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David Bowen

Forever Is Where I Live: X Deaths of Wolverine #3 In Review

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Moira lays down the cybernetic gauntlet. Heavy spoilers follow.

X Deaths continues to excel and compel in ways that X Lives has yet to achieve, but I’m also less interested in Logan’s many pasts and all in for being at the edge of now, looking to mutantkind’s future. And it looks rockier than at any time since HOX/POX. It’s clear at this point that the current two-series-that-are-one will end in a way that shapes the course of Destiny of X, at least until the next epoch-defining event. [Read more…] about Forever Is Where I Live: X Deaths of Wolverine #3 In Review

Best of Marvel 2021: Defenders by Al Ewing & Javier Rodriguez—Inconceivable!

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The latest iteration of Marvel’s Defenders is writer Al Ewing’s clearest, most comprehensive love letter yet to classic Kirby comics as well as a masterfully composed culmination and recasting of cosmic Ewing ideas going back to what is still my favorite (non-X-related) Ewing run, Ultimates and Ultimates 2 (specifically drawing most from issues #6 and 100 of the latter title, though we also get a dash of his New Avengers #1-6 with Moridun, Dark Wizard of the Fifth Cosmos). Most immediately, however, the story here spins out of the Al Ewing-written portions of the massively oversized 2019 one-shots Marvel Comics #1000 and 1001, and the reader really should read or reread just those fragments to fully understand what the Masked Raider and Eternity Mask are all about*. (Fortunately, these comics are on Marvel Unlimited!)

Of course, artist extraordinaire Javier Rodriguez has always been riding that Kirby wave, most recently in 2019’s History of the Marvel Universe with Mark Waid and inker Álvaro López, his primary collaborator, when he’s not inking himself as here. He also collaborated once before with Ewing, in 2017’s Royals #8-12, which was definitely Kirby cosmic all the way. As often in the past, he’s also the colorist of Defenders, and color theory plays a surprisingly major role in this pretty darn complex allegory for the evolution of superhero comics.

[Read more…] about Best of Marvel 2021: Defenders by Al Ewing & Javier Rodriguez—Inconceivable!

Skynet 3022 vs. Sarah Connor 2022: X Deaths of Wolverine #2

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[cover: Adam Kubert and Frank Martin Jr.]

With X Deaths of Wolverine #2, Ben Percy and Federico Vincentini go full James Cameron; this issue is swift and savage, a grim and tense cinematic ride that will definitely tug at the heartstrings of lifelong fans of the OG Terminator. Suddenly, we’re seeing T-O Wolvie as closely analogous to Arnie’s iconic killer cyborg and sent back in time by Skynet to stop Sarah Connor from—oops! Oh, yeah—we’re talking X-Men, but impressively, the Terminator homage really is masterfully done, not actually distracting but additive and invigorating. Where X Lives continues to revolve with comparative slowness like a poisoned spiral, almost hypnotically suspended at certain key moments in Logan’s deep past, this second installment of X Deaths promises a relentless momentum that will leave the burning collateral wreckage for others to clean up—while the devastating hunt drives on to its inevitably apocalyptic end.

And I mean apocalypse as world-shaking revelation.

So before we go haring off into Logan’s past again, with Life of Wolverine #3-4 (down below), we’ll start off alongside the traitorous Moira looking into that abyss that will not be denied. As she realizes by issue’s end: “I’ve seen the future. I just didn’t think it would get here so fast.” And his name is Death.

Now cue Brad Fiedel’s 1984 dark synth classic, The Terminator (OST).

[Read more…] about Skynet 3022 vs. Sarah Connor 2022: X Deaths of Wolverine #2

In the Pit—for Why? The Cringe Origins of Nekra & Oya (Sabretooth #1 Pt. 3)

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So, while this is a second follow-up on Sabretooth #1 (which I’ve already reviewed here across two pieces), what we’ll look at now is some supporting-character context for this first arc* going forward.

*Yes, I mistakenly called it a miniseries in my previous pieces; apologies for that! Frankly, this may have been just wishful thinking on my part—because it’s definitely my belief that the Krakoa era does not need Sabretooth—starring a serial-killing rapist—as an ongoing title. My coverage of the series will cease after this opening arc.

But why a whole piece on just one super obscure character and another who saw her potential forestalled almost a decade ago now? [Read more…] about In the Pit—for Why? The Cringe Origins of Nekra & Oya (Sabretooth #1 Pt. 3)

“Accept That You’re a Monster” – Sabretooth #1 Part 2.

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[Sabretooth #1 Michael Suayan variant cover; X-Men: Schism #5; Shanna, the She-Devil #5]

This is the follow-up to my last piece, which looked at Sabretooth’s currently relevant history in relation to both certain of the Councilmembers and the stark fact of him being a remorseless sexual predator who nonetheless has a large fan base that just doesn’t care and/or is surprisingly (willfully?) unaware (Marvel is, of course, also culpable here in not wanting to address the issue, undoubtedly for commercial reasons). This time, however, we’ll address what a wonderful creative team we have on this book that will surely tackle some of Sabretooth’s problematic aspects while probably steering clear of his violent misogyny. But we’ll also look at two of the surprise characters that show up at the end of Sabretooth #1, and after researching one of them, I have begun to wonder if brilliant writer Victor LaValle does have in mind a way of at least obliquely addressing some of Creed’s hateful treatment of women*.

In fact, I plan to do a third piece, appendix style, to give Nekra and Oya a deeper look that should be relevant not just to the Sabretooth mini but their depiction in the modern era going forward. Neither has been very well developed. One has been a problematic caricature for fifty years, while the other has fared much better by comparison but has still not been handled well, a Nigerian adolescent girl schooled by fundamentalist missionaries and written almost exclusively by white men (most especially Jason Aaron, who rarely does that well with female characters period). But at the end of this article, we’ll briefly cover what each of these characters potentially bring to Victor LaValle and Leonard Kirk’s Sabretooth. [Read more…] about “Accept That You’re a Monster” – Sabretooth #1 Part 2.