SPEAKER_01: 0:09

Hello and welcome to Uncanny Book Club. I'm Michael Peter, and joining me today is my co-host Adam Warren. Hey, I still haven't watched the movie. Well, I've got an update there as well. I have now watched Days of Future Past the movie in preparation. Was that your first time, or have you seen it before? I'm assuming you've seen it before. I've seen it before. I know I've I watched it in theaters. I don't know if I ever saw it again after that, but I wanted to return to it because obviously that movie at this point came out a really long time ago, or at least what feels like a really long time ago. And I was like, uh, I don't know, is it gonna hold up? I'm not really sure. But it was good, pretty good movie.

SPEAKER_00: 0:55

I remember it being good, and I remember enjoying it a lot. Um so you know what? I think I will watch Days of Futures Past because it really does stand alone, anyways. And I don't have to feel obligated to watch any of the other ones, so I can just watch that one.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13

It might be the best of the newer X-Men movies, you know, not the original trilogy. I feel like it definitely is. I'll go ahead and make the statement without, you know, revisiting the others.

SPEAKER_00: 1:26

Are we strictly talking X-Men or are we also including like X-Men adjacent?

SPEAKER_01: 1:31

Are you asking about like a Deadpool situation?

SPEAKER_00: 1:34

Uh not not not so much a Deadpool situation, because I think that's like in its own bucket at this point. I'm thinking more like the Wolverine movie, Logan.

SPEAKER_01: 1:46

I'm gonna put Logan into a different bucket too, which also I don't think I've seen since I watched it in theaters. So that one's been a while as well. But um, I would say yes, including all the other Wolverine movies, not Logan though. I feel like Logan is a pretty good movie.

SPEAKER_00: 2:06

I have a bit of a hot take. Between the Wolverine and Logan, I definitely like the Wolverine way more. Which one was the Wolverine? That is the one where he goes to Japan and the entire movie takes there with Silver Samurai.

SPEAKER_01: 2:20

Yeah, I remember very little of that movie. I'm pretty sure I watched it alone in college, probably in my room, maybe with like a bunch of Pizza Hut wings. That's a free shout out to you, Pizza Hut. If you want to sponsor the podcast, get in touch. We're willing to hear you out.

SPEAKER_00: 2:42

Yeah, we have Pizza Hut in Canada. It could work. How are their wings? I don't know. I've never had them, but there could be an opportunity for that to happen. Just say the word. Say the word, Pizza Hut. We'll hawk that shit all day. It can be the best pizza available for the right price. Yeah. I will say I am making this kind of a a pairing of movies here based solely upon like me watching them, whatever, when they came out. It has been a long time, and I don't think I've watched Logan since. I think I may have watched Wolverine at least two or three times. So that's a lot of watching Wolverine. I mean, I liked it, man. What can I say? I like the whole aesthetic. I like the samurai stuff. I'm a sucker for like high-end films that are taking place in Japan. And if if Wolverine is among them, then so be it. I'll put it on the bullet train. I'll put it on the phone.

SPEAKER_01: 3:42

And unless The Last Samurai. The last Samurai, yeah. There you go. All right. Next X-Men movie should take place in Japan. Partially, at least. Yeah, partially. I'd watch it.

SPEAKER_00: 3:53

We can get Sunfire introduced. That'd be awesome. There we go. Speaking of third-party Marvel related things, have you seen the trailer for the Wolverine game? I did.

SPEAKER_01: 4:06

Yeah, I did watch that. And what what are your thoughts? It looks like it's gonna be pretty intense.

SPEAKER_00: 4:12

Yeah, I think I described it as brutal. Like it was That feels right. Yeah. Like it had a brutality to it that I think I would I would associate it with Mortal Kombat, for example. You know, they really have the idea and concept of brutality very well established and well done for the most part.

SPEAKER_01: 4:33

Specifically the part of the trailer where he like rips somebody in half the long way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 4:39

There's a lot of a lot of things that I don't know I would have ever imagined seeing involving Wolverine in a video game occurring in that trailer. And and it was awesome.

SPEAKER_02: 4:51

Yeah, I've got high hopes for it.

SPEAKER_01: 4:53

I think that's one that I would probably look into picking up. Well, I guess on to issue 139 brought to you by Pizza Hut. Issue 139 kicks things off with a good old session in the danger room with Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Angel. It seems Kitty is not the only new addition to our team. Warren is extremely rusty and makes a few blunders, but the rest of the X-Men are there to pick things up. After their sush, Wolverine enjoys the smoke and says he's beginning to think that Charlie made the right decision naming Storm as leader. Xavier suggests the name Ariel for Kitty, and she's not really into it. Storm says, you know, maybe Sprite would be good, and she's into it as long as they stay away from any soda-related jokes. Wolverine mentions to Xavier that he would like to return to Canada now that things are a bit quieter and solidify his earlier resignation and avoid any future beef with the Canadian government. It's decided that Nightcrawler will accompany him. Meanwhile, Storm takes Kitty to a dance studio in Harlem to learn from Stevie Hunter. Nightcrawler and Wolverine arrive at the home of the Hudson's, but Heather informs them that James is on mission. This is also when Kurt learns Wolverine's name is Logan. Apparently he did not know this yet. Heather informs Logan that Alpha Flight is in Hudson Bay dealing with a serious threat. We switch gears to Hudson Bay, then and see James McDonald Hudson. That can't be right. Did I f this up? No, that's his name. Yeah, but are they go- do they go to Hudson Bay too? Yeah, they do. That's too much. We switch gears to Hudson Bay and see James McDonald Hudson, Vindicator, with Shaman and Snowbird. Wolverine shows up, and initially things are a bit tense, but it's talked down. We learn that a dangerous beast ate a camper with the mom and child still missing. The boy who witnessed things escaped but is in shock. Wolverine says he knows what it is, and he recants his earlier altercation with the Hulk and the Wendigo. We get a recap on who and what Wendigo is, and Nightcrawler scurries off to get things out of the car. While he's unloading, he's attacked by the Wendigo in the issue's final panel. Nice. So last time I said that things felt very much like that season finale. And I really do also think, and maybe it's because I'm coming into this with that bias already, but it really does feel like this issue and the next issue feel like that kind of kicking off a new season to me.

SPEAKER_00: 7:46

I agree 100%. I was thinking about this actually before we hopped on. And I think these two issues were really smartly made. You know, we get a natural jump on point for new comic readers after like this dozens issue long story that really started when Chris took over this uh this story, this team, and has now wrapped it up, right? Like all of these loose ends that were kind of mingling out there have now mostly all been kind of tied up at this point. And, you know, we're jumping in with the X-Men kind of reeling from this a little bit, but like not too much. Like I didn't read this first issue, 139, and walked away feeling as if they were dwelling on anything, and that I needed to have read what happened in Dark Phoenix. It was kind of like, okay, everyone, here's Angel, he's back, he's part of the team, he sucks. We got a new leader in Storm, and we have a new X-Men coming in, which like I see serves a bunch of different purposes, right? We kind of have a young female character that would be probably attractive for Marvel to market, given that they probably had like the male audience locked down, and here's an opportunity to bring in another character that is a young, strong woman who is kind of working through her powers, and I can find and think of a lot of things that might be relatable to somebody who's going through those things themselves. So, like we have a really cool dynamic, and I think Kitty also brings just a lot of youth and pop to the team that I think was really missing up to this point because a lot of these stories, and while there have been moments of like jibbing and jabbing between the teammates, there hasn't really been, I think, the same optimism that a younger character can bring to the team. That's what we have going on here. So I think this is a you know, like a really, really smart way to kind of establish all of these new threads, give new new people who are coming on to reading comics for the first time or maybe wanted a fresh start with the X-Men because they were just out of it for so long. We have this story, and tied into all of this is essentially what will become a two-part issue on Wolverine. And he is arguably one of the most popular characters in Marvel, and this was a really awesome story involving Logan, I felt, anyways. So I think they they were really, really smart with how they put these two together, and I and I really welcome the change of pace.

SPEAKER_01: 10:33

Yeah, it's great to get some new perspectives. We're getting new leadership. It seems, you know, maybe even got Logan's respect. So that's you know something that it took Cyclops a long time to sort of get. It does feel like a pretty good jumping on point. I don't know why you would want to jump in here. I mean, there's definitely like some better spots, but going back to, you know, the 80s, it serves as a really good. I miss some of the other stuff, but I can jump in here now.

SPEAKER_00: 11:06

I I think also look at it as, you know, you just kind of wrapped up this big story. And I had kind of alluded to this already, but I really think this story that just finished with Dark Phoenix was really the culmination of a lot of stuff that has been happening over dozens of issues. Like it's like I don't I like yes, while the Dark Phoenix is like an arc in itself, it's really played out over dozens and dozens of issues, if especially if we think back all the way to the Proteus stuff, right? And that was that feels like forever ago. So imagine that came out like two years ago or a year ago in real life, and you had no idea and none of the context, and you can't just easily get the material. I like that would be difficult to hop onto. And this also gives like comic shops something to like sell it as. Like, here's a fresh start. Like, Marvel loves that shit. They do it today. Like, think of Marvel now. That entire thing was like just a refresh, and like here's a bunch of number ones that we're gonna like sell. And if they did this like in the modern day, this would be a number one a hundred percent. Feels accurate, or they would change the um adjective. The amazing X-Men.

SPEAKER_01: 12:28

Yeah, the X-the excellent X-Men. Is that one? Has that ever happened? Exceptional X-Men is there, astonishing X-Men, yeah, new X-Men, all new X-Men, the X-Men, X-Men, X yeah, X-Men, no adjective. Yeah, that one's pretty good. The current ongoing.

SPEAKER_00: 12:47

I was surprised to see Angel. I was not expecting Warren to be on the team. Like it, I it like thinking about it like it's there, I guess. Like he's had a little fix of the life of action and what he's been missing as a as an X-Men over the last couple of issues.

SPEAKER_01: 13:05

But yeah, last time I gave that whole thing about like, oh, it'll be the first time the X-Men don't have any original member on the team, and then the next issue, I just look dumb now. And it's like, all right, well, Angel's here. Yeah, and he's not doing well.

SPEAKER_00: 13:21

No, like we have this the rest of the team looks great, though. Uh, they look exceptional, and they they look excellent, astonishing, even. There you go. Yeah, they look great. I really love this series of panels where um Warren bumps into Kurt as he's bamping around, and that causes him to fall, and it looks like he's gonna get stuck in this machinery trap. But then we have Logan come by really quickly and pull off a panel and he catches Nightcrawler enough for him to kind of like bounce off somewhere else. It's a really interesting contrast, and I think really shows the you know the development of the team, but also like when I look at Logan and Logan through these two issues, you know, I I said this already, but like it is really a low a Logan slash Wolverine story that we're kind of getting here with this kind of refresh. And we're already starting off by saying, hey, Logan is not like he's more pronounced as a hero, I think, in this issue, especially.

SPEAKER_01: 14:29

He feels, and I think so some of this will come up in our talk for the next issue, but he feels a lot more mature and like more rounded and less kind of like I'm the angry guy, I'm gonna pop my claws and say something rude. I feel like there's just a lot more thought being put into his dialogue. And it feels really good to see this evolution in the character. Don't get me wrong, he's still retaining a lot of that like rudeness like, all right, let's let's throw down. Like, yeah, it's it's a really good evolution without doing like a complete 180 on what the character is.

SPEAKER_00: 15:16

I agree with that assessment, like to the T. This is you know, and I love to kind of see these things. I in a lot of different kinds of storytelling, like even, you know, this is making me think of Dungeons and Dragons, for example. And like, you know, if if you've never played before, you choose a rough alignment of your character that really kind of sets the tone for how you interact with the world and how you interact with people and situations. It's kind of a morality that keeps you focused on what you're doing. And, you know, some people will be very rigid in their thinking of, you know, if I am chaotic neutral, for example, or you're very selfish, that you can't get beyond that and you just play that character for forever. But like I like to think of it that your characters can change and grow, just like we can, right? So it makes a lot of sense that a character that might start somewhere in the middle if they have a lot of good experiences and things that touch them and change them and uh really help evolve the character into something different, and that can be really enjoyable and endearing. And I think seeing this kind of unfolding here with Logan is I think a really big jump for the creative team. And you could probably also look at it too, that we're losing Scott here, he is gone. So, yes, we're getting Storm as the new team leader, and I think she's an excellent choice. I'm really happy about this, and I'm excited to see her in that kind of leadership role. But we lose, I think, like the important male character that like these stories tend to revolve around, and that's where Logan really kind of fits in. Because I think at this point they probably knew they had something incredibly valuable in Logan, and this is an opportunity for them to kind of put Storm and Logan, who I have to imagine are like the most favorite characters from this team, at the forefront. I would assume. I would assume, especially now that Scott's gone. Yeah. But is Scott even, you know, up there at this point in history? That's a great question. I think I have long seen a lot of people put Scott on lists, you know. Um because he is the ultimate X-Man.

SPEAKER_01: 17:38

He is the X-Man.

SPEAKER_00: 17:40

There's gonna be a lot of character development in between now and then. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyways, I think this was uh it a fun new dynamic that we're getting, uh, especially between Storm and and Logan. And we also see Professor X even acknowledge the value of Wolverine, which we've never seen before. Like he acknowledges that he's you know, he's not perfect.

SPEAKER_01: 18:12

I think that's the start of next issue, where he has the talk with Warren. Yes, you're a great talk about this now, but Warren is like uh Xavier checks in with Warren and he's like, and Warren's like, oh, everything's great. Uh except you know, Wolverine, he's kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_00: 18:30

What is what are the words he uses? He says, uh, you wanted to see me, Professor. Curiosity, Angel. I was wondering about your reaction to your fellow X-Men now that you've had a chance to work and train beside them. And then Angel says, quote, no problems except for Wolverine. He's crazy, you know, and dangerous. Suppose he goes berserk in a fight and kills someone with those freaky claws of his. And then we get this kind of conversation between Xavier and Angel, and we get, yeah, this nice recognition from Charles. And I think this is even some development for him, as we're kind of getting chucked probably back into a central role on the X-Men, since he's been or more involved, at least. Yeah. I meant central like a pr yeah, he's gonna have a presence, I think, where he's been a bit absent over I think the majority of the last dozen issues or so. It's not just gonna faff around in space. And he says, I knew that when I invited him to join the X-Men Warren, he has faults yet. For all of that, he is a good man. His potential as a leader, as a superhero, is extraordinary.

SPEAKER_01: 19:47

I really liked that whole encounter because one, they brought up the whole like Logan has a ton of potential as a leader and just in general as a superhero. And then two, uh I think it's probably like one of the next lines after that, but we kind of start getting into talking more about like what is Xavier's dream and his goals and how he wants to see humanity and mutants living together in harmony and peace. Yeah. And I feel like that's something that I don't think has really been brought up all that much.

SPEAKER_00: 20:26

Yeah, I think it's been a bit of a we've had a bit of a break here from I think the current state of affairs of human mutant relations, really. Like it's been kind of a backburner topic. And I think the absence of Charles and that kind of morality that he has around that topic, it was really lacking. And I'm okay with that. Like, I think at the at this point they needed that, right? Like when Chris took over the creative for this, I think they needed to start moving in a different direction because they were already doing that story, and then it got canceled.

SPEAKER_01: 21:02

It became more the story about a new young team coming together, figuring themselves out and how they interact with their new teammates, getting better as a team, going off on silly adventures into volcanoes and savage lands.

SPEAKER_00: 21:18

Yeah, and it worked, and it was great. But, you know, now again, like this is a fresh start. You know, we're we're again really talking up Charles Xavier's school for mutants, or you know, for special kids or gifted youngsters. Thanks. And and that has not really been a key element of the last they finally have one youngster. Like everything to this point has not been about the school.

SPEAKER_01: 21:45

Tuition must be insane.

SPEAKER_00: 21:47

Uh, to go to the school that no one attends. She's keeping the whole school afloat. Yeah. Yeah. I th I thought it was like very um generous of him to call it a school with like no students.

SPEAKER_01: 22:02

Do you want to come to school? We outsource our gym to a dance studio.

SPEAKER_00: 22:09

I really like that whole interaction. It was very sweet, you know. It was the dance studio? Like the whole sequence of Aurora and Kitty kind of bonding and going to the dance studio.

SPEAKER_01: 22:24

I have a feeling we're gonna see a lot of the two of them and their bond. I feel like they really set us up for it the last time uh when Kitty was first introduced, and she was just very enamored by Storm and having a good malt together.

SPEAKER_00: 22:42

It kind of fits to the theme that we're looking at here with Storm as the team leader. She's really the only one that has kind of a pre-existing connection. I don't want to even call it a relationship, but a connection with Kitty. So I'm I'm interested to kind of see where that that will go. But I I really felt that this issue, especially, showed the value that Kitty kind of brings to the dynamic of the team. And it's really that youthfulness of kind of seeing this all for the first time and experiencing it all for the first time, and she brings like a level of optimism and ignorance that I think the team has now passed, right? Like we're literally seeing earlier in this issue, like the team that has been here together has is like a well-oiled machine, they know how to work with their strengths, and then you add in Warren, who is the you know, the veteran X-Men who's stumbling all over the place as he tries to get back into the game, and then you have on the polar opposite end Kitty, who's now trying to become an X-Man and navigating the perils of being a teenager, and has like super smart intellect, I didn't which is not a thing I knew about her. Like, I figured she was as smart as any person. She's a computer hacker. I guess I always missed that characteristic of her.

SPEAKER_01: 24:12

It's not always brought up, like it just randomly shows up every now and then, kind of, but yeah, she's deep in the uh the computers and programming languages and stuff like that. And a ninja. Uh, I will say the name Sprite is terrible. So is Ariel. Like, what Yeah, what is the hell? I'm so I I must be missing something. Like, Ariel must mean something. I don't know what it means, and I didn't feel interested enough to look it up, but like, what?

SPEAKER_00: 24:47

Like the only Okay, to to look at it through the perspective that you just gave, like if it were to be anything, the only meaning of Ariel I can think of would be, you know, if if you're flying a plane, right? Like you're It's not spelled like that.

SPEAKER_01: 25:03

Yeah, it was spelled like Ariel from the Little Mermaid. That's the only thing I can think of. I know it's not the Little Mermaid, but that is like 99% of my association in my head with the word Ariel.

SPEAKER_00: 25:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 25:22

I it's it it was a terrible like boomer name by Charles. How do you feel knowing that she does later adopt the codename Ariel?

SPEAKER_00: 25:32

I don't like I mean I would under I think uh if it's written correctly, I think it could work. I think she goes through a lot of code names. Depending on how it's being used, like if it's being acknowledged as like, hey, I'm gonna use this code name because it was a terrible one that Charles Xavier gave me originally, then I think that's fine. Like an acknowledgement of it, you know? It's such a bad name, no one will think of it. Thus, super sneaky. They're both not great. Yeah, it's Sprite's not great either. It doesn't really match her powers either. So I guess sprites can be kind of tricky.

SPEAKER_01: 26:09

It's it's a difficult power set to come up with a cool name for. They could have just called her Ghost. Ghost is alright. Ghost Spider is cooler. Well. We're not talking Gwen here.

SPEAKER_00: 26:24

I'm just saying, like, cool name. Is uh for a cool girl. Do we know when she gets a shadow cat name?

SPEAKER_01: 26:32

Like as Um Yeah, I read that spoiler when I was looking up the aerial thing. Do you wanna know? Uh sure broadly. Like, is it soonish or no? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00: 26:43

Damn.

SPEAKER_01: 26:44

She takes it on when she receives ninja training at some point. That feels like a broad enough spoiler answer that that's not that bad since I've already said she's like multiple times that she's a ninja.

SPEAKER_00: 27:01

I mean, her skill set works perfectly for it, so it really does.

SPEAKER_01: 27:07

Yeah, for me, issue 139 was in a lot of ways, it feels very like back to basics. Yeah. We got like, oh, they're just doing some regular danger room training, you know, back to basics for Angel, especially since he's got that all that rust to shake off. We're getting a little bit more almost slice of life content, like them going to the dance studio, Wolverine and Kurt going on a little Canadian vacation that eventually turns into a thing. But I think it's a very good transition from where we were kind of, you know, as a first step away from that.

SPEAKER_00: 27:47

I agree a hundred percent. I also really liked the Wolverine story that we're getting here, where he's going to the north to try and tie up this loose end that kind of exists from the pre Dark Phoenix time, you know, where he needs to try and get out of this issue with the Canadian government. Um, and so he goes to see his old pal, who's been occasionally hunting him down. It's uh I I really liked it. I I thought that like learning about Logan's past connections with Alpha Flight in more detail was great. Seeing this, you know, reiteration of Logan's battle between the Hulk and the Windigo, which I appreciated that a lot as someone that's not going to go back and read that issue of the Hulk.

SPEAKER_01: 28:42

So getting that little recap was very helpful.

SPEAKER_00: 28:45

Yeah, and I think it really kind of takes a lot of the effort away, especially when you put yourself in the perspective of somebody who's reading this in the late 70s or 80s, and thinking again about the difficulty of like coming on board and here they are talking about oh yes. I remember fighting the Windigo back in issue whatever, 72 of The Incredible Hulk. Good luck finding that. No wiki available. Enjoy. Well, the only wiki is the comic book guy. Anyways, this is all to say. Um, I really enjoyed all of this, and we can get more into it because I think we kind of get into the heavier stuff in the next issue as it were goes with Wendigo. But I really liked the this monster of the week kind of returning, and I know that's like something I've complained about a lot when it's happened, but this felt different. At least for me. It felt more enjoyable. I think there was more not maybe not more stake, because some of these monsters of the week have been like, We're gonna destroy the world or the timeline or the universe or whatever. I'm going to make you run. Through my murder world. Yeah. Welcome to my murder world. But, you know, here we have not that, and it just felt better and enjoyable.

SPEAKER_01: 30:11

On to issue 140. Issue 140 starts with a sexy Colossus ripping a tree stump out of the ground so that he can return to his farming roots a bit. Warren is confused by Peter's agricultural interests, but he says something very poetic about nature and beauty and how it relaxes him. Warren leaves thinking that there is more to Peter than meets the eye. Professor Axe checks in on Warren to see how rejoining the team is going. He signals all good but mentions he thinks Wolverine is crazy and dangerous. Professor Axe agrees, but says Wolverine is a good man with extraordinary potential as a leader and superhero, and that helping people like Logan is part of his mission to see humans and mutants living peacefully. Back in Harlem, Kitty is really enjoying her dance class and new teacher. Storm seems a little wary of this Stevie Hunter, especially when she refers to Kitty possessively with an Our Kitten. We shift back to Canada and see the Wendigo hunting poor Nightcrawler, who attempts to climb a tree, but the tree just gets knocked down. He is eventually caught and only manages to escape by attempting a blind teleport. Wolverine and Alpha Flight are eventually alerted to the danger when Nightcrawler is hit by Wendigo and thuds against the cabin's exterior. A fight ensues, but the Wendigo is able to escape with Wolverine and Stowbird in pursuit. While trekking him, Wolverine notes that the creature has gotten smarter. When they locate the creature, Snowbird flies back to get the others, and Wolverine is eventually forced into a one-on-one confrontation to stop the Wendigo from eating the missing mother and baby. Wolverine knocks him down, and the three begin to limp away, but unfortunately, the Wendigo soon catches up. Wolverine is taking a major beating, but the Calvary arrives in time. With Wolverine down for the count, Snowbird decides to transform into a giant Wolverine, the animal, to take on the Wendigo. The Wendigo is seriously injured and will be out for hours, but Snowbird takes on the animal persona of whatever she transforms into, and everyone is afraid that they've lost her to it or that maybe she'll attack them. Wolverine is able to connect and calm her down, and she's able to shift back into her humanoid form. Shaman completes the ritual to turn the Wendigo back into the man, George Baptiste, who is immediately arrested by Alpha Flight. James says he'll take care of things for Wolverine, and Nightcrawler says to Logan that Baptiste will pay for his actions, but shouldn't Logan also have to pay for what he's done in his life? Logan says he's been a wartime soldier and a secret agent for the government, but he's never killed anyone who wasn't gunning for him first. He sees his life as a series of self-defense actions. Nightcrawler says, I understand Logan, what you say is reasonable, logical, justifiable. But does that make it right? It's mentioned that Logan doesn't reply and there is silence between the two men for quite a while. James ends up meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada, but before he can mention Wolverine, he learns that Alpha Flight is being disbanded. In the final page, we see Fred Dukes, the blob, escaping his high security prison with a trick he learned from quote, that lady lawyer, and that he's joining the new brotherhood of evil mutants. The banner at the bottom says next issue, days of future past. Aw man. Freddie Dukes, bartender of the Green Lagoon. Really? In Cricoi? Yeah. Their tiki bar. I can dig it. It's another issue when we've got like a few different scenes and a few different perspectives. Like it's mostly the Wolverine story, but we take a little bit of a break at the beginning, and we do like, all right, here's some Warren and Peter content, and then here's some Storm and Kitty content. And then at the end, we have those two kind of let's close off one thread and open another with hey Alpha Flight, you're getting disbanded. Money, am I right? And alright, Fred Dukes is on the loose, and there's gonna be a new brotherhood of evil mutants.

SPEAKER_00: 34:56

It's funny for me as a Canadian seeing this interaction between uh the Prime Minister and Hudson. He's just like, eh, sorry, man. The house voted. The house voted. I don't know what you want to do. What can you do about it, bruh? But you can keep your security clearance and you can just do whatever you want. As you were, as long as it's for for the mother, the homeland, the Canada. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 35:23

Um, what did you think of the Windigo? I think he's a good two-issue villain. I feel like he's not really there's not really like a focus or like a development of him, or kind of like anything like that. He's sort of just there to drive the action forward a little bit. Yeah, he's a plot device here. Yeah. I think he's fine for that. I thought it was you know, they went into like the history of, you know, the curse was attached to somebody, and then somebody else took the curse for himself. I lost the thr you know the thread a little bit in all of that, but I appreciate that they tried. Uh, I think there was probably just like something on TV at the time and really hard for my brain to concentrate, but he's fine. Uh my main thing with him was not it kind of dismisses of him, but at the end of this, I was curious. Like, I wonder if the Wendigo serves as any inspiration for Sabretooth. Because they have sort of a similar build and physicality, they both regenerate, and you know, it you know, we get to see Wolverine really, you know, go safely go toe-to-toe and like be as like wild and brutal as he needs to be, which is something that he eventually gets in his, I guess we'll say longtime rival Sabretooth, you know, that kind of a s a villain that he can safely allow his wild side to come out against. I I don't know if there's any actual like direct inspiration for it, but I do see a lot of parallels between the two characters.

SPEAKER_00: 37:13

You spelling it out the way you just did, I I do see it. I don't know that reading it, I thought it. I felt like I am looking at like I like the design a like not a lot, but I like it. Like just there's something weird about the whole pure white aesthetic with the with the red eyes. And a weird tail. Yeah, and the weird tail. It gave me sexy mane of hair. It gave me Hulk vibes, you know? Like this this is like a Hulk monster that Hulk thought. And it was. And and it was. And it's not like uh like there's nothing raw with that, but like that's what it feels like looking at it. Especially like I'm looking at this panel right now where nightcrawler's kind of like dodging away in the woods, and you you really kind of get a good look at his face, and he he looks like if he was green, you'd be like, that is a hairy hulk. He does seem to be an angry boy, yeah. Just a wee bit, but I liked it. I liked the the whole kind of cat and mouse game with Nightcrawler, which is which was a lot of fun, and even seeing him banfing around the way he was, it made me think of the Nightcrawler that I know today, where he can really go ham. So to see again, like this character progression of, oh yeah, hey, look how he's doing new things is a lot of fun to see here.

SPEAKER_01: 38:40

We get to see him be a little bit risky with the blind teleport. Though I do think he does that one straight up in the air, so I don't know if it really counts as being that dangerous.

SPEAKER_00: 38:49

I mean, when I saw him up in the air, I thought, oh, he's in a bad spot, honestly. But then he just like bamped down.

SPEAKER_01: 38:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 38:57

Just another real quick teleport. But like I I guess like the reason I thought of it in that way is because in the danger room they play they made it out to seem like, oh no, he's he's done for. He's been hit once. And that's that was a little weird.

SPEAKER_01: 39:12

Like I felt like Nightcrawler could have just I don't remember. Maybe it said he was like stunned in some way, but or maybe they had some sonic scramblers going to mess with his teleportation powers and just didn't spell it out. But yeah, it felt like he could have fixed the situation himself.

SPEAKER_00: 39:32

Like I get that the purpose of it was just to show the dynamic of the team and like their connection to each other and that they can adapt. And here's Logan again being a leader. It's uh look out, look at his development. So I think it served its purpose. It was fine. But one thing we haven't talked about yet is Wolverine's new look. I like it.

SPEAKER_01: 39:53

I mean, I'd known of it already, but I feel like it works for it. Almost seems like they've kind of made him. I I mean I touched on it earlier, but he's got like a more maturity about him. But it also seems they're trying to really portray him as just like, I don't know, for some reason it really stuck out to me that like the multiple times he's smoking or drinking a beer in these two issues.

SPEAKER_00: 40:23

Like it's uh the embodiment of something manly.

SPEAKER_01: 40:28

I guess. Like if it feels like they're trying to show more of that. And you know, maybe it's just these two issues and it isn't gonna like pop up so much, but it was it was really funny to just be like, all right, everyone's having lemonade, Logan's cracking open uh a beer, and then he lit lights up a cigarette.

SPEAKER_00: 40:47

It's funny that that was your takeaway, because my takeaway was why doesn't he drink lemonade? It's like he mixed the two together. I was so curious. I was like, what is it about the lemonade that you don't like? Just too sweet, too sour, not being a lemonade.

SPEAKER_01: 41:05

Badly made lemonade is not something you want to drink. Maybe he just doesn't want to risk it. Just give me the can of beer, it's pre-made. It's probably like 10 a.m.

SPEAKER_00: 41:17

in the morning. Who knows? The the other thing that we didn't touch on, but I believe it was in the last issue, right after the fight in the danger room, there is like a scene when Kitty walks in for the first time, literally in the sequence where we're talking, where uh Kurt's there with the lemonade, and there's this little pink box in the middle of the page, and it says Cyclops' organic steel armor becomes flesh, and what that's what it says. It says Cyclops' organic steel armor becomes flesh again. Hold on. I'm gonna I have to go back to the past issue.

SPEAKER_01: 41:59

It's such a glaring mistake. Oh, wow. That's like how did like these things happen, but like they do, yeah. That's such a weird one. I appreciate that they did not fix it for the digital comic.

SPEAKER_00: 42:15

It'd probably be way more money than it's worth at this point. And as you said, like these things happen. Like I'm sure it's far from the most egregious error that's ever been made in comics. They did misspell Havoc's name in one of the first issues we did.

SPEAKER_01: 42:33

This seems much worse. This is way worse than that, yeah. It's like we just got rid of Cyclops. I didn't I did not clock that at all. Like, I just completely glossed over it. I don't know. It just it popped out to me like at the sore thumb.

SPEAKER_00: 42:48

Typical Peter disrespect. Yeah. Just par for the course, man. Still waiting for that arc when Peter's gonna be the shining star.

SPEAKER_01: 43:00

It's weird that the Wendigo all he does is shout his name like a Pokemon. Wendigo.

SPEAKER_00: 43:06

But it's hyphenated, so it'd be more like when de go. Wendigo? More like where do you go? How do you go? Hey. What ego. If we had Banshee, that's the kind of joke we would be getting right now.

SPEAKER_01: 43:22

Yeah. We're missing that good old Sean Cassidy charm. I like that they smartened him up, going back to you know, what I thought about the character. You know, I liked that instead, like, you know, Wolverine made the comment that, you know, the old hand would have just like barreled through the forest and left like a giant trail of destruction that was easy to follow. I like that it was more he's kind of like that almost like primal part of nature living in the woods. Yeah. A little bit more brain to him.

SPEAKER_00: 43:58

It's uh you I think you nailed it perfectly earlier when you said he's just more well-rounded. Like it felt like Logan was kind of typecast in the first book. Or like in the first one. Well, I was saying the when to go. Oh, the when to go.

SPEAKER_01: 44:11

I think the only other time I've heard of like a when to go or a when to go or whatever we want to call it, is from Supernatural. Like probably season one, I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_00: 44:24

I think you are correct. And I am imagining the episode where I think they I think it's like the second or third episode, honestly. A lot of Canada in that show. I think it was almost exclusively filmed in BC. Pretty sure. It's got that spooky vibe, I've heard anyway. I haven't been too.

SPEAKER_01: 44:44

I assume it looks exactly like Supernatural when you go there. Like it's got like that filter over it.

SPEAKER_00: 44:51

There's just a bunch of haunted shit in the woods. Yeah. I mean, uh that I wouldn't want to be out there, especially in those woods. Those are way more dangerous than the woods around my part of Canada. They got they got grizzly bears out there. We just got black bears. They're not as scary. I wouldn't mess with one, but uh you know, they're they're cute.

SPEAKER_01: 45:14

I think one other call out that I had, and I missed some of this fell out. It didn't make it to my notes, but it seems like they're starting to so we've already like touched on them developing and taking Logan into kind of a new direction. Yeah. I think they're doing the same with starting to work in some of Nightcrawler's religious aspects over these last two issues. Like, there's definitely that there, but for the grace of God goes you quote at the very end, but I swear there was like one more thing in either the first issue or this one where he mentions something. I don't know what it was.

SPEAKER_00: 46:00

When you were going over the recap, I was thinking about the that interaction at the very end between Nightcrawler and Logan and the morality of killing. Um, and and I immediately thought of Kurt's religion beliefs. Mm-hmm. And and that's a huge part of his character. It's like uh Matt Murdoch, right? Like it's the same moral code. That's a team up they should do. God's Boys.

SPEAKER_01: 46:27

Yeah. Ooh, they could call it God's Boys. What a good name.

SPEAKER_00: 46:35

Daredevils. I mean, wasn't Nightcrawler Spider-Man for a little bit? He was. I don't know the context around any of that. It sounded weird to say. I just remembered reading that that wasn't a thing.

SPEAKER_01: 46:48

Well, there was multiple Spider-Men. Um, he just needed like a break. He had a rough go of things. He died so many times, and in a way that he had to remember all those deaths. Ugh. So he had to do but he saved the day. But he had to do a big vacation and just get away from it all. And people love Spider-Man, so you might as well be Spider-Man. I mean, why not just go on a real vacation? And then he worked out some shit with his brain-damaged mom. Happy ending. Alright. And that was the end of it? It was just like a short series, right? I don't remember which series that happened in, but yeah, it wasn't super long. I think it's literally Is it its own? Yeah, it was its own book. I read all those in a way that I can't recommend to anyone else because my brain can't keep track of what happened, like the different books, because I didn't read any of them in order. Or I read them all in chronological order. Yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_00: 47:54

It's called Uncanny Spider-Man. There we go. Gotta get that uncanny in there. I just saw this Reddit like as I was like scrolling through the Google search. This uh Reddit thread that popped up, and it's just there's a comment of his entire power set makes it incompatible to pretend to be Spider-Man. It's not like Iron Fist pretending to be Daredevil. He sticks to walls. Yeah. He doesn't have to use his teleport powers. I mean, what's the difference between his teleport powers and literally shooting out a web? It's essentially like the same general concept.

SPEAKER_01: 48:35

People want to see Spider-Man swinging on a web. That's what the people of New York love. They love good deli meat and a swinging Spider-Man and yelling, bagels, pizza, other stuff.

SPEAKER_00: 48:52

Overall, I really like these two bucks. I think I would give it I'd give it like an eight out of ten. It's pretty high. I was gonna say seven. Like I'm trying not to compare it to like I'm trying to compare it as a fresh start, as opposed to dwelling on where things are leaving off with Dark Phoenix, because I think that would be a very unfair comparison. So looking at it as a fresh start and this new team with a lot of character development, like a fun overall Wolverine story, and like these new dynamics that are playing it with the team. Yeah, I think it's worthy of an eight. It was a lot of fun. It kind of sets a bit of a new status quo, and we get the tease for Days of Futures Pass. So we'll see what happens with that.

SPEAKER_01: 49:39

For me, uh, I wrote down seven out of ten, kind of a good, not great sort of score. You know, I would call this these two good issues. I really enjoyed the buddy side story, Wolverine and Nightcrawler as the main focus. Felt like we got to see a more mature version of Logan. I like that he's fine with Auroro being the leader. He's still very much himself with his dialogue, but you know, he seems like he's in like a really good, amicable teammate, teamwork sort of place that seems to be working out for him. I mean, yeah, I feel like it was in many ways just like a great opener for, you know, we're kind of talking about this like it is a new season of TV, but yeah, thumbs up. I enjoyed it a lot.

SPEAKER_00: 50:26

Yeah, it's it's season two, right? Like that's what it feels like. This feels like season two. And and that's not a bad thing. I think it was really needed to it would it would be hard, and I don't know what direction they would really go in after Dark Phoenix, you know? Like it it tied up so much stuff. So I think if there was ever a time for a fresh start, it's right now. And so I'm curious to see where things go. I hope it keeps this momentum. I know the story of Days of Futures Past, like through not reading it, but reading or maybe I have read it absorbing it generally. If I have, it's been a long time. So I'll I'll be really kind of curious to read it cover to cover and then see how it holds up to the film, which as we talked about earlier, I do remember very fondly.

SPEAKER_01: 51:17

I'm assuming they'll be somewhat different, but both enjoyable, and you know, hopefully there's kind of like a good enough direct connection between the two. Before we uh get out of here, Fred Dukes. The blob. That quote unquote lady lawyer, that's definitely like gonna be mystique, right?

SPEAKER_00: 51:38

Maybe. You know what? I didn't really think about it. I I would love for it to be Emma Frost, but I think she's been kind of sidelined for the time being.

SPEAKER_01: 51:47

My intuition is really telling me that this is like a mystique thing, that she's putting together the new brotherhood of evil mutants.

SPEAKER_00: 51:55

Because I don't think it's gonna be I mean, maybe Magneto involved, but not only Magneto. I think Magneto coming back would make a lot of sense if we're having this sort of new status quo for the team, and if we have an opportunity to bring Magneto back into the fold on a semi-regular basis, I think that would make sense, but I wouldn't be upset if it was not his.

SPEAKER_01: 52:21

An interesting thing to see where they go with. You know, we got this thing, we got the dance studio person. I have a theory about that too, but I'm worried that some of like the knowledge I've absorbed is coloring my opinion of what might be happening there. That does it for this episode of Uncanny Book Club. Thanks for listening, and we hope to see you next episode where we'll discuss issues 141 and 142. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Uncanny Book Club. If you enjoyed this podcast, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share with a friend.