Frank D'Armata

This Week in X: Astonishing X-Men, Phoenix Resurrection, Rogue & Gambit, & more!

January 5, 2018 by krisis

I’m finally caught up to Marvel’s present day after a long abstention after Secret Wars, and that means I’m keeping up with the status quo of my favorite mutants for the first time since 2015. And, since I’m keeping up, why shouldn’t you, too?!

This is a pilot of my new weekly recap of what’s new in X-Men comics. These are quick hit reviews, not feature-length write-ups or extensive recaps. My hope is that they’ll help you figure out the right books to be buying, and how to catch up with the current status quo of each title.

This weeks line-up is Astonishing X-Men (2017) #7, Iceman (2017) #9, Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey (2018) #3, Rogue & Gambit (2018) #1, X-Men: Gold (2017) #18, and X-Men: Grand Design (2018) #2.

Is this helping you decide what to buy or catch up with the present? Let me know in a comment! But, beware: spoilers abound!

House of M Omnibus – The #59 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 9, 2017 by krisis

The House of M Omnibus is the #59 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot.

Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes.

What Is It? House of M (2005) is an alternate reality mystery that finds the Avengers and the Astonishing X-Men in a world where mutants dominate a society that is racist against regular humans. It prominently stars Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Magneto.

House of M was Marvel’s first major, line-wide event since Onslaught in 1996 as well as the first significant X-Men and Avengers crossover since then. It was also the first time that Marvel thrust its entire line into an alternate universe story (in an expansion of their strategy for the X-Men-only Age of Apocalypse in 1995).

House of M resulted in massively changed status quo for several Marvel characters, including Ms. Marvel and Wolverine. In its aftermath, Marvel’s mutant population was decimated from millions to just a few hundred, which began a six-year mega-arc that eventually ended in Avengers vs. X-Men in 2012.

The House of M (2005) mini-series event ran for 8 issues from August 2005 to November 2005.

Past Ranking: This is the debut appearance of this book on the ballot!

Creators: Written by Brian Michael Bendis with pencils by Olivier Coipel, inks by Tim Townsend (with Scott Hanna, Rick Magyar, & John Dell III), colors by Frank G. D’Armata (with Paul Mounts), letters by Chris Eliopoulos, and covers by Esad T. Ribic.

Probable Contents: This omnibus would definitely collect House of M (2005) #1-8 plus The Pulse: House of M Special (2005) #1 and Secrets of the House of M (2005).

Those contents have already been published in an oversize hardcover, which is just 312 pages long. Marvel reprinted a similar hardcover of Civil War for their 2016 film, but it was not relabelled as an omnibus. What else could this volume contain?

Click to expand a discussion of further content for this volume.

There were three oversize hardcovers worth of House of M tie-ins, each weighing in at about 350 pages – House of M: No More Mutants, House of M: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and House of M: Wolverine, Iron Man, Hulk. They are all now out of print and relatively expensive to obtain.

It is likely that most voters had that all-inclusive volume in mind when selecting this choice for their ballot. Together, those tie-ins represent 1048 pages of material, which (combined with the main event) would produce a 1360 page omnibus. That’s larger than Marvel’s current biggest printed volume by a signature (16 pages). The length is potentially feasible, though it would leave no room for the bonus materials many fans look forward to in omnibus editions.

We’ll call that version, “House of M Complete Collection Omnibus.”

Alternately, all of that material could be saved for a sizable “House of M Companion” omnibus, and this volume could instead include both lead-up and aftermath stories to the event. Excalibur (2004) #11-14 in Excalibur, Vol. 3 contained the lead-in to the event – another 96 pages. The quintet of X-Men: The Day After, X-Men: Generation M, X-Men: Son of M, X-Men: The 198, and Sentinel Squad O.N.E. covered the fallout of the event, called “Decimation.” Together, they account for a combined 712 pages. New Avengers #16-20 was not part of Decimation, but it also served as an epilogue – another 120 pages.

An omnibus of all that material would be a slightly-more-reasonable 1344 pages – as long as Marvel’s longest current book. Less the inessential lead-in from Excalibur and the disconnected Avengers epilogue, it would be 1120 pages.

We’ll call that version, “House of M: No More Mutants Omnibus.”

If Marvel went with the “No More Mutants Omnibus,” it would reasonable to see the additional material from the “Complete Collection” omnibus as its own “House of M Companion.” Conversely, if Marvel went with the “Complete Collection Omnibus,” it would also be reasonable to see a “House of M Companion: Decimation” omnibus containing all of the follow-up material.

For the full details on all of the issues contained in the prelude, tie-in, and aftermath titles and how they are presently collected, see the Guide to Marvel Universe Events.

Can you read it right now? Yes! The House of M trade paperback has “evergreen” status at Marvel – meaning they always keep it in print. However, all of the various supporting books are long since out of print and may cost you a lot of money to purchase. Learn more about them in the Guide to Marvel Universe Events.

And, fear not – every single issue of House of M and its tie-ins are available on Marvel Unlimited for just $10 a month!

The Details:

House of M is one of Marvel’s biggest and most-accessible stories of all time for a litany of reasons.

It featured a team of blockbuster creators, told an alternate reality tale that was massive in scope, kicked off Marvel’s modern age of yearly line-wide events, and was an Avengers and X-Men team-up that actually changed everything that came afterwards for both teams.

However, it might be most notable for being a major inflection point for Marvel. The pre-House of M Marvel of early 2005 would be unrecognizable to readers of both today and of a decade prior to House of M.

Marvel’s line was beginning to expand after their gaunt late-90s bankruptcy years, but it was not the interconnected universe to which fans of the early 90s were accustomed. Titles tended to keep to themselves, without major interaction across Marvel’s Universe. Crossovers were all but extinct. Most of the hype and fan interest was around Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, which launched fresh, modernized version of their four core franchises starting in 2000.

Yet, the prior year had brought with it two major shake-ups in the main Marvel Universe that captured fan imagination (and, in one case, ire). [Read more…] about House of M Omnibus – The #59 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

Comic Book Review: Weapon X #1 by Pak, Land, Leisten, D’Armata, & Caramanga

April 13, 2017 by krisis

One of our household’s favorite movies, The Prestige, starts and ends by explaining the steps of a magic trick.

First, comes “The Pledge,” where we are shown something ordinary. Then, comes “The Turn,” when the magician takes the ordinary and makes it do something extraordinary. The best magic comes with a third step – “The Prestige” – where you bring back the ordinary, if you can.

Comic books are a lot like magic tricks, in that way. Every new series or story arc is a Pledge based on the creators and characters you can see when its announced. What happens within its issues is The Turn. And, whether or not the story returns its many pieces to where they can be used again in the future is The Prestige.

(Some fans love a good Prestige, while others see it as a cheat – but that’s a conversation for another time.)

As comic book magic goes, the Weapon X didn’t engender much excitement in readers when it was announced a few months back. Greg Pak isn’t a high-selling author on his own, penciller Greg Land is tolerated (at best) by most fans, and the title looked and sounded like another take on X-Force with its cast of Old Man Logan, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Domino, and Warpath. Weapon_X_2017_0001

Is this book more than meets the eye?

Pak has never been a creator to give us a weak Turn. This is the man behind Planet Hulk and who used Dazzler to explore a whole multiverse of X-Men in X-Treme X-Men.

Greg Land is one of the most reliable monthly artists in Marvel’s stable, always on a standout book that are rarely destined for poor sales.

And, the cast is a mysterious mix – all hunter/killers, but without an obvious through-line between them all.

There’s going to be a major Turn here. I’m sure of it.

Weapon X (2017) #1 (digital)

Written by Greg Pak with pencils by Greg Land, inks by Jay Leisten, color art by Frank D’Armata, and letters from VC’s Joe Caramanga.

CK Says: Consider it.

Weapon X #1 is a solid opener to an intriguing new mutant mystery that feels less like a superhero comic and more like a bloody game of cat and mouse.

The mice in the game are Old Man Logan – an alternate future Wolverine stuck in our present – and his longtime foe and former fellow soldier, Sabretooth. Sabretooth had been on and off the straight and narrow recently, but this issue finds him holed up in the woods hundreds of miles from civilization.

That’s not too different from Logan’s location at the start of the issue, but the story doesn’t linger on the why of their chosen isolation. Instead, author Greg Pak quickly shifts the focus to on the cats in this game of chase.

They’re an upgraded version of the traditional half-human Reavers from the late-80s portions of Claremont’s run -regular people that are undetectable to the enhanced senses of our pair of clawed mutants, but beneath their skin these pursuers are killer robots prickling with blades.

Their sudden appearance is clearly tied to a very angry Lady Deathstrike, held in captivity in a lab that’s very interested in our other cast members.

(As for how she got there, it was teased in X-Men Prime).

Why is Deathstrike held captive? Why is a secret program out to capture Wolverine and Sabretooth? And, what do two very different mutants – Domino and Warpath – have anything to do with it? [Read more…] about Comic Book Review: Weapon X #1 by Pak, Land, Leisten, D’Armata, & Caramanga