Marauders #14 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
MARAUDERS #14
“X of Swords, Chapter 13”
by Gerry Duggan, Benjamin Percy, Stefano Caselli & Edgar Delgado
COVER / PAGE 1: Storm dances with Death. This issue is pretty straightforward, by the way.
PAGE 2: Data page. It’s the menu for Saturnyne’s pre-contest dinner, and pretty self-explanatory. The “raw delicacies originating from the Dryador Sea” are the last of their kind because the seas were destroyed by the Horde of Amenth when they invaded Dryador in X of Swords: Creation.
Saturnyne’s quote has fairly obvious religious overtones with the bread and wine. It’s vaguely possible that it’s meant to echo Proverbs 9:5 (“Come, eat of my bread / And drink of the wine I have mixed / Forsake foolishness and live / And go in the way of understanding”), which would cast Saturnyne as Wisdom, but more likely it’s just general Christian imagery.
PAGE 3. Credits.
PAGE 4. Recap page.
(more…)X-Men #14 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 5 #14
“X of Swords, Chapter 12”
by Jonathan Hickman, Mahmud Asrar, Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho
COVER / PAGE 1: Apocalypse with his sword and a bunch of skulls.
PAGES 2-3: Recap and credits.
PAGES 4-7: Apocalypse and Genesis meet in the Starlight Citadel garden.
Genesis. This is the first time we’ve seen her speak at any length, and she seems to be if anything more “survival of the fittest” than Apocalypse himself. Presumably she was a big influence on him. She does seem to still have some genuine affection for him, but we’ll see later that she’s now at least merged with Annihilation, and driven by Annihilation’s goals.
(more…)Charts – 30 October 2020
Internet Money only managed a single week at number one, because… well, they’re not going to compete with this, are they?
1. Ariana Grande – “Positions”
Ah, the A list. This is the title track from the surprise album of the same name, which was released today. It’s her seventh number one, starting with her debut UK hit “Problem” in 2014. The reviews are middling to positive, and certainly this is a track which never quite gets past “above average”.
(more…)X of Swords: Stasis annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X OF SWORDS: STASIS
“X of Swords, Chapter 11”
by Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, Pepe Larraz, Mahmud Asrar & Marte Gracia
COVER / PAGE 1: The ten champions of Arakko, some of them actually carrying their swords.
PAGE 2: Epigraph from Saturnyne. One of the big unanswered questions in this storyline is what exactly Saturnyne is trying to achieve by all this. In Chapter 1, the implication seemed to be that Saturnyne was faced with the prospect of a full scale war between the forces of Arakko and Krakoa, and offered a more symbolic mystical contest as a less destructive alternative. But it’s become increasingly clear that she has her own agenda.
For some reason, the small print on this page reads “Amenth sings.”
PAGE 3: Credits.
(more…)The Incomplete Wolverine, part 10
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
We’ve reached the Silver Age. Not that Wolverine’s going to interact all that closely with the major tropes – he spends this period in Department H, and few writers have felt tempted to send Wolverine to mess around with mainstream Silver Age stories. But there are exceptions.
FURY vol 1 #1
by Barry Dutter & M C Wyman
May 1994
Take this one-shot about the origins of SHIELD. The Silver Age heroes are active by this point. Logan guest stars in one chapter, teaming with CIA Colonel Rick Stoner to recover James Hudson’s stolen prototype armour from HYDRA. The incident prompts the formation of SHIELD, with Stoner as its short-lived initial Director, but Logan’s not involved in any of that.
Charts – 23 October 2020
It’s another of those awkward weeks when the chart rules that were designed to stop older records hanging around become a little too visible. “Mood” by 24KGoldn has now been out for 10 weeks, and it’s several weeks past its sales peak. That means it switches to getting fewer points for its streams, and so its four week run at number 1 is followed by a glaringly abrupt drop to number 9. The lucky beneficiary is…
1. Internet Money featuring Don Toliver, Gunna & Nav – “Lemonade”
(more…)Juggernaut #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
JUGGERNAUT #2
“How Green is my Valley”
by Fabian Nicieza, Ron Garney & Matt Milla
COVER / PAGE 1. The Juggernaut fighting the Hulk, obviously. This is a pretty straightforward issue, by the way – I don’t expect this to be a very long post.
PAGE 2. Recap page. The equivalent page in issue #1 was tinted red, to match the Juggernaut’s colours. This one is tinted green for the Hulk. If we’re doing a colour theme, then there’s still three issues to go.
We’re told that this issue takes place before Immortal Hulk #30. That’s a slightly odd reference point, because Immortal Hulk #30 was the middle chapter of a storyline. Presumably it’s nothing more than an acknowledgement that this story is lagging a bit behind the Hulk’s status quo in his own book.
(more…)X-Men #13 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 5 #13
“X of Swords, Chapter 10”
by Jonathan Hickman, Mahmud Asrar and Sunny Gho
COVER / PAGE 1: Apocalypse and the original Horsemen stand over defeated opponents, with Apocalypse carrying his two swords.
PAGES 2-3. Recap and credits.
PAGE 4. Data page on Grasscutter and Godkiller. These two swords have nothing in particular to do with this issue; it’s just part of the series of data pages on the contest swords which have been scattered through the stories to date.
(more…)House to Astonish Episode 186
We’re back, with a bunch of chat for you about DC’s Future State, the return of the Thunderbolts, delays to Marvel’s Eternals and Aftershock’s merger, we review Amazing Spider-Man and We Live, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe brings you Sandman Done Right Done Right. All this plus Methadone Spidey, Miracle Dog and a Rainmate with a face.
The podcast is here, or on Mixcloud here, or available through the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, either in the comments below, on Twitter, via email, or via our Facebook fan page. And hey! You know what never goes out of style? Our t-shirts!
Excalibur #13 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
EXCALIBUR vol 4 #13
“X of Swords, Chapter 9”
by Tini Howard, R B Silva & Nolan Woodard
COVER / PAGE 1. The two Captain Britains fight.
PAGES 2-3. Recap and credits
PAGES 4-6. The Braddock siblings arrive at the Starlight Citadel.
“A mutant who became a hero to a people who were not her own.” Betsy as Captain Britain, of course, although the claim that she’s a hero to the people of Britain has been more often asserted in this series than actually backed up. Many of the claims in this narration would carry a bit more weight if we ever actually saw Betsy doing anything in a national-hero vein. But broadly, it’s making claims about the weight of playing the role of a national symbol, and the downplaying of personal views which is necessary if you’re going to be all things to all people – to the extent that you can.
(more…)