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.
X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #21, #27 and #34
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #21, #27 and #34
“Downtime”
Writer & artist: Jason Loo
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Editor: Lauren Amaro
X-Men Unlimited likes to intersperse short stories in between its longer arcs. This is something a little different – a three part story which the series comes back to in between arcs.
I kind of like the idea of that – a background story that Unlimited checks in on from time to time. But it doesn’t really seem to fit with this particular arc. Guido and Madrox – or rather, a Madrox dupe – are jet-skiing offshore from the X-Corp base when a bunch of little monsters attack. X-Corp retreat and the duo are left behind. They make their way to nearby Monster island, which turns out to have fallen under the rule of Xemnu. I’d say Xemnu was a ridiculously obscure villain, but he was used prominently in Immortal Hulk a couple of years ago, so he’s not quite in that category right now.
Anyway, Xemnu is running the place by mind control; they beat him and go home. And that’s pretty much it. The character angle is meant to be that Guido is mildly aggrieved at being stuck with a dupe instead of the real Jamie, but nothing really comes of that. It’s… mildly diverting, I guess? Gently pleasant? The art’s charming, which is the big strength of the story – but there’s really not much to it. It’s just a bit of whimsical filler.
Which is fine as far as it goes – it’s X-Men Unlimited, after all, it’s a freebie book. Still, the scheduling of the story is baffling to me. As I say, I quite like the idea of having a storyline going on in the background and being checked in on periodically. But that’s not what’s happening here. That gimmick needs a story that plays out over a longer period, with characters who are sidelined from the main action. This takes, what, 24 hours? And Guido appears prominently in the Declan Shalvey arc in between chapters one and two. And at that point, I don’t really get the point of spreading something so slight over such a long period.
Charts – 10 June 2022
Ten weeks, then, but with a big asterisk.
The big asterisk is that number 2 is “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush, which turns out not to be a one-week fluke based on Stranger Things, but is actually sticking around and climbing. Number 2 is its all time chart peak – it reached number 3 on release in 1985. But… “Running Up That Hill” is back catalogue, which means it’s on permanent downweighting, even though it’s functionally a new entry and hasn’t been on the top 40 since 2012 (when it was reissued to tie in with the London Olympics). And if its streams were being counted on the same basis as a new release, it would be Kate Bush’s second number one right now. The first was “Wuthering Heights”, her debut hit from 1978. Her final top 40 hit was “King of the Mountain” in 2005. If she had managed a second number one – and there’s a good chance she still could – then that would have been quite something.
13. LF System – “Afraid to Feel”
Free Comic Book Day: Avengers / X-Men / Eternals
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY: AVENGERS / X-MEN / ETERNALS
“Of Deviation and Mutation”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Dustin Weaver
Colourist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort
“Bloodline”
Writer: Danny Lore
Artist: Karen S Darboe
Colourist: Ian Herring
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Annalise Bissa
“Let’s Talk About Krakoa”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Matteo Lolli
Colourist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Jordan D White
This is, to be honest, one of those comics where there seems to be a bit of ambiguity about what it’s, you know, actually called, which is always helpful when people might want to find it on Marvel Unlimited at some point. The cover has a Judgment Day logo. Marvel Unlimited has it listed as just Free Comic Book Day: Avengers / X-Men, with no mention of the Eternals. Let’s split the difference.
X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #29-33
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #29-33
“X-Men Green II”
Writers: Karla Pacheco (#29-32) and Steve Orlando (#33)
Artist: Emilio Laiso
Colourist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Editor: Lauren Amaro
Apparently the thinking that everything should have a fresh #1 at the first opportunity doesn’t apply to Infinity Comics. I know it doesn’t really matter, but I rather like that. This is the second arc for Nature Girl’s “X-Men Green” team, who were introduced in a storyline written by Gerry Duggan earlier in the series. Duggan doesn’t return for this arc, but artist Emilio Laiso does, joined this time by Karla Pacheco… except for the final issue, which for some reason is credited solely to Steve Orlando. That’s weird, isn’t it? You’d figure that at the very least there’d be elements of the original plot being used. Hmm.
So. The original X-Men Green arc was a little ambivalent about Nature Girl’s group. On the other hand, Nature Girl was written as so far over the top – not just taking on the fossil fuel industry but killing shopkeepers over plastic bags – as to be a fanatic, and her group is rounded out by Sauron, who is a maniac, and Curse, who is just there to vent her urge to cause trouble. On the other hand, as soon as the story moved away on to more conventional eco-villains, it played her as much more sympathetic. This didn’t feel like nuance so much as a bit of a split personality in the story.
Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird #1
GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: THUNDERBIRD #1
“And When There Was One”
Writers: Steve Orlando & Nyla Rose
Penciller: David Cutler
Inkers: José Marzan Jr with Roberto Poggi
Colourist: Irma Kniivila
Letterer & Production: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
John Proudstar is a character in a strange position. He was introduced along with the rest of the new X-Men line-up in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). He was dead by X-Men #85 (October 1975). He appeared in a grand total of three issues. He didn’t even die fighting a major X-Men villain. He got himself killed trying to punch Count Nefaria’s aeroplane to death.
Now, viewed from 2022, it’s maybe a little unfortunate that Giant-Size #1 introduces a new multi-ethnic team and then promptly gets rid of both Sunfire and Thunderbird. But viewed in terms of a team dynamic, you can see the thinking. The team introduced in Giant-Size #1 has not one but three characters who are defined largely as grumpy, unco-operative types. You don’t need three of that character. Early Wolverine will do the job just fine. On top of that, Thunderbird’s main power is to be big and strong… on a team that already has Colossus. He’s an aggrieved ex-soldier… on a team that already has Wolverine. He does wilderness back-to-nature type things… on a team that already has Wolverine. To be fair, Wolverine only really grows into that last role a bit later on, but the point remains that you don’t need Thunderbird to cover this territory.
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.
X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #28
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #28
“So I’m Dating a Pop Star!”
Writer: Jason Loo
Artist: EJ Su
Colourist: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Editor: Lauren Amaro
So, yeah. This came out at the end of March and I’m only getting to it now. Time for a renewed push to clear the backlog.
The thing is: sitting at the top of my review list for a while has been Demon Days, the Peach Momoko miniseries which shipped more or less quarterly and basically involves Marvel Universe characters being reworked into Japanese mythology. And the thing bores me so completely that I just cannot face re-reading it. I mean, it’s beautiful, of course, but I just don’t get it at all. It doesn’t feel like the characters have much in common with the originals beyond the very superficial; I don’t feel like it’s telling me anything interesting about the characters or about Japanese mythology or about any sort of overlap between the two. If anything, it leaves me feeling like there is no connection and the whole thing is a completely arbitrary parlour game. Maybe if I knew more about Japanese folklore I’d be seeing some sort of connection there, but I don’t and I’m really, really not. I just don’t understand at all what the thing is trying to do or why it exists. It’s one of those comics where even the first time around I could feel by the end that I was still dutifully turning the pages but none of it was sinking in. And I just cannot bring myself to re-read the thing in order to review it properly. Life is too short.
Fortunately, the next Demon Days series to be solicited is something to do with Civil War, and the book itself is a mixture of X-books elements and stuff from the wider Marvel Universe, so I have decided that for my purposes it is Not An X-Book and we can all move on with our lives.
