Amazing X-Men #1 Review!

Hello everybody, Donlinedude here and welcome to my review of the first issue of Amazing X-Men! I realise it's quite late to be starting a review of the newest "X-book" to hit the stands (X-book? No? Oh well, worth a try.) But I've been wanting to review a regular X-Men comic for a while now and hopefully when the second issue hits I'll have my review of that up way sooner. I hope you enjoy the review.

Synopsis:

Some time ago, somewhere beyond the realm of the flesh, Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler, sits brooding upon a clifftop. An unknown woman greets him, remarking that it gets more beautiful the further inland you go. Kurt replies that he likes it where he is. He tells the woman that, although this place is everything he imagined it would be, he feels as though his old life has one more chapter to be written (you live in a world of comics Kurt, they'll always be one more chapter).

All of a sudden, Nightcrawler senses something unpleasant. He immediately teleports away, the noise of which surprises the woman. It's not quite as surprising however as the demon pirates that are coming right at her. Fortunately, Nightcrawler reappears and proceeds to kick all forms of demon ass, even stealing three of their swords. He's soon greeted by the leader of this motley crew, it's none other than his own father, Azazel, complete with a group of red Bamfs. The two spar for a while Azazel makes no secret of his disgust that his son "lounges in Heaven". Nightcrawler proclaims that whatever his father is up to, he'll stop him, but Azazel responds that he's forgetting that he's already dead before disappearing. As Nightcrawler stares down into the smoky abyss, his narration talks about how he didn't fall from Heaven. He jumped.

In the present day, Angelica Jones, aka Firestar, arrives at the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning to join the staff as the new physics teacher. While navigating through the somewhat chaotic halls of the building, she meets Hank McCoy, aka Beast, who is furiously pursuing the Bamfs as they have stolen his coffee maker, which he calls "Eleanor". What the two find instead is something that causes Beast to summon the rest of the team and place the school on lockdown

X-Men Assemble!

 

Beast studies the device the Bamfs have built, deducing that it's a gateway of some kind. Rachel Grey notes that their minds (which were previously closed to her) are now open, and that they're all afraid they're too late. While this is going on, Firestar reacquaints herself with Iceman, feeling very attracted too him, though she's met with a harsh reception from Warbird, who informs her "the man of ice already has a mating partner" (wow, presumptuous much?).

The Bamfs' have powered the gateway by splicing into the central battery. Beast severs the circuits, but the Bamfs have also rerouted the power somehow, leaving the gateway open. Rachel continues to read the Bamfs' minds, saying that where they come from, the sky is on fire, there's someone red that they fear and that someone else sent them after the X-Men (I wonder who the latter two could be?). As the portal becomes fully active, the Bamfs teleport away, though the X-Men are soon joined by new ones via the portal. Unfortunately, these ones are Azazel's red Bamfs, which attack the X-Men, pulling several of them through the gateway.

 

Wolverine & Northstar are deposited in "Heaven". Logan gets his bearings while Northstar takes off to investigate, noting the lack of scents and sun. Northstar soon gets the attention of something, that something being a huge, floating pirate ship looming over the landscape. "ALL HAIL THE NEW LORDS OF HEAVEN!" a voice announces from it, warning the two to surrender their souls "OR STAND WITH YOUR PRECIOUS BLUE ELF AND BE LOST FOREVER!"  The words "blue elf" in particular surprise Wolverine...

Thoughts:

In my review of Mighty Avengers #1 over at Spider-Man Reviews (which you can check out by clicking here) I noted that since there were several other Avengers titles on the stands, Mighty Avengers had to make even more of an effort to prove itself a worthy addition to the franchise. The same is true for Amazing X-Men, even more so given that there are ten X-Men comics currently being published. But with Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness writing and pencilling this series respectively, as well as the opening storyline revolving around the return of popular X-Man Nightcrawler, it's hard to see how this series could fail to stand out from the crowd. This opening issue gets things off to an exciting start with plenty of humour abound.

To start with, it's surprising that we see Nightcrawler in what looks to be Heaven, something Marvel doesn't usually explore. I'm interested to see whether this really is a plane of Heaven, or if Aaron has something else up his sleeve and it turns out to be something else entirely. Either way, it's cool that "Heaven" is portrayed as another dimension you can travel to. It's also a nice subversion to see Nightcrawler from the beginning of the issue rather than just a splash page at the end. It helps build excitement for when he's reunited with his teammates. And what do you know, the cover of this issue is not misleading! We actually do get to see Nightcrawler in his classic costume fighting people with swords. The appearance of Azazel is also quite interesting and it makes Kurt's return storyline more personal for him.

As for the X-Men, Aaron has demonstrated in this series' sister title, Wolverine & the X-Men, that he has no problem embracing the more ridiculous and quirky aspects of the franchise. The arrival of Firestar allows for a neat jumping on point, introducing us to the staff of the Jean Grey School and the dynamics between them all. There are plenty of laugh out moments during these interactions. Warbird's courtship of Iceman was particularly funny since Iceman is the last person I'd expect the aggressive and confident Warbird to have a romantic interest in. Opposites attract I guess? The relationship between Wolverine & Storm, as well as Beast's pursuit of the Bamfs (the mystery of whom looks to be quite intriguing) also add to the comedic highlights of this issue.

Ed McGuiness' artwork in this issue is just "sublime" (anyone whose read Grant Morrison's run on X-Men will know what I'm talking about). The same can be said for Marte Gracia's vivid colours, which work in concert with McGuiness' pencil's to provide an animated and excellent look to this comic. In short, this is an "Amazing" start to Amazing X-Men...

Score: 5.0/5.0

Doctor Who Prequel: The Night of the Doctor Review!

Hello everybody, Donlinedude here and welcome to my review of The Night of the Doctor,

 "I'm a Doctor, but probably not the one you were expecting". With all the media attention, as well as the fanbase, focused on David Tennant, Matt Smith & John Hurt appearing in the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who, The Day of the Doctor (and rightly so), the last thing anyone expected was for Eighth Doctor Paul McGann to star in a prequel to the episode. As well as being a very nice surprise, The Night of the Doctor contains a plot with a remarkable amount of substance given it's modest run-time of six and a half minutes.

The story opens just the way you'd expect with Doctor Who. The Doctor comes to the aid of a young woman in mortal peril, in this case the pilot of a crashlanding spaceship named Cass. But soon our expectations are subverted by Cass refusing to go with the Doctor when she discovers he's a Time Lord. This gives us some much needed insight into how the rest of the universe views the Time Lords and the Time War. They're seen as no different to the Daleks (which is quite a statement), to the point where Cass would rather die than travel with one, even if he claims to be "one of the nice ones". It also says a lot about the Eighth Doctor that, in spite of being capable of escaping via the TARDIS, he still stayed with Cass on the ship when it crashed on the planet Karn.

 

It's at this point that we meet the Sisterhood of Khan (a nice callback to the Fourth Doctor story The Brain of Morbius), who retrieve the now-dead Doctor and revive him temporarily for four minutes. Through the following scene, the main crux of the story becomes clear. The Night of the Doctor is about how the Doctor (quite literally) became a warrior, about how he was forced into the Time War despite trying his best to uphold his morals. This prequel does an excellent job of setting the Doctor on the path that led to his decision to wipe out the Daleks & the Time Lords, as well as finally answering the question of just what caused the Eighth Doctor to regenerate. It's rewarding for the fans as well as a compelling story. And the scene where the Doctor salutes all the companions he had during this incarnation was a nice gesture to fans of the Big Finish audio series that starred the Eighth Doctor.

Paul McGann is brilliant in his return as the Eighth Doctor, giving a charismatic performance as the Time Lord. While he means serious business throughout this episode, he's not above memorable lines of quirkiness, "bring me knitting!" Emma Cambell-Jones & Clare Higgins also provide compelling turns as Cass & Ohila respectively. The production aspects of the episode are surprisingly good. The sets are haunting and atmospheric and the visual landscape of Karn is well realised considering the modest budget this episode had in comparison to the 50th special, not to mention the clever use of archive footage of a young John Hurt. Overall, this was a wonderful send-off for McGann's Doctor as well as a nice linking up of the classic series with the new. I only wish McGann had established a catchphrase I could use to round this review out with. Oh well, Allons-y!

Score: 5.0/5.0

Superior Spider-Man #20 Review!

Hello everybody, Donlinedude here and welcome to my review of Superior Spider-Man #20. Once again I'm really sorry for the delay.

Synopsis:

The issue flashes back to the time of Peter Parker's death in #700 of Amazing Spider-Man (like we really need to relieve that all over again). Across town from Avengers Tower, at the hospital, Doctor Mondrian and his team are paged to the coma room, as one of the patients is showing increased brain activity. As they cart this mystery patient away for surgery, they pass Julie Carpenter, aka Madame Web, who wakes from her own coma screaming psychically that "the web of life is coming undone" and soon "all the spiders will die. The surgery is a success and the mystery patient revives only to hear that "Doctor Octopus" has just died, which enrages them.

We then cut to present day in Midtown Manhattan, where Otto Octavius is on his way to a date with Anna Maria Marconi. His conversation with her is interrupted by a Spider-Bot reporting a robbery in progress, which Otto heads towards. The robber turns out to be Felica Hardy, aka the Black Cat, who greets Otto in a flirtatious manner as he approaches her. "Spidey" responds by punching her in the face (WTH!!), which knocks out one of her teeth. Otto then fights and quickly defeats the bewildered Cat, leaving her webbed up for the police and utterly fuming, swearing that she'll never forget this.

Otto's date with Anna Maria involves a picnic on a web strung over a couple of rooftops. Otto answers Anna Maria's concerns about it's longevity with the revelation that he's improved on Peter's web-fluid (well that's certainly going to have a lasting impact). The new formula now stays up indefinitely, until Otto activates a dissolving agent. He also reveals that he's applying for a business loan to start his new company, Parker Industries (kind of ripping off Tony Stark there, aren't we Otto?), and invites Anna Maria to be a part of it. She accepts.

The next morning, Aunt May and Jay Jameson talk at the hospital about "Peter's" plans, which their both investing in. A large, hooded figure (the mystery coma patient from before) then emerges from the therapists office with Sha Shen, commenting that they're back on their feet now before leaving. We then cut to Otto signing the paperwork for his new endeavour along with May, Jay and Sajani Jaffrey, who'll function as his vice president.

Meanwhile, Carlie Cooper is talking to Yuri Watanabe at her apartment, saying she now has enough evidence to take to the Avengers. As Yuri leaves, Carlie calls Mary Jane Watson, warning her to stay away from Peter and to keep May and the others away too. MJ however, is otherwise occupied, she's arrived at the local firehouse, fully glammed up, to ask out firefighter Pedro Olivera (the one who saved her from the fire at the club). Like Black Cat, she doesn't get the welcome she was expecting, instead being pounced upon by Pedro's dog, Jake, but he offers to make it up to her with a coffee, asking that she call him Ollie.

Elsewhere, "Peter" presents his doctoral thesis to the board at Empire State University. It looks as though he has it in the bag, but then none other than Dr. Don "the Shnoz" Lamaze accuses him of "stealing" Otto Octavius' life's work (how deliciously ironic), dismissing everything as plagiarism. He vows to see "Parker" expelled and made the laughing stock of the entire scientific community...unless of course a certain web-head gets involved?

At Avenue B, the mystery coma patient enters an abandoned building, the subsequent scanning revealing her as Angelica Brancale, the former lover of Doctor Octopus. She activates a back-up system of her holographic avatar, swearing vengeance on the "Superior Spider-Man" in the name of Otto Octavius (Irony x2) as Stunner...

Thoughts:

Dan Slott has been teasing for a while now that the events in this issue would have lasting ramifications in the Spidey-Verse, and while I don't think they were all exactly as earth-shatteringly "shocking" as those seen in the previous issue, there's still a lot of very interesting developments and definitely a couple of surprises.

First off, SpOck punching poor Black Cat in the face. That certainly threw me for a loop. I've always liked the character of Felicia Hardy (in fact when I was first introduced to her via the 90's Spidey animated series, I actually wanted Peter to end up with her rather than MJ) and since she's on the cover for this issue I expected much of the issue to focus around the dynamic with Otto & Felicia, so it was a real surprise that this meeting was ended so abruptly and violently, but it was also a good use of misdirection and Slott looks to be taking the Spider-Man/Black Cat relationship in a different direction for when Peter returns (let's face it, we all know it's going to happen).

The concept of Otto forming his own business as Peter Parker was also unexpected, though I doubt it'll come to fruition and even if it does, it will likely be short lived. The scene with Dr. Lamaze brings a fascinating quandary to the table. While it was a very satisfying comeuppance for Otto (given how much he looked down on Lamaze), it could also mean the end for Peter's scientific career if Otto doesn't stop him, but taking that form of action is morally wrong.

Carlie Cooper's investigation into Otto's activities garnered a good piece of evidence last issue and I'm pleased that she's planning on taking this to the Avengers, though it's hard to shake the worry that Slott will cop out with this particular subplot. The reintroduction of Stunner isn't a surprise given the solicitations for the following issue, but I'm interested to see Otto's reaction to his former lover's return, especially since he appears to have moved on. Talking of moving on, Mary Jane's budding relationship with "Ollie", while a very funny scene, is also a little sad since it definitely has legs and would be a legitimate way of keeping Peter & Mary Jane apart even if she were to discover that Doc Ock had taken over his body. I know I keep talking about Peter's return, but it very much seems that Slott is setting up some elements that would affect Peter more than Otto.

Giuseppe Camuncoli provides plenty of polished, eye-catching pages in this issue. Black Cat in particular looks terrific considering her limited panel time. Slott's writing definitely seems to have matured through the course of the series. Here's hoping that he can keep it to this standard with the following issues...

Score: 4.0/5.0