Comic News: Women Reign Over New X-Men Title

            It seems to be that X marks the spot in Marvel. It was announced today that there will be another X-book relaunching, X-Men. X-Men will be relaunched with a new # 1 by writer Brian Wood and art by Olivier Copiel. Yet, the focus of this book will be all of the X-Women. Yes, this book will boaster a cast that includes Kitty Pryde, Jubilee, Storm, Rogue, Rachel Grey & Psylocke.

            The first arc will deal with New X-Men Grant Morrison era creation, Sublime, returning with a baby that may hold the key to the survival of the human race, with Jubliee taking the lead in the story.

            Wood told USA Today, "I feel like as far as the X-Men go, the women are the X-Men. Cyclops and Wolverine are big names, but taken as a whole, the women kind of rule the franchise. If you look at the entire world as a whole, it's the females that really dominate and are the most interesting and cool to look at. When you have a great artist drawing them, they look so amazing and always have."

            X-Men # 1 will hit the shelves this April.

Countdown: YTC's Top 10 Mutants

Countdown: YTC’s Top 10 Mutants

by Darryll YTC Carter

      Happy New Comics Wednesday Clashers.  With Avengers Vs. X-Men going on, it seemed appropriate to take a look at both sides.This week's countdown is a list of my favorite mutants. We'd love to see your favorite mutants as well. Drop us your list in the comments below.

1. Rogue 

     Undoubtedly my favorite mutant by a landslide. Rogue has been the apple of my eye since my early days watching Fox Kids. She introduced me to the lure of a southern belle and the attraction of a woman who can toss a forklift like a soft ball. While I do really miss her 90’s jacket fashion, they’ve kept her in good form and her character has really evolved from a member of the team to a leadership position at the Jean Grey School.

2. The Phoenix

      The Phoenix is a force to be reckoned with. While the read head is a strong point, the Phoenix has reached the top of this list by making Jean Grey a legend. Jean came a long way from the girl who buckled every time she employed her abilities, to a flaming celestial goddess immortalized and honored with a school in her name and a tenacious daughter who honors her original moniker.

3. Cyclops

     Former Ward Cleaver incarnate, Scott was the leader of the original X-men and leader of the remaining mutants until they split during Schism.  I love stand up traditionally heroic characters that fight with honor. (Captain America is also the ish.) While I somewhat detest Scott’s current demeanor I have to applaud him for stepping up to the plate and trying to get things done. He was always a good leader and he would always do what needed to be done to help his team. Is that Cyclops really gone? Or is he just finally looking at a bigger picture?

4. Scarlet Witch

     Often viewed as the favorite child of Magneto, Scarlet Witch is a top tier mutant not to be trifled with. Scarlet Witch manipulates probability fields and reality via her hexes. While she has been deemed unstable on more than one fair occasion, Wanda once firmly warmed a seat in the Avengers alongside her love, Vision. To put into perspective just how powerful Wanda is, I only need to mention House of M. Don’t know what that is? Google it or go buy it. Man I love women with power.

5. Domino

     Domino, the female Longshot with an edge. Domino stands out from the rest as a mutant who uses her abilities to augment the tools of her trade. Not to mention the alabaster/grey skin tone with the black spot on the eye individualizes her and makes her memorable.

6. Wolverine

      He’s the best at what he does, but what he does isn’t very nice. You darn skippy it isn’t. (Who says skippy anymore?) Wolverine has proven time and time again that he can make the hard call and cut off your head if it needs to happen. While Wolverine is the X-men’s resident badass the bulk of my appreciation for his character comes from the many layers of emotion and compassion that lay under his cool fierce waves of his surface.

7. Mystique

     Manipulator supreme, Mystique is a bonafide femme fatale. Mystique uses everything at her disposal to accomplish her goals, from guns to people. Her best tool is her shape shifting ability. She can be any woman or man you want. I like blue women myself. Who do you think my love interest was in Mass Effect?

8. Shadowcat 

    Kitty Pride… She had the cutest nose on X-Men evolution. But she was sort of a tool. However, Kitty redeems herself in the regular Marvel continuity having been trained in various martial arts by Weapon X himself, Wolverine.  Her spot was cemented when she decided it was a good idea to date the amazing Spider-Man of the Ultimate Universe. Till this day, I think that was the best relationship Peter ever had.

9. Forge

      There are two powers that would totally suit my personality. One is the power that comes from being a Green Lantern (or probably a yellow or red lantern) and all the constructs I could create with my mind. The other is the Forge’s ability to literally create anything he can think of. I mean his power is ridiculous. I could think, “I need to forge world peace. But how do I do it? Frick’n Voltron!” Boom, it’s done. I know exactly how to make it and get it to perform the way it needs to. I won’t really know how until I reverse engineer it, but hey. Who the hell would take the lions apart once they had them anyway?

10. Magneto

      Last but not least is the master of magnetism, Magneto. Magnus first reared his tactically villainous head before me on the Fox Kids X-Men cartoon. Back then I saw the world in a more black and white tone. Good and evil. Right and Wrong. Magneto showed me that it wasn’t that simple. When you look at the world from Magneto’s point of view things start to make sense. You start to see why he thinks and does the things he does. You see the genius and you see at his core a man whose purpose is to ensure that his people survive. I can relate to that and I respect that.

#33 -WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN (#1-3) : BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT

Wolverine and the X-Men: 1-3 Back to School Night 

Story by Jason Aaron
Art by Chris Bachalo & Duncan Rouleau

By Hector Ramirez

RATING SYSTEM:


Red Hood (Jason Todd) -1
Robin (Damian Wayne) - 2
Robin (Tim Drake) - 2.5
Red Robin (Tim Drake) - 3
Red Robin (Dick Grayson) -3.5
Nightwing (Dick Grayson) - 4
Batman (Dick Grayson) - 4.5
Batman (Bruce Wayne) - 5






Greetings Clashers! Hector here and I’m here to take you to school. The Jean Grey school that is. This week we’re taking a look at  Wolverine and the X-Men , that being said watch that first step, it’s a doozy.

Starting off, I’d like to give a brief overview of X-Men Schism which split the X-Men up into the two factions they are now in. it all starts when Cyclops go to the U.N. in an effort to rid the world of the mutant hunting robots known as sentinels. At the conference Quentin Quire a.k.a. Kid Omega launches a psychic attack  on the leaders of the  world  causing them to admit their  deepest darkest secrets. Seeing this as an excuse to deem mutant-kind a threat to humanity the world leaders  scramble to get there hands on any bit of  sentinel technology they can get their hands on. Enter Kade Kilgore; who has just became the CEO of his family’s weapons company and Black King of the Hellfire Club, all at the age of 13. Kilgore built a giant Sentinel that drew in metal from its surroundings to build its body and sent it to Utopia to destroy the X-Men. With the rest of the X-Men dealing with the other Sentinels, Scott and Logan are left with the youngest recruits and that's where things take a turn for the worst. Logan believes that kids shouldn’t have to risk their lives in such a situation while Scott believed they should stand and fight as X-Men. This leads to an altercation that lead to the split.
 

Logan has decided to return to West Chester to re-open  the Charles Xavier school and renaming it the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. It is when the New York Department of Education sends two representatives to check out the legitimacy of the school when things take a turn for the worst. All the technologies that Hank programmed into the school are going haywire and the grounds themselves seem to be attacking. Turns out  that  Kade Kilgore and his little playmates in the Hellfire Club are making sure everything that can possibly go wrong does. Also, it turns out the grounds are attacking because beneath them lives a grandchild to Krakoa, a living plot of land. After penetrating the creature's mind, the unlikely hero of Quentin Quire saves the day by calming it down and convincing it that the X-Men are not the enemies. After cleaning up the mess, Logan sends Kilgore a little surprise in the form of a legal subpoena delivered by one Matthew Murdock Esquire.

I, for one, enjoyed this story. It really showed how far Logan has come. He’s not the irrational berserker he's been known to be anymore. He’s really grown and isn’t afraid to show his softer side. He really cares for the kids and he shows it by everything he went through to re-open the school; to give them somewhere to learn and grow where they won't be considered a mutant army the way Scott tried to make them out to be. As for the art, I liked it. It had a great balance of realism and artistry so that it wasn’t too cartoony. In closing, with a great story told with good art. I rate this plotline a Grayson Batman. Good work crew. This is definitely a title I will be keeping up with and I suggest you Clashers to do the same. Until next time friends, keep clashing!  


You can follow the Jean Grey School on Twitter with: Jean Grey School of Higher Learning

Please check out their live Tweet of the Future History Course, taught by Jean Grey's & Scott Summers' daughter, Professor Rachel Grey on January 11th, 2012 @ 2:00pm EST.


NEXT WEEK: CBC's EIC Frankie Rodriguez reviews Cyclops's side of Mutantdom with a review of Uncanny X-Men #1-3.

JEAN GREY SCHOOL SURVEY: WHAT CLASSES WOULD YOU TAKE?

With the collection of courses now up on Marvel.com: Jean Grey School, we survey a bunch of our readers over the courses they would take. And with the course and a great and interesting staff teaching these courses (which include Wolverine, Shadowcat,  Rachel Grey, Iceman, Rogue, Beast, Gambit, Cannonball, Husk & more) Here are the Results:


by Frankie Rodriguez




SuperVan Adazol chose:

How to Weaponize Household Products 
The Art of Fighting Without Fighting 
The Art of Fighting With Fighting 
Computer-Hacking 101: ONLY FOR USE TO SAVE THE DAY! 
Downloading Foreign Languages (Rachel Grey)
 Sex Ed (Gambit)
Know Your Alien Races. And How to Kill Them (Lockheed)
 Flying Into Things Headfirst (Cannonball)

Joe Miranda chose: 

 Brain Spelunking: Exploring the Recesses of Your Own Mind
Outer Space Survival Skills: My Time As A Starjammer
Mutant Philosophy: The Teachings of Xavier, the Lessons of Magneto
The Art of Fighting Without Fighting
The Art of Fighting With Fighting
Computer-Hacking 101: ONLY FOR USE TO SAVE THE DAY!
Downloading Foreign Languages
Know Your Alien Races. And How to Kill Them

Alternate Dimension Explorer's Club
Bamf Hunting Club
Study Abroad Program

New CBC writer Darryl Carter chose: 

World History (1880 - 1950): An Eyewitness Account with Logan
[Why? Because it would be nice to get the facts straight from the source, untainted by politics or imperial influence]

Ethics 101: Forgetting Everything You Ever Learned From Emma Frost, with Headmistress Pryde
[Because sometimes I don't trust myself]

How to Weaponize Household Products, with Professor Remy LeBeau
[Improvisation is the tool of a wise man]

Diction and Linguistics, with Professor Rogue
[Rogue, need I say more. Just love her accent.]

Computer-Hacking 101: ONLY FOR USE TO SAVE THE DAY! With Headmistress Pryde
[I'm not stalking Kitty I promise.]

Flying Into Things Headfirst, with Professor "Cannonball" Guthrie
{I haven't quite mastered flying yet.]

Mutant Literature, with Professor Paige Guthrie
[Probably a very interesting course]






Gerald Williams chose:

Brain Spelunking: Exploring the Recesses of Your Own Mind, with 
Professor Rachel Grey

Ethics 101: Forgetting Everything You Ever Learned From Emma Frost, with Headmistress Pryde

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting, with Headmaster Logan

The Art of Fighting With Fighting, with Headmaster Logan

Computer-Hacking 101: ONLY FOR USE TO SAVE THE DAY! With Headmistress Pryde



Derrick Jones chose:


Brain Spelunking: Exploring the Recesses of Your Own Mind, with
Professor Rachel Grey

How to Weaponize Household Products, with Professor Remy LeBeau

Outer Space Survival Skills: My Time As A Starjammer, with Professor Rachel Grey

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting, with Headmaster Logan

The Art of Fighting With Fighting, with Headmaster Logan

Computer-Hacking 101: ONLY FOR USE TO SAVE THE DAY! With Headmistress Pryde

Flying Into Things Headfirst, with Professor "Cannonball" Guthrie

And my Extra Cirricular......

Study Abroad Program: Spend a semester in K'un-Lun, Wakanda or
Chandilar, the throneworld of the Shi'ar.



Ron Crane chose:

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting


The Art of Fighting With Fighting


Computer-Hacking 101: ONLY FOR USE TO SAVE THE DAY!


Downloading Foreign Languages


Know Your Alien Races. And How to Kill Them







CBCs Hector Ramirez chose:


How to weaponize household items


Psychic self defense


Sex ed


Computer hacking 101


Future history 101


 The art of fighting with fighting


The art of fighting without fighting

J1 Studios' Andre Darryl Martin Stanley chose:

1)The Art of Fighting Without Fighting, with Headmaster Logan

2)The Art of Fighting With Fighting, with Headmaster Logan

3)Computer-Hacking 101: ONLY FOR USE TO SAVE THE DAY! With Headmistress Pryde

4)Sex Ed, with Professor Remy LeBeau

5)Know Your Alien Races. And How to Kill Them, with Professor Lockheed

6)How to Weaponize Household Products, with Professor Remy LeBeau

Chris Thomas chose:

Mutant Literature, with Professor Paige Guthrie

Downloading Foreign Languages

The Art of Fighting Without Fighting, with Headmaster Logan

Mutant Philosophy: The Teachings of Xavier, the Lessons of Magneto

Diction and Linguistics, with Professor Rogue

Shinigami (Ray Riley), mastermind behind the J1 Sound Team & All the mixes there, chose: 

Brain Spelunking: Exploring the Recesses of Your Own Mind, with 
Professor Rachel Grey


The Art of Fighting Without Fighting, with Headmaster Logan

The Art of Fighting With Fighting, with Headmaster Logan


Mutant Philosophy: The Teachings of Xavier, the Lessons of Magneto


Downloading Foreign Languages

Toku Time host and internet personality, EZ Rider, chose:

Mutant Philosophy: The Teachings of Xavier, the Lessons of Magneto


The Art of Fighting With Fighting, with Headmaster Logan


Computer-Hacking 101: ONLY FOR USE TO SAVE THE DAY! With Headmistress Pryde

How to Weaponize Household Products




Clubs:


Alternate Dimension Explorer's Club

Fencing Club

Comic Book Club

And these were all the classes that were chosen. These are some interesting results. All but one of our surveyors picked Art of Fighting without Fighting and Art of Fighting With Fighting courses. Computer Hacking 101 being the next most popular course along side Know Your Alien Races and How to Kill them with Downloading Foreign Languages being the 5th most popular course. And there will be more courses to come as Northstar, Kharma and Cecila Reyes are all slated to join the Jean Grey School teaching staff.

Well, this was indeed a fun survey. Get ready to see more surveys in the future.


For more of EZ Rider, go here:

One of the few Tokusatsu Reviews I know. Great guy with a good set of reviews, a few countdowns and some specials. Tokusatsu is special effects in japanese but it is what the genre of live action stuff like Power Rangers and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight are based off of. Toku Time or Reviewtopia: Toku Time is where you can find him.

And for more on Shinigami's music, go here:

 THE NEWLY RELEASED SPIN DASH AUDIO:

The new Sonic Remix album by Shinigami and Forafire. Plus, hit the rest of J1 Studios for other comics, tv and more.  Downloads for Spin Dash Audio for FREE