Love Disinterest: Savage Wolverine #6

The following is my review of Savage Wolverine #6, which was posted on PopMatters.com.

Here’s something that a number of media properties haven’t figured out yet. Are you ready? Here goes…it’s not always necessary for the lead male character to have a love interest. Shocking, I know. Take as much time as needed. It’s also shocking how writers have such a hard time of telling a compelling story that doesn’t involve some guy trying to hook up with some girl or vice versa. I’m all for romantic sub-plots. Heck, I even write them myself. But I also understand that it’s not always necessary to tell an awesome story. And that’s where I come in with Savage Wolverine.

This series takes Wolverine away from being an X-man, an Avenger, and a guy who occasionally does some solo heroics so that he can get in touch with his true nature. And for him, his true nature involves him being a snarling, violent, ill-tempered brute that you still want to love, hug, and have a beer with. That has always been part of his mystique. What’s more, there are already plenty of stories about Wolverine tempest-tossed on the waves of relationships. Going all the way back to Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s Wolverine. And some of those stories are pretty good. But there’s nothing essential rescuing the damsel in distress when it comes to Wolverine. So it shouldn’t be the case that only these kinds of stories are told about the character.

The first arc of Savage Wolverine succeeded in telling a simple, gritty Wolverine story where he interacted with a beautiful woman wearing nothing but a bikini. Yet there were no romantic or sexual undertones. Wolverine and Shanna the She-Devil toiled in the Savage Land to find an alien artifact and while they failed miserably in the end, they did it without it turning into a bad porno. This arc ended up establishing one of the best Wolverine series I’ve seen in recent memory. It’s Wolverine without the emotional baggage that turned him into an Edward Cullen wannabe in the movies and that’s the Wolverine that we all know and love and love to hate.

But now that arc is over. Now Savage Wolverine #6 begins another arc that involves another hot female co-star. Elektra, she of Daredevil and more recently Thunderbolts fame, is the new alpha female of this arc. She’s also the one that sets it into motion by revealing that whoever was hired to guard Bullseye’s dead body needs to be fired. Like Shanna, her presence in this comic adds a nice blend of estrogen-powered awesome to a series based on someone who has more testosterone in his pinkie finger than most men ever will.

This issue also highlights just how different Wolverine is from his fellow Avengers. Like the first Savage Land arc, there’s a nice bit of internal narration that helps offer some unique perspective into Wolverine’s thought process. Without it, he would just be another snarling beast who got hacked off because someone other than Cyclops handed him his butt. He knows that he’s a killer. He knows that he’s not a hero on the same level as the Avengers. And that sort of thing often gets lost in the whole spectacle of having such a diverse cast in books like the Avengers or Wolverine & the X-Men. Sure, Hawkeye may have an attitude, but Wolverine has both an attitude and serious issues that no amount of therapy could treat.

This sort of perspective on Wolverine is compelling. What isn’t so compelling is how Spider-Man is shoehorned into the story. Reading this issue gives the impression that the events of Superior Spider-Man are being completely ignored. That may be music to the ears of those who utterly despise what Dan Slott has done to Peter Parker as of late, but in this comic it’s a distraction. So when Elektra shows up asking for Wolverine’s help, we get an entire page of Spider-Man making a total fool of himself. If this was meant to add a touch of humor to the book, it failed miserably.

The conflict that Elektra drags Wolverine into is deadly serious. The Kingpin may now be the leader of the Hand, but for whatever reason they question his strength. Now I have no idea why they would question the strength of a crime lord whose pants are probably stronger than any of his predecessors. I guess it must be a ninja thing. But the Hand’s snooty lawyer (every evil organization has to have one) says that he must face some kind of twisted ninja arbitration. It sounds like an extreme version of Judge Judy, but it’s apparently a big deal and the Kingpin has never taken challenges to his power lightly.

It sets the stage for some interesting challenges and some more interesting insight for Wolverine, but it falls short in the end when the nature of Elektra’s mission is revealed to him. Even though Wolverine is a killer and a brute who doesn’t think things through, even he has to understand why this mission is bound to be a painful failure.

The setup of this issue is compelling. The characterization for Wolverine and Elektra is spot on. But the details are what’s lacking. And an entire page was wasted on Spider-Man. Moreover, there’s still no romantic overtone between Wolverine and Elektra. While he refers to her as a “kindred spirit” that understands what it’s like to be a killer, he’s just fighting alongside her without without even the suggestion of romance getting in the way. It’s a refreshing take on Wolverine that shies away from clichés and as much as it does misogyny.

Final Score: 7 out of 10.

Thanks again PopMatters.com!

Scanned Thoughts: Savage Wolverine #6

When I get a new comic, my brain is overloaded and twisted thoughts start oozing out of every orifice. This week Savage Wolverine #6 generated plenty of oozing. These are the thoughts that leaked out, along with various other fluids that may or may not require a doctor.

Whereas Shanna was the bonerific co-star of the first arc, Elektra fills that role in this arc. She’s not wearing a bikini or anything that allows readers to admire her boobs, but like Shanna she’s as tough as She-Hulk’s adamantium dildo. She can break into a highly secure facility being guarded by men with boring ass marital problems and access what should be the corpse of Bullseye. Instead, she gets an empty coffin. I know all too well the dangers of a woman who is denied her prize. Anything with a penis in a mile radius usually has to flee to an underground bunker. For Elektra, I imagine that radius is much wider.

As for the question of where the fuck Bullseyes body is and who besides daring necrophiliacs would want to desecrate it, we find out it has to do with the Kingpin. Now the leader of the Hand, he’s learning the hard way that dealing with an army of ninjas isn’t as awesome as it sounds. Like every evil organization, they have overpaid lawyers to ensure their evil is legally binding. The Hand’s lawyer looks about as intimidating as a baby squirrel, but he talks like he has the balls of Chuck Norris. He tells Fisk that the Hand has invoked some secret ritual of arbitration that will force him to prove his worth. I think that’s just legalese for “We’re going to fuck with you and legally get away with it.” The Kingpin reacts the way only most of us react when we deal with lawyers, by maiming two innocent ninjas. Personally, I would rather have a punching bag.

The Kingpin isn’t the only one with anger issues. Wolverine, at his core, is an angry, ill-mannered, brute with poor impulse control. But we love him anyways and Savage Wolverine is one of the few X-books that highlight these lovable and no-lovable-traits. During a mission with the Avengers, he gets more pissed off than usual and the Avengers have to hold him back. Yeah, it’s one of those things they probably deal with every Monday. Yeah, it’s still entertaining and refreshing. I’ll take this Wolverine over the pansy ass Edward Cullen wannabe we see in the movies any day of the week.

Wolverine’s method of dealing with anger involves beer and not removing a piece of his mask that got burned to his face. Somehow I doubt that’s healthy, but I’m not a therapist. If it works for him, why the fuck not?

What doesn’t work here is Spider-Man. He’s supposed to be an arrogant prick now, not some clumpsy dip-shit who can’t handle a sword and is stupid enough to barge into Wolverine’s room and use them. If it’s Peter Parker, he might as well be a brain damaged version. If he’s Doc Ock in Peter Parker’s body, he’s either bored or has a death wish. It’s not made clear and in a comic about Wolverine, it may be understandable to have inconsistent characterization. But this just comes off as stupid and fucking lazy. I’m not against being lazy, but not when it comes to the comics I pay good money for.

Before Wolverine can get his drink on or beat Spider-Man to a pulp, Elektra shows up. And since she has tits, Wolverine pays attention to her. And unlike the Avengers, she doesn’t give a shit that he’s a killer. Like him, she’s a killer too and the only time she asks for his help is when something or someone needs killing. Again, it’s that refreshing aspect of Wolverine’s persona that is lost whenever some writer tries to make him a pretty boy who thinks with his dick around married red-headed women. He doesn’t even flirt with Elektra. That alone makes this a powerful moment.

Yet once again, it’s ruined by Spider-Man. Here’s a guy who once banged a supermodel in Mary Jane on a regular basis, yet he’s still stammering around Elektra like nerdy fanboy trying to ask Scarlett Johannsen on a date. I get that he’s trying to be the funny guy here. He would have done better if he just stuck to fart jokes.

While there are no romantic undertones, Wolverine does some inner narration just like he did in the first arc. It is not only revealing, but engaging because he points out just how similar he and Elektra are. They’re both killers. They have both been manipulated as killers at some point in their past. They’ve also helped each other on numerous occasions. He even calls her a kindred spirit. But there’s no thought about her ass or how nice her tits would feel with his face buried in them. For a guy who keeps locks of hair from women he tried to bone, that says a lot. Some fans may be whining at the lack of pornographic undertones here. I say fuck those fans. Wolverine doesn’t always need to be trying to bone a woman. He can just be that lovable brute out on a mission that involves killing.

The target of his mission is the Kingpin. He’s one guy who Wolverine can be as mean as he wants to and never feel bad about it. And he’s just sitting in a fucking park in plain sight, ripe for killing. That alone should raise several dozen red flags. But Wolverine isn’t known for analyzing a situation. He leaves that shit to Cyclops or other guys who get all the hot women he can’t. But before he can go in for the kill, Lady Bullseye shows up. Thinking she can handle herself, he goes for the Kingpin. But it’s not that simple. When is it ever? Why can’t fat white guys just die easily?

We get an explanation as to why Kingpin was out in plain sight. It’s not a very good one, but we get it. Elektra didn’t bring Wolverine in to kill him. She brought him in to help him. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. Maybe I should start reading more comics while sober, but until that happens I’m confused. He tells them that until Bullseyes stolen body is destroyed, both him and Elektra work for him. If you’re asking me for an explanation, you might as well ask me for the cure for cancer. Because I don’t have it and I can’t for the life of me surmise a circumstance where Wolverine and Elektra would be okay working for the fucking Kingpin. Maybe I just don’t have enough imagination or need more LSD in my diet. Either way, I’m still confused.

If there is a logical or even semi-logical explanation, we don’t get it in this issue. Instead, we get more evil from the evil lawyer. Using the Hand’s patented and probably copyrighted method of exhuming corpses in ways that even necrophiliacs would find unsettling, the Hand brings in three oddly dressed individuals called the Arbiters. They look like cos-players on crystal meth, but if they’re supposed to be the ones that test the Kingpin’s strength I can understand why he wants someone like Wolverine or Elektra helping him. It’s still sad that this act of mystical bullshit makes more sense than the Kingpin recruiting Elektra and Wolverine.

These are my deranged thoughts about this comic and I’m not apologizing for them. Nuff said!

X-men Second Coming: New Mutants #14 - Struggling Towards Awesome

Time is running out for Second Coming. The big crossover Marvel is hyping up more than a Mike Tyson fight is nearing it's end. But while the series started so strong, it's been faltering as of late and it's running out of room to recover. The last issue, Uncanny X-men #525, was a disappointment in a number of ways. Matt Fraction has been good at stories, but characterization has not been his strong suite. To say his subtlety is shaky would be like saying rectal cancer is no more serious than a hang nail. Usually, Zeb Wells is able to pick up the slack with New Mutants. He did so last time with flying colors in New Mutants #13. Did he do the same with New Mutants #14? Yes and no, but that's where I need to give a full review because if I explained it here I would be shitting all over myself before I got to the toilet.

The transition from Uncanny to New Mutants was fairly smooth. In the last issue Cyclops was confronted by Charles Xavier, who is finally making some contributions to the crossover (even if it is 10 issues late). To counter the incoming hoards of Nimrod sentinels, he's enlisting the help of his omega level yet slightly (and by slightly I mean batshit crazy) unstable son, David. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but this walks the fine line between desperate and stupid. Legion hasn't done much of anything for years and all of the sudden he's thrust into the action? It's tantamount to Michael Jackson coming back from the dead as a black man.


But Legion is just part of the story. At this point in the fight the X-men aren't relying on battle tested veterans anymore to get the job done. With an army of Nimrod sentinels attacking, Cyclops enlists the entire population of Utopia. He basically gives a Mel Gibson style speech that would make William Wallace in Braveheart proud, stating that everyone is now part of the X-men and they have to use whatever power they have to fight back. Most of the mutants look at him in the same way a cow looks at an oncoming train. But he gets the message across and the fight continues.


But Cyclops isn't the only one giving a speech. Hope (you know, the girl who this whole damn crossover is supposed to be centered on?) finally shows up for the first time since the first pages of Uncanny X-men #525 and this time she's packing a big fucking gun. It makes it painfully clear she's been raised by Cable yet it's still a little unsettling that a 17-year-old girl is packing that much heat. Most 17-year-olds are barely responsible enough to drive, but Hope carries herself in a way that is far more mature than what Matt Fraction did. While he made her look like a total brat, Zeb Wells gives her balls of adamantium. Rogue was supposed to protect her and keep her out of the fight now that she hates Cyclops. But no good messiah is left on the sideline. That would be like benching Peyton Manning for Ryan Leaf in the Super Bowl. So she gets Rogue to come along with her.

It's a wonderful scene, but there's one problem and it's the same damn problem that Uncanny had. This is the last fucking page Hope appears on! She's even on the damn cover this time with Rogue and all she does is make her speech and that's it. She's never seen again for the rest of the comic. It's some piss poor planning that I would expect of Matt Fraction, but not Zeb Wells. He's supposed to be picking up the slack and now he's got butterfingers.


At least from here the story gets back to the action. The next scene shows the New Mutants taking on a hoard of Nimrod sentinels in a tunnel. Mercury, Boom Boom, Avalanche, and Roberto are all trying to hold their own. But they still aren't shaking the whole New Mutants role because they're getting their asses handed to them. To continue with the football metaphors they're like rookies thrust into a big game and the Nimrod's are the 2007 New England Patriots.


But the New Mutants aren't the only ones getting their asses handed to them in a neatly wrapped package. Even the X-men's heavy hitters are getting pummeled like a BP's corporate image. It is here where the power of the Nimrod Sentinels is really shown. They have the ability to adapt to whoever and whatever it is they're fighting. Just like Bastion, they use tactical skill to overcome their enemies. That's a far cry from the usual throw-a-shit-ton-of-force-at-the-problem-and-hope-for-the-best method. They're so effective that they break Colossus's freakin' arm! That's not a misprint. The Nimrods actually wound one of the X-men's strongest characters. It's an awesome scene that shows just how fucked the X-men really are.


The action isn't just unfolding in the present either. There's still a battle going on in the future with X-Force. Cable, Wolverine, and the rest of the team that Cyclops sent are looking to attack Mastermold, who is sending the Nimrod Sentinels into the past through a time portal. Some classic Days of Futures Past elements show up here such as hounds, which look about as miserable as the rest of the X-men are in the present. In this time Bastion and humanity has already won and that's like starting a fight with both arms chopped off for X-Force. It doesn't take long for them to get attacked so they try to be proactive.


It's at this point where Cypher, who if readers will recall acted like a total pussy in the last issue of X-Force, starts to show his worth. A lot of these attacks are machine driven. They really can't be anything else because apparently that's what defeated the X-men and mutants everywhere. As it just so happens Cypher can talk to machines and he gets them to help out. It's unclear if he hacked them or just flirted with a female machine and got it to do him a favor. It makes for one of the few genuinely funny moments in a story that has been filled with so much gloom and doom you need a bucket of prozac at your side at all times.


Things quickly get serious again while X-Force is busy. The fight with the X-men on the Golden Gate bridge is still going strong and the X-men are losing badly. People are getting hurt, mutants are suffering, and the Nimrod Sentinels are essentially laughing like Scott Fargus in "A Christmas Story." It seems as good a time as any for the tide to turn and that's where Legion makes his big entrance.

Under the coaxing and careful control (which of course implies it's a disaster waiting to happen) of Professor Xavier, Legion joins the X-men on the bridge and starts manifesting powers and personalities faster than Nimrod can adapt. It leads to some pretty badass moments from a guy who's about as likable as OJ Simpson. It still has the benefit of working and Zeb Wells does a good job of portraying David's abilities while Xavier has to walk that fine line. It seems at the very least that it buys the X-men some badly needed time for X-Force to work.


Back with X-Force, they begin the assault on Mastermold and Cypher is the key. He has to convince these machines to help him and not Bastion. That's a pretty hard sell and it leaves the rest of X-Force high and dry to face the full onslaught of the Days of Futures Past timeline. This is probably the most compelling part of the book besides the Legion story, showing how Cypher is making his value known by interacting with Mastermold. It's not done in a vacuum. Wells does make it a point to give Mastermold a bit of a personality and Cypher has to appeal to that personality. It's a struggle that is left on a cliffhanger and sets up for what hopes to be the final push to link the future with the present.


As fun as this scene is, Wells quickly goes back to lesser fight scenes and that feels like a mistake. It's very much one of the weak points of this issue. The good scenes are too short and the bad scenes are drawn out. It may just be that old illusion as a kid where a trip to the water park was over too soon and a morning at church felt like having to swim naked across the Pacific Ocean, but it's painfully apparent here and it's the first time it's happened in a Zeb Wells issue of this crossover. He's a much better writer than this and some of these scenes could easily be cut for some more screen time with X-Force, Hope, or even the New Mutants (since this is a New Mutants book after all). But that's not what happens.

The only upside is that on the final pages he sets up a juicy end for Mike Carey to pick up on with X-men Legacy. In the last part Beast is under attack in the infirmary by incoming Nimrods and Magneto is still with him. It's only the second time Magneto has shown up since he's been bedridden in wake of the events of Uncanny X-men 522. He hasn't done much, but here he basically gives the finger to doctors orders and rises up to attack. It's not exactly heroic. It's more the I'm-sick-of-this-bullshit-and-I-want-to-bust-some-heads type attitude. It's not flattering, but it looks unbearably awesome.


Despite this strong finish, New Mutants #14 still has a lot of shortcomings that aren't easy to overlook. The most glaring issue isn't so much the choppy scenes and the lack of salience between them. It's more so that this book is called New Mutants and there are about as much New Mutants in this book as there is brilliance in George W. Bush's speeches. It completely breaks with the tradition that every book has followed in Second Coming. Even though the titles of the books change, it's still easy to tell which is Uncanny and which is X-men Legacy. They do stand out in their own right. Here, that wasn't the case. This could have just as easily been labeled Uncanny or X-men Legacy and it wouldn't have felt out of place. That's just poor representation and a glaring fault that Zeb Wells should be above.

Never-the-less, he still manages to throw in enough awesome parts to make the book work. It is an improvement over Uncanny X-men #525, but only in the same way diarrhea is slightly less sick than barfing up chunks of lung into a toilet. It does a good job of setting up the next part and hopefully this is where things will start to come together. Second Coming has been on a large scale since the beginning, but it's dangerously close to dragging this out because aside from the fighting not much has happened. There hasn't been any major revelation about Bastion or the future. There hasn't been a major sacrifice or death. And there is still no explanation about Hope, who she is, and how she'll undo M-Day. The X-writers are running out of time and if answers don't start coming soon, then the epic nature of this crossover will start to take a hit.

New Mutants #14 (even though it's still a stretch to call it a New Mutants book) gets a 3.5 out of 5. At the very least it leaves the next part ready for an awesome rise in the very capable hands of Mike Carey. If anyone can get the momentum back in this crossover, it's him. Nuff said.

Second Coming New Mutants 13: A Step Back Towards Awesome

As you may recall, my last report on Second Coming portrayed a harsh bump in the road for what is supposed to be the biggest X-men crossover in decades. Uncanny X-men #524 was the first major pothole in what had been a smooth path towards legendary awesome. Matt Fraction did the crossover a disservice with his latest installment and Zeb Wells was forced to get the train back on the track with New Mutant's #13. It's kind of unfair, like having to clean up a hotel room that had been the stage of an after party by Led Zeppelin. Wells had to wade through his share of semen stained filth to clean up the series and his efforts were solid for the most part.

The issue starts off a bit more disjointed than the others. It takes the action to Domino and Vanisher of X-Force, who are just learning who had been killed in action. Naturally, Cyclops wants a teleporter back into the mix and Vanisher is the only one left. Unfortunately, Vanisher lost his balls somewhere and wanted no part of it. He preferred to go on a brothel run in Portugal, which may seem smart to some guys. Unfortunately, those same guys were waiting for him with guns and he got wacked Sopranos style.


It was an inglorious way to go. Compared to the deaths of Nightcrawler and Ariel, Vanisher's demise was kind of cheap. This is a guy who fought alongside X-Force. For him to just die like this felt contrived, like the man had an expiration date and rather than enjoy the rest of what he had to offer the writers just cut their losses and threw him in the trash. It may work for milk, but not here. He may be a lesser character, but still. He's a character. It's a shame he has to go out like this.

The death of Vanisher isn't really dwelled on. In fact, that's the last he's heard of in this whole issue. The next scene takes us to Donald Pierce, who escaped from captivity and is ready to implement the next stage of Bastion's plan. In this the plot of Second Coming really shines because it shows some strategy behind the madness. This isn't some ultimate evil looking to attack the good guys with brunt force. This is a foe who doesn't have their head too far up their ass. They've clearly read Sun Tzu's "Art of War" and are employing a vital strategy that will become a big factor later on.


The New Mutants get some moments next. Each are still pretty devastated by what happened to Karma and many are having doubts. But not much is made of this at first because more focus is placed on Cyclops and Beast. They're still in the infirmary looking over the wounded and here it seems Wells is making up for some of the bullshit Matt Fraction unloaded in the previous issue.

One big criticism of Uncanny 524 was that Beast showed up and he came off as a flaming asshole, chastising Cyclops while he was holding the grave of his dead friend on his shoulders. Here, he's a bit more tame. He still is as comfortable around Cyclops as a gay, Jewish, black guy around a card carrying member of the KKK, but he's a lot more respectful this time around. The two men have a civilized conversation and Beast agrees to stay on board with the X-men until the end. It's a good thing too because an event this big without Beast is like demolition derby without the crashes.


There's nothing wrong with this scene, but it just feels like it wouldn't have been necessary had Fraction not turned Beast into a raging asshole in the last issue. This scene could have been used for something more useful, but Wells seemed obligated to address it so that Beast wouldn't come off as too great a douche bag. It seemed as though this scene should have expanded on the earlier scene with the New Mutants (because it is their comic after all). However, that scene got cut short and because there's so much going on in Second Coming they're basically left on the back burner like undercooked flanks steaks.

The next few scenes don't help them as they focus on the science team's expedition to an offshore oil rig. Given the news oil rigs have been getting lately, it's only fitting that they would be the sight of Bastion's next demonstration in douche-baggery. The team uncovers what looks like glorified wall clocks from a 70s disco bar, but they turn out to be these bombs that explode with manifestations of pink clouds. If that sounds fucked up, don't be afraid. Your brain is still working. There are just few words to describe it and that's par for the course with Bastion.


While this is going on, the New Mutants finally get some more screen time as Cable leads Hope to the cafeteria to get some much needed nourishment. It makes sense considering from her perspective, she just came from the future and has only had time to gorge on candy bars for nourishment. And that can't be healthy for a teenage mutant messiah.

This is where she comes face to face with Danielle Moonstar, who wasn't too happy about what happened to her friends earlier. She seems to echo the same sentiment Wolverine did at the end of Uncanny X-men 524. She has doubts that all these sacrifices they're making in the name of this teenage girl are really worth it. And who could blame her? One of her friends lost a leg. She has a right to be a little pissed so she takes it out on Hope. That would seem smart if this wasn't a girl who was raised by Cable.


An old fashioned food fight erupts. It's like a scene out of an old teen comedy. Danielle is the stupid jock bully and Hope is the undersized yet ballsy upstart looking to prove herself. She definitely shows some grit here in taking on Moonstar. While this is going on, Cyclops comes rushing in and tries to break it up. But Cable stops him. As far as he's concerned, it's better to just let them fight. Apparently, that's how all the world's problems get solved. It's worked for him plenty of times before and it's pretty awesome. So who are we to argue?

This leads to a heated conversation with Cyclops that forebodes on Cable's fate. He says at one point he has one last time jump to the future and he can use it to take him and Hope away from this madness. Now based on the solicitations of future issues, that's probably not going to happen. Hope will likely stay, but it seems more likely now that Cable is going to get stuck in the future again and Hope is going to be left behind. It's not the same as killing a character off, but considering how Vanisher died earlier that's a nice alternative if they go that route.

What's strange here is that the food fight is probably the most drawn out fight scene in this issue. That's kind of a shame because there was potential for more and it came in the very next scene.


Remember how Pierce was snooping around earlier? Well he made good use of his snooping and managed to blow up the X-men's jets and transports. This way they're stranded on Utopia and without any teleporters, they're basically boxed in. As far as tactics go, Bastion deserves a gold star here. This is pretty solid planning and there isn't much the X-men can do.

From here, it seems a fight is going to break out. Namor and X-23 show up to vent their frustrations on Pierce. But if you were hoping for a more drawn out struggle, you'll be disappointed. Pierce goes down faster than a Vietnamese hooker. Cyclops finishes him off before the fight can become truly awesome. It has the same problems with the fight against Vanisher. You get excited about what it could lead to, but it's over too soon. It's the comic book equivalent of premature ejaculation.


So the X-men are royally screwed and boxed in. Naturally, Danielle is going to feel vindicated while Hope is going to be beating herself up. This leads to one of the most powerful scenes in the issue. Hope confesses to Cable that she lied when she said she was ready to come back. She had no idea her presence would cause this kind of death and the guilt is eating her up inside like a flesh eating disease. Who can blame her for feeling a little guilty? For the sad predicament she finds herself in, it's a very human and very understandable reaction. The mere fact she isn't puking out of disgust shows just how strong a character she is.


The end of the issue is the strength of the issue. It helps tie together some of the dangling plot lines left over from Uncanny X-men 524 and makes for a nice moment before X-men Legacy picks it up. This issue has much more going for it than the previous issue and Zeb Wells succeeds in many of the areas where Fraction fell short. It doesn't completely rebound from the previous issue and some of that is beyond Wells's control. The contrived action scenes in conjunction with the deep character moments simply didn't mesh well. It leaves the reader wanting more in the same way you want more potato chips upon finding out the other half of the bag was eaten by a greedy roommate. It's still as solid as can be. The dialogue is great and the art is beautiful, fitting in nicely with the rest of saga thus far.

So what kind of score does New Mutants 13 get? For having to deal with the shortcomings of Matt Fraction's previous installment, Zeb Wells deserves a little bonus. As such, the issue earns a 4 out of 5. It has action, but of the limited variety. It has solid character moments and it moves the plot along in a clear and meaningful way. Overall, it is a worthy and solid installment in the Second Coming saga. It sets the stage for what promises to be an action packed Act 2, which begins with X-men Legacy. To that all I can say is bring it on! Second Coming is still awesome and hopefully it can stay that way through the final two acts!

X-men Second Coming Chapter 3: New Mutants 12

Second Coming just keeps on rolling and today the next issue in the saga was released in the form of New Mutants. To avoid beating around the bush I'll just come out and say outright that this series hasn't missed a beat since the first issue. The usual sputter that plagues so many crossovers in the first few issues did NOT happen here like it did with Messiah Complex. It kept the ball rolling and didn't let up.

While in this issue the New Mutants took center stage with their attack on the Purifier base, the events of the last two issues were still seamlessly integrated. It is as if the pages of Uncanny X-men 523 never stopped. The battle to save Hope and Cable continued only now it coincided with the New Mutant's attack. Both fights brought to light the Sapien League's heavy hitters. William Stryker showed his tactical worth when he took on the X-men's Alpha Team. He showed that he was prepared when he fired weapons that disrupted Illyana and Nightcrawler, the teams top teleporters. Illyana appears to be heading back to Limbo while Nightcrawler is stuck in a daze, hinting further that he's going to be dead very soon. But Stryker wasn't the only one who shined.

In the Purifier base the New Mutants took on Cameron Hodge, the former ruler of Genosha who is now basically a head and a machine. He started off in a normal robot body and transferred himself into a scorpion-like attack bot that appeared similar to the Sentinel Prowlers from Wolverine and the X-men. This was what he used to attack the New Mutants and the fight scene that followed was well crafted and well developed. It ended on an ominous note with Karma getting her leg stabbed. It didn't appear fatal, but it certainly appears to be serious and leaves the door open for X-men Legacy to continue.

Overall, the action was awesome and so was the overall plot. However, this book does suffer from a few significant flaws. The most critical flaw is how the writers seem to yet again send Cable and Hope on the run. Just like the first issue, they're back in a truck driving away from the chaos. It's been done before and it makes all the fighting that has transpired thus far seem a little meaningless. It makes sense tactically, but it just doesn't seem to change all that much. Cable and Hope are on the run again and the X-men are short a few teleporters. That's about it. The plot doesn't seem to progress that much from there and it leaves the overall story feeling a bit stalled.

Never-the-less, New Mutants 12 is an awesome addition to the Second Coming saga. It does what it needs to do in order to further the plot. It doesn't knock it out of the park in terms of awesome, but it isn't filler either. It's a solid read and deserves a solid 4 out of 5. Next up is X-men Legacy and Rogue will have a chance to shine. How she's going to affect Second Coming will be interesting considering the leadership roles she's been taking lately. Hopefully she'll find a way to avoid the same old plot of Hope and Cable running away because that's getting old. The stage has already been set for a big time confrontation between Bastion and the X-men. The sooner this fight can happen the better! I would say to the writers and editors the same thing Hodge said to his men. "Grow a pair!" Nuff said.

Second Coming Q&A - Thoughts From The Adherents

Second Coming is in full swing at Marvel. It appears the writers and editors simply cannot contain their excitement as they have been giving out interviews in the way McDonalds gives out heart attacks. On the hype alone it may be just as dangerous for all fanboys with heart conditions, but nobody is complaining yet. So far nothing has been revealed to completely destroy interest in this crossover so Marvel is doing all the right things thus far.

X-men Second Coming: Q&A

On the whole there's nothing too shocking here, just an overall reinforcing of what is already known about this crossover. It's the final chapter to Messiah Complex, it will bring Hope and Cable back into the present, and it will have Bastion as the main enemy. In earlier interviews it was revealed by Matt Fraction that someone big was going to die. There weren't any further hints here, but it appears the sentiment seems to be leaning towards someone like Nightcrawler, Beast, Pixie, or potentially Angel. There were some notable quotes.

Matt Fraction: Yeah. This is the bookend to [Messiah Complex]. But it's the X-Men. Nothing is ever wrapped up in a tidy little package. But you will know who Hope is. You will know what she is capable of. You will have a sense of what she is going to be capable of. This is the end of all the questions that have been asked since [Messiah Complex]. Well...almost. [Laughs] It answers the questions, but asks new ones that propel us into the future.

Chris Yost: Bastion is a very committed villain. He's got a goal and he's never going to stop. He will never stop no matter what. He is the kind of guy who crosses his t's and dots his i's. Anything he does is going to be very extreme and very well thought out and thorough. The X-Men have no idea what's coming for them.

Mike Carey: I would see [Hope] as being ambivalent about a lot of things. She's met a number of the mutants from our time now in the events of Messiah War and she's curious about that. She's curious about the time that she's come from and she knows that it's assumed by everybody around her that she'll go back there. I think she wants to do that, but she's also afraid. The burden she carries is an enormous one and she's a bit uncertain of her ability to carry it. Particularly since there is still this question mark about what she can do.

Zeb Wells: Well, Cyclops honestly believes that Hope is the future of mutantkind, where her living makes the difference between mutantkind surviving and mutantkind dying. So, as soon as Hope shows up, any danger that she finds herself in is going to be met with a huge reaction from Cyclops. Basically, an attack on Hope would be considered an attack on mutantkind. So, he is going to throw everything he possibly can to making sure Hope is safe and that she is in a place where she can be protected.

Nick Lowe: Our big instruction when Axel Alonso came in as our group editor was to simplify the line in a lot of ways and make it that each book has a pretty distinctive identity and each one has a mission statement you can identity. That's still going to be it-maintaining these "simple mission statement books"-but on the other end of it, what we're pushing back is to the core X-Men "hated and feared" and the differences between people and what makes you special. But we've been in a really dark tunnel in a way ever since "no more mutants." It's been a really dark time with no real hope for the future. Like Cyclops, in editorial we'd like to go beyond that dread of extinction.

Axel Alonso: Everything hinges on Hope. Back in Messiah Complex, Cyclops, acting on nothing more than faith, allowed Cable to jump with this girl into the time stream with no plan other than "bring her back when she's ready and when it's safe." Since that time, he has had to live with that decision and ponder everything, from the mortality of the mutant species to choices he had to make to ensure survival. Understand that he's been operating on nothing more than faith. There's no proof that Hope means anything to mutants. And as any reader of the books knows, there's more than a faint flicker of danger. Red hair, green eyes. Say no more. Really, the overarching theme of the X-Men for the last couple of years has been faith. What do they believe in? What do they stand for? And at the center of that storm has been Cyclops. If you've been reading CABLE, you know that two heroes, Bishop and Cable, have two very different ideas of who Hope is and what she means for the mutant race. For Cable, she's salvation. For Bishop, she's destruction. Maybe both are true. That's what Cyclops has to ponder and what readers have to ponder when we bring her back. By the end of Second Coming, readers will fully understand who Hope is and what she means for mutants.

So what can we draw from this? First off, it looks as though they'll finally revisit the early scenes in Messiah Complex where Hope was born. There has been a lot of mystery surrounding the birth, but there haven't been any answers. As for Hope herself, it seems they're playing up the overall uncertainty in her character. She is being billed as either a savior or destroyer (sound familiar?). Who and what she is appears to be more complex than just some Deus Ex Machina that's going to undo M-Day. Also, the red hair and green eyes comment once again finds is way with Alonso, which again hints at Jean Grey. However, there has been next to no mention of her. But considering the Phoenix hints, the appearance, and having a destructive/creative nature it's pretty damn hard to ignore. All indications are that Hope is going to be yet another Jean-lite, one who looks and acts like Jean Grey but isn't Jean Grey. Like Rachel Summers without the alternate universe mess. This once again feels like Marvel trying to have their cake and eat it too, wanting to bring Jean's star power back without disrupting their precious new version of Cyclops and Emma Frost. It would be a great story if it wasn't so damn blatant. If Hope looked nothing like Jean Grey, this would not be an issue. There are any number of ways they could have drawn her, but they gave her a look that was just like Jean. Could the subtext be any clearer?

In addition it appears that the end of Second Coming will mark yet another transition period for the X-men. The team may once again get reshuffled like they did after Messiah Complex and House of M. And for once it may actually end without so much doom and gloom, which seems to be a major theme of every crossover since 2000. It seems all events either have to end with a funeral or a massive demoralizing. It's as if the only way the stories can be interesting is if they are downers. Like people want to read a book that makes them depressed? If Second Coming ends in a way that doesn't require a fresh prescription of Prozac, I'll be content. You have a character in this story named Hope. Shouldn't it at least be hopeful?

March 31st is set to be the beginning. The aftermath begins in July. From the looks of it, Second Coming will set the stage for the next decade of X-comics. The question remains will the decade erupt with awesomeness or fizzle with all that which is lame?