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.

Sexy Pics of Scarlet Witch

It's been a while since I added something other than my series to my website. Since I haven't introduced a whole lot of new characters yet, I've had to play the waiting game. But it turns out there was one section I could still add. I've given the X-women their share of homage so why not give the bad guys a chance to match their sexiness? So like Rogue, Storm, and Jean Grey I made a section celebrating the sexy that is Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch.

Scarlet Witch Pics

There are still plenty of beautiful X-women out there, but until I introduce them into X-men Supreme their sexy will have to remain idle. In the meantime enjoy the beauty that is the Scarlet Witch and stay tuned for a preview of the new issue on April 9th. Until then, take care!

Jack

Cable 25 - A Walk on the Wild/Lighter Side

With Second Coming in full swing it couldn't be more serious in the X-books. The fate of the mutant race is on the line. Hope has returned from the future with Cable. There's no room for joking around, humor, or so much as a smile. So it comes as quite a surprise for a book like Cable 25 to come out, which is as heavy on laughs as it is on humor.

For anyone who hasn't been following the X-books up to Second Coming, it doesn't matter. This book takes place way back during Messiah Complex before the X-men even moved to San Francisco. It answered a burning question and gaping plot hole that had been lingering for years. How did Cable get to baby Hope before the X-men and the Purifiers? This one-shot answers that plain and simply. He had help from his old pal Deadpool and the results are both serious and hilarious.

Deadpool is one of those characters who can make even the most grave of situations something ot laugh about. He came into this comic helping Cable save Hope from being burned alive along with a whole host of other babies. Yet he finds room to make a Sarah Palin joke in the process. For anybody looking for a little something less depressing it's definitely welcome. Who doesn't love a good Palin joke in the midst of slaughtering a bunch of heartless baby killers?

This issue goes a step further. It shows how Deadpool helped Cable get away from the Purifiers before anyone could find out he was the one with the baby. They survived in the Alaskan wilderness and fought off a hungry Predator X in the process, which Deadpool made all the more entertaining and grotesque by allowing himself to be eaten (that's not an exaggeration by the way). It was full of action and the same witty humor readers have come to expect from Deadpool, but at the same time it had the right levels of drama that went along with Messiah Complex. It's very difficult to strike that kind of balance in a comic that plays a serious role in the plot of the trilogy. For there to be just the right humor and just the right amount of drama is nothing short of uncanny and it makes this book truly special in that regard.

It ends with Cable and Deadpool parting ways once again, leaving Deadpool to go off on his own series (which he even hints at with his 4th wall breaking awesomeness) and Cable to go into the future with Hope. It ties things together nicely, but at the same time the separation was a bit contrived. It felt as though Cable and Deadpool separated just so it would fit into what happened later with Messiah Complex. It wasn't blatant, but it wasn't very subtle either. If there was one knock on this book, it was this seemingly overt twist. It doesn't bring the whole thing down, but it does make it a little bit bland in the end.

Overall, it's still a solid comic. It earns itself a 4 out of 5 for doing all the right things, striking the right balance, and being damn entertaining in the process. Some have argued that Deadpool has been too overexposed in wake of Messiah Complex. This comic proves there can be no such thing with a character as awesome as him. If anything, it necessitates more Deadpool after Second Coming! He can only make the X-books more awesome.

Ultimate X #2 - Painful Nostalgia

A couple months ago I gave my review for the debut issue of Ultimate X, the comic by Jeph Loeb that was supposed to reinvigorate the Ultimate line by telling bold new stories about what is happening to the mutants after Ultimatum. The premise is good, but in a nutshell the execution smells worse than mule shit, elephant shit, horse shit, dog shit, cat shit, and pretty much every other form of shit on this planet combined. Scientists would have to formulate a whole new strain of shit to match how much Ultimate X sucks. It's not only an affront to people who used to like the Ultimate universe. It's akin to sending a hitman to the readers still in the hospital after Ultimatum and so they can anally rape them to add to the humiliation for ever having followed this series.

So if I hated Ultimate X so much, why did I read issue 2? Plain and simple, it was the only comic outside the pitiful X-men Forever series that offered a chance at a decent Jean Grey story. The preview art from months ago hinted that this supposed new character, Karen Grant, was actually Jean Grey in disguise. Loeb tried to make it out to be some big mystery, as if her secret was the only thing keeping the holy grail from being found. Problem is, from the first few pages a brain damaged retard could have figured out that Karen was Jean. If that was the entire premise of the issue then this comic wouldn't qualify as being worthy of toilet paper. Luckily, there was more to it. Unluckily, it was every bit as pitiful as the first issue.

Now I'm a sucker for Jean Grey stories. She's one of my favorite characters and I've always had an affinity for Ultimate Jean Grey. She was a lot edgier and outgoing than her 616 counterpart. It was ironic how she was one of the few Ultimatum survivors when in 616, the writers seem to look for ways to kill her. I sincerely wanted to see a fresh story of her that wouldn't make me sick to my stomach the way X-men Forever did (which sadly is the only other ongoing series where Jean is still alive). It started off promising, but it went down faster than the stock market.

Here's the premise. Jean changed her name, changed her appearance, got a job at a mall, used her telepathy to change everyone's perceptions to make them think she had been there for three years when it had only been three months, and tried to live a normal life. Only she wasn't the same Jean Grey from the pages of Ultimate. She was a new Emo Jean Grey, one who dressed goth and was painfully reserved, a complete departure from what made her Ultimate counterpart appealing. To add to the clusterfuck, the narration was done by her boyfriend Dave, who is basically a mall cop. While Dave tries to come off as some open character with a touch of depth, he ends up coming off as some creepy stalker for Jean/Karen. He talks about early on how he kept asking her out 10 times before she said yes and how she seldom opened up. He comes off less a caring boyfriend and more a stalker. He's some character, one best left for dead. And wouldn't you know it? He got killed near the end by Sabretooth. Normally, I would hate to throw any further death into the Ultimate series after Ultimatum, but this guy needed it. He was too lame to keep alive.

In addition, remember how the first Ultimate X issue basically plagiarized the entire Superman Origins story for Jimmy Hudson? This issue took it a step further. It plagerized a story that came out LESS THAN A YEAR AGO. To make matters worse it came from the same damn series. Here's what happened. Mystique shows up and confronts Jean, telling her she should join her and Sabretooth. A fight ensues and Mystique and Sabretooth are beaten back. Want to know what happened in Ultimatum X-men Requiem that came out in August 2009? The same damn thing! Mystique and Sabretooth show up and try to recruit her. Part of the reason for Ultimatum was to add originality to the Ultimate universe again. But they use the same plot points from less than a year ago! What's that say about this series? They seem to be putting the same effort into it as Homer Simpson does in trying to lose weight.

Even worse? The art didn't offer any redeeming value like the first issue. Art Adams is supposedly an artistic genius in this area and he drew Jean Grey/Karen Grant like she was 13 fucking years old. In the comics it is well established that Ultimate Jean is 20. If this comic were actually decent then that may be forgivable, but the Ultimate series has earned no such leeway. I'm usually willing to cut Art Adams some slack, but now he deserves every bit the same scorn as Jeph Loeb.

It ends predictably enough. Jean meets up with Jimmy and that's about it. There's nothing new or fresh to be taken from this issue. As someone who has always had a special appreciation for Jean Grey, it usually takes a lot to get me to hate a comic with her as the main focus. Chris Claremont succeed with X-men Forever and I never thought that bombastic butchering of her character could be topped. Jeph Loeb, it seems, has matched Claremont blow for blow. It's a fucking Greek tragedy of godlike proportions.

Ultimate X #2 is another solemn reminder of how hard the series I once loved so much has fallen. Every book reeks of the stench left by Ultimatum. Even the most solid series like Ultimate Spider-Man can't get beyond the painful aftermath that basically killed an entire line. It doesn't matter of Hemmingway himself came back from the dead and wrote these books. Without the characters that made Ultimate great, the whole line is nothing more than cannon fodder laced with superhuman shit.

Earlier this week I posed a question to Tom Brevoort, Marvel's Vice President Executive Editor. I asked:

What would you say to all the fans of Ultimate who were seriously turned off by seeing so many beloved Marvel characters be horribly killed in Ultimatum?

His response is here:

Sorry about that. But most of those characters are still alive and active in the main Marvel Universe, so you can always follow them there. But if you just don't care for it, and aren't getting the same pleasure out of following the Ultimate books, then it's all right to stop buying them.

You hear that? It's basically saying "Sorry, you'll have to settle for 616 where those characters are still alive." Excuse me, but wasn't the whole point of Ultimate to create a fresh alternative from 616? Now that they killed off all the characters they're sending readers back to 616 where they weren't pleased with to begin with? Maybe I'm slow, but that logic would give Spock from Star Trek an brain stroke. He and Marvel seem to be okay with permanently handicapping a series. They're okay with taking away appeal and just churning out rehashes of plots so unoriginal it could be scientifically categorized as symptoms of insanity. Either they don't give a damn about the Ultimate universe anymore or they've just plain given up.

Ultimate X #2 gets a pitiful 0 out of 5. There's no redeeming value, not even from the art. Ultimate Marvel is becoming more pitiful with each passing month. It makes about as much sense to buy this comic as it does to stick your head in a microwave while sodomizing yourself with a salad fork. The sooner this entire line gets canceled, the better.

X-men Supreme Issue 8: Off Night Part 1 is LIVE

It's been a busy week with comics, but I've still found time to keep the train rolling on X-men Supreme. The next issue is officially up!

Issue 8: Date Night Part 1

This issue takes the X-men of this world and shows them in their lighter moments. They do have lives outside of kicking ass and being awesome. This chapter highlights their personal missions and their relationships. Right now the main couples are Beast/Storm, Wolverine/Jean, and Bobby/Lorna. But if you're a fan of other pairings, don't fret! There are more to come. Fanfiction has always opened the door to novel romances and X-men Supreme is no exception. I hope you enjoy the path this series takes, romantic or otherwise. Enjoy the issue!

Jack