The Marvel Thread

[Previsionary]

I lost you after the third "speak".

I'll lose you after speak! Bah!
----------

X-force #14:

Over the last few issues of this mini-event, we've mostly gotten backstory and very little action of any kind. With the addition of Deadpool and Stryfe to the story, things should really get moving, and become fairly bloody, when the protags and antags finally come head to head and perhaps Bishop will get a new purpose post this event. Anyway, outside of X-force and Cable coming together and the re-introduction of Stryfe as a sneaky partner to Bishop, there's not much to actually recap.

Spoiler

The book opens with Bishop in another timeline chasing after Cable. Of course, nothing in this timeline is real to Bishop, but he does stumble across an important tool he can use in the future. A sleeping god—whom I didn't really miss—that can be used to his benefit. Presently, Cable and X-force are knee deep in action as Stryfe's forces overwhelm them. In an effort to keep Hope safe, Elixir and Vanisher run off with her, but this doesn't please Cable at all. Meanwhile, with Stryfe, one of his minions informs Bishop and him that the X-men are nearby. The X-men finish their fight, thanks to the help of Deadpool, but not before Angel flies off after hearing strange voices. Wolverine comes to the conclusion that they're "flipped" and that none of their lives matter outside of Hope and Warpath. Later, as the team walks to wherever they're going, Stryfe launches from his stronghold and attacks the team. Stryfe obviously overpowers the team and traps Hope in a psionic bubble. The scene then shifts to Angel and we find out whose voice he was hearing while in battle—Apocalypse!

I think my only complaint about this book was some panels where the art and gritty tone didn't come off very well. It was nice to see the team in action again and I also enjoyed the minor scenes of the team interacting with one another. For some reason, Marvel has been really pushing Deadpool this year and this book was no exception. Not only did he get a bunch of screen time over the last [few?] issue(s), but this issue he also makes quite the impressive feat and upstages ALL of X-force with very little effort. This book gets a 4 out of 5. It actually makes up for all those slow issues.

Wolverine Origins #35:

Sometimes I wonder why I keep reading this book, but I can honestly tell you that I'll probably replace it with the superior "Wolverine: Weapon X" by Jason Aaron. *PLUG*. *ahem* I can't recall if it's this book or the main Wolverine book that's going to be replaced with Dark Wolverine starring Daken, but...yeah. Last issue, Daken took out the X-men and got his hands on a special sword.

Spoiler

This issue picks up where last issue left off. Wolverine and Daken staring each other down. However, this time, the X-men come back together and pull out all the stops to try and tame Daken. It doesn't work out as effectively as the X-men might have hoped and Cyclops is seriously close to getting his head chopped off, but a timely intervention from Armor, whom the sword can't really affect, saves the day. Wolverine then retrieves the sword and Daken disappears in an odd display of panels that threw me off for a bit. Daken didn't escape empty-handed though, he took part of the blade and that's all he needed. Cyclops tries to reason with Wolverine in an effort to get him to drop his quest to save Daken and instead kill him; Wolverine doesn't listen and leaves.

The rest of the book focuses on Wolverine trying to track down Daken again, but this time using The Tinkerer to draw Daken out. Why Tinkerer, you ask? Because he's one of the 4 people that can do what Daken wants. Unfortunately, Wolverine gets caught off-guard by Victor Hudson and Daken meets The Tinkerer in an abandoned underground railroad station.

Uh...this book has returned to being a chore to read. I initially liked the idea of Daken being able to one-up the X-men through pre-planning, but STILL doing it in this book when they all *should* know what they're facing, Wolverine-lite + sword, is a bit ridiculous. Not only that, but they all disappeared after their scenes except for Cyclops who advises Wolverine to kill his son. Ignoring how Cyclops is with his own "kids", I don't know if that's advice I can really see coming from even current Cyclops. The last few pages would have probably been much more interesting if they took up the bulk of the story and the X-fight had been cut shorter. Oh, Way, when will you learn? 2.5 out of 5.

Guardians of the Galaxy #13:

Spoiler

After the shocker that was issue 12, the team decide to head out for a night of fun. Of course, this fun turns into a bar fight. Turns out the fight started because a Sh'iar bad mouthed Captain Marvel. Phyla wasn't liking it. She sent the dude through a wall. Fight breaks out. The usual. After the bar fight, Adam Warlock informs the team that the Kree and Sh'iar are warring and they need to intervene.  The team is a bit unsure of getting involved considering the races included, but Peter decides that they should split into two teams and talk to both leaders of the warring parties in an effort to prevent more fighting.

Team visiting Blackbolt: Peter, Jack Flag, Gamora, Phyla, and Bug
Team visiting Vulcan: Raccoon, Warlock, Drax, Groot, and Major Victory

Team Rocket [...] begins their mission by putting out the nega-bomb fire/destruction Vulcan and his crew left and Team Quill gets a less dramatic task that is quickly settled with a "no" from Medusa herself. Team Rocket eventually deals with the nega-bomb problem and teleport to Vulcan's ship, only it's teleport-shielded and the team, minus Warlock, ends up in empty space. Warlock himself gets attacked from behind by Vulcan while his teammates get picked up by the Starjammers.

I left out a few parts in the actual summary, but it was a good read, me thinks. Phyla getting a new codename might be a little unneeded though, but we'll see how that goes. The only problem I really have with this book is how big the cast is + with WoK, it's even bigger. Another thing, I think the debriefings/log panels shouldn't be used during big scenes as it kind of draws me out of the story. I'm specifically talking about the Adam Warlock one before his final scene. Still, this is a 3.5 out of 5.
----------------

With sumviews out of the way, some preview pages!

Uncanny X-men: http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=27525

-I'm sorry, but when a book makes me want Claremont and his general wackiness back (I say this knowing Dino Rachel was the most ridiculous thing ever written), I think that's a problem. Not only are they all uber happy with wide mouths (O_O), but general inconsistencies in this book are major turnoffs to me (looks at nehzno). Also, I like how Dazzler and Iceman have done nothing but be random cardboard cutouts since their returns. Nice, Fraction. Though, should the X-force crew be in this book at all at the moment? I figured they'd be in the future and their spots would be replaced until Messiah War was over.

[Podmark]

Messiah War takes place (probably) in just 32 hours so theres no reason to really cut the members out of any given story. Of more concern to me is that both Surge and Hellion are depicted in the preview and last we saw them they were about to die. This is either pre Messiah War or they just blew the ending of the Leper Queen arc.

[Previsionary]

Messiah War takes place (probably) in just 32 hours so theres no reason to really cut the members out of any given story. Of more concern to me is that both Surge and Hellion are depicted in the preview and last we saw them they were about to die. This is either pre Messiah War or they just blew the ending of the Leper Queen arc.

You're correct in saying there's no reason that they shouldn't show up, but it'd help if they didn't as it'd show that Messiah War is/has taken place in some form outside of the two books it occupies. Perhaps it's me coming from a writer perspective, but anything to show when a story is taking place AND that it has some sort of importance or effect always sits better with me. *shrugs*. Of course, this point is moot if it happens before Messiah War, but that doesn't explain the other inconsistencies away, which is one of the major reasons Fraction disappoints me on Uncanny.
-------------

Astonishing X-men #29

Three months later, this book finally comes out. I can sum up what happens in this book in a few lines, so I'm not going to bother with a spoiler tag or a summary. This is the warning, so if you read pass this point...your bad. ^^

• Storm single-handedly, and quite viciously, beats down a mutate to get some information from him. This beat down includes several stabbings and, when her powers return, a tornado.
• Beast tells Cyclops about his last visit with Forge*
• Cyclops has Wolverine interrogate another fallen mutate while Emma mentally probes the mutate Storm beat down to make sure the stories match
• The team regroup, head to the X-jet, and fly off to meet Forge on Mount Wundagore
• Oh, right, Forge can create his own mutants/mutates/whatever you want to call them.

The issue was basically a giant info dump and the book REALLY needed it. Sadly, I don't remember the 6 issues that came before this one that revolved around this arc. I'm not going to keep picking on the art, but Storm's face was missing for a whole panel. I found it odd. Almost as odd as some of the panel shapes that I'm still trying to adjust to. On the writing side, some things just didn't make sense to me. There was a heavy dropping of Forge's name and Ellis managed to paint the man in the most unfavorable light I've seen in awhile. Forge apparently is a borderline villain, slightly off mentally, and is basically a major screw-up now. Moving from him, we land on Cyclops. Cyclops, Mr. brooding, dark leader, was written as being petty enough to consider framing Storm for the death of the mutate she beat up ONLY because she called him out on his new stance on killing. I wouldn't even remember this conversation if I hadn't written a review on it and I hadn't read the superior "Worlds Apart" mini that also had this conversation. Regardless, it never crossed my mind that Cyclops would even consider doing something like that to a long time friend. This book is completely acceptable, but it has a notable absence of some common sense (I'm not sure why he's under-utilizing Emma's abilities) and even the group interaction is more bleh than the last few issues. It may seem like I'm being hard on the book, and maybe I still am, but it's just "there" at the moment to me and I think it could be much better than it has been. So, this book...3 out of 5.

*This particular visit was from Endangered Species, and Beast seems to have a twisted memory of it. Regardless, that "shouldn't" be the last time Beast met Forge unless this book completely forgot about Messiah Complex.*

[AfghanAnt]

Really Marvel should add duplication to Wolverine in every title. I mean how could he be in NYC with the New Avengers, having solo adventures, fighting mutate with the Astonishing team, and be in the future fighting with X-Force?

[Podmark]

Really Marvel should add duplication to Wolverine in every title. I mean how could he be in NYC with the New Avengers, having solo adventures, fighting mutate with the Astonishing team, and be in the future fighting with X-Force?

Well the good news is he won't be in Wolverine er Dark Wolverine anymore. 

[Torch]

Today I had a choice between the Illuminati graphic novel (issues #1-5) and Doomquest (collection from Iron Man #149-150 & #249-250).  The Illuminati looked interesting (I like the characters) but it appears to be a 'Bendis Event'.  Based on previous comments in this thread I decided to avoid it and go with Doomquest (Doom is my favorite villain and an Iron Clad struggle sounds cool).

I may pick up the Illuminati novel at a later date, but what is the opinion of you fine chaps regarding it? 

[AfghanAnt]

Today I had a choice between the Illuminati graphic novel (issues #1-5) and Doomquest (collection from Iron Man #149-150 & #249-250).  The Illuminati looked interesting (I like the characters) but it appears to be a 'Bendis Event'.  Based on previous comments in this thread I decided to avoid it and go with Doomquest (Doom is my favorite villain and an Iron Clad struggle sounds cool).

I may pick up the Illuminati novel at a later date, but what is the opinion of you fine chaps regarding it? 

Personally I'd say you were missing out on some really good writing and amazing art by Jim Cheung.

[Previsionary]

Bendis isn't a bad writer, per se, he just has writing glitches and his events usually end averagely. As far as Illuminati goes, it's really just a selection of retcons that Bendis created that was also used to front and build up to other events such as World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, Civil War, and New Avengers stories. If you plan on reading any of those events, or seeing some of the things Bendis added into continuity such as Beyonder being a mutant inhuman, then it's probably worth the read. It's definitely not an "event" book if that's what's worrying you.

[tommyboy]

Today I had a choice between the Illuminati graphic novel (issues #1-5) and Doomquest (collection from Iron Man #149-150 & #249-250).  The Illuminati looked interesting (I like the characters) but it appears to be a 'Bendis Event'.  Based on previous comments in this thread I decided to avoid it and go with Doomquest (Doom is my favorite villain and an Iron Clad struggle sounds cool).

I may pick up the Illuminati novel at a later date, but what is the opinion of you fine chaps regarding it? 

You've missed nothing of any value, interest or merit. Good choice.

[AfghanAnt]

Today I had a choice between the Illuminati graphic novel (issues #1-5) and Doomquest (collection from Iron Man #149-150 & #249-250).  The Illuminati looked interesting (I like the characters) but it appears to be a 'Bendis Event'.  Based on previous comments in this thread I decided to avoid it and go with Doomquest (Doom is my favorite villain and an Iron Clad struggle sounds cool).

I may pick up the Illuminati novel at a later date, but what is the opinion of you fine chaps regarding it? 

You've missed nothing of any value, interest or merit. Good choice.

Not even the pretty pictures?

[NeoDarke]

Messiah War takes place (probably) in just 32 hours so theres no reason to really cut the members out of any given story. Of more concern to me is that both Surge and Hellion are depicted in the preview and last we saw them they were about to die. This is either pre Messiah War or they just blew the ending of the Leper Queen arc.

You're correct in saying there's no reason that they shouldn't show up, but it'd help if they didn't as it'd show that Messiah War is/has taken place in some form outside of the two books it occupies. Perhaps it's me coming from a writer perspective, but anything to show when a story is taking place AND that it has some sort of importance or effect always sits better with me. *shrugs*. Of course, this point is moot if it happens before Messiah War, but that doesn't explain the other inconsistencies away, which is one of the major reasons Fraction disappoints me on Uncanny.
-------------

Astonishing X-men #29

Three months later, this book finally comes out. I can sum up what happens in this book in a few lines, so I'm not going to bother with a spoiler tag or a summary. This is the warning, so if you read pass this point...your bad. ^^

• Storm single-handedly, and quite viciously, beats down a mutate to get some information from him. This beat down includes several stabbings and, when her powers return, a tornado.
• Beast tells Cyclops about his last visit with Forge*
• Cyclops has Wolverine interrogate another fallen mutate while Emma mentally probes the mutate Storm beat down to make sure the stories match
• The team regroup, head to the X-jet, and fly off to meet Forge on Mount Wundagore
• Oh, right, Forge can create his own mutants/mutates/whatever you want to call them.

The issue was basically a giant info dump and the book REALLY needed it. Sadly, I don't remember the 6 issues that came before this one that revolved around this arc. I'm not going to keep picking on the art, but Storm's face was missing for a whole panel. I found it odd. Almost as odd as some of the panel shapes that I'm still trying to adjust to. On the writing side, some things just didn't make sense to me. There was a heavy dropping of Forge's name and Ellis managed to paint the man in the most unfavorable light I've seen in awhile. Forge apparently is a borderline villain, slightly off mentally, and is basically a major screw-up now. Moving from him, we land on Cyclops. Cyclops, Mr. brooding, dark leader, was written as being petty enough to consider framing Storm for the death of the mutate she beat up ONLY because she called him out on his new stance on killing. I wouldn't even remember this conversation if I hadn't written a review on it and I hadn't read the superior "Worlds Apart" mini that also had this conversation. Regardless, it never crossed my mind that Cyclops would even consider doing something like that to a long time friend. This book is completely acceptable, but it has a notable absence of some common sense (I'm not sure why he's under-utilizing Emma's abilities) and even the group interaction is more bleh than the last few issues. It may seem like I'm being hard on the book, and maybe I still am, but it's just "there" at the moment to me and I think it could be much better than it has been. So, this book...3 out of 5.

*This particular visit was from Endangered Species, and Beast seems to have a twisted memory of it. Regardless, that "shouldn't" be the last time Beast met Forge unless this book completely forgot about Messiah Complex.*

o.O wtf? Cyclops? Why...?

I'd say he needs to get laid, but knowing his and Emma's tract record, maybe a break is more needed. I donno.

[marhawkman]

*ahem* Secret Invasion itself is very mediocre and drawn out like a typical Bendis event. I'm not going to retread that area, but instead, I'll just give you a link: I'm a Skrull, which is the only thread I can find with some thoughts about the event. Strange, I was sure there were more. But yeah, my opinion of, "mediocre, but some of the tie-in books were superior" remains.

Yeah, I wish I could disagree, but I can't. It'd have been more interesting if the goals of the Skrulls didn't fail so utterly.... It'd have also been more interesting if the skrulls hadn't gotten slaughtered like cannon fodder. >_< I mean really, it's a classic case of humans matter aliens don't. The story was pretty cool until the end. The ending was a smplistic military victory, oh and we found all the people the skrulls replaced. I'm still hoping they didn't kill Veranke off, but I don't really think the character will be seen again.

[Podmark]

Not even the pretty pictures?

POD loves Jim Cheung's art.
FCBD is going to be a treat; Cheung art for free should be a crime.

[AfghanAnt]

Not even the pretty pictures?

POD loves Jim Cheung's art.
FCBD is going to be a treat; Cheung art for free should be a crime.

And he draws Thor!

[Silver Shocker]

I also love Jim Cheung's art. I loved it on YA when it first came out, and I think if anything, it's only gotten better in the years since.

[marhawkman]

Messiah War takes place (probably) in just 32 hours so theres no reason to really cut the members out of any given story. Of more concern to me is that both Surge and Hellion are depicted in the preview and last we saw them they were about to die. This is either pre Messiah War or they just blew the ending of the Leper Queen arc.

I'm hoping that's it. I just can't seem to visualize them actually killing off that many characters.

[Previsionary]

Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk #5:

Yay for this book finally coming out on a regular schedule as its one of the only remaining bright spots in this universe. Last issue focused on She-hulk and how exactly she came to be. If you read the book, you know Ultimate She0hulk IS NOT Jennifer Walters, but someone else entirely.

Spoiler

I want to start this summary off with one thing and one thing only. I want you all to let this image soak and marinate in your heads. Take it allllll in and allow the imagery to flourish in your mind. In an endless field of bamboo sits a man meditating. He's unaware of what's happening, but he's at peace. He's nude and sitting in a field. Suddenly, a panda appears. Not just any panda, but a spirit panda. He's here to guide Wolverine. Isn't that just a great image? No, pals, Wolverine isn't hopped up on drugs, but he is hallucinating after having his head cut off. Surprisingly, he still survived. Not to go too indepth, Fury did this and theorizes that Wolverine's powers may be about surviving instead of healing. He wants to know what Betty and Hulk said just before the area was nuked. Wolverine doesn't say anything, but we get several flashbacks as to what happened from Wolverine's perspective. Eventually, Wolverine is pieced back together and finds himself in a prison cell with his hands mitted. While in the cell, he makes a new ally who he convinces to take him up on an offer in order to escape. The new ally accepts, helps Wolvie escape, and then makes him two objects that Wolverine will use in the final part of this storyline. The book concludes with Wolverine heading after Hulk in Casablanca and Nick Fury listening in.

Ultimately, this was somewhat of an interesting read. It wasn't bad by any means, but I wasn't really into the flashback portions and parts of it seemed a little surreal. A certain scene with Wolverine was a bit ridiculous even by his standards and the art seemed a bit off. I know people like Leinil Yu, but I have never been a huge fan of his style, as I think he focuses too much on drawing and pulling attention to the eye ducts of the characters. I don't particularly want to see that in every close-up panel. Anyway, this is less of a Hulk/She-hulk book, which was last issue admittedly, and more of a Wolverine book with a few interesting concepts. It's a 3 for me. Though, I have to admit, the first few pages really got my attention...in a good way.

[NeoDarke]

Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk #5:

Yay for this book finally coming out on a regular schedule as its one of the only remaining bright spots in this universe. Last issue focused on She-hulk and how exactly she came to be. If you read the book, you know Ultimate She0hulk IS NOT Jennifer Walters, but someone else entirely.

Spoiler

I want to start this summary off with one thing and one thing only. I want you all to let this image soak and marinate in your heads. Take it allllll in and allow the imagery to flourish in your mind. In an endless field of bamboo sits a man meditating. He's unaware of what's happening, but he's at peace. He's nude and sitting in a field. Suddenly, a panda appears. Not just any panda, but a spirit panda. He's here to guide Wolverine. Isn't that just a great image? No, pals, Wolverine isn't hopped up on drugs, but he is hallucinating after having his head cut off. Surprisingly, he still survived. Not to go too indepth, Fury did this and theorizes that Wolverine's powers may be about surviving instead of healing. He wants to know what Betty and Hulk said just before the area was nuked. Wolverine doesn't say anything, but we get several flashbacks as to what happened from Wolverine's perspective. Eventually, Wolverine is pieced back together and finds himself in a prison cell with his hands mitted. While in the cell, he makes a new ally who he convinces to take him up on an offer in order to escape. The new ally accepts, helps Wolvie escape, and then makes him two objects that Wolverine will use in the final part of this storyline. The book concludes with Wolverine heading after Hulk in Casablanca and Nick Fury listening in.

Ultimately, this was somewhat of an interesting read. It wasn't bad by any means, but I wasn't really into the flashback portions and parts of it seemed a little surreal. A certain scene with Wolverine was a bit ridiculous even by his standards and the art seemed a bit off. I know people like Leinil Yu, but I have never been a huge fan of his style, as I think he focuses too much on drawing and pulling attention to the eye ducts of the characters. I don't particularly want to see that in every close-up panel. Anyway, this is less of a Hulk/She-hulk book, which was last issue admittedly, and more of a Wolverine book with a few interesting concepts. It's a 3 for me. Though, I have to admit, the first few pages really got my attention...in a good way.

A X-Men/Wolverine book opening with Wolverine sitting down, in the buff, meditating? Gee, that's never happened before. Granted, the Shadowcat/Jubilee conversation over said naked meditating Wolverine was awesome.

[Previsionary]

yes, but did it include a random panda spirit guide and was it a hallucination of a disembodied head? Was it? No? So it wasn't nearly as unique!
===========

Uncanny X-men #509:

I don't think I need to point out my feelings on this book, so I won't. However, I hope this title, which is supposed to be the flagship outside of Astonishing that stole the shine for a few years, picks up speed by the time the Avengers/X-men crossover comes into play because lately it's just been a lifeless tread through the mud to me. If you came into this issue hoping to find out anything about Psylocke, move on.

Spoiler

The book opens with a "I'm happy in San Fran" montage and eventually focuses on the newest X-man, Northstar, as he gives an interview. The interview is cut short as breaking news from Sacramento takes a higher priority. Trask is promoting the Proposition X bill, which would order all mutants to be submitted to chemical birth control in response to the events that started Messiah Complex. The X-men are less than pleased and we get a random scene of Pixie fighting hellfire cultists in the danger room for no real reason. Meanwhile, the X-club make a time machine and decide that perhaps they should jump back in time to the birth of the first mutant to study. Someone born around Namor's birth. Someone already on the team and has a knack for sarcastic remark.

Over with the Sisterhood, Maddie-look-alike tells the team what went on with Psylocke while also explaining her history. We also learn that Psylocke was apparently just taken from time/dimension hopping like it was no big deal. Anyway, she's back in her English body, but under the complete control of Maddie.

The rest of the book focuses on Scott (who couldn't even bear to sleep with Emma), Dazzler, Northstar, and a drunk Pixie (*sigh*). Dazzler and Northstar wonder what's up with Scott, as he tells them everything is fine and he likes sleeping on the couch...shirtless. Seconds later, the Sisterhood overwhelm every member of the X-team...well, all the ones that were awake anyway.

I'm still not feeling the book and I have to wonder why Cyclops all of a sudden had a breakdown. It wasn't alluded to beforehand, so his scene here was just random to me. Pixie drinking was also random as she isn't even legal. Granted, I don't know the exact age of Pixie (I assume she's 15), but having Dazzler and Northstar allowing her to drink at a concert seems a little disheartening, and I already dislike Dazzler these days. The Psylocke parts of this issue didn't feel very important to me, as nothing was really gone into with any amount of detail. We now know how she was captured, what happened to her body, and why, but I wasn't very impressed by any of it. Another thing that bothers me in this book is the constant smiling and the "we're in San Fran and everything is better!" montages we've been getting since Fraction took over the book. We know they're in San Fran, quit reminding us! It's worse than when Spider-man kept getting web jams in his first few arcs of BND. Another thing I didn't like was the art. Of course, it was Greg Land, but this seemed a little below par even for him.

Now that I think on it, this book had a lot going on in it in some form, but none of it felt especially gripping. Sometimes I read this book and it feels like it's just another "by the numbers" story with several cameo shots AND THEN 3 plot advancements when it suits the book. The X-men don't really feel like a close family or even real characters to me in this book, but instead pawns. I should care about someone in some form and I think Fraction is failing on that end. I don't even care that Psylocke is back and she's been one of my favorite characters since she was Captain Britain. Anyway, I feel like I bashed this book to high heavens (deserves it) and I should try to compliment it to give it a bit of balance. So, I was taught, if you don't have anything particularly nice to say, just skip it. . 2 out of 5. BTW, I remember the days when the X-men were a somewhat effective team...what happened?

[Podmark]

Pixie was 14 during New X-Men. It's conceivable she's 15 now. It's also conceivable that Fraction and especially Land don't know that.

[AfghanAnt]

They mention she is drinking age in Wales and Canada so I'm guessing she's 18 now. Also having Psylocke on the cover was a bait and switch and I really did not appreciate that at all.

[Previsionary]

Pixie was 14 during New X-Men. It's conceivable she's 15 now. It's also conceivable that Fraction and especially Land don't know that.

I believe Fraction knows (they do have editors that should keep up with that stuff) as he did bring up her being legal in Wales and Canada, which, unless my knowledge fails me, is incorrect without parental permission.

AA ninja'd me!
--------

Pixie reminds me that I don't think she should even be in this book. NC and Colossus did bring up X-infernus and I don't recall her teleporting back with them because she ran off before Magik did her spell/created a teleporting disc.

[Podmark]

So 4 years have passed since Messiah Complex  Wow Marvel time has really sped up.

I did notice in the preview pics that Pixie has her new soul dagger.

[NeoDarke]

Gee, was Northstar panting over a shirtless Cyclops? Or do we think he's still hung up over Iceman?

I love Northstar on the X-Men. Juggernaut too. Hell, all of the Northstar/Juggernaut team ups were awesome. Twp guys who probably shouldn't have gotten along, and they did.

[Previsionary]

Nope. Northstar was too drunk with bestie Dazzler and underaged Pixie to care about Cyclops. Pixie was obsessed with him though and Dazzler thought Scott and Emma were like, the perfect couple. Obviously they all hit their heads.

Northstar and Iceman were actually in one panel together and shared no dialogue. This is probably because Northstar has a slightly different personality and he has a boyfriend.

[Podmark]

Pixie was obsessed with him though

Actually Pixie has always had a crush on Cyclops. It was first established in the New X-Men Yearbook.

[Previsionary]

Pixie was obsessed with him though

Actually Pixie has always had a crush on Cyclops. It was first established in the New X-Men Yearbook.

I...didn't say she didn't [have a crush]. I said she was obsessed (with shirtless cyclops) in the issue. ^^.

Silly, Canadian. This is why I constantly threaten to destroy you.

[Previsionary]

Twofer:

Just read Cornell's blog, so I figured I'd post some updates:

Dark Reign: Young Avengers

- I expect Pod or AA to keep us up to date on this book.

But the other two are new developments.  Thor and Hercules: Encyclopedia Mythologica is a guidebook put together by Anthony Flamini, covering all of Marvel's mythological worlds, during which he consulted with myself, Fulsome Fred Van Lente and Gregarious Greg Pak.  (Did I get those nicknames right?)  My own contribution doesn't really deserve cover billing, since it just consisted of me looking at pages concerning Cap and saying they were awesome.  But Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1 is me doing actual comics work.  It's a miniseries anthology of Dark X-Men stories, covering how this team came together, and the plan at the moment is for me to have a story in every issue (or all but one, we're still working that out).  Anyhow, I'm rather looking forward to July

- Emphasis added by myself. Hopefully, Dark X-men is much better than that other anthology attempt that was "X: Manifest Destiny"

[AfghanAnt]

I'll do review of young Avengers with help from Pod is possible. I love Wiccan, Hulkling, and Hawkeye. Also Enchantress is Asgardian so yeah I love her too.

[Podmark]

Pod looks very much forward to more Young Avengers.

Also New Mutants returns this week. Will it be good...or bad? Tune in later this week.