The X-Axis – 22 February 2026
Well, it’s late, and I’m behind schedule, so we’ll see if we can take these fairly quickly.
X-MEN #25. (Annotations here.) Ostensibly this is the X-Men hunting for Revelation, but they don’t really get far with it. So in practice it’s an issue of the X-Men beating up Fenris and their white supremacist pals, plus the reveal of O*N*E’s new leader and a back-up strip with Beast making contact with 3K. I’ve never found Fenris especially interesting – they basically exist to look smug and get beaten up – but hey, maybe in 2026 that’s a worthwhile role. It does ring a little odd, though, to bring in the Crimson Commando as the jingoistic new O*N*E commander and have him publicly condemn Nazis, even for show. Is this guy a Democrat? That aside, though, I don’t mind the idea of retooling the Crimson Commando into this role, even if it rather ignores the fact that he mellowed quickly from his first appearance. I have no basic problem with the idea of a mutant who thinks of himself as American first and foremost and sees everyone who decamped for Krakoa as a traitor to the nation; that seems like something you can do with. For the Beast back-up… well, the 3K/MMM wordplay isn’t really strong enough to work as a reveal, but I’m glad we’re getting to the point of having the two Beasts interact, and I’m pleased we’re not just doing it behind the team’s back.
UNCANNY X-MEN #24. (Annotations here.) What a weird arc. We’re doing fifties throwback with Marvel’s monster movie character and, quite separately, the Rawhide Kid, and what he’s doing in this story is anyone’s guess. It’s presumably tying together somehow, but I don’t find the Legion of Monsters particularly intriguing in themselves, and for the moment this feels more like a bunch of imported concepts that have no apparent connection to the X-Men. Since it’s Gail Simone, she gets the benefit of the doubt that it’ll come together in the end, but I’m kind of puzzled by it right now. Lovely art from David Marquez, of course, who seems to be enjoying the guests; any issue he’s drawing is always going to look good.
WOLVERINE #16. (Annotations here.) Hmm. On the plus side, this does explain Mehta’s friendly behaviour in issue #9 in a way that seems more coherent with the way she’s written in this arc, so that’s good. Evidently we’re going with her as the solid by the book professional suppressing her doubts about the direction of travel, and that’s fine. I’m not so sure about the use of the new Vindicator, who seemed like a more promising character in X-Men where she at least appeared broadly competent. Here, she’s just a bit of a thug, which would make more sense if she wasn’t answerable to someone like Mehta who presumably doesn’t approve. I was more interested in seeing her try to function in the role than in a story where she’s just a jerk that the team have been saddled with. I still think the Alpha Flight direction ought to be dropped, but I guess if we’re going to do it then it works better with Mehta in charge. Otherwise… nice enough art, fairly by-the-numbers, I guess?
GENERATION X-23 #1. (Annotations here.) This first issue is less of a new book and more of a new creative team on Laura Kinney: Wolverine. Jody Houser and Jacopo Camagni deliver a book that feels brisk enough, and I don’t mind the basic premise – Laura finds a bunch of other X-insert-number-here characters created in similar circumstances and has to take them under her wing. But the first issue doesn’t get very far into that, so it feels like we’re marking time to get to the reveal of the new group at the end – and they don’t even get individual introductions when they show up. It’s nice to see that they come across as fairly upbeat, though, because an entire cast of traumatised weapons would have been a slog. If the angle is that Laura and Gabby understand the outside world but these new guys have the cheerful family dynamic, maybe that could be fun.
WOLVERINE: WEAPONS OF ARMAGEDDON #1. By Chip Zdarsky, Luca Maresca, Jesus Aburtov & Joe Sabino. This miniseries is part of the set-up for a line-wide Marvel crossover, but for the most part it reads like a normal Wolverine mini, based on the ever-popular concept of mutants being turned into super-soldiers against their will. Done very well, since it’s Zdarsky, but familiar territory. The wider hook is something to do with the Origin Boxes that Miles Morales brought back from the Ultimate Universe. And the second Captain America comes from Zdarsky’s Captain America run, so there’s a lot of stuff floating around here that I’m not really up to speed on. Fortunately, Wolverine doesn’t know any of it either, so it’s not too much of an obstacle, but I have a nagging feeling that the idea here is that there’s something more notable going on under the surface of a standard Wolverine plot.
Re: Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon- Am I the only one that doesn’t like the idea of Teri O’Barnes? The idea of a mutant tracker who helped the Weapon X program find Logan and then tried to make it up to him seems like something we should have been told about 30 years ago. I realize that Zdarsky is probably trying to make a parallel between what Teri O’Barnes did to Logan and what Logan did to Nuke but it still seems like an Ass Pull.
“That aside, though, I don’t mind the idea of retooling the Crimson Commando into this role, even if it rather ignores the fact that he mellowed quickly from his first appearance.”
Yeah, but he still went along with a plan to turn mutant babies over to human mad scientists. Then again, so did Mystique, Destiny, Blob, Pyro and Avalanche. And Pyro and Blob are usually portrayed with varying degrees of sympathy nowadays.
I’ve never found Fenris especially interesting – they basically exist to look smug and get beaten up – but hey, maybe in 2026 that’s a worthwhile role”
In this day and age, I’m well convinced everyone who said you shouldn’t make your villains look stupid were actually giving out really bad writing advice. Stupid is dangerous and terrifying.
Bleeding Cool’s Weekly Bestseller List is out. Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon 1 came in 4th. X-Men 25 came in 7th. Generation X-23 1 came in 8th. Uncanny X-Men 24 came in 10th. And Wolverine didn’t make the charts.
On the one hand, it’s good that 4 X-titles made the charts.
But it’s not too good that Uncanny X-Men 24 came in 10th and Wolverine 25 didn’t make the charts at all. Wolverine hasn’t made the charts in months.
What’s really embarrassing is that not only did Uncanny X-Men 24 come in 10th, it was the 8th best-selling Marvel book this week. And two of the books were Captain America and Fantastic Four. It’s just embarrassing for Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine to be beaten this badly by Captain America and Fantastic Four, although they are selling very well now.
FF should absolutely be out-selling the X-Men right now since North’s FF is actually, you know, good.
Some news from ComicsPro:
There will be two new X-Men related What Ifs this year- What If Cyclops stayed with Madelyne Pryor? by Gerry Duggan and What If Cassandra Nova Killed Charles Xavier? by Ashley Allen.
There will be a X-Men: Outback limited series by Steve Orlando starting in June. Judging by Dazzler’s costume and Rogue’s presence, this will be taking place between Uncanny X-Men 243 and 246. Sabretooth will be in it, presumably as a result of having learned the X-Men were alive during Inferno. (Which makes this the SECOND continuity implant limited series in recent years to feature Sabretooth after Inferno but before the Outback era ended.) Unfortunately, Orlando will be introducing new characters, including Australian Morlocks.
Sunfire and Darkstar will be appearing in the Queen in Black crossover this July. Hopefully this means that Darkstar is over the character assassination she was put through in X-Factor. (Interestingly Beta Ray Bill is also appearing in Queen in Black which probably means that the real Thor isn’t back yet by July.)
Yeah, Ryan North’s Fantastic Four is really good, and I assume it’s gotten a boost from the movie and a recent FF-focused event. Meanwhile, Chip Zdarsky is fresh off a Batman run that seemed well-received.
There’s a Legacy numbering anniversary issue of Thor coming up in about seven months. I’d expect that to mark the end of the Mortal Thor series and the return of real Thor, perhaps with the end of Ewing’s run.
Phillip Kennedy Johnson had this to say about mutants appearing in Infernal Hulk:
“In theory, all earthbound mutants come from the Mother of Horrors in some kind of way,” he explained. “They’re a part of that lineage.”
“We’ve established that the Mother of Horrors is the thing that created anything that was not intended by God, anything that was not intended by the One Above All,” Johnson said. “Anything that’s in some way mutated or profane or evolution took a surprising turn.”
So mutants, which are a stand-in for minorities, weren’t the product of divine intent but are actually monsters. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. I can’t imagine that anyone will be mad at it.
From a storytelling perspective that is completely stupid. The X-Men have been about human evolution since they were created in 1963. That is “Draco” level storytelling.
From a more realistic standpoint, yeah, that means the Reverend Stryker was correct all the way back in God Loves, Man Kills.
It’s jaw-droppingly unbelievable Marvel would allow such a decision to be made about their top (?) franchise (and in a separate title, no less), both from being outright offensive and from the standpoint that this could kill the idea of mutants in the Marvel Universe.
…Although, it may explain Simone using the Legion of Monsters in Uncanny. Marvel Monsters line will now have the mutant books under its umbrella.
Avengers Armageddon will feature General Ross taking over Latveria, and the Avengers, including Wolverine, assemble against him and things escalate from there. (I wonder how the Origin Boxes fit in.) I’m not sure if Ross can anchor a crossover this big. (Yes, I know, he was the Final Boss in Fall of Hulks but he shared the role of Big Bad with the Leader.)
re: Mortal Thor — I believe Ewing has described this series as the second act of a three-act story, so I assume we’re getting another relaunch at some point. (Following The Immortal Thor and The Mortal Thor, I’m curious what that would be; “The Semi-Mortal Thor”? Or just a return to The Mighty Thor…)
“So mutants, which are a stand-in for minorities, weren’t the product of divine intent but are actually monsters. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. I can’t imagine that anyone will be mad at it.”
Yep, that’s stupid, but the idea that they’d be the product of “divine intent” annoys me as well.
Apparently, sales have been low on the second half of Ewing’s Immortal Thor and all of the Mortal Thor, so I’m wondering if Marvel might remove him early after he returns the real Thor and move in a different direction with a new series. Maybe not though.
By the way, Marvel’s cosmic line has been cancelled. Nova and Planet She-Hulk are getting cancelled with issue 6 and Guardians of the Galaxy has become a 5-issue limited series. I wonder what will happen to Exiles- will it be cancelled as well or will it become an X-book?
So basically Hickman’s Imperial destroyed the status quo of Hulkling ruling over the unified Kree-Skrull Empire for a Nova series that lasted 6 issues, a She-Hulk series that lasted 6 issues, a Black Panther limited series that lasted 4 issues and a Guardians of the Galaxy limited series that last 5 issues. Epic Fail.
Exiles may have been outright cancelled. There hasn’t been any information about it since December, the rest of the line is dead, and I believe it was scheduled to launch in March but it’s not scheduled for the month.
The I’m Not Dead Thor
The I’m Getting Better Thor
The I Feel H-[clunk]