X-Men comics (August 27, 2014)

Oh, hey, WordPress defaulted to the classic view. Neat. I’m glad for that. Anyway, comics!

First, All-New X-Men #31, by Brian Bendis and Mahmud Asrar. We start in the Ultimate Universe, with Ultimate Amadeus Cho angry that someone wants to close down the gateway to the 616 world. Ultimate Tony Stark decides to just buy it and let Amadeus keep studying it. Then it overloads and closes itself. In 616, Angel and Laura return to the NXS, and Laura tells him not to tease her, because she has claws. They get back right as the adults leave for the JGS, for Xavier’s Will. Jean tries to talk to Laura about Laura seeming happier, but Laura’s not interested. Hank tinkers with Cerebro, and it flashes. The O4 and Laura go off to help a new mutant. At some fancy school, a girl named Carmen starts glowing. She seems to be a portal to other worlds. The team shows up to help, and things don’t go as well as they probably could. This is another great issue. There’s a lot of nice character stuff for Laura early on, though Bendis still doesn’t get her voice. She still sounds too much like a teen. Carmen is interesting. To an extent, this issue is a bit of a bridge, from the last arc to the new one (which will involve the Ultimate Universe, obviously). So there is some sense of it being kinda filler. But it’s enjoyable filler. There’s a few bits that are really, really good. Some funny lines. Jean continues to be excellent, the best she’s ever been, in my opinion. Asrar’s art is good here; better, I would say, than his WatXM art, oddly. It’s a bit more Immonen-esque. This isn’t one of the best issues of this series, but I still enjoyed it.

Wolverine and the X-Men #8, written by Jason Latour, art mostly by David Messina except a few pages by Paco Diaz. It starts with Wolverine and Storm going on a date inside The World. At the JGS, Armour’s still trying to move her armour. She blows it up instead. It’s a week later inside the World, and Storm seems to be getting a bit restless without conflict. So someone attacks them. Wolverine’s taken out by a dart. He wakes up wanting to know where Storm is. Some weird guy who calls Wolverine the Tenth Man – Weapon X – seems to want his help. Storm comes in to say they need to stop some bad guy. A few days later, they attack the guy, and Storm fries him. A few months later, Storm is queen of the World. Storm and Wolverine both want to leave. A few more months pass, and some monster attacks Farmer Wolverine. More time, Wolverine’s building a house, and Storm goes fishing. A year later, Wolverine apologizes for taking so long to see what he has with Storm. Aside from that brief Armour scene, this issue is all about the Wolverine/Storm romance. “RoLo,” as the shippers call them. I am not a shipper. I do not like Wolverine. So this relationship winds up appealing little to me. So this issue appeals little to me. People who like Wolverine and Storm as a couple should probably enjoy this issue. It’s well-written – better than usual for this series, actually – and the art’s fine. In this case, my problem with the issue is entirely due to my dislike of Wolverine. At least he’ll be dead soon.

Uncanny Avengers #23, by Rick Remender and Sanford Greene. Wasp and Wanda are returning to Manhattan after taking some time off at Wasp’s cabin. Old Cap and Wolverine meet them, and take them inside to see the others taken out of stasis. Havok’s going to remain disfigured, but Wasp still loves him. Sunspot no longer has a sense of his body. Wanda tries to help Rogue get Wonder Man out of his body, but it doesn’t work. Additionally, it looks like Rogue might have lost control of her power. Ugh. Really? So now she’s back to how she was years ago? Superstrong, but unable to control her power? Immortus lets Alex and Jan know how they can get their daughter back – it involves doin’ it, bow-chicka-wow-wow. Basically, they can get their daughter back by re-creating her. This is all very meh to me. I’m annoyed at Rogue being essentially reset. We’ve done the “superstrong with no control over her power” thing. We had that story for 20 frigging years. It doesn’t need to be done again. So I share Rogue’s horrified reaction. The art is weird in this issue, too. It occasionally gets oddly long. Some artists do have a long style, but it’s not consistent here, and it’s more odd-looking. So, I didn’t much care for this issue.

Cyclops #4, by Greg Rucka and Carmen Carnero. Scott is writing a journal entry about his situation, and muses that once his dad dies, he’ll be all alone. They’re practicing their sword-fighting, and Scott wonders why they bother, since Scott’s never going to fight anyone but his dad. Scott’s sure he’s going to die alone on the planet. Corsair tells him not to give up hope. They talk a bit about Adult Scott. Corsair says it was losing hope that made him who he’s become. Teen Scott says he could see a lot of anger in him. Scott decides he doesn’t want to turn out like that, so he finds the quantum tracker the bounty hunters were using to find them. They get to work on fixing it. Another good issue. It’s nice seeing Scott and Corsair bond a bit more. They also get to fight some weird flying reptile things. The art’s nice. It’s a good comic.

Wolverine #12, by Paul Cornell and Pete Woods. Pinch and Lost Boy find a bunch of duplicates of themselves, presumably summoned from other worlds. Sabretooth asks Pinch’s daughter what she wants in a new world. She wants a magic pony that sings. I approve. Wolverine attacks Sabretooth. He tears through the three Hand guards quickly, then asks if Sabretooth has room for him in his ideal world. Sabretooth sets the sphere down. Then it’s time for Wolverine to deliver a verbal smackdown. Then it’s time for the big fight. Wolverine wins. And then passes out. A week later, Kitty meets him at the hospital. He apologizes for how he treated her. He also tells her to start calling him James. Aww. Then there’s backup stories. First, some guy in the future is writing a book about superheroes of the 21st century. The future, it seems, is a shitty place. As usual. It’s been conquered by the sentient virus. It seems in this reality, Wolverine said yes when the virus offered to restart his healing factor. Next, Max Moore, owner of the Guernica Bar, talks about the bar. Apparently, it started becoming a superhero hangout around the Civil War, when Ms. Marvel dragged Invisible Woman in one day just because it was nearby and she felt like talking. Then various professionals started showing up – the guys we saw earlier in Cornell’s run. Dr. Victoria Frankenstein kept it from being a villain hangout. It’s a neat little story for the bar. I’m hoping the place shows up in more books, actually. Of course, I’m the guy who wants a series all about heroes getting coffee. Anyway, this issue was an OK conclusion to the whole thing. Next, of course, Wolverine dies. Hurrah! Good riddance. The guy at my local shop thinks he’ll be back in January. He says he talked to Nick Bradshaw at a recent convention, and Bradshaw mentioned having a big, secret project for January. So, the guy thinks it might be the return of Wolverine. I wouldn’t be surprised. September is him dying. October through December will be the whole Legacy of Logan deal. So a January return would be about right. Which is a shame. I’d prefer he stay dead for, you know, a really really really long time. Like, a year. A year without Wolverine. Can you imagine how blissfully amazing that would be?

There’s the X-Men, now the rest.

Silver Surfer #5, by Dan Slott and Michael Allred. It starts with “To me, Dawn Greenwood!” She’s annoyed that she “To me”-ed her. He thinks that she has something to do with him not being able to leave the Earth. But she’s annoyed at his behaviour. Strange and the Hulk – disguised as Banner – show up. Strange tells the Surfer that Nightmare is on Earth, which is why he can’t leave. If Nightmare is able to sleep through the night, he’ll never wake up, and the Earth will be his. Dawn is the last human on Earth who hasn’t fallen asleep, so the Defenders rush upstairs to keep her awake. Strange slaps the Eye of Agamotto on her forehead so she can find and wake Nightmare. Dawn and Surfer rush through various dreams to find him, and then wake him. Another fun, cute story. This is such a great series. Every issue is a pure delight. I love the fact that Silver Surfer isn’t some angsty, emo whine-ass going on constant soliloquies. And Dawn is a wonderful character. She’s so charming, and her refusal to take shit is great. And Allred’s art is awesome. Buy this series. You should totally be buying it, because it’s amazing. Even Nightmare gets to be weirdly charming in this issue, after he’s woken up.

Savage Hulk #3, by Alan Davis. Marvel Girl is Hulking out. Xavier tries to get her to calm down, but the X-Men tell him to stand down. It turns out Jean’s already in control. She was flexing her new muscles. In addition to the physical enhancements, her psychic powers are a lot stronger. She can even affect matter on a molecular scale, which she uses to fix her costume. Her new costume choice is a bit . . . um. Xavier worries that she’s controlling the X-Men, and wants to do some tests. Jean’s a bit angry at him. Then robots attack. Banner tries to get Xavier to safety, but Xavier realizes he’s in Banner’s mind. He’s turned into the Hulk, and attacked by the Hulk’s enemies, and then by the Hulk himself. This is a really cool issue. It’s very interesting. It’s all a psychic struggle, and once Xavier realizes that, it becomes even more interesting. Davis’ art is always excellent, of course. No complaints there. This is really good. Really neat.

Original Sins: Thor and Loki #4, written by Jason Aaron and Al Ewing (Ewing did the scripting), art by Simone Bianchi and Lee Garbett. Loki, in female form, is taunting Thor. She says she’s now a daughter of Heven. Later on, Loki’s talking to Angela, who now gets to wear clothes. Her midriff is still bared, but still, this outfit is far less ridiculous than her usual attire. Loki’s been chosen to lead an attack on Asgard. Thor is being whipped, but refuses to scream. Thor demands to see his sister, and threatens to bring down the palace if she’s not brought to him. Loki leads the fleet to Asgard, and says they’re going to do some killing, including children. He puts much stress on the slaughter of children. Then he tells the fleet to charge. The ships all blow up. Loki points out that she’s a traitor, and also mentions that she’s pretty sure she got the thickest squadron. Back in Heven, Thor’s summoned clouds. This is good. Not at all surprising. Seriously, it was obvious it was going to happen. Obvious enough that even Thor caught on. But that makes it no less entertaining. It’s fun seeing just how good Loki is at playing people. She hams it up to the point where absolutely no one should actually believe her, and yet they still do. The cliffhanger is also something that was foreshadowed well; it’s not a surprise, but it’s done well. The art’s good, though this issue’s very Bianchi-heavy, and I prefer Garbett’s style over Bianchi’s. I do tend to find Bianchi’s style a bit muddy. Regardless, this is another great issue.