Sunday 8 September 2013

X-Men Re-Read: X-Force v3: Not Forgotten (part 1)

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Force v3: Not Forgotten

Collects: X-Force #12-13, #17-19
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Clayton Crain, Mike Choi

In which we look at the two issues of Not Forgotten before being forcibly sent to the future.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Warpath, Wolfsbane, Wolverine, X-23, Elixir, Archangel, Vanisher

Suicide Leper (X-Force #12-13)
The consequences of the Legacy Virus being in Bastion's hands (after X-Force v2: Old Ghosts) is felt as mutants begin exploding killing humans. X-Force find the Leper Queen as the culprit. Boom Boom, Hellion and Surge are kidnapped to be the next mutant bombs and Hellion and Surge are injected. They're saved but Boom Boom remains a captive. X-Force are teleported to the future and into Messiah War before they can save her. She's shot in the head by the Leper Queen.

To be continued...

Saturday 7 September 2013

X-Men Re-read: New Mutants: Return of Legion

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

New Mutants: Return of Legion

Collects: New Mutants #1-5
Writer(s): Zeb Wells
Penciller(s): Diogenes Neves, Zachary Baldus

Old is new again...

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Cannonball, Karma, Magik, Magma, Dani Moonstar and Sunspot

Reuniting (most of) the cast of the original New Mutants this brings together Cannonball, Karma, Magik, Magma, Dani Moonstar and Sunspot and builds on the end of X-Infernus.

Magik arrives in San Francisco, claiming to be from the future and saying that Karma and Dani Moonstar will die if they do not save them. Sensibly the X-Men do some test to make sure it isn't an impostor. Cannonball recruits Sunspot and Magma and heads off with Magik for a rescue.

It turns out they've run afoul of Legion, Professor X's erstwhile son. Karma has been mentally trapped inside, there is the interesting plot device of the psyche holding a teddy bear is the one in control of Legion's body and their powers are used.

Things get sorted out, and the new New Mutants team is assembled, except for Dani - who as she is currently depowered, Cannonball doesn't want her on the team. They clash and eventually Cannonball relents.

Warlock returns to earth and finds Cypher's grave empty, setting us up for the Necrosha crossover.

Best Bit
Getting the band back together again.

Final Words
Finally, a Magik story that's not all about Limbo.

Decent
8 / 10

Friday 6 September 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Force v2: Old Ghosts

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Force v2: Old Ghosts

Collects: X-Force #7-11
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Mike Choi

The aftermath of the first X-Force mission and that pesky Legacy Virus rears it's ugly head once more.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Archangel, Elixir, Warpath, Wolfsbane, Wolverine, X-23, Vanisher

Old Ghosts (X-Force #7-10)
After the events of Angels and Demons, Archangel and Wolfsbane can't stand to be in the same room as each other. Wolfsbane still going for Angel's wings and Angel turning into Archangel when he sees her.

Cyclops sends the team to find the Vanisher who has found the Legacy Virus in one of Mister Sinister's old lairs. They find Vanisher and hook up with Domino and it turns out that Vanisher has lost it when attacked by a number of Marauder clones which awoke after Sinister's death back in Messiah CompleX. Vanisher is coerced into joining up via an inoperable tumor implanted by Elixir.

X-Force go back to the lab and kill the Marauder clones, clash with the resurrected Cameron Hodge over the virus. X-23 is injected with the virus during the battle, but is healed by Elixir. Seriously, where was he when you needed him during the original Legacy Virus story-line that ran from roughly the end of X-Cutioner's Song to Dreams' End.

It ends with the revelation that while X-Force prevented one vial of the Legacy virus getting into the hands of Bastion, Sinister had multiple labs and the virus is still in the wrong hands.

While all this is going down, Warpath goes to see his brothers grave to make peace with the blood on his hands, only to confront the Demon Bear, with Ghost Rider's help and find that Eli Bard has dug them all up.

Who the Hell is Eli Bard? (X-Force #11)
This is basically Warpath telling the rest of X-Force what he'd found out and an info dump of Eli Bard's origin (had a love affair with Selene, accidentally betrayed her and was cursed by her) and serves as a prologue to the forthcoming Necrosha story line. As he presents the reanimated Technarch Zombie Apaches and Caliban to Selene as a gift to win her back.

Best Bit
Elixir giving Vanisher an inoperable brain tumor to get him to co-operate is pretty hardcore.

Final Words
More from the grim and gritty world of X-Force, aided by sublime art by Mike Choi.

Great
9 / 10

Thursday 5 September 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Infernus

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Infernus

Collects: X-Infernus #1-4, Magik story from Divided We Stand, X-Men Unlimited #14, and New X-Men #37
Writer(s): C. B. Cebulski (and others for the bonus material)
Penciller(s): Giuseppe Camuncoli (and others in the bonus material)

Magik returns! Again!

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Magik, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Pixie, Mercury, Rockslide, Wolverine

This is a sequel to the Quest for Magik story-line in New X-Men: Childhood's End v5. So much so that it reprints the prologue to that story, as an introduction to how Magik came back.

It should be obvious by now how I feel about the Limbo portion of X-Men mythos, so expect this to be relatively short.

Essentially, Colossus is peeved that the X-Men can't save Illyana (Magik) from limbo. In limbo, Magik is looking for her soulsword and the original bloodstone amulet with her soul in it. Pixie flips out (she lost some of her soul in the aforementioned New X-Men arc) and stabs Nightcrawler with he soul dagger, when she removes it she inadvertently removes Magik's soulsword which was inside him too. I have no memory of how / when it got there. Perhaps in his solo Nightcrawler series from around 2004 which I haven't read or towards the end of Excalibur.

This brings Magik to the X-Men's San Francisco base to take the sword. Nightcrawler leads a team of Colossus, Pixie, Wolverine, Mercury and Rockslide into limbo, with Pixie teleporting in.

The villain of the story is Witchfire, the daughter of the original limbo big bad Belasco, who has usurped limbo from Magik. What follows is a skuffle for Limbo and Magik / Pixies soul. Neither Magik or Pixie get their souls fully back, but Witchfire is ousted from Limbo.

At the end Magik is convinced to stay with the X-Men.

Best Bit
Pixie stabbing Nightcrawler is pretty cool, from a wtf standpoint.

Final Words
As Limbo stories go, this is one of the better ones and brings Magik back on to the table with an interesting status quo.

Decent
7 / 10

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Stuff I Read: Fairest v2: The Hidden Kingdom

comic musings

Stuff I Read

Fairest v2: The Hidden Kingdom


Collects: Fairest #7-14
This is an entertaining enough tale, featuring some of Japanese Fables that I'm not especially familiar with the inspiration for. It's not set in the current Fables continuity, being set somewhere earlier before the first volume of the main series. Bigby is still sherif, Jack Horner is still with Rose Red etc...

Essentially Rapunzel gets a brick through a window with the Japanese for children on it. It turns out that she is missing her children (a plot point I don't recall being settled in the main series. Essentially we get a tour through Japan with Rapunzel and Jack. The standout moment is Rapunzel being the classic ghost from films like Ringu, crawling out of a well with her hair going wild.

Saldy, the fact it is set before the main series, means that the characters are never in any real jeopardy. It's not the best Fables spin-off (Cinderella) but it certainly isn't the worst (Jack of Fables).

Tuesday 3 September 2013

X-Men Re-read: Uncanny X-Men: Manifest Destiny

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

Uncanny X-Men: Manifest Destiny

Collects: Uncanny X-Men #500-501, Free Comic Book Day 2008, Stories from Manifest Destiny #1-5
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction
Penciller(s): Greg Land, Terry Dodson + Others

The X-Men move to San Francisco.

Quick Synopsis
Pixies and Demons (X-Men: Free Comic Book Day)
This focuses on Megan Gwynn aka Pixie as she goes back to her Welsh home after the disbanding of the X-Men in Messiah CompleX. The story is simple enough, there are some demons (the N'Garai from early issues of Uncanny, e.e. 96, 143, 159) kidnapping children to feed to their leader, Pixie investigates calls the X-Men and they sort it out and invite her back to San Francisco.

SFX (Uncanny X-Men #500-503)
Picking up after Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand, this story sees the X-Men relocated to San Francisco, who have embraced the mutants. Mostly. There's a new Hellfire Cult (i.e. speciesist nut-jobs wearing the distinctive mask of the Hellfire Cult) who beat up mutants including Pixie, when she leaves one of Dazzler's gigs.

The San Francisco people decide the best way to welcome the X-Men is to build a museum, including deactivated Sentinels. I mean what could go wrong with that? Well, before you can say dumb-ass idea, Magneto rocks up using powers based on technology and causes a kerfuffle.

The X-Men go after the Hellfire Cult, using Karma's powers to draw them out. Cyclops mock tortures one of them to find their base of operations. The X-Men take them apart, but the leader escapes and thwarts the X-Men. Pixie gets her mojo back and takes him down.

Essentially, it's a coming of age tale for Pixie, where she takes the role of the young girl on the X-Men team, like Kitty Pryde in the mid 100s and Jubilee in the mid 200s of Uncanny.

There's a sub plot that involves the return of Madelyne Prior and the creation of a new Sisterhood of Evil Mutants, the book ends with Cyclops learning that his ex-wife is still alive.

Manifest Destiny Shorts (From X-Men: Manifest Destiny #1-5)
Some anthology tales, in the manner of Divided We Stand, exploring characters in this new status quo. The pick of the bunch being Emma Frost coming to terms with being a respected member of the X-Men.

Best Bit
Pixie.

Final Words
Story is nice enough but the art... well you just have to google Greg Land and you'll find lots of stuff on him. I don't mind that most of it is at best photo inspired and at worst photo traced, I just find it flat and motionless at times.

Great
8 / 10

Monday 2 September 2013

Stuff I Read: Fallen Angels

comic musings

Stuff I Read

Fallen Angels


Collects: Fallen Angels #1-8
One of the earliest X-Men spinoff series sees Sunspot (from the New Mutants) runaway from Xaviers' after a game of football goes wrong and he injures Cannonball. Basically, he hooks up with a group of street urchins (the titular Fallen Angels) led by Vanisher (who will go on to be in the post-Messiah CompleX itteration of X-Force) they're also joined by Siryn and Madrox who will go on to much better things in X-Factor. There's also Boom Boom, who will be in the original X-Force as Boomer. These are joined by some frankly awful characters such as Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur and a couple of mutant crabs. Yup. When I say that one of the cliffhangers between issues is when the Dinosaur squash a crab, you know roughly where we are.

One for completists only.

Sunday 1 September 2013

Stuff I Read: Venom: Toxin with a Vengeance

comic musings

Stuff I Read

Venom: Toxin with a Vengeance


Collects: Venom #31-35
Flash Thompson is currently the host of Venom and he has just moved to a new town, as he settles in he encounters a strange creature. The Toxin symbiote is currently hosted by Eddie Brock, the 2nd (after Peter Parker) and most famous host of the Venom symbiote.

They take the traditional team up path of fighting, then working together to beat a common foe, before leaving each other with a grudging level of respect. It's all good, but it's not anything we haven't seen before. What makes this title good is the character moments with Flash adjusting to life and being determined not to use prostetic legs or the Symbiote and to get by with his chair.

 The scratchy art work takes some time to get used to, but it's worth a look. Other than knowing who Flash is and who Eddie is, no prior Spider-knowledge is really needed, which is nice.

Saturday 31 August 2013

Stuff I Read: Saga of the Swamp Thing v4

comic musings

Stuff I Read

Saga of the Swamp Thing v4


Collects: Saga of the Swamp Thing #43-50
The fourth collection of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. I really love the late 80s early 90s era of DC / Vertigo comics. There is something we loose in computer coloured art and a lack of white-space.

This collection features a couple of standalone horror tales I've got used to in this series and it mainly features a story building off Crisis on Infinite Earths as Constantine and Swamp Thing try and keep the spiritual side of the DCU together.

To be honest I'm not really a fan of this metaphysical side of the DCU and it's strange to see swampy interacting with characters such as Phantom Stranger, the Demon. Never having really read any of Constantine before Hellblazer, it's even weirder to see him talking to Batman. This has the classic Parliament of Trees story in it, but I find Swamp Thing gets lost in the weirdness as things go into other planes in #50. It's a good collection, but I think I preferred the previous 3.

Friday 30 August 2013

X-Men Re-Read: Young X-Men v2: Books of Revelations

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

Young X-Men v2: Revelations

Collects: Young X-Men #6-12
Writer(s): Marc Guggenheim
Penciller(s): Ben Oliver, Rafa Sandoval

The second and final volume of Young X-Men.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Anole, Cipher, Dust, Graymalkin, Ink, Mirage, Rockslide, Sunspot

The Young X-Men relocate to San Francisco with the rest of the X-Men, during the events of Manifest Destiny. They're trained by previous New Mutants, such as Dani Moonstar and Sunspot. There's two main stories, one resolving Ink's powers (it's not him that's a mutant, but his tattooist). The Young X-Men fight a group also tattooed by the tattooist, with Ink gaining a healing hand and a Phoenix tattoo over his eye. Doing the Phoenix tattoo, drops him into a coma and out of stories.

The second has Dust having problems with her powers, turning to (and helping escape) Pierce for help. She dies, but is saved by Ink and his phoenix tattoo. Thankfully that gets rid of him too. Hurrah.

There's also a couple of sub plots involving Cipher (not to be confused with New Mutant, Cypher who to be fair was dead at the time) someone who could essentially be invisible. She's inserted into various X-events, such as New X-Men, Astonishing X-Men and Messiah CompleX. I don't recall her especially sticking around either, but apparently she pops up in a cameo in Wolverine and the X-Men.

There's also a future plot line involving Emma Frost, Graymalkin and Anole supposably showing what would have happened had Ink not saved Dust. Days of Future Past it isn't.

Best Bit
There's some funny moments between Anole and Rockslide.

Final Words
Much worse than the previous one.

Average
4 / 10

Thursday 29 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand

Collects: Uncanny X-Men #495-499
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker
Penciller(s): Mike Choi

What X-Men do when there isn't any X-Men.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler

After the disbanding of the X-Men in Messiah CompleX, the X-Men go their different ways. This title focuses on Cyclops, Emma Frost, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus and to a lesser extent Hepzibah and Angel.

Cyclops and Emma relax in the Savage Land. Colossus, Wolverine and Nightcrawler take a road trip to Russia where they run afoul of the program that created Omega Red.

Angel goes to San Francisco where the whole town is now living as if it was the 70s, he manages to alert Cyclops and Emma but eventually succumbs to the effect himself. Emma manages to shield herself and Cyclops from the effect and they investigate. It turns out to be one of the Mastermind family that has gone a little mental and has been exploited by an old hippie wanting to relive his glory days.

They sort everything out, saving the mayor in the process. The X-Men gain a new home, the russian road trip wraps up as they get a call from Cyclops informing them that they're reforming in San Francisco. And we're off to Manifest Destiny.

Best Bit
Scott's comment that Emma's hippy disguise is less revealing than her normal outfit.

Final Words
I love the Mike Choi art, I wish he drew a regular book still.

Great
8 / 10

Wednesday 28 August 2013

X-Men Re-Read: X-Men: Divided We Stand

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men: Divided We Stand

Collects: X-Men: Divided We Stand #1-2
Writer(s): Various
Penciller(s): Various

A collection of stories set during the Divided We Stand era of X-Men while the X-Men are still disbanded after the Messiah CompleX storyline, some are hit others are miss. The standout being the tale where Vulcan taunts Havok with the "death" of Xavier, where instead of demoralizing Alex, it only fires him up. To be fair to Vulcan, he would have heard that Xavier had been shot in the head, it's only comics where that isn't a sure fire kill. It's a nice enough anthology, but nothing here is essential.

Tuesday 27 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Men Legacy: Divided He Stands

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men Legacy: Divided He Stands

Collects: X-Men: Legacy #208-212
Writer(s): Mike Carey
Penciller(s): Scott Eaton, Billy Tan, Greg Land, John Romita Jr.

In which we find out what happened to Professor X.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Professor X

From Genesis to Revelations (X-Men: Legacy #208-210)
In the blink and you miss it ending to Messiah CompleX, the body of Professor X disappeared. It took me a few takes to get it first time round and this time I flat out missed it. Basically, Xavier was taken by Exodus and his Acolytes, and this series (at least at the start) explores Xavier's character as we find out that the Exodus has been able to save him, Bishop's bullet caused brain damage and as such Xavier has missing memories. Flashback time!

What follows is an examination of Xavier and his motives, and some scenes from the X-Men's past.

Exodus can't get Xavier to heal properly, so despite being a "flat scan" (i.e. depowered) he brings in Magneto to see if that can jolt Xavier out of his coma. Omega Sentinel (terrible name, I know) asks Magneto whose path was the correct one, his or Xavier's so we get flashbacks to their relationship through the years. With Magneto's presence Xavier awakens and is asked by Exodus to lead the Acolytes.

Exodus and Xavier square off on the psychic plane, with Exodus using bad memories from Charles' past against him. Eventually Xavier wins and leaves. In the epilogue we get hints that Rogue and Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club will be involved in the next tale.

Sins of the Father, Parts 1-2 (X-Men: Legacy #211-212)
Professor X is now trying to rebuild his fractured memory by using other peoples minds. He visits a childhood friend, a chap called Carter and takes a memory from their childhood. It turns out that his father Brian wants to perform some tests on Charles, these are done by a Doctor Milbury. In Carter's memory Milbury has the red diamond on his head associated with Mr Sinister.

At the Hellfire Club, a machine has sprung to life, that used to belong to Sebastian Shaw's father.

Gambit hooks up with Xavier, as he had heard through some contacts in teh New Orleans Assassins' Guild that there was a bounty on Xavier's head. Xavier uses Gambit to regain some more memories before checking out the list - Carter, Cain Marko aka Juggernaut, Sebastian Shaw. Xavier checks on Carter, but he's now dead.

Shaw is also there and follows Gambit and Xavier. They clash with some Assassins again and Xavier has a memory of Sinister and a scalpel. Cliffhanger!

Best Bit
Xavier and Magneto deciding that things have moved on while they've been fighting the same argument against each other.

Final Words
Why a cliffhanger? Because parts 3 and 4 of this story are in the next volume Sins of the Father. This is one of the worst breaks in a volume. It's like they thought 5 issues, release the trade without looking at the story lines. I imagine they needed it to be released along side X-Men: Divided We Stand and Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand.

Frustrating
7 / 10

Monday 26 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: Young X-Men v1: Final Genesis

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

Young X-Men v1: Final Genesis

Collects: Young X-Men #1-5
Writer(s): Marc Guggenheim
Penciller(s): Yanick Paquette

The latest teen title in the tradition of New Mutants, Generation X and New X-Men: Academy X falls a little short, mainly due to deconstructed story telling.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Blindfold, Dust, Graymalkin, Ink, Rockslide, Wolf Cub

Sometimes words get associated with comic properties, like Marvel and "war" (Secret Wars, Civil War), DC with "crisis" (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis) "genesis" is one of those that has stuck with the X-Men. After the disbanding of the X-Men in Messiah CompleX, we focus on some of the younger ones (hence the title) the main characters we have met before are the precog Blindfold, Rockslide and Dust. These are joined sadly, by a couple of the lamest characters to grace and X-book. Wolfcub (who is essentially Wolfsbane or Feral) and Ink (who has the power of whatever is tattooed on his body). One of the worst scenes in the book is when his tattooist shows him an old X-Men cover book with lightning bolts signifying Xavier's telepathy which he gets tattooed on his head to give himself telepathy.

The main story is that Cyclops is busy with the recruiting again (like in X-Force) only this time some of the New Mutants (Dani Moonstar, Sunspot, Magma) have gone bad after Messiah CompleX and Cyclops wants this new team to take them down.

They train in the ruins of the Mansion and eventually fight the New Mutants. It emerges that "Cyclops" has really been Donald Pierce (from the Hellfire club / The Reavers) in disguise - resurrected by Bastion over in X-Force. The Young X-Men and the New Mutants band together to defeat him, but not before Wolfcub is killed.

Best Bit
The Cyclops twist is well executed.

Final Words
Not bad, the art is really good, but the new characters don't quite cut it. If this had been shorter rather than spread over five issues, the series might have stood a chance.

OK
6 / 10

Sunday 25 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Force v1: Angels and Demons

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Force v1: Angels & Demons

Collects: X-Force #1-6
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Clayton Crain

A new X-Force book spinning out of the events of Messiah CompleX.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Warpath, Wolfsbane, Wolverine, X-23

In Messiah CompleX, the X-Men were badly hammered by many different enemies. Deciding to take a more proactive path to deal with threats Cyclops forms a black ops iteration of X-Force consisting of Wolverine, Warpath, Wolfsbane and X-23. Picking up plot threads from the creative teams' New X-Men title, the main villain of this arc is Matthew Risman and the Purifiers. We also have the first appearance of Eli Bard, presented as Risman's right hand man.

The Purifiers break into a S.H.I.E.L.D installation and steal Bastion (from X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance). They attach the head to the Nimrod body (that Forge had, from New X-Men: Childhood's End v3) to resurrect Bastion. Bastion locates an offspring of Magus (Warlock from New Mutants dad) and uses the transmode virus to ressurect Cameron Hodge (from X-Factor, most notably in the X-Tinction Agenda story-line), Bolivar Trask (creater of the Sentinels), Graydon Creed (of Friends of Humanity, also featured in the Operation Zero Tolerance story-line), Donald Pierce (of the Hellfire Club) and also infects the Lepar Queen (from Decimation).

A particularly cool scene has Bastion's squad of mutant killers around a table and lists the number of Mutants each has killed.

X-Force raid a Purifier base, Risman takes Wolfsbane captive and threatens to kill her. X-23 decides that he's bluffing and triggers some explosives. But Risman manages to escape with Wolfsbane. After killing and torturing many Purifiers, X-Force track Wolfsbane down to a warehouse, barely alive and injected with heroin. Back at base Angel goes to get the healer, Elixir (previously of New X-Men) who promptly heals Rahne.

X-23 smells blood coming from the room with Elixir, Rahne and Angel in it, when she gets there she finds Wolfsbane has torn Angel's wings off. It turns out that Wolfsbane's father Reverend Craig had brainwashed Rahne whilst she had been caught by the Purifiers. X-23 is injured and Wolfsbane escapes back to the Purifiers with Angel's wings.

Elixir does his healing thing again, but finds he can't heal Angel's wings as they aren't organic., at this point Angel transforms back to his Archangel persona and heads after the Purifiers, sensing his old wings. It is revealed that the Purifiers have been targeting the winged mutants (like Jay Guthrie (Icarus), in the early volumes of New X-Men: Childhood's End) because their Nimrod unit had told them that they could use them to make am army. The Purifiers use samples from Angel's wings, and the techno-organic compound therin, to make a The Choir, an army of Purifier soldiers with the powers of Archangel.

X-Force tracks Archangel to the Purifier base, they find Archangel brutally (and graphically) slaughtering The Choir. X-Force clash with Risman, Eli Bard and Bastion and Risman is shot in the head by X-23. Afterwards, X-Force find Archangel unconcious, and in human form, complete with feathered wings, effectively setting up the Dark Archangel Saga in Uncanny X-Force a few years later).

Back at base, Wolverine tells Cyclops on what they have learnt and of Bastion's squad of resurrected mutant killers. Cyclops is shown with a most wanted style screen display and asks Wolverine, who is next?

Best Bit
The reveal of Archangel slaughtering The Choir.

Final Words
Absolutely brilliant, builds on the seeds of the past to an exciting future.

Awesome
10 / 10

Saturday 24 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v5: The Only Game in Town

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v5: The Only Game in Town

Collects: X-Factor vol. 3, #28-32; X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Pablo Raimondi, Valentine De Landro

The first post-Messiah CompleX collection of X-Factor.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy)

The team adjust to the fallout from Messiah CompleX with Layla being trapped in the future. Ric and Jamie do this in similar ways, mainly by beating up the bad guys - Ric with some randoms and Jamie by beating up a church of Purifiers. Rahne leaves, to be seen next in X-Force. Theresa and M discus Theresa's pregnancy.

Theresa fails to tell Jaime that she's pregnant, in a crossed wires conversation that M likens to a sitcom. Ric is kidnapped by Arcade and the rest of the team look for him. What follows is a an Arcade / Purifiers story-line with the remains of Mutant Town, NYC, as the game zone. At the conclusion Val Cooper tries to recruit X-Factor into the O*N*E program, but Jaime declines blowing up the X-Factor office and moving to Detroit.

There's also a Quicksilver story at the back, The Quick and the Dead, which goes some way to redeeming the character back onto a path of heroism. It's take it or leave it stuff, I'm not particularly a fan of Quicksilver.

Best Bit
Arcade being revealed to be a robot, only to reveal himself to be wearing a robot mask once X-Factor have gone.

Final Words
Messiah CompleX hasn't stopped the momentum of this title.

Top Notch
8 / 10

Friday 23 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: Cable v1: Messiah War

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

Cable v1: Messiah War

Collects: Cable #1-5
Writer(s): Duane Swierczynski
Penciller(s): Ariel Olivetti

Cable gets his own series after Cyclops sent him into the future to keep the messiah child safe. Quite why this collection is called Messiah War I'll never know, maybe it sounded cooler than War Baby - the actual name for the arc. It just get's confusing with the later crossover Messiah War between Cable and X-Force.

Quick Synopsis
War Baby (Cable #1-5)
The story is pretty simple, Cable arrives in the future and sets about trying to keep the baby fed and safe. He's chased by Bishop who wants the baby dead. We get a few flashbacks to how Bishop got his new arm (after the other was ripped off in Messiah CompleX by a Predator X), with time travel capabilities - seriously Forge needs to make himself some better locks.

Cable has issues with his time travel device, and it turns out that he can only jump forwards in time. Cable and Bishop clash, but Cable runs away in time again. The art takes some getting used to but it is really good, just not in a traditional comic style.

Best Bit
When the waitress who has been helping Cable tools up with weapons from the ruins of Xaviers' and takes out the corrupt law in future New York.

Final Words
Good start, but already starting to stretch things out. This is essentially something for Cable / the baby to do while we wait for Second Coming.

Good
7 / 10

Thursday 22 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Men: Messiah CompleX

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men: Messiah CompleX

Collects: X-Men: Messiah CompleX, Uncanny X-Men #492-494, X-Men #205-207, New X-Men #44-46, X-Factor #25-27
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey, Peter David, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Marc Silvestri, Billy Tan, Scot Eaton, Humberto Ramos and Chris Bachalo

Messiah CompleX is my favourite X-Men story of all time. The first mutant birth from M-day sparks a race that ties up a lot of story-lines coming into this point.

Quick Synopsis
The story opens with the X-Men playing catch up. The birth has happened and by the time the X-Men get there, the baby is gone, leaving only bodies of Marauders (from X-Men) and Purifiers (from New X-Men). Cyclops effectively performs a coo on Professor X, assuming control of the X-Men. You could argue that this is just stamping home the power shift that happened in Deadly Genesis.

Playing catch-up, Cyclops sends Wolverine, Storm Colossus, Angel and Nightcrawler after the Marauders (who still have Rogue captive), he sends Jaime and Layla from X-Factor to Forge to look at the future time lines he's been mapping (in Endangered Species) and they find that two of them now have mutants in them. Jamie sends a dupe to each future and Layla goes with one of them, in the present day Jamie drops into a coma. Cyclops sends Rictor (also of X-Factor) to infiltrate the Purifiers (Ric is one of the mutants who had lost his powers on M-day), he discovers that they are now working with Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers.

The New X-Men being frustrated at being left out of Cyclops' plans take matters into their own hands and launch an attack on the Purifiers. Hellion is badly injured. Simultaneously the team who are gong after the Marauders are being assisted by Emma Frost back in the Mansion, as Hellion and the New X-Men return back the connection they had with Emma is separated leading to defeat and Nightcrawler's injury.

Things heat up back at the mansion as Sentinel Squal O*N*E go haywire and start attacking the mansion and destroy it. They're defeated and the X-Men regroup. They learn from Wolverine that Cable (who went missing in Blinded by the Light) has the baby. Wolverine got this intel from Gambit during the battle with the Marauders, leading us to ponder Gambit's allegiances once more. Cyclops suspects Cable of being behind the Sentinel attack (which is a bit harsh, considering Cable is his son).

In the future, Layla and Jamie discover mutant concentration camps, and end up with the distinctive "M" DNA tattoo, most commonly associated with Bishop. Cyclops dispatches a new X-Force consisting of Wolverine, Hepzibah, Warpath, Caliban, X-23 and Wolfsbane to go after Cable, they catch up with him in the middle of a battle with Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers. In the battle, in which Caliban dies, Cable steals the Blackbird that X-Force arrived in heading towards Forge, looking for a time travel device. He's attacked by Bishop who makes a heel turn. In the future, Layla and Jamie run into the infant Bishop, and they discover his knowledge about the Messiah child and how he would kill her if he could, to prevent his timeline existing.

Before Bishop can pull the trigger, the Marauders interrupt who take the baby to Muir Island, under Gambit's care. The X-Men get a version of Cerebra working and Cyclops rescues X-Force, Bishop, Forge and Jaime (who is still unconscious). Bishop continues to pin the blame on Cable. Cyclops sends X-Force and Bishop ahead to Muir Island. In the future, Layla kills Jaime with a hand grenade, sending his memories back to our Jaime who awakens and warns them about Bishop. Jaime also now sports the "M" tattoo.

The main parties, along with Predator X (from New X-Men) all get themselves to Muir Island for the final confrontation, with Cable convincing Professor X of his innocence, reminding him of the events of X-Cutioners Song when Cable was suspected of shooting Xavier. Cable remarks that in his time, the baby was a Messiah who united all of man and mutantkind, we're left to assume this is the other future that Forge's device detected.

On Muir Island, it's revealed that Sinister has been killed by Mystique who is masquerading as him. She uses the baby to awaken Rogue and it's explained that her and Gambit's actions have been done according to what the precog Destiny had predicted. It's revealed that the baby has wiped Rogue of her assembled memories that she has absorbed over the years.

As the Marauders and Acolytes battle the X-Men, Cable gets the baby back, but Bishop is back on the scene. Predator X rips his arm off, effectively ending his threat. Cyclops demands that Cable hand over the child, Cable is reluctant, but Xavier agrees, saying that Cyclops should see what they've been fighting over. Cyclops remembers the events of Inferno when he sent his child (who would grow up to be Cable into the future to have a chance of life). He gives the baby back to Cable and tells him to go. Bishop gets a gun and shoots just as Cable time-slides to the future. The shot misses Cable, but hits Xavier in the head.

Xavier's body disappears and Cyclops declares there are no more X-Men anymore.

Aftermath and Consequences
Sadly, New X-Men ends and the story-lines and creative team goes to X-Force.
Cable gets a new series charting his attempts to keep the baby safe.
X-Men retains its numbering and becomes X-Men: Legacy, focusing on Xavier.
We get a new Young X-Men series, but it doesn't last long and has issues.
New Excalibur is effectively relaunched as Captain Britain and MI:13

Layla is stuck in the future for awhile, I can't remember how long.
Rahne (Wolfsbane) moves from X-Factor to the new X-Force.
The X-Men disband during the Divided We Stand era, but bring it back together for Manifest Destiny.

Best Bit
With so much to love, it's hard to pick just one moment. The splash page with the reveal of Cable having the baby is pretty awesome tho.

Final Words
Everything comes together in spectacular style.

Awesome
10 / 10

Wednesday 21 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Men: Endangered Species

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men: Endangered Species

Collects: X-Men: Endangered Species #1, back-up stories from X-Men #200-204, X-Factor #21-24, Uncanny X-Men #488-491, New X-Men #40-42
Writer(s): Mike Carey, Christopher Yost, and Christos Gage
Penciller(s): Scot Eaton, Mark Bagley, and Mike Perkins

The Beast attempts to diagnose and fix the effects of M-Day.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Beast
After another mutant funeral, we follow Beast on his quest to investigate the science behind the M-Day depowering of mutants.

This search leads him across the Marvel Universe, speaking to Doctor Strange, the High Evolutionary, the amnesiac Scarlet Witch amongst others.

The meat of the story comes when Beast teams with Dark Beast (his counterpart from the Age of Apocalypse timeline) which raises intresting ethical issues, which cumilate when Dark Beast tries to experiment on one the Guthrie's children.

Endangered Species is a tour across the post-House of M Marvel Universe, and rams home the direness of the situation that the mutants are currently in whilst establishing via various characters that the removal of the X-gene cannot be solved easily by science or magic.

Final Words
Hammers home the current status quo, before Messiah CompleX.

Grim
9 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v4: Heart of Ice

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v4: Heart of Ice

Collects: X-Factor #18-24
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Pablo Raimondi and Khoi Pham

Threads come together in the last volume before Messiah CompleX.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Layla Miller, Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy),  Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), Quicksilver

The villain of the piece is called the Isolationist, who has been living in the ice caps as he has been cursed with the power of every mutant alive, obviously after M-Day this number is a lot less, and he has put into motion plans to reduce it even further.

Theresa and M arrive back from Paris with a girl, Nicole, they had rescued. Quicksilver shows his true colours and joins with a terrorist cell, called X-Cell. Using Rictor and the promise of bring their powers back thanks to the powers he gained in the Son of M miniseries. This all goes wrong and those he repowers die and Rictor is left depowered.

Then we're into the main Isolationist arc, where M and Theresa are tasked with rescuing two children from a cult by the grandparents. Ric struggles with nearly having his powers back in the Quicksilver arc, and Jamie hooks up with a chap called Huber, who is the Isolationist.

Layla is taken out by Nicole, who has been a mole all along, M and Theresa are hoodwinked and dumped in the middle of nowhere as that was all a set up. Ric and Rahne nearly get together, but as he's gay that doesn't work out.

Essentially, Guido, Rahne and Jamie are tricked by Huber and end up in the ice, to be rescued by M and Theresa and Ric who manage to defeat Huber.

Best Bit
The story with Layla and Nicole in #22.

Final Words
Everything is coming up goodness.

Great
9 / 10

Tuesday 20 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v3: Many Lives of Madrox

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v3: Many Lives of Madrox

Collects: X-Factor #13-17
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Pablo Raimondi

X-Factor hits it's stride.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Layla Miller, Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy),  Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), Quicksilver

In the aftermath of the clash with Singularity Inc, the team end up on the couch of Doctor Samson, echoing the classic X-Amination from X-Factor #87, as we learn more about the inner workings and motivations of each character. Jamie's accidental two timing of M and Theresa comes to light.

The rest of the stories in this collection revolve around Jamie going and reabsorbing dupes that he had sent out to learn things, having remembered them after meeting the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D in the last volume.

Layla forces Theresa and M to bond, which they do by going shopping in Paris, but they get caught up in mutant related prejudice.

Jamie goes after the S.H.I.E.L.D agent and ends up in conflict with Hydra. But the jewel of the collection is when he meets a dupe that has made a family for himself and after weighing it up, he leaves him out there.

Best Bit
The therapy session with Doc Samson.

Final Words
Lots of stand out moments.

Amazing
9 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v2: Life and Death Matters

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v2: Life and Death Matters

Collects: X-Factor #7-12
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Various

The Singularity Inc story line wraps up and we tie in to Civil War.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast:  Layla Miller, Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy),  Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), Quicksilver

We have more conflicts between X-Factor and the Tryps from Singularity. It turns out that Tryp jr, and Tryp snr are the same person from differing points on his time lines. 

There's also a tie-in to Civil War (the superhero battle that went through the Marvel Universe where Iron Man tried to get all heroes to register with the Government and others led my Captain America oppose the idea). Quicksilver comes to mutant town looking for refuge, and it turns out that most of X-Factor are registered anyway, back when they were a Government sponsored agency back in the Peter David days of the first X-Factor volume. Jamie makes a stand against them and says that anyone in mutant town will be protected by X-Factor. It's a nice moment, but doesn't really lead to anything. Unfortunately we get Quicksilver hanging around for a bit after this. Great.

The agent of S.H.I.E.L.D that comes to do the registering is one of Jamie's dupes that he sent out a few years ago to learn espionage, which leads to the next main arc. Plus, I've always had a soft spot for Peter Parker's Iron-Spider costume, so it was nice to see that.

Jamie ends up sleeping with both M and Theresa, but is unsure which one he slept with and which one a dupe slept with.

Best Bit
"X-Factor to Government - Drop Dead!"

Final Words
Some good moments.

OK
7 / 10

Monday 19 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v1: The Longest Night

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v1: The Longest Night

Collects: X-Factor 1-6
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Ryan Sook, Dennis Calero

Launching just after House of M, and picking up from Madrox: Multiple Choice, X-Factor Investigations takes it's first case.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Layla Miller, Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy),  Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane)

We're reintroduced to the cast from Madrox: Multiple Choice (Strong Guy and Wolfsbane) along with some more additions, as Jamie has some more cash after winning the US version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? It technically wasn't cheating as the phone a friend was all his dupes.

Rictor has been depowered by M-Day and is unable to cope without his connection to the earth. He's contemplating suicide on a ledge. Jamie's dupes are still unpredictable so he creates a few and selects the best one for the job, unfortunately it's the part of Jamie that can't be trusted and he throws Ric off the building after trying to recruit him to X-Factor Investigations. Luckily he's saved by Monet.

Also turning up at X-Factor Investigations is Layla Miller, the "reset switch" from House of M, who installs herself in the organisation. After all, she's "Layla Miller and she knows stuff." After Ric is saved and teh caset is fully assembled, the main villains of this collection are Singularity Inc, another investigation agency.

Layla shows a sinister side, assisted by Sook's moody style as she electrocutes a trespasser while left alone in the office. Her catchphrase "I'm Layla Miller", "I know stuff" is executed really well in this sequence.

Theresa is kidnapped by someone who imobilises her and tortures her, but she is saved by (the powerless) Ric, who proves his worth to himself, being set up by the chaps at Singularity.

In the aftermath of Theresa's ordeal, Madrox tries to scare them off with an ambush of him and many dupes in central park. As we'll see next volume this isn't successful. There's also a hint to Layla's power as she brings a butterfly back to life.

Best Bit
Jamie's unpredictable dupe, trying to talk Ric down from jumping, but only throwing him off the ledge.

Final Words
Great, but not self contained.

Has the X-Factor
9 / 10

X-Men Re-read: New X-Men: Childhood's End v5

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

New X-Men: Childhood's End v5

Collects: New X-Men: #37-43
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Paco Medina, Skottie Young

A Limbo story. Grand.

Quick Synopsis
Quest for Magik (New X-Men: #37-41)
In the prologue, there is a recap of Illyana Rasputin's (Magik) history with limbo, presented in the framing sequence of the young mutants telling ghost stories. This one is told by Blindfold. At the end of the story, they are all sucked into Limbo, by a returned Belasco.

Essentially, there is a lot of Limbo demon related shenanigans. Basically, the main event that has reprocushions is that Pixie looses two blood stones (part of her soul) to Darkchilde (the souless version of Illyana). It ends with Darkchilde vowing to regain her lost soul, which sets up X-Infernus.

Children of X-Men (New X-Men #42-43)
The New X-Men take stock of what has been happening. They also try and work out who is the youngest mutant left alive. David (Prodigy) whose power was to learn quickly has the memories of everything he has learnt re-activated by the Stepford Cuckoos after he goes to them after catching Surge and Hellion embracing. Surge was trying to get Prodigy to leave the X-Men, to protect him.

Meanwhile, Matthew Risman has taken charge of the Purifiers and is directing Predator X to Xavier's, using Dust's old burqa, left behind back in Childhood's End v2, by X-23 when she impersonated Dust. Predator X is almost at the Institute when it suddenly finds a new target and deviates away.

Best Bit
Well, the Pixie soul thing leads to some interesting character development from being a background fixture, to a main player.

Final Words
Not my favourite part of the X-Men mythos and bad art make this a skimmer.

Passable
5 / 10

Saturday 17 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: New X-Men: Childhood's End v4

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

New X-Men: Childhood's End v4

Collects: New X-Men: #33-36
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Paco Medina

In which we find out why Emma was right about not wanting X-23 around.

Quick Synopsis
Mercury Falling (New X-Men: #33-36)
Picking up plot threads from X-23: Target X, Mercury is captured by Kimura, after a fight between Mercury, X-23 and Kimura. X-23 tried to lure Kimura away, but it turned out it was Mercury they wanted all along. She is experimented on by scientists who want to use her living mercury to create a skin for a mutant hunting animal-like being called Predator X.

X-23 and Hellion track Mercury down and attempt a rescue after encountering, basically, a small army they are assisted by the New X-Men and some of the Astonishing X-Men, including Emma Frost, who arrive to rescue the young Kimura tries again to attack X-23 back at the mansion, but Emma messes with her head to resolve the threat once and for all.

Best Bit
Mercury getting some exposure after being in the background for awhile.

Final Words
Not epic, but still a good X-Men story. Still with a body

Great
7 / 10