A.X.E.: Judgment Day #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
A.X.E.: JUDGMENT DAY #3
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Valerio Schiti
Colourist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER / PAGE 1: Makkari, Jean Grey and Iron Man, presumably inside the Progenitor.
PAGES 2-3. Recap and credits.
PAGES 4-5. The Progenitor judges Captain America.
The Progenitor is still going by the name he had in the Avengers arc that introduced him, despite his resurrection with an apparently altered personality. You have to wonder what the connection is between this guy and the very Celestial-like, though somewhat lower powered, Progenitors from various Al Ewing stories, most recently X-Men Red #2. But that’s probably a story for another time.
Ajak initially tries to rationalise away what she’s done. She’s apparently programmed to worship the Celestials as a religion, and so much of what she’s doing involves trying to explain or reinterpret that religion to get to a place she can live with.
Charts – 20 August 2022
After a lengthy summer logjam, we’re starting to see some turnover in the top half of the singles chart. But only starting.
1. LF System – “Afraid to Feel”
That’s seven weeks. It does have a serious challenge this time, with “B.O.T.A. (Baddest of them All)” by Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal climbing from 10 to 2, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this turns out to be it.
15. Nicki Minaj – “Super Freaky Girl”
This is the lead single from her 15th album, and counting guest appearances, it’s her 40th top 40 hit. And yes, it’s come to this, someone else has decided that enough time has passed to get away with sampling “Super Freak” by Rick James, the track that formed the basis for “U Can’t Touch This”. It’s… Nicki Minaj doing the cartoon version of Nicki Minaj, I guess? And that’s maybe what people want from Nicki Minaj at this point in her career, since she hasn’t placed a solo single this high since “Anaconda” back in 2014.
New Mutants #28 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
NEW MUTANTS vol 4 #28
“The Labors of Magik, Book Four: The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen”
Writer: Vita Ayala
Main story art & colours: Rod Reis
Flashback art: Jan Duursema
Flashback colours: Ruth Redmon
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Sarah Brunstad
COVER / PAGE 1: Magik in chains before Madelyne Pryor as the new Queen of Limbo. Not especially connected to anything that happens in the issue, though if you squint a bit I suppose you could see it as representing their respective attitudes to reigning Limbo.
PAGE 2. Magik tries making her Soulsword.
That’s Magik’s castle, as last seen in issue #25.
Since rescuing her own younger self last issue, Magik and co have apparently been hiding out in a cave while she tries to recreate the Soulsword. Of course, symbols blurring with reality is a standard trope of magical stories, but Magik seems to literally believe that the key to regaining control of Limbo is to summon up the Soulsword again. Since the sword represents her soul, Magik seems to recognise that restoring the Soulsword is just the outward manifestation of restoring her soul – but it’s not clear what she’s actually been doing over the last week or so restore her soul.
X-Force #30 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-FORCE vol 6 #30
“The Hunt for X, part 1: Dawn of the Hunt”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Robert Gill
Colourist: GURU-eFX
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER / PAGE 1: The new X-Force line-up, complete with annoying Deadpool. This issue is bannered as a “Judgment Day” tie-in despite having no apparent connection to the crossover at all. In fairness, though, X-Force #30-33 are all listed as tie-ins, so perhaps this plotline will connect to it somehow over the next few issues.
PAGES 2-4. Wolverine yells at a tree.
Wolverine blames Krakoa itself for the disappearance of Kid Omega, who vanishes while fighting a Cerebrax-possessed Krakoa at the end of issue #29. Nothing in that issue gives Wolverine any particularly concrete reason to blame Krakoa, but Percy has repeatedly written Wolverine as the one guy on the island who really doesn’t trust the place. Quentin’s disappearance is the catalyst for Wolverine’s wider doubts to come to the fore.
X-Men #13 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 6 #13
“Resurrection Blues”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: C F Villa
Colourist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1: Cyclops and Jean in action alongside Ikaris and Sersi from Eternals. This is an A.X.E.: Judgment Day tie-in.
PAGE 2. Opening quote: Jean Grey. It’s obviously meant to be ironic in the light of the plot of Judgment Day, in which an artificially-revived Celestial judges the whole planet.
PAGE 3. The X-Men in battle against the Hex.
Or rather, all of them but Forge, who we’ll get to on the next page. But the rest of the newly-elected team from X-Men: Hellfire Gala are here.
This is the Hex’s attack on Krakoa from A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2. The one seen here is Thieaka the Harpsicus. The narrator gives us the very basic version of the Eternals’ motivation; the fuller version is that Druig sees this as a way to cement his authority as Prime Eternal, but that’s not really relevant to this issue.
Charts – 12 August 2022
Activity!
1. LF System – “Afraid To Feel”
Six weeks and counting. That’s bad for an act who are currently on the list of pure one-hit wonders – one number one hit and nothing else, ever. Wikipedia understandably doesn’t add names to their list until a year has passed, on the logic that you’re not really a one-hit wonder until you’ve had a reasonable opportunity to achieve a follow-up. Right now, the latest name on their list is Nathan Evans. Remember sea-shanties? Strange times.
4. KSI featuring Tom Grennan – “Not Over Yet”
Even though he reminds us at the start of the video that he’s a YouTube guy, KSI is emphatically a proper pop star in the UK – this is his tenth top ten hit, and it’s certainly not a novelty record. Presumably it’s the first single from his next album. As for Tom Grennan, this is his highest chart position; he’s had three previous top ten hits, but his previous best was number 7 for “Little Bit of Love”.
Ms Marvel & Wolverine #1
MS MARVEL & WOLVERINE #1
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Zé Carlos
Colourist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Mark Basso
Well, here’s one for the completist file – at least from an X-books’ perspective. Not so much for Ms Marvel, of course. I really don’t get Marvel’s publishing approach to this character – you’d have thought the TV show would be a good reason to get her solo series up and running again, but instead we’re getting Infinity Comics and team-up books.
In classic Marvel style, while this is labelled Ms Marvel & Wolverine #1, it’s actually the first issue of a miniseries where, you guessed it, every issue is called Ms Marvel & Insert Name Here #1. Because you wouldn’t want people to be able to figure out what issue to read them in, would you? Or have something that they can actually call the series? Or make it straightforward to find them on Marvel Unlimited?
A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
A.X.E.: JUDGMENT DAY #2
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Valerio Schiti
Colourist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER / PAGE 1. The reanimated Celestial looms over the heroes (not looking quite the way it ends up in the actual story).
PAGES 2-3. Recap and credits.
PAGE 4. Meet the civilians.
The first appearance of all six of these characters, as far as I’m aware. Arjan’s confidence that the heroes will save him is ironic given what happens to him later in the issue. There are of six of them, matching the number of the Hex, which may or may not be significant.
The narrator is identified later in the issue as the new Celestial god that Ajak is in the process of raising. The caption style is clearly reminiscent of the “machine” narration from Eternals, though.
Tom’s T-shirt has the image of Bruttu, a one-off character from Tales of Suspense #22 (1961). That story involves Bruttu being a comic book character who then inspires one Howard Lindley to become a real-life Bruttu, so the existence of Bruttu merchandise in the Marvel Universe is entirely reasonable.
Charts – 5 August 2022
In which Beyoncé has an album out. But first…
1. LF System – “Afraid to Feel”
That’s five weeks, but it only holds on by the equivalent of about 3,000 sales. Still, even past its peak, it’s able to keep Beyoncé at bay.
2. Beyoncé – “Break My Soul”
14. Beyoncé – “Cuff It”
16. Beyoncé – “Alien Superstar”
That’s the maximum three tracks from her album “Renaissance”, which enters the album chart as her fourth UK solo number one. ( “Cuff It” and “Alien Superstar” are just album tracks; “Break My Soul” is the trailer single, which has been on the singles chart for seven weeks now, mostly hovering between 4 and 6.
The Incomplete Wolverine – 2003
Part 1: Origin to Origin II | Part 2: 1907 to 1914
Part 3: 1914 to 1939 | Part 4: World War II
Part 5: The postwar era | Part 6: Team X
Part 7: Post Team X | Part 8: Weapon X
Part 9: Department H | Part 10: The Silver Age
1974-1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979
1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985
1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991
1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997
1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002
When we left off, we were in the middle of a mob storyline, though we’d taken a diversion to deal with some guest appearances. And now, back to the main story.
WOLVERINE vol 2 #183-185
“…And Got Yourself a Gun” / “When in Rome…” / “Sleeping with the Fishes”
by Frank Tieri, Sean Chen, Tom Palmer & Edgar Tadeo
December 2002 to February 2003
As per his deal with Freddo, Logan starts going after the operations of rival crimelord the Roman. The Roman turns out to be a gang leader who publicly feigns insanity, dressing as an ancient Roman. He does things like feed annoying henchmen to his pet lions. It works better than you’d think; he feels like a Silver Age Batman character who’s wandered into an otherwise straight crime story. Anyway, being a moron, Freddo is so delighted with Logan’s work that he tries to offer him a permanent job, despite sensible underboss Delcavvo trying to warn him off it. When Logan turns him down, Freddo starts scheming to force Logan into working for him. Meanwhile, the Roman and Delcavvo both try to have Logan killed, and get absolutely nowhere with it. In the end, Logan kills the Roman, but winds up striking a deal to hand over Freddo to Delcavvo, who has him killed.
Issues #181-185 are the peak of the Tieri run; they have dry humour that actually lands, and they don’t have the repetitive sadism that plagues a lot of his run. This is a largely forgotten arc because it has no wider impact, but it’s really pretty good.
