The Spider-Man: Breakout trade paper back collects the five issue Spider-Man: Breakout miniseries that was originally published between June - October 2005. Breakout expands upon some of the events that occur in the first few issues of New Avengers. Basically, if you haven't read the New Avengers Vol.1 trade paper back, you'll struggle to make much sense of Breakout. To re-cap, New Avengers began with a prison break, instigated by Electro, that results in the escape of a large number of supervillians from the island prison call "The Raft". A number of heroes, including Spider-Man, are in the area, and attempt to stop the breakout. These events are the catalyst for the formation of the New Avengers.

Breakout opens sometime prior to the events featured in the New Avengers, and focuses more on two rival criminal factions, who have a world class beef with one another. Once the breakout occurs, these two factions take their problems out on one another, with New York as the back drop. Spider-Man is caught in the middle.

As the New Avengers haven't officially been 'assembled' yet, Spider-Man is left mostly on his own devices to figure out why the two groups are trying to kill each other, and why they've stayed in New York when they could have skipped town already. Are they looking for something? Or someone?

Breakout is a strange miniseries, and I can't really figure out what the motivation for it was? Perhaps Marvel wanted to capitalise on the popularity of Spider-Man a little more, and decided to rush this one out, but I still don't see how this warranted it's own miniseries. The problem I had with breakout was that it doesn't really add anything to the New Avengers story, and it's more about the villains than it is Spider-Man, although that's not necessarily a bad thing.

As far as tie-ins go, this is probably one of the more unnecessary ones that I've read. While the story following the villains is interested, I'm not sure that it's deserving of it's own series. The artwork is good, and the characters are interesting enough, but it still, I can only give this a generous 6 out of 10. Fortunately I picked this one up for a couple of bucks in the last TFAW scratch and dent sale, otherwise I may not have felt so generous in my assessment.

The Dark Phoenix Saga is arguably the most recognised and referenced stories in the X-Men catalogue. It has served as the inspiration for much of the original X-Men animated series, as well as the X-Men live action movies. The Dark Phoenix saga is featured in X-Men Vol. 1 #129-138 during 1980, and now collected in trade paper back X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga.

When talking about the Dark Phoenix Saga, it's important to know that originally the Phoenix actually was Jean Grey, at the height of her powers, and was not simply a cosmic entity linked to her, as is the case since the character was retconned by Marvel in later issues.

In an earlier arc, Jean Grey was exposed to radiation from a solar flare, which unlocked her powers so she achieved all her telepathic and telekinetic potential. She turned into a 'being of pure thought', and upon reforming herself once she returned to Earth, took on a new costume, identity and wielded the power of the "Phoenix". After repairing the damaged M'Kraan Crystal, she saw the danger her powers posed on voluntarily kept them under control. These events led into the Dark Phoenix saga...

Recognising her immense power, Jean Grey became the target of Mastermind, as he attempted to gain the favour of the Hellfire Club. With the help of the White Queen, an evil Emma Frost, Mastermind (aka. Jason Wyngarde) projected his illusions directly into Jean Grey's mind, making her believe that she was actually living in period times as Lady Grey, Wyngarde's lover. Through Mastermind's manipulations, Jean Grey joined the Hellfire Club as the Black Queen, a role that lead to the breaking of the barriers she had created to keep the Phoenix under control.

When the X-Men came to her rescue, her love for Cyclops broke the psychic hold Mastermind had over her. At the same time though, the last of the psychic barriers keeping the Phoenix in check was also broken. Jean Grey's mind and body was taken over, and she called herself the "Dark Phoenix".

After a brief battle in which the Dark Phoenix hand the X-Men their asses on a silver platter, Dark Phoenix grew hungry, created a wormhole, and disappeared, transporting herself to another galaxy, devouring the power of a star, which in turn went nova, causing the deals of billions of innocent aliens in the process. A passing Shi'ar space craft spotted the carnage, and attacked the Dark Phoenix, in an effort to stop any further destruction. Before they were destroyed, the Shi'ar were able to transmit a message to their Empress Lilandra, warning her of the threat. Lilandra gathered a posse of intergalactic butt kickers, including the Kree and Skrull empires, who all came to the same conclusion. The Dark Phoenix was bad news, a bigger threat than Galactus, and needed to be stopped immediately.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the X-Men and Beast (who was a member of the Avengers at the time), devised a plan that would nullify the powers of the Dark Phoenix long enough for them to defeat her. Lucky for them, because before they could say 'Magneto's hairy nipple', the Dark Phoenix had returned to earth. Their plan worked and Professor X was able to rebuild some psychic circuit breakers, in order to keep the Dark Phoenix's powers at a more manageable level.

Bad luck comes in threes, so the Shi'ar arrive, abducting the X-Men, informing them that the Dark Phoenix had killed billions and had been sentenced to death. Professor X, who was tapping Lilandra at the time, challenged the Shi'ar to a duel of honour. If the Shi'ar won, the Dark Phoenix would be killed, if the X-Men won, she would be granted mercy.
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Wolverine and Mystique are two of the X-Men universe characters that I find most interesting, although much of Wolverine's mystery is quickly being eroded (see Origins). The Wolverine: Get Mystique trade paper back collects Wolverine issues #62-65, and follows on from the events seen in the X-Men event, Messiah Complex.

The story begins with a flash back. Wolverine is beaten, dragged outside and tied to a post to be shot by a firing squad, a voice next to him asks if he's a murderer. The voice turns out to be Mystique.
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I have to admit, I had been very close to dropping Wolverine Origins up until volume 4 (collecting Wolverine: Origins #16-20 and Annual #1), in which did just enough to maintain my interest, largely due to the appearance of Captain America, Bucky and Nick Fury in the World War II flashbacks. The appearance of Deadpool on the last page of issue #20 had me eagerly anticipating the release of volume 4.

I pre-ordered Wolverine: Origins Volume 5 - Deadpool Premiere HC (Wolverine) from Amazon, fortunately before the value of the Aussie dollar took a nosedive. Wolverine: Origins Volume 5 collected issues #21-27 (even though Amazon only list it as containing #21-25) and begins with Deadpool having been hired by a mysterious third party to catch and kill Wolverine. The action takes place in San Francisco, and basically follows Deadpool doing what he does, running around, wise cracking and blowing stuff up. The running battle spans three plus issues, as you'd expect of two guys that can pretty much heal from any wound. In the end though, it's Deadpool that gets the upper hand, managing to bring Wolverine down.

As Deadpool has Wolverine restrained and strung up over a swimming pool, with the intention of drowning him, Wolverine's son Daken arrives and proceeds to cut off poor Deadpool's hand. Daken flicks the switch that would drop his old man into the water, however an explosion throws Wolverine against a wall and he remains on land. A single handed Deadpool then goes toe to toe with Daken. In the mean time Wolverine is able to free himself. » Read the rest of the entry..

What would Spider-Man be like if you were to fast forward thirty five years into his future? That’s the question Spider-Man: Reign attempts to answer. Spider-Man: Reign was written and illustrated by Kaare Andrews, and was a four issue limited series published by Marvel between December 2006 and March 2007. Whether it exists within the accepted Spider-Man continuity or not is probably open to debate, and even more so if you’ve kept up with the “Brand New Day” story line.

Reign begins in New York, which has all the hallmarks of being a police state. It’s people are subject to extreme governmental controls, and Spider-Man has not been seen or heard from for some time. “Super crime” no longer exists, and the city is policed by a group known as the Reign.
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Wolverine Origin is a six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel and released between November 2001 and July 2002. It was jointly written by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and Paul Jenkins, and illustrated by Andy Kubert (pencils) and Richard Isanove (colour).

Origin is the first Wolverine story to reveal his childhood and early background in any real detail. The six issue series has been collected in trade paper back as well as hardcover form. Origin reveals a lot of new information about Wolverine, as well as raising a few new questions.

** Be warned: The following section contains spoilers. **

Wolverine was born James Howlett in Canada in the late 19th century. In his early childhood he is depicted as a sickly child, who suffers from a number of allergies and illnesses. His father, John Howlett, Jr., is a rich plantation owner, 'adopts' an orphaned girl named Rose so that James has a companion. Both James and Rose grow up on the plantation along with another child called Dog Logan, who is the son of the Howlett's groundskeeper, Thomas Logan. Thomas Logan is no Groundskeeper Willy. He is a cruel and abusive drunk that often takes out his rage on his son. As the children grown older, Dog becomes increasingly like his father, and tension between Dog and James builds, mirroring the friction between the boys' fathers, as a triangle between the two men and James' mother Elizabeth begins to emerge.

It is revealed that Elizabeth is no longer playing with a full deck, having apparently gone mad following the death of her first son, John Howlett III, in mysterious circumstances a few years prior to the beginning of the story. The story also alludes to the fact that John Howlett III may have displayed some mutant abilities, similar to those that Wolverine would develop, and that scars on Elizabeth's chest may have been caused by John Howlett III's claws.

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Apparently I'm a sucker for an "untold origin story", because when I saw Bullseye: Greatest Hits for $2.99 from the Things From Another World scratch and dent sale, I couldn't pass it up.

The trade paper back, Bullseye: Greatest Hits, collects the five issue mini-series, with the story itself attempting to reveal the origins of the man that became the ultimate thorn in Daredevil's side. The mini-series ran from November 2004 through until March 2005 and was written by Daniel Way and illustrated by Steve Dillon, the same team behind Wolverine Origins.

Bullseye: Greatest Hits opens with Bullseye being held in a top secret underground government facility, where he is being interrogated by two special agents, who are attempting to learn the whereabout of some nuclear weapons that Bullseye was responsible for stealing. This interrogation is used as the plot device through which to reveal snap shots of Bullseye's origins.

Bullseye reveals that when he was a child he displayed the uncanny knack of being able to hit any target with any sort of projectile, as seen when he kills a bird with a yo-yo. When his family is killed, following a bungled attempt by Bullseye's older brother to murder their abusive father, young Bullseye is put into foster care. He takes up Baseball, but his boredom for the game leads him to kill his opponent, as is depicted on the Mike Deodato drawn cover of issue 2.

This is when Bullseye first gains the attention of the US government, and is subsequently recruited then sent out into the field. It doesn't take Bullseye long before he goes rouge. Following his first battle with the Punisher, Bullseye heads back to the US, where we are treated to various glimpses of his first encounter with Daredevil and the King Pin as well as his murder of Elektra.
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If you haven't seen it yet, here's the X-Men Origins: Wolverine teaser trailer.

This one looks like the real deal, not a video camera at Comic Con thing. No pudgy guy tooling around like the Star Wars kid.

Get ready for some excitement! Wolverine is one bad mutha!

Ok, maybe I was wrong, on second viewing it might be a fake. » Read the rest of the entry..

Weapon X: Days of Future Now is a five issue miniseries first released in 2005 and then collected into a trade paper back. Most of the story takes place approximately 30 years into an alternate future, and provides a conclusion to Frank Tieri's Weapon X series, which was canceled after 28 issues. I have to say, I haven't read the 28 issues that led up to this, and I purchased the trade paper back for two reasons. Firstly it was $3.99 in a TFAW scratch and dent sale, and secondly, it had "Weapon X" on the cover, and that was good enough for me.

Reading Weapon X: Days of Future Now as a stand-alone title proved to be a little confusing in places, and no doubt I would have benefited from having the background that is probably covered in the original 28 issues. Reading this, I felt like I had missed a lot, and there seems to be a lot of exposition going on that doesn't necessarily make sense to the reader coming in fresh. As a result, I'd suggest this collection is best suited to the die hard fans of the Weapon X series, and as such it does go a long way to providing them with some closure.

I have to admit, reading Weapon X: Days of Future Now was a little hard work. Not having the Weapon X series background, I was at a loss as to how this all fitted in to the X-Men universe. While Wolverine sits at the center of the story, a number of his Weapon X counterparts also play major roles, including Agent Zero, Fantomex, Sublime and Chamber.

The artwork is average. Not terrific, but not total rubbish either. I think the best way to describe it is, "serviceable".

What did I learn?

Don't try and pick up a story 90 per cent into proceedings!

I'd recommend this for fans of Tieri's Weapon X series only. If you don't have the background, like me, you'll find this collection more confusing than it is entertaining. » Read the rest of the entry..

Wolverine's first appearance was in the Incredible Hulk #180 in October 1974. Since then the Hulk and Wolverine have faced off a couple of times in the comics, but as far as I'm aware, they have yet to take the battle to the large, or small screen... until now.

I didn't realise that a Wolverine Vs. Hulk animated feature was even in the works, but according to this teaser trailer, it looks set to hit in January 2009.

So here it is in all it's bone cracking glory.
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