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X Lives of Wolverine #1: Logan’s Many Lives—X, VI, & VII (Plus: Those Darn Russkies)

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WARNING: Spoilers abound!

Given everything that had been teased about X Lives and X Deaths of Wolverine, I expected the first issue to open with Logan traveling back in time to some relatively predictable venue—Canada, Madripoor, or Japan, as Mr. Percy directed us to look back to Logan’s opening narration at the start of his Wolverine #1. What a pleasant surprise, then, to find the best there is at what he does doing something wholly unexpected and very good, all things considered, for the fate of mutantkind: rescuing a newly born Charles Xavier and simultaneously slicing baby Chuck’s umbilical cord…! With a bone claw?! While the midwife is possessed by Omega Red and terrorizing the lucky new parents?!?

Well, this is Xavier Mansion in Westchester, and Logan in Wolverine #1 did mention New York as one of his main haunts—just not so far back in time. [Read more…] about X Lives of Wolverine #1: Logan’s Many Lives—X, VI, & VII (Plus: Those Darn Russkies)

(Re)Read Hickman’s X-Men: Who’s the Monster— New Mutants #9-12

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By Ed Brisson, Flaviano, & Marco Failla.

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Ed Brisson (story), Flaviano (pencils/inks, NM 9-11), Marco Failla (pencils/inks, NM 12), Carlos Lopez (colors), Travis Lanham (letters), Mike Del Mundo (covers), Jordan D. White & Annalise Bissa (editors)

These issues actually take place before X-Men #8, since Magik here has just returned from Shi’ar space along with the other OG New Mutants and the King Egg—before the Krakoans knew what they’d stolen!

“Really,” they must’ve come back before X-Force #4 since Doug’s there, unspeaking, at the Quiet Council. This era’s continuity has been very confusing to keep track of! See my provisional DOX continuity order below, after the article.

Related:

Hickman X-Men Reading Order

Krakin’ Krakoa!

More in this series!

[Read more…] about (Re)Read Hickman’s X-Men: Who’s the Monster— New Mutants #9-12

Jason Aaron on Avengers & She-Hulk: World War Huh?

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What is this broken toy with a flickering bulb for a brain lumbering through 50 issues of a flagship title? It’s certainly not She-Hulk—and I don’t simply mean she’s not “my” She-Hulk. I know it wasn’t Jason Aaron who first broke this character, but what he is guilty of is keeping her broken—and dull, dull, dull, super-dim and super-dumb. In fact, he could’ve just had her mumbling and grumbling word bubbles occupied by nothing but those very words, dull-dull and dumb-dumb, for the past almost four years.

This critique of Aaron’s run spins out of my reading of the recently released World War She-Hulk trade, the first half of which has career-best art from Javier Garrón, one of my favorites. That is the only positive I can share regarding this collection. There are Garrón pages in maybe a quarter of the bloated issue #50 occupying the rest of the volume, which sees the return of the bombastically cartoonish work of Ed McGuinness, who was previously busy with Heroes Reborn—an Aaron-helmed, Squadron-centric event that did less than nothing to make me care more about that tired parody of the Justice League. [Read more…] about Jason Aaron on Avengers & She-Hulk: World War Huh?

Peacemaker Premiere Review: A Hell Of A Debut!

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Spin-offs can be a tricky business. Is it too much? Is it diluting what was in the original material? Is it lesser than said material? Was it worth it? A lot of questions immediately pop up. That’s twice as true when you’re dealing with a spin-off built around resurrecting a dead character. And very specifically, a character whose death was central and pivotal to the original material in question. So there’s a number of questions, but also, ultimately, just one:

Does it work?

I’m happy to report that, at least for my money,  Peacemaker absolutely does.

But before we dig into that, let’s consider what all brought us here a moment. [Read more…] about Peacemaker Premiere Review: A Hell Of A Debut!

Spider-Men: Worlds Collide: A Boy Without a Home, A Story Without Direction

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peter and miles together in comics

Ladies and gentle web-heads, we are currently in the throes of a Spider-Man golden era.

If you somehow haven’t noticed, Spider-Man is everywhere these days, even more so than he usually is. The webbed hero is in critically acclaimed high budget games like Spider-Man PS4/Miles Morales; Into the Spider-Verse saw the popularity of character Miles Morales leap to new heights as it became the definitive Miles Morales story and won an Academy Award(!); Marvel Studios is bringing the beginnings of MCU Spider-Man to Disney+ with their animated entry titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year; and how could we forget about the staying power of the live-action MCU Spider-Man portrayed by Tom Holland? No Way Home is the perfect embodiment of what it means to be a Spider-Man fan right now. What’s that? What about the comics, you ask? Well, they’re…ok.

[Read more…] about Spider-Men: Worlds Collide: A Boy Without a Home, A Story Without Direction