Wolverine # 900 Review

Writers: Various
Artist: Various
Cover: David Finch

YES!!! After years and years of anticipation it is finally here!!! The mother of all Wolverine comics. The one where we get to find out what exactly makes Logan tick and what really did happen at the Weapon X project. We didn't even have to wait 60 years for this book to come out, because the wonderful folks at Marvel have even created a time machine to travel to the future and bring this piece of gold back in time to us. Fuck you Action Comics and Detective Comics we beat you again! First with Deadpool, now with Wolverine. It's amazing that comics 60 years from now are only five bucks and the stories are still pretty shitty.

What we have here is a collection of eight stand alone Wolverine stories. Six new ones and two recycled from previous comics. We have Logan going after some guy in the Hand, I think. Wolverine playing his role of leader of the Black Dragons to try and take out the Yellow Claw, a story that uses Logan as a surgeon, one where he gives words to live by to a fat guy he drinks with, helping a little girl find her daddy, a dynamic team-up with Spidey, dream sequence of a distant past or an Ultimate universe, and a silent story about Weapon X. Nothing really stood out to me. We didn’t add anything new to make the character more interesting or didn’t shed light in the character’s past.

The story that stuck out the most to me was the team up with Spider-man by Zeb Wells. It actually felt like I was reading a Wolverine story from back in the day. The others were just so bland and forgettable that they aren’t even worthy of talking about. But I guess for the sake of the review and all……David Finch’s art was a nice addition, but they story made little sense. The stupid bar buddy idea was a ridiculous situation where Wolverine takes an insecure nerd out that show him life is about going for it and getting laid in the process. This is Wolverine old as fucking dirt and a samurai and those are his words of advice?!!! I would like to see a follow up to the Yellow Claw story, but maybe just as a one shot. Worst There IS was a little hard to believe, but I guess it had a cute ending. The silent comic was a waste of time, unless Stephen Segovia is just trying to get hired at Marvel and using this as his portfolio piece. The Todd Dezago bit reminded me why I quit reading comics in the 90s and the Jeph Loeb story had some nice visuals, but was just nonsense.

I'm not sure what Marvel was trying to do with this. Other than cash in on the Deadpool Team up mild success. This could have been a solid story about an old man Logan that lost his way in the future......oh wait, fuck that idea we got Mark Millar working on that, let's make this a X-men Unlimited type of adventure. People love that stuff, that's why the series was cancelled twice! It’s a definite pass, unless you are a Wolverine completist and damn it… I happen to be one. D+

For those of you with children...

Teach your kids the alphabet with Wolverine and friends!!!

Good times, that's freaking sweet. Via DeviantArt.

Nation X #1 Review

Writers: Chris Yost, Simon Spurrier, James Asmus, & Scott Snyder
Artists: Mike Allred, David Lopez, Michele Bertilorenzi, & Leonard Kirk

I'm not really why Marvel insisted on canceling X-men Unlimited if they were going to keep comics like this, Divided We Fall, and Manifest Destiny around. But maybe these miniseries work better like TV seasons instead of monthly anthologies.

It is nice to see some of the characters that haven't been the spotlight of Uncanny or Legacy take light. It's also good to see the remaining cast of Young and New X-men come back and kick us off. So the idea behind this series is to show us how some of the other mutants who aren't Wolverine or Cyclops, or shit even Deadpool nowadays are dealing with this new Utopia that Cyclops has created for mutant kind. Unfortunately nothing really stands out in these four stories. Not to say that it's a terrible series, but nothing really shines like those Brandon Peterson covers, sorry horrible analogy I couldn't resist.

The Ghost of Asteroid M turns out to be the weakest part of the book. While then art is fine and get the job done; the story is bland and the dialogue is almost out of character for Magneto. Turns out the ghost was nothing more than a message by Magneto himself. Road Trip was probably the highlight for me because of Allred's art. It fit the story even if it was just a silly college humor kind of story. Cold Shoulder seem to go on a little too long to get the point across that Iceman does care, but he has to joke about everything to cover how scared he is. It was nice to see Stinger back, nice throwback to those classic X-factor stories. Testament was a solid story about Colossus not being able to leave the past behind and his resurrected sister treating him like a bitch. It was a touching tale and made me miss Kitty Pride even more.

Charging four bucks for stories like these is a little too much. If they had made it 64 pages instead of a four issue limited series it would have worked better. While it's not terrible it can be easily skipped and unless the next few issues bring something new to the table, the whole series can probably be skipped. C

Dark Wolverine #81 Review

Writers: Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu
Pencils: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Inks: Onfrio Catcchio
Colors: Marte Gracia
Cover: Brandon Peterson

I had to mention the cover artist because it's really weird to see Dark characters shine. While this works for the cosmic events like War of the Kings, I thought this title was supposed to be dark? Put Jae Lee or Bill Sienkiewicz on the job. I get the reasoning why they did it. It's a pretty cover that is supposed to show the false relationship between Daken and Moonstone, but Dark Wolverine should never be shiny.

Enough bitching about the cover, let's start bitching about the book. It's been a long time since I've reviewed a Daniel Way Wolverine book. I think I was burned out on repeating how much his stories suck ass and how he is destroying the character of Wolverine. Dark Wolverine or Daken is another matter though. He happens to be his own creation and for some reason Marvel is trying to make him a heavy hitter in their universe. As far as I'm concerned, I really could give a fuck about Daken and his mighty misadventures and this issue does nothing to intrigue the character.

Moonstone goes and looks for Daken and after flying around for half an issue she finds him and has some tea with him. Through a series of flashbacks we learn why Daken likes tea or doesn't like tea so much. We learn that he killed an old woman and he is a liar! What the fuck am I reading?!! I get that Dr.Karla Sofen is trying to psychoanalyze this douchebag that she has an interest in, but the execution is horrible. They spend half the issue answering questions with questions? Am I supposed to care about Daken, because shitty stories like this really make me despise the character even more? This issue is seemingly built solely to portray Daken as a misanthropic rogue a loose fucking cannon of the Dark Avengers. This is a fact that has already been shoved down our throats in other books; Making this series an instantly forgettable and unnecessary character study. You want an example of a good psychoanalysis issue; go read X-factor 87. Thais es a complete baste of time.

While I dig Camuncoli's characters, this book really needs a background artist. His style is a unique twist on the classic mangaesque look, but his buildings and setting really need some work. Perhaps a different inker and colorist to darken the feel of the book would help. To be honest I think they should replace the whole creative team or just cancel this useless book. I'm hoping someone will resurrect Sabretooth to come and chop this fucking hack of a Wolverine's head off. D

More Marvel / Disney Shenanigans

Compliments of all the folks at CollegeHumor.com

Exiles # 1 Review

Writer: Jeff Parker
Artist: Salva Espin
Colors: Anthony Washington
Publisher: Marvel

I'm guessing that this is the fourth volume Exiles..if I don't include the original Malibu Comics run, just the one where Juggernaut, Reaper, and Siena Blaze were on....maybe I shouldn't count that one either. Anyway, this is a fresh start to a very very familiar story.

For some unknown reason Morph (assuming it's the same Morph from the original series) is now the Timebroker and has gathered six new Exiles to go on missions hopping from world to world. They are to fix what isn't supposed to be broken in these different Earths. I'm sure if you've read Exiles before this all sounds like the same idea. Well, it really is. Morph gives Blink, who doesn't act like the Age of Apocalypse Blink the Tallus that states what their missions are and they go off to find a world where Magneto rules and Wolverine drools...errr is dead.

The five new characters are Panther, Forge, Beast, the Witch, and Polaris. They all seem really bland and boring. Forge did die a pretty heroic death in his world though, so I have hopes for him. I think the problem I had with Parker's writing is that they all sounded the same. They read more like teenagers and I hate to say it, but they sound like they belong in the Marvel Adventures book series. I figure with a revamp that Parker would take this opportunity to introduce some new elements to the series and give us a fresh start. But, it's all the same just with new faces and different goals.

I can't say I loved the art either. Espin has a simple style that you can tell he is still perfecting. Characters vary in look and size from panel to panel and he adds very little to keep me interested in the already bland story. The cover by Bullock reminds me of Mark Pacella from the 90s and that isn't a good thing. The variant cover shown here really makes no sense. Since the only appearance Wolverine makes in the book is as a decapitated corpse. Way to boost those sells. I'll keep reading in hopes the stories and characters grow on me, but this is really a bad start since I had high expectations after reading Agents of Atlas. D

Wolverine: Weapon X # 1 Review

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Ron Garney
Covers: Ron Garney, Olivier Copiel, Alan Davis, and Adam Kubert
Colors: Jason Keith
Publisher: Marvel Comics

It's been a long time since I've done comic reviews other than the manga with Melanie and Tommy. I guess I got really burned out on saying the same crap about Daniel Way fucking up Wolverine or Geoff Johns treating each character with love. So I figure let's go back to the drawing board and pump out some reviews again. After all it is partly the reason why Dan and I started the site. We just got tired of reading kiss ass review after kiss ass review. Why not start with a new ongoing series starring my favorite character: Wolverine?

Weapon X is a new ongoing series (hellz yeah! Wolverines needs more than 7 books a month!) by Jason Aaron and Ron Garney. The first issues introduces the idea of more people like Wolverine running around as killing machines. The twist this time is that it isn't the Weapon X program turning people into assassins, but Blackguard. All this information comes from ex-mutant and ex-badass Maverick. Now Wolverine, with a brand new costume has to search for these assassins.

Not much of a start, just a simple story that could have been told in Wolverine or better yet Wolverine Origins, since Weapon X is such a big part of Logan's past. But I'm not Marvel and I'm sure they have good smart people making the calls when the new Wolverine movie is about to come out. I see nothing new in this first issue; new Wolverine villains with claws! Apparently Blackguard thinks it’s a good idea to enhance the claws by making them glow in the dark. That would surely make it easier to sneak up on your target. What I did like about the issue is that it read like the classic stories of Chris Claremont or early Larry Hama. A self contained story centered around Wolverine without going too deep into his past or catching readers up with his current convoluted status.

I do like the way Aaron writes Wolverine, although I doubt Logan would chop a mugger's hand off; everything else sounded like the bub using Wolverine we all love. What I don't get is the Spanish line: "Me Cago en Diez" Which literally translates to "I shit on ten!" Not sure if the guy is counting down to his crap time or if he is shitting on Grant Morrison's Attack on Weapon Plus story, cause I'm with you on that one Spanish cannon fodder! The art by Garney reminds me of the late John Buscema. It's very sketchy but man he can really set the atmosphere of the threat that Wolverine will be facing. Stop buying Wolverine Origins and don't even think about pre-ordering that Dark Wolverine story; As far as good Wolverine stories are concern this is probably the only place you are going to find one. B

Pic of the week

You know, in all honesty this would probably have a much longer lasting effect on wolverine than anything else anybody does to him. It's like the physical resilience of an entire species of cockroach all rolled into one guy.

X-men: Worlds Apart # 1 Review

Story:Christopher Yost
Penciler: Diogenes Neves
Inker: Ed Tadeo
Colors: Raul Trevino

Storm has always been one of my favorite characters in comics. She has always stood out from the rest of the heroines in the comic’s genre. Damn, even as a kid I knew a black woman leading a team of heroes was unprecedented. She has been a Goddess, X-man, leader, thief, and more recently a queen. Unfortunately, her new status as queen has really dimmed the light in this once well established character. This miniseries, if anything, accomplishes the task of proving that Storm really needs to go back home to the X-men.

I almost got excited when I saw Storm in the Morlock tunnels...err sewers with Cyclops. It seems that Cyclops needs her leadership of the Morlocks to try and recruit new mutants for his safe haven in San Francisco. He questions where her mind is and this takes us back to her recent place of residence Wakanda. It seems that Nezhno murdered an advisor to the king in cold blood. Storm thinks that something isn't right and as she releases her old ward, the King of Wakanda (Black Panther) puts a stop to her. It seems that he is being controlled by the X-men's old nemesis the Shadow King and is trying to turn her nation against her.

I guess in a way I am glad they brought the Shadow King back and if he isn't trying to take down Professor X, I guess Storm is a nice runner up. I'm not sure how I feel about Cyclops acting like a selfish brat, because Storm is now a married woman. Hell, she's only in one other book. He really just needs to sit down with Wolverine and ask him where his priorities are. I never agreed either with the ridiculous marriage of Storm and Black Panther, but I'm not Marvel. I was almost hoping that Black Panther was going to be a Skrull, but no such luck the marriage is still there. Now, this is one marriage I wouldn't mind Mephisto going after. The art gets the job, but that's about it. Some panels Storm looks determined, proud, and beautiful and others she looks like a drag queen strung out on coke. Neves' art is still better than Campbell's sketch....I mean cover. Not sure why this couldn't be told in the Black Panther book and not a $3.99 miniseries. B-

X-men Original Sin # 1 Review

Writers: Daniel Way & Mike Carey
Art: Mike Deadato, Scot Eaton, and Andrew Hennessy
Colors: Rain Beredo & Jason Keith
Cover: Mike Deadato

As a kid I would get excited about crossovers. My favorites were always the ones that would crossover into a book I wasn't buying on a monthly basis. It would introduce me to a new group of characters that I could learn to care about. So yes, I loved Secret Wars, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and of course all the countless of X-overs in the X-men universe. I guess my age is starting to show because I could care less what book is cross over into what book. That or I happen to hate Wolverine Origins and think that X-men Legacy is an idea ran into the ground time and time again.

What we get is another story that seems to rewrite history that has been established for 30+ years. This book goes all the way back to Giant Size X-men 1 and we get to see the all new X-men again. However, for some reason someone at the house of ideas loves to retcon stories. Speaking of which, didn't we already retcon Giant Size X-men with that horrible Deadly Genesis series a couple of years ago? So pretty much Wolverine finds out Professor X is still alive and needs him to mind wipe his son, Daken. Not entirely, just the bad stuff aka mental programming that turned his son into a killer. Xavier refuses, but Wolverine demands it! Wolverine gets up on Xavier's face and tells him to remember damn well that Wolverine was sent to kill Professor X when he joined the X-men! There is also a wonderful reprint of Classic X-men #1; you know to remind you when comics were fucking fun.

What the fuck is going on here? Didn't we already do a story about Wolverine sent into the X-men to kill Professor Xavier in Ultimate X-men? How the fuck is Wolverine's reaction to Cyclops revelation that Professor X is still alive justified. Wah wah you didn't tell me Professor X is alive; I can smell him all over you!!!! Motherfuck, this is the kind of argument I would expect from a jealous wife, who is worried about her husband's faithfulness, and I guess his sexuality. Punching Cyclops for no reason is just fucking stupid. It would have worked back in the early 80s but I think Logan and Scott have moved beyond that. Pimp slapping Emma and calling her the White Queen after having a heart to heart talk with her in the same week on Manifest Destiny, just doesn't make any fucking sense either. Of course punching Cyclops is not the only thing that reminds me of an 80s Wolverine story. Hell no, a classic Wolverine story wouldn't be complete if he didn't call in a favor from an old Asian friend!

I find Miss Sinister (who they are really pushing as a new threat) as threatening as parking tickets. It took years for me to buy Mr. Sinister as a villain; Miss Sinister is going to have to do something really bad to make her a believable baddie. And Daken, no matter who writes him is still a douchebag. The only things I liked about the issue were the interactions between Xavier and Logan. I do like the way Carey handled the new Xavier talking to his old students. I also highly enjoyed the artwork. Deadato's style really fits in well with a flashback story and Eaton is amazing when it comes to facial expressions. It wasn't enough to save the book from being crap, but it was a breath of fresh air when swimming in funk. A bad start to a crossover that I have very little expectations for. At least Marvel was nice enough to include a great story in the back for your 4 bucks! D

King Size Hulk #1

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artists: Art Adams, Frank Cho, Herb Trimpe

Wow, this was unecessary.  $5.00 for 24 new pages of art, reprints of Incredible Hulk 180 & 181, and Avengers 83, which didn't even have the Hulk in it!  Art Adams does the first 8 pages, which sees the Red Hulk kill a Wendigo for some reason, and does nothing to advance the whole story happening over in Loeb's Hulk book.  Frank Cho does the next 8 pages to show us the missing bits from Hulk where She-Hulk got grabbed by the Red Hulk.  Again, nothing new to see here.  Herb Trimpe's 8 pages are a review of the old Abomination's history, nothing new here.  I got more value out of reading the reprints, which is a two-part Wendigo story and introduces Wolverine, than I did of the new stuff.  I want to know who the Red Hulk is already.  Drop some hints here and there Loeb! I know you're just gonna drop it on us, but lay some clues please!  And if you want us to buy 24 pages of new Red Hulk stuff, put something new in it! Read this issue in the shop, and put it back on the shelf.  F

Episode 99 - What He Plants on the Ladies

It was a bit of a slow week in comic books, but we soldier on through and talk about:

• "Old Nerds with Jeff & Ray"
• Batman - Death Mask 1
• Titans 1
• Serenity - Better Days 2
• Booster Gold 8
• Justice Society of America 24
• Wolverine 64
• Green Lantern Corps 23
• BPRD 1946 4
• The Goon

Also, two quick notes. Yes, this episode is intentionally without the opening music and episode title, because I thought the way we recorded it was funnier. And we've decided to integrate the clip show we spoke of before into episode 100. We didn't forget.

Episode 99 - What He Plants on the Ladies

Wolverine Origins # 23 Review

Writer: Daniel Way
Art: Steve Dillon
Colors: Matt Milla
Cover: Simone Bianchi

This is going to be short and not sweet. It's really a shame that Bianchi's talents have to be wasted on the cover of such a horrible book. All I really had to do to review this craptacular book was copy and paste my review for the last issue. Because that’s all that happens in this issue for the third time. 3 issues in and Wolverine and Deadpool are still fighting. Deadpool steals the spotlight (poor Deadpool) from Wolverine in this cat and mouse game. 90% of the story is both Wolverine and Deadpool fighting and we still don’t know why. While Deadpool’s schemes are a complete rip off of Looney Tunes; in a way they are amusing, but out of character. If Way’s unique style to the character is to make him crazy rather than arrogant, quirky, and sarcastic then count me out of the ongoing Deadpool series. This story arc could be wrapped up in one issue. Dillon, who is an accomplished artist on Preacher, Punisher, and Hellblazer still, has a problem drawing the character of Wolverine. For some reason Wolverine always looks like he’s got to take a crap or just looks surprised in every panel. Somebody give this guy another project and someone find Way a Will E Coyote comic to write. Even the Mexican smuggling bicycles joke couldn’t save this book. F

Logan # 1 Review

Author: Brian K. Vaughn
Artist: Eduardo Risso
Colorist: Dean White

When I heard the name Brian K. Vaughn being mentioned I immediately jumped on this series. My favorite character + a fantastic writer = money well spent. At least that was my formula when I bought the issue. I mean it’s got to make sense right? Nobody has done anything with the character’s past since he got his memories back. Now it’s the perfect time for BKV to show us what he is made of. I’ve always said a writer’s true test is if he can write a good X-men story.

For the first four pages Logan shows up at an old temple in Japan talking about how he has to take down this old adversary from the past. It hasn’t been revealed who yet, but the rest of the issue is a flashback to 1941 and WW2. Logan and a guy named Warren are POWs that were captured by some Japanese troops. At this time Logan was a member of some Canadian Special Forces Unit and was sent to Burma to blow up a bridge and that’s all he can remember. They end up escaping and run into a beautiful Japanese woman named Atsuko on a bridge (maybe this is why Logan had such a fascination with Mariko). Warren wants to put her down, but Logan stops him and tells him to take a hike. She takes him back to her place, they play a little Marvin Gay, and get it on. Alright everything is true, but the Marvin Gay part. It is revealed though that he is in Hiroshima and thinks can’t look good by the end of the third issue.

While the beginning of the issue felt stereotypical of introducing a new baddie to the Wolverine mythos, you don’t really appreciate it till the ending. There really wasn’t any tension or plot build up and there, but the revelation of his location made me go back and reread the book and it just kept getting better and better each time I read it. Sure, there are some silly things like finding some random easy chick in Japan and knocking boots within minutes, but BKV’s dialogue is so good he makes it seem like it really could happen. He nails the attitude and dialogue for the character, both in terms of the modern narration and his WWII era dialogue.

I have been a fan of Risso since his Hundred Bullet days and his art in this series is fantastic. It has a nice mix of his own contemporary style thrown in with a little Mike Mignola, and Frank Miller. It really works well for a story like this and it reminded me of the classic Claremont and Miller mini. I just felt like there really to be a little more meat in the first issue and I’m sure Atsuko would agree with me. It’s a shame that the book has $3.99 price tag, which seems expensive because of the small plot. But you know if you are a fan of Wolverine or BKV you are still going to pay for it. I really cannot wait to see what happens next and hopefully we’ll get lots more out of issue two. B+

Uncanny X-men # 496 Review

Author: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Mike Choi
Colors: Sonia Oback
Letterer: Joe Carmagna

Warning: Review contains spoilers
Uncanny X-men has been getting better and better over the last year. I believe that Bru has finally found the character’s voices and is getting comfortable with the cast. Sure Nightcrawler doesn’t pull out the classic mein freud or Colossus uses the tovarish line every five seconds, but they are still in character.

Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Wolverine are still in Mother Russia visiting the graves of Peter’s parents. They then go into a bar and make a crack at Juggernaut walking in, take down some Russian thugs, and are set to leave Russia. Meanwhile Cyclops and Emma are leaving the Savage Land to see what has happened to Angel and apparently Hepzibah, who seem to be caught in an acid flashback. The mysterious party responsible is a goddess who has managed to block Emma from finding her friends.

My biggest problem with the issue has nothing to do with Bru, but more with the editors. If you don’t want to know the ending of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-men, you might want to skip this issue. But yeah, it seems that Kitty Pryde doesn’t make it out alive or at least not back home with the rest of the X-men. Of course it doesn’t go into detail, but it still irritates me when they do things like this.

Sure, the book has been late and it’s not Bru’s fault his book comes out on time, but man they really drop the bomb in this issue. Also, since when does Cyclops need to be told what a Celestial is? Doesn’t he remember almost getting squashed by a Celestial’s foot during the Judgment War storyline in X-factor?

While the issue remains a fun issue to read, I really can’t believe they are following up Messiah Complex with a hippie villain. Also, I’m assuming that Hepzibah is now a “cat lady” and has lost all her skunk attributes. I think Mike Choi’s artwork is completely gorgeous, but of course Oback has lots to do with that. However, even though his art is very clean and pretty, I don’t think he is really suited for a team book like this. I think he draws everyone too young and he has the same faces on most the guys. But, his Emma Frost is nice to look at. So, overall it’s still a fun issue and I hope the revelation of the mystery goddess is not someone lame like Lorelei or Beautiful Dreamer. B-

X-force # 2 Review

Authors: Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Artist: Clayton Crain
Letterer: Cory Petit

It seems that the new trend for X-books this week is to put the inkers and some colorist out of jobs. These artists must be getting a heck of a paycheck if they are doing all the work. Anyway X-force # 1 left us with a pretty decent cliffhanger, where Rahne was about to get her brains blown out by Mathew Risman, a Purifier and in this issue we are left with another big cliffhanger, well at least to us New Mutant fans.

It seems that Risman wasn’t aiming at Rahne’s head, but rather her kneecap, I guess I must have missed that panel. Wolverine is finding a difficult time being a leader and keeping X-23 on a leash. The Purifiers end up kidnapping Rahne again, because X-23 wired the house and forgot to mention it to everyone. For some reason Cyclops really didn’t mind at all, because his whole mission was to kill Mathew Risman, not rescue Rahne. There is also the revelation that Reverend Craig was Rahne’s father the whole time and she apparently knew. Bastion wants these mutants dead and not torture and his sole plan right now is to resurrect Magus from the bottom of the ocean.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I really don’t get the premise of the book. I mean it’s a covert ops team that has one of the most recognizable characters in the Marvel U on it? I mean how are they going to be secretive? Maybe Wolverine should get a new costume. Those red eyes aren’t fooling anyone. I know Cyclops is a prick, but when did he stop caring about the lives of his team members and friends. This is what they pulled Rahne from X-factor for? For her to be getting kidnapped and tortured? Judging by the cover of next issue I’m assuming all that is going to change and the character might too forever.

The art was delightful to look at, but like I’ve always said from the start, I don’t think that Crain is the right choice for this book. His art thrives off of intense action scenes, while the slower moments aren't as impressive. I have lots of faith in Yost and Kyle, but really this book would work better as a miniseries or if Cyclops stuck to his “there is no more X-men” statement. Can’t wait for that fight with Magus. B- I would like to mention how stupid those bloody variant covers are by the way. Do people really want to pay additional money to have a little red on their cover?

Cable & Deadpool # 50 Review

Plot & Pencils: Reilly Brown
Script: Fabian Nicieza
Inkers: Jeremy Freeman & Bob Almond
Colors: Gotham

It’s really surprising that this comic made it to issue 50 and I’m not saying that in a negative town. As a matter of fact I am really sad to see this book go. It’s been my favorite Marvel title since its debut and I really can’t imagine a Deadpool book working without Nicieza, yes I’ve read Casey’s and Simone’s run, but nothing comes close to what Fabian has done with this book. I mean these are characters that haven’t shined since the mid 90’s, but somehow Fabian made it work.

Series artist Reilly Brown stepped in as guest plotter while Nicieza contributed the script for the last two issues. Deadpool, Weasel, Bob, Agent X, and the rest of the gang team up with the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the citizens of NY to take on the SYMBIOTE DINOSQUAD. I’m assuming this was set during the horrible Venom crossover in Mighty and New Avengers. Even Cable manages to help out, well sort of and everything goes back to where it all started. With Deadpool chilling out on the couch and Bea Arthur.

It’s a great send off to a fantastic run of comics. Fabian’s dialogue is top notch and Brown’s pencils really shine in this issue. I have no idea why neither one of these two is not working on a high profile comic. It’s sad to see that the Cable storyline couldn’t be resolved because I’m sure Marvel has put any stories featuring him off-limits, well that is until his Lone Cable and Cub comic comes out. I’m depressed and I will drink myself to sleep now. A

Episode 91 - Kernel Panic

32 minutes into the podcast we were recording last night, my computer freaked out and threw a kernel panic. Once I'd rebooted, I was able to find the file, but it was hopelessly garbled, so we couldn't use it. So we recorded another 50:00 worth of show, talking about Uncanny X-Men 495, X-Factor 28, X-Force 01, Wolverine 62, New Avengers 38, Booster Gold 00, Countdown 11, JSA 12, The Goon 21, Fantastic Four 554, BPRD 1946 2, Abe Sapien - The Drowning 1, Walking Dead 46, Spawn 175, Green Arrow - Black Canary 5 and Salvation Run 5.

For those who aren't particularly fond of their aural sanity, I went ahead and attached the ruined (but still somewhat comprehensible) audio after the main podcast. For you sane folks out there, stop listening after 'stay geeky.'

Episode 91 - Kernel Panic

About Heroes Episode 87

This week, Nick announces his contest winners, and we talk about some books: Amazing Spider-Man 546, Wolverine 61, Nova 10, Salvation Run 3, Green Lantern Corps 20, Green Arrow - Black Canary 4, X-Factor 27, Mighty Avengers 7, Hulk 1, The Goon 20, and Countdown week 36.

About Heroes, Episode 87

Wolverine # 61 Review

Author: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Howard Chaykin
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Cover: Arthur Suydam

It’s been a few months since I reviewed a Wolverine book, but you know what they say if you can’t say anything nice….fuck it, I was just being lazy. The five part story Logan Dies wraps up with this issue and how does it make me feel as a Wolverine fan of 20+ years? But before we get on that, I would like to point out that all five part covers were drawn by Marvel Zombies cover artist Suydam. Can the guy draw normal people without looking like they are dying or coming back from the dead? I would love to see him do a self portrait.

Alright let’s do a quick recap of all the crap that’s been happening in this story arc. Since World War I Wolverine has defeated a being called Lazaer, every time he is faced with he is on the brink of death, he must battle Lazaer on a spiritual plane. Wolverine died again, this time he was blowup by Shogun and found out he couldn’t come back from the dead, because his heart was broken. After spending time in Purgatory he escapes and is out to question Shogun and Phaedra (the lady that brought him back from the dead with the Hand), but finds them in collusion with Lord Shingen Yashida (who has been dead since Wolverine 4 mini-series).

While this isn’t the most horrible of Wolverine stories, it’s up there among the worst. It turns out that Wolverine’s soul has been inside of Shogun’s all of this time. I fucking kid you not! The whole book is a fight between Wolverine and Lazaer…or rather Azrael (the angel of death). Wolverine finally makes a deal with Azrael to put his soul back in his body, if he kills Phaedra. Bam soul is back in Wolverine, but he can no longer heal as well as he has been since he came back from the dead….err why do I even bother with this character sometimes? Anyways, Wolverine not having the same kind of healing factor just means he can’t come back from a single cell anymore. But, I’m assuming he still has to fight Lazaer if he dies again. There were some good things about the issue. I like the idea of putting Wolverine where he was 15 years ago well at least with his healing factor and Guggenheim went back and filled some lose ends that Millar left open in his story arc. But the execution was horrible and at times I really couldn’t make head or tails of the story without going back and re-reading the issue. Ohh yeah, and now Lord Shingen is back, I guess the only way to truly him truly back is to sing Bruce Springsteen.

I think I was blinded by the love that I have for American Flagg, because I almost made myself believe that Chaykin was capable of drawing a decent Wolverine story. Hell, at times it even looked like Miller’s work on Wolverine, but the dull fight scenes, obscure angles on swords that just seem to be made of rubber, Wolverine’s claws looking like popsicles at times, and odd looking chins that keep changing shape and size; I just can’t do it anymore. I think Chaykin is still a great artist and if it didn’t look so rushed or if it was printed in black & white I’m sure I would be happy, but his recent work has been unbearable. This is Guggenheim’s last issue and next month we have a whole new creative team that will probably try to destroy my favorite character, but who knows. I hope to eat my words one day. D+