Uncanny X-Men # 19 - Where is Dazzler?

Dazzler's been missing in action for quite some time now being replaced by Mystique to further her agenda against the human race. But the pressing concern most X-Fans are asking is "Where is Dazzler". The preview for Uncanny X-Men # 19 gives us an idea.

SOLICIT:   The next stage in humankind is here, and the Uncanny X-Men are leading the way! With original X-Man Cyclops at the revolution's helm, Emma Frost, Magik and a new generation of mutants defend and educate all homo-superior as warriors of the atom!

But after relentless persecution from a society that fears and hates them, the Uncanny X-Men are going on the offensive! Their target? The international spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D! However, as Cyclops' team fights to save their species, are they only digging themselves into a deeper and more dangerous hole?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

 

And we all have to thank Comicvine.com for sharing this first. 

So there we go, apparently, Mystique's gotten hold of poor Alison Blaire and is masquerading as the former in order to do whatever the hell she wants. Additional comment here, I kinda hate the way Chris Bachalo does Sabretooth. The guy's a killer and yet he looks like a good guy. 

The book comes out March 19, 2014.

SPOILERS: Who's Back from the Dead in All New X-Men # 23

Somebody yet again returns from the dead in ALL NEW X-MEN # 23 by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen. Part 3 of Trial of Jean Grey! 

In this issue, more of Jean Grey in the custody of the Shiar empire, more witty banter between the All New X-Men and the Guardians of the Galaxy and a special surprise appearance by...

Yes, Corsair is back from the dead. Oh and the original cast of the Starjammers are back too including Hepzibah who dropped out of the X-Books post Messiah CompleX

The Entire 60 Plus Years of X-Men Continuity in One Panel

History lesson time! The X-Men has been around for 50 years or so but in their continuity it must've been like 10 to 15 years have passed (this is only a rough estimate).

Credits: Marvel Comics

So all of the things that have happened to the original five as well as the rest of the team gets propped into a chalkboard and you don't expect this fanboy to go bananas over it? And seeing how the Dark Phoenix saga was just relegated to a box and a probably sarcastic comment, it's fairly easy to see why it even fit in a board in the first place. 

Now let me just say goodbye to all the stuff I have planned for today while I go over this panel piece by piece (and neglecting all 'em mathematical formulas and equations). 

Guardians of the Galaxy Recruits Agent Venom and Captain Marvel

Flash is going to space... well not Flash Gordon but rather Eugene "Flash" Thompson aka Agent Venom or simply Venom. 

Oh and Flash isn't the only new member for the team, Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers will be joining for the ride. 

This new iteration of the team will be coming out for Free Comic Book Day 2014. The book will be written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Nick Bradshaw. There'll be a backup story written by Dan Slott (Superior Spider-Man) and Giuseppe Camuncoli. 

All New X-Men # 17 Spoilers

Check out the major spoilers for All New X-Men # 17; still part of the X-MEN: BATTLE OF THE ATOM

Oh by the way this was written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Stuart Immonen.

1. Alison Blaire aka Dazzler becomes the President of the United States in the future

2. She was even backed by the future X-Men

Which is very cool and very un-X-Men like especially since they're NOT into that kind of politics.

3. Meet the Future X-Men

So who do we have:

• a Nick Fury-esque Daisy Johnson (or Maria Hill)
• Vision
• a wheelchaired Captain America
• a woman who looks like Storm
• moustachio Colossus
• Kate Pryde
• Charles Xavier's grandson
• IceMan (or is it IceMage)
• Xorn Jean
• Beast
• A guy who looks like Daimon Helstrom
• Molly Hayes
• Quintin Quire as the Phoenix
• someone who looks like Peter Wisdom
• A new Sorcerer Supreme who also looks like Cloak
• an old Tempus
• Iron Man/ Iron lad
• Jubilee who now goes by Wolverine
• Kubark aka Kid Gladiator

4. President Dazzler dies



I can't help but remember "X-Men: The End" where Kitty Pryde wins the elections and becomes the POTUS or was that a U.S. Senator??? Anyway at least Kitty didn't bite the bullet in that story. Still there was a massive bodycount in the first act. And there was no hellfire involved.

5. after the assassination, there's also a demonic invasion in front of the White House...

That does not look pretty

6. Then we meet the surviving X-Men

Or rather Magik, O5 Beast and O5 Iceman meet the future X-Men.

7. Why is Moustachio Colossus carrying Magik's soulsword?

Apparently before Magik "disappeared" she gave her older brother that badass soulsword. Oh and it's pretty nice to see the brother and sister actually look happy to see each other. They haven't been friendly with each other ever since AVX and AVX Consequences.

8. Hank McCoy 'snaps'



After years of death and hatred, future Hank McCoy finally calls it quits with Xavier's dream and decides that it's time to take matters into his own hands (again). There's also a poignant and quiet moment in this part of the issue where Colossus and Iceman just look at a very depressed Beast at ground zero...



9. I love the new Jean Grey School in the future



Can I enroll? Because I really want to enroll in a school with a building that looks like a Shiar battleship docked in the school grounds.

10. The future X-Men vote either to stay in the future or fight McCoy's wayward X-Men?

Guess it looks like 'Wolverine' got outvoted.

Remarks:

I love that they managed to squeeze in this much backstory in a single issue. I keep saying that X-Men: Battle of the Atom is a very underrated story and this issue proves my point. The pacing is still good and though people might be confused, the loyal X-Fan would just appreciate everything that's been poured into this issue.

Even better is the fact that it whet's our appetite for all things coming from this future. What confuses me however is how far in the future this is. And where is Marvel's mutant poster boy Wolverine in all this. In fact, where the hell is baby Shogo, you know, Jubilee's 'son'.

Argh. So many questions, too little pages. Please churn out more stuff for BotA. Oh and I know it's too late Marvel but could you exclude Brian Wood's X-Men from all this? Thanks.

Get your copies of ALL NEW X-MEN # 17 from your leading LCS (Comic Quest, Comic Odyssey, Druid's Keep, Filbars)

New Marvel Now Teasers Point to the TRIAL OF JEAN GREY

Two new Marvel Now 2 teasers seems to point out that the rumored Guardians of the Galaxy / X-Men crossover is good to go. 

The aforementioned crossover will be entitled "Trial of Jean Grey" and will most likely rely on whatever the heck happens in "X-Men: Battle of the Atom". 

Personally I don't think that this is going to be just a two-issue thing. Knowing how Bendis wants to drag stuff around and fill issues with "talkies" this could go for around two issues of All New X-Men and two issues for GOTG with Stuart Immonen and Sara Picheli respectively.

X-MEN: BATTLE OF THE ATOM # 1 Spoiler

So what's the main gist of this new X-Over "X-MEN: BATTLE OF THE ATOM"? Apparently it has something to do with Cyclops. Both of them.

Peel off the high concept battles of multiple X-Men teams, this is basically an in-continuity AGE OF APOCALYPSE but where AOA was a world without Charles Xavier, this crossover ells the story of a world without Cyclops leading the X-Men.

That would mean there's no Cyclops during stuff like Messiah Complex and Second Coming or even Schism and AVX. 

The whole thing starts with O5 Cyclops getting critically injured during a supposed recon mission with the remaining members of the team plus Kitty Pryde. That's of course after old Cyclops' Uncanny team appears out of nowhere for a well meaning assist against Sentinels.



Good thing for the fledgling teen team, their Uncanny counterparts brought along a healer...



Though no direct consequences appeared, the whole death and rebirth of Cyclops once again injured the timeline causing ripple effects plus it creeped out both versions of Scott Summers. Oh and can somebody give these guys a copy of BACK TO THE FUTURE.

Also does this mean that it's back to the Scott and Jean pairing and not that Hank-Jean pairing that was previously revealed a few weeks back.



The issue also ends with the appearance of a group of X-Men from the future:

which includes Deadpool, Beast, Molly from the Runaways, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Xorn and Charles Xavier's grandson. 

X-Men: Battle of the Atom # 1 is already out in stores now. It's written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Frank Cho.

UNCANNY X-MEN # 11 Spoilers

Spoilers for UNCANNY X-MEN # 11 by Brian Michael Bendis and art by Frazer Irving

I take it back, Frazer Irving's art is gorgeous when you give it the right theme and guidance and context. I guess his art was really just an ill-fit for the Dormammu story arc.

In this issue Team Cyclops face off against a new and deadlier kind of Sentinel...

The X-Men think that it was sent by SHIELD but SHIELD is clueless. They turn to Dazzler (Alison Blaire) who has currently infiltrated Madripoor (and is currently knocked out thanks to Mystique).

Magneto ends the fight with the mystery Sentinel (with broken powers and all). Sentinel disintegrates and we find who the mastermind is...

Looks familiar? Should be, Bendis admits that this was THIS guy:

UNCANNY X-MEN # 11 is out now!

ALL NEW X-MEN # 15 Review

It's been a while since we got a 'one and done' issue of ALL NEW X-MEN and this week's issue (ALL NEW X-MEN # 15) fills that particular void! Special thanks to COMICX HUB and CASTLE GEEK!

Stuart Immonen is out for this issue but taking over for the meantime is David LaFuente who did extraordinarily well in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Getting him for this issue was a stellar idea as the outcome rocked.

GOOD

- The art was pretty solid and fit like a glove. Teen angst? LaFuente nails it. Teen romance? Check. A surprise hookup? Check, check, check. While cartoony in nature, it still looks good. Case in point, Scott's sheepish grin and Bobby's awkward reaction when they see older Iceman making out with Kitty.

- The issue did not mack on Wolverine. In fact, writer Bendis turns Logan into a comedic device. Something I haven't seen for quite some time since Marvel loves the feral Canadian so much.

- I'm taking a limb in saying that we haven't had a decent ICEMAN/CYCLOPS issue in years; let alone their teenage counterparts. So seeing these two go to town, meet fine young women and save the day all in one sitting is a nice nod to old-school and nu-school X-Men fans.

- I'm interested in seeing more interaction between Marvel Girl (Rachel Summers) and the teenage version of JEAN GREY (Rachel's mom). Those pages were funny and curiosity raising; mostly because we never get to know what they 'thought' about.

BAD

- Depending on your level of involvement you'll be pleasantly surprised or downright dismayed with the way things panned out in this issue. Here's a hint, the cover is only half lying.

- This issue was so good that it just felt bad that it had to end.

- Dazzler making an appearance here is really unnecessary. Sure it could be a plot point for September's X-MEN: BATTLE OF THE ATOM but it feels really contrived and forced even if she just makes a one-panel appearance.

- I find it idiotic that the teen X-Men are still unaware of how dangerous it is to waltz out of the school. I'm surprised that both Bobby and Scott wasn't picked up by SHIELD the moment they 'hung out' and talked to normal kids or when they foiled that crime. Weird.

- No action all talk. Sure it's a Bendis book so it's a given but still. A little bit of action couldn't kill him right?

VERDICT

9.5/10

Despite all those minor and one major BAD POINTs I'm recommending ALL NEW X-MEN # 15. It'll be worth your money (well if you're willing to spend 200 bucks on a character driven book anyway). The book is available at all CASTLE GEEK branches (Glorietta, The Collective and soon in Greenhills) or online thru COMICX HUB (Order HERE).

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY # 5 Spoiler Review

Here's my review for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy # 5 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sarah Pichelli courtesy of course by Comicx Hub and Castle Geek.

Oh and it's spoiler heavy...

So this issue is an important issue because this is the second appearance of Angela in the Marvel 616 Universe. Other than that it also picks up what happens to this GOTG team after their fight, abduction and subsequent escape from the Badoon. 

All right I'm going to go out on a limb here and tell you as early as now - don't expect too much on Angela because while we get to see her vent and act all confused, she's hardly the POV character for the issue. That distinction belongs once again to Peter Quill aka Star Lord. And it's a smart move on Bendis' part.

The main drive relies on Peter Quill's solo adventure in a different part of the galaxy looking for his former teammate Mantis who has now chosen a quiet life. The reason for this is to make sense out of the recent 'flood of memory' that Quill got zapped with after the events of AGE OF ULTRON.

Tony Stark and Rocket Raccoon share some great page time with the former getting schooled by the latter. Some of the dialogue here is just comedy gold and the sheer situation that Stark is finding himself in is just hilarious such as his awkwardness with teammate Gamorra or when he tries to quote Star Trek...

While the Quill side of things do not crossover with Angela's story it does hint to something bigger and more destructive tying the book neatly to where Marvel is going in the next couple of months (hint: it's called INFINITY). That part is what really makes this book a nice find. It's going on two separate fronts, has its own spills and tumbles but still makes for a great issue.

Ms. Pichelli's art here was exceptional. It's gorgeous to look at and it's on the same level as Steve McNiven but it's distinctly hers. Also I'm not sure if it's just really the material she's handling but it's so far away from her previous work in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Really damn good.

And that ending?

I must say this.... Something wicked this way comes.

VERDICT: 9/10

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY # 5 is available now at CASTLE GEEK and COMICX HUB (order HERE). Also check out the variant covers also available online (Comicx Hub also has a variant sale)