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 and the X-Men #10

Hey look, it's last week's Runt of the Litter! I'm expecting nothing from this issue, so here's hoping it surprises me... In a good way!

Wolverine and the X-Men #10(AvX x-over issue):

Story Points:
-Wolverine returns to his school after the initial skirmish with the Brotherhood on Crazy Mutie Island.
-Lord Summers and the rest of the Brotherhood soon arrive at the school and Lord Summers assures Wolvie that he only wanted to talk.
-While strolling through the school grounds, the two discuss who had the better idea for the X-Men...
-As well as the destructive/healing attributes of Phoenix Force...
-In the end, neither man budges from their stance.
-With that, Lord Summers and the Brotherhood leave.
-This one ends with the Shi'ar Death Commandos arriving on Earth to kill Hope before the Phoenix arrived.

Thoughts: Well, if you love debates, then THIS was the AvX comic for YOU!! I'm not really sure why I gave this comic the score I did... I'm typing this post up about 4 days after I read this issue, and it doesn't seem to deserve the score I gave it... Maybe I was sleep-deprived or temporarily insane or something after I put this one down... Regardless, I seemed to think this comic wasn't that bad(four days ago). Looking back though, I don't see what I found so interesting about it... I don't know, maybe I'm forgetting something awesome that I really enjoyed. Or maybe I secretly love debates... Who knows.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Wolverine and the X-Men #9

And now for something a bit different... The comic I'm about to review is the one I named my Runt of the Litter this past Wednesday, or the comic I was least looking forward to reading. However, upon actually getting it I saw that it was an AvX x-over issue, so I'm kind of hoping it won't be as bad as the past few issues have been... We'll see I guess.

Wolverine and the X-Men #9(AvX tie-in):

Summary: Captain America heads to Wolvie's school in order to alert Wolvie and Beast about the impending arrival of the Phoenix. Beast is ready to head into space with the Avengers Cap was sending out to try to intercept the Phoenix(really? That's the worst plan EVER!), while Wolvie agrees to go with Cap to attack Crazy Mutie Island to take Hope into protective custody(in Cap's mind). In Wolvie's mind, he's heading to Crazy Mutie Island to kill Hope if it turns out the Phoenix was corrupting her, since he didn't want to deal with another Dark Phoenix situation. As for other events, Rachel and Kid Omega get hit with a telepathic shockwave from the Phoenix, which leads the student body into thinking the rumors of the Phoenix's return were true, since Omega and Rachel both had dealings with the Phoenix in the past. This one ends with Gladiator deciding to head to Earth to retrieve his son, since the Shi'ar realize the Phoenix was headed straight there... Honestly, if I was Gladiator and MY kid was Kid Gladiator? I'd HAPPILY leave him on Earth to be destroyed...

Thoughts: Meh. No new ground was really covered here, with the exception of the Gladiator/Earth thing. There were a few things I skipped over, but I did say on Wednesday I'd be forced to breeze through a few reviews due to my work schedule, and this was one of those cases. Anyway, this issue was better than most of the issues from this series have been, but overall? I'm still not a fan of this series, and I'll still be dropping it after AvX ends.

Score: 6 out of 10.

A B-minus?! No way!

Wolverine and the X-Men #8

It's Tuesday which means it's bottom of the barrel time for Ol' X. And the bottom of this week's barrel actually gives us two comic books with Wolverine and the X-Men in the title... After being let down repeatedly the past two months or so with this series, I'm expecting nothing out of this comic.

Wolverine and the X-Men #8:

Summary: The Baby Hellfire Club hire Sabretooth to tear the heart out of Wolverine's school, the heart being Beast... From there we head to said school where Beast is explaining to Wolverine that he was shot with some sort of Matter Transmutation Ray that caused his adamantium to become malleable, leaving Wolvie with two broken legs. Beast decides to head to SWORD to get a Matter Transmutation Ray, and finds Sabretooth there killing people and promising to kill Beast's on again, off again girlfriend, Abigail Brand... Well it was sure convenient that Tooth attacked SWORD the day Beast was heading there, now wasn't it. Meanwhile, Crazy Angel and a bunch of the annoying students from the school head into space to steal a Transmutation Ray from the aliens who originally shot Wolvie with the gun. Tooth manages to defeat Beast in battle, tearing out his guts, although Beast happens to be stronger, more agile and presumably more durable than Tooth... Tooth then decides to finish off Brand where Beast could watch the show. Beast makes one last ditch leap at Tooth, knocking him away from Brand, who proceeds to shoot Tooth repeatedly, causing Tooth to sail away into space, crashing on the moon. As for the students, they beat up the aliens and Crazy Angel brings Wolvie the Matter Transmutation Ray. This issue ends with the Baby Hellfire Club deciding that instead of striking at the faculty they should strike at the student body, since that would inflict the most damage on Wolvie and the school.

Thoughts: Okay, first things first, this comic was way better than I expected it to be. I thought the Beast/Sabretooth fight was good, even though I disagreed with the way it ended(as I stated in the review). Interestingly I think this issue finally solidified in my mind what I hate the most about this series... Now, I've made no bones about the fact that I think the idea of a Baby Hellfire Club is asinine. I've said as much since Schism, and I stand by that to this day. However, when the Baby Hellfire Club members said they were going to go after the students at the school the first thought that crossed my mind was “GOOD”! Much like Morrison's New X-Men run, the students in this series are just completely unlikable. However, UNLIKE Morrison's New X-Men run, the story here is WAY weaker. So while I could overlook how much I hated the students in New X(seriously, Beak and Angel were two of the worst characters in comic history. And what the hell is a Glob Herman?) because the story kept me engaged, that's not happening here. The students are almost always the center of attention, which is troublesome since I can't stand them... With that said, that makes my post-AvX decision on this book really easy... Unless there is a radical change in cast after the AvX event here(and I don't expect that to happen), I'll be dropping this series.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Wait, so now I have to root for the Baby Hellfire Club?

Wolverine and the X-Men #7

Man did I ever save the worst for last! Tonight I'll be taking a look at the two Marvel comics I probably detest the most, and are the front-runners for my least favorite ongoing series of the year, from ANY comic company, Wolverine and the X-Men and Avengers. We'll start the pain with Wolvie and the X-Men...

Wolverine and the X-Men #7:

Summary: So the giant guy who attacked the school grounds last issue is an alien professor named Starblood. He feels that Broo shouldn't be alive since Broo goes against everything the Brood are. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Kid Omega barely escape the casino world... However, Wolverine's ankles seem to have been broken... Somehow... Inside Kitty(yes, really), the X-Men manage to destroy the Brood nest that was in there, while Kitty tries to defend Broo from Starblood. Starblood smacks Kitty out of his way, which leads to Broo going crazy and attacking Starblood like a true Brood would. From there, SWORD arrives and takes Starblood into custody, although he seems smug that he had managed to get Broo to embrace his heritage. Kid Gladiator also gets taken away by SWORD, so they could revert him back to his non-Brood self, since that's apparently so easy to do now. Oh yeah, and Krakoa can grow diamonds on trees, thus solving the school's money troubles and making Wolvie's trip unnecessary.

Thoughts: Yeah, I pretty much hated this comic... Plain and simple. When there are three separate stories and I can't find a good thing to say about ANY of them, that's when I know there's a problem... To be honest, if the Avengers vs X-Men event wasn't beginning next month, I'd drop this series this week. That's how much I hate it. Sorry, but I needed to get that off my chest.

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.

Whatever.

Wolverine and the X-Men #6

Next up on X's rolling review show of HORROR is the latest issue of Wolverine and the X-Men... You know, I'd be happy if this issue's score broke a 7... That's all I ask, that it gets a 7. I'm not asking for perfection, or even a really good read... I just want to read an okay story... Will I get that? Experience says no, but here's hoping I'm wrong...

Wolverine and the X-Men #6:

Summary: Wolverine and Kid Omega head to a gambling planet so Wolverine could win enough money to keep the school open... Yes, that really did happen... Wolverine is going to use alien money to fund his school... Maybe Cyclops was right... Anyway, Kid Omega counts cards and uses his telepathy to fleece the aliens. Back on Earth, the faculty enters Shadowcat(...) to find Kid Gladiator and to deal with the Broodlings that were inside of her. For some reason Lockheed is in her too... Meanwhile, that big Brood-ish looking guy from last issue invades the school and declares that he was going to kill that Brood kid, Broo. Back in Shadowcat, Kid Gladiator has been infected by the Broodlings and transformed into one. Finally, back with Wolvie and Omega, the aliens running the casino realize something fishy was going down and attack Wolvie and Omega.

Thoughts: This comic was... not terrible actually... I mean I expected to hate it with a passion, but it kind of/sort of won me over. Was it stupid? Yeah. Were there parts that made no sense? Damn straight there were! But for some reason, I didn't hate this issue... I didn't love it, and wouldn't recommend it to anybody, but it wasn't horrible, which I guess is about as good as I can expect from this series...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Wolverine: the best there is at tying bow ties.

Wolverine and the X-Men #5

Huh, we're already 5 issues into this series? It doesn't seem like there's been that many... Oh well, here's the fifth issue of Wolvie and the X-Men.

Wolverine and the X-Men #5:

Summary: This issue gets started with the Board of Directors at Worthington Industries(rightfully!) ruling Angel mentally unfit to run the company. This all gets blamed (unnecessarily in my eyes) on the Hellfire Club bribing the Board-members, but seriously, Angel is whacked out now! With the main source of the school's funding gone, Wolvie grabs Quentin Quire and takes off into space to find himself some way to keep the school open. From there, Beast takes Jason Aaron's favorite students on a tour of the inside of Toad's body where Kid Gladiator gets beat up by a white blood cell, which leaves him pissed off. Afterwards, Shadowcat finally asks for Beast's help, seeing as that she's suddenly uber-pregnant. Beast runs some tests and finds a mess of microscopic Broodlings killing Shadowcat from the inside. Kid Gladiator, still smarting over his beating at the hands of Toad's white blood cells, shrinks himself down, enters Shadowcat(that sounded way dirtier than it should have...) and attacks the Broodlings. This issue ends with some sort of giant, humanoid Brood heading towards Earth.

Thoughts: Meh. The humor here did nothing for me, I don't care for the story, and I don't like any of the kids Aaron seems so insistent on shoving to the forefront of this series... Well, except for Genesis I guess... I'm seriously beginning to second-guess myself with regards to keeping this series and dropping Uncanny X-Men... I'll probably add Uncanny X-Men back to my pull list, and keep this series through the Avengers vs X-Men event and then decide which series to keep, because right now I honestly don't want to read either of the main X-books...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Oh the hilarity...

Wolverine and the X-Men #4

The last comic for the night will be... you know, I usually say “this month's issue of *series name here*” but with the way Marvel double and triple ships their titles nowadays, I can't use that anymore, since there will probably be ANOTHER issue of this series coming out later on this month... Let's see, how can I alter this... Ah, I've got it! The last comic for the night will be the first issue of Wolverine and the X-Men to come out this month! There we go...

Wolverine and the X-Men #4:

What Happened: This issue gets started with Wolvie and a select few members of his faculty meeting up to discuss how things have been running... There are money troubles, Kid Omega troubles and new students that need introducing. Oh yeah, and Archangel is back, with no memory of who he is due to the events of the Dark Angel Saga. One of the new kids to the school, Genesis(or Kid Apocalypse), realizes that he's getting all sorts of strange looks from his fellow students and some of the faculty, such as guest speaker, Deathlok, who sees a terrible alternate future when he looks at Genesis, a future where Genesis had become Apocalypse. Meanwhile, Archangel, or just Angel again, acts crazy and seems to believe that he was a real angel. To deal with this, Wolvie and Iceman decide to make him attend class... Yeah, sure. We don't get Jay Guthrie, but we get Warren as out resident angelic student... Dumb. Anyway, this issue concludes with Shadowcat vomiting in the hallway and making her way into the bathroom where she discovers she is inexplicably pregnant... VERY pregnant.

The Good: First off, the art was WAAAAY better than the first few issues. I could actually follow things AND know what I was looking at! The cliffhanger was interesting. I definitely didn't see that one coming. Genesis has some potential as a student here.

The Bad: That last line in the above paragraph is probably the thing that bugs me the most about this series actually... Jason Aaron is heavily pushing certain students(Kid Omega, Idie, Kid Gladiator, Broo), and to be 100% honest, I don't like any of them. I'm tired of Idie's constant whining, Kid Omega's anti-establishment thing is so played out, Kid Gladiator is just an asshat, and Broo, while not outright horrible, is still a member of the Brood. Fairly or not, I keep comparing this comic to Academy X and Avengers Academy, and it falls WAAAAAY short in terms of the likability of the students. Really, would it hurt too much to focus more on the kids from New Mutants/Academy X instead of Morrison's New X kids or these new ones? Angel being a student at the school is just bizarre. Nothing of any major importance happened here... It was all kind of boring.

The Verdict: Eh, I've had my say about this series I guess... I mean it's not as if it's terrible, and I don't plan on dropping it, but the student body... Sheesh! I'd really love to see kids like Hellion, Mercury, Anole, Rockslide, or any of the other Hellions/New Mutants get major roles here. Because between Kid Omega's constant whining, and Kid Gladiator's constant asshattery, I'm getting fed up with the kids here... Rapidly. Eh, hopefully Genesis gets some more page time going forward, thus giving Omega and Gladiator's tired acts a rest.

Score: 6 out of 10.Yes, more Genesis, please.

Wolverine and the X-Men #3

One more review for the night, the third issue of the Wolverine and the X-Men series. This series has been pretty good thus far, but I've got to say, the art has been very hit or miss... If the art were to stabilize, this series could possibly be among my monthly favorites.

Wolverine and the X-Men #3:

Summary: Wolvie and company manage to take down Krakoa(actually an artificially grown grandchild of the original), thanks to Kid Omega lending a hand in a clandestine sort of way... Yep, school troublemaker and renowned terrorist Kid Omega manages to get into Kid Krakoa's head and convince it not to attack the school anymore, which actually leads Kid Krakoa into asking Wolvie and company to join the school... Yeah... With that menace taken care of, Beast manages to restore the two NYS school board officials to their normal selves and then smooth talks them into allowing the school to stay open. From there, Wolvie has Matt Murdoch(that would be Daredevil to the uninformed) sue Kade Kilgore(the leader of the baby Hellfire Club) for damages to the school since the attack was directed by Kade. As revenge for that, Kade hires the suddenly alive again Sabretooth to make Wolvie's life a living hell, something Tooth is an expert at.

Thoughts: Well, so much for this being amongst my favorite series! Seriously though, this issue was a major step back for me. The fact that Kid Omega is ALREADY beginning to turn into a good guy really left a bad taste in my mouth here. I have no idea why he decided to stop Kid Krakoa from eating the school, Wolverine and everybody else, and make good on his own escape... Maybe he has an evil, nefarious plan up his sleeve? Hopefully?? On top of that, the school board officials suddenly forgetting the last 24 hours and giving an obviously demolished school their seal of approval was also kind of dumb. Add Sabretooth's appearance here(he hasn't even officially returned yet in the pages of Wolverine!), as well as the STILL unexplained mini-Nightcrawler clones running around and you have the recipe of a comic I just didn't enjoy all that much. Oh well, better luck next issue I guess...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Oh good, Kid Omega to the rescue..........

Wolverine and the X-Men #2

First comic up for the week? Wolverine and the X-Men #2. Granted, I usually try to go with my Pick of the Litter first(which was Cap and Bucky #524), but I figured this was the comic the most people would want to read/talk about, so that's where we're going. I have some family stuff to go through tonight, so tonight's posting schedule may be a bit more erratic than I like, but by the end of the night, besides this issue I'll have posted Cap and Bucky #524 as well as Daken: Dark Wolverine #17. I'm not sure when, but trust me, they WILL be up. But for now, here's Wolvie!

Wolverine and the X-Men #2:

Summary: The baby Hellfire Club continue their rampage against the X-Men by mutating the two NYS school board representatives into a Sauron and a Wendigo, before sending in a horde of Frankenstein monsters with flamethrowers. Before the horde of evil monsters can kill anybody, Iceman finally uses his awesome power to it's max(and yes, I am an Iceman mark) and manages to take down all of the foes on campus. With that plan out the window, the baby Hellfire Club unleash the threat that was under the school all along, Krakoa, The Island the Walks Like a Man(yep, really). The X-Men seem right screwed, but they do have an ace in the hole, a character who COULD possibly stop Krakoa... That character? Kid Omega. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to be the least bit interested in helping.

Thoughts: Um... This comic was okay I guess. I've already made my feelings towards the baby Hellfire Club abundantly clear, so I'm not going to get into that again, suffice to say, I hate the very idea of them. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Iceman go all Age of Apocalypse Iceman on the enemies of the school, it's about time somebody(Jason Aaron) realized how great Bobby can be. So the beginning of this comic was pretty good, we had total carnage, but the team managed to pull together and win one... Or so they thought. The ending, with Krakoa showing up? Yeah. I didn't like that at all... Besides the obvious, you know, Krakoa is an ISLAND, and yet was underground in Westchester, New York, I just don't see the allure in watching the X-Men fight an island that walks like a man. Call me crazy, but that's not my idea of a good read... Oh well. At least most of this comic was good...

Score: 7 out of 10.It's about time we get awesome ass-kicking Iceman!

Wolverine and the X-Men #1

The first comic I'll be checking out this week isn't my Pick of the Litter, as is usually the case, it's the first issue of Wolverine and the X-Men. I'm REALLY curious to see where things head in this series, as we already have a pretty good idea as to what Lord Summers and the rest of the villainous Uncanny X-Men will be doing. On the other hand, besides reopening the school in Westchester, the story here is a complete mystery to me. Anyway, without further ado, here's Wolvie!

Wolverine and the X-Men #1:

Summary: This issue opens a day prior to Wolverine opening the soon-to-be Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. As final preparations are being made to ready the place for the first day of classes the following day, Wolvie is meeting with Prof. Xavier, who gives Wolvie a few pieces of advice before heading off. With that, the next day arrives, and Wolvie(as the Headmaster) and Shadowcat(as the Headmistress) meet with two representatives from the New York State Department of Education to get the go-ahead from the State to run the school. Needless to say, the tour faces one calamity after the other, as the school board reps aren't exactly enamored with Wolvie and Kitty's credentials, happen across two classes(being taught by Rachel Grey and Husk) that aren't exactly what you'd look at as “normal”, and run into Beast, who is in a particularly foul mood due to some sort of troubles plaguing various parts of the school. During the tour, Iceman(who is BRILLIANTLY the school's bookkeeper, remember, he WAS an accountant!) tells Wolvie that some kid was at the gate of the Mansion wanting to see him. Wolvie heads outside and meets up with Kade Kilgore(!), who announces himself as the new Black King of the Hellfire Club. Wolvie figures he's just some crazy kid, until Kade details all of the stuff that he did during Schism, which proves to Wolvie that Kade must indeed be who he claimed to be. Wolvie is ready to attack Kade, but the school board reps and Kitty leave the building at that very moment, with the reps complaining about how this was the worst school they'd ever seen in their lives(HA!). Kade warns Wolvie that he wouldn't stand for the school, since a school that promoted peaceful human/mutant relationships would hurt his company, which was in the Sentinel building business. With that, Kade leaves and this issue ends with a giant creature emerging from underneath the school, apparently to eat it(!).

Thoughts: This was a great comic book. To be honest, if not for the art, which made things confusing from time to time(especially the last page), I probably would have given it a 10. There's so much to like here... I mean DOOP is the school secretary! DOOP!!! Besides that, this entire issue was written in a very fun manner, something the X-books haven't been written in since...... sheesh, I don't even remember... It's been doom and gloom for so many years now, this issue was a wonderful change of pace. Seriously, I actually found myself liking Kitty here, who's always been my most hated X-character. Jason Aaron has seemingly done what no other X-writer has ever been able/wanted to do, actually had Kitty grow up. No longer is she the annoying teenager who's uber-emotional/bitchy, she was actually written like an honest to goodness adult! Wolverine fit nicely(or as nicely as Wolverine COULD) into his role as Headmaster, and there were MANY other little things here, from Husk, to Kid Omega, the weird little Nightcrawler things, to Hellion showing up that I loved. Right now, after the first issue, THIS is my favorite X-book on the market. Now let's see if Aaron can keep it that way.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.This series has SO much potential...