The X-Axis – w/c 7 July 2025
ASTONISHING X-MEN INFINITY COMIC #28. By Alex Paknadel, Phillip Sevy, Michael Bartolo & Clayton Cowles. Back to the storyline in progress, following the Vigil tie-in last week. And apparently we’re not doing the Wicker Man – we’re just doing an island community where the people in charge are out for revenge on mutants after the drugs ran out, and have forced everyone else into line. And there’s a symbiote involved somewhere, which is played as a reveal, but I thought was already pretty clear last issue. It’s not clicking for me right now, but there’s nothing wrong with it.
UNCANNY X-MEN #17. (Annotations here.) In which the hot film of the summer is a slasher film with a mutant as the killer. I like the idea, particularly because it avoids making the film itself an outright anti-mutant screed. If you were making horror films in the Marvel Universe, then a killer with powers would be a pretty natural direction to go in, and it’s not like there haven’t been plenty of murderous mutants over the years. Okay, yes, it does strain credibility a bit that we’ve made it to 2025 without someone doing this before. But if you apply that sort of logic too rigorously to a book that’s been running since 1963, you’re going to wall off an awful lot of story material.
It is, once again, an issue of Outliers featuring Uncanny X-Men, but those are the characters I find more interesting anyway. Vecchio does some lovely character work here, and the more this book spends time on this sort of story, the happier I am with it.
LAURA KINNEY: WOLVERINE #8. (Annotations here.) Well, we’re starting to build on some of the elements established in the series to date, with Polly from issue #1 returning to set up a branch of her mutant refuge in New York. I’m not entirely convinced that you can do that in a city where NYX already exists, but that book is dead, so I guess we can turn a blind eye – and Laura could hardly commute to Dubai just so that Polly could appear as a supporting character. I can’t say I’m particularly excited to see Haymaker back, a character from Erica Schultz’s X-23: Deadly Regenesis mini who seemed to have completed their story arc, and didn’t feel particularly memorable the first time round. The issue itself seems like a slightly underwhelming skirmish with some MGH dealers, too, although it looks like it’s setting up for something to come. The art’s got plenty of energy, we’re finally getting Gabby back into circulation… it’s fine, but this book still isn’t making a compelling case for why we need a Laura Kinney solo book.
MAGIK #7. (Annotations here.) Back to the Liminal plot, and while it slightly screwed up the timeline of Dani’s subplots, I think it was probably a smart move to spend an issue on something else as a palate-cleanser before going back to this. Magik finally meets Dani’s new allies in the Society of the Eternal Dawn, who are apparently working to free Cal and contain Liminal in some other way, but have a definite vibe of untrustworthiness. What Magik really does well, though, is work Magik’s one-dimensional cynicism from so many other books into a facade for a more rounded character – both Ashley Allen and Germán Peralta are capturing the mood shifts when Illyana lets the act drop, or when she goes into defensive autopilot on meeting anyone new. It really is doing wonders for my interest in Magik, The Embodiment and her three Exemplars make a pretty good first impression as the faces of the Society too, although the Exemplars’ fight scene isn’t always clear – I was on my third reading of the scene before I realised that the sword was the new one that Illyana got last issue, not something that belonged to one of the Exemplars. That’s minor stuff, though – Magik continues to outperform my expectations.
WOLVERINE AND KITTY PRYDE #4. By Chris Claremont, Damian Couceiro, Carlos Lopez & Ariana Maher. The big question in my mind is whether the concluding issue #5 will manage to tie together the Ziggy Trask / AI plot with the magical portal subplot, because right now it’s not at all clear to me what on earth is supposed to connect them. Still, Claremont does enough to keep both plates spinning to earn the benefit of the doubt that it’s going to come together somehow. This issue, though, is mostly about Ziggy Trask and her Sentinels, and feels terribly rushed in giving her a face turn – we go straight from “she hates mutants and built her own Sentinels” to “the AI has turned on her and actually she and Kitty have a lot to bond over”, which might have worked over a longer period but feels terribly forced in the course of, what, ten minutes? That aside, it’s solid enough trad-Claremont (which is the selling point, after all). And Couceiro’s art helps the book enormously by resisting the temptation to go for retro pastiche and just seeming to be on Claremont’s wavelength – hopefully they get some higher profile work off the back of this.
I’m sorry, Chris Claremont, but I absolutely refuse to believe anybody could be menaced by someone named “Ziggy.”
I dunno, I don’t want to fight spiders from Mars.
The new crossover in October will be the Age of Revelation. It takes place 10 years in the future. The idea is that after Scott invites Doug to join the X-Men, Doug takes over the United States east of the Mississippi and sets about wiping out humanity.
There will be SIXTEEN books, although some of them might be one-shots or Infinity Comics. They are Amazing X-Men, Unbreakabole X-Men, Expatriate X-Men, the Last Wolverine, Binary, Cloak OR Dagger, Iron & Frost, Laura Kinney: Sabretooth, Longshots, Omega Kids, Radioactive Spider-Man, Rogue Storm. Sinister’s Six, Undeadpool, X-Vegers and X-Men: Book of Revelation.
There will be an X-Men: Age of Revelation 0 issue coming out as a promo on July 16th.
According to Ayodele, Rogue Storm will have Rogue in it as well as Storm but it will also be a callback to X-Men 145-147.
So Rogue Storm is a relauched Storm. In fact, several of the series seem to be versions of existing series. Amazing X-Men is X-Men, Unbreakable X-men is Uncanny X-Men, Expatriate X-Men is Extraordinary X-Men, The Last Wolverine is Wolverine, and Laura Kinney: Sabretooth is Laura Kinney:Wolverine. But what about Magik and Phoenix? The common fan theory is that Phoenix is Binary but what about Magik?
(Incidentally, there were plans for NYX to be turned into a book called NY-Exiles will Local the Living City providing a haven for mutants but thankfully NYX was cancelled before we reached that stage.)
That should have been Expatriate X-Men is Exceptional X-Men- sorry.
In other news, the Marvel Swimsuit issue came out this week and people were complaining that there was no place for it to fit in continuity. Pyro and Sabretooth were villains, Rogue and Gambit were married and Jameson is the Bugle’s publisher and anti-Spider-Man. I guess they knew they didn’t pay attention to the continuity because they knew that no one was buying this for ther story.
“It is, once again, an issue of Outliers featuring Uncanny X-Men, but those are the characters I find more interesting anyway.”
I’d rather see a nice balance between the Outliers and the rest of the X-men.
Paul’s reaction to “Age of Revelation” is, “Dammit! They finally got the line down to a sane number of books, and now I’m going to be back having to review sixteen books again.”
I heard one fan theory that Cloak or Dagger may be the replacement book for Magik. I’m not really sure the reasoning.
Given her penchant for abandoned Carol Danvers codenames, I’d think Binary would be gritty future Kamala Khan.
Me: I find the idea of Doug as the new Apocalypse weird, but I guess I’m interested to see how this creates stories they couldn’t do with the old Apocalypse.
Marvel: Doug becomes a humanity-exterminating conquerer in an alternate reality so big, we’re giving the entire line new titles and weird twists on existing characters! It’s called the Age of Whatever He’s Called Now!
Me: Okay, then.
Bleeding Cool’s Bestseller list is out. Uncanny X-Men 17 came in 5th, while Magik 7 came in 9th. As usual, Laura Kinney: Wolverine didn’t make the list at all.
If this is going to be the new spot to announce future X-plans, maybe the story details could be marked as spoilers?
I don’t buy a lot of X-books, but I am kind of interested in Age of Revelation.
Heir of Apocalypse seemed really dumb to me, but the last issue of X-Men got me thinking there might be some potential there. And then Age of Revelation promos made me think I was right the first time.
“Unbreakable X-Men”
Lol. What, is everyone getting an adamantium skeleton now?
Wait, didn’t the villain in Claremont’s Mekanix mini series also end up building her own Sentinels? Made from Wild Sentinel parts… Alice Tremaine.
Feels like Claremont dusting off that idea to shoehorn it in here. Always got to watch out for that! Tricksy 😉
SPOILERS:
Bleeding Cool has major SPOILERS for Age of Revelation at this link. Do not click unless you want to be SPOILED:
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/spoilers-for-this-weeks-x-men-age-of-revelation-0-and-what-it-means/
If this is what it appears to be, it would explain why there’s no Magik title among the Age of Revelation titles. OTOH, Breevort couldn’t possibly be stupid enough to take one of his best-selling titles off the board during a crossover, could he?
Well, he’s unimaginative enough to redo the same story that we’ve been seeing over and over from Marvel (especially the X-titles) for years now, so you never know.
“Don’t worry about Dr. Doom taking over the world in 2025, in ten years Revelation is going to take over the world. Will you enjoy that book better? I know all the hype around One World Under Doom died out within the first three months, and it’s just going to keep going…Oh, and guess what cones next after AoR? Relaunches of all the X-books from the first issue! We haven’t tried that in over one year.”
Is it just me or does Revelation look like a 1990’s/2000’s White Male Rapper like say , Eminem and Die Antwood?
Standard disclaimer: I rarely actually read the books. The last new X book I read (and thoroughly enjoyed, for what it’s worth) was Hellions (Krakoa era).
With the Age of Revelations reveal, I am absolutely convinced this whole era is simply about keeping the wheels spinning not necessarily in favor of total synch with the upcoming movies,but at least concerning timing.
I believe within a year or so we’ll have a mansion/institute, Wolverine, Jean and Cyke on the same team, etc. Everything will be nice and cozy like it used to be because after Krakoa this weird half-hearted course correction will ultimately yield to the status quo. Apologies to anyone who’s said this her before. I do read comments but my memory is faulty
Marvel had released information about a number of AoR titles and creative teams.
It all looks very underwhelming.
May contain Spoilers, if you are trying to avoid any info about these books:
https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/the-age-of-revelation-takes-the-marvel-universe-10-years-into-the-future-in-new-series
And Bleeding Cool has character sheets for the Age of Revelation here (note, may contain spoilers):
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/even-more-x-men-age-of-revelation-character-spoilers-on-bleeding-cool/
Interesting that Jennifer Starkey has a codename. Wonder if she’ll use it in the present day.
Also, Jeph Loeb hinted that Nate Grey will be appearing in the Age of Apocalypse series.
I don’t know about returning to the mansion. Superheroes living in mansions seems a bit old-fashioned these days. I expect that if they do return to the mansion, they’ll be out again in a year or two.
@Si Fair enough. And hey, I wasn’t predicting how long it would last once they get back. They’ve gotta keep that illusion of change ball rolling too.
“Superheroes living in mansions seems a bit old-fashioned these days.”
You go tell Bruce Wayne that then.
Well, not simply a return to the mansion, but a return to the school. It is not the privileged living in an elite mansion if they are repurposing the trappings/ill-gotten gains of the bourgeoisie in the mansion to do the working job of the intelligentsia, comrades.
————————————————————-
More (ahem, boring) reveals for synopses and creators of the AoR:
https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/age-of-revelation-discover-the-fate-of-the-marvel-universe-10-years-into-the-future
I think there is one major SPOILER for a current X-storyline which may have been accidentally revealed in the description of the Iron Frost series…
Exactly. The mansion was a school. It’s not like the X-Men were using to host eyes wide shut parties.
@Chris V:
Did anyone notice that Fantomex was on TWO of those teams? Well, he has split into multiple beings before.
So do we think Venom is MJ, Eddie or neither?
@Evilgus: No, the Wild Sentinels just recognized her as a non-mutant and followed her orders.
Marvel has released information about four more Age of Revelation titles. There are SPOILERS below, so don’t click on the link unless you want to be SPOILED:
https://aiptcomics.com/2025/07/16/age-of-revelation-wolverine-spider-man/
Interesting that Joe Kelly is writing Radioactive Spider-Man, since he’s the writer for Amazing Spider-Man. Does this mean that Amazing is going on hiatus during Age of Revelation?
The four titles left are Expatriate X-Men, Undeadpool, X-Vengers and Cloak or Dagger. So I guess by process of. elimination, Cloak or Dagger is Magik.
I think Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, and Iron Man are all going on hiatus.
Thor, FF, and Cap got saved by the fact that each just got a relaunch.
So, I’m going to say Expatriate is definitely Eve Ewing, X-Vengers is another MacKay book, Undeadpool is probably Percy, and that leaves Ashley Allan on Cloak or Dagger.
Iron Man hasn’t been solicited past next week’s #10, so it was already on hiatus/cancelled.
Well, Iron Man was already cancelled as of July. Who could have guessed that a story with Tony backing an anti-Romani group against Doom wouldn’t have gone over well? I think that Iron & Frost is going to fill the gap until they find a writer who has good ideas for the title. Or maybe Scott is the new writer.
Marvel is really struggling. One of their “main” titles in Iron Man gets cancelled at issue #10. Marvel somewhat recently announced that DD was cancelled due to low sales. Immortal Thor was apparently on the chopping block, and they gave Ewing a reprieve with the relaunch. One World Under Doom is completely underwhelming (so much so that they decided to go ahead and replace Doom’s role with Revelation). Which, I won’t even mention this X-line.
Oh, and that reminds me. Bleeding Cool (who apparently also doesn’t bother with editing, I’m referencing Fantomex showing up on two teams) had an article on AoR which referred to “Dog Ramsey”. If Marvel wants to turn their line around, giving Revelation a pet called Dog Ramsey would be a good start.
Marvel had 58% of ICV2’s top 100 in May including half of the top 10. In the round, they’re doing fine.
DAREDEVIL is being cancelled at #25 which would normally indicate a renumbering for the incoming writer. WEST COAST AVENGERS reads to me like it was always a roll-the-dice commission, admittedly with a high-profile name in Gerry Duggan.
Getting IRON MAN cancelled for low sales within 10 issue is somewhat notable, though. I have to say that, from reading it on Unlimited, I thought it was pretty heavy going – at the very least, I can see why it didn’t have commercial appeal.
I liked the current Iron Man series at the start of the run, but the ….Doom tie-in has been a slog. The writing has been a little opaque at times, too. Similarly, Immortal Thor was a good book, but I hoped for a great one. I think the theme of storytelling and shifting Loki haven’t served the series as well as Ewing thought it might. Iron Man and Thor were b-listers before the movies, and they might be returning to that status now. The problem is, b-listers sell fewer comics than they used to.
The final batch of AoR titles SPOILED by Marvel:
https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/age-of-revelation-new-x-men-avengers-teams-and-cloak-dagger-deadpool-strange-fates
The biggest surprise is that Ashley Allen will not be writing any of these titles. Marvel may have decided to cancel the Magik series before October, even though it is one of the best-selling X-titles now.
I was off with three of my predictions.
X-Vengers writer was another surprise.
Talked to a retailer in Iowa today. He said their business in booming but for old stuff not new books.
He was also floored that i had Morrison on the pod as he’s rereading it right now.