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

X-MEN vol 6 #23
“When Cometh — The Stark Sentinels”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Joshua Cassara
Colour artist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. The X-Men fight a Stark Sentinel.

PAGES 2-6. Mother Righteous visits Dr Stasis.

“[T]here’s nothing that Dr Stasis enjoys more than eating with clones of his family.” This is a callback to early issues, in particular issue #2, where Stasis is living in a suburban home and killing off each new family as they prove unsatisfactory. Evidently he’s now relocated full time to the Orchis Forge, but that hasn’t stopped him from recreating his throwback suburban household there.

Rebecca Essex was Nathaniel Essex’s wife before he became Mr Sinister. She appears in his origin miniseries, Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix (1996). Her basic role is to become increasingly disturbed by his behaviour, die in chidlbirth, and refuse to forgive him, prompting him to turn to Apocalypse.

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

BETSY BRADDOCK: CAPTAIN BRITAIN #4
“Earth’s Most Furious”
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Vasco Georgiev
Colour artist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1: Captain Britain and Askani under attack by Morgan Le Fey’s Furies and Dr Doom’s Doombots.

PAGES 2-4. Betsy Braddock and Tony Stark talk.

This scene picks up from the end of the previous issue, with Betsy visiting Tony to ask for his help as “an expert on Morgan Le Fey”.

“I went to Otherworld once upon a time. With Doctor Doom.” If this is meant to be referring to Iron Man vol 1 #150, then that was a time travel story, not a trip to Otherworld.

“I dueled King Arthur somewhat recently.” In Excalibur #26 (which came out back in December 2021).

“Terrible what happened to the West End.” Tony is referring the Fury attack last issue.

PAGE 5. Recap and credits.

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

NEW MUTANTS: LETHAL LEGION #3
“Old Wounds, Old Weapons”
Writer: Charlie Jane Anders
Penciller: Enid Balám
Inker: Elisabetta D’Amico
Colourist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1. Count Nefaria stands over the defeated cast.

PAGES 2-3. Karma, Mirage and Galura arrive at Count Nefaria’s mansion.

“Well, this is where Cerebro said we’d find those kids.” Last issue, Dani and Xuân were looking for Cerebella and Scout, and learned that they’d gone off-island with Escapade. Evidently they really don’t trust the trio’s judgment, since for all they know, they might have just gone to visit home.

“Do you ever miss it Karma? Being a billionaire?” Karma inherited the Hatchi Corporation upon the death of Susan Hatchi in Astonishing X-Men vol 3 #56 (2012). She claims here to have given it all away “long ago … before Krakoa”. In fact, although it was only mentioned intermittently in later years, it featured prominently in the miniseries New Mutants: Dead Souls, and she was still rich during the Matthew Rosenberg run (see Uncanny X-Men vol 5 #18), which is immediately before Krakoa. Admittedly, it hasn’t been mentioned during the Krakoan era, which at the very least suggested that she had handed the running of the business off to somebody else.

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

X-FORCE vol 6 #40
“The Ghost Calendars, part 1”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artists: Robert Gill and Paul Davidson
Colourist: GURU-eFX
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. X-Force leap into action in a futuristic city – with Beast in the background rather than Kid Omega, but that’s spoilers being avoided in the solicitations, I expect. If you want, you could claim he’s sort of symbolically looming over them? Deadpool doesn’t go on this mission either, but heck, it’s a cover.

PAGES 2-6. Quentin Quire briefs X-Force and takes them into the future.

This picks up from the end of the previous issue. X-Force have just dealt with a bunch of Beast’s genetic experiments who were dumped on Krakoa by Sevyr Blackmore, hence all the body parts lying around. Then the older Quentin Quire emerged through a portal, sliced off a giant tentacle thingy that was reaching after him, and announced that he needed X-Force’s help.

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

X-MEN vol 6 #22
“Bring on the Bad Guys”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Joshua Cassara
Colourist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Pin-up of Orchis. Specifically, from left to right, that’s Feilong, Omega Sentinel, Nimrod, Dr Stasis, the Wolverine-skeleton Sentinel seen later in the issue, M.O.D.O.K., and two of the ape scientists who’ve occasionally been seen among Orchis ranks.

PAGES 2-4. Omega Sentinel meets with Opal Vetiver.

Omega Sentinel. It’s been a while since Karima actually did anything – she was prominent as an Orchis adviser in the Hickman run but she’s done essentially nothing in the time since he left.

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

WOLVERINE vol 7 #33
“Weapons of X, part 3”
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 fights the Beast.

PAGE 2. The Beast despatches one of his clones to retrieve the dead Wolverine clone.

Last issue, Beast sent several of his Wolverine clones to attack the submarine that Maverick and his Mercs were using to smuggle Krakoan flowers. Unknown to Beast, the missing Wolverine clone isn’t lying on the sea bed; Maverick escaped with him as a prisoner.

Obviously, Beast is being presented as a massive hypocrite in giving a pep talk about the importance of going on field operations when he’s almost never done so throughout the Krakoan era. Mind you, I suppose he was doing just that over the last couple of issues when he was dealing with Jeff Bannister, showing up at Legacy House and tagging along with Wolverine on assassination missions. Still, he’s definitely not treating his own clones as equals.

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

X-MEN: RED vol 2 #11
“A Storm on the Horizon”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artists: Stefano Casselli & Jacopo Camagni
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1: Storm, surrounded by grasping, needy Professor Xs with Xs for mouths.

PAGES 2-6. Storm’s date with Craig Marshall.

Craig Marshall previously appeared in issue #6, where he was introduced as a soil scientist working for NASA who had spent the last month on Arakko studying the Krakoan terraforming process. He helped to save some children during Uranos’s attack on the planet as part of the A.X.E.: Judgment Day crossover. Loolo was named in that issue; Kobb is named for the first time here. In Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #1, set in the Sins of Sinister timeline, Loolo shows up as “Loolo Marshall”, so apparently in that timeline he adopted her.

Saucier is a background character from Marauders; he’s a mutant chef, though it’s unclear whether that has anything to do with his powers. He’s been somewhat condescending about humans in the past, but either he’s toned it down a bit, or he’s just being professional here.

Arakko was terraformed in Planet-Size X-Men #1, though I can’t imagine many of you need to be told that.

“The last person I had dinner with was Doctor Doom.” In S.W.O.R.D. vol 2 #7. This seems to be the same location.

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

IMMORTAL X-MEN #11
“Part 11: A Hard Reign”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Lucas Werneck
Colour artist: David Curiel
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Well, that’d be a picture of Storm in a tree, wouldn’t it?

PAGE 2. Data page. Our opening quote is presumably alluding to the circular arrangement of the Quiet Council meeting chamber, presented as the arena of (political) game-playing. Much of this issue is about the effort to keep up the appearance of the Quiet Council while attempting to prevent the abuse of its rules – with spectacular lack of effect, whatever the X-Men might think.

Johan Huizinga (1872-1945) was a pioneer of cultural history, who was interested in the role that art and culture played in society. Homo Ludens (1938) argues that play is an essential feature of culture. The term “dyutamandalam” just means “gaming circle”. The quote here is from a section which indirectly inspired the modern use of the term “magic circle” in the gaming context to mean (broadly) a place in which the rules of the game supplant the rules of the normal world.

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

X-MEN: BEFORE THE FALL – SONS OF X #1
“Run It Again”
Writer: Si Spurrier
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

X-MEN: BEFORE THE FALL – SONS OF X. This is one of several X-Men: Before The Fall one-shots. The others are Mutant First Strike and Heralds of Apocalypse in June, and Sinister Four in July.

To all intents and purposes, however, this is Legion of X #14 (with the Nightcrawlers miniseries being issues #11-13).

COVER / PAGE 1. Legion faces down Mother Righteous, while Margali Szardos (carrying the Hopesword) stands over the distorted Nightcrawler, with Nimrod in the background.

PAGE 2. Opening montage.

Panel 1, as we’ll see, is Legion doing some Danger Room-style training to fight Nimrod.

Panel 2 shows a mutant transformed into a monster in New Jersey, continuing the storyline about mutants being magically transformed which was in progress in Legion of X before the “Sins of Sinister” crossover. It’s all the work of Nightcrawler’s sorceress mother Margali Szardos, who in turn has been working with Orchis. The two newspapers in the foreground show art recycled from page 3 of Legion of X #9.

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

BETSY BRADDOCK, CAPTAIN BRITAIN #3
“The Captain We Deserve”
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Vasco Georgiev
Colour artist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1. The Fury as “Captain Britain”, with Morgan Le Fey behind him, and Betsy in chains, in front of a cheering crowd. Nothing very much like this happens in the issue, but it’s kind of the result that Morgan is hoping for.

PAGE 2. Brian and Meggan leave Betsy to babysit Maggie.

Considering that the Manor was moved to Cornwall in issue #1 and they’re going to see a show in London, they’re either planning to fly there in theatre clothes, or they’ve got a portal somewhere. Maybe there’s still a Krakoan gate they’re allowed to use, or maybe Brian just has something connected with Otherworld.

Brian seems to be hinting that he agrees with the criticisms that Betsy doesn’t spend enough time among actual British people instead of dealing with Otherworld stuff.

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