The Incomplete Wolverine – 2010
Part 1: Origin to Origin II | Part 2: 1907 to 1914
Part 3: 1914 to 1939 | Part 4: World War II
Part 5: The postwar era | Part 6: Team X
Part 7: Post Team X | Part 8: Weapon X
Part 9: Department H | Part 10: The Silver Age
1974-1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979
1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985
1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991
1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997
1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003
2004 |2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
It’s 2010, we’re in the Utopian era, and Jason Aaron’s run is in full swing. The final Wolverine: Weapon X arc of 2009 already took us through to January 2010, so we pick up with…
WOLVERINE: WENDIGO!
One-shot
by Frank Tieri, Paul Gulacy & Thomas Mason
January 2010
Wolverine saves a low-rent TV crew from the Wendigo. Despite the title, this is really a story about the TV crew and the Wendigo myth; Wolverine himself only cameos.
WOLVERINE: CARNI-BRAWL
One-shot
by Tom Beland, Miguel Sepulveda & Jorge Maese
January 2010
After ducking the job for ages, Wolverine grudgingly allows Sunspot to tag along for a solo mission to the Brazilian jungle, where they stop Bloodscream from building an army of zombies. Ultimately, Sunspot impresses Wolverine.
This is a continuity trainwreck. It’s obviously meant to go during the original New Mutants run, but it also has Bloodscream as an established Wolverine villain, and he didn’t debut until years later. With a bit of squinting, it can be shoehorned in roughly in publication order, since Sunspot was back in the New Mutants at this point and wearing the same costume. Or you could just disqualify the whole thing as non-canon, which would be perfectly reasonable too.
X-Force #38 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-FORCE vol 6 #38
“Xeno”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Robert Gill
Colour artist: GURU-eFX
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER / PAGE 1. The Man with the Peacock Tattoo creates a Frankenstein’s Monster out of X-Force parts. Not what happens in the story, but it relates to the Omnimutant.
PAGES 2-5. X-Force arrive in Genosha.
X-Force here meaning just Domino, Deadpool and Omega Red. Black Tom, Beast and Sage don’t go on missions, and this story is set during the period when Beast is keeping Wolverine prisoner (i.e. probably between Wolverine #27-28).
Domino seems to be saying that despite her luck powers, she’s been rather depressed by the whole experience of being in X-Force – which isn’t that far out of line with her mercenary career, but admittedly doesn’t give much space for the recklessly cheerful side of her personality. At the end of the issue she ascribes this specifically to her torture at the hands of Xeno, but the logic of what she’s saying here is that she felt this way even during the period when her memories of her torture at the hands of Xeno were wiped.
Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
BETSY BRADDOCK: CAPTAIN BRITAIN #1
“Returns Home, Having Changed”
Writer: Tini Howard
Arist: Vasco Georgiev
Colourist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
BETSY BRADDOCK: CAPTAIN BRITAIN. This series is the continuation of Excalibur and Knights of X, both also written by Tini Howard. It’s solicited as an ongoing, but Amazon has it listed as a five-issue miniseries. That may just be to do with the season break for Fall of X.
COVER / PAGE 1. Betsy, Rachel and Brian in (presumably) Avalon.
PAGE 2. Betsy appears on television.
Reginald Cross appears to be a new character, obviously representing the likes of GB News. The name of his show is obviously a play on “X of Swords”, though since “X of Swords” has no actual relevance, I’m not sure that invoking it is a particularly good idea.
Sabretooth and the Exiles #4 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
SABRETOOTH & THE EXILES #4
“Station Four”
Writer: Victor LaValle
Artist: Leonard Kirk
Colourist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER / PAGE 1. A whole bunch of Sabretooths claw their way out of their respective graves. This doesn’t happen in the issue, but it’s symbolically linked to the reveal at the end.
PAGE 2. Orchis Station Four calls for help.
These guys were identified in issue #1 as “Nobodies”.
Point Nemo is indeed a name for the location on Earth which is furthest from land (the oceanic pole of inaccessibility, if you prefer the more formal name). The caption says it’s “1,000 miles from any landmass in all directions”, but that’s actually understating it – it’s 1,670. It’s in the South Pacific, roughly equidistant from the Pitcairn Islands, Easter island and Antarctica.
This may or may not matter, but it’s also the location of the city of R’lyeh in H P Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu” – which Magneto’s Bermuda Triangle island base was loosely based on. On the other hand, in modern times, its main significance is that it’s seen as a nice safe place for spacecraft to crash.
Immoral X-Men #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
IMMORAL X-MEN #1
“Sins of Sinister, part 4: The Bond Age”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Penciller: Paco Medina
Inkers: Walden Wong & Victor Olazaba
Colour artists: Jay David Ramos & Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White
IMMORAL X-MEN is the temporary Sins of Sinister re-branding of Immortal X-Men, obviously. The previous chapter of the story was in Nightcrawlers #1.
COVER / PAGE 1. Sinister-ised Emma Frost subdues the original Mr Sinister.
PAGES 2-3. Professor X wipes out a rebel cell before they can actually achieve anything.
He’s not actually named, but that’s the current Nick Fury leading the group.
New Essex is obviously a re-named New York (Essex also being an English location, just in case any American readers didn’t know that). We saw it in Sins of Sinister #1, but it wasn’t named there.
Marauders #11 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
MARAUDERS vol 2 #11
“Pre-Genesis, part 1”
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Eleonora Carlini
Colourist: Matt Milla
Letterer & production: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1. Fang and Lockheed fight Brimstone Love.
PAGE 2. Data page. This is a reprint of page 8 of Legion of X #1, with Kate’s post-it note added. Here, it’s serving mainly to establish Kurt as Krakoa’s ethical philosopher.
PAGE 3. Kate contemplates the map.
Dead Mutant Cove is the surfing bay from X-Force #25-26. In this book, it was previously seen in issue #8, when Tempo and Theia went to watch the sunset there.
The map was in the mysterium puzzle box that Kate received in Marauders Annual #1, effectively the first issue of Orlando’s run.
“It seems the first blood spilled between us is yours.” This is what Cassandra said last issue when Kate defeated her and stranded her in the past – the immediately preceding line was “Good work, Sprite… proud of you.” Kate’s logic in that issue was that she was taking revenge for the death of her father (as one of the many slaughtered on Genosha at Cassandra Nova’s instance in New X-Men #115), in which case the first blood was obviously spilled by Cassandra. Kate is apparently dwelling on what Cassandra meant by her comment. Perhaps Cassandra was simply alluding to the time travel angle, which meant that Kate was objectively taking revenge for something that hadn’t happened yet, though the fact that our attention is being drawn to the comment suggests there’s more to it.
Wolverine #30 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
WOLVERINE vol 7 #30
“The Beast Agenda: Beast Must Die”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Juan José Ryp
Colourist: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER / PAGE 1: The Beast holding Wolverine’s adamantium skull (the one from the Wolverine he killed in issue #26).
PAGE 2. Wolverine washes in the sea.
I’m tempted to ask where all these seagulls came from, but Benjamin Percy’s stories have always been unique in showing Krakoa with actual wildlife.
“I haven’t trusted this island in a long time.” In Percy’s stories, Wolverine has been sceptical of Krakoa from the outset, at least in the sense of not buying into it as a utopia. On the other hand, he was actively accusing Krakoa of consuming Kid Omega in X-Force #30, and that was last August.
The flashback panels show Beast killing Wolverine at the Legacy House auction in issue #26.
X-Men #19 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 6 #19
“Lord of the Brood, part 1”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1. The X-Men fight the Brood. The image continues on the cover of Captain Marvel #46, which is cross referenced on the recap page – but that strand of the storyline, “Revenge of the Brood”, actually began back in Captain Marvel #43. None of that is recapped in this issue, and in fairness, none of it directly matters yet. But here’s what happened:
In Captain Marvel #43, Captain Marvel receives a fragmented video message from Rogue. She asks the X-Men about it, and Cyclops and Jean Grey establish that Rogue has gone into space. Another distress call comes in, this time from Binary. (The current Binary is a duplicate Carol Danvers that gained sentience and has been around for several arcs now.) Captain Marvel leads a team into space to investigate, consisting of herself, Hazmat, Spider-Woman, Polaris, Wolverine (Laura), Psylocke and Hazmat. They find Rogue infected with the Brood.
Nightcrawlers #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
NIGHTCRAWLERS #1
“Sins of Sinister, part 3: Voices of Fire”
Writer: Si Spurrier
Artist: Paco Medina
Colourist: Jay David Ramos
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White
NIGHTCRAWLERS is the temporary title of Legion of X during the Sins of Sinister crossover.
COVER / PAGE 1: The Nightcrawler chimeras emerge from the shadows, led by the Wolverine version.
PAGE 2. Vox Ignis explores the Sanctum Sanctorum.
The Sanctum Sanctorum is Dr Strange’s base, and while he’s been known to disguise it as abandoned from time to time, it seems to be genuinely abandoned here. Vox Ignis tells us that Mother Righteous has sent them “to scavenge for items of power” – we’ll see at the end of the issue that she apparently has a plan that involves using iconic superhero memorabilia to bring down Sinister, and that the Eye of Agamotto is on her list.
Banshee tells us that everyone occult has fled to Otherworld, the magical world from Excalibur and Knights of X – apparently they’ve given up on trying to liberate Earth. In Sins of Sinister #1, Storm mentioned that all the Spirits of Vengeance had left the Earth about five years before this point.
New Mutants #31-33
NEW MUTANTS vol 4 #31-33
“The Sublime Saga”
Writer: Charlie Jane Anders
Main story artist: Alberto Alburquerque
Main story colourist: Carlos Lopez
“Young Shela & Morgan” artists: Ro Stein & Ted Brandt
“Young Shela & Morgan” colourist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer & production: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
Now, I quite like Escapade as a concept. But I can see why this arc might annoy people. New Mutants has been drifting for a little while, wandering from arc to arc without all that very much to tie it all together, beyond drawing on the cast of the 1980s series. And to cap off the series, we have a three issue arc by a completely different creative team, which has not a great deal to do with anything that came before, and that foregrounds a completely new character.
It’s not exactly the last three issues of the series, since there’s a follow-up mini, New Mutants: Lethal Legion, starting in March. But it’s fair to say that this is not a New Mutants story in any terribly meaningful way. Mirage and Karma show up at the start of part 1 to lament the state of creative writing on Krakoa. Wolfsbane’s in the whole thing, but she doesn’t really do a great deal (and certainly nothing that has anything to do with her ongoing storyline about her missing son). Martha Johanssen is in it a lot, and she’s at least a regular supporting character. But… no, it’s not a New Mutants story, let’s be honest.
