Week of Review - Wolverine & the X-Men

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The late 2000s were an unkind time for the X-men franchise.  Specifically, I’m talking about the film side of the X-Men offerings as the comics were actually fairing really well back then.  The movies had completed their trilogy with the spectacular failure that was X-Men: The Last Stand and moment was quickly slipping away from the series as the decade dwindled.  Meanwhile, in the comics, the X-Men had undergone a radical reinvention since the events of the 2005-2006 stories House of M and Decimation. 

Mutants were suddenly an endangered species with barely 100 left alive, Cyclops had become a militant mutant leader and founded his own rogue nation in the San Francisco Bay called Utopia.  Even the Ultimate Comics line was in a fit of bizarre storytelling under the banner of Ultimatum, a mega-event where Magneto killed most of the Ultimate superheroes including Xavier, Cyclops, Captain America, Wolverine and more.  It was a strange time and Wolverine and the X-Men really reflect that particular strangeness.  

X-Men: Apocalypse Post-Credits Scene Explained

Edited by Robert Beach 

X-Men: Apocalypse has topped the box office for Memorial Day weekend as our third big superhero team movie of the year and 4th comic book movie overall. Ideally, I’ll have a more in-depth review of the film later on, but as we wait on that, we can talk about is the post-credits scene.  Post-credits scenes (stingers) have become the staple of superhero movies nowadays. To the point audiences have been so trained to expect stingers, it’d be weird if a superhero film didn’t have one (that was a Batman v. Superman slam.) 

The entire idea of post-credits superhero teasers originates in the X-Men franchise, first popping up with X3: The Last Stand’s ending clip of Professor Xavier mind-warping into a comatose patient to escape death. Since then, we’ve had big reveals like Nick Fury in Iron Man, funny shoutouts like Howard the Duck in Guardians of the Galaxy, and direct sequel set-up like the Apocalypse teaser in Days of Future Past. What type of scene does X-Men: Apocalypse sport? And what does it mean for the X-Men films going forward?  Let’s find out. Spoilers ahead.

Panel Vision - History of the Inhumans

In case you haven’t heard, Marvel Studio’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show has started its third season and kicked off a major storyline involving a secret race known as the Inhumans.  The Inhumans have been hovering around the edges of the Marvel cinematic universe for awhile now, especially since the announcement that they’d be getting their own movie as part of Marvel’s Phase 3.  What’s more Marvel has been building them up as a major part of the comics universe for the past 2 years.  That particular prevalence will only be increasing this month with Marvel’s major universe reboot.  It’s clear that Marvel wants the Inhumans to be a big part of their universe no matter how little sense it makes. I’ll get more into the bone headed whys of that decision but first I think it’s time to cover the history of the Inhumans.

Panel Vision - Top 13 Guardians of the Galaxy Covers

A little late I know but in my defense I was very drunk this weekend.  So, in case you haven’t heard, Guardians of the Galaxy was a huge hit last year.  Chances are you probably knew that, what you might not know is that Disney/Marvel is actually looking to capitalize on this success in a more meaningful way than usual by giving the Guardians an animated series.  The show premiered on Saturday and it’s…harmless.  The Disney television animation studio’s seen better days certainly but if you were hoping recent hits like Gravity Falls or Stars vs. The Forces of Evil might signal an uptick in quality temper those expectations. 

However, this recent twist of fate is all the excuse I need to showcase the best Guardians of the Galaxy comic covers…of the original team.  Yeah, little known fact but the original Guardians of the Galaxy are a team of genetically altered humanoids and aliens who act as the last resistance of a far flung future where humanity and most of the galaxy has been crushed under the heal of villainous lizard men known as Badoon.  They appeared briefly in the well remembered Korvac Saga and enjoyed a surprisingly long lived solo series, that’s what I’ll be drawing from for this extra large list.