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

X-Men #1: Free Comic Book Day 2008

Another 2008 Free Comic Book Day offering, this one from Marvel. From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: X-Men
Issue: 1 (Free Comic Book Day 2008 Edition)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: May, 2008
Writer: Mike Carey
Penciller: Greg Land
Inker: Jay Liesten
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Nick Lowe, Will Panzo

Megan Gwynn, AKA Pixie, is back home in Wales after a year at Xavier's School. She's trying to fit back in, but the fact that people keep mysteriously vanishing from her small town is making things rather difficult for her.

It's not long before she's facing down a full-fledged demonic invasion. Fortunately, the X-Men are there to back her up.

This was a really great introduction to Pixie, who I had not previously been familiar with. She's a fun blend of magical and mutant powers, and her personality really shines in this story as she fights the bad guys on her own first, and then alongside the full X-Men team.

The X-Men had some good lines, and there was a quick exchange between Pixie and Emma Frost that I thought was an excellent use of both characters.

The story is self-contained, and provides a nice introduction for new readers. Its biggest weakness is the villains, who are generic, and who barely put up a fight in the final battle scene. The artwork in that scene was a bit confusing in places, although I thought the art in the rest of the book was quite good.

This was a book that accomplished its purpose as an introduction to the X-Men series, and did an exceptionally good job of introducing Pixie.

Rating: 8/10

Astonishing X-Men #13 (Variant)

From the random stack of unread comics. This is the second of two (close, but not consecutive) issues of Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men that found their way into the unread comics stack. I reviewed #10 here. Not sure where I got these. This one is marked as a variant cover.

Title: Astonishing X-Men
Issue: 13
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: April, 2006
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts, Sean Ryan, Nick Lowe

Black-and-white variant cover on this issue.

This is something of a catch-up issue, that manages to be a lot more satisfying a read than #10 was, in spite of #10's emphasis on plot and action.

The focus here is on character development, particularly on the romance between Kitty and Colossus, and the conflicting forces influencing Emma Frost.

There is also a very amusing reveal of the new low-tech version of the Danger Room (after the room ran amuck over several issues around the previously-reviewed #10). Now that Ms. Room has been officially "future-endeavored" (or whatever happened to her), the new plan for combat training is simpler, more elegant, and far more dangerous: The trainees are simply put into a darkened room in which Wolverine kicks their asses. Why did they not think of this in the first place? It seems like it would have saved everybody a lot of grief, and the quality of training would not have suffered.

In addition to that amusing bit, there is lots of Emma-intrigue, some seeds planted for future storylines involving SHIELD, some dream sequences, and a very shock-value final scene.

This is moving in the right direction.

Rating: 6/10

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

X-Men #1

Back for the summer and hopefully beyond!

I had to drop this review blog for a few months when things got a bit too busy at the day job. Now that school is out (I'm a high school teacher), I've got the time. And I am certainly not lacking in unread comics.

For my big return to reviewing, however, I stopped by my local Newbury Comics to check out the recent releases. This seemed like a good one to start with.

Title: X-Men #1
Date: July, 2013
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Olivier Coipel, Laura Martin
Editor: Jennifer M. Smith, Jeanine Schaefer


I picked up the "sketch-cover" version of this. The blank cover (that is available for drawing on) is made of a cardstock that helps the book hold together better, and the regular cover is underneath. Nice. I'll probably be buying more of these versions when looking at new comics.


This is the (upteenth) relaunch of X-Men, and it got a fair amount of attention in the press due to the fact that it features an all-female cast. Specifically, the team lineup is Storm, Rogue, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, and whatever Rachel Summers is calling herself these days.


It's set at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning (for those not up on your X-Men lore, that's the current incarnation of Xavier's School), so there is a huge potential supporting cast. In a sense, this is not precisely an all-female X-Men team, but rather a comic about the X-Men as a whole that heavily focuses on the six female starring characters.


The story here concerns John Sublime, who is actually a telepathic microorganism who has the ability to possess human bodies. It seems Sublime has an even worse sister who has similar abilities with technology, and she's back on Earth and looking to make trouble.


There's a train-imperilment sequence that showcases the current X-Men working as a team, which they do quite well so far, and a lot of set-up for future plot, but the whole thing moves along with a reasonable mix of character development, suspense, and enough action to keep it from dragging.


Nothing shocking or groundbreaking, but a good solid X-Men story that does a great job of focusing on the new lineup without it ever failing to feel like the X-Men.


Rating: 7.5/10

X-Men Vs. Avengers Program Guide

This is a freebie that I picked up with this week's new comics.

Title: X-Men Vs. Avengers Program Guide
Date: 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman
Artist: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Frank Cho
Letterer: VC's Chris Eliopaulas
Cover: Jason Keith
Editor: Alex Alonso

Preview freebie for the upcoming X-Men vs. Avengers mega-crossover.

There are two actual story segments in here, along with a lot of filler.

First up, Cyclops takes Hope to task for, well, for acting like a super-hero, basically. Scott is being the overprotective father-figure, and he's not exactly thrilled with Hope jetpacking into the city to do the masked vigilante thing (well, technically she's doing it without a mask). What Hope really wants is to know the whole truth about the Phoenix, which is apparently going to be at the core of the upcoming schmozz. It's actually a pretty reasonable request. Scott clams up. Jerk. But we knew that about Scott, didn't we?

Scott ends the scene by admitting it could have gone better. Yeah, that's the problem when your idiotic insistence on not telling the truth to your kid becomes a useful plot device.

Choose your side, huh? Definitely rooting for the Avengers after that nonsense.

Second segment is the announcement that the Phoenix is heading for Earth. The Avengers are going to attack it in space, but they are so convinced that that plan is hopeless that I was left wondering why they would even bother. Meanwhile, Cap decided to go chat with the X-Men. First stop is the current version of Xavier's School, run by Wolverine. Cap wants to know if he can "count on" Logan. Logan replies with the silent sulking of deep conflict. Then it's off to visit the regular X-Men team. For those keeping score, that's Cyclops, Hope, Magneto, Namor (really?!?), Colossus, and Emma Frost. And now Scott has moved away from the moron role he had in the first scene and is dropping hints of a full-on heel turn. Magneto is amused. Cap shows up on the scene, but we cut before anything of consequence happens.

Extras included a few sketches by John Romita Jr. of upcoming action. I didn't find any of them to be all that intriguing, although Cage landing a right hook on Namor in the water was a pretty gorgeous piece of art.

There is also an extended roster of the various people involved, each with a summary of powers, and a "role" presented somewhat in the style of MMORPG roles ("Leader", "Tank", "Striker", etc). Some of these designations get a bit goofy. I particularly liked the fact that Logan's role is listed as "The Best There Is".

Rest of the book is ads, essentially. Well, really, the whole book is an ad, of course, but the rest of the book is more obviously ads.

I'd never seen the character Hope, and this teaser succeeded in getting me interested in her as a character. I also liked the portrayals of Wolverine and Cap, but I still didn't feel there was enough here to hook me into wanting to read a massive crossover. The Dark Phoenix Saga has already suffered from too many sequels, and this did nothing to justify yet another one.

Rating: 4.5/10