2.2 (367) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #199 ... Marvel ...

And after inspecting the issue that came after 200, we go backwards to one issue before 200 to see if this issue is equally as good as ... naturally for me it IS a huge RESOUNDING YES. I have read this several times including enjoying that awesome, awesome cover of Rachel as Phoenix arising!

Yes, in this issue, Rachel, not Jean or her clones, is Phoenix

What's really important here is that of the quieter moments. Sure we see Magneto and the rest of the regular X-team helter-skelter running around and preparing to be in Europe for the trial and having challenges from bitch Mystique and Freedom Force

But what's important here is when we see Rachel coming to finally finding peace within her as she goes to Jean's parents house ... and finding the sphere that contains the remembrances (and perhaps a little essence?) of Jean ... and finally ... finally accepting the fact that she may be from a divergent timeline or universe but without doubt, she has the powers and the force that is the Phoenix!

Awesome!

Ratings: 8/10

2.1 (366) Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #201 ... Marvel ...

Check out our numbering. We decided to try a little typical comics re-numbering. So as this is our official year 2 and first post ... hence 2.1 and the ongoing review numbering in brackets (366)! Hah!

Anyway, how do we follow up such a great issue? With another great issue. 201 is significant because after the big bang action and high profile exposure for the mutants, they went home to Westchester for a little R&R and building up of even more tension albeit personal

Here we SPOILER ALERT witnessed the birth of a baby who in future will become Cable but at this point is merely the baby of Cyclops and Madelyne. Apparently she gave birth when Scott was away traipsing Asgard and what-not. So while everyone is ooh-ing and aah-ing we see Scott looking his usual grim manner and you have to wonder WTF, right?

But here we also learnt that Scott is not a great X-Men or even man. Why? Because he is more worried about himself than his wife and kid. As Professor X has vanished end of last issue, there is vacuum for leader of the X-Men in both field and off field and Cyclops decided that as he was the first leader, now that he is back in the mansion, he wants the job

And he put Storm down as she has lost her powers

Naturally Ororo is not taking that shit sitting down and they decided to have a contest in the Danger Room. I ain't going to spoil it for you by telling you how it ends but it's a good scene for the fight anyway and you will enjoy it. What's more important is once again, after the fight, the quiet scenes with Madelyne and her realizing that the future is not potentially roses but more storm clouds a brewing. Poor lady. Not surprise she became SPOILER ALERT the Goblin Queen in the next couple of years

Ratings: 7/10

365 ONE YEAR OF REVIEWS Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #200 ... Marvel ...

Woooooowiiieee this is our 365th review and this means we have a year's worth of issues ... well the actual time period is slightly more than a year ... as in the past, we were not regular but now we would post a bunch of review in batch format ... and merely set it forward on a daily basis kind of like how real magazines are done and the dates are usually in the future! Hehehe!

And for this 365th we have to choose a comic that is not only special for its time but for us. X-Men 200th was great on several reasons and here are the reasons:

1. It's a celebration issue with double sized story telling. I remembered the ads and reviews saying that to get the location and all that correct, some of the Marvel crew even travelled to Paris!

2. It's a celebration issue that the young me managed to snag from the newsagent instead of via back issue bins similar to Hulk 300. So it's a big deal

3. At that time, X-Men had been consistently on top of the comic charts beating out current champs the Avengers and perennial competitors DC

And with all that, penciller JR JR is coming into his own with his stylized lines although I have to admit that it didn't work that well here because the scenes are usually in bright broad daylight. So nothing much for JR to lay his lines on

Anyway, as the story indicates, by this time, Magneto was on his first big reform as a good guy (current readers will think this is no big deal) ... because at that time, Magneto had never been a good guy until after the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars where he returned and stayed with the X-Men helping out with the NMutants though not many will agree to his presence

Here, finally, the good guys in the form of Freedom Force (ex-Brotherhood of Mutants) caught up with him (and he surrendered) ... and he decided he wanted to be shown another side of him ... he wanted to be able to have a good platform for his voice and reasoning to be heard. So the court case will be moved to Paris with an international panel of jury to hear him out. Naturally being such a high profile case, the court room and outside are full of tension ...

And in the midst of all these, as Magneto and those within make their grand speeches to which we as readers are privy too ... outside to ensure we have a chance for some action we get to see new villains Fenris, pair of twins, coming making their plans to attack the court case

SPOILER ALERT

Though we are given the motives of the twins' attack, it never sounded convincing. Their subsequent appearance in the mutant world is much better and showed us just how callous and nasty these 2 can be but here ... feels flat

SPOILER ALERT

The ending is touching when all came tumbling down and that final speech between Xavier and Magnus? Solid!

Ratings: 8/10 (could be higher with different artist)

364. Amazing Spider-Man vol 1 #596 ... Marvel ...

Recap time:

1. Somewhere along the lines, Marvel reverted back to the original numbering sequence and hence we put this as volume 1 because earlier when there was a relaunch, there was a new numbering. After several years, they put vol 2 number and vol 1 numbering side-by-side and now back to normal numbering. Got it? Good

2. And for those (like me) who are not regular reader of Spidey, basically years ago, Spidey married MJ and in an alternate universe, they had a kid. However, in their normal universe, new boss decided he prefers a single Spidey and the cop-out story is that Spidey made a deal with the devil to annul his marriage and made it seem as if he is not married. I don't mind the magic bits but a deal with the devil? Hmm Marvel? Disney approves of this? Really?

Okay

For this issue, basically the Marvel U has gone nuts after the Skrull invasion as the US president and American public allows psycho ranting publisher JJJ to become major while Osborn is now head cop of USA in charge of SHIELD replacement called HAMMER as well as the Avengers

And in this issue, Osborn's kid, Harry, the Goblin finally agreed to join his dad in-charge of PR and what not for the supposed reason of making a regular paycheck to feed his family as his other half is now preggers. Note that the other half is revealed as a villain that rides a glider too. How coincidental! Naturally Pete Spidey is not satisfied and tries to investigate. And for once, he uses brains. Love the way he managed the infiltration. Because it makes sense. The world is now different so he uses harsher methods although strangely enough ... once again. they caught someone in the act of killing and can let go ... sigh!

Ratings: 6/10

363. Marvel Two-In-One #62 ... Marvel

As per our last review, we skipped a few issues down the line to prove our point and here is the saga of HER. Basically she is a scientifically created being by a mysterious group of scientists in a place called the HIVE. Their intention is to make the perfect human being and thus super powerful. They hoped to use this powerful new being to create a master race and naturally reporting to them

The first time out, they ended up with Adam Warlock

And now this time out the first round was a being who is male ... however, that being ended back in the cocoon and this time becomes HER. So after the past few issues, she decided to find her perfect mate and that perfect mate is Adam

She ventured forth to find those who know of Adam i.e. Alicia Masters girlfriend to the Thing. And after a brief tussle she managed to escape with Alicia. Bitch Moondragon decided to tag along to help HER realize her quest while Starhawk who is out hunting another powerful being came across Ben and decided to help him out

Got it?

So the cover is not just Moondragon but Starhawk, Her, High Evolutionary ...

Anyway that's in the past. In this issue Ben and Hawk managed to catch up with Her on the High E's world and after the usual misunderstanding tussle, all focus on finding out what happened to the High E and the planet where Adam Warlock is supposed to be buried because that planet is now ... missing ... towed away by someone even more mysterious

How's that for a recap?

Sorry if it's long winded but that's just how good this issue is and with awesome artwork by everyone involved, this series is such a must read

Ratings: 7/10

362. Marvel Two-In-One #57 ... Marvel ...

Marvel 2-in-1 is supposed to be like Spider-Man's team up where every issue Ben the Thing meets and team up with another hero but during the middle of this run, the great thing is that the writer manages to make it into one big arc that actually have monumental impact on a great number of titles ... like the Serpent Crown saga and this the Project Pegasus saga. I guess that tells us how popular the Thing was during his hey-day, eh?

So ... this is the midst of a saga ... where as the title indicates the new guy is Wundarr but the others included are Quasar and Giant Man (black guy not white guy).

As for the artwork ... get this ... George Perez! Dude!!! This guy on this title? You know it's awesome and it is. Every panel is properly drawn with no rush lines and hatches to fill them up

So ... the story so far ... as Quasar so kindly recaps it that there seemed to be a string of baddies attacking various people and what the heck are they going to do about it to ensure things go well ... but in the middle of this the silent man, Wundarr awakens and walks ... as if sleepwalking into the chamber where a ... SPOILER ALERT ... cosmic cube resides ...

However, this issue deals with all the people Wundarr alerts as he walks through Project Pegasus like we see Solarr breaking free ... and then while trying to escape he goes about looking for support encountering other villains like Electro and Klaw ... just plain goodness

And as they are making a break for it, naturally Ben who is still at Pegasus from earlier issues rush to stop them and it's time for a BATTLE ROYALE! ROCK ON!

Ratings: 7/10

361. Marvel Two-in-One Annual 5 ... Marvel ...

Look at that cover and especially at the Thing's face! Haw!

Well, this annual is dated 1980 which means this is before Marvel went experimental on their annuals. So what can we expect? A decent story and art that doesn't deviate too much from the monthly issues except that it is double sized or as the cover proudly proclaims 48 big pages!

So ...

As the stars are the Hulk and the Thing, the story naturally starts at 2 different points with the FF coming home and getting zapped. So the Thing couldn't revive his mates and decided to enlist the aid of one Bruce Banner ... while on the flipside the Hulk is jumping across country and who should he encounter but his sweetheart and her father and before anything else could happen ZAP ... they are out too!

While waaaaay aways, the Stranger realizes that there is a huge problem dawning reaching catastrophic size and he decided that only the Hulk and Thing could help him. SPOILER ALERT. Who is the villain of the piece? Pluto from Olympus mythology as he is busy constructing something that will give him the opportunity to tear down Olympus ... regardless of its affect on others ...

While all this is good and entertaining, now comes the illogical part ... as you read, you will find that the natural animosity between Thing and Hulk kept on materializing and they keep on taking bits and pieces out of each other ... and in fact, their help wasn't much help but more of luck ... so WTF was the Stranger thinking, eh? Hmm


Ratings: 5/10