REVIEW: Giant-Size X-Men - Nightcrawler #1

By Zack Quaintance — “What in the world is going on at the abandoned X-Mansion?” It’s a line of (on the nose) dialogue that gets delivered on the second page of Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1, and it’s also this book’s pitch/concept/mission statement. You know what? It’s also an effective one, one of those superhero comics ideas that make you immediately wonder why you hadn’t already been wondering about what was going on at the X-Mansion now that all the mutants were on an island.

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REVIEW: Hellions #1 gives Krakoa a Suicide Squad

By Zack Quaintance — I had been looking forward to the newest X-Men comic — Hellions #1 — since the book was first announced, and in a way, I feel like I’m still looking forward to it. Don’t get me wrong, I read the comic this morning, but Hellions #1 had a lot of setup to do. So much so that it felt like one of those first issues that doesn’t really get our plot moving, instead having a team-building checklist to accomplish before it can introduce storytelling elements like character motivations, dilemmas, threats, and larger goals.

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REVIEW: Wolverine #1 perfectly fits creators to the character

By Zack Quaintance — As a writer, I’ve been reading Benjamin Percy’s work for some time, long before I made any sort of move to go from steady reader of comic book trade collections to an active weekly comics blogger. My first exposure to his work came in 2009 or so, when a friend recommended his debut short story collection to me, Refresh, Refresh, which features a blistering title story about the savageness of war...underscored by the deep emotional pain it inflicts upon the communities from which soldiers come. There was a vague interest in technology present as well, plus an ending story that starred a lone man on a motorcycle in the nuclear-weapon scarred Pacific Northwest, fleeing in one memorable scene from a pack of crazed (and maybe mutated?) hounds.

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