Best of the Rest! May 1st edition.

Hey all, it's time for the first of FIVE Best of the Rest posts in May!  Yep, May is one of those months where we're gonna end up with five Wednesdays, so I'll be getting even more comics, which means you guys will be getting even more reviews!  So it's a win/win!  Or a lose/lose, depending on your prerogative.  Anyway, the usual rules apply here.  I'll get this party started with a few reviews, and then JT will take over with a few reviews of his own, but in blue text.  And if the last few BotR posts are any indication, much longer reviews than I've been busting out...  Seriously, JT, when did you become Mr. Wordsmith!?  I'm gonna hear it for that remark...  Anyway, let's get this party started.

Thanos Rising #2: This issue brings us a 15 (or so) year old Thanos, who is on a quest to discover why he is different from all of his fellow Eternals.  To that end, he's been dissecting various creatures, but has yet to find anything.  The girl who is still hanging around him(who I STILL say is Death), recommends Thanos ply his trade on something more complex...  To that end, Thanos kidnaps and kills two of his classmates, in the name of science.  Or at least that's what Thanos tells himself at first.  However, he soon realizes that he enjoys the torture and murder, and that when he is killing, he doesn't feel alone.  Still, Thanos craves answers about why he's different, so this issue ends with Thanos capturing and preparing to dissect his own mother.  Now THIS is more like the Thanos I remember!  Sure, the stuff with the girl/Death probably doesn't need to be in here(I don't like the idea that Death had a role in Thanos's obsession with her), but I still could be wrong about her being Death...  Who knows, maybe she's actually the woman who ends up bearing Nebula...  Regardless, this mini-series is still hitting almost all the right notes for me.  Score: 8 out of 10.

X-Factor #255: Mephisto ends up defeating the other Hell Lords and puts an end to the Hell on Earth war.  He makes himself a palace and has apparently become the ruler of not only Hell, but the entire world.  Tier decides that instead of hanging back he'd go and face Mephisto.  Mephisto is aware of this and relishes Tier's challenge.  Plus, Monet apparently dies while fighting Guido and Madrox is still a demon.  I enjoyed this issue way more than the past few Hell war issues.  Maybe that's because this storyline is coming to a close...  I don't know.  Anyway, this storyline is actually what the Age of Ultron SHOULD be.  A self contained story in one of the Avengers titles...  Just sayin'.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Iron Man #9: Iron Man hires Death's Head to help him track down 451.  However, it turns out 451 hired Death's Head first, and Death's Head leads Iron Man into 451's clutches.  This one ends with 451 revealing he had been working with Tony's old man...  Wha?!  Um, yeah, this one was weird...  I'm not even going to say anything about that ending yet...  I'll give Kieron Gillen another issue before I flip out about Tony's father working with an alien who hadn't even been around until 3 issues ago...  THIS is the story they wanted to coincide with Iron Man 3!?  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Indestructible Hulk #7: After some brawling between the Frost Giants and Thor and Hulk, one of the Frost Giants transforms into one of Bruce Banner's assistants and infiltrates the group...  Didn't know Frost Giants could do that...  The Frost Giants want access to Banner's portal technology, thus the ruse.  However, SHIELD shut the portal down, which has left Banner and company stranded.  Oh, and it turns out that Hulk actually didn't lift Thor's hammer last issue, it was only moving because Thor was calling it back to him...  Which is what I was hoping to see here.  Besides that, not much to say here.  I'm not really feeling this storyline...  It's not horrible or anything, it's just not my cup of tea.  Score: 6 out of 10.

Ultimate X-Men #26: The all-female power struggle continues!!!  Kitty and Mach 2 join forces since the US government wanted to take Utopia's land back.  Jean decides to help them since she didn't want Utopia toppled by the government, because Jean wanted to absorb the Utopia mutants into Tian.  And we find out that Psylocke has been manipulating both sides to her own ends.  I don't know what the hell Brian Wood is going for here...  He's already writing one X-Women book, why is he turning this series into another!?  And how is Psylocke able to spy on, and mask her actions from Jean, who is, presumably, more powerful that Psylocke?!  Seriously, if it wasn't for Jimmy Hudson, I would be SO done with this series...  Score: 6 out of 10.

Invincible Universe #2: Stedman's forces manage to hold off the dragon long enough for Robot to fix up Liu. Liu manages to reabsorb the dragon and teleports away, not even thanking an irked Stedman.  On top of that, Stedman's assistant dies during the dragon attack, which leads to us seeing a softer side of Cecil.  So I liked this comic...  Sue me.  What can I say, I was always a mark for Cecil, so yeah, this comic hits just the right notes for me.  Plus I've been a fan of Todd Nauck's work since Young Justice, so that helps.  Anyway, if you're a fan of little known, obscure characters, like I am, then this is a series you should definitely check out.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Detective Comics #20: In this issue we see Batman finally pursue Ignatius "Emperor Penguin" Oglivy after robbing a bank. Batman arrives at the former home of the Oswald Cobblepot and is met by the Emperor Penguin who is now a monster of a man. Having tampered with and used Man-Bat serum for speed, a serum from Poison Ivy to give him tough, bark-like skin, and venom to make him extremely strong. Emperor Penguin surprisingly beats the hell out of Batman and then ties a chain around his neck and hangs him from a tree. Batman is then saved by Cobblepot of all people, who wants his life back and is willing to help Batman to beat Oglivy. Batman takes the fight to Emperor Penguin a second time, this time fighting him as a monster instead of a man, and manages to take him down with acid and a high-powered taser. Afterwards, we see Cobblepot give Bruce Wayne back the building he'd stole from under him, renaming it after Martha Wayne, then telling Bruce he can have the spotlight, he just wants the shadows. In the epilogue we see Emperor Penguin take out the main boss in Blackgate Prison and deems himself "Emperor Blackgate". I liked this issue, Emperor Blackgate's backstory made sense, he's been built as a threat and I can easily see him taking the role Black Mask once had. This has been a pretty awesome first arc by Layman and I'm interested in what he has planned next. Score: 8/10

Earth 2 #12: In the most recent issue of Earth 2 we see the newly christened Doctor Fate finally engage in battle with Wotan. Across the world in China, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern investigate the death of GL's dead boyfriend and stumble upon a shipping container full of a bunch of dead Parademons. GL's ring notifies him that he's needed elsewhere and he heads off to join Flash in Boston while Hawkgirl continues the investigation. While the two mystical beings face off, Flash and Green Lantern run interference and keep the peace while protecting civilians and taking down the government officials that attack the heroes. Fate eventually takes down Wotan and banishes him to another dimension. Afterwards, Fate, Flash, Flash's Mom and Green Lantern, who reveals his identity of Alan Scott to his allies, offers them a place to stay, since the government knows who Jay and his mother are and are after them. Before they can take him up on his offer, Fate informs them that the evil Steppenwolf has taken control of a dangerous country named Dherain. This was a fine issue, nothing great but far from bad. My only problem was how Wotan was built as a threat in the last few issues and talked about how much better he'd become to best Doctor Fate, then he's easily dispatched in Fate's first battle as the new Doctor Fate. It hurt the credibility they'd used the past issues to establish. Score: 6.5/10

And that's it for Mr. Wordsmith! I planned on reviewing Green Arrow but due to an extremely busy weekend that leads into an extremely busy week, I didn't have the time. But it was my last issue, so sadly I don't plan on reviewing anymore issues. Now let me end this post before I give X more ammo to call me names for giving you guys detailed reviews. Speaking of which, be sure to check X's Throwback Tuesday post tomorrow for a good laugh. Til next time, this is JT, signing off!

Best of the Rest! April 3rd edition.

Hey X-Maniacs, X here to start another Best of the Rest post.  As always, I'll toss a few reviews out there, and then my erstwhile lackey, JT, will add a few reviews.  JT's reviews will have blue text.  And yeah, enough talk, let's knock these reviews out.

Indestructible Hulk #6: Bruce and his science crew use some uru Thor lent SHIELD(that's weird...) to find some mysterious element in Jotunheim(where the Frost Giants lurk).  Thor from the past shows up(wha?!) as do Frost Giants.  Bruce hulks up, and all of this leads to Hulk lifting Thor's hammer...  Yeah, under no circumstances should Hulk ever lift Thor's hammer.  So I'm guessing either a) the hammer rose because it was heading back to Thor, or b) this is a wacky alternate dimension where anybody can lift the hammer.  Regardless, this issue seemed kind of average-ish to me.  With Mark Waid and Walter Simonson, I was expecting more than this.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Stormwatch #19: What the HELL happened to this comic?!  Ugh...  This issue was horrible, and nearly impossible to figure out...  Some aliens kill Adam One at the beginning of time(?), which alters reality(you'd think DC would shy away from doing THAT...), leading to Stormwatch being called Skywatch. with (some) different members.  It was a mess and it ended with a Lobo appearance.  So yeah, I hated it and hope that Jim Starlin rights this ship really fast.  This used to be my favorite DC comic...  Score: 3 out of 10.

Hypernaturals #10: We seem to be inching ever closer to finding out that Sublime was right and that the Quantinuum AI may just be up to no good.  Or maybe it's just trying to protect humanity...  Regardless, Sublime has had more than enough of working with the Hypernaturals and takes off.  As for Evil Sublime, he's attacking Thinkwell's homeworld.  So yeah, I finally managed to read this series, from issue #1-10, and I liked it.  DnA doing a space tale is always a good thing, and this series is no different.  Sublime is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine too.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Venom #33: This issue revolves around Toxin(Eddie Brock) battling against the mysterious(still unnamed!) cannibal from last issue.  The cannibal escapes from Toxin and ends up running into Venom.  This one ends with Venom knocking the cannibal out and coming face-to-face with Toxin.  Which is what I've been waiting for!!  This issue proved something important to me...  If Cullen Bunn stays away from all the demonic and supernatural junk, he CAN write a good Venom series!  He proved it with the U-Foes and he proved it again here.  Eddie vs a cannibal?  Flash vs the cannibal?  Flash vs Eddie?  Yes, please!  Here's hoping Bunn stays away from demons and lets Flash face the types of threats you'd expect a spider-family member to face.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Winter Soldier #17: So yeah, some stuff happens and this issue ended...  *sigh* Fine, I'll try a bit harder than that...  Nick Fury's disembodied head tells Bucky to go after the Electric Ghost, who went all Super-Joker and committed like 57 terrorist acts in one day.  Bucky ends up going to the Ghost's satellite(wait, what?!) and is defeated by her.  Oh yeah, and Bucky's elderly sidekick, Robards, defeats a mini-MODOK off panel because why not.  Yep, I'm done with this series.  This comic was as bad as anything I've read all year, and I'm not gonna waste my money anymore.  Bucky, you deserve so much better than this...  Hopefully this book gets cancelled and a better writer gets a new series down the road.  Score: 0 out of 10.  The first imperfect score in quite some time...

Ultimate X-Men #25: Jean heads to Utopia because Kitty is an arrogant bitch in Jean's mind and shouldn't be leading the mutant people.  Amen, Jean!!!  Besides that, Jimmy is plotting with Warpath from Mach 2's crew and Psylocke is plotting against Mach 2.  So basically, we have a 4 way power struggle brewing between Kitty, Mach 2, Jean and Psylocke...  Um, couldn't there be ONE male character trying to take leadership of Utopia?!  I mean, FOUR women are vying for the throne!?  Very, very weird...  Needless to say, I'm in Jean's corner, because Evil Jean is awesome.  Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.

Green Lantern #19: We pick things up with Hal Jordan who now inexplicably looks exactly like Geoff Johns for some stupid ass reason still in Black Hand's ring as he contemplates his next move. Sinestro's returned to Korugar to get help from his people to take on the First Lantern, but he shows up and feeds off of their emotions. When Sinestro manages to save his people, the First Lantern changes it so he didn't, cause he can change time or something. Anyway, The First Lantern destroys Korugar, leaving Sinestro floating through space and his planet's debris when he finds himself in front of his Yellow Lantern. Also, Hal decides to kill himself while in the ring so he can wield the Black Hand's Black Lantern powers, so he flings himself off a cliff. Well, I hated this. I don't know much about the lantern because I refuse to follow GL Corps, New Guardians and Red Lanterns to keep up with this storyline. The way he changed it so Sinestro lost after winning was a giant screw you to the readers, and it looks like Sinestro will be wielding fear again. Plus, Geoff Jordan annoys me... how do you just randomly change Hal to a pudgy faced Geoff Johns? Ugh. Score: 2/10 only because Geoff Jordan killed himself.

Green Arrow #19: After the odd cliffhanger of Ollie falling to his death in the last issue, we see Ollie survives (SHOCKING!!!) and engages Komodo in battle. Surprisingly, Oliver manages to get the drop on Komodo, but Oliver is suddenly shot with an arrow by Komodo's daughter. Komodo's unhappy about her showing up and Ollie uses the distraction of her and the police to get away. The issue ends with Oliver being picked up by his newest tech guy and pulling an arrow out of his leg before blacking out in pain. This issue fell flat for me, the first two issues started out promising but Komodo and his daughter and the mystery of Oliver's longtime dead dad is not keeping me interested. I'll probably give this series one more issue and if things don't turn around I'll end up dropping it. Score: 4/10

And that's it for this week's Best of the Rest post! I had a few books I wanted to include but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, so ah well. Due to my busy schedule, X is going to post a scan or something tomorrow since the only two books I've read and planned on reviewing were better as blurbs than full reviews. Anyway, til next time, this is JT and his erstwhile lackey X, signing off!

Best of the Rest! Week of 3/13/13.

Hey there X-Maniacs, X here with some explaining to do...  So I've become horribly obsessed with Civilization 5, and have been spending entirely too much time playing that game.  At the expense of the blog. Yeah, I know, bad X...  Truth be told though, it's not completely my fault, as the past two weeks have seen me bring home a ton of mediocre books...  I've been giving out 7 out of 10's like there's no tomorrow!  To rectify things(and to make sure I post more than JT!), I'm gonna dust off that old tried and true blog post, The Best of the Rest!  Basically, I'll take a quick look at everything I've read(and haven't reviewed), and throw some thoughts out there.  Don't expect in depth reviews(or competent work, but if you're reading this, you probably don't expect anything competent to begin with!), just some thoughts, and a score.  Okay, we set?  Great.  Let's get this polished off.

Walking Dead #108: Jesus takes Rick to see Ezekiel, who has a tiger...  Yeah, I'm not sure how a frigging tiger managed to live through the zombie apocalypse, or ended up with Ezekiel, but here we are.  Ezekiel wants to team up with Rick's group and attack Negan, however, Rick has some reservations when he sees that one of Negan's men had defected to Ezekiel's side.  I enjoyed this issue, as always.  Kirkman is always strong here.  Negan is still a wonderfully over-the-top asshole, and I can't wait to see him get his comeuppance from Rick, although I will be really sad to see him go.  He's a fantastic villain...  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #2: Dammit, I want to love this series...  I really do...  But so far I'm just not feeling it...  This issue brings Taskmaster into the fold, as SHIELD rescues him from Bagalia(that villain country that isn't at all a rip-off of DC's Zandia...).  But wait, it looks like Tasky is a double-agent.  I mean, I should like everything going on here...  Taskmaster, obscure villains like Crossfire and Mentallo, Nick Spencer writing it all, but it just hasn't clicked for me yet.  I'm still hopeful here, but that hope is slowly diminishing.  Score: 4 out of 10.

Thor: God of Thunder #6: This issue was the Gorr origin extravaganza!!  And it was pretty good, as expected.  We find out why Gorr hates gods(they failed his family repeatedly), and see where he gets his powers from(aliens).  Like I said, this was a good issue.  Would I have liked to see some Thor?  Yes, of course.  Even with no Thor at all, this was still one of the better books I read this week, so no complaints here.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Thunderbolts #6: And the storyline from hell continues...  It's been SIX issues now!  And the team is STILL doing their first mission!!  Madman died here, so that's a plus, but I just want the team to get the hell off that damn island and fight some real villains already!  Thankfully, the first part should be accomplished with the next issue, but really, where's Baron Zemo and some Masters of Evil to fight these T-Bolts?!  Instead we're getting a Punisher/Elektra/Deadpool love triangle...  Weird...  Score: 3 out of 10.

Superboy #18:  This series continues to be oddly readable.  Probably because there are three writers here, meaning we have Tom DeFalco and Tony Lee to filter Scott Lobdell's garbage.  Superboy spends this issue fighting Plasmus, while Dr. Psycho takes a peek into SB's mind.  Oh yeah, Lex Luthor is in SB's mind for some reason...  To be honest, this issue is kind of what Thunderbolts needs.  A protagonist(Superboy) battling an antagonist(Plasmus).  Simple.  Throw in Dr. Psycho and Lex(kind of) and you have a good comic!  From DC!  Go figure.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Fantastic Four #5: Have I mentioned that I hate Franklin and Valeria?  I have?  Good, because this issue did nothing to change that.  Those two are so annoying.  Throw in a story that sees Julius Caesar turn out to be a time-travelling alien shape-shifter(yup...), and you have a recipe for disaster.  On the plus side, we're moving forward with the main storyline, as Sue has learned of Reed's condition.  But on the negative side?  Everything else.  Score: 3 out of 10.

Ultimate X-Men #24: I am still so conflicted about this series...  It's really not bad...  If I overlook my blinding hatred of Kitty Pryde...  How is she the leader of mutantkind...  I mean Storm is RIGHT THERE!  But yeah, back to the story.  Mach Two and the evil mutants are up to no good, Utopia is flourishing and elements of the government aren't pleased to see that.  It's really not bad.  I like most of the characters here. Jimmy is awesome, I like seeing Warpath and Psylocke with the evil mutants, even Mach Two has potential as a mini-Magneto.  But Kitty...  Grrr...  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Huzzah, I'm done!  Seven comics, one post.  I very well may try to do a post like this every week on Monday.  That way I can to three or four in depth reviews for Thursday and Saturday, while covering everything else on Monday.  But, as with everything I do, that's subject to change.  Anyway, hope ya enjoyed reading this(I actually enjoyed typing it up!), and until next time, X out.

Ultimate X-Men #22

First of two reviews tonight is Ultimate X-Men.  Here's hoping this is a good one...

Ultimate X-Men #22:

Summary: Many of the world's governments are mistrustful of the mutant seed the citizens of Utopia came up with, and aren't interested in using it, basically because it would put all of the farmers of the world out of business.  Third world countries welcome it though.  On top of that, Husk returned to Utopia, much to the delight of Iceman and the chagrin of Kitty.  After Iron Man halts another attempted attack on Utopia, he comes up with a plan with Kitty to make the world think the mutant seed was destroyed  while Tony worked behind the scenes to get the seed accepted by the world's governments.  This one ends with Mach Two leaving the main Utopia area with her group of miscreants (now including Husk and Iceman), Iron Man finally leaving the reservation, and a shadowy group of government types plotting against Utopia.

Thoughts: Yeah, needless to say, I was not feeling this comic at all...  It just never grabbed me...  I'm honestly not all that interested in Kitty vs Mach Two(who would be?!), and couldn't care less about those two having a power struggle.  I guess that's probably my main problem with this comic in a nutshell actually.  The only character I care about at all is Jimmy.  I don't like 616 Kitty, Ultimate Kitty, any Kitty!  Add the fact that this series has been kind of stagnant since the mutants arrived in Utopia, and I can easily see myself dropping this series after another issue or so.  Here's hoping something interesting happens soon.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Fun, movies, women, Tony gets it all!

Ultimate X-Men #21

One more review for the night(that's a lie!  There's actually another!!) and I've polished off 6 reviews in three nights...  Just like the good old days!  Anyway, we'll finish this week off with a review of Ultimate X-Men.

Ultimate X-Men #21

Summary: On Utopia, Kitty Pryde(with the backing of Tony Stark) meets the press and says the the mutant nation was giving the world the seed they had created, a seed that would grow anywhere, regardless of the environment   Needless to say, a lot of the media is dubious of Kitty and her so-called mutant seed.  Some of Kitty's own people are also angry with her, as they resent being stuck on Utopia and don't like Kitty's olive branch to humanity.  Later on, a group of mercenaries attack Utopia, but the mercs are taken down pretty easily since Tony was still there and had his Iron Patriot armor with him.  Kitty demands answers from the mercs, and when they won't talk, Jimmy threatens to start popping claws into heads.  That makes Kitty freak out and start screaming at Jimmy(the hell!?) about how they had to be peaceful.  Jimmy asks what they were supposed to do when they were being attacked by guys with guns, so Iron Patriot strolls over and tells them that they couldn't be completely pacifist  nor could they run around attacking everybody.  Um, thanks Tony...  And THAT ends this issue.

Thoughts: What the hell was with Tony and his bizarre pep-talk !  "Now you can't be completely peaceful...  But you can't be warlike..."  Thanks for that sage advice, Tony...  The weird ending notwithstanding, this issue wasn't all that bad.  I enjoyed the middle of this book with Mach Two continuing to plot against Kitty, and was interested to see Jean monitoring the situation in Tian.  I will say this, I don't get what Mach Two wanted to do here...  I mean, I hate Kitty as much as ANYBODY, but Mach Two's plan seemed to be, "We'll attack the humans."  There are like what, 20 mutants living in Utopia?  What are they going to attack? A small town?  A large supermarket?  But hey, she hates Kitty which makes her alright in my book!  Other than Mach Two though, this current mutant seed storyline really isn't doing it for me...  Here's hoping we go somewhere else pretty soon.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Can't we all just get along?!?

Ultimate X-Men #18

So in the end I decided to review Ultimate X-Men instead of New Mutants(which was kind of boring) or Winter Soldier(which was FANTASTIC, but would have taken a lot of effort to write a semi-coherent review for).  Of course, I've already posted mini-reviews for both New Mutants and Winter Soldier over at the forum, as well as scores and thoughts.  So hit the forum up if you're interested in talking about those two books, or any comics really.  Anyway, last review of the week time.  Let's get to it.

Ultimate X-Men #18

Summary: Kitty Pryde successfully leads her ragtag mutant army against the Sentinel force, taking down the Sentinels and apparently ending the menace of William Stryker once and for all(we can only hope...).  While Kitty and her group are fighting for their lives, Rogue is fooling around with Quentin Quire, who can touch Rogue(or at least make Rogue think he can touch her).  After the battle, Nick Fury sets up a meeting between Kitty and the new president of the US in the Ultimate Marvel U, Captain America.  Cap basically offers Kitty a reservation for mutantkind to live on(because we all know reservations worked out SO well for Native Americans!) or a cure to their mutations.  In other words, they can live on a reservation or not be mutants anymore...  Hmm, decisions  decisions ..  Anyway, Kitty acts all aghast that Cap would dare to offer her a chance to get rid of her mutation(and all of the hatred that goes along with it) and leaves the meeting crestfallen.

Thoughts: Okay, I'm just gonna come out and say it...  Is it REALLY that bad to have your mutation "cured"?  I mean living a normal life, NOT being attacked by crazed robots or wild bigots, is that REALLY a bad thing?  But naturally, Kitty acts like Cap pissed on her leg or something when he broached the subject.  Go figure.  If anything, the reservation idea should have disturbed her more, because, much like Utopia, putting a bunch of mutants in a stationary place is a recipe for disaster.  Especially in the Ultimate U, where humans hate mutants even more than in the 616(probably deservedly so due to Magneto's antics).  On top of that, my hatred of Kitty is well documented  so I don't like her as the "face" of mutantkind.  Besides those little gripes though, this comic told a good story and hopefully got rid of William Stryker.  Now let's hope he stays gone...

Score: 7 out of 10.

Oh great...  MORE Sentinels!!!

Ultimate X-Men #11

This series has been SO bizarre! There have been times when I've flat out wanted to drop it, while other times I've enjoyed it. As it is, this series is my lone link to the Ultimate Universe, so here's hoping it's good.

Ultimate X-Men #11:

Story Points:
-The Nimrod Sentinels attack Camp Angel.
-John Walker helps the mutant children(and Storm) escape from the Sentinels.
-With the Nimrod's being unstoppable and all, the president of the United States ceded control of the southwest to the Sentinels... Wait, what?!
-This one ends with the Sentinels creating a Mastermold Sentinel in the desert.
-Oh yeah one more thing, that Mastermold had better not be Stryker...

Thoughts: This comic FLEW along. There wasn't a slow moment, and the story just flowed from one page to the next. I can't say there was ever a moment when I was bored or anything. As for the story itself, it was pretty good... It wasn't great, and I'm curious to see where Nick Spencer is going here, but it WAS a good read, which is all I ask for.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Ultimate X-Men #10

One more review for the night, to complete the comic book trifecta, as this one is from Marvel. Well, actually Ultimate Marvel... Same difference...

Ultimate X-Men #10:

Summary: Camp Angel has fallen and the government's officials have been taken prisoner by the angry mutants who used to be captives there. Storm doesn't think the mutants should kill the government officials who were in charge of the camp, since that would make the mutants as bad as, if not worse, than their former guards. On the other hand we have Stacy X, who feels the mutants should wreak a bloody vengeance on their former guards. Storm manages convince all of the mutants in the camp to take a democratic approach to the situation and vote on which direction they wanted to go. The vote comes back tied(really?!), at which point Colossus, who had been locked in solitary confinement emerges to cast his vote. Storm seems confident that Colossus would see things her way, at least until he crushes the skull of one of the officials(!), throwing his lot in with Stacy X and her followers.

Thoughts: Here's the thing. The story here is good, the art is good, everything is good. Except for the fact that we STILL haven't gone back to Jimmy and the real X-Men for a whole mess of issues now... We just keep setting up different stories in different areas... Which is well and good and all, provided we actually get to see the main characters from time to time! The flow of this series is just so weird...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

This scene desperately needed a comical “CRUNCH” sound effect...

Ultimate X-Men #9

Okay, I'm gonna start hitting speed-review mode, seeing as that I still have a few books to read and the coming week is gonna be murder on me work-wise. So let's start blowing through these reviews! As always, if I skip something or glance over it, send me a comment or an e-mail and I'll be happy to fill you in more.

Ultimate X-Men #9:

Summary: This issue takes place fully in Camp Angel, which is a mutant... um, let's say internment camp, just to be nice. Storm has had a large role in keeping the mutants relatively calm, at least until the mutants see Valerie Cooper's broadcast where she says the US government was responsible for creating the world's mutants. This sends the trapped mutants into a tizzy, so the commanding officer at the camp tries to calm the mutants down by making a speech which basically amounts to him saying that he had no clue what the government was talking about. By this point Storm has cut her hair and is through playing nice, which leads to this issue ending with Storm confronting the commanding officer after destroying a Sentinel.

Thoughts: Meh. This was the third(it was at least the third actually) issue of this series where we didn't see Jimmy and his band of X-Men... Which is kind of weird. Last issue was a spotlight on Quicksilver(or Jean, or something), while this one was a spotlight on Storm. So we had a storyline about a Stryker(I don't care to remember which one), and then we moved away from the main team for a few issues... Of a new series!!! That's just plain bizarre. And since this issue ended in a cliffhanger, you'd have to think we'll STILL be away from the main team of X-Men for at least one more issue. That's all kinds of strange...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Now that Storm cut her hair you KNOW it's on!

Ultimate X-Men #8

Last review of this evening is the latest issue of Ultimate X-Men. I'm still extremely hopeful about this series, especially considering who the writer is and the fact that we don't have the idiotic “No More Mutants” rule to follow here, but so far this series, while good at times, hasn't quite reached that “great” plateau... Here's hoping the greatness starts............ Now!

Ultimate X-Men #8:

Summary: This issue opens with Valerie Cooper meeting with Nick Fury, mainly to complain about the fact that Fury had allowed Karen Grant(that would be Jean Grey) to fall into the hands of Xorn and Zorn... While Valerie is complaining, Nick shocks her by having Karen walk into their office, even though Karen was supposed to be on the other side of the world in the Celestial City. Karen explains to Valerie that she was powerful enough to trick the entire world into thinking she was in the Celestial City, including anybody who thought they saw video footage of her. Valerie is thrown for a loop and leaves the office, at which point Nick has Karen force Valerie to forget ever seeing Karen there. From there we head to Xorn, who asks to see Karen. We learn that in actuality Karen was physically with Xorn, and had sent a telepathic manifestation to fool Nick Fury into thinking she was actually with him. This issue ends with Karen changing into her true Jean Grey form and swearing her allegiance to Xorn.

Thoughts: Well, there were a few interesting little things going on here. Unfortunately, I don't care about the SEAR, Celestial Cities, or Xorn/Zorn... So yeah, that definitely hurt my enjoyment of this one. If you liked the Ultimate Hawkeye mini-series from a few months ago, then this is a must read comic. If, like me, you weren't a big fan of that mini, then this issue probably isn't going to be very impressive to you.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

So wait, this is a double-double cross?!

Ultimate X-Men #7

First up today is the latest issue of Ultimate X-Men. The best thing about the Ultimate version of the X-Men? No Decimation.

Ultimate X-Men #7:

Summary: This issue basically recounts Quicksilver's last few actions, which all led to the Nimrod Sentinels gaining access to Cerebro technology. Quicksilver blames his thought to be dead sister, the Scarlet Witch for this calamity, since he was following her plans... However, Wanda points out that Pietro DIDN'T follow her plans to the letter, as he boinked some random woman when he was supposed to be meeting with “God”, an action that screwed up her well crafted plans... Supposedly. Wanda tells Pietro to go and beg for God's forgiveness, so Pietro heads to Egypt, where followers of God were worshiping outside a cave. Pietro enters and begs God's forgiveness, and is granted the absolution he wanted. And who was God you ask? How about his father, the thought to be dead Magneto!!

Thoughts: I love that Nick Spencer is basically undoing all of the bullshit that Jeph Loeb did during that horrendous Ultimatum event... Now I'm I'm sure some of you are thinking that's a somewhat hypocritical thing for me to say seeing as that I'm usually such a stickler for continuity. But when it comes to Ultimatum? I say it was SUCH a terrible event it SHOULD be forgotten, and erased from continuity! I mean hell, if DC can erase their entire history, why can't I pretend Ultimatum never happened? Anyway, this was an okay comic with an ending I never saw coming, seeing as that EVERYTHING was pointing towards Apocalypse being the “God” in the cave. The Magneto reveal was a HUGE swerve that has me mildly interested in the next few issues here.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Man do I hope that's not a shapeshifter...

Ultimate X-Men #6

ALRIGHT!! It's time to dig into my favorite comic book series, Ultimate William Stryker, starring William Stryker, written AND illustrated by, you guessed it, William Stryker! Yes, that was sarcasm(it doesn't travel well through the Internet...), and yes, saying I am sick and tired of William Stryker is akin to saying I am sick and tired of slamming my head into a brick wall... Both make me irritable, and both leave me with a pounding headache. Here's hoping someone(ANYONE!!) kills Stryker so we are rid of him... At least in the Ultimate Universe.

Ultimate X-Men #6:

What Happened: Sweet, Stryker IS dead! Now I have to become a fan of Ultimate Kitty Pryde! Anyway, Stryker DID manage to take control of all of the Nimrod robots in the United States before he died, and since the Nimrods had been recently uploaded with information from Cerebra(which Quicksilver gave the US as a show of good faith), they could track down and kill mutants anywhere. Kitty manages to use her phasing powers to protect many of the mutants Stryker was planning on publicly executing, so the Nimrods leave since they had way easier targets to get to elsewhere. From there, Kitty, Iceman, Human Torch and Jimmy Hudson bring the mutants to their base in the Morlock tunnels, and are followed by Rogue. Rogue tells the mutants that she wasn't REALLY a traitor, but was trying to gain Stryker's trust so he'd touch her(to “cure” her), at which time she'd swipe his powers from him. Kitty doesn't believe her and demands to know who gave Rogue such a plan, but Rogue can't tell Kitty and company... Why is that? Because the man who gave her the plan to steal Stryker's powers asked Rogue to keep a secret for him. That man? Professor Xavier(!!!)!

Thoughts: Wooo, Stryker is dead! That means this comic will be getting, at the very least, a 7 for a score! Besides Stryker being gone, the rest of this comic was pretty solid. We have several mysteries going on, such as Quicksilver conveniently handing the Cerebra tech to the US government where it falls into Stryker and the Nimrod's hands, as well as Prof. X apparently being alive. Am I angry that the Prof is alive, even though he was killed off during Ultimatum? Nope, not at all, because as far as I'm concerned, EVERYTHING that happened in Ultimatum should be disregarded because it was complete and total garbage. I have to say, things seem to be looking somewhat up for this series going forward.

Score: 8 out of 10.Yay, Sentinels...

Ultimate X-Men #5

Okay, let's stick with the X-Men but switch things up and check out the Ultimate X-Men! This will be the last comic I review in 2011, as I'll be posting my Year End Awards next(probably around 7 PM Saturday). So let's hope we close out 2011 with a bang!

Ultimate X-Men #5:

What Happened: Quicksilver manages to smooth talk the president of the United States into sending a fleet of Nimrod Sentinels after William Stryker in exchange for Cerebra, which would allow the president to know where all of the mutants in the US were. Valerie Cooper is fully against making a deal with Quicksilver, but the president feels the public support for collecting the free mutants would outweigh everything else, and as such makes the deal with Quicksilver. As for Valerie, she begins to dig deep into William Stryker's files to see what his issues were. Speaking of Stryker, he's in Times Square(you know, this is the FORTH time in two nights a comic I've read has had major action taking place in Times Square) curing mutants of their powers and then murdering them for not repenting their sins. Iceman, the Human Torch, Jimmy Hudson and Rogue arrive on the scene, and before they can attack Stryker, Rogue betrays the rest of the team since she had a preexisting deal with Stryker, where she would betray several mutants to Stryker in exchange for being expunged of the “sin” of being a mutant. Shroud arrives on the scene and attacks Stryker before he can kill anybody else, at which time Valerie makes the shocking discovery that Stryker himself was a mutant, and that his power was to control machines. With that, all of the Nimrod Sentinels the president sent to Times Square to take Stryker out fall under Stryker's sway.

The Good: The Stryker revelation was a nice little twist that I didn't see coming. The cliffhanger was good. If this team of X-Men were to stay like this(maybe minus Rogue), I'd be fine with that. I enjoyed the parts with Quicksilver.

The Bad: I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating... I am sick of Stryker!!! Okay, so now he's a mutant... Fine, that's something different, but he's STILL the same boring-ass character he's always been! Now he just has some powers... With Rogue betraying the team to Stryker, there's NO reason she should be allowed to stay on this team. Forgiving her would be, to me, unforgivable. While the cliffhanger was good, it means we're stuck with yet ANOTHER Marvel comic in which Stryker appears next issue...

The Verdict: This comic was okay, even with Stryker in it. I'm pretty certain that Nick Spencer should be able to have himself a nice little run on this series... Once he gets away from Stryker!!!

Score: 6 out of 10.I have to admit, I'm not usually for killing characters off, but when Stryker gets whacked I'll be doing my happy dance!

Ultimate X-Men #4

Moving onward, it's time to take a look at the Ultimate Marvel series that's the safest on my pull list, Ultimate X-Men. I've already dropped Ultimate Spidey because two monthly Bendis books would be too much for my sanity, and Jonathan Hickman tends to write over my head, which is making me question whether or not to keep up with Ultimates. Now, I haven't been that enthralled with THIS series, but it IS my favorite of the bunch... So far...

Ultimate X-Men #4:

Summary: Oh give me a frigging break... This is the William Stryker Special Issue... Every X-comic needs one of THOSE! *sigh* I've already gone on at great lengths about how much Stryker sucks and how much I hate him, so I won't get into it again here. Suffice to say he's the most worthless villain in the X-Men's rogue gallery, his character sucks, and he's been WAY overused lately. Anyway, blah, blah, blah, Stryker hates mutants, blah, blah, blah, Magneto killed his family, blah, blah, blah. Stryker kills a mess of cops in Times Square and opens up a van carrying a mess of mutants, proclaiming that he was gonna kill them. Iceman, Human Torch, Jimmy Hudson and Rogue decide to stop him, but after losing Peter Parker, Shroud doesn't want to help. So the four mutants leave without her and this one ends with the boy Jimmy rescued last issue informing Shroud that Rogue was actually a sleeper agent for Stryker. Because she's a complete and utter moron or something.

Thoughts: Yeah, whatever. There are my thoughts on this one in a nutshell. Wake me when this damned Stryker storyline is over, because I could literally care less about him. Seriously, I'd rather watch paint dry than read ANOTHER story about William Stryker.

Score: 1 out of 10. It would have been a 0 had Jimmy not appeared...Damn did Jimmy get his father's hair or what?!?

Ultimate X-Men #3

First book up for tonight? The third issue of Ultimate X-Men. I honestly expect big things from this title(it's not shackled by the rules the 616 X-books are chained to), and yet it's rehashing an idea from the 616 X-books that I hate... That idea? The Purifiers...

Ultimate X-Men #3:

What Happened: Valerie Cooper, the US's advisor on mutant issues, is shocked to see Quicksilver meeting with the president. It seems Quicksilver wants to assist the US and as such is offering them Cerebro tech to help them locate mutants. Meanwhile William “I suck and am horribly boring” Stryker is planning something nefarious. Back in the Morlock tunnels, Shroud, Iceman, the Human Torch and Rogue are surprised to find a young mutant boy there. The boy and his brother(a big mutant worm looking thing) have brought Jimmy Hudson to the sewers in search of help. It seems Jimmy broke out of Stryker's jails and freed a bunch of fellow mutants before being shot and knocked out. Jimmy eventually wakes up and tells the X-Men(I guess that's who these mutants are now) that they had to move quickly before Stryker struck. Alas, Stryker has already enacted his crazy plan and blows up much of New York's Times Square while babbling about the Lord.

The Good: Jimmy finally showed up(and pretty much joined the X-Men). There's the highlight of this one. I am an unabashed mark for Jimmy Hudson, so I was really happy to see him do something other than get captured in this comic. I liked the parts with Quicksilver, and am intrigued to see what his(and the Scarlet Witch's) plans are. The art here is really good.

The Bad: I HATE WILLIAM STRYKER AND THE PURIFIERS. And it's not a good hate either. You know, like how I hate somebody like Sin. See, I hate Stryker because he's a boring character with zero redeeming qualities, whereas I hate Sin because she's a villain. On the one hand(with Stryker) I don't want to read about him at all because he adds NOTHING to a series. On the other hand I WOULD read a comic with Sin in it because I want to see her get her comeuppance. The hate I feel for Stryker is the kind of hate that will get me to drop a comic book because I don't want to see his boring ass...

The Verdict: Yeah, that was the only thing I'd consider truly bad about this issue... But unfortunately, the main story is revolving around Stryker, which means I didn't enjoy the majority of this comic. Seriously, if almost ANY other villain was in Stryker's place, I'd have enjoyed this one WAY more. As it is, I just want this storyline to end, preferably with Jimmy digging his claws into Stryker's head, thereby ridding the Ultimate Universe of his annoying character forever! There is SUCH potential in this series, but as long as Stryker is in it, that potential can't be reached...

Score: 6 out of 10.Aww... He's just like his daddy!

Ultimate X-Men #2

It's another issue number two for a series, but this time, it's from Marvel... Weird. I enjoyed the first issue of the new Ultimate X-Men book, but am still kind of dubious about the team line-up... But hey, it's the X-Men, so it can't be THAT bad, right?

Ultimate X-Men #2:

Summary: Oh give me a break... *sigh*... This issue gets started with Rev. Stryker and his Purifiers managing to capture Jimmy Hudson... Et tu, Nick Spencer? From there we head to Manhattan where Shroud(Kitty Pryde), Iceman and the Human Torch have emerged from the Morlock tunnels to help Rogue escape from a Nimrod style Sentinel. The trio of mutants attack the Nimrod but have little to no success in defeating it. As a matter of fact, they can barely even put a dent in the thing! Ultimately Shroud tells the boys to retreat to a predetermined location and manages to grab Rogue, fall through the street and land in a passing train, thus escaping. When Shroud and Rogue meet up with the Torch and Iceman later on, Rogue reveals she headed to Manhattan at the behest of God, leading the the Torch(and probably the other two mutants) to believe Rogue had flipped her lid. From there Stryker kills a woman who had helped mutants, and we discover that something fishy was happening in Egypt.

Thoughts: Goddammit! Can't I go six damn months without a damn Stryker in one of the goddamn X-books?! The Purifiers are a group that can be interesting, but in SMALL doses! I mean seriously, since M-Day, they seem to be butting heads with the 616 X-teams every other month. I get that with no new mutant villains in the 616 the X-Men are stuck constantly battling the same hate mongers issue after issue, but we CAN get new mutants villains in the Ultimate Universe! There's no reason for Stryker and the Purifiers to pop up here, especially this early in the series, ESPECIALLY since it wasn't that long since the 616 X-Men battled them! So there's my major complaint about this issue. Other than that, I enjoyed this one. I really like the pairing of Iceman and the Torch, their personalities mesh really well, and the fact that there's a godlike figure emerging from Egypt obviously gives me hope for an Apocalypse storyline. But the Stryker garbage REALLY hurt my enjoyment of this issue. If Jimmy pops a claw in that loser's brain he'll solidify his place as my favorite Ultimate character.

Score: 6 out of 10.Huh, I never realized how much I missed Johnny...

Ultimate X-Men #1

Check it out, it's another #1 comic for me to review! This time it's from Marvel, as the Ultimate Universe continues to get it's makeover. We've already gotten a new Ultimate Spider-Man series and a new Ultimates series, now it's time for the new Ultimate X-Men series.

Ultimate X-Men #1:

Summary: Valerie Cooper, the US liaison on superhuman and mutant affairs, holds a press conference to officially announce what the press had managed to dig up, that the US government was responsible for the creation of mutantkind with some experiments up in Canada as a part of the Weapon X Program some 60 years ago. Needless to say, this news has pissed off the US's allies the world over and has led to widespread rioting throughout the US. From the news conference we head to a couple of characters who will seemingly play a major role in this series... Let's first start with Jimmy Hudson, the star of the recently ended Ultimate X series. Upon hearing that mutants were created by the government, and that his father, Wolverine, was the first mutant created, Jimmy heads off to visit the shuttered Weapon X Project headquarters. Karen Grant(actually Jean Grey) is too late to save a girl, who recently manifested her mutant powers, from her own parents, who had killed the girl since they felt that being dead was preferable to living life as a mutant. Quicksilver interrupts a meeting between Nick Fury and the president of the United States and claims that he wants to help the president with his recent mutant troubles. We also get some glimpses of other mutants(Storm and Colossus to name two) who were living in government sanctioned concentration camps, as was the law(either a mutant surrenders to the feds or they can be shot on sight), and this issue ends with Shadowcat, Iceman and the Human Torch(who were living in the Morlock tunnels), seeing a news report that Rogue was being attacked by a Nimrod sentinel and deciding to head up to the surface to help.

Thoughts: This was a very good start to this series. Granted, I HATE the fact that Shadowcat is going to be the female lead in this series, but if that's the worst thing about this series I can tolerate it. Besides Shadowcat, I like every single other character in this comic book. Jean, Jimmy, the Torch, Iceman, Quicksilver, hell, it's almost like I chose that line-up myself! I'm also fine with the government being responsible for mutantkind in the Ultimate Universe. It's a bit of a stretch that from Wolverine a mutant “virus” formed that led to hundreds(thousands?) of mutants being born, but that's something I can overlook. All in all, this series seems to be in very good hands with Nick Spencer. As a matter of fact, the Ultimate Universe is looking really good in general since Marvel shook it up. And look, Marvel didn't even have to reboot the entire Ultimate Universe to make it interesting!

Score: 9 out of 10. You know, that's the forth 9 score I've handed out today. Methinks somebody needs to find a new favorite number...Wolverine's hairstyle must be genetic or something.