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Since most of the books I get from another source are mostly X-titles I thought it would be more convenient (for me) to break the X-Titles into two seperated editions of CBCU. The first part will consist of the “B” titles, or the titles that are not currently involved in the Endangered Species storyline. If you feel that one of these titles are not “B” titles I will kindly tell you that this is my goddamn blog. Thank you.
Spoiler Alert
Catching Up – X-Titles Part 1 – The “B” Titles:
-Cable & Deadpool #’s 40-44- This is an odd run for Cable & Deadpool. Iusses #’s 40-42 deal with Cable and the X-Men fighting the Hecatomb (which runs concurrently with X-Men #’s 199-200). Deadpool goes to help Cable and his sinking island. Deadpool fights Sabretooth and Cable evacuates the whole island, except Deadpool who stays to help him. Gambit, Sunyaka and Sunfire are there and Cable does the only thing he can prevent anyone from getting the data from his future life. He detonates the island but not before getting Deadpool out of there. Yes, Cable is dead and Deadpool mourns this. The next two issues deal with a title where one half of its members is dead. Wolverine is attacking a Hydra base and this is the same one Deadpool left his friend Weasal at. Deadpool goes to save his friend and Weasal shows his true intentions while there, teleporting away all the bad guys. It was a short and sweet two-parter but I wonder where this title is headings. Deadpool team-up? I think it would sell for a while but not long-term. Still, these were 5 very good issues and Nicieza really writes Deadpool well. I haven’t read the X-Men issues this tied in with but I bet this is better than the core title.
-Exiles #’s 94-97- Exiles #94 ended an arc where the Exiles were trying to save a certain world where Invisible Woman was Madame Hydra. The universe was wiped off the mat but Reed had a device that brought all the non-Hydra people (including the Exiles) back. Heather was distraught and left. The Exiles returned, 6 months later, to an empty home. They went to another universe where Doom is the ruler and he has somehow taken away everyone’s souls to make them complacent. Longshot seems to be the only one who realizes this and doesn’t like it. Doom steals the Tallus and sends some guards to the Exiles base where Psylocke a newly arrived Ultimate Shadowcat are there. The troops overpower them but the last page has John Proudstar show up. This used to be a book I enjoyed picking up and reading a few issues of every few months but I have to say that since Claremont started writing it the book has become almost unreadable. The arcs aren’t interesting, drag on a bit too long, and just aren’t enjoyable.
-New Excalibur #’s 20-22– The Claremont Craziness continues as this time Albion shuts off all power and technology in Britain and basically takes it over. It seems that combined with Sage (as Lionheart and in his control) and other super powered people, he has a firm grasp on Britain. Excalibur and Shadow-X team up to take down Albion since Shadow-X wants revenge on Xavier’s death. Cyclops and Beast of Shadow-X are killed in action and the third issue of the run still hasn’t resolved anything. I feel like this arc is just never-ending and I think Albion is one of the most uninteresting characters ever.
-Ultimate X-Men #’s 82-85- Nightcrawler goes to the Morlocks to look for a place to live and finds he is welcome there. Cyclops has also told Toad to go over there to scope them out, so of course, in true X-fashion, a big fight ensues. The now defunct “X-Men” battle the Morlocks with Nightcrawler defeating Sunder, the Morlock leader, and becoming the new leader. While this is happening Bishop is assembling a new X-Men team since Cyclops disbanded operations of the previous one. The members include Dazzler, Storm, Wolverine, Pyro, Psylocke and Angel. They take on the Mutant Liberation Front and their leader Stryfe. They take out some Sentinels in #85 and look to stop the terrorist acts of the MLF and also stop the production of the Sentinels. They get to the place they’re made and run into Fenris. Very good and enjoyable 4 issues.
-X-Men First Class #’s 1-3, and Special #1- X-Men: First Class special was released after the original mini-series concluded but before the ongoing series began. There are three stories here, one of the X-Men investigating a mutant at a museum who looks like a gargoyle, an eccentric story inked by Mike Allred about a beat poet with the mutant ability to warp reality as well as a sweet tale of Jean Grey and Dragon Man. All the stories are short, sweet and to the point and is an enjoyable collection of the original X-team. The debut issue of the ongoing features a story of Marvel Girl hanging out with Sue Storm, so Marvel Girl can see how Sue interacts as the only female member of their team. It’s a nice story. The second two surprised me since its actually a two-parter. Mastermind (still in rock form due to the events of X-Men #11) sent the X-Men to Monster Island, where Professor X couldn’t locate them and it goes through two issues of the X-Men being lost, and thinking Xavier is sending them mental images. It was actually Mastermind but Xavier eventually found out when the X-Men would get Mastermind off his guard. Awesome stories all around.
-The Bottom Line- Overall, some awesome stuff coming from the “B” titles. Except for the Claremont stuff (sorry Chris) everything was very enjoyable and recommended. I didn’t care for the Exiles or New Excalibur as the stories were droll and dragged. First Class was awesome, Cable and Deadpool very good and Ultimate X-Men was solid.
Up next, the core X-title, the titles that Endangered Species runs through.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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