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

X-MEN vol 5 #21
“The Beginning”
by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Dragotta, Russell Dauterman, Lucas Werneck, Sara Pichelli, Frank Martin, Matthew Wilson, Sunny Gho & Nolan Woodward

PAGE 1 / COVER. Simply a generic image of some of the cast members of the X-books during the first phase of the Hickman run, with Krakoan vines arranged in a (largely obscured) X-pattern.

PAGE 2. Tribute to the late John Paul Leon.

PAGES 3-7. Professor X and Magneto talk to Namor.

Namor seems to have no desire to be here, which begs the question of why he showed up. Presumably, for all his disdain, he thinks that what the Krakoans are up to is at least sufficiently important to be worth keeping an eye on first hand. At the same time, while the Krakoans are succeeding in their immediate goals, he seems to have no real confidence in the goals themselves.

Professor X and Magneto have colour co-ordinated costumes, down to the customised Cerebro helmet. They’re very clearly positioned as a pair here. They remain keen to get Namor on side, as they have been from the dawn of the Krakoan era. Professor X’s first attempt to recruit him was in Powers of X #5, where Xavier similarly framed the pitch as “come home”. But despite some short stints with the X-Men, Namor has never identified particularly as a mutant, and certainly not primarily as one; he’s an Atlantean first and foremost. At any rate, in that issue Namor suggested that he didn’t think Xavier truly believed in his new posture of mutant superiority, and told him “don’t come back until you really mean it.” Clearly he remains unconvinced – but equally clearly, he has no interest in a mutant-centric agenda. He goes out of his way to claim that he’s superior to everyone, mutant or otherwise.

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

EXCALIBUR vol 4 #21
“Don’t Feel Like Dancin'”
by Tini Howard, Marcus To & Erick Arciniega

COVER / PAGE 1: Rictor storms out of the Hellfire Gala, leaving earthquake-related chaos behind him. It doesn’t happen quite so literally in the issue itself.

PAGE 2. Excalibur prepare to head to the party.

As we’ll see later, Rictor’s basic objection to the Hellfire Gala is that he sees it as another example of how everyone has moved on and forgotten about Apocalypse. When, clearly, everyone should be spending their days brooding about Apocalypse like Rictor does. He does have a point that nobody else appears to be especially bothered about Apocalypse’s departure, and you can see that by this point he might well be reading that as a personal insult too – not only has Apocalypse’s interest in mutant magic been sidelined by everyone else, but what must they think of Rictor’s attempt to keep it alive?

The butterflies hovering around Betsy’s dress reflect the butterfly image that appears over her face when she uses her telepathy.

PAGE 3. Recap and credits. As with all “Hellfire Gala” tie-in issues, the layout has been altered to vaguely resemble an invitation. And there’s a big red circle, for reasons that will become apparent in this week’s X-Men.

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

HELLIONS #12
“Gatecrashing”
by Zeb Wells, Stephen Segovia & David Curiel

COVER / PAGE 1: The Hellions cause chaos at the Hellfire Gala.

PAGES 2-4. Mr Sinister, Havok and Kwannon prepare to go to the Gala.

We’re not told directly why the rest of the Hellions didn’t get invited, but it’s pretty obvious. This is a diplomatic mission, it’s meant to build bridges with the humans, and you really don’t want Orphan-Maker and Wild Child running around. Ideally you wouldn’t have Mister Sinister either, of course, but he’s on the Quiet Council. Kwannon’s not a villain; she’s on the team as a supervisor. And Havok… well, aside from the fact that there’s a suggestion that he’s been put there for reasons he isn’t aware of, Havok’s a member of the Summers family and his absence would be notable.

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

X-FORCE vol 6 #20
“The Secret Garden”
by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara & Guru-eFX

PAGE 1 / COVER. X-Force work security at the Hellfire Gala, which apparently means skintight tuxedos. Quentin has a psionic velvet rope. The invitation in the foreground is the same as the one shown as a data page in Marauders #21.

PAGES 2-4. Kid Omega greets guests.

This is an expanded version of a scene from Marauders #21. In this version, Iron Man gets a bit more space in which to explain why he isn’t wearing the Krakoan flower or using their portal – basically, he knows a tracking device when he sees one, and he quite understandably doesn’t trust the Krakoans an inch. This being X-Force, the book will go on to confirm that he’s absolutely right.

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

MARAUDERS #21
“You are Cordially Invited to the Hellfire Gala”
by Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli & Edgar Delgado

COVER / PAGE 1. Emma Frost welcomes you to the Gala. Though really, by the time you’ve got this close, it’s a bit late to be offering you an invitation.

PAGE 2. Data page: the invitation to the Gala, which also appears on the cover of this week’s X-Force #20.

“On the evening of the summer solstice.” That would be 21 June. Apparently in the Marvel Universe you can see a starry sky on Mykines “a few minutes after midnight”, and enjoy a fireworks display, all on the summer solstice. But the Faroe Islands are so far north that it doesn’t actually get dark in midsummer. Let’s politely ignore that and move on.

PAGES 3-4. Kate, Sebastian and Emma await the arrival of the guests.

Mykines, which is a real place in the Faroe Islands, was acquired by Emma in Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto #1. The Faroes are actually an autonomous territory within Denmark.

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

X-MEN vol 5 #20
“Lost Love”
by Jonathan Hickman, Francesco Mobili & Sunny Gho

COVER / PAGE 1: The face of a damaged Nimrod.

PAGE 2. “The Oracle”

This is Mystique’s underground home, which we last saw in issue #6. The floating mask with the energy effect, which we also saw in that issue, belongs to her late wife Destiny. As shown in that issue and Powers of X #6 (among others), Professor X and Magneto signed Mystique up for the Krakoan project on the promise that Destiny would be resurrected. But Destiny can’t be resurrected because of the rule against reviving precognitives: first, she would be able to detect Moira MacTaggert hiding on the island; and second, she would apparently see something pretty alarming about how things turned out. And so Professor X and Magneto have been stringing Mystique along.

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

WOLVERINE vol 7 #12
“Penumbra”
by Benjamin Percy, Scot Eaton, JP Mayer & Matthew Wilson

COVER / PAGE 1. Dracula and the Vampire Nation hook themselves up to a captive Wolverine in order to get his blood. The image is upside down, so that the vampires look like bats.

PAGES 2-4. Logan and Louise in Paris.

All fairly straightforward in terms of plot. Louise wonders if fighting on against her vampirism is heroic or just hypocritical; Logan tells her to fight on. We have been here before with Wolverine, in X-Men Annual vol 1 #6, with Rachel van Helsing. She was a former vampire hunter turned into a vampire, and she asked Logan to kill her. That time, he did.

Penumbra. A more mundane definition would simply be that it’s an area of partial shadow. The bit at the edge of a shadow where it fades out instead of ending abruptly. But the point works as well.

“Those vampire kids…” Wolverine is referring to the vampire kids he met in issue #5, who were indeed successfully resisting Dracula’s control. Perhaps they’ve had an impact on his thinking, but in the next scene his main point is that all his own losses of control have only made him more determined to do the right thing – not simply take himself off the board.

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

X-FACTOR vol 4 #9
“Interlude: DJ Mark’s Mixtape of Mojoverse Beats to Make Out To”
by Leah Williams, David Baldeón & Israel Silva

COVER / PAGE 1. Dazzler and Lila Cheney perform in the Mojoverse, with X-Factor in the foreground.

This is the penultimate issue of the series, and issue #10 is a “Hellfire Gala” tie-in. So if you’re wondering why this issue seems in a terrible rush to tie up its storylines…

I’m so glad you enjoyed 9, and thank you for reading. 💗💗💗 I got the news about the book ending while scripting 9 so it immediately became a priority to resolve everything I could in a finite amount of space.

— Leah #XFAQtor Williams (@mymonsterischic) May 12, 2021

…well, there you go.

PAGE 2. Opening quote. Wind Dancer talks about her new role as reluctant overseer of the Mojoverse – she’s appointed as the Krakoan envoy later in the story. This is why she has a movie studio on hand to make promo videos for X-Corp in X-Corp #1.

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

X-CORP #1
“Simply Superior”
by Tini Howard, Alberto Foche & Sunny Gho

X-CORP. This is the first X-Corp series. X-Corporation was introduced in the Grant Morrison run, specifically in the 2001 New X-Men Annual. As described in the newspaper article on page 34, it was originally a sort of nonprofit organisation which existed to support mutant rights, rather than a corporate business as such. It was largely closed down after M-Day, but we’ve seen it mentioned from time to time during the Krakoan era. (Interestingly, it wasn’t mentioned in the data page in X-Force #4 that catalogued Xavier’s business assets.) Warren and Monet were shown running it in Empyre: X-Men.

COVER / PAGE 1. Well, it’s vaguely pharmaceutical-packing themed, but it’s also got corporate graphs and charts. Broadly, you’ve got Monet and Warren in businesswear, casting a shadow which shows themselves as Archangel and Penance.

With the corporate theme, mock branding and stylised colour palette, it’s very reminiscent of some of the early covers from Wildcats Version 3.0, which also did the superheroes-go-corporate angle.

PAGES 2-4. Warren and Monet film a promotional video.

It’s not exactly clear who this video is aimed at – it’s all vague aspirational corporate-speak, the idea (I suppose) being that we’re meant to take it seriously because it’s Krakoan. But who is X-Corp marketing itself to? The only product it has in this story is Krakoan drugs, and from the sound of it it just manufactures those; if it’s also selling them, what’s Hellfire Trading for? It’s odd that the relationship between those two entities isn’t really explained here – it is the premise of Marauders, after all.

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