X-Men

The issue starts out with Rogue in a lot of trouble in the Danger Room sequence. Her only absorbed personality, Mystique, begins to take over to help her get out of trouble. This part of the comic works well because of the flashback explaining how this all possible when Rogue went to Beast afte...

The issue puts Magneto in a position where it is really hard to see him as a villain anymore. As a Jew or as a mutant why wouldn’t he do whatever was necessary to preserve his race? Even if that means violence, I think I can understand why he would take the extreme side of the coin.

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Uncanny X-Men #504 Marvel Comics Fraction, Dodson, Ponsor Colossus is upset about the loss of his love. He decides a tattoo is in order, but that doesn’t quite work with his steel body and all. After seeking some comfort from Nightcrawler, he is eventually sent on a sabbatical by Cyclops.

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The issue opens with the flashback to Xavier tempering Wolverine to put his claws away. He councils Wolverine to learn how to control his animal instincts and that he will eventually regain what he’s lost. Flash to the present and Wolverine and Xavier invade the Island where Shaw is camped o...

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Uncanny X-Men #503 Marvel Comics Fraction, Brubaker, Land and Ponsor Next the issue covers Empath and his rampage. While Scott and Emma play the dual role of tactician and communications center, Angel, Storm, Nightcrawler and Wolverine try to stop Empath. While this is going on Pixie has herself a breakout moment and some good interaction with Beast to boot. It’s a good issue. There is a decent sized cast and the issue moves fast enough so that none of them really eat up too much scenery. The banter between Nightcrawler and Wolverine is assuming while the dialogue between Cannonball, Karma and Mirage is meaningful. Empath proved to be an interesting villain, but wasn’t explored very much.   [read the full post]

X-Men Legacy #216 Marvel Comics Carey, Briones & Hanna Emma shows Xavier his first meeting with Beast. This is very much like the Origin issue from a couple of weeks ago and it helps nail down just how manipulative Xavier is and how he likes to jump into other people’s minds without asking but hates it when people do that to him. Emma shows Xavier how badly he twisted up Rogue. This helps to show Xavier has a tough side, especially when he is lying. Some father figure he makes. Next she deals with his treatment of Cyclops. Then Jean and finally Moira. It’s quite a tour and Xavier doesn’t always come out looking too rosy. In fact, someone should have decked the dude despite the wheelchair decades ago.   [read the full post]

Wolverine Origins #28 Marvel Comics Way, Deodato & Beredo Daken had been trying to kill his father for a long time. Something happened to him and his healing factor was slowed down. Add in a bullet to the brain and he doesn’t remember that he hates Wolverine or that Wolverine is his father. Wolverine wants to take advantage of the situation and get him help. Xavier decides to bring him to the X-Men and in the process it kicks off some memories of his own introduction into the X-Men. The bulk of the issue is spent on his mission to confront the Hulk, which was Wolverine’s first comic appearance. The retelling of this confrontation does add some context to the bigger story of Wolverine’s origin. But again, it’s not essential.   [read the full post]

Secret Invasion X-Men #2 of 4 Marvel Comics Carey & Nord Well, the X-Men appear to be able to handle the Skrulls and even the Super Skrulls so what’s left? Well this issue doesn’t exactly show us how the Skrulls are prepared to deal with the X-Men, but there are a couple of interesting plot turns that can probably make this thing interesting. Otherwise I’d say this is a rout. The Skrulls lay out their next step, which is to trap the X-Men into coming to them. Almost on queue we see Cyclops explaining the X-Men’s plan to the mutants. The big obstacle with the pending battle is that the Skrulls are blocking telepaths.   [read the full post]

This issue begins with Hank hanging out with a female friend in high school. Hank is not the Beast, he’s just a really big kid. The early interaction shows immediately all the charm, humor and humble intelligence that Beast has had for all those years of X stories. It’s a dead on character profile. We also get some information about how the X gene may have been triggered within him as Hank is already suspecting that he is a mutant. Until a villain named Conquistador shows up threatening Hank’s parents in order to employ the use of the super boy. Hank shines as he uses his brains to outsmart this clown and gives some glimpses of his brawn in the process. Charles finds him as a result of this confrontation and takes liberties of wiping everyone’s minds of w...   [read the full post]

After some setup of Xavier visiting the mansion, Rogue going to Australia and Cyclops telling Emma he had to go check the woods to look for weaknesses we get to the meat of the issue. Xavier got into Cyclops’ mind and had him check the forest. This, of course, enrages Cyclops. Xavier decided that digging into someone’s head is better than a simple text message. This also brings up an interesting question about Cyclops not really asking about how Xavier survived Messiah or how his dead body disappeared. Maybe he just doesn’t care. The argument really heats up when Xavier tells Cyclops that Sinister planted things in his Cyclops’ head and Xavier needs to check up on them. How does Xavier know this? Because he let Sinister share his own head. It’s dizzy...   [read the full post]

Uncanny X-Men #501 Marvel Comics Brubaker, Fraction & Land Then we have some bonding between Cyclops and Angel. This kind of dragged on a little too long, but I guess the character interaction was pretty decent all things considered. This is immediately followed up with more downtime between Cyclops, Beast and Wolverine. It got boring real fast. Uncanny X-Men #501 Another negative was the artwork. Overall, it was fine. However, I found that many of the scenes lacked a background. For example, Colossus, Wolverine and Nightcrawler interaction all appeared to take place in a prison cell or in a void. I just felt like the story could have been really enhanced by the artwork and it wasn’t.   [read the full post]

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Marvel Comics Swierczynski & Olivetti The issue begins with Cannonball and Cable meeting up. Cannonball is an old man. He is the only mutant left. There are a ton of obvious questions, but Cable only wants to know how he found them. After all the mutants telepaths died, “they” figured out how to use the cerebra. Once all the other mutants where dead Cannonball would keep checking it waiting for Cable to show up. Interesting plan, except his rehash of using the Cerebra on that day when he found Cable only showed two mutants. There are actually three: Cable, Bishop and the baby. This series has had trouble counting (remember the bullet count from last issue?).   [read the full post]

This issue provides five short stories about various X-Men trying to cope with their lives after the Messiah Complex war and the disbanding of the X-Men. Generally speaking you could probably deduce that if you like the characters featured in this issue then you will like the issue. I’m not so sure about this though. At least two of these stories give very shallow looks at these characters, possibly in the hopes of getting you to read future series about them. What I’m saying is that, in some cases, the stories felt like teasers and not adding any significant value to the character. 2 out of 5 geek goggles X-Men Divided We Stand #1 (of 2) of 2)   [read the full post]

Xavier and Exodus face off in a battle of minds. This is odd because Xavier’s mind wasn’t fully rebuilt, but I guess it still works. Magneto tries to help Xavier, but cant. So that means Exodus saved Xavier and is now battling him. Exodus brought in Magneto and is now battling him. Okay. Exodus has Xavier on his knees. Then the issue takes a turn that reminds me of what I haven’t liked all along. Emma feels Xavier fighting for his life. Eventually Xavier stops Exodus and Exodus reveals that he wants Xavier to lead the Acolytes. This I can accept. What I can’t accept is that Xavier walks out of there without getting any flack from Exodus. So does Magneto and others. Exodus just stands there like a statue. This makes no sense. Add in that mutants who were in mix in prev...   [read the full post]

Here are this week's comics ranked both prior to purchase and then after one reading. 6) Caliber #1 (-) 5) X-Men Legacy #210 (1) This issue disappointed me on a lot of levels. Basically you have a comic with Exodus, Xavier and Magneto and nothing significant happens. Xavier has selective memory, which makes things impossible to know what he knows or doesn't know. Exodus lets him walk out with Magneto who he was trying to kill last issue. Add in that mutants are unaccounted for that had been in the fray and you have a bit of a mess. And as stated all over the place: why aren't the X-Men concerned that Xavier's body disappeared from under their noses. This issue was a letdown.   [read the full post]

The first third of the comic deals with Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler under attack by some giant robots while on a train ride through Russia. No, they aren’t THOSE robots, but they aren’t any less powerful. This scene makes more good use of these three classic characters and their interaction with each other. Wolverine fights but not in his berserker mode. It’s all good stuff. Did I mention they lose? The issue ends with the goddess aware the X-Men are on to her while in Russia, Wolverine, Colossus and Nightcrawler are captive and in deep trouble. They are faced with an interesting question: why were they among those that survived M-Day? Beyond the fact that they are cool characters and all that.   [read the full post]

X-Men: Divided We Stand #1 of 2 Marvel Comics Carey, Peterson, Ponsor, Kyle, Yost, Takeda, Young, Beaulieu, Yost, LaFuente, Fraction & McKelvie Lastly, Nightcrawler confronts the one who nearly killed him, Scalphunter. This story is good for a couple of reasons. One, it really gives deep insight into Nightcrawler’s character. We even get the aspects of his spirituality which isn’t always presented with the character. Secondly, we see that not all the X-Men are lost in their purpose. Lastly, we see that the villains of the Messiah Complex aren’t exactly prospering since the war ended either. 4 out of 5 geek goggles. X-Men Divided We Stand #1 (of 2)   [read the full post]

Uncanny X-Men #496 Marvel Comics Brubaker, Choi & Oback Colossus visits a tombstone or two with Wolverine and Nightcrawler. Wolverine keeps the emotions grounded by helping them get out of mourning and into a bar. Wolverine helps to talk Colossus in some circles. Imagine a situation where Wolverine is the calming voice of reason to get over grief. Colossus has lost a lot and thanks to an editor falling asleep at the wheel, we know about another loss before it actually happened (for those of you waiting for Astonishing X-Men stay away from this issue). Wolverine helps to articulate that being an X-Men is wasn’t supposed to solve your own problems, but maybe solve them for future generations of mutants. It’s a solid scene.   [read the full post]

MARVEL ADVENTURES THE AVENGERS #24 32 PGS./All Ages …$2.99 MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #11 MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #11 MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #3 64 PGS./All Ages …$4.99 NEW AVENGERS #41 SECRET INVASION TIE-IN! 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99 SECRET INVASION TIE-IN! 32 PGS./Rated A …$2.99 X-FORCE #4 X-MEN: KITTY PRYDE AND WOLVERINE PREMIERE HC Written by CHRIS CLAREMONT Trim size: standard These WOLVERINE: ORIGINS TRADE PAPERBACKS STILL AVAILABLE! WOLVERINE ORIGINS VOL. 1 – BORN IN BLOOD…$13.99 (ISBN: 0-7851-2287-7) WOLVERINE: ORIGINS VOL. 2 – SAVIOR…$13.99 (ISBN: 978-0-7851-2288-3 WOLVERINE: ORIGINS VOL. 3 – SWIFT AND TERRIBLE…$13.99 (ISBN: 978-0-7851-2613-3) X-MEN: LEGACY BY DAVID FINCH POSTER   [read the full post]

SECRET INVASION #1 (of 8) (FEB082240) SECRET INVASION #1 MCNIVEN VARIANT (FEB082241) SECRET INVASION #1 MCNIVEN SKETCH VARIANT (DEC078205) SECRET INVASION #1 YU VARIANT (DEC078206) SECRET INVASION #1 BLACK COVER CONVENTION VARIANT (FEB082242) Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS Penciled by LEINIL FRANCIS YU Cover by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO Variant Cover by STEVE MCNIVEN Sketch Variant Cover by STEVE MCNIVEN Variant Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU Rated T+ …$3.99 FOC – 3/13, On-Sale – 4/2/2008 Secret Invasion #1 (of 8) Secret Invasion TPB Infiltration Wizard Magazine #199 Secret Invasion Cover   [read the full post]

Setting his grand plan for godhood into motion, Apocalypse dispatches his agents to capture the world's most powerful mutants, the fabled Twelve: Professor X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Iceman, Sunfire, Polaris, Cable, Bishop, Mikhail Rasputin, the Living Monolith and Magneto. Having himself planted the seeds of the Twelve legend, Apocalypse hopes to siphon their power, granting him omnipotency. Desperate to stave off his ascension, the X-Men must strike a temporary truce with Magneto to battle the warlord's forces as the Twelve are assembled -- and one longtime member seemingly sacrifices his own life to end the threat of Apocalypse once and for all! Collecting Uncanny X-Men 376-377, Cable 73-76, X-Men 96-97, Wolverine 145-...   [read the full post]