Wolverine #302
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Billy Tan & Jason Keith [Chapters 13, 15, 16], Steve Sanders & Sotocolor [Chapters 14, 16]
Normally, if you told me that a writer was going to end their run on a book with a story that touches on everything that happened during said run, I’d tell you that story would probably suck. Jason Aaron, however, is not most writers.
During his run on Wolverine: Weapon X and the relaunched Wolverine, Aaron has put Wolverine up against armies of adamantium men and Dethloks, had him brainwashed by a psychotic psychiatrist named Dr. Rot, sent him to Hell, and had him seek revenge against Mystique and those who sent him there (inadvertently killing five children he never knew he had). He touches on at least four of those things in this issue.
In an attempt to save the new Silver Samurai from the ninjas of the Hand, Wolverine and his ninja ex-girlfriend, Yukio, storm the cave that serves as their hideout. Unbeknownst to them, Wolverine’s adopted daughter, Amiko, followed them, as well. The three are subjected to a mind control toxin that leads Wolverine to believe he is back in Hell and that his dead children are killing him. There’s a brief mention of Dr. Rot in a flashback sequence with Rachel Grey training Wolverine to protect himself from mental attacks, and it’s also revealed that Mystique was recently resurrected by the Hand and wants revenge. Of course, it wouldn’t be Wolverine if she wasn’t shooting Logan’s unconscious body with a submachine gun as that portion of the plot is explained.
As the issue winds down, Mystique uses her powers to get a video that will probably bite Logan in the ass when he’s stateside again and the new Silver Samurai shows who’s side he’s really on.
Once again, there are two art teams on this issue, but it’s something I barely even thought about as I was reading. The two teams work in a similar enough style that it’s just not too noticeable unless you’re picking at details.
With one more issue to tie all of these threads together, I’m interested in seeing how Aaron closes out his run and leaves the book ready for the next writer to pick up.
STORY: 9/10
ART: 8/10
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Amazing Spider-Man #681
Writers: Dan Slott & Chris Yost
Art: Giuseppe Camuncoli [Pencils], Klaus Janson [Inks], and Frank D’Armata [Colors]
Orbiting Earth in the Horizon Labs Apogee I space station, Spider-Man and the Human Torch have big problems. The space station has been compromised by Octobots, which have turned its crew–with the exception of Col. John Jameson (son of Jonah and former Man-Wolf)–into “space zombies” that Doc Ock can control from the ground.
Oh, and they’re running out of oxygen, making the Human Torch’s powers virtually unusable lest they should all suffocate in the infinite vacuum of space. No big deal, right?
Dan Slott and Chris Yost conclude the “Ends of the Earth” prelude they began last week in Amazing Spider-Man #680 by hitting all the same points that made that issue great.
More of Jonah yelling at people in a blind fury because he’s still reeling over the death of his wife and might now lose his son? Check.
Enough back-and-forth between Spider-Man and Torch to fill the International Space Station? Got it.
Obligatory “…and now, you will die!” super villain speech from Doc Ock? There’s one of those here, too.
Simply put, this story has everything that made the classic books classic without feeling too self-referential and, as I mentioned last week, that’s really kind of been par for the course with the Slott run of Amazing Spider-Man. The Human Torch team-up is timely, given that the first person a guy’s probably gonna go on an adventure with when he comes “back from the dead” is his best friend, and the idea-so-crazy-it-could-only-work-in-a-comic-book resolution is fun.
What I question more than that is how Torch could “flame on” while carrying Spider-Man and John Jameson without burning them, or why people would be preparing for a manned mission to Mars in a world where the Fantastic Four regularly go to other galaxies. Is Reed Richards really that bad about sharing his toys with others?
All jokes aside, I’m really excited to see where Slott goes with “Ends of the Earth,” which starts next issue. Ever since Marla Jameson was killed on Spider-Man’s watch, Spidey has had this whole “No one dies!” schtick, and how that carries over to Doc Ock’s current condition will be interesting to see play out.
If only we could get an interview with the guy so he could tell us himself…
For those of you who don’t know me, I am a child of the 80s, Being born in 1981, I was brought up waking up Saturday mornings to a great cartoon block featuring two of my favorite properties of all time, the Transformers and G.I.Joe. Sure there were others, but those were what were in my wheelhouse.
So later when I was at the mall with my mom, we went into the bookstore and I found the now extinct spinner rack. And to my wonder, were these books on it called comics. And low and behold, one of which was based on one of those very cartoons. It was G.I.Joe issue #124 featuring Firefly. I immediately was hooked and collected that book for the remaining three years until it ended with issue #155. But that very issue is what I owe my comic love to today.
However, the current comics market is drastically different. Sales figures are down across the board. But there seems to be a noticeable difference in licensed properties. IDW is the current holder of both the G.I.Joe and Transformers licenses, along with many others as seen through their Infestation lineup. They hold Ghostbusters, Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons, True Blood, Dr Who, and 30 Days of Night. But for sake of discussion, I’ll try to concentrate on the above two.
Unfortunately Marvel ended their run on the book in 1994 and sales figures are near impossible to find. However, over a decade ago, another company bought G.I.Joe rights from Hasbro. Devil’s Due published the second volume beginning in September 2001. Issue one debuted at #13 on the Diamond sales charts with 67,179. The first arc was done in bi-monthly format and issue 4 was the highest ranked issue of the run in March 2002 at #7 with 78,344. In the same month, the next closest licensed property was Star Wars. And those two books were ranked 91 and 95. Now, it is widely agreed upon that Star Wars is one of the most popular properties of all time. So to come in 84 spots above one of the greatest fixtures of pop culture is quite an impressive feat. But outside of licensing, G.I.Joe also beat titles that comics are known for. Superman, Batman, JLA, Avengers, Spider-Man, Hulk, and Fantastic Four all came in below G.I.Joe.
The popularity of G.I.Joe sparked the licensed property comics insurgence. Transformers, Voltron, Masters of the Universe, and Thundercats were all grabbed up and put in monthly books. Out of these, Transformers was the most sought after and was bought by Dreamwave. In April 2002, Transformers Generation 1 #1 came in at the top spot with 128,202 copies. The next highest ranked comic that month was New X-Men with 16,000 less.
Both Transformers and G.I.Joe remained strong for months. G.I.Joe was retained by Devil’s Due for 2 volumes totaling 80 issues and multiple spin off series. Transformers unfortunately met its end after 2 mini-series and a short-lived ongoing. The final issue of Transformers Generation 1 was ranked 74th in the top 100 and sold just under 30,000 copies. When Devil’s Due ended G.I.Joe America’s Elite, they were ranked at 117 and only 19,685 copies sold.
After Dreamwave closed up shop and Devil’s Due lost the G.I.Joe property, IDW bought them both. The initial G.I.Joe relaunch generated a sales boost. Issue #0 which previewed the new series ranked at spot 65 and 40,927 issues make it to the public. Transformers Infiltration began the IDW run on that title and had a strong showing. The first issue ranked at spot 30 and sold 45,453 copies. G.I.Joe definitely had a stronger impact but both had very similar numbers.
Transformers had 3 min-series and a maxi-series before moving to an ongoing title lasting 31 issues. By the end, the ongoing had dropped down to 173rd and sold a meager 10,348 copies. When G.I.Joe finished its first volume, it was one spot better at 172 on the charts but only had 10,102 issues make it to consumers.
However, IDW has retained both licenses and relaunched both titles. The main G.I.Joe book came out and had a slight bump. It sold 12,353 copies and went up to 136th according to Diamond. Also, out of G.I.Joe came a Snake-Eyes solo ongoing title. This came out a month later and sold 12,197 copies and took spot 131. Transformers took a different route and split the series evenly into two books, More Than Meets the Eye (MTMTE) and Robots in Disguise (RID). RID jumped the Transformers above 150 at 144 and sold 12,234 copies while MTMTE did slightly better and went into spot 121 and sold more than 3,000 more copies with 15,340.
As is plainly seen, both properties have dropped dramatically over the last decade plus. The current sales tactic seems to be that where one title generated a good following, it now takes two titles to even acquire half those numbers. But the question is “why?”. There are a few possibilities. It could be anything from the creative team to the general decline of comic sales. Or, have these two properties outlived their attachment to comic buying adults? With everything out there, has the nostalgia factor worn off?
I don’t have the answers. But over the decade, I have bought, dropped, and bought these titles again and again. My reasoning was the stories being told just didn’t appeal to me. And what brings me back is the hope of something new and different. I tried the IDW relaunch of G.I.Joe and not only dropped that, but also dropped the sister title “Cobra” because of the story tie-in to the other two books I did not want. I desperately wanted my nostalgia factor make it easier to enjoy the book but could not. I also have put both Transformers titles on my pull list after dropping those after the first three mini-series from IDW turned me off. And after 2 issues, keeping with them seems like a real possibility
But what will other fans of these titles think? The question if they have some staying power or fade away like has been the case time and again is on my mind and probably Hasbro as well.
Now that AMC’s Walking Dead is down to the last three episodes, the Comic Vault does not want to spoil your experience. This is your warning that after the photo below the recap of the episode and review will begin and it may contain spoilers that will make you very unhappy if you read this before you watch the show.
In the episode of “Walking Dead: Judge, Jury, Executioner” the group is deciding the fate of Randall. You may remember that Randal was the gentleman who was impaled by a fence two weeks ago. Rick tried to drop Randall off 18 miles away in the previous episode but when Randall admitted knowing about the farm, Rick and Shane knew they couldn’t let him go.
After Daryl tortures Randall, he confesses that his group raped two young girls and made the father watch. When Rick finds out this information he decides that the best thing to do is to execute Randall. Dale the moral compass of the group is outraged and goes on a mission to convince the other members of the group that this is a horrible decision and that they would be just as bad as the other group if they went through with this. Rick gives Glenn till sunset to convince the others.
Meanwhile, Carl takes a gun from Daryl’s motorcycle and heads into the woods. He finds a walker stuck in the mud and Carl studies the walker and gets closer and closer. Carl pulls out the gun and it looks as if he will shoot the walker when the walker frees itself from the mud and attacks Carl. Carl manages to wiggle free from the walker and runs home leaving the walker and the gun.
At sunset the group reconvenes but Dale has only managed to convince Andrea that this wrong and they need more time to make a decision. When Dale has exhausted the argument and cannot convince anyone else to his side he says, “This group is broken,” and walks off to not be part of the execution.
Rick, Shane and Daryl drag Randall to the barn to shoot him. They blindfold him, kneel him down and ask him if he has any final words. Rick has the gun pointed at Randall’s head and is about to shoot him when Carl comes in and tell his dad to, “Do it! Shoot em!” Rick then can’t shoot Randall after Carl comes in. They lock Randall back up and Andrea looks for Dale to tell him the good news.
Dale, walking in the fields hears groaning, but it’s not a zombie groan so he goes to investigate. Dale discovers a cow that has been attacked and the cow’s guts are all over the place. In proper horror film fashion Dale turns around and a walker attacks him. This is the same walker that Carl set free in the mud earlier. Dale gets knocked down and struggles with the walker. The group hears Dale’s screams and rushes to his aid. Before the group gets to Dale the walker rips his gut open. Daryl kills the walker but Hershel examines Dale and determines there is nothing he can do. Dale is screaming in agony and Andrea begs for someone to do something. Rick pulls out his gun and points it at Dale. Rick can’t pull the trigger and Daryl takes the gun from his hand and points it at Dale again. Dale lifts his head towards the gun, Daryl says goodbye and the screen goes black and you hear a gun shot.
One side note, while the group discovers Dale, Carl goes over to the walker and recognizes it from earlier. He then runs to his mother’s arms and cries.
This episode was crazy!
Like most of the series it was slow-paced. As the viewer I was almost to the point where I thought it was a filler episode but then the ending happened and this episode, good or bad became a game changer. Dale was the moral compass of the group and now that it gone. Who will step in and take that role? (Rick, Hershel, Andrea, Glenn?)
I feel that with the death of Dale it puts the writers in a corner and could hurt Rick’s character development. Rick was in the middle of the spectrum of Shane and Dale (good vs. evil). Now the spectrum just got a lot smaller. I also believe that the viewers do not want to see Rick as the moral compass of the group. They would like to see Rick be a badass and kill walkers and people from Philadelphia. The moral compass character is sometimes preachy and annoying. I would not like to see Rick turn into this character. What makes Rick a great character is he is figuring out the rules along the way. He brings the assets of being a sheriff and family man to the table to face the new world in front of him.
Okay, AMC’s Walking Dead there is a fork in the road with two episodes left. Which way are you going to turn?
-Matt Sardo
Please leave a comment and let the Comic Vault know what you think of this new direction in Walking Dead.
Justice League DOOM is an interesting film to review. As its own film its definitely a fun and enjoyable action movie with a few twists that offer up some exciting interactions between the League and their respective villains. However this is an adaptation of Mark Waid’s Justice League story Tower of Babel. When that’s taken into consideration I have a few issues with the movie.
First lets get into the things I do like about the film. The animation is great and the voice acting is top notch . DC chose to bring in its most recognizable voice talent for each character of the Justice League and it pays off. Batman and Superman are played by Kevin Conroy and Tim Daily respectively . The animation itself resembles something updated from the cartoons, but much smoother and kinetic.There are huge action scenes and each member of the League has their moment to shine. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on character interactions which I appreciate , and the direction of the movie does maintain the serious tone of the book . When its revealed who is responsible for the attack on the Justice League the film picks up a lot of steam and the fallout at the end is done with a bit more care than in the Graphic Novel its inspired by.
Now things that I felt could have been better. This was the late Dwayne McDuffie’s final completed script before he passed away last year so I understand why DC went forward with this film as their next DC animated title. McDuffie’s script is great but several liberties are taken to change the story . In Tower of Babel Ras Al Ghul is the main Antagonist of the film while in DOOM Vandal Savage and The Legion Of Doom end up being the main Villains with the Royal Flush Gang in a support role. While I like seeing Bane , Cheetah , Mirror Master , Metallo, and Star Sapphire there wasn’t enough time given in the movie to establish a more solid motivation than “The bad guys want to beat the Good Guys” . Also taking Ras out of the equation made the story a little less personal for Batman.
Inserting Cyborg into the film also makes sense since DC is trying to make him a central part of the Justice League in their current series but he just feels kind of tacked on into the story. People who aren’t familiar with the character should have been able to get into his back story a bit. One thing that would have helped all of this would have been to make the movie maybe 20 minutes longer. DC animated films tend to be on the shorter side and this film was hurt a bit by its shorter running time.
I know it sounds like I’m picking on the film a bit and I am but that doesn’t take away from the fact that as its own film its fun and an engaging action move starring the Justice League . When the plot twist happens the film still works and takes off into a very fast paced and enjoyable film. I would have just liked a little more time spent on fleshing out the characters and story. Definitely check this out if your a fan of any of the characters just be prepared to see some thing that doesn’t follow its source material completely.
After the big reveal of the Adaptoids last issue Remender focuses largely on ust a few characters this issue . The main story centers around Ant man who Hawkeye had shrunk and jump onto one of the Adaptoids last issue. Remender uses Ant Man well here having him explain to himself and the reader that he hasn’t ever really felt comfortable being a “hero” mainly because at the start of his career he was anything but that. It’s a nice character moment that gets touched on towards the end of the issue in truly heartbreaking fashion.
Back at base Hawkeye has been up questioning his choices and generally lashing out at every one of his team mates , including Captain America. Steve Rogers believes that adding Flash Thompson (The New Venom ) to the team would greatly help Hawkeyes chances of turning his current failed mission around. Hawkeye takes offense at the notion and takes the rest of the team to go after Ant Man.
Easily my favorite character now that Remender is writing the book is Beast. Remender fills Beast full of Witty comebacks and one liners in the beginning of this issue. While towards the end has Beast take charge and remind Hawkeye not only how lucky he is to be in the Team Leader of the group but also that if he continues acting over aggressive and barking orders that he may lose Beast in the process.
Gabriel Hardman’s art is really starting to grow on me . It may not be the most detailed art around, but he tells a very clean and concise story. Facial expressions are spot on and he does well in both the Action scenes and quieter moments in the book which Remender mixes perfectly together.
I wont spoil anything for you but the end of this issue is truly heartbreaking stuff. The scenes I refer to are all done very real and through the images as well as the dialogue coming out of the character you get a sense that he’s in the middle of a fight he’s not going to win. I’m sold on this book. Even though there is still a lot of mystery surrounding the Adaptoids , Remender has made them a clear threat. I love the Team put together in this book and Remender clearly has a voice in mind for each character . Hardman’s art doesn’t disappoint and when you put that together with Remenders storytelling Marvel has another Home run book on their hands.
Amazing Spider-Man #680 Writers: Dan Slott & Chris Yost
Art: Giuseppe Camuncoli [Pencils], Klaus Janson [Inks], and Frank D’Armata [Color]
Mayor J. Jonah Jameson’s son, Col. John Jameson, is performing repairs outside of the Horizon Labs space station Apogee 1 when suddenly he loses communication with the Horizon Labs science team on Earth–as well as his dad, who is visiting the lab.
As is typical, Jonah flips out and the team discovers that all systems on the station are failing. As is also typical, Peter Parker rushes off in typical Peter Parker fashion, as he knows the Fantastic Four and space emergencies are their forté.
Of course, the Parker luck plays its hand and the only one home is the recently-back-from-the-dead-though-he-never-really-died Human Torch, who Spidey catches in the middle of a… somewhat compromising situation. I won’t spoil it here, but it’s fairly amusing and all ties into Johnny taking the night off to catch up on all of the pop culture events he missed while he was “dead.”
Anyhow, Spidey convinces a less-than-serious Torch to tag along to the space station with him, where they discover something “Sinister” is afoot…
Overall, this is another stellar issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Am I surprised that Dan Slott had help from Chris Yost with writing this? Not really. He’s been putting together the huge “Ends of the Earth” storyline featuring the return of the Sinister Six and the potential death of Doctor Octopus. (Yeah, I get it. They killed Doc Ock in the ’90s during the “Clone Saga,” too. That death, however, was pretty cheap and undeserving of a character who rivals Green Goblin as Spider-Man’s biggest enemy.) Anyhow, the writing here has the perfect balance between humor and seriousness, not letting the one-upsmanship and one-liners between Spidey and the Torch overshadow the gravity of the plot.
Giuseppe Camuncoli, Klaus Janson, and Frank D’Armata do a great job of conveying all of this in their art, as well. Jonah’s bug-eyed expression of panicked rage on page 4 perfectly captures the emotions of a parent whose son is in grave danger, especially when you factor in that Jonah is still probably grieving his recently-murdered wife, Marla. In fact, practically every panel in this issue featuring Jonah is a hit. Hell, this whole issue is gorgeous.
If you weren’t already excited for “Ends of the Earth,” the panels of Doc Ock in this issue might change that. Never before has he looked so menacing. If this is just the lead-in to that story, you really have to wonder how big the endgame is.
Written by: Brandon Graham & Simon Roy
Artist: Simon Roy
Colorist: Richard Ballermann
Letterer: Ed Bisson
Cover: Simon Roy
Publisher: Image
Excuse me while I ramble for a bit, but where the hell did this comic come from? Yes I know it’s a revived Liefeld comic from the 90’s but has it always been about weird sci-fi shit? I thought it was known for having an excessive amount of bullets and detail? People hyped the hell out of #21 and I dismissed like a fool because I’m not a fan of Liefeld properties in general and had too much on my plate. A buddy of mine forced this comic on me and I’m glad he did. It’s my favorite kinds of story: something new and totally unpredictable.
I have no idea what the fuck is going on but here’s what I’ve been able to figure out so far: After a long hibernation John Prophet is released from his underground life-pod to find himself on a distant future Earth. He is on a mission and makes his way across this wasteland of techno-dessert and tribal insect aliens. He’s fought off mutant wolves, multi-mouth sheep-like creatures and even had sex with some weird alien thing. He uses this blue, glorpy gel thing as a disguise thing or something. Actually I’m not sure what he uses it for but it looks like blue jellyfish cape. Oh yeah, and the planet is thick with insectoid creatures. If the aliens from District 9 had a baby with Dark Crystal creatures they would look something like this. I think the main alien things are called Xiux-Guin. They have 4 eyes, 4 arms, and a mouth at the bottom of their long sinewy necks. Their hands have 3 fingers, and stand on their 4 legs like an awkward cockroach centaur.
In this issue John plods through a graveyard of dead robot giants and burned-out pods and comes across a Taxa caravan, a temporary oasis from the violent world. He finds employment shoveling Cikade which is basically giant alien shit that people use as building material in order to keep swarms of flying insects out. John makes a few enemies with some Xiux-Guin showing them up and throwing knives, even though he throws like “No Necks and Outsanders.” Later, Prophet commits a giant tribal faux-paux and that leads to all sorts of mayhem forcing him to flee from a horde of pissed-off cockroach centaurs. This leads him to discover a long lost human artifact that he can possibly use to escape. All sorts of hell breaks loose.
The story is a survivalist sci-fi mystery mixed with adventure and espionage and is told in a straight forward writing style that’s not overly descriptive but feels dream-like. Everything is alien and foreign to me. If Charles Burns, H.G. Wells and the guys that wrote Aeon-Flux sat down and collaborated on a story you might get something like this. It’s future primitive tale with only one human (so far) struggling against a planet hostile and strange creatures.
I really love this kind of deep sci-fi, but can sometimes looks terrible (I’m looking at you Land of The Lost). Thankfully that is not the case here. Simon Roy illustrate this brutal future Earth beautifully. He uses a style that blends the best part of Geoff Darrow’s line work with Joe Kubert-like contour shading. My only slight knock against the art is the appendages of the aliens can look a bit clumsy at times. The proportions seem a bit off and are longer than needed. Perhaps the creatures was designed appear more like tubes than limbs, it just wasn’t the best creative decision. I would have liked to see some tapering towards joints, or bulking up closer to the torso. Basically anything to give it some variation and not look so chunky. However it does appear consistent with the world as the dinosaur-sized spider-elephants have a similar look. And I wouldn’t change a thing about those beasts! The coloring is close to what Chris Sotomayor did for Planet Hulk, but less on the Photoshop airbrush side of things. He has more of a watercolor approach akin to a printmaker coloring intaglio etchings. I also have to mention the lettering really quick. Ed Brisson uses a unique technique of putting the translation bubbles, straight over the xenomorph hieroglyphic text. It’s visually appealing and I immediately understood what was going on. Point for storytelling, point for originality and point for design.
Prophet really is a strange new world. This book has really grabbed me and I can’t wait to see more. There’s no comic on the shelf like this right now. Everything is unexpected and fresh, with bizarre twists and shocks lurking around every corner. Forget everything about the Liefeld series of the ’90’s. You don’t need any of the backstory to enjoy what is happening here. It’s the perfect place to jump on. Don’t sleep on this book!
Story: 9/10
Art: 8/10
Follow me on twitter and tell me what you think @the_hellhounds
Kieron Gillen and Jamie Mckelvie struck creative gold when they launched their series Phonogram for Image Comics. The first Series Rue Britania focused on the idea that Music is magic and introduced us to the world of phonomancers. It was highly acclaimed and led to both creators creating a follow-up book titled The Singles Club . Matt Wilson came on to do colors for the series which was a limited run focusing on a wide group of characters some phonomancers, others not who all went to the same club.
Gillen and Mckelvie have since went on to work for Marvel . Gillen working on Journey Into Mystery and Uncanny X-Men while Mckelvie is wrapping up art duties for the X-Men season 1 Hardcover. The creators had always wanted to continue working on their Phonogram series but it was cut short . Now just before the Image Expo this awesome and simple message has been released giving fans of Phonogram something to smile about.
This just became one of my most anticipated titles of 2012
Obviously there is a direct reference to the title Track from Daft Punk . Gillen has said that the track itself had a lot to do with the inspiration for the series . What does it all mean ? Maybe its a reference to another Phonogram series, it could be focusing on dance music and electronica . Or are they creating a Daft Punk comic book? At this point what I’m most happy about is that Image is giving these two amazing creators the freedom to blow my mind again. What are your thoughts ?
Wolverine and the X-Men #6
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Nick Bradshaw [Pencils]; Walden Wong, Jay Leisten, Norman Lee & Cam Smith [Inks]; and Justin Ponsor & Matt Wilson [Colorists]
The Jean Grey School in financial trouble! Kitty Pryde infested with millions of microscopic Brood! That’s where Wolverine and the X-Men #5 left us, and where #6 picks up at.
In an attempt to solve the school’s financial troubles, Wolverine heads off to an intergalactic casino with genius mutant problem child Quentin Quire, a.k.a. Kid Omega. The plan is to use Quentin Quire’s telepathic and telekinetic abilities to pull off an intergalactic casino con. How space money works on Earth or why they didn’t just do this on an Earth casino, I’m not sure. I do know, however, that this plot allowed Nick Bradshaw to draw the most diverse array of aliens in one place outside of the Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars.
Regardless of where the casino is, the opportunity to put Wolverine and Quire in a one-on-one situation and continue to play Quire’s rebellious nature off of uber-badass authority figure Logan carries a ton of possibility for interesting situations, and Jason Aaron doesn’t waste the opportunity. The payoff is great and keeps this the most “fun” of the X-books.
Meanwhile, Kitty’s situation becomes more dire as there are too many Brood inside of her for Beast and his team to handle. To make matters worse, the S.W.O.R.D. Paramedic team is taken out by the mysterious alien guy from the previous issue. Who this guy is remains a mystery, as well as why he keeps regular-sized Brood on a leash and what exactly he has to do with Kitty’s infestation, but he does have sinister intentions for Broo, the Jean Grey School’s Brood student. (By the way, I’m still not sure how he ended up at the school. He was just kind of there when the book started. Anyone want to fill me in?)
Anyways, Aaron keeps this issue fast-paced and ends it with a couple of cliffhangers. The highlight of the issue, at least for me, is hands-down integrating Krakoa in as a sort of external security system for the school. It would be easy to just ignore the living mass of land after the first story arc, but Aaron’s doing a good job of giving everyone face time when it makes sense to. On a final note, I’m not sure why this issue had four inkers and two colorists, but the important thing is that I couldn’t tell otherwise when reading it.
Go ahead and pick this one up, along with issue #5 so you’re not just jumping into the middle of the story.
Normally, if you told me that a writer was going to end their run on a book with a story that touches on everything that happened during said run, I’d tell you that story would probably suck. Jason Aaron, however, is not most writers.
