X-Lapsed, Episode 145 - Wolverine #8 (2021)

X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Forty-Five

Wolverine (vol.7) #8 (February, 2021) [LGY#350]

"The Past Ain't Dead"

Writer - Benjamin Percy

Art - Adam Kubert & Viktor Bogdanovic

Colors - Antonio Fabela & Matthew Wilson

Letters - VC's Cory Petit

Design - Tom Muller

Head of X - Hickman

Edits - Amaro, Basso, White, Cebulski

Cover Price: $4.99

On-Sale: December 30, 2020

It's a Mutant Milestone!

Today we indulge in some good ol' Marvel "voodoo math" in order to get our titular hairy hero up to his 350th issue!  Here, believe it or not... Wolverine has to deal with someone from his past!  Also, a very interesting concept in the Legacy House Auctions... 

All that and our always great mailbag!

If you're digging the show... or at least appreciate the effort put into it, please consider spreading the word!  Thank you!

--

@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com

chrisandreggie.podbean.com

chrisisoninfiniteearths.com

xlapsed.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/

facebook.com/groups/90sxmen

X-Lapsed, Episode 114 - X-Force #13 (2020)

X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Thirteen

X-Force (vol.6) #13 (December, 2020)

"X of Swords, Chapter 04"

Writer - Benjamin Percy

Art - Viktor Bogdanovic

Colors - Matthew Wilson

Letters - VC's Joe Caramagna

Design - Tom Muller

Head of X - Hickman

Edits - Basso, White, Cebulski

Cover Price: $3.99

On-Sale: October 7, 2020

Wolverine went to Hell... and all he got was this lousy sword.  Today we're wrapping up the Muramasa beat in our #EcksofTens SwordQuest - and, in the opinion of your humble host, spending far too many pages doing so!

Also: Some great stuff in the Mailbag - including more Maddie Pryor blibbuh-blabbuh!

It's X-Lapsed's five-month milestone episode... why do all our milestone issues feature Wolverine???

--

@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com

chrisandreggie.podbean.com

chrisisoninfiniteearths.com

xlapsed.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/

facebook.com/groups/90sxmen

X-Lapsed, Episode 113 - Wolverine #6 (2020)

X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Thirteen

Wolverine (vol.7) #6 (December, 2020)

"X of Swords, Chapter 03"

Writer - Benjamin Percy

Art - Viktor Bogdanovic

Colors - Matthew Wilson

Letters - VC's Cory Petit

Design - Tom Muller

Head of X - Hickman

Edits - Amaro, Robinson, Basso, White, Cebulski

Cover Price: $3.99

On-Sale: October 7, 2020

The Search for the Swords has begun -- and it's taking our titular hairy hero straight to Hell?  Well, I guess that's as good a place as any - but, to paraphrase from our theme song: "Well, how did we GET here?"

Will we get that answer?  Uhh... please listen anyway!

Also, the Mailbag is a'rockin!  We hope you join in on the discussion!

--

@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com

chrisandreggie.podbean.com

chrisisoninfiniteearths.com

xlapsed.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/

facebook.com/groups/90sxmen

X-Lapsed, Episode 100 - Wolverine #5 (2020)

X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred

Wolverine (vol.7) #5 (November, 2020)

"Bloodclocks"

Writer - Benjamin Percy

Art - Viktor Bogdanovic

Colors - Matthew Wilson

Letters - VC's Cory Petit

Design - Tom Muller

Head of X - Hickman

Edits - Robinson, Amaro, White, Basso, Cebulski

Cover Price: $3.99

On-Sale: September 2, 2020

In our milestone ONE HUNDREDTH episode... we talk about a wildly underwhelming issue of Wolverine!  Welp, we certainly do play the ball where it lay here on the show, don't we?

Today's episode is dedicated to anyone who has listened to this program - without you, there's no way I'd be able to keep up this rigorous schedule.  Your listenership and engagement mean more to me than I can put into words.  Thank you all.

We have an excellent Milestone Mailbag this episode as well!

--

@acecomics / @cosmictmill / 90sxmen@gmail.com

chrisandreggie.podbean.com

chrisisoninfiniteearths.com

xlapsed.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/

facebook.com/groups/90sxmen

--

"Variant Covers"

X-Lapsed, Episode 093 - Wolverine #4 (2020)

X-Lapsed, Episode Ninety Three

Wolverine (vol.7) #4 (October, 2020)

"The Red Tavern"

Writer - Benjamin Percy

Art - Viktor Bogdanovic

Colors - Matthew Wilson

Letters - VC's Cory Petit

Design - Tom Muller

Head of X - Hickman

Edits - Robinson w/Lauren Amaro, White w/Mark Basso, Cebulski

Cover Price: $3.99

On-Sale: August 19, 2020

Happy New Year, Friends!  How's bout we celebrate by hitting up some dive bar in the Great White North with our titular hero?  Hopefully we don't inadvertently wind up stumbling into a meeting of an anti-mutant group!  Nah, nothing like 's gonna happen... right?  We'd probably wind up running into a coven of vampires first... 

--

@acecomics / @cosmictmill / 90sxmen@gmail.com

chrisandreggie.podbean.com

chrisisoninfiniteearths.com

xlapsed.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/

facebook.com/groups/90sxmen

X-Lapsed, Episode 059 - Wolverine #1 (2020)

X-Lapsed, Episode Fifty-Nine

Wolverine (vol.7) #1 (April, 2020)

"The Flower Cartel"

"Catacombs"

Writer - Benjamin Percy

Art - Adam Kubert & Viktor Bogdanovic

Colors - Frank Martin & Matthew Wilson

Letters - VC's Cory Petit

Design - Tom Muller

Head of X - Hickman

Edits - Robinson, White, Cebulski

Cover Price: $7.99

On-Sale: February 19, 2020

Welcome friends, to Wave Two of the Dawn of X line (also the 400th Program uploaded to the Chris and Reggie Channel)!

Today we've got a Wolverine two-fer - two complete stories... well, two complete "part ones", to kick off the berzerker's seventh (oi) volume.  One's got some Drug Cartel stuff... the other is all about vampires.  Woof.  Plenty of good conversation will be had, and there is some great listener mail to boot!

--

@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com

chrisandreggie.podbean.com

chrisisoninfiniteearths.com

xlapsed.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/

facebook.com/groups/90sxmen

Action Comics #983 (2017)

Action Comics #983 (September, 2017)
"Revenge, Part V"
Writer - Dan Jurgens
Artist - Viktor Bogdanovic
Inker - Jonathan Glapion
Colorist - Mike Spicer
Letterer - Rob Leigh
Associate Editor - Paul Kaminski
Editor - Mike Cotton
Group Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.99

I know I've said this before but I do so miss the days when half the credits in a comic book weren't for variant cover artists and a platoon of editors.  Not sure why that annoys me so much... 

Back in the day the books felt as though there were a lot of people working on them, so much happened and the books felt substantial... now, it often feels like just the opposite, and yet "editor city".

Keep in mind, I'm not talking about this book in particular... it's just one of the very few 2017 books I look at on the blog from time to time.

Oh well...

--

We open at the Fortress of Solitude where Kelex is pleading with Lois and Jon to vacate the premises.  His programming clearly states that they must be protected at all costs.  This is starting to become trope-y, it seems we traveling down a similar road in every Superman story since Rebirth.  Kelex declares the Fortress a War Zone... and we shift scenes to see the face-off.  It's the New-Look Superman Revenge Squad on one-side... and all the folks who wear the "S" on the other.  Superman asks Cyborg how he'd manage to regress back into his machine-y form... a transformation Henshaw refers to as an improvement and attributes to the Oblivion Stone.  Zod uses this opportunity to address his troops telepathically via Blanque.

He then lunges at Superman, smashing him into a wall... and noting the somewhat blank look in his eyes.  It doesn't take him but a second to deduce that, at least for the moment, Superman is blind!  The rest of the battlers pair off for some one-on-one action.  Supergirl takes on Cyborg, which is appropriate considering her opening Rebirth storyarc.  Superwoman is paired with the Eradicator, Kenan faces Blanque, and Steel is up against Metallo.  Blanque manages to catch Kenan off guard by speaking to him in Mandarin... then he crushes him under a pillar of ice!  Meanwhile, Lois and Jon are led to a cute li'l escape craft.

We rejoin Superman and Zod as they continue to pummel one another.  This part is super cool... Zod realizes that without his sight, Superman is relying on his other senses... like using his super-hearing to key onto his heartbeat.  Knowing how focused Superman is on paying attention aurally... Zod, get this, screams into his ears!  Now, that's an awesome idea!

Superman is suddenly swept away... he and the Flash are, what the hell... feeding a gorilla a Snickers bar?  Oh, sorry... poorly placed ad, is all (see below).  Actually, after Zod lets lose with his a capella stylings, a silence overtakes the Fortress... and in that silence, Zod can hear... Lois and Jon!

He turns to Superman and informs him that he's not allowed to have them.  Then, moments later... the escape craft takes off... and Zod blows it out of the sky.  Zod is frickin' ruthless here... I think I'm finally starting to "get" him.

With that riff-raff out of the way, Zod returns his focus to seeking out the Phantom Zone projector.  He knew Jor-El well enough that he had a pretty good idea where Kal-El might keep something like that... and it turns out, he's right on the money.

Zod and Cyborg squabble a bit... Cyborg thinks it'll be easy to free the prisoners, which only confirms that he's never been to the Phantom Zone before (just you wait, pal).  Before Zod can flip the ol' switch, the Superman Forgiveness Squad arrives to shut the proceedings down.  Or, ya know... not.  Zod zaps them into the Phantom Zone.  Whoops.

Then he sends the Eradicator and Cyborg Superman in as well.  Ruthless.

The issue wraps with the super-sevensome floating in the ethereal detention of the Phantom Zone.  To be continued... probably.

--

For what was basically a fight scene, this was really good.  Very engaging and delivered a nice cliffhanger.  This is still probably my favorite Rebirth title going.

That's not to say I had no problems with it... because there is something that bugs me.  There's this over reliance on putting Lois and Jon in danger that really distracts... and almost feels like it steals pages from the story.  I mean, sure... it's his wife and kid, and they should have a place in the book... but, every single issue is Superman protecting his family now.

And I'm not a guy who keeps a tally of how often a "damsel" is put in "distress" or anything, it just feels like we're going to the same well too often... and it's always a sleight of hand type of thing.  Let's look at the current/recent Superman arcs... in Superman (vol.4) we've got Black Dawn... in it, Lois "loses a leg".  Let's face it, we all knew that wasn't going to be real.  Here, in Revenge, Lois gets blown up in a cute li'l space craft... does anybody think that's gonna stick?  Not that I want some irreparable harm to befall Lois (or Jon) because I don't, but I'd like there to be a story where that is not at least part of the focus.

I remember when DC revived the second volume of the Flash following Infinite Crisis (and Bart's short-lived title).  In it, Mark Waid introduced Wally and Linda's twins Jai and Iris... and, ho boy, every damn issue was focused on them.  It was distracting... and all I wanted was a straight-up Flash story.  Now, I'm feeling similarly with Superman.  Not that I dislike Jon (I did dislike Jai and Iris... greatly), but at this point if DC were to give Superboy an ongoing... he'd have one more solo series than the Man of Steel himself... because as it stands, it's as though Superman has zero.

Ahem... back to the issue.

I feel like I'm finally starting to "get" Zod.  He comes across as a master tactician and a grade-A bad ass here.  It probably helped matters that we didn't get a super-cute "kneel before" meme thrown in here.  But, I gotta say, I really enjoyed his depiction here... and him screaming into Superman's ear?  Amazing.  I can't say for sure that hasn't happened before, but if I'm recalling correctly, this is the first time I've seen (or noticed...) such a thing.  It was a really cool move!

The Phantom Zone brings with it it's lofty and terrifyingly cruel reputation here.  I was happy to see Zod describe it as a fate worse than death... because, it totally is.  Imagine just floating in nothingness, observing life for millions of years... without any hope of the release of death.  That's a horrifying thought!

I am intrigued as to where this story is headed... we've got our Superman Forgiveness Squad... and Cyborg and Eradicator in the ethereal hellspace... all seven of them "wear the S", so I gotta assume that might figure into where this story is headed.

Viktor Bogdanovic provides art, and he's pulls it off quite nicely.  I enjoy him on New Super-Man, and think he's got a very nice style.  Faces do get "blobby" from time to time, but not so much that it distracts.

I will say... I think these Snickers ads are pretty weird.  It's kinda shocking that these are being drawn by top artists... they're almost too good, because it does take a minute to realize that what we're reading isn't part of the story.  At least it's not as bad as last time where a Superman/Doomsday battle was interrupted by a Superman/Doomsday Snickers ad.  Now, that was confusing...

Overall, despite my complaints about Jon and Lois hanging around, which are just my complaints... I don't expect many/any to agree, I'd say this is definitely an issue and arc worth checking out if you haven't already.

--

"Interesting" Ads:

538

New Super-Man #1 (2016)

New Super-Man #1 (September, 2016)
"Made in China, Part One"
Writer - Gene Luen Yang
Pencils - Viktor Bogdanovic
Inks - Richard Friend
Colors - Hi-Fi
Letters - Dave Sharpe
Editor - Paul Kaminski
Group Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.99

I'm gonna level with ya... outside of my "wheelhouse" books, that is to say the Titans "family", I really didn't have much faith in the DC Rebirth once-a-monthlies.  They seemed like they would be pretty far behind the bi-weeklies in priority and importance.  From what little I've sampled (including the Titans... Teen and otherwise) they do sorta-kinda feel a step behind... a bit less important.  We're not even gonna talk about the upcoming price-hike... oi.

When DC announced that several of the Super- titles were going to be once-monthly, I didn't really have high hopes.  Seeing the actual line-up, only compounded my worry.  What would Superwoman be?  Would they really be launching a solo book for a member of the Crime Syndicate?  Then there's the book we'll be discussing today... just what in the world is a New Super-Man?  My earlier answer would've been "A book I'm going to ignore"... however, due to a bit of raving coming from some folks whose opinion I value, I decided... hell, I've got the books, why not give 'em a whirl, right?

--

We open in the shadow of a bully.  A chubby lad in glasses runs down an alley... baddie hot on his tail.  He wants his Soder Cola, and he wants it now.  I didn't think New Super-Man would be a little fat kid... oh... OH... it's the bully!  Yeah, yeah... I'm playing... we all saw the cover.  Anyhoo... the chubby kid is called Lixin, and this bullying seems to be a regular occurrence.  Oh, and our main man's name is Kenan.  Kenan snags the suds and walks away... only to be whacked in the back of the head by a box lunch.

Kenan turns around and gives chase, and finds that Lixin has been grabbed by the super villain Blue Condor.  Ya see, Lixin is part of a very rich and powerful family... and this baddie's MO is messing with that sort.  Without thinking, Kenan hurls his Soder can at the Condor, causing him to drop Lixin.  Once he recovers, the Condor stares menacingly at Kenan for a bit... and then flies off.

Lixin runs up and hugs Kenan... to which, our man tells him to give him all the money he has in his pocket... which he does, happily... with promises there'd be more later.  This event caused a bit of a crowd to gather, including one news reporter named... Laney Lan... oof.  She chases our man down and asks if she could swing by his place later on for an interview.  She'd recorded the entire event on her phone, and it's already at a half a million views... ooh boy.

We shift scenes to a bank of monitors, all airing the same Kenan footage.  We are now in what looks to be a government compound of sorts, with two women looking on intently.  The short-haired one suggests that they've found the one they were looking for.

Kenan heads to the auto garage where his father works to share the events of the day.  His pop looks... less than enthused.  Ya see, he's already seen the video... and he's bothered.  Not because his son could've died... but because he was hanging around with Lixin.  We get confirmation that Kenan is a serial-bully here... as Lixin's father calls with regularity to threaten legal action.

Kenan mentions Laney Lan coming over that night to ask some questions... but dad says he won't be home.  He has a meeting with his writer's group... he's a bit of a conspiracy theorist, and he and his pals are out to prove that a thing called "The Ministry of Self-Reliance" exists in China.  Crazy, right?

Crestfallen, Kenan leaves... and heads to the graveyard where his mother is buried.  While there, he is approached by that short-haired government type from earlier.  Her name is Dr. Omen, and she expresses that they were impressed with his "heart of a hero", and she is here to offer him powers to match.  She shows him video of Superman... the New-52 version, who had just died.  She tells him that she... and The Ministry of Self-Reliance (dun-dun-dunnnnn) have devised a way in which to build a Superman of their own.

Kenan is swept away to the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai.  He is then dressed in an S-branded jumpsuit and led to something called the Origin Chamber.  First it fills up with a gas... but then, a burst of energy!

Inside, we see inside Kenan's dream.  He is dressed in a Superman costume... and he is trying to save his mother's life.  It's here that we learn that she died in a plane crash... and the airline she was flying is owned by Lixin's family... ohhhhhhh.

The MSR ladies look on while the chamber begins to come apart... they both fear the worst, however... Kenan bursts free, alive and well!

He is now a "New Super hyphen Man".  He is clearly out of his depth, and has very little control of his new powers.  Dr. Omen commands him to cool his jets... but he just ain't having it.  She decides to call in some muscle... in the form of the Bat-Man and Wonder-Woman of China!  Uh-oh.

--

Welp, gotta say... pleasantly surprised.  As I read, bits and pieces did feel a bit familiar.  I guess I at least flipped through this one when it was first released, but didn't actually give it a full read.  Glad I rectified that today.

I'm getting a bit of an early Booster Gold vibe from our pal Kenan.  There's a certain aloofness... we see him bully Lixin, and at the onset... I figured that perhaps Kenan was just an insecure jerk who needed to assert his dominance on the chubby little rich kid.  As we close out, we learn there might just be something more to it... Kenan's mother died in a plane crash... on the very same airline Lixin's father owns.  He asks himself... is that why he treats Lixin so?  I'd like to think that he does it as a distraction... perhaps a way of assuaging his own guilt for what happened.

We see when he first enters the Origin Chamber, he sees himself as Superman... and his mission is to save his mother.  Does Kenan harbor any guilt?  I can't claim to have read past this issue... so, for all I know, this has already been answered.  Anyhoo... if Kenan continues to punish Lixin... demanding cash and snacks, perhaps that is his way of making things right in his head... while still making sure somebody pays for what happens.  Also, the bullying becomes a "thing" unto itself... perhaps moving the "dead mom" to the back-burner.  I dunno... I'm probably thinking too hard.

Kenan's attention-seeking and glory-hogging reminded me a bit of Kon-El Superboy from immediately after The Reign of the Supermen.  He was a petulant shallow little twit... but we always knew he would come around.

Regardless of how wrong my predictions may be, I think this will ultimately wind up being a nice little coming of age story.  At least that's how I view them telegraphing it... again, similar character trajectory to Booster (and Kon).

With all that said... I found myself enjoying this a great deal.  Thanks to Reggie and Gerry for championing it!  I'm glad I have the next six or seven issues of this waiting for me in the stack.  I feel like it might take an issue or two more for me to get into the art.  It's mostly great, but Kenan does look a bit Fred Flintstoney.  I do hope that by the time the $3.99 wave washes over this one that it's already built enough of an audience to keep it afloat.  If you haven't checked this one out yet... give it a go.

--

Interesting Ads: