The X-Axis – 19 August 2026
UNCANNY X-MEN #34. (Annotations here.) This is an odd arc, but then magic ought to be out of the X-Men’s regular wheelhouse (Illyana being the exception that proves the rule). One thing that’s worked quite well for be in Gail Simone’s run, and your mileage may vary here, is that its magical elements haven’t quite made sense, or felt fully explained, but in a way that seems appropriate for them – magic shouldn’t make sense to these characters. And I’m intrigued to see those organic Sentinels from a previous arc showing up again, even though it doesn’t actually make any logical sense for them to do so – they seemed random in that story, so perhaps it’s going to get tied together in this one. They’re the highlight of the art in this issue, too, which makes them nicely creepy. Now, whether I’m particularly invested in Gambit’s whole possession arc… I’m not so sure about that, since it doesn’t really feel to me like it grows organically from the character, even though I quite like the way he remains mostly himself as Wyvern. And I can’t say I’m that interested in Devil-Hunter, who’s a bit one-note from what we’ve seen on the page so far, though you can read between the lines of his back story and wonder how he got back to this point if you want. As for the material back at Haven, Howler himself doesn’t seem like anything terribly new, but the art makes him endearingly pitiful. And I do like Monet’s attempts to put herself forward as a substitute mother figure, particularly when there are such obviously better candidates right there. It plays as her having something to prove to assert her status, and that works for me with her character.
INGLORIOUS X-FORCE #8. (Annotations here.) X-Force finally take down Kali, who is indeed just an extremist streamer in a shed – though the story complicates matters a bit by giving her access to actual super-tech so that there can be a fight scene. That bit’s all rather odd, since it both cuts against the idea that she’s secretly dull and mundane, and it also requires her to know a lot of things that she shouldn’t obviously know about, such as Boom-Boom’s vanishingly brief connection with the Beyonder. Maybe that’s a plot point, maybe not. Even so, I do enjoy this book and its tendency to hurl ideas at the wall or dig up unlikely backwaters of continuity. Nobody’s gone near the Clan Chosen in years, probably because the Askani future timeline isn’t actually all that interesting as a setting for stories, but Cable’s family do seem like they’ve deserved a little more attention. Resonant gets some good moments as the disillusioned MLF member who seems to mean well. And Luca Maresca’s art keeps the energy levels up. It’s nice, really, to have a run of X-Force that isn’t grimdark and just wants to have fun.
Inglorious X-Force #8 annotations
INGLORIOUS X-FORCE #8
“Kali Quest”
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Luca Maresca
Colour artist: Romulo Fajardo Jr
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Editors: Mark Basso & Alanna Smith
COVER: A split image of Cable and the creature possessing him.
X-FORCE:
Cable. The mysterious alien which is possessing him seems to mostly leave him in peace this issue (aside from the one point where it takes him over), but it’s hard to tell how far it’s influencing the rest of his thinking, which isn’t always entirely rational.
Having eliminated his initial three suspects for the future murder of Kamala Khan, he claims that his suspect list literally includes “every mutant”, which is hardly helpful. He expresses some sympathy for Kali’s talk of “freeing mutantkind from an ageing leadership that’s out of touch with the real fight”, but only in the sense that he sees himself as having done this with the original X-Force. He describes Kali as both a possible future murderer of Kamala and an armchair general (though in fairness, he could mean that she has the potential to develop unless she’s nipped in the bud). He believes that his team have set personal issues aside and “evolved” into being loyal to him, and seems oblivious to the continuing tension between Archangel and Hellverine.
Uncanny X-Men #34 annotations
UNCANNY X-MEN vol 6 #34
“Wild Ride, part 2: Repent”
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Luciano Vecchio
Colour artist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: A close-up of a demonically possessed Gambit.
THE X-MEN:
Rogue. She’s hearing voices, or rather a single voice, which she initially tries to dismiss as an illusion. The suggestion seems to be that this is an unborn child, or at least how Rogue imagines her unborn child. It seems pretty miserable. After Gambit tells her about his vision of their son, she implies that she’s going to tell him shortly.
Gambit. He’s kept handcuffed to the wall while he sleeps, but easily breaks the chain when he changes into Wyvern form. He then feels drawn to go outside, where he’s confronted by what seems to be his future child with Rogue. Gabriel helpfully clarifies that this is not a dream scene, but rather an appearance adopted by the demons who are coming to recruit Remy. We’ll come back to them.
Charts – 14 August 2026
Okay, it’s late in the week, let’s see if we can do this one quickly.
1. Sam Fender & Olivia Dean – “Rein Me In”
Twenty-one interminable weeks. It is dropping off now that the publicity from breaking the record has passed, though, so it’s probably only a matter of time before it finally, finally, goes to ACR and gets removed from number 1.
8. Madonna & Kylie Minogue – “Love Sensation”
With a combined age of over 125, this is the single remix of a track from Madonna’s recent album. Unusually, it’s here almost entirely on sales, and two thirds of those are CDs. The midweeks have it vanishing. Still, the track’s not bad at all, and it suits Kylie.
House to Astonish Presents: The Lightning Round Episode 32
New volume, new team, new episode, as Paul and I look at 2005’s New Thunderbolts issues 1-3, and Mach IV assembles a wonky squad of screw-ups to take on one of Marvel’s classic Barons (so what else is new?). There’s also the clunk of victory, the burger van outside TBolts HQ and the hitherto-unsung villainy of Portugal.
The episode is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky, or via email.
The X-Axis – 13 August 2026
X-MEN #35. (Annotations here.) Billed as a prelude to DNX, this is mostly a character-based issue with the Beast and Magik, though it does end by leading into the story proper. The heart of it is to show us the conversation between the Beast and the Chairman that took place after the end of issue #25, which apparently still qualifies as recent. I guess logically it does, since “Danger Room” takes about a day, but it doesn’t feel like it, which is another reason I’m not so wild about the four-parters in this series. But this sort of issue leans into the book’s strengths. The broad idea that the Beast sees the Chairman as his dark side is hardly surprising – it’s the entire concept of having a rebooted version of the Beast in the first place – but it’s elevated by giving Illyana’s perspective on the idea, and by the hints of the Chairman himself having a slightly ambivalent attitude towards his “good” self. I’m not especially interested in the X-virus itself, but I am keen on seeing how this character arc plays out.
X-MEN UNITED #6. (Annotations here.) This seems to be cancelled with issue #10, and it’s now acquired a co-writer. To some extent, that does seem to have punched up its superhero aspects, which feel a bit tighter than they did before. There’s at least an attempt here to draw out an idea that the Shadow King is taking advantage of doubts and mutual distrust, so the X-Men need to beat him by drawing together (though that would have worked better as a justification for setting up the school in the first place, not as something that happens after the fact). It’s still a book with a lot of problems, though. Shuhvahrak is miles out of character from the way she was written in Uncanny X-Men, to the point where I was on my third reading of the book before it even occurred to me that she wasn’t meant to be an obvious illusion. The whole idea of all mutants having versions of their dark sides in the Penumbra is just bizarre, and falls apart if you think about it too hard – it’s there to justify a fight against dark doppelgangers, but makes no sense as an actual feature of the Penumbra. The book still can’t figure out the basic ground rules about whether people travel physically to Graymatter Lane or not. Nobody really feels in character, and the Exceptional X-Men cast have almost all been lost in the shuffle. I liked that book a lot. I’m just looking forward to this one being over with, I’m afraid.
Generation X-23 #7 annotations
GENERATION X-23 #7
“Homecoming”
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Marco Renna
Colour artist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Editors: Mark Basso & Alanna Smith
COVER: Wolverine (Logan) with the regular cast. Surprise! is turning herself into a second Logan. The avian X-66 also appears on the cover, despite the fact that she was separated from the group at the end of issue #5, and doesn’t appear in this issue. This also happened in the previous issue, presumably to avoid spoilers for issue #5 when the covers appeared in the solicitations.
WOLVERINE (Laura):
She says the whole series has only taken a week, and she hasn’t had time yet to figure out a plan for what to do with the Generated. It seems odd that she found time to get costumes made for them, but I guess that’s genre convention for you. Logan sensibly advises her that she needs to start taking the initiative.
Her initial reaction is to refuse to let the Generated return to Facility-23, but she backs down partly because Logan argues that they’ll just go without her, and partly because she decides on reflection that knowing more about where she came from helped her come to terms with her past.
Wolverine #25 annotations
WOLVERINE vol 8 #25
“Eruption”
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artist: Martín Cóccolo
Colour artist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER: Um, well, that’s a symbolic image of Wolverine floating in a pool with skulls in the background and giant syringes in the foreground.
WOLVERINE:
He regains his healing factor immediately on shutting down Mor’s nanotech device. It seems to return him to normal within a matter of minutes, complete with regrowing the bone claws on his right hand. This means that Mor’s nanotech must have kicked in just after the fight with the Adamantine, apparently by sheer coincidence. We’re not directly told what happens to the nanotech in Wolverine’s body, either, even if it’s currently not active – let’s assume that, now that it’s completely inert as opposed to biding its time, his healing factor can eliminate it.
Department H still want to speak to him about the New Morlocks storyline, and he has no interest in co-operating with that.
X-Men United #6 annotations
X-MEN UNITED #6
“Shadow Play, part 2”
Writers: Eve L Ewing & Evan Narcisse
Pencillers: Tiago Palma & Eduardo Pansica
Inkers: Tiago Palma & Oren Junior
Colourist: Brian Reber
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Editor: Annalise Bissa
COVER: A generic image of Beast, Nightcrawler and Axo in action, with Axo’s colour-changing matching the other two. Nothing along these lines happens in the issue.
Curiously, this story is billed as “Shadow Play, part 2”. The previous issue was indeed entitled “Shadow Play”, but it was the second part of a storyline that had begun in the previous issue. Still, if Marvel say it’s part 2, then part 2 it is.
By way of recap, then: In issue #4, Iceman ropes Cyclops, Emma Frost, Rogue, Deathdream and Ben Liu into a team-building exercise that involves an RPG in a fantasy landscape created using Ben’s powers. An outside entity hijacks the scenario and Deathdream gets dragged away into a portal. In issue #5, Deathdream emerges back in Graymatter Lane, and alerts the other students. It turns out that “all of the adults” are also missing. One of the students, Mal Chance, is privately approached by the Shadow King, who is apparently responsible for all this. A psychic attack on the students as a whole is fended off by Sophie Cuckoo.
X-Men #35 annotations
X-MEN vol 7 #35
“A Gift”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Penciller: Tony S Daniel
Inker: Mark Morales
Colourist: Arthur Hesli
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: Mirrored images of the Beast with the X-Men, and the Chairman with 3K. Aside from Magneto/Joseph, the other individual members don’t match up one for one in the two group shots.
THE X-MEN:
Beast. At the end of issue #25, the Beast figured out that 3K’s Chairman was the original Beast, and made contact with him (with Animalia present). For anyone really coming to this new, the original Beast became a villain during the Krakoan era. The Beast currently with the X-Men is a clone who was restored from a back-up made long before that happened.
We didn’t get to see the conversation at the time. It turns out that Beast has only shared the information about the Chairman’s identity with Animalia and Cyclops. Scott permitted him to keep it to himself for the moment given the emotional sensitivity, but made clear that this could only be a breathing space. Animalia has evidently honoured this as well.
