[Dr Kain]

X-Men Omnibus Volume 2 Update - I just hit the Marvel Tales stuff, but I'm not sure why they are in the book before X-Men 151-153 since they came out like 7 months after those issues.

Honestly, I've got to say that issues 145-150 were kind of weak. I liked the one with Cyclops and Man-Thing, but it ends with Lee in the hospital. Suddenly, in the next issue Cyclops and Lee are stranded on some island. WTF? Instead of telling us this happened, they should have shown us this happen because that is a pretty god damn important event. How did they get from the hospital to being on the open sea? What happened to her crew? Were they with her? Did they survive? Also, I felt the story with Garrock was mediocre and didn't make sense.

Another thing that bugs me was the Avengers annual being in the middle of this story arc. Issue 150 seems to have the X-Men on their way back from the battle with Garrock, but the story with Rogue takes place over the course of several weeks and Miss Marvel is with Prof X in 150. Huh? So how long were Scott and Lee guests of Magneto? It ddn't seem like they were there for more than a few days.

On the other hand, I'm going to guess this is where they really started to turn Magneto into more than just a one dimensional villain, right? None of the other issues I have read seemed to talk about Magneto's imprisonment during WWII. If so, then issue 150 does have some major revelations to it, which boosts it up quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed these issues, but I don't feel they are up to par with everything that occurred before them.

Oh, and X-Men Annual 5 was average. I didn't like how Sue seemed to be vastly inexperienced and needed support to help her both emotionally and physically just to handle a situation. That felt very out of character with the Sue Storm I have read about. The stuff dealing with Arkon was not bad this time around, but I just don't think he is all that great of a character. The scene between Thing and Colossus arm wrestling was priceless though.

Lastly, it seems like the letters page is not present on the vast majority of issues in this book. What gives? Were they too damaged to remaster or did they just not exist to begin with? Well that is all I have to report on my X-Men reading at the moment.

EDIT: I finished X-Men Evolution today and overall, it was an average series. Hell, most of the series was more of a high school drama than a super hero show. It also never made sense at times because we had one episode where the second door to Apocalypse was opened, but then the next episode has the team on a cruise. WTF?! Yeah, let's forget that the world is close to coming to end so we can have a trip to the Bahamas.

Also, except for the Brotherhood, none of the villains were every truly developed and there were a lot of loose plot threads that were left hanging. Like what was the point of introducing Legion and having him leave saying he would be back if he actually wasn't? Oh, and while I liked the stuff with Apocalypse as a whole, the main attraction was barely on screen and pretty much did nothing. In fact, he was just as bad as the current movie version we have. WOW!! The Four Horsemen didn't even make sense because there was nothing in their powers to make them resemble the characters. Magneto was probalby war, but Xavier, Storm, and Mystique do not fit the bill for the other three Horsemen.

Another thing I didn't like was how Wolverine stopped using his brownish orange costume to suddenly wear a black, maskless outfit. What the hell was up with that? It was a pointless change and didn't fit when no one else changed their costumes.

The animation was pretty good for the most part though and the music was adequate. Some of the voices were completely miscast though while others, like Kitty, were purrfect. Although, since I had just come of watching Gundam Seed and Destiny I couldn't help but make references to the characters they voiced there (like Moonstar being Flay and the Hydra Scientist being Ramius).

In the end, this show was a mixed bag. It had a lot of entertaining moments, but there was just way too much fluff and filler without enough super heroing around. My favorite episodes would have to include Dark Horizons, Walk on the Wild Side, Self-Possessed, and Ghost of a Chance. My least favorite episodes are really anything that featured Spyke as the main focus and Sins of the Son. I'm just glad I didn't spend money to see this series over again.

Oh, and Hulu also seems to have the 90s Spider-Man cartoon on it, so I guess I've got a little less than a month to get through it before my free trial ends. Why can't they just put it out on DVD?