Fallen Angels #2 annotations
As always, page numbers are from the digital edition, and this will contain spoilers.
COVER / PAGE 1. Psylocke (Kwannon), X-23 and Cable next to a cage full of children who they’re presumably about to rescue.
PAGES 2-5. Flashback. Pre-Psylocke Kwannon meets Yama, who’s on the run and wants her help, but she kills him and then fights two gunmen.
The other two gunmen are presumably the people Yama was on the run from. The general thrust of the scene, though, is that Kwannon is deeply unimpressed with Yama, who is trying to get out of the game, something that she sees (at this stage in her life) as generally disreputable and disastrous behaviour. As for why she kills the others, that’s presumably covered in the second flashback in the issue, when she explains that she read Yama’s mind and was touched by his desire to protect his wife and unborn son.
“The blade of Nyoirin. Matsu’o’s prize.” This must be fairly shortly before she gets body swapped with Psylocke. Nyoirin is the crimelord she was working for; Matsu’o Tsurayaba was her boyfriend.
(more…)X-Force #2 annotations
As always, page numbers go by the digital edition, and this will be full of spoilers.
COVER / PAGE 1. Kid Omega and Wolverine fighting lab-grown thingies.
PAGES 1-2. The mutants of Krakoa gather around the fallen Professor X, and Magneto gives a brief eulogy.
“This was your plan, your island, your future.” Or such is the official line, anyway – this seems to have been at least as much Moira’s plan, but that’s secret. Naturally, Magneto makes the point that if Xavier can be brought back from the dead, nothing will change. The problem is that, as shown in House of X, Professor X himself has been essential to the process of restoring the backed-up minds from Cerebro, and no other telepath has been taught how to do it yet.
Professor X is seen without his Cerebro helmet for the first time in the Hickman run, outside flashbacks. Previous stories even went out of their way to avoid showing his face when he was unmasked, but there seems to be nothing unusual about his appearance here.
(more…)New Mutants #2 annotations
As we get further into the series, chances are these posts can start to get shorter. But meantime… as always, page numbers are from the digital edition, and this post contains spoilers.
COVER / PAGE 1: The New Mutants get caught by Gladiator.
PAGES 2-3. Sunspot recaps the plot, and explains that the New Mutants are in Shi’ar jail, and his lawyer has arranged an early hearing.
“I had to lay it on pretty thick to convince my friends to leave paradise…” Not what we saw in issue #1. In fairness, that issue cut directly from Sunspot suggesting it to the team already being in space. So it could have happened the way Sunspot claims. But given the tone of all this, it’s more likely he’s talking himself up. Hickman’s Sunspot – and note Hickman is credited as sole writer on this issue – is much more of a comedy figure than we’ve seen in recent years in books like USAvengers. Then again, this is also more of a comedy book.
(more…)Charts – 22 November 2019
We’re only a week or so away from the march of the Christmas hits. But for now…
1. Tones & I – “Dance Monkey”
Eight weeks. More to the point, its numbers went up this week – which means it’s not going to get downweighted any time soon, as that only happens when a record is three weeks past its peak. It could realistically sit there until the Christmas releases arrive.
3. Billie Eilish – “Everything I Wanted”
Read moreExcalibur #2 annotations
As always, page numbers are from the digital edition, and this post contains spoilers.
COVER / PAGE 1. Captain Britain, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and the Villain Formerly Known as Apocalypse battling Silkies outside the Excalibur lighthouse. Basically in the issue, except for the bit where Rogue’s awake.
PAGE 2. Flashback to the fourth century BCE. Apocalypse watches as two outcast mutant twins with navigation powers set sail on a makeshift raft.
And they drown, because navigation powers don’t help you build ships. Obviously, these two have some sort of significance, and we’ll come back to them on page 13. Judging from their clothes, they’re presumably druids – in which case they got kicked out of the druid tribe for being mutants.
(more…)Marauders #2 annotations
Oh, all right then. I’m not guaranteeing to keep these up, but let’s cover this one quickly. As always, this post is full of spoilers, and page numbers are from the digital edition.
COVER / PAGE 1. The Black King and the White Queen in a drawing room, pushing models around a map of the far east. Emma seems to pushing a model of Kate Pryde and her boat towards a model of a cartoon bomb. The place names on the map are all genuine except for what appears to be “Hellfire St[raits]”, which seems to lie between the cities of Xiamen (in China) and Kaohsiung (in Taiwan).
PAGES 2-3. The recap and credits. The title is “The Red Coronation”. The small print hasn’t changed since last issue.
PAGE 4. A data page with another slightly redacted memo from the US Naval Intelligence agent tasked with keeping track of the Marauders – there was one of these in issue #1. Largely, this explains that after issue #1, the Marauders headed for Tokyo, took out a whaling vessel on the way, did some partying, and then stole a pleasure craft to go after a Madripoor-registered vessel. Presumably this is the Marauders going after Black King’s rogue ship on Emma’s instructions, as referenced later in the issue.
(more…)Charts – 15 November 2019
Nine new entries on the singles chart, the most in a while. And almost all from the same genre, too. The singles chart used to have more range than this…
1 Tones & I – “Dance Monkey”
Seven weeks and counting. It’s going to be there till Christmas, isn’t it? And it heads up a static top four, followed by…
5. J Hus – “Must Be”
(more…)X-Men #2 annotations
I don’t plan to do every issue of the satellite books – certainly not in weeks when more than one book is coming out. But let’s stick with the core title. As always, page numbers are from the digital edition, and this post contains spoilers.
COVER / PAGE 1. Cyclops, Prestige and Cable fighting horrible monsters. A scene which actually takes place in the issue!
PAGE 2. Cyclops enlists Prestige and Cable to investigate a mysterious new island full of monsters which is heading towards Krakoa.
“Kids.” As you almost certainly know, Cable is Cyclops’s actual son, who grew up in the far future and returned as… well, it used to be an adult, but now it’s a teenager. Prestige (Rachel Summers) is the daughter of Cyclops and Phoenix from the Days of Futures Past timeline, so her father is a Cyclops, but not actually this Cyclops. She’s never been all that close to Scott in this timeline, and fell out with him rather badly at one point over his relationship with Emma Frost. But evidently she’s up for being a member of the Summers family these days.
(more…)Fallen Angels #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers are for the digital edition.
FALLEN ANGELS. The original Fallen Angels was a much-liked eight-issue miniseries from 1987-88, in which Sunspot and Warlock run away from the New Mutants and wind up on a team of misfits under the charge of the Vanisher, including Siryn, Madrox, and a bunch of characters rarely seen since. This was back in the days when X-minis were still uncommon enough to be a big deal. This series has no obvious connection with the original, beyond reusing a nice name.
COVER / PAGE 1. The cast in Tokyo.
PAGES 2-5. A young Apoth user seizes control of a Tokyo underground train and crashes it.
We’ll learn more about Apoth later in the issue – including its name – but it’s pretty clear that it’s the device which the girl places on her head, and which apparently gives her powers. We’ll also find out at the end of the issue that the girl seen here is Kwannon’s long-lost daughter. Again, more of that later.
(more…)Charts – 8 November 2019
The bombardment of album releases continues, and the BBC complains about the chart rules.
1 Tones & I – “Dance Monkey”
Six weeks, and despite a wobble a little while back, it’s still growing. Maybe it’ll be one of those number ones that hangs around for ages due to the next wave of big releases holding off for Christmas.
2. Dua Lipa – “Don’t Start Now”
(more…)