Wolverine and the X-Men #21 Review

* CONTAINS SPOILERS*



This was another great issue in Jason Aarons' run on this title. This issue also saw the return of Nick Bradshaws' art working alongside Laura Martin; who may very well be my favorite colorist in comic.
So lets jump right into it and see what is going on in the start of this new story arc. The first thing we see is Kid Omega; who is late for class, but soon realises that all the teachers are not on school grounds and have in fact gone missing. It turns out that they have been kidnapped and brainwashed by Frankensteins' monster who has set up his circus in town in order to take human souls to give to the devil so he can survive. Or something along those lines anyway.
It is up to the kids of the Jean Grey school to rescue their teachers, however the teachers have been ordered to capture all the children, as there is a child at the circus who is a blood relation to Frankenstein. The monster wants to kill this child as punishment for his bloodline creating him.

This is a fun issue that does not take itself too seriously. It is especially fun to see the X-men as circus acts. Seeing Wolverine as the circus clown was by the far one of the best moments in this issue, a long with Kid Omegas' reaction when he saw what was happening at the circus. The kid is pure evil, but you really cant help but love him.
I also enjoyed Kade Kilgore's brief appearance as we saw him continuing his quest to bring an army of new mutants. He seems just as evil and twisted as ever which is nice to know. I am also quite interested of his plan, as if written write it could be quite a test for the X-men when they are finally confronted with the finished product.
This whole problem will likely be resolved in the next issue, but this is a great way to get new readers into the book. What will also help grab new readers attention is the art on show in this issue. It is great to see Nick Bradshaw back and on top form. The colorist was also firing on all cylinders in this book. I believe the circus setting helped her greatly as she could really show off her full pallet. It was full of colors, but done in a way that was not overpowering.

Once again we have been treated to another great issue in this series. Every review on this series I say how great it is and how everyone needs to get involved with it. This issue has not changed my mind. We are just into the second year of this title being on sale, and it looks like it is going to be a very exciting year for Wolverine and his pupils.

Rating: 8 / 10

Wolverine and the X Men #19 Review

This series has constantly impressed me over the first 18 issues of its run. Some of the tie in issues to AvX did feel a bit forced, and were maybe a little poor, but that was to be expected. Now all that is behind us, here Jason Aaron gives readers a perfect jumping on point to kick on from.

So many different things happened in this issue. Firstly, throughout the issue Kitty was interviewing for the vacant teachers post that Hush left. These frames kept popping up and were absolutely fantastic. Some of the candidates were brilliant (Deadpool, Blade, Spider-Man), and I was very eager to come across more of them as soon as I figured out that it was a continuous theme throughout the issue.

We also saw a character developing moment for Toad the janitor in this issue. In the series so far he has always been in the background, gaining no real interest from myself and possibly others. However, in this issue we see that he may have a nasty side to him which we could be seeing more of in future issues.
The Hellfire club still seem very evil which is to be expected. Their little trick on Wolverine was very low, but shows just how seriously they should be taken.
A new villain was showcased at the end of the issue which could be interesting. It is not made clear what is going on with that just yet, but I expect it to be great like the rest of this current run.

Seeing Hank attend to Broo was one of the more sombre moments of the issue. Broo has been a big favourite of the fans throughout the series, and you can tell that the writers also feel that way. This was shown by the way some Marvel characters have reacted to Broo's current state. I really dont think we have seen the last of Broo, and I am hoping he makes a full recovery. He is one of the many highlights of the book and it would be a shame to have him written out completely.

Nick Bradshaw returned to the series with this issue, and let me tell you his art is worth the price of admission alone. He is back on top form this month and it is truly great to see. His art was just made for this book. It fits it to perfection.

All in all another great issue in this series. We were shown future plot points and they all look to be really interesting. I was worried Aaron was going to lose momentum after the stop start of AvX, but I have been proven wrong here. Eagerly anticipating the next issue, along with the rest in what will be the second year for this title.


Rating: 8.5 / 10

Pull List 10/31

Hey!

     I have ordered my weekly comic books online today. They should get to me on either Saturday or Monday. The reviews that I decide to do for these issues will be published early next week. These comic books are:

Image: Bedlam #1 (I am super excited for this book!)
           Fatale #9
           Happy #2

Marvel: Hit Girl #4

Zenescope: Wonderland #4


Oh I am also purchasing a couple more books this week ( today in fact ). The review for these if I decide to review them will be published in the next couple of days. These are:

Ultimate Spider-Man #16.1
Wolverine and the X-Men #19

I hope you all have a great Halloween! Stay safe.


         

AvX Consequences #1 review

I really enjoyed the whole of Avengers vs X-Men, all 12 issues. Yes, there were a couple of sub par issues, but as a whole I thought it was very very good. So following on from those events we have AvX: Consequences. Which as the title states, will be following the fallout from the epic six month story arc.

I found this book very hit and miss. There were some things done really well, while other things didn't seem to have the effect I think they were going for. Starting with the positives, it looks like there will be some big things to come from Wakanda and Black Panther. It seems that Wakanda are not forgiving the mutants so easily for destroying their home. This could lead to a possible conflict which would of course be very interesting. I have not read too many things with Black Panther involved in, so I would really like to see something like this put forward in the future. The scenes with Cyclops in the prison were also great. It should be fun to see how to copes in there with all the continual bad treatment towards him by the staff and possibly some other prisoners in future issues.

Now on to the negatives. The scene with Hope felt pointless. It seemed like they were trying to hit a certain emotional tone, and failed to do so. I wasn't really a fan of the scene between Cap and Wolverine. Wolverines' emotional state after the death of Xavier came over really well, and is in fact something I am looking forward to being explored more in depth. However, the scene as a whole I just think could have been done better. It didn't really flow right for me. I am also not very interested in whatever Captain Marvel and Iron Man seem to be up too. Obviously the foundations for their mission were just being set in this issue, but it failed to really interest me. Maybe my opinion on that will change after the next issue.

I cant write a review on this issue without mentioning the art either. Some pages it looked absolutely great. In fact Wolverine looked superb in every frame he was in. However, Captain America looked terrible throughout. It just didn't look like Cap enough for me.

Overall, I am stuck in the middle with this issue. The foundations have been set for some quite interesting things thus far, however there are other aspects of this mini series that I can tell already I will not be interested in in the slightest. This will not stop me picking it up though, as like most people who read AvX, I am desperate to see the implications of this years biggest story.

Rating: 5/10