Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Ultimate Fallout #6 & X-Men: Schism #3

First up for this week, the final issue of the Ultimate Fallout mini-series, which is reshaping the Ultimate Marvel Universe(take THAT, DC!) and the middle issue of the X-Men: Schism event. The first issue of Schism was quite good, the second was a step down(in my opinion at least), here's hoping business picks back up again with this issue.

Ultimate Fallout #6(of 6):

Summary: Three stories here, the first is written by Brian Bendis and stars Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, the second is by Nick Spencer and stars Shadowcat(BOO!), Iceman(YAY!) and the Human Torch(YAY!), while the last story is by Jonathan Hickman and stars Nick Fury. We get started with Gwen(who has radically changed her look since she didn't want people to know who she was anymore) and Aunt May realizing that they were practically hostages in their own home thanks to the media being camped outside May's home. Gwen talks about getting away from the reporters and May mentions that Tony Stark offered to relocate May and Gwen anywhere on the planet. Gwen practically begs May to take Tony up on his offer, and after some prodding May calls Tony, who gives his private villa on the French Riviera to May and Gwen(Gwen wanted to move to France for some reason). With that, Tony sends his private helicopter and picks the two women up as they leave Queens and all of the bad memories behind. Next up, Shadowcat takes Iceman and Human Torch to the one place she's pretty sure will be safe for them, the abandoned Morlock tunnels. Finally, Nick Fury reveals that Steve Rogers had quit being Captain America, probably due to Cap's guilt over Spider-Man's death. From that headache, Fury heads to Mary Jane's house and finds her finishing up her article on how the world killed Spider-Man. Fury reads the article and seems legitimately hurt by MJ's words. Fury explains to MJ that he had known Peter Parker since he had been a baby(Peter's parents were working on a project for SHIELD), and that he should have done more to keep Peter safe and make sure he grew up into the man he COULD have become. Hearing the pain in Fury's voice, MJ promises not to send her article out to the media, and this issue ends with a tearful Fury(?!) telling MJ that she had every right to blame him for Peter's death, since it was all his fault.

Thoughts: Okay, first things first, I thoroughly enjoyed ALL three stories here. Seriously, storywise, I have no complaints... But(you had to know that was coming), the way this issue ended gave us no real finality... It ended with a page of Nick Fury crying a single tear over Peter's death. That's how this mini-series ended. I'm not all that clear on how that's going to lead us into the new Ultimate Spidey book. Speaking of which, the new Ultimate Spider-Man didn't even appear in this issue at all! He showed up ONE time this entire mini-series(issue #4 I believe)! That was it!! Hickman did a good job setting up his Ultimates series in this mini, Spencer did a pretty good job as well, although it did kind of annoy me that Jimmy from Ultimate X didn't show up once, but the lack of Ultimate Spider-Man hurt this mini just a tad for me. I'll be picking up all three of the Ultimate Marvel ongoings(as well as the Ultimate Hawkeye mini) thanks to this mini-series, but I can't help but feel Bendis could have given us just a bit more of his new Ultimate Spidey character... Oh well, I guess that's his way to get us to pick up the new Ultimate Spidey ongoing, and for this comic fan? It worked.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Wait, Johnny Storm has black hair now!?


X-Men: Schism #3(of 5):

Summary: We kick this party off with the new baby Hellfire Club jamming Emma Frost's telepathy before entering the just-opened Museum of Mutant History(or some similar sounding building). The pint-sized Hellfire Club eventually manages to take down the X-Men inside the museum(that would be Emma, Iceman, Magneto, Colossus and Namor, yes that's right, a bunch of punk-ass little kids defeated at least TWO omega-level mutants...) as well as a few of the younger X-Men who were with them, with the exception of Generation Hope member Idie, who managed to hide from the big bad little girl in pigtails. Realizing something bad was about to happen, Lord Summers pulls on his jetpack(huh?!) and flies away from Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia), with his destination being the museum. Meanwhile, Wolverine, who was out drinking not that far away from the museum, having heard about the disturbance on the TV, begins to race over to the museum as well. The baby Hellfire Club members decide to bring the defeated X-Men members outside the museum before leaving a suitcase and their adult minions behind. By this time, the Stepford Cuckoos have managed to link Lord Summers, Wolvie and Idie together telepathically, with Idie reporting back to Lord Summers and Wolvie what she was seeing. Upon hearing that there was a bomb inside, Lord Summers tells Idie to do whatever she felt she had to do to get the Hellfire Club's hostages outside and away from the bomb. Wolverine STRONGLY disagrees with Lord Summers strategy, and yells at him to have Idie get out of the museum, not confront the Hellfire Club goons. Idie emerges from her hiding place and attacks the Hellfire Club's goons, while the pint-sized Hellfire Club leaders retreat, having done what they set out to do. By the time Wolvie and Lord Summers arrive on the scene, Idie is walking out of the museum on shaky legs, telling the two that she had saved the day before collapsing. From there, the museum explodes, killing all of the Hellfire Club goons Idie had blasted before leaving the building. Wolvie gets pissed at Lord Summers and tells him that he never should have allowed her to be in the position to kill Hellfire Club members, while Lord Summers bitches Wolvie out for being in a bar instead of being at the museum. Before the argument can get interesting, the two realize that the bomb left by the tiny Hellfire Club members was more than first thought, as it begins to pull metal into it, creating an enormous Sentinel.

Thoughts: I hate to say it, by this ridiculous mini Hellfire Club junk is destroying what could/should be a great X-story for me. It's like I said last issue, if it was only ONE evil child running the Hellfire Club, I'd have no problem, because the X-Men really haven't dealt with all that many evil, genius, prepubescent enemies before. But four children, defeating the X-Men while making fart jokes does not a good story make. There's only so far I can overlook stupid storylines, and once we get FOUR evil, genius, prepubescent children trying to destroy the X-Men, my eyes begin to roll around in my head. It's too bad, because like I said, if the lead villains were adults, or even if only one of the evil children were there, I'd be lapping this story up. But as it is right now, I just can't enjoy a story where a bunch of 11 year olds are beating up Magneto while calling him a “withered old fart”... Come on, Jason Aaron I KNOW you're better than that.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Yeah, nothing says serious villain like a little girl with pigtails saying, "I farted".......

19 comments:

  1. Ok, now I can read my Generation Hope that I had to put down earlier. Please keep us informed of the events of Schism, since I have not been buying them. The art looks good, at least. I am sad that I am not reading this X-Event in real time, since X-Books are my home-base. We already know what the end-results are for this event, so it hardly seems worth the extra books, and it's been building for awhile. Back in Second coming when Nightcrawler yelled at Cyclops about the existance of X-Force, and then Beast yells at Cyclops about the death of Nightcrawler. What do we do about the fact that Wolverine disagrees with all the secret stuff that Cyclops does, but still runs X-Force behind everyone's back. I hope that's brought up.

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  2. No problemo, Lebeau. I'm still hoping that Schism manages to come back strong and the next two issues are awesome, but I'm not holding my breath for it. Which sucks because I was SURE Jason Aaron would knock this story out of the park...

    You'd have to think that the X-Force thing is eventually brought up. I'll be curious to see how Marvel handles Wolvie running a regular, "good" X-Men team, as well as actively leading a black ops team. Does he fill his X-Men in on X-Force, or does he keep it hidden until in inevitably blows up in his face, like with what happened with Summers?

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  3. *sigh* I didn't read the review yet, but I saw the score for Schism. It makes me sad. :-(

    Oh and I'm all caught up, and that whole alien scene from #2 was just, hmmm, unnecessary lol. I just stared at the page like, what the hell just happen. I still hope #3 is a decent read.

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  4. Ugh, those dumb kids from issue #2 just pissed me off. It was all so dumb... But yeah, I don't want to spoil anything from issue #3, but hopefully you like it better than I did...

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  5. I was dropping this after issue 2 until i picked up issue 3 and gave it a skim through. While skimming i thought man this seems like its finally getting a little more action driven so i picked it up... I will probably hate this issue. I completley agree with the little kids thing in that it is so ignorant. It's almost like they didn't want to have wolverine massacre ppl and the other x-men to destory them and turn the event into an action packed brawl (which is how this event should end) so instead they put little kids in it.
    -I didn't read avengers last week but ive read many reviews. And i've yet to read this but i think it is personally even MORE ignorant than squrrel girl beating up wolverine. Magneto!? my how the mighty have fallen. Colossus? Champion of strength? taken out by children? NO! The "hit girl" wanna be gigling about farting is an atrocity in a major event comic like this. In a plain old issue? sure, but not in a huge event like this... give me a break.
    -The only thing redeeming about that scan is namor saynig that he's hit children before. I'm obviously against child violence but Hearing namor say that in a confident voice is pretty funny.

    -Looking forward to your reviews on cap, daredevil and cap corps. Daredevil looked like it was going to be a great read this week. anyway take care!

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  6. Also, what is happening with cap in the ultimate U? The synopsis for issue 6 said that we would find out what captain america is up to?/ what has become of him or something? and from what ive read i heard hes not in the ultimates? Even though he is on the cover?

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  7. I'll definitely be interested to hear your take on Schism #3, Cap. But yeah, I was sorely disappointed. Especially considering the X-Men those kids beat up... You have Emma Frost, arguably the most powerful telepath on Earth(depending where you'd rank the current version of Xavier), Namor, who is Namor(!), Colossus, the strongest member of the X-Men(not named Namor), plus Iceman and Magneto, both of which have been revealed as omega mutants... You know the most powerful of ALL mutants!! And the dialogue from the kids... It was terrible. Except for Namor(and Mags had a few good lines) the dialogue was pretty lame. But yeah, that Namor line? It was hilarious!

    As for Ultimate U Cap, all that we find out in this issue of Fallout is that he quit. Fury says it while one of Fury's men look over Cap's shield, which was in Fury's office. That's literally the only mention of anything with Cap. We don't see him in this issue, and Fury almost says it like a throw-away comment. You know, "Oh, btw, Cap quit. Moving on..." It'll be interesting to see what spurs Ult. Cap to take up the shield again, since he obviously blames himself for Peter Parker's death.

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  8. sad that schism is not doing so well for you, I drop it since disspointed me how QQ was used.

    an agree with you that the history can come back strong but the whole history dont work for me because i´m not looking forward any of the books that come before the event..

    so that was for now my adventure with Marvel...
    I will continue reading your reviews and, who knows, maybe i pick some of the X-books after schism..

    and is "no hay problema" (I know I know i have mistakes too so feel free to correct me =)

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  9. Hm... I'm really enjoying Schism so far. I definitely see what you mean about kids getting the better of Namor, Mags and the like, but I'm trying to to rationalize that in a world where a dude whose entire skeleton is metal can be flung into the sky by a gigantic Russian who can turn his metal skin on and off, all the while fighting alongside a guy who can fire beams with the intensity of the sun from his eyeballs :P But yeah, I definitely get where you're cooming from, but I just take the story for what it is, and I enjoy it so far.

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  10. Aww. :( I'ma have JT bring it over tomorrow so I can read. Hopefully I'll be back by the weekend with some thoughts. :)

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  11. I totally understand that, Alien. Quire didn't show up at all this issue! So much for him being an important part of this storyline! I don't blame you for not having any interest in the books spinning out of Schism either. The longer this mini goes on the less I'M looking forward to the books coming out of Schism! And I'm a huge X-fan!!

    "and is "no hay problema"" HA!! I stand corrected! I won't make that mistake again! :P

    Come on though, JT... "I farted"? Really?!? I mean seriously, REALLY?!? Who the hell is Aaron writing this comic for, a bunch of giggling little 9 yr olds? "She said, 'farted'! Tee-Hee!!!" And four super-smart, super-rich, completely anti-mutant 11 year olds get together and just start stomping all over the X-Men? Let's put it this way... If this story was taking place in the DC books, as a big Bat-crossover event, and these same kids were pissed at the Bat-family and started smacking down Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown and Tim Drake, would you be cool with that? Regardless of the universe or the history, it's just a bad idea... At least that's how I feel...

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  12. Namor in the x-men is already a mistake , his place is either in atlantis or in dr Doom 's living room with his head on the chimney.
    I know that schism will suck & hard... we all know the conclusion . Whoreverine & Douchelops become the new leaders & kings & other more competent members like Storm & Cannonball get sidelined, disgusting... I know nowadays hacks have a huge boner for this " improved" Cyclops but I don't see any appeal or decency in this guy .#
    #

    the writers/editors don't care about what a dirtbag some of these decisions make Scott look like now. Him slobbering all over Hellfire Club Barbie over his wife's freshly dug grave was intentional ( & the most disgusting of his transgressions);no reaction to his Dad dying, his brother and (genetic) daughter lost in space, and barely flinching over what happens to his son's death in X-Force #28, it's made him become crap , just crap & I say this as someone who used to consider him a favorite. I only draw the REAL Cyclops & in comics he's been missing since that BK Vaughn miniseries & had a sporadic appearance in Cable & Deadpool ; Burnt offering (i recognised him due to his heroism in that arc & the fact he doesn't bump uglies with Emma or even refer to that pairing)

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  13. I get what you're saying but as far as I'm concerned Kade is no different than Damian or anything, it's just instead of fighting skills he's pretty damn smart. And him having a group of smart kids is far fetched but I'll accept that because I've read crazier things, but you're acting like the whole group is just a bunch of snot nosed idiots beating up the X-Men. The only line that seemed juvenile was the "I farted" thing which was delivered by a girl that we're sure is sadistic yet obviously has mental problems just from the actions we've seen in the last two issues. I'm not disagreeing with you so don't get me wrong on that, all I'm saying is, I look past that and try to enjoy the story for what it is.

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  14. Agreed 100% with Namor, Saidi. He should never have been added to the X-Men, and I find it hard to believe that somebody as arrogant as Namor would take orders from the likes of Lord Summers. Summers is NO Dr. Doom or Steve Rogers. I also agree with every single point you make about Lord Summers, that's the reason I can't stand his character anymore. You'll be hard-pressed to find a character who has been written worse than Lord Summers these past 6 years or so. He's just been written so damn unlikable... He's completely unrecognizable from the character from the 90's(and prior), who was a competent leader, grappled with self-doubt, but was respected by all of his peers. Not this dictator in Cyclops's clothing.

    JT mi amigo, we'll have to agree to disagree with this one, because there's no way I'm budging off of my stance here. They ARE a bunch of snot-nosed idiots beating up the X-Men!!! Hell, the "I farted" line wasn't the only time one of those damned kids said something that stupid. One of the other kids called Mags an "old fart"! So you can't really just shrug and say, "It's just that crazy little girl", because it was one of her teammates that called Mags an old fart! Like I said, I like(d) the idea of Kade making a power play at the Hellfire Club... By himself! The addition of his moronic little playmates does NOTHING to help this story! You know you'd be pissed if some dipshit little girl in pigtails defeated somebody like Jason Todd with a space-bug and bad dialogue! Hell, I'd be pissed over that! Being a HUGE fan of both Iceman AND Magneto, imagine how pissed I am over this... I guess the best way to leave this is like this. You don't really have a connection to the X-Men yet, so seeing some kids easily put down some of the X-Men's heavy-hitters isn't going to bother you as it does me. I've been reading the X-books for about 15 years and DO have a connection to these characters which is why this issue annoyed me so. I think it's great that you're enjoying the story, JT, because that means you'll pick up the X-books post-Schism, but I just can't overlook the stupid shit that took place here. I just can't.

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  15. Shhhh-- dont touch the subjet until he calm down.. or something bad is going to happen

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  16. I got the chance to read schism the other nght and i will say that i enjoyed the good in the issue. I thought the takeover scene was done well and that the idie/wolvie/cyclops bit was done well too. Cyclops COMPLETLEY ignoring wolverine though pissed me off. Mostly because obviously that would cause strife between the characters but i did like the end bit with cyclops saying that she killed a few saved a hundred and wolverines reaction to that. With that being said thought the mini hellfire club killed this issue for me. If Kade would have organized some BA ruthless villains and give them hellfire masks i would be all for it. I am not a huge X-men fan, i loved the cartoons and i follow the books with light treading. But i usually do read the events and i'll pick things up if the storyline interests me. I feel that if Kade or the mini hellfire club(i HATE saying that) would have recrutied a few villains that i would have enjoyed this much more. I'm all for new villains but the mini hf club saying things like "no, we aren't super villains they always fail" Reminded me of brian Bendis SHOVING the Hood in our face and frocing us to believe that he is a new unstoppable villain. It just didn't would then and it is not working now. They took on as you stated OMEGA level mutants. I will not say that this is the worst thing ive ever read, far from it. My dissapointment stems from the fact that this COULD have been a much better event. Still looking forward to your other reviews though. Later man!

    P.s. be thankful ol' X-man wasn't on this team because apparently the mini hf club are some powerful (powerless) humans that are capable of studying weaknesses and exploiting heroes for them.

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  17. Before I say anything else, I do want to note that I did give this issue a 6 1/2. With the way I score, a 7 is perfectly average comic, so a 6 1/2 is only a touch below average. Maybe I didn't really get that point across when I typed this up. This WASN'T a bad comic book. I did enjoy parts of it. Like I said, had the mini Hellfire Club not been present(or if we simply had Kade), I'd probably have scored this comic in the 8-9 range. If I really hated this issue, everybody would know(just look at the last issue of New Avengers to see that!). Besides a bunch of kids schooling experienced X-Men, I was disappointed in that I can't help but feel that this mini could be MUCH better. Like you, that's the thing that bothers me the most... The bad(for me at least) really brings down my overall enjoyment of things. Here's hoping Wolverine kills those other three kids, leaving Kade to run the HFC like I had been hoping...

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  18. Okay, so I finally read Schism today. And I actually liked the issue, lol. I think this group of kids are quite genius in how they operate. I enjoy seeing Wolverine mostly, lol, the kids area bonus. I also read Generation Hope, *sigh* I wish I had left that at the shop. It was really, really boring to read and get through. I had to FORCE myself to read it. lol It was from Idie's point of view and well, she's not that interesting anymore lol. I wasn't going to let it sit around since I spent my hard earned cash on it, but you did a good thing by putting it right back X. Wish I had a little X on my shoulder telling me to put it back, lol.

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  19. I'm def glad you and JT are enjoying Schism, Lisha, that means you guys will probably buy some X-comics, which will give me something else to discuss with you two! As for me, we ALL know what I think of those kids, so I'm not gonna rehash that again! :P

    After hearing you say that, I'm GLAD I put that issue back! I mean I stuck it out with that series for so long, but it just never got any better, and from what you're saying, it still sucks! On the bright side, the current writer is leaving in a few months, which means I'll probably give Gen Hope another shot come November. But yeah, don't we all need a little X on our shoulder! :D

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