I first noticed Jerry Lando through the Penciljack Forums while trying to recruit artists for a webcomic project I’ve been trying to launch (dpk431.com).

But it was a series of Wolverine pages he was posting on the forums that really made me sit up and take notice.

At first I thought them pages for an upcoming Wolverine one shot, but soon discovered that, like me, Jerry was hoping to break into comics.

Unlike me, Jerry is an artist and unbelievably talented.

I quickly offered to highlight some of his artwork on the Wolverine Files so I could claim a brush with greatness once the whole world sees how good he is.

Of course, that was several weeks ago before I got bogged down with work and a weekly commute from Maryland to New York City.

So to avoid any more lengthy delays, let me present a page of Jerry Lando’s terrific work.

As for Jerry, he is a Kubert School grad, and has now completed five pages of the ‘Wolverine: Black Rain‘ script. And you can see all of those pages in order on the Penciljack Forums and Photobucket.

So please make Jerry feel welcomed.

Now if only I can get Jerry to work on my Wolverine script and webcomic!

DiG…

UPDATE: Additional discussion of Jerry Lando’s art style and excellence can be found at the Wolverine Files Forum.

News from the Baltimore Comic-con and a sneak preview…

• CBR: Mondo Marvel Panel with Aaron, Claremont, Bendis, Fraction (details)
• CBR: ‘X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas’ #2 Sneak Preview (details)

Probable and Possible (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 10/14/09…
–Uncanny X-Men #516 (preview): Magneto Return!!!
–Uncanny X-Men: First Class #4 (preview): Storm takes center stage…
–X-Men Forever #9 (preview): Secret History of the Sentinels…

Wolverine appeared in THREE TITLES last week (October 7, 2009), the first reviewed by our very own jrpbsp, ‘Astonishing X-Men’ #31…

And as usual, I share my curmudgeonly impressions for the rest of the Wolverine docket…

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #3 (preview)
Writer: Jeff Parker
Pencils: Carlo Pagulayan
Inker: Jason Paz

Nothing special in this Agents of Atlas-driven crossover.

I can’t seem to get excited about this supergroup from the 1950s and the X-Men characterizations by Jeff Parker seem to fall flat. And as usually happens in these crossovers, the X-Men are shown to be fighting like amateurs instead of the precision military team that I prefer from Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run.

Not bad, all in all, but as I say, nothing special either…

X-Babies #1 (preview)
Writer: Greg Schigiel
Illustrator: Jacob Chabot

I am done, officially done, with Wolverine crap like this. I used to take pride in collecting every single Wolverine appearance known to mankind, no matter how peripheral, but this issue is the epitome of why I can’t keep doing it anymore. And, it seems, the story takes place in continuity.

Perhaps I need to seriously consider the extremes of my Wolverine fanaticism.

As always, share your opinion in the comments below OR or simply join in on the fun at the Wolverine Files Forums…

Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… My store did not get X-Men vs Agents of Atlas so only one review this week. Without further adieu, here’s ‘Astonishing X-Men’.  Hope you enjoy it.

Astonishing X-Men #31 (preview | thread)
Writer: Warren Ellis
Penciler: Phil Jimenez
Inker: Andy Lanning

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: The issue opens with Agent Brand and a S.W.O.R.D. team infiltrating one of the Brood’s living ships. Unfortunately, they were expected and the aliens had already destroyed their lab and immediately attack the invaders. The S.W.O.R.D. agents are forced to make a retreat back to their ships. Brand is the last one to leave and her vehicle gets blasted as she flies away.

Brand attempts to repair the damage but cannot get the ship to slow down and eventually has to eject. The escape pod is still going extremely fast as it hits the atmosphere. U.S. Space Command attempts to shoot it down but cannot get a lock due to the speed and erratic flight pattern. They are forced to call the X-Men since the projected landing is in San Francisco.

Cyclops takes the message and pulls the team together including Beast, Wolverine, Storm and Armor. They take a brand-new rescue plane that is untested. They do not have time to put a plan together but Emma is able to reach Abby and see that she is unhurt. Once they are close enough, Storm hops out and does what she can to slow and straighten the pod but the thin air limits her.

Beast mans a grapple gun and manages to snag the vehicle on the second try. Wolverine jumps out but gets thrown by a broken piece of the pod. Armor catches him and tosses him back and this time he successfully opens the cockpit and grabs Brand. Beast detaches the line and reels them in with Armor, Logan and Abby matching a human chain.

Storm is then able to redirect the crashing vehicle to a safe landing site. On the ground Emma spots one of the dead students from Xavier’s, Laurie. But when she goes to confront the girl, ‘Laurie’ turns into a huge, organic Sentinel.

MY TAKE: This was a good and fast-paced issue with some strong action and tense situations. There is little enough plot but that is to be expected considering the compressed time frame for the story. While Agent Brand is not a personal favorite, she is strong here with some good dialogue and smart characterization. Unfortunately, it was also filled with some very convenient happenings and several very unlikely or impossible scenarios.

I think this is a strong beginning to the next arc with the dual enemies of the Brood and some sort of bio-Sentinel. Although ironically we have seen both of these recently, it is a nice blending of different science fiction genres. I do hope we get some explanation about how the new Sentinel is formed though.

I also enjoyed the general tension of the issue. Giving such a small time to react makes actually conveys a sense of urgency to the reader. I know I was flipping pages quickly, something only helped by the generally fast-paced dialogue. But pretty much every character still gets a moment to shine and a line of very witty dialogue. Wolverine’s comment to Brand was one of the best.

I am glad this is taking place prior to Utopia and is not being set on the island. It is unlikely that in the current settings that the U.S. Government would ever be willing to work with the mutant team. Of course that brings up an interesting point about how the new status quo actually limits stories, which is supposed to be against Marvel’s direction, but no need to go into that.

However, there are a number of other problems with the issue as well. The odds of a random object falling to the West Coast of America has to be a million to one and to hit San Francisco? That is so coincidental as to boggle the mind. There has to be a better way to bring Agent Brand into the issue. Not to mention the arrival of a vehicle that can save her just a couple of days prior. A jet that we have not seen before.

The rescue itself is more or less impossible. At the speeds they are supposedly traveling you can not simply open a door on a jet and step outside. The wind would be like hitting a brick wall at a hundred miles an hour. Storm and Armor might be able to protect themselves but Wolverine would be blown away. He would not be able to hold himself in place let alone grab Abby. Not to mention the suction when the cabin was breached in the first place.

There is also no way you can get six people from different locations into a jet and take off  securely in six minutes and still have time to in act a rescue operation. It took a full minute to make the initial phone call after all. It would have made more sense to say sixteen but even that would be pushing it. I understand and even applaud the use for short time for tension but it should be done realistically.

In the end this was an entertaining and fast-paced set up for the next story arc. It looks to be fun and action-packed run. I just hope a little more effort is put into making it believable. If you have to invent or shoe horn the situation for a story then the plot should be changed or at least reworked a bit. Still the next issue looks to be good and I hope that Wallflower might actually return in some form.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.

Another very light news week for Wolverine…

• CBR: Bendis Talks Dark Avengers and ‘Siege’ (details)

Probable and Possible (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 10/07/09…
–Astonishing X-Men #31 (preview): Phil Jimenez on pencils..
–X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1 (preview): Wolverine takes on Atlas…
–X-Babies #1 (preview): Make it stop!

(Dark) Wolverine appeared in FOUR TITLES last week (September 30, 2009), plus we catch up on two appearances from the previous week.

So let’s get to the reviews by our very own jrpbsp…

• ‘Wolverine: Weapon X’ #4: Fear of Drowning…
• ‘X-Force’ #19: Finding the Trigger…
• ‘X-Men Forever’ #8 (sans Wolverine): Robot Rampage…
• ‘New Mutants’ #5 (also sans Wolverine): Aliens Landing…
• ‘Fantastic Force’ #4 (from last week): Healing Mother Earth…
• ‘Wolverine: Origins’ #40 (from last week): Ace’s Take!

And as usual, I share my curmudgeonly impressions for the rest of the Wolverine docket…

Hulk #15 (details | thread)
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Pencils: Ian Churchill
Inker: Mark Farmer

Another Jeph Loeb monstrosity and the cartoony pencils by Ian Churchill only add to the misery.

Why Mssr. Loeb is allowed to get away with such corny, out-of-character dialogue is beyond me.

The X-23/Punisher confrontation is especially laughable.

So in a nutshell, caveat emptor…

Marvel Zombies Return #5 (details)
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Penciler: Wellington Alves
Inker: Scott Hanna

I like Fred Van Lente’s writing a lot, but it is time to put Marvel Zombies to rest. Mixing morality and zombies is a recipe for disaster and not the good kind of disaster either.

As the late Warren Zevon once wrote in ‘Life’ll Kill Ya’, “Requiescat in pace. That’s all she wrote.”

As always, share your opinion in the comments below OR or simply join in on the fun at the Wolverine Files Forums…

Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… It has been a very long couple of weeks but nearly done. For my final review for the week we have ‘New Mutants’.  Hope you enjoy it.

New Mutants #5 (details)
Writer: Zeb Wells
Penciler: Zachary Baldus

NOTE: Wolverine does not appear in this issue.

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: The issue opens with H.A.M.M.E.R. sending some missiles to take out an unidentified E.T. Unfortunately it is Warlock who infects them with the Techno-organic virus and they refuse to detonate.

We cut to a scene with Scott and Dani in Brightwind’s new stable. Cyclops commends Moonstar on taking out Ares and offers to help if Hela demands payment. He then requests her to go back to teaching. Dani wants to stay with Sam’s new team but Scott has to tell her that Cannonball did not put her on the roster.

Illyana has just gotten done with her debriefing by Dr. Kavita Rao of the Science Team who calls Shan in next. She tells Karma that Magik’s destroying five personalities of Haller’s will resulted in consequences and asks for Shan’s take on what happened. Karma is worried about Marci, the child personality trapped in Legion’s mind. Roa tells her that they are terra-forming Haller’s mind to try and fix him.

A jump to the lab shows the Science Team mapping Legion’s mind and locking up all the personalities. Rogue is using her power to siphon off excess energy and keep him contained. The Science Team explains the gist of the mechanics to Amara, Sam and Roberto though Sunspot is only interested in hitting on Rogue. Magma pulls him out before he embarrasses himself throughly and Sam gets called to the Danger Room by Dani.

Returning to the interview, Shan relates how she figured out that Marci was killed by Legion. It was the only way she could have gotten into Haller’s mind without Karma’s powers acting as a link.

In the training center Moonstar hits Sam again but he refuses to fight back. She argues that she saved his life but Sam counters with her disobeying orders. She plays the friendship card and asks if he would die for her. When he says yes then she argues she should have the same choice. They shake and she hits him again. But this time he fights back and punches her straight in the face. He takes her feather and offers to buy her a couple of beers as a peace-making gesture.

Back to the debrief and we have gotten to the heart of the matter. Kavita asks about finding the personality that killed Marci, and Shan agrees that they confronted it. Rao says Illyana confessed to killing that personality in anger but we see from Shan’s memory that she did it herself with Illyana’s Soulsword. But Karma does not admit it allowing Magik’s statement to stand.

In the end we see Warlock arriving at the destroyed mansion and finding a picture of the old New Mutants. He drops it in shock when he sees Doug Ramsey’s grave is empty.

MY TAKE: I want to start out by saying I am still loving this series. This is a cleanup and transition issue so there is not much story but what it loses in plot it more then makes up in characterization and interactions.

The best part of the issue was Sam and Dani working out their differences. Moonstar’s use of emotion and tough love are well done but I had to applaud when Sam fought back. His nice guy personality gets overused sometimes and it was good to see him reach the point where he would not take it any more.

Another highlight was Shan’s interview. She is an interesting character that does not get enough screen time or development and it was nice to see her taking the forefront. Even though she was barely there, Illyana’s presence was felt throughout the sequence. I enjoyed seeing her influence as both a good friend and as a corrupting bad girl. Her amoral personality tends to be glossed over but glad we are not seeing that here.

The weakest scene was the Science Team and Haller. Although Wells does very well with the New Mutants he seems to be a bit off with some of the other characters in this issue. Also, Roberto’s flirting was very heavy handed and not like the smooth approach he normally has. He is not a bad choice for comedic relief but this scene did not quite click.

Also I was not a big fan of the art change. This style made everything look faded and in some cases features had to be over exaggerated to make up for the lack of inking. The overall effect made me think of a child’s crayon drawing.

In the end this was another spectacular issue of a amazing series with a few minor nitpicks. I am definitely looking forward to the next issue when we see Warlock returning to the fold and possibly Doug Ramsey as well. I am just glad that this was apparently a one-issue fill in for the artist since I do not feel it was a very good fit for a super hero title.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.

Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… Almost done this for this week, next up is ‘X-Men Forever’.  Hope you enjoy it.

X-Men Forever #8 (details | thread)
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Steve Scott
Inker: Al Vey

NOTE: Wolverine does not appear in this issue.

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP (previous issue’s review): The issue opens with an enormous Sentinel attacking the X-Men field team who leap into action. Kitty protects Fury while the rest evade the initial barrage. Then they begin to counterattack while Kitty goes for the Sentinel’s foot. Jean tosses Beast at the robot’s head and he puts out the Sentinel’s eyes. Rogue then finishes it off with a super punch.

Fury is able to briefly talk to Scott and get some telemetry from the battle. But due to the interference they would not be in a position to help for long. We also get a brief look into the headquarters of the mysterious organization that is controlling the robots, but they are not having any more luck communicating with their people on site.

Beast and Nightcrawler go and scout ahead and Jean sends Rogue to keep an eye on Hank. Kitty is pushing herself using her claw to clear the brush for Fury and Jean. She is obviously on edge and nearly attacks Kurt when he comes back to report that they had found a hidden facility.

Meanwhile ‘lil Ororo and Lockheed are wandering around the mansion and run into Gambit. She is feeling out of place but Remy helps to make her see she belongs with the X-Men.

The field team gets inside the facility and finds the place destroyed and evidence of a fight but no bodies. Eventually they stumble on a loan survivor. She is disoriented and claims to know nothing about what happened or anything outside of her genetic research area. Beast finds the same logo on some equipment  that was worn by the people that helped the fake Storm. Rogue does not trust the woman and Jean and Fury seem to agree but Kurt and Beast accept her story.

We briefly see another confrontation between Scott, Xavier and Sabretooth over the latter’s being forced to wear a bracelet so they can locate him. The talk is cut short by renewed contact with the field team. They have located a massive attack at a nearby village and everyone but Fury goes to check it out.

Fury gets jumped by the female survivor who points a gun at him and says her name is Doctor Zigfried Trask, Bolivar’s daughter. The X-Men have trouble of their own as the arrive at the village and find a whole hoard of the massive new Sentinels.

MY TAKE: This was a decent if unimpressive issue. While there was nothing wrong with the story or characterizations specifically, it just did not have much of a flare. We have seen the Sentinels so many times that it is hard to give them much credit as a villain even if they are bigger and more powerful then before. There was really no sense of threat from them.

There are some interesting side plots mostly with the mystery organization but having a new child of Trask has definite possibilities as well. I liked how it tied into the retro story from last month. But the main plot never felt very immersible to me. It is a tale that we have seen too many times before, the hidden base with the killer robots and the survivor who is not what she seems. I reacted more with a shrug then anything else.

I am also still getting used to some of the personality changes. While these are Claremont’s characters in a sense, it can be hard to let go some of the later developments. Even more than that, Kitty is so different that I wonder why she was included at all. It seemed like Claremont wanted to make her like his recent Exiles’ Kitty and that does not work very well. The same goes for Sabretooth, who is probably the most well rounded and grounded of any of them, but he is nothing like what was established. And Beast should not let a simple flattery turn his suspicion into trust. It is just not logical.

My biggest complaint is including Nick Fury on this mission at all. He just does not mesh well with the group and their constant need to protect him hurts their ability to function as a team. I would be all right with having him liaison between the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D. but I do not see the point of a human on a mutant combat team. He seems to only be carrying a pistol against giant robots and he does not even manage to get a shot off with it.

In the end this was not a bad issue but it was slow and failed to really engage my interest. The series has been running a bit hot and cold lately but then not every issue can be brilliant. So far there has not been a really bad story so I am happy enough with it over all. I just hope next issue picks up the pace a little bit and we get some bigger plot advances. I know Claremont loves his dialogue but here it seems to come at the expense of the story and that is never a good thing.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.

Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… Up next for this week is another big issue of ‘X-Force’.  Hope you enjoy it.

X-Force #19 (details | thread)
Writers: Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Art: Mike Choi & Sonia Oback

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: The issue opens with Agent Morales being interviewed for a position with the Facility by a man named Young. While she does not like the idea of using a child as an assassin, she is shown the files of all the people X-23 has killed and told she will be eliminated if she should refuse the offer. Morales decides against the job and takes out Young quickly.

Kimura is in the process of cutting off Laura’s other arm when Morales interrupts the process by shooting Kimura in the head. She frees Laura and X-23 grabs her severed arm and they start to exit the room while Kimura is regaining her wits. The agent is unaware of X-23’s healing and is shocked at how she is able to function.

Back with the X-Men, Elixir has gone into a coma after saving Surge and is being helped by the Science team while his friends look on. Heller wants to look for X-23 but Scott refuses saying Wolverine will handle it.

Bastion contacts Pierce within the X-Men’s prison and tells him to remain in place and monitor the Leper Queen’s body. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Domino are pushing the Cuckoos to their limit to locate Laura. They fail repeatedly but do find Rahne.

Wolfsbane and her Prince have just defeated the Frost Giants and Rahne transforms to her intermediate form and immediately collapses to the snow. At the same time, Selene is in New Orleans and has gotten a new reanimated mutant that Caliban has found. It is Destiny.

Back in the Facility base, Laura has informed Morales that Kimura is bulletproof. The agent asks what they should do and X-23 tells her to run. They flee down the hall and Laura is able to drop a security door on her enemy pinning the woman in place. Kimura then orders the building to be locked down.

The fugitives are trying to figure out a plan. Morales thinks Laura would know the layout but the girl did not grow up there. She gives Morales a hard time about not doing proper research and then asks why the agent wants to help her. They are interrupted by guards but manage to flee through a closing security door.

The women end up in a lab where they continue their argument. It ends when Laura sees a vial of the trigger scent in Morales hand. When X-23 pops her claws, Morales drops the vial but Laura catches it. A look around shows huge vats of the scent being manufactured.

MY TAKE: This was another strong issue which thankfully kept most of its focus on Laura’s plight. I admit to immediately opening the issue and checking on her status after last month’s ending and that is definitely a good sign for any comic. I cared enough to feel a legitimate sense of urgency about her situation.

That is not to say there are not weak points. As much as I like Wolfsbane, I do not think her current story line is very interesting. Hopefully that will change because right now it is taking up pages. I feel the same about Bastion. It seems like they are trying to balance too many plots and bad guys rather then focusing just on the current one, The  Facility, and the next, Selene.

The big reveal of Destiny returning was not much of a surprise considering her power. Though I am not sure how much of an impact her coming back will have without Mystique being on the team. But assuming the techno-zombies survive Necrosha we could see some interesting interactions later.

The X-23 bits were good although I would prefer to see her breaking out of her mold a little more. She did have some nice moments at the end when she admitted her past, but it was a bit too confrontational otherwise. Also, I kept wanting her to put her arm back on the whole time rather then carrying it.

I am interested in how this is going to end up and Agent Morales is a good enough character to want to see her continue past this storyline. I hope it ends with the Facility being neutered or destroyed, however for they are too generic to be villains that I care about and having it hanging over Laura’s head is just a distraction.

In the end this was another good story in a very well-done series. I am glad that X-23 is getting the spotlight for this run and I hope it leads to more character development and a stronger personality in general. While I enjoy the tough girl, Laura is better when she can express her vulnerability as well. Hopefully this will all be addressed before the next story begins.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.

Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… Starting the first of the reviews from this week with ‘Wolverine; Weapon X’.  Hope you enjoy it…

Wolverine: Weapon X #5
(preview | thread)
Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciler: Ron Garney

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP (previous issue): The issue opens with Wolverine in H.A.M.M.E.R.’s custody; specifically being held by Agent Getrude Jacks. After they talk for a minute, Wolverine promises to finish the job and Jacks lets him go.

Maverick picks him up and tries to discourage him from going after the remaining members of Blackguard’s Strikeforce X. The CEO and other eleven members are on a oil rig in the Pacific waiting for him.

Wolverine makes a stop to see the body of the leader he killed. The men have no specific weaknesses, Logan simply managed to overwhelm his artificial healing factor. He tells North they need to make one more stop.

On the oil rig the alarms sound and the CEO comes running to take a piece of Wolverine for scarring his face. Unfortunately, Logan did not try to sneak on board but came flying a gun ship. He blows up the rig killing or dumping a lot of the soldiers and the CEO.

In the water they face drowning and sharks drawn by the smell of blood. Logan keeps strafing the men as well, making sure their healing factors can not save them. One of the soldiers manages to get on board the helicopter and take out of the rear rotor crashing it into the sea.

They both make it to shore but Logan is the faster to recover and he drowns the other man in the shallows and puts him back out to sea.

Meanwhile the Senate votes to not give Blackguard any contracts and they credit Melita Garner’s article for the change of fortune. Agent Jacks and Maverick infiltrate Blackguard and purge all the files marked as Strikeforce X. She sends North off without her but is soon captured and taken to Osborn.

We briefly see the CEO and three of his troops have survived but are stranded on a deserted island. Wolverine meets with Garner and shows he was behind her information all along. She asks for another story but he says this one is not done yet. He still needs to find whomever stole the Weapon X files in the first place.

The man who sold them, Grecian, is running for his life but is stopped by the man who gave them up and is killed. In the end we see that the informant is David North.

MY TAKE: This was a good, if somewhat surprising, end to the storyline and an overall well-done issue. It was nice to see Wolverine using both his brains and his military contacts to solve a problem rather then just his claws and healing factor. It might have been nice to have the concluding battle with the Strikeforce X team be a bit longer but after the fight scene last comic, this was still very satisfying.

I am not completely sure about the supporting cast. Agent Jacks is the most interesting new addition to me and she is left in a bad place. Melita does not strike me as a good romantic match for Logan and without that, I am not sure of her function. The Blackguard CEO and the rest of his Strikeforce X were good, if somewhat unoriginal, villains and they are obviously being set up to reappear in a later story. Hopefully we get some names for them by then.

Of course, the biggest supporting role goes to Maverick and I am really glad to see him taking a more active role in Marvel. He is a fun character and he works well as a voice of reason here. I think his relationship with Agent Jacks has a great deal of potential as well. I am not sure about the big reveal of him being the thief of the data but hopefully it will be explored more later.

There is not a whole lot of plot but that is to be expected in a concluding issue. Most of the loose ends are tied up nicely and the main villain survives to plague the hero again which is pretty normal. Though considering he is pretty easy to replace, I was a bit surprised that the CEO lived at the end of the issue.

The character moments were plentiful, mostly shown by Logan’s thoughts. I liked some of Wolverine’s internal monologue, especially his admitted fear of the water, but it got too preachy by the end. In truth, I thought the whole thing dragged on too long and I could have done without the speculation on Heaven and Hell. It felt heavy handed when I read it.

In the end this was a solid concluding issue for a strong first arc in the new series. Aaron is doing a great job portraying Wolverine as both a superb fighter and a smart tactician and has a firm grasp of his personality as well. I am eagerly awaiting the next plot line which looks to be something truly original in the Wolverine annals. Considering the quality of these first issues, we should be given a great story.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.