2.240 (605) All Star Superman #2 ...

This is one of the oddest comic mini or maxi series I have ever read - not because it is by Grant Morrison but because of the tone of the entire series. If you read each comic by itself, it feels so self contained which is awesome and yet as the series progresses (because each issue is so good both art and storyline that you are drawn to come back for more) you get to see the overall arch and its linkages sprinkled throughout each issue in minute amounts

This entire issue deals with the fact that Superman is in love with Lois and wants to give her a special birthday surprise. However, she doesn't know yet that he is Clark. So he whips her up on his broad shoulders or should we say he hoist he car and flew her to his fortress

And then he gives her a tour of the mysteries contained

We are given access to her thoughts when Superman went somewhere private (to prepare for her present which we will not SPOIL for you readers who have yet to try this) .... as Lois does what a nosey reporter does ... nosing around and her misunderstanding of so many things there made her think that perhaps her own life is in peril for discovering some shit about Superman's lineage! Hah!

It is light hearted, it is funny, it is charming and Frank Quitely's controlled linework tells this tale so wonderfully!

Ratings: 9/10

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)

257. X-Men vol 1 #151 to 154 ... Marvel ...

And so it ends ... Grant Morrison's awesome vision of the men and women of X ... and how did he end it all? By pulling one huge final sprawling tale that has subplots dredged up everywhere ... including the final pages of 150 (our previous review) and a tale about the cosmos, the Phoenix force and even the first days of Earth's formation! I kid you not here!

Anyway, at the end of 150, we saw for some inexplicable reason, after Mags was defeated, the spirit of the school was gone and Scott sort of gave up on everything ... but also we have a small part where Beast said he realized what was going on ... and in the final bits ... a jump into the future! So what's that all about?

Well, basically the heinous villain of the tale is finally revealed. You see, when Earth was first formed, there was a first self aware sentient being who was not really a being in the common sense more like an awareness that can control DNA and this thing calling itself Sublime has been riding each wave of creation ... from Dinosaurs to us the humans and never worried because they have the ability to control DNA ... genome and thus their/ its fate is protected

Until mutants emerged ... with mutants, the abilities are ... anything goes with some potentially becoming invulnerable and thus unable for this thing to merge with on any levels ... fearing one day that it might be supplanted by the mutants, it thus engineered the destruction of the mutants

And so queue 150 years into the future ... where the world is torn apart thanks to this thing ... that has possessed the Beast's body and is creating hordes of creatures splicing DNA trying to totally eliminate mutants ... naturally in its way stood a loose group of survivors and heroes ... and some of the existing X-Men ... not sure how they all survived but some include Wolverine, 3 of the Cuckoos, Martha and Cassandra Nova ..

And the best one of all ... a human young man and his Sentinel guardian ... shades of love there too!

Lots of big ideas, lots of big fighting scenes ... full of emotions and the return of Jean Grey and perhaps this time, the true meaning of sacrifice ... very touching ending! And a spark of hope is planted in the final two pages

One gets the feeling that an extra issue would have helped this story along instead of issue 154 feeling so cramped ... still it was enjoyable and Marc Silvestri came along for these 4 issues turning in some of the best work of his career!

Ratings: 9/10

256. X-Men vol 1 #150 ... Marvel ...

Four years and so many issues later, Master Morrison showed no signs of slowing down with new concepts after new concepts and new takes on old storylines without making the series feel convoluted like a Hong Kong movie, know what I mean? In fact, it actually feels to have the same kind of energy like a Claremont era tale ... updated for the timeline style naturally

And in terms of style, as per our previous review, this time on art duties is none other than the awesome Phil Jimenez who pumped in tons of details and lots of goodie scenes ... the only let down for me is actually the cover. It looks kind of average and pretty much a meh kind of feel

Anyhow, Planet X the storyline reaches its conclusion as we see Magneto, who has been planning to take down the human race once more and this time has spent years (in comic time) planning including infiltrating the X-Men as healer Xorn (not sure how he fake those abilities) ... finally has his comeuppance

He has sealed off Manhattan and assembled a tiny group of Xavier students to be his new Brotherhood ... he is hoping to amass new mutant followers ... however he failed to understand the current generation's short attention span ... and naturally when he himself is addicted to mutant power enhancement drug, kick ... well it doesn't help Mags think straight

O yeah and to give himself a bigger platform this time ... basically Mags want to spin the earth on its magnetic field ... but the X-Men stopped him in time ... but hey if you want to see this actually done, go to Ultimate U ... hmmm same idea different execution ...

O yeah x 2 ... Jean who by now is back to being the Phoenix after months of hinting that she may be able to tap into that primal power ... well for all that ... she had some moments at the start rescuing Wolvie from space ... but then as always she turns out to be a wuss in the end! Pffft! I won't spoil it for you here though





Ratings: 8/10

255. X-Men vol 1 #118 ... Marvel ...

Yes, yes, yes ... it's another Marvel comic review. Why so many? Well, because I am now in my childhood home of Penang and waaaaay back then I was mainly a Marvel fan. Almost nil DC and hey it's not my fault that even the newsstands hardly ever carry any Superman or Batman

This issue is a random sampling in Brit writer Grant Morrison's three year plus run on the mutants and what joy his stories were. The characters were essentially as they were except that suddenly we see them developing on a personal level. Of course, the uniforms have changed to match the movie but Morrison gave us the reason

And throughout the bulk of his run, Marvel paired him with top notch artists (or at least generally those that I love like Quitely, Van Sciver, Jimenez ... all three of whom have awesome work in DC)!

This issue features van Sciver

And the title is Germ Free Generation - how awesome a title is that, right?

Okay ... storywise it continues from previous issues with the X-Men trying to recuperate and recover their sense of well being after frenetic action and intrigue but as they are mutants, there ain't no such thing as cutting themselves a break

So who plays the villains here? Seems like lots of people are involved with multiple subplots. We have Johnny Sublime and his third species team ... with people who love his book and causing violence while Johnny himself isn't all that he seemed ...

We have new mutants just emerging including Angel, a non-Caucasian girl whose power is just plain EEEUUUURGH ... she spits something from her mouth, her skin is bubbling, she is overweight and shows of her belly button all the time! ARG!

While all this is going on, Prof X and the Beast are on the casualty list while Emma Frost is getting her stride bitching side by side with Jean Grey! How much more coolness can you get from such an epic dialogue scene?

Ratings: 8/10