The X-Axis – 15 July 2026
X-MEN #34. (Annotations here.) Another quiet week, then. Next week will be busier, with five books coming out. In the meantime, we have the final part of “Anomaly”, a three-parter which in one sense is all about Schwarzchild, but more as a plot point than a character. He’s unconscious for pretty much the entire thing. The real meat of this issue is Ben Liu having the chance to kill Schwarzchild and being kind-of sort-of talked out of it by Quire. As so often in this book, we’re getting appeals to pure pragmatism rather than moral principle, and that seems like it’s going to come back to bite us; it’s set up as a story where Ben gets to make the right choice, and then loops back to tell us that he really hasn’t. But MacKay also makes good use of Quentin Quire, who’s perhaps the last person you’d want to be giving pep talks about moral responsibility to anyone. Still, there’s a low-key appeal to seeing him stepping into that role in the absence of any authority figures to wind up. Visually, it’s not the most exciting issue – that’s kind of a consequence of the decision to make Schwarzchild’s mindscape a blank slate, I guess. The silent page of Ben’s decision intercut with flashbacks to his experiments stands out as an exception. At any rate, it’s good to see this arc limited to three issues – it feels tighter than the five issue arc that seem to be the standard, even if in this case it may be dictated by the scheduling need to get it finished before DNX starts.
INGLORIOUS X-FORCE #7. (Annotations here.) She’s not technically in the team, but once again this is really Domino’s issue, with Tim Seeley and Michael Sta Maria riffing entertainingly on the idea that, against sufficiently dimwitted opponents, her luck powers will take care of her without her even noticing. It’s all very satisfying and creatively done. The rest of the issue sees Cyclops and Kid Omega drop by at X-Force’s headquarters, in order to gently probe what the hell Cable is up to. It’s a nice enough idea, though Kid Omega feels out of character here to me – he’s a brat, but this more malicious take on the character feels a good few years out of date to me. As for the imprisoned Mutant Liberation Front members, most of them don’t get much to do in this story, but as a group they’re growing on me. They’re quite nicely pitched as a bunch of amateurs who are further out of their depth than they realise, but not so inept as to be a joke. It allows Resonant to be quietly established as the one who has a better grasp on what’s happening. Now, admittedly, I’m not sure about the wisdom of bringing in the wackier elements from Seeley’s Shatterstar mini. But then again, this is the least grimdark incarnation of X-Force in many a year, and while I doubt it’s getting past issue #10, I’m having fun.
How many times has Cable had to question whether his actions with an xforce would meet the approval of his father? We had a similar visit-from-dad during one of the runs post-Utopia, one in Cable and Deadpool during the era when Cable was all-powerful, and probably the best one where Cyclops wrote Cable a letter reminding him that he loves and trusts him, while Cable is raising Hope in the future.
That’s all to say that I wish we had done more there on that plot instead of wasting time with Ms Marvel and the MLF. The relationship between Cable and his parents has always been a good read, and I’d hope we would spend more time on it after Scott and Jean had a chance to raise a teenage version of their son on Krakoa.
Wolverine appears in this week’s Avengers: Armageddon 2.
It turns out that Wolverine’s decision to violate his principles in Weapon of Armageddon and save Colton’s life by exposing him to the Origin Box against his will was intended to be the wrong one. Colton attacks Ross in the middle of a major Symarkian city, destroying the city and killing dozens. And it’s strongly implied that the Origin Box gave Colton the powers of the Sentry.
So now the public blames the heroes who went into Symarkia for the devastation, since they went into Symarkia against the wishes of the United Nations. I wonder if this will affect Wolverine’s presence in Uncanny X-Men. So far the Louisiana X-Men have been portrayed as having good publicity. But the public seems to have turned against all the heroes who went into Symarkia. Plus, the whole mess in Symarkia was Wolverine’s fault, even though the public doesn’t know that yet. First, he exposed Colton to the Origin Box against his will without knowing what it does instead of letting him die like he wanted to.Then he insisted the heroes bring Colton., the unstable ex-soldier with incredible powes, along with them when they went into Symarkia.
(And yes, I know, Doom’s machine showed that Ross would have won if Colton hsdn’t intervened but I’m not sure how much we should trust Doom’s machine, since it was unable to predict Colton’s presence.)
Darkstar is back in her usual “reluctant agent of the Russian government” role in this series. The sociopath from X-Factor seems to have been forgotten about. I wonder if this will be explained in Queen in Black since Darkstar will be appearing in that crossover.
Just what we need, back to the militarized superheroes with the public turning against the superheroes. Can we please move on? Civil War was the worst thing to ever happen to Marvel, not the template for the presentation of the Marvel Universe moving forward.
@Chris V, the kids and early teens that first read Civil War and that Era are currently fresh faces in the industry and adults
What I’m finally grasping is that Marvel either has no room for, desire for, or appetite for a positive Superman level hero/analog. Every single one they’ve pitched at us has been a villain, horrendously flawed, or otherwise undesirable.
*with the exception of maybe -2- out of like, 20 Hyperion variants. (Classic Squadron Supreme and Hickman’s Avengers run)
**Gladiator comes close but he’s also frequently cast in an antagonistic role.
***Blue Marvel possibly counts as unambiguously heroic, but he’s also cast more in a Silver Agey scientist-adventurer mode.
Almost every Hyperion is a villain. Sentry is an entire basket case full of problems. Ethan Edwards is highly questionable. Count Nefaria is a villain. And now we have David Colton, who, as a knock-off Sentry, is a knock-off of a knock-off Superman, and it’s just not looking good for his long-term prospects.
I mean maybe Colton gets a redo or redemption arc but…
Outside of Superman himself and Captain America, I don’t know that there’s any major character like that.
If the idea is to have someone as powerful as Superman who’s also a broadly heroic type, Marvel’s analogue is probably Thor.
But a character like that also cuts against dramatic tension in a lot of ways. Even DC has spent a lot of time making Superman less of a paragon or less of a powerhouse.
I think I finally get why McKay’s x-men doesnt resonate with me. There’s no resolution. The plot and subplots are running in tandem with nothing really being resolved until seeming like it’ll be resolved until the end of his run. With most x-men runs, there is the main plot and the subplots. Subplots become the main plot for 4-6 issues and are resolved, before the main plot returns to the forefront.
However, with McKay, the only resolution we get in each arc is immediate and the threat typically generic. The X-Men escape or leave whatever immediate situation they’re in. But the subplots aren’t being resolved and the arcs are those immediate situation resolutions that just moves the overall the plot forward. Its like each major plot development becomes an arc instead being a part of one. Krakoan Beast, Revelation, 3K, O.N.E., etc. Each has had reveals and the status of each has progressed, but none have been resolved. Not even the character arcs have been resolved though they have also progressed. The drama and x-men lore/continuity is all tied to the main plot, but not as much to the subplots. It’s an interesting way to get it wrong in my view and I’ve started to check out a bit because the arcs just stop or resolve the immediate situation which kills some of the drama for me. DNX seems like the end where everything will be wrapped up, but saving most everything for that is kind of losing me.
I’m sure some will disagree, but I’m curious if anyone sees it this way or is it just me.
BleedingCool’s Weekly Bestseller List is out. X-Men 33 came in 7th. Inglorious X-Force didn’t make the top 10 at all.
Armageddon 2, by the way. came in 2nd. And the Captain America tie-in issue came in 4th. So it looks like Armageddon is holding up for now.
Turning to quarterly figures, Marvel’s share of the market declined in the second quarter of 2026 from 29.4% to 28.3%. But DC’s share of the market also declined, from 34.7% to 31.9%. (Image’s share jumped from 11.8% to 15.3%.) So Marvel is still losing to DC in the second quarter of 2026. Its overall market share declined but the gap between it and DC closed.
Still, it’s easy to see why the higher ups decided to fire Cebluski after seeing these numbers.
What a glorious day if Image actually started to compete with Marvel for more market share in the late-2020s. Not because of speculators and “hot artists” this time, but because Image is currently the best comic publisher, at least in my opinion.
Michael> Still, it’s easy to see why the higher ups decided to fire Cebluski after seeing these numbers.
It’s not at all clear they did. For one thing, he survived the previous round of purges. For two, he’s still with Marvel, he’s been sent to Japan to head up their manga initiative – the likes of Disney aren’t shy about kicking people out entirely. And for three, with the whole Burbank move, it’s entirely plausible he didn’t want to go to LA – note that Wacker has been based in LA for years, since he went to Marvel Animation.
@Omar- I don’t think that any Marvel hero. even Captain America, is respected the way that Superman is. For example. at one point during Byrne’s run, Luthor sends a Booster Gold robot to accuse Superman of botching the Qurac situation. The real Booster Gold admits that he does think Superman botched the Qurac situation but he would never say so publicly.
And yeah, Thor, though powerful, frequently has trouble with mid-level villains. In Superman’s case. some. writers feel the need to have him encounter Kryptonite, a red sun or magic in order to give him a hard time. (Other writers avoid this.)
In general, the Marvel Universe is not made for ultra-powerful heroes. Which is something some writers have forgotten is recent years with Jean, Wanda and Storm.
“In general, the Marvel Universe is not made for ultra-powerful heroes. Which is something some writers have forgotten is recent years with Jean, Wanda and Storm.”
And why writers either nerf Doctor Strange or make him a failure as a human being to compensate.
If we had to pinpoint the greatest achievement of Cebulski’s career at Marvel, I’d say it was his scouting efforts around the world. As an Italian Marvel fan, it’s incredible how, these days, there isn’t even the smallest convention in the most remote villages that doesn’t feature someone who’s drawn for Marvel as a guest. Under his leadership, countless talented artists from every corner of the world have been recruited, and I’ve personally witnessed his recruitment efforts at several comic conventions here in Italy. I therefore understand why, even after removing him from his role as Editor-in-Chief, they didn’t want to let his talent go to waste. In fact, giving him the freedom to cultivate relationships in the Japanese market is certainly the best way to make the most of his talents.
There are rumors that Marvel is moving to LA (and closer to DC) because Disney is no longer interested in publishing comic books. They would license their characters to DC the way they’ve licensed their Disney characters to various publishers over the years (currently Fantagraphics).
From a comic fan perspective, it seems almost impossible for Marvel and DC to be so chummy and not the bitterest rivals. But as a business decision, it makes some sense. This move could be the beginning of some further merging of the two companies.
This isn’t the first time this particular rumor has made the rounds, though, so it could all just be the same idle talk as before.
I was pretty sure it was to move closer to Marvel Studios. If anything is going to merge, I would expect Marvel Comics division and Marvel Studios to look more and more like one cohesive entity.
¿Por qué no los dos?
I remember when that rumour was going in the opposite direction, and WB was said to be considering selling DC, or at least leasing the DC characters to Marvel.
On to this week:
X-Men – this is what I was hoping for from this run. Character work spotlighting the backbench, with a Juggernaut focus next issue? More of that, please.
And yes, this being a three-issue arc helped massively.
X-Force – I haven’t liked an X-Force book this much since the brief Ed Brisson/Dylan Burnett run (I loved Burnett’s art, especially character designs for the main team; I need to check out his other work).
And I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun reading X-Force*. Don’t get me wrong, the first half of Remender’s UXF was spectacular, but most of it wasn’t exactly… fun.
I am enjoying this book very much.
And outside x-books… I’m sorry to say Chip Zdarsky has lost me. His opening arc on Captain America was great, Weapons of Armageddon was alright, but I was against powering Colton up, and now… yeah. Armageddon #2 is definitely not what I was hoping for.
Nice art, though.
* – I have yet to read the original X-Force series, though
Krzysiek-The John Francis Moore run from towards the end of the original X-Force series is very fun. I’d recommend it.
If you’re referring to the early-1980s, that wasn’t just a rumour. DC’s sales had been dropping so low that Warner was growing desperate. Marvel was preparing to acquire DC’s characters and launch a limited number of their top titles under the Marvel umbrella. I believe Shooter was talking to Byrne about doing Superman and Frank Miller to do Batman. However, there was a threat of an anti-trust lawsuit against Marvel Comics at that time claiming they had a monopoly, and Marvel’s lawyers told the top brass that they needed to back away from a deal with their largest competitor. Interestingly enough, higher-ups at DC seem to have taken up Jim Shooter’s aborted ideas for the DCU, deciding to completely revamp their line (which became Crisis) and bring in Byrne and Miller to work on Superman and Batman.
I remember Shooter discussing that on his blog years ago. IIRC, his version of the story was that Byrne got wind of the deal and immediately came to Shooter with an unsolicited pitch for how he’d reinvent Superman, which already had a lot of the ideas he’d later use in the post-Crisis reboot.
Shooter said he wouldn’t have been interested in Byrne’s pitch even if the DC characters had ended up licensed to Marvel, because he wanted to start off with straightforward, self-contained comics light on continuity rather than immediately revamping any of the new properties.
A retrospective on Byrne’s Superman would be interesting to see. Some elements were big successes, others… less so. I’m looking at you, Birthing Matrix.
@MaterMahan- And let’s not even mention Clark and Brad Do a Porno.
Excuse me- that should be “Clark and Barda”.
One minor quibble by the way- why is Cebluski being described as the third longest editor-in-chief at Marvel after Quesada and Stan Lee? Cebluski was hired in November 2017 and fired in July 2026. Shooter became editor in chief in January of 1978 and was fired in April of 1987. So Cebluski was editor in chief for eight years and 8 months while Shooter was editor in chief for nine years and 3 months.
@Michael: Turns out continuity errors accrue when you fire a bunch of young editors and keep the senior idjits around
Yeah, Shooter said the deal fell through because Marvel’s printer brought an antitrust lawsuit against them. They claimed Marvel was using its market share to get their books printed at excessively discounted rates.
Marvel won, not least because it came out during the trial that Marvel was actually paying a *higher* rate than its competitors.
I don’t mind the costume myself, but it turns out you can judge the quality of an X-Men comic by Magik’s cleavage hole.
Huge and low = poor storytelling
Small and only really revealing her sternum = good storytelling
Completely closed = should win awards
It isn’t even a thing with getting turned off by naughty drawings. I’m convinced this works on its own merits.
@Steven: I enjoyed Jason Aaron’s attempt to reset Strange and give him a couple rules, but of course that was never going to last, any more than Guggenheim was going to successfully kick Wolverine into a permanently less ridiculous level of invulnerability back during that storyline where he fights to return to life.
So we have *two* Sentries now? Brilliant. House of Ideas indeed.
Didn’t Sentry become a disabled woman at some point? What happened to that status quo?
There is actually an entire team’s worth of Sentries at Marvel now. Leave it to Marvel to take a compelling idea (Jenkins’ original Sentry) and drive it into the ground until there’s absolutely nothing special about the idea anymore. They could form a Sentry’s Corps. The Sentry is now closer to Captain Universe than an original concept. Well, they’re also outright copying Miracleman, I guess, which Marvel now owns the rights to but really can’t use.
There was the female Sentry, but she took up the name of Solarus at the end of that mini-series. That same mini-series featured a teenage boy taking on the name “Ryan Sentry” and becoming an evil Sentry after the death of the original Sentry. Now, the original Sentry is back alive.
I wonder why I’ve basically stopped following the Marvel Universe outside of Fantastic Four and Thor (solely due to Ewing)…
Wait… why can’t Marvel use Miracleman?
Because a certain author who was supposed to finish the story is now persona non grata and until Marvel sorts out what they want to do about the situation, the character is sort back in limbo again.
Sentry… Miracleman… Creative teams…
I got it, Jenkins/Buckingham reunion on Miracleman.
It writes itself!
@Chris V: What did Todd McFarlane do now? 😉
Marvel, stop trying to make Sentry happen.
I know you’re joking, but the end of Miracleman is essentially written, right? Between the notes from The Original Writer and (at least) notes from The Super-Gross Second Writer, Buckingham should be able to finish it with no problem. It must be contractual obligations that keep that from happening?
Ugh. I hate that I care so much about this stupid comic being finished, but we’re so close. I’ve been waiting for 30 years!
@Thom H.: Good point. Yeah, maybe if they publish it they have to credit Gaiman and/or pay him royalties, which means they’ll end up essentially working with him again, even if they note that he hasn’t been involved since the allegations. Or maybe Buckingham just doesn’t wanna if Gaiman isn’t doing it. Dunno.
I feel like the world is tempting fate by attempting to complete Miracleman at this point. It is obviously meant to never be finished. If Marvel attempts to end the story, I fear it could lead to a nuclear war. That’s how cursed the Miracleman project has become.
Oh. You made it sound like a rights situation rather than Marvel not wanting to work with Gaiman.
Can’t they just, like, get Alan Davis to finish it or something?
According to Bleeding Cool in Feb 2025, “[Silver Age] was then to have been followed by the unpublished The Dark Age. Mark Buckingham would take the creative lead on the project, though based on discussions, deliberation and collaboration with Gaiman. But that seems no longer to be the case. I understand Buckingham ceased work on The Dark Age last summer and asked to be reassigned. He has recently been working on Amazing Spider-Man at Marvel Comics instead.”
*grits teeth* *shakes fist at sky*
What does “finishing” Miracleman actually entail at this point?
I always felt that the Alan Moore run was thematically complete. Miracleman’s new Olympus slowly erased humanity, and his daughter’s even stranger subjectivity and Miracleman’s inability to fully grasp her mentality and experiences suggested that even the posthuman was one more passing phase on the way to experiences and subjectivities more alien yet.
The implicit tragedy is that even Miracleman will find himself as insignificant and obsolete before the next generation of posthumans as humanity finds itself before him. And, in turn, those ways of being that matter to him will be as unintelligible to the next generation as his wife’s reasons for rejecting posthumanity were to Miracleman himself.
I never got the sense that there was any way off that pathway; it’s an inevitable consequence of the Miracleman technology and the first contact that resulted from it. himself.
The material after Moore left has been enjoyable and interesting, but I’ve had a hard time reading it as anything other than an extended exposition of what was already strongly implied in Moore’s conclusion.
What’s left? Some kind of redemption of humanity’s value as the main character realizes he misses and needs Mike Moran after all? An injection of sentimentality into the distinctly unsentimental ending? Or just a kind of nihilism as everything grows meaningless, in succession, unto eternity or entropy?
It doesn’t help that Miracleman has been so influential for so many decades that a lot of the permutations have already been done. Jonathan Hickman, for instance, often seems to do the “reconstruction of humanity” approach to posthumanist narratives. (He’s a post-post-humanist.)
So, Krakoa done correctly.
While it does seem as if that was the logical direction the story was moving, I never believed it would end in that fashion. That doesn’t seem to be the type of story that Neil Gaiman could or would write. I did believe in some sentimentality being added to the ending, unlike where Moore may have gone. I’m not saying that would make for the most satisfying ending, at least for my tastes. I also considered that Marvel may have wanted the series to set up a place where Miracleman could be used further as part of the Marvel Universe because this is Marvel Comics we are talking about. They eventually attempt to fold any properties they own into the Marvel Universe in some fashion (well, I guess the Luke Skywalker/Spider-Man team-up is a lone exception).
From what I read in the Silver Age, it seemed like things were going the other way: a posthuman renouncing his powers, another one starting to lead humans in an opposition, a third threatening to return to mess things up.
And I’m having trouble remembering, but weren’t the aliens pissed at Earth for some reason?
Anyway, the “utopia” is unraveling, albeit slowly, and I think the end of the story might be that posthumans have to leave Earth because humans don’t want them around anymore. A renunciation of superheroes, of the need for a dictator to achieve greatness, of anything that stemmed from the diseased mind of a former Nazi.
But I’m making that up. And since the series is apparently never going to be finished, I guess it’ll just be my personal headcanon forever.
Yeah, Miracleman got its ending back with Eclipse’s issue 16. They even made a nice Omnibus of the whole she-bang.
Yeah, at that point it did seem like Moore was following HG Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come.
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