This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This video is another entry in my “Jack’s Comic Gems” series. This time, I highlight a brief, but memorable mini-series that reimagines the classic House of X/Powers of X story, but in the world of X-Men 92. It’s a unique, but uncanny combination that proves to be a quality gem for all the right reasons.
Filed under Jack's Comic Gems, Jack's World, X-men, YouTube
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This video is a list of theories and predictions about what to expect in season two of X-Men 97. The first season didn’t just wildly exceed my expectations. It laid a rich foundation on which to build. The season one finale offered plenty of clues. This is just me following those teases to what may lie ahead for this uncanny series. Enjoy!
Filed under Marvel, superhero comics, X-men, YouTube
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This video is my quick, unscripted reaction to the season one finale of X-Men 97. I had such high expectations for this show. And now that the first season is over, I can safely say it delivered! It really was something special. It didn’t just reintroduce the X-Men in a big, bold way. It laid a truly uncanny foundation to build on. Enjoy!
Filed under Jack's World, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-men, YouTube
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This is my quick, unscripted reaction to the first two episodes of X-Men 97. I’ve been anxiously looking forward to this show ever since it was announced. It’s been a long time coming, seeing the X-Men return to form. But they’re finally back and if these first two episodes are any indication, they have an uncanny future ahead of them. Enjoy!
Filed under Jack's World, Marvel, X-men, YouTube
This is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World.
This is video another entry in my ongoing “Jack’s Comic Gems” collection. And for this gem, I highlight a X-Men mini-series that flew under the radar when it came out. Those who follow X-Men comics closely probably know the role Louise Simonson played in developing the franchise with X-Factor in the 1980s. Her run re-established the importance of the Original Five X-Men in the larger Marvel universe.
That same run ended abruptly. But X-Factor Forever gives Louise Simonson a chance to pick up where she left off in a brief, but memorable non-canon story that highlights everything we love about this era of X-Men. Enjoy!
Filed under Jack's Comic Gems, Jack's World, Marvel, X-men, YouTube
This is another video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This is video another entry in my ongoing “Jack’s Comic Gems” collection. And this particular gem takes Cyclops, one of the most controversial and well-known X-Men characters, and puts him in an unfamiliar setting. He’s not leading the X-Men. He’s not clashing with Wolverine or obsessing over Jean Grey. He’s not even in his adult form thanks to some time travel shenanigans.
Instead, he’s in space re-connecting with his father, Corsair. He’s going on adventures with the Starjammers, channeling his inner space pirate. It’s not your typical Cyclops story, but that’s exactly what made it such a gem. Enjoy!
Filed under comic book reviews, Jack's World, superhero comics, X-men, YouTube
The following is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This is a fresh entry in my ongoing “Jack’s Comic Gems” collection. And once again, I have another X-Men comic to add to that ever-growing list in X-Men: First To Last.
It was a high point for the Utopia era of X-Books. However, this particular comic is special, both in terms of its story and the era from which it emerged. It’s not unusual for comics to revisit the past in some major way. Most of the time, it makes for damaging and frustrating retcons.
But every now and then, a comic will find a way to revise history in a way that’s actually compelling and meaningful. Chris Yost and Paco Medina were extra bold in how they linked the current era of X-Men comics with the classic First Class era. But the end result was a true gem of an X-Book. Enjoy!
I’m a morning person, by nature. I know that makes me a freak to some people and I totally get that. I’ve met people who just can’t function properly before eight in the morning. I’m just not one of them. Ever since high school, I’ve been wired to get up before six and start doing whatever I need to do for my day.
That hasn’t just helped me with school, work, hobbies, and what not. It has nicely supplemented my love of comics, especially since Comixology entered the picture. I’ve lamented before how agonizing it was in ancient times before the internet. Back then, if you couldn’t get to a comic shop, which rarely opened before ten in the morning, you had to wait for your comics to arrive in the mail.
Except, they almost never arrived on time. In fact, a comic arriving on a Wednesday afternoon was something to be celebrated.
I don’t miss those days. Being a morning person, New Comic Book Day was less an event and more a test in frustration. That’s why Comixology has been such a godsend. Now, when I wake up early like I always do, I have my new comics waiting for me on my iPad. It’s a beautiful thing and I just love starting my Wednesday mornings with coffee and comics while watching the sun rise.
Even if you’re not a morning person, these are good times to be a comic fan. It has never been easier to get into. If you have an internet connection or a smartphone, you can immerse yourself in the world of comics. You don’t have to take in everything all at once. It can start with one Wednesday morning. Why not make it this one?
To assist, here is my pull list and pick of the week. Enjoy!
Filed under Jack's Quick Pick Comic
There are some people in this world, as well as fictional worlds, who will never be content to let things progress for the better. No amount of mutual benefit, understanding, or sincerity will be enough. They’ll always seek to destroy anything that might change the world they know, even if it’s for the better. They won’t just complain about it on social media, either. They’ll resort to the worst kinds of violence.
These are the people that X-Force deal with. Throughout their history in the X-Men comics, they’ve dealt with the dirty stains of humanity that never wash out, no matter how hard you scrub. They’re the ones tasked with confronting these threats, be they human or mutant, with a level of gratuitous violence that you won’t see outside of “Game of Thrones” reruns.
The need for X-Force, as well as their violent tactics, is one again reaffirmed in “X-Force #4.” At a time when mutants have made genuine progress through Krakoa and a new geopolitical role in the world, they’re still subject to hatred, attacks, and atrocities.
In the first three issues of the series, writer Benjamin Percy demonstrated that, despite having their own nation in the form of a living island and the ability to resurrect dead mutants, they’re still vulnerable.
Charles Xavier got shot. Domino was captured and had half her skin ripped off. The fact that any of this can happen, given all the resources at the X-Men’s disposal, is wake-up call and a reminder as to why X-Force isn’t just necessary. It needs an overhaul.
That overhaul begins to unfold in “X-Force #4” and in the midst of another mysterious attack, no less. While this one didn’t end with anyone getting shot or flayed, it did hit Krakoa in the wallet, which can hurt as much as getting shot. The nature of the attack and who is behind it remains a mystery, but X-Force is put on the front lines.
However, this is not the same X-Force that that Rob Liefeld brought to live during the grunge-fueled heyday of the 1990s. They’re not operating completely in secret as some secret kill-squad that everyone is better off not knowing about. Instead, Percy sets them up to be Krakoa’s version of the CIA, complete with its own Seal Team 6.
It’s somewhat of a shift for what X-Force has historically been in the X-Men comics, but it fits perfectly with the current situation surrounding mutants and Krakoa. Mutants are no longer scattered, isolated, and running from killer robots at least once a week. They have their own nation, language, and emerging culture. Protecting it requires something more organized than a shadowy kill squad.
That means more assistance from those who have traditionally argued against the merits of secret kill squads, such as Beast and Jean Grey. However, after seeing Charles Xavier get shot in the head and Domino get tortured, they’ve become a bit more pragmatic in handling these kinds of threats.
The events of the first three issues caught them off-guard. They try to be much more proactive in “X-Force #4,” investigating the attacks and organizing a response. Naturally, Wolverine is part of that response since many of the threats X-Force deals with require significant stabbing. Now, armed with Krakoan weapons provided by Forge and Kid Omega’s attitude, they’re ready to be a new kind of X-Force.
It may not be the kind of profane, brooding, blood-soaked X-Force we’ve seen in the past, but it feels appropriate for the X-Men’s current situation. Jonathan Hickman set up a very different set of dynamics for the X-Men through “House of X/Powers of X.” Percy just creates a version of X-Force that fits within the context of these dynamics.
Having a team like this doesn’t just feel necessary after the events of the first three issues. It feels personal. These weren’t just angry protests or hate threads on Twitter. Someone managed to attack their home and shoot one of their most powerful figures in the head. However one might feel about X-Force’s violent tactics, there’s no denying that they’re as motivated as they ever were.
For a quality X-Force comic, it’s not enough to just have ample violence and an attitude ripped from mid-90s heavy metal music. There needs to be a greater context to the added violence, preferably one that complements the current status quo of the X-Men comics. With “X-Force #4,” Percy succeeds in creating that context and artist Joshua Cassara gives it the necessary grit.
The overall lineup for X-Force is still somewhat small, but it has plenty of room to grow. After what happens on the final page, it’ll have to for reasons that are as obvious as they are bloody. The threat X-Force has to kill is still somewhat vague. Only a few details have come out thus far, but the only detail that matters is that they can hit Krakoa where it hurts and they’re not inclined to be diplomatic about it.
X-Force has always billed itself as a superhero team that relies on less-than-heroic methods to get the job done. They’re not a team that wears flashy costumes and parades alongside other, more reputable heroes. They do what they do in the shadows and don’t mind incurring some extra bloodstains to do it.
“X-Force #4” starts with something bloody, but ends with something bloodier. Given the nature of the emerging threats they face and the wounds they’ve already incurred, it promises to get even bloodier with future issues. It’s everything you want in an X-Force comic and then some.
Filed under Jack's Quick Pick Comic
Even the cleanest communities need a functioning sewer system. That’s something that even the most wide-eyed, Utopian-seeking idealists understand. Throughout the history of the X-Men comics, Professor Charles Xavier and his X-Men have had to learn this lesson on many occasions. While they don’t outright abandon the idealism at the heart of Charles Xavier’s dream, they understand that less ideal methods are necessary.
That’s where X-Force comes in. Whereas the X-Men are the public photogenic faces of their heroic exploits, X-Force is the secretive, less scrupulous team that fights the ugly battles that need fighting. They are, in essence, the sewer system of Charles Xavier’s dream. Where heroes and idealism fails, they step in.
It’s a tradition that has gone through many eras, dating back to the X-Men’s heyday in the early 1990s. The threats and the circumstances have changed, but the tactics don’t. Even though the X-Men and the entire mutant race are in the best position they’ve been in since the Clinton Administration, there’s still a need for X-Force.
Writer Benjamin Percy, along with an impressive cast of artists, establishes the extent of that need in “X-Force #1” and does so in an appropriately brutal fashion. Charles Xavier may have set up an ideal environment for mutants to thrive, but that environment is still vulnerable to major threats who don’t stop at throwing killer robots at them.
The nature of these threats are vague, as is often the case with X-Force, but their motivations are clear. The new order that Jonathan Hickman built in “House of X” and “Powers of X” has shaken up the geopolitics of the Marvel universe. Mutants are no longer a disorganized hodgepodge of scared mutants, costumed heroes, and Deadpool. They’re a sovereign nation with valuable resources.
While this has set mutants up to prosper like never before, it also makes them a much bigger target. Instead of hunting mutants in dark alleys, there’s an entire country full of them and not all of them have trained in the Danger Room. It doesn’t take long for a shadowy group of masked mutant-haters to take advantage of that.
Initially, it’s hard to know how serious this threat even is. There have been all sorts of shadowy organizations who wear funny masks and dream of slaughtering every last mutant with a smile. A few have a notable place in the X-Men’s history. However, they’ve never had to face mutants that are this well-organized.
These aren’t just mutant struggling to survive anymore. They have a living island to protect them. They have standing in the international community and they didn’t even need to threaten the planet to get it this time. On top of that, they have powerful psychics, living weapons, and Emma Frost’s sex appeal on their side. How can anyone threaten them?
This is where “X-Force #1” really makes its mark. It doesn’t just set up a new threat for X-Force to combat. It shows that this threat is capable of hitting the X-Men where it hurts. Their elaborate defenses, their legions of powerful mutants, and their emerging place in the international community isn’t enough. They can still be attacked. They can still suffer casualties.
It’s a rude awakening, especially after everything Charles Xavier did to make Krakoa the ultimate haven. It’s also shocking at how successful this attack is. Even those who aren’t traditionally associated with X-Force, such as Jean Grey and Beast, see first-hand how devious their enemies can be.
It’s a harsh reminder that they’re still living in a world that isn’t swayed by their idealism. While some might have their attitudes tempered by diplomacy, life-saving drugs, and Wolverine’s claws, others won’t stop until they’re dancing atop a mountain of mutant corpses.
Those aren’t people that the X-Men can confront through heroic means. This is the kind of challenge that needs X-Force and their less-than-ideal tactics. The last page of “X-Force #1” makes that abundantly clear. The only question is how far are they willing to go in order to respond?
Through its many iterations, X-Force has always had a darker tone to go along with its darker themes. Percy captures that tone perfectly in “X-Force #1.” He crafts a story that isn’t entirely built around X-Force’s harsher tactics and the lines they’re willing to cross. More than anything else, the story reaffirms the need for X-Force.
It lays a foundation that includes characters who are no stranger to X-Force’s methods, such as Wolverine and Domino. It also sets the stage for other characters to play a role, like Jean Grey and Black Tom Cassidy. In other eras, these same characters would oppose the very existence of X-Force or actively fight against them. However, in this new emerging order with Krakoa, they cannot avoid it.
“X-Force #1” has most the defining traits that X-Force comics have always had. What makes it stand out is how it builds those traits around a world in which mutants have never had it better. This is as close as they’ve ever gotten to fully realizing Charles Xavier’s dream, but X-Force is still necessary.
It’s a sobering reminder. You could even argue that it’s a necessary reminder. After what happened on the final page, nobody in X-Force is going to forget that anytime soon.
Filed under Jack's Quick Pick Comic
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