oh god I fell victim to cataloging on this one: my library catalog listed this as "Uncanny X-men : the complete collection" and so I put a hold on it, and then I got it and it was volume 3, and I was like, whatever, I know X-Men, I'll read this?

IDK, I do know X-Men stuff pretty well, but this is a WEIRD volume to jump into the middle of. But the #cool thing about comics is that even though I did not know about all of the weird shit that was happening, it didn't really matter. What matters is that Matt Fraction & Kieron Gillon are really masters of humanizing these archetypal characters.

That said, I'm definitely uh, ordering volumes 1 and 2 for my library and reading those ASAP. Continuity WHAT??

Uh oh, it's been too long since I read [b:Avengers Arena, Vol. 2: Game On|17785925|Avengers Arena, Vol. 2 Game On|Dennis Hopeless|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1379897261s/17785925.jpg|24873304] and I forgot who half these people are. Still, felt like a pretty satisfying conclusion to this series, which pulled off the whole Battle Royale/Hunger Games superhero tribute a lot better than I ever thought it would.

Hahaha this is such a weird little collection. I dug the X-Men/Spider-Man/Hulk time travel crossover situation. The bonus comic at the end where Wolverine is solving crimes with Top Chef Chris Cosentino is... one of the weirder things I've ever read.

BEST PANEL: full page panel of the Hulk covered in puppies.

WORST PANEL: Chris Cosentino and Wolverine making fun of a coroner by assuming he's vegetarian. "I bet you're a vegetarian." "Hah, he can smell you a mile away. I guess what they say about you Veg-Heads is true!" WHAT ARE THEY SAYING ABOUT US VEG-HEADS, I NEED TO KNOW.

COME AT ME BRO

Wow, there was a lot going on in this. I possibly might be more interested in this if I had read X-Force, which apparently set up the whole Tabula Rasa situation? I was still sort of interested in the condescending aliens. I was pretty interested in all of Hope's Namor puns (Cod Latin! King of Abs-Lantis!)

I feel like there's been a mini-slew of books about like, the beta mean girl, where you see that she's REALLY only a bully because of the alpha mean girl. I kind of want a book about the alpha mean girl.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there, just my wish list.

I liked this--I found Sara to be a compelling character.

However,

Spoiler

I was annoyed that Sara's change of heart came SO abruptly and seemed to come based on something a boy she likes said, rather than arriving organically or maybe actually inspired by something Emma or Emma's family said or did? EH

But I did still like Sara's final speech and I think the message that people aren't always as strong as they appear to be is a really true and important one.

I think it will appeal a lot to fans of [b:Thirteen Reasons Why|1217100|Thirteen Reasons Why|Jay Asher|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333822506s/1217100.jpg|2588213] etc. Language and sexual content are not particularly tween-appropriate.

oh my gosh I know I'm so late to the Sex Criminals party. Super fun party, though! And great art. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Matt Fraction is able to make such a weird concept into something human and interesting, because that's like, kind of what he does.

Yeah, X-Women!!

I definitely had missed some stuff that must have happened in other X-books, but who cares? As long as you're willing to accept at face value that you can save human consciousness on floppy disks and plug them into other people no problem, and I am, then you can follow this book.

I did think it was kind of odd that a Colombian villain was using Mexican Day of the Dead face makeup? I mean... it did look cool though. And at some point someone calls her a hipster for doing so.

Oh also, omg, Shogo's little hat <3

Also CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE VARIANT COVER WHERE ALL THE X-WOMEN (AND SHOGO) ARE CATS



can we talk about where on my body I should get that tattooed?

can we

This was fun. I liked the character moments between Tony and Pepper more than I liked the space adventures, but that's probably always true for me.

Did I mainly want to pick up this series because of baby Iron Man on the cover? Yes OBVIOUSLY

IDK, I enjoyed it? I loved the hot space lady being super grossed out by Tony's mustache. IDK what I think about the ~twist~ to Tony's origin story but eh it's interesting anyway.

Pretty late to the Hellboy party, but I really enjoyed this! Smart and not that gory (which for some reason I thought it would be?)

We have it shelved in adult GNs, which is maybe just because it has a swear word RIGHT IN THE TITLE but the content honestly seems pretty PG-13 to me?? Err I mean unless parents don't want their kids reading about demons, I suppose.

I'd read more Hellboy. And maybe watch the movies? Are the movies good?