Comic of the Week - Wolverine and the X-Men

I said I wasn't going to read Avengers vs. X-Men and I meant it. However, there's at least one book I read monthly that ties in and I'm not dropping it, either. The good news is, that Wolverine and The X-Men does not require you to have read any of the AvX books in order to get what's going on here. It also doesn't completely go into dealing with that event and put aside any of the threads that were going on in this book. Instead, what Jason Aaron does is show us characters dealing with tough decisions and changing relationships while dealing with the things that they were already dealing with. Logan is struggling with the reality of having to fight against his fellow mutants since he sided with the Avengers, when Scott and his team show up at the school to talk. He confronts Logan about his choices and, it seems pretty clear to me that only one of them is actually thinking clearly, even though both have good intentions. I still won't read AvX, but this conversation, this tension, was interesting and engaging in the way that the Xavier and Magneto relationship always was. Meanwhile, Angel, whose mind was completely wiped in the pages of Uncanny X-Force is coming to terms with not being a real angel and Genesis/Kid Apocalypse, is coming to terms with who he really is. Also, several of the teachers, including Ice Man and Rachel Summers, decide to join Cyclops, much to Logan's surprise. I can't speak for the rest of the event, but if all the tie ins are handled like this, then they are actually delivering on the promise that you don't have to read everything. This was self contained and had enough hints of the big events that I never worried I was missing anything. AvX seems to be about broad strokes anyway, so all you need to know is that everyone is fighting about the Phoenix force. Coming into the tie in books should really be about specifics, and in this case it's about the ramifications of it all. Hopefully, this doesn't change, since I do enjoy this book and don't want to have to drop it.

Comics of the Week - A Different Set of #1's

For a while now I've been enjoying Jason Aaron's Wolverine. It's been a great mix of fun and dark, taking full advantage of Logan's complexity as a character. Now that the X-Men have split into two camps with Cyclops leading one team and Logan building a school, the potential for a fresh new take on, not just Wolverine, but the X-Men in general, is ripe. So, does Aaron's Wolverine and The X-Men #1 deliver? Oh, hell yeah, it does. This was an incredibly fun read. It's the first day of class at The Jean Grey Institute for Higher Learning and Headmaster Logan and Headmistress Kitty Pryde are giving a tour to representatives of the New York Board of Education. Hilarity ensues. Along the way, we meet several of the young mutants at the school as they attend classes and generally get into trouble. Many intriguing elements are set into play to be explored in the series, such as a young Brood child who Logan has invited to the school, but is instantly and ironically made outcast by the other young mutants. The new school, designed by Beast, is basically a self sustained city of the future. Of course, by the end of the issue, when the Hellfire Club unleashes what appears to be a creature made of the Earth itself, it's unclear how much of the new designs will remain intact. Bachalo's art, I'll be honest, took me a few panels to get into. It's rather cartoony, but once I got into the story, which happened pretty quickly, it made perfect sense. Pick this up, even if you haven't read X-Men in years. It's just good fun.

Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's Spaceman #1 is a hard book to pin down because it is so smartly written. Rather than spending time explaining the, apparently, post-apocalyptic world it takes place in, we are just thrown into it, after a short prologue that also doesn't explain a whole lot. We are introduced to a character that looks like some mix of Neanderthal and gorilla, and we are completely unsure if this is what all the characters will look like. Quickly, we see that the other characters look like normal humans, but the explanation for the appearance of the main character, who we then find out is named Orson, comes across in conversation, almost halfway into the book. These are all good things because you can just watch the story unfold rather than being bogged down by a ton of explanation. By the end of the issue, we start to realize that while this book is set in a Sci-Fi world, the actual story will be more of a classic Noir. And, really, what else would you expect from this team? Once again, Risso sets a mood like few other artists can. Azzarello is working with some interesting dialogue here, as well. In the tradition of A Clockwork Orange, he's developed a future dialect that appears to be a commentary on the dumbing down of our culture. Rather than actually laughing, for example, characters say "LOL." This series should be interesting and I'm very much looking forward to the next issue.

Comics of the Week - Three is a Magic Number

It's been a while since I wrote about just one comic. I had every intention of picking only one this week, only the one I really liked best. Then I read book after great book and it was impossible to pick just one. Uncanny X-Men #544 ended the series really well, with nods to the past and an eye towards the future. Supergirl #2 picked up from last issue and delivered good story and character development once again. A lot of potential there for this series. Nightwing #2 had several revelations and several beautiful panels. But at the end of the day, it was these three that took the cake for me.

With the first issue of Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo I was left a little unsure. I'm clearly a Snyder Zombie at this point and with good reason. The dude knows how to tell a story. He hasn't missed a beat yet. But this was a different Batman than what he did on Detective Comics, and the art was screaming just how different it was. Maybe it was just the shock of Capullo's art in that first issue, but I wasn't too enthusiastic, even if I did like it overall. With this issue, I'm all in. Capullo's art works perfectly here, probably because there's a lot more action. Snyder used the first issue as a bit of a re-introduction to the world of Batman, and that's fine, but for me, this is where the story really starts. Batman is up against a secret society that has existed in Gotham for hundreds of years, except he won't accept that they even exist because they are a challenge to his status as a legend. We're going to get Gotham history, which is always interesting, conspiracies, legends and Batman having to come to terms with his status as protector of Gotham. Already, I can tell this will be another legendary run in the making. Right off, we have a new villain in the form of this Society of Owls assassin, that I hope sticks around for a long time. Watching Bruce have to fight this killing machine, as Bruce, was good fun. I can't wait for more.

Speaking of legendary runs, Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang are quite possibly giving us the definitive Wonder Woman story she's never had. It's still a bit early to tell where this is going, but so far, it looks like exactly what the character needed. It's rooted in Greek mythology, but the way it's presented has more of a realistic touch to it in spite of the fantastical elements. The pairing of the story and art style is probably one of the most perfect in the relaunch. The way Chiang draws Wonder Woman is very different than anything I have seen. The emphasis is on her athleticism, though her grace comes through in her posture. She's not oversexualized at all, and as a matter of fact, her costume is quite respectable, but she is still beautiful and sexy. This may not be appropriate for young girls, given the horror elements that have and will be involved, but this is a book I would love to have my daughter read. And yet, the feminist aspect is just an afterthought. I don't believe the creators are consciously trying to do this. Instead, they are doing what good writers and artists are supposed to do, telling a good story. And the story is good. There's action to be sure, but every moment in this book felt natural to me. I even sensed a little Shakespearean touch here and there, when dealing with the Gods and it seemed appropriate and subtle. Working with mythological elements like this sometimes leads to cliche and too much cleverness on the part of the writer. This is likely where most writers have failed with Wonder Woman. Azzarello has, so far, found the right approach, by using the myths, but not being afraid of making them his own.

It's the second page of this book where a reporter asks a cop "Is it true that Kung Fu related deaths are already up 200% over last year?" And that's when I knew this book was going to be a blast. I wasn't wrong. Wolverine is packing up to leave San Francisco after the events in X-Men Schism (he's going back to Westchester to rebuild the Xavier school). Along the way, he winds up teaming up with Gorilla Man from Agents of Atlas. Together, they uncover a heroin ring that is bringing in the heroin though, well, let's just say unexpected and unconventional means. After reading about Wolverine inadvertently killing his children in the last arc, as much as I loved it, and the events in X-Men, this is a great palate cleanser of an issue from Jason Aaron. The humor in this is right on. Ron Garney's art is clean and bright. This series has been great from the beginning, but it's good to see the tone can change without negating anything that came before. With Aaron writing this book and the upcoming Wolverine and The X-Men, I suspect we'll get more consistency in how he's portrayed and in the events that take place. I am hoping that part of the story will be that he quits the Avengers to focus on the school as it's the only thing that would make sense, unless his other mutant power involves time manipulation of some sort. Or maybe in the Marvel U, the days are 40 hours long. Either way, this is still a great series and I can't imagine anyone else writing Wolverine now.

Comic of the Week

Revenge stories are their own genre with certain tropes that we can expect. In many cases, these stories lead to the moral that revenge isn't as satisfying as first thought. In other cases, it's quite the opposite. In the case of Wolverine, the story that Jason Aaron has crafted is much more complicated. This is on par with one of my favorite revenge movies, Oldboy in terms of the layers of vengeance we go through and the exploration of the effects of one's actions.

The cycle of revenge started in this series when Wolverine was sent to Hell by the Red Right Hand, a group seeking revenge on him for killing their loved ones. There, he had to face many of his dead  victims. Meanwhile, his loved ones were being targeted back on Earth. Wolverine escapes and goes after the ones that put him in Hell, to get his revenge. He finally finds them and in the process has to kill 5 "warriors" they send after him. He kills these warriors easily and arrives in a room where all the members of the Red Right Hand lay dead after drinking poison. They did not want to give him the satisfaction of killing them himself. Besides, the real act of vengeance is about to be revealed. They want Wolverine to feel what they felt, and they got him. They got him good. I'd rather not go into spoilers of this issue because it's a good one. Please seek out this entire run if you have not read it.

Wolverine may accept that he's a killer, but that does not mean he is at peace with his demons. This arc has given him some new demons to wrestle with. I'm sure this will be referred to for years to come, but even if it isn't, it's one hell of a story. Complexity, emotion and action all rolled up in a vengeance wrapper. The art by Guedes is exactly right for Wolverine in general, but this story specifically. There were many times I felt as if the images were alive and moving. This has easily become one of my favorite titles right now and I look forward to seeing how Wolverine deals with this and what Jason Aaron has up next for him.

Comics of the Week

Uncanny X-Men #542, written by Kieron Gillen, may be a Fear Itself tie in, but at the end of the day, it was just a good X-Men story. Picking up where the last issue left off, the X-Men are still trying to figure out how to stop the amped up Fear Itself Juggernaut, who is on his way to destroy San Francisco, unless the humans destroy Utopia, the X-Men's home, first. Scott's leadership is on display here and we see many of his numbered plans tried and pretty much fail. Meanwhile, he's got his real last ditch plan in motion. He's recruited Magik to go talk to the demon Cytorak with Colossus and Kitty. The twist at the end of the issue is one I didn't know was coming. I'm sure it had been spoiled, but I had managed to avoid the articles about it and I like that. I hope this is a twist that stays for a while.

X-Men Schism #3 seems to be the moment that Wolverine and Scott are going to refer to as the straw that broke the camels back. Wolverine understands guilt. Being a killing machine is a hard burden for him to carry. He may the best there is at what he does, but he takes no joy in it. He will do anything to protect kids, not just from harm, but from this guilt. Scott, on the other hand, has come to believe that mutants can't afford the luxury of innocence. Jason Aaron showcases these two viewpoints, without speeches, to great effect. The tension is high as Wolverine races to the museum to save Oya from the new Hellfire Club as well as what Scott is asking her to do. By the time he arrives, it's worse than he thought. But before he can really get into it with Scott, the real nature of the bomb the Hellfire Club set up is revealed. Schism is turning out to be a great set up for the new X-Men status quo. I'm in.

Comics of the Week

What Mark Waid has created in his books Irredeemable and Incorruptible is a continuity in a world with consequences. Incorruptible #19 has one thread that deals with consequences in one of the most realistic ways I've seen in a superhero comic. Max Damage was a villain who after The Plutonian (think Superman) went insane and started killing everyone in Irredeemable, decided he had to do the right thing. The problem for him has been that he wasn't just a supervillain. Max Damage did some truly horrible, evil things. In previous issues, we already dealt with the fact that his sidekick was an underage girl named Jailbait, who he had a sexual relationship with. In the last issue, Max went looking for the only man honest enough to rebuild the city of Coalville, which is in chaos. The problem is, a few years back, Max killed this man's young son in cold blood. Issues of redemption and forgiveness are impossible in this situation. Instead, this is just the struggle of a man trying to do what he thinks is right, now, and coming up against the brick wall of his past at every turn.

My journey back to Marvel and specifically X-Men is going well. Uncanny X-Men #539, by Kieron Gillen, is a stand alone story focusing on Hope and Wolverine. I don't know much about Hope, but it doesn't matter. This issue gives you enough so you can follow along. Wolverine has been keeping his distance from her, and she doesn't know why. Then, she is kidnapped by The Crimson Commando who wants her to heal him. Wolverine goes in to rescue her, alone. What makes the issue great is the same thing I've been loving from Uncanny X-Force and the Wolverine book. Apparently, Wolverine is interesting again. The reason he has been staying away is because Hope may turn into something horrible (Dark Phoenix?) and he knows he'll have to be the one to take her out. The moments between Hope and Wolverine have me ready to read more X-Men stories. Also helping matters, I have to say the art by Ibraim Roberson had me staring at some panels in awe.

Detective Comics #878 continues the amazing run of Scott Snyder and Jock and ends the arc that started a few issues back about Tiger Shark. That's all well and good and there were amazing moments, like Batman using an ultrasonic device to communicate with killer whales in order to get out of Tiger Shark's death trap. But the real jaw dropper is the last page, leading into the next issue and arc. I can't say this enough, I will miss Dick as Batman. I'm sure Snyder will do well with Bruce on the Batman book, but this is just so good. As I was reading it, I could see this as an episode of a new, gritty, Batman TV series, where the stories can be a little smaller than the Nolan films, but tight and well told just the same.

Comic of the Week

You know why I don't worry about the reboot or anything else that comics companies do? Because ultimately, we still have great creators working in comics. Characters are not inherently interesting or boring. It all depends on who's writing them and what they do with them. Has it all been done before? Maybe. But a good creator can always put a fresh or different spin on it, or just do it very, very well. In any case, it's stories we come to comics for and stories are written (and drawn, in this case) by the creators of the comics. Superman is not limited by anything other than what writers can think of to do with him. What does this have to do with anything?  I say all this to put into context how surprising it is that my pick this week is Jason Aaron's Wolverine, for two issues in a row now: a character I and many others have adamantly said was overused and boring and done. And this from me, who mainly reads DC books, but has been coming back to Marvel little by little, thanks to creators like Aaron.

The last issue, I called a 70's action movie. I also said it could be some unmade Tarantino film. This issue is a little harder to pin down, but the style is still somewhere in the grainy film past. Wolverine is off to find the people responsible for sending him to hell and now knows where to look. What he, and we, don't know is who they are and why they are after him. But we start to learn in this issue. We basically get a flashback to the 1930's, through the eyes of the man leading this crusade against Logan. Wolverine killed this guy's bastard of a father while he watched, and so the kid made it his life's mission to find Wolverine and avenge his father. Of course, he soon learned that wouldn't be easy to do. But, apparently, he eventually develops a new plan and recruits other people like him, wronged by Wolverine over the years, and now their plan is coming to fruition.

I can't say there's anything big about this issue that makes it compare to the chase scenes or overall tone of the last issue. Sure, the scenes in the past do have a dusty feel to them that puts you in the moment. But ultimately, it's just a solid plot that may work whether it's about Wolverine or anyone, but is very much about Wolverine. You can take him out of it, and you might have a revenge tale, but it would lose something vital. Wolverine has always been a guy with a haunted past, and this story addresses that in a way that I don't think I've seen done. Here, his past is coming back to get him, but it's not some Russian superspy that's after him. It's just regular human beings who have had to deal with the same past as him, although from a different angle. And maybe this has been done before. Maybe I just didn't read it. But I'm willing to bet, if it has been done before, it hasn't  been done this well.

Comic of the Week

The word cinematic is often used to describe other media, particularly comics. This typically means the thing being described is evoking motion and sound to convey emotion in a way that possibly transcends the medium of that which is being described. I've said it many times here that Gantz, particularly the first volumes, is very cinematic in the way it gives us what amounts to slow motion shots almost like John Woo action movie poetry. Calling a comic book cinematic is high praise and the high water mark for cinema is arguably 1970's American film. So, I'm going to be bold and say that Wolverine #9, by Jason Aaron and Daniel Acuňa is a 70's action film brought to life.

Who wold have thought that in a week where Walking Dead and Detective Comics came out, that my hands down favorite book would be Wolverine, which I only just caught up with this past week because I'd heard such great things about it? But the book is just that damned good. So good, that it is up there with my favorite single issues of all time. Wolverine is looking for Mystique, who sold him out to the mysterious group that sent him to hell in the first issues of the series. Of course, this mysterious group has also hired a super hit man named Lord Deathstrike (whose introductory scene is gold) to kill Mystique and lead Wolverine right to them. This leads to some of the best chases and confrontations I've ever seen, most of them in wide screen. It brings to mind a movie like Point Blank and it's remake Payback, or some unmade Tarrantino film, none of which are 70's movies, I know, but still. The way they cut from scene to scene, only giving us what is necessary of each set piece, never more, is the perfection I'm talking about. The tension of the chase is palpable and the gritty style puts us in the right mood. And what's more, you don't really need to have read the previous issues to enjoy this. You barely need to know anything about Wolverine, Mystique, X-Men or Superheroes. It could simply be a revenge story with some minor eccentricities, like the main character having claws. If more comics were like this, well, my head might explode, but I'd love it.

Comics of the Week

I continue to be surprised by how much I enjoy Uncanny X-Force. Issue #9 was no exception. The story was simple enough, Magneto has received some information on a Nazi officer, and we don't know for certain what he did to Magneto, possibly killed his family. Either way, Magneto wants revenge and he asks X-Force to help him, which is already interesting since no one is supposed to know the team exists. Wolverine agrees to do it, alone. What we get is a simple tale of revenge, trying to outrun your past, the weight of guilt and the inevitability of justice. To start with, the exchange between Magneto and Wolverine is fantastic. Very few words throughout the issue, but these are characters that understand each other all too well. This was an excellent stand alone story, but still lays pieces that will be picked up later, I'm sure, with Magneto knowing about X-Force.

On a completely different plane of existence is Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #3. This mini-series was so much fun. It had me laughing out loud and barely able to explain why I was laughing to my wife, because the more I tried to explain it, the more out there it sounded and the funnier it got. And the great thing is that even though it was crazy fun, there was at least one moment that picked up on what seemed like a throw away bit from the first issue, in order to wrap the story up. I hadn't heard of Axe Cop until this series came out, but I'll now have to go back and read the web comics. We need more books written by 6 year olds.

Uncanny X-Force: Gateway to Marvel

I'm not generally a big Marvel guy. Once in a while I'll read some Marvel, though. World War Hulk was awesome and I was reading the Red Hulk stuff for a while. X-Men, however, I always find hard to get into because the continuity is almost prohibitive. Back in the day, I was all into it, though. Mutant Massacre, Days of Future Past, Dark Phoenix Saga, Age of Apocalypse, all that stuff. But at a certain point, having to read 15 different X-books to be able to understand what was happening was not something I wanted to do. The solution to this is Uncanny X-Force, written by Rick Remender. It's about as close to a stand alone X-book as Marvel can offer. After recent events, Wolverine and Archangel form a team in secret to do what the X-Men won't do. Rounding out the team are  Psyloche, Fantomex and Deadpool. Normally, I'm not a fan of Deadpool (understatement alert), but here, he really works well.

Uncanny X-Force #4

This month, Marvel put out Uncanny X-Force 5.1. The .1 books are supposed to be jumping on points for people who haven't read the books. While this works well in this case, I still HIGHLY recommend reading from issue 1. For starters, it's extremely well written. I hadn't read these books in years and I never felt lost. Also, the characters are spot on and you feel like you know them from the start. I've heard a lot of buzz on Remender in the past few years, particularly about his book Fear Agent, although his credits are pretty extensive. Been meaning to check out Fear Agent for some time and I definitely will now.

Another reason to start from the beginning is the art by Jermoe Opeña in the first 4 issues. His style is a perfect balance between realistic and darkly surreal. This is an all around great book and one I look forward to reading. Who knows, it may lead to me into more Marvel books. In any case, jump into it now. It's the perfect time.