Tag Archives: Age of Apocalypse

Head Back to the Age of Apocalypse with New Marvel Legends

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Hasbro has revealed a new wave of Marvel Legends based on the classic Age of Apocalypse. You can get Legion, Iceman, Shadowcat, Sabretooth, Cyclops, Rogue, and Magneto.

The Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse wave features a Colossus Build-a-figure.

Check out the figures below and pre-order them now.

Marvel Legends Series Marvel’s Legion

The son of Charles Xavier, Legion got his incredible mind from his legendary father, but must balance unimaginable mutant powers with his mental illness.

Includes: Marvel’s Legion figure, 2 Accessories, 1 Build-a-Figure part.

  • Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this 6-inch-scale Marvel’s Legion figure, inspired by the character from Marvel Entertainment
  • This Marvel’s Legion figure features premium design, detail, and articulation for posing and display in a Marvel collection
  • This quality 6-inch Marvel’s Legends Series Marvel’s Legion figure features multiple points of articulation and is a great addition to any action figure collection

Pre-Order: Hasbro Pulse – Entertainment Earth – Amazon

Marvel Legends Series Marvel's Legion

Marvel Legends Series Iceman

Iceman joins with the X-Men to stop Apocalypse and prevent the catastrophic culling of humankind in a harsh dystopian future.

Includes: Iceman figure, 2 accessories, 1 Build-a-Figure part.

  • Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this 6-inch-scale Iceman figure, inspired by the character from Marvel Entertainment
  • This Iceman figure features premium design, detail, and articulation for posing and display in a Marvel collection
  • This quality 6-inch Legends Series Iceman figure features multiple points of articulation and is a great addition to any action figure collection

Pre-Order: Hasbro Pulse – Entertainment Earth – Amazon

Marvel Legends Series Iceman

Marvel Legends Series Marvel’s Shadowcat

After being captured by Sabretooth, Katherine Pryde becomes the youngest member of the X-Men and trains to become the team’s ghost assassin.

Includes: Marvel’s Shadowcat figure, 4 accessories, 1 Build-a-Figure part.

  • Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this 6-inch-scale Marvel’s Shadowcat figure, inspired by the character from Marvel Entertainment
  • This Marvel’s Shadowcat figure features premium design, detail, and articulation for posing and display in a Marvel collection
  • This quality 6-inch Marvel’s Legends Series Marvel’s Shadowcat figure features multiple points of articulation and is a great addition to any action figure collection

Pre-Order: Hasbro Pulse – Entertainment Earth

Marvel Legends Series Marvel's Shadowcat

Marvel Legends Series Sabretooth

After betraying Apocalypse and making his escape, Sabretooth joins with the mutant rebels the X-Men to fight for good in a harsh dystopian future.

Includes: Sabretooth figure, 3 accessories, 1 Build-a-Figure part.

  • Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this 6-inch-scale Sabretooth figure, inspired by the character from Marvel Entertainment
  • This Sabretooth figure features premium design, detail, and articulation for posing and display in a Marvel collection
  • This quality 6-inch Legends Series Sabretooth figure features multiple points of articulation and is a great addition to any action figure collection

Pre-Order: Hasbro Pulse – Entertainment Earth – Amazon

Marvel Legends Series Sabretooth

Marvel Legends Series Marvel’s Cyclops

Cyclops helps prisoners escape from Apocalypse’s prison camps in an attempt to be a force for good in a harsh dystopian future.

Includes: Marvel’s Cyclops figure, 1 Build-a-Figure part.

  • Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this 6-inch-scale Marvel’s Cyclops figure, inspired by the character from Marvel Entertainment
  • This Marvel’s Cyclops figure features premium design, detail, and articulation for posing and display in a Marvel collection
  • This quality 6-inch Legends Series Marvel’s Cyclops figure features multiple points of articulation and is a great addition to any action figure collection

Pre-Order: Hasbro Pulse – Entertainment Earth – Amazon

Marvel Legends Series Marvel’s Cyclops

Marvel Legends Series Marvel’s Rogue

Rogue moves her way up the ranks of Magneto’s X-Men, eventually leading a team of mutants to prevent the culling of humankind.

Includes: Marvel’s Rogue figure, 2 accessories, and 1 Build-a-Figure part.

  • Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this 6-inch-scale Marvel’s Rogue figure, inspired by the character from Marvel Entertainment
  • This Marvel’s Rogue figure features premium design, detail, and articulation for posing and display in a Marvel collection
  • This quality 6-inch Legends Series Marvel’s Rogue figure features multiple points of articulation and is a great addition to any action figure collection

Pre-Order: Hasbro Pulse – Entertainment Earth – Amazon

Marvel Legends Series Marvel's Rogue

Marvel Legends Series Magneto

Magneto casts off his anti-human sentiments and carries on Xavier’s dream of peaceful coexistence, thereby founding the X-Men.

Includes: Magneto figure, 5 accessories.

  • Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this 6-inch-scale Magneto figure, inspired by the character from Marvel Entertainment
  • This Magneto figure features premium design, detail, and articulation for posing and display in a Marvel collection
  • This quality 6-inch Legends Series Magneto figure features multiple points of articulation and is a great addition to any action figure collection

Pre-Order: Hasbro Pulse – Entertainment Earth – Amazon

Marvel Legends Series Magneto

This site contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from these sites. Making purchases through these links helps support the site.

Super-Articulate: Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse

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Marvel Legends: Age of Apocalypse

Greetings! We’re still playing catch-up here, but I did hold off long enough for my deluxe Apocalypse to arrive so that we could include him with the wave that bears his name. Let’s get into it.

What is the Age of Apocalypse?: For those that don’t know, The Age of Apocalypse was a massive 1995 crossover in the X-books, spreading through roughly 45 issues (including the LegionQuest prelude). When Legion went back in time to kill Magneto (perceiving that such an act would help his father, Professor X), he accidentally killed his father. The timeline radically shifted, and the regular X-titles were replaced for four months with various AoA books. While the timeline was righted at the end of the story, the AoA has been revisited in a 2014 series and in the Secret Wars event. With AoA giving us some radically different versions of characters, it’s a natural for producing figures; the original Toy Biz line of the ‘90s did a few of the characters. The Marvel Legends line has done four AoA characters previously: Weapon X (Wolverine), Sabretooth, Sunfire (as an exclusive) and, much more recently, Blink. Here’s a look at the most recent assortment, the Sugar Man Build-A-Figure, and the deluxe AoA Apocalypse.

X-Man: X-Man is one of my favorites of the bunch, in part because the little details are right. He has a somewhat complicated costume in terms of deco, but it looks great. The real winner is the power-effect piece constructed for his eye to mimic that flare that occurs when he uses his powers in the comics. That’s that extra bit of effort that puts the figure over the top. My only quibble is that the figure has weirdly small feet, which makes it a bit harder to stand in some poses.

Morph: Morph was one of the breakout characters of the original comic stories, and he got to carry on after that crossover in Exiles. The face here is excellent, totally capturing the fun-loving personality of the shape-shifting character. Morph has kind of an interesting history, as his resurrection and inclusion in the series was inspired by the popularity of a different version of Morph from the ­X-Men animated series (who was based on the Changeling character who a brief antagonist and brief ally of the team in the 1960s). The costume details are right on and the colors pop. It’s a fun figure.

Jean Grey: Jean is probably my least favorite of the bunch, but only because she’s a little vanilla. It’s a good sculpt, and well-done, but it pales against strong entries in the group.

Weapon X: This take on Weapon X is superior in every way to the earlier version. This head sculpt with the crazy hair is fantastic. He’s short, which Wolverine is supposed to be, and the hand accessories are tremendous. In the comics, Wolverine wore the cap over a severed hand, but a late surprise showed that he claws on that arm still worked as they came busting out of the cap. Hasbro gave you both the cap and the claws-extended-cap, which is great. The figure’s short stature looks even better next to Apocalypse. Rock-solid entry.

Sunfire: This was a fan-favorite design for the books, and the design team nailed it in the sculpt. Yes, a version existed before, but this is excellent. The flame effects, the molding, and the paint job are great. The power effects are a nice boost to the overall look. This is one of my favorites from the group; it’s a striking figure.

Wild Child: Poor Wild Child was made in the 1990s Toy Biz line, but only as a dinky sidekick figure to the regularly-sized Sabretooth. He gets much more due here. The crazy, feral face-sculpt is great, and I like that they worked hard to make him thin and wiry as in the comics. The chain accessory is comic appropriate, and I photographed him with the earlier figure for his “handler,” Sabretooth. If there’s another wave, I hope they update Sabretooth, as I think this figure will stand out more with an appropriately scaled Victor Creed companion.

Dark Beast: The Toy Biz Dark Beast was comically oversized with a face-sculpt that looked more like an orc that a sinister Hank McCoy. This figure (still big, but better) is a vast improvement, especially in the face. This figure has a terrific evil expression. There’s some tremendous detail in the hair, too. The metal finish on the pants comes off well against the gray fur body, too. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this one when it was announced, but in person, it’s great.


Sugar Man BAF: The gross, four-armed Sugar Man debuted as a new character in AoA, and Toy Biz did an oversized figure of him as well. However, that was more appropriate to the character, and Hasbro kept that in mind for the BAF. He’s huge. And ugly. And pretty awesome. This is a great realization of the BAF concept, breaking expectations with a design that took a lot of thought and original pieces to produce. It’s a pretty awesome thing to see on a shelf; it’s a really unique piece. (And that tongue, man; hilarious). Great job by all involved.


Apocalypse: I like Hasbro’s commitment to making larger-sized figures in separate, deluxe boxing. Apocalypse is big. Really big. Especially when you match him up to Weapon X.  Both of the included head sculpts are equally strong; you’re going to have to make your own call on “angry” or “maniacal laugh.” The cape attaches well, and the skull accessory (which can be cradled in an interchangeable open hand) is fun. I like the strategy of using the deluxe program to make bigger figures that would succeed easily on their own while using the BAFs to support other characters.

I know that there was some fan grumbling (shocking, I know) about this sub-line, but I liked it a lot. There are some great sculpts here, and it gives an added dimension to displays. I wouldn’t mind seeing more; I’m personally more invested in House of X/Powers of X getting filled out, as well as classic rosters for teams like X-Force (Rictor, Siryn, Feral) and Excalibur (Shadowcat, Meggan, Phoenix II). That’s my take; what do you think?

Hasbro Reveals New Wave of Spider-Man, AoA Apocalypse, Moon Knight, and More

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To celebrate today’s Fan First Friday livestream event, Hasbro has revealed new Marvel premium 6-inch and deluxe comic figures from their Marvel Legends lines.

In addition to the three Legends 6-inch Retro Spider-Man figures that were revealed earlier this year at New York Toy Fair, three new figures from the wave were revealed during the stream, including Electro, Green Goblin, and Daredevil. Alongside this wave, a handful of other comic figures, including the 6-inch A.I.M. Trooper figure, the 6-inch Moon Knight figure, and two deluxe figures, Marvel’s War Machine and Marvel’s Apocalypse, are also available for pre-order starting today.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH SPIDER-MAN RETRO COLLECTION Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH SPIDER-MAN RETRO COLLECTION Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL SPIDER-MAN comics. This quality figure with premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for high poseability and display is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 3 accessories. Available for pre-order at Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, GameStop, Entertainment Earth, and Big Bad Toy Store.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH ELECTRO RETRO COLLECTION Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH ELECTRO RETRO COLLECTION Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL SPIDER-MAN comics. This quality figure with premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for posing and display is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 2 accessories. Available for pre-order at Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, GameStop, Entertainment Earth, and Big Bad Toy Store.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH PETER PARKER RETRO COLLECTION Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH PETER PARKER RETRO COLLECTION Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL SPIDER-MAN comics. This quality figure with premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for posing and display is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 2 accessories. Available for pre-order at Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, GameStop, Entertainment Earth, and Big Bad Toy Store.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH GREEN GOBLIN RETRO COLLECTION Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH GREEN GOBLIN RETRO COLLECTION Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL SPIDER-MAN comics. This quality figure features premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for posing and display, and is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 3 accessories. Available for pre-order at Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, GameStop, Entertainment Earth, and Big Bad Toy Store.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH GWEN STACY RETRO COLLECTION Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH GWEN STACY RETRO COLLECTION Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL SPIDER-MAN comics. This quality figure with premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for posing and display is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 4 accessories. Available for pre-order at Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, GameStop, Entertainment Earth, and Big Bad Toy Store.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH DAREDEVIL RETRO COLLECTION Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH DAREDEVIL RETRO COLLECTION Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL comics. This quality figure features premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for posing and display, and is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 5 accessories. Available for pre-order at Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, GameStop, Entertainment Earth, and Big Bad Toy Store.

*The full MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH RETRO SPIDER-MAN wave is available for pre-order at Entertainment Earth and Big Bad Toy Store.

 MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH A.I.M. TROOPER Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $14.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH A.I.M. TROOPER Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL comics. This quality figure features premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for posing and display, and is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 2 accessories. Available for pre-order exclusively at Hasbro Pulse.

 MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH MOON KNIGHT Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $19.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH MOON KNIGHT Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL comics. This quality figure features premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for high poseability and display, and is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 9 accessories. Available for pre-order exclusively at Walgreens.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH DELUXE MARVEL’S WAR MACHINE Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $29.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH DELUXE MARVEL’S WAR MACHINE Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL comics. This quality figure features premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for high poseability and display, and is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 8 accessories. Available for pre-order at Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, Best Buy, Entertainment Earth, and Big Bad Toy Store.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH DELUXE MARVEL’S APOCALYPSE Figure

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $29.99/Available: Fall 2020)

Fans, collectors, and kids alike can enjoy this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES 6-INCH DELUXE MARVEL’S APOCALYPSE Figure, inspired by the character from the MARVEL X-MEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE comics series. This quality figure features premium design, detail, and multiple points of articulation for high poseability and display, and is a great addition to any action figure collection. Includes figure and 3 accessories. Available for pre-order at Hasbro Pulse, Amazon, Best Buy, Entertainment Earth, and Big Bad Toy Store.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site

Underrated: Age Of Apocalypse

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This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: Age Of Apocalypse. And no, not the movie.

aoa.jpgThe year was 199-something, and Charles Xavier had been murdered by his son, Legion, who had attempted to go back in time to kill Magneto before he became a villain. When he was still Xavier’s friend. That obviously didn’t turn out so well. In this reality Apocalypse attacked ten years before he did in the “main” Marvel Universe and conquered North America, although he is opposed by various mutant groups, he ultimately succeeds in instituting his Survival Of The Fittest mantra within his realm.

For four months Age Of Apocalypse took over the regular X-Men books, replacing the likes of Uncanny X-Men with Astonishing X-Men, Wolverine with Weapon X and so on across the board. I won’t list all of the series substitutions because you can find that on Wikipedia, and I’m lazy. No, today I’m not talking about the story told in a comic, but rather the way the story was presented to us, the readers. You see too often these days a major event spanning 6-10 issues in an entirely separate miniseries that will vaguely tie in to the ongoing series. No, instead Age Of Apocalypse replace the current ongoing series for four-ish months, only for those to pick back up again at the conclusion of the story.

In a rather shorter Underrated than normal (maybe? I don’t track the length as much as I should), I wanted to talk about this method of delivering an event story. What was essentially a collection of miniseries that each told a piece of the story replacing the comics you would be buying anyway is, to my mind, a genius idea. In theory, you have those buying the monthly comics already picking up the event as a continuation of the series they read and collect as well those who are curious about the event diving in and, hopefully, sticking around after it ends.

Obviously the opposite is equally true; the temporary cessation of the X-Books would have allowed those to ignore Age Of Apocalypse only to resume when the X-Books returned with their regular numbering (Wolverine #91*  would have been released in February, with Wolverine #92* appearing in July – *exact numbering may be different). This is something that I’ll be looking into in the future and exploring further outside of this column. In the meantime, I still maintain that the idea of stopping the monthly series is, at the very least on paper, an underrated idea.

Join us next week when we look at something else that is, for whatever reason, Underrated.

Review: X-Men The Age of Apocalypse: Termination

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It’s Wednesday which means it’s new comic book day with new releases hitting shelves, both physical and digital, all across the world. This week we’ve got the Age of Apocalypse!

X-Men The Age of Apocalypse: Termination collects X-Force (2010) #19.1, Age of Apocalypse (2012) #1-14, X-Treme X-Men (2012) #12-13, X-Termination #1-2, Astonishing X-Men (2004) #60-61 and some segments from Point One #1 by Rick Remender, David Lapham, Greg Pak, Marjorie M. Liu, Billy Tan, Roberto De La Torre, Davide Gianfelice, Renato Arlem, Andre Araujo, David Lopez, and Mike Deodato.

Get your copy in comic shops today and bookstores on December 12. To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Amazon/Kindle/comiXology or TFAW

 

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with FREE copies for review
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site.

Review: Age of Apocalypse #4

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AoA4Of all the titles to come out of Secret Wars, Age of Apocalypse was one of the books I was most excited about.  And four issues later, this is the title I am the most disappointed in.  If you’ve been following my reviews, you’d see that issue 1 started out so great with such promise…and then it just fell of the tracks and never corrected itself.

Apocalypse has released the legacy virus, exposing the X-Men, his Horsemen and himself, to see who is the fittest to survive.  The Horsemen and the X-Men decide to team up, to stop the virus from killing each other through their powers and also to stop Apocalypse.  Magneto gets Emma Frost to probe the mind of Peter Corbeau, to try and find out what the humans used to make the virus, but Emma finds that his memories have been blocked…but she does see glimpses that tell her the humans didn’t make the virus all on their own.  Apocalypse proclaims that there is no cure and only those fit will survive…when suddenly he begins to freeze in place.  Iceman (who was thought dead after the explosion in the Savage Land in issue #1) arrives on the scene, putting Apocalypse and his Horsemen on ice.  Emma then instructs him to not drop his cryogenic field, as right now, he is the only one keeping the virus at bay.

We then move on to see Wolverine and Burner with Cyclops, who is inexplicably no longer being held as a prisoner, wandering the deserted labs of Henry McCoy, but how they got there or why is never mentioned, as last we saw them, Cyclops was being interrogated at the X-Men’s base.  Burner reflects on his time being held captive in the labs, when Wolverine says he has picked up the scent of Jean Grey. They move on, and stumble across a corridor that Cyclops says shouldn’t exist.  They then realize that the hidden corridor and adjoining lab belong to Dr. Nemesis, McCoy’s assistant.  Wolverine is then suddenly attacked by Havok, calling out his brother Cyclops on his apparent traitorous activities, when they explain to Havok that the virus has been released and threatens all mutants…and suddenly Havok decides to join them in finding Nemesis.

Back at the battle, Apocalypse breaks free of the ice, and begins to press his attack…when his powers suddenly begin to flare out of control…and he realizes he has been infected.  This comes as a surprise to him, now realizing he his not fit to survive…but figures if he won’t, then the X-Men will not either, and he continues his attack.  The X-Men and Horsemen press on, trying to stop Apocalypse before his powers flare and kill them all…when Apocalypse’s molecular structure destabilizes and he dies in a puddle of goo.  Unfortunately, Magneto is also infected and his powers begin to flare out of control…so to save everyone, Emma goes into his mind, gives him one final memory of happiness, and kills him.  Consumed with anger, Emma rips into Corbeau’s mind and discovers that Nemesis was the one who made the virus…and that they have sent their friends right to the madman who created it.

*Sigh* where to start with this issue….my biggest problem is that things are happening with no explanation or set up, just BOOM here you go, this will move this story along, who care if it makes sense?  Iceman arrives to freeze everyone with Rogue saying “no wonder it’s been raining so much”, yet we didn’t see any rain depicted until Iceman arrived. Cyclops goes from prisoner to ally, helping Wolverine and Burner explore the labs…when last we saw him tied to a chair and being interrogated. Jean Grey is shown briefly, but still no real explanation as to what her role in all this is.  And we then catch a glimpse of Dr. Nemesis…at least they call him that, but he doesn’t look like he did when last we saw him and we don’t know why. Also, every other book in Secret Wars mentions Doom in the various regions; his laws, the Thors, something. But this one?  Nothing.  Apocalypse can release a virus that would kill all the mutants in this realm…a power that should only be reserved for ‘God Doom’…and there is no intervention. Really?  It had me wondering how this exactly tied in to Battleworld, and if this can even be called a tie in.

I’m convinced that Fabian Nicieza is not working from any kind of script or story outline and is just making things up as it goes along.  Nothing is cohesive and elements and events are just thrown in to make it seem to work.  Having the story being seen through Cypher’s point of view was a great way to start…but now I just don’t care anymore.  A team of X-Men sacrificed themselves to rescue Cypher in issue #1, to keep him from Apocalypse…but why?  All he is now is an observer…he hasn’t done anything, nor has any purpose for him been revealed.

Iban Coello took over artist duty on this issue…and it definitely shows. This did not feel like the Age of Apocalypse.  The artist who started on this book, Gerardo Sandoval, did a fantastic job of giving us the look and feel of the Age of Apocalypse we first saw all those years ago.  He gave it his own twist, but it still felt like the AoA I remembered. Coello’s art is nice, don’t get me wrong, but it totally changed the tone of the book for me. I don’t know why they would change artists so close to the end, but it adds into the overall feel of disconnect with this book.

I stuck with this title because of the fanboy that I am, and I will see how it all ends. But I can in no way recommend this to anyone, even other die hard fans out there. It seems to me this book just gave up, and they’re putting it out because they had to because of whatever agreement was made.  If you want to revisit the Age of Apocalypse, go back and read the original series. This tie-in has been a waste of time.

Story: Fabian Nicieza Art: Iban Coello
Story: 2 Art: 5 Overall: 3 Recommendation: PASS

Review: Age of Apocalypse #3

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AoA3After the low I was left with after issue #2, I was really hoping that issue #3 would renew my excitement and enjoyment of revisiting the Age of Apocalypse in this Secret Wars tie in. What I got was a confusing continuation of a so-so story that, sadly, didn’t really provide the pay off I was hoping for.

The book opens with Dr. Nemesis, who we’ve seen only in random scenes in past issues, spouting off about the greatness of his work and how he stands above those who would call their work “exceptional”.  He is very excited about his latest test subject….Jean Grey, who is inexplicably made a key point to the story, with no mention of her before now.  Apparently Jean was brought in for interrogation, along with sheriff Carol Danvers, and the two were kept separate to see if Jean could corroborate the information Danvers would reveal.  Up until now, we had no idea that Jean was with Carol and the human resistance.  In another lab, Sinister, Abyss and Beast are questioning Carol about the weapon that the humans are suspected of hiding to use against the mutants.  She does her best to hide the truth, but when Sinister threatens to invade the human settlement, Carol quickly rolls over and gives the information they were looking for.

We then shift back to the X-Men, and Magneto telling Cypher of one of the first battles of his first group of X-Men fighting against the first group of Horsemen.  Magneto recounts the severity of the battle, and how his team was not prepared to face the villains against them.  Cypher feels a deep sense of loss from Magneto, telling how he lost some of his X-Men in that battle…but also how Magneto lost support from both humans and mutants; mutants saw them as a threat from them taking over, and humans saw them as no better then Apocalypse.  We then have a cut scene to Blink and Burner interrogating Cyclops, trying to get any information on Apocalypse’s next move.  Cyclops doesn’t say anything, so Burner threatens to, well, burn him, and his powers flare…with no effect on Cyclops.  Blink questions if his powers are working, when Magneto comes to see how things are going…and Rogue bursts in to tell Magneto that something is wrong with his wife, Emma Frost.  Somehow, Emma is in psychic link with Jean Grey, who is linked to Dr. Nemesis, who reveals that the humans have a weapon to destroy mutants.

The psychic flash reaches everyone, X-Man and Horseman alike, and the race is on to reach the human ghetto to retrieve the weapon. The Horsemen arrive first and unearth the weapon, slaughtering any humans in their way…and the X-Men arrive to stop them, as the two sides grapple for the weapon.  All sides are suddenly forced away with a flare of power, as Apocalypse himself arrives on the scene and takes possession of the weapon.

As I’ve said in my last two reviews for this tie in, Gerardo Sandoval does a fantastic job with the art in this book, really bringing us the feel and look of the Age of Apocalypse we were first introduced to years ago, even with his own added touches to the characters.  Fabian Nicieza again shows us here why he is so great at writing the X-Men; he knows these characters inside and out, and writes them exactly as any X-Men fan would want to see them.  The problem for me, however, is how the story is laid out in this issue.  After reading it, I wondered if someone forgot that this is supposed to be an on-going series.  Characters are thrown in out of the blue, like Jean Grey all of sudden being an important plot piece and Dr. Nemesis, who we’ve only seen really as Beasts ‘side kick’ now suddenly has a larger role.  And for this being the realm of Apocalypse, we have hardly seen a hint of him, until the end of this issue where he just steps in, with no build up, and plucks the prize for himself.

No, this third issue definitely did not earn this tie in any redemption with me.  It felt sluggish, disjointed and uninspired.  I still love the art, and how the characters are portrayed, but I’m wondering if this story had any direction when the idea was pitched, or if they just decided to make it up as they go along.

Story: Fabian Nicieza Art: Gerardo Sandoval
Story: 5 Art: 9 Overall: 6 Recommendation: Pass (as with issue #2, unless you like the art)

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

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DC_Bombshells_2_5575d95d36ac86.74035338Wednesdays are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!

We’re bringing back something we haven’t done for a while, what the team thinks. Our contributors are choosing up to five books each week and why they’re choosing the books.

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.

Brett

Top Pick: Plutonia #1 (Image Comics) – A new series by Jeff Lemire? Well, that alone gets this on my list, but the idea of him tackling a coming of age story through the lense of the superhero genre is too awesome to not look forward to. Add in beautiful artwork by Emi Lenox, and this is the first comic I’m reading this week.

Imperium #8 (Valiant Entertainment) – Harada and Divinity, two of the most powerful beings in the Valiant universe have come face to face. This is the climax to “Broken Angels,” continuing the awesomeness that is this series.

Midnighter #4 (DC Comics) – Writer Steve Orlando has made punching to solve problems cool again. I’ve never been the biggest Midnighter fan, but Orlando has given me reasons to be as he’s given the character a fresh mix of a personal life and superhero life. Such a fantastic series.

The Omega Men #4 (DC Comics) – Superhero terrorists? This series shows the gray and that there’s a fine line between terrorist and revolutionary, all in space! A very cool sci-fi series that does what sci-fi does best, explore our society through entertainment.

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #44 (IDW Publishing) – I’ll keep plugging the various IDW Transformers series until you people wake up and see that it’s more than just giant robots and fighting! Every series has been an interesting mix of political intrigue, action, and religious philosophy. It’ more than meets the eye (sorry had to).

 

Alex

Top Pick: X-O Manowar #40 (Valiant Entertainment) – I’ve become a huge fan of this series over the past few months, and after the way the last issue ended, I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks.

We Stand On Guard #3 (Image Comics) – I have been really enjoying this series so far. We’re almost at the half way mark, and I’m really looking forward to see where the story takes us.

 

Edward

Top Pick: Danger Girl: Renegade #1 (IDW Publishing) – Love’m or hate’m, the Danger Girl team is back, and this time focuses on one of the team’s unanswered questions, Abby’s past.  Those that like the series can expect more tongue-in-cheek humor combined with decent action.

Jem and the Holograms #6 (IDW Publishing) – More fun abounds for this series which has been focused so far solely on the battle of the bands, and while it has been a simple enough concept, the creative team fills these pages with life.

Lazarus #19 (Image Comics) –  The ongoing battle of Duluth proves to be an issue for Forever after she is nearly killed in the last issue.  How thia works from here on will be interesting as numerous clans are trying to take down the Carlyles.

Star Lord and Kitty Pryde #3 (Marvel) – A lot of the Secret Wars tie-ins have either mostly ignored the crossover or told a crossover-centric story.  This is one of the few that does both while maintaining the charm of what made the pair of heroes so special to begin with.

Wonderland #39 (Zenescope) – Zenescope’s stand-out series returns with higher stakes as Calie faces threats in Wonderland and on Earth.

 

Elana

Top Picks Tie: 8House: #3 Kiem Part 1 (Image Comics) – Brandon Graham’s inter-connected fantasy world series begins a new storyline. The art by Xurxo G. Penalta is beautifully detailed and creative. The world has an air of Dune mixed with cyberpunk. The story involves astrolprojection. This will be unlike anything else you buy.

Top Picks Tie: Heavy Metal #276 Jack Kirby Issue (Heavy Metal) – Jack Kirby made art for the CIA’s secret Operation Argo plan to free American hostages. Never before published, we can finally see it in this issue! It is based on Robert Zelazny’s famous fantasy series “Lord of Light.” The rest of the mag sounds good too. But the Kirby cover alone with worth the cost of admission.

Jem and The Holograms #6 (IDW Publishing) – The Food Fight of the Century is over and now it is time for the Battle of The Bands! A really fun series for people of all ages and genders. Which band would you be voting for: The Holograms or The Misfits (not the Danzig Misfits, the entirely fictional Misfits that the artist has said sound like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs)? I think Black Sabbath singer Dio would vote for Jem and the Holograms but Black Sabbath singer Ozzy would vote for The Misfits. Please tweet me your own wild speculations to @Elana_Brooklyn #JemBattle (this is just me, not an official IDW tag).

Midnighter #4 (DC Comics) – I’m addicted.

Toil and Trouble #1 (BOOM! Studios) – I’m fairly discriminating about my “re-imaginings of Shakespeare” but this new mini series looks stunning, innovative and feminist.

Silver Surfer #14 (Marvel) – A title that had felt at the periphery of the Marvel U (in an interesting, exploratory way) now finds itself at the middle of it. It looks like the rebuilding of the post Secret Wars Marvel U starts here. The last issue ended on some absolutely stunning art. Among the best I’ve seen in ages. I was very frustrated with Slott’s response to the Hercules bi-erasure story but he’s apologized so I’m still reading this.

 

Kenny

Top Pick: DC Comics Bombshell #2 (DC Comics) – Making this story a period piece has me interested in the many ways they could take Wonder Woman, Batwoman, and Supergirl, after a solid set up in the first issue. But it’s mostly the gorgeous art that has me most excited about diving back into this world.

Daredevil #18 (Marvel) – Honestly, I could break down the multitude of reasons this comic is worth reading but, to keep it simple, when Mark Waid is writing Daredevil it is always worth checking out.

Deadpool vs. Thanos #1 (Marvel) – Deadpool messing with anyone is usually all I need to be happy, but watching him send Thanos into a massive rage has me feeling extra giddy inside.

Herald: Lovecraft and Tesla #6 (Action Lab Entertainment) – Being a history junky, I am all for any type of twisted history tale. And just the potential of watching Mark Twain versus a book golem is enough to make me want to read this right now.

 

Mr. H

Top Pick: Deadpool vs. Thanos #1 (Marvel Comics) – The one who personifies death vs. the one who can talk you to it? Oh yes this is a must see even for me. Viva la Deadpool!

Daredevil #18 (Marvel Comics) – The final chapter. See how it all ends. I am on the bench with anticipation.

DC Comics Bombshells #2 (DC Comics) – The Womens’ Super Revolution continues. Is Steve Trevor going to make it? We shall see…

Green Lantern #44 (DC Comics) – Hal as a renegade just really fits and I’m liking this fun little space chase, I’m hoping that some incoming Thanagarian influence can shift it into over drive though!

Thors #3 (Marvel Comics) – Move over CSI and every other crime drama. This one is how it’s done.

 

Paul

Top Pick: Thors #3 (Marvel) – This is one of my favourite books to come out of Secret Wars.  The Thors have been hunting a murderer who has been targeting Jane Fosters from different areas of Battleworld, and now they have a suspect.  This is a great cop story, following the Thors as they uphold the laws of Doom, and I can’t wait to see the interrogation of their suspect.

Age of Apocalypse #3 (Marvel) – Issue 1 was fantastic and took me right back to the AoA I remember…and then issue 2 totally left me flat, basically a rehash of the first.  I am really hoping they pick this story up and we get more into the thick of things.  I’m really enjoying seeing the story from Cypher’s point of view, but I want to see more then some observations on character behaviour.  There’s been hints of a virus that could end all the mutants…can we please see more of this story?

Squadron Sinister #3 (Marvel) – I was surprised that I enjoy this book as much as I do.  I’m familiar with the Squadron Supreme, and Hyperion from his time in Avengers…and it’s a fun read to see Battleworld’s version of this team being nothing more then an organized gang, quietly taking over realms to expand their power…but how long will this go before Doom steps in?

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