Ink of Blood

(This review may contain spoilers).

Having seen Pietro (and Wanda) in Avengers: Age of Ultron and also the first set of comics from this series, I was quite happy to have the opportunity to learn a bit more about him.

I really liked seeing Pietro interacting with and protecting his sister. While it would have been nice to see more of him interacting with other members of the Avengers and X-Men in the first comic, I did like seeing how he viewed Magneto at the start. And I did have a lot of sympathy for both Pietro and Wanda, even without knowing all of the details of their past.

I’ve seen a few different comics dealing with the aftermath of Wanda’s new reality by now, but it was interesting to see it from Pietro’s perspective and how he had to cope with no longer having his mutant ability.

While I could see that Pietro was struggling in the second set of comics and clearly couldn’t cope with being at the same speed as everyone else, I couldn’t see much in the way of his apparent arrogance. And although it was interesting to see him interacting with Crystal, when I learned about their history together, I found myself feeling even more sympathy towards Pietro.

I really liked being able to see more of the Inhumans and also being able to see a bit more of Black Bolt’s personality, although I did think he was somewhat cruel. It was nice to see the artwork in the second set of comics change with the different settings, giving each place a different atmosphere.

There were some darker aspects in the second storyline and I’m not sure I completely understood how Pietro’s abilities had been changed by the mists… at least not at first. I didn’t really know how his time travel worked, though. It would have been good to see it fit better together.

It was awful to see how many of the mutants were affected by the loss of their powers and I did feel a lot of sympathy for them. I could understand their desperation to have their powers back.

I liked seeing Luna and Pietro together, but I felt that Pietro did eventually do right by his daughter, even though he put her in danger in the first place.

Wanda’s is the next comic on my Marvel’s Mightiest Heroes list to read… but in the future, I would definitely be interested in reading more about Pietro and his sister.

(This review may contain spoilers).

So… if I’m completely honest, my original interest in Marvel, or at least the X-Men, probably stems from Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine.

I liked the opportunity to see Logan’s first appearance. I did, however, feel that he was unnecessarily cruel to the Hulk. While the first comic did a good job of showcasing Logan’s abilities and how determined/stubborn he is, I also thought that the comic showed a slightly different aspect to the Hulk. In many ways, he does strike me as a child who has an innocent way of looking at the world.

I thought the second set of comics were particularly intriguing. While there wasn’t much shown of the new world generally Wanda had created, I liked the fact that I could see the after-effects on Logan. Learning about his past with Mystique added an extra dimension to his character… though I was disappointed to see that he could technically be classed as a villain. While the crowd he ran with were criminals, my opinion of him went down several notches by the end of the flashback sequences.

I liked the different styles of artwork in the two different comics. It was good to see how the atmosphere changed from a more lighthearted feel to something a whole lot darker.

Even for a villain, I’ve felt that Mystique is a lot more than that. I felt the second set of comics showcased her grey nature especially well. I wouldn’t root for her to win against the heroes, but I’m interested in learning more about her and perhaps seeing a redemption-style arc for her character, especially in light of her connection to Nightcrawler, one of my favourite X-Men.

It was really good to see Logan interacting with Scott and I would have liked to see him with more of the others, heroes and villains. Even though these two sets of comics didn’t show much in the way of Logan struggling against his nature, I could see hints of that.

I liked being able to learn more about Logan’s past and I did have a lot of sympathy for him the more I discovered. I’m sure I’d like to read more of his comics in the future.