Comics

Uncanny X-Men #1

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Uncanny X-Men #1The new volume of Uncanny X-Men quickly gets readers up to speed on the fallout of AvX and the current state of Cyclops and his team of renegade X-Men. Told entirely from the perspective of a member of Cyclops’ team to S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s Maria Hill, writer Brian Michael Bendis gives us an inside look at Scott’s new role and growing popularity to those outside the United States Government.

Cyclops has been busy rebuilding a new group of soldiers which already includes a healer, a sorcerer, and a woman who is learning to control time to go along with Emma Frost and Magneto. We also learn that the Phoenix was rather unkind to those who it took over. Cyclops has lost the ability to control his optic blast and Magneto’s powers are diminished.

Although I think most of the art of Chris Bachalo is fine, my only real complaint is with the redesign of so many classic characters’ costumes. Magneto’s is my least favorite. In terms of story Uncanny X-Men is all that you could hope in giving readers a new story, setting up the players, and then (in a relatively easy to figure out twist) see where Bendis plans to take the story. Best of the week.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Fatale #12

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Fatale #12Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips return with another one-shot offering us a glimpse of another fatale in 13th Century France as a young witch is tortured and burned at the stake by a religious order only to survive in the company by a hermit in the woods named Ganix.

The hermit takes in Mathilda and nurses her back to health and allows her to live with him in the obscurity of his modest home deep in the undergrowth for years before members of the order eventually find her and set a trap that’s all too easily sprung.

Mathilda’s tale is an interesting one, and I enjoyed it, but a single issue is about all that’s required to delve into it completely. The late twist works well seeing another woman like Josephine deal with her effect on the world and those who want to use her to their own ends adds to the overall story arc as well. Worth a look.

[Image, $3.50]

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Scarlet Spider #14

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Scarlet Spider #14The Scarlet Spider comic makes a couple of big changes with issue #14, changes I’m not on-board with and hope are temporary. The comic begins with the death of Kaine at the hands of Carlos and Esmeralda Lobo who continue to chase Aracely through Houston. The comic ends with Kaine’s rebirth as something… new.

As Aracely runs across the city and gets a local gang to take on the werewolf siblings on her behalf for encroaching on their turf, Kaine is stuck in limbo talking with Ero who agrees to bring Kaine back to life if he stops acting like a man and embraces his true nature. Willing to risk anything to save Aracely, Kaine agrees to the bargain only to come out of a cocoon looking far more monster than man. My reaction can best be summed up in a single panel.

I really hope Kaine’s transformation lasts only and issue or two as I’m far less interested in reading about a spider-monster assassin than Kaine’s attempt to redeem himself and do honor to the name of the Scarlet Spider. Even a short cameo by Ben Reilly can’t save this one. Pass.

[Marvel, $2.99]

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #18

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #18Buffy, Illyria, and Koh work together to take down Severin, but things get a little complicated when they discover what he’s after (Illyria’s power) and why (to rip apart the fabric of space and time and change the past to save his girlfriend’s life).

The issue also includes Xander‘s growing frustration with Dawn‘s mysterious illness (which apparently is leading to another “let’s trap Dawn in another goofy body” storyline), and the continuing misadventures of Billy the would-be Slayer who continues to investigate Buffy’s disappearance that left Billy and Detective Dowling at the mercy of a mob of zompires.

The Billy story aside, the comic works well as Severin’s motives (if not his logic) are easily understood and Illyria’s ego certainly hasn’t been damaged too much for her time in Los Angeles. However, the last few panels make me a little concerned that the old one’s time in Season Nine may be very short-lived. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Morning Glories #24

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morning-glories-24-coverThe latest super-sized issue of Morning Glories centers around Ike‘s relationship with his estranged father Abraham. Over the course of the issue we’re shown several flashbacks of Ike and his father including the first time the young man murdered him.

With Abraham now a prisoner of Mr. Gribbs, the Morning Glories Academy stooge tries to pressure Ike into killing his father again (this time a little more permanently) by threatening the life of Jade should he refuse. By the end of the issue Ike’s cunning wins out, but it also leaves both Jade and his father in a precarious situation as the young man demands the answers to questions that have been kept from him his entire life.

Although Morning Glories #24 doesn’t answer any of the big questions the series has kept under wraps for two years it does provide some background to Ike and one hell of a cliffhanger that should promise real answers whenever the comic returns to this storyline. Worth a look.

[Image, $3.99]

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