The X-Axis – w/c 2 June 2025
ASTONISHING X-MEN INFINITY COMIC #24. By Tim Seeley, Edoardo Audino, KJ Díaz, Clayton Cowles & Darren Shan. End of the current storyline, and I’m not convinced that this one really drew all its threads together. It looks great, and there are some elements of the Mutant Salvation Front that I really like. The idea of some of the MLF types being so dispirited by the post-Krakoa world that they’d rather try to travel forward in time to a better future than get there the long way is a nice one. Sure, the Krakoan era ended in a way that rather implied that all the mutants left on Earth were either new or had made a conscious decision to stay, but at this stage we’ve probably just got to assume that a lot more people didn’t fancy life in a conceptual realm than that story let on. And there’s an undercurrent to Wildside’s attitude to the post-Krakoa X-Men that makes a degree of sense: what do you mean we reverted to villainy? You’re the ones who turned your backs on mutant supremacism. We’re holding true to the Krakoan dream, mate.
However… quite what any of this has to do with the influencer storyline, I don’t really get. Something about Wildside trying to use them to spread his ideas and coming up against self-interest and cynicism and…? No, it just feels like two storylines that don’t connect up. So there are good ideas in here but it’s less than the sum of its parts.
X-MEN #17. (Annotations here.) This is by far the longest storyline we’ve had from Jed MacKay, despite it being basically a day’s fighting in the vicinity of the Factory. The X-Men themselves – and their 3K counterparts – don’t actually get that much to do in this issue, the real point being to expand a bit on the shadowy members of 3K. For that to work, of course, the art winds up having to gather them around one little bit of their enormous table, which always seemed a hostage to visual fortune. I’m not sure how effectively the new information about 3K is landing as a reveal – there surely can’t be many people out there who are excited to see Astra back, and Wyre is so obscure a character that he might as well be a new creation so far as X-Men readers are concerned. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with using either character here, but building them up as a mystery is an odd choice.
The Chairman is a more intriguing mystery, though, and we also get some fun stuff here with Magneto fighting the monster twin in his makeshift Sentinel kaiju. Stegman is at his best on the character work, though – the twin is faintly ridiculous but has the appropriate look of an angry child, and I really do like the splash page of Ben and Jennifer bringing Piper back home.
STORM #9. (Annotations here.) Regular readers will know that I find Storm a bit of a slog, albeit with consistently lovely art from Lucas Werneck. This is at the better end of the range for the book, in that it starts drawing together some seemingly dropped threads, and Storm’s change of heart during her interrogation about whether she’s a danger to the USA actually makes reasonable sense in the light of scenes later in the issue. And I quite enjoy the absurd FBI agents, some of whom seem to be on loan from Doom Patrol. On the other hand, Storm’s gone from ignoring her possession by Eternity to comparing it to a sexual assault seemingly out of nowhere, and a symbolic splash page of the Statute of Liberty in driving rain so that it looks like she’s crying is Not Exactly Subtle. That’s before you get to the oddity of characters trying to be American exceptionalist officials in the midst of One World Under Doom, but you can’t really hold that against Murewa Ayodele because it’s an inherent problem of trying to make that storyline into a line-wide event. Still a choppy and inconsistent title, then, but this is one of the issues where it’s easier for me to see what some people like about it.
LAURA KINNEY, WOLVERINE #7. (Annotations here.) Ah. Well. The first half of this storyline did a really nice job of setting up Laura’s seemingly perfect world. The second half… does not stick the landing. On re-reading, and on a bit of reflection, there is an interesting idea at work here. It’s meant to be an inversion of the perfect dream world trope, where Laura is meant to be living in a utopia, but even that suburban paradise version of her life is a world where she’s mentally ill and her mother is dead. There’s only so much niceness her mind is willing to tolerate. Erica Schultz writes that part quite subtly, and Giada Belviso’s Wolverine family strikes the right vibe. The problem is that the story doesn’t have a good explanation for why any of this is happening, and so it winds up with a back end built around some hand-wavy throwaway stuff from the Badoon and a major role for walking plot device Beautiful Dreamer. That part of the issue is entirely unsatisfying, I’m afraid.
HELLVERINE #7. By Benjamin Percy, Raffaele Ienco, Bryan Valenza & Travis Lanham. So you’ll never guess, but the twist is that the obviously sinister guy from the previous issue is a baddie. I know! I wondered for a moment whether Raffaele Ienco’s art had just really oversold how obviously evil the guy was, but no, it’s made fairly obvious in the previous issue from the script as well. Ienco does deliver a genuinely nice splash page of an out-of-context vision that Akihiro experiences, and there’s something appealing in the idea that Akihiro is keen to hang around with Project Hellfire just to get a bit of company from people he can relate to. But this is a bit of a mess, really.
The sales figures for May 2025 are out. X-Men 16 came in 17, Spider-Man & Wolverine came in 22, Uncanny X-Men 14 came in 25, Giant-Size X-Men 1 came in 28, Wolverine 9 came in 39, Magik 5 came in 41, Uncanny X-Men 15 came in 43, Storm 8 came in 50, Psylocke 7 came in 52, Laura Kinney: Wolverine 6came in 66, Phoenix 11 came in 72, Hellverine 6 came in 74, Rogue: the Savage Land 5 came in 85, Deadpool/ Wolverine came in 93, Exceptional X-Men came in 94, and Weapon X-Men 4 came in 135.
Bleeding Cool’s Bestseller list for this week came out. X-Men 17 came in at 7, and Storm, Laura Kinney: Wolverine and Hellverine didn’t make the top 10 at all.
Overall, this is not good. The X-books’ sales have been disappointing.
Spider-Man and Wolverine 1 came in at 22. We’ll have to see how it does next month, since Deadpool/ Wolverine started out better and it’s now doing horribly.
None of the Wolverine books have been selling well. Wolverine came in at 39. It was beaten by Fantastic Four and Incredible Hulk. It was a mistake to oversaturate the market with Wolverine books but Ahmed’s writing leads a lot to be desired. Who thought bringing back Romulus was a good idea? Now the sales of Wolverine’s book itself seems to be declining.
Magik came in at 41. Not bad considering it came out the last week of the month. It even beat Uncanny X-Men 15, which came out the same week. (Not very impressive for Uncanny X-Men, though.)
Storm and Psylocke seem to be declining a bit but still hanging in there.
Hellverine came in at 74- unusually well for the title.
Rogue the Savage Land finally sank to a normal number for a limited series, although it still beat Deadpool/ Wolverine and Exceptional X-Men.
What’s truly amazing is how badly Exceptional X-Men is doing. It was supposed to be a flagship title (in name, at least) and now it’s selling worse than any non-cancelled title.
Imperial 1 was out this week.It’is difficult to reconcile with X-Manhunt. In X-Manhunt, Xandra is kidnapped by Sh’iar rebels and Deathbird is looking for her. In Imperial, Deathbird and Xandra are trying to find out who was responsible for the assassinations. It’s possible X-Manhunt takes place before or after X-Manhunt 1, but it’s still odd. But then again, a lot of Imperial 1 was difficult to reconcile with either continuity (Ronan being alive and an Accuser again) or characterization. A lot of fans were complaining. But then again, there were similar complaints about Krakoa .
BTW, if you look closely, Orbis Stellaris made a cameo appearance in Imperial.
Imperial didn’t do a lot for me. I didn’t outright dislike it. I’m going to give it a chance, but House of X #1 was like opening an entire new world of possibility to which I wanted to keep returning. Imperial #1 was like reading similar Marvel cosmic books and made me kind of miss Abnett/Lanning’s Guardians again.
House/Powers was reading a new Ken MacLeod, Iain M. Banks, Charles Stross novel. Imperial #1 was akin to reading another space opera/new Star Wars tie-in novel.
For fans of this site, Professor X did not show up yet.
On the 2020s Hickman Marvel scale, Imperial came in below Ultimate Spider-Man and HoXPoX but above Ultimate Invasion and GODS. I liked it enough to want to read more. The art was fine, if not amazing. I liked that the Hulk is a major character in this event, as he’s often sidelined in these things.
@Michael: “Imperial 1 was out this week.It’s difficult to reconcile with X-Manhunt.”
Agreed, but I wasn’t bothered by that because X-Manhunt sucked.
Exceptional X-Men…ouch
Not trying to be catty, and I love the reviews, but is anyone excited about this era of X-books?
The thing that gets me is that no one even cares enough to hate it. The creators involved are mostly people who have done good work in other contexts. But the whole effect of everything I read about the current line is a feeling of exhaustion.
Is there anything in the line right now that ppl are actively enjoying and excited to read another issue of?
@Mr. K, I do enjoy Storm even though it’s 90% for the art at this point. It’s the only X-ongoing that I’m reading right now. I’m ready other books like Immortal Thor, Avengers, West Coast Avengers, New Champions, and Spider-Boy. The initial releases of From the Ashes made me disappointed and I did read all of the Krakoa ongoings.
@Mr. K
I like about half of the books, McKay’s X-Men being the one I’m most excited to read when it comes out. Exceptional X-Men is my second-favorite because I like the character work. I do enjoy the new mutants that have come out of this era so far too.
I was pretty tired of the Krakoa era and was glad to see it end and move on, but I’m also glad the current books aren’t forgetting Krakoa either.
I am a frequently lapsed X-Men reader (so theoretically the kind of person Brevoort was looking to lure back) who is pretty burned out on the classical “hated and feared by humanity and squabbling with other mutants” setup and absolutely uninterested in “this widespread ailment is killing or depowering us” (so in practice impossible for Brevoort to lure back given his apparent priorities).
Morrison and Hickman/Team Krakoa both brought me back with their willingness to expand and play with the concept (in the spirit of Claremont), and the follow-up runs drove me away again by reverting to the mean (aping the specifics of Claremont).
I agree that the Krakoan era was out of gas by the end and needed some kind of shake-up, but I think following up its very distinctive premise with “actually we don’t have any particular premise” was an overcorrection.
(Although now that I think of it, “recruit/educate mutants” might have been a deliberate mandate given that all three “X-Men” books have “new mutants” in them and NYX had elements of mutant scholarship, but it feels bizarrely redundant to have three almost completely unconnected teams all doing the same thing instead of sharing their resources…)
I almost can’t believe I’m saying this given what an X-Books cliche it is, but the From the Ashes maybe should have started with some kind of gimmicky event or crossover to cleanse the readership’s palate of Krakoa, and then spin the books out of that. This also would have bought a little extra time before launching the line proper to catch problems like “uh, did no one ask the outgoing X-book team what the status quo they’re leaving us is?”
Some tidbits from Breevort’s blog:
The Colossus/Tank situation will be picked up “somewhat in the upcoming X-MEN: THE HELLFIRE VIGIL Special”.
The Arakki civilization and population were NOT wiped out in Power Man:Timeless. That could have been clearer in the actual book.
The backup story in Giant-Size Dark Phoenix that teases the “grand unified theory of Scott and Jean’s relationship” is “sure to generate some fan questions this next week”.
“grand unified theory of Scott and Jean’s relationship”
Watch it be all down to the Phoenix manipulating them through time and space from the very beginning. Why? *shrug*
Haven’t read Power Man: Timeless, but I thought it was an AU story, so who cares if Arakko is destroyed there?
But maybe it’s not then.
@JCG- The Power Man in Power Man: Timeless is from an alternate future but the story takes place in the present day. And if your question is “who would want to read a story about an alternate future Power Man in the present day Marvel Universe when the present day Luke is still alive?”, that’s why no one bought it and the series ended early.
The retcon better justify idiotorial allowing the last X-Office administration making the 1st half of the Krakoa Era have Scott be an emasculated Cucklops , Logan a dastardly Bullverine , and Jean a wanton Phoenix of the White Hotwife Room KEK
People who say “kek” in 2025 need to be thrown into the pit
Scott, you better get your woman under control or Steve Bannon will make fun of you and not refer to you as an “Alpha”, and there’s nothing more relevant in 2025 than Steve Bannon’s opinion and terminology, boy.
Hickman wanted to make Krakoa into a polyamorous society, but editorial got too scared to allow him to pursue it. What was going on at those all-night parties on Krakoa that Bobby Drake loved so much? Just dancing. Yeah, right.
It’s been completely forgotten, but I’m sure if it was brought up again, it’d be “something, something Phoenix”.
A bigger explanation is needed as to why Jean Grey was dressing like and being called “Marvel Girl” again, and being written like it was 1964 when Hickman took over the title. I’m guessing that the solution actually did have something to do with the Phoenix Force, but an actual answer was never forthcoming.
Re: Wyre, Jed McKay did say on one of the Bullpen Bulletins pages (or whatever they’re calling them now) in March that he’s a big fan of Alpha Flight and thinks they’re underappreciated, which probably explains both his revisiting of the team a few issues ago and his use of Wyre now. Definitely more of a “this is a shoutout for that small group of fans in the back” kind of a thing than something everyone would get, and obviously not something everyone really even needs to get.
Let me just say that this current era feels just like a stopgap. Right now, the editor is just trying to deal with the fallout of Krakoa and trying to move away from those stories. Unfortunately, it does feel directionless and rudderless. Marvel is just trying to hold the line with the comics until the MCU synergy comes up with something that can provide a direction to the comics.
Hm, don’t see much MCU synergy over at the Avengers. Or did I just miss it?
OWUD really doesn’t feel like it’s working does it?
@Chris V: Hickman said it was meant to recall the scene in Fate of the Phoenix when Jean Grey rejected Phoenix and went back to being marvel Girl.
“Morrison and Hickman/Team Krakoa both brought me back with their willingness to expand and play with the concept (in the spirit of Claremont), and the follow-up runs drove me away again by reverting to the mean (aping the specifics of Claremont).”
Joe I, this is such a good and succinct description that I am blatantly stealing it and using it every time some one asks me why I don’t read X-MEN comics anymore. Thank you.
Professor X and Lilandra will be appearing in an Imperial one-shot in September.
Also, Magik will be double shipping in September. Presumably, this is to get the Liminal story over with before the October crossover.
@No , LOL
@ChrisV , I personally believe that fans wouldnt have complained if Jean had lived as a Strong Independent Woman in her OWN The Greys House where she received visits from whoever Gentleman Callers was interested in doing so , instead of living with Scott as his wife in his own The Summers House where he has to begrudingly endure having to share her sexually with his best-worst frenemy tsk tsk tsk
Its the difference between an freelancer being an out-source per-job contractor for 2 clients who happen to be rivals VS an inhouse employee who is PA/secretary of their boss/employer also handling confidential matters for his no.1 competitor : Conflict of Interest!
At the very least, they should have also clearly shown Scott hooking up with Emma on on the side , to be fair & balanced & equitable (like they did with Logan and the Orchis undercover agent) but they never did ! Initially implied , but later canonically denied (of course Emma is more often than not an unreliable narrator , but still)
@Jdsm24: Scott wasn’t just having sex with Jean. He and Logan had a lot of tension to work out…
Jean was just a beard, I thought that was obvious to everyone.
Hickman should have just done the X version of Bob and Ted and Carol and Alice.
The most recent issues of my favorite remaining X books were the ones I liked the least. Last week’s Adjectiveless and Storm and Exceptional from May were steps down from the norm of what I get out of each title. I’m feeling a lack of exciting new things on the horizon from the X books. I was a big defender of From the Ashes, but titles are struggling to maintain momentum or aren’t building to much of anything. There’s no major new announcements amidst all of the titles. I feel like there isn’t a long-term plan for maintaining investment.
I couldn’t afford to keep up with Psylocke, dropped Wolverine after the first arc, X-Factor ended, Uncanny was always hit or miss for me. After those disappointing recent issues it is weird that Phoenix is the book that I’m the most actively invested in.