X-Men: Manifest Destiny

X-Men: Manifest Destiny #1-5

by Mike Carey, Jason Aaron, Frank Tieri

When you move, you have to take your baggage with you. Joining the rest of the X-Men, Wolverine makes the trek to their new home in San Francisco, California. For much of his life, Logan's past has been a mystery, but now, after regaining his memories, Wolverine has more baggage than he can carry. Upon arriving, Logan goes to the center of San Francisco's legendary Chinatown to resolve a mysterious incident from his past. Although his last visit to the neighborhood was a full 50 years ago, Wolverine isn't the only one who remembers. As another piece of his violent past is unearthed, the mutant finds himself facing off against the deadly Black Dragon Death Squad. Collects Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1-4, X-Men Manifest Destiny: Nightcrawler #1, X-Men: Manifest Destiny #1-5 (Iceman, Nightcrawler, Boom-Boom, Avalanche)

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, X Men, Marvel, Fiction, Comic Book, Superheroes

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Mike Carey was born in Liverpool in 1959. He worked as a teacher for fifteen years, before starting to write comics. When he started to receive regular commissions from DC Comics, he gave up the day job.

Since then, he has worked for both DC and Marvel Comics, writing storylines for some of the world's most iconic characters, including X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR, LUCIFER and HELLBLAZER. His original screenplay FROST FLOWERS is currently being filmed. Mike has also adapted Neil Gaiman's acclaimed NEVERWHERE into comics.

Somehow, Mike finds time amongst all of this to live with his wife and children in North London. You can read his blog at www.mikecarey.net.

Reviews

[James Asmus · Rating 4 out of 5]

HEY LOOK! I wrote about 1/3 of this!!!

[Cristhian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jason Aaron en estos días es uno de los mejores escritores que hay...

...pero en el tiempo de Manifest Destiny escribió uno de los peores arcos en un buen tiempo. Completamente olvidable, estoy seguro que hasta Jason así lo quisiera.

Lo único rescatable es el regreso de Iceman.

1.5/5

[William Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have issue with Jason Aaron. And that is because he seems to have forgotten the cardinal rule of writing Wolverine- always remember that he's the best he is at what he does. He kicks ass like no other person in the Marvel universe. He has fought the Hulk for Christ's sake. He killed the Gorgon. But for some reason in this book, he forgets how to fight. He seems more like a rabid squirel than the Wolverine. And it seems like Aaron has completely forgotten that he's the best there is at what he does in an effort to create a predictable story that would be better suited to an 80's movie than a comic book, complete with a training montage and flashbacks.

I'm also concerned about Aaron's obsession with keeping Wolverine wading through his murky past. I understand there are a multitude of stories you can dig up and out of his 150+ years on this Earth, but to me it's like sci-fi time travel stories in that it just comes off lazy.

The two stars are for the Wolverine story because it was entertaining, and everything else in this book was bad from the pencils to the scripting.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of 2017-18...

It's always hard to review an anthology because the quality is often all over the map.

The Wolverine story was decently written if more than a bit cliché.
I enjoyed the Nightcrawler tale.
I surprisingly liked the Iceman/Mystique story even though I think they may be the second worst couple in the X-men's history (Husk/Angel being the worst by a creepy margin.) That said, this should have been given more time and space, I think, to be such an important character piece.
I *hated* the Boom-Boom story and it makes the book lose a star or two. I was excited to see Tabitha again, but I feel like the writer overdid her personality. And the art? So bad. And how many upskirt shots do you need in a five page story? Ugh. If the aren't wasn't so awful, I imagine it would have redeemed it a little.
Nightcrawler training was a sweet little tale though a bit too mopey for my tastes.
Nick's was pretty bad. It could have been a decent story based on the plot alone but it just never comes together. (Just saw that it was by my least-liked X-scribe Tieri. Guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Though it is better than a lot of his earlier work...)

[Cal Sab · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I haven't read a lot of X-Men comics, but this one kinda sucked. The writing was subpar at best, the art in the first half of the book is really sketchy, anatomically incorrect to an egregious degree, and story points are introduced out of left field. The only comic I liked out of all of them was Work It Out drawn by Miyazawa at the very end, which focused on Nightcrawler. The art actually looks like the artist gave a crap about it and, even if you don't know anything about Nightcrawler, it's evident what's going on. Before people think "well, comic artists have to work fast, they can't make masterpieces of everything they draw," I'm a comic book artist. I know what's acceptable for art, what's not, and all that jazz. I'm honestly surprised some of these got past an editor with the anatomy and dialogue mistakes.
Overall, just skip this one. Trust me, you're not missing much.

[Sofía · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You've done nasty things? Look around. We all have, even Cyke. There's blood on all our hands, there's dark in all our souls. That's the price we pay, doin' what we do. The evil we deal with, it gets inside us all".

Lo único bueno de estos comics son Emma, Coloso y obvio, mis niños Cessily, Laura y Santo. Extraño tanto a mis New Mutants. Vendo mi alma para que Coloso esté bien pero sin Kitty es imposible Logan, aceptalo y vayan a buscarla por dios.
Ya denle el papel de Dazzler a Taylor Swift.

[Katya Starling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork ranges from barely okay to pretty fantastic, but most of the storylines contained herein could have been better. Logan's has been done to death, and I'm tired of this same, old story with Kurt -- plus, in that one in particular, the artwork certainly did NOT help. The best tale of all, hands down, was Bobby's at the end, but then I've always been a sucker for the rarely seen softer side of Mystique.

[Terry Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two major X-Men events in close succession, and both were little more short story collections. And while I enjoyed the last set for its charm and its self-contained tales, this one shares none of the fun. The stories are neither revelatory for the characters they focus on, nor do they move the story forward significantly.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 4-part Wolverine story: a fun but mostly forgettable jaunt with cool art.

The 1-issue Nightcrawler story: not very good at all.

The 5-part Iceman & Mystique story: by far the highlight. Mike Carey killed it here.

The Filler Stories at the end: I read them 10 minutes ago and have already forgotten them.

[James Kearney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uncanny X-Men: Manifest Destiny: Various Authors

This graphic novel is a compilations of stories that center around Emma Frost, Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Beast, and Colossus. It was a fun multi story book of fun stories revolving around X-Men adventures. If you like X-Men give it a try!

⭐️⭐️⭐️—Recommend

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good side stories of the X-Men. I especially liked the Nightcrawler ones.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre collection of solo X-Men stories with a mix of really good to really bad art and writing.

[Pete Lacrosse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great art for the Wolvie story

[Reanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many depressing, angsty stories. When did Nightcrawler (my fave superhero) get so depressing? Lame. Only the first story, with Wolverine, really seemed like it worked as a standalone story. The others all relied too heavily on backstory which I wasn't familiar with because I don't follow every single thing Marvel produces and prefer to read more complete storylines. And the Wolverine story was kinda lame because since when does Wolvie get so thoroughly beat up and nearly killed by a pack of nameless thugs?

Also, the vast majority of the characters who appear on the front and back cover are nowhere to be found within the book. Which is pretty much false advertising.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolverine: Manifest Destiny" offers a nice setup for Wolverine in SF and has a good conclusion, but is pretty slow getting there [6/10]. The Asmus Nightcrawler story has a nice premise but beyond that is entirely "meh" [5/10]. Mike Carey's "Kill or Cure" is the only reason for non-Wolverine fans to get this book. It's well-written and gives interesting portraits of Bobby and Mystique, but is too decompressed, primarily due to its serialized nature [6/10]. "Boom-Boom" and "Work It Out", more stories by Asmus, are both one note bits that are mainly pointless [4/10]. The Frank Tieri story of Avalanche that finishes things off is good with good art [7/10]. Not enough to save the book, though, which is totally pedestrian and unmemorable unless you're a Wolverine fan.

[Adam Stone · Rating 1 out of 5]

An anthology series focusing on Wolverine in Chinatown, Nightcrawler visiting a Nightcrawler museum and meeting up with his father, and Iceman and Mystique dealing with their...sigh...relationship from Carey's run. The stories aren't super interesting. They aren't united by anything other than they all seem to take place around the X-Men's move to San Francisco.

But the book can basically be summed up as Wolverine takes over Chinatown, and then you'll never hear more about that story. And Nightcrawler quits the X-Men for about a minute and a half before Nightcrawler rejoins the X-Men. Also, Iceman is kinda dumb. There, I saved you having to read it.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of a couple of miniseries and one shots involving the Manifest Destiny storyline. The main story by Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia was a very clichéd but fun Wolverine kung fu story that seems better placed in his own book as opposed to this mini. The art by Segovia was spot on for Wolvy and I really enjoyed it. The Nightcrawler tale was pointless and the Iceman/Mystique tale did little but had good art from Michael Ryan. The rest of the book was filler material that was pointless. Overall, just an average collection.

[David Edmonds · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of non-related stories that deal with the X-Men moving to San Francisco, and how some of them are adjusting to the move. I don't think there is anything in this volume that would be missed if it was to be skipped if you are reading through the current story lines. Not a necessary volume at all, in my eyes. This may sound harsh, but the best part for me about this volume is the Michael Turner cover.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories in this collection were OK. Not sure why Wolverine needs to be trained in how to fight again, but the story in the Wolverine section was OK. The Nightcrawler stuff was also OK. I like how they have been trying to give Iceman an actual personality, not usre if they continue to do this in more recent X-Men issues, but it's a good start.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe more like a 3.5--I really liked it--but the main story, about Wolverine in Chinatown, is certainly solid, but nothing really unique or new. The other stories, though, really shine, because they're mostly character pieces. We get extended pieces on Nightcrawler and Iceman/Mystique, as well as some shorter ones, including a hilarious one about Boom Boom / Boomer. Pretty good.

[Ross Kitson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good enough bridge between larger event graphic novels, there were some decent pieces in this. Wolverine one was OK, but really enjoyed the Nightcrawler and Iceman ones. Onto the other Manifest Destiny one now.

[Quinton Baran · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of one-shot type stories, with a Wolverine story being the primary material, and two Nightcrawler stories being the second largest additions. The Wolverine is a cool kung-fu type story set in China town of San Francisco.

[BCPL Youth Services Librarian]

link to book in BCPL's catalog

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. I of course liked Wolverine's story the best.

[Frank Taranto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three good stories. I liked the Wolverine in Chinatown sectio. Nightcrawler going home was interesting, though I felt sorry for the kid he tried to help. Iceman and Mystique was OK

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very, very good.
Just what I want from an X-Men book.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story. Meh ending.

[Holden Attradies · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care much for any of the stuff in here except the Nightcrawler story. Just... not my thing I guess.