REVIEW: BotA: Part 8: Uncanny X-Men #13

Let's do the Time Warp again!

Copyright Marvel

We're at number eight. I've literally only just got my hands on my copy, being at University means I can only get my pull list twice a month when I go home, so this one was eagerly anticipated after the previous lot. 

It opens as you'd expect with the Uncanny X-Men and the real X-Men of the future alongside Beast and Iceman (the young'uns). Cyclops being the man that he is (I also don't really like Cyclops - he can be a douche), tries to formulate a plan to get into the school. Before they can start Y. Beast and Iceman are kidnapped. 

Xavier and Ice Hulk start to attack the Uncanny X-Men and future X-Men in an attempt to stop them taking the school. Ok, seriously, Ice Hulk is definitely Bobby but come on Bendis! Explain yourself! I really hope that gets explained before the end of Battle of the Atom, because it's a really interesting plot point in my opinion. 

A fight breaks out almost everywhere, and Older Beast tries to send the O5 X-Men back to the past in attempt to save themselves from the future they don't want. I'm assuming it's to save Dazzler and make sure that she never gets assassinated in the brutal fashion. 

Old Handlebar himself gets up close and personal with Xavier, I would love to know what happens with Colossus too, from working with the X-Force to becoming a prominent part of the X-Men is a big change. Especially since he regards himself as a fugitive that should be locked away. But heh, I guess that's all in the future!

When the O5 are gathered around the Time Cube Older Beast tries to send them back. But can't. Which complicates things further, this means that the O5 can't go back at all surely? This is a strange turn of events, and will cause more time travel related questions since Bendis wrote Age of Ultron. 

That's pretty much where it ends. What an intriguing storyline! Seriously, it's just got better and better, I cannot wait for parts nine and ten. 

My rating: 

9/10: AWESOME! Seriously! Cannot wait for the series to resolve itself, it's funny because I seem to enjoy Bendis' books more than the others. Which is a strange turn of events I must say. Congrats Bendis, you've won me over.

REVIEW: BotA: Part 7: X-Men #6

Part 7, only three left!!

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The opener to this book is great, it's funny and pretty cool. Broo being a babysitter? Hah! Shogo is in there again, and it seems to only be filler for a couple of pages. Just talking about giving Shogo some sort of protection, I really think he's going to be important.

The next few pages are devoted to the current and future X-Men ("future X-Men" being questionable and unexplained at the moment). Xavier gets told that Iceman and Beast are in the future, and he gets very angry. I think things are starting to fall apart for the "future" X-Men at this rate Wolverine is getting pissed off with Xavier when Rachel makes a comment that reaffirms Wolverine's suspicions.

Just going to break from the review for a second, just for some thoughts.

Here they are; In our current time there are two or three factions of X-Men (three at a push). The first is Cyclops' Uncanny X-Men, the second Wolverines X-Men at JGS (this includes the books WatXM, XMen, ANXM), the third at a push is the Original 5 (or 4 since Angel abandoned them). What if one of these factions of X-Men over time became what is the future Xavier, Kitty, Beast and co.? The future alternative team (like Uncanny X-Men is to WatXM).

Especially since Xavier said he is apart of the X-Men in a manner of speaking.

Back to the review.

Wolverine gets his first proper test after losing his healing factor, he loses a lot of blood quickly and it's not shown whether he will survive or not. But they can't kill off Wolverine can they? All hell then breaks loose. X-Men against "X-Men", it's pretty unsurprising that people are beginning to suspect the future X-Men of something a little more sinister, especially after Rachels outburst earlier. But I still think that some of the current X-Men would like to see the O5 go back to their original time.

With Beast shutting down JGS completely, the Uncanny X-Men along with Beast and Iceman, and the future real X-Men. Pretty sure Colossus must be there in his Handlebar mustache glory. Seriously, they come back into fashion in the future?

The book then ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, the "Iron Man" type thing is revealed, GUESS WHO? Shogo. Yes. Shogo. I'm going to wait until Part 8 to see if he has much more to do with it.

My rating?

8/10: This issue was definitely more memorable than previous parts of the story. The pace is awesome and the story is getting better. I really hope they keep up this momentum until the finale. 

REVIEW: BotA: Part 6: All New X-Men #17

Handlebar mustaches come back into fashion...

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This issue opens with Dazzler, or Alison Blaire. The first mutant president of the United States, hear hear! She gets assassinated. That went well. However it isn't clear exactly what (I mean the person, we see what assassinated her!) assassinated Dazzler, it's never shown.

Whereas, somewhere else in time Magik, Iceman and Beast appear in our future, from what the caption says it's even further in the future. Which begs another question - which I will come to later. Iceman finds his future-future self, who is essentially IceGandalf. Colossus and Magik have a lovely reunion, after which they all have a bit of an argument - repeating the same old stuff about people shouldn't know about their future. Etc. 

Oooh.. cutscene

We then return back to the scene where Beast, Kitty and older Jean Grey were, Iceman still has to be explained (again I'll get to that later). It shows where Beast's rage is from, or at least, where I assume it is from. He is incredible angry and hurt that the humans would still attack mutants like that. As such, I think he he begins a vendetta against them. Although that doesn't explain why the future-future X-Men haven't got involved.

After a small scuffle, Colossus vows to help his sister - which seems to me like something happens to Magik during the intervening years. Afterwards, cutting to Xaviers school, the "real" X-Men appear to Cyclops' X-Men. Beginning to explain what has happened?

I'll get to that...

So here are some things that I'm wondering about. What exactly is Bobby's other power? Is it to divide himself into different parts? Or is it the future timeline that contains both O5 Bobby and normal timeline Bobby? It's a bit strange. 

The other thing, regarding Beast, Jean etc; Why were there not more repercussions from the assassination? It seems that the "future X-Men" just sat there and watched it happen. Rather than intervene later against Beast and co. they seem to let them get on with things. Something still doesn't seem right - to me at least. I don't know about you guys. 

The Art is good, but I'm a fan of Immonen's pencils anyway, he's a great artist. Along with the rest of the colourers etc they make a great book. 

My rating:

8/10: This book is excellent, it begins to answer a lot of questions and explain some of the feeling that led Beast to hate humanity it seems. It was a bit of a shame to see Dazzler killed off though...

REVIEW: BotA: Part 5: Wolverine and the X-Men #36

Total mind fuck...

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This issue is like... What? Totally in a good way! It starts out with Emma Frost, The Cuckoos and Y. Jean against Xorn/Old Jean Grey. Really awesome, then there is chit-chat between the best of friends Wolverine and Cyclops, mainly about all the stuff that came out of Scism. 

I'll tell you something, the Psychic fight is/was awesome. Seriously go pick it up for yourself, Old Jean takes them out one by one until only Y. Jean is left. The blocks that show off the actual fight as if it was happening in real life is awesome. Red vs Blue, Good vs Bad - all those typical saying/whatever they are can be used. It is so good.

Things also get heated between the Current and Future X-Men, Cyclops and Cyclops are in a cool teamup, and Deadpool. Well, he's just Deadpool - awesome as ever! 

Also, remember Magik left last issue? Yeah, she's reappeared - to take Beast and Iceman (O5) to the future! With a wave of her Soulsword, and a throwaway remark to a classic 80's movie they've left our present to the mental future where Deadpool is an X-Man... Oh, and Shogo is there again - he'll probably have something to do with the whole resolution of this story. I would say mark my words, but if I'm wrong I'll look like an idiot. Oh, ok - mark my words! (I always look like an idiot). 

Then Deadpool starts talking about what I mentioned earlier, what kind of messed up world would make Deadpool an X-Man? Before the end of the book you'll see Deadpool's motives, or at least whether or not he's being truthful about the future. 

Cutscene - To the future! Magik, Y. Beast and Y. Iceman are confronted by Sentinels. 

Oh, and we're half way there!

This issue was written by Aaron and Pencils were done by Camuncoli, a style that I really enjoy and would love to see more of. But unfortunately my budget for the month doesn't allow me to get more books in a month. But the story in this one had the most progression, I felt, in the series so far. There is so much awesome stuff in this book, who knows what is going to happen next. 

My rating:

9/10: Absolutely brilliant issue, as I've said before it's well paced, the art is great and it really gets the reader wanting more with the book. Definitely go buy it!!

REVIEW: Battle of the Atom: Part 4: Uncanny X-Men #12

Part 4! Yay! 

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Part 4 is written by Bendis and pencilled by Bachalo, not my favourite type of art, but I will get over it. 

It opens, like the previous issues (and I don't really need to keep saying it, do I?) where the previous issue left off. Apart from Maria Hill is getting in a pissy with the X-Men at JGS. Which reminds me, when will this space-time continuum stuff be resolved? It's been mentioned in Avengers, X-Men and plenty of other places but nothing has really happened with it. 

Anyway, the story is progressing as it has done, at a steady pace which I have grown to like. It's not superfast or anything but it gets all the details down and the main plot points are done well. For a Bendis story, that is really refreshing to see!

This issue is mostly devoted to the Uncanny X-Men, the All-New/Wolverine's X-Men don't feature too much. Magik goes off somewhere, we'll assume the future. It'll get explained later, but the general gist of the conversation that ensues is whether or not to help the Original X-Men, they do. Magneto is having his doubts, as usual - You saw him in Issue #1 of Uncanny X-Men, right?

Then, the best bit of the book - remember that reveal from a few issues ago? Yeah, it's Jean Grey... From the future? She turns up, she's also apparently taken to being Xorn, which is probably about as much information as you'll gain from the Wikipedia page. She turns up, knocks Y. Jean out and really annoys Emma Frost - Who then gives a really great comment to the readers, which made readers giggle everywhere.

I think I've come to terms with the fact that some issues aren't going to go as quickly as I would like, but I'm starting to like the way things are going. This issue isn't as action packed as what you might see in the Avengers or Uncanny Avengers, but you get a sense that the story is really beginning to move. Also, I think that Magneto is going to start annoying Cyclops, if only because he's questioning what he's doing. 

The art, not my favourite style. But from a completely unbiased opinion; I would say that they would definitely appeal to the people who do enjoy the style. It's coloured well and it's a much more.. I guess the word would be vivid, really. All the colours (for instance Cyclop's red) are a lot brighter in the book as opposed to ANXM.

My rating:

8.5/10: There is definitely some movement with regards to the plot. The amount of cliffhangers or plots that now need to be resolved are definitely interesting. Where did Magik go? Will the Black Queen or White Queen be victorious? The next issue should be a good one!

REVIEW: Battle of the Atom: Part 3: X-Men #5

Part 3 of 10! 

Copyright Marvel

So Part 3 continues straight off from Part 2, as you might expect. The present X-Men seem to trust the future X-Men, which I guess is good! The Hanks happen to have been building a new jet underneath the hangar containing the old jet (because Jean and Y. Cyclops took the older one) - gotta love conveniently placed plot devices.

Xavier takes a pill essentially containing Cerebro... Wait what? I want one of these pills, and to be a telepath, that would be so cool... Anyway... Review, Beast tries to flirt with Molly Hayes - what a guy. With Jean and Y. Cyclops on the run, they head out almost straight away, with Xavier on their tale. Seriously though, I'd love to know how the Cerebro Spike works. It seems far too weird to be true.

Other parts of the story go back to Westchester where the other X-Men are lazing around, I thought that place was meant to be a school? It's pretty interesting to see how the Young X-Men are getting on in the 21st Century. Oh, and the baby Shogo gets another appearance!

The rest of the issue is mostly chatting about how Jean and Y. Cyclops got away. Something about Xavier creeps me out, he's a weird feller. But the ending really sets up for Uncanny X-Men #12 (Part 4).

Ok, so overall conclusion/review-y thing.

The story was nice, there was a real sense of chase and urgency in there. Still, the whole Cerebro thing confuses me, how does a bloody pill do that to you? But again, there isn't much progression. Which I'm beginning to like, across a ten issue run it's actually quite a nice pace. Considering this took place in a matter of minutes you get a decent amount of information and detail.

The art in this series has been great so far, Part 3 hasn't changed. Lopez and co do a really great job with the Art in this issue. I love this sort of style, very human features and great colours.

My rating:

6/10: So, I'm in two minds about this. I love the amount of detail within the story, and I love the way it's headed. But there isn't enough story progression for me. But maybe that's what Bendis is going for overall? Enough detail to keep it moving at a similar rate per issue, but little enough so people will continue to be intrigued in the series and want to really get hold of the next issue as soon as possible.

REVIEW: Age of Ultron

So, Age of Ultron...

Age of Ultron #1 Copyright Marvel

Age of Ultron was one of Marvels most anticipated series of comicbooks in years, what with the menace that is Ultron razing Earth only a handful of heroes remain to stop him. However, since release, it hasn't been heralded as the most fantastic series.

The seeds to this series were sown back in 2011 in the Avengers (issue #12.1) meaning that the probably release date for the series was meant to be before the launch of Marvel now, which personally seems more likely because of the amount of "hints" to the consequences of this series. 

The series starts in a modern day New York in a Terminator Judgement Day style setting, the world destroyed and a handful of heroes trying to figure this mess out. The initial book in the series isn't the typical "event set-up" that usually happens. However #1 throws up something many people will consider a continuity issue, I'll go ahead and say it, noone is sure if Spidey is Ock, or Peter. The general consensus is that Age of Ultron is written to have been released prior to Marvel Now and possibly before AvX as well.

Issue #2, in my opinion doesn't add a massive amount to the plot, it's more of the same as issue #1 introducing more characters and adding some more "how do they survive" plot points. Then culminating in the "plan" that Captain America claims he has.

The next few issues are the "plan" being played out, I'm going to be honest, many of the middle issues aren't great, they are very slow paced and don't add a massive amount to the plot very quickly. This is where my biggest gripe arrived whilst reading - why did it have to be a 10-issue story (ex. tie ins)? Much of the plot could have been shrunk down into two issues at most (reducing the story to 8 issues). 

The story heats up at issue #6, with lots of fight scenes and a surprising team up between Wolvie and Sue Storm our favourite Superhero mum. Another hint towards this series having meant to have been released in 2012 is the white Nick Fury, as many books have represented him in the Black Samuel L. Jackson version from The Avengers movie. 

Time Travel is used a fair amount in #6, causing some troubles for Sue and Wolvie in issue #7 and #8, causing Wolverine to develop another plan, because he fucked up. #9 deals with that too, essentially culminating the story, with #10 revisiting the #12.1 story from the previous volume of The Avengers. #10 I think is really only there to announce the arrival of a character with a completely different set of skills...

My Opinion:

It's a difficult one, there are some parts of the series that I enjoy and some parts that I felt could have been amalgamated into a single issue (#1 and #2 for instance), which meant that some parts of the series could have been shortened and the series made to be a 6-issue or 8-issue series. 

Infinity, for instance, is a 6-issue series. With the initial book and the final book to be oversized books they are essentially shortening an 8 issue series. Bendis/Marvel should have done that instead with Age of Ultron, the plot may have seemed a little quicker. 

Finally, I think the story was a little poor. It seems to me that it's another of those events that are in the "cause and effect" genre, the effect of which is yet to be seen. Although, some effects are seen in Hunger but in the regular 616 universe we are still seeing signs that things are happening, or are going to happen. But all we know is that there is something wrong with time. 

What makes me wonder further is that in Battle of the Atom there were mutants from the future using time travel - will that also cause damage?

But anyway, my rating. I think I'm going to give it:

6/10

Not the greatest of series, there are some gems in it but the length and story just let it down. It's too much of a leapfrog to the next event, whatever that may be.

REVIEW: Battle of the Atom #1

Well, it arrived!

I decided to get the Deadpool Cover because they're always quite cool and like this one, occasionally funny. 

Initially I was a bit dubious about this event, I'm not the biggest fan of Bendis' events as I've mentioned in previous posts and the fact that the art is done between three different artists also put me off a little. Although saying that, ANXM is done by Immonen and Von Grawbadger. I think personally the addition of Cho is what might make me dubious, because I'm not sure if I'd like to see a very curvaceous 16-Year old Jean Grey...

Ok, so I'm not going to give away anything from the plot because it's the start of a 10-part series, but it opens really well featuring Illyana Rasputin aka Magik. The next page I had a "is that Deadpool?" moment, it made me laugh actually.

But I have to say, the story in this book really moves quickly and straight to it. Miles from Age of Ultron where if I'm honest it took some issues to get to the main plot points, this just goes to the point. There is a fair bit of action as well as seeing what happens to a time displaced dead guy (sorry if that spoils anything). We see a bit of Cyclops and the Uncanny X-Men in there as well, working together with Prof. Kitty and the All-New X-Men - I'd imagine Wolverine will have something to say. But the team up is a great Sentinel killing moment, it's really enjoyable. It's also nice that Cyclops isn't being represented as the "bad guy" for the time being. 

But in general this book surprised me, I'm used to Bendis' events dragging out but this one really gives me high hopes for the next few issues. I'm getting all 10 parts and really cannot wait for All-New X-Men to come in the post, and then all the rest. The art, I know I was dubious at first, but it's fine, I personally can't even tell which parts are Cho and what parts are Immonen (pretty sure Grawbadger is the inker/colourer). 

So my rating?

8.5/10

Really solid start, it made me eager for the next few issues, definitely a good read.
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REVIEW: House of M (2005)

House of M Copyright Marvel

So, lets go all the way back to 2005. "House of M" is a storyline written by Brian Michael Bendis and the art is done by Olivier Copiel, this story sets the Marvel Universe for essentially the next seven years, I won't give anymore information than what is on the blurb of the book.

Story Synopsis:

Lets dive in, "House of M" is essentially a story about the Scarlet Witch having a complete breakdown, in previous Avengers books it shows her having this breakdown killing some of the well loved Avengers. "House of M" is written by Brian Michael Bendis, and it was the third event that I had read of his (I don't do things chronologically) and generally I didn't like his "event-writing" style. But this book opens solidly, it opens with the Scarlet Witch proving to everyone that she's cracked which - in universe - was six months previously.

Obviously, this means the Avengers and the X-Men have to decide how to deal with Wanda. Some of them a bit inhumane some are good, courtesy of Captain America, these few pages really establish the characters to people who have never picked up a Marvel comic before in their lives, Bendis knew (and still knows) how to write the Avengers and the X-Men - something which I greatly admire about him. I think what really gets you hooked on the whole story is Copiel's art, it's fantastic to be honest. Copiel, I've found, knows how to draw emotions on the faces of the characters, you can tell surprise, curiosity as if they were standing right in front of you.

After the Avengers have decided "what to do" with Wanda they end up at Genosha and reality completely bends around them, which I felt was a great twist to the other events I had read (granted - the other events were released since "House of M"), Spider-Man is some celebrity athlete and the "House of M" rules over the Mutants who rule above Mankind - something Magneto had been striving for, for years.

Strangely enough it's Wolverine who is the only Mutant that can remember the previous reality he lived in (the 616 universe), for which he strives to find out what the hell happened to it. Wolverine seeks out all of his former teammates from both the Avengers and the X-Men (check out what's happened to our old favourite - Captain America) to sort this mess out.

From this point it's better to read the book than for me to describe the events and giving too much away.

Overall opinions of the book:

This book in my opinion carries on with the same status-quo re-setting that I've seen in books for the last couple of years, it does the same for me as what "Scism" does a few years later in 2011 - it changes the setting for the X-Men in the future, many books since have referenced "House of M" so this might not be a surprise to some readers. It's also what I've come to know as Bendis' style of writing for events, they're not events as such - but instead they simply create a new status-quo or set up a future event, with regards to this event you can more or less jump to "Avengers Vs X-Men" (2012) to see the outcome.

The story - I felt - was actually very good for a Bendis written event, all eight issues of the series were nicely paced and there wasn't any overarching storylines. I think that "House of M" is a very good book to get to know your "history of the X-Men" in the last ten years or so. With the focus being on the X-Men, the Avengers members were really only there to "make up the numbers", as in a world ruled by Mutants there wasn't any lack of them.

So, in conclusion I personally feel this is a great book to dive into whenever, it explains a lot of the distrust towards Wanda particularly in more recent times (see: All-New X-Men) and a lot of references that might not have been completely explained. However, when it comes to the repercussions of this event you may have seen them in many events since then and the culmination in "Avengers Vs X-Men". But it's good to get to know the details of the event, which is why I will give the book (based on story/art):

7/10

What I feel lets it down is the fact it continues the cause and effect style event that Marvel set out in 2004 and continues to this day, it doesn't appeal to some people and I feel that is what will make it lose out compared to actual universe changing events.

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