What If? The X-Men #1

Welcome to the world of the EXE/men: EXE/scape!

In the not too distant future, there's no such thing as mutants. At least not in the way you

would think of a traditional Marvel mutant. Instead in this tech driven Utopia in which

people upload their consciousness into the internet, some users have developed special

abilities. Able to hack into people's bank accounts, create firewalls and literally kill users

in real life without even touching them, these renegades have become enemies of the state.

Enter Erik Lehnsherr. Instead of being the powerful Master of Magnetism, he's an influential

computer developer and the leading advocate for EXE/men rights. But an equally powerful

computer virus is about to be uploaded that will neutralize these 'cyber-mutants.’ And it's

about to be uploaded into the brain of a kidnapped Lehnsherr. Thus it's up to the combined

efforts of Charles Xavier, Cable and Domino to save not only Erik but the fate of the

EXE/men as well.

If this premise sounds confusing, then I feel like I did my job as a reviewer quite well.

When I read the story synopsis for this one-shot, I didn't know what the hell Marvel was

talking about. After about 3 tries, I gave up. But I didn't pass up on this book and I am glad

I persevered!

When you actually read the book, it's actually pretty good. I think that the cyberpunk

premise is just so out there that only a fan of William Gibson could truly understand it

without reading it. There's such a thin line between the real world and the online one that

a 200 word description just will not be able to do the actual story by Bryan Edward Hill

(American Carnage) justice.

The artwork by Neil Edwards (Fantastic Four) was pretty cool. There's a definite change

in style between the two world's. That really helps to understand what is going on. I also

loved the cover by Luke Cage's Rahzzah. I couldn't tell if Domino was developed from a

real image or computer generated. Except for Cable's face. That was 100% not realistic

at all!

There was one part of this book that I was a little confused about. At the end are two

appendices. They look like entries in an issue of The Official Handbook of the Marvel

Universe. They're about the EXE/men Jubilee and Rogue. If you'll notice, I didn't mention

either in the synopsis. That's because neither appear in this book except in one panel.

Several normally mutant characters appear in cameo here. So I'm wondering if other

copies of this What If? have features of those other guest stars in them.

This one-shot was a lot better than the advertised teaser. If you can overlook it, you're in

for a treat with this book. And if anyone has read this comic and can attest if there's

different character appendices in the back, I'd appreciate the info. (It might raise my

rating somewhat.)

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Deadpool 2

The Merc with a Mouth returned to theaters this week and he took zero prisoners. Literally nothing was off topic in the latest R-rated film to feature the mutants of the Marvel Universe. Racism, sexuality, politics, DC Comics, and Rob Liefield were all roasted by Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool. 

Most of the cast from the original film were back for the sequel including Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Karan Soni as cab driver Dopinder, and Brianna Hildebrand as the X-Man Negasonic Teenage Warhead. But there were some new members as well added to the mix as well. Josh Brolin, who seems to be having the Spring movie season of his life, played time traveler Cable and honestly, I liked his Cable way better than Thanos. 

But the new character who stole the film was Zazie Beetz, who portrayed the very lucky mutant Domino. She was smart, funny, and well, very lucky. She might have dethroned Jennifer Garner's Elektra as my on-screen superhero crush. I hope she'll be back for the likely sequel, which is rumored to be called X-Force.

This film is definitely not for kids. There's more violence, gore and maiming in the sequel. Not as much sex as in the first Deadpool, but just about as much nudity. The big thing that was amped up in this sequel were the F-bombs, while rival some Tarantino films. 

There's really not much more that I can review about this film without giving away some major spoilers and I try very hard not to ruin them. I will say that there are two extra scenes during the credits and despite the fact that he did film a cameo, I didn't see Stan Lee anywhere in this movie. No- I did not leave to go to the bathroom or snack bar. Either they cut his scene or he was in the background of a very busy action sequence and if you blink, you miss him.

In my opinion, of the 3 Marvel films already released this year, Deadpool 2 was my favorite. It was insane, action-packed, and while it had some very poignant SJW moments added in that normally make a lot of fans angry, I didn't feel like I was being preached at. And yet, I feel that the way I look at some things on social media have changed for the better thanks to this film.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.