CJLO Comic Review Roundup: Vol. 2

So maybe this one was a little late, but late is frequently better than never (and lets be honest here...late releases are something comic readers should be used to right now.) To make it up to you though, not only have we got some reviews of some of the best comic books to land in the month of February (New Avengers #50 and Eternals #8) from some of CJLO's best and brightest comic dorks, but we also have we have the hilariously jaded debut of "THIS MONTH IN THE X-VERSE!" That's right, curious what the X-Men were up to this month? ALL of them? Wanna know if Wolverine finally had that nose picking accident everyone knows is coming? Wanna see if Jean Grey finally came back from the dead for the 8th time? Wanna know what mutant was senselessly killed for shock value THIS time? Then read on...

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE READING:

1. There was a Civil War amongst the Heroes that divided them into two factions.
a. Registered Heroes recognized by the US government - Mighty Avengers
b. Non-Registered Heroes, considered outlaws – New Avengers
2. Captain America was the head of the Non-registration movement. He decided to turn himself in. On the day of his court appearance he was assassinated.
3. Tony Stark aka Iron Man felt responsible for the death of Captain America, since he was the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and pushed for the registration act.
4. In a moment of insanity the Scarlet Witch caused the near extinction of the mutant population. She has since gone into hiding. At this time there are less than 200 mutants left on earth.
5. As head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Tony Stark and others organized the Avengers Initiative to place a super hero team in every State in America. 6.Bucky (Captain America’s Sidekick) took the mantle of Captain America in the absence of Steve Rogers.
7. The Skrulls (an alien race with the ability to shape shift and imitate superpowers) infiltrated every major team in the Marvel universe. They also used the Avengers Initiative to make sure they had an agent on every team.
8. Norman Osborn (A.K.A. The Green Goblin) was made head of the Thunderbolts. Under his command, the team became a group of ruthless monsters.
9. When the Skrulls made their move, everyone in the Marvel Universe joined together to fight them off. The new Captain America, Thor and Iron Man all came together and gave everyone hope.
10. Norman Osborn made the kill shot that took the life of the Skrull Queen. He has since been named the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. replacing Iron Man. As the new head, he renamed the operation to H.A.M.M.E.R.
11. Viewed as a miracle by some, a mutant baby was born following the Scarlet Witch’s decimation of the mutant population. A war was then launched between the X-Men, the anti-mutant Purifiers and the villainous Marauders for control of the baby who eventually ended up jumping into the future with Cable for her own protection.
12. The X-Mansion in New York, home to the X-Men since their inception, was destroyed by rogue Sentinel robots. Rather than rebuild on the same spot, the team decided to start over across the country in San Francisco.

Got it? Good. Lets go...

New Avengers #50

Written by Brian Michael Bendis

Art by too many guys to name (but they’re all good.)

I loved New Avengers this week; the fiftieth oversized issue rocked in almost every way. I’m going to get my one complaint out of the way first and then I’ll lavish it with praise. The cover of the book showed the New Avengers fighting the Dark Avengers and I was really hoping that’s what we’d get in this book, instead we got the NA vs the Hood’s army which would have been a total let down if the fight scenes weren’t drawn and handled in such a creative way. Now that the small complain is out of the way, on to the good stuff.  First, the book is hilarious. The opening pages with the NA watching Osborn’s press conference where he revealed the Dark Avengers has some great back and forth dialogue that really showed off some of Bendis’ strength as a writer.  Aside from that pretty much the entire book is a giant fight scene, the really neat part of it is that each page focuses on a member of the Avengers and is drawn by an artist closely associated with that character, David Aja for Iron Fist, Gaydos for Luke Cage, Maleev for Spider-Woman and more. It was a great effect and really was a nice way to highlight each of the members as a worthwhile addition to the team.  Finally at the end of the issue Ronin goes on the news and tells everyone that the members of Dark Avengers are just a bunch of assassins, murderers and criminals. I like that Ronin/Clint/Hawkeye seems to be stepping up as the leader of the New Avengers, it’s a very strong team where there could easily be any number of people stepping up in charge, but Clint has always been someone I’ve liked so it’s nice to see him in charge of an A-Level team.

This was the first real outing for the New Avengers after Secret Invasion and this issue went a long way to solidifying them as a team to be reckoned with, they don’t have the firepower of the Dark or Mighty Avengers but they’ve got more “real” heroes and that’s what the current Marvel universe needs right now. I’m solidly behind this team when before Secret Invasion I couldn’t care less about them, starting next issue they’re going to be answering some questions about Dr. Strange and who the new Sorcerer Supreme is going to be so I’m definitely on board for at least one more arc, but if it keeps being this good I’m in for the long haul. If you ever had an urge to read the Avengers at all this is a great time to jump on.

-Ryan Closs

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Eternals #8

Written by Charles and Daniel Knauff

Art by Eric Nguyen and Sara Pichelli

The new run of the Eternals by the Knauffs was slow to start and I think it’s because there was a lot of character development, most of which was already covered in the Neil Gaiman/John Romita Jr. mini-series. I guess if you are going to have people reading the new run of Eternals from issue #1, they have to feel like they’re starting it from the beginning. Now in its 8th issue, the story has reached a sort of climax.

Before that a quick look at the last seven issues: The Eternals are divided into two sides; heroes and villains, however there is a third side that is somewhat ambiguous. Ikaris comes across as our main hero, the one who has to make the hard decisions and one decision is to leave the fold of the heroes and attack the villains (a treaty was made in which neither side would attack unless provoked). Both sides have been spending all their time thus far recruiting other Eternals to strengthen their sides. The story comes across like the US and USSR cold war, where you stockpile weapons that you won’t be using. Most Eternals have been in mortal form and cannot remember their past. Druig (head of the villains) has been recruiting members at a much faster rate than the heroes. Ikaris has decided that this is not acceptable and breaks his ties from Zuras (head of the heroes) so that Zuras is not responsible for the act of war. The Celestial (a member of the gods who gave the Eternals their powers) has been communicating to the Eternals through the hero Makkari. However the Celestials have always spoken through the chosen one Ajax, this has created a rift between the two men. Ajax has been acting on his own and although he is a hero we can see that jealousy is getting the best of him. In the mean time Makkari has been informed of the imminent attack by the Horde (an external enemy that has to be dealt with).

Now in issue 8, Ikaris has contacted the X-Men and they are helping him attack Druig and his team of miscreants. The issue is another one of those all out battle issues where it’s mostly just people punching people and not much story to it. For me this works; we’re in issue 8 and finally we’re moving past character development and the lines of division between good and evil. I’m happy to see an aggressive story and it’s always nice to see the X-Men make a cameo. Some might say that the issue doesn’t move the story forward much because you could cover a battle in a two page spread and be done with it but after the progression of the last seven issues I think this was needed. Ikaris gets to let off some steam and was smart enough to not make it fall back on Zuras’ shoulders. Also the build up so far always seemed to be more about the Horde. No matter what had happened thus far, both sides would have to join forces to face something like the Horde. Going into the end of the arc, I’m excited to see how the Knauff’s will handle it all.

I know it hasn’t been easy for the Knauff’s to fill the big shoes of writer Neil Gaiman, or live up to the likes of legend Jack Kirby (who created the characters.) However going into their eighth issue we can see they’re doing it. Taking up from where Gaiman left off in his mini-series, Charles and Daniel have been telling an updated story of the Eternals that isn’t half bad. I’ve mentioned it could be a little faster paced but that’s from the perspective of someone who read the mini-series right before this current run. If you only jumped in for the current run I could see how the development is important.

-Doc Holidae

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February was an interesting month for Marvel’s Merry Mutants as the new status quo they received (courtesy of last year’s smash crossover Messiah CompleX) pushed forward into some new but ultimately familiar directions.

Starting in the X-Verse’s “badasses with guns department,” this month brought us the continuing adventures of Cable, Deadpool and saw the beginning of a new mini for that former X-Man everyone loves to hate, Bishop. Over in Cable #11 we find good ol’ Nathan Dayspring Askani-Son Blend-O-Matic Summers (say THAT three times fast) and the newly named seven year-old  Mutant Messiah Hope Summers in some pretty dire straits. Since their time machine broke waaayyy back at the start of the series (issue 5 or so), these two have only been able to jump FORWARD in time in order to evade their would-be assassin, good-cop turned crazy mother fucker Lucas Bishop. So that’s just what they keep doing…except guess what? They eventually run out of habitable Earth to bounce back to. That’s right kids; humanity messes up SO badly Cable and Hope end up in a barren wasteland that used to be Connecticut with no food, water or shelter to speak of. Now, you’d think such a messed up situation wouldn’t be conducive to some of the most heartwarming graphic fiction I’ve read in a while…but you would be wrong. It’s clear that these two have grown to love each other as a father would love a daughter and vice versa, and while the scenario of “Bad Ass Future Cop turned Baby Sitter” seemed a little off-putting and downright cliché at the start of this series, it’s clear with this issue that all of his appearances leading up to now and all of the changes in character and status that came along with them were just a precursor to “Dad” Cable, and I couldn’t be happier with it. Except guess what…at the end, Cable passes out, leaving Hope alone for the first time in her life. DRAMA!

Over in Deadpool #7, the miraculous return of BOB AGENT OF HYDRA! One of, if not the best character introduced in the now defunct Cable and Deadpool series, Bob arrives just in the nick of time to try and rescue his one time pal Deadpool from the clutches of the adorably cliché Tiger Shark but end up getting strangled under water. It’s okay though, as it turns out he wasn’t really getting choked because both him and Tiger Shark are both working for current uber -villain of the month Norman Osborn to kill Deadpool so he won’t reveal the fact that Deadpool was the one who discovered how to kill the Skrull Queen which Norman is now famous for doing because he totally punked Deadpool AND Nick Fury to get that intel. OH NOES! It’s okay though, like all issues of Deadpool, this one ended with a lot of people bleeding and Wade threatening someone and it was just magnificent to behold. This is easily one of the best books Marvel puts out now, if not the funniest one not written by Bendis.

For those of you unfamiliar with the character, The Life and Times of Lucas Bishop #1 is a great place to get your Bishop fix as we’re brought back up to date with the character’s history and current status quo. With all the somewhat radical changes made to the character in the wake of Messiah Complex (remember all that talk about killing babies over in Cable? Yeah, that’s new), it’s nice to see Marvel and writer Duane Swierczyinski justifying those changes and making them make sense within Bishop’s past continuity. Does that mean’s I’m happy about the changes? No, not really…but at least they’re trying…so kudos to them.

Moving right on into the center of the X-Verse we have the line’s flagship title, Uncanny X-Men. Issue #506 landed this month brought us the continuing adventures of “THE SCIENCE TEAM.” You wouldn’t think an entire team of mutant scientists would be traveling to a deserted island and fighting giant crab monsters and dragons right? Yeah, me neither, but apparently shit like that actually happens (to the extent anything in a comic book can actually happen.) Also in the book is Colossus bashing heads (and finally being less emo...much to this fan’s delight), a whole bunch of prostitutes and Emma Frost being a baaaaaad girl. Not bad for a book kids will be reading for the two panels Wolverine’s in it, right?

Speaking of Wolverine, while he’s not busy being in every book Marvel puts out, he also has the pleasure of helming his own ongoing series’ (that’s right…plural) as well. While the main Wolverine  title didn’t make it onto shelves this month, Wolverine Origins #33 sure did, and boy is it a whopper. Something I’ve always loved about Wolverine is his DEEP history, and I was glad to see the series that was established exclusively to explore that history ACTUALLY, ya know, discuss Logan’s history instead of having him stab a bunch of guys and get drunk like every other appearance he makes. Now, having said that, the developments made in this issue are still confusing as hell, but you can’t argue with that cliffhanger. Speaking of cliffhangers AND Wolverine, over in X-Force #12 we saw the first part of the “Suicide Leper” arc that looks to prominently include…wait for it…apparent mutant suicide AND a character called “The Leper Queen.” Make no mistake though, this is easily the most action oriented and spy drama-esque title the X-Office puts out and month in and month out I am consistently surprised by what writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost throw at this team and subsequently at the fictional world of the Marvel Universe. I know Wolverine is supposed to be the flagship character that all the kiddies like, but despite his inclusion in this series, NO child under the age of 14 should be reading it…there may not be any boobs or swearing…but my God…so much death…

Before we move into boreville with this month’s X-Duds, we have to run through what is easily the best comic I read every month: X-Factor. As with last issue, writer Peter David has asked that reviews NOT spoil what happens in this issue, but I will say this: never did I ever expect to receive such a well formulated and heart-rending analysis of what it means to be alive on this earth from a comic book prominently featuring a character called “Madrox the Multiple Man.” If you’re a fan of mutants, comics, fine literature and to an extent, toilet humour (though not so much this issue…but normally), you need to be buying this book.

Which brings us to boreville and Young X-Men #11 and X-Men Legacy #221. While I absolutely loved the precursor series to Young  X-Men (the similarly titled New X-Men), this new attempt at showcasing the younger mutants in Marvel’s pantheon has thus far fallen flat and in the wake of the announcement of its cancellation I am left to wonder how the hell they are going to reasonably wrap up all the plot threads they started with one more issue. My assumption now is that they won’t and I may have effectively just wasted 36 dollars reading a character named “Ink” who gets his powers from his tattoos and likes to use words like “cuzzin,” but this IS Marc Guggenheim writing…so he may still pull it off. Then again, the once mighty Mike Carey, whose X-Men was at the top of my reading pile just two years ago, has not been able to keep me entertained with X-Men Legacy in months. While a story focusing on Professor Xavier exploring the history of the X-Men Universe attempting to reclaim his lost memory is an okay enough idea for a story arc or two…but we’re getting to a year of this already and I just don’t care anymore. I was never that much of a Charlie Xavier fan myself, and this series does nothing to change my mind. “Uh Oh! Rogue’s in trouble! Let’s go climb a mountain Gambit! Hoowah!” Pass.

That just about wraps up the February adventures of those with an X-Gene (and their friends.) Next month looks pretty exciting as Deadpool goes toe to toe with the Thunderbolts, X-Force gets thrown into the future to save a baby and meets a seven year-old with a plasma rifle and a half-dead son of Cyclops and Wolverine’s illegitimate son makes his old man’s life even worse. Will these stories deliver? Probably. Will I lose a lot of hard earned money finding out? Yup.

See you in thirty.

-Josh Mocle

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For more comic-y goodness, tune into Comic Book Talk on The Phantastic Cypha, every Friday at 11:45PM and The Onomatopoeia Show every Sunday from 3PM – 4PM. As always, a big thank you to Arune Singh and everyone over at Marvel Comics for showing us love and giving us the good stuff to read every Wednesday.