Stuff I Read This Week Episode 6 or Marvel Needs to Hurry Up With Some "Cyclops Was Right" Shirts....

Uncanny X-Men #3:

"Scott Summers, you murdered Charles Xavier right in front of us. And thank you for putting a big X on your head for me to aim at."

I haven't been this interested in the X-books in quite some time. The identity of each title is becoming clear. With the mutant community's post "A vs. X" disarray, All New X-Men is a quirky look at the core team finding a way to cope with the rift caused by Cyclops killing Charles Xavier. "Uncanny" focuses on Scott Summers, now a self proclaimed Che Guevara leading a revolution team who recruits, protects and trains new mutants for what he perceives to be an impending war on his quickly blossoming race. The latest issue gives us the inevitable stare down between the renegade X-Men and the Avengers, resulting in an epic monologue/speech from Cyclops just when I was beginning to miss him chastising classic Marvel characters. I'll admit it is a bit heavy on exposition which is a common occurrence with Bendis books and there's a flashback moment I found sort of unnecessary, but aside from that, this was a solid issue for story development

I'm a fan of Chris Bachalo's artwork although he doesn't have the most diverse color palette when it comes to different races. He seems to be great at really making action panels jump out at the reader. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough action in this issue for him to truly shine. Still, the visual pop enough here to keep your eyes entertained.

Let me also say that I didn't expect Cyclops' new uniform to be so goddamned awesome. After the luster of the movies wore off, the design of a lot of the team's (in most incarnations) uniforms were geared toward being more superhero like, getting away from looking like the Black Panther Party making a cameo appearance in Saturday Night Fever. Even though, I enjoyed the updated version of his "original" outfit from his early years, if anyone needed and upgrade it was Scott Summers. Although I could see where the huge X might raise some eyebrows, think about it. As far as strategy goes, Cyclops is the Batman of the Marvel universe. Being in a holographic classroom designed to kick his ass, training to defend himself against giant killer robots since before he was old enough to shave is pretty badass. And now in addition to being an epic asshole, he's a revolutionary with a target on his back. What would an asshole revolutionary do? He'd put the target right on his head because he has every confidence there's no fucking chance of you hitting it. It's the ultimate "come and get me."

Bottom Line: Art and scripting are up to par enough to make this alpha male pissing contest between Captain America and Cyclops and enjoyable addition to this series. 8 out of 10.



Wolverine #1: "Tell Max I'm coming for the Wolverine uniform I keep behind the bar."

 I'm just going to say the obvious thing. Wolverine has too many damn titles out. And seemingly for no reason. The Savage Wolverine is basically the "Wolverine Stabs Dinosaurs." Wolverine and the X-Men is "Stabby Man and his Non Stabby Friends." And now we have this title in which, from what I can tell, we get a look at what Logan does when he's not stabbing things in the jungle or at mutant school. Paul Cornell throws us right into the middle of the action with a seemingly desperate hostage situation. The tension is there, the dialogue is on point, and even Alan Davis' pencils are absolutely beautiful, but at the end of the day, it still seems to come down this being a story thus far that should be titled "Someone Get Me My Suit....I Have to Stab Something." It just came down to....eh.

Bottom Line: Another title of Wolverine in the urban jungle looking to stab something. Very pretty, though. 6 out of 10.



Age of Ultron #2: "So, the end of the world actually happened and I slept through it? How much more me could I possibly be?"

Brian Michael Bendis opened this crossover event strong in the first issue and, although the tone shifted just slightly, he has yet to lose steam. This is definitely taking a slightly different tact than prevous Marvel events. Secret Invasion and Siege didn't use their quarterback writer correctly, going for the 50 yard touchdown pass instead of taking time with a good running drive down the field. It seems like it's doing a better job of exploiting what Bendis is best at: character development, dialogue and subtle yet rising tension. This reads less like a superhero epic and more like a "Where were you when the evil robot skull fucked the world?" disaster aftermath event.

This installment gives us some insight into where (as teased on the cover) the Black Widow and Moon Knight ended up in this post apocalyptic cyberpunk wonderland as well as how Spider Man ended up in the dire straits we found him in last issue. We don't get quite as much action as we did in the first issue we get enough movement in the story that it seems an adequate trade off. In his own way, Bendis like building epic story arcs that interchange action for exposition from issue to issue. For some readers picking comics upon release expecting their socks knocked off, this can be aggravating, but ultimately makes for a compelling story in the long run. Bryan Hitch is still no slouch in the art department. You can get lost for hours in the environments he creates, very reminiscent of Moebius' old work.

Bottom Line: Another awesome chapter in what looks to be a breath of fresh air for those tired to the usual crossover. 8.5 out of 10