Best of the Rest! April 10th edition.

Hey all, X here to herald in a brand new BotR post.  Not only that, but this is the 3,000th post here at the blog!  That's A LOT of posts!  Speaking of a lot, I picked up a slew of comics on Wednesday, so it should go without saying there are gonna be A LOT of comics covered in this post.  As always, I'll get things started and JT will pitch in towards the end of the review.  JT's text will be in blue.  With so many comics to dig into, let's end the intro and get to the main event.

Alpha: Big Time #3: In this issue, Alpha DOESN'T screw up!  Huzzah for the greatest hero ever!!  He saves that girl he likes in school from a fire(and she naturally knows who he is, because she's not a moron), and talks to Doc Parker about his powers, which seem to be growing.  However, the main villain of Pittsburgh takes umbrage at a hero being and town, and since everybody knows who Alpha is, decides to pay his family a visit.  So yeah, this comic?  You know I loved it!  I read it from cover to cover with a smile on my face.  I just can't help but to love this character, and this series.  Alpha is honestly what all teenage heroes SHOULD be.  Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Ultron #1AU: With all of the other Runaways dead, Victor has been saving whatever kids he could find in destroyed Los Angeles.  Luckily for him, the various Ultron patrols can't seem to figure out what he is, and as such haven't killed him.  Oh yeah, and Victor has been hiding his powers from the kids he was rescuing, while subtly using them to hide from Ultron.  At least until one of the kids sees him doing robot-y stuff, and the Ultrons attack.  It's then that Victor decides to stop slinking around in the shadows, afraid of Ultron and finally fights back.  This was another really good comic.  Man, with the exception of AoU #5, I have been having some GREAT luck with my comic reading this week.  I liked the art, and the writing nailed Victor perfectly.  This is a character that needs a much bigger place in the Marvel U.  Score: 9 out of 10.

Walking Dead #109: This issue dealt with Jesus and Rick putting their plan to attack Negan in motion.  Rick informs certain people from his group(Andrea, Carl, Michonne), while Jesus tells a select number of folks at the Hilltop.  However, by the end of this one, Jesus seems to realize that one of the guys he told was in Negan's pocket.  This was an okay issue.  I mean, nothing really happened, I wasn't blown away by it, but it was a fine way to kill a few minutes.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Hawkeye #9: This issue gives us a look at the four most important women in Hawkeye's life(Mockingbird, Black Widow, Kate and Spider-Woman).  Plus it advances the story with the mob having it out for Clint by having an assassin kill Clint's neighbor, Grills.  So we had action, comedy, and Kate calling Clint a bitch.  Yup, this one checked all the boxes for me.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Thor: God of Thunder #7: Current Thor and Future Thor get together and prepare an attack on Gorr's planet.  Meanwhile, Gorr captures Young Thor and forces Young Thor to work on Gorr's master plan...  A gigantic bomb.  No complaints with this one.  Gorr is still a great villain, and I enjoyed seeing the two Thors interact.  The reveal at the end wasn't something I was all excited over(so Gorr has a big bomb...  Even though he's killed most every god without a giant bomb...), but I'm sure Jason Aaron has a reason Gorr is concocting that bomb.  So yeah, again, good stuff here.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #3: AIM's scientist supreme and a few henchmen drop in on a weapon's expo, claiming they had every right to be there since they were members of a UN recognized country.  Needless to say, that leads to Nick Fury(jr) and Daisy Johnson fighting AIM.  A US senator ends up getting killed during the ruckus, and AIM escapes with the Iron Patriot armor, which they seemed interested in using Mentallo to pilot.  Also, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Mockingbird find a half destroyed Jocasta at a wrecked AIM base.  Hey, I liked this comic too!  What's going on this week?!  I'm still not 100% sold on AIM as the main antagonists here(they seem too faceless without somebody like MODOK leading them), but I'm slowly starting to get into this story.  Plus, anytime you throw Hawkeye, Black Widow and Mockingbird into a comic I'm gonna be a happy camper.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Fantastic Four #6: Reed decides to take the kids to the Big Bang.  For SCIENCE!!  While there, they find a body floating around in the void and rescue it.  It turns out the body is an older version of Blastaar, and he attacks.  Franklin uses his powers to send Blastaar back outside before the ship is critically damaged.  Ah, there we go...  I knew my comic reading luck was too good prior to this issue.  So yeah, I didn't like this issue at all.  The F4 are too cardboard for my tastes here, and the two kids are incredibly irritating.  Like to the point where I've stopped reading their dialogue because they piss me off so much.  Besides that, there's nothing interesting happening here...  Oh no, something mysterious is wrong with Ben!  Oh no, Reed has a mysterious disease!  Oh no, Sue is pouting!  This series just isn't for me, so I'll be dropping it come Wednesday.  Score: 2 out of 10.

Superboy #19: This issue actually gives us SB's full origin(um, shouldn't that have happened in the zero issue?), as well as Harvest's.  Harvest is from a future where humanity is at war with the meta-humans, who have taken to abusing their powers.  As for SB, he is a clone of Lois Lane and Superman's son, Jon.  Jon was taken in by Harvest after his parents thought he had died.  Why?  Because Harvest intended on using Jon to kill every meta-human, since Jon was the most powerful of the metas.  However, Jon was messed up due to his hybrid Kryptonian/human DNA and wound up in a coma, so Harvest created a clone to try to help Jon(who he came to love like a son).  So yeah, SB is the clone of the son of Lois and Supes, and that?  That is SOOOOO much better than SB as the clone of Supes and Lex, or Supes and a random scientist.  I have to say, this issue was really good.  Like, surprisingly so!  I'm usually blasting Scott Lobdell's work, but he brought his A-game here.  Harvest became a deeper character, while SB has an origin that I like.  I still don't understand why we didn't get this in issue #0, but hey, at least we got it here.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Ultimates #23: The leader of California sends Tigra and Quake from the West Coast Ultimates to attack Cap at the White House.  Meanwhile, WCU member Vision has stolen Tony Stark's nuclear satellite and has sent it hurdling towards Sacramento   The leader of California figures that will be seen as an attack on California and will lead to the west coast states banding together against Cap and the rest of the country.  This issue was kind of a snoozer for me.  I just never got into it.  So yeah, that's all I have to say about this issue, actually...  Score: 5 out of 10.

Batman and Red Robin #19: In this issue we're introduced to Carrie Kelley, a college student that had apparently been tutoring Damian for thousands of dollars, as well as her blonde roommate that wears purple. (Hint, hint?) Anyway, She goes looking for Damian at his home but no one answers. Bruce starts looking into her life and when he tells her that her services are no longer needed, she asks where Damian is, causing Bruce to leave without answering. Also, Batman heads off to find Frankenstein with the intent of having him help resurrect Damian. Frankenstein is not on board with this, and neither is Red Robin, who finally pops up when Alfred asks him to go check out Bruce's location. Tim tries to stop Bruce but ends up getting punched in the face for his troubles. Sensing that Batman will do whatever he has to, Frankenstein blows up his lab/lair, leaving Batman at square one, now very pissed at Tim for interfering on his quest to resurrect Damain. This was a weird issue, considering Red Robin was barely in it and his name's in the title, but it was far from bad, plus Bruce dealt with Denial on his first of the five steps of grief. Next is Anger, and Red Hood is involved! Score: 6/10

Wolverine #2: In this issue, Logan is pursuing a child that seems to be mind controlled by some kind of alien-like being, as we see it's mind controlling other people as well. Logan wants to stop the being without hurting the kid, but he has a laser gun that basically disintegrates people on impact. Logan tries to talk the mind controller down and distracts it long enough to disarm the kid, who then leaps off of the building while still being controlled. Logan leaps after him and catches the kid, then lands with his body taking the impact. Logan and the kid survive, but someone else now has the laser gun, but they're dealt with by Nick Fury, who shows up to help Logan investigate the mind controllers. The issue ends with The Watcher showing up, meaning this is a big problem. I enjoyed this issue, It's weird how a story with Wolverine facing a kid could be this entertaining but it was, also Cornell has a penchant for mind control, doesn't he? Score: 7/10

Saga #12: This issue starts with us seeing some of Prince Robot's time on the front lines during the war, where he's saved by a medic that promptly dies afterwards. From there we see him take a call that basically motivates him to find Alanna and Marko and get home to his family. Prince Robot heads off to meet the author of the book Alanna read when she fell in love with Marko, and the author basically says he wrote it for a check and doesn't believe in what he wrote. He and Prince Robot share some words before the author reveals his son, a former war hero, hanged himself in the bathroom upon returning home from war. Prince Robot calls his son a coward and the author pulls a weapon on him, but Prince Robot shoots him in the leg first. Prince Robot decides to wait at the house for Marko and Alanna, knowing they'd seek out the sympathizer, but doesn't realize they're already there, hiding upstairs and aware of the Prince's presence. I enjoyed this issue, I like that everyone is humanized so no one really feels like a bad guy, everyone has motivation so it seems real. Prince Robot, The Will, Marko and Alanna, even Gwendolyn to a degree. Score: 7.5/10

And that my friends, is the Best of the Rest. I'll be here tomorrow with the final review of the comic week, Uncanny X-Men #4. And I probably will have short reviews for the week after while I play Injustice until my eyes bleed. Lol, anyway, til next time, this is JT, signing off!

A Quick Look At... May 30th's New Releases.

Hey there X-Maniacs, Vampire X here with an unexpected post... Which is better than no post at all... Well, I guess that depends on the person, but I say it's better than no post at all. Although some people would vehemently disagree... Anyway, pointless rambling aside, I read almost all of the comics I picked up at the comic shop yesterday during my lunch break, and figured I'd just throw a quick post out with the score and what I thought of each book in two sentences or less... Yes, in two sentences or less... What?! I have to get to sleep soon! So yeah, I'll do this post today, and then I'll later on in the week I'll try to get a few proper reviews up and posted around here. So that's the plan, let's see how it works out!

American Vampire #27: There's really nothing to say except this comic was good as usual. The ending sets up some great stuff going forward, which is always a good sign!
Score: 8 out of 10.

Wolverine and the X-Men #11: This issue was way better than I expected it to be. Wolverine surprised me a bit here, but in a good way for a change.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

New Mutants #43: Boy am I glad this x-over with Journey Into Mystery is over... Who'd have expected two books that I really enjoy reading to put out such a crappy x-over...
Score: 5 out of 10.

X-Men Legacy #267: If you are a fan of Rogue then THIS was the comic book for you! I'm not much of a Rogue fan(she's alright, I guess...), so naturally this WASN'T the comic for me!
Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39: This comic was actually a pleasant surprise... The story was strong(if a bit predictable), and it was basically a good read.
Score: 8 out of 10.

Wolverine #307: Yep, this definitely should have been this week's Runt of the Litter... I can't think of a single good thing to say about this comic, so I think I'll just end things here...
Score: 3 out of 10.

I figured I'd do a post like this in case anybody really wants to talk about one(or more) of these books. Now there's a place to post comments about them, plus you basically know what I thought about each comic. In two sentences or less... And hey, look at that, this post only took me a whopping 10 minutes to do, which is great because now I can close my casket and sleep until the sun sets! Until later, Vampire X out.

Wolverine #306

Yeah, so this storyline is about Dr. Rot, an evil doctor obsessed with brains... What more can I add to that?

Wolverine #306:

Story Points:
-Wolvie manages to find Dr. Rot's father, who has been tortured by his son and wants the release of death. Wolvie gives the old man what he wants, but first, Rot's father tells Wolvie where Rot had holed up.
-Wolvie heads to Rot's base and is attacked by three of Rot's freaks.
-Wolvie manages to tear apart one of the freaks, but tortures the freak for too long, allowing the freak to say some sort of words that put Wolvie in a trance.
-When Wolvie wakes up, he's strapped down and surrounded by Rot and his freaks, with Rot apparently planning on making Wolvie into one of his freaks.

Thoughts: Eh. This comic wasn't awful, but I'm just not feeling this storyline. I don't really care for Rot, and I didn't like the fact that Wolvie had a mental switch in his head... You'd think somebody(Rachel Summers!!) would have seem that while in Wolvie's head during one of his mental training sessions... Regardless, this could have been worse, so I'll take what I can get until this storyline is over.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Wolverine #305

The final review for the night is the first issue of the Cullen Bunn era of Wolverine... I think... I know Jason Aaron has left the series, but I'm not sure if Bunn is taking over for good, or if he's just a placeholder until the next regular writer takes over...

Wolverine #305:

Summary: Wolverine has been blacking out and apparently murdering people during those blackouts. During the last blackout, a witness saw Wolvie kill some guys and gave the feds the description... As for Wolvie, he figures Dr. Rot was behind the blackouts and murders due to the victims having their brains cut out, which was kind of Rot's calling card. Wolvie heads to the sanatorium he first met Rot and finds nothing but bizarre monsters. Wolvie kills the monsters, but doesn't find Rot anywhere. As he's leaving the sanatorium, Wolvie is being recorded by a camera and watched by Rot himself.

Thoughts: This comic never really grabbed me. It was an okay read and all, and a fine way to kill a few minutes, but it just didn't pull me in. So Rot is somehow manipulating Wolvie, making him blackout and kill people... All of a sudden... Seeing as that Wolvie is on like EVERY hero team there is, and as such is teaming with pretty much every hero there is, you'd think he'd say to... oh, I don't know, Iron Man, or Rachel Grey, or Hank Pym, or somebody, “Hey bub, I've been blacking out and killing people. Can you fix that for me?” Instead, Wolvie goes off on his own, has NO idea how to find Rot, and tells nobody where he'd gone... Very dumb, Wolvie... Very dumb.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Very bloody...

Wolverine #304

Here's the final Jason Aaron written issue of Wolverine... Until the next issue of Wolverine and the X-Men! Well, this is actually the final issue of the solo Wolverine series Aaron will be writing. There have been some ups and downs throughout Aaron's Wolvie run, but for my money, the positives have outweighed the negatives. To be honest, I wish Aaron would stay on this series and leave Wolvie and the X-Men, but that's a topic for another day...

Wolverine #304:

Summary: Sabretooth throws a party and invites several criminals to celebrate Sabretooth's new position as secret crime lord of the far east... Now, before I go on, two things... Throwing a party and inviting a slew of criminals kind of defeats the whole “secret” crime boss thing... The second? This was DAKEN'S idea first!!! Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest... Oh, and Daken was at the party. Anyway, Wolvie crashes the party, beats everybody up and tells Sabretooth that he was starting a new tradition... Beating Tooth up every year on Tooth's birthday... Wait, it was Sabretooth's birthday? The hell?? Besides that, we get a few snippets from stories Aaron ran over the years(an awesome scene with Maverick, Strikeforce X, the Baby Hellfire Club, Dr. Rot, etc), and this one ends with Wolverine sitting at a bar drinking a beer and watching some football.

Thoughts: This comic was okay, I guess. I don't get why Tooth would throw a party, (because it was his birthday, X, you idiot!)I don't get why Wolvie knew it was Sabretooth's birthday(who keeps tabs on their arch-enemies birthday's?), and to be honest, I would have preferred it if we got more from the other stories as opposed to spending so much time on Tooth and his party... I mean that Maverick scene was just BEGGING to be explored further! And it only got two measly pages and then nothing... Even the Dr. Rot stuff deserved more than it got. Oh well. Like I said, this was an okay comic, but I can't help but feel that if the focus was shifted slightly it could have been a great comic.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

I'm going to take this to mean that Daken is alive. Now, let us never speak of Daken's “death” again...

Wolverine #303

Hey look, Wolverine and Sabretooth are battling it out on the cover of this issue... How much do you want to bet we don't get that scene on the inside of this one?

Wolverine #303:

Summary: Wolverine goes around Japan killing all of Goda's Hand ninjas, which is exactly what Goda wanted... Wha-huh? It seems Goda feels the best way to be a villain is to play puppet master from the shadows, and as such he didn't need any flashy ninjas around. From there, he has the Silver Samurai kill a mess of Japanese Yakuza heads, leaving a large power-vacuum in Japan's criminal underworld. To complete his plan, Goda has Mystique impersonate him at which time Deathstrike shoots Goda/Mystique in the head. Goda is smug that he was now dead to the world, at least until Mystique gets up and attacks Deathstrike. Goda is naturally furious since that wasn't his plan, and is shocked to find Wolverine storming his private building. Sabretooth reveals to Goda that Wolvie was there because Tooth had led Wolvie there, before flying away, leaving Goda to face Wolvie alone... It shouldn't be a big shock as to what happens there... In short, it involves a sword, Goda and impalement. While Wolvie is killing Goda, Tooth flies to the scene of Mystique and Deathstrike's battle and manages to convince Deathstrike to join with him. From there, we learn that Mystique has sent the photos of Wolverine having sex with her(in the guise of Yukio) to Wolvie's girlfriend, Melita. This issue ends with Tooth, Mystique, Deathstrike and the Silver Samurai killing the heads of all of the east Asian crime families, effectively making Tooth the head of ALL of east Asia's crime.

Thoughts: So, Sabretooth was brought back to life to basically do the plan Daken was doing about a year ago... Um... Huh... I don't even know what to say about that, so I'll say nothing until I see how it plays out down the road. But still, why not simply have Daken in Sabretooth's place here, especially since a) Daken was ALREADY doing this, and b) Daken's series is ending and he'd make a good reoccurring crimelord-type foe for Wolvie. I will say this, Mystique sending the photos to Melita? That was an awesome move by Jason Aaron, one I didn't see coming at all. I was thinking more along the lines that Mystique was trying to get pregnant during that scene, but breaking up Wolvie and his girlfriend is an even eviler move, so kudos to Aaron for that. Overall, this was one of the better “Wolverine goes to Japan” stories I've read, but considering how much I hate “Wolverine in Japan” stories, that's not saying much...

Score: 6 out of 10.

So wait, Sabretooth is Daken now?

Wolverine #302

Ugh, it's Wolverine. Just what I didn't want to see after a LOOOONG day. Oh well, let's get this one over with as quick and painless as possible.

Wolverine #302:

Summary: While Wolverine is being tormented by visions that he was back in Hell thanks to the gas the Hand ninjas had pumped into the cave, Yukio manages to take out a few ninjas before going into hiding. Meanwhile, Hand leader Goda reveals to the new Silver Samurai that his girlfriend Amiko had snuck into the Hand caves and that he was going to have her killed... Unless the Samurai gave Goda what he wanted. Wolverine escapes the gas's effect by allowing his mind to devolve into that of his berserker self, at which time he kills a mess of ninjas. Since their inner sanctum had been comprised, Goda and Sabretooth escape, while the Samurai saves Amiko. As for Wolvie, he has sex with Yukio... Or does he?!? In actuality, he slept with Mystique, who wanted to see if her powers were strong enough to trick Wolverine in such an intimate setting. I'm pretty sure something will come of that scene sometime down the road. Back in the States, Kingpin has heard about Goda's antics and sends that weird assassin Deathstrike to Japan to kill him. This issue ends with Amiko learning that the Samurai had betrayed his entire family to Goda by providing Goda with the ancestral loot of the Clan Yashida.

Thoughts: This was a surprisingly good comic! Really, for a series that had tons of characters I normally loathe in it, the story here was way better than I could have hoped for! Go figure. The next issue is the conclusion to this Wolvie goes to Japan: Part 500 storyline, and I'm not quite sure what's left to accomplish... Wolvie defeated the Hand, and the villains escaped. It seems like this story could have gone on the back burner for a few issues, but I guess Jason Aaron wants to polish it off now. Here's hoping the next issue is as good as(or better!) this one was.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

I literally just flipped to a random page in this comic and got this... Sometimes it's that simple...

Wolverine #301

Last review for the night? The latest issue of Wolverine... Man, I'm so tired my introductions are all the exact same now!! Terrible!

Wolverine #301:

Summary: Wolverine is trapped between an all-out war between the Hand and the Japanese Yakuza, with his adopted daughter Amiko being held captive by the leader of the Hand. Oh, and Sabretooth and Mystique are also working for the Hand. The bastard son of the Silver Samurai is also here, as he's been dating Amiko, and he wants to try to free her. He's sporting a super high-tech Silver Samurai suit, naturally. After a WHOLE load of fighting, the Hand ninjas manage to get their hands on what they REALLY wanted out of this whole mess, the new Silver Samurai, as with his father dead, he was the acting head of the Yashida Clan, whether he knew it or not. Having Kid Samurai in their custody, the Hand ninjas(along with Mystique and Sabretooth) teleport away. Wolverine does some sleuthing and discovers where the Hand's secret headquarters was. However, Amiko follows after Wolvie, which is something that will almost definitely make Wolvie's life difficult going forward.

Thoughts: I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I just plain don't like Wolverine's adventures in Japan. Sorry. I mean the story here is pretty solid and easy to follow, but I just can't get too in to it because in the end it's ANOTHER Wolverine in Japan story. To end this review on a positive note, this IS one of the better Wolverine in Japan stories that I've read, so that's good.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Wolverine's life really sucks sometimes...

Wolverine #300

One more review for the night, and it's the 300th issue of Wolverine. Yeah, sure, whatever. I've given up trying to make sense of Marvel's math by this point. So yeah, this is Wolvie #300. Probably. Who knows.

Wolverine #300:

What Happened: Wolverine heads to Japan since an all-out war between the Yakuza and the Hand was impending. Upon getting there he meets up with Yukio, and after the duo kill off a mess of Yakuza goons, Yukio reveals that with the Silver Samurai dead, his duties as the head of the Clan Yashida fell to his illegitimate, and prior to this, unknown son... Who just happens to be dating Wolverine's adopted daughter, Amiko... Sure, why not... Meanwhile, Amiko gets herself kidnapped by Azuma Goda, who was in the process of usurping control of the Hand from Kingpin. We learn that Azuma had hired Sabretooth to kill a leader of the Yakuza because he wanted to instigate a war between Kingpin's version of the Hand and the Yakuza. Wolverine hears that the Hand and Yakuza were going to have themselves a meeting to try to hash out their differences, and smelling a rat, Wolvie races to the meeting site, but is intercepted by Sabretooth. While the two longtime foes battle, Azuma walks into the Hand/Yakuza meeting, tells the Yakuza that HE was now it's leader and sends his ninjas to attack. This leads to a swift response from the Yakuza, which leads to total carnage(“I love it!!”). Azuma has Amiko brought to the meeting place, with the hope being he could draw out Silver Samurai's son, which works when Samurai's son shows up in some high-tech Samurai outfit, intent on freeing his girlfriend. Oh, and Mystique is working with Sabretooth.

Thoughts: Eh, this was a good comic and all, but it was ANOTHER “Wolverine goes to Japan and fights Ninjas/the Hand/the Yakuza” story. I've said it before, but it bears repeating... I've NEVER been a fan of Wolvie's Japanese exploits. I hate Amiko, don't particularly care for Yukio, and could care less that the Silver Samurai is dead. I mean yeah, the Wolverine/Sabretooth throwdown was fun, as were all of Sabretooth's scene's actually, and the story was pretty straightforward, but still, it was a Wolvie in Japan storyline... Eh, so far it's probably the best Wolvie in Japan story I've read, but that's not exactly saying much, now is it?

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.As far as reunion scenes go, this one between Wolvie and Sabretooth was pretty lame...

Wolverine #20

So X-Factor got me back on track with a strong score. Now let's hope Wolverine continues the trend.

Wolverine #20:

What Happened: Kingpin meets up with the head of the Japanese Yakuza in Central Park to agree not to mess with each other's groups. Those two Canadian cannibals(the Buzzard Brothers) start killing Yakuza goons, at which time the head of the Yakuza figures Kingpin had double-crossed him. As luck would have it, Wolvie happened to be in the area and rushes over, attacking the Buzzards. He is soon assisted by a trio of women, the leader of the group being the thought to be dead Seraph. Wolvie and the women(Marvel's next new series title perhaps???) manage to take down the Buzzards while spiriting Kingpin and the Yakuza head away. After making sure the head of the Yakuza had safely made it onto his airplane back to Japan, Seraph tells Kingpin that one of her girls interrogated the Buzzards and they claimed to be working for ninjas... Kingpin denies any involvement with the Buzzards and is soon escorted away from Wolvie and company by his Hand ninjas. This issue ends with Sabretooth managing to murder the Yakuza head by throwing him out of his private jet.

The Good: Wolvie's battle with the Buzzards was energetic and fun. The cliffhanger was somewhat interesting. The art was good.

The Bad: Yay, Wolvie is trapped between the Yakuza and the Hand... *yawn* I just don't care about Wolvie's Asian adventures. They've always bored me to tears. Sabretooth's big return was spoiled for me, oddly enough, in Wolverine and the X-Men #3. I mean yeah, I'd heard he was coming back, but having him appear in two comics, the very same week as his first appearances since his return seemed kind of weird. Especially since Jason Aaron writes both series! Speaking of Sabretooth, I'd rather we learned HOW he came back(which I believe we will next issue) before seeing him...

The Verdict: What can I say, I didn't really like this issue... Nothing here did anything for me. Wolvie stuck in the middle of the Japanese mafia while they go to war with the Hand pretty much showcases all of the things I like the least about Wolverine's origin. Now we'll probably end up getting months and months of Wolvie and Yukio, his “daughter”, and people throwing the word “gaijin” around... Wake me when this storyline ends.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.I wish Kingpin would have busted out a ninja pose here as well...

Wolverine #60 (Early September 1992)

Let's return to Marvel for the last review of the week before tomorrow and New Comic Day(Huzzah!). After that really craptacular LotDCU comic I just reviewed, the bar is set really low for the night. Let's see if this comic can pull me out of the comic book doldrums.

Wolverine #60:

Summary: It seems that Wolverine's love, Mariko, has recently died at the hands of Matsuo, and as such Wolverine has been sitting in front of Mariko's grave pondering his life while Gambit and Jubilee stand nearby helplessly. Eventually Sunfire comes by as a representative of the Japanese government to ask Wolvie to leave the country and not attempt to take revenge on Matsuo. To that end, Sunfire gets the trio of mutants a limo and they head inside and begin their trek towards the airport. Riveting stuff, no? Don't worry, it picks up right now. Back in New York, Sabretooth is enjoying a wrestling show at Madison Square Garden when he is attacked by a Shiva robot. After a bit of a battle(in the ring, which delights the crowd), Sabretooth manages to tear the robot's head off. While Tooth is standing triumphant in the ring, the robot's head zaps him with a mental blast that forces him to relive a Weapon X implanted memory where he was Wolverine's father. John Wraith arrives on the scene and manages to snap Tooth out of his trance, just as a second Shiva robot arrives on the scene. Wraith blows Shiva #2 up and rapidly exits the Garden with a very confused Sabretooth. Back in Japan, Wolverine catches Matsuo's scent while in the limo and leaps out of the sunroof, scaling a building and confronting Matsuo. Matsuo sics a bunch of Hand ninjas on Wolvie, but Wolvie dispatches them with ease. Wolvie the proceeds to chop off the artificial hand Matsuo had received and tells Matsuo that he wasn't there to kill him, instead he was going to take a piece of Matsuo every time the two met, and as such rips off Matsuo's nostril(?!?) with a claw before leaving, ending this issue.

Thoughts: Okay, a few confessions first... I've never been a fan of Wolverine's exploits in Japan. The Wolvie in Japan stuff just never really grabbed my interest. On top of that, the Weapon X program, as it was back in the 90's, was INSANELY confusing stuff! You had killer robots, secret programs, multiple fake memory implants, it was a frigging mess! So that's two strikes this issue had going for it right off the bat. With that said, I DID enjoy this issue for the most part, mainly thanks to the ultra fun Sabretooth/Shiva battle. I've always been a sucker for villain vs villain fights and this one was pretty well done. Sure, it was a bit strange that two Shiva units were destroyed here after Marvel/Larry Hama had shown Shiva to be incredibly tough and able to take Wolvie to the brink, but overlooking that, I did enjoy the Shiva/Sabretooth parts. The rest? Not so much... I mean really, who tears somebody's NOSTRIL off as revenge for the murder of their beloved? Weird...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Wow, for a robot Shiva was REALLY bringing the smack talk!

Wolverine #19

Next and last comic review for the day? This week's Pick of the Litter, the very strong Wolverine series. This series has been good from the start, and this latest story is a big step away from all of the grim Wolvie stories we've been getting, as it's full of really good comedy. Here's hoping Jason Aaron continues to bring the awesome with this issue.

Wolverine #19:

Summary: Wolverine, Fat Cobra and Gorilla Man launch a sneak attack on the Jade Claw's secret underground opium fields via the stomachs of some dragon drug smugglers. The Jade Claw's goon squad attack Wolvie's motley crew, and Wolvie and company seem to be slowly gaining the advantage, at which time Master Po(who fell into a bottomless pit last issue... yes, really) arrives on the scene with friendly dragon reenforcements, which leads to Wolvie and his allies routing Jade Claw's forces. With her opium fields burned and her forces in tatters, Jade Claw runs through the underground tunnels back to China. As for Wolvie, his allies and all of the slaves Jade Claw had working her opium fields, Wolvie takes them all to Westchester to Harry's Hideaway(!!) for some beers. Oh yeah, Wolvie's girlfriend, Melita? Thanks to Wolvie pulling some strings, she has relocated to the East Coast and has gotten a job working at the Daily Bugle, meaning Wolvie wouldn't have to worry about doing the long distance relationship thing. And that my friends, is basically that.

Thoughts: Again, I really liked this issue. It was at times over-the-top ridiculous, but I'm sorry, every now and then, a comic series can use a storyline like that. It was all good here. The comedy was funny, the story was strong, the art was vibrant, the dialogue made me chuckle a few times, seriously, no complaints about this one. Next issue we get back to the serious business with Wolvie coming face-to-face with the current leader of the Hand, Kingpin. That should be good, just in a different way than this issue was, which goes to show you what a versatile writer Jason Aaron is.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Yes, Wolvie has had a busy few months.

Wolverine #18

Last comic review for the night. We'll finish today up with the latest issue of Wolverine. When I post this, I'll have reviewed 6 of the 12 comics I picked up this week, and I'll switch to reviewing 2 comics for the next three nights. That means I get to have some fun come Monday and Tuesday... I'm not sure what I'll do yet(I have some ideas, naturally) so if you have any recommendations, let me hear 'em.

Wolverine #18:

Summary: Wolverine and Gorilla Man end up being forced to surrender to the Jade Claw's forces when Wolvie's allies, a small boy and his elderly martial arts master are caught by dragons. From there the Jade Claw's forces tie Wolvie and the monkey to the dragons for some good old quartering action. With that, the leader of the Jade Claw's forces(some feeb named Soul Striker) pushes the old man into a bottomless pit and leaves with the kid. After some struggling, Wolvie and Gorilla Man get free of the dragons and run into Fat Cobra, who tells them he had gotten lost in the tunnels connecting San Fransisco to China. From there we head to the Jade Claw herself, who, in true villain fashion, tells the boy brought to her by her forces that she intended to become the world's greatest drug dealer before sending the boy to her underground poppy fields to toil away for her. Wolvie and company come across some more dragons, and Wolvie plans on following them since he figures they'd take him back to Jade Claw at which time he could save the boy, avenge his master and get back the money the Jade Claw's goons stole from him. Unfortunately, Fat Cobra is too hungry to listen and attacks the trio of dragons, with plans to eat them. Wolvie comes up with the ingenious plan to let the dragons eat him, and has his comrades allow for the same fate. This issue ends with Wolvie, the talking monkey and Fat Cobra sneaking towards the Jade Claw's base Trojan Horse style.

Thoughts: This was easily one of the funnier comic books I've read this month... It's just all so ludicrous! Seriously, Wolverine, a talking monkey and a fat guy are wandering around underground tunnels and fighting dragons all so Wolvie could save a kid, avenge his master who was pushed into, what was described as a “bottomless pit”, and get back the money that was stolen from him from back when he was the crime boss of Chinatown in San Fran... Add an insanely over the top villain and her underground poppy fields and you have one hell of a funny comic. It all just works perfectly here. Who knew Jason Aaron was so funny?!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.So what exactly is this storyline about? Well it's about Wolvie “Finding the people who stole my money. And kidnapped my friend. And threw my Kung Fu master down a bottomless pit.” How could you NOT want to read this storyline!?

Wolverine #17

Next up is the latest issue of Wolverine. This storyline should be Wolvie's final one in the Bay Area before heading back east. So far Jason Aaron hasn't disappointed me with this series, hopefully that trend continues here.

Wolverine #17:

Summary: So there are some murders taking place in Chinatown that seem to be gang related and directed at the supposed leader of the majority of Chinatown's gangs, the Black Dragon... Don't worry, this will all make sense(hopefully) in a few moments. From there Wolvie heads to his girlfriend Melita's apartment and pretty much says good-bye to her since he was moving cross country. Before Wolvie can give Melita a proper good-bye, a kid climbs in the window telling the Black Dragon there was trouble in Chinatown... Yep, Wolverine is the leader of the gangs of Chinatown... Of course he is... Anyway, Wolvie ditches Melita(who pretty much sets the stage for the end of this storyline by hinting that she may have moved out herself before Wolvie comes back) and goes to take care of this Chinatown trouble. He heads to the office/headquarters of the Black Dragon with the kid and finds his second in command, a sarcastic old man. Wolvie discovers that the rival gang members had stolen the money he had squirreled away to rebuild the school, and thus he was forced to kill him some Chinese gang members to get his cash back. After taking out some rival gang members, Wolverine is confronted by... Really? A goddamn talking monkey... Now, for those of you who don't know, my GREATEST pet peeve in ALL of comicdom is talking animals in general, but talking monkeys in particular... Anyway, this is Gorilla-Man(I get the “Gorilla” part, but the “Man” part escapes me...) from the Agents of Atlas and he was also on the trail of Wolvie's targets, a group called the Jade Claw. Wolvie and the monkey throw down for a while before the old guy and the kid tell the two that they'd discovered a secret door in the Jade Claw warehouse and the foursome enter it, heading downstairs where they find a massive tunnel(that literally seems to stretch back to China), lots of goons, and two dragons carrying crates of heroin on their backs... That's definitely different. Anyway, the dragons spot Wolvie and his group hiding in the shadows and Wolvie and his rag-tag crew are soon confronted by a mess of angry superpowered Jade Claw members.

Thoughts: You know, I SHOULD hate everything about this comic... I mean I've never liked Wolvie's Asian adventures(I hate the very thought of Madripoor) and I hate talking monkeys... I mean it SHOULD be a recipe for disaster! And yet, I enjoyed this comic... A LOT! Weird. It was just all SO over the top I found myself really getting into this one. I mean come on, there were DRAGONS, walking FROM China, WITH crates of heroin... On their BACKS! Plus the talking monkey was just the most random pick for a guest star I think Jason Aaron could have possibly chosen here... So yes, call me crazy, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Sure, dragons and a talking monkey in a Wolverine comic... Why not?

Wolverine #16

Well, the past several issues of this series have been fantastic in my opinion, with issue #14 pulling down a perfect score. Will the streak of awesomeness continue? Or will this series finally come back down to Earth?

Wolverine #16:

Summary: So Wolverine has given up his humanity(again...) and is living amongst a pack of wolves(again...). While running with his pack, some armed goons approach and tranquilize the wolves, walking amongst the dazed animals looking for strong specimens. The men kill the wolves who don't meet their criteria and spot Wolvie with a few tranq needles sticking out of him. The men figure Wolvie was a wild man and debate whether they should bring him back to civilization, since they'd probably get some sort of reward for finding a modern day Tarzan. The leader of the men decides against taking Wolvie to civilization since they didn't have a cage to house a wild man, and orders his men to kill him along with the wolves they weren't taking, at which point one of the men shoot Wolvie in the head. Meanwhile, Melita is interviewing Wolvie's various friends and teammates to see what they thought about him. Some time later Wolvie wakes up and decides to get revenge for his massacred pack. Wolvie finds the men responsible in a cabin in the wilderness and sees that they were preparing to let the wolves loose in a pen and record the action. With that, the claws come out and Wolvie does away with the scumbags. Before he leaves the cabin, Wolvie picks up the scent of some other humans and opens a door discovering a bunch of bloody and maimed children, at which point he realizes that the men he killed had been throwing the children to the wolves(literally!) and then recording the sick scene. Wolvie takes the children to the nearest town where they are met by their grateful parents. From there, Wolvie heads off alone and tries to make sense of his life... Had he not murdered his own children due to the Red Right Hand, he never would have left civilization, and would have never rescued the captive children. While Wolvie is rolling that little chestnut around in his head, Melita and a who's who of Marvel's heroes arrive to see if they could convince Wolvie to return from his self-imposed exile. Realizing that although he'd done some terrible things, he'd also done a great deal of good, Wolvie decides to head back home with his woman and the heroes.

Thoughts: Um, that's it? After all of the awesomeness that was the first 15 issues of this series, with Wolvie going to Hell, being tormented by the Red Right Hand, killing his bastard children and leaving society, THIS was how he returned? This issue really didn't do much for me. I mean it was an okay “Wolvie is a hero” story and all, but it was a BIG step back from the prior several issues to me. I mean at the end of last issue Wolvie was trying to commit suicide as penance for murdering his children, at the end of this issue he's back with his various teams? Just like that? I knew Wolvie was going to eventually return to civilization(duh!), but I thought there'd be something more profound that would have Wolvie come back. Instead we got Wolvie killing bad guys, saving children and having a superhero intervention... Meh. Like I said, this was a good comic, but as an ending for a storyline as epic as the Wolvie Goes to Hell/Wolvie's Revenge stuff? I was expecting something better.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Wolverine's a lumberjack and he's okay!

Wolverine #15

Time to take a look at my most anticipated book for the week, Wolverine #15. As far as I was concerned, the last issue was perfect. Will this issue follow suit? One can only hope...

Wolverine #15:

Summary: This book is slightly out of order, so as always, I'll try to tackle this issue in as linear a fashion as possible. Wolverine heads to a small town dragging a coffin, asking some of the surprised townspeople where he could find a woman. Most of the townspeople don't want Wolvie or his trouble in their town, except for one townswoman, who offers to take Wolvie to the woman he was looking for. The location of the woman Wolvie was searching for? A graveyard, since she died of natural causes years ago. Upon hearing that, Wolvie opens the coffin, revealing one of the illegitimate children he killed over the course of the last few issues. Needless to say, the townswoman quickly leaves when Wolvie begins digging a grave next to his dead son's mother. From there, Wolvie heads back into town and gets himself fall down drunk. While loaded, Wolvie hallucinates that Daken, Dog and his father were there tormenting him and laughing at him for what the Red Right Hand had done to him. While hallucinating, some thugs try to steal Wolvie's wallet, which leads to Wolvie accidentally slashing one. One of the thugs slashes Wolvie's throat in retribution before the thugs hightail it away. After waking up, Wolvie calls Melita and tells her that he wasn't coming back, as well as asking her to tell the X-Men to just let him be. With that, Wolvie heads to the wilderness of Canada, climbs a mountain, reaches the peak and throws himself off of it over and over again, since the moment he strikes the ground he is without pain or thought for a few seconds before his healing factor kicks in and he remembers everything he'd done...

Thoughts: Wow, that was a bit of a downer, no? Poor Wolvie. It was issues like this that made me love the Wolverine's Revenge! storyline so much though... Usually a Wolverine comic follows a common path... Somebody wrongs Logan and/or one of Logan's friends/loved ones/teammates, Logan goes through hardship to reach the guilty party, we get a fight and win or lose, Logan moves on. This time around, there IS no fight... The Red Right Hand stole that from Wolvie. With no fight, there's no closure for Wolvie, so he CAN'T move on. He murdered a mess of his own illegitimate children, and the people behind Wolvie's antics got away with it scot-free. Not only that, but in a perverse way, Wolvie DESERVED the punishment he received from the Red Right Hand, because he took it upon himself to kill his kids. That's what I liked about this issue so much. It showed Wolvie totally and utterly defeated, with no enemy to battle, not knowing what to do except to try to punish himself for his transgressions. So while this issue wasn't QUITE as enjoyable as the last one, it was pretty damn close!

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Even as a drunken hallucination Daken rules!

New Comic Day! September 7th edition.

Well. This is my first foray into the idiotic new rebooted DCU. And no, I'm not calling it the DcnU, because that's asinine to me. It's NOT new, it's old! Right there you should have a pretty good feel for what I think of the DC reboot in general, but I am picking up a load of DC books this month(something like 24 or so), so I AM giving it a chance. That doesn't mean I have to like it, like so many sad DC fanboys who will swallow anything Didio and Johns send there way, but I WILL give it a shot. With that little bit of cheerfulness out of the way, let's take a look back at last week, which was my first non-DC week since I started this blog nearly 3 years ago... Last week's Pick of the Litter was Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #1, which came away with a respectable 8. An 8 means the comic was SLIGHTLY above average, so while I'd want my top pick to be a bit better than that, it's still not a BAD comic. Last week's Runt of the Litter was Fear Itself: The Deep #3, which came away with the week's lowest score, a 5. As for last week's average? It was an AMAZING 7.83 out of 10, which blows my previous highest average, a 7.39(from July 27th), out of the water! I'm going to chalk that crazy high score up to two things... Number one, I only had 9 comics to average, which is a much smaller sample size than I usually have. The second thing? No DC comic books... I've seriously hated most of the DC series's I was reading since Brightest Day started last year, which is when the Johns Effect started in earnest. Here's hoping the DC books I picked up this week don't suck!

Okay, introduction done, let's get to the books I picked up this week... Irredeemable #29, Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #1, Static Shock #1, Stormwatch #1, Morning Glories #12, Fear Itself: Wolverine #3, Heroes for Hire #11, Thunderbolts #163, Wolverine #15, X-23 #14, X-Factor #224.1 & X-Men #17. So 13 comics? That's not THAT bad! I can deal with that! As long as we're under 15, I'm happy. This week's Pick of the Litter is pretty easy. It's definitely Wolverine #15. After issue #14(which I gave a perfect score), I'm dying to see the fallout from the Wolverine's Revenge! storyline. As for this week's Runt, it's ALSO from Marvel, and it ALSO stars Wolverine! I am least looking forward to reading Fear Itself: Wolverine #3. I haven't enjoyed this mini from the start, and I am quite happy that this is the last issue I'll be picking up. And for you DC fans, out of the rebooted DC titles, I'm most looking forward to Stormwatch #1, and least looking forward to Static Shock #1. And that'll do it for this week. Hopefully I get a few good books out of this week's batch. I'll leave you with this week's random scan and a hearty X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!Damn treacherous Canadians!!!

Wolverine #14

Let's start this week off with a single review for the latest issue of Wolverine, the final part of the thus far fantastic “Wolverine's Revenge!” storyline. To be honest with you, after the first few issues of this storyline, I'm expecting near perfection here... Here's hoping that's what I get.

Wolverine #14:

Summary: We get started with the members of the Red Right Hand, with Wolverine right outside their door, taking a drink of poisoned wine while shouting, “To Revenge!”. The old leader of the RRH doesn't yet take a drink, watching his allies fall while telling them to die with a smile. As he looks around at the corpses, the old man sees that the youngest member of the RRH hadn't yet taken the drink, and when asked why, the boy tells him that he wanted to see Wolverine's face before he perished. With that, the old man tells the boy to make sure that he takes the drink before Wolverine enters the room, before drinking up himself, falling to the floor dead. As for the boy, he thinks back to what led him to join the RRH to begin with. It turns out the boy was raised by a single mother who managed to work her way through nursing school. The boy's mother was proud to be able to give her son a better life, and went to work for SHIELD. During the time Wolverine was possessed by the Hand(in the fantastic “Enemy of the State” storyline), Wolverine murdered the boy's mother while she was trying to tend to his wounds, leaving the boy an orphan. After bouncing around foster homes, the leader of the RRH(the old man) takes the boy in and makes him a member of the RRH. With the flashback over with, Wolverine charges into the RRH's inner sanctum and finds no super-villains to battle, simply a sea of dead bodies, including the boy. Wolvie is ready to leave the room when a video screen lights up and the old man from the RRH says hello to Wolvie. With that, he explains why they sent Wolvie to Hell(as revenge for Wolvie killing their family members and loved ones), leaving Wolvie a file of all that the RRH lost to Wolvie's murderous life. From there, the old man plays a video of Wolvie killing the 5 guardians the RRH had stationed in their base, telling Wolvie that they never expected the five guardians to defeat Wolvie, since the plan all along was for Wolvie to kill the five guardians. With that, the old man tells Wolvie to look at the other file on the table, and Wolvie realizes that the five guardians he killed were none other than various children he had left around the world(!!!). With that, the old man tells Wolvie that he now knows what it was like to feel the loss the RRH had felt, before welcoming Wolvie to the club and ending the video. Wolvie is completely devastated by this turn of events, and the boy from earlier, who was still clinging to life, does get to see the look on Wolvie's face, and is quite pleased to see the pain wracking Wolvie's before dying himself. From there, the members of the RRH head to Hell and meet up with the family members they had lost to Wolverine... All except for the boy, whose mother was nowhere in sight. This issue ends with Wolvie collapsing to the floor as the enormity of what he did finally sets in.

Thoughts: Usually I'll agonize over whether of not I should give a comic book a perfect score, or a 9 1/2... It's VERY rare for me to close a comic book and know right away that it was indeed, a perfect comic. This was one of those rare occasions. Once I finished this book, I knew I'd read something special. The reveal that those five guardians were actually a few of the bastards Wolvie left all over the planet during his long life? Absolutely brilliant. The boy's story, about how Wolvie killed his mother, a nurse for SHIELD, thus tying this story into my previous favorite Wolverine storyline? Fantastic. Jason Aaron REALLY outdid himself here. This is a story that I can see myself talking to people about in the same breath as Enemy of the State and Agent of SHIELD. As a matter of fact, this may just be my favorite Wolverine story ever, and I've read A LOT of Wolverine comics over the course of my life. The RRH were absolutely magnificent antagonists to Wolvie(and notice I didn't call them villains), as they were people with legitimate gripes against Wolvie. And not the normal, “Wolvie stopped me from robbing a bank, so now I have to get even with him!” gripes, but real gripes. These people were all collateral damage to the murders Wolvie has wreaked throughout his life. They personally did NOTHING to him, but suffered due to the fact that he had killed their loved ones. Out of all the RRH members profiles we've read about these past few issues, the boy's story was probably the best in showing the hell Wolverine has put people through... Yes, some of the family members of the RRH members that Wolvie killed were into some shady dealings, but the boy's mother was a nurse. Her ONLY misstep was trying to help Wolverine, and what does she get for that? Stabbed through the chest, leaving her only child an orphan. I could go on and on about this comic, but there's really nothing more to say. I'm sure some people won't enjoy this storyline as I did, it didn't have Wolvie battling a member of his rogue's gallery or any spectacular battle scenes or anything like that, it just had a bunch of people who wanted revenge on Wolvie, gaining that revenge and leaving Wolvie with NOTHING to do about it. Awesome stuff.

Score: 10 out of 10.Game, set and match for the Red Right Hand.

Avengers Academy #17 & Wolverine #13

Okay, now that Ultimate Fallout is out of the way, let's get to this week's Pick of the Litter, Avengers Academy #17, as well as this week's... um, secondary Pick of the Litter, Wolverine #13. Both series have been amazingly good as of late, here's hoping that trend continues...

Avengers Academy #17(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: This issue begins with the last of Sin's Nazi mechs leaving Washington DC. The Avengers Academy cadets are met by Falcon, who tells them he admired their work and the way they saved lives in the stricken city. From there, Tigra arrives on the scene and tells the kids that they earned some downtime, at which point she takes them back to Infinite Avengers Mansion. Upon arriving, Jocasta tells Tigra and the cadets that Pym, Quicksilver and Justice had been injured, which leads to Tigra wanting to head to Pym's location to check on him since they were an item again. With that, Tigra leaves and the kids spread out to(try to) relax. Meanwhile, the Serpent possessed Titania and Absorbing Man have been teleported to the Arctic last issue by Pym, and the Absorbing Man is taking out his frustrations on Pym's machinery. Titania points out the futility of this tantrum, as they were supposed to be spreading fear amongst the world, not breaking machines in the middle of nowhere. Absorbing Man, who isn't fully possessed and still hates Pym more than the Serpent's mission, explains that he can't stop raging against Pym, so Titania decides to strike at Pym where it would hurt him the most, the Avengers Academy cadets. With that, Titania opens an inter-dimensional doorway to Infinite Avengers Mansion and the two villains destroy the device that powered Infinite Avengers Mansion's dimensional doors, stranding the Academy students inside. From there, they smash through the wall of the Mansion and attack Reptil, Striker and Finesse. Reptil manages to distract the villains, giving his teammates the chance to run, before he shrinks down to the size of a bug, leading the villains to believe he ran off. The other students, Veil, Mettle and Hazmat try to reach any Avengers through the communications room, but are met by static and dead air. When they turn around, they are confronted by Titania and Absorbing Man. Hazmat tries to blast them, but finds her powers ineffective against two of the Serpent's Worthy. Titania responds with a blast of her own, which obliterates the communications room and most of the rooms around it, ending this issue.

Thoughts: This was a good issue of this series, as usual. It continued advancing the Fear Itself story, with Absorbing Man and Titania attacking the students at their home base, while further developing the characters. I didn't mention in the review the scenes where all of the kids were trying to cope with the stuff they saw in DC, but that just added to what makes this series so great. I actually care about these characters, all of them, which is a VERY rare thing for me. If I had a complaint, it would be that this issue was pretty much setting up the events of next issue. Titania and Absorbing Man only arrived at Infinite Avengers Mansion towards the end of this comic, which is when the action picked up. But the character development prior to that made up for the late action, and has me eagerly anticipating what happens next issue(which comes out in two short weeks!)

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.And that is a VERY bad sign.


Wolverine #13:

Summary: Much like the past couple of issues, this issue is split into two stories, one detailing a member of the Red Right Hand and why they hated Wolvie, with the second part detailing Wolvie's methodical march through the base of the RRH. The first part is simple enough, once upon a time there was a girl who was raised by the Hand. Wolverine killed her father, her brothers, and eventually killed her as well. The girl, now a woman, was resurrected(as the Hand tends to do), and was ready to get a second chance to fight Wolvie. However, the leader of this sect of the Hand didn't need her as a warrior, since so many of that Hand sect's warriors had fallen to Wolvie, but as a source of children. Not wanting to live the life of a baby-making machine, the woman set out to find Wolvie, but instead found the old man who was organizing the RRH. The old man promised the woman revenge on Wolvie, provided she helped train a few down and out type people to fight Wolvie. The woman explains that Wolvie would simply tear through them, which the old man explains is the plan... Back in the present, Wolvie has cut through all who opposed him in the RRH's base(as it turns out, the people the woman trained), leaving only one gun-toting man standing between Wolvie and the door holding all of the RRH members. Wolvie runs through the bullets and guts the man, who tells Wolvie that there was nothing left for him to fight, and that all that was left was the RRH members themselves. Wolvie prepares to enter the door when the dying man tells him that the plan was never to kill Wolvie, but instead to make him hurt, and that a whole world of hurt was waiting for Wolvie behind the final door. Wolvie asks the dying man if he knew him from somewhere and the man simply tells Wolvie that he doesn't know him at all, before dying. With that, Wolvie opens the doors to the inner sanctum and walks in, ending this issue.

Thoughts: I've read a lot of Wolverine comics in my day. I have Wolverine #50(that would be from the series from the 1990's) all the way through the current issue in singles and have a few spotty issues before #50, as well as a few trades. Add the multitude of X-Men comics and mini-series starring Wolvie, and yeah, I've read a ton of Wolvie comics. Thinking back on all of them, this current storyline is among my all time favorite Wolverine storylines, especially if it goes the way I'm hoping it does with next issue's conclusion... But I'm getting ahead of myself... This issue was extremely good, and furthered the story of the Red Right Hand as a group of people who Wolverine had wronged. Granted, the woman from this issue was a member of the Hand, which makes it harder to find sympathy for her, as I was able to do for many of the RRH members who were spotlighted prior to this issue, but still, Wolvie killed her father, her brothers, and then her. So yeah, I can fully understand where her hatred comes from. As for the story set in the present, with Wolvie advancing towards the RRH's sanctum, I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though it was only a few brief pages. The dying words of the gunman struck a chord with me, as it was another example of Wolvie killing some random, faceless “villain” that he didn't know personally. But that's the part of this story I'm loving... All of the people Wolvie has killed through his LONG life AREN'T faceless... They're somebody's father, brother, sister, whatever. That's what makes the RRH so intriguing to me. These are regular people who have had their lives turned inside-out by Wolverine for some reason or another. They've lost a loved one to Wolvie's savagery, and have banded together to hurt Wolverine. I guess we'll learn the answer to that question next issue, just how do they plan on REALLY hurting Wolverine. Obviously it can't be through physical means, since Wolvie can heal from any physical wound, so what is the end game? Besides that, I'll be interested to see Wolvie's reaction when he comes face to face with the RRH members. I mean he's not staring down Sabretooth, Omega Red or Romulus, he going to be staring into the faces of a bunch of mainly older people, who have put him through hell(literally!). What exactly can he do in the face of that?

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.There goes Wolvie, killing somebody else he doesn't know anything about...

Deadpool #40 & Wolverine #12

Next up on the comic book reviewing schedule, Deadpool and Wolverine. Both should be good, but then I also thought that about this month's Dark Wolverine and Captain America, and we all know how THAT turned out...

Deadpool #40:

Summary: Thanks to some legalese from She-Hulk, Deadpool winds up avoiding imprisonment at the Raft, and gets sent to Crossmore Prison in England under the care of a psychologist named Dr. Whitby, who also happens to be the daughter of a powerful politician. Whitby has been studying Deadpool for years, and hopes to cure him of his madness... Good luck on THAT mission!! As for Deadpool, he's simply plotting a way out of Crossmore. Upon being let out of solitary confinement by Whitby, which is where the warden wanted him to stay, Pool attacks a mess of guards and tries to take Whitby hostage, but gets shot in the head, much to the rage of Whitby. Whitby has Pool brought to her personal rehabilitation area where there are about 10 other crazy inmates. Upon regaining consciousness, Pool decides to try to flirt his way out of the cell Whitby placed him in(HA!), at which time Pool notices Whitby has an inferiority complex, and tries to exploit that. While Pool is trying to work his magic, another inmate notices him chatting Whitby up, and the inmate walks over to complain. Pool rants about how everybody was mocking him because of his looks, so Whitby decides to let Pool out of his cell as a sign of trust... Big mistake! Once out, Pool beats all of the other inmates in that wing to the point where they need to be hospitalized before he is forced back into his cell again. Later on, Whitby tries to talk to Pool again, attempting to understand why he does the things he does, while one of the inmates Pool beat up happens to be the Foolkiller(don't ask me which one...), who is plotting his own manner of revenge on Pool.

Thoughts: Hey, you know what? I enjoyed this issue! I mean it had everything you need in a Deadpool comic, humor, Pool acting crazy, Pool beating people up, and a logical story. I'm intrigued to learn more about Dr. Whitby and her interest in Deadpool, especially in light of her telling Pool that he was the reason she became a psychologist... The obvious guess is that she has a thing for him, but I'd like to think there's something else, possibly something more sinister going on with Whitby. Besides Whitby, Pool made enemies with(one of) the Foolkiller, and with Pool being a major fool, that inevitable fight should be fun. I really don't have anything negative to say, so let's move on to the next comic before I remember something negative and ruin all of this wonderful positivity!

Score: 9 out of 10."So I don't get stuff in my mouth" is as good a reason as any!


Wolverine #12:

Summary: Much like last issue, we learn a little something here about another member of the Red Right Hand. This particular man joined up to get revenge on Wolverine for Wolvie's role in the death of his wife and unborn daughter. Along with that man's story, we learn that the RRH had been making sacrifices to some sort of demonic entity that promised to help them punish Wolvie... For a price. As for Wolvie, he's faced with two more assassins, neither one exactly the model of sanity. Wolvie breaks their weapons and tells them to leave lest he kills them, but instead of leaving, the two assassins kill each other. Wolvie leaves the room to continue his trek towards the RRH's inner sanctum, while the RRH's demonic master watches and laughs.

Thoughts: Now that review was more like it! With 20 comics to read and review by next Wednesday, I need more quickie reviews like this one! To be honest, my review doesn't do this comic justice... It was WAY better than those few simple words I typed above. The past two issues have given us two stories of why people joined the RRH, and both stories, in my opinion, made the RRH members quite sympathetic. You can see how a person who lost EVERYTHING thanks to Wolvie would be willing to do terrible things all in the name of revenge. With each passing issue, Jason Aaron is revealing a bit more of the RRH puzzle, and I've got to say, I am thoroughly enjoying it!

Score: 9 out of 10.You know, this storyline is REALLY coming together!