Cory Petit

This Week in X: Excalibur Returns (sort of) in X-Men Gold, X-Men Blue climaxes, and more!

January 12, 2018 by krisis

It’s the second week of new comics in 2018, and that means a whole new batch of X-Men comics books to help you catch up with!

This week brings five books with it – mid-arc issues of the two Ed Brisson old guy books in Cable #153 and Old Man Logan #33, the middle installment of Matthew Rosenberg’s Phoenix Resurrection, a climatic turn of events in Cullen Bunn’s X-Men: Blue #19, and an adorable pair of standalone stories in X-Men: Gold Annual #1.

None of these books are a must-read, but it’s nice to read a week of X-Men that’s solid across the board… well, except for one book, as you’ll hear in just a minute.

Don’t feel like reading right? You can watch the video version of This Week in X! This is not the same material as the full post below, although some of my opinions in the video overlap with the post.

Love the video? Love this post? Please let me know, because “This Week In X” is a pilot right now – there is no guarantee I’ll continue it past the end of this month unless folks are clamoring for more! [Read more…] about This Week in X: Excalibur Returns (sort of) in X-Men Gold, X-Men Blue climaxes, and more!

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!

Wolverine by Jason Aaron, Vol. 2 – The #33 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 31, 2017 by krisis

I read Jason Aaron’s run on 2010’s Wolverine series live as it was happening… and I did not like it at the time.

In fact, “did not like” isn’t really strong enough language to describe my reaction to Jason Aaron writing Wolverine. If I was ever going to consider burning some comic books, it would have been this run, which I considered to be offensively bad.

However, with the hindsight of where Jason Aaron took Wolverine after this run I can appreciate what he accomplished, and even enjoy some of the individual turns. Weirdly, if this omnibus ever came to pass, I’d be sorely tempted to buy it.

Wolverine by Jason Aaron, Vol. 2 is the #33 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 and collect all of these issue right now as detailed in my Guide to Wolverine.

Past Ranking: A 2017 debut!

Probable Contents: This would mirror a pair of Jason Aaron Complete Collections by collecting Wolverine (2010) #1-20, 5.1, & 300-304, plus Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1-6 and material from Wolverine: Road to Hell.

It should also add X-Men: Schism #1-5 and the digital-first series “Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted” co-written by Aaron with Jason Latour.

Creators: Written by Jason Aaron.

Wolverine series letters by Cory Petit. Wolverine #1-5, 10-14, & 20 pencils by Renato Guedes, inks by Oclair Albert and Jose Wilson Magalhães, and colors by Matt Wilson (with backups drawn by Jason Latour with colors by Rico Renzi). Wolverine #6-9 art by Daniel Acuña (with Jefte Palo colored by Nathan Fairbairn on #5.1). Wolverine #15-16 line art by Goran Sudžuka with color art by Matt Wilson. Wolverine #17-19 line art by Ron Garney with color art by Jason Keith. Wolverine #300-304 by multiple artists, including Ron Garney, Adam Kubert, and Steven Sanders.

Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine pencils by Adam Kubert, inks by Mark Morales and Dexter Vines, colors by Justin, and letters by Rob Steen. X-Men: Schism by multiple artists. Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted co-written by Jason Latour with line art by Paco Diaz, color art by Marte Gracia and Israel Silva, and letters by Cory Petit.

Can you read it right now? Yes! This run was very thoroughly collected in modern Premiere Hardcovers and trade paperbacks, all listed in the Guide to Wolverine – the simplest way to do it is to pick up Wolverine by Jason Aaron Complete Collections Volume 3 and Volume 4.

Plus, every single issue is on Marvel Unlimited – head to Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine, Wolverine, X-Men: Schism, and Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted.

The Details:

You can think of Jason’s Aaron’s time with Wolverine in three parts – Vicious Wolverine, Vengeful Wolverine, and Fatherly Wolverine.

Yeah, that last one wouldn’t work so well as a title as the first two.

The first Jason Aaron omnibus contains all of the Vicious Wolverine stories. These are super-bloody, knock-down drag out tales that – despite being forgettable – got Wolverine back to short-arc adventures after his ongoing got burdened with bigger stories and event tie-ins.

Fatherly Wolverine is entirely contained in Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron, which features a kinder, more-custodial version of our hero.

That leaves the most remarkable, marketable, and contentious portion of Aaron’s run uncollected in oversize format. [Read more…] about Wolverine by Jason Aaron, Vol. 2 – The #33 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

X-Force by Kyle & Yost Omnibus – The #57 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 11, 2017 by krisis

The X-Force by Kyle & Yost Omnibus is the #57 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot – and I’ve included the complete X-Force reading order (and casualty count) below!

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

What Is It? X-Force (2008) maintained the proactive mandate of 1991’s X-Force iteration but added a no-holds-barred bloody approach to the X-Men’s take on counterterrorism.

That’s what you get when Cyclops appoints Wolverine to lead a team of hunter-killers, although he’s not too happy about his line-up. X-23 is there – despite Wolverine trying to steer her to non-violence, as is Warpath – a reluctant killer, both Angel and Rahne – not entirely in control of themselves, and later Domino, Vanisher, and Elixir.

X-Force (2008) ran for 28 issues and one annual from April 2008 to September 2010.

Past Ranking: This year is the book’s debut placement in the ballot results.

Creators: Written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost with art by Clayton Crain along with pencils by Mike Choi, Alina Urusov, Carlo G. Barberi, Gabriele Dell’Otto, and Jason Trent Pearson, inks by Sandu Florea, colors by Sonia Oback, Edgar Delgado (AKA Pato), and Dave Stewart, and letters by Jeff Eckleberry and Cory Petit.

Probable Contents: X-Force (2008) #1-25 & Annual 1, X-Force: Sex & Violence #1-3, Cable (2008) #13-15 (and material from #6-7 & 12), Messiah War one-shot, X-Men: Future History – The Messiah War Sourcebook, X-Force/New Mutants: Necrosha One-Shot, X-Necrosha: The Gathering, and X-Force Special: Ain’t No Dog, as well as some background material. See below for a full reading order.

[Thanks to John S. on FB for catching two of the one-shots I omitted!]

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

Can you read it right now? Yes!

With the exception of Messiah War and Second Coming, X-Force has now been released in four formats! A pair of oversized hardcovers – Volume 1 and Volume 2 – are the quickest way to collect the non-event issues, but Complete Collection Volume 1 and Volume 2 paperbacks add the Necrosha material.

See the Guide to X-Force for every possible iteration. Or, just head to Marvel Unlimited – every issue is available there (although, note you have to type “X Necrosha” to find the Necrosha one-shots in search.

The Details:

There no other way to say it: X-Force was a shock.

Up to this point it the X-Men’s 40 years of history we had seen plenty of bloody panels – many of them courtesy of Wolverine, Cable, and Deadpool, but also some in books like X-Statix. Yet, even when the X-Men were at their most proactive and forceful, they were rarely a team of killers. That’s something we associated more with their enemies, like the Marauders or Omega Red.

(And of course, there were some major-scale genocidal wipeouts courtesy of Dark Phoenix (billions!) and the mega-sentinel at the beginning of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men (millions!).)

X-Force was the first time that we had an X-Men team devoted to merciless killing. [Read more…] about X-Force by Kyle & Yost Omnibus – The #57 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017