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

LEGION OF X #9
“A Voice in the Wilderness”
Writer: Si Spurrier
Penciller: Netho Diaz
Inkers: Sean Parsons & Álvaro López
Colourist: Java Tartaglia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1. A corrupted Nightcrawler, leading the techno-organic infection in the Narthex, with Legion and Professor X’s faces hovering behind.

PAGE 2. Data page – a string of alert events, presumably the one that Fabian is reading on the next page. The first one relates to the events of the previous issue. The others seem to be just generic examples of other mutants becoming corrupted by the same thing that’s afflicting Nightcrawler. Item five relates to the Akademos Habitat on Krakoa (the teens’ area), but I don’t think it relates to anything specific from this arc.

PAGE 3-4. Other mutants are corrupted; the Legion react.

(more…)

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

WOLVERINE vol 7 #29
“The Beast Agenda: The Mind Garden”
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. Wolverine surrounded by angry-looking people from his past – Omega Red, Mystique, Storm, Phoenix, Sabretooth, Jubilee and Silver Fox. Well, arguably Phoenix isn’t that angry. They’re linked to his mind by Krakoan tendrils.

PAGE 2. Wolverine hallucinates about his first encounter with the Hudsons.

Obviously, these opening pages are Wolverine hallucinating about key moments in his life, under the influence of the Pit. When we left off, the Beast had tried to more or less lobotomise Wolverine, but he’d escaped, and Krakoa had pulled him down into the Pit. Since his time in the Pit seems to contribute to his personality resetting, that might explain why he starts off at one of the most savage points in his life. (The period immediately after Origin would have worked too, but it isn’t so iconic in his history.)

(more…)

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

X-MEN vol 6 #18
“Wounded Wolves”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: CF Villa
Colourist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Designer: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Synch fights vampires while using Wolverine (Laura)’s powers. And yes, they are vampires, not just random nobodies. Some of them have fangs.

PAGE 2. Opening page – a quote from both Jean and Scott. I’m sure this has probably appeared in dialogue somewhere during the series, but I don’t have time to trawl through the back issues, I’m afraid.

PAGE 3. Beast recaps the plot.

Laura seemingly died covering Synch’s escape from the Vault, and was resurrected on Krakoa, in X-Men vol 5 #19. The original, older Laura was rescued from the Vault last issue and happily reunited with Synch, her partner from her time inside the Vault, who has been pining for her ever since he escaped. (The resurrected version had no memories of their time together).

(more…)

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

MARAUDERS vol 2 #10
“Here Comes Yesterday, part 4”
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Eleonora Carlini
Colour artist: Matt Milla
Letterer & production: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller

COVER / PAGE 1: A Psylocke pin-up.

PAGES 2-4. Kate and Amass fight Stryfe.

When we left off, Amass had been captured by the Unbreathing. Kate disappeared earlier in the issue but (as pointed out in the comments last time) the implication was that Amass had used their powers to absorb her. That was also hinted at on page 22 of the previous issue, when Amass told himself to “stop talking to yourself – someone might think it’s strange”.

That implication is confirmed here, and also explains why “Amass” recognised Stryfe when he unmasked at the end of the previous issue – presumably that was Kate talking.

(more…)

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

X-MEN RED vol 2 #10
“The New Age”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artists: Stefano Caselli & Jacopo Camagni
Colourist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. The cast pose. Of some interest, Nova is positioned as equal to the rest of the cast.

PAGE 2. Text page – a poem by Lodus Logos about the battle between Storm and Vulcan that we’re about to read. If you need to be told that the Storm is Storm, the Summer is Vulcan (Gabriel Summers), the Earth is Wrongslide, and the Sea is Sobunar… well, this issue may not be the ideal jumping on point for you.

Lodus Logos’ verses are written in a 6-4-5 syllable pattern (and the final verse is a modified version of the first). It’s obviously reminiscent of haiku, but as far as I can see it’s not a specific real-world verse form. His dialogue is also written in this style, but this is more obviously verse.

He also repeat the “I was there” mantra which has come up throughout Ewing’s Arakko stories, with the Arakkii continually claiming authority from personal experience.

(more…)

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

X-FORCE vol 6 #36
“The Methuselah Complex”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Robert Gill
Colourist: GURU-eFX
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Production: Joe Caramagna
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. The Man With the Peacock Tattoo poses with a scalpel; the faces of the cast appear in the “eyes” of the peacock behind them. Well, them and a few random X-characters to make up the numbers – that’s Gentle in the bottom right, Professor X and Forge just under the logo, and Rogue, Magik and Havok running along the top. You can’t see her clearly on the published version, but that’s Storm obscured by the cover box.

PAGE 2. Omega Red and Deadpool prep Domino for her mission.

Presumably Domino knows perfectly well how to apply make-up to herself, so I can only assume she’s indulging Deadpool. Quite why Omega Red is playing along with this, when he literally decapitated Deadpool on a whim in issue #30, is harder to fathom. Maybe Deadpool’s joking about him having chosen the clothes himself.

(more…)

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

NEW MUTANTS vol 4 #33
“The Sublime Saga, part 3: Let It Burn”
Writer: Charlie Jane Anders
Artists: Alberto Alburquerque with Ro Stein & Ted Brandt
Colourists: Carlos Lopez with Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer & production: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad

COVER / PAGE 1. Head shots of four characters who are in this issue plus three regulars who aren’t. Given the glowing eyes on the three regulars, you do have to wonder whether this cover was actually designed with a different story in mind.

This is the final issue of the current run of New Mutants. The trailer page advertises New Mutants: Lethal Legion, which is a five-issue miniseries by Charlie Jane Anders and Enid Balám, beginning in March.

PAGE 2. Stan Lee tribute page.

PAGES 3-4. Morgan and Escapade react to finding themselves in the location of Destiny’s vision.

I’ve covered this in previous issues, but in Marvel’s Voices: Pride (2022), Emma Frost and Destiny showed Escapade a vision of a future in which she uses her powers to swap places with Morgan and gets them killed. Issue #32 ended with them running onto this rooftop as they try to escape the U-Men, and finding themselves in that very recognisable location.

(more…)

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

SABRETOOTH & THE EXILES #2
“Chimera Protocols”
Writer: Victor LaValle
Artist: Leonard Kirk
Colour artist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Sabretooth, Nekra, Toad and Oya, with Sabretooth striking a leaderly pose, all in a rather rickety dinghy compared to the vessel in the story itself.

PAGE 2. Stan Lee tribute page.

PAGES 3-5. Nekra and Sabretooth fight.

When we left off, Barrington and the Creation had just abducted Orphan-Maker, and Sabretooth had shown up to offer the team a ride. It’s not directly explained why Nekra has attacked Sabretooth, but the recap page indicates that she’s mainly just taking her revenge for him abandoning the group at the end of the Sabretooth miniseries. At any rate, her attention quickly shifts to the fact that Sabretooth isn’t healing in the way that he ought to.

(more…)

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

WOLVERINE vol 7 #28
“The Beast Agenda: Savage”
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 is pulled into the Pit. Which is… the cliffhanger, so an odd decision to stick it on the cover and then whack a caption on it to explain what’s happening.

This issue is going to be pretty light on annotations. That’s not a criticism, it’s just the nature of the story.

PAGE 2. Stan Lee tribute.

PAGES 3-6. Beast brings food to Wolverine.

Evidently Beast’s influence is simplifying Wolverine’s thoughts and making him loyal to the Beast – though it doesn’t seem to have had much effect on his self-loathing. That said, whatever it is he thinks he’s “bad” for, it’s not his body count, which is apparently “good”. We’ll see in the data page later in the issue that there’s apparently more to this than just the control collar.

The previous issue also has a very similar scene where Beast brings Wolverine an animal to kill and eat, but this is a different Krakoan animal. His costume was already torn up in that scene, so either this scene takes place first, or Beast keeps giving Wolverine new costumes and Wolverine keeps destroying them. The latter is entirely possible, since Beast does give him a new costume when he takes Wolverine on a mission in the next scene.

(more…)

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

X-MEN ANNUAL vol 4 #1
“Radiant”
Writer: Steve Foxe
Artist: Andrea Di Vito
Colourist: Sebastian Cheng
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Firestar fighting alongside Cyclops.

PAGES 2-4. Firestar argues with the Hellions.

The Avengers. Firestar was a member of the Avengers during the Busiek/Perez run in the late 90s and early 2000s. The wider point being made here is that although she’s a mutant, she’s rarely been featured in X-related comics. In the Hellions’ eyes – or at least Roulette and Bevatron’s, since Catseye and Jetstream seem more ambivalent – she’s ignored the mutant struggle in favour of an easier life for herself. Moreover, as a member of the X-Men, she’s now been selected as a supposed representative of their nation anyway. They aren’t impressed.

(more…)