Deadpool #21, Nova #35 & Wolverine Origins #45

I really don't have much of an introduction tonight... I spent my first day of vacation exactly how I expected to, playing video games, reading comics and doing a little mountain biking for exercise. Yeah, pretty boring, but that's me. Tomorrow I'll have the always special Random Scan of the Week, but for now, here are a few Marvel comic reviews. See, I told ya I didn't have much of an intro!

Deadpool #21: Writer: Daniel Way. Pencils: Carlo Barberi.
Last Issue: 6 out of 10.

After being shot up by the Hit-Monkey last issue, Spider-Man brings Deadpool to the Baxter Building where Reed fixes DP up as good as new... Or as good as Deadpool could be anyway. Spidey takes DP back to his apartment(Really?)and DP winds up stealing a Spider-Man costume and getting himself(as Spider-Man)killed by the Hit-Monkey, so the Hit-Monkey would leave Spider-Man, Deadpool and NYC alone. The Hit-Monkey attends Spider-Man's funeral(as does a puzzled Peter Parker), and DP pops out of the coffin, ready to kill the Hit-Monkey. Before DP can pull the trigger, Spidey arrives on the scene and bends all of DP's guns, so he can't kill the homicidal primate. Spidey manages to disarm the Hit-Monkey, and DP has a change of heart while looking at the Hit-Monkey, since he could see a lot of himself in the assassin monkey. While DP is trying to make nice with the Hit-Monkey, the monkey bites him in the face and steals one of DP's bent guns. DP also grabs one of his mangled guns, and the two shoot at each other, which causes the damaged guns to explode. It appears that the Hit-Monkey managed to escape the explosion, while Deadpool wakes up in Rykers Island, and is broken out by Spidey, who tells DP to get out of NY, since he has deduced that DP is only trying to be a hero for the accolades, not for the heroism.

Eh, I guess this was a pretty good story... I'm just glad the Hit-Monkey story is over. I won't go into one of my anti-monkey rants, but yeah, at least this story is over... With that said, I'm looking forward to the next issue, which hopefully will be monkey-free!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Damn monkeys...

Nova #35: Writer: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning. Pencils: Mahmud Asrar.
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.

This issue opens with the Sphinx reveling in the fact that he now owns TWO Ka Stones. With one Ka Stone, he was able to rewrite reality, and was pretty much a god. With two Ka Stomes, I guess he'd be a double god or something... Anyway, the gathered heroes and villains decide to put aside their differences and attempt to assault the Sphinx, but since he was now a DOUBLE god, their attacks do nothing to him, and he brushes them aside. Since the heroes have no real plan to stop the Sphinx besides the old tried and true, “punch/blast him”, they decide to allow Reed Richards to concoct a plan. Reed figures that since only one Ka Stone is supposed to exist at a time, sending the Sphinx out of the inter-dimensional Fault(which is where the Sphinx set up shop)before he had mastered the power of both Ka Stones would cause reality to destroy him since he shouldn't exist. Armed with these calculations from Reed, Nova flies at the Sphinx, who is only partially aware of Nova, since Nova was more or less a bothersome insect to him. Upon getting close enough, Nova opens a stargate near the Sphinx, which brings him out of the Fault prematurely, causing reality to swallow him up. With the Sphinx gone, his base in the Fault begins to fall apart, and the heroes and villains present begin to go back to their proper places in the timestream. Realizing that Namorita would wind up dying with the New Warriors if she was returned to her proper place in the timestream, Nova rushes over to her and holds on, hoping she would wind up going with him instead of back to the past. Nova wakes up back at the Nova Corps headquarters, and is told that the Corps discovered him, Darkhawk and Namorita floating in space. Nova rushes to be by the still unconscious Namorita's side, and this issue ends with Darkhawk telling Nova that although his actions were noble, stealing Namorita from the timestream would almost definitely come back to haunt them.

First off, I am overjoyed that Nita is back among the living! I hated the way she(and the other New Warriors as well)died, so I'm quite pleased to see that she is back. As for the rest of the Sphinx/Fault storyline, it was simply OK, nothing more, nothing less. I can't say it really thrilled me, but then again, I was never all that fond of the Sphinx, so that probably had a lot to do with my feelings. Still, this was a perfectly acceptable comic, and Nita's return easily adds an extra 1/2 to the score!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.I have to admit, whenever Reed uses one of his old man expressions(Great scott! or My word!)my mood automatically improves!

Wolverine Origins #45: Writer: Daniel Way. Pencils: Doug Braithwaite.
Last Issue: 7 1/2 out of 10.

This issue picks up from last issue, with Romulus standing over Ruby Thursday, demanding to know what Wolverine's plan was. At first, Ruby doesn't give in to Romulus's demands, but Romulus winds up threatening her daughter, which leads to Ruby spilling her guts. Later on, Ruby meets with Wolvie and the rest of his anti-Romulus team, and she launches into an attack against Wolvie and his allies. Wolvie's team eventually manage to take down Ruby(although it took a surprisingly long battle to do it!)and send her back to prison. With it painfully obvious Romulus got to Ruby, and that she almost definitely revealed Wolvie's plans against Romulus to him, Wolvie reveals that he figured that was going to happen all along, and that Wolvie's plan was simply a red herring, used to get Romulus looking the other way... Huh? Wolvie then admits that he didn't even think up the plan, because he understands that anything he thinks up would be easily countered by Romulus, since the two of them think so much alike, telling his crew that some c-list villain called the Answer concocted the plan. With his first, fake plan out of the way, Wolvie decides it is time to enact his real plan against Romulus, and as this issue ends, we discover that the mastermind behind Wolverine's real anti-Romulus plan is none other then Deadpool!

Umm, OK... So everything I've been reading for the past 5 or 6 issues was simply Wolverine messing with Romulus's head. I guess that makes sense to a certain extent, now that Wolverine's plan has been exposed, Romulus will probably figure he has nothing to fear from Wolvie, which means the time is ripe for Wolvie to make one final thrust to defeat his long-time puppet master. I will say I was kind of annoyed to see that Deadpool was Wolvie's secret weapon/planner... First off, who would EVER go to Deadpool for a plan?!? The guy isn't really wound all that tightly, if you know what I mean! I guess that means that whatever DP comes up with will be completely unpredictable, but still, I don't think I'd entrust my life to Pool... Secondly, when did Deadpool become the new Wolverine??? As much as I like the character, does he have to appear EVERYWHERE?!? Sheesh... Anyway, this was a good, if not great comic, that has me looking forward to the next couple of issues, which should give us our final Wolvie/Romulus showdown, most likely in the upcoming issue #50.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.I'd have to guess that getting impaled by Ruby Thursday would be among Wolvie's more embarrassing moments...