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geoffklock (Blogspot)
geoffklock (Blogspot) (geoffklock.blogspot.com) has great Wolverine news, photos, videos and more
Tuesday, Jan 26
Uncanny X-Men #253
The story cycle from issues 246 to 252 saw Claremont steadily narrowing down his cast of characters, to the point where Wolverine was the only one left. Logan is even referred to as “the last of the Uncanny X-Men” in the opening splash pages of issues 251 and 252, just to drive the sense of fina...
Thursday, Jan 21
The Punisher MAX: Preamble [New Guest Blogger]
Ennis' first work with the Punisher was back in 1995, the tongue-in-cheek The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe, with art by Doug Braithwaite. In this “What If...” book, Frank Castle's entire family is killed in a skirmish between superheroes, a twist on the usual origin story, and Frank de...
Tuesday, Jan 19
Uncanny X-Men #252
Jason Powell. Chris Claremont. The epic issue by issue X-Men conversation continues. At the end, only two men will be left standing. Claremont will be one. Jason Powell will be the other. And I guess we will all be standing around and occasionally saying stuff as well. There is a lot to talk about.]
Tuesday, Jan 12
Uncanny X-Men #251
Here, Wolverine faces images of: Kitty Pryde, his former sidekick; his villainous reflection, Sabretooth; the grinning demon Ogun, whom he killed in the “Kitty/Wolverine” miniseries; and an inhuman monster in the form of the Brood queen.
Monday, Jan 4
Jason Powell: Claremont Post-1991 X-Men?
I don't actually think Claremont has "lost it" to the same degree that the internet consensus has settled upon. Even as recently as 2003, he was putting out some entertaining material. But his work on X-Men is consistently uninteresting to me.
Tuesday, Dec 8
Uncanny X-Men #248
There is a great bit in the documentary that Patrick Meaney is doing on Chris Claremont, wherein the author and Ann Nocenti are recounting a bit of their history on The Uncanny X-Men. When Nocenti mentions that she left her assistant Bob Harras in charge when she went freelance in 1988, Clar...
Tuesday, Nov 24
Uncanny X-Men 246
Thus, it’s no accident that the villain of issue 246 is a Sentinel. Satisfyingly, Claremont also brings back Nimrod, one of the major plot-danglers left over from before “Mutant Massacre.” Nimrod was originally rather blatant in its derivation by Claremont from two sources: Alan Moore’...
Tuesday, Nov 10
Uncanny X-Men #245
Another complaint about Claremont (there are so very many) is that his brand of superhero feminism was less than it should have been, because he “cheated” by making his female characters into powerhouses. A letter was published in Uncanny late in the run, opining that Claremont had only t...
Tuesday, Oct 27
Uncanny X-Men #243
Consider: Claremont takes us on a somewhat nostalgic tour of the “X”-mythos Continuity references abound: A tour inside Jean Grey’s mental space gives us some highlights (including a fashion-show of all her costumes, which is suitably Claremontian). We’re taken back to the School for...
Tuesday, Oct 20
Uncanny X-Men #242
1.) FUN: Claremont seems more than willing to acknowledge the silliness of “Inferno”’s premise: Revealing that Madelyne is a clone of Jean, only three years after John Byrne’s ret-con that Phoenix was also a clone of Jean. Thus, we get more than a couple jokes about it in this issue. My favori...
Tuesday, Sep 22
Uncanny X-Men #238
Once again, there is a strong parallel here between Madelyne now and Jean Grey during the Byrne/Claremont “Dark Phoenix” epic – the slow seduction; corruption at the hands of villains who didn’t know what they were getting into; and of course, the flame imagery. Interestingly, while “Da...
Friday, Sep 4
Uncanny X-Men #237
Jason Powell continues his issue by issue look at Claremont's X-Men.] Logan: “Nothing like being inconspicuous.” Carol: “Basic tradecraft, Wolvie. I don’t mind being remembered. The trick is making certain nobody looks at my face.” Logan: “That outfit’ll do it, guaranteed.”
Thursday, Aug 13
Uncanny X-Men #236
With its powerfully realized antagonists, morally outraged heroes, breathtakingly designed setting, superbly complex character dynamics and surprising political astuteness, issue 236 is a true triumph on the part of Claremont and company. In some ways, “Busting Loose” is the apex...
Wednesday, Jul 22
Best Latter Day Simpsons Moments
I am also a big fan of the flashback episode that shows Homer and Marge kissing at camp when they were kids. We see all the cast when they were young and get little jokes like Selma starting smoking or whatever. At one point Moe gets a prank call and gets really angry about it, then calmly turns to t...
Tuesday, Jun 23
Jason Powell on Uncanny X-Men #227
Silvestri and Green’s X-Men look cooler with each issue. Check out Colossus on Page 2, panel 3; Wolverine on Page 14, panel 6. Geoff, tell me these aren’t “pop sexy” X-Men! Logan points out the truth of the situation. In narrative terms, the X-Men didn’t really die, despite whatever contriva...
Tuesday, Jun 9
Jason Powell on Uncanny X-Men #225
Still, while so much fun is generated by the various intertextual relationships going on, other bits of “False Dawn” create grins by more visceral means. Surely one of the funniest set-pieces in Claremont’s entire run is the insane visual of the Blob’s crotch zooming toward the reader as...
Tuesday, May 26
Jason Powell on Uncanny X-Men #222
Sabretooth: “But when my claws rip out your throat, Logan, my boy ... you’ll die!” Wolverine: “My bones are laced with adamantium. They can’t be broke. You’d have a gentler time punchin’ steel! Scrambler can’t affect them!” [Logan stabs Sabretooth.] “He can’t affect my claws,” and finally
Sunday, May 10
Star Trek (Minor Spoilers)
Star Trek was everything that X-men Origins: Wolverine was not; more than that, it has everything that an ‘origin’ movie should have that XMO: Wolverine did not: fun, emotionally engaging, beautifully paced. The characters have depth and beloved icons are brought to life in a way that is...
Monday, Mar 23
From The Box: McFarlane’s Spider-Man Number 1
Question for Jason, I think I remember hearing that a big part of Claremont’s departure from the X-men had to do with the fact that Marvel felt that they could continue to sell the series based on the art alone. i.e. As long as they had a strong artist, they no longer needed Claremont. Any truth to t...
Thursday, Dec 18
Jason Powell on The Kitty Pryde & Wolverine Miniseries
The series is noteworthy more for historical reasons than anything else. It features not only the first use of the code-name “Shadowcat” for Kitty but also the last appearance of Mariko Yashida in a Claremont book. It’s clear in context that he didn’t mean for it to be thus; we learn in KP&...
Tuesday, Oct 14
Jason Powell on Uncanny X-Men #172
Published May through August of 1982, Claremont and Miller’s “Shogun”-inspired Wolverine miniseries ended with Logan announcing his engagement to Mariko Yashida. Eight months later, the continuity of the Uncanny series catches up, as we witness the X-Men arriving in Japan for the we...
Thursday, Sep 11
Jason Powell on the 1982 Wolverine Miniseries
Given that the Marvel Comics iteration of Lady Mariko first appeared in Uncanny #118 as a potential love interest for Wolverine, it seems logical to assume that Claremont was flirting with the idea of using Clavell’s character as a model for Wolverine as far back as 1978. (Mariko is the fir...
Wednesday, Sep 3
Jason Powell on Uncanny X-Men #162
Claremont and Cockrum execute a sort of tonal segue into the Wolverine mini with Uncanny X-Men #162, a solo Wolverine story that utilizes the same first-person narrative captions, and also apes the miniseries’ use of Mariko Yashida as a touchstone for the deepening of Wolverine’s char...
Tuesday, Jul 1
Jason Powell on Uncanny X-Men #140
Curiously, the same flashback also implies that it was the Canadian Secret Service that gave Wolverine his adamantium claws and skeleton, and Wolverine knows it. Over time, this idea will be tacitly ret-conned, but here it is given as Wolverine’s main reason for abandoning the Secret Se...
Tuesday, May 27
Scott on the JLI, Part 6
Guy: Did you just hear what I said, Bats? Batman: I Heard you, Guy Guy: Well don't you think it's time you wised up and turned command of this team over to me? Batman: I'd sooner turn it over to Captain Marvel Captain Marvel: Hey!
Jason Powell on Uncanny X-Men #127
As Peter Sanderson pointed out in his “Wolverine Saga,” this entire sequence puts to rest the Wolverine/Cyclops rivalry that had been a key part of both characters’ characterization since Claremont first began writing. Even the love-triangle tension with Jean is gone now that Wolveri...
Jason Powell on Uncanny X-Men #128
As is often the case with these climactic battle scenes in the Claremont/Byrne run, Claremont’s writing is the secondary attraction. It is Byrne and Terry Austin who really shine here, producing panel after panel of viscerally exciting images: Wolverine slicing right through Proteus...
Jason Powell on Uncanny X-Men #129
In the meantime, Shooter’s edict does result in one far-reaching addition to the series, as in this issue Byrne and Claremont introduce their co-creation Kitty Pryde. She is mainly a plot device here: a new mutant for the X-Men to seek out. But she will soon make X-Men history as the first new...
