Weapon X Hardcover

TITLE-Weapon X

SOURCE-Marvel Hardcover

Months ago a buddy gave this to me. He was heading off to start his wrestling training and gave it to me right before he left. Sure I had read Weapon X forever ago when it was coming out in MCP.

That night I sat at the bar listened to a podcast and read the first half. Realizing I hadn't read this story in a long time. Then not that long ago had to get the main car's oil so grabbed this hardcover and a few TPB. Knowing sometimes you are there 2 hours.

So back when this was coming out,every 2 weeks in Marvel Comics Presents,it was touted as Wolverine's origin. And it is and isn't. 

Yes we learn how and where Wolverine got the adamantium bonded to his bones. Saw it happen. 

But the thing is since this we have been told Logan has memory implants. Was this just another of those? Is so oh well this is still a great story. 

Barry Windor Smith handles the story and art. Some of his best in my eyes since his Conan run. The colors really make this stand out.

Reading it every 2 weeks in 8 page chunks and now reading it all in one big book I saw not really any changes in how I digested the story.

Now yea I do wonder who the Professor was answering to. Heard back then it was suppose to be Apocolypse. I have no clue if this has been revealed.

Looked and this Hardcover is out of print and a more expensive version is the current in print version. I prefer the cover on this one.

Weapon X is not perfect but still worth reading if you have any interest in X-men at their peak.

Weapon X gets a A.

 

Uncanny X-men Annual 11

Title-Uncanny X-men Annual #11

Every few weeks I will goto my local comic shop and dig through the cheap bins. Usually just grabbing various dead universe stuff to complete my collections. Last trip I found a copy of one of my favorite one in done X-men stories.

This annual came out back in 1987. I can clearly remember grabbing a copy off the spinner rack at K&B drugs. I had already been subscribing to Uncanny X-men for a few years by then. But the subscription didnt include the annuals. Underneath that well done cover is a great story written by Chris Claremont,pencils by the great Alan Davis and inks by Paul Neary.

The story starts off with a very drunk Wolverine walking back to the X-mansion. It is odd cause of Wolvie's healing factor it takes a huge amount of booze to get Wolvie drunk. Wolvie is so loud that he wakes up the rest of the people in the mansion. Which causes the X-men,plus Captain Britain,Megan and Psylocke to greet Wolvie at the front door.

While Wolverine goes up to his room we get treated to Captain Britain,Megan and Psylocke talking in the kitchen. Seems Psylocke not so sure she is fitting in with the X-men.  But up in Wolvie's room,after a long shower,we find out why Wolverine is drunk. This is the anniversary of Wolvie's wedding to Mariko that didn't happen.

Before we can get more from this very very saddened Wolverine the mansion is attacked. By a being calling himself the Horde. Horde is uber powerful. And over the course of the issue manages to kill/take out all of the X-men besides Wolverine.

At the end we get shown how powerful Wolvie's healing factor actually is. And I was very impressed by this the first time I read it.

As I had said before to me Uncanny X-men peaked with issue 200 and went downhill fast. I have sold off most of my X-men collection. Which at one time went from issue 100 to issue 300. But this annual is one of the few issues from that run that I enjoy enough to own. Sure I got it in one of the many Marvel Essential X-men trades,but that is b/w.

If you enjoy the X-men track down this annual. While there is a few small parts that won't make much sense unless you have read all the issues from this era,outside of those tiny parts the rest of the story is written to be read by people with very little prior knowledge of the X-men.

Uncanny X-men Annual #11 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 282 What If? Volume 02 #16

TITLE-What If volume 02 #16
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Ahh I so love What If. So it is a title I will grab anytime I find issues for cheap. Got this one at the local comic shop.It had been put into the cheap bins. So while digging through stacks of mid 90s glut stuff I found not only this issue but a small stack of Conan I didn't own.

The story starts off back during Uncanny X-men #137. While the X-men are fighting the Imperial Guard,to decide to fate of Jean "Phoenix" Grey. This happens on the part of the moon that the Watcher lives in. So during that original story Wolverine fell into a dimensional door and thanks to the Watcher breaking his code,Wolvie made it back and managed to get Jean back in charge of her body long enough for her to kill herself.

But in another world,Wolverine fell through a door on the moon and ended up back in the time of Conan the Barbarian. So that is the premise for this issue.

Wolvie and Conan of course meet up and have a battle,can't have some Marvel heroes meet up for the first time without them fighting can we?

After the battle Wolvie joins up with Conan and Red Sonja and they have an adventure. A pretty decent one to be honest.

Then at the end of the adventure Conan falls into a wizard's pool,which transports him back to the modern day,well the modern day of Uncanny #137,and since Wolvie isn't there to get Jean to take control of her body from the Phoenix Force,well Jean goes full on Phoenix Force and it looks like that world is doomed.

I have never heard of any of the creative team. But from what I have heard What If was used a bunch of the time as tryouts for new talent.Got Glenn Herdling doing the story.Gary Kwapisz on pencils. Ian Akin on inks. Yep no one I have heard of before.

What If volume 02 #16 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 243 Old Man Logan #10

TITLE-Old Man Logan #10
PUBLISHER-Marvel

So in the present Logan is stuck in the bottom of a deep well. One one of the Silent Order,who are monks not Ninjas like I said before,armed with a bow and arrows at the top.

In the present we get Logan making his way to the top of the well. Where as in the past,which is the future for us but Logan's past,him and Maureen get captured by the Silent Order. And Logan reveals some of his powers to Maureen.

This is one of the best Marvel titles I have read in a very long time. Lemire has so far managed to stay true to the original Old Man Logan story,while filling in gaps.

Old Man Logan #10 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 242 Old Man Logan #09

TITLE-Old Man Logan #09
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Logan is using the old Patch alias and trying to find Lady Deathstrike. He gets double crossed and ends up massacring a huge amount of guys.He does get a clue as to where Deathstrike might be hiding and heads to what  turns out to be a ghost village.

Then spread through out the issue we get glimpses in Logan's past. Seems while on the run years ago he ended up in Japan. In a ghost town and ran into an order of what I assume are ninjas. Of course the same thing happens in the present day part of the comic.

Lemire has managed to keep this title interesting for 9 issues so far. I am hoping he has a long run that stays of this quality.

Old Man Logan #09 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 219 Old Man Logan #08

TITLE-Old Man Logan #08
PUBLISHER-Marvel

This ended up being a nice change of pace issue. Logan still thinks the villain uprising is gonna happen. With this getting worst at night. So Jeanie,I am guessing this is a Jean Grey from the past,is trying to cheer Logan up.

The entire issue is the two of them visiting various sites of battles during the uprising.So Jeanie can show him that it isn't going to happen. While doing this we get lots of details,most of which never before revealed,of how the final battle between the villains and the heroes went.

Lemire keeps writing fun stories. The art team keeps the book looking dark and moody.But also never making it look muddy.

Old Man Logan #08 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 199 Old Man Logan #06

TITLE-OLd Man Logan #06
PUBLISHER-Marvel

Logan is living in the far north cut off town in Canada. So he can keep an eye on his future wife.

Then the Reavers attack. Fuck yeah I have always loved the Reavers.

The art is damn good. Lemire writes a story that makes me want to keep reading.

Old Man Logan #06 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 188 Spiderman versus Wolverine

TITLE-Spiderman Versus Wolverine
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

It is odd what things will trigger forgotten memories.After getting about 10 pages into this comic all of the sudden I rememebered not only where I bought it. But my first time reading it.

It was 87 and while I was going to the comic shop in Biloxi once a month,I still got most of my comics at K&B Drugs in Pascagoula MS.

It was the best store in the area for comics. They not only had 2 spinner racks. But 2 other racks hanging on the walls.Plus they seemed to carry all the magazine sized comics.

I clearly remember buying this at K&B,and thinking $2.50 was a stupid high price but it had Wolverine fighting Spiderman so I had to read it. Then after leaving the drug store I went straight to Burger King grabbed something to eat and read the comic while eating.

Written by Christopher Priest,back when he was still Jim Owsley,and with Mark Bright doing the pencils and the great Al Williamson on inks. We get a bit of history on Wolverine.Someone ,at the time thought to be minor,in Spidey's cast dies. And there is a great fight in a graveyard between Spidey and Wolverine.

Looking back on it now while it was good no way was it worth $2.50 back then. And IIRC this comic quickly went up in price. Many a cons I would see it as a $10 wall book. But with some digging you can find a reader copy for a buck or 2 tops. Which is it totally worth.

Spiderman vs Wolverine gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 127 Old Man Logan Vol 02 #03

TITLE-Old Man Logan Volume 2 #03
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

So Logan ends up teaming up with the other Hawkeye,the female that I think was part of Young Avengers. And she uses her SHIELD access to find out where Mysterio might be.

They arrived and it is kind of obvious that Mysterio is long gone. But Logan goes nuts on some low level street ruffians that are there.Kate aka Hawkeye stops him and starts pointing out all the ways this time is from what he knows happened in this time. I am guessing that Marvel has more than one Earth. And our titular hero is from a different one from what I am just gonna call the Marvel Earth 616.

But the ending of this issue is what makes it. Old Man Logan is running from Kate and runs into Old Man Steve Rogers.

Old Man Logan Vol 02 #03 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 126 Old Man Logan Vol 02 #02

TITLE-Old Man Logan Volume 2 #02
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

Besides the last few pages this entire issue is either focusing on Logan's fight with the current Hulk. Or a flashback to when the Hulk's descendents were terrorizing Logan's neighbors.

Lemire is putting out a good story and the artwork is damn good. Even without me reading much Marvel until a month or so ago,I kind of knew that the current Hulk wasn't the Hulk Logan was after.

Old Man Logan Vol 02 #02 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 125 Old Man Logan volume 2 #01

TITLE-Old Man Logan Volume 2 #01
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

I had read the first few issues of the Bendis written first volume of this series and enjoyed them.Ended up with a backlog of this series so while waiting on a file to process I started with the first issue of the new volume.Instead of Bendis ,now Jeff Lemire is writing it.I can not remember who did the art on the first volume,but from my memory it looked similar.Andrea Sorrentino is credited as artist.

The so called Old Man Logan from series from a few years ago is now in the modern 2015 Marvel universe.And he quickly realizes if he kills certain people in this time his future might not happen. So all the people that stepped all over Logan before he lost everything,he is paying them a visit.

Yeah this has me enough that I am gonna read at least the first year of it. And of course I love the story ending DKR homage.

Old Man Logan volume 2 #01 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 071 Wolverine Saga

TITLE-Wolverine Saga
PUBLISHER-Marvel

I grabbed this back in 2009 from 5 Alarm Comics. At the time,and hell they might still be doing  it,Marvel would put out these Saga books to give people a good capsule history of whoever.

By 2009 I hadn't read much from Marvel and outside of maybe 5 or so issues read nothing from the X-titles. So really almost 75% of the stuff in this comic I had never read. I am thinking maybe this came out when the first solo Wolverine film was hitting theaters. As a kind of way to catch fans of the films that are wanting to get into comics. Plus it was free. Hell that is a major reason why I grabbed it. I opened it up saw there was lots of text to read. And it kind of reminded me of this 3 issue perfect bound mini series on Wolverine Marvel did back in the early 90s.

I really have no clue how hard it would be to find a copy of this now. But I doubt it would cost more than 2 bucks.And even with my disinterest in post 92ish Marvel I found Wolverine Saga to be a fun read. And a cheap and quick way for me to fill in lots of gaps in my knowledge of Logan.

Wolverine Saga gets a buy.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 078 Essential X-men volume 2

TITLE-Essential X-men Volume 2
AUTHOR-Chris Claremont&John Byrne
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-$12

From when I was about 5 until I was 14 the X-men was my favorite comic. Back in 2008 I was on Ebay looking for some cheap comic trades. Found the first volume of the Essential X-men run. After reading it I remembered how much I loved the Claremont era of Uncanny X-men. So two times a year I end up ordering a volume of this series of trades. Usually getting them from Instocktrades.

This volume starts off with a 2 part story where the X-men are in Canada and end up fighting Alpha Flight. And while this is a great pair of stories,there is 2 other storylines in this trade that are much better known. First off is the Dark Phoenix Saga. Where Jean Grey,now possessed by the Phoenix Force,turns evil and over the course of 10 or so issues ends up becoming such a threat the Shiar Empire steps in and wants to kill Jean to protect the universe. The old trade of this storyline was the very first comic trade I ever got. And it is great story. By this time John Byrne's art was at it's peak. And Claremont was also at his peak.

The other well known storyline pretty much ends this trade. And that is the Days of Future Past two issue long story. Thanks to the most recent X-men film this story is well known even with non-comic fans.It starts off in a dark future. Where mutant hunting robots have taken over. There is very few of the X-men left alive. And Kitty Pryde manages to send her mind back into the body of her teenage self. Hoping she can prevent the murder that caused this dark future to happen.

The other stories in the trade are good.Really from issue 100 of Uncanny X-men until about 200 there wasn't a bad story.

Essential X-men volume 2 gets a 4 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 065 The Marvel Encyclopedia

TITLE-Marvel Encyclopedia
AUTHOR-Various
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-X-mas Gift

Back almost a decade ago I got this along with the DC Encyclopedia for X-mas. If you remember the old Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe series,this is a mass market version of that.

From what I remember,I really haven't read much from Marvel since the late 90s,it seems to be fairly accurate.And most of the time the artwork is pretty good.The selection of heroes is well done. You get all the big names,plus a decent amount of lesser known heroes.

I think there is a newer version out now. So finding this one cheap shouldn't be hard.

The Marvel Encyclopedia gets 4.11 outta 5.

3 toys from the junk box 04/17/2015

We all remember the machines at the front of almost every store in the 70s and 80s. You threw in some change and got candy or even better a small toy.Now sure the prices of the stuff has went up. But so has the variety and quality of the toys. And Fred's in town has the best machines. There has been more than a few times I have stopped there just to use the machines. Hell I save up my quarters and hit it once a month at least. One time was in there and they had these great little Marvel Superhero toys. See Wolverine's head? It comes apart and that is where the rest of his body was stored. I think this was 50 cents. And really wish I had had more change on me that day.

Yeah I own an original She Ra.As a kid I hated this toyline.Mostly because when it started the cartoon replaced Masters of the Universe.Then years later I found one at a thrift store. Grabbed her to go on display with the handful of MOTU figures I had held onto. That is the figure pictured above. Had this one since sometime in the mid 90s. 96 I would guess. At one time I had found her sword at another store. But it got lost last time I moved. I really need to get a tiny brush and do something with her hair. But I know I would look dumb as fuck brushing out a 30 year old toys hair. For the time this was a pretty well made figure. The paintjob was good,as you can see mine has some scrapes.The sculpting is decent. And it's action feature,you pull her to one side and she punches,isn't bad.

I have been a Mark Henry fan since he first showed up in the WWF what close to 20 years ago. Got this Slam City toy in a two pack with Brock Lesnar and a chair. The paint and sculpting is well done. All the Slam City toys look great. His only articulation is at the shoulders. But like all other Slam City figures his arms are that stretchy rubber like stuff. I wish I could find another one. So I could add him to the dash of my car. I wonder if they made a Slam City Mark Henry in the penguin outfit he wore in the cartoon?

Wolverine and the X-men Volume 2 Deadly Enemies

Prior to watching this DVD I had seen a few random episodes of this ,the newest cartoon based on the X-men franchise. This DVD contains 5 episodes. The stand outs are the first one on the disc,which has Storm now back in Africa. Back in her role as weather Goddess. She ends up getting possessed by the Shadow King. And starts using her weather control powers to devastate Africa. The X-men team comes in and thanks to Emma Frost manages to get the Shadow King outta Storm's mind. And Storm stops the massive deadly weather she has started. This is also the episode were Storm rejoins the X-men. The next episode is all about how now that mutants are public knowledge and being hunted down by the government, a lot of them are booking passage on various cargo ships to Genosha. Genosha is an island that is ruled by Magneto that is a safe place for all of mutant kind. Nightcrawler stows away on a ship and before they make it to Genosha,the ship is attacked by pirates. Who seem to be lead by Spiral,who has the Reavers as her muscle. It seems they are attacking these ships bound to Genosha,and taking captive the more powerful of the mutants aboard to be used in a kinda of "Gladiator" challenge to the death. After they have attacked and disabled the ship that Nightcrawler is on,and taken the mutants they wanted. Nightcrawler uses the young mutant kids that are left to pursue Spiral's band of pirates.And they manage to take down Spiral and the Reavers and sink their pirate ship. The X-men arrive after the fact and Nightcrawler rejoins the team. Then we get a coda to the story were it is revealed that Spiral is working for Mojo. And I get a strong feeling that this will lead to more story lines either later this season or in the next season. Then you have what I consider one of the best animated things to ever come outta Marvel comics. The episode starts out with Wolverine in the city being chased by the government's special anti-mutant team AKA MRD. Wolvie is heavily out numbered but then a huge helicopter lands and Nick Fury of Shield sends the MRD out,and ask to speak with Wolverine. It seems the Hulk is up in the Canadian Rockies,He is very mad and has already destroyed 3 cities and will soon cross the border over into the USA. Wolverine at first doesn't want to go on this mission,but Fury blackmails him,by telling him the Shield has info on all the X-men that he is more than happy to turn over to the MRD. So Wolvie agrees to go try to stop the Hulk. He is dropped off in the wilderness of Canada. And soon realizes that Fury hasn't given him all the facts. It seems that a hiker up in this area has gotten the curse of the Wendigo. Which turns a normal human into a huge white version of a Sasquatch. Wolvie manages to track down Hulk and by a knockout gas grenade to the mouth,gets the Hulk to turn back into Bruce Banner. While they are regrouping in a cave,Banner reveals that he was working with Shield ,and was gonna use one of the various chemicals that he has used unsuccessfully to cure him from being the Hulk,and Shield thinks this formula will cure the man who has the curse of the wendigo. Banner and Wolverine are on their way to the crashed helicopter that has the cure in it,when they are attacked by about 5 or 6 wendigos. It seems when the first wendigo bites someone he transfers the curse to the victim. After a long battle Wolverine and Banner manage to get some darts that have the cure inside them and turn all the Wendigos back to their human forms. But Wolverine finds a Shield emblem on one of the former Wendigos. So when Fury shows back up to take Wolvie and Banner back to America,Wolverine reveals that he has found out that Nick Fury and Shield are behind the first Shield agent becoming a wendigo. This pisses Wolverine off,so he goes and hits Banner with a massive sucker punch. and leaves. Of course the sucker punch gets Banner angry and Fury and his agents are left with a massively pissed off Hulk to deal with. After watching all the episodes on this DVD I have found that the show is well written and has very good animation. I plan on getting all the other episodes that have gotten a DVD release. And watching the second season when Nicktoons Network finally airs it. Wolverine and the X-men Volume 2 earns a A-.