The List #50 Part 2

Astonishing X-Men #5
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Kaare Andrews
Finally we've arrived at the end of Ellis' run of Astonishing and I just have to say that it saddens me to see him go. I mean this issue alone delivers two of the best Emma moments I've seen in years (for more of my thoughts on them, [here] and [here]). Hopefully this week's coming Astonishing, featuring a new creative team, can continue the excellent characterization of Emma that I've come to expect from this series.

I've only a few notes besides uninhibited excitement at how prominently featured and correctly characterized Emma is here, and they are: A. I enjoyed Beast's moment of badassery; B. I actually enjoy the ending with the fate of Jaspers being resolved, it was wonderfully tense; C. I know I've already talked about Emma, but I also need to pay special respect to the fact that she saved the motherf#%^ing day in this mini-series! Emma Frost resolved the problem. Emma. My girl, who saved that day with all the sadistic thrill I've come to expect from her. You have no idea how much this thrills me.

Conclusion: If you haven't already, go out and buy this entire mini-series. Also, do enjoy the magic of a well-written Emma Frost.

Fables #101 + #102
Writer: Bill Willingham
Artist: Eric Shanowner and Mark Buckingham
Beginning with Fables #101, let me just open with this statement: I don't like Bufkin. I get it, the fans love him, hence his getting the spotlight treatment lately, but honestly, I don't find him entertaining in the least. So you can imagine this issue was less than exciting for me.

However, while I'm not Bufkin fan, I do have to express my enjoyment of the Magic Mirror, and especially the explanation and questioning of his abilities this issue. And of course, I enjoyed the ridiculous faces he made throughout the issues and his explanation of his rhyming rule because this causes me to think of him as a bitchy queen. And I love my bitchy queens.

So with the events of this issue being Bufkin climbing up the tree in the business office and ending up back in Oz to join a rebellion, I have to wonder how Miss Ozma, Princess of Oz (oh believe me, we'll get to her in a minute), will play into this sub-story. Anyway, that's the extent of my thoughts on that issue.

Onto #102, in regards to Miss Ozma, all I have to say is: Yes. Despite my missing of Frau Totenkinder, I have to say that her replacement is doing fantastically as a fill-in for my need to have an amoral, strange female character to root for. What's fantastic about Ozma, in contrast to Frau, is her willingness to take control and basically forcefully run everyone around to her will. This issue she decided to use the superhero genre in planning a new way to confront the Dark Man, and she is in no way slacking on her responsibilities. And let's not forget how unapologetically nasty she can be, especially with Pinocchio when he called her "babe". She's definitely made an impression with me, and I'm excited to see more of her.

Another point that made an impression this issue was the reveal of Mr. Dark constantly being on the outskirts of Haven trying to get in. Which is absolutely creepy, I certainly could never sleep soundly if I knew I knew that the man trying to kill me is always at my door. Also, that Flycatcher has to exert all his concentration of keeping him out and that Haven will have to be the place of the Fables' last stand with Mr. Dark.

Conclusion: While #101 was mediocre at best, #102 is a great issue thanks to the combination of Ozma's controlling nature and Mr. Dark's creepy stalking.

Uncanny X-Force #4 + #5
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Jerome Opena and Esad Ribic
To open, I just need to say that Uncanny X-Force #4 proved to me that my lingering doubts about Uncanny X-Force were completely unnecessary: This book is golden.

Like I can't even tell you how surprised I was by [this page]. Seriously, after my first time reading that, I had to look around in shock for a second and was like, "Oh my Frost, did they really just do that?"

And the surprises didn't stop there; the next one being the illusion the Horsemen get put under and what they do followed by the reveal of the fact that they're really stuck on an alien planet with hostile inhabitants. Also, bitchy points to EVA for her way of explaining said situation to the Horsemen.

Then was have the final showdown with all of X-Force turning on each other in opposition over what to do about Kid Apocalypse. This scene definitely worked for me as it felt real and absolutely human rather than what could've just been a decisive scene which would've cheaply 'gritty and heartless' and unsatisfying. Also, it wouldn't be me if I didn't mention that weird panel where Psylocke's body all of a sudden turns into that of a 40 yr. old man. Kinda strange.

Lastly for this issue had to be the end. I mean, if you've read the issue (which you need to), then you know exactly what I mean. It was powerful and surprisingly heartbreaking and I just had to set this one down and think after I finished it.

Moving onto issue #5, I have to say I was surprised that an issue centering around Fantomex, a character I've cared little for even under Morrison's hand, could keep me engaged and wanting more. I found the reveal about the fate of The World having been miniaturized for safe protection to be a great one and the re-introduction of Fantomex's mother to be a charming surprise. Especially since I thought she was an illusion in Morrison's New X-Men...right? Or was it just supposed to be ambigious whether or not she had been real?

Also, the surprise attack of techno clone robot things was definitely a heartbreaking one as Mumma Fantomex gets horrifically killed during said attack. Really Remender? Our hearts are going to be ripped out every issue?

Speaking of previous moments of heartrip, can anyone tell me if Deadpool's scene this issue with his expressing having problems over Kid Apocalypse's death was legit? I don't read Deadpool, so what I want to know is does he actually have moments where he's straightforward and honest? Or could this be him secretly mocking the situation?

Moving on, something I'd like to mock is Logan's look of surprise when it Archangel reveals that Deadpool's never cashed any of his checks. It's just a face that's worthy of laughter and playful mockery.

Oh and a side note, I can't express how much I'm loving EVA in this series despite her moments being few. And that goes double for Fantomex and her bitching back and forth this issue, seriously, it was pure gold.

Conclusion: This series is a must-read and if you haven't already, then you need to jump on board. Issue #4 surprised me in so many ways that I'm still processing it a bit and Issue #5...actually made me care about Fantomex. No joke. I actually gave a damn about a character who I haven't liked since the first time I read him during my introduction to comic books. So yeah, props to Remender for amazing writing.

The List #46 Part 2

Avengers Academy #7
Writer: Christos Gage
Artist: Tom Raney, not Mike McKone as it is credited.
As evidenced by the cover, this issue is completely devoted to Hank Pym and his eternal angst over actions he committed 20 years ago (Right? I'm only a light Avengers fan, but seems to me all his 'bad' shit happened nowhere near recently, right?).

We begin this month's helping on a scandalous note when Tygra and child decide to pay Pymie a visit. Little did I know, it seems Tygra's child is the product of her and a skrull impersonating Hank Pym. But these facts get even more scandalous as we find out thattt --->

Tygra, stunned and shocked, reacts by asserting to Pym that the child is hers and hers alone. But then she also has to explain that her original reason for showing up is to ask that, if anything should happen to her, Hank would take him in. Yeah, it's awkward.

It gets more awkward when Tygra brings up Hank's long lost wife, the Wasp, and Hank reveals that he's put Janet's molecules together in this infinite mansion and now he plans on bringing her back from this. I don't really understand all of it, I tried my hardest to ignore the Mighty Avengers when it was under Pym, so here's Jocasta with a mini explanation:

She looks so.......glamorous.

The rest of the issue is about Hank taking on the Absorbing Man, predictably beating him, and having a personal revelation about the dangers of bringing Janet back. Done. Fin. Except not so much. Were this just to be a done-in-one issue where we deal with Hank's angst for it's yearly pitying and then just move on, I'd be fine, but no, apparently this will be the focus of an arc coming out in March. Joy. I know Pym fans are probably excited for this, but truth be told I've barely dealt with him and I'm exhausted from this character. Which is exactly the opposite of what I came to this book for considering I wanted something new and fresh, which it is when the students are running the book. Anyway, that's my two cents on the future of AA.

Also, it should be mentioned that McKone was unfortunately not on pencils this time around; it was Tom Raney who's so not my favorite artist. In fact, I find his entire range of emotions on characters to read as ridiculous and difficult to take serious. This issue is no different though he for most part does a decent job.

Conclusion: This issue's not without its good parts, but in the end, it's a bit dull due to its starring character's arc being tired and worn out already.

Uncanny X-Force #3
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Jerome Opena
Finally this issue we get a comprehensive explanation of who's who in Apocalypse's army. And luckily it's in the preview, so you can all check up on it [here]. Oh and the old lady who's teaching child Apocalypse how to be himself again? Apparently that's Ship! That little detail caught me by surprise especially considering I thought that Ship was a pleasant little transportation vessel controlled by an evil master. Oh well, I much prefer this evil old lady take; she can be my new Frau Totenkinder.

Concerning the other Apocalypse followers, I'll say this: War's pretty badass as long as he's silent, Famine's perfectly creepy as hell, Pestilence as an awesome powerful and it looks great visually but I'm not a fan of her inferiority complex, and lastly, Death is the only one that really disappoints as he looks like a cheesy Vanisher ripoff and has an everyvillain personality.

Moving back to the events of the issue, all of this info is collected by Psylocke while all of X-Force is badly beaten and laying at the feet of the villains....yeah she's a badass and her lessons in badass are proudly displayed throughout the issue. Eventually Wolverine manages to get up and drags Death off of the team so that they can have the same fight Wolverine always has: A battle completely in favor of the enemy but somehow Wolverine manages to survive it out of sheer "badass". Meanwhile, Archangel's in shit shape after Famine got him and Deadpool is the only one around to take of him. Amusingly enough, Deadpool pulls out his only food supply: Pop rocks and Coke, and drowns Warren in it. From there its Nurse Deadpool taking care of Warren which is a survivor story on its own.

The main mover of the plot this issue is concerning Psylocke and Fantomex attempting to get their shit together as they are the only members really around and able. Psylocke takes charge, ordering Fantomex to let her in his mind. Here's how that goes over:

You go, Miss Braddock.

Fantomex listens to Betsy and she immediately begins psychically working on the effects of Famine's drum. Except she's stopped by War slamming her in the face. Ouch. Anyway, Fantomex being left as the only useful member begins illusioning everywhere, taking care of Death and Pestilence while saving Wolverine. He also manages to convince War that he loves Betsy, causing him to bring her into Apocalypse's HQ, and giving her the opening to take him out. While this is great and all, I have to say that Fantomex's little illusions took care of a bit too many of the group's problems and I'm hoping this isn't one of those "fix-all" things throughout the series. Anyway, as the Ship is teleporting out of the moon, kid Apocalypse whose busy with his toys receives a visitor: Betsy coming in with a katana. End issue.

Perfect ending. Obviously it's mostly for the fact that it's Psylocke who's just doing a lot of "take charge" things, but this is so much better than my worries about her just being the useless token female of the group. Also, I was pleased to hear [this news] from Remender on a recent X-Position concerning returning Betsy to her British roots.

Conclusion: Despite my few minor issues, another great issue of Uncanny X-Force with strong writing, fantastic art that I'm still very in awe of, and what seems to be a very bright future for this series.

In other news, here are the results of the last poll concerning which lovely mutant should get repowered:

Unsurprisingly, it seems the biggest chunk of us want to see Jubilee repowered and presumably non-vampire again as it was sad for Marvel to piggyback on the decaying end of a pop culture trend, but to prolong it now is just purely pathetic. Plus I'm sure angsty vampire Jubilee is going to be the stuff of dreams for 2005's emo trend and its desperate hanger-ons, but it'll just likely annoy the hell out of everyone else. I'm thinking we all just want to see Jubes back to her sassy self because.....Baby. She's a firework.

In second place by one vote we have Rictor which also is not surprising as, while Rictor's definitely good for fulfilling fans' desperate need for some well-written homoness, I think we'd all like to see him back to being able to effectively handle himself in super situations.

Winder Dancer coming in third place, however, was surprising as I was not aware she had a much of a fan base, so, um, good on her fans and hopefully she'll pop back into the MU sometime. Anddd besides that, all I have to say is I'm surprised Callisto didn't get more votes and that's pretty much it. That's all for this week and be sure to go vote on the latest one!

The List #45 Part 2

Batwoman #0
Writer: J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman
Artist: J.H. Williams III and Amy Reeder
Finally we have the return of Batwoman after months of salivating for the release of her solo book. Unfortunately, this is more of a taste before the official run, but as far as I'm concerned any Batwoman done by Williams or Rucka is a good one.

The issue focuses on Bruce Wayne following Kate around, trying to confirm his suspicions that she is indeed Batwoman. He also dons a number of ridiculous disguises during the process which are worth a smirk. Eventually, he concludes she's good, but not amazing and that's basically the plot of the issue.

The stunning art of J.H. Williams III returns with this issue and oh dear me, it is to die for. Maybe I shouldn't say this out loud considering her devoted fanbase, but I feel like my interest in Batwoman loses some of its intensity without Williams on board. But I mean, just look at the image to the right--> It's gorgeous in ways that are rarely seen in comic books (so far as my current knowledge of comics is aware), so I mean it's hard to not be disappointed by anyone else. Which, speaking of, I was with Amy Reeder the artist for the Kate sequences. It's not that her art was anything negative, I would probably have liked it just fine on its own, but it's simply that in comparison to Williams her art just does not do anything for me. I just think using another artist similar to Williams' style would have worked out better.

Conclusion: This is an issue where not much happened, so in terms of plot I would advise against waiting until Batwoman #1 out some time in 2011. However, if you're a devoted Batwoman or Williams fan, do pick this one up.

New Mutants #19
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Leonard Kirk
Things are dark this issue. Like pitch black. It certainly shocked me to see New Mutants, a book that's sort of X-Force-lite, all of a sudden start having some uncomfortable torture scenes. Let's break this shit down, shall we?

For some reason, Dani is singled out as the zesty powerless mutant, and is tortured throughout the issue while Cannonball is made to listen so that his jailer can feed off his anguish. Somehow, being made of pure hardcore, Dani manages to get it together enough to tell Sam to stop feeding the anguish woman, and even tries to distract him by telling him that he's an excellent kisser. All this while she's still being tortured. The woman's a tough bitch, and I salute her.

Pixie's also tortured, but that's really just giving the reader of Uncanny what they've been asking for. Illyana is placed with Sunspot, whose got a mini evil mutant running around in his body, after she's done being tortured, and they have a fairly depressing conversation:

Illyana also lets Sunspot know that Amara does not love him like he does her. So yeah, this is pretty intense considering I wouldn't put it past Wells to actually kill Amara off. I mean, she may be one of, if not THE, most powerful member of the team, but character-wise she's just functions as pretty wallpaper for the most part.

Meanwhile Cypher's still under the control of the mutant who manipulates with words, and Dani and him discuss this -->

Oh yes, Cypher, you are a mighty cliche at this point just not in the way you're thinking, you sad attempt at a dark and emotionless badass.

Concerning Karma, she's pretending to be unconscious most of the issue and attempting to connect to the isolated Inferno mutant whose head is a big laser. Not only is it sad because she's connecting with someone who's painfully isolated and finally getting to express his angst over this, but Karma's also tortured while this is happening as the other mutants try to take her robot leg by cutting above the metal. Into the flesh. Fun. The beam-headed eventually helps her and Illyana tells her she needs to escape alone. In the end, Magik reveals that Karma is the only one important to save for her mission.

Conclusion: This issue's pretty amazing for its tension as it kept me hooked the entire way through. While I still have a dislike for this arc, I do have to say this was a great issue.

Uncanny X-Force #2
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Jerome Opena
This issue opens with a Danger room session that involves Wolverine, Fantomex, Deadpool, and Psylocke dealing with the possible scenario of Archangel turning against them that ends in Betsy taking out Warren. Obviously, when Warren walks in on this he finds this all a bit surprising and shaky for his relationship. And that's not all that's threatening his and Betsy's relationship--->

But what about your dearly beloved Cyclops, Logan? Anyway, this issue gives spotlight to Betsy as we the readers are privvy to her thoughts. Her place on the team and her reasons for joining are examined while she attempts to comfort Warren over the training sessionand are disappointingly what I expected: She's there for Warren. So thrilling that she has her own story. Luckily she's at least still the badass Betsy we all know and love:

Meanwhile with the Apocalypse situation, it seems that the old lady is solely there for young Apocalypse's education and not actually a member of the Horsemen as we end up meeting a number of Apocalypse worshippers this issue that better qualify for the position. Where do we meet them? The moon!

Yes, X-Force goes to the blue part of the moon where Apocalypse is located only to be ambushed by War who damages EVA by blowing a hole in her with his axe. Naturally, this is terrible and is worsened three times as Fantomex feels the pain due to his connection to EVA and Psylocke, being a telepath, also suffers the blow.

In a fight scene that's as bleak as this month's New Mutants, X-Force gets its ass kicked by Apocalypse's followers which include the previously seen War giant, the drummer guy whose likely Famine, a geisha who vomits cockroachers, and Vanisher's ugly brother who rides a flying carpet. Post-defeat, young Apocalypse emerges from his headquarters to go out to take care of X-Force.

Conclusion: Great issue, amazing art job by Jerome Opena yet again, and amazingly well-done fight scene. Definitely pick this one up.

The List #41

Avengers Academy #5
Writer: Christos Gage
Artist: Jorge Molina
Striker receives the spotlight this issue and let me just say he is so much more interesting than that f#@%ing Mettle. Also, it's important to note that the artist for this issue was fucking hilarious and just added that much more to the joy, laughter, and fun of this issue.

Basically, Striker's the arrogant famewhore of the team, and this issue we learn where this all stems from....as he tells it to Jocasta. Who's in sleep mode. But could wake up at any time and listen in on all his secrets that he's spilling to her. Yeah, that's important later...

Striker's past rotates around his mother, who's had her 15 minutes of fame after being the other woman in a political sex scandal, who attempts to take the defibrillators to what she's already lost by making her son a child actor. This leads her to choosing a creeper agent who manages to get Striker and his mother parts. And also tries to molest Striker which triggers his powers....yeah, what a disturbing way to discover superpowers. From there he eventually finds himself with Osborn and then the A.A.

Back in the details of his past week, Striker recounts how he hit on Finesse and Veil. <---And here's the face he uses to seduce the girls. Surprisingly, they managed to turn down that sexy expression. Also, he, like many men, fails to realize his own over-inflated ego is functioning as a complete cockblock. Later on during that week Hank Pym takes the whole group out to see Wicked for a thinly veiled lesson about good deeds done by evil people and all that crap. He manages to get everyone in by shrinking both Mettle and Hazmat so that they don't cause a stir and also neglects to tell the other students they were there as well until after the show. All of the students react with surprise, but Veil's definitely wins the prize for most obnoxious/hilarious reaction. Seriously, this is my favorite face of the issue-->

After this, Whirlwind shows up to battle Pym which leads to the students joining the fight, and finally leads to the public outing of the Avengers Academy to the media. The outing goes over better than expected, and Veil goes to tell Justice, her teacher crush, all about it and ends up walking in on this:

This moment was so uncomfortable for so many reasons. One of them being that this looks more like Justice is drinking from a coconut with a wig on it than making out with a girl.
And here's Veil's reaction:

Crying over her crooked eyes.

Later on, "over" her crush on Justice, she goes to Striker's room, kisses him, and asks if he wants to hook up. He says sure and then that leads to this face--->

No, I'm kidding, that's just the look on his face that he gets from calling his mom.....no legit, pick up the issue, it's true. Anyway, Striker turns into a sudden gentleman and follows his sure with a claim that he's too tired and insists on just talking. Which is great because I'd rather not have my adorkable Veil tarnished by Striker and his insecure ego.

Following this he goes to call his mom. It turns out that the outing of the A.A. was all a plan devised by him and his mother, and the evidence of his evil plotting is revealed by the shadow mustache he gets while discussing this. Seriously, facial hair=how you know if someone's evil or not. Oh and also, keep in mind all this goes before Jocasta's seemingly vacant eyes. So yeah, Striker's finally got his famewhore wishes fulfilled by manipulation and luckily it makes for a good issue. I still think he's a carbon copy of New X-Men's Hellion though.

Uncanny X-Force #1
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Jerome Opena
So Uncanny X-Force has finally released and it's quite possibly the most 'badass' book with the most 'badass' team in the entire Marvel universe. And that's exactly why I feel ambivalently towards it.

Deadpool's the same as always in this book: Chattering away like a coke addict, grasping desperately for a joke that's actually funny. And then there's Fantomex who's playing the whole, "I'm quirky, lucid insane!" angle and also grasping desperately for jokes that are actually funny. And these two are a badass pair and Wolverine makes it EXTRA badass and the really dark Archangel makes this unbelievably DARKLY BADASS. I'd make a joke on this Testosterfest except Deadpool and Fantomex have basically fished that lake dry with their constant attempts at humor.

Concerning the only team member I really give a damn about, Psylocke, she's so far confirmed my fears about her role. Basically my concern was that with her being the token female of the group that her story would mostly be about serving the other men's stories as well as being the token female being fought over. Which really just, y'know, empowers her. So far I'm right on both counts, Fantomex has already expressed interest in her even though she's back with Warren. And concerning her resurrected relationship, it seems that she's using her psychic powers to help Warren deal with his Death persona. I mean, yes, as he was previously consistently on a team book he's already got a storyline that's in progress while Betsy's is sort of muddled with great writers taking stabs at it but never really keeping her long enough to really get something going with her. Still, I hope this sort of thing is simply for the opening issues and doesn't continue on from there.

Moving on, the art of this book is absolutely amazing and big draw for the book. I imagine those of you who've seen the preview know this already and I will just continue to say it's consistently amazing throughout the issue.

Anyway, I'm not going to run through the play-by-play of the issue because it's a lengthy first issue, but basically it has to do with X-Force trying to thwart the resurrection of Apocalypse and battling his horsemen and not really getting him and all that and oh yeah, now he's a kid. Yeah, strange. Also, his Horsemen look so much better this time around:

Conclusion: The art and events of this book so far are top-notch and worthy of the hype while the male team members leave something to be desired (but keep in mind I always think of them that way). And Betsy's role right now is iffy. But anyway, in the end I say pick up this book because it's looking to be joining X-Men Legacy in being one of the better X-Books.

X-Men: Second Coming #2 Review + News

X-Men: Second Coming #2
Chapter 1:
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Ibraim Roberson
Finally the last installment of Second Coming is here. This has been an event that was unnecessarily drawn out like nothing I've ever seen before. And while yes, some points were good, laughs were had, and snark was made, in the end there were some totally unnecessary chapters. Like the entire middle installment. Anyway, finally this too-long event has concluded.

This issue is split into four chapters with each one getting their own Second Coming creative team. We open where we left off with Hope floating with the rest of the X-Men surrounding her. It appears done as homage to the end of Messiah Complex when everyone surrounded Xavier when he had been shot in the head:

It's neat to see who's here now and who's absent from last time, the most positive aspect being Rogue and Psylocke being in attendance this time.

From there Hope ends up passing out for a day and finds herself in the med bay. This opens with Beast putting Colossus' fucked up arm in place in a painful way. From there it's basically a look at everyone who suffered injuries with Karma getting her robot leg thing that we'll see more of in next week's New Mutants. We also see Hellion for the first time since losing his hands, and it's sort of a painful sight. Even though his character hasn't changed, he's still a prick. What's more painful is the lack of explanation as to why Elixir isn't around, and fixing this crap like it's nothing. The other part of this issue is Magneto being creepy next to Hope going, "Sometimes it's ok to be feared, as an on-again off-again villain I should know. Just wait, next month I'll be the 'most feared' again." Anyway, it was a pretty weak part.

Chapter 2:
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Esad Ribic
This opens with yet another flashback that does nothing except say Hope was afraid of losing Cable. Absolutely shocking, I had no idea! Then we move onto his funeral scene with many of his former X-Force team showing up as well as Deadpool and even Omega Sentinel. Oddly enough Bling! is shown. But that's not really what's odd about her being there:
It's that she looks like a spooked deer.

Maybe she realized that she's a character of little importance and will probably meet a similar crossover death fate like this except she'll be one of the opening deaths? Or that her powers were shown incorrectly coincidentally during one of Land's issues? Nah. Probably just saw her reflection in a mirror and realized what she's wearing.

Anyway, during the funeral Cyclops mangsts appropriately by crying over Cable's grave before he can even get his eulogy out. Instead Hope takes over and says he got an honorable death, and that no one need shed tears for him. While she starts to cry.

Then this deal takes a massive detour as Cyclops attempts to recover his dignity by being a prick to Rogue. In the end he says her being a "loose cannon" during the previous battles were the last straw and that she's removed from the combat roster.

Chapter 3:
Writers: Chris Yost and Craig Kyle
Artist: Greg Land
This part takes place with Storm and Wolverine having a conversation over X-Force, and she criticizes the killing deal. He tells her that she's not in any place to judge considering she's not around often. Wolverine says if could do it again, he'd kill more, and Storm responds that in that case this may be their last conversation together. It's a very powerful moment to say the least.

From there Logan goes to X-23 telling her she's off the team, and that now Marvel feels she could sell her own book. Apparently this series is going to rotate around her figuring out what she does with her life without orders of someone else. From there Wolverine goes to set up the next X-Men series premiering soon by going to have a conversation with Cyclops. In another powerful moment done by Yost and Kyle we find out how all the older X-Men are reacting to the news of X-Force:

Ohhhh damn, Storm brought in WWJGD.

And really, what would Jean Grey do? Be like, "Bitch, my kill count is in the billions, SUCK ON THAT!" All the while Storm would be appalled and shocked until someone tosses Marrow's first heart at her. What? I'm just saying.

This all ends with Cyclops saying X-Force is done for all the reasons stated plus if the Avengers found out then there might be a conflict. In the end Wolverine goes off talking to an unseen group about how X-Force now has to be totally secret. Who's he talking to?

The new X-Force.
Really Land? Everyone needed a gun? Especially a Liefeld-esque gun?

So remember that poll where I thought someone was Deadpool and someone was like it's probs Fantomex and I was like probs. Turns out we were both right. Yeah. I don't know if I can handle that combined hyper-douchebag, uber-cliched force of Fantomex, Deadpool, and Wolverine. But I'll at least give this "Uncanny X-Force" a shot. ( I can't believe that's really what we're calling it.)

Chapter 4:
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Terry Dodson
We open this part this Iceman talking to Cyclops while he's trying to write a condolence letter to Amanda Sefton (I think) concerning Kurt's death. And from there something creepy about Kurt is revealed (to me at least):

....Interesting.

Anyway, Beast gets bitched out by Namor about turning his back on his people because, for Namor, only just recently having his people's back is like having had their back all along. From there a bonfire is made in attempt to cheer everyone up. Emma's there and in diamond form because:

Not only that but the kids wised up and started locking their medicine cabinets so now she can't abuse their ADD meds. I think we need to have an very special episode of Intervention our very own Miss Frost.

While this is going on she spots Hope making a the sign of the Phoenix with the fire while flashing a mischievous smile towards her. Done by Dodson this is basically the same look you get when your 6-year old cousins is trying to act like they're up to something. I love how juvenile Dodson makes everything look, really I just love it. Emma freaks and runs to Scott and attempts to inform him of the situation, but he's like, "QUIET WOMAN!" as he gazes up at the five new mutants signatures registering on Cerebra. Yay, mutants are back, the Decimation is over, and hopefully I don't have to read an explanation about what happened during HoM ever again. From here we're going to start the "Five Lights' arc that's been [announced] with 4 of the 5 new characters either meant to look like "Badass on the edge" or "Sexy-face teen girl". And that's it, here's to the conclusion of Second Coming! Now for some news:

• The poll results are in and apparently half of you miss Ariel. *Sniff* Me too, my dears, me too. Following that it seems people miss Kurt lots too. I have to say I was surprised Karma and Hellion didn't get more votes considering how scarring their limb-losing scenes were. What's worse is Toad's finger totally got one more vote than Karma's leg which totally gives me a giggle. Also, be sure to vote on the new poll with the new question of "What post-SC book (new or returning) are you looking forward to the most?"

• Death of the Motherfucking Endless of Sandman fame is going to appear in Action Comics! As someone who is a decent-sized fan of Vertigo's very own peppy goth I have to just tell you all I almost died of delight when I heard this. Look for a detour to the Superman universe when this comes out. [Source]

• The people have spoken again and they still want Psylocke's fanny-floss costume gone [Source]. Which I agree with. Except that unless you've been living in total comic book ignorance for the past month, you are probably aware that fans are having a shit fit over Wonder Woman's new costume. And now the one for the Green Lantern movie. So Betsy receiving a costume change right now sounds a bit unlikely. And....I don't like Wondy's new costume either, but I think that the level of bitching from comic fans recently has added weight to a stereotype of us being like grumpy old people who just bitch no matter what. So it's not good, but I was thinking about it and I think the perfect solution would have been a bit more audience participation. And that has spawned a post idea. So stay tuned Psylocke fans, I'll need your input very soon!

• Oh and before I go, I'd just like to announce that I've made a tumblr specifically for comic books. It's not meant to replace this blog; it's more for briefer posts whenever I'm not whipping up a longer post. Feel free to follow it if you're interested [Here].
  

Best and Worst: Post-Messiah Complex

With Second Coming reaching the last act of its long journey, and with it being the final chapter in the Messiah trilogy, it's a good time to look back on the best and worst of what's gone on since Messiah Complex.

Best

5. The Return of the New Mutants
Following the demise of Young X-Men, I imagine there was a serious conference among the X-Men Creators looking to see what can be done to fix the damage done by the failed New X-Men spinoff. Obviously, fans were not impressed with having their beloved wallpaper characters fucked with, so repackaging the New X-Men again would just spell for trouble for sales. What came of it was out with the new, and in with the new. New Mutants, that is.
Yes, with half of the cast floating about in limbo, others dead, and only a few being used already, it was the perfect team to be reunited. And while Generation X was also in a similar state, the ones in Limbo are also severely fucked over by poor writing changing them for the worst. There's one more dead in their lot, and Emma and M are being used in a way that's shockingly beyond serving as wallpaper.
So anyway, with abuse of the resurrection tool, we got our Mutants back. And in the capable hands of writer Zeb Wells we've seen this series blossom into a more readable series than than most the all-star cast books (at least when not involved in shit crossovers).

4. Archangel's Useful Again

If there's one character who was hurting before MC struck, it was Archangel. Seriously, with Cyclops finally owning his role as overall X-Men leader, Beast taking part in the popular Astonishing X-Men, Iceman being recruited into Rogue's much-loved team of X-Men, and Jean Grey going off to play God as she sometimes does, Angel was having a bad day. Post-Decimation if Warren did anything of note neither I nor the rest of the world knew about it.
Then MC struck and Archangel finally returned to the team by taking part in Storm's attack team. Following that he appeared in the Divided We Stand arc for Uncanny, and afterward he joined X-Force where he gained the ability to go between Angel and Archangel.

And while development of him as of late has been limited to a Jekyll/Hyde complex, the thing is he actually has a chance to get the spotlight now that he's actually useful in a fight. I mean this is the X-Men, being useful in emergency situations (a.k.a. fight scenes) is sort of a requirement.

3. The Kiss Heard Round the World

Oh lordy, the kiss between Shatterstar and Rictor in X-Factor #45. I think the Internet exploded the day this issue came out. And in case you did not hear, former X-Force creator Rob Liefeld shat himself over it. Despite this shit.
And you know what the best thing that came out of this was? Peter David basically going, seriously, that big of a deal? He's interviewed several times saying he had no idea the kiss would get as much coverage as it did. I love that because I love the idea that this man, at least seems to say, he wasn't playing this card for shock points. I mean, yeah, I think some of his decisions are fueled by the fans and this one likely was as well, but I still don't think his aim was to get a whole bunch of press for it. And I just love someone in comic books saying, 'Two guys kissing is not that big of a deal.'
In the end, the kiss was wonderful, but we've yet to see much more than tidbits of the couple since. At this point in time much of our love for RicStar is currently made up of fanfic stories we have of them in our heads.

2. The Return of X-Force
A change that MC was directly responsible for was the reforming of X-Force. Now, a lot of people, like me, upon first hearing of this book were mighty skeptical. Personally, I just thought it was going to be another attempt to make the X-Men look badass and dark and gritty and dirty. And it turned out: It was. And I fucking LOVED it.
The first arc of this book was easily one of the best X-Men stories I've ever read. I have memories of sitting up one night in a hotel room bathroom, because everyone else had gone to bed, excitedly devouring the first four issues that I had bought earlier that day. I mean, do you remember how fast the early issues kept selling out?
The writing team of Yost+Kyle with Clayton Crain on art was phenomenal. And by the way, Crain's art is still top-notch and perfect for this book, screw the naysayers. Especially since they're likely the ones saying Mike Choi of the pretty pencils, who's appropriate for every other X-Book because he's talented as all hell, works well on a blood and gore book. Seriously? Anyway, X-Force's opening arc was an adrenaline-pumping good time that's necessary reading for any and every X-fan.

1. The Return of Psylocke
This is easily one of the most popular Post-MC moves made by the X-Dept., and it's largely due to, in case you did not already know, people fucking LOVING Psylocke. Especially in the past year, Psylocke fans have proven to be just as devoted as Rogue fans. And you know those Rogue fans, do NOT screw with them when it comes to Rogue, or they will fuck ya day up.
Anyway, Psylocke's story has pulled a 180 in the past year and a half. She's gone from lead character on Claremont's sinking ship, New Exiles, to returning to the X-Men but playing a generally minute role, to finally get her own mini-series and a respectable role within the X-Men universe.
And I think the continued success of Psylocke's return is still largely due to her fans, who were RELENTLESS in Q+A's like X-Position, flooding those creators about her eventual return to the 616 universe. And they haven't stopped from there, they've gotten behind their girl like no other fans in awhile, and continue to keep their support for her known (now if only the creators would listen to the 3 million requests for a costume change).

Worst

5. Young X-Men
For some reason, after MC the creators decided the much-loved New X-Men was due for a change by taking out everyone but two of the main team, one from the background, one who's proven to be a one-trick pony, and invented two despite the Decimation. And they weren't even worth overruling that rule! And then another even more useless one (Cipher) came about!
Seriously, this was a sinking ship from the beginning. With a team consisting of members who were never the stars of the previous series, just the likable supporting cast, no one could stand them. Plus there was the deus ex machina known as Ink who was a sad attempt at a team rebel and the ever-strange Greymalkin.
In the end what happened was: Pierce attacked as he does with ever New ___ opening arc, Ink saved the day every arc, and the only lovable character, Dust, had her future development fucked thanks to her "dying" arc. Oh and Wolf Cub was killed, which means one Wolverine wannabe down, countless to go. If you're looking for this series, it can be found in the quarter bins of your local comic book shop, it's where I got my issues. (No diss to the bins, I've gotten some fucking TREASURES out of them, but I mean let's be honest concerning this series: You don't price trash for a pretty penny.)

4. Cable
Unless you're an athlete, you probably hate to exercise. Sure, you do it, but to look good, not because you enjoy it. And I'd wager that comic book readers probably hate exercise more than your average person. And Cable the series? It was exercise. Both metaphorically and literally.
Cable was an entire series dedicated to Cable and Hope running away from the horribly retconned, now-evil Bishop. They ran a lot. And now in Second Coming, they've spent a great deal of it doing, you guessed it, running. The only other time I've been so annoyed with people running is that Lifetime movie with the anorexic girls who psychotically exercise and are all, "Mmm, isn't water the best?" "Yeah and calorie-free!"
To be fair, I've only fully read three issues of the series. But with the joys of Scans_Daily, I got to see glimpses of this trainwreck from afar, and it simply served to reinforce my decision to not read the series. The best part about the end of Second Coming working to a conclusion is that creators are likely going to sense the Cable and Hope fatigue and lay off those two for half a year. Then again, they clearly can't seem to grasp that people are getting fatigued of vampires, hence why they're pushing forward with it as the focus of the first arc of the new "X-Men" book.

3. Messiah War
Did anyone read this thing? From what I understand, this is what happened: X-Force readers bought the one-shot, saw the desperate attempt at getting Cable to have readers, threw their hands up, and said, "I'll see you in a few months."
Despite being the second chapter to the amazing Messiah Complex, this thing was a such a flop (again, I watched from afar with Scans_Daily, previews, and summaries). If Messiah Complex was like getting drunk, then Messiah War was the blackout stage. Second Coming's the drunken, rough sex with a stranger. In the end, like any good drunk happening, we'll treasure the memories from the beginning of the night forever, but be glad it's over because of what came after.
What's worse is this crossover pulled in two villains who were meant to stay in the early 90's: Strye and Apocalypse. Is anyone ever excited to see them? Like yes, it's possible to be excited over villains, Batman's popularity, in my opinion, comes largely from the villains. But in terms of these two jokes, I think the height of the reaction to their return was some groans and a bunch of eye-rolling. In short, Messiah War, you're pleasantly forgotten.

2. Roster Changes for X-Factor
Post-MC, there was a lot of bringing back of the good, but also ruining what was already working. X-Factor's roster was an example of this. After MC we found ourselves with a void in the team with both Rahne (egh) and Layla Miller gone. Miller likely being the series then favorite character, and also a vital contributor to the series' fun factor and energy.
From there the series went downhill in a massive way. David tried to work his already established magic with C-List characters again by bringing in Longshot and Darwin. Which was then met with lackluster response, not that it mattered as his working with them was pretty minimal. Finally, he made a couple shocking and much-needed moves to spice things up, and in effort to maintain momentum it seems, he brought back Shatterstar as boyfriend to Rictor and Layla Miller now as an adult. And right then he killed Miller's appeal as her "knowing stuff" was explained (some things are better left unsaid), and he removed the charm of a fearless, precocious teenage girl by having her as an adult. Ever since the team's felt overstuffed as no one's been booted off the island yet, and no one's had much development in awhile except series star, Multiple Man, who eats up way too much spotlight. In order to regain interest with fans, David would need to trim the fat of this team, meaning the redundant (Longshot) and the uninteresting (Darwin).

1. Utopia
The worst Post-MC move was made with Utopia, as Matt Fraction got control of an entire crossover and people's eyes were finally opened to what a crap job he was doing with Uncanny.
Utopia made things horrible because art-wise, which can make or break a book, putting all the X-Men on an island does not work. Because here's your panels: Characters with a background of light blue for either sky or water and gray-brown for the island. It's the ugliest thing that no artist can make look right.
What's worse is it wasn't even a believable move. You're an endangered species, so you're gonna put them all in one place surrounded by water? Seriously, if Bastion was serious about his prejudice he would've just dropped one nuke on Utopia, and the majority of his problem would have been taken care of. And what's worse is out of all this, Cyclops has upped his man-child, douchebag levels to heights so high I find it hard to believe someone hasn't shot him in the head yet. And somehow people are still in support of him as leader, choosing to view him as a level-headed leader who's thinking of his people before himself. Whatever delusions keep ya happy, fanboys. To conclude, Utopia was truly the worst Post-Messiah Complex move made.