The X-Axis – 24 November 2025
X-MEN: AGE OF REVELATION INFINITY COMIC #4. By Tim Seeley, Phillip Sevy, Michael Bartolo & Clayton Cowles. Oh boy. So this one went down well. It’s the first part of a Magik storyline filling her “Age of Revelation” back story. We already established, back in Age of Revelation #0, that Magik had died on the raid that freed Fabian Cortez from SHIELD custody, and that she returned as the Darkchild to rule Providence. Most of this issue consists of the raid itself, which is a bit underwhelming – she gets carried away, kills Maria Hill, and then gets gunned down by Nick Fury. It’s not especially creative. Anyway, the big idea is that the Bloodstones that Belasco conjured from Magik’s soul during her childhood mean that her soul passes to his control on death, with him apparently restored as the ruler of Limbo. That seems like something we might be wanting to address in the present day. The issue then cuts to a rather confusing segment of Darkchild (apparently separate from Magik) as S’ym’s slave, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. I guess it’s a jump forward in time? I think?
It’s not an especially good issue, but many of the complaints seem to be reading in things that aren’t there, or seizing on subtext that’s been part of Magik’s back story for forty years. But you can give Illyana a depressing ending in an alternate future timeline – in the long run it becomes something that she’s motivated to avoid when Cyclops reports back on it. Mind you, if you’re going to give female characters sexualised costumes, you can’t really complain when people read the humiliation sequence with S’ym and take you at face value. But this is more heavy-handed than anything else, certainly in a context where we already know that the story is going to end with Darkchild reclaiming Limbo. Having said that, I’m not really very interested in reading a repeat of Magik’s back story where the Darkchild persona comes out on top, which seems to be where we’re going here. That just feels repetitive, and doesn’t really fit with what’s been done with Darkchild in Magik lately.
EXPATRIATE X-MEN #2. (Annotations here.) This is very dense compared to its parent title Exceptional X-Men. That’s mostly for the best, since that book did tend to move very slowly, but it also means a book which is filling in back story through passing hints and a story where everyone seems to have ulterior motives that might not fully make sense until the end of issue #3. Fundamentally, the story here seems to be that everyone has agreed to take this Lyrebird guy to the Darkchild in exchange for information (the implications of handing him over to Darkchild doesn’t seem to trouble anyone), but Melée and Lyrebird himself are trying to sabotage the mission and get him out of there without being noticed. Since we don’t know who Melée is working for, it’s kind of hard to figure out where our sympathies ought to lie, and there are some clarity issues too – I simply don’t understand how Kamala ends up underwater and able to see the 3K tech in the closing scene. And yet I rather like this – Mortarino’s art gives it a consistent feel that manages to go for dystopian without being too grim, and it does feel as if it’s all going to come together at the end of the day.
CLOAK OR DAGGER #2. By Justina Ireland, Lorenzo Tammeta, Andrew Dalhouse & Joe Caramagna. Well, obviously a book about Cloak and Dagger having to stay apart from one another as a result of the X-virus is going to have them coming together in the final issue. No surprises there. I’m not sure what I make of that gimmick – I feel like I’ve read quite a lot of stories with Cloak and Dagger separated in the past, so that in itself doesn’t mean a great deal to me. But there is something in the way they’re both present in the story, and communicating, but at a distance. Francesco Mortarino art looks great in the action sequences – Cloak should keep his hair like this – but it really does a great job on the domesticity of their family home. It’s obvious from the plot and dialogue that there’s something not quite right about this place, but it needs to look suitably reassuring anyway. I’m assuming all those blank pictures on the walls are meant to be subtly wrong, mind you, and he does draw the corridors at Haven in the same way, so… And I’m a little puzzled by the choice of Fenris as the villains here, since they really do seem to just be celebrating the transformation of humans into new mutants. I’m not sure Fenris have ever cared that much about mutants, let alone random civilian mutants – this doesn’t feel like their thing. But the Cloak & Dagger family set-up is working for me, and carries the book.
UNDEADPOOL #2. By Tim Seeley, Carlos Magno, GURU-eFX & Joe Sabino. Well, this is a weird issue. Deadpool is back in his right mind for the whole issue, and the sole survivor of the “Alpha Warriors” is a psychic, so she knows she can trust him for now. And so it’s basically Deadpool trying to help Fearless to reach the (Expatriate) X-Men and seeing if he can lighten the mood a bit along the way. The conspicuously moody art doesn’t entirely sell that, but I suppose it depends on whether we’re meant to be taking him as successfully lightening the mood. And then a very confused Cable shows up for a fight. This only really makes sense if you’ve read the end of X-Men: Age of Revelation Infinity Comic #3, where Revelation drives Cable mad and leaves him trapped in a sort of circa-1991 version of continuity, thinking that he’s on the verge of founding X-Force. Magno does a really nice job of the out-of-control techno-virus, but it feels like a plot point from a different comic.
X-VENGERS #2. By Jason Loo, Sergio Dávila, Aure Jimenez, Rain Beredo & Joe Sabino. The Avengers team up with Revelation and his Seraphim against what seems to be a genuine outside threat, through Revelation is predictably unbothered about using the Avengers as cannon fodder. And the upshot is that next issue, Dani has to convince Revelation that it isn’t an attack by the US government, since otherwise he’s going to retaliate. This is perfectly fine, actually, though the non-mutant Avengers characters don’t get much space to shine (except for Vision, who might wish he hadn’t). That does mean we get a reunion of some of the New Mutants, and Dani having a chance to react to Revelation, all of which lands quite well. Giving Revelation a chance to actually defend his people is worthwhile too, since we do need to see some reasons why he’s apparently popular in the Territories. The book isn’t really that interested in the Avengers, actually – it just needs Dani to be leading an outside superhero team, and preferable a non-mutant one, and the Avengers will do. Once you accept that, it works decently enough.
I thought the bit with Kamala was that she was seeing 3K tech lining the undersides of every boat in the flotilla, something she could’ve only spotted from under the boats themselves
Re: X-Men Age of Revelation Infinity Comic 4:
This issue had plenty of problems.
First, I’ m not buying Illyana killing Maria Hill under those circumstances. Maria Hill wasn’t attacking Illyana- she was just trying to explain to illyana that Doug was tricking her. Remember. this is a version of Illyana from just a few months in the future. Is Illyana at risk of killing anyone who tells her whenever she’s being an idiot when the books go back to normal next month?
(Plus the implication was that Illyana died because Doug forced Scott to attack prematurely but it turns out Illyana died because she was an idiot.)
Then we have the problem that Illyana regained the pieces of her soul that comprise the Bloodstones when Legion destroyed the Elder Gods, so Belasco shouldn’t have any hold over her.
And like Paul mentioned, this seems to be a problem whenever Illyana dies, so this is something the X-Men need to do something about.
And where is Maddie when this is going on? Again, this only takes place a few months into the future and the solicits have Maddie in charge of Limbo as late as Sorcerer Supreme 3. The preview for Binary 3 has Maddie evil and looking for the Phoenix Force but it basically seems to ignore the truce Jean and Maddie reached during Dark Web. Did Revelation take control of Maddie at some point and cause her to leave Limbo?
“The issue then cuts to a rather confusing segment of Darkchild (apparently separate from Magik) as S’ym’s slave, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. I guess it’s a jump forward in time? I think?”
Or both segments take place simultaneously and both S’ym and Belasco are ruling different portions of Limbo.
Regarding people’s complaints- a sexualized woman on all fours begging is classic porn/BDSM imagery. I don’t blame readers for interpreting it as a rape fantasy.
Then there’s the Unfortunate Implication that this is punishment to Illyana as a result of killing Maria Hill- the Karmic Rape trope.
Times have changed when it comes to comics. You can’t have Graviton keeping Tigra on a leash and her liking being forced into kissing him or Arisia mind controlled into licking a dominatrix’s boots or Big Barda being mind controlled into doing a porno anymore. And that’s a good thing. (The death threats are not a good thing.)
Well, at least Seeley isn’t doing any projects in the future that could cause controversy. It’s not like he’s doing a story where a villain puts Betsy’s mind in his ex-girlfriend’s body and forces her to be subservient to him. Um, never mind.
Re: Undeadpool 2:
Seeley doesn’t seem to understand that Cable’s techno virus and Warlock’s transmode virus are two completely different things.
It’s unfortunate that Expatriate X-Men spoiled that Fearless is going to come to a bad end.
Re: X-Vengers 2:
Is Roberto supposed to be under Doug’s control? Because I can’t see him being so obedient to Doug under normal circumstances. He would also be suspicious as to what Doug was really planning.
(if you read the preview for next week’s Amazing X-Men 3, Dani’s line about how Doug used to see beauty in all living things is excellent foreshadowing for Doug’s true plan.)
I guess Fenris were chosen since they need to touch to activate their powers, so they play off Cloak and Dagger being separated.
X-VENGERS works as a NM reunion, and makes more sense knowing Moonstar has a solo book on the horizon.
@Diana- but how would Kamala know what 3K tech looks like?
Paul> Mind you, if you’re going to give female characters sexualised costumes, you can’t really complain when people read the humiliation sequence with S’ym and take you at face value.
One of the minor ironies of this is that the plot wouldn’t work if Magik had been wearing tactical body armour rather than Bachalo’s “sexualised costume”. Fury Jr was pretty much just using a normal handgun, it looked like in the panels I’ve seen (I haven’t seen the whole issue), so she died because he shot her in the bare, unprotected back.
Michael> First, I’ m not buying Illyana killing Maria Hill under those circumstances. Maria Hill wasn’t attacking Illyana- she was just trying to explain to illyana that Doug was tricking her. Remember. this is a version of Illyana from just a few months in the future. Is Illyana at risk of killing anyone who tells her whenever she’s being an idiot when the books go back to normal next month?
The “nice” thing about all this is that if anyone’s an idiot, you can say “Doug made them do it”.
Paul> Magno does a really nice job of the out-of-control techno-virus,…
Cable’s never been shown with black/yellow T-O, has he? Even when it’s out of control, it’s silver (and frequently robotic).
Michael> Seeley doesn’t seem to understand that Cable’s techno virus and Warlock’s transmode virus are two completely different things.
They’re not *completely* different – the Phalanx referred to him as “halfway to being one of us” in Phalanx Covenant, and Nicieza had a silver Phalanx baby turned into a new arm for him in Cable/Deadpool. But it’s never been Warlock/technarch *styled*.
Michael> how would Kamala know what 3K tech looks like?
Ten years is a long time to learn such things.
“I guess Fenris were chosen since they need to touch to activate their powers…”
And because they’re freaking awesome. I liked Andreas as the super creepy Swordsman who wanted his sister back, but they’re even better when they’re together. And those retro costumes are amazing. I like how Tammeta has up-styled them with just a few tweaks from the original JRJr designs.
“I guess Fenris were chosen since they need to touch to activate their powers, so they play off Cloak and Dagger being separated.”
Good catch, this. Cheers, Joseph.
Zan and Jayna wannabes.
I wonder the idea in Cloak or Dagger is that Fenris have picked up mutant control powers somewhere along the line. They seem to take as given that the newly-mutated security guy will be on their side, rather than being murderously angry at them, and they prove completely correct.
Or maybe it’s just that a story of “Fenris forcibly creates new mutants, who immediately use their new powers to beat the implicit incest out of them” doesn’t give Cloak and Dagger anything to do.
Fenris might have been chosen because they, like Cloak and Dagger, have been portrayed as artificially created mutants. In Cloak and Dagger’s origin, it’s special drugs that do it, while Baron Strucker ordered in utero adjustments to the twins that did it. This theme can be extended to the recent post-puberty mutant manifestation in From the Ashes and the X-virus in Age of Revelation. Throw in Molly Hayes’s parents from Runaways, too!
@Sam- Also, keep in mind that Fenris’s powers are linked- they only work when they’re touching each other. As Kwannon explains in the preview for Amazing X-Men 3, the new mutants created by the X-Virus are also linked.
Bleeding Cool’s Weekly Bestseller List is out. NONE of the X-books made the list. Age of Revelation has turned out to be a disaster. I wonder how much longer Brevoort stays on the X-Books.
(The Mortal Thor also didn’t make the list. It’s turning out to be very mortal.)
@Michael: It’s been said often enough, but once more unto the disclaimer, I suppose – Bleeding Cool’s lists are not nearly broad enough in their coverage to be reliable; no sense in making grand declarations based solely off them.
While that is true, it is one of the few metrics that people use to gauge how well a comic book product is doing. If you can name another metric that can be used, we are all ears.
@sagatwarrior: Sadly, there *is* no reliable, publicly accessible metric anymore. That said, better not to have those conversations at all than to make faulty assumptions based on incomplete information.
Wait, that’s kind of ridiculous. The sales lists are the best information publicly available, and to say that if you can’t get absolute 100% correct information that you’re not going to discuss the matter at is saying that the matter will never be discussed.
People discuss and make choices off of incomplete information all the time. More complete information would be better, of course, but if you allow a relatively wide margin of error on them, I think they should resemble reality.
Take the week that Michael is referring to. Instead of focusing on the top 10, see that the 10th comic (and most likely 11th when the Absolute Batman issue is fixed) is 24% of the current top comic. If you took a Age of Revelations book just under that and say that this method has a 15% error range, then it could range from being just under 39% of the DC crossover flagship book. That seems to indicate a less than successful Marvel crossover.
I think if you only have access to partial information you better keep it in mind to take that information with a grain of salt, and if you’re going to make speculations based on partial information, you should check yourself for confirmation bias.
@Sam, actually , it was alrwasy retconned in the 1990s that Cloak and Dagger were natural X-gene mutants , whose powers were prematurely awakened and switched with each other by the Fear Lord demon Despayre in order to serve as his lifelong negative-psychoemotional energy living batteries . It may have been retconned in the 2000s by Dr Nemesis stating in the Utopia Era that Dagger is supposedly not actually an X-gene mutant, but then again its canon that 1) in 616, Dr Nemesis is an unreliable narrator as he is a 1) a self-deluding narcissist (which is why he was unknowingly a Nazi enabler/collaborator during WW2) , and 2) Dr Nemesis , Marvel’s homage to Dr House , is the stereotypical Strawman Atheist who cannot bring himself to accept the factual existence of the supernatural , especially Magick , until he is forced to begrudginly (which is why the XMen nearly lost in theie own war with Xarus’ Vampire Nation and which is why he was useless in helping Kurt defeat the Chimera Trickster God created Frankenstein-style by Ora Serrata during the First Krakoan Age) , and 2) Dagger never even bothered to get a second opinion from another doctor/scientist confirming Dr Nemesis diagnosis (Diamond Mr Sinister himself is dismissive of Dr Nemesis as a rival) , like with the Maximoff Twins and High Evolutionary’s claims that they are neither X-gene mutants nor Magneto’s biological offspring
@Sam: Thanks for proving my point – it only “seems to indicate a less than successful Marvel crossover” if you take that information as reliable, accurate and indicative of broader trends, none of which apply here. It’s partial data gathered from around a hundred stores in the US, you’d have a clearer view of actual sales by reading tea leaves.
@Diana – it covers 120-150 stores, which is a proportion of stores (Google tells me there are at most 2800 comic stores in the US) that’s significantly larger than polling firms use to reflect the entire United States with an accuracy of +/- 5% (usually like 2500 people to model around 250 million adults).
But if there is better information, I am all for being pointed towards it. But I don’t think saying “this information isn’t perfect” is a good excuse to shut down a conversation.
As an FYI, a slew of X-Men made guest appearances in the SPIDER-MAN HOLIDAY SPECIAL from about 2 weeks ago. The last third of the issue features the Uncanny X-Men team and the Outliers. It also had Skin and Chamber in a rare post-Krakoa cameo (as Jubilee’s guests for Haven House’s X-Mas party). Chamber even tries to gift Spider-Man a scarf which resembles the one worn by the Fourth Doctor. For what it is worth, Deathdream is apparently SUCH a Spider-Man fanboy that he fainted in the web-slinger’s presence. I am unsure of how in character that is. Spider-Man got to take part in one of the X-Men’s traditional baseball games, though.
Storm is on the cover but nowhere in the interiors, even as a cameo, as one does.
It’s Rainbow Rowell’s first Spider-Man story, and among the best ones written this year, IMO. But for X-Men completists it may also be worth a look. A few other X-Men show up for the Fantastic Four’s Hanukkah party (i.e. Kitty and Iceman), with Firestar showing up with a bunch of New Warriors.
Correction; it was titled the SPIDER-MAN HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR.
@Jdsm24: Dr. Nemesis is arrogant but not delusional, at least not with regards to whether someone has the x-gene. his lack of belief in the supernatural wouldn’t affect that either.