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Super-Articulate: Marvel Legends X-Force (Wendigo) Assortment

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We’re back with another crazy assortment of Marvel Legends! This week, it’s the currently-in-stores X-Force assortment featuring the Wendigo BAF. These figures were provided to us by Hasbro for free for the purposes of review. Let’s get to it . . .

Mister Sinister: Presently being fabulous and, well, sinister in the pages of House of X and Powers of X, Mister Sinister falls squarely into the category of “re-dos that I didn’t know I needed until I saw them.” I always thought that the first one was great, but it did come out (checks notes . . . HOLY CRAP) 14 years ago. This figure is a top-to-bottom upgrade. Let’s start with the face. That grin is positively demonic.  And the cape! The cap is excellent. It’s separated, but feels heavy and sturdy. The fine details of Marc Silvestri’s costume design are present here. Based on this, I’d really like to see more Marauders appear in the various X-lines. Overall, this is a pretty great figure.

Boom-Boom: Though Tabitha Smith first appeared in (of all places) Secret Wars II, she quickly became a regular character in the X-franchise, notably as a member of the New Mutants. When the New Mutants title segued into X-Force in 1991, Boom-Boom was on the team, sporting this Rob Liefeld-designed look. Rob, if you’re reading, they did you proud. This is a terrific figure, and the sculptors really captured the look of Liefeld’s art, particularly in, of all things, the hair. Take a close look at the figure, and then look closely at the covers to #1 and #7; that is total Rob, kids. As with Jubilee, I love the alternate regular head/bubble-gum head dynamic. Also, the team went a step further on the extra accessories. Instead of just regular hand/other hand, we get a clearly individually sculpted “blasting hand” that has the energy bomb coming off of the hand. There’s also another explosive effect included. The separate belt and vest also indicate attention to detail and a dedication to getting the look right. Given her long history, Boom-Boom has been criminally underrepresented in figure form. This is an outstanding correction right here.

Cannonball: Some people like the blasting effect, and some don’t. I do. Do I wish there had been legs? Well, of course. But I also understand that idea behind the concept, and I support the desire for the Hasbro team to just do different stuff. Frankly, I’d like to see some kind of power-effects accessory kit, because the effects that they’ve been making and including (Boom-Boom’s aforementioned bomb-hand, the optic blast for Retro Cyclops, etc.) have been great. That said, this is a genuinely cool-looking piece, and the top half captures the flavor of that Liefeld Cannonball costume quite well.

Wolverine: Hat trick of shortness! Lately, I’ve been praising Hasbro’s inclination to keep Wolverine short again. In both the Wolverine/Hulk two-pack and the Retro Wolvie of late, they’ve kept the figure appropriately undertall. They’ve done it again, and it’s great. This particular iteration of Wolverine (with the black and gray X-Force gear) wasn’t a must-have for me, but I’m glad that it exists. The team did a great job on the claws (which I feel are receiving much more attention in the sculpting process these days). It’s a very good era-specific figure, and it’s a good make-up figure for people that weren’t able to get the early boxed set exclusive version. Definitely looks good.

Nightcrawler: The original Marvel Legends Nightcrawler was released when my oldest son was less than one month old. He’s in high school now. So yeah, this guy’s due. One of the most requested figures for a revamp, the new Nightcrawler more than does the job. With an extra hand, two extra heads for different expressions, a poseable tail, and a big sword, this Nightcrawler covers a lot of ground and covers it well. This is one of those characters where the overall poseability of the Marvel Legends style really pays off. Kurt is frequently depicted as slightly hunched or perching or being acrobatic; this figure allows you to accomplish ALL of those. If you want a swashbuckling Nightcrawler, throw on the happy face and the sword. If you want an angry Nightcrawler, swap heads for that too. It’s a generally well-considered figure that tries hard (and succeeds) to hit all of the points you’d want in a strong version of this character. A hearty well-done to the team.

Guardian: Just in time for the forthcoming Alpha Flight boxed set, Weapon Alpha here is a sold figure. He’s well-sculpted and has a great grumpy look. I regret the lack of energy attachments, but it makes sense due to the fact that he comes packed with two Wendigo parts, including the body. This is a very clean, very nice-looking super-hero figure, and it should make fans of Marvels most famous Canadian team pretty happy.

Wendigo: This thing is awesomely HUGE. I mean HUGE. Remember when I went on about how big the Wolverine/Hulk Hulk was and how cool that made it? This, but Wendigo. He’s freaking BIG. Which is great. Wendigo should be big. The overall body and design are great. I would have personally liked the head to be a little more like the Byrne version instead of the more modern take, but that’s a minor, minor quibble. This BAF is a monster. I took pictures for you with the very appropriate Wolverine and Hulk from the two-pack so you could revel in its hugeness and see it alongside First Appearance Wolvie, too. This is well-worth getting; I like it quite a bit.

Okay, readers. That’s it for today. Let’s talk about it. What do you think? Which one is your favorite? Mine, I’m happy to say, is Boom-Boom, probably followed by the Wendigo. There’s damn good stuff here. Talk to us, and come back next time. Thanks for reading!

Review: X-Men The Wedding Special #1

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Full disclaimer: for a long time, Kitty Pryde was my all time favorite Marvel superhero thanks to her awesomeness in X-Men Evolution and Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men run, and there is a Marvel Legends figure of her sitting on my bookshelf right now as I write this.

Even though Kelly Thompson, Marika Cresta, and Federico Blee end up almost saving the day with a fun tale of X-Women out on the town with pretty, shiny art to match, X-Men The Wedding Special #1 is a big stinker of a “special issue.” Greg Land’s stiff art style isn’t a good fit for a raucous bachelor party, Chris Claremont can’t rekindle his old magic, and this book doesn’t really have much for long time X-Men fans who might be a little lapsed (Like yours truly.) and definitely not new or casual fans. Why are Kitty and Piotr even getting married? Maybe, the X-Men Gold  hardcore readership will find something to love here.

In the first story, Kitty Pryde’s co-creator/father of the X-Men Chris Claremont returns to Marvel with his Nightcrawler collaborator Todd Nauck and skilled colorist Rachelle Rosenberg.  However, after having Nauck re-draw Kitty’s greatest hits courtesy of John Byrne, Dave Cockrum, John Romita Jr., Alan Davis, and others, he makes the story all about Kitty’s relationships with the dead men in her life, namely, her dad, Wolverine, and some guy from a 1999 time travel miniseries called X-Men True Friends. Claremont is a still verbose prose stylist, Rosenberg is game with the bright colors of the different eras, and Nauck turns in some gorgeous dualistic compositions contrasting the triumphs and trials of Kitty Pryde’s life as an X-Man.

But there isn’t really a coherent story to channel these skills and traits into as Claremont abruptly cuts from Kitty recounting her life story and feelings about being phased through a bullet (Thank you, Joss Whedon.) to randomly talking about Wolverine and the aforementioned guy from a time travel story. Plus I guess I missed the issue of X-Men Gold where she worked as a bartender at the Hellfire Club themed branch of Coyote Ugly as Claremont and Nauck cut to this, and Nightcrawler has some great lines about faith and facing challenges. There are a few good ingredients, a few bad ones, and sadly, the story doesn’t touch on the great female friendships (and possibly romances) that Claremont set up for Kitty with Magik, Storm, and Rachel Summers among others and focused on ghostly men instead. It’s like a great slice of Chicago deep dish (Shoutout to Deerfield, Illinois resident Kitty Pryde.) that’s completely burnt to a crisp too bogged down in a continuity to have any real emotion or even nostalgia.

The second story by X-Men Gold writer Marc Guggenheim, the aforementioned Land and inker Jay Leisten, and colorist Jason Keith tells the story of Colossus’ bachelor party and except for the part where Piotr throws an anti-mutant alien monster around a casino, it’s cliched, heteronormative, and just plain bad. In keeping with his introverted nature and desire to be faithful towards Kitty after decades of breakups, reunions, and the original Secret Wars crossover, Colossus wants a chill night out and not the typical strippers/booze/brawling trifecta of a normal bachelor party. But Nightcrawler, Gambit, Iceman, and the “boyo” overusing new-look Pyro have other ideas for him including Bobby lecturing Piotr on traditional masculinity and making me glad that Sina Grace had almost exclusive creative control over him for a year. The story follows a limp, through line of getting Colossus to “lighten up”, and you have to buy a whole other comic to see how the story ends. It’s pretty terrible except for the huge smile on Nightcrawler’s face as he ushers his squad into Las Vegas and beams that there is a casino run by demons so he doesn’t have to feel weird or different while having a good time for once. Kurt is such a great character that he shines even in subpar stories like the first two in X-Men Wedding Special #1.

The final story in X-Men Wedding Special #1 is a fun, cute, grownup version of the “X-Men go to the mall” plotline as Storm, Rogue, Jean Grey, Psylocke, and others take Kitty to karaoke, which is actually “stripperoke”. However, there are both male and female strippers at the club, which Kitty is cool with. And it’s also this issue’s only nod at the bisexual subtext surrounding her since the late 1980s. In a similar way to Piotr, Kitty is introverted and more than a little Type A so the cocktail of strippers and karaoke is pretty lethal for her, and she spends most of the issue hoping for a fight.

Kitty does end up doing hand to hand combat with Callisto, who I think had a crush on Colossus, in the 1980s, and her resolves shows how much she has grown in 38 years from the X-Men’s kid sister to their leader. It also shows that artist (and star in waiting) Marika Cresta has a knack for fight sequences as well as conversation, beautiful faces, and high fashion. The bright filters used by Federico Blee and soft lighting definitely give this issue a very laidback field even if Kitty is freaking out a little bit about her wedding. The Kitty/Callisto derails the story a little bit, but Thompson and Cresta easily counterbalance with great moments like Storm rocking the karaoke stage, and Rogue and Kitty having a true heart to heart that reminded me of a more mature version of their bond in X-Men Evolution.

X-Men Wedding Special definitely lessened my faith in the marriage between Kitty and Colossus as well as heterosexual, monogamous marriage as an institution in general. Okay, maybe not completely, but the Marc Guggenheim and Greg Land story is a great example of how bachelor parties are dated and played out. However, Marika Cresta is a real find as an artist in the final story and should definitely be the main artist on one of the big X or Marvel books.

Story: Chris Claremont, Marc Guggenheim, Kelly Thompson
Art: Todd Nauck, Greg Land with Jay Leisten, Marika Cresta
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg, Jason Keith, Federico Blee Letters: Clayton Cowles
Story: 5.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 5.0 Recommendation: Pass

Marvel Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Age of Apocalypse #1

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aoa001Secret Wars has been so noteworthy thus far for its ability to incorporate other crossovers into its stories.  While the quality of these tie-ins has varied wildly, it has nonetheless been somewhat comprehensive in its attempt to give some exposure to all the major crossovers from the past.  It would be nearly impossible therefore to leave Age of Apocalypse off of this list.  Although this story occurred in the pages of X-Men related titles, it was nonetheless one of the bigger crossovers that Marvel has seen, as well as being in part responsible for the upcoming sequel to the X-Men movie franchise. As it was told at the time it featured the introduction of the mutant Apocalypse, a mutant of extreme power who undertook a plan for world domination and very nearly succeeded.  In the original story Charles Xavier is removed from the scene early on, and Magneto takes his place as the mutant championing compromise between mutants and humans, while equally being responsible for trying to stop Apocalypse’s tyrannical and genocidal reign where he attempts to wipe out regular humans from existence.

As opposed to other tie-ins which have attempted to re-imagine or recast some of the major aspects of the stories, this one instead seems to be looking for more of a pure retelling.  Apocalypse’s Horsemen are sent to the Savage Land to track down Cypher, although he is defended by a group of core X-Men.  After he is captured he is taken to Apocalypse, who is revealed to be employing several other mutants, many of whom have joined his side.  Standing against them are still Magneto and his mutants, as well as a group of humans led by Carol Danvers.  Apocalypse grows restless to wipe out his opposition, but it will not necessarily be as easy as he planned.

This first issue most sets the conditions for what will follow, and it does so in a meticulous way.  It is a challenging enough task, condensing a huge story arc into a few issues, but at least a proper job is done at this if if this issue ends up being a bit clunky at times.  There is enough action mixed in with establishing the scenario that it doesn’t become too heavy in the dialogue and concept, but it also seems to be leaving a lot of potential for the following issues.  It bodes well for the tie-in, and while this issue is a bit too conceptual to get through at times, it still excuses it for what is bound to come.

Story: Fabian Nicieza  Art: Geraldo Sandoval
Story: 8.3 Art: 8.3 Overall: 8.3 Recommendation: Read

 

Review: Inferno #2

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Inferno002Setting a comic inside a post-apocalyptic world run by demons inside another mini-dimension run by a powerful overlord might seem like one of the strangest concepts for a superhero book, but it is the basis for the Inferno series which is tying into Secret Wars.  The first issue was a solid introduction to this universe, where the X-Men patrol what is left of New York City against a demon horde, while the same horde led by Colossus’ sister does pretty much as they want inside their own domain.  Once per year Colossus leads a strike team to try to rescue his sister, and the first issue focused on the most recent attempt to do so.  Previous attempts resulted in tragedies of one kind or another, and this attempt seemed equally doomed from the onset.

It should be said that even for someone following along that this setting is pretty weird and confusing.  Domino and Colossus were separated and thrust into two different sub-plots involving the Goblin Queen, Madelyne Pryor.  As the characters try to regain a stronger foothold, the development of the story takes some strange twists as the strike team is fractured and then almost reunited.  Meanwhile Magik and Nightcrawler face off against each other, with Nightcrawler at a distinct disadvantage being her prisoner.

There is a general lack of description in this issue, as the reader is seemingly supposed to let go of trying to make sense of what is happening in the interest of allowing the demon world to exist.  While this is a bit of a letdown in terms of the pacing the issue is saved by the well written characters, as specifically the interaction between Colossus and Madelyne, and also between Domino and Madelyne’s son save this issue from going off the tracks.  Heading into the next issue it would seem as though there is a stronger direction for this series, and while the setting is bizarre, that the creative team is making it work.

Story: Dennis Hopeless  Art: Javier Garron 
Story: 8.3 Art: 8.3  Overall: 8.3  Recommendation: Read

A first Look at Kodi Smith-McPhee as Nightcrawler

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If you weren’t quick enough, you might have missed it, as the picture has gone bamf! To celebrate the first day on set director Bryan Singer posted to Instagram and Twitter a first look at actor Kodi Smith-McPhee as Nightcrawler in next year’s X-Men: Apocalypse. After a little time up, the image was deleted for unknown reasons.

So what do you think of the look? Reminds me a bit of the design for the character from the X-Men: Evolution cartoon mixed with Alan Cummings version from X2.

kodi smith-mcphee nightcrawler

Review: Nightcrawler

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It didn’t take much of my first semester in college as a journalism major to realize why it’s so necessary to have entire courses dedicated to teaching journalists not to be jerks.

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It makes all the sense in the world that Journalism Ethics classes exist while courses dedicated to the ethics of crafts like painting, acting, and creative writing don’t exist. The incentives are wonky in journalism, putting reporters in an environment in which what’s going to make them the most money in the fastest amount of time is often against the public’s best interest. It’s much more efficient and economically-solvent to simply use interview subjects and events for selfish goals. Almost any injection of morality leads to less financial profit and more amounts of work. Nightcrawler, an Oscar-nominated film directed and written by Dan Gilroy, represents this in a fully accurate manner, delivering a thrilling tale anchored around its main character Lou Bloom who embodies the most ruthless and efficient kind of journalist.

From the outset it’s clear that Bloom is a shifty individual determined to be the best damn capitalist he can be despite his well-deserved status as an outcast. One night, he stumbles into a career of filming disaster footage of privileged people who fall victim to crime and serious accidents to sell to a desperate and money-grubbing local news station. Moving at a solid pace, the film catalogues Bloom’s rise from a roaming scrap-metal salesman to a powerful freelance provider of video footage who gets whatever he wants, which extends beyond the realm of cash.

Bloom is a fascinating character made absolutely riveting thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal’s stellar performance. He is an utter bastard with no actual regard for anyone but himself. He does show positively charming affection towards multiple other people throughout the movie, from the very first scene to the very last scene, but it’s all fake, all an uncaring means to a self-serving end. Bloom scours the internet to do research of an academic level, giving the character an elusive and mysterious aura. He keeps everything secret that he needs to be secret, and only lets anyone peek behind the curtain when it suits him: a look behind that curtains tends to frighten and intimidate people, which are things he can use.

Watching all of Gyllenhaal’s nuanced facial expressions and body language proves constantly intriguing. Every fake smile and fit of analysis is acted out with the utmost control. Bloom almost always has things under control, all according to a given plan. Occasionally, things veer a bit away from what he’d like, but it’s clear these detours aren’t a complete surprise to him. Even rarer are the few times his plans completely tank, which prove to be the movie’s most horrific moments. This guy is almost perfect when it comes to getting done what he wants to be done, and he knows that and seems to take a ton of pride in that; whenever anything happens that goes against his self-image, he explodes.

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To call Bloom’s actions as a journalist unethical is an understatement, from tampering with crime scenes solely to get a better shot to directly causing disastrous events just so he can film them. The environment he finds himself in is similarly vicious, first evident whenever a woman behind the scenes blatantly explains to Bloom that footage of white victims of minority criminals should be pursued because it brings in more viewers. It’s all believable, too, bringing the thrill to a whole new level. Bloom’s life gets progressively more luxurious as he keeps up with his unethical reporting practices, solidifying his motivations. The people he works for are characterized nicely as struggling local news providers, willing to sacrifice thoughts of ethics in order to get by.

Much the film takes place at night, and it all looks great. The darkly-tinted colors of the night pop before they fade away. The movie moves at a break-neck speed at many points with a camera that keeps up with a constantly well-framed view of the action. Bloom’s adventures take him on high-speed car rides and frantic on-field filming, all of which constantly exciting. Every major performance in this film gets the job done brilliantly, from the woman who finds herself as somewhat as a love interest to Bloom’s loud-mouthed competitor.

Nightcrawler is a big success, always managing to be thought-provoking and thrilling. While the movie always makes it clear that the main character isn’t on the right side of morality, he does indeed win in the end. Unlike many madmen in fiction, Bloom is smarter than everyone he has to deal with.

Lou Bloom is the reason why journalists like myself have to complete courses on ethics in journalism.

Check out Matt’s online portfolio here… 

Review: Nightcrawler #9

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Nightcrawler 009Due to the nature of the medium, and specifically as it related to superheroes, there are often going to be single issues of comics that focus mostly on a long drawn out battle.  In this latest issue of Nichtcrawler, this is what the reader gets to see as Nightcrawler has gone to the aid of Bloody Bess only to find himself soon ambushed by his own teammates, themselves under the influence of the Shadow King.  In terms of plot there is not much more going on here, but this issue still succeeds despite its focus only on the action.

Often through a battle between a pair of iconic characters, it seems as though the conflict is set up to satiate a demand by readers to see the outcome of a particular matchup.  There are obviously a number of such famous cases, but a smaller focus on this is when a character must face those that they trust the most, the members of their own team.  Although this issue had the potential to be set up as simply a slugfest between Nightcrawler and his teammates, it comes off very much differently.  While some fans of continuity would be disappointed in this because Nightcrawler is able to almost dominate a number of teammates who are likely more powerful individually than he is, but those that get hung up on the technicalities are actually missing a good story.  The fight is told not so much in the present, but rather in the past, through reminiscences of Nightcrawler’s time in the Danger Room with his teammates, learning how they operate as fighters but also as people.

In so doing, this issue becomes a nice ode not only to Nightcrawler, but also the other members of the team.  Although this is his series, this still shines a light on some of the other characters that have impacted him so much, and while some might think that the battle takes some shortcuts, it is still well-paced and fun.  The end result is an issue which is probably the best so far in this series, and a good sign that the stories here are finding surer footing.

Story: Chris Claremont  Art: Todd Nauck
Story:  8.5 Art: 8.7  Overall: 8.5  Recommendation: Read

Bamf Me Out of Here! But Not Into There!

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ncteleSuperpowers defy the realm of what is the possible, including the realm of science, and because of this it can be kind of strange to see limitations on certain ones.  One of the most obvious of these is the power of teleportation.  Ever since I was a child reading comics, I remember reading an explanation of the power including the limitation that “teleporters have to be careful when teleporting because if they teleport into a solid object then it is instant death.”  Teleportation is not a very common power across the superhero spectrum, but despite that, this limitation seems to stick.  Is it fair though?

Inherently when it comes to powers nothing is fair when it comes to the violation of the laws of physics.  For instance, jumping over a tall building would likely produce enough of a shockwave that it would destroy the building (the taller the more destructive).  Why then does teleportation have such a limitation when other powers get a pass on the elementary physics?  In a sense, it is not a terribly difficult question, because it is a sensible end state of teleporting into something.  With the body now situated inside of a piece of rock/wall/whatever the basic functions are going to stop to work as blood won’t flow and as the nervous system will stop to send signals throughout the body. 

When looking at teleportation though it is important to note a few additional facts about it.  The first is that teleportation is almost always a one-way trip, and by that I mean that teleporters do not take the matter at their location and replace it with the matter at another location.  So if Nightcrawler were to teleport into a solid piece of rock, there would be no Nightcrawler shaped statue where he left from.  This may not seem to be initially that important of a claim, but it is when you consider what it is that Nightcrawler is teleporting into is where the situation gets muddier.    Or to put that another way, the end result is perfectly safe if the individual is teleporting into air.  At first thought air is not there, because we don’t see it.  In fact, it is there, but as it is a gas we don’t give it as much consideration.  Granted that air is composed of a lot of empty space, but there is still enough stuff there to be problematic.  Air is made up mostly of nitrogen and oxygen with nitrogen in at about 80%.  At standard conditions dissolved nitrogen makes up about 1.5% of our blood.  So it teleporting into air is safe, then it means that the body is incorporating another 4/5 of a body’s worth of nitrogen, which is likely enough to give Nightcrawler the bends.  This occurs when the blood can’t hold all the dissolved nitrogen and nitrogen bubbles form, generally quite painfully around joints.

In the real world of science this is one consideration, but perhaps a less likely one.  One might instead argue that Nightcrawler displaces the air in that location when he teleports.  Displacement is fine as an explanation, but there would also need to be some explanation on that as well.  If he can displace air could he also displace water?  Or could he teleport into a pile of sand?  Into a bowl of Jello?  Or into a giant marshmallow?  There is no real information on this as the subject has never really been explored in depth as the only explanation that we get is “don’t teleport into solid stuff.”  While it might be overthinking it to a degree, at the same time it is not, especially when we consider the Vision.  Part of the intangible powers of this hero is that he can control the degree of his intangibility, becoming partially tangible to provide system shocks to people as he passes through them.  Clearly then, someone at Marvel has already considered the concept of partial displacement, only not when it comes to teleporting.  It is not that this takes away from the fun of the characters, only from a real-world practical sense that sometimes the claims that are made about powers aren’t thought all the way out and that certain conditions about them are assumed. 

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