A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Supreme Leader Snoke #1 (Star Wars: Age of Resistance)
Author: Tom Taylor
Format: Epub
Rating: .5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: September 18, 2019
Book Summary: THE DEVIL’S APPRENTICE! SUPREME LEADER SNOKE’S brutal training of KYLO REN begins. Will the sadistic Snoke break his tormented protégé? Or has he underestimated the son of HAN and LEIA?
Book Review: So I decided to give this a read tonight and I all I can say to this book is: "meh."

It did nothing to offer any sort of information of Snoke. All it did was give us Kylo Ren and his training. So this book really had not much to do with Snoke except of his training of Kylo Ren. :/

If you are looking to add this to your collection, don't. It is not worth it. You will not be impressed whatsoever by the characters.

Title: X-Men Red (2018-) #10
Author: Tom Taylor, Paolo Villanelli (Illustrator), Jenny Frison (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.7/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: November 14, 2018
Book Summary: In the aftermath of a showdown between Jean Grey and Cassandra Nova, the rules have changed — and the battle is nowhere near over! It’s all hands on deck as the building wave of hatred against mutants crashes down on the X-Men!
Book Review: Jean has a message for the world and in her message, there seems to be an echo of the sentiments once belonging to that of Magneto.

Yet the image doesn't really belong to that of Jean Grey. In fact, the message is meant to shatter the innocent image of Jean Grey and prove that she is just like the mutant Magneto sharing the same sentiments of mutants having the superior beings.

Unfortunately the real Jean Grey and her ragtag group of X-Men are sequestered below in Atlantis. For a moment there, Jean seems to be willing to take the bait but it is one of her X-Men, Honey Badger, that actually halts her from doing so and the group plans a strategy that will finally bring an end to Cassandra's reign of terror.

With the help Namor and Tony Stark with the Avengers, the group sets their feet upon the shores of Genosha ready to confront Cassandra.

The cameras are rolling and the world is watching and Jean Grey is set to end Cassandra's reign forever.

Although this portion of the series is meant to be a build-up for the climatic end and hopefully future filled with new villains and different direction of storyline. Don't get me wrong it was great seeing Cassandra Nova. It has been quite a long time since I had been in the X-Universe that I had not realized that Professor Xavier had a twin sister. I don't ever remember ever hearing him mention of her but then again I kinda left the X-Universe during the time of the Onslaught storyline so she might have been mentioned or appeared afterward.

I am really hoping that if this is to be the end of this series that the next issue doesn't disappoint.

Title: X-Men Red (2018-) #8
Author: Tom Taylor, Carmen Carnero (Illustrator), Jenny Frison (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: October 6, 2018
Book Summary: In the wake of an unprecedented assault on Atlantis, the X-Men must react and recover...while at the mercy of a world that grows more hostile to mutants every day, and a foe who is determined to keep it that way!
Book Review: This issue picks up where issue seven ended.

The world now knows about Cassandra Nova was behind the assassination of the ambassador and the mutant hatred that is currently broiling around the world because of it. Unfortunately for Jean and her crew, this has angered Cassandra Nova and she sets out on revenge against them and releases a swarm of sentinites that would kill off mutant kind.

Jean and Trinary try and locate the sentinites but Trinary cannot do this without help. So Jean has Gabby, a.k.a. Honey Badger, to be the conduit because her mind can handle the many sentinites due to her mutant ability.

It is then Cassandra connects with Jean interrupting their work on taking down the sentinites. Storm pulls Trinary to save her but Gabby's mind is overwhelmed and she ends up falling unconscious. Laura Kenny steps up to the plate and offers to take Gabby's place as Storm heads out to take down Nova.

And Storm finds her and does what she came to do - interupt the link that Nova has made with Jean so that Jean and her crew can finish up their job.

But this fight is far from over especially with the ending of this issue. It is about to become a family affair.

This series continues to surprise me. The series reads more like those thriller/suspense novels that are really popular. Nova is also proving to be the villain that proves to be pretty much more of a killer than that of the other villains the X-Men have faced in the past (except Dark Phoenix. Dark Phoenix was a huge bitch on an emotional trip that sent her out to kill an entire planet of beings). She seems to have no remorse for any life and as she sets her sights on ruining the X-Men name, she doesn't realize that X-Men have "done this, done that and have gotten the t-shirt for it" from the other villains they have faced.

Title: X-Men Red (2018-) #6
Author: Tom Taylor, Carmen Carnero (Illustrator), Travis Charest (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: August 5, 2018
Book Summary: From deep beneath the ocean, Jean Grey’s X-Men watch as waves of anti-mutant hatred wash over the world! Can the X-Men quell the tide? Or will they be swept away in its wake?
Book Review: Cassandra Nova has come to crash the party and she is going to make sure that she leaves behind a trail of death in her wake.

We learn from Cassandra Nova that while she and Charles Xavier were in their mother's womb, he tried to strangle her with the umbilical cord. That is really our first taste of her reasoning behind her clear hatred for her brother and the team he created.

With Charles not around to torment, Cassandra Nova has set her sights clearly in Jean Grey and she makes her appearance to Jean when Jean uses Searebro for the first time. This gives Jean a glimpse of her enemy as she tries to once more clear her name. The thing is Cassandra is not going to allow it one bit and she has one more ace up her sleeve and it is about to go out with a bang.

Recently we met Nezhno Abidemi, a mutant named Gentle. His history has been quite placed in the background up until now. We learn that his mother was a Wakandan and his father an American. It seems that even though he is with her, she doesn't want him and neither does his step-father. And the feeling seems to be a bit mutual with the latter. Nezhno doesn't like the idea his step-father beats on his mother but his mother simply hits him and tells him to stay out of it.

Jean has broken down the barriers in his mind and his first touches do not hurt him in any way.

This series continues to entice me further and I am loving this series. I have not really touched the other X-Men series (other than the wedding issue of Gambit and Rogue and their new title together). I am glad to see Jean alive and I cannot wait to see how she will handle Cassandra Nova now that she knows she is the one behind it all.

By the way, can we have some Jean and Ororo friendship-love? I have always loved their relationship together. They are friend goals.

Title: X-Men Red (2018-) #5
Author: Tom Taylor, Oscar Bazaldua (Illustrator), Mahmud Asrar (Illustrator), Travis Charest (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.95/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: June 13, 2018
Book Summary: MUTANT HATE IS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH…and Jean Grey is caught right in the middle! CASSANDRA NOVA’s plan is finally revealed….but to devastating consequences. And just because JEAN GREY’s team finally knows what’s going on, doesn’t mean they can actually stop it. Someone close to Jean is about to become Nova’s latest pawn…but who? And why?
Book Review: Ever since the televised head explosion of the British Ambassador believed to have been by the newly-resurrected Jean Grey, hatred of mutants have reached an overall high. Poland has recently enacted a law to apprehend any all mutants within their country.

In a undisclosed hospital, Jean and Trinary are working to remove the Sentite lodged into the head of David Bushell, whom had killed a mutant girl Gambit was protecting. Unfortunately for David, Gambit has come to seek revenge for the girl he has killed. Gambit appears in the hospital room and both Jean and Trinary try to recruit him to their group.

It is at this point Trinary has found the switch and turned off the Sentite in David's head. Also at this time, Nightcrawler appears in the room with David's dad and the two are reunited. For the newly formed red team, there is little time to celebrate as there is another mutant problem they need to attend to.

When they reappear, they find Storm and the others waiting for them. Storm informs the group that there is a set of Polish mutants on the run. Jean replies that they will help them out and the group (along with the Sentinel colored in rainbow) take off.

Upon arrival, they find the mutants cornered near the Baltic Sea. The army is converging on the fleeing mutants. Jean and her team arrive just in time to stop the slaughter from happening. It is at this moment that Namor appears and begins to take the fleeing mutants into his bubble-like ship. Jean, whom has finished showing the soldiers what the fear the mutants were having and this seemed to back them off. All the mutants board the ship leaving the army behind.


This series really has set itself apart from its predecessors. There is a big difference in this group. Although we find Jean in place of what would be Charles. However, unlike Charles, she has pretty much become quite active in the group, seeing that her not only her group is continually protected but also rescuing those whom are being perscuted by their own country. Jean knows that there is someone out there doing this but she has no idea quite whom it is.

I like this series. It is so different and we see Jean and her team growing together. They seem to be insync with each other and this is what every team should be like. I hope this series continues on this path and that it continues to do stronger than that of the other series.

Title: X-Men Red (2018-) #1
Author: Tom Taylor, Mahmud Asrar (Illustrator), Travis Charest (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.9/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: February 8, 2018
Book Summary: THE FIRST SENSATIONAL ARC OF AN ALL-NEW TEAM OF X-MEN STARTS HERE! JEAN GREY is back! Returned to a world she doesn't recognize, the First Lady of the X-MEN gathers an unlikely team — NIGHTCRAWLER, NAMOR and LAURA KINNEY (A.K.A. ALL-NEW WOLVERINE) — to face an evil that threatens to tear down XAVIER's dream by any means necessary!
Book Review: Jean Grey is back!

And she has set up her own team!

In this issue, it begins with a young mutant asleep. She is awakened in the middle of the night by a voice warning her of incoming trouble that is seeking to do her harm.



The young girl manages to flee before the mob gets her but they corner her. The girl named Heather is surprised to see her own Mom being part of the charge. With a gun aimed at her own daughter, the mother calls her an abomination. It is then the young girl is saved by Jean and her Red team.



Jean uses her abilities to protect the girl while Nightcrawler gets her up off the ground to whisk her away.



Once they are safely away, we find that Jean Grey has made a base beneath the sea called Seaboro. Here is where we see the members of her team - Honey Badger, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Namor, Gentle, and Trinary.

Jean's real story begins about two months prior when a group of car jackers throw a young woman out of the car and steal it unaware that there is a baby in the backseat. When the baby begins to cry, it's powers begin to manifest causing the car jackers to stop. It is at this moment Wolverine and Honey Badger arrive on the scene and do what they can to contain the child's crying. Unfortunately the sonic cries cause Wolverine's skin to melt off and send both of them flying.

Jean arrives just in time to catch both girls and calm the child down. She gives the child back to it's mother, telling her that she had talked to McCoy who would be working on a necklace to help damper his abilities until the time came he could go to Xavier Institute. Jean goes on to tell the young mom that there will be a fallout from this but she would monitor and if there was trouble, Wolverine was nearby to offer any help.

And fallout there is especially with the newcaster who seems to be against anyone or anything different from himself even if the child looks like a human. Jean goes to several countries - Turkey, Pakistan, East Timor, Wakanda and Atlantis - with the hopes of reaching out to their representatives for their assisstance. The group is filled with great thinkers - made of artists, scientists, authors, etc. All of them once-in-a-generation minds and she wants to borrow from them by using her psychic abilities to probe their minds with the hope of finding that niche that she could use to build upon.

With their ideas fresh in her mind, Jean goes before the United Nations and tells them: if countries are going to start discussing mutant issues, then mutants should be allowed to sit in and be apart of that discussion. Unfortunately there is one Ambassador that seems to be against this idea citing that if there was to be a vote for such a matter, who was to say the vote would not be tainted by her. Jean returned that even if she was out of the room, she could still reach out with her mind. It is then that the countries of Atlantis and Wakanda recognize the mutant nation.

Of course, this continues outside with the Ambassador of the United Kingdom cool demeanor turns dark and tells Jean that the Phoenix and her ressurection has upset the status quo. Before Jean can make any sense of this, the Ambassador's head explodes in front of her and her team comes to remove Jean just in time as the armed police begin firing on her.



And our villian appears! What exactly does Cassandra Nova, Charles Xavier's twin sister, have to do with all this? Well, we will have to wait and see what this fallout causes and what Cassandra's next move is going to be.


I will admit that I was disappointed with the Resurrection limited run. It felt rushed and in only five issues, there was not a lot covered as one would hope. We didn't know how Jean was thinking or how things had become with the X-reunion. Of course we can see that Jean's resurrection has placed her on a different course of action than that of the other teams. She is determined to try to find a solution than going into battle. Unfortunately Jean is about to meet a villian that is on par with her abilities and this will be a battle that Jean will have to possibly fight.

This issue basically gave us a small taste of what is to come. Jean will have a lot ahead of her and a villian in the shadows doing whatever she can to undermine Jean's determination. Will I continue to read this? Of course, I like the idea of Jean setting herself apart from the other teams. It will be interesting to see how things unravel for Jean and what decisions she will have to make in hopes of keeping her dream of uniting mutants and humans alive.