Stuff I Read: Saga of the Swamp Thing v4

Stuff I Read

Saga of the Swamp Thing v4

Collects: Saga of the Swamp Thing #43-50
The fourth collection of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. I really love the late 80s early 90s era of DC / Vertigo comics. There is something we loose in computer coloured art and a lack of white-space.

This collection features a couple of standalone horror tales I've got used to in this series and it mainly features a story building off Crisis on Infinite Earths as Constantine and Swamp Thing try and keep the spiritual side of the DCU together.

To be honest I'm not really a fan of this metaphysical side of the DCU and it's strange to see swampy interacting with characters such as Phantom Stranger, the Demon. Never having really read any of Constantine before Hellblazer, it's even weirder to see him talking to Batman. This has the classic Parliament of Trees story in it, but I find Swamp Thing gets lost in the weirdness as things go into other planes in #50. It's a good collection, but I think I preferred the previous 3.

X-Men Re-Read: Young X-Men v2: Books of Revelations

The Great X-Men Re-read

Young X-Men v2: Revelations

Collects: Young X-Men #6-12
Writer(s): Marc Guggenheim
Penciller(s): Ben Oliver, Rafa Sandoval

The second and final volume of Young X-Men.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Anole, Cipher, Dust, Graymalkin, Ink, Mirage, Rockslide, Sunspot

The Young X-Men relocate to San Francisco with the rest of the X-Men, during the events of Manifest Destiny. They're trained by previous New Mutants, such as Dani Moonstar and Sunspot. There's two main stories, one resolving Ink's powers (it's not him that's a mutant, but his tattooist). The Young X-Men fight a group also tattooed by the tattooist, with Ink gaining a healing hand and a Phoenix tattoo over his eye. Doing the Phoenix tattoo, drops him into a coma and out of stories.

The second has Dust having problems with her powers, turning to (and helping escape) Pierce for help. She dies, but is saved by Ink and his phoenix tattoo. Thankfully that gets rid of him too. Hurrah.

There's also a couple of sub plots involving Cipher (not to be confused with New Mutant, Cypher who to be fair was dead at the time) someone who could essentially be invisible. She's inserted into various X-events, such as New X-Men, Astonishing X-Men and Messiah CompleX. I don't recall her especially sticking around either, but apparently she pops up in a cameo in Wolverine and the X-Men.

There's also a future plot line involving Emma Frost, Graymalkin and Anole supposably showing what would have happened had Ink not saved Dust. Days of Future Past it isn't.

Best Bit
There's some funny moments between Anole and Rockslide.

Final Words
Much worse than the previous one.

Average
4 / 10

X-Men Re-read: Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand

The Great X-Men Re-read

Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand

Collects: Uncanny X-Men #495-499
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker
Penciller(s): Mike Choi

What X-Men do when there isn't any X-Men.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler

After the disbanding of the X-Men in Messiah CompleX, the X-Men go their different ways. This title focuses on Cyclops, Emma Frost, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus and to a lesser extent Hepzibah and Angel.

Cyclops and Emma relax in the Savage Land. Colossus, Wolverine and Nightcrawler take a road trip to Russia where they run afoul of the program that created Omega Red.

Angel goes to San Francisco where the whole town is now living as if it was the 70s, he manages to alert Cyclops and Emma but eventually succumbs to the effect himself. Emma manages to shield herself and Cyclops from the effect and they investigate. It turns out to be one of the Mastermind family that has gone a little mental and has been exploited by an old hippie wanting to relive his glory days.

They sort everything out, saving the mayor in the process. The X-Men gain a new home, the russian road trip wraps up as they get a call from Cyclops informing them that they're reforming in San Francisco. And we're off to Manifest Destiny.

Best Bit
Scott's comment that Emma's hippy disguise is less revealing than her normal outfit.

Final Words
I love the Mike Choi art, I wish he drew a regular book still.

Great
8 / 10

X-Men Re-Read: X-Men: Divided We Stand

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men: Divided We Stand

Collects: X-Men: Divided We Stand #1-2
Writer(s): Various
Penciller(s): Various

A collection of stories set during the Divided We Stand era of X-Men while the X-Men are still disbanded after the Messiah CompleX storyline, some are hit others are miss. The standout being the tale where Vulcan taunts Havok with the "death" of Xavier, where instead of demoralizing Alex, it only fires him up. To be fair to Vulcan, he would have heard that Xavier had been shot in the head, it's only comics where that isn't a sure fire kill. It's a nice enough anthology, but nothing here is essential.

X-Men Re-read: X-Men Legacy: Divided He Stands

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men Legacy: Divided He Stands

Collects: X-Men: Legacy #208-212
Writer(s): Mike Carey
Penciller(s): Scott Eaton, Billy Tan, Greg Land, John Romita Jr.

In which we find out what happened to Professor X.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Professor X

From Genesis to Revelations (X-Men: Legacy #208-210)
In the blink and you miss it ending to Messiah CompleX, the body of Professor X disappeared. It took me a few takes to get it first time round and this time I flat out missed it. Basically, Xavier was taken by Exodus and his Acolytes, and this series (at least at the start) explores Xavier's character as we find out that the Exodus has been able to save him, Bishop's bullet caused brain damage and as such Xavier has missing memories. Flashback time!

What follows is an examination of Xavier and his motives, and some scenes from the X-Men's past.

Exodus can't get Xavier to heal properly, so despite being a "flat scan" (i.e. depowered) he brings in Magneto to see if that can jolt Xavier out of his coma. Omega Sentinel (terrible name, I know) asks Magneto whose path was the correct one, his or Xavier's so we get flashbacks to their relationship through the years. With Magneto's presence Xavier awakens and is asked by Exodus to lead the Acolytes.

Exodus and Xavier square off on the psychic plane, with Exodus using bad memories from Charles' past against him. Eventually Xavier wins and leaves. In the epilogue we get hints that Rogue and Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club will be involved in the next tale.

Sins of the Father, Parts 1-2 (X-Men: Legacy #211-212)
Professor X is now trying to rebuild his fractured memory by using other peoples minds. He visits a childhood friend, a chap called Carter and takes a memory from their childhood. It turns out that his father Brian wants to perform some tests on Charles, these are done by a Doctor Milbury. In Carter's memory Milbury has the red diamond on his head associated with Mr Sinister.

At the Hellfire Club, a machine has sprung to life, that used to belong to Sebastian Shaw's father.

Gambit hooks up with Xavier, as he had heard through some contacts in teh New Orleans Assassins' Guild that there was a bounty on Xavier's head. Xavier uses Gambit to regain some more memories before checking out the list - Carter, Cain Marko aka Juggernaut, Sebastian Shaw. Xavier checks on Carter, but he's now dead.

Shaw is also there and follows Gambit and Xavier. They clash with some Assassins again and Xavier has a memory of Sinister and a scalpel. Cliffhanger!

Best Bit
Xavier and Magneto deciding that things have moved on while they've been fighting the same argument against each other.

Final Words
Why a cliffhanger? Because parts 3 and 4 of this story are in the next volume Sins of the Father. This is one of the worst breaks in a volume. It's like they thought 5 issues, release the trade without looking at the story lines. I imagine they needed it to be released along side X-Men: Divided We Stand and Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand.

Frustrating
7 / 10

X-Men Re-read: Young X-Men v1: Final Genesis

The Great X-Men Re-read

Young X-Men v1: Final Genesis

Collects: Young X-Men #1-5
Writer(s): Marc Guggenheim
Penciller(s): Yanick Paquette

The latest teen title in the tradition of New Mutants, Generation X and New X-Men: Academy X falls a little short, mainly due to deconstructed story telling.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Blindfold, Dust, Graymalkin, Ink, Rockslide, Wolf Cub

Sometimes words get associated with comic properties, like Marvel and "war" (Secret Wars, Civil War), DC with "crisis" (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis) "genesis" is one of those that has stuck with the X-Men. After the disbanding of the X-Men in Messiah CompleX, we focus on some of the younger ones (hence the title) the main characters we have met before are the precog Blindfold, Rockslide and Dust. These are joined sadly, by a couple of the lamest characters to grace and X-book. Wolfcub (who is essentially Wolfsbane or Feral) and Ink (who has the power of whatever is tattooed on his body). One of the worst scenes in the book is when his tattooist shows him an old X-Men cover book with lightning bolts signifying Xavier's telepathy which he gets tattooed on his head to give himself telepathy.

The main story is that Cyclops is busy with the recruiting again (like in X-Force) only this time some of the New Mutants (Dani Moonstar, Sunspot, Magma) have gone bad after Messiah CompleX and Cyclops wants this new team to take them down.

They train in the ruins of the Mansion and eventually fight the New Mutants. It emerges that "Cyclops" has really been Donald Pierce (from the Hellfire club / The Reavers) in disguise - resurrected by Bastion over in X-Force. The Young X-Men and the New Mutants band together to defeat him, but not before Wolfcub is killed.

Best Bit
The Cyclops twist is well executed.

Final Words
Not bad, the art is really good, but the new characters don't quite cut it. If this had been shorter rather than spread over five issues, the series might have stood a chance.

OK
6 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Force v1: Angels and Demons

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Force v1: Angels & Demons

Collects: X-Force #1-6
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Clayton Crain

A new X-Force book spinning out of the events of Messiah CompleX.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Warpath, Wolfsbane, Wolverine, X-23

In Messiah CompleX, the X-Men were badly hammered by many different enemies. Deciding to take a more proactive path to deal with threats Cyclops forms a black ops iteration of X-Force consisting of Wolverine, Warpath, Wolfsbane and X-23. Picking up plot threads from the creative teams' New X-Men title, the main villain of this arc is Matthew Risman and the Purifiers. We also have the first appearance of Eli Bard, presented as Risman's right hand man.

The Purifiers break into a S.H.I.E.L.D installation and steal Bastion (from X-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance). They attach the head to the Nimrod body (that Forge had, from New X-Men: Childhood's End v3) to resurrect Bastion. Bastion locates an offspring of Magus (Warlock from New Mutants dad) and uses the transmode virus to ressurect Cameron Hodge (from X-Factor, most notably in the X-Tinction Agenda story-line), Bolivar Trask (creater of the Sentinels), Graydon Creed (of Friends of Humanity, also featured in the Operation Zero Tolerance story-line), Donald Pierce (of the Hellfire Club) and also infects the Lepar Queen (from Decimation).

A particularly cool scene has Bastion's squad of mutant killers around a table and lists the number of Mutants each has killed.

X-Force raid a Purifier base, Risman takes Wolfsbane captive and threatens to kill her. X-23 decides that he's bluffing and triggers some explosives. But Risman manages to escape with Wolfsbane. After killing and torturing many Purifiers, X-Force track Wolfsbane down to a warehouse, barely alive and injected with heroin. Back at base Angel goes to get the healer, Elixir (previously of New X-Men) who promptly heals Rahne.

X-23 smells blood coming from the room with Elixir, Rahne and Angel in it, when she gets there she finds Wolfsbane has torn Angel's wings off. It turns out that Wolfsbane's father Reverend Craig had brainwashed Rahne whilst she had been caught by the Purifiers. X-23 is injured and Wolfsbane escapes back to the Purifiers with Angel's wings.

Elixir does his healing thing again, but finds he can't heal Angel's wings as they aren't organic., at this point Angel transforms back to his Archangel persona and heads after the Purifiers, sensing his old wings. It is revealed that the Purifiers have been targeting the winged mutants (like Jay Guthrie (Icarus), in the early volumes of New X-Men: Childhood's End) because their Nimrod unit had told them that they could use them to make am army. The Purifiers use samples from Angel's wings, and the techno-organic compound therin, to make a The Choir, an army of Purifier soldiers with the powers of Archangel.

X-Force tracks Archangel to the Purifier base, they find Archangel brutally (and graphically) slaughtering The Choir. X-Force clash with Risman, Eli Bard and Bastion and Risman is shot in the head by X-23. Afterwards, X-Force find Archangel unconcious, and in human form, complete with feathered wings, effectively setting up the Dark Archangel Saga in Uncanny X-Force a few years later).

Back at base, Wolverine tells Cyclops on what they have learnt and of Bastion's squad of resurrected mutant killers. Cyclops is shown with a most wanted style screen display and asks Wolverine, who is next?

Best Bit
The reveal of Archangel slaughtering The Choir.

Final Words
Absolutely brilliant, builds on the seeds of the past to an exciting future.

Awesome
10 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v5: The Only Game in Town

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v5: The Only Game in Town

Collects: X-Factor vol. 3, #28-32; X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Pablo Raimondi, Valentine De Landro

The first post-Messiah CompleX collection of X-Factor.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy)

The team adjust to the fallout from Messiah CompleX with Layla being trapped in the future. Ric and Jamie do this in similar ways, mainly by beating up the bad guys - Ric with some randoms and Jamie by beating up a church of Purifiers. Rahne leaves, to be seen next in X-Force. Theresa and M discus Theresa's pregnancy.

Theresa fails to tell Jaime that she's pregnant, in a crossed wires conversation that M likens to a sitcom. Ric is kidnapped by Arcade and the rest of the team look for him. What follows is a an Arcade / Purifiers story-line with the remains of Mutant Town, NYC, as the game zone. At the conclusion Val Cooper tries to recruit X-Factor into the O*N*E program, but Jaime declines blowing up the X-Factor office and moving to Detroit.

There's also a Quicksilver story at the back, The Quick and the Dead, which goes some way to redeeming the character back onto a path of heroism. It's take it or leave it stuff, I'm not particularly a fan of Quicksilver.

Best Bit
Arcade being revealed to be a robot, only to reveal himself to be wearing a robot mask once X-Factor have gone.

Final Words
Messiah CompleX hasn't stopped the momentum of this title.

Top Notch
8 / 10

X-Men Re-read: Cable v1: Messiah War

The Great X-Men Re-read

Cable v1: Messiah War

Collects: Cable #1-5
Writer(s): Duane Swierczynski
Penciller(s): Ariel Olivetti

Cable gets his own series after Cyclops sent him into the future to keep the messiah child safe. Quite why this collection is called Messiah War I'll never know, maybe it sounded cooler than War Baby - the actual name for the arc. It just get's confusing with the later crossover Messiah War between Cable and X-Force.

Quick Synopsis
War Baby (Cable #1-5)
The story is pretty simple, Cable arrives in the future and sets about trying to keep the baby fed and safe. He's chased by Bishop who wants the baby dead. We get a few flashbacks to how Bishop got his new arm (after the other was ripped off in Messiah CompleX by a Predator X), with time travel capabilities - seriously Forge needs to make himself some better locks.

Cable has issues with his time travel device, and it turns out that he can only jump forwards in time. Cable and Bishop clash, but Cable runs away in time again. The art takes some getting used to but it is really good, just not in a traditional comic style.

Best Bit
When the waitress who has been helping Cable tools up with weapons from the ruins of Xaviers' and takes out the corrupt law in future New York.

Final Words
Good start, but already starting to stretch things out. This is essentially something for Cable / the baby to do while we wait for Second Coming.

Good
7 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Men: Messiah CompleX

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men: Messiah CompleX

Collects: X-Men: Messiah CompleX, Uncanny X-Men #492-494, X-Men #205-207, New X-Men #44-46, X-Factor #25-27
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey, Peter David, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Marc Silvestri, Billy Tan, Scot Eaton, Humberto Ramos and Chris Bachalo

Messiah CompleX is my favourite X-Men story of all time. The first mutant birth from M-day sparks a race that ties up a lot of story-lines coming into this point.

Quick Synopsis
The story opens with the X-Men playing catch up. The birth has happened and by the time the X-Men get there, the baby is gone, leaving only bodies of Marauders (from X-Men) and Purifiers (from New X-Men). Cyclops effectively performs a coo on Professor X, assuming control of the X-Men. You could argue that this is just stamping home the power shift that happened in Deadly Genesis.

Playing catch-up, Cyclops sends Wolverine, Storm Colossus, Angel and Nightcrawler after the Marauders (who still have Rogue captive), he sends Jaime and Layla from X-Factor to Forge to look at the future time lines he's been mapping (in Endangered Species) and they find that two of them now have mutants in them. Jamie sends a dupe to each future and Layla goes with one of them, in the present day Jamie drops into a coma. Cyclops sends Rictor (also of X-Factor) to infiltrate the Purifiers (Ric is one of the mutants who had lost his powers on M-day), he discovers that they are now working with Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers.

The New X-Men being frustrated at being left out of Cyclops' plans take matters into their own hands and launch an attack on the Purifiers. Hellion is badly injured. Simultaneously the team who are gong after the Marauders are being assisted by Emma Frost back in the Mansion, as Hellion and the New X-Men return back the connection they had with Emma is separated leading to defeat and Nightcrawler's injury.

Things heat up back at the mansion as Sentinel Squal O*N*E go haywire and start attacking the mansion and destroy it. They're defeated and the X-Men regroup. They learn from Wolverine that Cable (who went missing in Blinded by the Light) has the baby. Wolverine got this intel from Gambit during the battle with the Marauders, leading us to ponder Gambit's allegiances once more. Cyclops suspects Cable of being behind the Sentinel attack (which is a bit harsh, considering Cable is his son).

In the future, Layla and Jamie discover mutant concentration camps, and end up with the distinctive "M" DNA tattoo, most commonly associated with Bishop. Cyclops dispatches a new X-Force consisting of Wolverine, Hepzibah, Warpath, Caliban, X-23 and Wolfsbane to go after Cable, they catch up with him in the middle of a battle with Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers. In the battle, in which Caliban dies, Cable steals the Blackbird that X-Force arrived in heading towards Forge, looking for a time travel device. He's attacked by Bishop who makes a heel turn. In the future, Layla and Jamie run into the infant Bishop, and they discover his knowledge about the Messiah child and how he would kill her if he could, to prevent his timeline existing.

Before Bishop can pull the trigger, the Marauders interrupt who take the baby to Muir Island, under Gambit's care. The X-Men get a version of Cerebra working and Cyclops rescues X-Force, Bishop, Forge and Jaime (who is still unconscious). Bishop continues to pin the blame on Cable. Cyclops sends X-Force and Bishop ahead to Muir Island. In the future, Layla kills Jaime with a hand grenade, sending his memories back to our Jaime who awakens and warns them about Bishop. Jaime also now sports the "M" tattoo.

The main parties, along with Predator X (from New X-Men) all get themselves to Muir Island for the final confrontation, with Cable convincing Professor X of his innocence, reminding him of the events of X-Cutioners Song when Cable was suspected of shooting Xavier. Cable remarks that in his time, the baby was a Messiah who united all of man and mutantkind, we're left to assume this is the other future that Forge's device detected.

On Muir Island, it's revealed that Sinister has been killed by Mystique who is masquerading as him. She uses the baby to awaken Rogue and it's explained that her and Gambit's actions have been done according to what the precog Destiny had predicted. It's revealed that the baby has wiped Rogue of her assembled memories that she has absorbed over the years.

As the Marauders and Acolytes battle the X-Men, Cable gets the baby back, but Bishop is back on the scene. Predator X rips his arm off, effectively ending his threat. Cyclops demands that Cable hand over the child, Cable is reluctant, but Xavier agrees, saying that Cyclops should see what they've been fighting over. Cyclops remembers the events of Inferno when he sent his child (who would grow up to be Cable into the future to have a chance of life). He gives the baby back to Cable and tells him to go. Bishop gets a gun and shoots just as Cable time-slides to the future. The shot misses Cable, but hits Xavier in the head.

Xavier's body disappears and Cyclops declares there are no more X-Men anymore.

Aftermath and Consequences
Sadly, New X-Men ends and the story-lines and creative team goes to X-Force.
Cable gets a new series charting his attempts to keep the baby safe.
X-Men retains its numbering and becomes X-Men: Legacy, focusing on Xavier.
We get a new Young X-Men series, but it doesn't last long and has issues.
New Excalibur is effectively relaunched as Captain Britain and MI:13

Layla is stuck in the future for awhile, I can't remember how long.
Rahne (Wolfsbane) moves from X-Factor to the new X-Force.
The X-Men disband during the Divided We Stand era, but bring it back together for Manifest Destiny.

Best Bit
With so much to love, it's hard to pick just one moment. The splash page with the reveal of Cable having the baby is pretty awesome tho.

Final Words
Everything comes together in spectacular style.

Awesome
10 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Men: Endangered Species

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men: Endangered Species

Collects: X-Men: Endangered Species #1, back-up stories from X-Men #200-204, X-Factor #21-24, Uncanny X-Men #488-491, New X-Men #40-42
Writer(s): Mike Carey, Christopher Yost, and Christos Gage
Penciller(s): Scot Eaton, Mark Bagley, and Mike Perkins

The Beast attempts to diagnose and fix the effects of M-Day.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Beast
After another mutant funeral, we follow Beast on his quest to investigate the science behind the M-Day depowering of mutants.

This search leads him across the Marvel Universe, speaking to Doctor Strange, the High Evolutionary, the amnesiac Scarlet Witch amongst others.

The meat of the story comes when Beast teams with Dark Beast (his counterpart from the Age of Apocalypse timeline) which raises intresting ethical issues, which cumilate when Dark Beast tries to experiment on one the Guthrie's children.

Endangered Species is a tour across the post-House of M Marvel Universe, and rams home the direness of the situation that the mutants are currently in whilst establishing via various characters that the removal of the X-gene cannot be solved easily by science or magic.

Final Words
Hammers home the current status quo, before Messiah CompleX.

Grim
9 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v4: Heart of Ice

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v4: Heart of Ice

Collects: X-Factor #18-24
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Pablo Raimondi and Khoi Pham

Threads come together in the last volume before Messiah CompleX.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Layla Miller, Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy),  Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), Quicksilver

The villain of the piece is called the Isolationist, who has been living in the ice caps as he has been cursed with the power of every mutant alive, obviously after M-Day this number is a lot less, and he has put into motion plans to reduce it even further.

Theresa and M arrive back from Paris with a girl, Nicole, they had rescued. Quicksilver shows his true colours and joins with a terrorist cell, called X-Cell. Using Rictor and the promise of bring their powers back thanks to the powers he gained in the Son of M miniseries. This all goes wrong and those he repowers die and Rictor is left depowered.

Then we're into the main Isolationist arc, where M and Theresa are tasked with rescuing two children from a cult by the grandparents. Ric struggles with nearly having his powers back in the Quicksilver arc, and Jamie hooks up with a chap called Huber, who is the Isolationist.

Layla is taken out by Nicole, who has been a mole all along, M and Theresa are hoodwinked and dumped in the middle of nowhere as that was all a set up. Ric and Rahne nearly get together, but as he's gay that doesn't work out.

Essentially, Guido, Rahne and Jamie are tricked by Huber and end up in the ice, to be rescued by M and Theresa and Ric who manage to defeat Huber.

Best Bit
The story with Layla and Nicole in #22.

Final Words
Everything is coming up goodness.

Great
9 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v3: Many Lives of Madrox

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v3: Many Lives of Madrox

Collects: X-Factor #13-17
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Pablo Raimondi

X-Factor hits it's stride.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Layla Miller, Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy),  Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), Quicksilver

In the aftermath of the clash with Singularity Inc, the team end up on the couch of Doctor Samson, echoing the classic X-Amination from X-Factor #87, as we learn more about the inner workings and motivations of each character. Jamie's accidental two timing of M and Theresa comes to light.

The rest of the stories in this collection revolve around Jamie going and reabsorbing dupes that he had sent out to learn things, having remembered them after meeting the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D in the last volume.

Layla forces Theresa and M to bond, which they do by going shopping in Paris, but they get caught up in mutant related prejudice.

Jamie goes after the S.H.I.E.L.D agent and ends up in conflict with Hydra. But the jewel of the collection is when he meets a dupe that has made a family for himself and after weighing it up, he leaves him out there.

Best Bit
The therapy session with Doc Samson.

Final Words
Lots of stand out moments.

Amazing
9 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v2: Life and Death Matters

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v2: Life and Death Matters

Collects: X-Factor #7-12
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Various

The Singularity Inc story line wraps up and we tie in to Civil War.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast:  Layla Miller, Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy),  Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), Quicksilver

We have more conflicts between X-Factor and the Tryps from Singularity. It turns out that Tryp jr, and Tryp snr are the same person from differing points on his time lines. 

There's also a tie-in to Civil War (the superhero battle that went through the Marvel Universe where Iron Man tried to get all heroes to register with the Government and others led my Captain America oppose the idea). Quicksilver comes to mutant town looking for refuge, and it turns out that most of X-Factor are registered anyway, back when they were a Government sponsored agency back in the Peter David days of the first X-Factor volume. Jamie makes a stand against them and says that anyone in mutant town will be protected by X-Factor. It's a nice moment, but doesn't really lead to anything. Unfortunately we get Quicksilver hanging around for a bit after this. Great.

The agent of S.H.I.E.L.D that comes to do the registering is one of Jamie's dupes that he sent out a few years ago to learn espionage, which leads to the next main arc. Plus, I've always had a soft spot for Peter Parker's Iron-Spider costume, so it was nice to see that.

Jamie ends up sleeping with both M and Theresa, but is unsure which one he slept with and which one a dupe slept with.

Best Bit
"X-Factor to Government - Drop Dead!"

Final Words
Some good moments.

OK
7 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Factor v1: The Longest Night

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Factor v1: The Longest Night

Collects: X-Factor 1-6
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Ryan Sook, Dennis Calero

Launching just after House of M, and picking up from Madrox: Multiple Choice, X-Factor Investigations takes it's first case.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Layla Miller, Monet St Croix (M), Jamie Madrox, Julio "Ric" Richter (Rictor), Theresa Cassidy (Siryn), Guido (Strong Guy),  Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane)

We're reintroduced to the cast from Madrox: Multiple Choice (Strong Guy and Wolfsbane) along with some more additions, as Jamie has some more cash after winning the US version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? It technically wasn't cheating as the phone a friend was all his dupes.

Rictor has been depowered by M-Day and is unable to cope without his connection to the earth. He's contemplating suicide on a ledge. Jamie's dupes are still unpredictable so he creates a few and selects the best one for the job, unfortunately it's the part of Jamie that can't be trusted and he throws Ric off the building after trying to recruit him to X-Factor Investigations. Luckily he's saved by Monet.

Also turning up at X-Factor Investigations is Layla Miller, the "reset switch" from House of M, who installs herself in the organisation. After all, she's "Layla Miller and she knows stuff." After Ric is saved and teh caset is fully assembled, the main villains of this collection are Singularity Inc, another investigation agency.

Layla shows a sinister side, assisted by Sook's moody style as she electrocutes a trespasser while left alone in the office. Her catchphrase "I'm Layla Miller", "I know stuff" is executed really well in this sequence.

Theresa is kidnapped by someone who imobilises her and tortures her, but she is saved by (the powerless) Ric, who proves his worth to himself, being set up by the chaps at Singularity.

In the aftermath of Theresa's ordeal, Madrox tries to scare them off with an ambush of him and many dupes in central park. As we'll see next volume this isn't successful. There's also a hint to Layla's power as she brings a butterfly back to life.

Best Bit
Jamie's unpredictable dupe, trying to talk Ric down from jumping, but only throwing him off the ledge.

Final Words
Great, but not self contained.

Has the X-Factor
9 / 10

X-Men Re-read: New X-Men: Childhood's End v5

The Great X-Men Re-read

New X-Men: Childhood's End v5

Collects: New X-Men: #37-43
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Paco Medina, Skottie Young

A Limbo story. Grand.

Quick Synopsis
Quest for Magik (New X-Men: #37-41)
In the prologue, there is a recap of Illyana Rasputin's (Magik) history with limbo, presented in the framing sequence of the young mutants telling ghost stories. This one is told by Blindfold. At the end of the story, they are all sucked into Limbo, by a returned Belasco.

Essentially, there is a lot of Limbo demon related shenanigans. Basically, the main event that has reprocushions is that Pixie looses two blood stones (part of her soul) to Darkchilde (the souless version of Illyana). It ends with Darkchilde vowing to regain her lost soul, which sets up X-Infernus.

Children of X-Men (New X-Men #42-43)
The New X-Men take stock of what has been happening. They also try and work out who is the youngest mutant left alive. David (Prodigy) whose power was to learn quickly has the memories of everything he has learnt re-activated by the Stepford Cuckoos after he goes to them after catching Surge and Hellion embracing. Surge was trying to get Prodigy to leave the X-Men, to protect him.

Meanwhile, Matthew Risman has taken charge of the Purifiers and is directing Predator X to Xavier's, using Dust's old burqa, left behind back in Childhood's End v2, by X-23 when she impersonated Dust. Predator X is almost at the Institute when it suddenly finds a new target and deviates away.

Best Bit
Well, the Pixie soul thing leads to some interesting character development from being a background fixture, to a main player.

Final Words
Not my favourite part of the X-Men mythos and bad art make this a skimmer.

Passable
5 / 10

X-Men Re-read: New X-Men: Childhood's End v4

The Great X-Men Re-read

New X-Men: Childhood's End v4

Collects: New X-Men: #33-36
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Paco Medina

In which we find out why Emma was right about not wanting X-23 around.

Quick Synopsis
Mercury Falling (New X-Men: #33-36)
Picking up plot threads from X-23: Target X, Mercury is captured by Kimura, after a fight between Mercury, X-23 and Kimura. X-23 tried to lure Kimura away, but it turned out it was Mercury they wanted all along. She is experimented on by scientists who want to use her living mercury to create a skin for a mutant hunting animal-like being called Predator X.

X-23 and Hellion track Mercury down and attempt a rescue after encountering, basically, a small army they are assisted by the New X-Men and some of the Astonishing X-Men, including Emma Frost, who arrive to rescue the young Kimura tries again to attack X-23 back at the mansion, but Emma messes with her head to resolve the threat once and for all.

Best Bit
Mercury getting some exposure after being in the background for awhile.

Final Words
Not epic, but still a good X-Men story. Still with a body

Great
7 / 10

X-Men Re-read: New X-Men: Childhood's End v3

The Great X-Men Re-read

New X-Men: Childhood's End v3

Collects: New X-Men: #28-32
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Paco Medina, Mike Norton

The finale to the first year of New X-Men.

Quick Synopsis
Nimrod (New X-Men: #28-31)
Jay's death is investigated by the X-Men and some of the ("New", I think) Avengers (Iron Man, Ms Marvel) who find the clue "Nimr" written in his blood. Ms Marvel comes back to the mansion to inform the X-Men of Jay's death with the ulterior motive of mentioning the Superhero registration Act (from Civil War), but is deftly rebuked by Emma Frost who shows her images of the bus explosion, the funerals and wonders where the Avengers where. She shows Carol (Ms Marvel) Jay's family and asks if she wants to help make the phone call telling them that Jay is dead. Emma dismisses Carol and breaks down.

Nimrod goes to Forge who had repaired him in the future and uses threats on Forge's future wife to force himself to be repaired.

X-23 has overheard about Jay's death and the "Nimr", the New X-Men think this is a reference to Nimrod, but the X-Men disregard this and head to the wedding of Storm and Black Panther in the Black Panther comic, warning them to stay put and be guarded by the O*N*E.

The New X-Men disregard this, steal a plane with the (depowered) Prodigy flying. They go to track down Nimrod, unware that Forge has reprogrammed it to be a mutant protector instead. As they fight Nimrod, it's original programming resurfaces.

They overload Nimrod's temporal circuits, sending it into the past. (I assume to it's original appearance?). Rockslide is turned into rubble but manages to rebuild himself. X-23 is mortally wounded and Jullian (Hellion) races to get her to Josh (Elixir) to be healed. To enable this Emma Frost breaks down the barriers in his mind disabling his control over his powers making him able to break the sound barrier. X-23 is saved and the Purifiers are shown to be plotting their next move.

Whatever Happened to Wither? (New X-Men #32)
Former New Mutants and Hellion squad member Wither is seduced by Selene, the Black Queen, into using his powers to kill. In a plot thread that will dangle until the much later Necrosha X. Back at the mansion, a memorial is held to honor all the X-Men and students who have perished, which is also attended by Ms Marvel.

Best Bit
Emma's dressing down of Ms. Marvel.

Final Words
The end of the first year (real time) of the New X-Men series wraps up nicely.

Great Wrap Up
8 / 10

X-Men Re-read: New X-Men: Childhood's End v2

The Great X-Men Re-read

New X-Men: Childhood's End v2

Collects: New X-Men: #24-27
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Paco Medina

A continuation of the story in Volume 1, as the mutants are pushed further towards extinction by Sryker and his zealots.

Quick Synopsis
Crusade (New X-Men: #24-27)
We pick up right after the bus explosion in Childhood's End v2 as the main characters remember the events of the explosion at the funeral of Brian Cruz (Tag).

It's revealed that Jay's (Icarus) wings we removed by William Stryker who convinced him to help with the timing of the attack. Claiming if he gave his wings "back to God" his friends would e saved. Jay confides in Dust and gives her the address of Stryker's church.

Laurie (Wallflower) is assassinated with a swift head-shot sniper kill as the mutant death keeps coming. Jay goes to confront Stryker back at Stryker's church, it is revealed that Stryker's actions have been directed by divine visions from a Nimrod unit from the future, Jay's presence activates the dormant Sentinel.

Jay is shot as he has served his purpose, they try and murder Dust too, but it's revealed to be X-23 who (rightly) didn't trust Jay and went to the church instead. Josh (Elixir) is distraught and Laurie's death and this triggers an offensive nature to his healing powers. Not finished Stryker and his purifiers attack Xavier's.

The purifiers are driven back from Xavier's after causing some more injuries and some mutant background character death. Stryker is killed by Elixir who makes a brain tumor grow rapidly in his head.

Best Bit
Kevin's (Wither) reaction when Laurie is shot.

Final Words
Story-wise, things go from bad to worse, but this is still quality stuff. You don't know who is going to make it out alive.

Awesome
9 / 10

Tech - Making TFS Forget

Undocumented feature ahoy!

If you're using Team Foundation Server (TFS), and you've accidentally checked out a branch or there is a branch you don't want it to think you have locally, follow these steps:

- Right click on the branch and Get Specific Version
- Select Changeset
- Enter 1

Problem solved.

This applies to the 2010 flavour of the product.

X-Men Re-read: New X-Men: Childhood's End v1

The Great X-Men Re-read

New X-Men: Childhood's End v1

Collects: New X-Men #20-23
Writer(s): Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Penciller(s): Mark Brooks

The students of Xavier's Institute in the wake of House of M.

Quick Synopsis
Childhood's End (New X-Men #20-23)
We pick up right in the middle of the Decimation seeing first hand the effects of M-day from the House of M story and how it affects the mutants currently enrolled in Xavier's school.

Some refuse to believe what has happened, others such as Wither believe that their power has gone and as he touches Laurie (Wallflower) on her arm her arm wastes away as it turns out he is one that has retained his power.

Other fallout from M-Day includes Emma Frost firing Moonstar as a teacher now that she is depowered.

Jay Guthrie (Icarus) introduced in the She Lies With Angels story-line in Uncanny X-Men #437-441 and previously in this book pre-House of M when it was called New X-Men: Academy X shows up with his wings forcibly amputated, echoing Warren's (Archangel / Angel) fate during the Mutant Massacre story-line, it is not revealed how this happened.

William Stryker (familiar to viewers of the X-Men 2 and Wolverine: Origins films and readers of the seminal God Loves, Man Kills story) appears on TV at various moments, essentially rallying for genocide to finish the mutants off.

Only 27 of the 182 students enrolled retain their powers. Emma Frost disbands all the former training squads (Hellions, New Mutants, etc..) and has a Danger Room exercise to select a team of New X-Men from the remaining students.

These are:

• Dust
• Elixir 
• Hellion 
• Mercury
• Rockslide
• Surge (leader)
• X-23

42 of the depowered students are bused off back to their homes at the end of this collection. The final scene is the bus blowing up.

Best Bit
Wither thinking he had been cured and finding out in the worst way that he hadn't.

Final Words
Gone are the days of the jovial New Mutants and Generation X teen hi-jinx. I think this book already has the highest body count of an X-title with the 42 on the bus, plus assorted others who died during the decimation.

Intense
9 / 10

X-Men Re-read: Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists

The Great X-Men Re-read

Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists

Collects: Uncanny X-Men #487-491
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker
Penciller(s): Salvador Larroca

In which we explore the effects that the fallout from House of M (M-Day) have had on the Morlocks (the disfigured mutants who live under the sewers of NYC.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Hepzibah, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Storm, Warpath

Caliban escapes from Masque and the Morlocks (including longtime ally of the X-Men Skids) as they kidnap Leech. Back at Xavier's, there are some nice moments between Warpath and Hepzibah as the later adjusts to life on earth.

Storm, Hepzibah and Warpath head to sewers to track down Leech, there are some nice touches to Storm's claustrophobia. They find a room full of precogantive writings that it is revealed that Masque has put into a book and is treating them as instructions to bring the future to pass that is written within.

The Morlocks are trying to get the book to Magneto and are using terrorist attacks to draw him out, such as putting a busload of people to sleep and letting Masque mutate them.

Skids is revealed to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it all comes to ahead as Masque is about to kill every person in a church, but is defeated by the X-Men. Skids takes the book, seemingly to S.H.I.E.L.D., but in a last page twist presents it to Magneto who hints at still being powered.

And thus, the pieces are arranged in Uncanny X-Men ready for Messiah CompleX.

Best Bit
Either Skids being revealed as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Magneto's cameo at the end.

Final Words
It's a good story, but has too many similarities in the McGuffin to Blinded by the Light which was published at the same (Destiny's Diaries vs Masques book).

Great
8 / 10

Stuff I Read: Madrox: Multiple Choice

Stuff I Read

Madrox: Multiple Choice

Collects: Madrox #1-5
Writer(s): Peter David
Penciller(s): Pablo Raimondi

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Madrox, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy

This came a few months before House of M, so falls outside the remit of the Great X-Men Re-read, but seeing as we're starting X-Factor from the first collection The Longest Night, this mini-series focusing on Jamie Madrox deserves a look over. Pretty much any excuse to pull this off the shelf is welcome. This volume introduces us to X-Factor Investigations, which begins life called XXX Investigation, but the name gets changed at the end to something more familiar as that "sounds like they investigate porn".

Multiple Choice essentially heralds in the new volume of X-Factor and reestablishes the characters of Jamie Madrox, Wolfsbane and Strong Guy as Jamie investigates the murder of one of his dupes.

Jamie's dupes begin to take on aspects of his own personality with unpredictable results, as we'll see in the first volume of X-Factor proper.

Best Bits
Jamie Madrox, snappy dialog and moody art.

Stuff I Read: Batman: The Dark Knight v1: Knight Terrors

Stuff I Read

Batman: The Dark Knight v1: Knight Terrors

Collects: Batman: The Dark Knight #1-9

Style over substance, beyond the art and negating the merits or otherwise of the New 52 there's not a great deal to like here.

Essentially, it's a Venom / Bane story which is nowhere near as good as any that have come before. For a Venom story, get Batman: Venom. For a Bane story, get Batman: Kinghtfall. Batman doesn't even defeat Bane, it's down to the Flash to save the day.

Also included is a dull Mad Hatter story, and a tie in to the Night of Owls mini bat-event, written from a Talon's perspective and is probably the best tale, tho I get the feeling it's referencing things I haven't read yet.

Those looking for a modern Batman story, try Batman: The Black Mirror or Batman: The Court of Owls.

X-Men Re-read: Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire

The Great X-Men Re-read

Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire

Collects: Uncanny X-Men #475-486
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker
Penciller(s): Billy Tan, Clayton Henry

In which we follow Vulcan into space after the events of Deadly Genesis, as "A brand new era for Uncanny X-Men begins here!" Apparently.

Quick Synopsis
Core Cast: Darwin, Havok, Nightcrawler, Polaris, Professor X, Rachel Summers, Warpath

The title is suitably epic but we don't quite reach the heights promised. As far as I can tell an empire rises but doesn't actually fall by the end of the arc, but that could be down to titling a 12 issue epic before the story is complete.

Vulcan heads into Shi'ar space to gain vengeance for the death of his mother. Back on earth Polaris gets fixed after Blood of Apocalypse in a few pages and Charles Xavier assembles a team comprising of Darwin, Havok, Nightcrawler, Polaris, Rachel Summers and Warpath.

This is essentially a movie-esque chase with the X-Men fighting both Vulcan and the Shi'ar and the Shi'ar fighting Vulcan and the X-Men. With this being a Shi'ar story all the usual suspects are here, Deathbird, Lillandra, Corsair (Christopher Summers, the father of Vulcan, Havok and Cyclops) and the Starjammers.

Using marriage and murder, Vulcan manipulates himself to the head of Shi'ar empire, which doesn't quite work for me, too many characters follow him because he's now the Emperor, forgetting that he's a) human and b) a gigantic pain in the ass. We see the return of D'Ken from Uncanny X-Men #107-109, amongst others. I was surprised no other writer had brought him out of his coma until now. Unfortunately it's a lackluster return.

The consequence of the story are wide reaching, D'Ken and Corsair are both killed and Vulcan is left in control of Shi'ar empire (so I guess it hasn't really fallen, just risen?). Havok, Polaris and Rachel Grey are left in space, Xavier is re-powered via the M’Kraan Crystal and Hepzibah (of the Starjammers) is stranded on Earth (not to worry she joins the core cast of Uncanny in the next collection).

Tho not a problem with this collection per se, the conflict between Havok and Vulcan fizzles and sizzles through X-Men: Emperor Vulcan and X-Men: Kingbreaker (collected as Road to War of Kings) but ultimately blows out as Vulcan is offed by someone else in War of Kings (which I don't have), which is a shame as it had the potential to be a great story which ultimately leads to Havok, Polaris and Rachel Grey being stranded in story limbo until they are brought back in X-Men Legacy: Five Miles South of the Universe.

Best Bits
The set-up for the conflict between Havok and Vulcan. Professor X taking responsibility for Vulcan and assembling a team to go into space to hunt him down.

Final Words
Bold in scope and nearly pulls it off.

Almost Epic
7 / 10

X-Men Re-read: X-Men: Deadly Genesis

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men: Deadly Genesis

Collects: X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker
Penciller(s): Trevor Hairsine

Fresh off his retcon in Captain America, that gave us the Winter Soldier, Ed Brubaker turns his hand to the events of the seminal Giant Size X-Men #1, which this cover is a homage to.

Quick Synopsis
I think Kitty said it best back in Uncanny #168:

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. At the end of House of M, a large amount of mutant energy was released and this release awoke a dormant mutant called Vulcan. Vulcan is an angry sort and goes on a revenge rampage, leading to the death of Banshee who goes out saving a passenger plane.

It turns out that Vulcan is making these attacks to draw out Professor X who has been MIA since House of M, and is revealed to be among the depowered mutants.

In the final battle, Vulcan reveals that he and three others (Sway, Darwin and Petra) were despatched by Professor X to Krakoa to rescue the original X-Men before and slightly during the events of Giant Size X-Men #1. This also wraps up the long standing mystery of the third Summers brother as it emerges that Vulcan is Gabriel Summers, brother of Cyclops and Havok.

When Vulcan is confronted by the X-Men he flees into space to take his vengeance on the Shi'ar, which leads into The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire. Darwin who also survived (and enabled Vulcan to survive when Jean Grey blasted Krakoa into space) stays around on earth and also goes into the next arc.

So why is Professor X a jerk (this time)? Well not only did he send Vulcan and the others to Krakoa, when it all went pear-shaped he simply wiped everyones mind of the incident, including making Scott forget about his brother. Angsted at Professor X's jerkery, Cyclops banishes him from the mansion.

Best Bit
Charles' face when Cyclops banishes him from the mansion or Banshee's death.

Final Words
X-Men at it's best, building on and expanding past events to build to a more interesting future.

Essential X-Men
9 / 10