Showing posts with label Craig Kyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Craig Kyle. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

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.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

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.

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X-Men: Second Coming

Sunday, January 31, 2010

dead like them

drive-by readings


X-Force #23 (Marvel)
"Necrosha: Chapter Four"
Craig Kyle
Christopher Yost
Clayton Crain
Cory Petit

apart from the cover which shows Banshee but in no way does he appear in the inside pages, i have no complaints about this issue, as the X-people completely realize they're in for a fight of their lives against their dead friends and enemies. considering they can't kill dead people, they're really out of options here. Emma Frost gets a nostalgic jolt when she sees a resurrected Blink, and the pain of that causes her to urge Logan to go postal on Selene. Warpath tries to stave off the slaughter by bringing Eli Bard the Spirit Blade, but of course the baddies take that and him back to Selene to provide entertainment by duelling with his late bro Thunderbird. its also interesting to see Archangel regrow his blade wings back even if Blink destroys(?) them. an intriguing subplot has the Wolf prince Hrimhari exchanging his soul for Hela to bring back Elixir, who in turn heals the now-pregnant Rahne - a difficult sacrifice.
oh wait, i have one more beef: Clayton Crain continues to exasperate. i can't make sense of the fight scenes, even if i recognize most of the characters being depicted.



hey, the proper term is Native American! yer gonna git sued for this!


Logan demonstrates what happens if you don't use Colgate Whitening.


oh, hey, look who unearthed this poster from 2003!


despite being hundreds of years old, Selene's no slouch when it comes to fashion, hey?

Friday, December 18, 2009

snaps: X-Force #22

... where Blackest Night spills full-scale into the X-Universe. oh wait ... this isn't Blackest Night?! really?!?!

also, this features a Blink you don't know or remember (and am not talking Exiles either). and also features some atrocious Clayton Crain art (somebody bring back Mike Choi!!!). and oh, somebody got knocked up.

1) huh? when did the Sh'iar Gladiator die and become a zombie?


2) emo girls are sexy. even when they're dead.


3) what? he's just doing what normally males when they found out they got someone pregnant!


4) why is dead Skin (heh.) talking to himself? oh, that's right, some editor snoozed on the job again.


5) you mean aside from the fact you're half-naked and being worshiped by a bunch of dead people?

Monday, November 2, 2009

eyes up here, boy!!

he hasn't been dead that long, but hey - Caliban still has male instincts, no?



AND HE CAN SMELL 'EM TOO!!!!


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X-Necrosha one-shot

Sunday, November 30, 2008

regurgitate

oh hell, why not?

with the current X-brain trust going retro by digging into past playbooks (Legacy Virus, Archangel, Hellfire Club, Shadow King, etc), why not The Right? Cameron Hodge already made an appearance.



with past issues also hinting of a future storyline with Magik (whose presence practically negated my love for Uncanny X-Men #303), we could be seeing the lovable demons S'ym and N'astirh soon. and don't forget Mojo, why don'tcha? and the X-babies! and the Thieves Guild! and the Mutant Liberation Front!

plus, we're waiting for Kitty Pryde to be resurrected so Peter won't go off the deep end again!!!

X-Force #9

Friday, September 26, 2008

don't call it a comeback

cliffhanger of the week!



Staples copyright alert!!!!


and its an annoying cliffhanger. after years of having the Legacy Virus (the comic book equivalent of AIDS) dangle over the heads of mutants everywhere, Colossus sacrificed himself for a cure. and that was that.

Colossus has since returned from the dead (biiiiig surprise). does it follow that the virus will have to make its own inevitable comeback?

geeez, Luis Guzman! Marvel revived Bastion, and Bastion revived a bunch of past no-good'ers: Graydon Creed, Cameron Hodge, Stephen Lang, and Bolivar Trask.

what year is this, is it 1997???

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X-Force #7

Saturday, December 1, 2007

gonna get you too

and another one bites the dust!

okay, just because we see Hellion (Julian Keller) skewered by a new Lady Deathstrike, doesn't mean he's dead, right? right??


apologies to n00bs. Hellion is a junior X-Man; more specifically, he's part of the junior squad creatively called "New X-Men". they're this generation's New Mutants, and after the Decimation event, seemed destined to be the last generation of mutants ever because the mutant gene has not sparked again. at least until a mutant baby was born, and every group with an agenda is suddenly hell-bent on getting their hands on it.

the reason for the skewering is that a town was destroyed in a battle between the mutant-hating Purifiers and Sinister's Marauders. the junior squad, having a score to settle with the Purifiers (notice how these storylines get convoluted and extended), defy Cyclops' orders to stay put (as always) and sneak into a Purifier compound, and discover far more than they bargained for.

but wait! that's not the bigger issue here. what piques my curiosity is what the hell is that hanging by Deathstrike's crotch (study picture above carefully).

if that's not enough, the cover of the next chapter of this Messiah CompleX storyline shows:


someone had weird designs in their head. or maybe am just weird. yes, i am.


anyway, as promised from last summer's Endangered Species storyline, we're about to get a '90s flashback: X-Men vs. Marauders, round whatever.

this sequence rocks:

i love Essex' new Marilyn Manson/Goth look


yes, because normally y'all don't stand a chance





i still cain't believe Remy's on this side


i hope Storm hasn't divorced T'Challa

leave it to Wolverine to do the talking (and subsequent slicing)




suddenly, i can't wait for next week!!!! aaaaaaaargh!!!!!!!

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New X-Men #44
Craig Kyle/Christopher Yost/Humberto Ramos/Carlos Cuevas