January Reads Part II.

Exiles: Days of Then and Now: One-Shot: In contrast to the Exiles #100 issue I bought a few weeks ago, this one was pretty good. It set up the new Exiles series and the new team is a pretty interesting mix. The new team is; Quentin Quire (aka Kid Omega), Luke Cage, Nighthawk, Spitfire and Wild Child. These are all alternate versions of the characters, of course. It is a little hard to keep up with because I am so new to the series and there so many alternate universes that sometimes, having a flowchart of everything would be really handy. I'd like to see where this one goes because I think it's a good place to start with the series because the series itself is kind of starting over. So I'll be hanging around for this one for awhile.

I was disappointed because the comic shop that I go to was sold out of Thunderbolts #118. They said they were shorted last week and would have more this week, but that was not the case. I guess it's a pretty good seller, because they don't have any back issues and they go for a lot of money on eBay. So I'm not really sure what to do here. I guess I'll have to wait until next month.

Hulk #1: For a comic book that stars the Hulk, this one didn't have a whole lot of the Hulk in it. He's basically just in the beginning of the book, which is told in a flashback, where he succeeds in finally killing The Abomination (I'm sure this will be retconned sometime soon or they will introduce a New Abomination at some point). Investigating the scene is She-Hulk, Doc Samson and Iron Man. Great, three of my least favorite characters. And I know that the Iron Man movie is coming out soon and that Iron Man is a pretty big player in the Marvel Universe because he's the head of S.H.I.E.L.D and all, but does he have to be in every comic that Marvel puts out? I'm just sayin'. Also, even though the new red Hulk is featured on the cover, he does not make an appearance in the first issue. WTF, Marvel? It ends with a cliffhanger involving Bruce Banner AND Rick Jones. I am interested to see who is the red Hulk, so I will hang out for another couple of issues to see where it goes.

Mighty Avengers #7: I continue to like a lot of things about this series, and I am going to keep buying it. This was the first issue after the first major story arc so of course they had to add a new team-member (which would always happen in the Avengers, back in the good old days). This time the new/old member is: Spider-Woman? I think the next major crossover in the Marvel Universe is going to involve a Skrull invasion, and I guess that starts here. They are finding out that certain people are actually Skrulls and it is suspected that there is a Skrull on Iron Man's Avenger squad. Interesting. The story ends with a Venom-like creature being released upon the public, which converts people into multiple Venoms. You can see this if you click on the cover to the left. The last panel is an Avengers Assemble! pinup, so I'll have to wait until next month to see what happens. As I've said before, the writing is a little different than the normal stuff Marvel is cranking out right now and there's a lot of humor thrown in, which makes for a good read.

The Twelve #1: I was a little tired and only made it through half this one, but I liked what I was reading. Marvel ran a full-page promo for this series in a couple of comics last month to reintroduce the characters, and it sounded like an interesting idea.. Here's a brief synopsis and character breakdown. Basically, Marvel is revisiting some of their old Timely Comics characters. Like I said, it sounded like an interesting idea and the characters sound like they could be cool. I do see this as kind of being an updated Captain America story only involving twelve people instead of just one (they are cryogenically frozen and then found in the present day). I don't even know how many issues it's limited to, but I'm in. I think one of the reasons I didn't get all the way through was that I was tired and it was a little wordy. There was a lot to set up, so they had to explain a lot and they kind of did a brief explanation of each character. I will read the other half tonight and update this tomorrow. As I said, I like what I've read so far.

Wolverine #61: Yeah, I don't know about this one. I was kind of disappointed by this whole, "Logan Dies" story-arc. Basically the only reason I'm going to keep collecting this series is because I thought I read somewhere that David Finch is going to be part of the next creative team and I am a David Finch fan. There were a lot of panels in Wolverine #61 that looked rushed and to be honest, the story wasn't that great. I am kind of relieved that the "Logan Dies" story is over with so they can get on to the next story. I'll hang out for a couple of issues, but I might pull the plug at some point because I really didn't like the last two or three story arcs. We'll see what happens.

Uncanny X-Men #494: This Messiah Complex story just keeps getting better and better. They're trying to involve every single past and present X-Man too, so that's also why it's pretty cool. Bishop is now fully involved in the story and Cable and Professor X are working together outside of the X-Men, which is very interesting. I am very excited to see how it all shakes out. Apparently Caliban is dead. I was mistaken that he was in the ads for the new X-Force title that debuts in February, unless they took him out of the ads, he's not in them. I liked Caliban a lot. I didn't really agree with everything they had done to him or how he was used and then forgotten so many times, but he definitely was one of my favorite lesser character. Every time he showed up in a story-line, I'd say, "Oh cool, Caliban". I hope his death is retconned at some point, even though I really hate it when they bring someone back after they've died.

X-Factor #27: Again, this one continues the Messiah Complex story and it is very good. They talk to Bishop as a little boy in the future. Layla Miller is trapped in the future because they found out some information about events in the past and she killed the Madrox Multiple she was with so the original Jamie Madrox in the past (I guess they refer to him as Madrox-Prime) would absorb his knowledge. And his tattoo. They realize that Bishop is trying to kill the baby, but he is with X-Force and his ship is shielded. It ends with X-Force searching for the baby and the Marauders ambushing them again, while Gambit and Mystique are apparently in cahoots and have killed Mr. Sinister. I am having a hard time believing that Sinister is truly dead, mainly because I've seen him "die" way too many times in the past. And the teaser for the next issue in the crossover said it would reveal Sinister's fate. So, he's not dead yet. I can't wait for next Wednesday.