full circle, part 1

drive-by readings

Second Coming #2 (Marvel) Zeb Wells Ibraim Roberson Matt Milla Mike Carey Esad Ribic Matt Wilson Craig Kyle Christopher Yost Greg Land Jay Leisten Frank Martin Matt Fraction Terry Dodson Rachel Dodson Brad Anderson Joe Caramagna Clayton Cowles Joe Sabino Adi Granov (cover) David Finch/Matt Banning/Peter Steigerwald (variant cover)

so this is the end of the one of the more exciting X-Crossovers in recent years (i'm still partial to Messiah Complex). Hope's initial worth was a few limbs, and the lives of Kurt and oh yeah ... that guy on the cover above. if you didn't see that coming ... well, i guess some of us didn't, despite the obvious buzz on Nightcrawler's death. hey, if you Google "cable is dead", all the top hits are about the ex-Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable. no respect for you, Nathan.

the final story is divided into four chapters, and the first one is easily the most interesting. there's Peter getting his broken arm reset (25000 PSI!). there's Magneto showing flashes of his old self (quite characteristic actually). and there's that poignant shot of Hope holding her known father figure's arm (all that remained of him). i can't believe they're getting rid of Cable this easily. then again, this is comics. he'll probably come back as a baby as well.

if i have a beef with the first chapter, its this:


we know Karma lost her leg several issues ago. either they created costumes (unstable molecules!) for her that really ends high up that leg, or she never changed clothes since.

chapter 2 has a flashback with Hope and Cable, and kind of confirms in a way that he may not be gone forever. erstwhile best pal Deadpool shows up at his funeral (and the 3rd chapter will show why). Magneto is there of course, full costume and all, and its ironic, for someone who remembers the '90s.

in chapter 3, we have a philosophical argument between Storm and Wolverine about X-Force, and they agree to disagree. Logan disbands the rest of the team, and reports back to Cyclops of the dissolution. Scott heroically confirms that he'll do it all over again, and is even willing to go to jail if the oh-so-heroic Avengers ever learn about their activities and attempt to arrest him. despite their differences over the years (not the least of which was fighting over a certain redhead), Scott and Logan are the perfect foils to each other and work well as anyone. that relationship is going to be strained when Scott learns about this:


is Warren holding a gun? Psylocke too? and why are they all facing us? was there a presscon and they need to pose, a la Dark Avengers? are they LMDs? Deadpool finally gets to be a full time member of an X-team. sort of. by the way, is Logan required to change costumes when doing X-Force meetings?

so, Uncanny X-Force it is.

two things on the last chapter: Emma gets the bejeezus scared out of there because of some connection between Jean Grey/Phoenix and Hope (redheads just won't die), and Namor getting to be more and more of a team player (a gruff one at that, and he can't shoot the rock a lick). the co-opting of Magneto and Namor under the X-banner is one of the most welcome events in X-Men history. like i keep repeating on this blog, do not turn back the clock and make them villains again.

on this basis alone, X-Men #1 will sell 9 million copies!

because Cyclops shows you why HE IS THE MAN.



take that, Charlie Xavier! eat that, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr or Max Eisenhardt whatever your name is this week. in all cases, it should be "I am Scotty's bitch and I will control the iron in your brain if he tells me so".

aaaaaaaaaaand ... she's back.

and here it is. the closing chapter of the Messiah trilogy in the X-books, billed as the return of Hope Summers in the 616 universe and determination of her role in the future of the X-Men. she was born during Messiah Complex, and spent the rest of her life so far surviving in multiple timelines in the company of her foster father, Cable (whose own trials as a time-tossed baby she's echoing), and dodging her would-be murderer, Bishop. having Lucas Bishop turn into a caricature villain may have made sense with the X-writers, but it always bothered me. he just simply turned into an unkillable and unlikeable cockroach whose sole purpose in life was to put a bullet into a little girl's head. my fondest memory of Bishop was in a '90s sort of way, a cop out of his time, colorful, scarved, long flowing curly hair, and also single-mindedly out to find the X-traitor that presumably betrayed his boyhood heroes. his struggles to fit in were somewhat endearing. past that, he's been yo-yoed around the X-universe, and now he really struggled to find his place. i can get his being a cop for Mutant Town and being the resident mutant detective (remember him trying to find who shot Emma Frost into itty bitty diamond bits?). but shacking him up with Deathbird? being a flat out government stoogie during Civil War, putting him at odds with rest of his friends? and now a bald headed angry stereotype, like if Michael Clarke Duncan suddenly became this raving mass-murdering lunatic? good thing for me he's stranded in 6700 AD (but am sure there's a storyline being written as i type this, bringing him back to unleash holy hell on his former friends).


but back to Hope.

the first mutant born after that crazy stunt pulled by the Scarlet Witch ("oh hey, am crazy, i hate my kind, let's just wipe out everyooooooooone!"), Hope seems like the idea born out of "hey, we need a Jean Grey back, how do we do that?" well, first they send Rachel up into space to be part of the new Starjammers (speaking of which, how come no one's been talking to each other - imagine all the stories missed? Gabriel's probably dead, and Alex doesn't even bother to tell Scott.). now we get a new red-haired young telepath/telekinetic who's sure to rile up Emma, for starters. Cable, by virtue of his raising Hope, is sure to keep her under his wing (hey, watch those young mutant boys in Utopia go after this new bombshell). Cyclops, de facto leader of all the mutants (probably annoying the hell out of Xavier and Magneto), has faith that Hope will be the, well ... savior of the beleaguered mutants. Bishop believed otherwise. if that's true, Cyclops would be doing some kind of twisted Kool Aid commercial, shown below:

well before and after Necrosha, writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost have been (not-so-quietly) assembling all of the old X-villains in the pages of New X-Men and X-Force. despite the annoying style of resurrecting comic characters, i like the fact that they put in touches where the new generation of actual readers can learn through the reaction of the new generation of characters. here we see Pixie making an observation of a Right soldier.

the Second Coming crossover will also deal with the repercussions of the (re)formation of X-Force as a mutant black ops team, and this will presumably split the X-ranks. right in this issue, we get X-23 staking a Sapien Leaguer in the head with a claw during interrogation. the pro-life Nightcrawler takes exception to this. i expect lots of yelling and screaming and punching in the coming days, and that's within the X-Men.

sidebar: the Simster thinks Kurt has the highest odds of not making it through the summer alive.

and there might still be a higher body count. i wasn't really sold when he first appeared, and not even when they brought him back, but now i feel there isn't any better villain out there who fits in this whole storyline than Bastion. Scott Lobdell, take a bow.

they've always been able to beat this Nimrod/Master Mold combo before, but they need to ground him to a fine dust this time around. or else there's no hope.

-----
X-Men: Second Coming

eyes wide shut

drive-by readings

X-Men Origins: Cyclops one shot (Marvel) "Eyes Wide" Stuart Moore Jesse Delperdang Andy Lanning Matt Hollingsworth Rob Steen Adi Granov (cover)

we've seen this origin tale many times before, and there isn't much difference now, save that its been tailored for a new generation (thank God they didn't include that iffy part in that Wolverine movie ... but who knows). Cyclops has always been cast as this inspiring yet robotic leader spouting the Xavier credo of mutants-must-coexist-with-humans, but at least in the last decade, there has been this shift towards making him a much more layered individual and not simply a yes-man to his father figures. by having him taken over by Apocalypse, dealing with his demons, having a psychic affair with Emma Frost, and the eventual killing off of Jean Grey, Scott Summers finally shed the doubts nagging him as to what he's really capable of. and with the stepping down of Charles Xavier and Scott's eventual ascent to running the school and uniting the remaining mutants and having their own island, the transformation was complete.

this origin story somewhat ties in to the present because it already shows Scott not making decisions based on what Xavier says all the time. he has his own mind, whether in battling Magneto or making the long-term decision to lead the X-Men in Xavier's stead. it must have been rankling to the professor to have his star student brush him off as he finds his own path, not as a petulant child, but as a confident adult. Mike Carey, Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction have delineated this transition as a very interesting angle in recent years.

i don't remember much of Jesse Delperdang's work save his stint inking Andy Kubert in X-Men and Ka-Zar, but he does a good job here, somewhat veering from Kirby/Ladronn-ish to Kevin Nowlan.

and now for some snaps!

"yes, mistuh Xavier sir, you want me to remove my visor to show you?"


by the way, Scott, spoke to Alex lately?


not being able to shoot Magneto with his eye beams, Scott decides beat him to death with his mask/visor.

i'm with fat

drive-by readings

Siege: Embedded #1 (Marvel) Brian Reed Chris Samnee Matthew Wilson Rus Wooton Adi Granov (cover)

Ben Urich is the luckiest character in the Marvel Universe, following in the footsteps of Phil Sheldon, and has been on the front row seat of every significant event in the Marvel U. not the least of his fortune is the fact that he's survived all the crazy shit that happened in the last decade at least, and he didn't need to be saved by his hero pals either. and it makes sense that this anti-Green Goblin crusader would be at the frontline and helping out when they finally bring Norman Osborn down.

running into an old journo/pisser/friend Wil Stern in Chi-Town post-Volstagg eruption, they catch up on old times. even better, Volstagg walks past their diner! talk about being at the right place at the right time. its that ol' Urich luck.

it's a bit contrived that Volstagg, all five hundred thousand pounds of Asgardian jowls and fat, can even be walking around Chicago without being noticed (except by that plucky newsman from New Yawk). not only that, they even feed him an inordinate amount of food, and no one in the diner (presumably, Chicago natives distraught at the destruction of Soldier Field) even acts suspiciously and picks up the phone to call the cops. the H.A.M.M.E.R. helicarriers are all around and with all that technology, they can practically find anyone! the failure to do so also reflects well on reality, as events from the last three weeks have shown, if you have been reading the news.

we're also introduced to the flipside of the honorable Urich cloth - a Bill O'Reilly/Glenn Beck hybrid who's been commissioned by Osborn to brainwash people all the more to the Goblin's way of thinking. aren't you glad comics aren't written by the conservative right? or maybe its just the sign of the times. if the conditions were different, we would have Captain America slinging his shield and beating up Middle Eastern people (wait, Mark Millar did that in The Ultimates).

Chris Samnee (The Exterminators) brings a gritty feel to Urich's most important journey, and i'm glad to be along for the ride.


you deserve this, America. if you believe ranting idiots like these, its no one else's fault.


imagine if Matt Lauer did that.


hey, i don't see Bullseye in this picture. he's probably killing off survivors.


aw, c'mon! didn't he have burgers in Oklahoma?? are you kidding me??


useless billion dollar technology - no wonder we're in the tank.

drive-by readings: Wolverine: Weapon X #4

Wolverine: Weapon X #4 (Marvel) "The Adamantium Men, Part 4 of 5" Jason Aaron Ron Garney Jason Keith Cory Petit Garney/Morry Hollowell (cover) Adi Granov (variant cover)

action fans, look no further as this issue takes a page out of Family Guy's Peter vs Chicken battles - am sure Ron Garney got a kick out of Logan exchanging blows and slashes with technically his descendant - complete with comedic moments like dragging your head on train tracks and a stoppage when a schoolbus full of kids comes along. what i don't get is why Logan had to bother with going to the Carribean and wringing an address out of Blackguard (read: Blackwater Worldwide) employees to find their CEO who wants to jumpstart the Weapon X program, when he can just ask any of his superhero cohorts to find out that information. as to being arrested by H.A.M.M.E.R. - eh well ... let's just go back to the slicing and dicing, shall we? i almost expect Sabretooth to show up next issue, head reattached and all. also: Maverick is a useless backup and a terrible lay (allegedly).

drive-by readings: War of Kings #5

War of Kings #5 (Marvel) "In Rage and Blood and Fire" Dan Abnett Andy Lanning Paul Pelletier Rick Magyar Wil Quintana Joe Caramagna Brandon Peterson (cover) Adi Granov (variant cover)

with the assassination of Lilandra (you mean it, Marvel? you really mean it?), the endgame is afoot, making the expected collision course between Vulcan and Black Bolt inevitable. the rage burns out of control on the Sh'iar side, none moreso than in Lilandra's longtime loyalist, Gladiator, who's out ripping arms and putting down those he believes betrayed the Royal Throne (how ya doin', Chancellor Araki). the Inhumans in the meantime, are divided in their own house, as Black Bolt hatches a counterplan involving terrigen mists, sound, and himself: in short, he's goin' a-suicide bombing. i've been praising War of Kings for being a well-coordinated crossover, with its simple, tight sequences and exceptional cliffhangers; case in point - Vulcan easily brushes aside the Kree Sentries and bursts into the heart of the Inhuman bomb, and just nods at Black Bolt: "you. let's go." this is i think, the apex of Vulcan's characterization, thanks to DnA, and ultimately thanks to Ed Brubaker, who co-created the 3rd Summers brother in X-Men: Deadly Genesis, and who also has a hand in this month's other much-hyped book (think red, white and blue).