By Igor Fernandez
Mine is 91 / 2500
Thanks to YouTuber thelonelyisland for hosting their own video.
This originally aired as part of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. As much as I love Andy Samberg and Will Ferrel, it is the surprise appearance of JJ Abrams on the keyboard (and getting his own solo) that really captured my imagination.
I really enjoy seeing the comic book films intermixed with the other action films.
Here is the full list, thanks to Wikipedia!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Guys_Don%27t_Look_at_Explosions
Gone in 60 Seconds
Desperado
The Conctractor
Hell Ride
The Rundown
Lucky Number Slevin
Iron Man
From Dusk till Dawn
No Country for Old Men
Man on Fire
Hancock
Shooter
Syriana
RoboCop
The Dark Knight
Con Air
Wolverine Origins
Still no explanation to JJ Abrams being there.
Here are four other Lonely Island Songs that I’ve been having a hard time getting out of my head lately –
I Just Had Sex (featuring Akon)
The “not-having-sex-ways of the past” really does it for me.
I like Jessica Alba and Blake Lively being game for the video too.
Threw It On The Ground
Whenever I accidentally drop something, I try to recoup by claiming I threw it there
Like A Boss, featuring Seth Rogen
Just the way the story just escalates and continues to do so! So much fun!
YOLO (featuring Adam Levine AND Kendrick Lamar)
That sound advice from Kendrick Lamar, makes this my favorite song of his – and I doubt any proper song of his will ever change my opinion of that. It all makes sense too.
. . .
Merry Christmas!!!
Writer Charles Soule
Penciler Peter Nguyen
Inker Sandu Florea
Colors John Kalisz & Brett Smith
Letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Dated February 2015
I bought this with my Christmas money, as Hastings didn’t have a copy. Then I went to buy some current comics and there was a copy there. What a waste of certificate money!
I haven’t gotten an issue of this series since the second one but really, all you needed was the first issue and this one – the bookend issues. This leads into The Wolverines.
Croatia. A Few Minutes Back. Daken and Sabretooth are still fighting. Some creature outside is in need, of something.
Right Now. Shogun introduces himself to the group of characters that will become known as, The Wolverines. He knows their names. Elixir is there as well, haven’t seen that guy in a while.
Lady Deathstrike references the trigger words that can completely control this group. The issues in-between the two bookends show what the characters were up to before the first issue.
The four trigger words command – sleep, control, kill and a mysterious fourth option.
Shogun instructs Elixir to wake Mystique. Elixir tells Shogun (and reminds us) that when his skin is black, his touch kills. His skin hasn’t been gold, his healing touch is active. Sabretooth offers to wake her via stepping on her – so this is prior to AXIS. Mystique grabs his foot and throws him into the electrified wall.
Neuro comes out, he looks great under Nguyen’s pencil, maybe it is Kalisz/Smith’s coloring?
I am reminded that Skel was the guy who was leading these characters into the room slash cage. Neuro recaps the Weapon X Program miniseries. The escapees are living on borrowed time. The escapees are hoping that one of the villains’ healing factors will be able to help them.
The fourth command word is, Erase, all of Professor Cornelius’ programming will disappear.
Shogun is about to reveal what they want when that demon thing from the cover crashes through the roof. The demon is another escapee named, Siphon. Exilir decides to take charge and is killed. Siphon does just that, it sucks energy. Shogun opens the cell that the villains can get out. Sabreooth runs towards Shogun, he says “Ovipositor” and now Sabretooth has to do whatever Shogun wants for 30 minutes or so.
Siphon doesn’t want his fellow escapees, he wants to kill the villains. X23 is running away, she doesn’t care about avenging her fallen teammate. She must not have graduated from Avengers Academy.
Siphon is absorbing Daken. X23 wants to keep running but decides to head back. She slashes Siphon, he jumps out of a window and we learn that Daken doesn’t have his healing factor anymore. So that explains his concern from Wolverines 1. That’s good to know.
Once everybody is outside, Neuro mentions how the number of people who know the command words could be numerous, that’s why they have to stick together.
Issue ends with Shogun revealing what the task is, he wants to get Statue Wolverine. Which they won’t be able to do without some sinister problems.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/05/21/x-men-best-worst/
By Darren Franich
My comments follow then a clean list after that. Some of his write ups are funny and others are just confusing. It seems to me, that if you don’t really know a character, just don’t rank them. I wouldn’t mind seeing a list of the Top 32 X-Men, if the write ups all are sound.
100. Maggott – You can always tell something from a list with who they rank at the very bottom. Sets the bar, every character should be better than this one. Which they should be. We’ll see!
99. X-Man/Nate Grey – I really liked Nate Grey when he was friends with Spider-Man.
98. Rachel Summers/Phoenix – ooof, the lowest I’m hoping my favorite characters are ranked. Seems a bit extreme. I get the impression this fellow doesn’t like anything that isn’t pure mainstream X-Men.
97. Pete Wisdom – Credits Warran Ellis for the creation but also calls Pete Wisdom – Gabmit without the cards. I’ve never thought of Wisdom quite like that. I always thought of him more like Wolverine with hot claws.
96. Joseph, the Magneto Clone – He isn’t a fan of clones. Who is, though? Really?
95. Dr. Cecilia Reyes – He docks points for being in the same team as Maggot, that is quite the range of stink Maggot has.
94. Strong Guy
93. Wild Child – References Wild Child’s time with X-Factor, so Mr. Franich is probably a fan of the X-Men during the 90s, which is going to explain a lot, I’m sure. Particularly, the mid-90s. I only read a handful of that X-Factor run, and I didn’t even remember that he dated Shard, Bishop’s sister.
92. Stacy X – A character that I have no real history with.
91. Random – Who even remembers this guy? I always think of his trading card, when I do.
90. Meggan – Oh no, the second lowest Excalibur member!?! Can Captain Britain be too far behind? I take it that he didn’t really read Excalibur as who thinks she is boring? 89. Caliban – I take it that he doesn’t really know Caliban (at all) with this write up – “Ohhh, that’s from Shakespeare!” At least write something regarding the Morlocks.
88. Copycat – Never really thought of her as a ‘copycat’ of Mystique, including blue skin and power set. Now that is an insightful comment.
87. Boom-Boom/Boomer/Meltdown – Never thought of her as a Pre-Jubilee character before. I do wish that Tabitha, like Kitty, didn’t run through a gauntlet of names. I’ve always been more partial to Meltdown, myself.
86. Sway – a character whose first appearance is followed by her last appearance ranks 14 slots higher than the lowest person? Crazy times.
85. Slipstream – This is what I’m getting at, why rank them, and how do you justify them ranking higher than a character that can be given five sentences.
See “Lifeguard.”
84. Lifeguard – Ditto.
See “Slipstream.”
83. The Guy With The Face From X-Men: 2099 – Points for remembering 2099, a title I still have no connection with. I was a big Spider-Man 2099 fan but he never had an appearance by the X-Men in his title so I don’t know them. I’ve checked a slew of websites and Kitty nor any other X-Man of note, ever is referenced in that series, so I’m not seeking out any issues.
82. Dani Moonstar – The lowest ranked New Mutants and arguably, one of the best. He implies that he did some research and couldn’t find any hardcore New Mutants fans who like her, but I know that there are a bunch of them. I even know that I’m in the minority of ranking her third in the Top 3 Best ones.
81. Juggernaut – I have only read ‘hero’ Juggernaut in the pages of New Exiles.
A semi-decent X-Men villain who got goodified into a pretty inessential X-Men hero. Since only his “goodness” record is counted, he doesn’t rank very high. But even if you count the “badness,” he’s most famous as an Internet meme.
80. Micromax – Barely an Excalibur member. I wonder what website did he gleam all of this information from.
79. Magma – Second lowest New Mutant Member. I’m okay with ranking her the lowest, her origin story has been re-written far too many times.
78. Mimic – I do like Mimic, shame that Marvel just keeps him as a sad sack.
77. Vulcan – I do share his disdain for all things ‘space’ when it comes to the X-Men. It gave us Lockheed, isn’t that enough!?!
76. Petra – The X-Men’s Terra.
75. Shard – Can’t believe someone from a forgotten era of X-Factor is the bar set at 75. 74. Lady Mastermind – She was awesome in Mike Carey’s run of X-Men. I take it the writer didn’t read that with his pithy description – “Like Mastermind, but a lady this time.”
73. Hope Summers – He nails the ‘place holder’ for Jean until Jean comes back. I really hope she just stays dead. Marvel just needs to tell people that she really isn’t coming back. Her and Uncle Ben, it is over people.
72. M/Penance – He nails how complicated M and Penance’s origins are. That wasn’t the best era of Generation. This is the first two person ranking of the list. So we are now at 101 X-Men.
71. Darwin – Clearly a man who has only seen the First Class film
70. X-23 – I like that he reveals he his a game with Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I would play those games but no Kitty Pryde and I’m not much of a fighter game player.
69. Widget – Maybe he is a fan of Excalibur, he knows that Widget was a future Kitty Pryde combination. I still wonder if that was the plan from the very first issue or not.
68. Lockheed – Poor Lockheed deserves a much higher spot! At least in the Top 50! His description for the dragon harkens to him not being over X23 yet. Also, he is clearly a member of the X-Men. “Kitty Pryde’s pet dragon. Arguably not an actual X-Man, partially because he’s a pet and partially because he doesn’t even have an alternate-universe future clone.”
67. Polaris – Overly harsh review of Polaris, or extremely simple take.
66. Sabretooth – I also liked Exiles Sabretooth. Really the only version of the character that I am actually excited to see.
65. Daytripper/Magik/Amanda Sefton – Are we not beyond referring to Amanda as Magik? It isn’t the best era for the character.
64. Pixie – His description clearly indicates that he never read any of her crucial storylines.
63. Bishop – Only time I’ve read Bishop was in X-Treme X-Men where he was an actually good character.
62. Thunderbird and Warpath – Ooof, borderline racist, perhaps? We are now at 102 X-Men.
61. Moira MacTaggert – I like that her Wikipedia page is longer than the page for the First Minister of Scotland.
60. Sage – I don’t get people’s love for the character. You’ll read people going on about Original 6 as she was always working for Xavier in the Hellfire Club. I liked her in X-Treme X-Men where that Xavier backstory is hardly referenced. She was good in Exiles now too, that I’m thinking of it.
59. Mondo – The lowest ranked Generation X member. When I read ‘Mondo’ I usually think that is Skin’s real name, which may be racist on my part. I don’t really know that character.
58. Armor – The other Joss Whedon / John Cassaday character
57. Hepzibah – I never think of her as an X-Man as she is more of a Starjammer to me. Did not know her name originates with Pogo – whatever that is.
56. Karma – Makes sense to be on the lower end of New Mutants characters.
55. Xorn – Sounds like he at least read the Morrison run, which is the cool thing to do as a new X-Man fan. Marvel did no favors to how much they ran over the Magneto is Xorn storyline.
54. Beak
53. Synch – First Generation X member to die and the second lowest one. He writes that Generation X is so cool it makes X-Factor look like Excalibur, so that really sums up that guy the best.
52. Dazzler – I do wish that a Dazzler CD did come out. That would have been something.
51. Northstar
50. Wolfsbane – The ‘like Feral except boring’ is also very telling. So this character is better than 50 other characters but not better than 49?
49. Banshee – His description seems all over the place. He is all things to all people.
48. Cypher/Doug Ramsay/Douglock/Warlock – Overly tries to make their origins complicated. Plus Douglock was always just Warlock. 103 X-Men.
47. Captain Britain – Implies that Excalibur is a minor part of his history except that it is the defining era of his history. The only time he has been not Excalibur was when he was part of MI-13.
46. Nocturne
45. Bedlam – Who even remembers X-Force’s Bedlam?
44. Fantomex – If there was a Fantomex television series, I may actually get the character finally.
43. Rictor – He makes a big point about calling Karma a lesbian but doesn’t mention Rictor being gay? The huh?
42. Cannonball – Interesting insight with Cannonball being the top student to being low man on the pole.
41. Sunfire – Does his costume look like Aquama’s costume but with fire? I don’t see it. 40. Angel/Archangel – The lowest of the Original Five and at 40, ooof!
39. Maverick/Agent Zero – Was he ever an X-Man? He was mostly Team X and solo when not.
38. Forge – His description makes him sound like a guy who doesn’t like Donatello?
37. Angel Salvadore – Unless Angel has the same powers as Oya, I believe he has the two characters confused.
36. Domino – I have no history with the character
35. Chamber – The guy leaves off all of the complicated silliness that happened to Chamber Post-Generation X – for the best.
34. Siryn
33. Illyana Rasputin/Darkchylde – I would have liked Magik being in the Top 25 or even Top 30. Is her life “somewhere between Michael Moorcock and Labyrinth and God of War”? Might have to think about that.
32. Sunspot – He’s nothing like Sunfire!
31. Longshot – How the heck he isn’t ranked closer to Domino is beyond me with how much this guy doesn’t care for luck powers.
30. Marvel Girl/Jean Grey/Phoenix/Madelyne Pryor – OOOOF!!! Jean Grey and Madelyne Pryor are nothing alike! Did not expect her to be the second lowest Original Five member! 104 X-Men. 105 if you want to count Phoenix as a separate one, some do. 29. Danger – More popular than her Armor creation sister.
28. The Stepford Cuckoos – I like to just to refer to them as the Cuckoos. Are their names from Philedelpha Story? I thought Morrison just wanted their names to spell out SPICE.
27. Iceman – Glad Bobby didn’t make Top 25! Middle of the Original Five.
26. Feral – With the comment about Feral earlier in the Wolfsbane description, I thought for sure she would rank higher. I’m not that familiar with her as I didn’t read early X-Force.
25. Jubilee – I’ve never seen her described as the Dazzler of the 90s, as she’s usually the Kitty Pryde of the 90s. Also, the 25th Ranked! Every one following her is top quarter! I suppose she could be a combination of the two.
24. Shatterstar – Another character that has his origin completely screwed with.
23. Artie and Leech – I do like them paired together, as that’s how I think of them. 105 / 106 X-Men.
22. Psylocke – For all the grief other characters got, he is pretty kind to her and her complicated status quo change.
21. Legion – Sounds like he read Spurrier’s fantastic X-Men Legacy run.
20. Magneto, Age of Apocalypse edition – Wow, a ranking for a character at 20 who has essentially eight appearances. That is impressive.
19. Marrow – Wow, at 19!
18. Kitty Pryde – Oh no at 18! Kitty not being in people’s top 10, I can get, but not even Top 15? Bonkers. I do like how he references that a certain age group would rank her higher. I take it he must be 22 or so.
17. Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man – He must be a fan of Peter David’s X-Factor to rank Jamie so high. Doesn’t state that but it can be the only way.
16. Emma Frost/The White Queen – What is it with people ranking Emma over Kitty? Trying to score points?
15. Husk – How in the name of Sam Hain is Husk ranked so high? I imagine we are getting to his real favorites now and he is ranking them below where he would actually put them but doesn’t want people to over judge his list (too late).
14. Mystique – For someone whose hero standing is in question, sure is ranked pretty high. Though points for reading both X-Men Unlimited 4 and Get Mystique by Jason Aaron, the Wolverine arc.
13. Professor X – Interesting take on how he is more Kirk than Picard. I’m all for Xavier remaining dead for quite some time. Like Jean, he works better as a memory to motivate others into action.
12. Havok – The writer can relate to Havok, so I can’t say anything about that. Relate-ability is as subjective as it gets.
11. Colossus – Boo to Colossus! At least he isn’t in the top ten. I also really enjoy the X-Men arcade game.
10. Blink – Me thinks she is in the top ten just to tie into the Days of Future Past film. Even diehard Exiles fans wouldn’t put her in the top ten X-Men, would they?
9. Deadpool – Diehard Deadpool fans worry me. I went through my phase but now I’m move on and Deadpool and I rarely cross paths.
8. Gambit – I do like how this gentleman makes movie references, now I need to rewatch Rounders and see if that is how Gambit is. I don’t hate Gambit like others do. He was part of the 35th Anniversary Team and I liked him there. He was crazy on the 90s X-Men Cartoon so my exposure to him as is pretty limited. He was great on Wolverine and the X-Men too.
7. Beast – Second highest Original Five. It dons on me that I really only like one of these five or the group as a concept. Clearly the list creator hasn’t read any Beast in the past few years.
6. Cable – Cable, I should have known hadn’t shown up on the list and was due any moment. I just like the Joe Casey / Ladronn run on the title. Besides that, like Gambit, my exposure is pretty limited.
5. Nightcrawler – Now the top five begins and Kurt deserves his spot.
4. Rogue – I don’t get people’s love for Rogue, she’s cool and all but some people are hardcore fans.
3. Storm – I feel like this list and my typing of it has taken too long. Usually I have a running tally in my head and start anticipating which mutants should be next. Storm keeps surprising me with how many people rank her as the highest X-Woman. Is she? Not to me, not since the 80s.
2. Cyclops – I would have swapped one and two but that’s just the era we live in now. Apparently the guy read AvX, and he is right – Cyclops is on the verge of being awesome again! He’s already there but for anyone who thinks he is still the straight lace kid – they are in for a surprise.
1. Wolverine – Wolverine is number one. It was going to be him or Cyclops. Wolverine is one of those characters that really is all things to all people. It takes someone listing all of Logan’s traits to fully see how far Marvel has taken the character. Some descriptions from Darren Franich – “Built on a grab-bag of personality traits and powers that feel assembled by accident — claws, healing factor, amnesia, Canadian-ness — Wolverine has been variously presented as a scuzzy uncle and a heartless romantic, a man without a past and an immortal icon existing throughout time. He’s a barfight samurai, hilarious comic relief and/or a bruised leader dripping with gravitas. He can be self-consciously “cool” — a fifth grader’s idea of a grown-up — but he can also be a tragic figure, his own worst enemy.”
A list that feels like a lot of clutter but I would have a hard time making a list of 50 so 100 seems like a daunting task.
The List Proper
100. Maggott
99. X-Man/Nate Grey
98. Rachel Summers/Phoenix
97. Pete Wisdom
96. Joseph, the Magneto Clone
95. Dr. Cecilia Reyes
94. Strong Guy
93. Wild Child
92. Stacy X
91. Random
90. Meggan
89. Caliban
88. Copycat
87. Boom-Boom/Boomer/Meltdown
86. Sway
85. Slipstream
84. Lifeguard
83. The Guy With The Face From X-Men: 2099
82. Dani Moonstar
81. Juggernaut
80. Micromax
79. Magma
78. Mimic
77. Vulcan
76. Petra
75. Shard
74. Lady Mastermind
73. Hope Summers
72. M/Penance
71. Darwin
70. X-23
69. Widget
68. Lockheed
67. Polaris
66. Sabretooth
65. Daytripper/Magik/Amanda Sefton
64. Pixie
63. Bishop
62. Thunderbird and Warpath
61. Moira MacTaggert
60. Sage
59. Mondo
58. Armor
57. Hepzibah
56. Karma
55. Xorn
54. Beak
53. Synch
52. Dazzler
51. Northstar
50. Wolfsbane
49. Banshee
48. Cypher/Doug Ramsay/Douglock/Warlock
47. Captain Britain
46. Nocturne
45. Bedlam
44. Fantomex
43. Rictor
42. Cannonball
41. Sunfire
40. Angel/Archangel
39. Maverick/Agent Zero
38. Forge
37. Angel Salvadore
36. Domino
35. Chamber
34. Siryn
33. Illyana Rasputin/Darkchylde
32. Sunspot
31. Longshot
30. Marvel Girl/Jean Grey/Phoenix/Madelyne Pryor
29. Danger
28. The Stepford Cuckoos
27. Iceman
26. Feral
25. Jubilee
24. Shatterstar
23. Artie and Leech
22. Psylocke
21. Legion
20. Magneto, Age of Apocalypse edition
19. Marrow
18. Kitty Pryde
17. Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man
16. Emma Frost/The White Queen
15. Husk
14. Mystique
13. Professor X
12. Havok
11. Colossus
10. Blink
9. Deadpool
8. Gambit
7. Beast
6. Cable
5. Nightcrawler
4. Rogue
3. Storm
2. Cyclops
1. Wolverine
Scripter Chris Claremont
co-plotters
Pneciler John Byrne
Inker Terry Austin
Letterer Tom Orzechowski
Colorist Glynis Oliver
Reprinting of Uncanny X-Men 132, not like it states that anywhere
Cover Dated October 1989
Cover by Steve Lightle
There is also a back up story with Dazzler being harassed.
I wanted to buy Uncanny X-Men 132 so badly for Christmas and then I discovered that I bought it via this issue. Funny how that works out.
When I state that the Dark Phoenix Saga is only good for the first few issues, this is the final issue of that. Issues 129, 130, 131 and 132 – four out of nine isn’t that bad. Ten really, if you count the funeral issue but Marvel rarely includes that in trades, which is weird to me.
This issue opens with the X-Men at Angel’s Aerie in New Mexico. The X-Men have been dealt a loss by the Hellfire Club and now they are regrouping. Angel doesn’t really know this All-New, All-Different team. Angel sees Phoenix and kisses her right on the mouth! Candy Southern is not impress, but she takes it in stride. Cyclops wants a private moment with Warren.
Xavier is annoyed that his field leader is now just the leader of the X-Men. Cyclops is playing this one pretty close to the vest. Cyclops gives Angel an update on what has been happening.
That panel with Kitty is the sole reason that I want to own this issue properly..
I had forgotten that Kitty is referenced on the next page, as well!
I like Editor Bob Harras choosing to reference issues 35, 36 and 37 of Classic X-Men instead of the proper Uncanny issues. I fully support it, as I bought Classic X-Men and if I want to buy the referenced issues, I will stick with the Classic X-Men issues, especially as they would have been on the shelf still. ideally
Cyclops mentions the Hellfire Club, Candy and Warren a members though they didn’t care for the place. Cyclops suspects there is a mole or some spy tech that is giving the Hellfire Club all of their intel, which is why he isn’t going to any of their known bases.
Scott takes a moment to try to share with one of his oldest friends, that something odd is happening to ‘Jean’ but she appears right then.
Angel picks up that this should be a private moment. Phoenix doesn’t waste a moment changing from her classic green costume to a very form fitting bikini number. She takes off Cyclops’ visor, he panics but she is holding his totality of his powers back. Then the love making begins.
A week passes. Four blocks down from the Avenges Mansion, lies the Hellfire Club. In the sewer below the club, Wolverine and Nightcrawler are working their way up. The water is rising, so Wolverine cuts a power cord, when the water hits the exposed wires, the power will be shut off. He’s planning ahead.
Kurt calls the others, they are in place. Angel got Phoenix, Cyclops, Colossus and Storm invitations, using fake names. Xavier and Angel are still in New Mexico. The X-Men have to investigate the connection between the White Queen and the Hellfire Club. So awesome to see history forming here.
If the X-Men don’t report back by Midnight, something went wrong and Xavier & Angel need to form a new mutant strikeforce. Xavier is lucky out with a good group, every other time at this point so the next batch should be a complete failure. The Original Team, success. The Deadly Genesis Team, disaster. The All-New, All Different Team, success. Luckily, it doesn’t come to that.
Xavier is mostly upset as he can’t connect to his X-Men, telepathically.
Inside the Club, Colossus thinks to himself that he isn’t comfortable in such a nice suit. He is missing home, as he thinks about how his suit costs more than what his family makes in a year. He recognizes some famous Russians in attendance. Colossus and Storm are a pair.
Next, Scott and Phoenix enter. Pierce instantly recognizes Phoenix. Shaw tells them that the X-Men must be here, and to start scanning the room for the others.
Phoenix mind scans the room, everyone appears to be normal. Something must be wrong, as Jason Wyngarde appears and sweeps her off her feet. Not only that, but transports her back to her would-be ancestor fantasy. Scott recognizes Jason, and figures he must be connected to the Hellfire Club as he was there when they met Dazzler and were attacked. In New Mexico, Phoenix confided in Scott about these ‘timeslips.’
Wyngarde takes Phoenix upstairs. Once on the staircase, he transforms back to his true, Mastermind, state. He does this so that Scott can piece it together, that guy needs some help. Scott makes it to the top of the stairs but is attacked by . . . The Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, Phoenix! dun dun dun
Colossus and Storm recognize Scott’s scream and come running. Shaw confronts Colossus, and like an idiot, Colossus attacks him physically and makes him stronger. Storm tries to stay out of Shaw’s reach.
Kurt and Wolverine finally make it to the ground floor and are met by Donald Pierce. Wolverine cuts off his arm, revealing that Pierce is partly cyborg. Good thing as, if not, Wolverine just cut off a dude’s arm! Wolverine makes a reference to Steve Austin, the six million dollar man. Before he can press the attack, Harry Leland arrives and using his mutant power to increase one’s mass, makes Wolverine heavy. I do like how everyone introduces themselves, in this issue, as I forgot Pierce’s first name and I can rarely remember Leland, outside of his power and his role in this issue. He doesn’t last long as a Club member, if I remember correctly.
Wolverine is so heavy that he falls three floors and back into the sewer. What will happen to him, I wonder?
Storm is on her way out the door when Shaw grabs her by the left foot and slams her to the ground. Using her cloak, he strangles her (a little) and knocks her out.
The X-Men are defeated, and pretty easily.
The Hellfire Club toast Black Queen for making the victory possible.
But from the sewers, the Wolverine that we all know and love . . . emerges! Now, it is his turn! In one of the moment famous panels of X-Men history, and why I suspect this issue is so expensive.
This is the last chapter of the Dark Phoenix Saga that I own, until the funeral scene but things don’t really get much better for the X-Men after this until a new ray of light shines into the mansion and makes everything better.
There is two odd advertising decisions in the back of this issue. One is promoting Marvel Handbook Update ’89, which I own seven of the eight issues. Though they only promote six issues. Which isn’t the odd part, the odd part is that this ad is repeated as the back cover ad. One would imagine that that could have gone to a paid advertiser.
The same thing happens with the inside back cover and the last advertisement which is promoting three annuals participating in the Atlantis Attacks crossover – West Coast Avengers 4, Thor 14 and Fantastic Four 22. Maybe advertisers didn’t want to pay for reprinted material, but I imagine Classic must have sold well. Especially these issues.
Written by Greg Pak
Art by Mike McKone
Color Art by Rachelle Rosenberg
Lettered by VC’s Joe Caramagna
Exalted, Part Three of Four
Cover Dated March 2012
I have part two on my Wishlist and I own part four but won’t be reviewing it next.
Inside front cover ad is for AvX 0, It’s Coming.
This whole arc is like a back door pilot for the second volume of X-Treme X-Men, which was like another failed Exiles attempt.
The Charles Xavier of this Alternate Earth, is young and has long blonde hair. His X-Men killed Magneto. He let the entire world read his mind and the world felt joy. In Magneto’s last minutes, he cracked the world. The brains of the Earth created a machine that sucks the power out of a mutant, killing them, but saving the planet. For some time.
Savior’s Hold. Santo Marco. Now. The Savior is the blonde Xavier. He needs the latest mutant to step into the machine.
One Mile Below Savior’s Hold. The latest mutant? Cyclops, of the Proper Marvel Universe. He has made a few friends of some renegade X-Men – Emmaline Frost, Kid Nightcrawler, General James Howlett and Shadow.
Xavier admits that they have killed so many of their own kind. Cyclops starts optic blasting walls.
The other X-Men start waking up. Emmaline admits that Xavier is stronger than her. General Howlett has an adamatine-lace skull, the metal of gods, that keeps bad thoughts out. That is a reference to his husband, Hercules.
Kid Nightcrawler recommends they don Magneto helmets to keep Xavier at bay.
It is pretty easy to look bad arse in Magneto helmets.
Cyclops makes the teams. Kid Nightcrawler, Shadow and Emmaline will be looking for the X-Jet and how to get him back home. Cyclops and Howlett are the other team, they are going to kill Savior.
Once alone, Howlett explains to Cyclops that on his world, Scott is 19 and only Howlett has threaten to kill him.
There is an ad for Wolverine and the X-Men 6, with Intergalactic Gambling 101. AvX is about to start.
Outside. Kid Nightcrawler states he is a big Spider-Man fan, he calls Shadow “Spite” which isn’t her codename.
Emmeline does a first strike against Savior, which gives him a nose bleed. He counters and she nearly passes out, he is a hundred times stronger than her. He reads her mind and knows what their plan is. He instructs Storm to defend the X-Jet. As she flies off towards the X-Jet which frees up the bunker that they needed to go to.
Kid Nightcrawler teleports in front of Storm, she doesn’t care until Shadow pops out through him and attacks Storm. Kid Nightcrawler calls her Sprite one too many times, she tells him her name is Shadow and to head towards the bunker. Storm lightning strikes Shadow and carries her off the battlefield. Storm lands in front of Savior, Cyclops optic blasts her. Howlett stabs Savior to his left arm, seems like a waste of a move.
Storm has Savior open her mind to Cyclops. Storm spends most of her time thinking of the people who died from Magneto’s last attempt at justice. She also remembers all of the heroes who sacrificed their lives to keep this Earth alive.
Issue ends with Cyclops optic blasting Storm then Savior. He’s ready to let this planet die.
There is an ad for Circle of Four, starring Ghost Rider (sinner), X23 (slayer), Red Hulk (savage) and Venom (soldier), I guess those four have some commonalities.
Back cover ad is for the Honda Civic, with a luchador, so that should sell a few cars.
# 101 – Colossus and Kitty Pryde
Writer Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler Steve McNiven
Inker Mark Morales
Artist, Pages 1 – 3 Sal Buscema
Colorist Morry Hollowell
Letterers Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne
Cover Dated August 2005
Sentry Part Two of Four
I only own this for the last page, which was a double splash page, which features Kitty Pryde.
I really like how the first three pages are made out to be an old school comic. Having Sal Buscema provide the art, was a nice touch.
These pages are part of the cover story Joe Quesada and Marvel, with the help of Wizard Magazine, did to sell The Sentry. The story they tried to sell us on was that Sentry was a character Stan Lee created in the early days of Marvel. With his legendary poor memory, he forgot about the character until someone found the character sheets one day.
The concept of Marvel’s version of Superman, was enough to sell me on giving the original miniseries a chance. I bought that one and the various one shots that were released.
Marvel had to sell the character as a forgotten Marvel, as that was also the in-universe explanation as he apparently was a mainstay of Marvel. Something happened and everyone forgot who Sentry was.
Sentry has a dark side, The Void. The Sentry gets his powers from the sun and Void from the darkness. Get it?
Onto the issue.
I like that Bendis credits Paul Jenkins, the actual creator of the Sentry, for the original three pages. It is the least he could do as the final panel of the third page transitions us to a cave wherein Sentry is reading the comic book. In the cave with the Sentry is – Captain America, Iron Man, comic writer Paul Jenkins and Sentry’s wife, Lindy, who the Sentry believes is dead.
Everyone is confused by the Sentry’s presence.
SHIELD Helicarrier, One Week Ago. Iron Man is trying to recruit Wolverine to the team. Iron Man thinks Wolverine joining the team, will help his image. He needs is as Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. just completed their amazing run that had Hydra kill Wolverine, bring him back and control him. Enemy of the State / Agent of SHIELD, was the name of the two arcs.
There is an awkward white square that is stapled into the comic right here between the comic page and the ad for the 90s Spider-Man : Venom Saga DVD.
Tony hints that standing next to Captain America, makes yourself want to be a better person. He needed that when he was hitting rock bottom, which apparently Wolverine doesn’t know about. Since all of the pep talk isn’t working, Tony decides he will just pay Wolverine to be on the team.
Today. Long Island. The Wrecker is tossing Wolverine about a neighborhood. The only Avenger still standing is Spider-Woman, who I believe is really Veranke, the Skrull Queen with enhancements to give her Jessica Drew’s powers. She is secretly setting up Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn will kill her a few years from now.
Spider-Woman gets inside Wrecker’s mind, asking him what he really wants out of life.
Arizona. Lindy is trying to talk to Sentry. He can’t believe she is alive. He creates a burst of sunlight and disappears.
The first Fantastic Four film must have just came out as thee are several ads for the film and merchandise for it.
Poor Paul Jenkins fainted. Sentry is gone.
Bob Reynolds wakes up, grabs some food and watches some television.
Back to Spider-Woman and the Wrecker. There is an insert for Entertainment Weekly subscription. I’m glad this practice isn’t still used today.
Wrecker talks long enough for Wolverine to get back into the fight. He slashes Wrecker’s back. Spider-Woman uses Wrecker’s magical crowbar, tosses to Luke Cage and he hits Wrecker with it, as well. Cage decides to keep the crowbar, going forward. Spider-Man webs up Wrecker, the day is saved. I keep wanting to type, Wreckler, what is that about?
This is a great page! We learn one of Spider-Woman’s forgotten powers and it is actually a funny moment, too.
Spider-Woman reveals she emits a pheromone. In the Facebook : Avenges Alliance game, this power emits fear. Its a waste of a move. Wolverine was getting dizzy due to it. Luke Cage was feeling nuts. Spider-Man’s “I love my wife” is so funny, he’s been having naughty thoughts! Now that stupid One More Day happened, this page is no longer in continuity. He probably said, girlfriend, now.
Iron Man tells the team to assembled.
Bob fell asleep in front of the television. Something I could never do. I need to have my legs up, I think. Emma Frost wakes him and tells him to go outside.
It has always bugged me Kitty’s stance there. What is she even doing? Also, what is Emma doing, pointing those guns at Captain America! Cyclops looks on, approvingly.
Issue ends as The Void is seeping out of Bob.
I had kept issues nine and ten as there was a website that implied that since those issues take place on his front lawn, that Kitty is technically in those issues but if you don’t see her or they don’t mention her, I don’t count it.
I can tell you that after this, Sentry joins the team, so there’s that.
# 55 Kitty Pryde
Writer Joss Whedon
Artist John Cassaday
Colorist Laura Martin
Letterer Chris Eliopoulos
Cover Dated July 2004
Gifted Part One of Six
So this is the regular issue plus some bonus back up features such as covers and character designs.
Here is Kitty’s :
Apparently Cassaday did the original sketches for the Reload Covers that seemed silly at the time.
Astonishing X-Men 1, up close of Wolverine’s extended claws
Uncanny X-Men 444, Kurt’s tail
New X-Men Academy 1, Icarus’ wing tip
X-Men 157, Iceman’s right side of his face
I own all of these except for New X-Men Academy.
If you like the half sketch for the cover, there is a full sketch version of the cover. I wish I own the team cover.
The bonus section ends with script excerpts. pages 11, 12 and 13 are what is seen.
Kitty is mentioned on the last featured page of 13.
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