The X-Axis – w/c 6 May 2024
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #138. By Steve Foxe, Steve Orlando, Phillip Sevy, Yen Nitro & Travis Lanham. Part 18 of the story that will not end. In this issue there is a fight scene, and then next issue we are promised a fight scene. Foxe and Orlando have both done good work during the Krakoan era, but this is just pointless.
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2024: BLOOD HUNT / X-MEN #1. (Annotations here.) This was released for Free Comic Book Day last Saturday, but like all Marvel’s FCBD issues, it was added to Unlimited on Wednesday. Gail Simone and David Marquez take on the unenviable remit of trailing their upcoming Uncanny X-Men run without giving away too much about how the Krakoan era ends – and doing so in a story which is also meant to be suitable for new readers brought in by FCBD, not just an exercise in hint-dropping for the regulars. In ten pages. What that means in practice is a fairly standard “hero saves a mutant civilian from some bullies” story of the sort that wouldn’t have been out of place in the 1980s and a few pages of subplot to introduce Uncanny‘s new villains.
With all that in mind, it’s perfectly fine, but it’s not immediately gripping. It does have a vibe of “Fall of X, but less so”. Granted, Fall of X would have been vastly improved by being Fall of X, but less so. Still, the new villains are a bit too close to Orchis to be immediately engaging – maybe that’ll change when we learn more about them. And perhaps the execution of “Fall of X” has created an intractable problem that the new books are just going to have to meet head on: In theory, we’re coming off months of horrific human rights abuses and the defeat of Orchis ought to be an upswing for the books. But because “Fall of X” was done in such a way as to hold out the possibility of Krakoa’s return, when that doesn’t happen, the ending becomes a down beat instead. So we’re back repeating the same loss of Krakoa that we already did six months ago. That’s a problem, but it’s not the fault of anything that this story is doing.
Free Comic Book Day 2024: Blood Hunt / X-Men #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers and page numbers go by the digital edition.
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2024: BLOOD HUNT / X-MEN #1
“The Fire Still Burns”
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: David Marquez
Colour artist: Edgar Delgado
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Welcome to the post-Krakoan era. This issue has a 10-page X-Men story, which is the first output of the new editorial office, and a prologue to Gail Simone and David Marquez’s Uncanny X-Men run. The other half of the issue is a prologue to the Blood Hunt crossover, but that’s beyond our remit here.
I haven’t decided yet how we’re going to do this post-Krakoa. The original idea of doing annotations was tied to the fact that the line was heavily interlinked, and it looks like the post-Krakoa line will be dialling that back. And not all books necessarily lend themselves to the annotation approach anyway – I probably wouldn’t be doing it with Wolverine if we hadn’t already come this far. Right now, I’m planning to do something along the lines of the annotations posts for the three core X-Men titles, and at least the first issues of the other ongoings, and then decide what seems to make sense.
Aside from that, the scene-breakdown format isn’t always the best way of talking about story points, so I’m thinking of tweaking that. Let’s test a different approach…
Wolverine #49 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
WOLVERINE vol 7 #49
“Berserker”
Writers: Victor LaValle & Benjamin Percy
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Colour artist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER / PAGE 1. Wolverine leaping into battle in his adamantium armour.
PAGE 2. Flashback: Sabretooth is caught by Cypher’s seed.
This is a recap of issue #47. We saw Sabretooth emerging from the seed cocoon on page 23 of issue #48, so this issue is going back to fill in what happened in the meantime.
PAGE 3. Recap and credits.
PAGES 4-5. Sabretooth meets therapist Cypher.
This is a callback to scenes from the first Sabretooth miniseries, where Cypher similarly inserted himself into Sabretooth’s experiences in the Pit, in an attempt to reason with him. (This Cypher is also accompanied by a Warlock, taking the form of his pad.) This isn’t the real Cypher, but a persona programmed into the seed by Cypher before he gave it to Nekra in Sabretooth #5. He does, however, claim that the Cypher we saw in Sabretooth was the real one.
X-Men: Forever #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN: FOREVER #3
“Unhappy in Their Own Way”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Luca Marseca
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller, Jay Bowen & Kat Gregorowicz
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1. Destiny and Mystique fight, while Nightcrawler tries to intervene.
PAGES 2-3. Krakoa releases Cypher.
Cypher was spirited away by Krakoa in Immortal X-Men #13 and hasn’t been seen since. The only reason Krakoa gives in that issue is “I must protect him.” (Hope is able to understand that by copying Cypher’s powers, but then she loses contact with him, so she can’t ask Krakoa to elaborate.) Obviously, Krakoa anticipated the fall of Krakoa; they explain here that they could “sense the changing of the seasons”, though whether that’s a vague precognitive power or something else isn’t clear. It’s also a pun on “fall”, of course. Cypher has apparently slept peacefully through the whole “Fall of X” phase. It’s ambiguous whether he’s been within Krakoa itself or concealed somewhere on the island where Professor X couldn’t locae him.
“They tell me about the gala…” X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023.
Daredevil Villains #22: Stunt-Master
DAREDEVIL #58 (November 1969)
“Spin-Out on Fifth Avenue!”
Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Gene Colan
Inker: Syd Shores
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Colourist: not credited
Editor: Stan Lee
Roy Thomas created a lot of new villains for Daredevil. Very few of them had any lasting impact. Stunt-Master is as close as we get to an exception.
Not because he stuck around in Daredevil, mind you. We’ll see him again in issues #64 and #67, after which he vanishes. But in 1974, he was dusted off to join the supporting cast of Ghost Rider, and he stuck around in that book for a couple of years. By the standards of the new villains created in Roy Thomas’ Daredevil run, this qualifies as a resounding success.
But that’s a little unfair. Roy Thomas’ strongest ideas, and his top priorities, were more about the book’s existing cast. He could see perfectly well that Matt and Karen’s relationship needed to advance somehow. So the previous story ended with Matt unmasking to Karen, allowing the book to move on to a new status quo. In this phase, Foggy is the DA, Matt is the assistant DA. Karen loves Matt, but she wants him to retire as Daredevil. Matt says he will. Soon. Really. Honest. Karen gets increasingly frustrated and alarmed until the penny drops that he’s never going to do it.
The X-Axis – w/c 29 April 2024
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #137. By Steve Foxe, Steve Orlando, Nick Roche, Yen Nitro & Travis Lanham. When a story as slight as this makes it to part 17 and counting…
X-MEN #34. (Annotations here.) One of the problems with Marvel’s approach to crossover events is that they take a storyline from an ongoing title, but spin off a miniseries to carry the core plot for the event, which leaves the original title to hang around doing stuff on the margins of its own plot. That’s pretty much what we have in this issue of X-Men, which feels very much like the bonus material to fill time while the plot takes place in Fall of the House of X. Specifically, that means a further fight with MODOK, who already fled Orchis in defeat in Fall #2. Still… fair enough, he might as well be brought down for a bit more finality.
X-Men #34 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 6 #34
“Love-Hate”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Joshua Cassara
Colour artist: Romulo Fajardo Jr
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1. Assorted cast members in front of Krakoa. On the left, Cypher is in the branches, and below him we have Firestar, Forge, Synch, Talon, Magneto, Wolverine and Shadowkat. On the right are Sunfire, Polaris, Magik, Emma Frost, Apocalypse, and a reunited Scott and Jean.
PAGE 2. Paul Neary obituary.
PAGE 3. A montage of Professor X.
Panel 1 shows him with the original X-Men in the very early Silver Age. At least, Iceman’s appearance suggests the very early Silver Age; Scott and Jean are holding hands, but they didn’t become a couple until long after the X-Men dumped the black and yellow uniforms.
The X-Axis – w/c 22 April 2024
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #136. By Steve Foxe, Steve Orlando, Phillip Sevy, Yen Nitro & Travis Lanham. I’m sorry, but this is part sixteen and I lost the will to live long ago. Go see previous instalments if you want a fuller explanation of why, because nothing is changing.
RISE OF THE POWERS OF X #4 (annotations here) and X-MEN: FOREVER #2 (annotations here). Over at the main event, the heavily intertwined Rise of the Powers of X #4 and X-Men Forever #2, both written by Kieron Gillen, come out at the same time. I know Marvel like a number #1, but it would probably have made more sense just to bill X-Men Forever as the last four issues of Immortal X-Men, in terms of cueing readers on what to expect from it.
Unavoidably, they cover a lot of the same plot ground. But for the most part Kieron Gillen manages to avoid it feeling repetitive by shifting the emphasis between the two books, or just by letting one book carry a fuller explanation of something that the other one can afford to skip over. Principally, though, Rise is the Professor X story, as Xavier seems to be burning all his bridges in an effort to occupy Orchis and thwart Enigma in what he apparently conceives to be the Krakoa-friendly manner of throwing the humans under the bus. Precisely what he’s trying to achieve remains somewhat mysterious, but it looks like he’s trying to get to Moira one way or another, and get her to redeem herself in some way.
Wolverine #48 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
WOLVERINE vol 7 #48
“Sabretooth War, part 8: Alone Together”
Writers: Benjamin Percy & Victor LaValle
Penciller: Cory Smith
Inker: Oren Junior
Colourist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER / PAGE 1. A symbolic image of Wolverine being torn apart by two sets of hands – which the caption indicates are “two Creeds”. I haven’t got a clue what this has to do with the issue, or which two Creeds they had in mind. (Victor and Graydon would be the obvious ones in terms of their role in the story, but Graydon doesn’t have anything to do with Wolverine in this issue.) My best guess would be that this is a hangover from an abandoned early version of the story, although the solicitation copy for this issue does match the content well enough.
PAGES 2-6. Wolverine and Sabretooth separately reflect on their lives.
Obviously, these two monologues in first person narration are presented to emphasise the parallels between the two characters. The key theme for Wolverine is that while Sabretooth’s attack on the Greenhouse drove him into a rage, Kid Omega’s psychic attack on him last issue shifted his perspective and made him focus more on the positive reasons to fight – his loner tendencies are about the fear of getting other people hurt, but he does ultimately feel happier around others.
X-Men: Forever #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN: FOREVER #2
“Quiet Council”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Luca Maresca
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller, Jay Bowen & Kat Gregorowicz
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1: Rachel, Cannonball, Jubilee, Exodus and Arakko fight a Stark Sentinel.
PAGE 2. Paul Neary obituary.
PAGES 3-5. Mother Righteous’ homunculus dissolves, and Professor X sends a message to the White Hot Room.
This scene takes place roughly alongside page 6 of Rise of the Powers of X #4. The two issues interweave, so you might want to look at the annotations for that issue.
“Sinister’s dead.” Fall of the House of X #3.
“Xavier murdered Rachel.” Rise of the Powers of X #3.
“Xavier freed me to @#$% over Rasputin, who’s also dead.” Rise of the Powers of X #4.
“Bring Rachel back. She’ll be furious, and rightly so.” Professor X makes clear that he killed Rachel in Rise #3, and Rasputin in Rise #4, so that they could be resurrected in the White Hot Room – the only way that they could readily travel there. That begs the question of why he didn’t just tell them that, but of course then Mother Righteous would have known what he was doing.
