X-23 #14

It's time for me to check out the newest issue of Wolverine's personality devoid clone's solo series! Yes, it's time for an X-23 review! Here's hoping this issue is a bit better than the past few issues have been...

X-23 #14:

Summary: The FF have taken X-23 to their headquarters to see if they could figure out the meaning behind the dreams she shared with Spider-Man and Invisible Woman, two members of the FF. Oh, and Mr. Fantastic is also trying to puzzle out why an earthquake hit on the same block in Manhattan that X-23 was on. While Mr. Fantastic wants to run some further tests on X-23 to see what he could come up with, X-23 isn't interested in sticking around since the Baxter Building, with all of it's labs and stuff, probably reminds her of her time with the Facility. Invisible Woman figures taking X-23 around the kids at the Baxter Building may help put her mind at ease, but when she does another earthquake strikes, this time IN the building. X-23 wakes up a little while later and finds Invisible Woman, Spider-Man, Mr. Fantastic and Valeria Richards hanging out around her hospital bed. Mr. Fantastic reveals that the earthquakes were somehow coming from X-23, while Valeria uses a device that shows that Spidey and Invisible Woman were also carrying the same energy. Upon hearing that, Spidey realizes it was the Uni-Power, which he, Invisible Woman and X-23 all held at one time. Valeria uses her device to activate the residual Uni-Power inside the three and the thee heroes find themselves transported to some weird alternate dimension.

Thoughts: Well, I think it's finally time for me to just come right out and say it... This is almost definitely the last issue of this series I'll be picking up. I honestly haven't enjoyed an issue of this series since the very first storyline. I don't know what it is, but the past few issues of this series have left me flat. Plus the addition of the FF to this storyline is just killing it for me. Sorry, but without the Human Torch, the FFers are just uber-bland and boring to me. Add X-23, who herself is bland and boring, throw in a story that makes little to no sense and you have a recipe for disaster. So yes, this is my final X-23 review for the foreseeable future. If I hear that the series has really picked up down the road, I'll add it again, but until then I'm sure I can find something else to waste my money on.

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.Even X-23's threats are boring!

X-Factor #223 & X-23 #13

After the last two lackluster Fear Itself related comics I read, I figured I'd grab the two X-books I had in my new comic pile and give them a read and review. It turns out that wasn't the wisest choice...

X-Factor #223:

Summary: Having escaped from the various demons that were chasing after her unborn child last issue, Wolfsbane is on the road with Jack Russell. The two have managed to drive to Oneonta, New York with no demonic trouble, at least until the ghost of Feral appears in the back seat. Feral warns Wolfsbane that there was no sense running since the big gun was coming after her now. Before Wolfsbane can figure out what Feral's ghost was babbling about, the car she was traveling in is attacked by Cerberus, you know, that three-headed demon dog. While that scene is playing out, X-Factor is trying to figure out just where Wolfsbane got off to. The team tries to get Pip the Troll to help them find Wolfsbane, but Pip is unwilling, since he claims that having Wolfsbane around led to nothing but trouble, although in reality, he seemed to be working for some outside force that wanted Wolfsbane's child for itself. Siryn/Banshee uses her charm-voice powers to coerce Pip into locating Wolfsbane, which allows Shatterstar to teleport the team to Oneonta. By this time, Jack Russell, in his werewolf form, has attacked the demon that was traveling with Cerberus in an effort to keep Wolfsbane safe. The team, thinking Jack was Wolfsbane, attack the demon in force, defeating it. As for Wolfsbane, while running from Cerberus and the demon she has gone into labor, and is helped into a house by a boy calling himself Agamemnon...

Thoughts: Um, I'm not really sure what happened here... I mean last issue was extremely funny with a good storyline, this issue? Not so much. I don't get how Jack managed to sneak Wolfsbane away from the rest of her team right under their noses... I mean damn, they're supposed to be detectives! How embarrassing is that! While there wasn't anything actively bad here, this issue just never managed to click for me... Maybe I was just in a bad mood when I read this issue or something, but it seemed like a big step down from last issue. Oh well, maybe things will rebound next issue as Wolfsbane finally gives birth to her child.

Score: 5 out of 10.When in doubt, post a splash page!


X-23 #13:

Summary: A sleeping X-23 and Gambit are traveling around New York City in a taxi when X-23 suddenly wakes up after having an extremely strange dream. Gambit inquires as to what the dream was about, but X-23 isn't interested in sharing, especially since some of Gambit's stitches had popped back open. To deal with that, the two head to Cecilia Reyes's apartment in the city and ask for her assistance in fixing Gambit up. While there, X-23 picks up the scent of her old friend, Kiden Nixon, in Cecilia's apartment and inquires about that. Cecilia tells X-23 that she had allowed Kiden and her friends to crash at her place while she was living on Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia), and when she returned to the apartment, Kiden and company were gone. With that, X-23 decides to head out while Gambit got patched up, and travels around New York wondering about Kiden, while also looking for Alex Cimini, a boy who X-23 refused to kill back during her assassin days. While walking around the city, X-23 is suddenly reminded of her dream from earlier and freezes in the street, getting hit by a bus. As she's coming to, she spots a man with red eyes sporting the symbol she saw in her dream on his head, just as a building begins to collapse. X-23 decides to head into the damaged building to find anybody who may have needed rescuing, and bumps into the FF version Spider-Man. Spidey and X-23 save a few people when they spot the symbol from X-23's dream now in the sky, with Spidey telling X-23 that he also had a dream about that symbol. The two head around the city, dealing with various building collapses, and this issue ends with the rest of the FF arriving to tell Spidey and X-23 that the trouble was just beginning.

Thoughts: Yeah, I had no idea what was going on here. Something about X-23 having a weird dream or something. Oh, and Spidey also had the dream. Bottom line, I didn't get it. Once X-23 left Gambit, this issue kind of dissolved into a confusing mess. But hey, this was the first part of a new storyline, so I'll be patient and wait to see if things start making sense come next issue. Even though I've been kind of down on the last four issues or so, I still trust Marjorie Liu's writing abilities, and am hopeful that things will pick up next issue.

Score: 4 out of 10.When in doubt, post... Ah, you get the idea...

Uncanny X-Men #540 & X-23 #12

Two X-books, one yet ANOTHER Fear Itself tie-in, the other the latest issue of X-23. I didn't really enjoy the last issue of both series, but I'm at least cautiously optimistic that both series pick up here...

Uncanny X-Men #540(Fear Itself tie-in):

Summary: This issue begins with the Serpent possessed Juggernaut landing just outside San Fransisco. He bumps into some guy and proceeds to possess him... What?! From there we learn that Lord Summers is meeting with the mayor of San Francisco, discussing why none of the Fear Itself related carnage has come to San Fran, while Colossus meets with his sister Magik, who had been locked up under Crazy Mutie Island for being too crazy... You know, it's really bad if you're too crazy for a place named CRAZY Mutie Island! Namor stops by the bedroom of She Who Shall Not Be Named's bedroom and wants to sleep with Her... UGH! Have the events of Fear Itself driven Namor completely insane!? Think about the diseases, Namor!! Anyway, Her turns Namor down and he leaves to deal with the Fear Itself stuff happening in Atlantis. By this time Juggernaut has arrived in San Fran and has amassed a bunch followers. Lord Summers, who sees this on the TV in the mayor's office, realizes that it'll be up to the X-Men to stop an opponent who has become more powerful than ever before.

Thoughts: Okay, I'm just going to say it... When the hell did Juggy gain the ability to possess people?! I mean I've read like 98% of the Fear Itself comics, and I'm confident I've read every single Fear Itself comic Juggy has appeared in. I've seen him march across the country, from New York to Chicago, from Missouri to Las Vegas, finally ending up in San Fransisco. Never once in those travels has Juggernaut shown the ability to possess somebody! Never!! I don't even know what else to say here... This issue featured characters I either don't like(Her, Shadowcat), characters I'm indifferent towards(Colossus, Lord Summers), or characters who should have remained dead(Magik)... So yeah, once again, as usual with something written by Kieron Gillen, I didn't enjoy this issue. The art was quite good, but it was done by Greg Land, so no surprise there. The story though? Meh.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Man is that armor disturbingly tight...


X-23 #12:

Summary: Wolverine and Gambit arrive in the French subway system to stop X-23 from killing Vampire Jubilee. It seems X-23 has gotten a whiff of that trigger scent that makes her go crazy, explaining her rash actions. Anyway, Wolvie keeps hold of X-23 until the trigger scent wears off, at which time the mutants realize that somebody was pumping an experimental version of the trigger scent into the subway, a version of the scent that would send anybody into a homicidal rampage. X-23, Gambit and Wolvie don gas masks(where they got them, I have NO idea!), while Vampire Jubes doesn't need a mask because of her vampire physiology. The people in the subway go crazy, and begin attacking everything in sight, and X-23 rapidly realizes that they couldn't allow the crazed mob to reach the the streets above. To that end, X-23 dashes out of the subway to corral the few people who escaped the subway already, while Jubes positions herself at the top of the stairs and presumably shoves people down them to keep them from getting out. Outside the subway, X-23 tackles a crazed woman and her baby, and is relieved to see that the trigger scent was rapidly leaving their system. A strange cloaked woman approaches X-23 and speaks cryptically to her before running off. X-23 pursues the woman, but loses her up an alley, instead finding an envelope with a note and some money. By this point, Gambit, Jubes and Wolvie emerge from the subway since the threat was over, meeting up with a perplexed X-23. Upon arriving at their apartment, X-23 shows the rest of the group the note, which tells her to track down somebody she had been ordered to kill a while back, but had managed to disobey her conditioning and leave this person alive. From there, we get some bonding between Wolvie and Gambit as well as Vampire Jubes and X-23, and this one ends.

Thoughts: Meh. I can't say I enjoyed this issue at all. Maybe I was setting my hopes too high, but with Wolvie and Vampire Jubes guest starring these past few issues, I was hoping for something a bit more exciting. Instead we got a shopping trip, some crazies in a French subway, and that's about it. I like the mystery with the woman in the cloak, the dialogue and art was good, but the story just didn't do it for me. Oh well, here's hoping things pick back up again next month.

Score: 5 out of 10.That is definitely not a good sight!

X-23 #11 & X-Factor #220

Two non-Crazy Mutie Island X-books here. Are they any good? Well if I told you in the introduction, why would you bother to read the review?!

X-23 #11:

Summary: Picking up from last issue, Vampire Jubilee is about to bite X-23, but upon touching X-23's blood, her head is(for some reason...) filled with an image from X-23's past. This image is enough to break Vampire Jubilee's bloodlust, but it leaves Vampire Jubilee kind of pissed that X-23 tempted her like that. Somehow, and I literally have no clue how or why, the two make up, and the next day go dress shopping with Gambit and Wolverine... Ugh... Anyway, X-23 tries on a dress, but doesn't know if she likes it, and I'm literally embarrassed that I just tried to review that scene... Moving on... Gambit learns about somebody selling a trigger scent, and figuring X-23 was involved, the four mutants head to the location of the sale. The trigger scent being sold is an improvement on the scent that drives X-23 into a murderous rage, and can be used on anybody. The mutants shut down the sale, but X-23 catches a whiff of somebody she knew from her past, and heads after them, Vampire Jubilee follows after her, and X-23 inevitably winds up smelling the trigger scent, which puts her at Vampire Jubilee's throat to end this one.

Thoughts: This was, by FAR, the worst issue of this series I've read thus far... I mean, I've really been enjoying Marjorie Liu's work with X-23, a character I don't even particularly like, but THIS issue... Ouch. I didn't get the beginning at all, with Vampire Jubilee licking X-23's blood and then getting a random image from X-23's mind. How exactly does that work? And then X-23, Vampire Jubilee, Gambit and Wolverine going dress shopping is something I honestly never wanted to see, and bizarrely, it didn't lead to ANYTHING! X-23 announces she didn't like the dress and that she preferred dark colors... So yeah, this was bad... Really bad...

Score: 2 1/2 out of 10.If you ever wanted to see Vampire Jubilee and X-23 go dress shopping, then THIS is the comic for you!!!

X-Factor #220:

Summary: We get started with something slaughtering a mess of people in a church. From there, Wolfsbane decides to take a stroll in the rain where she winds up bumping into Shatterstar. The two discuss Rictor, and Wolfsbane basically apologizes for her attempts to trap Rictor into a relationship with her to keep him away from Shatterstar. While talking, the two come across the church from earlier and both immediately sense the fact that something was wrong inside. Shatterstar goes to check out the back of the church, while Wolfsbane simply walks in the front door, coming face to face with a mess of mutilated corpses and herself at about 10 years old or so. After a while, the 10 year old Wolfsbane reveals itself to be a Sin-Eater, and tells Wolfsbane that the impending birth of her child was weakening several dimensional barriers, allowing creatures such as itself to head to Earth to make a play for Wolfsbane's unborn child. The Sin-Eater offers to take away all of Wolfsbane's sins in return for the life of her unborn child. That naturally leads to Wolfsbane attacking the Sin-Eater, soon assisted by Shatterstar, who must have finally found a way in. The two do a number on the Sin-Eater, but it proves to be too durable to perish, and it flies off, promising the two that they hadn't seen the last of it yet. The duo leave the church, not wanting to be found there when the cops arrive and walk right into Feral(!!!), ending this issue.

Thoughts: Meh. This issue was okay-ish, but it never really wowed me. Well, the last page with Feral did, but the rest of it was just sort of there. I like Shatterstar a lot(especially Peter David's version, take THAT Rob Liefeld!), and I like Wolfsbane, but for whatever reason, the story here never clicked for me. Maybe it was the whole, “I hope there's no hard feels about me trying to entrap your boyfriend with my pregnancy!” thing, maybe I was just in a lousy mood when I read this comic(which is a possibility, since I read this one RIGHT after X-23 #11), but this issue just didn't do it for me.

Score: 5 out of 10.Hey, Feral loooks good for a corpse!

X-23 #10 and Generation Hope #7

Two Marvel, books to get started with today, including one of the worst Marvel books on the market today! Which book am I besmirching? Read on and find out!

X-23 #10:

Summary: This issue gets underway with X-23 trying to kill herself by slitting her wrist in a bathroom... Well THAT'S a pleasant way to begin! Naturally, she heals, so I'm not sure what the point of that is, but whatever. X-23 emerges from that bathroom and sits at a restaurant table with Gambit, who tries to cheer her up by giving her a cupcake... This is getting pretty weird... Gambit notices the blood on X-23's hands and asks her about it, so she runs away. Gambit gets up to chase and overhears two waiters talking about all of the blood in the bathroom and puts two and two together. Eventually Gambit finds X-23 sitting down near a bridge and goes to comfort her, getting slashed in the arm for his trouble. X-23 is mortified by what she did, but Gambit blows it off(like I do whenever I'm stabbed) and they head back to their hotel room, where Gambit makes a phone call. A day passes and Wolverine and Vampire Jubilee arrive, which leads to X-23 trying to kill Vampire Jubes, since she was, you know, a vampire. Wolvie puts a quick stop to that and heads to the roof to talk to X-23 alone. X-23 reveals that she's disturbed by the information she received from Daken about her early years, which is why she's been so melancholy/suicidal as of late. Wolvie tells X-23 that things aren't that bad, and winds up talking about how much worse things have been for Vampire Jubes as of late, before he then sends Vampire Jubes and X-23 away to hang out... Um, okay... With the girls gone, Gambit scolds Wolvie for the fact that he treats X-23 and Vampire Jubes differently, telling Wolvie that X-23 was probably hurt by Wolvie's actions. From there, Vampire Jubes chases off a few drunks who were hitting on X-23 and X-23 responds by cutting herself in the neck, drawing blood, and drawing Vampire Jubes straight towards the wound.

Thoughts: You KNOW Marjorie Liu is a great writer by the fact that even though I didn't particularly like this comic, I never wound up being completely bored/annoyed by it. The story here really didn't do anything for me... X-23 was suicidal, AGAIN. Wolvie was inattentive to X-23's feelings, AGAIN. Gambit was X-23's dutiful sidekick, AGAIN... You get the point. With that said though, I feel I should have hated this comic more, but in the end, even with it's various flaws, I'd still consider it a perfectly acceptable comic.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Hey, it's Vampire Jubilee!


Generation Hope #7:

Summary: Okay, this is going to be a painful review... An unborn baby is a mutant, and it's powers have activated INSIDE it's mother... The unborn child mind controls everybody in the hospital and the surrounding area(except for Our Savior Hope, and the other... ugh, “Lights”), leaving them as the only people with a chance to end the DIRE THREAT of the unborn baby... Of DOOM!!! Sorry, I have to find ways to amuse myself if I'm gonna get through this review. Kenij the Evil Light manages to link the team to the baby's mind through one of his tendrils, which he attached to the baby's mother. Each light tries to convince the baby to be born, and they all fail... At least until Teon the ANIMAL Light stares vapidly at the baby, somehow convincing it to want to be born... I swear, I just lost 50 IQ points typing that last line... Teon the Animal Light then DELIVERS the baby, hands it to Our Savior Hope, who raises it over her head “Lion King” style(!?!?!), “fixing” it or something. The Lights all parade away happily and this one ends with Shadowcat telling them that Teon the Animal Light's parents were suing Crazy Mutie Island to regain custody of their son or something.

Thoughts: Well... This was easily one of, if not THE worst Marvel comic I've read this year. Sure, DC has churned out comics worse than this one(I'm looking at YOU, Brightest Day!), but on the Marvel side of the fence? Yeah, this was horrible. Anybody wondering why this comic was selling so poorly, look no further then this issue. I mean really, what was Kieron Gillen thinking when he came up with this story?!? Needless to say, this is a title that I can't see myself sticking with for much longer. But you know what? I'm going to stop this post right here, because this is one of those times where I could just KEEP complaining...

Score: 2 out of 10.I can't believe I wasted $3 on THIS!

X-23 #9 & Deadpool #36

Two more reviews out of me today, and then we'll see what the weekend holds. I have a few trade reviews I could post, but I also have a ton of new stuff to try to get through, so we'll see how busy I wind up being tomorrow. If I'm really busy, then I'll post a trade review. If tomorrow tends to be on the quiet side, then it'll be reviews for the new books. There you go!

Deadpool #36:

Summary: So Deadpool has become bored in space and has decided to return to Earth, figuring the people of Earth loved him due to his lofty amount of followers on Twitter. However, Deadpool's brain warns him that just because people are following you on Twitter doesn't mean a)that they love you, and b) that you're important. Pool decides to test that theory by heading to some of his old friends to see what they think about him. He starts with Hydra Bob, and all is right in my world again because Hydra Bob is here. Pool accidentally destroys Hydra Bob's giant popcorn kernel upon arriving, and asks Bob if he loved him.... While holding a knife to Bob... HA! Bob admits that he's mainly afraid of Pool, while telling Pool that his other friends hate him. Pool is shocked by this, and Bob reveals that Macho Gomez(the bounty hunter Pool thought he killed before going into space) had assembled a group of Deadpool's “friends” who wanted him dead. Who are these friends? Weasel, Big Bertha(HA!), Blind Al(YES!!!), and Sluggo(?!). While talking to Pool, Hydra Bob texts Macho and the We Hate Deadpool Club, telling them that Pool was with him, even though he didn't actually join the team. The We Hate Deadpool Club arrives on the scene and attack Pool, with Pool managing to avoid any read damage by picking his “friends” off one by one, or in the case of Blind Al, misdirecting her. Eventually Weasel accidentally blows Sluggo up(um, that's a BIG accident!), but that act allows the rest of the Club to surround Pool. Pool drops his weapon and asks his so called friends if this is what they really wanted. They respond by riddling Deadpool with bullets. Pool makes a quick side trip to Death's domain, and she explains to him that it wasn't what his friends wanted, but what Pool wanted, to be killed by his friends. Death then sends Pool back to the land of the living, where he wakes up surrounded by his blood and Hydra Bob. Bob tells Pool that his “friends” had left, figuring Pool was as dead as he was going to get. Pool realizes that Death was right, that he was crazy, that he wanted his friends to kill him since the sweet taste of oblivion was what he's always craved, and that by killing him they'd show they cared about him. With this revelation, Pool casually shoots Hydra Bob in the knee for betraying him to the Club, before leaving to find a friend who would help him end it all.

Thoughts: Woooo, I LOVED this issue! First of all, Blind Al was here, which automatically makes this comic at least a 7! Secondly, Daniel Way did a fantastic job of tying in so many little pieces of Pool's past here. From Weasel and Hydra Bob, to Blind Al and Sluggo(!), right down to Pool craving Death's embrace. I mean there was a Deadpool annual back in the last Deadpool series where we got a great insight into Deadpool's special relationship with Lady Death. I honestly had no complaints about this comic whatsoever. The story was good, plus there were several moments where I chuckled, or even laughed out loud as I read it, a must for any Deadpool comic. Great stuff here, with the future looking really, really good!

Score: 9 out of 10.BLIND AL!!!


X-23 #9:

Summary: We kick things off with Malcolm Colcord taunting the recently captured(as of Daken: Dark Wolverine #8) X-23. From there he has a meeting with Daken, and we discover that neither one of them trust each other very much. Colcord shows Daken a file basically detailing X-23's life growing up in the Facility, while revealing to Daken that he had made a copy of the trigger scent that turns X-23 feral. Daken asks Colcord if he was planning on restarting the Weapon X Program, which is apparently counter to whatever deal Daken and Colcord had made, and Colcord answers no, since a yes answer probably would have led to Daken decapitating him. From there, Daken heads to the lab X-23 was in and taunts her, while subtly cutting at one of her bonds, ever so slightly. Daken leaves the room and the mad scientists begin slicing at her back with a chainsaw... Yes a chainsaw, the tool of choice for mad scientists everywhere. Unfortunately for the mad scientists, X-23 gets free of her loosened bonds and does some slicing of her own, and she's way better at it than those scientists are... Daken chooses this moment to reenter the room with a some files, which leads to X-23 punching him a few times. Daken drops the files, and X-23 realizes that they contained information on her formative years from the Facility. Totally confused by Daken's actions, X-23 asks him why he was assisting Colcord in restarting the Weapon X Program. Daken denies that he was, claiming he had no idea that Colcord was restarting the Program, and that once he figured out Colcord's plans, he decided to betray him. Daken explains that he allowed Colcord to capture X-23 to see where Colcord was going to take her, so he could take down Colcord's plans... So is he lying or not is the question... The two walk along the hallways of the Colcord's warehouse, scaring random scientists as they went until they entered a hallway lined with closed doors. The two get sealed in the hallway and all of the doors open, with deformed experiments rushing out to attack.

Thoughts: Ahhh Daken... You are one confusing, conniving bastard! So we know that he expressly told Colcord NOT to restart the Weapon X Program. We really don't know what his agreement with Colcord was(I still say he wanted Colcord to repeat the adamantium bonding process on him), and in this issue he betrays Colcord, after having fake betrayed Colcord in Daken #8, and then betraying X-23... And then people wonder why I love this character so much! Now, I can't imagine that Daken was unaware that Colcord was trying to restart the Weapon X Program, which means he wanted the Program restarted... But to what end? My guess is that he'll use X-23 to eliminate Colcord for him in Daken #9, and then take control of the Program himself... But with Daken, you NEVER know! I have to admit, I really enjoyed this comic, mainly thanks to how well Marjorie Liu writes Daken. Daken #9 marks the end of Liu and Daniel Way's run on the Daken character, so I have some serious mixed feelings about that issue... I'm sure it'll be a blast, but it's definitely going to be bittersweet...

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Daken's line at the bottom of this page made me crack up... God do I love Daken!

X-23 #8 & Wonder Woman #609

We take a break from the one company theme I had going the past couple of reviews, as I take a look at comics from both Marvel and DC, both coincidentally featuring female leads. This review is also notable because it's probably the last Wonder Woman comic I plan on reading in quite some time, as this issue was the last for my subscription, and with how absolutely abysmal J. Michael Straczynski's WW run has been, I just can't reason spending money on this series. Oh, speaking of DC and sucky stories, I was planning on reading/reviewing Green Lantern Corps #58 and Emerald Warriors #8, but I just can't bring myself to read another story from the “brain” of Chairman Johns. So yeah, don't expect to see me review ANY of the War of the Green Lanterns tripe.

X-23 #8:

Summary: X-23 and her Gal Friday, Gambit finally arrive in Madripoor to find Daken, who they believe knows where Malcolm Colcord(who is trying to restart the Weapon X program for the umpteenth time) is. X-23 is able to locate Daken almost immediately, but spots some goons trying to kidnap a child off the street and has to ditch Daken to save the kid. Gambit manages to find Tyger Tiger, who tells him that she had been forced to work for Daken. Since Tyger hates Daken and all, she agrees to help X-23 and Gambit trick Daken into meeting with them. To that end, Tyger has the two meet her in her office the following day, where they demand to see Daken, and she dutifully protects Daken. After X-23 and Gambit leave, Daken comes out of a hold in the wall(?!) and is intrigued enough by X-23's claims that she was Wolverine's clone to go to meet X-23 and Gambit. Daken locates the duo at a restaurant, and refuses to believe X-23's claim, at least until she pops her claws, which angers Daken, and provokes him to attack. Gambit naturally gets knocked out early on(MAN has he become such a damsel in distress lately!), leading to X-23 and Daken battling across the rooftops of Madripoor as this issue ends.

Thoughts: First things first, when did it become common knowledge that Daken and Colcord were working together? I mean I thought it just suddenly happened in the last issue of Daken, but it seems that it's a well known fact or something now... Weird. As for the story here, I liked it. It's hard to screw up a comic that was leading up to an X-23/Daken fight, and this comic gave me what I expected. I'm not exactly sure where the story goes from here(I guess Colcord betrays Daken? Or maybe vice-versa?), but I was pretty happy with the first part of this x-over, which continues in the next issue of Daken: Dark Wolverine.

Score: 8 out of 10.Gambit's one to talk, what with that trenchcoat he's always wearing!


Wonder Woman #609:

Summary: Dr. Psycho takes Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon on a journey through WW's mind and shows her several different versions of WW throughout history, eventually getting to the real WW that we all knew and loved. Psycho tells WW she has to choose which Wonder Woman she wants to be before leaving her alone with her thoughts. WW treks through her mind, walking past several different versions of herself before stopping and choosing one. This issue ends with a nurse with the last name of Prince(who looks quite a bit like WW), calling a doctor to look at the patient who just woke up, a patient who looks like Wonder Woman.

Thoughts: You know, the beginning of this comic actually grabbed my attention. I liked Psycho's little trip through WW's mind, and the various different versions of WW were kind of interesting. Now don't get me wrong, I don't know what the hell any of it meant, but it did manage to hold my attention, so there's that. The end was a straight-up confusing mess, but, and I hate to say it, I am a bit intrigued to see just what this all meant. Which means I'll be picking up issue #610... Dammit!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Hey, this all looks vaguely familiar...

Quick Hits: 3/29/11

Four more comic reviews on tap for tonight, as well as a rare perfect score! Let's get to 'em!

Captain America Comics #1:

Summary: This comic was a full reprint(with new coloring!) of the very first Captain America comic book from WAAAAAY back in Nineteen Hundred and Forty-One. You get four Captain America mini-stories(as well as one non-illustrated story), a Hurricane story and a Tuk the Caveboy tale.

Thoughts: First things first, it must have been AWESOME to be a comic fan back in the 40's, because they REALLY put a whole MESS of content in these old books! I mean this comic was chock full of goodness! This comic was, in a word, perfect. I mean it literally took me a good 20 minutes to read it from cover to cover, as opposed to the 5 minutes of so it takes me to read a modern comic. Besides that, we get the first appearance of Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, the Red Skull(kind of...) and yes, Tuk the Caveboy!!! I'd only ever read the Red Skull story out of this comic, so almost all of this was new to me. Granted, I've KNOWN Captain America's origin since I was like 10, but I think this was the first time I actually read it. So that was really cool. Joe Simon could write some fantastic comic stories, the dialogue was magnificently done, and Jack Kirby IS The King, so you KNOW I was loving the artwork here. I mean, this WAS perfection. If you're a comic book fan, you should read this reprint. If you're a Marvel fan, you owe it to yourself to read this reprint. And if you're a Captain America fan, you HAVE to read this reprint!

Score: 10 out of 10. This was one of the easiest perfect scores I've ever given.Here it is, the FIRST Captain America/Red Skull meeting!


Venom #1:

Summary: Venom(Flash Thompson) gets deployed to some Eastern European country to capture a mad scientist who had managed to weaponize Vibranium. Unfortunately for Venom, Jack O' Lantern is also there for the scientist, since Jack O' Lantern's mysterious benefactor wanted to get his hands on the scientist as well. Venom runs around acting heroically(at the expense of the mission at times), while Jack runs amok, killing people indiscriminately. Eventually Jack reaches the scientist, and is ready to leave town with him, but is halted by the timely arrival of Venom. The two battle, and Jack manages to hurt Flash, which allows the Venom symbiote to gain some control. Before Venom could go into full, “We're going to eat your brains!!!” mode, Flash manages to regain control, and shove a grenade into Jack O' Lantern's mask, blowing up the lower part of his jaw(OUCH!). Something as inconsequential as a detached jaw can't stop Jack, as he grabs the scientist and tries to get away on his flying broomstick, but Venom manages to snag the scientist's head with some webbing and pulls back, breaking the scientist's neck, leaving Jack with a useless corpse. With that Venom heads home, where he is scolded by his superior officer for failing the mission(since the US wanted the scientist alive), as well as almost losing control on the field. Bummed out, Flash heads to the apartment of his girlfriend Betty Brant, who is pissed with him since he was six hours late for their date. With that, Flash leaves her place and that's basically it.

Thoughts: Well, that was a rather inauspicious start... I didn't like the main story with the scientist since, for whatever reason, it just never clicked for me. I did really like Jack O' Lantern though... He was the one real bright spot in this comic, although him not only surviving, but trying to get away after having his FACE blown up was a bit over the top... I mean how the hell does he remain alive, let alone conscious after THAT?! As for Venom, I still like the concept of Flash Thompson's as our new Venom, although everything that happened here basically happened in the recent Amazing Spider-Man point-one issue. Not the best start, but I'll definitely give this series at least two full storylines before I make a final judgment.

Score: 5 out of 10.Say what you will, but Jack O' Lantern is one dedicated villain!


X-23 #7:

Summary: X-23 and Gambit are on their way to Madripoor to look for Malcolm Colcord, but first stop off to help an old friend of Gambit's in Singapore. It seems Gambit's friend is a police officer in Singapore and one of his undercover agents went missing. The cop suspects pirates captured the agent, which is where Gambit and X-23 step in. The two track the pirates back to their base where they find the pirate boss torturing the agent. X-23 leaps into the fray(against Gambit's advice) and takes on the head pirate, while Gambit is stuck battling the rest of the pirates. The pirate boss stabs X-23 with his sword as X-23 stabs him, and the two go tumbling into the waters, where the pirate boss dies, and X-23 is attacked by sharks. Gambit also falls into the water after getting conked on the head by the pirates, and is saved from the sharks by X-23. Upon resurfacing, the duo realize that the agent had bled out and was dead. With that, Gambit's cop friend lends them a boat and they continue their journey to Madripoor.

Thoughts: In a word, this comic was very “meh”. It was the very definition of a space-holder issue. We just ended the Sinister storyline, and we're about to start the Daken/X-23 x-over, so this comic really meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you like Gambit, pirates and sharks, then this was the comic for you! If not, well then you can safely skip this one.

Score: 5 out of 10.Gambit: Damsel in Distress.


Zatanna #10:

Summary: Zatanna takes Oscar Hampel to her magical mansion to see if there was any way she could undo the spell her father put on Oscar which transformed him into a puppet. Before she goes through with any attempt at reversing the spell though, Zatanna wants to know if Oscar was truly unfairly punished by her old man, so she forces the puppet to touch a crystal which compels him to tell the truth. It turns out Oscar was a terrible person, killing several innocents, as well as nearly killing Zatanna as a child before her father stepped in and turned him into a puppet. Zatanna is incensed by Oscar's duplicity, and tells him she'd never reverse the spell now. Upon hearing that, Oscar freaks out and throws the crystal at Zatanna's head, dazing her. Oscar runs around the room and grabs a few magical artifacts and begins wishing that he wasn't a puppet anymore. Before Zatanna can stop him, everything fades to black, and when Zatanna comes to, it appears Oscar has been returned to his human self, while Zatanna has been transformed into a puppet.

Thoughts: Man, puppets freak me out... Seriously... Besides that though, this was a very solid comic. It wasn't great, it didn't suck, it was, as they say, a perfectly acceptable comic book. The reveal that Oscar was always a scumbag really didn't surprise me, because I doubt Zatanna's father would have turned him into a puppet unless he was sure Oscar deserved it. The ending was a bit confusing, as I didn't get how Zatanna and Oscar traded places, or how(or why!) Oscar managed to become a famous puppeteer again. I guess the answer would be, “It's magic! It doesn't need to make sense, stupid!”

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Damned, creepy puppet...

Quick Hits: 2/28/11

I am LITERALLY out of witty banter to start this post... So let's just get to the reviews then, no?

Iron Man 2.0 #1:

Summary: We get started with a seemingly innocent scene from six months ago where a woman is being rushed into the emergency room. Why did I bother mentioning this? You'll see later on. In the present, Blizzard is surprisingly getting the upper-hand on Iron Man. Before IM is frozen solid, War Machine comes over and rescues his long-time friend. The two armor-clad Avengers team up and Blizzard is taken down in a matter of moments. After the battle, Iron Man reveals that they weren't actually fighting Blizzard, but a Blizzard robot that was malfunctioning. The two shoot the breeze for a bit before War Machine heads to his new job, serving as the Iron Man for the US government. Rhodey(that would be War Machine's nickname FYI) meets with his commanding officer, General Babbage(he's been pestering Iron Man in the main IM book recently), who basically tells Rhodey that a) he hates Iron Man, and b) he wants to make Rhodey's life miserable. Babbage sends Rhodey to meet with some intelligence officers to hear about his first mission. The intelligence officers tell Rhodey that a genius named Palmer Addley had been working for the Department of Defense, cranking out ideas, weapons, etc. Eventually Palmer takes his life, and while disappointed by the loss, the DOD moves on. Two months after his death, anything Palmer had invented or upgraded for the US government shuts down and won't work anymore. On top of that, several of Palmer's top secret inventions begin showing up in the hands of terrorists. Having heard the story, and really having ZERO leads, Rhodey begins to look through the personal effects of Palmer and looks at his driver's license where we see that Palmer had checked the “organ donor” box. This issue ends with the woman from the beginning of this comic, now healthy, heading out to her garage to continue constructing a giant robot.

Thoughts: All right! I was expecting nothing from this comic going in. I mean literally nothing. I basically only picked it up on a whim and boy am I happy I did! Nick Spencer told what was pretty much the perfect opening story here. The mystery of how Palmer Addley is able to torment the government from beyond the grave had my attention throughout, the jocular dialogue between Rhodey and Tony was PERFECT, as was the more tense dialogue between Rhodey and Babbage. I mean really, there was very little for me to complain about here. I guess I could bitch about the title of this series being Iron Man 2.0 and not War Machine, but that's understandable since I'm sure Marvel figured they'd get more sales out of the Iron Man name. The ONLY thing that kept this issue from being perfect was the way Palmer offed himself... He shot himself in the head, which doesn't make sense after learning that the government had basically locked him in a room with no contact to the outside world. If he had no way out and no contact with anybody, how did he get his hands on a gun? I guess he could have created it one, but still, that bugged me a bit. Besides that one minor gripe though, everything else here was gold.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Iron Man and War Machine's dialogue throughout this issue was fantastic.


Namor #6:

Summary: We start this one off with Namor fantasizing about the Invisible Woman and Emma Frost. I guess he's really into blonds. After that little dream sequence we learn that Namor is still trapped in Hell. Dr. Doom, an Atlantian warrior with a crush on Namor and Loa decide to go to Hell to rescue Namor... A weirder group of characters you will NEVER find! After some wandering, the trio find Namor, who is being tormented by demons he believed to be thirsty Atlantians. Namor only wants to sit around in self-pity, so Doom knocks him around a bit, bringing the fiery Namor back to the surface. Somewhere along the line the Atlantian warrior ends up getting possessed by a group of dead Atlantian kings, which provokes Namor to want to leave Hell to save the possessed woman.

Thoughts: Ugh... This was a whole lot of bad. This is actually one of the VERY rare comic books where I enjoyed the art WAY more than the story and dialogue. I mean Dr. Doom's dialogue here was simply atrocious. There's no other way to put it. Doom used “I” when speaking of himself as opposed to speaking in the third person as he frequently does, he kept laughing at things and he just seemed way out of character. I mean to me Doom is one of the big three villains in ALL of comics, so when he's written improperly it's pretty jarring. Besides the misadventures of Doom, the story itself just isn't interesting me in the least. The whole, “Character In Hell!” story has just been done in Wolverine, and not only that, it was done a lot better in the Wolverine series. I hate to say it, but if things don't improve in this series I can see I'll be dropping it pretty soon. That is if it doesn't get canceled first.

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.On the other hand, Doom's dialogue was painful...


X-23 #6:

Summary: This issue begins with Mr. Sinister(!!!) blasting Gambit into unconsciousness before tearing X-23's throat out. Before Sinister can do anything else though, he transforms back into Miss Sinister(BOOOOO!!!!!!!), who immediately has X-23 brought into a secret room. X-23 wakes up strapped to a chair and Miss Sinister explains that Mr. Sinister was slowly taking control of her body, and as such she needed to move out of her body. Miss Sinister figures that X-23 was the perfect vessel for her, what with her healing factor and all, and as such has hooked X-23 up to a machine that would allow Miss Sinister to move her mind into X-23's body. The process begins and it seems to be going well for Miss Sinister... Until Mr. Sinister himself jumps out of Miss Sinister's mind and takes possession of X-23's body himself! Needless to say, Miss Sinister is infuriated at this turn of events and tries to bash X-23/Sinister's head in with a lead pipe. The shot to the head allows X-23 the opportunity to regain control of her mind momentarily and she manages to throw Sinister out of her head, which destroys the mind transferring machine. At that moment. Gambit(remember him?) sets off the self-destruct sequence in the laboratory and heads to the room holding X-23 and Miss Sinister. One of the cloned girls from last issue, Alice, frees X-23 from her bonds, which leads to Miss Sinister bashing Alice's head in with the pipe... Man, she sure likes swinging that pipe at people! X-23 confronts Miss Sinister and guts her for her actions, but is stopped by Gambit before she can kill the villain. Gambit tells X-23 that Alice wasn't dead yet, and that their first objective should be to save Alice, not take vengeance on Miss Sinister. Miss Sinister renders the point moot by escaping, much to the chagrin of X-23, who helps Gambit take Alice to a nearby hospital. This issue ends with us seeing that one of the other Alice clones had survived the explosion at the lab, was apparently possessed by Mr. Sinister and was looking after the unconscious Miss Sinister.

Thoughts: Well this issue started off on a huge high for me with the return/rebirth of Mr. Sinister, one of my favorite X-baddies. Unfortunately that jubilation was short lived since Sinister was gone soon thereafter. I can't say I liked the whole idea that Mr. Sinister's mind is running around trying to possess everybody, but at least that gives me some hope that Sinister will return someday, which the end of this issue hinted at. Besides the Mr. Sinister stuff, the story itself was solid, with X-23 managing to rid herself of Sinister's influence, wanting to kill Miss Sinister but being halted by Gambit's arrival, all while saving the clone girl. This comic was probably better then the score I'm giving it, but the loss of Sinister so early on definitely hurt my enjoyment of the story the rest of the way.

Score: 8 out of 10.If only Sinister would have stuck around...


Teen Titans #92:

Summary: Red Robin and Robin don't like each other. That gets established early on here as the two Robins, and the rest of the Teen Titans, manage to defeat the army of exploding Calculator robots in Istanbul. The Titans head into the nightclub Calculator was based out of and discover his hidden lab under the dance floor. The Titans move to apprehend Calculator but he sends MORE robots after them. While the Titans are dealing with the robots, Calculator reveals to Wonder Girl that he blamed her for the death of his son Marvin, and that he had tortured and killed Kid Eternity in retribution. Robin manages to hit the computer Calculator was using to control the robots with a batarang, shutting them down and ending their threat. Wonder Girl makes a beeline for Calculator, but is stopped before she did anything she'd regret by Red Robin. Wonder Girl tosses Calculator away from her, at which point Robin impales him(!!). It seems that the Calculator the Titans were battling was actually a robot, which surprises the Calculator robot itself since it legitimately believed itself to be the real Calculator. Wonder Girl destroys the Calculator robot as revenge for Eternity's death and all of the Teen Titans fawn over Red Robin, pissing Robin off in the process. A bit later the Teen Titans drop Robin and Red Robin off in Gotham City, where Robin tells Red Robin he was through with the Titans, since it was obvious they didn't want him on the team, they wanted Red Robin. Red Robin makes a lame attempt at telling Robin that wasn't true, but Robin sees through it and ditches Red Robin, heading back to Batman's side.

Thoughts: So wait, if Robin is out, does that mean Red Robin is back on the team again? As much as I like Tim Drake, I actually prefer Damian as the Teen Titans Robin, since he could use the extra exposure, especially away from the other members of the Bat-family. It seemed like Damian and Ravager had something brewing, but I guess that'll have to move to the back burner for now. With all that said though I'd be fine if Tim did return to the team, even if only on a part-time basis. I mean hell, Superboy has his own series and is a full-time Teen Titan, there's no reason Tim can't do the same. So that's my thoughts on the Robin situation. This comic actually didn't impress me as much as I was hoping it would. The story seemed very paint-by-numbers and rushed, and I was a bit bummed that Nicola Scott wasn't doing the art here. Scott is one of the FEW comic book artists whose work I always enjoy, and I can't help but feel Scott doing the pencils would have boosted this comic a bit for me. I mean it's not like the art was awful or anything, I just would have preferred Scott's work. The other thing that bugged me was some of the things Damian said, especially to Batman at the end of this issue... I get that Bruce is kinder and gentler since his return from the timestream, but what the hell is Damian's excuse?! Seeing him call Batman(Dick Grayson) his friend was a bit disconcerting...

Score: 7 out of 10.JT Krul MUST have been having fun with Red Robin and Superboy's dialogue here... That had to be it...

X-23 #5

Review: We get things started here with Miss Sinister trying to lure X-23(and Gambit)into her lair with promises of revealing secrets about X-23's past. Having dealt with Mr. Sinister in the past, Gambit pretty much begs X-23 not to follow, but X-23 is too intrigued by Miss Sinister's words, and decides to follow her. Against his better judgment, Gambit follows as well. The trio head into the catacombs of the building and discover a bunch of children playing in a waterfall. The children seem to really like Miss Sinister, but X-23 is dubious. Miss Sinister explains that this was one of Mr. Sinister's former hideouts, and that the children must have been there to serve as some sort of experiments. Miss Sinister shows X-23 and Gambit around, and as she said, the children all seem content and happy. After the tour, Miss Sinister finally tells the two heroes why she wanted them there. Apparently Malcolm Colcord thought Miss Sinister was actually Mr. Sinister and began taking some of the children from the hideout in an effort to ferret out X-23. Miss Sinister explains that she doesn't want to work with Colcord, doesn't want the children taken from her, and isn't like Mr. Sinister, which Gambit scoffs at. Miss Sinister also reveals that the Facility that created X-23 had been based off of some of the journals written by Mr. Sinister himself. From there Miss Sinister takes X-23 and Gambit to a room and leaves them alone. Gambit figures everything Miss Sinister told them was lies, while X-23 states that most of Miss Sinister's information seemed to have been truthful, but to a point. X-23 senses that Miss Sinister was hiding something, that she wanted something from the heroes, and that she didn't seem to be physically well. As if on cue, Miss Sinister walks down the hallway and begins to bleed profusely from the nose. Gambit and X-23 decide to split up and explore the lair, to see what else they could glean from the base, as well as to see what Miss Sinister was hiding from them. X-23 bumps into the girl from last issue, Alice, and X-23 realizes that Alice had changed from the last time they met. Alice explains that every time she is cloned, she gets the memories of her “sisters” and that by this point she remembers much more about her “past” lives. She also reveals that she was killed three times, twice by the men from last issue, and once by a man who looked like he could have been Miss Sinister's relative, since he looked like her... Could it be?!?!? Anyway, Gambit runs into some more children, and a few ladies from the nearby town who were tasked with watching over the kids. After some questioning, Gambit doesn't get much from the women other then the fact that the townspeople had all been suffering from headaches. From there, Gambit bumps into X-23 who begins to flirt with him. Gambit doesn't buy this for a second and attacks X-23, who reverts back to her true form of Miss Sinister. Miss Sinister turns off Gambit's powers and knocks him around a bit, pinning him to the floor and threatening to poke out his eyes. Gambit is saved by the timely arrival of X-23, who slashes Miss Sinister in the back, felling the villain. Miss Sinister begins to state that she won't be defeated that easily when she collapses and Mr. Sinister(!!!!!!!!!!)emerges from her downed body, ending this issue.

Thoughts: Okay, there's one VERY important thing that everybody needs to know right off the bat... Mr. Sinister is probably my FAVORITE X-villain. When written correctly Magneto takes that top-spot(you know, when Mags is actually acting EVIL, not like a lapdog), but for all those times when Mags is the Chris Claremont created-wimp, Sinister takes the cake. When Sinister was killed, and then reborn in the body of a woman, I was pretty upset... No, scratch that, I was PISSED! I mean seriously, how does giving one of the X-Men's greatest villains a sex-change benefit ANYTHING? Coincidentally, that was right around the time I dropped Mike Carey's awful X-Men: Legacy series, because that was too much for me to deal with. So now I've established that I am quite the fan of Mr. Sinister... Good, now let's move back to this comic. Marjorie Liu did a great job here of setting the scene and making Miss Sinister into an almost sympathetic character. She seemed like she legitimately cared about the children(Sinister's experiments)and didn't want to see any harm come to them, while also laying seed of doubt that Miss Sinister wasn't also up to some secret nefarious agenda. So this issue, while a bit slow in places, was REALLY good. But then I turned to the last page, and this comic went from REALLY good to borderline great! If Mr. Sinister officially returns, and retakes his proper place as one of the X-Men's most crafty villains, this issue in particular, and this storyline in general will be one I'll remember for years to come... I'm counting on you, Marjorie Liu... Please don't let me down!

Score: 9 out of 10.Please let this be what it looks like...

X-23 #4

Review: While traveling, X-23 runs into an abused looking girl at a truck stop. X-23 brings up the girl's swollen eye, but the girl doesn't want to talk about it. Before the abused girl(Alice)can tell X-23 why she ran into her, X-23 tells Alice that she knows Alice was sent into the truck stop by a man watching the scene from outside the stop. X-23 tells Alice that she can tell that the man was Alice's pimp, and that she suspects that the man sent Alice inside to try to bring X-23 to work for him. The girl gets freaked out and runs outside to the man, and the two drive off. X-23 leaves and is spotted by a cop, who radios in that he had found her. After some walking, X-23 picks up a scent and walks off the road to find Alice's pimp standing over the corpse of Alice. The pimp explains that he didn't mean to kill the girl, and then draws a gun, but X-23 doesn't care to hear the pimp's explanations and slashes the pimp across the throat, killing him. A bit later, X-23 begins to dig a grave for the girl and she is approached by Gambit. X-23 is curious as to how Gambit found her, and Gambit is his regular mysterious self as to how he located X-23. X-23 tells Gambit that she didn't kill the girl, and Gambit reveals that he didn't believe that X-23 did. Gambit searches the body of the dead pimp and discovers that he was carrying a picture of X-23 on him, meaning that sending Alice to talk to X-23 wasn't random. Gambit gives X-23 a lift on his motorcycle while they ponder over what the picture meant, and who was looking for her. Eventually, X-23 tells Gambit to stop his bike, and the two spot a whole mess of police cars stopped up ahead. Alice walks out of one of the cop cars, which causes Gambit to want to get the hell out of Dodge. Alice tells X-23 that she had information about X-23's mother, which causes X-23 to want to stay, although Gambit tells X-23 that this all seemed like a very bad idea. X-23 explains to Alice that she had seen her corpse, and that she was dead, while Alice tells X-23 that what had happened was because she didn't do her job properly. Alice also explains that the man who X-23 thought was her pimp was actually her handler, and that since Alice had failed her job, her handler had every right to kill her. X-23 finally begins to tire of the vagueness of Alice's answers, and this issue ends with Miss Sinister walking over telling X-23 that she had all sorts of answers to X-23's questions.

Thoughts: This was another good issue of this series, although not quite as amazing as the last issue was. Not only was this issue good, but Marjorie Liu has actually managed to remind me as to why I liked Gambit so much back when I was a kid... You know, before the X-writers destroyed Gambit's mystique with those awful origin stories they saddled him with. Gambit as X-23's friend/watcher was really working for me here. I'm really amazed that Liu has been able to take two characters that I either didn't care about(Gambit)or just flat out didn't like(X-23)and get me invested in them... THAT is a testament to her tremendous skills. So even though Miss Sinister seems to be the major villain of this storyarc, I'm STILL enjoying it. This is series is rapidly and amazingly moving up the ranks of my favorite comics.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Two words, Gambit: Jail Bait.

X-23 #3

Review: We begin this issue with X-23 apparently fighting her way through Hell, after being sent there by Possessed Wolverine. X-23 fights through visions of wolves, ghouls and Cyclops, who even as an apparition is annoying. Eventually, after some taunting by “Cyclops” X-23 decides to run away and runs into a starry version of herself, which introduces itself as X-23's soul, which is something she wasn't sure she had, being a clone and all. X-23's soul makes her relive some of her worst moments, and tells her that even though she's been through hell, she had never been broken, and Possessed Wolvie won't succeed in breaking her either. From there, X-23 appears in front of Possessed Wolvie, who offers to save Hellion, provided X-23 gives herself over to him. X-23, now more sure of herself, tells Possessed Wolvie that his deal didn't appeal to her, and burns him away with the goodness she had in her. From there, X-23 wakes up in the hospital room from last issue, surrounded by a few X-Men and sees that Hellion is still alive and that Possessed Wolvie had left. Later on, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Storm and Gambit(?!?)meet up to discuss the X-23 situation. Cyclops and Emma feel that X-23 needs to remain on Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia), while Storm feels she needs to go out and experience life. Gambit chimes in that X-23 probably sees the X-Men as a prison, and as such was probably already gone. It seems Gambit was nearly correct, as X-23 had packed her bags and was heading off of Crazy Mutie Island. Storm manages to catch up with her and tries to convince X-23 not to run, but X-23 explains that Crazy Mutie Island didn't feel like a home to her anymore, and that she needed some time away. Storm tells X-23 that she would never be alone, before standing aside. This issue ends with X-23 walking the streets of San Francisco being watched by... Oh come ON... Miss Sinister.

Thoughts: You know what? Had that last page not been in this issue, this comic would have been my first perfect score of 2011. It was THAT good. Marjorie Liu has actually made X-23 a likable character, something her two creators were never able to do. But hell, saying Liu is a better writer than Chris Yost and Craig Kyle combined is like saying the sun rises in the east. It's common sense. This issue gave some great insight into X-23 and actually changed her from a one-dimensional female Wolverine rip-off to a character who you could actually feel sorry for. She's been used her whole life, isn't sure of her place, and can't form lasting bonds with others. THAT'S character development. Not having her run around acting like a female Wolverine, cutting and gutting everything in her path. All of the characterizations in this comic were perfect, from Lord Summers all the way down to Gambit. Hell, Liu even made GAMBIT look good! GAMBIT!!! So through the entire comic I was thinking, “Wow, this is perfect...” and then Miss Sinister showed up. To say that I hate Miss Sinister would be a gross understatement. To this day I'll NEVER understand why Marvel would take one of their iconic X-villains and suddenly give him a sex-change. It made no sense, and pisses me off every time I see her/him. It's actually the one of the many reasons I dropped X-Men Legacy. Anyway, all but the last page of this comic was phenomenal, let's see if the next issue can be as good.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Possessed Wolvie NEEDS a mini-series!

X-23 #2

Overall: Picking up from the end of the last issue, X-23 wakes up in the middle of a burning shelter for former mutants with no idea as to what had happened or why. X-23 decides to search for anybody who may be trapped and runs into a giant winged demon, who tells her that instead of helping people she should be killing them, since what she really is is a killer. X-23 goes to attack the demon, but it vanishes, and X-23 manages to rescue a man and carry him to safety. Outside, X-23 runs into Gambit(?!)who tries to calm X-23 before disappearing back into the shadows when the firefighters arrive... Um, what the hell was THAT all about?! Anyway, the firefighters take X-23 to the hospital where she is visited by Cyclops and Storm, who try to cheer her up. After speaking with X-23 and seeing how distraught she was, the two decide to leave the room to discuss matters. After they leave, Wolverine strolls in, and right away X-23 picks up that there is something off about the Ol' Canucklehead. Since there was no need to hide it, Wolverine reveals he was actually the dreaded Possessed Wolverine who has been making the rounds lately. X-23 stabs Possessed Wolvie, who smiles and holds her claws in place, just as Hellion arrives. Possessed Wolvie releases his hold on X-23's arm and falls to the ground, warning Hellion to stay back since X-23 wasn't in her right mind. X-23 warns Hellion to get out of the room, but he stays and holds X-23 aloft telekinetically, since it appeared that she was in the wrong. Hellion tells X-23 that he'd do whatever he could to help her out, which gives Possessed Wolvie the opportunity to stab Hellion from behind. X-23 is horrified by what has transpired and Possessed Wolvie offers X-23 a deal, Hellion's life for her soul. X-23 readily accepts, and this issue ends with both X-23 and Hellion laying unconscious on the hospital floor, while X-23's spirit(Soul? Ghost?)wakes up in a hellish land.

Damn you Marjorie Liu!!! *shakes fist at comic book* I REALLY want to hate this series... I mean I REALLY do. X-23 is one of, in my opinion, the worst, most unnecessary, useless characters EVER created in the HISTORY of comic books. Plus she was co-created by my mortal nemesis, He Whose Name Shan't Be Spoken On This Blog. So yeah, in layman's terms, I hate X-23. A lot. And yet Liu's excellent writing these first two issues actually has me... I won't say liking X-23, because that's a sign of the Apocalypse, but I will say that she has me kind of/sort of caring about X-23 and her plight. Trust me, I want nothing more than to hate this series, and rip it here on this blog, but god help me, I just can't do it... The story is too engaging. I'm actually looking forward to the next issue... Unbelievably, I'm actually looking forward to the next issue of an X-23 comic book! What is this world coming to?

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.You know, Possessed Wolverine is rapidly becoming one of my favorite villains...

Quick Thoughts on: X-23 #1

X-23 #1: Writer: Marjorie Liu. Artist: Will Conrad.

Quick Review: This issue begins with X-23 having nightmares about Wolverine offering her a spot by his side in Hell. As this comic goes along we see that X-23 is unable to really communicate with any of her fellow mutants on Utopia. Emma Frost blames Cyclops for X-23's lack of social skills, since it was Cyclops who allowed Wolverine to place her on X-Force. To make up for this, Cyclops sends X-23 to a former mutant half-way house where she can try to learn from the people there. This issue ends with X-23 waking up at the half-way house with flames and bodies laying all around her.

Quick Thoughts: Meh. First off, a confession... I hate the X-23 character. I can't think of a more uninteresting character than a teenage, female clone of Wolverine. With that said this issue wasn't that bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrid, which is a testament to Marjorie Liu's writing skills. I'll probably pick up the second issue of this series, but I'm not sure how long I'll be sticking with this series.

Score: 7 out of 10.I have no idea why I scanned this page...

Wolverine: Road to Hell #1

Wolverine: Road to Hell #1: Writers: Various. Artists: Various.

Review: First off, this comic didn't really have a story. It was a teaser comic for several new Wolverine-centered comics. We begin with the teaser for the new Wolverine series. Wolverine is falling through a dark cavernous void, and has no clue as to how he got there. As he falls he hears several voices who warn him that when he lands he'll be broken like all of them, the rest of the damned. Wolverine tries to grab onto the cavern wall to pull himself up, but is bitten by Sabretooth's decapitated head and continues to plummet into the darkness. Next up we get the teaser for the new Daken and X-23 books. They are both trying to get their hands on a scientist who worked with the Weapon X project, but before either one can make their move, Malcolm Colcord(!!!!!)arrives on the scene with the military and takes the scientist into custody. With the scientist out of their grasp, Daken and X-23 both try to figure out a way to spring him. Next up we look at Uncanny X-Force. Wolverine convinces Fantomex(!)to join the team, and he meets up with Archangel and Psylocke, who are also on X-Force. While the four heroes talk, Archangel reveals that he sent Deadpool to Egypt mainly to keep Pool out of the hair of the other members of X-Force. In Egypt, Deadpool fights some weird villains and gets his hands on some sort of magical weapon. This issue ends with a brief preview of the new Generation Hope series. I skipped most of that though because it was in black and white and only seemingly half done.

What I Thought: Well, I have to say, this issue did whet my appetite for all of the new Wolverine comics. I was going to buy Wolverine, Daken, and Uncanny X-Force regardless, but this comic did get me a little bit interested in the X-23 comic... I really hate X-23 as a character, but I do like Marjorie Liu as a writer, so I'm kind of conflicted here... As for Generation Hope, even though I skipped the preview in this comic, I'll probably pick up the first few issues just to see how it starts off. If Marvel can recapture half of the magic of the early Generation X series then it should be worth it. All in all, all of the comics in this teaser book have left me intrigued by what will be happening in Wolverine's corner of the Marvel U.

Score: 8 out of 10.

I was excited about Dark Wolverine before, but the return of Malcolm Colcord(the Director from the old Weapon X series)just made the new Dark Wolverine series an ABSOLUTE must read!