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

ALPHA FLIGHT vol 5 #1
Writer: Ed Brisson
Artist: Scott Godliewski
Colour artist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso

ALPHA FLIGHT. Canada’s government-sponsored superhero team – an X-Men spin-off in the sense that they debuted in X-Men but not normally viewed as X-characters. I wouldn’t normally do Alpha Flight, and I might not do the whole of this run, but it is coming from the X-office, and it is a “Fall of X” tie-in, so let’s at least do the first issue.

COVER / PAGE 1. The official Alpha Flight team in the foreground, with the rest of the cast looming in the background, foreshadowing the twist. The logo is the one used on Alpha Flight vol 1 #1-17, though with the addition of a distressed background to fit the Fall of X theming.

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

UNCANNY AVENGERS vol 4 #1
“Truth & Justice”
Writer (main story): Gerry Duggan
Writer (G.O.D.S. page): Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Javier Garrón
Colour artist: Morry Hollowell
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Tom Brevoort

UNCANNY AVENGERS. I don’t normally do Avengers books – and this is edited by the Avengers office – but it’s a five-issue Fall of X tie-in complete with the X-books design and written by Gerry Duggan. Despite the title, it’s really a second X-Men book with Captain America guest starring.

This is the fourth run of Uncanny Avengers. The other three involved mash-up Avengers and X-Men team (the “Avengers Unity Squad”) designed to promote human-mutant relations. Duggan wrote volume 3 for 23 issues, and Captain America, Deadpool and Rogue were all featured prominently in that run.

COVER / PAGE 1. Pin-up of the team.

PAGES 2-3. Tribute to John Romita.

PAGES 4-6. Flashback: Dr Stasis and M.O.D.O.K. revive a mystery man.

This scene seems to be a parody of Captain America emerging from stasis and being told about how much things have changed, except this guy is being informed that it’s a dystopian future that needs to be reversed. The obvious implication is that the man being revived here is the new Captain Krakoa who debuted in Free Comic Book Day 2023: Avengers / X-Men. and who appears later in this issue.

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

DARK X-MEN vol 2 #1
“There is a Kingdom” / “Do You Love Me”
Writer: Steve Foxe
Artist (“There is a Kingdom”): Jonas Scharf
Artist (“Do You Love Me”): Nelson Dániel
Colour artist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

DARK X-MEN. This is the second Dark X-Men miniseries, but it has no connection to the first, which was a Dark Reign tie-in about Norman Osborn’s rival X-Men team.

COVER / PAGE 1. The cast pose. We’ll get to who all these people are shortly.

PAGE 2. Madelyne Pryor dreams.

Madelyne became the ruler of Limbo in New Mutants #25-28.

The Grim Reaper figure in her dream is holding the headdress from Havok’s costume.

PAGES 3-4. Alex Summers and Madelyne Pryor wake up.

The Limbo Embassy. This improbable location was debuted in the epilogue to Dark Web: Finale #1, after Madelyne Pryor regained control of Limbo and put a stop to its attacks on New York (even though she’d been complicit in them to start with). According to that issue, Krakoa helped talk the USA into accepting the embassy, but Madelyne more or less threatened to keep causing trouble unless the Limbo Embassy was tolerated in New York.

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

X-MEN RED vol 2 #14
“To War We March”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Yildiray Cinar
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Storm and her allies pose for action, with the giant statues of Apocalypse and Genesis from the Valley of the Fallen in the background. The stone texture is there, but the slight colouring and the positioning makes them look more like figures of the characters themselves.

PAGE 2. Tribute to John Romita.

PAGE 3. Genesis wakes Arakko.

The narrator. The start of page 19 has the narration continuing directly from the extract from The New History of Arakko on the previous page. So apparently all of the narration is from that source, and it’s the voice of Xilo.

“Genesis reaches out with her mind, with her mutant weapon…” Genesis’s powers have never been very clearly defined. But in Hickman’s X-Men #13 (2020), she’s shown using her powers to conjure up plants that ensnare enemy monsters, so presumably the idea is not that Genesis has telepathic powers, but rather that she has plant control abilities. There may be a suggestion here that her powers brought Okkara – the island that later split into Arrako and Krakoa – to life in the first place. Note that Xilo calls her “the mother of Arakko”.

Arakko has been dormant since the attack by Uranos during A.X.E.: Judgment Day.

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

CHILDREN OF THE VAULT #1
“Tomorrow’s Children”
Writer: Deniz Camp
Artist: Luca Maresca
Colourist: Carlos Lopez
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1. The Children of the Vault – specifically, Serafina, Perro and Fuego – stand triumphant over Cable and Bishop.

PAGES 2-4. The Children of the Vault emerge from suspended animation.

This sequence pretty much assumes that you’ve been reading X-Men and know what’s going on. For anyone who doesn’t:

The Children of the Vault debuted in X-Men #188 (2006), by Mike Carey and Chris Bachalo. The basic idea is that they were an attempt to create vastly evolved humans by having them develop in a bubble society within a time distortion vault, so that centuries of development pass for them without any significant time passing on Earth. They’re not mutants, they’re technologically enhanced posthumans. Traditionally, the Children of the Vault believe that they’re the destined inheritors of the world. During Jonathan Hickman’s run, we established that they tend to create endless iterations of the same characters, supposedly always working towards improvement.

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

IMMORTAL X-MEN #14
“Sympathy for the Scarlet Witch”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Lucas Werneck
Colourists: David Curiel & Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Professor X on the beach of Krakoa, confronting the ruins of a half-buried Sentinel. Presumably a Planet of the Apes riff.

PAGE 2. John Romita tribute.

PAGE 3. Professor X stares into space.

The very fact that we’re seeing him without his Cerebro helmet is a symbol of the Krakoan era being over.

“X weeks later. Krakoa, population: 1.” The “X weeks later” tag also appears in X-Men #25 (well, as “X weeks ago”, but same difference). Oddly, this week’s Children of the Vault #1 just opts for “weeks later”. X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 ends with a caption noting the population of Krakoa as 1.

PAGE 4. Professor X recalls Destiny asking him to get Mystique to safety if something happens at the Gala.

This puts a different complexion on the scene at page 57 of Hellfire Gala 2023 where Professor X very aggressively tries to force Mystique to go through the gates, apparently giving her a stroke and prompting her to fall to her death. Destiny has very explicitly asked for this.

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

ASTONISHING ICEMAN #1
“Out Cold, part 1”
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Vincenzo Carratù
Colourist: Java Tartaglia
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Just a straightforward shot of Iceman in action. This is a five-issue miniseries – since it’s part of Fall of X and it’s written by Steve Orlando, I’m going to assume it’s a core title.

PAGE 2. Montage of Iceman sightings.

As in X-Men #25, several weeks have passed since Orchis attacked the Hellfire Gala in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023, where Iceman was apparently killed by Nimrod. However, along with a pro-Orchis voice over, this is a montage of generally positive images of Iceman being sighted doing good old fashioned superhero stuff. Considering this is Fall of X, the tone is really very upbeat, which is doubtless the point.

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

X-MEN vol 6 #25
“From the Shadows”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Colour artist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Kate Pryde, back in ninja mode, kills an Orchis footsoldier by phasing X-shaped swords through his head. The swords are drawn here with different hilts – one of which seems more pirate-like, per her Krakoa design – but that’s not actually reflected in the interior art.

The X-Men logo is now distressed, to fit the Fall of X theming.

PAGE 2. Opening data page: a quote from Kate Pryde, now on a battered version of the traditional layout. This is the only data page in this issue, unless you count the Orchis poster right at the end, but Astonishing Iceman confirms that they’re still a part of the format. The quote is from the flashback towards the end of the issue where she’s killing Orchis soldiers and telling them that the X-Men no longer exist, so that these rules no longer apply.

PAGES 3-5. Flashback: Kitty Pryde talks to her rabbi about Krakoa.

This flashback takes place shortly after the flashback that opens Marauders vol 1 #1, where Kitty discovers that she can’t use the gates and breaks her nose (hence the bandage here).

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

X-MEN: HELLFIRE GALA 2023
“The Hellfire Gala”
Writer: Gerry Duggan (with Jonathan Hickman)
Artists: Adam Kubert, Luciana Vecchio, Matteo Lolli, Russell Dauterman, Javier Pina, R.B. Silva, Joshua Cassara, Kris Anka, Pepe Larraz & Valerio Schiti
Colour artists: Rain Beredo, Ceci De La Cruz, Matthew Wilson, Erick Arciniega & Marte Gracia
Letterers: Virtual Calligraphy
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. A montage of assorted characters in their Gala costumes, with Nimrod and Dr Stasis looming ominously behind them.

PAGE 2. Flashback: Emma and Cyclops discuss whether to tell Ms Marvel that she is a mutant.

This is the “previous conversation” that Emma referenced in X-Men #23, when she broke the news to Scott of Ms Marvel’s death in Amazing Spider-Man #26. It’s not made clear here what prompted Emma to raise the question of telling Ms Marvel that Cerebro detects her as a mutant. But we’ll see in the next scene that Emma sees Kamala as a popular figure who would be good for mutant/human relations.

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

WOLVERINE vol 7 #35
“Weapons of X, part 5”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Juan José Ryp
Colour artist: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Wolverine prepares to pop his middle claws and kill a defeated Beast.

Yes, yes, I know – the main release this week is the Hellfire Gala one-shot. But that’s the size of multiple regular issues and besides, this issue comes first – as you might have guessed, it’s running a week late.

PAGES 2-4. The Beast lectures his clones.

These are evidently the replacement clones that Beast said he would “begin processing” after he wiped out the previous bunch for disloyalty in issue #33. As before, he’s given them different hairstyles and a need for glasses, which makes them all look a bit dopier compared to him. We don’t see anything in this issue to directly suggest that the new clones have started figuring out the need to get rid of Beast Prime, but they do seem befuddled by his old joke and appear to be indulging him.

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