Warning: Contents are Extremely Random

It's been a while since I posted here. Work was bad for a while, including severely restricting internet access, and I haven't had much to talk about, nor the time to do any real cooking, but things seem to be better now.

Guess I'll kick things off with a backlog of comic reviews.

( Mass quantities of reviews ahead… ) ( fitness stuff, too ) ( And some Transformers stuff to round things out )

I'm also thinking of bringing gifts to AC for friends and roommates. My plan is to give stuff from Michigan, like Vernors ginger ale and Sander's hot fudge.

I've only got one comic book review this week, which is good since I'm flying out to California for my cousin's wedding, and should probably be in bed right now.

Ultimate X-Men #81

The cover for this issue is one of the most spoileriffic I've ever seen, as well as a healthy dose of "be careful what you wish for" since the writers did something I mentioned the last time I reviewed an issue of Ultimate X-Men.

More transition this issue, which is fitting since it's a one-shot with the title "Cliffhangers". We get a brief glimpse at Mr. Sinister, who apparently offed himself again. This also provides for a convenient distraction to get Mystique away from impersonating an imprisoned Magneto.

The Xavier institute is doing okay as a normal school; although, most of the original students have left and they have trouble maintaining a proper staff. Scott actually resorted to hiring Toad.

Meanwhile, Nightcrawler finally finds the Morlocks and we learn that another deceased character wasn't really dead. Turns out that this guy was resuscitated, but squirreled away so he could work on a cure for a nasty virus. Oh, and Xavier messed with his mind to make him think that he was still in contact with family and friends. The only thing that snapped him out of it was Xavier's apparent death.

This issue could have been better, especially since it feels like the writer tried to pack a reference to almost every unresolved story into one issue while tossing a few new surprises at us.

I got a copy of Ultimate X-Men Annual #2 on Wednesday, and it was an interesting issue. Ultimate Nightcrawler finally got the thwacking he deserved, but it didn't feel as good as I was hoping. Part of that's because of some backstory stuff that's best summed up as "He's really messed up" and the other part is that they didn't really deal with his homophobia.

Nightcrawler's desperate need for someone who cares about him despite his appearance is understandable, but he went overboard trying to find that person. He kidnapped someone, basically to make her love him, and tried fighting his friends.

I also might have missed issue #74 since the annual made references to Wolverine killing somebody who was still alive in #73.

The annual did have a couple of nice touches at the end with Rogue starting out feeling some sympathy for Nightcrawler only to point out that she's seen what goes on in his head and that he really is a monster. We also got a really short, slightly confusing backup story that explains why the Professor's cat is named Mystique.