Wolverine: Patch
WOLVERINE: PATCH #1-5
Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Andrea Di Vito
Inker: Le Beau Underwood
Colourist: Sebastian Cheng
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Mark Basso
When you stop to think about it, this is a slightly odd book. The X-office seems to have rediscovered the joy of setting stories in past continuity – aside from X-Men Legends, we’ve got a Gambit series just kicking off, and now this. Fair enough. The Krakoa era isn’t for everyone and besides, if economic considerations dictate that there shall be more X-books, it avoids trying to tie everything in to the current status quo, and lets you do something else instead.
But when you think about a Patch miniseries, that’s the set-up from the first few years of Wolverine’s solo book, where they were doing noir stories in Madripoor. And here to write the reprise is Larry Hama, who didn’t really do that set-up. His first arc was set in Madripoor, but he closed the door on the place and moved the action on pretty sharpish. That’s probably why this miniseries takes place between Wolverine vol 2 #30-31 – immediately before Hama’s run began, in the last break in the action where Madripoor was still a thing.
Marauders #5 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
MARAUDERS vol 2 #5
“Hell Can Wait”
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Andrea Broccardo
Colourist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1: Bishop fights Nemesis – I guess? I mean, in terms of the layout, it looks more like they’re fighting side by side, but that doesn’t make sense.
PAGE 2. Xandra is resurrected.
Xandra was assassinated by the Kin Crimson in issue #3. We already learned in X-Men Red #4 that Xandra survived her assassin by psychically transmitting her memory and her genetic code to Cerebro (don’t ask how she’s able to sequence her own DNA), and that explanation gets repeated in this issue.
PAGE 3. Aurora and Daken fight Chronicle and the Kin Crimson.
PAGE 4. In the past, the Acolytes react to the fight with Nemesis.
A footnote confirms that this scene takes place during X-Men #42 (1995). So, here’s how the story played out the first time round:
A.X.E.: Judgment Day #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
A.X.E.: JUDGMENT DAY #3
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Valerio Schiti
Colourist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER / PAGE 1: Makkari, Jean Grey and Iron Man, presumably inside the Progenitor.
PAGES 2-3. Recap and credits.
PAGES 4-5. The Progenitor judges Captain America.
The Progenitor is still going by the name he had in the Avengers arc that introduced him, despite his resurrection with an apparently altered personality. You have to wonder what the connection is between this guy and the very Celestial-like, though somewhat lower powered, Progenitors from various Al Ewing stories, most recently X-Men Red #2. But that’s probably a story for another time.
Ajak initially tries to rationalise away what she’s done. She’s apparently programmed to worship the Celestials as a religion, and so much of what she’s doing involves trying to explain or reinterpret that religion to get to a place she can live with.
New Mutants #28 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
NEW MUTANTS vol 4 #28
“The Labors of Magik, Book Four: The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen”
Writer: Vita Ayala
Main story art & colours: Rod Reis
Flashback art: Jan Duursema
Flashback colours: Ruth Redmon
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
COVER / PAGE 1: Magik in chains before Madelyne Pryor as the new Queen of Limbo. Not especially connected to anything that happens in the issue, though if you squint a bit I suppose you could see it as representing their respective attitudes to reigning Limbo.
PAGE 2. Magik tries making her Soulsword.
That’s Magik’s castle, as last seen in issue #25.
Since rescuing her own younger self last issue, Magik and co have apparently been hiding out in a cave while she tries to recreate the Soulsword. Of course, symbols blurring with reality is a standard trope of magical stories, but Magik seems to literally believe that the key to regaining control of Limbo is to summon up the Soulsword again. Since the sword represents her soul, Magik seems to recognise that restoring the Soulsword is just the outward manifestation of restoring her soul – but it’s not clear what she’s actually been doing over the last week or so restore her soul.
X-Force #30 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-FORCE vol 6 #30
“The Hunt for X, part 1: Dawn of the Hunt”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Robert Gill
Colourist: GURU-eFX
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER / PAGE 1: The new X-Force line-up, complete with annoying Deadpool. This issue is bannered as a “Judgment Day” tie-in despite having no apparent connection to the crossover at all. In fairness, though, X-Force #30-33 are all listed as tie-ins, so perhaps this plotline will connect to it somehow over the next few issues.
PAGES 2-4. Wolverine yells at a tree.
Wolverine blames Krakoa itself for the disappearance of Kid Omega, who vanishes while fighting a Cerebrax-possessed Krakoa at the end of issue #29. Nothing in that issue gives Wolverine any particularly concrete reason to blame Krakoa, but Percy has repeatedly written Wolverine as the one guy on the island who really doesn’t trust the place. Quentin’s disappearance is the catalyst for Wolverine’s wider doubts to come to the fore.
X-Men #13 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 6 #13
“Resurrection Blues”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: C F Villa
Colourist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1: Cyclops and Jean in action alongside Ikaris and Sersi from Eternals. This is an A.X.E.: Judgment Day tie-in.
PAGE 2. Opening quote: Jean Grey. It’s obviously meant to be ironic in the light of the plot of Judgment Day, in which an artificially-revived Celestial judges the whole planet.
PAGE 3. The X-Men in battle against the Hex.
Or rather, all of them but Forge, who we’ll get to on the next page. But the rest of the newly-elected team from X-Men: Hellfire Gala are here.
This is the Hex’s attack on Krakoa from A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2. The one seen here is Thieaka the Harpsicus. The narrator gives us the very basic version of the Eternals’ motivation; the fuller version is that Druig sees this as a way to cement his authority as Prime Eternal, but that’s not really relevant to this issue.
Ms Marvel & Wolverine #1
MS MARVEL & WOLVERINE #1
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Zé Carlos
Colourist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Mark Basso
Well, here’s one for the completist file – at least from an X-books’ perspective. Not so much for Ms Marvel, of course. I really don’t get Marvel’s publishing approach to this character – you’d have thought the TV show would be a good reason to get her solo series up and running again, but instead we’re getting Infinity Comics and team-up books.
In classic Marvel style, while this is labelled Ms Marvel & Wolverine #1, it’s actually the first issue of a miniseries where, you guessed it, every issue is called Ms Marvel & Insert Name Here #1. Because you wouldn’t want people to be able to figure out what issue to read them in, would you? Or have something that they can actually call the series? Or make it straightforward to find them on Marvel Unlimited?
A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
A.X.E.: JUDGMENT DAY #2
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Valerio Schiti
Colourist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER / PAGE 1. The reanimated Celestial looms over the heroes (not looking quite the way it ends up in the actual story).
PAGES 2-3. Recap and credits.
PAGE 4. Meet the civilians.
The first appearance of all six of these characters, as far as I’m aware. Arjan’s confidence that the heroes will save him is ironic given what happens to him later in the issue. There are of six of them, matching the number of the Hex, which may or may not be significant.
The narrator is identified later in the issue as the new Celestial god that Ajak is in the process of raising. The caption style is clearly reminiscent of the “machine” narration from Eternals, though.
Tom’s T-shirt has the image of Bruttu, a one-off character from Tales of Suspense #22 (1961). That story involves Bruttu being a comic book character who then inspires one Howard Lindley to become a real-life Bruttu, so the existence of Bruttu merchandise in the Marvel Universe is entirely reasonable.
The Incomplete Wolverine – 2003
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
When we left off, we were in the middle of a mob storyline, though we’d taken a diversion to deal with some guest appearances. And now, back to the main story.
WOLVERINE vol 2 #183-185
“…And Got Yourself a Gun” / “When in Rome…” / “Sleeping with the Fishes”
by Frank Tieri, Sean Chen, Tom Palmer & Edgar Tadeo
December 2002 to February 2003
As per his deal with Freddo, Logan starts going after the operations of rival crimelord the Roman. The Roman turns out to be a gang leader who publicly feigns insanity, dressing as an ancient Roman. He does things like feed annoying henchmen to his pet lions. It works better than you’d think; he feels like a Silver Age Batman character who’s wandered into an otherwise straight crime story. Anyway, being a moron, Freddo is so delighted with Logan’s work that he tries to offer him a permanent job, despite sensible underboss Delcavvo trying to warn him off it. When Logan turns him down, Freddo starts scheming to force Logan into working for him. Meanwhile, the Roman and Delcavvo both try to have Logan killed, and get absolutely nowhere with it. In the end, Logan kills the Roman, but winds up striking a deal to hand over Freddo to Delcavvo, who has him killed.
Issues #181-185 are the peak of the Tieri run; they have dry humour that actually lands, and they don’t have the repetitive sadism that plagues a lot of his run. This is a largely forgotten arc because it has no wider impact, but it’s really pretty good.
Legion of X #4 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
LEGION OF X #4
“Pillow Talk”
Writer: Si Spurrier
Artist: Jan Bazaldua
Colourist: Federico Blee
Letterer & production: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
COVER / PAGE 1. Hmm. Well, that’s Nightcrawler and Zsen in the foreground. Standing over them are Mother Righteous in the middle (who doesn’t appear in this issue), Loki to the right, and… presumably another trickster god component on the left, though I don’t recognise him. And in the background is the silhouette of Galactus, which has nothing to do with the content of this issue at all. It’s quite an odd cover. The actual solicitation text seems perfectly consistent with the published issue, though.
PAGE 2. George Pérez obituary.
PAGE 3. Switch is rescued.
We’re not told who his rescuer is, though since he has purple skin and custom speech balloons, he should be pretty hard to miss.
Switch’s psyche was trapped in this jar last issue. Considering how important he is, it seems odd that Switch has been entrusted to Paulie diCosta, who has no experience in this field at all and doesn’t particularly want to be there himself.
