Comic book round up volume 2

12 May No comment

It's time for the second, highly self indulgent, Swollen Pickles comics round up. I should also mention at this stage that I don't actually by individual issues of comics. I'm a trade paper back man. I prefer to read through a bunch at a time, so I'd rather wait until a few are collected up and released that way. So, that out of the way, let me begin.

X-Men: Endangered Species

This trade collects the X-Men: Endangered Species one-shot and as well Endangered Species Chapters #1-17, that originally appeared as eight page vignettes at the end of the X-titles for a few months. Endangered Species follows the X-Man Beast as he tries to undo the damage the Scarlet Witch did at the conclusion of the House of M saga, with her 'no more mutants' thing.

In case your not up to speed, Scarlet Witch (Magneto's daughter) has reality altering powers, in the House of M 'event' she basically went nuts, and created her own little perfect world, things got weird, and at the end of that story arc she decided that the world would be better off without mutants. As a result, the world returned to close to 'normal' except for the mutant population. All but 200 or so mutants had be "de-powered", which has proven to be the major driver behind all the X-Men stories since then.

Back to Endangered Species, Beast is trying to cure the mutant population, but is not sure where to begin. He tries a number of different avenues, with little success. Throughout the story he's torn between science and magic as a means to an end.

As a stand alone story, Endangered Species is a little dull, and I couldn't recommend it to a casual reader. Not a great deal happens over the 192 pages. The art is up and down, with different illustrators taking up at different spots. As a bridge between the House of M story and the latest X-Men event 'Messiah Complex' it is worth checking out, but I wouldn't consider it a must have. I'd give it 2 out of 5 stars.

X MEN 200 ENDANGERED SPECIES CHAPTER 1 MARVEL COMIC

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US $3.49

3h 33m

X-Men Vol. 2: Blinded by the Light

It's a struggle to figure out the order and numbering of the X-Men comics at the moment. This trade is listed as Volume 2, but collects X-Men issues #200-204. Read in conjunction with Endangered Species, this could be seen as another lead in to the Messiah Complex event. For this tale, Rogue is the leader of the X-Men, with Ice Man and Cannonball following along. She's also recruited some dodgy hired help including 'is she bad/is she good' Mystique, and Lady Mastermind.

A couple of interesting things happen in these issues that will lead into Messiah Complex. Firstly, Mr Sinister is most obviously back and with some sort of plan. His Marauders feature a couple of fallen former X-Men, Gambit and Sunfire. Sinister is also killing off those mutants with a knowledge of the future, whilst searching for Destiny's Diarys, which are themselves said to predict the future.

I liked this collection. The story was good, but the art was brilliant. Whilst they may not be popular with everyone, Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos are two of my favourite artists working at the moment. There is some manga inspiration in their art, which is bold and really accentuates the characters key features. For the X-Men fan this is a must, 4 out of 5 stars.

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Moon Knight: The Bottom

Moon Knight: The Bottom Vol.1 collects Moon Knight (2006) issues #1-6. This is one of the most awesomest (I'm officially making that a word now) comics I've read, and would take up a spot with Cable and Deadpool and Immortal Iron Fist on my must read list. I've seen Moon Knight written off as a watered down Batman clone, but if you read this collection then you'll see that Moon Knight is a character removed from the Batman assembly line. Moon Knight (Marc Spector) is a brutal, violent, vigilante bad ass, but this series starts out with him wheel chair bound, addicted to pain killers and seemingly deserted by the Egyptian god Khonshu. Through flash backs, we learn that Moon Knight's Marc Spector body was basically broken in a punch on with his arch nemesis the Bushman. We learn the Moon Knight, having broken most of the bones in his lower body, gets the upper hand on Bushman and proceeds to carve off his face.

We also follow present day Marc Spector as he is forced back into action, manipulated by outside forces. Is it the mysterious "Committee" manipulating Moon Knight, or is it Khonshu looking to restore the former avatar to his former glory?

The art is this collection is ball rippingly awesome. David Finch is equal to Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos in my favourite illustrator stakes. Moon Knight is not a kids comic, it's violent and bloody. Finch doesn't settle with implying violence. When I say Moon Knight carves off Bushman's face, I mean he actually carves off his face. The story is 'gritty' and 'dark' and, as a set up for things to come, it's sit down good fun. I'd have to award this the highest Swollen Pickles comic accolade, 5 out of 5 stars. Hopefully Vol.2 can maintain the rage!