Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men. Oh and a Danny Way interview.

*Sigh* I guess it was bound to happen; the Dark Reign crossovers are starting. The X-Men are first. I have two questions; 1. Why is this a six-issue series, when most of the other series lately have been four? And 2. $3.99? Seriously? *Sigh* Sometimes I really hate collecting comics.

There's also an article on Marvel's site that is an interview with Danny Way. He talks about what's going on in Deadpool and Wolverine series. It's a pretty cool interview.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Review #2.

Like Chris said, I thought the movie was good, not great, but it was entertaining. They did change A LOT of his backstory, but it wasn't anything major or substantial enough to get anyone riled up about it.

It was kind of disappointing that they did not include the Weapon-X training after the adamantium-bonding session, because I always liked the way the gear Wolvie wore for that was designed. And it would have explained that they were developing it to use on Wade later.

There were some annoying plot holes though. #1 - Gambit comes back during the alley scene (and runs on top of the rooftops for some strange reason) to fight Wolvie so Sabretooth could get away. Then they join forces to go to "the island". It was such an obvious set-up for the end of the movie. #2 - When he escapes from the Weapon X facility and shacks up with that old couple, then they are killed by Agent Zero. Again, it was just an obvious sequence where they needed to move the movie along to the next major plot point and the old couple was just discarded when they weren't needed anymore. In fact, a lot of characters were just discarded when they weren't needed, like John Wraith. I hate will.i.am, but at least they could have kept the character in the movie a little longer.

Something that always bugs me in movies is when they are in one part of the country and then they need to get to another part of the country, so they just drive there and they just cut it to when they arrive. It's just lazy writing. Like Wolvie was obviously in the Mid-west where he gets the motorcycle from the old couple, but then drives to Vegas, and he doesn't have any money on him mind you, and then he and John Wraith drive to New Orleans. Right.

Something that also slightly annoyed me was including Cyclops in the movie. Was that really even necessary? I mean, I thought it was cool and all, and having it set up that the Professor picked him up was nice, but it really didn't serve any kind of purpose, just a cheap way to get the fan-boys excited.

I know I listed a lot of negatives, but it was entertaining, I didn't look at my watch once, so it does keep your attention on the screen. I would give it a slightly above-average rating though, I don't know if that's because I was expecting a lot more than they delivered, but that's what I though; good not great.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Okay, first things first - did they really need to title this movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Does anyone not know who Wolverine after three X-Men movies grossed over $600 million? I guess they did so you kind of get the sense that this doesn't pick up where X-Men: The Last Stand left off, which it definitely doesn't. In fact, it doesn't even make it into the 1980s but we'll get to that. Spoilers ahead!

Overall, I thought the film was good but not great. Some of the love story stuff with Silver Fox seemed to drag on, and some of the new characters they introduced didn't enhance anything, like Bolt and Blob. They were just kind of there but I guess they had to set up the whole black ops team storyline. The introduction of Gambit was nice, and I think Ryan Reynolds did a great job of Deadpool. I didn't really like how he kinda came back in the end but whatever.

Apparently there are two different post credits scenes depending on whichever one they show.

Overall, I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars. A good ride but left me wishing for something a little more.

Psylocke.

So Psylocke is back in Marvel's regular universe (as opposed to be confined to the Exiles books) and of course they had to give her a sexy cover.

I read it last night and it was ok. Matt Fraction is building a long arcing story that will hopefully have somewhat of a payoff next month. What's really interesting is that it's a woman-heavy issue and Greg Land drew every woman with giant, gravity-defying breasts. Some panels are just comical. They are nicely done, there's a lot of detail in the face and hair, it's just that every woman has ginormous breasts. I'm not complaining, I'm just pointing it out.

Honestly, I really have no idea where Uncanny is going, as I said, Fraction is building towards something, I just don't know what it is and it's taking an awfully long time to get there. It is nice to have Psylocke back though, I hope she ends up on the team.

Another Look at X-Men: The Last Stand

A few weeks ago, I watched X-Men: The Last Stand for the second time. I saw it in the theaters, liked it a lot and got the DVD but never watched it. I know this one didn't get the best reviews but I think it stands up with the first two. Most people's complaints about this one stem from too many fight scenes and less emotion throughout the movie.

The main reason I love it is because of all of the mutants! We spent the first film getting introduced to the core characters, then the second brought us more new ones. That opening sequence with Nightcrawler was amazing and made the fanboy in me quite happy. Plus, we got Lady Deathstrike, Shadowcat and Colossus.

And what does the third one bring us? Even more mutants! Beast, Madrox, Juggernaut, Callisto, Arclight, Kid Omega (Quill), Psylocke, Angel, Leech, Spike, Moira MacTaggert and Phat! To me, that's the best thrill of comic book movies - seeing these characters come to life. So I'm a dork and I just want to see more, more and more. I think that's why I got so psyched about the Wolverine trailer, which shows us glimpses of Deadpool, Gambit and Blob.

Getting back to TLS, I also like the death factor. Cyclops is always annoying and I think the actor wanted to go work with Bryan Singer on that crappy Superman movie, so good riddance. Phoenix's death was expected and Professor X's was still shocking. Even at the end, when they're killing mutants left and right, you're like, who's going to survive this thing anyway? It truly does feel like a last stand. I know it's not a popular opinion but I love this part of the X-Men franchise.

By the way, as I was reading up on the X-Men film franchise on Wikipedia, I came across this quote on the X2 page: "Shaquille O'Neal wanted a role in the film but was ignored by the filmmakers." Excelsior!

Top Fights of 2008.

Neat article over on Marvel's site about the Best Fights of 2008. I thought some of those X-Force/X-Men fights should have been higher, but the New Avengers vs. The Hood and company was pretty darn good. I know Secret Invasion was the big cross-over for Marvel last year, and there were a ton of big group fights, but I think it's kind of lame and lazy to put it at number one.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Photos.

They had some problems with the pictures last week, but Marvel released an article with new pictures of the Wolverine movie. It is starting to look pretty decent.

There are only two problems I see so far, but they already see to have built-in solutions.

1. Gambit it in the movie. BUT, apparently, he's not in it for very long.
2. Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool. BUT, he'll probably be wearing a mask for most of his appearances in the movie, so at least there's that to look forward to. He will probably get some facetime when he's brought to the Weapon X facility though. I really wish they could have offered the role to another actor.

Q&A: Chris Yost.

Pretty good article with Chris Yost about X-Force and the upcoming Kingbreaker series.

Right off the bat, he brings up a very good point and an interesting problem in comics, especially with most of Marvel's titles. Every villain nowadays seems to lean towards the middle of the good/bad spectrum. We've seen most, if not every villain team up with a Superhero at some point for some reason, and in some cases (he brought up Juggernaut and Sabretooth as examples), villains actually join a super-hero or mutant team. In fact, that's basically the entire premise of the Thunderbolts comic. I believe I've written about this before, but I think it's the fact that a lot of these characters are viewed as "properties" and that a lot of them are approaching 50 years old, so there's not a whole lot of new ground to cover. Especially with the bad guys, there's only some many times they can break out of jail; you have to do something new. Ergo, "the grey". So, it's good to see that someone is conscious about this and someone is finally writing a character that is totally, 100% evil. And he's also writing about Havok, so I'm in.

X-Men News 11/19/08

Over on Marvel's site, you can watch two new Wolverine and the X-Men clips. The second one is a short behind the scenes with the vocal actors, and I'm pretty sure I've seen the first one. If you haven't checked it out, head over there, I personally can't wait until it starts in January.

There's another article called Archrivals: X-Men vs Marauders. It features one of the very first X-Men comics I ever bought; X-Men #211. I loved the Mutant Massacre story, which was the first appearance of the Marauders; it's pretty much one of Chris Claremont's last good storyarcs and it's what got me interested in the X-Men. The back-to-back issues where Wolverine fights Sabertooth (#212 & 213) blew me away when I was a kid and think I read my copies probably 938 times.

There's also a First Look at X-Men: Kingbreaker. As I said yesterday, I'm going to pick this book up because it involves Havok, and I think he's one of the most underutilized X-Men. He had a good run as the leader of X-Factor in the mid-to-late 90s, but he really hasn't been used too much lately.

Young X-Men in Turmoil.

I've said this more than once; I love the Young X-Men book. It's one of my top five reads. So I was thrilled when couple of days ago, Marvel published an interview with the creative team behind the series. It also has some preview art. They don't give away too much in the interview, but it's still a good read. I can't wait for the next couple of issues to hit the stands.

Professor X vs. Magneto.

There's a pretty fun little article over on Marvel's site that details the Professor X/Magneto struggle that's been going on for about 50 years. I guess this is preparing everyone for the Magneto books that are coming out tomorrow. There's the Civil War: House of M book, which tells the story of how Mags was able to take over the world, and then there's the X-Men: Magneto Testament that explores Magneto's younger days. I have the Civil War book on my buy list, I'm not so hot on the other one.

X-Men #500 Preview.

Alright, everyone's been waiting for this one for awhile now. It's on sale this Wednesday, and they've got all kind of crazy variant covers available. I really like the one to the left, the Alex Ross variant, and I will be trying to get it. Either in the store or off of eBay, I will most likely be acquiring that one. I believe I posted about it a couple of months ago when it was leaked onto the internet. I think they're making a poster out of that cover, and I just might have to find me one of those as well. I think it's a very good cover and it spans the complete history of the X-Men. Anyways, without any further ado, here's the rest of the preview:

Take 10: X-Men Lineups.

Interesting article over at Marvel today. They listed their Top Ten X-Men Teams. I have no argument with the top three. I mean, you really can't argue with that. I WILL argue that what they dubbed "Magneto's Team" should have been ranked a whole lot higher. And personally, I was never really a fan of Australian Outback Team. Look at the core of the Magneto Team: Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, and Rogue (and the wimpy version of Psylocke). Even with a depowered Storm leading this group, they're still a formidable team. There is way too much experience on this team to be ignored. Add Rachel Summers or Havok (both of which were briefly on this team, Rachel was actually part of the team for about half of the time they were together) and they're a powerhouse. I think this team is underrated because of Storm's lack of powers, because basically, it's the same team as the Post-Phoenix Era team (which clocked in at #2) minus Professor X and Cyclop's occasional appearances.

This was the team that I was introduced to as I started collecting Uncanny at about issue #200, so maybe that's why I hold it with such regard. That's my favorite team, hands down. At some point I'll get around to reviewing a couple of the issues from that era, because in my opinion, they feature Claremont at the height of his ability. I can already smell the newsprint.

Update 4/16/08.

Marvel published an interesting interview with Marc Guggenheim about the new Young X-Men series. I thought it was pretty interesting because I really liked the first issue I'm liking what I'm hearing in this interview. He introduced a new character called "Ink" who's mutant power is that he can turn anything that he gets tattooed on his body into reality. I think it's a take-off on one of villains from that Elektra movie a few years ago. I never saw the movie, but I thought it was a pretty cool idea when I saw the trailer. Apparently, Ink is supposed to have a major role in the series, and I'm looking forward to see how they use him.

Another cool article is Galactus' Greatest Hits. We covered the What If version of the Trial of Reed Richards awhile back, and in hindsight, that didn't feature a whole lot of the world-eater, but I think that's the closest thing we've got to related content.

There was also a lot of Iron Man news (man, it's getting really tough to avoid Iron Man these days) and the Hulk's new movie poster. I wasn't too impressed with the Hulk poster, I thought they could have done a better job with it. It's kind of boring.

Take 10: X-Men Villains.

Marvel published an article today called Take 10: X-Men Villains. My only gripe is that I personally think that Mr. Sinister and Dark Phoenix should have swapped positions. I mean, Mr. Sinister is Mr. Sinister. Dark Phoenix wasn't around for very long. Other than that, I don't have a problem with this list. Everything else seems to be just about right.

So I guess the question is; who's your favorite X-Men villain? My vote would have to go to Apocalypse.

Uncanny X-Men #500 Cover

I found an article over at Comic Book Resource about the X-Men #500 cover. It's painted by Alex Ross and, I gotta say, it looks awesome. Can't wait for that to come out in July.

Update 3/10/08

Ok, so Marvel released a ton of stuff since the last time I updated. First off, they have an article on the Secret Invasion and who the writers think are Skrulls. They also have all of the posters floating in between answers.

I guess this week is officially "X-Factor Week", even though when Marvel lists the events, it's only three days long. Oh, wait, they say that's just some of the stuff they have planned. You know what pisses me off? This cover. It's 2008, Marvel, no one wants Arcade back. Please stop.

They also released a picture from the new Hulk movie featuring William Hurt as General "Thunderbolt" Ross. I'm not that excited about the new Hulk movie. I'm going to reserve judgment until the release date gets closer.

They also released an article about the new Iron Man poster. It looks pretty awesome.

Update 3/5/08

Marvel posted an interesting article today entitled Would-Be X-Men. I'm a huge Quicksilver fan, so it's good to see him clocking in at #3. I actually can't complain too much about that list, so I'm not going to.

Marvel also posted some pictures from the new Hulk movie. You can see those here. I've heard some interesting stuff about the set and the amount of re-writes they've had, and nothing has been positive. But it's got Ed Norton, so I'm in. The first one had it's share of problems, but I didn't think it was all bad. Marvel's got a nice lineup of movies coming out with Iron Man, The Hulk 2 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine all coming out within the next year. Maybe it's time for me to buy some stock.

X-Men Legacy #208 Preview.

Here's a preview for X-Men Legacy #208. If you're a little confused, X-Men is being relaunched as X-Men Legacy (Uncanny X-Men is staying the same). I gotta tell you, this looks pretty good and I can't wait to read it tomorrow. The description on Marvel's site for the series is: "The X-Men's past becomes the present as Xavier fights the greatest battle of his life. With his mind hanging in the balance, one false move can cause irreversible damage. Help arrives from an unlikely source, but in the world post-Messiah Complex, sometimes your enemies are the only people you can trust."

Update 2/11/08.

Interesting article about the New X-Men and the transition to Young X-Men. I still don't really understand why they're essentially rebooting and re-titling it, but there are a couple of series that they're doing that with as a result of the end of The Messiah Complex (Cable, X-Force), so I guess they're just on one of those reboot kicks that Marvel goes on from time to time to increase sales by publishing issues with #1 on the cover.

I just discovered the X-Men comic hub over at Marvel. It's kind of nice to have one place to keep you informed about all of the cross-over tie-ins because the way the last couple have gone, it can be daunting to keep track of all that.

Iron Man is getting ANOTHER title. I think we need another Iron Man comic like we need another comic starring Wolverine. Oh, wait a minute, Wolvie IS getting another book (it's a limited series). This is just like the early '90s all over again...

Finally, my Deadpool questions have been answered. He'll be in Wolverine Origins #22 this month and he's set to get his own series again later this year. Anyways, here's a preview of Wolverine Origins #22. Enjoy.