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

UNCANNY SPIDER-MAN #3
“Superpositional”
Writer: Si Spurrier
Artist: Javier Pina
Colourist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1. Nightcrawler fights Silver Sable.

PAGES 2-4. Nightcrawler fights Gaap and the Wild Pack.

The narrators here are the Vulture and Nimrod.

Gaap the Integument is said to be a Deviant; he’s a new character. Gaap is a traditional demon name; an “integument” is just a tough outer protective layer. Gaap is wearing the same mind control device that was used on Rhino last issue and on Nightcrawler in X-Men: Before the Fall – Sons of X #1. Obviously, this is a repeat of the same basic idea that was tried that issue with the Rhino: lure out Nightcrawler so the Wild Pack can try to catch him.

Nightcrawler has apparently embraced the nickname “Creepy Crawler”, after initially calling himself Spinnenmann.

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

X-MEN RED vol 2 #17
“The Avatar of Life”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Yildiray Çinar
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Apocalypse holds… well, some sort of energy ball with the logo.

PAGES 2-4. Apocalypse and Vulcan.

Last issue ended with Apocalypse, the hooded guy and his sidekick demon – named later in the issue as “Orc” – arriving in the Autumn Lands and declaring that he would “remake the world” there. He specifically mentioned a “sun caged below”, referring to Vulcan, who was imprisoned there in issue #10. Evidently Apocalypse has just freed Vulcan between issues.

Vulcan assumes that Apocalypse is (as usual) recruiting a new Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and asks whether he’s going to be Death – though with an obvious double meaning, threatening Apocalypse. Apocalypse acknowledges that he’s formed plenty of Horsemen groups in the past, all named after the four children who he lost when Arakko was severed from Earth, and he claims to have had a hand in adding their names to “the sacred texts of humankind” – i.e., the Book of Revelation.

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

X-FORCE vol 6 #46
“A Tale of Two Brothers”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Robert Gill
Colour artist: GURU-eFX
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Designers: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Mikhail and Colossus fight. Not wild about that movie advert banner we seem to be getting on every cover this month, but hey, needs must.

PAGES 2-4. Mikhail appeals to Colossus.

This is where we left off last issue. The black void is one of the dimensional rifts that Mikhail created using his powers; Chronicler sent Colossus here last issue in order to provide him with some sort of resolution after being ordered to move on to writing about a new subject in Orchis.

Mikhail makes a last ditch appeal to Colossus as a brother, which is almost certainly insincere. Bear in mind that in issue #44, Mikhail was completely indifferent to Chronicler’s warnings that Colossus could die if he simply dropped control. Mikhail also seems to misread Colossus’ likely reaction to being told that the Beast had the right idea.

That said… the Beast would doubtless say that “Fall of X” does vindicate him. This is precisely the sort of existential threat to Krakoa that he was working to stop all this time, and as soon as he was taken off the board, look what happened. Except of course that there’s no evidence at all that Beast saw any of Orchis’ angles coming – in particular, he evidently failed to spot the doctoring of Krakoan drugs. But the way things have worked out, the Beast has the opportunity to make the claim and to disavow any responsibility.

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

X-MEN vol 6 #28
“Jail Break!”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Joshua Cassara
Colour artist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Firestar fights the Juggernaut.

PAGES 2-5. Sunfire is found by Apocalypse.

Sunfire was last seen in this book at the end of issue #24. In that issue, Magik transported him to Otherworld so that he could set out on a quest to retrieve Redroot, the Cypher-equivalent for Arakko, who had been trapped in Otherworld since “X of Swords”. The issue ended with a flash forward marked “X months later” (sic, but let’s assume Otherworld has wonky time), with Sunfire and Redroot basically as we see them here.

In the interim, Sunfire’s story has been covered in X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic in a storyline that ended this week. For present purposes, all you really need to know is that Orchis had set up a Blightswell processing facility in Blightspoke, and they were using Redroot there. Sunfire is briefly captured but escapes with Redroot. Thanks to his injuries from fighting Orchis, he also bonds with her as some sort of healing measure. Redroot herself remains basically a non-character throughout.

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

UNCANNY SPIDER-MAN #2
“Blue Streak”
Writer: Si Spurrier
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colour artist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1. Nightcrawler fights the Rhino.

PAGES 2-3. Nightcrawler and Mystique.

We saw Mystique last issue, wandering around Central Park mostly in the form of a homeless person. Since Nightcrawler says they’ve had several previous encounters, this presumably isn’t an immediate continuation from the previous issue. Mystique suffered an aneurysm in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 while resisting Professor X’s attempt to force her through the gates, which is why she’s incoherent here – although how she made it back to Central Park in this condition is unclear. It’s surely not a coincidence that she wound up in the same place as her son Nightcrawler.

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

REALM OF X #3
“First Blood Spilled”
Writer: Torunn Grønbekk
Artist: Bruno Oliveira
Colour artist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Lauren Amaro

COVER / PAGE 1. Um…, well, that seems to be Mirage crying out on the Bifrost, with images of Thor and Sif overhead.

The original solicitation for this story reads: “No gods, only mutants! The date of the prophecy looms ahead, and despite their best efforts, the Vanir and their mutant protectors are ill-equipped to meet their destiny. Meanwhile, their enemy grows ever stronger, sinking their claws deeper into the misguided Curse. Lost and at the end of her rope, Dani beseeches her former friends in Asgard for help – but will reinforcements arrive in time to turn the tide, or have they truly been abandoned to their fate?”

Most of that solicitation is in the issue, but the closest it gets to Dani beseeching the Asgardians is four panels on page 13 where she stands under a tree and yells to the gods. Presumably it was planned to be a much more prominent plot thread when the cover was designed.

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

DARK X-MEN vol 2 #3
“Darker with the Day”
Writer: Steve Foxe
Artist: Jonas Scharf
Colour artist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. The Dark X-Men fight the Bamf Dragon.

PAGE 2. Flashback: Emplate arrives on Krakoa.

This is mostly recap of things we’ve already been told, although the actual panels are new.

• Panel 1 shows Emplate shortly after arriving on Krakoa, alongside Selene and Gorgon; Exodus is present, though it’s maybe an overstatement to say that he’s welcoming Emplate rather than tolerating him. Emplate’s actual arrival on Krakoa can be seen in the background in House of X #5.
• Panel 2 shows Apocalypse and Cypher introducing Emplate and Selene to their role of monitoring Krakoa to make sure that its feeding on mutant energy remains in safe limits. This hasn’t actually been seen before, but it was mentioned in X-Men #3 (2019).
• Panel 3 shows Emplate watching his three sisters from a distance; they’re not actively rejecting him, though it’s a pretty safe bet that they would. But the main emphasis of this panel is simply that he’s irrelevant to them.
• Panel 4 shows Azazel showing up to call in whatever debt it is that Emplate owes him – this arrangement has been clear in the previous two issues, but it’s not clear yet what the debt actually is.

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

JEAN GREY vol 2 #3
“Obsession”
Writer: Louise Simonson
Artist: Bernard Chang
Colour artist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1. Jean Grey fights the Goblin Queen.

PAGES 2-4. Jean confronts “Madelyne”, and gets interrupted by Hope.

Okay, for once we’re going to take this a panel at a time.

Page 2 panel 1. So far in this series, we’ve been following Jean’s disembodied mind as she thinks back on her life, following her “death” in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023. We’ve already been through two possible scenarios where her life could have gone differently, but making the other choice turned out even worse. The previous issue ended with Jean turning her focus to her clone Madelyne Pryor, who ought to be familiar to everyone since she’s starring in Dark X-Men. But we’ll come to her back story in a bit shortly.

Page 2 panel 2. This is a jump pack to Jean’s disorientation at the start of issue #1, complete with fragmented images of many of the same events. From left to right:

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

CHILDREN OF THE VAULT #3
“War on Tomorrow”
Writer: Deniz Camp
Artist: Luca Maresca
Colourist: Carlos Lopez
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1. Bishop and Cable (with their big guns) in the foreground, with the Children floating over their City in the background.

PAGES 2-6. Bishop and Cable attack the City.

Last issue, Bishop and Cable captured Martillo and Cable obtained “access codes, layouts, City defence protocols” and so forth from him. This is them acting on that plan. The basic idea is to fire a “micro-singularity” at the City, simply as a distraction to leave the Children open to Orchis. We’ll see in the next scene how Cable and Bishop got Orchis to attack.

Most of the Children are just defending themselves here, but Capitán is singled out as the one who really looks down on the mutants. The previous issue established that he was the leader of the losing “Traditionalist” faction that argued for just wiping out humanity and starting over with the Children; the whole idea of posing as superheroes and assimilating (some of) the humans is a comparatively liberal plan pushed by Serafina.

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

ASTONISHING ICEMAN #3
“Out Cold, part 3”
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Vincenzo Carratù
Colour artist: Java Tartaglia
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Iceman in action alongside Aaron Fischer.

PAGES 2-4. Aaron Fischer defends the Y-Men from Mr Clean.

Mister Clean. We’ve had a couple of issues of build to Orchis sending Mr Clean after Iceman – as we’ll see later, this attack is a deliberate attempt to lure Iceman out of hiding. I covered Mr Clean’s background in the annotations for the previous issue.

Aaron Fischer. Aaron Fischer debuted in 2021’s United States of Captain America miniseries. He’s part of the Captains Network, basically an assortment of grass roots Captain America imitators intended to represent the diversity of American society, who wind up being endorsed by Steve Rogers. Fischer is one of the most prominent characters from the Captains Network, having shown up subsequently in Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty and had a solo storyline in Love Unlimited Infinity Comic #49-54. In that storyline, he gained superhuman powers from an experimental super-soldier serum created by the Alchemax corporation.

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