Wolverine: Giant Size Old Man Logan

Credits:

Writer: Mark Millar

Penciler: Steve McNiven

Inker: Dexter Vines and Mark Morales

Colorist: Morry Hollowell

Summary:
The opening scene is at the Hulk Gang's watering hole, where two members -- Woody and Rufus -- are washing off the blood from their clothes. Woody then finds himself alone then notices that Rufus is already dead, hist body cut to pieces. Then Logan surprises him then kills him.

In a short distance later, in Sonny Stark's Bar, three Hulk gang members -- Elrod, Eustace, and Luke -- are out feasting and celebrating. Then suddenly the lights went out and a crash was heard. When Elrod finds the flashlight, he saw standing over Luke's lifeless body a bloody Logan, his claws still sticking out of Luke's head. You can guess what happens next...

Later, at Heff's Mansion, another Hulk gang group -- Beau and two his crew -- just finished celebrating at the mansion, with all of the women still unconscious. Just as they were about to leave, Logan reveals himself to them...

At Banner's Lair -- appears to be a converted trailer park -- several more of the Hulk gang are killed when the Beau's C4-filled Fantastic-car stampeded down the trailer vans. Standing on the car was Beau all chained and wrapped up with C4 and a timer taped over his mouth. Timer reaches zero and boom goes Beau and several other of the Hulk gang. Logan then finishes off the remaining Hulk gang.

The out came from the nearby cave the first and orignal Bruce Banner himself, now a small and balding aged man -- but still packs quite a punch even in his "human" form. He beats down Logan even throwing - erm - a dead cow carcass on him. Logan then got an upperhand and drives his adamntium claws through Banner's chest. This made him very angry and he "hulked" out. Hulk grabbed his enemy and took a bite off from Logan's side.

Note: In their encounter, Bruce reveals that he mated with her first cousin, Jen Walters, aka She-Hulk.

Twelve hours later, another Hulk gang member, Billy Bob, out on errand to fetch some movies returns to find his gang dead. He found Bruce, still in Hulk form, inside the cave nursing his stomach cramps. Bruce then bowled over then out came Logan through his back, presumably killing Bruce in the process.

A month later, Logan lays to rest his entire family. After the final blessings, Logan leaves the townsfolk saying that he's forming a new team of heroes. And his first team mate is none other than the baby Bruce Banner Jr.

Then off he rides into the sunset.

Wolverine 72 - Old Man Logan Part 7

Credits:

Writer: Mark Millar

Penciler: Steve McNiven

Inker: Dexter Vines

Colorist: Morry Hollowell

Summary:
Flashback to fifty years ago: Red Skull stands over the fallen and dying Captain America. After gloating over his success -- saying how Red Skull and his chief lieutenants are going to divide America among them -- he firmly holds Cap's head and places a thumb over each eye...

Now. Red Skull wears his most glorious prize, the grisly and bloody uniform of Captain America. He is in his trophy room where he keeps mementos of the fallen superheroes which includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Captain America's Shield

Iron Man's Armor

Spider-Man's mask and webshooters

Thor's winged helm

Dr. Strange's Cloak

Daredevil's billy club/baton and chest insignia

Elektra's sai

Silver Surfer's board

the Thing's dismembered hand

Quasar's quantum bands and chest insignia

Cyclop's visor and head mask

Vision's head

Iron Fist's mask

Black Knight's ebony sword

Hulk's pants

Punisher's skull shirt

Angel's wing

Nightcrawler's tail

Nova's helm and forearm bands

Moon Knight's cowl

Beast's head

Cap/US Agent's triangular Shield (?)



Can't make out the other trophies. Sorry. :)

He awaits the arrival of Tobias' party, carrying the vials of super soldier serum and the bodies of Hawkeye and Logan inside the body bags. As they start to unwrap the body bags, Logan comes to and dispatches everyone in the room until Red Skull is the only one left.

Red Skull - at this time the better fighter and in better shape -- batters Logan around the trophy room, crashing into the shelves. He criticizes Logan for not even popping his adamantium claws. The automatic doors of the trophy room shuts close, isolating the two inside from the soldiers outside. He picks up the Black Knight's sword and delivers the finishing blow -- only to be block by Captain America's shield, picked up by Logan among the broken shelves and mementos.

Logan, with shield in hand, fights back and beats red Skull down. Red Skull falls and is pinned... then Logan decapitates Red Skull with Cap's Shield.

By the time the soldiers blasted their way through the door, Logan is already wearing what's left of Iron Man's armor. He hit the soldiers with repulsor blasts then flies off all the way back to California. The fuel rods of the armor finally burn themselves out, he crashlands somewhere near the Calirfornia wasteland.

Finally arriving back on his farm, despite of it still two weeks ahead before the deadline, he finds his family murdered. Logan's neighbor says that the Hulk Gang got... bored.

And with that, Logan is finally pushed over the edge. For the first time in fifty years... SNIKT! Claws pop out... Wolverine is back!

Wolverine #71 - Old Man Logan Part 6

Credits:

Writer: Mark Millar

Penciler: Steve McNiven

Inker: Dexter Vines

Colorist: Morry Hollowell

Summary:
The Venom T-Rex finally catches up with them in Doom's Head, Illinois. They helpless drive and shoot at the Venom to no avail. Shortly, Emma Frost spots them and sends Black Bolt. With one word "stop", he knocks off the Venom symbiote from the TRex.

They were instantly teleported to the Forbidden Quarter, the sanctuary of Emma Frost and about twenty other remaining mutants in the world. Emma welcomes them and had her technicians fix up the Spiderbuggy.

It is revealed that Emma Frost married Dr. Doom in order to forge a pact in the interest of the mutants -- first thought to be the next step in human evolution, but is obviously not to be, with no new mutant births in the last twenty years. Emma also hints that she knows what's in the package they're carrying, which caught the interest of Logan.

After the repairs are done, they set on their way towards their destination. They pass by Pym Falls, Connecticut -- a settlement built on the remains of Hank Pym aka Giant Man -- which then leads to New babylon, their destination.

There, they met their contact, Tobias, who looks like Hitler with that mushtache of his. Logan then learns that the package they are carrying the entire time contains 99 vials of the super soldier serum. Tobias is supposedly a rebel alliance contact that are bent to creating a new Avengers team, which Hawkeye wishes to be a part of.

Shortly after, Logan is peppered with bullets and Hawkeye shot in the chest. Tobias then reveals himself to be a SHIELD undercover agent under the employ of the president Red Skull. Defiant to the end, Tobias shoots Hawkeye on the head.

Wolverine #70 - Old Man Logan Part 5

Credits:

Writer: Mark Millar

Penciler: Steve McNiven

Inker: Dexter Vines

Colorist: Morry Hollowell

Summary:
Logan finally reveals what happened to him fifty years ago -- the day Wolverine died.

Logan goes back fifty years back in the X-Mansion in Westchester where he was with Jubilee. Suddenly, there was an explosion which kills off Jubilee, then several supervillains appeared -- Stryfe, Doctor Octopus, Shocker, to name a few.

He lashes out at every villain he sees while looking for the rest of the X-Men who are nowhere to be found. He kills each and everyone of the attackers. One by one, the villains go down, until it Bullseye is the last one left. After finally finishing him off with a straight claw thrust through and through, the truth is revealed -- he just gutted Jubilee.

Mysterio appears and reveals that he alone could not possibly take out forty supervillains on his own. He thanks him on behalf of the criminal community and leaves. With him gone, the rest of the illusion is removed and the carnage he wrought is finally revealed -- Wolverine has massacred the entire X-Men...

After an indefinite amount of time, Wolverine just wandered off the forest crying and sobbing, and cannot think straight. He wants to punish himself for what he had done. After passing by a railroad, he waited for a train, laid down on the tracks and just waited there to be killed -- which did not happen due to his advanced healing factor.

With that, he swore never to hurt another living soul again.

Next day, they reach Dwight's Toll, basically a short metal bridge, where they were stopped by Dwight, a short guy wearing the original Ant-Man helmet. Paying the toll of eighty cents, they pass by the bridge unscathe. Below the bridge are several remains of who appear to be the ones who did not pay Dwight's toll.

They are passing by Doom's Head, Illinois, where their Venom symbiote stalker now bonded with a T-Rex is madly rampaging through the wasteland waiting chasing after them.

Wolverine #69 - Old Man Logan Part 4

Credits:

Writer: Mark Millar

Penciler: Steve McNiven

Inker: Dexter Vines

Colorist: Morry Hollowell

Summary:

As Ashley is about to deliver the deathblow to his father, Hawkeye, Logan drives the Spiderbuggy and rams it through the wall. He then grabs Hawkeye and drives the buggy off to another building and made their escape.

Not to be outdone, Ashley commands her troops to go after them. Shortly, the duo are being chased by hundreds of cars and several dinosaurs -- Clint reveals them to be imported from the Savage and has since then covered the MidWest region. Then, things got worse as an earthquake opens up a fissure that swallows everyone up.

Two hours pass and Logan comes to. He cracks a light-stick and looks for Hawkeye. He then encounters the carcasses of their pursuers being eaten by the Moloids, subterranean beings who are easily blinded by the lightstick.

Logan finds Hawkeye still strapped into the Spiderbuggy which is upside down. After flipping the buggy rightside up, he flares open the headlights and drives straight up the cavewall. They reach topside again.

They pass by Paste Pot Creek, Wyoming, where hundreds of dinosaurs are found everywhere. Then they pass by Electroville, where lay the remains of the Baxter Building and the humongous skeleton of Loki. Then they pass by South Dakota, where a hostless "Venom" symbiote spots them. Also, they pass by the new Mount Rushmore, where a fifth figure, that of the Red Skull was added.

They made their stop at a certain Millar's bar in Des Moines, Iowa. Shortly, a drunk patron started to make fun of them and, just like his old self, Logan jumps at the guy and is ready to pop his claws down the guy's throat. Hawkeye stops him and Logan walks off to the outside.

Hawkeye, confused, asks what happened to him. Finally thinking its about time, he tells him to sit down and he'll tell him.

Wolverine #68 - Old Man Logan Part 3

Credits:

Writer: Mark Millar

Penciler: Steve McNiven

Inker: Dexter Vines

Colorist: Morry Hollowell

Summary:
Logan and Hawkeye meet the new Kingpin of Crime!

Logan and Hawkeye learns that Ashley -- Hawkeye's daughter to Tonya, Peter Parker's daughter -- is held captive by the new Kingpin. Clint convinces Logan to help him find his "superhero" daughter and his pay is doubled -- despite the fact that Logan will only help him as a map-reader, and will not fight; Logan is adamant that he will never EVER pop his claws again. Ultron then gives Logan an X-Men medallion for good luck -- a brief flashback was shown.

They shortly arrive at Cedar City, Utah, most of which is under the ground, with only the rooftops and a big church spire sticking out the ground. On the spire was a man holding on to it, seems paralyzed with fear. They move on.

Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. The Kingpin - a black guy dressed up as a punk rocker of sorts - addresses the crowd and Ashley's accomplices, Daredevil and Punisher, who are chained in the middle of the stadium. Kingpin reminds everyone who "the top dog is" and the fact that he got to be there after offing Magneto. Shortly, he unleashes a couple of raptors which tore them to pieces.

Nearby, Logan scopes out the building -- a customized Walmart -- where Ashley is held. Hawkeye then tells Logan of his "genius plan" -- Logan drives Spiderbuggy on the side of the nearby building, build up speed, and crash into the Walmart. Plan worked.

Hawkeye then kills off everyone that stood on his path until he reaches Ashley's cell. After freeing her, the Kingpin arrives. Ashley quickly grabs a shotgun and swings it soooooo hard, that she beheads the Kingpin. She then hits her father. Only then that she revealed her true intentions -- to take over the Kingpin's operations, not to free everybody from the his rule.

As she is about to take out his own father, Logan is on the wheel and curses "damn you to hell for making me do this, Hawkeye".

Amazing Spider-Man #586 - Character Assassination Interlude

Credits

Writer: Marc Guggenheim

Pencils: Barry Kitson

Inks: Karl Kesel

Colors: Andres Mossa

This picks up where Harry Osborn accidentally learns the true identity of Menace -- Lily Hollister.

Summary
Menace is giving Spider-Man the hell of a beating, knocking him unconscious. Although she could easily have at that point, she needed him alive, to be "paraded around like a trophy" and making his father, Bill Hollister the mayor of New York.

She dumps Spider-Man aside to be picked up by the police and flies straight back to the Hollister's Campaign HQ. There, Harry Osborn sees Lily in Menace's costume.

Harry takes a momemnt to process everything, but Lily tries to say what she thinks is in Harry's mind: that she dated him only because he was the Green Goblin, and that he's afraid that she doesn't love him. Harry couldn't take it and slaps across the face; Lily strikes back with backhand of her own.

She reveals that she knows about the family secret and explains how she learned the truth: months ago, worried about his late nights, she thought that he was relapsing to his drug addiction. Lily searched his room for any clues. In his closet she finds his diary which basically revealed everything.

She learns that by moving the book "The Rise of the Norman Empire" on the shelf, the entrance to the secret room will open. She enters the room and finds the mother-lode of all motherlodes -- there's enough evidence in that room to place Harry's dad, Norman Osborn, in jail for the rest of his life. While looking around, she knocks over what turns out to be a new goblin formula that made her stronger and can transform herself to her 'Menace" form at will.

On a sidenote, she also reveals that she kissed Peter Parker who nearly discovers that secret room -- back in ASM #573.

Harry insists that she's crazy because as Menace, she keeps attacking her own father. Lily rationalizes the method to her madness: sympathy is a valuable political tool; polls for his father jumped everytime she attacked him.

She then shows that she's wearing the engagement ring: yep, she says yes to becoming Mrs. Harry Osborn. She then leaves as she doesn't want to miss Spider-Man's arrest.

In closing, on election day, Harry goes to the secret room, takes a vial and a gun, dons a pair of gloves and is about to ride the glider.

Wolverine #67: Old Man Logan Part 2

Credits:

Writer: Mark Millar

Penciler: Steve McNiven

Inker: Dexter Vines

Colorist: Morry Hollowell

Summary
Hawkeye/Clint Barton and Logan drive their way to New Babylon in the east coast. It's already dark when they reached what used to be San Francisco. Clint explains to Logan that San Francisco is now sunk by Moloids, creatures living underground who thrive in the dark and are easily blinded by any light. As long as they have their lights handy, they should be safe.

They wandered about the remains of the city to look for survivors in order to trade for supplies, when they instead met a punk group of Ghost Riders riding their mystic motorcycles and burning wheels. Logan was knocked down and refused to fight them. After Logan has taken a beating, Hawkeye shoots a hail of arrows killing the Riders. Not bad for a blind guy, although the Riders are probably making a lot of noise making them easy targets even for a blind marksman such as Hawkeye. Anyway, Hawkeye expresses his disappointment on Logan for not even defending himself. Logan gets a flashback of him fighting off a horde of supervillains. He simply said that they broke him. And that's the only reason he's alive.

Next day, they reached Las Vegas which is now renamed Hammer Falls. It is also the number one tourist attraction in Amerika, where people can buy superhero memorabilia. The Kingpin -- the new ruler of these parts -- doesn't mind that about the superhero stuff being sold here as long as money is to be made. Hawkeye further explains that this is the place where fifty years before the Absorbing Man and Magneto finished off their last great white hope -- Thor. This is where people pray to the fallen hammer of Thor -- thus the name -- for the return of the superheroes...

Here, they had a chance encounter with Ultron Eight, a servant of Tonya, Hawkeye's third ex-wife, who turns out to be the youngest daughter of Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. They made their way to Tonya's garage who explains to them that their daughter, Ashley, has formed a super team to fight the new Kingpin.

Wolverine #66: Old Man Logan Part 1

Credits:

• Writer: Mark Millar


• Penciler: Steve McNiven


• Inker: Dexter Vines


• Colorist: Morry Hollowell

Notes:
This story arc takes place in an alternate future around 50 years after the superheroes fell and supervillains took charge of the world -- or at least the USA. This happens to be one of my favorite alternate universe st0ry arcs of all time: great story and great artwork.

Summary:
Logan is settled on a farm somewhere in Sacramento, California, with two kids and a wife. Due to some broken tractor, for the first time in twenty years, they will not be able to pay the rent to their landlords, the Hulk Gang -- hillbilly descendants of the original Hulk Bruce Banner. Thinking of what to do next, Logan decided to tough it out and take whatever punishment was coming his way.

The Hulk Gang came and threatened the old man. He played in his mind how he would have responded years ago: claws out and slash. Of course, being the pacifist that he is now, he simply took everything the Hulk Gang dished out without even raising a finger to defend himself. Rent was doubled next month or everyone dies, the Hulk Gang threatened and left.

At a later time, an old friend, the former Avenger Hawkeye, now blind, visits Logan and offers him a business proposition. He has a delivery job from the west coast all the way to the east coast, but he needs a navigator. He will pay Logan 500 bucks. Penniless, he really had no choice but to take the opportunity.

And with that, they hop on to -- of all things -- the modified Spidermobile. Thus begins the treacherous roadtrip across the now vastly changed countryside of what was once the United States of America.

Secret Warriors #2

Credits
Story: Brian Michael Bendis and Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Color Artist: Danielle Rudoni

Nick Fury and Daisy discuss their situation. S.H.I.E.L.D. has been under the control of Hydra since the beginnning. All of the work and intelligence he has done over decades have all been compromised to Hydra.

Later, the secret warriors are in their street clothes and eating out at a Chinese restaurant. Through the dinner, Phobos revealed what the future holds for them: Druid will be best hero among them, Slingshot will be hurt badly, Stonewall will find out who he really is, Quake will be one of the greats but getting there will suck, and Hellfire is going to die...

Back at the base, Nick Fury finally reveals the situation to the Secret Warriors. Nick Fury and the team needs to work on intelligence. And one of them has to pose as an agent of Hydra.

On the opposite of the spectrum....

Three months ago: Ichor, underwater city of Hydra. The supreme Hydra, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, dispatched a quartet of Skrull infiltrators. Realizing that the entire city maybe compromised, he initiated a self-destruct sequence that destroyed Ichor killing the 15,000 loyal Hydra servants within.

One month ago, Strucker encamped himself within the mountain compound Gehenna in New Zealand. He learns that Nick Fury has finally learned the truth after all these years. With that, he decides that the time for being subtle is over, and prepares the Grand Chamber.

Two weeks ago, Baron Strucker assembles the council of the Hydra organization:

• Kraken


• Madame Hydra


• The Hive


• Viper

Two days ago, Resurrection Temple of the Hand. Strucker and his team stormed the temple and bargained with Grandmaster of the Hand to resurrect a someone in exchange for Strucker's head as the Grandmaster's bedpan. Agreeing to the terms, he and a number of his men resurrect the body. To his despair, the resurrection consumed them, turning all of them to dust. And standing before them is the resurrected Gorgon, the mutant with the ability to turn people to stone.

Secret Warriors #1

The Secret Warriors of Nick Fury have first appeared during teh Skrull Invasion. Not knowing who to trust, Nick Fury assembled "caterpillars" -- potential agents who have been flying below the radar and have not yet been corrupted by the "corrupt" world.

Credits
Story: Brian Michael Bendis and Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Color Artist: Danielle Rudoni

The Secret Warriors are on a recon mission in a former SHIELD facility in Texas, codenamed Black Ice. Once Hydra agents were spotted, the more aggressive team members engaged them and, thus, were seen. Shortly after, a H.A.M.M.E.R. battalion led by the Sentry appeared who immediately ordered a lockdown of the facility to contain everyone in it. Armed with cloaking devices, the Secret Warriors escaped.

Upon returning to the base, Fury was not happy as they did not follow the mission: to gather information and to do it without being seen. Everyone was dismissed afterwards except Daisy, aka Quake.

They first visited Phobos, aka the son of Ares, aka the Greek God of Fear. He's been enjoying teh Call of Duty in XBox and revealed that he has been playing online -- also revealing that he has "fixed" the lack of any Internet connection.

Later, Nick Fury reveals to her the truth: S.H.I.E.L.D. is part of Hydra! The same Hydra that he has been battling for years. He has been working from the bad guys since the start!

Some flashbacks:

ONE MONTH AGO: Chicago, Illinois, The Carousel, a S.H.I.E.L.D datacore facility, codenamed The Carousel. Nick Fury infiltrates the base and there discovers the true extent of the the influence of Hydra. Upon getting a copy of the information, he destroyed the facility. Realizing that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been compromised, he started coming up with some plans.

TWO DAYS AGO: The Whitehouse. Nick Fury infiltrates the Oval Room, where he gave the President information regarding two of nine covert domestic S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities. One was Black Ice. The other is unrevealed yet.

His goal is to determine if Hydra controls the highest reaches of the current US government. If HAMMER showed up, he knows that the current administration is clean.

Hence, the recon mission is done specifically to determine if H.A.M.M.E.R. would indeed show up or not in the facility spceifically revealed by Nick Fury to the President.

Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #2 of 2

Credits:
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Clayton Crain (Part 1)
Artist: Kaare Andrews (Part 2)

Part 1: Last Testament of Scott Summers
Scott stares down a big chunk of ruby quartz and recounts the last two years leading up to this point.

Two years prior, instead of letting Wolverine charge in, he took the slow and steady approach. That gave Agent X-13 enough time to activate the Ghostbox. Scott blasted the sentinel coming out of the ghostbox. Agent X-13 was subdued by the others then blasted his own head off.

Weeks later, ghost boxes were opened all over the world, unleashing the sentinel units and wreaking havoc all over.

With that, it was just a matter of time when everyone gets killed off... except him.
"I'm not worth killing. Only good things are worth killing." Classic signs of survivor's guilt (the same condition Emma Frost felt when she was the sole survivor of the massacre of Genosha way back years ago). Blaming himself for basically failing the world, he put himself out of his misery...


Part 2: 4
Hisako aka Armor, Logan aka Wolverine, and Henry aka Beast, have been trudging slowly for the past year through the countryside towards, supposedly, for a way off the planet. They were following a lead: Kitty Pryde is back and is airlifting people out to safety. All they had to do is reach Kalispel in Montana.

Wolverine is in bad shape, the adamantium on his legs permanently bent. Henry is mentally ill, barely coherent and has the emotions of maybe a five year old. Only Hisako is the sane one left, and has a very dark disposition.

She believes it's a trap, despite Logan's insistence that it isn't. No signs of spacelaunch. Noone else going to Kalispel. All too quiet...

They finally reached Kalispel... or what used to be Kalispel. It was a trap. A trap that has already claimed the lives of everyone who arrived there before them. They see hundreds of skeletal remains surrounding a large crater.


Perhaps sensing their desperate situation, Hisako armor's up, and kills off both Logan and Henry. Without any food left, she knew it was only a matter of time before she too will be dead...

Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1 of 2

Credits:
Writer: Warren Ellis
Pencils: Alan Davis (Part 1)
Art: Adi Granov (Part 2)

Background:
Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes is a two-part limited series that takes off following the discovery of the so-called Ghost Box in Astonishing X-Men #27. Simnply put, think of a Ghost Box as a gizmo that can open up portals to other dimension in the Marvel Multiverse. This limited series is a collection of stories about alternate realities involving -- directly or indirectly -- the X-Men and the Ghost Boxes -- yep, there's more than one. Think of it as a mini What If series featuring the Astonishing X-Men.


Part 1: Agent X-13's Report on the Emergency Annexation of Earth-616

In this alternate reality, Agent X-13 recounts to his council/court martial how he managed to get rid of the X-Men and successfully annexed this parallel dimension.

The key to this was taking out Scott Summers, aka Cyclops early on, whom Agent X-13 believes to be the real threat. Killing Cyclops gives him the time to properly engage the Ghost Box.

Upon completing the Ghost Box, three "Deathlok-class security units" were deployed to the scene. These are basically juiced-up Sentinels. One of these "security units" happens to be "plugged-in" to a Magneto who quickly mangled the admantium-laced skeleton of Wolverine, rendering him harmless and useless. It also made short work of the remaining team members, killing in one blow Storm and Emma Frost, leaving the young Armor alon and clueless.

After that initial exchange, the Deathlok-class units secured Indonesia, then the rest of the southern hemisphere by the end of the day. The following day, after a nuclear fallout, the annexation of the world was complete, apparently with very high death tolls -- the reason for Agent X-13 is being court martialled in the first place.

Comments
This is an alternate ending -- a What If, if you will -- for Astonishing X-Men #26. Whereas Cyclops was taken out in this alternate reality, in the "real-world" AXM#26, Cyclops is alive and is able to prevent the Ghost Box from being activated, causing Agnet X-13 to fail and, subsequently, blow his own head off.

Part 2: Being An Journal by Miss Emma Frost of New Portsmouth Bay in the State of Albion

This features Earth-889, a pre-digital world, and centers around the thoughts of Emma Frost of the X Society. After being called upon to investigate the apparent murder of a peculiar floating, burning body, the X Society deduce from the journal left behind by the body the location of the killer.

Flying on the "steam-version" of the BlasckBird, the team flies to the aerodrome where the supposedly killer is supposed to be going. Opening the hatch, Logan jumps down earthwards. The killer, an alternate X-13, seeing Logan, grabs a briefcase, burns it, and tosses it to Logan. Logan was hit and his entire arm burst to flames. Logan unknownly rips the airship with his claws, which eventually caused to the airship to explode.

After that, the X Society are now blamed for the disaster. Emma Frost is placed under house arrest, with a bunch of clockwork mechanical guards called Sentinels with their great guns trained on her house.

Comments
The initial crime scene -- burning floating body -- is exactly the same as the original crime scene in AXM #25, except that this is a pre-digital world, where apparently, the steam engine is the highest form of technology available.

Amazing Spider-Man #584 to 585 - Character Assassination Parts 1 & 2

Credits
Writer: Guggenheim
Pencils: John Romita Jr.
Inks: Klaus Janson
Colors: Dean White

Backgrounder
The mayoral race for the city of New York will be up in two days. It is a tight race between Randall Crowne and Bill Hollister.

Bill Hollister is the new mayoral candidate after the original candidate Lisa Parfrey was killed by Menace. He's a standup guy and has kept a clean campaign and is supported by Frontline -- an independent newspaper headed by Ben Ulrich.

Randall Crowne, on the otherhand, is a wealthy businessman with some shady business. A recently discovered illegal sweatshop is under Crowne Industries which also has ties with Oscorp. Not surprisingly, Crowne is supported by Norman Osborn and Dexter Bennet, owner of the DB.

Until recently, the attacks on Crowne's mayoral opponents damaged his reputation. But his recent actions -- like taking a stance to capture Spider-Man whom, he says, is obviously behind the spider-tracer killings -- improved his chances of winning, especially with the scare of the Spider-Tracer killings all over the city.

And thus begins the character assassination storyarc...

Amazing Spider-Man #584
This is one of the "busiest" issues ever, with so many scenes involving so manhy people. Ever since the start of the Brand New Day saga back in issue 546, the Spider-Man is being blamed for the so-called Spider-Tracer killings. Several murdered bodies have been found all around the city with Spider-Man's tracer.

The latest victim is the Bookie, aka Johnny Ladue, a compulsive gambler who had a business of taking bets on the outcome of superhuman battles. Recently, though, he was hell-bent on finding out who is the real Spider-Tracer killer. Apparently, he finally figured it out and was dealt with accordingly -- check epilogue in issue #582.

In the Two-In-One show, the hosts announce that with the mayoral race becoming a tight one, the only way Hollister can secure the seat is by the immediate capture of Spider-Man.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is injured after being chased by the police and taking some lead. He retreats to a building and escapes capture through the elevator shaft. Upon exiting, he loses consciousness.

Carlie Cooper, bestfriend of Lily Hollister and CSI, manages to get Julian Beck to create a prototype for tracking the Spider-tracers. With this, she believes she can finally track down the whereabouts of the Spider-Tracer killer -- which at this time she believes to be Spider-Man.


Meanwhile -- yep, another meanwhile here -- Harry Osborn takes Lily Hollister up into the Statue of Liberty. With barges suddenly appearing and shooting fireworks, Harry drops down to one knee and proposes to Lily for her hand in marriage.

Later, Spider-Man returns to his apartment to tend to his wounds. Almost immediately after hitting the showers, Carlie, using the prototype tracker, finds a bag full of spider tracers under the bed of Vin Gonzales, NYPD officer and Peter's roommate.

Amazing Spider-Man #585
Lily Hillister turns down Harry's proposal and promptly leaves the scene.

Back in Peter's apartment, he overhears that Menace is attacking one of Hollister's rallies, prompting him, bandaged arm and all, to go and take him out.

While Peter swings to Menace's location, Carlie confronts Vin about the spider tracers found in his bedroom. Although Vin insists that he's just doing his job, it is eventually revealed that Vin's partner, Alan O'Neil, and Vin are both involved in a bigger conspiracy with the spider-tracers.

In the show Two In One, guest J. J. Jameson offers his commentary condemning Spider-Man as the spider-tracer killer.

Back to Spider-Man. His injured arm proves to be a liability, causing him to be brutally pummeled down. He eventually passes out and falls crashing down on top of some weakened scaffolds. Menace descends on him to beat him up some more. He decided to left the weakened Spider-Man once the policemen arrive. Spider-man was collared with power-inhibitors and placed under arrest.


Menace flies to Bill Hollister's Campaign Headquarters. Menace sneaks in then undergoes some change. Shortly, Harry Osborn arrives at the same building to try and convince Lily to reconsider. To his surprise, he finds Lily wearing Menace's costume.

Double Takes: Punisher #1 and #2

Credits
Write: Rick Remender
Artist: Jerome Opena
Colorist: Dan Brown

Punisher #1

Frank Castle, the Punsiher, is back! And he's not happy with Norman Osborn now in-charge. In what appears to be Times Square after the Skrull attacks, Norman Osborn is addressing the crowd in a press conference. Four miles away, Punisher climbs on top of a building, aims his recently acquired Skrull sniper rifle at the noggin' of Osborn, and fires. Inches away from his head, the Sentry catches the bullet between his fingers.

In seconds, the Sentry is now face-to-face with Frank. Frank runs down the building leading Sentry, trying to slow him down with a bomb and a tank of acid. Cornered and and punctured deep on his side, Frank handcuffs himself, and threatens to blow up a hospital in five seconds.

Not willing to call his bluff, Sentry flies to the hospital. No explosions occur. By the time Sentry returns for him, Frank already uncuffed himself and is on the run. Frank retreats to his van, then a guy on the van's communicator warned him to leave as it is only seconds before the Sentry finds him. The mysterious guy guides him through the subway and streets, and managed to reach his destination before he finally passes out from the loss of blood and pain.

Punisher #2

Frank wakes up and finds himself stitched up and is in the bunk of a techie/nerd Henry. After the initial scuffle, Henry offers to help Frank wage his war against Norman Osborn. He offers his expertise to hack into online cameras, satellite stations, internet feeds, etc. to help hiim get the skeletons out of Norman Osborn's closet.

First mission: Frank enters a gun store which is just a front for a safehouse of high-tech weaponry. After dispatching the guards, Franks gets a hold of said high-tech weapons and is very, very, very happy.

Armed with his new toys, Frank then goes after the leads of Henry. He uses his recently acquired exploding arrows to kill off the armed guards of a batch of prostitutes, kills off the the foreign terrorists and Osborn's men doing a trade, and, gets the jump on a heroin crime ring. In all, he shot photographs of these.

After that, Henry -- clearly shaken and vomits after seeing the pictures for the first time -- arranges the pictures so they can get published on the media.

With the initial reports that crime is on a sharp decline after the Skrull invasion is questioned, Norman calls on one of his new allegiance to deal with the Punisher -- the Hood!

Reaction/Review

It's good to see the ol' Punisher back in business and gets his dibs into the mainstream Marvel storylines. The new volume promises a strong storyline with his involvement with the current Marvel saga. And, with him going one-on-one against one of Osborn's new inner circle of sorts, this shows promise of him becoming a leading figure in this saga -- hopefully.

Art for the new series reminds me of the old 1990's X-Men. I like it. The great attention given to details gives off that classic slash rustic look. Personally, I judge the comic art as follows: if it looks great without the colors, then it's truly great art. Nuff said!

All in all, I can't wait for the Punisher to go up against the Hood and -- most probably -- against his entire gang. Yipee!

X-Men: Magneto Testament - Index

Credit

• Writer: Greg Pak


• Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico


• Color Art: Matt Hollingsworth

X-Men: Magneto Testament is a five-issue limited series that details his life as a young Jew in Europe during World War II. This is a long three-year project by Greg Pak and Warren Simons. They intended to one present the young Magneto as how he would have lived in World War II Europe while staying true to history.

They said actors making Holocaust movies get the awards. I won't be surprised if the same becomes true for this limited series.

With this, we get a glimpse of how Magneto lived... and ultimately what made him Magneto as we know him today.

Btw, in each of the parts, I'll be including the actual captions regarding actual historical events taken verbatimly from the comics; no paraphrasing, no shortcuts. I decide it best to let history tell how some of the events turn out.

So here are the summaries for each issue:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

X-Men: Magneto Testament #5 of 5

Don't let this ever happen again.

Max approaches the fence to give Magda some bread. He tells her about getting more rations by going to a certain Nurse Shulman. As it turns out, Max manages to bribe guards and make arrangements to make life at least easier for Magda.

May to June 1944: Two months after German tanks roll into Budapest, trainloads of Hungarian Jews begin to arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In just six weeks, 300,000 men, women, and children are selected at the platform and then killed in the gas chambers and burned in the crematoria or outdoor pits.

While working, Max overhears that the Nazis are now slowly emptying the labor camps, including the gypsy camp -- where Magda is held -- by the end of July.

Later, within the Sonderkommando barracks, they speak of the upcoming revolt which will be delayed to August -- two weeks to late for Magda and the gypsy camp. With this in mind, Max arranges again for Magda to meet with him.

Max tells Magda of how relatives of frontline soldiers and herself are going to be transported to a work camp before the liquidation of the gypsy camp. But in case something goes wrong, she has to hide in the corpse pile; he bribed the Leichenkommando -- the body carriers -- to take her to him.

With enough bribes, Magda gets on the transport out of the gypsy camp. The train goes to Buchenwald then to Ravensbruck where, the bribed Nazi guard reveals, human experiments are done.

August 2, 1944: "Zigeunernacht" or Gypsy Night. The Gypsy family camp is liquidated. 2,987 people are gassed and burned in the outdoor pits.

October 5, 1944: Max and the others receive a message from the resistance about the impending revolt. The revolt will take place on the seventh, where there would be fewer guards. For it to work, though, they have to wait until dark and wait for the signal.

October 6, 1944, Nurse Shulman informs Max that Magda and half of the transport are carried back to the gypsy camp and not given food and left to die.

October 7, 1944, the Liechenkommando brings the corpse pile from the gypsy camp to the Sonderkommando's custody. Within the pile, there Max finds Magda, in a very sorry state. He brings her back to their barracks. Not everyone is happy that the girl is there and wants to bring her down to the Nazis before they find her there. The argument is settled shortly and not long after that, a signal was sent -- the crematorium explodes, signifying the start of the revolt. The work detail turn on the Nazi guards and escape as far away as possible.

Magda and Max are among the lucky ones to escape with their lives.

On October 7, 1944, the Sonderkommando in Crematorium II and IV rise up, destroying Crematorium IV, killing three S.S. men, and wounding a dozen more. 200 Sonderkommando are killed in the camp during and after the battle. Another 250 who escape the camps perimeter are shot and burned to death in a barn near Rajsko.

Crematorium IV is never repaired. But on October 9, the killings resume. 4,000 Jews are killed in Crematoria II and V. And on October 10, the 800 Gypsies who had been transferred back to Auschwitz from Buchenwald are killed in Crematorium V.

The Allies never bomb the death machinery of Auschwitz. But in November 1944, as the Red Army draws near, S.S. Reichsfuhrer heinrich Himmler orders the dismantling of the crematoria.

January 26, 1945. The S.S. dynamite Crematorium V.

January 27, 1945. The Red Army liberates the camp and the 7,000 prisoners who remain.

Altogether, the Nazis killed approximately 6 million Jews and many millions of other innocent civilians.

At least a million people died at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In September 1948, Max returns to the Auschwitz grounds and unburies the jar containing his letter. "Please. Don't let this ever happen again."

THE END.