Thursday, March 19, 2009

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.

Monday, March 9, 2009

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.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

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...

Monday, March 2, 2009

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.