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X-Infernus 1
Published by Marvel Comics
Written by C.B. Cebulski
Art by Giuseppi Camuncoli
Plot:
The return of Magik into the regular X-universe proper from Limbo,
following up on the events of New X-Men. It's gonna be big.
Commentary:
They're calling this a spiritual sequel to Inferno, one of the big
X-events in the 80s. It is. Except Belasco is dead, and Magik is now
a hellish creature in need of some serious ass-whooping. The issue
opens with a great interaction between Colossus and Cyclops, in
which Colossus basically berates Cyke for not understanding his
point of view. Not only has Cyclops left Kitty in space to just stay
and die, but he left Magik in hell. So two women Colossus cares
deeply for are left to fend for themselves, and he's not happy.
He's so unhappy that he calls out Scott's recent actions in leaving
his brother to rot in space as well (ouch) and questioning what he
would do if Jean was in limbo. Perfection.
That's the best thing about this story so far. The characterizations
of the main figures. Colossus is a grieving brother and lover of his
sister and girlfriend and he doesn't want to be anymore. He wants to
take action. Nightcrawler is the wizened sage who looks like a demon
and Pixie is still just that, a Pixie with a very dark edge. Her and
Nightcrawler testing the teleportation skills is pretty cool, and
when Kurt questions her Soul dagger, it erupts from within her and
goes right after Kurt, pulling out his Soulsword. Which alerts Magik
to the location of both and her search for the souls for the
Bloodstone brings her back. Again, Santo in this scene (Rockslide)
gets the lines of the book, as he mocks the fact that everyone has a
sword inside of them and gets chided for a comment he hasn't even
made yet about staring at someone's chest.
And the scene or two in hell, with the commanders of the seven rings
(Satannish, Dormammu, Blackheart, Hela, Mephisto, and Belasco's
daughter Witchfire in his place) work well. It looks cartoony, but
it works.
The only problem I have with this issue is the context. I read the
New X-Men issues so I knew that Belasco was defeated. I also knew
the point of this story and the search that Magik is on. The problem
is, not everyone read those stories, nor did they read the one short
in X-Men Manifest Destiny 1 nor did they pick up the one-shot with
the Return of Magik tagline. So a lot of readers will be lost. One
thing that could have worked better in this issue is maybe having
like a 5-page backup explaining the story thus far, so that new
readers who were caught by the online preview, the name, or the idea
could be better informed. A small blurb at the beginning on the
first page won't do it.
Good strong start. Giuseppi is amazing on art. Just amazing. His
stuff was good on the Intimates for Wildstorm, but this is just top
notch work. I can see him being one of Marvel's big guys if they can
keep him on contract and on time. Good stuff all around.
El Diablo 4
Published by DC Comics
Written by Jai Nitz
Art by Phil Hester and Ande Parks
Plot:
Vorpal vs El Diablo is coming. We learn a bit more about Chato's
past and we can see where he's going. And it ain't pretty.
Commentary:
This issue features a much stronger tie to the DCU proper as Chato's
actions gather notice from a team of heroes we've seen a lot of
recently, the Freedom Fighters. Which is a really awesome way to
look at things as it ties him in where he should be tied in.
But the jolt of the story comes from Lazarus being murdered by
Vorpal. Now Chato is alone, and he wants answers. So he stops moving
for enough time to get answers from people related to his old life.
He deals out vengeance to an old friend, kills his wife, and leaves
their son an orphan. Oh, and kills one cop and cripples another.
This is where Chato goes vengeance-seeking. With the money he steals
from the friends who betrayed him, he buys a house, a car, and a
life. A life of a man who died when he was born 25 years ago. He
meets up with an old love and reconnects, learns some secrets of
Vorpal and the entirety of being a spirit of vengeance with the help
of a rabbi, and what's more, then loses the woman he loves because
he got her involved. |
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Shit hits the fan in this issue. Agent Aaron is compromised for his
actions in assisting Chato in getting things done and that's where
the Freedom Fighters come in. Oh, and since El Diablo doesn't wish
to fight Vorpal, that's exactly what Chato sets out to do. Or die
trying.
This issue really has a lot going on. I felt the need to discuss it
all in one big paragraph for those people not buying this book, even
though you should be. It's unfortunate that it's only a 6 issue arc
as I would be happy to keep buying it. It feels very much like a TV
series playing out in comic form with characters having hidden pasts
and everything seeming connected, and by tying this into the rest of
the DCU, Jai may have given them a new character to play with in
some of the bigger books. And I hope they do. I could see him going
after the likes of Batman or fighting alongside Spectre or anyone.
Whether that happens or not isn't up to me. If it was, this would be
an ongoing.
Hester and Parks continue to bring the goods. The guys are
workhorses. They can draw anything and they almost do. Look at the
awesome splash with Uncle Sam and his team and tell me you don't get
goosebumps from the sheer power they seem to be asserting. It's
perfection.
Again, this is a comic more people should be reading. I am glad to
spend the money on it, 2 more issues to go.
Wolverine Manifest Destiny 2
Published by Marvel Comics
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Stephen Segovia
Plot:
Wolverine versus some badass dudes called the Black Dragon Death
Squad. Yeah, that's their name.
Commentary:
There are four dudes he fights, Rock of Buddha, Fist of Fire, Storm
Sword and Soulstriker. And they fuck his shit up. There's no better
way to explain it. The whole of this issue deals with two things.
The fight/aftermath of that fight, and the reason Logan knows this
soul-sucking bitch the Queen of the Triads or the Black Dragon or
whatever you want to call her.
And man is she mean to Logan.
They met 50 years ago when Logan was in SF and he kicked the crap
out of the old Black Dragon who threatened her and her family. And
all Logan wanted was noodles. Whatever happened next hasn't been
explained yet, but him being back in
San Francisco and Chinatown means a world of hurt for Logan.
So when he fights the Death Squad, they beat him to a pulp. Badly.
Rock of Buddha nearly punches his face off, Fist of Fire is exactly
what his namesake says he is and lights Logan on fire with a punch,
Storm Sword whips him with storms and lightning and Soulstriker
punches through his chest and through his soul. They nearly kill
Logan. Luckily, he gets away in a rush, to be helped by the old
white-haired dude who "died" in the last issue. One who told Logan
he wasn't worthy of training.
Wow. Just wow. What a good issue. Seriously. Aaron has crafted a
story that plops Wolverine in the middle of Big Trouble in Little
China basically and casts him as Jack Burton. Only one with a
healing factor who can take an assload of beatings. Add to the mix
Segovia's wicked awesome art and you've got yourself a really crazy
awesome Wolverine story. Some of the best we've seen in ages.
Definitely better than Old Man Logan.
The entire issue deals with the fight and what happens next. I'm
assuming we'll learn more, but I'm just a little winded from reading
this tear-up fight. Can't wait to see what's next.
Secret Invasion 8
Published by Marvel Comics
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Francis Yu
Plot:
The end of the Skrullmageddon. Skrullocalypse now! Embrace change.
It's all gonna be dark Reigning from here.
Commentary:
So embrace change is one of those taglines where you hear it all the
time and people say EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE! And you're supposed to
believe them and take what they say at face value and actually
believe that Spider-man is going to stay unmasked forever. Ha.
Well, everything didn't change but a whole hell of a lot did. First
things first: the issue at hand. The fight was taken to a new level
at the end of the last issue with the Skrulls revealing their
endgame as Wasp as a biological weapon. Well, she goes all explodey
and Thor whips a tornado or something around her to cast her off
into space, killing her and saving the world. That leads the heroes
to go after Queen Veranke of the Skrulls, the Skrullder-Woman, who
gets taken out by a single shot by Norman Osborn.
Okay, why didn't they try that before? The one shot? One gun?
Stupid.
Whatever, doesn't matter. So she gets taken out and the heroes win,
but that's not all. The embrace change idea comes after that fact.
Iron Man (in old armor unaffected by the virus) finds the ship with
all the old heroes who were taken out, some of which get a warm
homecoming (Spider-Woman and Mockingbird) and others like Dum Dum
and Valentina just get the cold shoulder. Looks like Nick Fury knows
he's not wanted. And then there's the piss-take that Iron Man has to
take when talking with Thor and how great it is to have him back
only to be told basically to fuck off and go to hell and how no one
wants to be around him because this is his fault.
Again, what?
And the big finale: Norman Osborn is going to be the leader of the
Avengers, Thunderbolts, and the Initiative, as well as the new
SHIELD, whatever that happens to be. Oh yeah, and he also created a
Dark Illuminati. I'm assuming that Namor told him about the other
one he was involved in? Assuming? So yeah, the life goes on in the
Marvel Universe, and now the whole universe is fucked. When you've
got Spidey's biggest villain (who should still be dead anyway) as
the leader of all the heroes, kiss your asses goodbye.
The issue itself suffers in some ways from hype. The art is
outstanding, as always, and it still stands as one of the better
crossovers. But there are a lot of instances in this issue where
everything is way too tidy and the ending is too clean and abrupt.
Why is Tony Stark going to be a wanted man? Because he was in charge
of things that went south? Does that mean that when George Bush is
out of office he'll be getting charged with war crimes? To be a Iron
Man fan right now would be a slap in the face because your favorite
character is not only kinda douchey, but also a complete fucked over
guy. Just wow. Not only that, but why is Norman a hero from one shot
with one gun? It doesn't make sense that he is now leader of
everything because he shot Skrullder-Woman in the back. Now, had he
done something else noteworthy, besides trying to kill Spidey time
and time again, that would make more sense. And the ship with the
heroes was just hanging out in space? Really? They couldn't have
picked a better place to keep them in stasis, like somewhere on the
moon or something? And how come during the Annihilation this ship
didn't get destroyed? Were they protecting these heroes better than
anyone else?
A lot of unanswered questions here. A lot. Skrullvis still has baby
Cage which means that story will continue on, and of course, it was
all set up for the next event or banner year or whatever. And I'm
getting a little sick of all of that. Give me more stories like
Messiah CompleX which affect ONE group of characters, not everybody.
With having Emma in the Dark Illuminati, it just seems like they're
going after every character in the Marvel Universe (Doc Doom for Fan
Four, Loki for Thor, Norman for Spidey, Hood for Avengers, Emma for
X-men, and Namor for whoever the hell he wants to offend). It just
seems too abrupt of a change.
I don't know. I'm left a little cold. At first reading I was
excited. Now I'm just scratching my head and wondering what I
missed. But Yu's artwork was outstanding and the majority of the
issue such as the battle and the setup were perfect. I just don't
like that it's set something else up again.
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