You don't know what it's like to be a father--to really be a father.

X-Force #26  *****
"Our Father who are in heaven," oh I'm sorry, I must have been channeling the late Kurt Wagner. You heard that right, our resident religious funny man himself, Nightcrawler has passed into the land of the dead. Let that soak in for a while as I take you on this journey. So much happened in this issue and everything happened so well. First, Bastion is tracking all the mutants in the world, except for Hope (who's still able to avoid detection, much like when she was a teenie tiny babie.) Cable, after having split up from Hope, is creating a diversion with the help of Angel, Psylocke, Logan, Colossus, and X-23. Suffice to say, Bastion was not fooled. And just to add, while I understand Colossus' pain and desire to help his sister, annoying much? Back to the good stuff. Meanwhile, Rogue and Hope have been traveling cross-country via that Nightcrawler "Bamf" express. Having briefly stopped to allow Nightcrawler to rest, the gang was attacked by Bastion himself. Rogue quickly utilizing near every power she had recently absorbed (see review for X-Men Legacy #235,) however the quickly repairing, non-human, Bastion kept barraging her with more attacks. Finally having beat down Rogue, Bastion turns his attention to the weakened Nightcrawler and the unprotected Hope. Now, I'm not usually one for spoiling, but you must forgive me this one time. With his last burst of energy, Nightcrawler "Bamf"-ed for the last time, transporting himself and Hope to Utopia, uttering his final words "I...I believe in  you." (Much like I said you all should believe in Cyclops back in our 50th post special.)

I don't even know where to start really. The writing and the artwork in this book was superb. Fantastic. Beautiful. Craig Kyle and Chris Yost weaved the words like they were thread in a Navajo blanket. And there were often times when the silence was even more powerful. enter Mike Choi and Sonia Oback. These four people weaved together a brilliant chapter to this awesome event. The battle scene between Rogue and Bastion was awesome. The final moments of Nightcrawler's death was touching. And the moment that Colossus and Wolverine find out he died was heartbreaking. I've had an inkling that it would be Kurt that would be a major death in this event. His interaction with Scott in the one-shot, his transporting Rogue and Hope across the U.S., his vocal opposition to X-Force, just little things. And I was all for it, mostly because his faith in his religion makes me feel awkward, because it's something that I can't relate to him about. But at the end of the day, he is a part of the second generation of X-Men, best friend to Colossus and Wolverine, good friend to many, and he will be missed by thousands of fans across the world. He deserved an honorable death, and Kyle, Yost, Choi, and Oback gave him just that.

I met up with Chris Yost on Free Comic Book Day, and he's just a great guy. I got my issue signed by him, of course, as well as a couple Necrosha issues, and my Red Robin series. We talked about Nightcrawler's death a little, and you could just tell that there was a level of respect he had for this character and the character's history, especially with the fans. He said that their main intent was to make sure his death wasn't pointless and meaningless.
And they did just that.

I feel like that issue deserved a bit of recognition because of the impact, both emotional and historical, but I would also like to make it clear that that in no way takes away from the other issues from this past week.

The Rise of Arsenal #2 ****1/2
What an emotional first couple of pages. I get the feeling that all four of these issues are going to start by tugging at our emotional strings, and I am ok with that. Roy Harper's struggles continue as the Rise of Arsenal rages on. In this issue Roy confronts Olliver Queen, his adoptive father, tries out his new cybernetic prosthetic arm, attends his daughter's funeral, attacks a friend, then gets attacked by his baby's mama. Not a great week for him.  This issue was great.  JT Krul has really been able to capture the anguish that has now taken up residence within Roy. There were specific moments that were exceptionally great. The funeral scene was just great, as great as a funeral for a little girl can be. There was also a scene where Roy, while trying out his new arm, couldn't shoot the bullseye of a target with his arrows, but as he was leaving he was able to hit it by throwing a fragment of the bow itself, which he had broken in frustration. I feel like this is meant to be some form of a foreshadowing as to what's in store for Roy. And Chesire kicking his ass? How cool, but sad, was that? I can't wait for the next issue. 

Gotham City Sirens #11 ****
I find this title to be my most light title. In that, the doom and gloom isn't nearly as prominent, especially for a book set in Gotham.  What's great about this issue, and I've mentioned this before, is the depth of character that Paul Dini is creating. What were once three notorious bad gals of Gotham, have now been turned into much more. The artwork, how can I say this without actually insulting the artist, hasn't been the same without Guillem March. I feel his style and his artistry works perfectly with this book, and his his return will only do wonders for this book. I have a feeling that something is in store for my beloved Catwoman, as she continues to mention her heart (which you should recall had been removed in Heart of Hush,) even though she's been given a clean bill of health from a couple medical experts as well as magical experts. That being said, I'm intrigued at how Poision Ivy will be getting out of the predicament she has gotten herself into. And how could I end this post without mentioning the lighthearted fun Harley brings in.

Superman #699  ***
The  penultimate chapter to the Last Stand of New Krypton crossover event was a good read. It happened to come out the same week as the final chapter, so I'll keep this one brief. Superman breaks into Brainiac's ship, argues with Zod, looks for the bottled cities. Meanwhile, Mon-el has found the bottle cities and with the rest of the Legion is in the process of saving them. However, Lex Luthor has different plans. This was a pretty decent read, as I've mentioned. The artwork was really the best part of the issue. Bernard Chang really delivers with his clean, precise artwork.

Last Stand of New Krypton #3 ****
For a Superman based event, I enjoyed this event. The chapter ends with Luthor unleashing a city inside Brainiac's ship, though Brainiac 5 is able to diffuse the situation. Mon-el and the Legion have left with the cities, destination unknown. I will miss Mon-el. Brainiac has been taken into custody by Brainiac 5. And it turns out that Luthor was not really Luthor, but instead another one of Toyman's robots. A pretty decent ending to this event. And definitely a great lead into the War of Supermen event that starts this week. The artwork was nice and the writing was great, which is hopeful for War of Supermen as Sterling Gates and James Robinson will be teaming up once more for that major event. Years of story and issues have led up to this point folks, stay tuned.

War of Supermen #0 ***1/2
I don't even know whether or not this merited a review. It was pretty good for a freebie. Though it did make one thing glaringly obvious, Superman is an idiot. He's on a planet full of  Supermen, like himself, who are in love with Zod and he thinks he can stop them. One against 90,000 only works in your favor if you're super-powered and they are not.

The Walking Dead 71 ****1/2
I feel this title needs a special post for itself, and I'm actually working on one. That being said, this was a great issue. The gang has arrived in what appears to be a a perfectly safe little town. It's a good thing Carl, Rick, Andrea don't believe so, because I sure don't. There's no way this place is for real and now it's just waiting for the ball to drop. I love Carl. There's one particularly scene, when all the kids are running around playing Trick or Treat, when Carl tells his dad that he doesn't want to pretend everything is ok, because that will make them weak, and that he doesn't want to die. This is a kid and he's talking smarter than most of those adults. I can't imagine what I would do in their situation, but I would more than happy to be ganged up with Rick and Carl, and Andrea also, those three know where it's at.