Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #5

One more review this week, and it's probably the comic I least wanted to pick up from the comic shop last Wednesday... And yet it wasn't my Runt of the Litter... Go figure. Anyway, if not for the fact that I had picked up the other four issues of this mini-series(and since I'm a compulsive collector I'm pretty much obligated to finish the series), there's no way I'd buy this one. So with that rousing endorsement, let's get to the review!

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #5(of 5):

Summary: Quintin Quire's attempt at shutting down the VR world he created(and subsequently got himself, Wolverine and Armor trapped in) by pushing the off button winds up failing. Now totally desperate and running out of ideas, Quintin tells Wolvie to kill him, figuring that if he died in the VR world, it would shut down and free everybody... Of course, Quintin has no clue as to what doing this would do to his mind/body in the real world... Naturally, Wolvie complies and drives his claws through Quintin, which does indeed free the three from the VR world. Quintin ends up waking up fine, and begins to pack his stuff, figuring for sure this would get him expelled and sent to prison by Wolvie. Instead, Wolvie tells Quintin his punishment would be to help Wolvie build up stronger mental defenses, which Quintin smugly agrees to.

Thoughts: Yeah, sure. Let the guy who screwed with your head to begin with train you to have stronger mental defenses, because there's NO way he'd know how to circumvent said defenses... Poor, stupid Wolvie... Anyway, this issue wasn't terrible, which is the best thing I can say about it. I didn't care enough about the story to care how it ended, especially since we knew that there would be no real ramifications coming out of it, what with Quintin being a major part of Wolvie and the X-Men and Wolvie being Wolvie and all. In the end, this issue better than I ever expected it to be, so I'd consider that a win, although it doesn't save this mini from being one of the worst ones I've read so far this year.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Snikt!

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #4

Last comic in my pile? Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega #4. The best thing I can say about this mini-series? There's only one issue left after this one.

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #4(of 5):

Summary: Wolverine and Armor meet Kid Omega in Omega's VR world, where he tries to explain to them that he had pulled them into a psychic fantasy land because he was pissed at Wolvie. However, he screwed up and stopped paying attention to what was happening in the VR world, which allowed it to get out of control. Omega tries to exert some control over the world, but soon realizes that things were too out of control when several constructs try to attack him as well as Wolvie and Armor. Meanwhile, in the real world, Wolverine's body is stalking through the school hunting down Omega's body. Rachel Grey tries to convince Berserker Wolvie to stop his rampage, but Berserker Wolvie does that old horror movie monster trick where he appears appears in front of Rachel, frightening her, even though she is a mega-powerful telepath, before magically vanishing when she looks down for a second... Yeah... Back in the VR world, Omega realizes the only thing he could do was to hit the off/self-destruct button to end the VR world. However, Omega has no clue what doing so would do to himself, Armor or Wolvie. This issue ends with Omega and Armor deciding to push the button.

Thoughts: This comic... I have to say, it DID make me laugh... But for the wrong reasons! I mean come on, how the hell did Rachel Grey lose Berserker Wolvie that easily!? He showed up in front of her, told her he didn't do anything to Armor, and then just sort of vanished, which led to Rachel running around the halls like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to find him again. Why not, oh, I don't know, use your telepathy to locate him? As for the stuff in the VR world? It wasn't that bad. It actually showed Kid Omega in a more sympathetic light than I'm used to seeing as he actually apologized for what he had done to Wolvie and Armor. It was nice to see him act contrite for a change. With all that said though? I'll be glad when this mini is over.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Yep, now Wolvie had Michael Myers powers.

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #3

And the bottom of this week's comic book barrel? Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega Number Three. I figured I'd actually type out “Number Three” just to make that ridiculously long title even longer! Anyway, this issue was this week's Runt of the Litter, so I'm expecting nothing from it, which is about the extent of effort I plan on putting into this review! Zing!

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega #3(of 5):

Summary: In Quintin Quire's virtual reality world, Wolverine and Armor have no idea what's going on, as Quire's sleep has allowed the world to get really out of control. Upon waking up, Quire is hounded by Wolvie's body, which, without his mind, was in a perpetual state of berserker rage. Quire manages to avoid Wolvie's berserker fueled body, and realizing that he had to fix the mess he made, Quire decides to enter his VR world as the leader of the evil forces. Oh, and somebody FINALLY realizes there was something wrong, as this issue ends with Rachel Grey ordering the students to their saferooms to avoid Berserker Wolvie.

Thoughts: Meh. I literally have zero interest in this mini-series. At this point I'm only buying it because I'm a completest and need the final two issues for my collection. Other than that, I have nothing to say about this comic, so let's just move on.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Look out, it's Berserker Wolvie, running wild in yet ANOTHER comic book this month!

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #2

Last review of the week? The second issue of Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega... DAMN is that a long title! Anyway, I had NO idea that this comic was even coming out this week, as it wasn't on the comic list I check out before heading to the comic shop. So this was a rare surprise pick up for me. Will it be a good surprise or a bad surprise?

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega #2(of 5):

Summary: Wolverine and Armor(why her exactly?) are still trapped in Quintin Quire's mental virtual reality, and as such are being forced to jump through hoops to Quire's amusement. Quire tries to impress some of the students at the school with his antics, but they basically blow him off as crazy. Having been awake for several hours to keep an “eye” on Wolvie and Armor in the VR world, Quire is slowly going crazy(okay, crazier) and decides to take a nap for a few hours, deciding to leave some challenges for Wolvie and Armor in the meantime. While that's going on, Wolverine's body, now devoid of Wolvie's mind, is slowly making it's way across the school campus, looking for Quire since it knew he was responsible for what happened. Quire wakes up the next morning, and realizes that he overslept, and has no idea what was going on in the VR world. This issue ends with Quire looking out his window and seeing Wolvie's berserker-fueled body coming for him.

Thoughts: Eh. I didn't hate or love this comic. I had absolutely no feelings towards it. It just was. The Wolverine/VR parts did nothing for me, the parts with Quire were okay, and the fact that NOBODY has seen OR sensed Wolverine's berserker-fueled body wandering around the school campus(for at last a full day!) just seems wrong to me. If Wolvie's body is fueled by his berserker persona, shouldn't it be running amok or something? There just seem to be a lot of holes here, not enough to totally ruin this mini, but enough to be a nuisance to me.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

That IS a cool shirt...

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #1

One more review tonight, and it's by Brian Wood, a writer and illustrator of much acclaim... But one who I know very little about... I have to admit, I am actually quite unfamiliar with his work, so this mini will color my early opinion of Wood... Let's see how this turns out.

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #1(of 5):

Summary: Pissed that he was being treated like any other student at Wolverine's school, Kid Omega(or Quintin Quire if you prefer) manages to trap Wolverine in a weird fantasy world inside the Ol' Canucklehead's... um, head. Unfortunately for Armor, she was too close to Wolvie when Omega trapped Wolvie and is forced to go along for the ride. Omega hides the two bodies and heads to his room, pleased with what he'd accomplished. As for Wolvie and Armor, the two don't seem to know that they had powers, but aren't surprised when their powers manifest during various times of trouble. Wolvie ends up getting shot in the head, and since Omega dialed his healing factor way down in this fantasy world, Wolvie is knocked out for a while. Meanwhile, Wolvie's body gets up and begins to storm along, demanding Omega gets out of his head.

Thoughts: Man, Omega is one of those kids you'd really love to just beat the hell out of... Just sayin'... Anywho, this was a pretty good first issue. We don't know how Omega managed to take such control of Wolvie(you'd think his psi-defenses were better than THIS!), nor how none of the rest of the school realized that a) Wolvie was gone, and b) something fishy was going on telepathically. Right now, everything is still being set up. We don't know much about the fantasy world, we don't know why Armor is there with Wolvie, and we don't know why Wolvie's body is up and about, considering his mind was otherwise occupied. But I'm curious enough to pick up the next issue, so that's something.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.“Just seemed like the thing to do” is as good an excuse for that as any.