Friday, December 18, 2015

Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron issues #23-24


Previously in Wolverine and the X-Men...The faculty of the Jean Grey School has been captured by Frankenstein's Monster who employed the help of a witch (whose name I tried to memorize before writing this review but I forgot again but let's just call her Cal) to secure them and then she turned them into performers to participate in his deranged  murder circus that also lures adults so the witch can steal their souls. The teachers did come back to their senses but not after they beat up some of their students in the process. Meanwhile, Idie meets Max, the bishop of the tween Hellfire Club, and they team up briefly to put a stop to the nefarious plans of FM and the witch Cal. Max turned out to be the last descendant of Victor Frankenstein himself, and so FM was more than eager to kill him, but settles for Idie in the meantime, determined to choke the life out of her. That's how the previous issue ends with. 

Now in issue #23, we see a rather stirring flashback concerning young Max's life where he created his very first monster four years ago just so he can have a best friend. Said undead best friend had to be sacrificed to the raving mob who wanted to kill Max. Back in the present, Max contemplates about saving Idie but didn't bother and chose to go self-preservation mode. Nothing particularly of note really happens in this issue except the inevitable wrap of what was a very confusing and uninteresting arc. The only things worth looking forward to is Idie's slow progress towards the dark side (she almost did kill the witch Cal, and Q expresses understanding but also anxiety over her changing personality), and the fact that Max finally chose to embrace his lineage, and challenging Kade Kilgore's authority as well. There's that bit about Cal the witch summoning Azazel (the mutant or the demon or both?) but meh, let's cross that bridge one Aaron brings it back issues from now.

Let's talk about issue #24 instead because that issue was the one I really enjoyed. First, it's now in the timeline where Beast--suffering the pains of his mutation evolution--time-travels back in time to recruit the Original Core Five (young Scott, Jean, Hank, Bobby and Warren) to put a stop to Cyclops' revolution. This is a storyline featured in Brian Michael Bendis' title All-New X-Men which I reviewed back in September for this year. So, we have young Jean Grey living in the school that was named after her, and then meeting Quentin Quire. Understandably, Q's first instinct is to try and sleep with her. She cockblocks him immensely though, much to his embarrassment, finding out she already has her telepathic powers early in the game. Meanwhile, Ororo (Storm) talks to her ex-husband Black Panther (whom she had just annulled her marriage with) and he forbids her rather specifically not to hook up with Wolverine. So...OF COURSE SHE HOOKS UP WITH WOLVERINE. DID ANYBODY SEE THE COVER OF THIS ISSUE?! Speaking of X-Men randomly hooking up: Bobby and Kitty go out on their first date where they try to be normal folks and of course it backfired. Kitty bemoans Xavier's death, and how THEY of all people have to be the grown-ups now and take care of kids. It depresses her. She could hardly focus on having a good time with a guy she likes. Bobby, surprisingly very sage-like, gives us this really impressive insight about their lives as superheroes and teachers:

Kitty decided to take their date for something more their speed. Ergo, using their mutant powers to go around places and have a helluva fun time. It was nice. Too bad that Bobby and her will break up, and she will get married to someone from space, and he turns out to be gay. WHATEVER. For now, they're jiving together, and they share their first kiss outside the school which was all kinds of romantic, much to Toad's disapproval as he looks on because he would rather they would all kill each other like the old times. Inside the school, Ororo and Logan get their freak on BECAUSE WHY NOT? Srsly, I can't think of a reason. I think Storm and Wolverine would be pretty great together. I'm already so pissed they broke up Scott and Emma so I am in bad need for a major power couple, dammit.

On the other hand, Beast tries to find a way to operate on the comatose Broo again when he should be focused on dating his girlfriend, the S.W.O.R.D agent Abigail Brand, but she lets him do his work anyway because she understands. Back in school, Idie visits Broo again and often regularly, trying to get him to wake up, having dinner with him and telling him about her day and experiences like a dutiful wife or something. It's actually pretty disheartening. Quentin would also watch her do this, and the jealousy mixed with pity on his face is priceless. The issue ends with Broo eventually waking up, much to Idie's joy, but that joy will turn into shock and fear because the first thing Broo did upon waking up is going rabid and attacking her! You just can't have it all, can you, Idie? Not only did she discover that the priest who has been consoling her is a cyborg in disguise, now her best friend has reverted back to his true Brood form.

But hey, at least we get some romance in here before yet another tidal wave of clusterfuck hit the shorelines. Oh, and Sabretooth is trying to get Kade Kilgore a girlfriend. This is an important question to Jason Aaron: Can I be his girlfriend? At least once he turns legal.


RECOMMENDED: 8/10

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