Comic & Manga Reviews
The fall of Krakoa shook everyone, readers and characters alike. At least, that’s how it felt to this reader. So, naturally, I tried to make a point of checking out all the new From the Ashes series, including X-Factor.
Where the last volume introduced new characters and brought a different team together, Uncanny X-Men Vol. 2 took everything a step further. We still have our favorites on the team (have I mentioned how much I love having a Rogue-led team?), but things are morphing and changing.
Okay, there are a few key phrases you can waggle in my face that will get me to read an X-Men series. “Rogue-led” is one of them, and “Written by Gail Simone” is another. So, I knew I was going to check out Uncanny X-Men the moment it was announced.
Six new series popped up at the beginning of From the Ashes (and many others followed), including Exceptional X-Men. This team offered a slightly different take on the mutant team thing, focusing on the newest generation, with unwilling teachers at the helm.
It’s a new era for the X-Men, and only time will tell if that’s for the best. That said, I’m happy to see that Scott is in charge of at least one of the X-Men teams. His team feels a little like coming back home for the X-Men. There are new twists, obviously, but there always will be.
Of course, Jean Grey is getting a solo series during Marvel’s From the Ashes. It would be strange if she didn’t, right? Phoenix Vol. 1 really lets Jean/Phoenix off the leash, sending her off into the larger universe, and boy, are the stakes high.
At this point, I think I’m fully caught up in what I had read from the Krakoan era (yeah, I hadn’t gotten far before I got distracted, and I hate that). I’m happy to be making new progress with this story and am eagerly awaiting a few anticipated reveals and twists.
Here marks the end of the (well, this) Darth Vader series. It was a good run, and overall, I really enjoyed it. This series could be read as a standalone or alongside the main Star Wars plot. The whole series, from start to finish, occurs between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, and until now, I hadn’t really thought about what occurred in that time span.
This week, I finally caved in and started reading through Darth Vader (courtesy of Marvel Unlimited, which is the biggest supporter of comic binge-reading). So I'm a little behind on the times, but I'm really glad I'm finally getting around to reading it because it has been fantastic! No additional reading is needed to understand what's happening here, as all the context is provided within the first couple of pages (I love it when that happens). This is especially true if you've seen all the movies (and if you haven't, you're probably not likely to want to read the comics anyway?).
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve read any Spider-Man (I know, shame on me), so I went ahead and grabbed some of the recent highlights to binge. One is The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 by Zeb Wells.
Quirky Cats Comics 