Knights of X #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers and page numbers go by the digital edition.
KNIGHTS OF X #3
“Kill Your Darlings”
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Bob Quinn
Colourist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Designer: Tom Muller
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
COVER / PAGE 1. Gambit in flamboyant action. The other tarot cards show seem to show Besty, Betsy & Rachel, and Mordred. The Betsy/Rachel card has a “VI” number on it, most likely intended to be the Lovers (the sixth card of the Major Arcana). Yes, there’s a prominent sword on display, but the Six of Swords is a rather boring card showing a ferryman in the Slough of Despond, which doesn’t seem terribly relevant.
PAGE 2 to PAGE 3 PANEL 1. Roma and Saturnyne take Shogo to watch the fight.
As in previous issues, this book seems quite keen to have its scene transitions in mid-page. And as before, we’re being told that Otherworld is basically a story-driven place – in the sense that the rules of story literally govern how things work there, and so Shogo needs to undergo the trauma of seeing one of the heroes die in order that his story can move on.
New Mutants #26 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
NEW MUTANTS vol 4 #26
“The Labors of Magik, Book Two: Best Laid Plans…”
Writer: Vita Ayala
Artist: Rod Reis (main story) & Jan Duursema (flashbacks)
Colourists: Rod Reis (main story) & Ruth Redmond (flashbacks)
Letterer & production: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Brown
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
COVER / PAGE 1: Magik with a broken sword, surrounded by shattered images from her past. The demons on the right are Belasco and presumably S’ym. The horned figure on the left is presumably Magik herself in demonic form. The armoured figure in the top left is Magik in the full armour that she had in “Inferno”.
PAGES 2-3. Magik, Dani, Rahne and Madelyne in the wilderness.
Basically just recapping the plot from last issue.
PAGE 4. Recap and credits.
PAGE 5. Storybook page: the “Goblin Exile” fights the techno-organic demons.
Continuing the storybook pages from last issue, where the “Little Goblin” was at least principally Magik (though the name is surely no coincidence bearing in mind that Madelyne is the former “Goblin Queen”). This is the alt-timeline older Magik that we’re about to encounter, defending her corner of Limbo from the techno-organics.
Immortal X-Men #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
IMMORTAL X-MEN #3
“The New Testament of Irene Adler”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Lucas Werneck
Colourist: Dijjo Lima
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1. Destiny, with most of the other Quiet Council members shown within her cloak.
PAGE 2. Flashback: Irene Adler’s powers emerge.
This is a more dramatic version of page 13 panel 4 of X-Treme X-Men vol 1 #1. As narrated by Sage in the original scene, “Irene Adler was a child of privilege, born to an age when science and romance walked hand in hand and into a society that felt its birthright was to rule the world. When she was 13, her mutant power became active. She gained the ability to perceive the future, in all its myriad permutations. It came upon her with a terrible rush and an irresistible force, like an avalanche threatening to overwhelm the girl.”
X-Men #12 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 6 #12
“Controlled Demolition”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Pepe Larraz
Colourist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1. Just the X-Men posing in their tree.
PAGES 2-5. Cyclops fights Dr Stasis.
Cyclops initially assumes that Dr Stasis is an agent of Mr Sinister. Given his reaction, it doesn’t seem as if he was ever exactly on board with having Sinister in the Quiet Council (and why would he, given that he spent some of his childhood in Sinister’s orphanage and doesn’t exactly have happy memories of it).
The display case contains the fake EMT gear that Dr Stasis wore when he killed Cyclops in issue #7. He already had it in the case at the end of that issue.
Wolverine #22 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
WOLVERINE vol 7 #22
“Bad Gamble”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Adam Kubert
Colourist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER / PAGE 1: Wolverine, Deadpool and Maverick face off against one another.
I’ll say right now: this is not an arc that particularly cries out for annotation, so this is going to be short. This is not a criticism. When I started doing these, I figured a lot more books would be like this.
PAGES 2-3. Deadpool rambles on to Wolverine.
The opening pages repeat the page layout from the same pages in the last two issues.
Deadpool might be vaguely suggesting that he wants to recapture the sort of double act relationship that he had with Cable (“my chipper go-getter alongside your world-weary grump”).
Most of the odd couples that Deadpool cites are obvious. Felix and Oscar (from Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple) are probably the most obscure, but there was a revival of that that ran for three seasons on CBS just a few years ago.
X-Men Red #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN RED vol 2 #3
“Loss”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Stefano Caselli
Colourists: Federico Blee & Fernando Sifuentes
Letterer & production: Ariana Maher
Designers: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1: Magneto fights Tarn. This is misdirection – the fight does happen in the issue, but it doesn’t go anything like this.
PAGE 2. Cable is resurrected.
The opening four panels are Cable’s life flashing before his eyes, presumably as his memories are downloaded back into him. From left to right, we have a panel of Nathan as a baby, presumably being held by his mother Madelyne Pryor. It could be Jean Grey, who looked after him for a while, but we can see Wolverine’s hand in the foreground, which strongly suggests that it’s very soon after his birth. Next is the Kid Cable from the recent solo series, followed by the classic Cable in his Liefeld costume, and finally Cable dying in the previous issue (though come to think of it, he shouldn’t remember that).
PAGES 3-4. Cable and Thunderbird.
Since issue #1, Thunderbird has switched to the new costume that debuted in Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird #1.
Legion of X #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers and page numbers go by the digital edition.
LEGION OF X #2
“Let Us Prey”
Writer: Si Spurrier
Artist: Jan Bazaldua
Colourist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
COVER / PAGE 1. Mother Righteous shows Nightcrawler and Banshee a vision of a nightmarish possible future Legion.
PAGE 2. Mother Righteous addresses Legion and Blindfold.
“All those years broken, sedated, dismissed as a liability…” Mother Righteous is referring in broad strokes to Legion’s back story from his earliest appearances circa New Mutants #25. For anyone just joining us, David is the son of Professor X and Gabrielle Haller. Getting caught up in a terrorist attack as a child led to him going into a coma and developing multiple personalities. He remains comatose until his early appearances, but for years after that tends to be treated in stories as an eccentric and unreliable figure best marginalised.
“You look at your dad now and all you see is coldness.” This is a recurring theme in Spurrier’s Legion stories. It’s slightly unfair to Xavier, who didn’t know that Legion existed until around the time of his debut appearance, and was then caught up in various storylines that prevented him spending any real time with Legion before the Muir Island Saga, at which point Legion wound up back in a coma. But Legion’s attitude is fair enough in a broader sense; Xavier, like everyone else, does pretty much forget about Legion when he’s not directly involved in a story.
Marauders #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
MARAUDERS vol 2 #3
“Extinction Agenda, part 3”
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Elonora Carlini
Colourist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1: The Marauders, surrounded by Shi’ar soldiers.
PAGE 2. Delphos and Erik the Red discuss the plot.
The light show that they’re watching is presumably their teammates’ ongoing battle with Cassandra Nova, which we’ll join on page 4.
Issue #2 ended with the Marauders floating in space and Xandra wavering about what to do, while Delphos and Erik stood behind her. As we see later, Xandra gave orders for the Marauders to be brought aboard. It’s a little odd, then, that Delphos continues to say that Xandra is “cowed”, but it seems to be true as a generality.
“Infinity’s End.” This seems to be an upcoming event, also referenced by Mephisto in Avengers #55.
Cal’syee is Deathbird’s real name.
Knights of X #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
KNIGHTS OF X #2
“Never Split the Party”
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Bob Quinn
Colourist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
COVER / PAGE 1. The Knights of X fight Merlyn’s forces in the Crooked Market. It’s got some lovely covers, this series.
PAGES 2-3. Merlyn yells at the province leaders.
This time, the provinces not associated with Merlyn are represented – Roma, Jim Jaspers, and two of the hooded things that represent Mercator. Merlyn kicks us off by recapping the plot of issue #1 in the first couple of panels.
Mister M. It’s been implied before that Mr M is the mysterious ruler of Mercator, but this is the first time it’s been directly confirmed on panel. Absalom Mercator is a fairly obscure character whose most significant appearances were in the mid-2000s Bishop series District X and the later miniseries X-Men: The 198. However, he’s been consistently listed throughout the Krakoan era as a missing omega mutant, and Planet-Size X-Men #1 strongly implied that he was the one now running the renamed province of Mercator. Mercator is a massively powerful matter transmutator. He was seemingly murdered in The 198 #5, but apparently rose from the dead transformed in some way, and was never seen again.
Legion of X #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers to by the digital edition.
LEGION OF X #1
“Do What Thou Wilt”
Writer: Si Spurrier
Artist: Jan Bazaldua
Colourist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
LEGION OF X is the relaunch of Way of X (or, if you prefer, Way of X was the prequel which did the set-up for this book).
COVER / PAGE 1: Well, that’s Legion and Juggernaut in the background, Nightcrawler at the front, and Pixie with the wings (who isn’t really in this issue, but was a recurring character in Way of X). The woman with the techno-stuff on her head is Weaponless Zsen, who’s introduced in this issue.
PAGE 2. Legion’s opening monologue.
Legion is addressing Blindfold, but we’ll come back to that. He’s also helpfully recapping Way of X for anyone new (like Blindfold). The opening panel seems like a meta nod to the season break since the last arc, too.
The Altar was introduced in Way of X and Legion’s explanation of it here is about as clear as anything else we’ve had in the past. Legion talks it up as a mutant dimension and then kind of backs off from that – we don’t entirely have a sense yet of how many mutants are using the Altar, or what kind of people they are. Broadly speaking, it seems to function as a hub of mutant culture with therapeutic overtones. Using it as the base for the Legion of X is slightly at odds with that – or maybe not, given that Kurt sees it as an essential part of a nation-building project, and as rehabilitative to boot.
