Shorts SHORT Review: Worst X-Man Ever

X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever

Written by Max Bemis
Illustrated by Michael Walsh

Published by MARVEL

 

When thinking of Marvel the first thing that comes to mind is X-Men, then Spider-Man, but first (or forth) X-Men (or a specific X-Man [hairy, short, has knives in his arms]). This is more of a story about what it would be like if you were plucked out of your life and placed into this MARVELous new world. Through years future & past, the spectacle of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters has been a haven for mutants of any age. And with a community of empowered and powerful beings there’s always a chance that bad luck will arise within this fellowship. Bailey (our title holder for “Worst X-Man”) might just be the most unlucky mutant to walk the Earth, since his power is, well, it’s a surprise. Nothing all that special, like our main character, but it’s one thing that keeps the plot rolling in the direction that it’s in. Since everyone within the mini-series knows that he’s capable of doing something that is most dangerous and hard to control. There’s a lot of mutants out there that have time to play with their inherent genetic skills, but not all mutants have that luxury and that’s kind of the point of this whole tale. Let’s take a moment from this book, so I’m talking to you, yeah, the reader of this review, yep you, you have a chance to use your superpower, just once, for one time only, how will you use it and what would you do? That’s the simple question posed within this story and one that gradually Bailey concludes. Bailey is the one that walks us through his life, nothing really uncanny or astonishing, but it’s him, just an average teenager doing average teenager things (the opposite of xtreme). With all the amazing teams, adventures, and powers that the mighty Marvel mutants have, there’s not too many slice of life stories. Even another Marvel favorite, Spider-Man, has some downtime with his City and cast of characters, away from all the drama and villains. It’s nice to sometimes take a break from making a better tomorrow for mutant-kind and just seeing someone’s life who went to Xavier’s school, since most get a one bedroom apartment six feet in the dirt. Bailey gives us many details of his life, makes us aware of things that were plots happening back in the day to other X-Men teens, and he doesn’t leave out the awkward parts. I feel that’s the linchpin for all of this, if this was a retelling from an older Bailey it would have done better, I’m getting ahead of myself. The fifth issue (which is my favorite) the story felt right, the pacing, the dialogue, the plot, the characters just clicked into place, then boom it was done. What was different between the other issues was this is an older Bailey. There was a time skip, a pause, in the life of Bailey, which I really enjoyed, for a second we caught up to him and where he’s currently at in his life. Just gonna break in here and talk about the accompanying illustrations by Micheal Walsh, as the visual storyteller. His work makes for a gorgeous presentation, that was motivating, to see what he had in store for the next issue, since I was enamored with the backgrounds to the costumes to the character designs, everything was a delight. Back to what I was saying before. This was a nice jump and the documentary motif is perfect, overused, but for this series fits just so well. I would have liked it to be placed throughout the other four issues. Pretty much, it would be like a coming of age TV show where the older version of Bailey taking the role of narrator, but also blurring the lines between who’s speaking so a lot of the fourth wall breaking younger Bailey does make more sense. There was beautiful moments of satirical commentary on the X-Men publication as a whole that I feel fell flat, since how would this younger character know, it was good, but alien within the plot.

For what it’s worth this isn’t a series for someone new to X-Men, not someone fresh from a movie, nor even one of the many TV shows, this is a comic for comic X-Men fans. Not to say someone without decades of consumption wouldn’t enjoy it, but it’s not written for those people. In short, it’s a love letter to a never ending series that will reinvent it’s self, it’s characters, it’s team for decades beyond us all. There are very few Slice of Life X-Men stories out there, and this is one of the best, since this is a personal journey with no real destination, at least no desired finale, which makes Bailey’s story a good limited series.

I trust you enjoyed the inspection, thank you for reading.
Support the creators, check out your local library, and contribute to community comic & book shops.
If you want to stay up to date on my reviews, be here next year.
Keep well and Stay well.

Shorts SHORT Review: Heroes At Home

 Heroes At Home

Written by Zeb Wells
Illustrated by Gurihiru
Published by MARVEL
Collection Editor is Jennifer Grünwald
Book Design by Jay Bowen

This is the last day of the year, the very last day (all the way to the witching hour), the last time I have to write anything before this damned year is gone, forever gone, though never forgotten. I’m writing, editing, and reading this feature all within the wee hours of the morning to the dwindling hours of the evening. Still this year has had a lot of thing happen, throughout the majority of it all, but one thing that hasn’t really happened is inaction. No, I’m not talking about the Kevin Smith toyline, no, it’s staying at home (or going out as little as possible) to reduce the spread of infection. Germs and Viruses are something that we can’t protect ourselves from, even in a suit of armor or with a really sharp sword, though a mask can help. And with Superheroes being the forerunners on mask wearing MARVEL stepped forward and wanted to show what the inaction lives of some of their most popular action heroes could be doing.

 

Let’s talk about the cover and this short all at the same time, since originally this whole book was just covers for issues that came out within 2020 as an alternate to the regular series (except for two). That’s always a hard thing with writing and drawing, if something huge happens within reality your fictional world may have to change. Lucky for most comics the events are happening within a year or so ago, so everything hasn’t really caught up with them just yet (fictitiously speaking), still that little bit of excusable explanation of why no one is wearing masks except for the super in the room is going to fade fast. Since (again) this is the end of the year, the very last day th— okay, so each “chapter” (I’m gonna use the term loosely) is a different hero story of inaction. Like any book they give illusion that these eight “chapters” are going to be within the book from the cover. It’s a fairly simple cover, of a wall, like any brick wall of an apartment building (especially in New York City), so one window for each apartment. I guess you could consider this a ‘What if?’ story since they all (assumingly) live under the same roof. Anyhow, the cover gives a bit of personification to each character, showing what each would be doing if given the chance to rest and live within the moment. I really don’t want to go into much detail, since the whole book is nine panels each “chapter”, just enough to fit on a cover page grid three by three. I’m gonna list my synopses of each character’s story in order of appearance (also the issue the “chapter” is from).

Spider-Man: The Amazing Baking Adventures of our webbed culinary crusader! [Amazing Spider-Man #48]
Black Panther: Obstacles can be a four-course meal. [Avengers #36]
Captain America: Dishes to discus, freedom to feast. [Captain America #23]
Captain Marvel: Conversations from Skrull to Kree. [Captain Marvel #21]
Hulk: If you’re happy and you know it, make a sign. [Immortal Hulk #37]
Thor: Precarious perils of hair removal! [Original]
Venom: When life is without, make do with what life gives you. [Original]
Wolverine: Mosaics of friends, or The best at what he does (which is puzzles). [Wolverine #5]

[Make sure to look for all the hiding spots of Jeff the Land Shark]

And since we're diving into the pages, Gurihiru brings a depiction for each character that illuminates aspects of each hero. Spider-Man with his thin and youthful appearance, Captain Marvel with her stunning golden locks and sarcastic expressions, and Venom with his over the top and chaotic nature. No one quiet moves a static image as well as Gurihiru, though no one compliments them as well as the wit of Zeb Wells.

That about wraps it up, an inaction adventure illustrated by the talented Gurihiru team and written by the clever mind of Zeb Wells, all bind and bound in about five by five square inches. I’m bias, since I love superheroes and slice-of-life tales, though if you’re looking for something that’s beautifully designed and comedically timed this is worth a place in your library. Nothing better than a little comfy story to ease into the New Year.

I trust you enjoyed the inspection, thank you for reading.
Support the creators, check out your local library, and contribute to community comic and book shops
If you want to stay up to date on my reviews, well your guess is as good as mine.
Keep well and Stay well.

shorts SHORT Review: Rocket and Groot, Stranded on Planet Strip Mall

Rocket and Groot:
Stranded on Planet Strip Mall

Written and Illustrated by Tom Angleberger
Special Illustration by John Rocco
Designed by Megan Youngquist Parent
Published by Marvel Press, an Imprint of Disney Book Group

I'm excited about this book, sorry I'm getting ahead of myself, okay so the first time I was introduced to Rocket Raccoon was a bunch of times. Like most people when they encounter something they enjoy that thing and find more about it, and this starts their obsession. With me, I need to naturally find something that comes into my life three times, not sure that many times, but if I find something multiple (three) times it feel like it's something I need to look into. Most of the time it's true, that this is something that will be influential or has been influential (subconsciously speaking) in my life, and Rocket Raccoon is one of those characters. First was when thumbing through a Guardians of the Galaxy comic, the character stood out and seemed interesting. Second time was while looking up work of Mike Mignola, back in the day Marvel was trying to expand their Universe and bring in more characters that were one time use, so the four part series was fun and something worth a look. Third time was (like most people) in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, I loved this interpretation. Though the problem about this is my only interaction with Rocket Raccoon and Groot was through the movie, like I said they were mentioned to me through points in my life, but not fully introduced. Now I'm fully trying to interact with the little Space Bandit and the Walking Tree as they surf through media and fling themselves through the universe.

Generation X

Here's a little history, I saw the commercials and billboards for this film back in the day and I was super excited. It was something that I was waiting to see, since it was characters that I really wanted to view in action away from comics. In the 90's I only knew X-Men from the 1992 Cartoon and Action Figures. It was a new experience to see them in live-action form. At the time there was Spawn (that didn't come out till a year later, 1997) and Batman Returns (that I was too young to really love, but still love to this day, it was a great rainy afternoon). These were the films in my life, though there were flicks like Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, The Shadow, The Mask, Tank Girl, and The Phantom that rounded out my pulp and punk heart (click the linked titles for the review). Though I can go on further, but you'll see in future reviews where I've been in the decade of the 90's for films and media. Today we'll be entering a land of TV movies, a land that's not well budgeted, though has a cast of folks you'll be surprised to find in a feature such as this, on a channel that didn't play the movie more than twice (to my knowledge). Join me on this journey into the past, for a movie that needed to wait another four years (maybe 7) to get the full cast of characters to reflect their comic counter-parts.

Deadpool Rating

There's a lot of controversy over the Deadpool movie's rating, now this isn't a new thing. We're gonna cut into a bit of history. In the year, 2002-2004 it's about this time, since it was on the Deadpool open forums that Ryan Renolds was interested in the character and was open to the idea of being Wade Wilson. Back in the day he wanted to be in the film and fought for some good scripts, everyone was in agreement that it had to be a R film, but that's not happen to Superhero movies at this point (especially with the big two). A friend of mine brought up the topic of distribution would be more limited, since R movies are hard to pitch,  new franchises are a gamble. Though this was more than Ten years ago, where there wasn't many Image Comic creations in feature films (which Rob Lifield was a founding member). It was too weird to have a "kid's film" with adult themes, superheroes (even fifteen years ago) weren't adult films, even though Tales From the Crypt, Dark Knight Returns, and The Mask comics were incredible dark, though their films being without the very adult themes. Since like most adaptions things need to be stated and certain things need to be focused on for the entertainment of the audience. The focus has to be generated to the overarching idea, like Batman regaining the City of Gotham, the silliness of The Mask's punishment toward villains (or those he sees as villains), and the violent stories that the Keeper of the Crypt tells without much moral contemplation.
Though Blade came out in 1998 with a R rating, but was marketed as being a horror film, not superhero movie, even though Blade's source material is comics. My first meeting with the vampire hunter was on the Spider-Man Animated Series, but they still targeted the audience of the movie toward an older age group. Here's a total surprise, The Mask film was a complete left turn, it's not even close to the comic, it's like they made a movie based on a simple description of the character. Though the film came out well and the Animated series was wonderful, but nothing like the comic series other than the cartoon antics and green mask. It was a PG-13 movie, meaning it glazed over the heavier conversations and just focused on the comedy, it was one of the worst adaptions I've seen, though I'm still trying to finish the Fantastic Four movie, yeah the 1994 flick. Still the cinematic version of The Mask is one of my favorite movies, but Guardians of the Galaxy is the best not to character good movie. What I'm getting at is, the movie doesn't always have to be pure source material, since it's encompassing years of material. Though it does have to take on the spirit of the source material for it to be acceptable not only to fans, but to new fans, so the source material can be purchasable and not disappointing.

One of the major problems is with the Deadpool marketing, yes it's immature, though that's the point of the character. It's your classic early 90's action flick with some late 70's comedy, this kind of insanity is gonna make this movie amazing. Though this is why it's so tempting for those that are teens (and pre-teens), since this was me during my years as a young adult. Nothing screams "Watch me!" louder than a parody character that's canon. One who can literally do anything within the world that they were created in and no one bats an eye. This is a Writer's dream character (or Cartoonist's) since this is a ton of freedom. Censorship is a topic for another day, though implications are high in most Deadpool comics (whether it happens or not, it's hard to say even the character doesn't know). This is great since comedy in literary media have different timing and needs, film is a visual media that has a broader audience, so the amount that one can show in film is limited with certain ratings. So a titular character running around with deadly weapons that are within our reality that are applied and executed in the most effective way, especially with the more modern version of the Merc with a Mouth. Yeah it's not gonna be anything less than a mature rating, for all of Wade's media appearances.

Enough with my opinions, what I'm grasping at is people crying for the Deadpool movie being PG don't know the core being. Wade Wilson was originally a Villain, a hired knock around flavor of the week that entertained fans enough that he made multiple returns. My favorite run of his was the first mini-series where Mister Tolliver died and left a weapon that would be the ultimate conflict disputer. This was the best way to show Wade's moral differences in his character, so after the second mini-series and a few more cameos in and out of X-books he finally became an Anti-Hero. They did this a lot with villains in the 80's and 90's, Venom and the Flash's Rogues, they needed to make them more all-ages applicable to audiences. For Deadpool it stuck well, with Venom it flip flops too often, the Rogues it's hard to say which ones and what generation, though it never held. And fans have talked about this bizarre thought of making the Deadpool movie's rating lower, even to the point of making relevance through memes.

Unicorns are keys to a lot of different worlds and symbols of joy defined by diverse minds.

 Watch the Deadpool Movie (February 12, 2016) and see what Unicorns represent to Wade Wilson.

(Yes, this is a Disney joke, you should watch Star Vs. the Forces of Evil.)

Speaking of, I love this one meme that's going around saying "Have you even read Deadpool?" the first appearance has him being chopped up and sent back to his employer in a box. In his first series he kills a lot of people, even throws Black Tom Cassidy off a plane as the Juggernaut swan dives after him. Then there's the weird, somewhat abusive relationship between him and Copycat, it's mutual abuse, but still it's pretty bad, something a PG film won't get. And finally in the longest Deadpool series, from the 90's (it's the fourth issue and) he's impaled himself and the Hulk. Even if you don't read there was the film Hulk Vs... series that stared Wolverine which had Deadpool in it (I've reviewed earlier, here). He gets his arm lobbed up by said Canadian pal and tries to put them back together, after shooting said friend in the face. In general the weapons he uses make the film PG, till discharged, then it becomes PG-13, if people die there's an amount before it's R, same with bad language.

Honestly, this Deadpool movie should be NC-17 and 3 hours, but I'm a fan, even of the multiple personality yellow boxes, I want to see everything that the character does. Though I know there's a limit to a good time, where it's over stayed it's welcome. Sometimes over saturation isn't great. Marvel is trying to start a novel for every superhero they have, it's a good idea, since a lot more can be said and imagined within a mass market paperback. Here's a counterpoint, have you read "Paws"? I feel like the writer is rambling and not really trying to create the character in the literary world, it might be good, but I couldn't get past the first few pages of him talking about nothing. No jokes, no thoughts about what he's doing or how he can save himself from the fall, and I'm not even going to say that's Deadpool's thought process, since it's obvious that the writer was told the character just talks non-stop. There's puppies, but it wasn't the Deadpool I knew, not even in the spirit of the character. It felt like this was the first time the writer saw Deadpool let alone read any of the comics beyond Mark Brooks' run. Personally I like Fabian Nicieza, he created the character (I know who else had part in it, I'll give Rob Lifield credit for my favorite character, but I'm making a writing point, not design) and knew the direction he wanted this funny man to go. Wade Wilson is a beautiful monster, a fella that has more than a two dimensional personality. Some people try to write him as a kid's show joker, some write him as a violent loony, if the writer knows anything about different type of comedy Deadpool is Black Humor, Dark Jokes. Though in recent interpretations he's gone a little more toward the immature, but this isn't out of the spirit of the character. That's the fun of things since Wade would switch between a serious note here and there, but jump back into a gag to lighten the mood.

In short, the character to the public is a fried taco joke, a bro of the comic world, just a walking meme looking for attention that will never be found. To people that have read the source material he's a person that has a lot of problems from the past (even in the reboot), not a brooding grim avenger, though still a man trying to leave the horrors of his mind and dive into the present, that's his escape. Escapism comes in many forms, some need to keep running, keep moving, not linger too long in thought, throwing their focus on the next adventure to stay away from the one pain that doesn't always heal right, the past. This is why the Deadpool movie needs a rating that fits the person that they're writing about. I hope that Tim Miller (Director), Jay Oliva (Storyboard), Rhett Reese (Co-Screenwriter), and Paul Wernick (Co-Screenwriter) do a great job, since this movie is one I've been waiting a decade for it's creation.

I trust you enjoyed the inspection, thank you for reading.
Support the creator, check out more from your local Library and watch the movie.
If you want to stay up to date on our reviews, subscribe to this page.
Keep well and Stay well.


This was written before I saw the film, though edited after watching the movie.
Spoiler: they totally did an amazing job, just saw it on Friday at 1:30pm, beautiful, it had humor, visuals, and pacing that showed a lot of passion for the character and the ever growing franchise. :Spoiler

Shorts SHORT Review: Hulk VS Wolverine

Hulk VS: Wolverine
Directed by Frank Paur
Designs by Jeff Matsuda
Distributed by Loinsgate

Welcome to the shorts SHORT Review, today will be a treat for all, since we'll be talking about three important individuals in my favorite media type. Animated fighting between Wolverine, Deadpool, and the Hulk, this is gonna be a fun one!

Hulk Vs. was intended to be a series, though due to unknown reasons (unknown to me) the idea of a 30 minute presentations of the Hulk rampaging within the Marvel Universe was scraped. Though later they did make a TV series with She-Hulk, Red Hulk, and The Hulk… I know Rick is in the series too, but I really liked him as Captain Marvel with the gauntlets. Still just about every series that Marvel puts out with the Hulk in it, it automatically gets not only their money back, but the fans become the Hulk's own PR team. So why did this popular short film, soon to be short film series, get pulled?

Tea Steeping (niece), Professor Steeping, and Gom enjoying Canada, the Logan way.

My initial response to the idea of the Hulk fighting every bruiser in the Marvel Animated Universe was nothing, but delight. Pure energy and jubilation was my face, especially after I found out that each DVD would be filled with two episodes. Back to back, 30-minutes of Hulk fighting action! Then before the DVD even came out the other film rumors were canceled, though my mind was in a different place, since I came across the cast… DEADPOOL.

Okay, let's calm down, yes Deadpool is in the film, though let's not get too bias with this review, we need to have focus. So now you know, I like Deadpool, I'm one of the classic fans, way back when Wade didn't like to show his face. This was when his mask was what he considered his face. He was a beautiful monster, though during his ongoing series they softened him up, but that's not totally true. The character through all of his series grew to respect himself, skin and all, so by the time Daniel Way got to throw him into the mainstream and video game world, he was a well adjusted anti-hero, unlike his black comedic villainy roots.

Anyhow, we get to see a visual origin story of Wolverine, this is the best I've seen, since I'm not a fan of origin stories. They take up a lot of time if not told in an interesting way. This clip show of memories and implicated future events, is done well, the staff of this film should be over joyed and awarded for their skill in making something so tight into a Hulk story as the origin of Wolverine, and had it fit into the plot. Since the Weapon X program has been hunting the Hulk this origin progresses the villains as a group not each character. This way of getting the core emotion from the viewer is succeeded since we all know, either based on design or alliance, that the five members of the Weapon X program are bad and that Hulk has the heart of a good person, though this feels more like a "Wolverine Versus" story than a "Hulk Versus" film.

We get to see the pain that Banner has felt, that the death of the people of the town, are his responsibility and his fear of hurting those around him. It's for a moment, though it's character development that was literal seconds and showed how both forms of the same man felt. Subtle points are placed through the film, from the acting to words being dropped here and there. It was a playground for people that focus on the films, almost to the threshold of neurosis, though only to the point of finding every hidden gem within the minutes the film played.

Gom in his Omega Red Cosplay

One thing that bugs me is it felt like "Skipping Leg Day" the musical, no one has mass on their shanks and everyone has a screaming solo. Oh, and Lady Deathstrike's "enjoyment" is a bit much, though it's interesting that they made a character that gets aroused by giving others pain. And there really wasn't any payoff for that, no explanation that killing him was a personal pleasure or why she needed to be the one hand deep murdering our Canadian friend.

Animation is the main part of all of this, it's beautiful and well made. There are moments that I feel the CGI wasn't great, though the character cast/voice casting, character/background design, and pacing/storytelling outweigh the bad.

The end with the two title characters in a still frame, on the path toward each other's fist still evenly matched duking it out, is so B-Movie that it's the perfect ending. Especially for this over the top one shot short. Though this is what makes a weak ending in my opinion, since the resolution of Wolverine taking Hulk (or Banner) back to the states isn't resolved, though the Weapon X program has been destroyed and won't make anymore weapons (for this film). It's a nice grey area of no one truly wins, though there is a side that gains from the result.

All in all the casting was perfect, the designs were lovely, and the animation was a pure joy. If you love well made animated films, perfectly executed black comedy and physical humor, with characters that you've been wanting to see duke it out in a film that's "Not Rated" then you have the correct DVD in your hands. Though if you were looking for plot, well resolutions aren't totally here, but that's not to say all the strings are needed. This movie achieved it's goal of making something that's enjoyable and rewatchable, for all the good reasons and everyone of the bad.

I trust you enjoyed the inspection, thank you for reading.
Support the creators, check out the Double-Feature and the Comics.
If you want to stay up to date on my reviews, subscribe to this page.
Keep well and Stay well.

Avengers: Present, Future, Past

(Editor: This was written after seeing Avengers: Age of Ultron)

The Avengers, this is an old franchise that I've enjoyed off and on with different forms of media. My main interaction was with comics, they were like how S.H.I.E.L.D. currently is, an organization that takes down what everyone else can't stop. Groups were popular in the 80's and 90's, though this could have been due to gangs and clubs being popular during these generations, everyone wanted to feel like they belonged somewhere. Personally I liked the idea of teams, DC tried to do the same thing, though a lot of the groupings felt forced, Marvel did a pretty good job. Though the Avengers were the main catalyst for most supers (in the Marvel universe) finding their hope and desire to be of use to the community, which was inspiring to fans, writers, and artists in our reality.