Marvel Comics Addict

Wolverine: Giant Size Old Man Logan

2009-11-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

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

2009-07-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-04T01:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-04T00:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-04T00:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-29T06:14:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-19T07:32:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-09T01:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-09T00:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-03T01:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-22T06:53:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

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.

X-Men: Magneto Testament #4 of 5

2009-02-17T13:18:00.000-08:00

Just stay alive...

September 1942, Auschwitz: the train carrying Max reaches its destination. The Nazis tells them to separate themselves from men and the women and children. By some chance, his former teacher, Herr Fritz Kalb, wearing the zebra stripes spots him and tells him to give him anything small and valuable (obviously to bribe some of the Nazi guards) and to tell the Nazis that he is eighteen and wants to work.

Doing so, he and the others are led to the concentration camp, where they are stripped of their clothes, shaved nearly bald, tattooed, and given the same zebra stripes Kalb is wearing. Afterwards, the Nazis enters their barracks and asks for anyone below sixteen who are included in the group. Three of the kids show themselves, despite Max's pleading, and are shown the way out -- and then promptly executed.

Later, when rations are being given out, Kalb tells Max how he is planning to get him transferred into the Kanada Kommando, the best work detail in camp. But until the bribe is put together, Max has to stay alive. The Nazis will "kill you if you break the rules. But do everything just as they say, and you'll starve to death within a month."

Later, Kapo -- apparently someone who has the privilege to give out work assignments -- approaches Max who will be transferred to Kalb's group. Unfortunately, though, a ranking Nazi officer, notices Kapo and hints that he needs one man to replace one lost in another work detail. Left with no choice, Kapo gives Max to the Nazi.

He learns shortly that he is now part of the Sonderkommando. Jewish women and children are told to strip down their clothes and belongings and will be taking a shower to be disinfected of a bogus louse infection. After all fo the women and children gets in the showers, the door slams shut and the Nazis release toxic gas at them.

The Sonderkommando are then told to gather up all of the belongings to a wagon and haul it off to one of the Kanada warehouses, where Kalb is holed up. There he sees a room piled up with eyeglasses, spoons, and other shiny, metallic objects. Imagine, if you can count the number of things in there and assume each one there belongs to one person... well, just look at the picture...

What follows is Max's letter (or confession) to whoever finds it:

My name is Max Eisendhardt. I've been a Sonderkommando at Auschwitz for almost two years. I watched thousands of men, women, and children walk to their deaths. I pulled their bodies from the gas chambers. I dug out their teeth so the Germans could take their gold. And I carried them to the ovens, where I learned how to combine a child's body with an old man's to make them burn better. I saw thousands of murdered people burning in giant outdoor pits. I have seen at least a quarter million dead human beings with my own eyes and I couldn't save a single one any more than they could save me.

To whoever finds this, I'm sorry. Because I'm dead and now it's up to you. Tell anyone who will llisten. Tell everyone who won't. Please. Don't let this ever happen again.

He puts it inside a jar and buries it somewhere within campgrounds.

Max, almost losing sanity and doesn't care if he gets shot for stepping out of line and getting close to the fence suddenly finds hope when he saw a familiar glimmer of necklace from the past -- it's Magda and she's just one barbed-wire fence away.

Perhaps for the first time in years, Max smiles...

X-Men: Magneto Testament #3 of 5

2009-02-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

You can make things happen.

September 1939, Poland, the Eisendhardts and other Jews and/or Polish are running for their lives as Nazis gun them down. Max's family fled to the woods, but not before realizing that their pursuers are not taking prisoners: the Jews/Polish who stayed behind to surrender are promptly executed.

The German army invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Following the main German forces, Nazi Einsatzgruppen, or "operational groups," hunted down Jews and Polish intellectuals.

In September and October 1939, Einsatzgruppen and other German forces killed over 16,000 Jewish and Polish civilians.

Two years later, Einsatzgruppen followed the German army into the Ukraine and Russia, slaughtering Jews everywhere they found them.

By the end of the war, the Einsatzgruppen and their auxiliaries had killed 1.3 million Jews.

Using his sharp eyes, Max leads his family through the woods all the way to Warsaw where the other Jews are at least being held and not killed outright.

Spetember 1939: In the wake of the Nazi invasion of Poland, a flood of refugees swells the Jewish population of Warsaw from 350,000 to almost 500,000.

In the Jewsish sector of Warsaw, entire families live in Single rooms. Radios are confiscated. Coal becomes scarce enough to be called "black pearls."

October 1940: The Germans officially establish the Warsaw ghetto, forcing all Jews to live within an area less than two miles long.

November 1940: Overnight, the Germans complete the construction of ten-foot walls around the ghetto, topped in places with barbed wire and broken glass.

Over the next few months, the Germans drasticallyreduce food allotments to Jews.

By 1941, the official ration falls as low as 699 calories per day for Poles and 184 for Jews.

By June, 2,000 people a month are starving to death in the ghetto.

December 1941, Max exits a hole in the hole to do his usual smuggling business. A Jewish kid -- whom Max helped out earlier after being beaten for stealing rations -- exits the same hole, only to walk crawl out within sight of Nazi guards. The Nazis promptly kills the boy and throws his body over the wall. Seeing this, he would have tried to kill the Nazis if his Uncle Erich did not stop him immediately, who is also in the smuggling trade.

Max searches the city outside the walls and is lucky enough to spot a coin -- good enough to buy a half pound of beef for his family. Once again -- either his sight or his then unknown mutant affinity with metals -- pays off.

July 1942, Umschlagplatz, Warsaw ghetto: Nazis announces that food and shelter will be given to Jews who will ride the train to do hard labor. Although rumors of the Jews actually being killed in the trains are rampant, the promise of food is attracted many Jews to go anyway.

Max scopes out the inside of the trains and saw blood and scratches on the floor and walls. Max tells this to Jakob and Erich. Erich confirms a story from an escapee: the trains lead straight to a village Treblinka. The people are then told to be getting their baths. Then the Nazis gas them in the showers.

Using Erich's connections, they smuggled the family and arranged a meeting with Cecilia at the bank of the Vistula (a river). Everyone except Erich went to meet wiht Cecilia.

After a short boat ride, they walk right into the hands of the Nazis. Cecilia set them up as the Nazis are holding her mother hostage. They walk a while to a pit where the prisoners are told to line up in front of -- including Cecilia and her mother.

The Jews seemed resigned to their fate. As the Nazis fire, Max's mutant power fully manifests: he deflects the four bullets coming towards him. Whether he unwittingly redirected the bullets to his father or not is anybody's guess. Just the same, the shot prisoners all fell into the pit, on top of the other corpses.

Everything seems a blur to Max after that. He made his back to the city only to be hauled off by the Nazis into the death train -- the very same train where he sees the blood and scratches. The train chugs down the track and arrives to its destination...

X-Men: Magneto Testament #2 of 5

2009-02-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

Fight back, and they'll stomp in your head.

1936, Max and his father, Jakob, rides a train to meet with his old colleague Major Jurgen Scharf, whom Jakob saved before. He wants to ask him to return the favor and to give him another job within the government.

Evening comes, Jakob finally meets Scharf as he was getting on his way home. Shortly, German police have approached them looking for the Jew that is "making trouble in his office" the whole day. As Jakob tries to go away, a German soldier stops him and beats him down. Max, trying to go to his father, is thrown down by Scharf, nearly knocking him unconscious. Jakob is taken in Scharf's office while Max lay sprawled on the sidewalk.

Later, Jakob is thrown out of the building and Scharf declares that he could have been killed - and now, they are even. Jakob and Max rides a train back home.

As the train passes by the Marzahn Detention Camp, it is reavealed that Magda and the other gypsies are being held there.

1938, Nuremberg. Max gets in trouble with some of his former classmates and is beaten badly for it. Back home, the Eisendhardts once again discuss that they should go immediately - a German attache in Paris is shot by a Jew. That night, thanks to Max spotting the soldiers outside, they barely escaped as Nazis started burning down the Jewish homes in the city...

November 7, 1938: Merschel Grynszpan, a teenager whose relatives were among the 15,000 Polish Jews deported from Germany but refused entry to Poland, assasinates the German attache Ernst vom Rath in Paris.

November 9-10, 1938, Nuremberg: Across Germany and Austria, Nazis unleash attacks on Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues. At least 91 Jews are killed and 30,000 Jewish men are arrested and sent to concentration camps. Approximately 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses are smashed and looted. Within days, the Nazis begin passing legislation to enforce "Aryanization" of Jewish businesses. Jews throughout Germany are forced to sell their businesses to non-Jews, usually at enormous losses.

November 12, 1938: The Nazis announce a one-billion-mark fine to be levied against the Jews to pay for Kristallnacht.

1939, Poland, the Eisendhardts arrive in Poland. They are going to stay with their realtive Cecilia's barn for the time-being. Suddenly, the Polish cavalry dashed down the street on their way to the border. With their superior armored tanks and firepower, the Nazi invasion of Poland starts...

X-Men: Magneto Testament #1 of 5

2009-02-17T00:36:00.000-08:00

The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.

1935, even then, Max Eisendhardt shows his skill of metal. Max is a Jewish teenager in Germany with apparently inherited skill in making metal jewelry and a very good eyesight. He collected scraps and made a necklace for Magda, a girl working on the grounds of a school Max is attending to.

In school -- consisting of mostly Germans not sympathetic to Jewish -- Max is on top of the class in almost all subjects except in physical activities. In a sports event, he ends up last in all of the events except the last one. The German kids make sure that he gets humiliated at every turn. When he finally does speak up, he is publicly humiliated by the headmaster saying how he's small, weak, and vicious, and his intelligence to be nothing more than degenerate cunning. During the final event, the javelin throw, perhaps inspired by Magda, or the fact that the javelin is metal, or both, he manages to throw the javelin farthest, thus gaining first place and getting a gold medal for it -- much to the chagrin of everyone except Herr Kalb, the only teacher -- apparently also Jewsih -- who seemed to care for him. He warns him to be careful about standing out saying "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down."

After school, he managed to give the necklace to Magda in the midst of a crowd. It turns out to be that his uncle, Erich Eisendhardt, somewhat of a ladies-man, is bound, battered, and bruised by the police with a sign saying "I have shamed a German woman".

It turns out that it was September 15, 1935, the day when the Nuremberg Laws are announced by the Nazis:

A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich. Marriages between Jews and German or kindred blood are forbidden. Extramarital intercourse between Jews and nationals of German or kindred blood is forbidden. Jews are forbidden to hoist the Reich and national flag and to present the colors of the Reich.

Back home, the Eisendhardts contemplate on what to do next. Erich wants to pack up and run. Jakob, Max's father and head of the household, wants to stay.

Next day, the headmaster declares that the javelins used in the event yesterday were defective and, therefore, Max was told to return the gold medal which the headmaster declares belongs to a German boy, unless he can throw the javelin the farthest again with a regular javelin.

Event day. The javelin is obviously made heavier to ensure he cannot throw it like before. Despite the disadvantage, the metal javelin still flies the farthest. But instead of a medal, the headmaster announces that he cheated and immediately expels Max from the school. Herr Kalb is also beaten, apparently for showing more sympathy to the Jew than the German kids.

After being expelled, the German boys chase down Max and beat him (with gold medals on their hands) to a bloody mess.

Avengers Initiative #20 - Dark Reign

2009-02-16T18:21:00.000-08:00

Credits

Writers: Dan Slott & Christos N. Gage

Pencil: Steve Kurth

Ink: Drew Hennessy

Being a post-Skrull Invasion issue, this is a must-read for the Dark Reign saga. This is the springboard for many of the succeeding issues in this Saga, most notably, Might Avengers, Skrull Kill Krew, and Thunderbolts.

So let's get on with it:

Synopsis
Gauntlet and his convoy could not pass through the gates of Camp Hammond where a lot of civilian protestors are blocking the way. Using his powers, Gauntlet pushed aside the people and his convoy enters the campgrounds. After these, several scenes follow:

Post Skrull Abduction Readjustment. Meanwhile inside the base, Doc Samson and Alicia Masters are debriefing all of the former Skrull prisoners for their "post-abduction readjustment". Of them, Dum Dum Duggan, had the hardest time being a part of the group, who would rather go and take command of the grounds, being a former SHIELD subdirector.

Gauntlet in Charge. In the War Room of the grounds, the Gauntlet and the rest of the Initiative discuss Hardball's defection. They managed to trace his location but, unfortunately, is in foreign soil. As such, they needed deniability which means it's the Shadow Initiative's job. As it turns out, the highest-ranking officer who is 'mentally fit' on the entire base is Gauntlet himself.

Hank Pym and Jocasta. Hank Pym is dealing with the loss of Janet Van Dyne with the help of the android Jocasta -- whose brainwave patterns were based from those of Janet. In the conclusion, they both leave for good. (Hank Pym's storyline continues in Secret Invasion Requiem then continues on to Might Avengers #21).

Tigra and her litter. In the cafeteria, Hellcat found out about the pregnancy of Tigra who then promptly went to her appointment with Trauma. Tigra's baby is fathered by the Skrull-Hank Pym and is terrified of what her baby/babies is/are gonna be like.

The old and New Skrull Kill Krew. 3D-Man is released from the stockade and cleared of any wrong-doing -- the killing of Gauntlet, a Skrull Initiative member. Althrough cleared of all charges, Gauntlet's former team are not happy with it. Only Ryder is happy to see him and is the only one sympathetic to him. Before they go, they bury the heads of the original Skrull Kill Krew and, after being told it's alright to let go, Riot reverts back to her human form and dies as well. 3D-Man and Ryder set off, intent on tracking down and killing all remaining Skrulls on Earth.

Shadow Initiative briefing. Being the big brass on camp, he meets the Shadow Initiative for their next target: Hardball. Long story short: the (irredeemable) Ant-Man gets transferred to Thunderbolts (Thunderbolts #128), TaskMaster and Komodo, aka GF of hardball, become a part of the Shadow Initiative -- at least for this mission -- Komodo due to her intimate knowledge of the subject, and TaskMaster confirms who Mutant Zero really is -- the well-known Daredevil villain Typhoid Mary!

Start of Avengers Initiative Disassembled. As revealed in the last pages, the Skrull-Hank needed to enter a failsafe code every fifteen days. When this is not entered when the time elapses, his Operation: Final Strike commences: Ragnarok aka Clone of Thor aka Clor awakens.

Review/Reaction
It seems like a logical starting point for many of the tie-in issues for the Dark Reign saga (such as Mighty Avengers) while still having a story of its own (with the return of Clor). It's a little cramp, though, jamming all of that into one twenty-two page issue -- but it still delivers. Short, sweet, and quite straight to the point.

Maybe it would have been better if it was explained in detail what Norman Osborn plans on doing with the Initiative -- aside from reassigning Ant-Man to the new Thunderbolts team. No doubt he's planning something big for this -- the number of Initiative cadets alone should be reason enough to keep this program afloat.

Well, maybe in the next few issues... Guess I just can't wait what will happen to the heroes.

Now with Clor back, well, the Skrull tricks just won't end now, would they? Hehehe. It still feels weird calling him Clor. Oh well, Spider-Man fan here. :)) Anyway, although this plan is something Hank Pym would do -- or to be more accurate, what Skrull-Hank Pym would do -- I hope this is the last time we see Clor. For cryin' out loud, just him off already.

Then again, maybe the life of Clor would not be complete until the real Thor arrives and deals with him (*hint* *hint*).

Also, can't help but note that Stingray has been consistently making appearances lately. He's been making small cameos since Civil War. Will he come to the spotlight anytime soon? Your guess is as good as mine.

Same goes for Hellcat, btw. Tigra's making waves with the baby-thing. Why not these two, right? :)

I'm still wondering, though, about the extent of the Initiative's role in the Dark Reign saga. Will they be just on the sidelines like the Young Avengers these days? Or will they step up and go head-to-head with and against the likes of Avengers, Galactus, and New Warriors? (Huh? New Warriors?)

Oh well. Avengers Assemble!

Dark Avengers #1

2009-02-10T01:20:00.000-08:00

Credits

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Art: Mike Deodato

Color: Rain Beredo

Synopsis
In 650 AD, Morgan Le Fay uses the magic of Avalon to search in time for her betrayer and former lover Victor Doom. She finds him in the, by now famous, meeting with Norman Osborn.

Then, cut to the present, the new Avengers are unveiled for the first time to the public. Next scenes show the week leading up to the formation of the new Avengers:

One week before: Norman Osborn meets with Victoria Hand and assigns her as the new Deputy Director of H.A.M.M.E.R., the meaning of which is one of Hand's to-do list.

Six days before: Norman Osborn invites Maria Hill to basically fire her. With Bullseye in tow, Osborn flies New York to take over the Avengers Tower.

Five days before: In Avengers Tower, Carol Danvers refuses to join the ranks of Snetry and Ares in the new Avengers that Osborn is forming. With her refusal, he finds Moonstone on the Thunderbolts Mountain where he gave her the original Ms. Marvel costume.

Also, Marc Gargan/Venom, after feeding on one of the captured Skrulls, was given a new drug by Osborn which would preserve his powers but make him presentable. After taking the drug, the symbiote becomes "placid" and Venom reverts to the original form of the black-costume Spider-Man -- he even posed in the same way Spider-Man posed in the original Secret Wars when he first got the black costume.

Four days before: Osborn, Ms. Hand, and Ares were waiting for Dakken Akihiro, Wolverine's son in a diner somewhere in New Orleans. Osborn offered him to be a part of his team.

Three days before: Osborn went to the Cube and offered Noh-Varr to become the new Captain Marvel of the new Avengers.

After assembling the team, they Osborn deduces that the team is missing something. Ares suggests that they are missing an Iron Man and Captain America - the knight and soldier.

Osborn then meets with the Ghost to gain access to Tony Stark's vault. After the vault is opened, they gained access to the Iron Man armors.

Present day, early morning: Doctor Doom is escorted by to Thunderbolts agents to Latveria, only to be greeted by a woman (whom we assume to be Morgan Le Fay).

Now: In the public debut of the Avengers, Norman Osborn reveals himself to be the leader of this group of Avengers, the Iron Patriot.

Review
The artwork is simply amazing. Deodato's sketch is my favorite style and I hope he makes more of those fantastic images in the other Marvel titles as well.

Story-wise, the issue is very straightforward and shows distinctly how the new team was formed. They wanted to show how the Dark Avengers were formed, and there you have it. Short and sweet.

Not sure if it's just me, but I would have wanted Marvel to have expanded the story on the formation of the Avengers. In particular, how Norman Osborn came up with the new Iron Patriot armor. I just find it ridiculous that Tony Stark left the vault with all of his armors there for the likes of Osborn to find. I would have expected him somehow remotely triggered a self-destruct sequence for all of his armors. Oh well, I guess they desperately needed an Iron Patriot to make him a hero. Only question is, is this really the Starktech armor? Or one Osborn made using his own tech and just copied the trademark appearance of the Iron Man armor? Whatever the case, the color scheme of the new Iron Patriot armor for some reason actually works. I guess I'm too used to the red-gold iron man armor, so I guess the red-white-blue armor is okay.

Can't wait for this team to come to blows with the other Avengers teams. I mean, Osborn basically stole the images of the Avengers. It's only a matter of time when they come after each other, right?

Uncanny X-Men Annual #2 - White Queen, Dark Reign

2009-02-09T23:23:00.000-08:00

Credits:

Writer: Matt Fraction

Artist (Present Sequences): Mitch Breitweiser

Artist (Past Sequences): Daniel Acuna

Synopsis:

Years ago, Sebastian Shaw invites Namor to become the White King of the inner circle of the Hellfire Club. Namor refuses but shows his liking of the then White Queen Emma Frost. He then leaves, with Sebastian seething at being humiliated and talked down to by his guest. As a plan B of sorts, he then sends Emma to seduce the Prince of Atlantis and urge him to join their group "no matter what cost".

Emma planned to have Namor come to her by contacting him telepathically and then attempted to drown herself by cuffing a metal ball and chain to her foot and jumping into the South Chine Sea. The ploy worked and he "rescued" her and took her into Atlantis.

Two weeks have passed since Frost's last meeting with Shaw. Fearing Frost betrayed him, he then instructs Donald Pierce - a mutant-hating cyborg villain - to send the Sentinels after Frost and Namor. The two survived the underwater attack and managed to track down the source of the Sentinels. Namor was angered while Frost was shocked when they realized that it was Shaw who commanded the Sentinels that attacked them.

Namor pummeled Shaw while Emma's memories of the recent events have been erased by Selene, Black Queen. Realizing he could not win this particular battle, Namor walked off, while Shaw pronounced that, being surrounded by loyal telepaths, he could not even get near him without him knowing.

Cut to the present: after the "unholy" meeting of Norman Osborn, Emma Frost and Namor talked and planned an alliance of their own within the unholy alliance with Osborn. The deal: Emma will psychically protect Namor while Namor will protect Emma and mutantkind when Osborn eventually comes after them. To earn his trust, she proposes to kill Sebastian Shaw, the one man Namor could never get his hands on. Frost also revealed that after fighting the Phoenix once, she had to rebuild her mind from the inside out, enabling her to remember the memories blocked out by Selene.

Emma entices Shaw to meet with her while Namor stays hidden to watch the events as tehy unfold. Telpathically, she convinced Shaw that he can neither see nor move. She also made it appear to Namor telepathically that she slashed off Shaw's head and presented it to him on a silver platter, as per the deal they made. With that, she secured Namor's allegiance and at the same time got rid of Shaw. After Namor departs, she contacted Cyclops telepathically to prepare the brig as she will be taking Shaw in.

My Review:

The Good. This retcon of the relationship that exists among the three main characters -- Emma Frost, Namor, and Sebastian Shaw -- is a good backgrounder for the upcoming events in the Dark Reign saga. It's interesting to know how the then White Queen will use her leverage -- both on the psychic and political arenas -- to be on top of the foodchain. She has always been a good and cunning addition to the X-Men roster. Now that she has proven that still has the White Queen guts to pull off that trick with Namor to win his support just shows how dark this upcoming Dark reign saga will be -- assuming she plays a big role in the saga -- and we certainly hope so.

The Bad. The present time and flashbacks are shown in parts and in sequence, jumping from the present to the flashback then back again to the present, without any signal or heading that this is now a flashback that happened years ago. It makes it difficult to follow the story first time you read it.

I'm also not a big fan of the art. Sorry.

Lastly, this X-Men comics focuses on only one X-Man. This may or may not sit well with everyone; most likely, if you're one of those Jean Grey supporters out there, you'd probably don't like this Emma Frost-focused annual.

The Verdict. This is a bit of a doozy. Art is forgivable, while the story is okay -- not great but okay. If it were a single issue, or a single story arc, it would have been fine. But since it is an Uncanny X-Men annual, I would have expected more from the other X-Men; an appearance of some of them would have been nice. So who should collect it? Definitely the Uncanny X-Men collector and Dark Reign saga collectors. However, if you don't like Emma Frost, you may want to stay away from this one.

From Secret Invasion to Dark Reign

2009-02-09T23:09:00.000-08:00

The springboard for Dark Reign is "Secret Invasion Dark Reign". In case you've been living under a rock, Secret Invasion involves the shape-shifting alien race known as Skrulls who have infiltrated the Earth intending to take the earth as their new homeworld after their own world was destroyed. They have replaced several of the earth's superhero community in order to fortify their position when they launch their attack. In the end, though, the Skrulls have been soundly defeated when the world's superheroes and supervillains joined forces.

Anyway, after the secret invasion, here's the status quo:

Tony Stark aka Iron-Man loses his Extremis powers (i.e., basically he becomes a techno-organic being, with his brain becoming more akin to a computer's CPU -- with Extremis, he can multitask control of machines such as his many armors as easily as he can breath) after the Skrulls unleashed a computer virus that specifically targetted Extremis and Starktech -- which rendered all Stark Industries, S.H.I.E.L.D., and his extremis armor inoperable. He is now a fugitive, becoming the most wanted man in the world. [Invincible Iron Man #8]

S.H.I.E.L.D. is decommissioned because of its inability to deal with the alien threat -- in part due to the anti-Stark computer virus and in part due to many of the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives were replaced by Skrull agents.

Janet Van Dyne aka the Wasp, one of the founding members of the Avengers, dies. The Skrull YellowJacket aka Henry Pym modified her growth formula to become a biological weapon -- sort of an ace up his sleeve when things got desperate for the Skrulls -- which did. After the activation, bio-weapon in Wasp was killing everyone, Skrull and human alike, forcing Thor to finish her off. [Secret Invasion #8]

The Inhumans - after recoving their king Blackbolt from the Skrulls - have been pushed over the proverbial edge and, launched a cosmic conquest. More on WAR OF KINGS saga. [Secret Invasion - Inhumans #3, War of Kings]

Norman Osborn becomes the most powerful man in the world. The former Green Goblin becomes the hero in the final showdown of the Secret Invasion after the world saw he blasted the head off of the Skrull Queen. And thus, begins DARK RIEGN! [Secret Invasion Dark Reign]

Norman Osborn formed a gathering of sorts similar to the New Avengers Illuminati. His gathering consists of Emma Frost - X-Men leader and former Hellfire Club White Queen, Namor - Lord of Atlantis, Victor Von Doom - monarch of Latveria, Loki - Norse God of Mischief, and The Hood - the new Kingpin of Crime in New York [Secret Invasion Dark Reign]

Several Avengers teams are formed, each with their own comics line: New Avengers consisting of the fugitive heroes led by the new Captain America; Mighty Avengers formed by Scarlet Witch and led by the new Wasp, Hank Pym aka Yellow Jacket [Secret Invasion Requiem]; and Dark Avengers led by the Iron Patriot aka Norman Osborn.

Solo heroes/anti-heroes Deadpool , Punisher, and War Machine each have their own run-ins with Norman Osborn. Osborn unleashes the new Yelena Belova/Black Widow-led Thunderbolts on Deadpool, the Hood against Punsiher, and Ares on War Machine [Deadpool #7, Punisher #2, War Machine #2].

Ms. Marvel aka Carol Danvers is on a personal vendetta trying to get the truth about Norman Osborn and the new Captain Marvel Noh-Varr. [Ms Marvel #34-35]

Emma Frost, perhaps in her own bid for power, secures an alliance with Namor at the expense of the Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club. [Uncanny X-Men Annual #2].

Nick Fury resurfaces with his team of Secret Warriors for the first time since his disappearance at the conclusion of Secret Wars (2005). In the wake of Norman Osborn's rise to power, he stumbles into the most shocking truth about the S.H.I.E.L.D. [Secret Warriors #1]

With Norman Osborn being handed the keys of power, he begins his campaign of solidifying his power on so many fronts -- building his public image in the media, forming a new Avengers team, hunting down the superhero fugitives, forming his own version of the illuminati, among other things.

Here's the Dark Reign checklist, so far.

December 2008:

Avengers the Initiative #20

Dark Reign New Nation

Invincible Iron Man #8

Ms. Marvel #34

New Avengers #48

Secret Invasion Dark Reign

Secret Invasion Requiem

War Machine #1

January 2009

Avengers the Initiative #21

Dark Avengers #1

Deadpool #6

Invincible Iron Man#9

Marvel Spotlight: Dark Reign

Mighty Avengers #21

Ms. Marvel #35

New Avengers #49

Punisher #1

Thunderbolts #128

Uncanny X-Men Annual #2

War Machine #2

Dark Avengers Poster

February 2009

Agents of Atlas

Avengers the Initiative

Black Panther #1

Dark Avengers #2

Dark Reign Files

Deadpool #7

Invincible Iron Man #10

Mighty Avengers #22

Ms. Marvel #36

New Avengers #50

Punisher #2

Secret Warriors #1

Thunderbolts #129

War Machine #3

Wolverine Origins #33

That's all the info I can cram in one post...