This week we review four comic books, two with the words “Uncanny” in their titles; prudes among us better close their eyes as there are plenty of kissing and blood-letting going on.
Poor ol’ Bucky can’t get a break, and while the hunt for his unwittingly wayward girlfriend, the Black Widow, ends in Winter Soldier #14 (as well as Ed Brubaker’s run on this book), it’s a bittersweet ending. The bad guy Leo did quite a number on her mind and you can’t help but sympathize with Bucky. Let’s just hope that whoever that is taking up writing for the next arc (hopefully not titled “Bucky and the ex-girlfriend who doesn’t have a clue who she is”) would give the guy a break. Winter Soldier #14 gets a 4 out of 5.
There’s a reason why Wolverine and the X-Men ranks highly in my list of best comic book series of all time, the title implies relationships, and relationships (and dialogue) is what this book does best, and the result would be a fun read. Issue 24 is no different and sees some of the teachers hooking up (Bobby and Kitty, Logan and Storm(!)). Quentin Quire describes this penchant for random hook-ups to be a common occurrence, but if Deadpool was doing the talking it would have broke the fourth wall. And for the fans of the cute little alien Broo, rejoice as he is awake..well hold that thought. 4.5 out of 5.
X-Force is dead, long live X-Force! The all-girl (well plus 1 guy) X-Force makes its debut in Uncanny X-Force #1. With the cover suggesting a lineup consisting of Storm, Psylocke, one of three Fantomex clones (the female one), Spiral and Puck, the book opens up with Psylocke trying to kill Spiral. If this is how the recruitment process works, I’m all in with this book. And what’s the term that you’ll use when you see a male clone kissing a female clone of himself? I believe it’s WTF. 4.5 out of 5
By the way, if you are wondering who is Puck, he’s ex Alpha Flight and previously escaped from Hell. That’s…pretty cool in my book.
The Red Skull continues his mind-control rampage on New York in Uncanny Avengers #3 and there’s that weird looking Saturday-morning cartoon art by John Cassaday again. This time the Red Skull’s S-Men make their entrance onto the battlefield. Quite impressive this bunch, and now the Red Skull counts Thor as one of his own.
This slow-moving book has some interesting highlights as Wolverine gets some exposition first by going all “sorry-sorry” for the death of Daken, then to mouth-foaming crazy upon hearing what the Red Skull did to Xavier and finally, getting a hammer dropped onto his head by a Thunder God while his healing factor was switched off. It’s hard being Logan these days but at least he has a mohawk-wearing girlfriend. 4 out of 5.
