Fantastic Four/Giant-Sized X-Men Free Comic Book Day 2025 #1

Picked this up at Most Excellent Comics and Games in Enfield CT USA on Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Title: Fantastic Four/Giant-Sized X-Men Free Comic Book Day 2025
Issue: 1 
Date: 2025
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Ryan North, Jason Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Chip Zdarksy
Artist: Humberto Ramos, Iban Coello
Colorist: Edgar Delgado, Brian Reber
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna, VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Martin Biro, Annalise Bissa, Tom Brevoort

Free Comic Book Day freebie just in time for the upcoming FF film. The Fantastic Four story is adorable, featuring alien children engaging in some very familiar spooky fun and accidentally "summoning" the Fantastig Four from Earth. Johnny has... a mustache, apparently? Anyway, this was adorable.

The second story was a reboot of the New X-Men, previewing a, well, reboot of Giant-Sized X-Men #1. This was just Cyclops beating everyone else up in the Danger Room, and is probably the kind of thing that will generate a lot of outrage on the internet because Scott makes everyone from Logan to Ororo to Thunderbird (remember him?) look like jobbers. Oh, and Ms. Marvel is in it, just to give it a bit more of an update, I guess. She's apparently already made the team, so is saved the indignity of getting beat up by Cyclops.

The last story is Wolverpool and Deadverine, and it's just trying so hard to be even more meta than meta. This story has never "meta" fourth wall it didn't want to break. Nice to see a two-panel appearance by Ox, though. 

Rating: 5.5/10

Astonishing X-Men #2

From the Random Stack of Unread (actually previously read, but not reviewed) Comics.

Title: Astonishing X-Men
Issue: 2
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August, 2004
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts, Stephanie Moore, Cory Sedlmeier

My review of the previous issue is here.

The second issue of this series sends the team into action. A villain has taken hostages in a high rise tower, and the X-Men, looking to get back into being superheroes, show up to do battle.

Unfortunately, neither the initial jobber-squash with the X-Man taking out the terrorist minions, nor the main event, with alien villain Ord trouncing the X-Men, is all that interesting. Ord is one of those generic overpowered villains that show up all the time in X-Men books, with no rhyme or reason as to why he's able to pretty much have his way with the team (only to be taken out by *removed for spoilers* in the book's one really fun moment).

As an aside, Emma Frost's ability to change into diamond is ridiculous. I don't read a ton of X-Men, so I'm sure this is all part of the established canon, but apparently someone decided that one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful telepaths needed more powers? So that she could punch people?

The second plotline, fortunately, is a lot more intriguing, as a top scientist announces that she has developed a "cure" for mutation, and the ending sequence is genuinely cool, setting some really interesting clashes of personality down the road.

Something of a mixed bag, but it ended on a high note.

Rating: 6.5/10

Astonishing X-Men #1

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics... Well, actually, I had previously read this issue, but this it my first time reviewing it.

Title: Astonishing X-Men
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July, 2004
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts

This is a reboot for the X-Men, with film/TV writer/director Joss Whedon writing. We are introduced to a new semester at the Xavier School, and a new X-Men team: Kitty Pryde, Beast, Cyclops, Wolverine, and Emma Frost. It's a good lineup, that provides plenty of fodder for conflicts within the team.

In fact, most of this first issue is the team working out their role as teachers, teammates, and as superheroes, something that the X-Men have not always been seen as.

Whedon is a master of one-liners, and this issue included several really great ones (Kitty: "Did I miss the Sorting Hat?"; also Kitty to Emma, "I'm sorry, I was busy remembering to put on all my clothes.").

The interplay between the characters is fun, and the hints that are dropped about the larger scale plot are just enough to leave the readers intrigued.

X-Men has so much history behind it that it can get overly complicated too fast in many cases. This story managed to keep things moving along, giving the space to get to know the core team members before too much mayhem is allowed to happen, and the result is an excellent jumping-in point for new readers.

Rating: 8/10

Astonishing X-Men #10

From the random stack of unread comics, as chosen by the Kiddo. This is the first of two issues from this title that I've got in the to-read stack.

Title: Astonishing X-Men
Issue: 10
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: May, 2005
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts, Sean Ryan, Nick Lowe

So, the Danger Room AI has become not just self-aware, but also righteously pissed off, and she (she appears in a vaguely female shapeshifting robotic form) proceeds to mop the (Danger Room) floor with the X-Men.

The team in this case consists of Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, and Beast. Joss Whedon (you know, that guy from Buffy and firefly; the director of the film version of The Avengers) is writing, and in a moment-by-moment sense, this is all good. Danger Room knows all of the X-Men's tactics and weaknesses, and so she takes them apart with relative ease, only having a couple moments of trouble when they make some attempts at breaking their normal patterns.

Unfortunately, as well executed as it is, it just didn't feel all that original or interesting, and Danger Room's constant talking about how she's fought  the X-Men thousands or times and knows them better than they know themselves and whatnot does not help the cause. By the time I was half way through this, I wanted the X-Men to win, not because Danger Room was such a horrible threat, but just because of how annoying she was.

Also, would someone please give Danger Room a name so that I don't have to keep referring to her as Danger Room?

A couple of the characters are apparently killed by the time it's all said and done, but this is the Marvel Universe (and as we have said many times, there is dead, and then there is dead-in-the-marvel-universe, and those two things are not particularly related), so there isn't a whole lot of emotional punch to those scenes.

I did like the ending line. Joss Whedon has always been great with the one-liners, and this one works nicely. I wish it had been saved for a better story.

Rating: 4.5/10

Uncanny Avengers #1

I stopped by my local Newbury Comics recently and picked up a couple of the recent Marvel Now debut issues. This is the second of those. My review of Thor: God of Thunder #1 was posted yesterday.

This week I'm gearing up for the Arisia convention this weekend in Boston. My small-press comic company, Dandelion Studios will be in the dealer room all weekend. In addition, I'll be doing a reading of some of my prose fiction (along with authors Resa Nelson and Daniel P. Dern) at 10 AM on Saturday, and I'll be on a minicomic panel Saturday at 10 PM. I'll also hopefully be picking up some new comics to review throughout the weekend.

But for now, on to the business at hand.

Title: Uncanny Avengers #1
Date: December, 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Rich Remender
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC's Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Daniel Ketchum, Tom Brevoort, Axel Alonso

First issues of team comics tend to fall into formula, simply because there is limited space and a fairly fixed agenda that needs to be accomplished. Team members need to be introduced and recruited, and by the time that is done there is usually just about enough space to introduce the villains and jumpstart a bit of plot.

This book was further saddled with a load of continuity baggage as it worked through the aftermath of the recent Avengers vs. X-Men storyline.



SPOILER WARNING



Charles Xavier is dead.

Well, actually he's Marvel-dead, and since his name isn't Uncle Ben that means he's not really dead. But we're all supposed to pretend that he is so that characters like Wolverine and Havok can wax emotional. There was nothing wrong with these opening scenes; it just all felt like going through the motions.

From there Captain America and Thor show up to recruit Havok to lead Cap's new mutant/nonmutant super team. Cap is handled well. Thor plays big goofy comic relief, which in this case is actually fairly funny. About halfway through coffee, a villain starts wrecking the neighborhood, and the heroes leap into action in what was essentially a jobber squash to show off the heroes doing their thing.

We move on to Scarlet Witch and Rogue, who have a well-written and genuinely intense verbal confrontation. Wanda is a character that I really haven't ever seen featured all that much here, and her response to Rogue's righteous bluster is really good.

Sadly the whole thing gets interrupted by a group of generic villains, and a character is mauled because, well, there really hasn't been any gratuitous gore so far, and we can't have one of the female character go and steal the show, now can we?

Ends with a big villain reveal that was okay for what it was.

This has potential, a fact that I may not have actually conveyed all that well. Unfortunately, the limitations of the Marvel Universe (even the sorta-rebooted Marvel Now), and the fallback to cliches keep this from getting me interested enough to want to read any more of it.

Rating: 4/10

Avengers Vs. X-men #1

Title: Avengers Vs. X-Men
Date: June, 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover: Jim Cheung, Justin Ponsor
Editor: Nick Lowe, John Denning, Lauren Sankovitch, Tom Brevoort

So, this is the "I'm With The X-Men!" variant, not particularly because I'm with the X-Men, but because the "I'm With The Avengers!" variant was sold out at my local comic shop.

It too how many writers to come up with this nonsense?

The Phoenix force is headed for Earth, and Hope has already started manifesting some Phoenix SFX.

So of course the thing to do is for Captain American to show up on X-Island (or whatever they're calling it) and demand that Hope be put into protective custody. Which would leave the X-Men hopeless. Sorry. I'll stop now.

Anyway, while Cap is being an idiot, Cyclops has turned full-on villain, to the point that Magneto and Emma Frost are even impressed.

Talking soon turns to fighting, Scott blasts Cap, and Cap orders the SHIELD Helicarrier to lower the cloaking device and arm the photon torpedoes. Oh, and to assemble the Avengers while they're at it.

None of which is actually going to help with that whole Phoenix-force-heading-for-Earth thing. But that's okay. There are five writers working on this. One of them must be handling that.

With the X-Men? With the Avengers? I think I'm going to be standing with those who demand that their comics actually make sense.

Rating: 4/10

Oh, and before I go, since when is Namor an X-Man? Never mind. Don't answer that.

X-Men #175 Wizard World Boston Edition

Title: X-Men
Issue: #175 (Wizard World Boston Edition)
Date: 2005
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciler: Salvador Larroca
Inker: Danny Miki, Allen Martinez
Letterer: Virtual Calligraphy's Cory Petit
Editor: Mike Marts

This is a special edition featuring a variant sketch cover and the Wizard World Boston logo.

The story centers on an outbreak of animal mutations in Africa that brings an X-Men team to investigate. With Logan, Ororo, Havok, Polaris, Iceman, Rogue, and Gambit on the team (and Emma Frost calling the shots from back home), the mutant crocodiles don't stand much of a chance.

Ororo really takes center stage here as her return to Africa opens the floodgates of mixed emotions. Logan, meanwhile, is just being Logan.

This was fast paced, with some good character development for Ororo, and at least some basic attempts at character development for the rest of the team. The surprise ending isn't all that shocking, but it at least serves the thicken the plot.

Rating: 7/10

The Amazing Spider-Man Sketchbook / Astonishing X-Men Sketchbook

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man Sketchbook / Astonishing X-Men Sketchbook
Date: 2009
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Dugan Trodglen
Artist: Phil Jimenez
Editor: Richard Rodriguez, Arune Singh, Erik Lebron, Matthew Lichtenstein, John Rhett Thomas

Flip book. This freebie from Marvel spotlights the Gauntlet storyline from Amazing Spider-Man as well as Warren Ellis' run on Astonishing X-Men.

The X-Men portion is primarily an extended interview with artist Phil Jimenez, who comes off as a really enthusiastic guy who's a true fan of the genre, the business, and the characters he's working with. He also goes into some detail on his process, with some nice insights into how he works with Warren Ellis' script. There is plenty of his artwork to liven up the text.

Flip the book over and you get an extended preview of the Gauntlet storyline in Amazing Spider-Man. I've never read those issues, and I tend to be a bit dubious about Marvel's handling of Spider-Man lately, but I have to admit, this preview did its job of selling the product. I really like the focus on classic villains. The hype does occasionally fall into the rather tired territory of claiming that they are going to make a character "darker" (really? how original!), but there is still a lot to like about a series that will bring back guys like Sandman, Electro, Rhino, Lizard, Mysterio, and Doc Ock as the major opposition for Spidey. No idea how this series turned out in execution, but I will at least grant that showed potential here.

Rating: 7/10