oldnightcrawler

But even from an in-universe perspective, the X-men's job is to protect and train mutants, and to fight threats to all of humanity...

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June Reads, 2014

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I finally caught up on New Avengers, and checked out a couple random books, so I'm sort of going through 18 issues this time. And still no sign of Hawkeye.

A bunch of them were well worth the read, and a number of them were not. I'm going to try giving each one a rating out of 10, but for the most part these are basically listed in order of how much I enjoyed each compared to the others.

Also, I'm dropping two or three books from my pull-list, so if anyone has any suggestions for stuff for me to check out, please let me know below :v

List items

  • Uncanny Avengers #21

    This book's just getting better and better again. With the help of Kang's alternate-reality Avengers, the Uncanny Avengers are able to finally go back in time to before the Earth was destroyed and help the other Avengers stop the Apocalypse twins and the Celestial Executioner. But can Kang be trusted? Hahaha! of course not.

    This issue was very satisfying for both it's epic plot developments and laugh-out-loud character moments. Remender's playing with a large cast here, so it's easy to forget how many wild cards are in play (I mean, on top of everything else there's even two versions of Dr.Doom in this issue), but he really seems to be making the most of the chaos by using virtually every character to great effect. And of course Acuna's art is a treat, as usual.

    9/10

  • Mighty Avengers (vol.3)#11

    Another great "Original Sin" tie-in from this book as we see the secret shared history of Blade, Blue Marvel, and Luke Cage's dad fighting supernatural threats in the pulpy 70's.

    Basically everything about this issue was a lot of fun, and I even enjoyed Land's art for the most part (which is often my least favorite aspect of the series), so I really don't have much criticism here. It's a great, fun ride that left me wanting the next issue right away; just great stuff.

    9/10

  • Wonder Woman #32

    While the last few issues of this series have been a little slow, what they've been building to comes to a glorious bloom in this issue as Wonder Woman finally joins the fight for the survival of the gods. Epic action and epic plot fruition makes this book one of the most satisfying reads this month.

    8/10

  • Uncanny X-men (vol.3)#22

    This issue sees a lot of the main plots of this book converge in one epic conclusion to the (dubiously named) "Uncanny X-men v.s. S.H.I.E.L.D." arc. Villains are exposed, heroes are redeemed, and the team gets a cool new member.

    If I had one complaint it would be that the art is a bit messy and splashy, with Bachalo's layouts feeling a bit cluttered and the colors being a bit messy in the second half.

    Still, quite a satisfying read overall.

    7.5/10

  • X-men (vol.4)#15

    Another issue that reaffirms that "Bloodline" is the great story we've been waiting to see Wood develop out of this book, as the team starts working on the same page, with Storm back in full on bad-ass mode, to take down the mysterious new villain, The Future.

    A lot of the strength of this issue comes from how intriguing The Future is as a villain; there's just something especially bad-ass about a "mere human" with the training and skills to fight full on X-men with his bare hands -and win, and the way we see him alter his plans through the narration gives even more reason to believe he might finally be a new villain worthy of this team.

    And the conclusion of the backup story was pretty fun, too.

    7.5/10

  • All-new X-factor #9

    This is probably the lowest I've ranked this book since it's initial arc, but in this case it's really only because of how many other books were especially great this month.

    This isn't an especially stand-out issue in the series as it deals more with the inter-character plot developments and less with any real action (until the end), but the character moments and plot developments are still very well executed and intriguing.

    Still, a solid issue from one of the most consistently good books out at the moment.

    7.5/10

  • She-Hulk #5

    While Ron Wimberly's art in this issue is definitely an interesting change-up, I found the combination of it with Rico Renzi's equally bizarre color palette to be a bit distracting and hard to follow in some scenes.

    That said, this issue had a lot of intriguing plot twists, hilarious character interactions, and some great storytelling overall, so I'd still definitely recommend it.

    7.5/10

  • Wolverine & the X-men (vol.2)#5

    This issue starts off wacky as heck and keeps the story moving at the brisk pace I've come to appreciate about this book. While it's character moments aren't quite as strong as we've seen in previous issues, there's still a lot going on and almost all of it's pretty fun.

    At this point in the story I'm starting to be more excited to see where this likable cast's next arc will go than how this one concludes, but that's not to say this isn't a fun issue, just not an especially stand-out one either.

    7/10

  • Cyclops #2

    I'm really enjoying this book a lot more than I expected to. A lot of that has to do with the gorgeous art from both Russell Dauterman and colorist Chris Sotomayer, who make some slick looking characters and really lush, exotic environments for them to inhabit.

    The story is a bit slow and fluffy, but still with enough twists to be intriguing and enough action to be fun, so I'm still quite curious to see how this book plays out.

    7/10

  • Uncanny X-men Special #1

    Picked this issue up on a whim because I liked the art, and I'm starting to really like the cast of Uncanny X-men.

    It's a fun little issue that focuses mostly on the newer characters as they start to learn more about the senior team's personal history and get attacked by Death's Head on behalf of a new mystery villain. I'm liking seeing the new characters' perspectives on how strange the X-men's world can be, so it was pretty fun in that way, and the art was nice.

    I'm assuming the next part of this story will be in an Iron Man Special, so maybe I'll check that out as well if the art looks good.

    7/10

  • Amazing X-men Annual #1

    Another random X-men comic I picked up on a whim, this issue features a story focusing on Storm's past as her and the X-men fight some new kinda throwaway villain called Menudo or something. It's a decent little story for an annual, with some spiffy art by Salvador Larroca, and a quirky little back-up about Firestar.

    It's decent for an annual, even if it's nothing terribly special or essential; I enjoyed it.

    7/10

  • New Avengers (vol.3)#15-20

    So, yeah, I finally got around to reading the last bunch of New Avengers books filling up my in-box. I'd actually been meaning to drop the book before I read these issues, and simply hadn't gotten around to it. So I decided to pick them up anyway.

    Issue #15 reveals the shady past and true nature of Black Swan.. eh, more like Black Yawn, amiright? anyway, yeah, did nothing to make me think I shouldn't drop the book as planned, at any rate.

    Issues 16-20 have been the first 5 parts of a story in which the Illuminati finds an alternate Earth that has also stopped incursions, championed by a team called The Great Society who are basically a Justice League analogue. And by issue 20 (5 issues into the arc) the two teams finally clash in what seemed like an inevitable battle.

    Actually, issue 20 was pretty satisfying overall, bringing to a head a lot of things that had been happening for a while and still offering some great twists and character moments. It just seemed like it was a bit dull getting to that point, but I think I may stick it out to the end of the arc based primarily on the strength of the last few issues.

    The most interesting parts of the story have been the interactions between Namor and Black Panther, who just always seem to steal the show, as well as the weird stuff that Dr.Strange has been up to, and the revelation that the team is now running out of time (even more) because of being wanted by Captain America for what they've been up to.

    I could really see the book going some great places from where it's at now, but after so many slow issues, I'm still not sure if I'm interested in sticking around to find out.

    #15 - 5/10

    #16 to 19 -7/10

    #20 -8.5/10

  • Nightcrawler #3

    I'm not sure if it's that I just don't find the story very interesting, or if I just can't stand Nauck's artwork (probably both?), but I just can't do it with this book anymore.

    Even as a big fan of both Claremont and Nightcrawler, I simply can't recommend this book, it's sadly just not good enough.

    I will not be trying Trimega again.

    5/10