Marc Guggenheim

Early in Civil War, Tony Stark approaches Cyclops to see where the X-Men would fall with registration. Once they decided to remain neutral because “they had their own problems,” I didn't expect them to be a player in the event. So, I didn't expect much from the X-Men collection. I was wrong. This collection turned out to be one of the best connected to Civil War.

The first third of the (hardcover) book is committed to Wolverine (who also figures prominently in additional stories included show more herein) as he decided to track down Nitro – the villain who actually caused the Stamford tragedy. I've never read any of Wolverine’s solo series, but after this I am very tempted to do so. He is fascinating! His hunt for Nitro takes some unexpected twists and turn that kept me completely engrossed in the story. He alone is worth the price of this collection.

Wolverine is followed by a short section on X-Factor. This section was interesting because of Layla, the mutant who revealed that reality was altered to the heroes in House of M. Few mutants know the actual cause of the Decimation was Wanda’s power. When X-Factor learns the truth, and that Cyclops kept it from them, it causes internal tension among the few mutants left.

The next section was surprisingly insightful being that Deadpool takes center stage. First off, this section was incredibly entertaining as the Merc with the Mouth breaks the forth wall frequently, and his views on registration are not what I expected. The action is also top notch. This section is critical because it shows how Cable, who is from the future, views registration. I was left wondering why Reed and Tony aren’t more interested in knowing what Cable thinks seeing as how, unlike their probabilities & statistical analyses, he knows what the future actually holds.

The next large section covers the actual X-Men and how they and the government react when the 198 (remaining mutants) decide to break out of the Xavier Institute where the government has been holding them “for their protection.” Much like a concentration camp. Though not directly impacting on Civil War, the X-Men’s actions are important since public perception of registration is logically linked with mutant registration. The last small section follows Blade as he’s tasked by SHIELD with bringing Wolverine in dead or alive. A quick inconsequential story that serves only to show one further hero tied into the crossover.

Overall, this was a fantastic collection that truly expanded on the event while also being very engaging and action-packed at times. Highly recommended! show less

This book just continues to be so obsessed with making Kitty a damsel in distress hopelessly in love with Big Strong Protector Man Peter. And I'm so tired of it. She's supposed to be in charge of the team, but instead is constantly being saved and questioning her own choices and looking desperately to Peter and Logan for approval.

It's exhausting and lazy and just awful. I love Kitty so much. It should be impossible to make me hate a book with her leading the X-Men! And yet, impressively, show more Guggenheim has done a fantastic job of total character assassination nonsense. And there's still 3 more volumes of this crap... Ugh show less

Still rather bland fare, but surprisingly, much less so than the first one. The mythology is more internally consistent (perhaps due to lesser direct involvement by the gods), the protagonist feels more active and less like a passive conduit for his father's powers, and while the story on paper is simpler than the first film, it has a cohesiveness that the original lacked. All in all a satisfying fantasy action romp that has a neat cliffhanger ending that now will never be finished (unless, show more I imagine, one reads the books or the rumoured reboot Disney+ series gets to go until it has covered book 3). There's even some fun moments of charm and humour -- the always-great Stanley Tucci and Nathan Fillion in particular get to brighten the screen with every frame they're in, playing characters rather more pleasantly silly than that of the rest of the cast. show less

If you read my reviews regularly (and you should) you know that we are a sucker for the summer blockbuster superhero movies, so we went to see Green Lantern even though the reviews weren't that great.Well, first off, it was fun, which really, what more can you ask for from this sort of movie? You're in the wrong room of the multiplex if you are looking for introspection, character development, suspense. or just about any quality which makes for a classic movie.

I used to read Green Lantern show more comic books in the 1960s. I remember liking the series but couldn't remember much about him. He has one of the more complicated superhero back stories (try to follow this on Wikipedia, it you can). The movie tries to explain some of it (like the Green Lantern Corps) in voice-overs but it doesn't really make too much sense.

Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, the hot-shot test pilot. He is chosen by the ring when it's previous user dies after his spaceship crashes on earth. The purple-skinned alien gets about 2 minutes to explain the ring to Jordan before he dies. Jordan, who is a fearless test pilot (some might say irresponsible, or even crazy) doesn't think he has what it takes (whatever that is) to be a Green Lantern. His beautiful (of course) girlfriend explains it to him in about 2 sentences, he gets it, and flies off to fight the bad guy (some sort of giant, octopus made out of smoke). The details don't matter too much.

The choice of Ryan Reynolds for Hal Jordan is a mystery to me. I mostly know him from lighthearted chick flicks like Definitely, Maybe and The Proposal. Sort of like casting Michael Keaton as Batman.

Go ahead and take the kids. They'll love it. There isn't any sex and no gore. The scary parts are more comical than really scary.

One thing to look for. Green Lantern's costume is pretty much painted on which made me wonder what happened to certain parts of his anatomy, especially when he gives the beautiful girl friend a big kiss before he goes "looking for trouble". show less