REVIEW: X-Men: Manifest Destiny Trade

Writers: Jason Aaron, James Asmos, Mike Carey, Frank Tieri
Artists: Stephen Segovia, Paco Diaz Luque, Noah Salonga, Jorge Molina, Adrian Syaf, Victor Olazaba, John Rauch, Michael Ryan, Chris Burnham, Nathan Fairbairn, Takeshi Miyazawa, Christina Strain, Ben Oliver
Review: Art Bee

A couple of years ago at Kokomo Con, an amazing deal resulted in this trade following me home. Since then my eyes have been blessed with its contents a few times. The price point along with X-Men plastered across the cover made the book too tempting . Even though I truly enjoy this book, I have a few qualms.

This volume collects ten issues and three shorts all branded with the title “Manifest Destiny”, which is defined as a policy of imperialism rationalized as inevitable. The title really does not make sense given the content included in this collection. The Manifest Destiny story arc is just entailing the move of the X-Men headquarters from Westchester, New York to San Francisco, California. The title is a bad choice for the story, since it implies the X-Men taking over the nation moving westward.

The book opens with Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1-4. This mini-series is very exciting and full of action. Does anyone out there not like Wolverine tearing through ranks of enemies?
Anyone . . . I thought not.        

This story recaps Wolverine’s first journey into Chinatown as it portrays his second coming. It is a great story and has plenty to offer every Wolverine fan. One of my very favorite features of this series is some of the wise cracks made throughout it. Let me provide my favorite exchange:

Wolverine: “Sure, I’ve always taken my licks, Master Po, but I’ve also dealt out my share of punishment along the way. Some might even say I’m the best at what I do.”
Master Po: “And what might that be exactly? Getting punched in the face? Having your skin burned off? Bleeding all over creation? You do seem very good at all of those.”

Wolverine has to contend with the fallout of his mistakes from fifty years prior by having to battle his ex-girlfriend, Lin, the Black Dragon, and her minions, the Black Dragon Death Squad. It is one of the best battles in which I have seen Wolverine involved.

The other big chunk of the trade is X-Men: Manifest Destiny #1-5 (“Kill or Cure”). This miniseries focuses on Iceman’s journey to the new headquarters. He has been spending time with Opal Tanaka, who turns out to be Mystique. She attacks Iceman but has a hidden agenda. When doesn’t she have a hidden agenda?  This part of the trade isn’t very exciting, but it has enough to hold your interest. Even though the ending leaves you hanging, this is the bad kind. It is just a bad ending.

Nightcrawler: Manifest Destiny #1 is a solo issue. This is a pretty good story which really has nothing to do with the X-Men’s move across the country. At this point Nightcrawler is struggling with his choice to leave the group over his feelings of uselessness. We all know that the Blue Crawler is anything but useless. I have read better Nightcrawler content, but it is worth a look if you have not seen it before.

The rest of the content is fairly unexciting. Overall this was a good find, and I really enjoy it. Let’s face it; when it comes to X-Men, I have a bit of a soft spot. The artwork throughout the book was decent but not exciting. What can I say? Its cover shows a price of $29.99, and I picked it up for $10. For me it was a win/win. Besides, it needed a good home. Wouldn’t you have picked it up?