2.233 (598) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #206 ...

The first question that comes to mind when reading this is how much longer can writer Claremont keep up with this greatness? He has been churning out issue after issue of tense, continuous laden goodies for fans, be it new or those following for years and each issue there are always either new plot developments or he progresses on existing sub plot threads slowly nurturing them to the fore for a future primary storyline

In this issue, we see the culmination of subplots from before the big 200

Mystique in her wheeling and dealing finally got approval and pardon for the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in return for them performing services for the government. While the concept is not new but the oddity here is that there is no attempt to even clean their image or at the very least new uniforms to confuse the general public before releasing them out into the wilds so to speak

Anyway, in view of what happened in 200 where the trial of Magneto was Hung, SPOILER ALERT, amongst many other issues, it has been decided that the X-Men is not on the side of the angels anymore or at least their status is more a shade of grey

So when the opportunity arises, as the cover indicates, Mystique launches Freedom Force and the moment they come across the X-Men, her ego got the better of her and it's all out fighting!

Awesome!

Ratings: 7/10

2.232 (597) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #205 ...

We were going to stop and change to a different title but this issue is so freaking awesome that we just had to do a review. After 204's breather with Nightcrawler, Marvel continued to do a "told in one" issue and this time with Wolverine ... and to ensure that the tale packs a huge PUNCH, they brought in artist superstar, Barry Windsor Smith

And boy did Mr Smith delivered! Big time!

Right from the very first page, we knew it was going to be different from the art style to the darker colours and the moody shadows

This comic started with the full introduction of then new villain the Reavers and Lady Deathstrike. We also get to see a Spiral who has plans and intentions of her own that goes beyond Mojoworld and Mojo ... or is she merely carrying out her mistress' plans?

But whatever her plans might be, the truth remains and that is that she was the one who called into being the transformation of Lady Yuriko into Lady Deathstrike

And with that covered in the first few panels we get to see how the story goes into even higher gear as our reavers started hunting Wolverine. Naturally, as everyone knows, a cornered animal can be ... you know what ... and Wolverine when cornered, gives back every bit as good as he got. In short, it's a close quarters fight ... on the one hand you have the cyborgs Reavers with their weapons versus Wolvie's claws and on the other, the reborn Deathstrike and her claws versus Wolvie DAMN!

This is good no great comics

Ratings: 9/ 10

2.106(471) Wolverine Weapon X #1 ... Marvel ... #x-men

There was originally a title called Weapon X that explores the mysterious ongoings of this project facility where Wolverine was subjected to in his younger days ... a process that laced adamantium to his bones and making him even more savage

Now you may be wondering why less than a few months have passed before we are talking about Wolverine again. Well, the reason is that while this particular spin off title is obviously trying to cash in on his popularity, what this does (in less than 2 years) is give us a Wolverine who is actually savage and shows us him killing others i.e. happening here and not off panel which is brilliant

Unfortunately the artwork by Ron Garney who has his own following is not to my taste

The title for this arc is adamantium men and you know writer Jason Aaron is just going to rock this like no other. In fact, it is such a great opener that the first pages without Logan making an appearance is fine as we get introduced to a scene in the jungles where the villains met an even worse group of villains

And where is our star character? Well if you wade through a bit further, he is sleeping off a drunken bout in a train. How cool is that?

Naturally it will not be long before he is summoned and dragged down into the mess that is the Weapon X program only to discover that someone has yet again activated the program and this time as the title suggests SPOILER ALERT there is potentially more than one chap besides him running around with adamantium within or a variation thereof!

Ratings: 7/10 (would have been higher if not for the art)

2.88 (453) Ultimate X-Men vol 1 #7 ... Marvel ...

When one arc ends, another begins and the title of this is Return to Weapon X. With that kind of a header, you will expect this to feature Marvel's most popular hero, Wolvie so why's the Night man on the cover?

Well, the Ultimate take on the Weapon X program certainly has a few surprises in store for us and indeed we open with Nightcrawler being pursued and this is one vicious Nightcrawler who can actually fight and not just stay cute and teleport with a gentle Bamf-ing sound only. Hehehehe!

But unfortunately, after this one great opening chase sequence, the entire issue goes downhill with lots of talking, reflections and some mumbo jumbo about Wolverine and what he remembers of the program. In fact, all this chit chat takes up more than 2/3 of the issue and then ... it ends ... asking us to follow them on the next issue. My answer to this is ... yeah, sure ... let's flick through a few pages first of the next issue before we actually buy it, eh?

Sorry Mr Mark Millar ... too much time spent on setting up

Ratings: 4/10

2.87 (452) Ultimate X-Men vol 1 #6 ... Marvel ...

And from one Ultimate title, we moved to another i.e. the world of the mutants simply because it seems that the powers that be in Hollywood seemed to deem that the world of movies can do with yet another movie coming next year on this particular corner of the comic-verse and so here we are at the end of the first arc in the Ult X - verse

While the first 5 chapters have some really wow angle moment scenes in terms of artwork and that unique palette of colours but all has been building towards this final issue and alas in terms of artwork, there is not a single scene that makes you go WHOA it's good don't get us wrong ... just nothing special for this wonderful ending to a great first arc

We see here the different of the mutant factions that as of last issue were spread across the globe ... broken and disheartened and we were wondering how they are going to cope when Magnus finally comes a calling ... and come he did with the entire Sentinel arsenal at his disposal ... think of the last X movie and you will know what we mean ... so perhaps that movie took a few pages of hints from this particular comic, eh?

But as fate or rather a good writer could manage it, everything turns at the right time. So when Magneto makes his move, each faction of the X-Men team come together at just the right moment to give Magneto shock after unexpected shock that left him literally scarred and reeling ... the ending is great ... not what we hoped for but acceptable and good fun

What more can you ask for, eh?

Ratings: 6/10

2.77 (442) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #15 ... Marvel ...

And so it ends this saga of ours but what an ending it is!

Throughout this entire arc, though Wolverine has been savage, he has also shown to be a man who has honour and knows when to kill and when not to. However, here, he goes one step beyond and actually plays a surprising card letting the baddie thinks the latter is ahead. Heh! Good one!

Basically, at the end of this arc, the tale has not yet finished as Wolverine and Daken still hasn't settled their father-son animosity issues and the mysterious guy scheming behind is yet to be fully confronted. It does, however, give us closure of a sorts with psycho, Cyber

NO SPOILER ALERT

Other than that, you can expect some awesome action sequences but that's it. I cannot reveal more ... except to say what a bummer the ending is ... no Quesada cover

Ratings: 5/10

2.76 (441) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #14 ... Marvel ...

O damn and disaster! No more Quesada covers ... sigh ...

If last issue was a Wolverine v Daken fight, then we start this where the storyline left off with  Daken then clashing head on with Cyber and to everyone's surprise, Cyber actually kicking the shit out of Daken inspite of Daken's self-cocky confidence in winning!!!

In fact, the only way Daken got out alive is case W managed to rouse himself and interfered. And as Cyber rightly puts it, was W hoping this to be the emotional moment where he connects with his kid?

SPOILER ALERT

Nah! Daken then turns and walks off leaving W to get his own ass whupped next and boy does Cyber finish what he started ... and then the joke fell on him as he is struck down (Cyber that is) by a weak heart! Hah! We kid you not. Just as he was finishing the job, he has a mild heart attack. You see, the body he is inhabiting has grown too fast until the inner organs cannot cope with the physical bulk

Ah what a good turn of events here! So let's see what happens next as W makes a deal with Cyber to get him fixed up in return for more info on Daken and the mysterious figure who seemed to be behind all these claw characters

Ratings: 7/10

2.75 (440) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #13 ... Marvel ...

Well, well, well what a surprise this issue turns out to be. It may be the middle point of the story but the amount of action here is literally non-stop from opening until the next cliff hanger ending! There are a few things that didn't make sense but hey this is comics, right? Hehehe!

Anyway, finally we caught up with Wolverine once more as we see him using more brains than brawns at the outset (love the firemen and police set up) before encountering Daken and then all hell broke loose!

What is there to tell? They exchanged a few words and then tore into each other ... SPOILER ALERT ... I just cannot believe that there as no scent of Daken even when he was like behind his dad and he was wearing regular shoes so there should be sound ... and what the fuck is that with shooting W in the chest and with what? Never shown or explained but W was well and truly smacked and defeated !!!

And then enter Cyber ... except Cyber came for Daken too and not W ... WTF?!?!?!?!

Ratings: 7/10

2.74 (439) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #12 ... Marvel ...

Remember what I was saying about a Joe Q cover? Check this one out especially the angle of Cyber ... he is totally dominating Wolverine and that cover space, eh? AWESOME

Covers aside, unfortunately although this is issue 12, there is nothing special in terms of number of pages or storyline but rather more of a middle point, a post office kind of issue serving as a set up for the remainder of this arc

Here we get a wee bit on Wolverine as he decides to head out to the one place that he hopes to solve the partial mystery of his son while Daken himself finds that he is indeed being jerked around on a chain although he did his rebellious best by giving others a hard time just as a knee jerk kind of reaction ...

But the one main thrust on this story is Cyber as we see him finally having a physical body and ... as he goes about setting his own revenge plan in motion, we get to see flashbacks of how he was as a ruthless and savage individual ... getting yanked out of prison ... and how he first encountered Wolverine and subsequently the rest of the shit that happened before he became what he is now ... in short a recap and origin issue for Cyber here

Don't get me wrong. I know shit about this chap. So for me, this was a good read

Ratings: 6/10

2.73 (438) Wolverine Origins vol 1 #11 ...

[Short note ... from next review onwards, we will be publishing on an alternate day basis as we are running short on staff ... and still churning out our movie and novel reviews as well ... hope you bear with us ... thanks for reading!]

I cannot believe this. After 400 over reviews, I did a check and found that I have only ever reviewed issue 1 of this series when it boasts in its early run AWESOME QUESADA covers and by awesome, I meant it. I am not a fan of Quesada interiors but his covers are just WOW

In this issue, we start a new story arc and once again with Dillon delivering on the interiors, it was a roaring kick off as we see Wolvie realizing he is being surrounded and has the option of slashing through SHIELD agents or using his brains. Nice to see him reigning in his killer urge here. At this point, he has no idea who is really jerking his chains only that he is obsessed with finding Daken, his estranged son and see if anything can be done to calm the kid down as the kid is infinitely worse than him!

On the flipside, we see Daken playing his usual games of debauchery and killing anyone who he feels like it while realizing that as much as he considers himself a player, he is nothing more than a pawn

And as all good Marvel of ole knows, a Marvel comic must have threads hanging for the future and in this issue, we see not the body but the eerie and foreboding voice of ... Cyber ... in a farmyard where a kid has mutated to giant size with super strength!

Ratings: 6/10

2.71 (436) X-Factor vol 1 #61 ... Marvel ...

Once more we skipped forward a couple of years to the next big event in the Mutant verse and this time around, it's called the X-tinction Agenda and it involves the entire Mutant family as apparently in small island nation Genosha, the humans have managed to enslave the entire country and using mutants to do a lot of menial and special tasks

When we talk about mutants here, it is not just regular but special or activated mutants. Of course, some are brainwashed to even become magistrates. Magistrates are like police special forces armed with high-tech weaponry

In this ongoing chapter, we see as the cover shows, a battle between Cable who is in deep shit over his team going out to take a strike against a Cameron Hodge ... the latter of whom is now more machine than man but his hatred remains. On a slightly more dramatic yet sentimental mode, we have Jean caring for Wolvie

The one let down here is the artwork for me. I mean at this time, we have artists like Jim Lee on Uncanny producing the other chapters to this crossover and after reading a Lee issue to come to this rushed looking work? UGH!

Ratings: 6/10

2.69 (434) X-Force vol 2 #2 ... Marvel ...

Thanks to those who pvt msg us, we return with the second review on this run of the X-Force characters and this time, we are not going to bitch about the artwork because Clayton continued in this vein for the rest of his tenure

In chapter 2, there are three main things of note. They follow hot on the heels of issue 1 but 3 and here are the three:

1. Wolfsbane - Rahne - is captured by the Purifiers. Why? Because even though she looks feral in her werewolf stage, she is supposedly the nice one owing to her upbringing and thus is the damsel in distress. Unfortunately while rescuing her, the X-Force team had no idea what was done to her while she was in captivity

2. X 23 - we see Laura as how she is meant to be. Focused. Obsessed with the objective and thus makes her more effective than Logan and Warpath and she proved it here in buckets as she let nothing turned her aside and boy is she nasty! Awesome fight scenes!

3. Magus - yaaaay we see the return of Warlock's daddy. Warlock of the New Mutants not of the Thanos and Silver Surfer and here is one mean daddy who the Purifiers decided to retrieve from where he was last seen for their future uses (ominous bells are a tolling)

So as you can see, you get a lot of story for your dollars!

Ratings: 7/10 (again would be higher if not for the artwork)

2.64 (429) X-force vol 2 #1 ... Marvel ...

Just when you thought comics couldn't get any darker, here comes a relaunched X-Force but I have to admit, this version is just awesome because here we get to see, no holds barred, the darker side of what the mutants especially Wolverine titles have been promising for years. In short, you get blood and gore and every issue is filled with such "fun"

About the only challenge here is actually the artwork. I like Crain and his digital works just fine but dude it is still artwork regardless of medium or tools used. Here everything is too dark and muddy. It feels like a cheap copy of a B-grade horror movie if you know what I mean

However, the storyline is just plain awesome

We open up with Cyclops telling Wolverine he has finally decided that there is a need for the kind of shitstorm that Wolverine always talked about and this took Wolvie by surprise (love the banter). However, Wolverine is not too keen on who has been assembled. So why the change in style for Cyclops?

Because the so-called humans have upped their game plan with something larger in mind and is now busy even killing other humans to get at some sort of ultimate weapon. So NO SPOILER ALERT here because it is that awesome a storyline but who are the bad guys?

Well we have all the various factions of humans against mutants including Bastion, Magus, Donald Pierce, Graydon Creed, Cameron Hodge, William Stryker and Matthew Risman ... is that enough for you?

When you reached the final page, all I can say is that this issue sure isn't padded!

Ratings: 8/10 (would have rate higher if not for the artwork inside)

2.52 (417) Astonishing X-Men vol 1 #29 ... Marvel ...

If there is one new artist from the Marvel pages that seemed to explode from day one with pure line goodness, it is Simone Bianchi. We have never seen his early works as he does it elsewhere and by the time Marvel found him BANG he hit the pages running, so to speak and this issue proves it

The interiors are as exquisite as the covers and Simone does not waste space. If you look at the clothes, he even thinks through what type of material and thus what time of stretching lines and folds it will have. He also crafted additional accessories for his characters and when you flip within the covers, he decorates the entire page and not just the space within similar to what Mark Buckingham and Chris Bacchalo would do

In short, it's AWESOME

As for this tale, well, it is part of a story arc and we see the X-Men finally tracking down the ones who were giving them a hard time. But the only challenge is that WTF is going on? Are there aliens invading Earth and the ones they have been fighting are actually on the side of the human race? Is there even a side?

And o yes what is Forge doing in the middle of all this?

Ratings: 9/10

2.41 (406) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #251 ... Marvels ...

If there is one person we all respect when reading all these old Marvels, it is Chris Claremont. He certainly brought life to a flagging title and made it the superstar it has been since then until now. The mutants have never slowed down ... gotten lost yet but slowed down no ... regardless of artist he is paired with ... sounds like Bendis, eh?

Anyway, before the big 250th, we saw that this incarnation of the X-chums have come to an end and all their thoughts of bringing the fight to their enemies lasted less than a good 2 year run ... oh well ... that's why they are predominantly heroes and not villains, eh?

So what happens after that? Before the return of the team?

Well, this issue kicks it all off as we see the old base of the X-Men ... it was by a team of semi-robot and partial-humans ... and now they have come back to reclaim what was lost ... and from the cover you can see that Wolvie encountered them .. and is left strung up in the open to die ... and yes it happened inside too so it's not a hype

However, a minor character introduced several issues ago ... the Asian American Jubilee who has since then stowed away in the home of the X-Men ... is still around and is shocked by what happens so will she go help Wolvie or is he bad ass enough to free himself? What do you think? Heh!

This is the start of the next incarnation of the X-Men and it ran on for another good 2 years before it morphed into something else ... so this issue is a definite must read ... the muddy inking and colouring and rush pencilling styles merely enhance the mood!

Ratings: 7/10

2.40 (405) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #194 ... Marvel ...

If you have been a regular reader of our reviews, you will know that we are fans of big slug fest that is not based on high energy shoot outs although that is cool too. So what made us like this so good is the fact that there is Juggernaut on the cover and this is the first time he was totally pummelled!

And the storyline interiors didn't disappoint either

We see a subplot of a mysterious dock worker finally coming to fruition as it turns out he is a robotic entity from the future sent back in time ala Terminator ... except its name is Nimrod like out of myth and legend and his agenda is to terminate those that will prove  a threat to baseline humans and in this issue, he succeeds magnificently!

He attacked the most powerful of them all ... Juggernaut ... naturally Juggie is not a mutant but managed to give him a hard time tearing a huge chunk of real estate before even slowing down ... and this gets reported on the news!

So the X-Men instead of having a quiet day decides its time to investigate ... this inspite of their recent big walloping session with Jugs. What's charming is the different reactions we are given a view of by the various X-members when this news hits them such as Nightie's reluctance or Peter's dumb eagerness ...

The battle is indeed savage ... and thanks to a younger Romita Jr, the artwork is energetic without being too grim and gritty ... if it had been a Finch?!?!?!

The solution is ingenuous and not just all about brawn

Definitely a good read

Ratings: 8/10

2.39 (404) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #193 ... Marvel ...

It had to happen. I am sure you knew that, right, dear readers? After all those reviews on the junior team, we now move back to the main team that started it all - Uncanny X-Men ... volume 1 (hehehe) ... yup this is way before the relaunches but what the heck we labelled it so as to be clear

This is an awesome double-sized issue of the X-Men

Inspite of Claremont's ability to weave tons of subplot and with more dangling to come in the issues ahead, to celebrate the 100th issue of this, the new X-Men, Claremont decided to do a homage back to the character he created and killed Thunderbird. NO SPOILER ALERT

For those not in the know, Thunderbird is an American Indian mutant who joined the X-Men along with Storm, Nightcrawler etc and finally made the X-Men a top tier title. However, he bit the dust in his first outing and we are not surprised. All his abilities are matched and surpassed by Wolverine from speed to strength to fighting skills to savagery. So what's the point of keeping him here, eh?

Now in this issue, his younger brother has come of age and inherited all of his brother's powers and so he plots revenge. Do note that at this time, he is still a member of the Hellions, junior members of the Hellfire Club similar to the New Mutants

But he is smart enough and cunning enough to make life a living hell for the X-Men all by his lonesome self by sowing dissension and confusion and even spiriting away people like Wolverine and the location is a defence base for the Israeli Army and what-not

Not so much power and energy shooting spectacular but a tight and taut tale

Definitely worth a re-read or three ... and o yes, this is the same guy who has since grown to be Warpath in X-Force becoming a giant size super strong chap and then subsequently armed himself with those two dagger like blades that he carries around these days

Ratings: 8/10

360. X-Men vol 1 #174 ... Marvel ...

When they have good artists and a decent storyline, the X-Men can carry a soap opera tale like no other comic and this issue is good solid proof! Pete Milligan (famous for work on Vertigo) is here on writing duties and while I am not a huge fan of his ... here it is just perfect. Salvador Larocca is the penciller ... and I love his work here and in Namor ... but imagine later on he was at Iron Man and that style seemed worse than this! Could it be because here he has ... Danny Miki, inker extraordinaire ably covered by Liquid! the colourist? Hehehe!

Just check out the cover and imagine every page and panel within is that gorgeous!

As for the story, well, after so many issues, everyone found out that Foxx, the new character is Mystique ... in one of her more weird attempts at either infiltration or sabotaging the X-Men ... but here her justification is that she is trying to wake Rogue up that she deserves better than Gambit as her other half!

However, is that really her agenda?

Because in a surprising twist, she then asks to be an X-Men and so all the big boys and girls come to gather to put matters to a vote on whether she should be accepted or not. Oh puh-leeease how could they forget what a nasty bitch she is? How about her time on X-Factor, eh? Hello, Havok? Polaris? What's the matter with you two? Ugh!

Sometimes while I do enjoy a comic read, the unbelievable nonsense of accepting villains is just ridiculous especially in the X-Men. Real life even small time criminals must do time and therapy etc but if you are a villain and have even killed others, the X-Men can give you a second chance if you say you want to tread the straight and narrow. They are gullible like that ... and in this case, specisist (like racist?) ... because this is automatic acceptance only if you are a mutant! BULLSHIT!

But other than that, the read is awesome!

Ratings: 6/10 (would have been a 7 if not for the above plot issue)

329. X-Men vol 1 #140 ... Marvel ...

And our second review on the X-team is still within Morrison's pen man ship ... bad spelling, eh? Heh! And here he is paired up with yet another star artist, Phil Jimenez who we loved even more than Quitely. Good times to be an X-fan

Murder at the Mansion 2 of 3 - the cover is a tad boring with the X-words in huge and head shots of various people in different sizes bobbing all over

So who was murdered? The White Queen ... while in her secondary mutation, Diamond Form so you know it was not easy. Enter Bishop and Sage as official investigators into her death. And the investigation does not go easy as they review all the witnesses and those with apparent potential causes ... as Emma is not exactly miss sugar n spice n all that's nice. She was more bitchy and let's rile everyone up ... so while Bishop does the tour of the faculties and speaking to students and fellow X-Men ...

Sage does a trip into the grounds gathering evidence ... only what she found ... right at the last page ... will leave you gasping for more! It's creepy, it's icky and boy does it feel like an alien horror movie from a superhero comic

Morrison has done it again!

Ratings: 8/10

328. X-Men vol 1 #137 ... Marvel ...

It's back-to-back review time and to start off we chose the X-people. The era is when the movies came out and was a hit. So they changed the X-people into wearing leather rather than those colourful costumes so as to match the movies and all these happened under the guidance of Grant Morrison who indeed brought in a new vibe to the X-teams especially in the introduction of new concepts and villains

Here in this issue he is paired with superstar artist Frank Quitely whose primary signature could be that his people usually have puffy, kissy lips but other than that the minimal linework is awesome as it conveys emotions so well

Riot at Xavier's Part 3 ... we see the continuing effort of Omega Level Quentin who has seized control of the school thanks to using the drug Kick to enhance his intellect that was already superhuman to something else. He even, like Hitler, designed retro uniforms for his supporters and manage to totally snagged the school!

So after having enough of his nonsense, the X-Men decided to charge in and the battle is innovative, short and sweet. However, the punch to this storyline is that Quentin is still a teenager and all he did was thought he wanted to change things, to be remembered but he didn't plan all the way through like what is his real message? What happens after he takes over the school? How does it all plan?

And does it have anything to do with a girl?

Ah ... the joys of rebellious youth!

Ratings: 8/10 (for story and art)