    3.  X-Men Gold where Wolverine states Thunderbird is just like him, minus the cool powers
  • Quote of the Year
    1.  Cyclops saying Lady Xorn was a better kisser than his Jean (Wolverine and the X-Men 37)
    2.  X-Men Legacy 18 “Miss empowered bikini lady, ma’am” A Channel 7 reporter talking to Emma Frost.
    3.  Any from Deaf Captain America (Uncanny Avengers 13)
  • Onomatopoeia of the Year
    1.  Lockheed’s “Murp” in All New X-Men 18
    2.  Lockheed’s “Pfht” in Savage Wolverine 12
  • Best Kiss of the Year
    1.  Quentin Quire and Oya kissing, Wolverine and the X-Men 35
    2.  Future Deadpool kissing Wolverine’s cheek in All New X-Men 16
    3.  Cyclops kissing Lady Xorn in Wolverine and the X-Men 37
  • Best Single Battle/Fight of the Year
    1.  Cyclops vs. David Haller in X-Men Legacy 18 in the rain.
    2.  All New X-Men 14, the battle with the X-Men versus Illusions and the Avengers.
    3.   Tempus vs. the Avengers in Uncanny X-Men Volume Three Issue 4.
  • Highlight of the Year
    1.  Kitty breaking from Team Wolverine and joining Team Cyclops
    2.  Kitty and Illyana hugging (All New X-Men 18)
    3.  Alan Davis drawing Kitty Pryde again for Wolverine : Killable
  • GUEST STAR OF THE YEAR
    1. Pete Wisdom in X-Men Legacy
    2. Cyclops in X-Men Legacy
    3. Batroc in Wolverine
  • Best Single Issue

1.  All New X-Men 18

I choose to not do the Worst Of categories.  I can see some creative teams being upset by it and I know they at least tried their best.

Anyone who wants to get involved, the voting officially begins on December 26 (I’m pretty sure nothing will beat out my picks) and the results will be revealed the week of January 13, 2014.

Now that I’ve officially done one of these, I will know what to keep track of for next year.

Wishlist : Gifted, the Novel

Posted by John Klein III on December 11, 2013
Posted in: Books. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

9780785165156_p0_v1_s260x420

Written by Peter David, his adaption of the Josh Whedon’s First Astonishing X-Men arc.

Savage Wolverine 12

Posted by John Klein III on December 10, 2013
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Savage Wolverine 12

Writer & Artist Phil Jimenez

Co-Writer Scott Lope

Colorist Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Come Conquer The Beasts Part One

I do enjoy seeing Jimenez on Wolverine, especially as he co-wrote the issue and added the Jean Grey School to the issue.

This arc is essentially an Anti-Poaching storyline.  Hopefully Marvel submits this for a grant and gets the word out, as I am not sure who is on the Pro-Poaching side of the issue but Jimenez seems to be really coming down on the issue.

I like the call back to an early Uncanny issue where the X-Men think Logan is a savage and kills for killing sake, but he just likes to sneak up on a beast and pet them.  Apparently he did this even during 1931 and in South Africa.  He takes a baby elephant under his wing.  He is currently looking for it in the present year.  Not sure what the life span is for an elephant but 82 years seems to be a long time.

How long do elephants live?  Google tells me 80 years for Asian elephants in captivity and 60 years in the wild.

So this story is already pushing things but I’m getting ahead of it.

Logan is back in South Africa in the present day, on one of his hunts, and smells death.  He sees hyenas and vultures and comes across three rhino corpses.

These rangers show up, and Logan is so angry that he goes into a blind rage and attacks one of them.  He moves on to their lady leader and she finally snaps him out of it.  I sort of love this turn of events as how many times has he just jumped at a guy, killed him and we just take it for granted that that guy was a bad guy?  At least thousands of times?  The leader calls him an Avengers, which I like, he should act as a responsible member of the number one superhero team on the planet.

One of the rhinos is not dead and Logan has to put her out of her misery, heart breaking stuff.

They get back to their base and Logan finds out that the guy he darn near killed will be okay, and Logan makes this off handed joke about buying him a fruit basket and a teddy bear.  The leader states that he should buy them, instead, a few more vests and three new rifles.  He tries to come off as a cool guy but is quickly shown to be the savage and fool that he really is, in this moment.

We get a recap on how the poachers do their business.  I didn’t know the horns and such were used in medicine and “cheap jewelry.”  You would think that if you are going to kill thousands of animals, you would at least use it in expensive jewelry but still, poaching is wrong.

Savage Wolverine 12 Lockheed

We cut to the Jean Grey School.  First, we get Lockheed pfht-ing at Kroaka.  Then we cut to Kitty Pryde, teaching a class on superhero fashion and codenames.  She is wearing a pink shirt, which Marvel has really been putting her in pink colored outfits when they show her teaching or running the school.  Just something I have been observing.

Quinten Quire is quick to make fun of her horrid multi-color outfit with roller skates.  The bane of all Kitty Pryde fans, as people point to it as an example of how silly the character was.  That and her multiple code names, but it has only been three codenames, so people are going to extremes with that.

Kitty gets a call and Wolverine needs her so she dismisses the class early.  She assigns a paper on crime-fighting in heels, that is due on Friday, which I love that as an assignment.  Broo comments that he liked that above referenced costume.

Kitty explains how the poachers move their ‘goods.’  She mentions Madripoor, a country (only in Marvel) that Logan has a bunch of history with.

We get a flashback to a time, a few years ago, when Patch (Wolverine’s Madripoor disguise, pretty much Logan in a white suit, with a eye patch over his left eye) kills the then prince who ran the country.  At one point, Logan was tricked into marrying Viper, which she married him so that she can rule Madripoor.  Then his son Daken ruled the country – its more the size of an island, like Hawaii size, that’s how big I have imagined it.  Mostly, Tyger Tiger has been the ruler during the off years.  She is essentially the ‘go to’ leader.

Before hanging up the phone, Wolverine tells Kitty to look for his elephant.  Kitty asks out loud, how she should do that and Doug Ramsey shows up and tells her how to do it.  Hopefully this means that Kitty will be in the next issue.  I am pretty sure this is the first time Kitty and Doug have been shown together since his return from the dead and her returning from deep space, so this should have been a bigger moment.

We end the issue with Logan finding the three warehouses and Tyger Tiger are with him, as they enter one of them.  We see a warehouse full of tusks, horns and tiger heads.  It does look disgusting, especially when you realize that each horn represents one rhino, each two tusks is one elephant and well, naturally, each tiger head is one tiger.

Also, Tyger Tiger is apparently cool with the poachers as she is now mad at Wolverine and is going to kill Wolverine.