Uncanny X-Force #32

The best thing about this storyline?  It actually has Daken in it.  And he's being written pretty damn well(for a change...).  That's pretty much all the intro I have for this one.

Uncanny X-Force #32

Summary: While Wolverine and Psylocke are breaking into the Brotherhood's underwater base(you have to wonder where the bad guys got that place from), Deadpool is trying to free Evan/Kid Apocalypse from Brotherhood captivity.  Evan isn't sure if he should go with Deadpool, since, you know, X-Force killed his prior self and Fantomex lied about his entire life and all.  Unfortunately for Pool, Daken, AOA Blob and one of the Omega Reds attack him.  Pool surprisingly holds his own against the villains, at least until Evan blasts Pool in the back, with a little mental prodding from the Shadow King.  Meanwhile, AOA Nightcrawler and Mystique have a heart to heart about the 616 Nightcrawler and AOA Mystique.  Mystique promises to serve AOA Blob up to AOA Nightcrawler, provided he betrayed X-Force...  From there, Deadpool is being tortured by that Omega Red, while Daken is getting annoyed by the fact that he has yet to turn Evan to the dark side.  Wolverine finally arrives on the scene, attacking an Omega Red, that skinless dude who hates Fantomex, and Sabretooth.  While that battle is taking place, Psylocke is quietly making her way to Deadpool.  Unfortunately for Psylocke, the Shadow King senses her and drags her on to the astral plane for a confrontation.  Back with Wolvie, he has all but dispatched the bad guys when AOA Nightcrawler and Eva(in her human form) teleport in...  But wait!  It turns out "Eva" is actually Mystique in disguise!  Mystique sticks Wolvie with a mutant power dampening poison and AOA Nightcrawler tells the downed Wolvie that he had indeed turned on him.

Thoughts:  Hey, hey, this was a great comic!  First off, this version of the Brotherhood is probably among my all-time favorites.  It's basically a who's who of X-villains, but without Magneto or Apocalypse there to monopolize the page-time.  There's really not all that much I can say negatively about this one...  Everything played out the way I would have hoped, and this issue ended with all of the heroes in mortal jeopardy...  What more could you want?  Hell, even Daken was written well, which is something I haven't seen since his glory days in Dark Wolverine!  Nope, no complaints here.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.

If you ever wondered what the villains did when there were no heroes around, now you know.

Uncanny X-Force #25

This is a $5 comic, so it better be really good! That is all.

Uncanny X-Force #25:

Story Points:
-Wolverine sends Deadpool into some sort of high tech assassin dealership, where they customize assassins to go after particular targets.
-Psylocke tells Fantomex that what they had was a one night stand and absolutely nothing else. Fantomex is devastated.
-Psylocke tells Wolvie she was leaving the team, since she'd been battered recently with the death of Warren(kind of...) and her brother Jamie.
-Fantomex leaves as well, claiming it was the lack of Warren's money, with the obvious reason being Psylocke leaving.
-AOA Nightcrawler decides he'd stay on.
-Pool gets in trouble and calls for back-up, at which time Wolvie and Nightcrawler are attacked by some lab-grown versions of Omega Red called the Omega Clan, who all seem to hate Wolvie.

Thoughts: This was a welcome issue after the junk we've been dealing with as of late... We got to see that Psylocke IS really hurting as a result of everything that happened to her recently, we saw that Fantomex DOES seem to care more about Psylocke than as a conquest, and we see that AOA Nightcrawler seems to want to stay in this world. This was a really strong first issue for this storyline, although it sure as hell wasn't worth the $5 Marvel was selling it for... Ah Marvel...

Score: 8 out of 10.

Uncanny X-Force #24

Next up is a series that I used to love digging into... Hell, it used to be one of, if not THE first comic books I'd read every week... Nowadays it's relegated to end of the week status... Sad...

Uncanny X-Force #24:

Summary: Psylocke is in mourning over having killed her brother Jamie last issue, and as a result blows Fantomex off. From there we head to Madripoor, where Deadpool, Wolverine and Nightcrawler are planning on killing off AOA Iceman. At first, AOA Iceman manages to stymie the trio, but Nightcrawler, being familiar with his old teammate's powers, abilities and tendencies, manages to trap him in a factory near an open boiler. The heat in the air prevents AOA Iceman from using his powers to their fullest, so Nightcrawler agrees to a fair fight with his former friend, no powers, no weapons, to the death. The two battle for a bit, and Nightcrawler manages to defeat his one-time ally. AOA Iceman begs Nightcrawler for a second chance, promising he'd change and be a good guy again, but Nightcrawler, recalling how callously AOA Iceman betrayed and murdered his teammates, tosses AOA Iceman into the boiler, killing him. From there, Psylocke heads to Fantomex's apartment, strips naked and makes out with him(wha?!).

Thoughts: Well, this issue WAS a step in the right direction. We got away from Otherworld(which is a place/concept I HATE!), the art was WAY better, and the scenes with Nightcrawler and AOA Iceman were well done. I can't say I liked the way this one ended, with what went down(Psylocke!! HA!!!!), and how it happened(really, just like that?), but I can't say I didn't see it coming. Fantomex has been pining for Psylocke since like the first issue of this series, and after how he stuck by her during the Otherworld fiasco, it really was a matter of time before the two hooked up. Still, there's something about a Psylocke/Fantomex relationship I just don't like... I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something there that I don't quite like...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Is it wrong that this scene made me laugh?

Uncanny X-Force #23

Man, I really don't feel like reading this comic... At all... I mean it's an absolute chore to simply pick it up off the nightstand... Well, I brought it, I guess I might as well give it a read. With that introduction going in, that should tell you what to expect me to give this issue score-wise.

Uncanny X-Force #23:

Summary: Psylocke manages to defeat the skinless man who had captured her and Fantomex last issue by injecting some poison in him. Psylocke takes that opportunity to pick up Fantomex's face(yes, his face) and hand it over to him, at which point Fantomex just sort of sticks it back on... Um... Okay then, moving on... While Fantomex was putting his face back on though, the skinless man manages to escape. From there, Psylocke discovers that the rest of X-Force had followed them to Otherworld and were in trouble. Fantomex and Psylocke manage to save Wolverine and Deadpool from the Evil Goat Man, at which time Psylocke comes to the terrible realization that the Evil Goat Man was actually a future version of her brother, Jamie. Psylocke telepathically relays that information to her other brother, Captain Britain, who was fighting against the Evil Goat Man's hordes with Jamie by his side. Psylocke tells Capt. Britain that he had to kill Jamie in order to stop Evil Goat Man from spreading across the multiverse and destroying all of reality. Capt. Britain is unwilling to do it, so Psylocke mentally takes over Capt. Britain's body and has him snap Jamie's neck, an action that causes the Evil Goat Man to vanish, since with Jamie dead he never came to be. With that mess all taken care of, Psylocke scolds Capt. Britain for forcing her to kill Jamie, which ends this issue.

Thoughts: Well, I have to admit, this issue was WAAAAY better than I ever would have expected it to be. I mean I was seriously expecting a score of about a 3 or so based on the other issues of this storyline. Now, I still hated this storyline and hope to never see nor hear of the Captain Britain Corps or Otherworld ever again, but hey, at least this issue wasn't that bad! The swerve at the end with Jamie was well done, and I liked the way Psylocke scolded Capt. Britain for forcing her to do the dirty work so he could remain clean. At least we finished this week off on a high... Kind of...

Score: 6 out of 10.

Man, what is wrong with Captain Britain's face?!

Uncanny X-Force #22

Two reviews to close the week out(finally!). It was going to be three reviews, but I just can't bring myself to read Green Lantern: New Guardians #6... Not even the prospect of using Brightest Day Rules has me interested in cracking that comic open... However, since the upcoming comic week looks to be VERY light, I'll probably read and review GL:NG sometime during the coming week. Probably... Anyway, let's polish off the final books in this week's new comic pile!

Uncanny X-Force #22:

Summary: Nightcrawler manages to shame Wolverine into assisting the citizens of Otherworld against the Goat-headed Guy. While Wolvie and Deadpool are hunting down Goat Guy(with Nightcrawler and Meggan standing guard over their exit), Psylocke is preparing to ferry the rapidly healing Fantomex to the portal back to Earth. Before they reach the portal though, they are stopped by some skinless villain named Weapon III. Apparently Fantomex screwed Weapon III over some years ago and Weapon III became stranded in Otherworld. Needless to say, Weapon III was intent on getting revenge against Fantomex and Psylocke, since it was her father who sentenced him to having his skin torn off... Huh. Back with Wolvie and Pool, they wind up getting attacked by Goat Guy. This issue ends with Weapon III cutting Fantomex's face off in retribution for having lost his own skin.

Thoughts: This issue wasn't that bad! It stayed away from Captain Britain, his idiot brother and that annoying Captain Britain Corps and focused more on Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Deadpool, as well as Psylocke and Fantomex. The parts with Psylocke and Fantomex in particular were well done. Could I have done without Goat Guy and Otherworld? Hell yes! But considering how terrible the past two issues of this storyline have been, this issue was miles better, and that makes me one happy comic fan.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Give me more of this and less of Capt. Britain and I'll be VERY happy!

Uncanny X-Force #21

I really hate the storyline going on in this comic book right now... And it's not a good kind of hate, like when you hate a random super-villain because you're supposed to hate that random super-villain. It's that bad kind of hate where you see the cover of a comic and don't even want to open it up because you know it's gonna suck... Well, all I can do is cross my fingers and hope for the best here...

Uncanny X-Force #21:

Summary: Psylocke rescues Fantomex from the machine that was to execute him, but not before he was injected by a chemical that caused him to begin forgetting his entire life. Meanwhile, a villain with a goat's head fights X-Force outside of Capt. Britain's castle. Eventually goat head guy retreats because his orb was destroyed or something... Psylocke takes Fantomex to some magical forest and asks the leader of the forest to help fix Fantomex's mind. The master of the forest doesn't want to assist Psylocke because he hates her father or some such nonsense, but after Psylocke begs for his help, he reconsiders. And then zombiefied members of the Capt. Britain Corps attacks Capt. Britain's castle.

Thoughts: This was absolutely terrible. There's literally not a single nice thing I can say about this comic book... I could care LESS about EVERYTHING happening here. I hate the Capt. Britain Corps concept, I hate Otherworld, I hate Merlin. I hate it all. So if you liked this comic, awesome. But me? I couldn't have hated it more. What a waste of money...

Score: 0 out of 10.

Yes Rick Remender, this is indeed your worst...

A Quick Look At... Uncanny X-Force #20

And now, Uncanny X-Force. I am SO not looking forward to this story... For the record, I hate the Captain Britain Corps and the entire idea of Otherworld. I just wanted that on the table.

Uncanny X-Force #20:

What Happened: Otherworld is under attack and yet Capt. Britain managed to find the time to kidnap his sister Psylocke and Fantomex. He wants Psylocke to join with him and their usually insane brother Jamie, while he also wanted Fantomex tried for shooting Kid Apocalypse in the head all those issues ago. Upon learning that Psylocke and Fantomex were captured, X-Force heads to Otherworld thanks to Gateway and finds themselves in the middle of a warzone as the Capt. Britain Corps tried to fight off invaders. As for Fantomex, he is found guilty and is sentenced to death.

Thoughts: This was as terrible as I expected it to be. No, I take that back... It was even worse than I feared. How the HELL does Captain Britain have the right to abduct Fantomex and try him for the death of Kid Apocalypse? Yeah, I get that his sister was involved, but so what? Does he abduct ALL child murderers from throughout the multiverse and try them for their crimes? The very idea of this storyline is idiotic, as is the concept of the Captain Britain Corps... But then again I've always hated Capt. Britain, so there's that too...

Score: 2 out of 10.

And here I thought AOA Nightcrawler was going to fit right in here...

Uncanny X-Force #19.1

So this is a special Point One issue of Uncanny X-Force. In other words, if you had never read an issue of Uncanny X-Force before, THIS is the issue that new fans are supposed to be able to jump in to with ease. Right? I mean that IS the point of the Point One comic, right? Let us see what this issue actually gives us...

Uncanny X-Force #19.1:

What Happened: We are back in the Age of Apocalypse where we find the last pieces of humanity trying desperately to stave off extinction at the hands of the new Apocalypse, in this case, the AOA version of Wolverine. A leading figure of the human resistance is William Stryker, because, much like Wolverine, he is contractually obligated to appear in EVERY SINGLE MARVEL COMIC BOOK EVER!!! Anyway, Sabretooth and Jean Grey return from the 616 Marvel Universe and tell Magneto(who has made an alliance with Stryker and his humans) that they had basically gotten everybody else killed... Nice... Then, to make Mags day even worse, he learns that the humans had been cloning his long dead daughter, the Scarlet Witch, with the hope that Jean could combine her telepathy with Wanda's reality altering powers to shut off the mutant gene in the AOA as the 616 version of Wanda did. Mags freaks out and destroys the laboratory, seeing this as an unacceptable act. Before Mags can destroy the last Wanda clone, the city the X-Men and the humans were hiding out in is attacked by Apoca-Wolvie and his Black Legion. Mags disdainfully gives Jean the order to try to use the last remaining Wanda clone to destroy the X-gene across the planet, before heading out to face down Apoca-Wolvie with his wife Rogue by his side. Apoca-Wolvie easy dispatches and slaughters Rogue, and eventually overcomes and kills Mags as well. While that scene plays out, Jean manages to connect her mind with the mind of the Wanda clone and gets Wanda to utter the three words I hate more than any other in the history of the Marvel Universe, “No more mutants.” However, Wanda's spell only effects the mutants across a few dozen feet, meaning that Jean had basically stripped herself and Sabretooth of their powers, but nobody else... HA!! Serves her right! By this point, Apoca-Wolvie strolls into the lab, ready to kill everybody present. Stryker manages to toss a grenade at Apoca-Wolvie, buying Jean, Sabretooth and the other human freedom fighters a chance to escape the city. Unfortunately, Apoca-Wolvie destroys the entire city, killing all of the humans who had taken refuge there.

The Good: Much to my surprise, I liked this story! I know, I'm as shocked as anybody else! Apoca-Wolvie is an awesome looking character. I especially love that Mega Man-esque style blaster he has in the place of his missing hand. Jean and the human freedom fighters plan, as much as I personally detest the idea, was quite smart.

The Bad: I'm tired of seeing my beloved Age of Apocalypse bastardized... Seriously, as far as I'm concerned, the REAL AOA ended after Magneto killed Apocalypse and the bombs fell. This is simply a different, but similar, dimension than the original, awesome AOA. If I see William Stryker in another comic book... Seriously, I don't know what I'll do, but it won't be pretty! Mags could kill Apocalypse in the original AOA, but couldn't stop Apoca-Wolvie, who's skeleton was laced with METAL! See, that just proves my theory that THIS AOA isn't the original AOA! So now Jean and Sabretooth have no powers? Um, why not just kill them then? What the hell kind of jumping on point for X-Force was THIS?!?

The Verdict: This was an incredible bizarre read for me... If I look at this as a continuation of the AOA story, it leaves me feeling pissed off. However, I instead chose to look at it as a What If? type of story, and as a What If? kind of story, this wasn't that bad. Does it make me want to read the upcoming AOA mini-series? HELL NO, mainly because Stryker is involved. But if he wasn't? Believe it or not, I'd have been willing to give that mini a shot. Before I end this post, I have to ask, what exactly is the purpose of these Point One issues? I was originally under the impression the Point One comics were supposed to be good jumping on points for a series. If so, this was a HORRIBLE jumping on point for X-Force, mainly because not a SINGLE member of X-Force showed up! Seriously, shouldn't this have been the first issue of the AOA mini-series, or better yet, an AOA one-shot? THIS story in THIS series just made absolutely zero sense.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Does anybody else hear the Mega Man music when they see Apoca-Wolvie? No? I guess it's just me then...

Uncanny X-Force #19

First review for the week? That honor goes to Uncanny X-Force #19. Sure, the last issue came out JUST last week, and the long-running Dark Angel Saga ended with more of a whimper than a bang, but out of all of the books I picked up this week(21 in all!), this was the one I was most curious to get to, which says a lot for Rick Remender's writing prowess.

Uncanny X-Force #19:

Summary: Fantomex tells Kid Apocalypse(from this point forward, Genesis), that he couldn't return to his home or parents(which was a virtual reality utopia), and that he'd be attending Wolvie's school. Genesis isn't happy about leaving behind his family and life, but seems willing to listen to his “Uncle Cluster”. Wolvie and the rest of X-Force head to Gateway with the Age of Apocalypse X-Men to send them back to the AOA, all except for AOA Nightcrawler, who decides to remain in the 616 Marvel Universe in order to hunt down the AOA refugees(Sugar Man, Dark Beast, AOA Iceman, AOA Blob) who were still hiding out in the 616. Psylocke tries to see if there was anything left of the Warren Worthington she loved, but is heartbroken to discover that he was totally devoid of his former memories and feelings. With a younger clone of Apocalypse heading to his school, Wolverine brings Beast and Kitty Pryde to X-Force's hideout and comes clean to them about the existence of X-Force, as well as the truth behind Genesis. Beast is pretty pissed about Wolverine secretly keeping a hit squad behind his back, but Wolvie manages to smooth things over... Kind of... From there, Wolverine decides that X-Force would now be responsible for keeping his school safe(really?! You put DEADPOOL in charge of campus security?!), and Fantomex is assaulted by Captain Britain who babbles something about making Fantomex pay for what he's done to Psylocke.

Thoughts: This issue was a big old pile of meh for me. The only real saving grace for me was the conversation between Beast and Wolverine. Everything else just didn't do a thing for me. Add the fact that the next storyline involves Otherworld(a terrible concept... In my opinion of course) and Captain Britain(a character I never warmed to), and things are looking down for the future here. So there's my thoughts on the story. As for the art, I'm not sure how I felt about it. On one hand, everybody's ears were huge for some reason... On the other hand, some of the facial expressions were absolutely spot on(especially the look Beast shoots Wolvie upon meeting Genesis), so the art, much like the story was a mixed bag. The bottom line here is that for the first time since... well, since this series began, I'm not looking forward to the future...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.If looks could kill, Beast would have just killed Wolvie, Daken, AND X-23!

Uncanny X-Force #18

Hey, I actually managed to get this review done before I headed out for the night! I'll have Avengers: X-Sanction #1 up later on(like around midnight), but the first comic of the night? The most recent issue of Uncanny X-Force, which just so happens to be the final issue of the Dark Angel Saga, which has been, for lack of a better word, AWESOME. And hey, this issue must be exceptionally important, Marvel polybagged it!

Uncanny X-Force #18:

Summary: Fantomex and Psylocke confront Archangel, who is now more Apocalypse than Warren Worthington. Archangel is tasked with making sure nobody prevents Genocide from using the World to scorch the Earth of all life, which would bring forth a new, better(in Archangel's eyes) world. The two heroes can do little to stop Archangel, as he walks through Fantomex's blades and Psylocke's ultra, mega, super mind blast. Archangel casually tosses Psylocke(and the Life Seed, which she managed to grab) out of the World and stabs Fantomex in the head with a knife. However, since Fantomex has two brains, one is still active and he contacts Ultimaton, telling him to release the Kid Apocalypse he had secretly been growing since he apparently killed him all those issues back. Kid Apocalypse rushes into battle and attacks Archangel(for his perceived “uncle”, Fantomex), much to Archangel's shock, since he saw himself as the one true Apocalypse now. Meanwhile, AOA Sunfire has been absorbing all of the energy Genocide has been firing into the atmosphere, preventing it from raining down on the planet, killing everything. Dark Beast collects the Horsemen and heads to Apocalypse's ship, explaining that whether Archangel wins or loses, they wouldn't want to be on Earth since the Earth would either be scorched of life, or the heroes would be after them. Plus Dark Beast wanted to safeguard Pestilence, who it turns out was carrying Archangel's child(!). With that, Dark Beast and the Horsemen head for Apocalypse's secret base on Neptune. Archangel, being more experienced and stronger than Kid Apocalypse, manages to defeat him. Like any good villain, Archangel stands there gloating, at least until Psylocke approaches him and buries the Life Seed deep into his chest. The Life Seed seems to finally put Archangel down for good, and for the first time in a while, Warren returns, just in time for his death scene. Not wanting her love to die like this, Psylocke enters his mind and uses her telepathy to convince Warren that the two had lived a full and happy life together after quitting the X-Men, and that Warren, now an old man, was dying peacefully. While that fantasy is being played out, AOA Sunfire, unable to contain the energies emanating from Genocide any longer, explodes, taking the World with him. Fantomex collects Kid Apocalypse, and rushes to Psylocke, telling her that she had to get away from the area since the massive World structure was coming down. Psylocke wants to remain with Archangel, but Fantomex spirits her away in his ship with the World falling down all around them. From there he lands away from the battle and with Psylocke, and meets up with his fallen teammates and the Age of Apocalypse X-Men. Psylocke notices a familiar figure off in the distance and realizes it was Warren, back in his Angel form. She rushes over and kisses him, which leads to Warren asking her in confusion who she was...

Thoughts: Um... Huh. That wasn't quite what I was expecting/hoping for... The build to this issue was nothing short of epic, but this issue was a bit disappointing. In a weird way it seemed rushed, which like I said, is weird since it's had such a long build. The arrival of Kid Apocalypse, AOA Sunfire battling Genocide basically off panel, the death(I guess) of AOA Iceman being done in such a offhanded sort of way(he was kicking everybody's ass prior to this issue), it all seemed so rushed. Until Psylocke stabbed Archangel. That is how this should have ended. With Betsy being forced to kill the man she loved, granting him a wonderful fantasy life where they were husband and wife and raised two children, with Warren quietly dying and Psylocke having to live with her actions. Instead, we get the whole big, emotional, Archangel death scene with Betsy, but also get Warren, apparently cured of his Apocalypse corruption, AND having amnesia, showing up to end this issue... If Rick Remender didn't want to kill off Warren(which obviously he didn't), then he shouldn't have went through with this storyline, which kind of HAD to end with Warren's death. Now we get a Warren who won't remember anything he did(nor his relationship with Betsy), leaving the door open for a Fantomex/Psylocke relationship, which isn't exactly something I'm interested in seeing. Bottom line here, this was a case of the lead up being so fantastic, that the conclusion just couldn't possibly do the story justice. Oh well, I'll remember this story for being mostly great, but having a lackluster ending...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Well, somebody had to do it...

Uncanny X-Force #17

With how terrible Point One #1 turned out, THIS is the title I should have named this week's Pick of the Litter, and as such should have been the first comic I read. Oh well, at least I can read it now. The past several issues of this series have been amazing, here's hoping Rick Remender keeps up the superb work here.

Uncanny X-Force #17:

Summary: We kick this issue off with Archangel and Psylocke, who was transformed into Archangel's own personal Death last issue, sharing a kiss. From there the scene shifts to Wolverine, who is trying to battle the Age of Apocalypse version of Iceman... And not doing a very good job of it. Wolvie knows that he needs to reach the World to stop Genocide and kill Archangel, but alas, Iceman is preparing to deliver the deathblow to Wolvie. Luckily for Wolvie(and Marvel Comics!) Fantomex returns to the battle with some reinforcements, the Amazing X-Men from the AOA. AOA Nightcrawler teleports to Genocide, takes him away from Dark Beast and teleports Genocide to Archangel and Psylocke. From there, AOA Nightcrawler opens Genocide's helmet, unleashing his fiery blasts onto the surprised Archangel before teleporting away with Psylocke. AOA Nightcrawler brings Psylocke to Fantomex, where Fantomex tells the angry Psylocke that he only wanted to talk to her... Back with Archangel, he is obviously angered by this turn of events, and after he gets Genocide's helmet back in place, he decides to bring the Life Seed to the World personally. Nightcrawler teleports Wolvie and three of his Amazing X-Men teammates to Archangel, but the quintet are unable to stop Archangel, as he slices through them and tells AOA Iceman to keep the meddlers away while he headed to the World. AOA Sunfire ends up getting caught by AOA Iceman, but AOA Nightcrawler is able to teleport himself, AOA Sabretooth and Wolvie directly in front of Archangel, at which time they all crash to the earth below. Meanwhile, Fantomex is trying to get through to Psylocke, but apparently fails as Psylocke slashes his throat with a hidden blade. However, upon watching Fantomex fall to the ground, Psylocke realizes something was wrong and we end up taking a trip into her mind, back to her first meeting with Archangel at the Hellfire Club. While reliving Psylocke's earliest memory of the man she loves, AOA Jean Grey enters her mind and points out that the Death persona was hiding in her twin brother, Captain Britain. Jean manages to cage the Death persona, leaving Psylocke free of it's influence and able to return to the real world, where she finds Fantomex alive and well due to, you guessed it, his misdirection abilities! Back with Wolvie and company, Archangel begins to tear the trio of heroes apart, until AOA Jean arrives on the scene. However, the Phoenix entity inside of AOA Jean agrees with Archangel's plans of death and rebirth, and takes Jean out of the battle itself(!). Wolverine manages to tackle Archangel while he was taunting Jean and prepares to deliver the killing blow, but finds himself unable to kill his friend and teammate. That proves to be a massive mistake as Archangel downs Wolvie with a massive energy blast. From there, Archangel makes quick work of AOA Nightcrawler and Sabretooth and flies up towards the World to deliver the Life Seed and put an end to humanity. Upon entering the World, Archangel finds Psylocke and Fantomex standing before him, the last obstacle before Archangel's final victory.

Thoughts: What can I say? Once again, Remender gave us one hell of a roller-coaster ride. The dialogue was incredibly strong(I loved the banter between Wolvie and AOA Sabretooth), and the story has climaxed perfectly, with Archangel facing down Psylocke, the woman he loves, in order to accomplish his goal as Apocalypse... Add some awesome fight scenes showing just how UBER-powerful Archangel has become, and you have yourself a fantastic comic book. If I had one complaint it would be that Death Psylocke was defeated too easily, but I guess between Fantomex's misdirection and Jean Grey's awesome powers, she didn't really have much of a chance... Still, I would have loved to see Death Psylocke get to do more before she was “fixed”. So yes, I loved this issue. The next issue is the eighth and final part of the Dark Angel Saga, and I really don't see myself NOT thoroughly enjoying it... I mean if Remender writes the conclusion half as good as he's written the rest of this tale, this story should be a personal favorite of mine for years to come.

Score: 9 out of 10.Okay, I have to say it, Apocalypse-Archangel? He's pretty awesome.

Uncanny X-Force #16

We're still in the thick of the Dark Angel Saga storyline, and to be honest with you, I'm fine with that. This storyline has been so good I wouldn't mind if it kept going on for six more issues! So without further ado, here's this week's Pick of the Litter.

Uncanny X-Force #16:

Summary: While Archangel is putting the finishing touches on destroying all life on Earth and restarting evolution again with himself and his Dark Riders as gods, Fantomex, Deadpool and Deathlok have managed to infiltrate Archangel's base of operations. Fantomex directs Deathlok to destroy the World so Archangel couldn't use it's powers to carry out his plans, while he took Deadpool to hunt down and deal with Archangel. While that's going on, Famine manages to escape from EVA and heads towards Archangel's stronghold to warn his master of the invaders. The Age of Apocalypse version of the Blob(!!) attacks Deadpool and Fantomex, and we learn he was brought to this dimension by Dark Beast to assist with Archangel's plans. AOA Blob sits on Fantomex and manages to deflect all of Deadpool's bullets. Before AOA Blob can finish off either X-Force member, Famine uses his powers to kill AOA Blob at the behest of Wolverine, who had followed him from EVA. Once Blob is taken care of, Wolverine chops off Famine's hands and boots him off of a rooftop. Meanwhile, Archangel, who is sounding more and more like Apocalypse, collects the captive Psylocke to have her witness the end of the Earth and it's rebirth. Psylocke is still holding out hope that she can reach Warren Worthington, but is soon contacted by Wolverine telepathically and told that Archangel's plans were moving too quickly and that if she had an opportunity to take Warren out, she had to take it. The first Famine, Genocide's mother, arrives at this moment with a gun and threatens to shoot Archangel because of what he'd turned Genocide into. Archangel casually murders her, which finally helps Psylocke realize that she had to stop Archangel. Psylocke lunges for Famine's gun and fire a shot at Archangel, but he dodges and knocks her unconscious. As for Deadpool and Fantomex, they are attacked by AOA Iceman, who has seemingly turned evil. AOA Iceman freezes Deadpool and shatters him into dozens of pieces(!), which leads to Fantomex hopping into EVA and apparently quitting the battle, much to Wolverine's disgust. On the World, Dark Beast is directing Genocide on what to do to wipe the Earth clean, but is confronted by Deathlok, who is immediately stopped by War. Wolverine attacks AOA Iceman, and this issue concludes with Archangel taking Psylocke to his private chambers to bond her with the Death Seed, thus turning her into his personal Death.

Thoughts: Whew. There was A LOT of action here!! I mean seriously, this comic book was the very embodiment of action packed! I've got to say, Rick Remender has been strong writing this series since it began, but he's kicked it up another notch with this storyline. When the Dark Angel Saga began I wasn't sure how I felt about Archangel becoming the new Apocalypse, or all of this business with Life Seeds and Death Seeds and stuff, but damn, it's all come together nicely! Out of all of the $3.99 Marvel titles, this is probably the one I'm most willing to plunk down the extra dollar to read. And quite frankly that's the highest compliment I can give a series. What more can I say except I can't wait to see what Remender has in store for us next issue.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Damn has Archangel become a great villain!

Uncanny X-Force #15

Jeez, is it just me or does it seem that every week I'm picking up a new issue of Uncanny X-Force... I mean it's a really good series and all, and I'm enjoying the current storyline, but I wouldn't be adverse to this series just coming out once a month, especially since it's one of Marvel's $4 books... Oh well, here's X-Force. Again.

Uncanny X-Force #15:

Summary: Having taken possession of the World and the Life Seed, as well as decimating a town, Archangel(who has seemingly become Apocalypse... Kind of) and his band of goons begin the second act of their master plan. By combining the Life Seed with the World in the barren land that used to be the destroyed town, Archangel(thanks to the genius of Dark Beast) manages to create life. Using the time machinery contained in the World, he is able to fast forward evolution a few hundred million years to the point where the life forms he had created had developed into a primitive society. Meanwhile, Psylocke has managed to escape from Pestilence in Archangel's hidden city, but ends up being recaptured by the AOA version of Blob... Wait, what's he doing there? Fantomex, Deadpool and Deathlok, the last members of X-Force standing, head to the strange little land Archangel created by homing onto the World's energies and are immediately confronted by Archangel and a few of his goons. Fantomex tries to take Archangel on his own, but proves unable to defeat him, although he does manage to injure Archangel. Genocide tags in to defend his master, while Archangel and Dark Beast retreat momentarily. Deadpool and Deathlok(well, mainly Deathlok) end up killing Death and capturing Famine. By the time Fantomex has managed to escape from Genocide, Deathlok has tortured the location of Archangel's hidden city out of Famine. As for Archangel, with Death dead, he knows he needs a new heir(as every Apocalypse needs a Death), and heads to the Sleeping Celestial to get a new Death Seed. The Celestial provides Archangel with his Death Seed, which leads to Dark Beast inquiring as to who Archangel was going to choose as his new Death. Archangel says the choice is simple, and this issue ends with a look at the still captive Psylocke.

Thoughts: This was a pretty confusing comic book... Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Archangel's plan was to try to restart the X-gene that the Scarlet Witch mangled after House of M. Instead he's turned a town in Montana into a weird little jungle full of life created by the Life Seed and the World's technology. I guess he figures if mutants or powerful life forms were to develop from the life he had created in Montana, he could use the same process to reseed the entire planet in the same way. Still, that seems like it'll be a pretty difficult/impossible task. Interestingly, Wolverine didn't appear in this comic AT ALL! How about that!? Nope, for X-Force we mainly followed Fantomex, which was fine by me as Wolverine does tend to be just a bit overexposed nowadays... And by “just a bit” I mean he's EVERYWHERE!!! So I was glad to see this comic go one issue minus the Ol' Canucklehead. The bottom line here was that this was an okay issue, but a step back from the past few really strong issues. As Archangel's plans become more convoluted, I find my interest in this storyline waning a bit. Hopefully we get a bit less techno-babble and more good storytelling next issue(which knowing this series will be coming out next week...)

Score: 6 out of 10.Dark Beast correcting Genocide did make me laugh out loud...

Uncanny X-Force #14

Wait a minute... Didn't I just review an issue of this series last week... *checks blog*... I did!! Last Friday as a matter of fact! Wow, Marvel is sure pumping out the issues of this series, aren't they?

Uncanny X-Force #14:

Summary: We begin things here with Dark Beast and Archangel(who has been possessed by Apocalypse... or something like that) looking back at Archangel's ascension to Apocalypse's spot. While it seems Archangel is fine with being the new Apocalypse, he isn't the angry, monologuing Apocalypse, he's a more kinder, gentler Apocalypse, as shown by his actions towards Dark Beast, Ozmandias and the original Famine. Archangel meets with Famine 1 and requests a meeting with her son, a guy who looks(but doesn't act) like Holocaust from the Age of Apocalypse. It turns out this “Holocaust” is actually named Genocide, and Archangel happily welcomes Genocide into the fold. From there we head back to the present, where Archangel and his forces have ambushed X-Force in Cavern-X just after they returned from the Age of Apocalypse with the Life Seed. Archangel wants the Life Seed, Wolverine refuses to give it to him, so naturally a fight breaks out. Wolvie makes a bee-line for Archangel and slashes him across the chest, which leads to Genocide blasting away half of Wolverine's body. Famine(the current version) takes care of Deadpool, while Psylocke manages to make her way past War and Dark Beast, getting a clear shot at Archangel. Knowing what she SHOULD do(kill Archangel), Psylocke throws her sword at her lover, but deliberately misses the killing blow, proving unable to kill the man she loved when the chips were down. By this point, Deadpool manages to reach Deathlok(who was supposed to be guarding Cavern-X) and unties him from the binds Deathlok was placed in, before Pool tosses a smoke grenade, which allows X-Force to collect their injured and retreat to EVA. As the team takes to the air, Deathlok warns the team that with the Life Seed and the World, Archangel would have power enough to kill thousands of people. Still hoping to convince Archangel that he was making the wrong move, Psylocke jumps out of EVA and tries to talk some sense into Archangel. Archangel takes Psylocke back to his headquarters under the North Pole, but insists that he was doing the right thing, informing Psylocke that he intended to undo the damage the Scarlet Witch had done with her “No more mutants” spell by resetting evolution. Psylocke asks Archangel to elaborate, but Dark Beast contacts Archangel and tells him it was time to start their master plan. To that end, Archangel and Genocide head to small town and Archangel gives Genocide the order to annihilate it. While Archangel watches the explosions from above the town, Psylocke sits alone at Archangel's base, Dark Beast studies the Life Seed and X-Force look after their injured leader.

Thoughts: This comic was pretty interesting... I was a bit thrown by the whole, “Kinder, gentler Apocalypse” thing that Archangel was doing, but as the issue progressed, I found it less jarring. The battle between Archangel's forces and X-Force was well written and well drawn, as the battle easily could have gone either way, X-Force COULD have won had Psylocke stabbed Archangel through the heart, but her inability to do so cost X-Force the battle, the Life Seed and the World. With that said, I'm not condemning Psylocke for not killing Archangel, Wolverine should have known better then to have put her in such a position in the first place. The end portion of this comic was what interested me the most though... It SEEMS(and I could be WAY off) that Archangel intends to somehow use the Life Seed(and possibly the World) to restart the mutant gene, which was destroyed/severely damaged by the Scarlet Witch at the end of House of M. That would make sense in a way, as Apocalypse has always been about the strong surviving, and has always believed that mutants were stronger than humans and were the next step up the evolutionary ladder. See, with a plan like that, I actually WANT Archangel to achieve his goals! It's been WAY too long since that House of M/”No more mutants” nonsense, and I'm ready for Marvel to undo it. I've been fooled before, but here's hoping Archangel DOES manage to do what nobody else has been able to do these past 5-6 years, restore mutantkind to it's former glory.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Deadpool had me absolutely rolling with his lines here.

Uncanny X-Force #13

Next up on the Marvel reviewing carousel is Uncanny X-Force, the series that is bringing me back to my all-time favorite comic book story, the Age of Apocalypse. Last issue we found out that AOA Wolverine had become the new host for Apocalypse. I'm gonna bet this issue gives us a whole mess of Wolverines hacking and slashing each other.

Uncanny X-Force #13:

Summary: We start this issue off with Fantomex, AOA Gambit, AOA Sunfire(the only version that's ever been relevant), and AOA Rogue entering the base of the Celestials in order to get their hands on the Life Seed that promised to cure anybody from the corruption of the Death Seed/Apocalypse. Fantomex and company manage to arrive at the Life Seed, but are a bit distressed to find only one(they were hoping for two, one for X-Force and one for the AOA characters). By the time Fantomex is able to procure the Life Seed, the heroes are confronted by a massive Celestial drone. Gambit tells the rest of the team to run for EVA, while he made a last stand to hold the drone off. The team reluctantly leave, and AOA Gambit is apparently killed, although his sacrifice allows the rest of the heroes to escape. Back to the main event, where Wolverine is holding the corpse of Kirika, AOA Wolvie's daughter, who was murdered by an Apocalypse possessed AOA Wolvie... Confused yet? You will be! AOA Wolvie stands over Wolvie and Kirika, which leads to Wolvie going berserk and attacking his corrupted counterpart, while the rest of X-Force and the AOA X-Men try to fend off AOA Wolvie's Black Legion lackeys. AOA Wolvie and company manage to do a pretty good job against the heroes, as AOA Wolvie searches AOA Jean Grey out. AOA Wolvie tells her that he's actually doing a good thing, and that by eliminating the weaker humans, he was helping usher in a stronger race that would be deemed worthy by the Celestials, thereby saving humanity. After his spiel, AOA Wolvie asks the love of his life, AOA Jean, to join him. After a moment of thought, AOA Jean turns him down, so AOA Wolvie knocks her out and teleports away with her. While AOA Wolvie and his top lackey, AOA Storm, prepare AOA Jean for the Death Seed, which would turn her into AOA Wolvie's Death Horseman, Wolvie grabs Gateway and tells his team, X-Force and AOA X-Men alike, to get over to him so they could take the battle to AOA Wolvie and rescue AOA Jean. Before Wolvie heads off, he's met by a shadowy character who agrees to go along with him... Hmm, who could our mystery character be? With that, Wolvie and all of the heroes drop in on AOA Wolvie, so AOA Wolvie kills them all, finishing up with Wolverine himself... Or does he??? It turns out Fantomex was the shadowy figure, and that he misdirected AOA Wolvie into thinking that he had killed everybody, when in actuality, Wolvie and his team managed to rescue AOA Jean and wake her up. The AOA X-Men continue their futile battle against AOA Wolvie, which causes Wolvie to decide to join in. Fantomex and Psylocke try to dissuade Wolvie from that idea, since they needed to return to their dimension with the Life Seed to cure Archangel of his Death persona. Wolvie still refuses to go, so AOA Jean tells Wolvie that the fight against AOA Wolvie wasn't his, but was hers, at which time she shoves X-Force through Gateway's portal and back home... Or do they go home?? This issue ends with X-Force landing right in front of an Apocalypse possessed Archangel, as well as the Four Horsemen.

Thoughts: Man was this issue a tough one to review... I don't think I've ever typed the letters “AOA” that many times before in my life! Although my review was probably as confusing as hell to get through(sorry about that...), I really enjoyed this comic. It read a lot smoother than it reviewed. So we move from a world where Wolverine had become Apocalypse, to a world where Archangel had become the Big A. I'm not quite sure if the team made it back to the 616 Marvel U or if they actually got shunted to some alternate dimension, although I'm leaning towards the alternate dimension idea. I find it kind of hard to believe that Archangel became possessed by Apocalypse, escaped captivity, gathered the Four Horsemen, AND managed to get a few other villains over to his side as well. Could I be wrong? If history is any indicator, yes, I suck at making predictions, but regardless, this was a great comic, with more greatness hopefully on tap for the next issue.

Score: 9 out of 10.I sense impending Wolverine on Wolverine violence!

Uncanny X-Force #12 & X-Men: Schism #2

Two more X-titles before I call it a night. First up is Uncanny X-Force, who have found themselves stranded in the awesomeness that is the Age of Apocalypse, while the second book is the second issue of the X-Men: Schism event. Both could potentially be great reads. Or at least that's what I'm hoping...

Uncanny X-Force #12:

Summary: We kick things off with AOA Jean and Wolverine sharing a nice quiet moment. Even though every instinct in Wolverine's is screaming at him to lay a kiss on Jean, he's hesitant since he has a girlfriend back at home... Although in all honesty, I'm of the mindset of what happens in dystopian alternate dimensions stays in dystopian alternate dimensions... Anyway, while Wolvie is hesitant to make a move, Jean, who is missing her Wolverine(who is believed to be dead), plants a kiss on Wolvie before pulling away. Before things can go any further, a giant Sentinel arrives on the scene and attempts to attack the two mutants. Jean makes quick work of it before reporting what happened back to the leader of the AOA X-Men, Magneto. The AOA X-Men and X-Force have a conference and decide that there were two things that needed to be done. The first was that a life seed was needed by both teams, since life seeds were the antithesis of Apocalypse(or something) and could eliminate Apocalypse's corruption on someone(I guess...). The second thing is to rescue Gateway from the massive prison he was being held in on ship high above New York City. The teams decide to split into two factions, and head to their rooms to prepare themselves for their mission. Fantomex corners Psylocke, who still doesn't want to talk to him due to him murdering Kid Apocalypse. Fantomex still claims that he did the right thing, which Psylocke refuses to believe. Fantomex then claims that Psylocke never really loved Archangel, that all she really loved about Warren was the fact that he needed her(!)... Oh. It's gonna be on now! Sure enough, Psylocke punches Fantomex straight in the face, which Fantomex responds to by accusing Psylocke of having feelings for him(!). Fantomex then kisses Psylocke, who doesn't immediately pull away. Realizing what was happening, Psylocke DOES pull away, telling Fantomex that no matter what may be happening between the two of them, she wouldn't give up on Warren. The teams then split up, with Fantomex taking a few AOA X-Men after the life seed(s), while Magneto takes the rest of the AOA X-Men and X-Force to the prison Gateway was being held at. The AOA X-Men and X-Force enter the prison with no difficulty and manage to get pretty far in before they are ambushed by the Dark Legion, who are a bunch of extremely powerful, warped dopplegangers of characters from the regular 616 Marvel Universe. Realizing they were overpowered, the AOA X-Men and X-Force make a break for it, with Wolverine following Gateway's scent to a room where they find AOA Wolverine, dressed like Apocalypse(!). AOA Wolvie blasts Kirika, his daughter from the Age of Apocalypse, which ends this issue.

Thoughts: Well there sure was a lot going on in that comic, wasn't there? The perfect tone was set in this issue right from the beginning, with Rick Remender giving me exactly what I wanted, a nice long scene between AOA Jean and Wolvie. Add the kiss between AOA Jean and Wolvie, and yeah, that scene was about as perfect as I'd have wanted it to be. From there we get a meeting between Wolvie and his AOA daughter, Kirika, who just happens to be the offspring of Mariko, the other love of Wolvie's life. Much like the scenes between Jean and Wolvie, Remender did a masterful job dialogging the scenes between Wolvie and Kirika. On top of that, we got a VERY heated conversation between Psylocke and Fantomex, which ended in a passionate kiss. I've got to say, I didn't see that coming! Fantomex did raise some interesting points about the relationship between Psylocke and Archangel, and you've got to think that there's going to be one hell of a reckoning between Warren and Fantomex when X-Force inevitably returns to their home dimension. I have to admit, I enjoyed this issue thoroughly, and will definitely be looking forward to the next issue.

Score: 9 out of 10.Now THAT is one sweet haymaker!


X-Men: Schism #2(of 5):

Summary: The world over, nations are pulling their old Sentinels out of mothballs as a show of force to mutantkind in light of Quintin Quire's actions last issue. Unfortunately, 3/4 of the Sentinels were defective and are basically running amok, leading to the X-Men and Avengers being forced to try to deal with the out of control robots. On Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia), classes have been canceled and Wolverine is in an especially foul mood. Wolvie heads into the control room where Emma Frost and Lord Summers are staying apprised of the situation around the world, and demands to be deployed somewhere so he could work out his frustrations. Lord Summers denies Wolvie's request, since he wanted to keep Wolvie close to home in case any rogue Sentinels made their way to Crazy Mutie Island. It's at that moment Quintin Quire enters the room and requests sanctuary on Crazy Mutie Island. Needless to say, Wolvie isn't having that, as he wants the X-Men to surrender Quire over to Steve Rogers and the Avengers since Quire started this whole mess. Lord Summers refuses, stating that Quire would stay on Crazy Mutie Island where he'd be tried by a jury of his peers. Before the disagreement between Wolvie and Lord Summers can get anymore hostile, Steve Rogers calls the X-Men, telling them that the Avengers were doing what they could to quell the anti-mutant hysteria across the globe, and that he appreciated Lord Summers restraint in the face of such racism. Steve then asks if the X-Men had been able to get a fix on where Quire had run off to, and Lord Summers says no... That bastard! He lied to Steve Rogers!! Once Lord Summers is off the line with Steve, a disgusted Wolvie throws Quire at Lord Summers and decides that he needed some time away from Crazy Mutie Island. Lord Summers has Quire sent away, and Emma tells Lord Summers that San Fransisco was moving up the opening of their new Museum of Mutant History(what in the blue hell is THAT?!) to that night. Emma tells Lord Summers that she wanted to go, which causes Lord Summers to scoff, at least until he realizes that the grand opening would be televised and that he should send some of his heavy hitters to the museum just in case... From there, Kade Kilgore, the new Black King of the Hellfire Club, begins to put the next phase of his plan against mutantkind into action by first having a bunch of his fellow prepubescent friends acquire a Badoon Brain Slug(by killing some aliens in a painfully stupid scene), before heading to the grand opening of the mutant museum with his friends and several of the Hellfire Club's best soldiers to crash the party.

Thoughts: Okay. Here's the thing. The scene with the children and the aliens was SO stupid that it totally took me out of this story once it happened. I mean I was enjoying this comic thoroughly, from Wolvie's conversations with some of the students, to the Sentinels going crazy, to Wolvie's confrontation with Lord Summers, to Quire's arrival, it was all VERY good! And then some little 12 year old girl with pigtails killed three heavily armed aliens... I mean come on... That was absolutely horrible. There's no way to even defend that scene. I was fine with Kade becoming the Black King of the Hellfire Club last issue because it was obvious that he was a very evil, manipulative child. A one of a kind threat that's intriguing because of his age. But the introduction of his little friends? That was a step past dumb, into asinine territory. So yeah, the introduction of Kade's prepubescent army of terror totally destroyed my enjoyment of what was, up to that point, a very good comic book. We still don't know exactly what's going to cause the Schism between Lord Summers and Wolvie, but there are a few clues popping up. Wolvie seems more willing to work with/cooperate with humans, while Lord Summers seems content to live on Crazy Mutie Island like a power-mad hermit. Obviously next issue is the big one, because whatever happens at that museum is going to almost definitely set the stage for the final couple of issues of this series, so I'll definitely be looking forward to that. But this issue? It should have been SO much better...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.He lied right to Steve Rogers' face... What a bastard...

Superboy #8 & Uncanny X-Force #11

Here's an oddball pairing of comics for you guys, the latest issues of Superboy and Uncanny X-Force... There's absolutely nothing that I can think of that these two series have in common, other than their placement in my new comic pile... Oh well, since they're sitting here, I might as well read 'em!

Superboy #8:

Summary: We get started with the Phantom Stranger thinking about the mystery in Smallville and realizing that it would be concluding at last. With that, he transforms into a murder of crows(what, that's what a group of crows are called!) and flies away... Well that was... something... Psionic Lad senses a disturbance and sends his mind out to investigate, and is yelled at by the Stranger to get out of his head. Stunned by the force behind the Stranger, PL decides to follow the murder of crows. The crows head to Simon Valentine: Boy Genius(oh, you KNEW he'd be popping up eventually!) and steal a weather altering device he was working on, which leads to Simon Valentine: Boy Genius following the crows. From there Krypto lands near a man in Smallville and seems intrigued by him. Superboy, confused by Krypto's overly friendly behavior, lands to talk to the man. The man tells SB a tale from the mid-1850's, about Nathan Kent, who was the sheriff of Smallville and his deputy, that's right, you guessed it, Albert Valentine: Police Genius. The story is REALLY long, and dealt with some freaks named the Took's arriving in town, starting trouble and mutilating children. Needless to say, Nathan rounds up a posse and confronts the Took's, which leads to a big fight that ends with the Took's barn being burnt down. Nathan heads into the burning barn to search for survivors, but only sees the head of the Took clan doing some sort of wacky experiments on the mutilated kid before the fire pushes Nathan away. From there, SB realizes he was talking to the Phantom Stranger, and everybody in Smallville, with the exception of SB, Stranger, Simon Valentine: Boy Genius, and PL wind up falling asleep where they stood. Oh, and Lori Luthor ends up finding the Took's old barn and vanishing into it. The three boys head to the location of the old barn, and are joined by the Stranger, who reforms from the crows. With that, the four enter the barn and find a stairwell leading miles into the ground. Upon arriving at the bottom, they find a mess of zombie-fied Took's and a small settlement.

Thoughts: You know, this issue wasn't that bad. If you would have taken out some of the VERY long 1850's Smallville stuff, I'd have scored this issue even higher. Even Simon Valentine: Boy Genius didn't bug me here like he usually does... I guess the impending end of the DCU has me feeling more kindly towards the DC comic books I'm reading, since in a few months, I won't be reading any...

Score: 7 out of 10.If you look closely, you can see Simon Valentine: Boy Genius!


Uncanny X-Force #11:

Summary: This issue begins in one of Dark Beast's labs as he opens a portal to his home dimension, the Age of Apocalypse... You know, Dark Beast is all kinds of smart, but am I supposed to believe he's smart enough to have created an inter-dimensional portal?! That's like Reed Richards smart, not Hank McCoy smart! Anyway, Dark Beast, along with Wolvie, Fantomex, Deadpool and Psylocke enter the portal in order to reach one of Dark Beast's AOA labs so they could retrieve the life seed, which would purge Apocalypse's influence from Archangel. And I'll be damned... There it is, the greatest alternate dimension ever created by either Marvel or DC, the Age of Apocalypse... Awesome... Anyway, the four X-Forcers and Dark Beast enter Dark Beast's lab, but are unknowingly followed by Wildchild and Sabretooth, two members of the AOA X-Men. Dark Beast finds the life seed and is ready to hand it over to the X-Force members when AOA Nightcrawler(!) teleports in and swipes the seed, figuring Dark Beast was up to some evil plot before teleporting away with it. Psylocke scans for AOA Nightcrawler and tells Wolvie he was outside. Wolvie tells Psylocke to keep an eye on Dark Beast while he took Fantomex and Pool outside to retrieve the seed. Upon getting outside, Wolvie is immediately jumped by AOA Sabretooth(!) and AOA Wildchild, since Tooth and Child figured Wolvie was a Dark Beast created clone of AOA Wolvie. While that's going on, Nightcrawler teleports over to Deadpool and tries to kill him the same way he killed Pool's AOA counterpart, Dead Man Wade, by teleporting away with Pool's head... AWESOME!!! However, it seems Fantomex misdirected Nightcrawler into thinking he'd decapitated Pool, allowing Fantomex the opportunity to nail Nightcrawler with a stiff right hand, which causes Nightcrawler to drop the seed. Before Pool or Fantomex can get the seed, AOA Sunfire snatches the seed from the ground and incinerates it, figuring if Dark Beast wanted the seed so bad, it had to be no good. By this time Psylocke and Dark Beast have arrived on the street and the X-Forcers are horrified that Archangel's salvation was destroyed just like that. Psylocke recognizes AOA Tooth from her time on the Exiles(awesome job by Rick Remender for that one) and convinces Wolvie that this version of Tooth wasn't a bad guy, which ends their battle. Dark Beast ends up sneaking over to the portal back to the 616 Marvel Universe and walks in, leaving X-Force stranded in the AOA world(!). With Tooth having vouched for X-Force after hearing who they were and what they were doing from Psylocke, the AOA X-Men take X-Force to their secret headquarters were they come face to face with AOA Magneto and Jean Grey(!!!!).

Thoughts: This was a TOUGH issue for me to review... The AOA fanboy in me wanted to ignore the minor complaints I had and give this issue a perfect score based solely on the fact that it was X-Force in the AGE OF APOCALYPSE!!! I mean, you'll not find a bigger AOA fan out there than me! It was, is, and probably always will be, the epitome of what an event x-over should be. In short, the Age of Apocalypse is, to me, perfection. That's why I hated that terrible AOA mini-series that was released in the mid-2000's... It was like a terrible, deformed, bastard child of the original AOA... It had some of the characters, but none of the great writers/artists who made the original AOA what it was. Now this comic, much to it's credit, seemed to ignore the terrible 2000's AOA mini. Usually I'm a huge stickler for continuity, but in this case, I hope Rick Remender pretends that mini never happened. So with all that said, what of this issue? If you read and enjoyed the original AOA, I'm quite confident you'll enjoy this comic. If you're a fan of Uncanny X-Force, I'm pretty sure you'll like this comic. If you like alternate dimensional storylines, I figure you'll like this issue... Do you see what I'm getting at? This was a very good comic! Check it out!!

Score: 9 out of 10.How awesome it is to be back in the AOA...

X-Factor #219 & Uncanny X-Force #10

Two more Marvel comics to take care of before I can rest for the night... Both of them are from the X-family of books, so you've been warned.

X-Factor #219:

Summary: Hot on the trail of the woman responsible for killing Mayor Jameson's friend(as well as shooting Guido last issue), Black Cat winds up getting shot with a dart and knocked out just as she crosses into New Hampshire. Madrox, Siryn(or is it Banshee now?) and Monet force Mayor Jameson into telling them some more information about the death of his friend, General Ryan. It seems Ryan was mixed up in some government program called SCARS, that was trying to recreate the super-soldier program, and was probably killed due to his involvement in said program. Jameson reveals that a Dr. Pock was the man who headed up the program, and he was living in New Hampshire. Monet, Shatterstar, Wolfsbane, Longshot and Rictor head to Dr. Pock's location and stop the woman who assassinated Ryan(along with her two fellow SCARS program buddies) from killing Dr. Pock. The X-Factor members free Black Cat and manage to capture one of the SCARS women(the one responsible for killing Ryan), while the other two escape with the aid of a helicopter.

Thoughts: Huh, that was one sucky review... Well, that's what happens when you type one of these up at 4 in the morning... Anyway, this was an okay comic, but it didn't really impress me(yet another reason for the sucky review!). I mean technically it was okay, but I just never really got into this storyline. Thankfully this was the end of the whole General Ryan/SCARS storyline, so here's hoping we move on to bigger and better things.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Poor Longshot...


Uncanny X-Force #10:

Summary: This issue begins with the Shadow King(in his civilian guise) handing a reporter some film of Archangel killing a soldier while Wolverine stood by(which is what happened last issue more or less)... Needless to say, that footage would be a HUGE black eye for not just mutantkind, but the Avengers, since Wolverine is inexplicably a member. The reporter tells his editor about the footage, but wants to hand the footage over to the editor in person, since he didn't want to e-mail it across the Internet, just in case it was altered, stolen or destroyed. It turns out that the newspaper was owned by Warren Worthington(Archangel), so the editor calls him to inform him as to what he had learned. Archangel(who is currently possessed by his evil, Apocalypse side)tells the editor that this was obviously a ploy from a rival corporation, and that he'd meet up with him soon. Archangel goes to leave Cavern-X, and bumps into Psylocke. Psylocke asks why Archangel had stopped his therapy sessions with her, and he blows her off before heading out. Psylocke tells Wolvie that she feared something was wrong with Archangel, so they decide to track him to see what was going on. Archangel meets up with the editor from earlier and kills him, before heading to the home of the reporter, demanding to know where he got his information before telling the reporter that he was next. Before Archangel can do the deed, Wolvie crashes into the apartment and attacks his possessed teammate. Archangel tells Wolvie that what he was doing was for the good of X-Force before ditching Wolvie outside and going back after the reporter, who had run from his apartment to the street. Archangel catches up to the reporter, but Warren is able to reestablish a little control, battling with Archangel over who was going to take over. While Archangel was distracted, Psylocke stabs him in the head with her psychic blade, knocking him out. From there, Psylocke knocks the reporter out and makes him forget what he saw, and the team take Archangel back home. Wolvie decides that they needed to get somebody familiar with Apocalypse's work to help them figure out what to do with Warren, and the team springs Dark Beast(!!!) from the van transporting him to prison. Dark Beast goes on a bit of a spiel about how to cure Warren, with the gist of it being he needed to be cleansed with a “life seed”. Unfortunately, there was no life seed on THIS Earth, but Dark Beast informs the team that there WAS a life seed in his lab... But that the lab in question was in his home dimension, the Age of Apocalypse!!!

Thoughts: This was a REALLY solid story that sets up X-Force trying to reach the AOA, which as I've said NUMEROUS times, is my all-time favorite comic book storyline. I have NO idea how Wolvie and company are going to actually reach the AOA, since, to my knowledge, they don't have the ability to seamlessly hop dimensions. But I guess that's up to Rick Remender to try to figure out. Oh, and I'd be remiss to add that unfortunately, X-Force is going to be visiting the HORRIBLE version of the AOA that Akira Yoshida came up with in the mid-2000's... I WISH Marvel would just ignore of all Yoshida's garbage and give us the REAL AOA from the mid 90's, but alas, Yoshida's terrible AOA stuff is in continuity now, meaning there's no way around it. *sigh* Even still, I'm going to try my damnedest to enjoy the next few AOA oriented issues of this series.

Score: 8 out of 10.YEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

Deadpool Annual #1 & Uncanny X-Force #9

Hey X-Maniacs, your friend and servant here with some haphazardly put together reviews! I knew that I had to at least post something today, so you guys get two of my crappier reviews. Since I'm still slogging my way through one of my three final papers to close out this semester, I haven't had the time to put the eXtra(HA!) love and attention into these reviews... And I didn't bother to proof read them either! So if they suck, I know. By this time next week I'll have plenty of time to devote to mediocre comic book reviews. But for now? Ahoy sucky reviews!

Deadpool Annual #1:

Summary: Picking up from this year's Amazing Spider-Man annual, Deadpool and his alternate dimensional friend, Death Wish, hang out and have a blast doing all sorts of crazy Deadpool-esque things. Naturally Deadpool figures Death Wish is the Wade Wilson of this dimension, but is shocked to learn that Death Wish WASN'T Wade Wilson, but was working for that world's Wade Wilson, who was basically his dimension's Dr. Doom, a bad piece of work called Death Mask. Death Mask kills Death Wish right in front of Pool since Death Wish had failed a mission he had been ordered to do, which leads to Deadpool swearing vengeance on his counterpart. Pool hunts down and kills several of Death Mask's henchmen(including Hydra Bob!) before confronting Death Mask in Wilson Tower, Death Mask's base of operations. Pool tosses a bomb at Death Mask, who figures he'd survive while Pool would die, not realizing that Pool was his alternate dimensional counterpart, and also had a healing factor. Pool wakes up first(since he was further away from the explosion) and changes clothes with Death Mask. Pool(now masquerading as Death Mask) then has Death Mask(now dressed as Deadpool) put on a boat and blown up. With Death Mask out of the way, Pool rechristens Wilson Tower Wilson Tower(HA!), before dismantling Death Mask's criminal empire and donating all of Death Mask's ill-begotten riches to a charity in Death Wish's name. By this point Spidey catches up to Pool and after a brief misunderstanding and fight, the two make up and share a VERY long and uncomfortable(for Spidey) hug. From there, Death Mask heads to Hell and begs Mephisto for assistance against his foe. Mephisto's solution? A crazed, horn-headed Hulk!

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this one... Like a lot. Granted, my review for it was crap, but don't let that fool you, this was a great comic. I'm actually enjoying this entire storyline. It concludes in the Invincible Hulks Annual next month, and you can be SURE I'll be picking up a copy!

Score: 9 out of 10.Kiss him... Kiss him......


Uncanny X-Force #9:

Summary: Magneto sends Dr. Nemesis out to dig up some information on some old Nazi who used to torment Mags back when he was in the concentration camps. Upon receiving info that the old Nazi was still alive, as well as his whereabouts, Mags takes a drink and heads to X-Force's supposedly secret lair... I don't like the way this one's going... Needless to say, X-Force is surprised that Mags knew where they were/what they were up to, and Wolvie asks Mags point blank how he knew where they were, to which Mags simply responds, “Remember to whom you are speaking.” Wait, Mags isn't the telepath! Xavier is!! *sigh* Anyway, for some reason, Mags doesn't want to kill the old Nazi himself, so he asks Wolvie to do it for him. Naturally, Wolvie says yes, because this entire issue is taking place in Bizarro World. Wolvie packs a samurai sword(because he's apparently forgotten he has claws), and flies to Brazil, which is where all old Nazis end up. The old Nazi tells Wolvie that he lived a good life, had a family and kids, but always knew one of his victims would exact retribution on him eventually. Wolvie draws his sword, and the old Nazi warns Wolvie that one day Wolvie's victims would exact their revenge, at which point Wolvie kills the Nazi and leaves, (MERCIFULLY!)ending this one.

Thoughts: My god, where do I even begin with this one?!? I guess I'll start with Magneto, a man who has killed thousands. Magneto, who in this issue didn't want to kill somebody who he had a real grievance against. Not one of his imagined, “All humans hate me!” grievances, but a real one! I mean if EVER Mags should have went and murdered somebody, THIS was that moment! Okay, so if you're Magneto, you've found some Nazi who tormented you in your youth, but for some reason you don't want to kill him personally, what do you do? Why you turn to one of your oldest enemies of course! Moving past Magneto and his bizarre behavior, we find Wolverine, who actually TOPS Mags in the weird behavior department in this one! Why the HELL would Wolvie help Magneto EVER! This is the same man who nearly killed the X-Men a number of times, has killed countless innocents, killed Jean Grey, I mean, was replaced by a FAKE Magneto, who actually killed Jean, thus leaving Mags hands clean............... And oh yeah, TORE OUT WOLVERINE'S ADAMANTIUM!!! I mean... How could... Who would... Why?! Just why?!? I'm going to end this post as positively as I can given the circumstances. I've enjoyed most of Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force. But this issue? Horrible.

Score: 3 out of 10."Remember that whole ripping the Adamantium out of me and nearly killing me? Water under the bridge old friend!"

Wolverine and Jubilee #4 & Uncanny X-Force #8

Two Marvel reviews to get through here, including one that was so bad it was nearly Brightest Day bad! Hmm, then again, that's probably overstating things... NOTHING is Brightest Day bad...

Wolverine & Jubilee #4(of 4):

Summary: With Jubilee lost in... um, I don't know, a necklace, Wolverine is trying to figure out how to free her. Meanwhile, Rockslide meets a dragon and befriends it... Oh boy, this is going to be one of THOSE comics, isn't it... In necklace world, Jubilee runs into a mammoth dragon, that seems intent on killing her because she was trespassing or something. The dragon Rockslide was talking to sends him to help Jubilee, but he isn't exactly that excited to be fighting a giant dragon. Wolverine finds a magic ring inside the head of a zombie(yes, really), and the ring transports him to necklace world. He meets up with Jubes and Rockslide, which gives Jubes the courage to fight the giant dragon. Jubes meets with little success, so Wolvie and Rockslide distract the dragon, giving Jubilee enough time to climb up the dragon and spear it through the head, killing it. For some reason, killing the dragon sends Wolvie, Jubilee and Rockslide back to Earth, which is as good a place as any to end this review.

Thoughts: This was ALL sorts of bad! I skipped most of the end, with Wolvie talking to the Whore, and Rockslide talking to Jubilee, because it pretty much went nowhere... Kind of like this entire mini-series actually. There was no finality to anything. The vampire that framed Jubes and played Wolvie basically disappeared last issue and was little more than an after thought here. You know, the vampire who was the main antagonist for the majority of this mini-series! Now I remember why I hated Kathryn Immonen's Runaways run! This issue was simply terrible. If not for the art, I'd have happily given this comic an even lower score.

Score: 2 1/2 out of 10.A no-prize to the first person who can explain a)what the purpose of this mini-series was, and b)what the HELL was going on in this issue!


Uncanny X-Force #8:

Summary: Deathlok decides to watch over the World, since Weapon Infinity would sprout from the World if it fell into the wrong hands. While Fantomex isn't thrilled with that idea, he decides to let Deathlok stand guard over the shrunken city. While that is going on, Deadpool is on an X-Force mission at an army base after Psylocke reported sensing some unusual psychic activity emanating from there. Pool's devices don't pick up on any weird readings, but his transmission is cut off, leading Wolverine to believe that something was wrong there. Wolvie goes looking for the rest of the team, and discovers Archangel and Psylocke having one of their meditation sessions. Before Wolvie interrupts, Psylocke manages to lock away Warren's evil Archangel persona. The team is gathered, and they head to the army base, where Psylocke immediately senses the presence of the Shadow King(!). Psylocke meets the Shadow King on the astral plane and attacks, but is assaulted by the King's vast psionic abilities. The Shadow King takes control of all of the members of X-Force except for Fantomex(who is immune to psychic tampering due to his mask), and sends the mutants out to kill Psylocke's body and launch nuclear missiles at Crazy Mutie Island. Say what you will, but the Shadow King sure is ambitious! Fantomex protects Psylocke's body for as long as he can, but is overpowered by Deadpool and Wolverine. As for Psylocke, she realizes that she couldn't defeat the Shadow King on the astral plane, so she heads back to her body, rushing inside the base to stop Archangel from launching the nukes. Psylocke enters Archangel's mind to protect him from the Shadow King, but inadvertently draws the Shadow King into Archangel's mind, where he immediately senses evil Archangel. Shadow King releases evil Archangel, who repays him by slicing his astral projection to shreds. Before Psylocke can do anything, evil Archangel banishes her from his mind and forces her to forget what she had just witnessed. From there, Archangel wakes up and slaughters an innocent soldier. The rest of X-Force, now free of the Shadow King arrive on the scene and figure that killing the soldier was the only way Archangel could prevent him from launching the missiles.

Thoughts: I'll admit, I'm a sucker for old school X-Men villains, so seeing the Shadow King here made my day. Besides that though, there really isn't much else to say about this one. It focused heavily on Psylocke and Archangel, who are probably my two least favorite X-Forcers. Plus it made me remember that awful X-Men storyline from the 90's with Psylocke and the Shadow King... Ugh... As for this comic, it was okay. Not great, not awful, simply okay.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Yes, I am a closet Shadow King fan...