New Comic Day! September 21st edition.

It's Wednesday, so you know what that means... It's New Comic Day!!! Instead of killing time with an extended introductory paragraph shooting the breeze and talking about last week's comic books, I'm going to jump right into what I picked up from the comic shop a few minutes ago. Trust me, once you see this week's list of books, you'll understand why I'm rushing through this...

First, here are the two comics that I didn't get last week due to one of the boxes at my comic shop being late due to the epic flooding around my area: Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #1 & Batman and Robin #1. And now here are the comics from THIS week that I snagged today... Batman #1, Catwoman #1, Fables #109, Hellblazer #283, Legion of Superheroes #1, Nightwing #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws #1, Supergirl #1, Wonder Woman #1, Avengers #17, Avengers: The Children's Crusade #7, Captain America #3, Captain America Corps #3, Daredevil #4, Fear Itself: The Home Front #6, Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3, Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt #5, Heroes for Hire #12, Invincible Iron Man #508, Thunderbolts #163.1, Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #2, Ultimate Comics X-Men #1, Uncanny X-Men #543, X-Factor #225, X-Men #18 & X-Men: Schism #4... 26 comics(28 when you add the two from last week)?!? God DAMN, that's a new record... And may I also add this before I continue... Holy shit are there some AWESOME comics in this week's pile!!! I mean seriously, there are FIVE comics(Nightwing #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws #1, Children's Crusade #7, Youth In Revolt #5 & Ultimate X-Men #1) that any other week would EASILY be my Pick of the Litter! But only one of those can be this week's Pick, and to be honest, it's really not that difficult a decision when you really get down to it... This week's Pick of the Litter IS Avengers: The Children's Crusade #7, hands down. Let's put it like this... There have been 6 issues of the Children's Crusade mini released thus far, as well as one fill-in issue... Out of those 7 comic books, FIVE of them received perfect scores from me, while the other two? They ONLY received 9 1/2's!!! Avengers: Children's Crusade is the best thing(comics or otherwise) I have read in years, so yeah, it's this week's, this month's, hell, this year's Pick of the Litter. On the other end of the spectrum is the Runt of the Litter... That (dis)honor goes to Fear Itself: The Home Front #6. The last issue was brutally bad, and I don't expect this issue to be much better than that. And that about wraps things up. With a mind-blowing 28 comics to get through, I really need to try to push these reviews out as quick as humanly possible... But realistically, unless I review FOUR comics every night, there's no way I'll be able to review every comic listed here. I'll try my best, but even I have limitations... If worse comes to worse, and I can't get through all 28 of these new books by next Wednesday, I'll probably clump a bunch of them into a Best of the Rest type post, if only to get SOMETHING about those comics up and posted. Needless to say, I have some work to do! So until next time(which will probably be pretty soon...), X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!I know the feeling Daken...

A little something for everyone!

Hey there X-Maniacs, I figured I'd check in with a quick little post since I skipped yesterday. I've already finished typing up most of tomorrow's New Comic Day post, I should be getting between 13 and 14 comics depending on how much money I feel like spending. The opening paragraph is completely done, I just have to finish up th second paragraph when I get my books tomorrow. So that's what's on tap for tomorrow. As for today, I figure I'd post 4 scans featuring four Internet favorite characters. As you can see, when in doubt as to what to post, I always go back to the old standby of posting scans... You'd think with logic like that my scan blog with be flourishing, but alas, that's not the case. So anyway, here are those previously mentioned scans. Enjoy! Or don't. As for me, it's X out time, at least until tomorrow afternoon.

Daken: Dark WolverineThat Daken is a smooth one...


Nightwing and StarfireSo wait, if I'm reading this correctly, Dick could get some threesome action going here if he played his cards right?


Steve Rogers: Super-SoldierSee, even a super-soldier can have a bad day.

Daken!

Hey X-Maniacs, it's the original Comic Book Malefactor here to give the people what they want! You see, it looks like I'll be picking up a lot of comics tomorrow... No wait, let me rephrase that... It looks like I'll be picking up A LOT of comics tomorrow. Seriously, wait until I post the New Comic Day post tomorrow! It's insane! Anyway, the next week should be chock full of comic reviews, but alas, I have no new books to review today... I've been spending my free time reading Witchblade(which is REALLY good, and makes me want to buy more trades), the SHIELD mini-series from last year(it has Leonardo da Vinci in it, of course it's good!), as well as rereading the Young Avengers series for the first time since 2006, and yes, it's still as fantastic as I remember it being! But I really don't feel like doing a trade, mini-series or back issue type of review... So then, what kind of post should I do? Well, why not do a post on one of my favorite Marvel characters, the Dark Wolverine himself, Daken! So yes, this post will be full of Daken goodness! I mean, there's lots to like about Daken...


He has a way with women...


He has a way with men...


He has a way with words...


And he's funny to boot!


Agreed!

Wolverine Origins #48

Wolverine Origins #48: Writer: Daniel Way. Artist: Will Conrad.
Last Issue: 9 out of 10.

Review: This takes place directly after Dark Wolverine #86(so check that out first!). Wolverine and Cloak take Romulus back to the place of Wolvie's birth(the Howlett Estate), and Wolvie tells Romulus that he wasn't going to kill him, instead he was going to wait for Romulus to die. Romulus scoffs at that, telling Wolvie that his death would take a LONG time, which leads to Wolvie taking Romulus to the darkforce dimension that can be accessed via Cloak's... well, cloak. Wolvie leaves Romulus lost in the land of shadows, and walks over to his childhood home, admitting to himself that he was always a victim of circumstance and others, and forgives those who had used him, as well as forgiving himself. Finally Wolvie asks Cloak for one final favor, and has Cloak teleport him to Daken. Wolverine arrives at Daken's location with the Muramasa blade and tells his son that he had taken care of Romulus, and that Daken was next. And so the two battle one more time, but this time Wolverine remains in full control of his emotions, while Daken(who was still fuming over Romulus escaping his vengeance)fights like the berserker. Eventually Wolvie baits Daken into striking the Muramasa blade with his Muramasa claws, which leads to a huge shock-wave that knocks both combatants down. Before Daken can get back to his feet, Wolverine walks up to his son and stabs him through his chest with his claws, knocking him out. Wolvie then picks up the Muramasa blade, and decides that he has to finish the job with Daken, to make sure his son can no longer be a threat... From there the scene shifts to Wolvie standing over an open grave. Wolvie picks up a shovel and heads over to the grave and looks in, and we see that the Muramasa blade and Daken's two Muramasa claws are at the bottom. Wolvie proceeds to bury them, and this issue ends with Daken sitting on a bed surrounded by empty booze bottles looking at the huge scars indicating where his Muramasa claws used to be.

What I Thought: Meh. This comic was a rare letdown in this series... I didn't like the fate of Romulus(let's face it, Cloak isn't the ONLY character with access to the darkforce dimension, so it's just a matter of time before he's back again), and I definitely didn't like the fate of Daken. Now he's a neutered version of the character he used to be... Yeah, he's got his other claws, his training and his hatred, but the Muramasa claws made his a perpetual threat to Wolverine... Now I'm really not sure what the future holds for Daken. He can't go after Wolverine, because he has no way to defeat him, he can't go after Romulus, since he doesn't know Romulus is in the darkforce dimension, he just has nothing to do. I'll have to hope that the extremely talented Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu will find something good for Daken... I hope. As for Wolvie, he came across as a bit of a whiner here, which is something I'd never expect from Wolvie. Plus the fact that he DIDN'T kill Romulus after Romulus put him through hell for 100+ years just didn't ring through. Oh well, even the best of writers is bound to have an off comic...

Score: 6 out of 10.DAMN YOU WOLVERINE!!!

Dark Wolverine #86

I'm on a roll now! Picking up where I left off yesterday, I'll be posting 5 new reviews tonight, 3 Marvels and 2 DCs. Not only that, but I also managed to finish off my Flashback Friday post today as well, so I think it's safe to say that I have successfully shaken the dreaded vacation doldrums. Well, I might as well not waste too much time on an introduction, I've got a lot of reviews to get to!

Dark Wolverine #86: Writers: Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu. Pencils: Stephen Segovia.
Last Issue: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Review: We pick things up from Wolverine Origins #47, with Daken betraying his father, Wolverine, and siding with Wolverine's arch-nemesis, Romulus. Daken and Wolverine pair off and fight, while Romulus takes on the son of the Hulk, Skaar. Romulus MORE then holds his own against Skaar(huh!), while Wolvie and Daken dance the dance once more. Skaar begins to go into a Hulk rage, which brings out the military and Wolvie's entire “capture Romulus” plan begins to rapidly fall to pieces. After watching from the shadows for a time Wolvie's associate, Cloak, teleports over and take Wolvie out of the battle, explaining to him that he was causing WAY more damage then he was preventing. On top of that, during Skaar's fracas with the military, Romulus and Daken managed to sneak away in the carnage, further infuriating Wolvie. Cloak comes right out and tells Wolvie that it's about time he realizes Daken can't be trusted, and that the sooner he figures that out, the sooner he'll be able to take out Romulus. From there we head to Romulus and Daken, who were laying low in a hotel in Damascus. Romulus tells Daken his life story(he claims that he's been alive since caveman times), and that the only thing that matters to him is his vast underground empire. Daken confronts Romulus about the fact that Romulus always wanted Wolverine to one day be Romulus's heir, which leads to Daken attacking and gutting his long time mentor. Romulus is surprised, but Daken decries that fact that in Romulus's eyes, Daken was always second best to Wolverine, and Romulus doesn't deny that fact, which angers Daken even more. Finally, Daken pops out his third, Muramasa blade claws and goes to kill Romulus once and for all, but before he could strike the killing blow, Cloak arrives on the scene and teleports Romulus out of harms way, leaving Daken ranting and raving about Wolverine.

What I Thought: This issue took a bit of a step backwards from the prior issue, but it was still pretty good. The battle in the beginning of this book didn't really do anything for me, I've seen Wolvie and Daken battle numerous times, and I really don't care about Skaar at all, so I'll just skip past all that. The scene with Daken and Romulus was my favorite scene here by far. It proved a number of little things that had been hinted at for a while now, mainly the fact that Daken was never anything more then a chip Romulus could eventually play against Wolverine. This revelation was extremely hurtful to Daken, who in a warped way has always seen Romulus as a father figure(and possibly even something more), and realizing that Romulus was now, and always would be interested in Wolverine, and not him was a terrible blow to Daken's psyche. I'd imagine that's why Daken flew into a jealous rage and tried to kill Romulus. The next issue of this x-over(which takes place in Wolverine Origins #48)should deal with the final fate of Romulus at the hands of Wolvie, and as well as Daken's next move against his father. It should be good.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Daken sure has some MAJOR daddy issues...

Wolverine Origins #47

Hey there X-Maniacs, all I have to offer tonight is a measly one review. I just finished off a paper that is due tomorrow morning, and I'm not exactly in a very chatty mood, as the lack of sleep and the recent proliferation of school work is starting to grate on my nerves... I can honestly say that I am looking forward to this weekend(I plan on sleeping through most of it!)and of course next week, which is my last full week of school until July! As for tomorrow I fully intend to put up a new Flashback Friday post, so definitely be on the look out for that. All right, the sooner I get this review done, the sooner I can get to bed, so let's get a move on!

Wolverine Origins #47: Writer: Daniel Way. Artist: Will Conrad.
Last Issue: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Review: This issue picks up from the last issue of Dark Wolverine(#85 I think), where Wolvie had stabbed his evil son Daken through the chest with what appeared to be the Muramasa blade. One of Romulus's henchmen, who was spying on the scene, reports what had happened back to Romulus, who is somewhat perplexed by Wolvie's actions, since, from the way he understood it, that was not a part of Wolvie's plans(which he had heard from Ruby Thursday and then had confirmed by Daken). Romulus makes his way over to the scene of Daken's stabbing, in order to see what he could glean from the crime scene, when he is approached by Skaar, who Romulus had tried unsuccessfully to make a deal with against Wolverine a few days earlier. Skaar tells Romulus that he wouldn't be working with him, and that he'd instead be sticking with Wolvie, so Romulus gives the signal to a few nearby terrorists who shoot Skaar with a rocket launcher. Skaar gets pissed about that(can't say I blame him!), and jumps over to the terrorists, who continue to hit him with heavy artillery, which is exactly what Romulus was hoping for, since Wolvie would now have to deviate from his plan of attacking Romulus in order to save any civilians who were caught in the crossfire. Wolvie sends Cloak over to Skaar to try to calm the brute down, but while Cloak is trying to talk some sense into Skaar, one of the terrorists detonate a large bomb, killing himself and nearly destroying a nearby building. With the building terribly damaged, and civilians caught inside, Romulus walks right over to Wolvie and gives him the chance to fight or to go and save the civilians in the burning building. Wolvie turns his back on Romulus and heads towards the building, which sickens Romulus, as well as Daken, who walks over to Romulus. Romulus is surprised to see Daken alive, and Daken explains that Wolvie didn't stab him with the Muramasa blade, only a regular sword, and the only reason he did that was to draw Romulus out of hiding. Daken explains that Wolvie's whole plan against Romulus is to expose him to the world, since Romulus's power comes from the fact that he has always been able to operate from the shadows, where he was untouchable. If exposed, everybody would know about Romulus, and as such, his mystique and power would be gone. Romulus tells Daken that if Wolvie's plan works out, upon Romulus's death, there'd be nothing left for Daken to inherit from Romulus's vast criminal empire, which Daken had always had his eyes on. This issue ends with Wolverine and Skaar approaching Romulus and Daken, with Daken declaring that he'd be helping Romulus against his father.

What I Thought: This was yet another strong issue of this series. Now it's Romulus(who's been forced into a confrontation with Wolverine right out in the open)and Daken, against Wolverine and Skaar. The real question here is, who's going to betray who first, because I have NO doubt that there are still many more twists and turns to go before this x-over comes to an end. I'm kind of leaning towards Daken turning on Romulus(which would explain why Wolvie stabbed Daken with the fake Muramasa sword, since Wolvie had to realize Daken would heal from a normal stab wound), and joining forces with his father to kill Romulus once and for all. After that, it'll be just Wolverine and Daken left, with Daken still wanting to claim whatever he could from Romulus's vast power-base. But then again, maybe Daken is really going to stick by Romulus(who in a weird way is like a father figure to Daken)to the bitter end. Or maybe Romulus will end up betraying Daken to gain even more of Wolverine's animosity... And that's what I'm enjoying about this storyline so much. It's not your basic, “Wolverine meets the bad guy, gets beat up and then stabs the bad guy” storyline, it's more cerebral(that's right, a cerebral Wolverine comic!), since the story could conceivably go in several different directions. I'm REALLY enjoying this and the Dark Wolverine series, and I honestly can't wait for the next part of this story in Dark Wolverine.

Score: 9 out of 10.You've got to admit, Romulus looks pretty awesome here!

A LAZY look at Dark Reign The List: Punisher #1

Writer: Rick Remender. Pencils: John Romita Jr.

Score: 7 out of 10.

What I Thought(In 150 words or less!): Woooo, what a mess this was! Long story short, the Punisher pisses Norman "Marvel" Osborn off one time too many and Normie sends Daken to take care of Punisher... Permanently. Daken does just that, cutting Punisher into a dozen or so pieces. The fight scene between Daken and Punisher was intense, but the ending and upcoming Punisher as a zombie/monster storyline just seems ridiculous! "Franken-castle"? Really?!? Then again, it sounds SO bad that I might actually pick it up out of morbid curiosity, so what does that say about my taste?Ouch, that's going to take a MIGHTY big band-aid to fix...

A Quick Look at Dark Wolverine #79

Writers: Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu. Pencils: Stephen Segovia.

What Happened: As per Norman Osborn's orders, Daken attacks Moses Magnum and his gang of losers in a warehouse. Norman plans on having the entire fight recorded and then sent to the media in an effort to repair Daken's poor public image. Daken attacks the losers and takes them out, until it's only him and a woman named Emmy Doolin. Daken arrogantly tells Emmy to shoot him. However, she refuses, claiming that there is no way he is the real Wolverine. This momentary distraction is all Moses needs to blast Daken into unconsciousness. Moses' gang debates killing Daken, but ultimately Emmy convinces the rest of them to make a run for it in case the rest of the Avengers are around. Before leaving, Emmy taunts the semi-conscious Daken and the villains make good their escape. Daken crawls around in his own blood for a while, which leads to Norman Osborn berating him through an earpiece he was wearing. Daken also imagines his father, Wolverine, telling Daken that it isn't as easy being Wolverine as Daken may have originally thought, which enrages Daken. The villains figure out that Osborn double crossed them, so they decide to blackmail him with surveillance footage of Osborn approaching Emmy just prior to her breaking Moses out of court last issue. The villains call Osborn and threaten to release the footage, which would surely hurt Osborn's image. Osborn tells them that if they turn themselves in, he'll have them arrested and sentenced, after which he'd have them secretly released under false names. This issue ends with the villains agreeing to Osborn's deal, and Osborn contacting Daken, telling him to capture these bozos already, and that this time he was planning on sending live television cameras to the scene, so Daken had to not only capture the villains, but he'd better look good doing it.

What I Thought: As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed this comic. I especially liked the fact that Daken suffered what could probably be considered his first major loss to Magnum and his gang, especially Emmy. I do have to wonder exactly what Osborn is thinking sending a live news crew to capture Daken's exploits, seeing as that Daken tends to have one hell of a vicious streak in him, and with his actions being filmed live, there's no room for error, if Daken messes up, or gets to violent, it's going to be a major black eye for Osborn and his Avengers. So what's Daken to do? He could royally piss Osborn off by deliberately becoming overly violent in capturing the criminals or he could play the role of good soldier(for once)and take the villains in by the books, especially with the camera crews present. With the way Daken is always playing mind games, I'm honestly not sure which way he'll go. I think he wants to prove he can play the role of Wolverine as well as his father, so I wouldn't be surprised if he took Magnum and his crew in by the books, just to prove to himself that he can. But then again, after the way Emmy taunted him after his defeat this issue, Daken might just be of the mindset to gut her, which wouldn't look very good on the 6 o'clock news. I guess that's the thing I enjoy the most about both Daken and this comic series, it's extremely difficult to figure out which way Daken is going to go. Daken's actions aren't easily guessed, he's one of the most complicated characters in comics today, and personally, I love that fact.

Score: 8 out of 10.I love the fact that when Daken hallucinates about Wolverine, Wolvie is holding a big mug of beer. How very unthreatening.