Search Results for: x-men

Uncanny X-Men Endings and Beginnings

Uncanny X-Men #20 courtesy Marvel

Kieron Gillen has been keeping secrets all along via three manipulative members of the diverse cast of Uncanny X-Men: Volume 2. Gillen delivers a satifying ending to the Uncanny X-Men series for a second time. The writer masterfully gives us six characters in 3 powerful revelations. Cyclops is imprisoned in a SHIELD facility when Kate Kildare, his superhero PR specialist, pays a visit. Gillen delivers an Ace he’s been holding since the series relaunched and it’s a helluva reveal. Kate’s real identity is a shocker and could lead to a whole new adventure for Scott and perhaps his greatest enemy.

Unit may be my favorite creation (he first appeared in S.W.O.R.D.) of Gillen’s run – I have already pleaded with the writer to use the android against Tony Stark in his upcoming Marvel Now relaunch of Iron Man. Unit and Danger’s final confrontation is beautiful and cruel. Those last panels of Unit are a perfectly chilling sendoff of the creature Gillen called aptly called a hybrid of C3PO and Hannibal Lecter.

Uncanny X-Men #9 interior art of UNIT courtesy Marvel

Gillen managed to make the most bizarre brother/sister dynamic in comics even more tragic and strange during this Extinction team era. Illyana confronts a brooding Colossus on the ravaged Phoenix farms in Siberia. Magik takes Peter to Limbo for one last act and revelation that leaves him free of the Cyttorak and vowing to kill her. Illyana’s last line is cold and demonstrates the little snowflake has long been burned away. Colossus will turn up again in Cable and X-Force but I would love to see where Gillen would have taken Peter next.

Uncanny X-Men preview art courtesy Marvel.com

Uncanny X-Men #20 could have packed in Storm, Psylocke, Magneto and Hope but their fates will be featured in other X-books. I was satisfied with the three big reveals. The only missing? Where was Emma Frost?

By Editor

X-Men 2013: New Mutants, Dead Mutants?

Uncanny X-Force #1 courtesy Marvel

New characters, new books and endings pack the January Marvel solicitations out. Here are some of the X-related highlights that might inspire some fan frenziness and frustration.

  Uncanny X-Force #1 Sam Humphries and Ron Garney relaunch the covert team concept with Psylocke in command, Storm sporting a mohawk, Spiral and Puck and new character named Cluster? Any relation to Fantomex aka Charlie Cluster Seven I wonder? Could the X-team be pulling a genetic twist (in the tradition of Loki and Miss Sinister) and giving us a female Fantomex?

  X-Men Legacy #4, #5 In previous issues of this new book by Simon Spurrier Professor X’s son will go to Japan in search of new mutant twins. In this month’s preview two new villains out to destroy Legion: one is in his mind, one is hiding within the X-Men? Could this be an entity like Malice and a new shapeshifter?

  Wolverine and the X-Men #23 The fight with the murder circus continues and the “circus claims its victims!” Does this mean another student of the Jean Grey School will die?

  X-Men #40 is “the end of an era.” Does this mean an end to this title? The tension and distrust has been building and the “security team’s” insecurity may be their undoing.

Thanks to Comic Book Resources.

All-New X-Men #1 Preview! New Mutants?

All-New X-Men #1 courtesy Marvel

  Brian Michael Bendis will bring the original five X-Men into the Marvel Now. How will the teen Scott, Jean, Hank, Warren and Bobby react to seeing how Xavier’s dream turned nightmare?

  The original five may be the focus on the All-New X-Men book but this preview art by Stuart Immonen stars the modern day X-Men formerly known as the Phoenix Five.

  Cyclops, Emma Frost and Magneto may no longer be under the influence of the Phoenix Force but they still looked ominous as the confront the mystery woman. Bendis has confirmed this is not Rachel Summers.

  The other preview piece shows Cyke and Magik  in a war zone protecting a young man in glasses we’ve seen in an earlier #1 cover.

All-New X-Men #1 courtesy Marvel

 Are these new mutants?

 Captain America and Wolverine are trying to heal the wounds of AvX with the creation of Uncanny Avengers but maybe Cyke, Emma and Magneto are not willing to give in the the new world order of the Marvel Now?

All-New X-Men #1 arrives November 7th.

By Editor

Uncanny X-Men Ends Again

Uncanny X-Men #20 courtesy Marvel

  The end of Uncanny X-Men…again. It was shocking when Uncanny X-Men was cancelled and relaunched after the Schism event but the book truly was a very all-new, all-different book.

  Kieron Gillen and Carlos Pacheco unite on this week’s Uncanny X-Men #20 and end the second volume they kicked off. When Uncanny X-Men relaunched Cyclops formed the Extinction Team (Emma Frost, Magneto, Storm, Colossus, Magik, Namor and Pixie.) Ironic that it was called the extinction team.

  This assembling of the most powerful mutants was to show the enemies and the world that the X-Men (and those they protect) were not to messed with. The old tagline of protecting a world that fear and hates them with a stronger emphasis on the fear.

 

Uncanny X-Men #9 interior art of UNIT courtesy Marvel

The series was designed to be a prelude and companion book to the Avengers vs. X-Men event. Gillen did the unthinkable (in my opinion) and revamped Mister Sinister into an even more bizarre and compelling enemy. Gillen gave us what I think is one of the new one villains in a long time. Unit could have been the X-Men’s version of Ultron. This alien android was a combination of C3PO and Hannibal Lecter (Gillen’s description.) I’ve already asked Gillen via Twitter to use Unit against Tony Stark in his upcoming Iron Man run.

  I will remember Gillen’s run for the decontruction of the ultimate mutant power couple. Scott Summers and Emma Frost had a good run. She’s still the best thing that ever happened to him – sorry Jean fans. Utopias are always an illusion. The sexual tension between Emma and Namor, Scott’s growing zealotry, the ghost of Jean were always there and Gillen wove the undoing of Scott and Emma with perfection.

Uncanny X-Men #9 courtesy Marvel.com

 Cyclops is in prison – even though he was right after the Phoenix’s return and Hope’s destiny. Magneto, Magik, Colossus, Namor and Emma Frost are fugitives. Colossus will turn up in Cable and X-Force. I hope Emma Frost and Magneto form their own Avenging X-Men. I’d love to see the isolated Namor become Marvel Universe enemy #1 in a new series by Gillen or clash with Tony Stark in Gillen’s Iron Man run.

  The X-Men as I’ve known them are long gone but that’s why I’ve loved them all these years. The mutants keep mutating but no matter who is writing or drawing I love these characters.

By Editor

The “Other” Avengers vs. X-Men Death

Wolverine and the X-Men #17 courtesy Marvel

  Lights appeared all over the world as a result of the events in Avengers vs. X-Men #12. This week a light went out in Wolverine and the X-Men #18. The death of an icon earlier in the series deserved all the media attention and fan frenzy it received. I want to take a moment to remember the young mutant who was brutally killed this week. This death was more heartbreaking and had more of an impact on me. It hurt to see that final panel.

 This week’s issue shows life for the students and staff of the Jean Grey School as they wait for the outcome of the final battle with Dark Phoenix Cyclops. Jason Aaron and Jorge Molina are pitch perfect with action scenes, humor, teen drama at the school dance – with Lockheed as dj – and kids’ reaction to that final moment of AvX.

 Aaron brings several storylines at the school to a head amid the impact of the AvX event. You feel importance of AvX in this issue. You can sense the kids’ fear and hope over the outcome and their future. It’s been a year of thrills, laughs, friendships built and tested. Then Jason Aaron delivered a sucker punch to the gut with a shocking death that hurt but will propel the series and kids forward.

By Editor

X-Men’s Storm Vs. Colossus

 

X-Men #37 courtesy Marvel

  Brian Wood and David Lopez deliver their final issue of X-Men this week. I hate to see this end of this creative team. They have crafted one of my favorite Storm stories of all time. Wood writes her as the strong, decisive leader that Chris Claremont made her.

  Storm and her unit (Colossus, Psylocke, Domino, Pixie) discovered the remains of a race of proto-mutants that lived on the planet before modern mutants. The team’s search for the truth led to a ruthless scientist, a deranged cult and finally to the one proto-mutant left alive on Earth.

  Storm felt this discovery was so powerful she kept it from Cyclops and Wolverine. The tension between Ororo and a disapproving Colossus has been building. In each previous issue you can feel the confrontation building. In this issue the tension explodes into a bitter, violent confrontation between the old friends.

  Pixie confronts Gabriel hoping he can give her answers missing links in mutant evolution.  In a masterful exchange the young mutant tries her best to argue with this ancient solitary ancestor.

  David Lopez’s art is beautiful and powerful. He conveys the shifts of confidence and conflict in Storm, the hope and desperation in Pixie, the anger and pain in Colossus.

  I’ve said it before – this storyline reminds me of the classic Chris Claremont/Paul Smith era with generous twists of a Torchwood or X-Files case to create a compelling mystery of corrupted science, the burden of secrets and search for answers about the origin of mutants.

  I hope Brian Wood and David Lopez will soon be added to a Marvel Now book. The revamp is about new ideas and new takes on Marvel characters – they already delivered this year in a big, creative and satisfying way.

By Editor

An X-Men Fan’s Reaction to Uncanny Avengers #1

Uncanny Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel

Shocking. Sickening.

“That moment” on the final page of Uncanny Avengers #1 (Don’t worry I’m not going to spoil it for you.)

It was like the final scenes in Rosemary’s Baby, Carrie and Halloween.

That act. It was a desecration, an insult to X-Men fans and Xavier’s dream.

It may become one of the most shocking moments in comic book history.

It’s necessary. I hated it. But I love (or hate myself for loving) the stories, alliances and moments that will follow it. It may have made me an even bigger X-Men fan because I want payback.

With Uncanny Avengers #1 the dangerous minds of Marvel Now have proven that nothing is sacred and anything can happen. It’s not a reboot. It’s gripping the past in hand and violently surging into new territory.

The Red Skull is no longer just a super villain.

In that final page Rick Remender, John Cassaday and Laura Martin created a force of pure evil, hate and malevolence.

And I want him dead. Claws, shield, hammer, cosmic blasts – whatever it takes!

Welcome to the Marvel Now. You may have hate what happens here. But wouldn’t you rather read a book that makes you feel?

By Editor

I’m working on a review of the entire issue – I just had to get that out of me.

All-New X-Men Tease in Daredevil End of Days?

  Did Brian Michael Bendis insert a teaser for this upcoming All-New X-Men run in the first issue of Daredevil: End of Days?

 

Daredevil End of Days courtesy Marvel.com

Bendis and David Mack are telling the final  story of The Man Without Fear set in the near future. Reporter Ben Urich is writing a tribute to Daredevil and is reflecting on superhero related events he’s covered including Avengers Disassembling, The House of M, The Civil War and Xavier’s Rebellion.

  Bendis is taking over the X-Men franchise and bringing the original five students from the past and into the here and Marvel Now in All-New X-Men #1. Xavier is dead. The former Xavier School is now the Jean Grey School. So what is the Xavier’s Rebellion? A hint of storylines to comes in the upcoming Bendis X-Men era?

 

All New X-Men #1 courtesy Marvel

All-New X-Men #1 arrives in November by Bendis and Stuart Immonen and the past/future of the Children of the Atom begins.

By Editor