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Mar 27

Rise of the Powers of X #3 annotations

Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 by Paul in Annotations

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

RISE OF THE POWERS OF X #3
“The Ex Life of Moira”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: R.B. Silva
Colour artist: David Curiel
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Moira, on a bench, is approached by someone holding a gun. This is Moira as she appeared in the opening scene of Powers of X #1, where she approaches Charles Xavier and tells him about her earlier lives. The gun is presumably intended to be the same one that Professor X is holding when he approaches a much younger Moira in the issue itself.

PAGE 2. Young Moira leaves the house expecting her powers to emerge.

As established in House of X #2, Moira is reborn with the full memories of her previous lives but has to go through the motions of being a child in her first few years. This is the day when her powers are expected to emerge; until then, she can die permanently. We saw a version of this same scene at the start of issue #2, from Enigma’s perspective. In this version, from Moira’s perspective, her mother Lady Kinross is more clearly visible. Enigma’s version also has a panel of her looking rather downbeat before she leaves the house; here she seems more enthusiastic.

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Mar 24

Daredevil Villains #18: The Jester

Posted on Sunday, March 24, 2024 by Paul in Daredevil

DAREDEVIL #42 (July 1968)
“Nobody Laughs at the Jester!”
Writer, editor: Stan Lee
Penciller: Gene Colan
Inker: Dan Adkins
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Colourist: not known

It’s been a while since Daredevil introduced a new villain with a proper concept and some real fanfare, but the Jester certainly gets that treatment. He’s not just on the cover and in the title of the story. He gets the whole opening scene to establish his schtick. Then, after a brief check in with Matt and co (who are mourning the “death” of Mike Murdock last issue), we’re back to the Jester so that he can tell us again how great he is, and explain his back story. Of the first ten pages of issue #42, seven are pure Jester. Today he may be a D-lister, but in his debut he’s a major new villain.

The Jester is a man in a jester costume who robs a bank vault with sleep pellets and some gimmicked toys. Then he makes his getaway by flagging down a passing car, which he steals by knocking out the driver with a yo-yo. But as the Jester drives home, he wishes had had an audience to applaud him. It’s the one thing he regrets about turning to crime.

Even so, the Jester is delighted with his achievements. “With my superb skills, my titanic talents, I’ll reach the most dizzying heights of all! Never has a dedicated arch-criminal been endowed with the background, the training, the natural genius that I myself possess! Here, among my innocent-looking, specially-modified toys, I am ready to launch a crime campaign the like of which the world has never known!”

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Mar 22

The X-Axis – 18 March 2024

Posted on Friday, March 22, 2024 by Paul in x-axis

X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #131. By Steve Foxe, Steve Orlando, Phillip Sevy, Yen Nitro & Travis Lanham. I think we’re far enough into this arc now to be pretty confident that it’s not going to miraculously come together into something coherent. Which isn’t to say that it’s outright nonsensical or anything, but it’s weirdly diffuse and unfocussed, meandering from character to character and  relying on a rather dull plot about Selene and the Externals to hold it all together. This issue, X-Corp decide that it might be a good idea to send a Madrox dupe into Selene’s clutches to die, and use nanotech to spy on her. Which… I mean, I just don’t buy that any of the Madrox dupes are fine with that just because they’re dupes, rather than because they’re heroic. Which is certainly how this story seems to be playing it.

X-MEN: FOREVER #1. (Annotations here.) Apparently this started life as Immortal X-Men #19, which would have been out a couple of months ago, before getting reworked into a miniseries for scheduling reasons. It’s a curious choice on Marvel’s part, but on the whole I think it works out reasonably well. The jump forward in time to Rise of the Powers of X #1 allows for a few surprises and reveals to be set up, and then this book gets to go back and fill in the connective tissue, so you get the best of both worlds. That said, it doesn’t feel at all like the first issue of a miniseries, not least because it doesn’t really set up any story that’s independent of Rise of the Powers of X; as a tie-in issue of Immortal X-Men, it would have made much more sense. Still, Marvel do love their #1s. The best parts of this naturally relate to the expansion of earlier Immortal plots, and it works very nicely as a part of that larger jigsaw. As an issue #1, it’s a little weird.

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Mar 21

X-Men: Forever #1 annotations

Posted on Thursday, March 21, 2024 by Paul in Annotations

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

X-MEN: FOREVER #1
“A Ghost”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Luca Maresca
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller, Jay Bowen & Kat Gregorowicz
Editor: Jordan D White

X-MEN: FOREVER. There have been two previous series called X-Men Forever (plus a sequel X-Men Forever 2), neither of which have anything to do with this book. The official solicitations and the trailer page give the title for this book as X-Men: Forever, with a colon. The cover says X-Men Forever. The credits page has it both ways. I’ll go with the solicitations.

COVER / PAGE 1. An unconscious Jean Grey lying in a Phoenix-shaped pool of blood in what appears to be a snowbound forest. This doesn’t happen in the issue, though we do see Jean lying in a circle of blood on page 12.

PAGE 2. Flashback: Irene and Raven attend a concert.

This is the first performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, which took place at St James’ Hall on 19 June 1899. Irene and Nathaniel Essex both mentioned having been at this performance in the flashback that opens Immortal X-Men #1. We were told there that Irene had had a fit at the opening of the Nimrod variation; Sinister remembered someone having a fit but didn’t know Irene at the time. More of that scene shortly.

The establishing shot in panel 1 is pretty much a copy of a drawing of the Hall in 1858, artist unknown. (It happens to be the picture that illustrates the Hall’s Wikipedia entry but hell, it’s out of copyright.)

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Mar 20

Resurrection of Magneto #3 annotations

Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 by Paul in Annotations

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO #3
“Falls the Shadow”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Luciano Vecchio
Colour artists: David Curiel & Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. The Shadow King grips Magneto.

PAGES 2-4. Annihilation confronts Storm.

Issue #2 ended with Storm and Magneto arriving together in a black space and being confronted by what was strongly implied to be the Shadow King; that’s confirmed in this scene. Somehow, since the last issue Storm has been separated from Magneto and is now being confronted by Annihilation instead of the Shadow King. We’ll see later on that Storm can apparently unite with Magneto again through an effort of will, so either this is an illusion, or at least it’s the sort of magical weirdness that Storm is in a position to override once she understands it.

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Mar 16

The X-Axis – w/c 11 March 2024

Posted on Saturday, March 16, 2024 by Paul in x-axis

X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #130. By Steve Foxe, Steve Orlando, Phillip Sevy, Yen Nitro & Travis Lanham. In which Gambit and Feint go to New Orleans to see if Candra knows what Selene is up to with the Externals. On the one hand, this does actually do something useful: it follows up on Feint becoming a proper X-Man, of sorts, in Dark X-Men, and on Gambit taking her with him at the end of the issue. Basically Candra explains that Selene is planning to sacrifice a bunch of mutants so that she and her allies can become invulnerable as well as immortal. Well, at least we’re advancing the plot, but bringing in yet more characters to do so only compounds this arc’s lack of focus, and the book still has the basic problem that – with the exception of a couple of characters created independently and retconned into the group – the Externals simply aren’t interesting. If you’re going to bring back a concept that’s been largely ignored or used simply as a plot device for a quarter century, you need a compelling case about what it is that everyone else has missed, and this arc doesn’t have one.

FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X #3. (Annotations here.) Well. I mean, I’ve read worse. But it’s not good, and as an anchor series paying off a whole era of the X-Men it’s really not good. I’m inclined to give the creators the benefit of the doubt that some sort of backstage chaos has been going on, given oddities like entire trailed storylines going missing, cliffhangers not connecting with the next issue and such like. Or Alia Gregor turning out to be important to the plot of this series when basically nobody has done anything with her in a year or more, even though X-Men‘s “Fall of X” issues seem to have been marking time with Latverian filler. Or… you get the idea.

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Mar 15

Wolverine #45 annotations

Posted on Friday, March 15, 2024 by Paul in Annotations

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

WOLVERINE vol 7 #45
“Sabretooth War, part 5: X Marks the Spot”
Writers: Victor LaValle & Benjamin Percy
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Colour artist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Well, that’s a big X with Wolverine and Sabretooth at the sides, a Stark Sentinel at the top, and the three main alt-Sabretooths at the bottom – although “Cap” Sabretooth died last issue.

PAGES 2-4. Sabretooth returns to Krakoa.

The Stark Sentinels have been guarding Krakoa (to little effect) ever since the Hellfire Gala.

As Sabretooth points out, he was banished to the Pit right at the start of the Krakoan era (in House of X #6), so he never really knew the place.

Sabretooth has an Orchis ship because his Station Five base was stolen from Orchis in the Sabretooth & The Exiles miniseries.

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Mar 14

Dead X-Men #3 annotations

Posted on Thursday, March 14, 2024 by Paul in x-axis

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

DEAD X-MEN #3
“An Echo, a Stain”
Writer: Steve Foxe
Artists: Lynne Yoshii, Bernard Chang, Javier Pina & David Baldéon
Colour artist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. The X-Men confront an alternate Psylocke.

PAGES 2-3. The X-Men arrive in Moira’s 9th life.

The previous issue ended with the X-Men in Moira’s seventh life, where they learned that the cyborg Moira from issue #1 was visiting Moira’s earlier lives, and decided that they had to pursue her through those timelines in order to stop her from causing damage to the timeline. They’ve apparently come directly from that timeline, but although they tell us that Rachel sent them here, it’s not altogether clear why, since they spend much of the rest of the issue trying to persuade Rachel to keep sending them back through Moira’s past lives. Presumably Rachel just assumes that they’re still just randomly visiting past timelines to see if anything interesting turns up, which is pretty much how Prodigy pitched matters to her last issue.

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Mar 13

Fall of the House of X #3 annotations

Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 by Paul in x-axis

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X #3
“The X Deaths of Dr Stasis”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artists: Lucas Werneck & Jethro Morales
Colourist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Wolverine pins down a terrified Dr Stasis. Wolverine doesn’t actually appear in this issue.

PAGES 2-4. Orchis attack the Juggernaut.

Last issue, the Juggernaut rescued Krakoa from Orchis. God knows how he ended up in the middle of a desert.

“It’s said that ‘nothing’ can stop the Juggernaut, but that’s not true.” Even at full power, the Juggernaut was in practice stopped on a fairly regular basis, but following his most recent re-powering (in Juggernaut vol 3 #4) he seems to be just very big and strong, as opposed to literally unstoppable. In X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023, he did survive what seemed to be a devastatingly lethal attack.

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Mar 10

Daredevil Villains #17: The Exterminator

Posted on Sunday, March 10, 2024 by Paul in Daredevil

We’ve jumped forward quite a few issues again, thanks to a string of issues featuring guest villains from the wider Marvel Universe. Issues #30-32 feature the Cobra and Mr Hyde, explicitly on loan from Thor. Issues #33-34 are a Beetle story – he does come back for two more stories in the #100s, but I don’t think anyone regards him as a Daredevil villain. Issue #35-36 are the Trapster. Issues #37-38 are Dr Doom, and lead into a crossover with Fantastic Four.

DAREDEVIL #39-41 (April to June 1968)
“The Exterminator and the Super-Powered Unholy Three” / “The Fallen Hero” / “The Death of Mike Murdock!”
Writer, editor: Stan Lee
Penciller: Gene Colan
Inkers: George Tuska (#39), John Tartaglione (#40-41)
Letterers: Artie Simek (#39), Sam Rosen (#40-41)
Colourist: not credited

It’s been the best part of a year since Daredevil last debuted a new villain. But while the Exterminator is notionally the main villain of this arc, a lot of the emphasis is on his henchmen. Ape-Man, Bird-Man and Cat-Man debuted as the Organizer’s thugs back in issue #10, as part of the Wally Wood arc that Stan Lee hated so much. Now, they’re featured prominently as the returning villains. They’re billed as the Unholy Three, with their fourth member Frog-Man having fallen by the wayside for some reason – perhaps because of his similarity to Leap-Frog. Daredevil notes Frog-Man’s absence, assumes that he must still be in jail, and never mentions him again.

During the issues we skipped, Stan also brought back the other member of the Organization, Foggy’s ex-girlfriend Debbie Harris. Why? Because even Stan was bored with the book’s romantic triangle, and the simplest solution was to partner Foggy up with someone else. Not only does that get Matt and Karen out of their holding pattern, it frees up Foggy from being a blocking character and a comedy figure, and lets him start shifting back into his original role as Matt’s best friend. By the time we reach this issue Debbie is a full fledged member of the supporting cast, and Foggy is worried that their relationship will damage his chances of being elected as District Attorney. She’s a convicted criminal, after all. Nonsense, says Matt – New Yorkers are very understanding about such things. They love reformed criminals and the open-minded politicians who date them!

Once Debbie Harris was back in circulation, it made sense to bring back her former stablemates. In Wally Wood’s story, the Unholy Three were press ganged into working for the Organizer. They were halfway between actual super villains, and hired thugs who were pretending to be supervillains as part of the Organizer’s plan. All that has fallen by the wayside – they’re now just an animal-themed henchman squad. But Stan does keep the idea that a mastermind keeps track of them via their clunky headsets and chest-mounted video cameras. This time round, that villain is the Exterminator.

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