The X-Axis – 2 September 2026
UNCANNY X-MEN #35. (Annotations here.) Just this one, then? Well, Marvel would say no – there’s also an issue of Deadpool and something from X-Men ’97 – but I don’t regard either of those as falling within our remit. And apparently even this issue was released digitally by mistake, and won’t be released physically for another two weeks. So that’s weird.
This isn’t really an ideal book to write about in isolation, either, because it’s a middle chapter of a storyline that still leaves me a little puzzled. The basic story is perfectly straightforward: Rogue and Gambit looking for the help of Marvel Universe exorcists to free Gambit from the influence of the Eye of Agamotto. Quite what demon is involved is left intentionally vague, and instead of the usual Marvel Universe magical trappings, we have more conventional Christian exorcist material. So we’ve got the obscure Devil-Hunter character from the 1970s, who was Marvel’s attempt to cash in on the Exorcist, and a guy called Repent who’s more of a Marvel Universe exorcist, but still very much in the Christian vein. It certainly makes things feel less familiar than they normally do, and there’s something of a problem in Marvel magic with the standard elements being so well established that they no longer even feel particularly odd. This arc is doing a fairly good job of getting around that problem, though I’m not entirely sure the art matches the effect.
At the same time, I do find myself wondering whether I’m actually interested in Christian exorcist material, and what the ultimate hook here is. I like the way Gambit is played as mostly retaining his normal personality even when under influence, but I find the arc more intriguing than outright compelling.
In the B-plot, we have the X-Men investigating where Howler came from, and discovering that he was being held prisoner by a Word of Strength camp in Louisiana. I can see the point that this is a bit too similar to the Graymalkin arc, but it’s evidently meant to provide some thematic link with the main story, since the guy in charge seems to believe that he’s a stern religious disciplinarian rather than an abuser. At the same time, I don’t really follow what this has to do with the first Word of Strength arc, which involved a personality cult in Argentina. This doesn’t seem to be a cult at all – the guards look like hired guns, so there don’t seem to be any actual cult members. Mind you, we never did really find out what Word of Strength was trying to achieve, so maybe it’ll come together – but if I’m honest, I don’t really get what we’re doing with these guys.
Generally, I can’t quite see where this is all heading, or what it’s really saying about religion. Maybe the final part of the arc will pull it all together but it’s not clicking for me right now.
Wow, it was nearly a X-Men free week. I guess Marvel was concerned about getting killed in the weekly rankings for once. Three important launches from DC and a new Jeff Lemire book at Image.
There was also X-Men: Omega Red Dawn, which reprinted X-Men Infinity Comic (2026) #1-10. And, in a typical Steve Orlando manner, felt entirely inconsequentially existing in a state of continuity limbo. Character designs from the ’90s but Mystique referring to Destiny as her wife. What a week.
I’m not much of a Deadpool fan, but I picked up this week’s issue because I AM reading Punisher and this is the first chapter in a crossover between those titles. Percy’s Punisher has been…eh, it’s been alright I guess. That issue of Deadpool just really hammered home exactly why I don’t like Deadpool and Percy is in no way making me want to read further issues of that series. Depending on how the next chapter in Punisher # 8 goes, I may not even bother with the rest of the crossover.
I’m fond of some Deadpool stories, but Percy’s take on the character (in X-Force) was groan-worthy. I am staying far away from this series.
In other news, Inglorious X-Force relaunches as Fugitive X-Force, still by Tim Seeley. Five issues.
“FIRST, THEY WERE INGLORIOUS… NOW THEY’RE FUGITIVES!When X-Force discovers that their leader Cable’s mind had been compromised, a new leader arises! Boom-Boom takes over the team for the first time, but it couldn’t be under worse circumstances: X-Force has been framed for a horrific crime! As they run for their lives from, well, everyone, Domino searches for Cable, but she might not like what she finds! On Sale 12/9”
So… 10 issues and done, but a mini to continue/wrap it up, instead of just continuing? I guess they really wanna sell those trades.
I’m not surprised. Marvel’s really been leaning into the “series of mini-series” concept with one writer leaping from one title to the next. Like Ashley Allen on Magik and Steve Orlando on Scarlet Witch.
@Chrid M- Regarding Deadpool., one thing that’s not mentioned in the issue is that Wade’s daughter Ellie got trapped in a black hole due to Wade’s recklessness. Since the villain of the crossover is Black Hole. presumably the crossover has something to do with what happened to Ellie.
Regarding X-Force. I’m not sure I buy that Boom-Boom would become the leader and not Warren. I get that Kamala is too young and Daken is sharing his body with one of Mephisto’s demons. But I don’t get why Warren wouldn’t become leader and not Tabitha. He’s got much more experience than Tabitha and he was intvolved in the leadership of one of the previous X-Forces.
The changes seem designed to make the book less appealing. There’s a new artist no one’s heard of and Cable is no longer the leader.
@Chris V- DNX 1 was supposed to come out this week. But it was delayed two weeks due to a probem with the printer.The same thing happened with Amazing Spider-Man 1000. it was supposed to coming out on September 16th but it got pushed back two weeks due to problems with the printer.
Sure, X-Men: Omega Red Dawn was completely skippable, but it does have Xavier trapped in a giant Magneto helmet with Magneto’s regular helmet on top of it. And that’s hilarious.
@The Other Michael
It’s not just Mini series and smaller books Hulk and Thor two flagship titles are had mid arc name changes.
Boomer makes sense as she is closed to Cable and that this is a 90’s style x-force book and she is the only NM/X-force on the team. where as Angel history is grim dark x-force. It may also be more 90’s Characters join either x-force or Dominos teams, to merge at the end in to a 3rd X-force run.
Maybe Sam could come back as Cables protege, especially as the recent Guardians book introduced a new Smasher so if Izzy is unemployed then they no longer need to stay in shiar space.
Sorry I remembered Sam came back to Earth during Fall of X, but it would be good to him back on X-force especially as a married man with his ex as the leader.
@TheOtherMichael,
XMen: Omega Red Dawn (obviously a homage to the famous classic movie) takes place in the XMen Adventures universe (92131) not Prime Earth (616) just before the start of XMen 97 season 1, which is why both Bishop and Nightcrawler are now members of the XMen but Morph has not yet rejoined the team in his new form.
XMen : Omega Red Dawn cannot ever have taken place in Marvel 616 XMen 1990’s Blue/Gold Era because 1) Psylocke, Archangel, Iceman, and Colossus are all missing (and of course Kurt was over in Excalibur) , and 2) Magneto was either presumed dead (pre-Fatal Attractions) or brain-dead (post-Fatal Attractions) during that period to be able to guest-star as he did here , and when he finally got better again beginning during the Seagle/Kelly run , the roster had changed too much so that half of this team here were no longer members .
Also , Steve Orlando is now writing the ongoing 5-part Xmen 97 Season 2 tie-in comic (apparently set either between Season 1 and Season 2 or beside/between the episodes of Season 2) which canonizes in 92131 the 616 Bride (Famine) & Heir of Apocalypse storyline from Rick Remender’s Uncanny XForce and Uncanny Avengers LOL
At this point, Izzy is just one of a slew of Smashers, since it was established there are multiple holders of the various Superguardians identities. But there’s nothing saying she couldn’t be detached to Earth as a special envoy or something.
I figured that the Omega Red Dawn was in the cartoon continuity by the lineup and aesthetic, but it’s not immediately obvious.
@Alastair – Yeah, those came to mind as well. One creator, one long run split up into different, smaller runs… I guess Marvel really thinks this is a better strategy than just allowing one title to run for years at a time. (Until it’s time to revert to legacy numbering on a big number!)
@Jdsm24:
Steve Foxe is writing the X-Men ’97 season 2 tie-in comic.
Bleeding Cool’s Weekly Bestseller List is out. Deadpool came in 8th. I wouldn’t have expected Wade to do so well- I guess the crossover with Punisher is helping.
Daredevil 6 came in 3rd. Stephanie Phillips’s Daredevil continues to hold up.
@Jdsm24
I, too, was convinced that *Omega Red Dawn* was set within the continuity of the animated series and X-Men ’97, but Steve Orlando stated in an issue of X-Men Monday on AIPT that it took place within the classic continuity. That’s very hard to accept (perhaps it could take place during *Fatal Attractions*, shortly after Illyana’s funeral, but Wolverine wouldn’t have met Deadpool yet at that point)
The claim that that Infinity comic is in continuity has been made before and is completely ridiculous.
Yeah. the problem with placing the Infinity Comic during Fatal Attractions is that everyone knows Kurt is Mystique’s son, which they didn’t find out until after Jean and Scott’s wedding, and the school is said to be the Xavier Institute, when it wasn’t called that until after the Phalanx Covenant.
@IanA,
Whooops! Thanks for the correction , I supposed I got them confused because they’re both named “Steve” and they’ve worked with each other before on X-projects LOL
Marvel just released the solicits for Black Cat 17: “Meet the newest mutant…Felicia Hardy?! Witness Felicia Hardy’s second genesis… as the newest member of the X-Men! Felicia’s encounter with Emma Frost has left her changed. Shall we say… mutated?”
I hope that this is some kind of fakeout and Felicia isn’t really a mutant now. That would be stupid beyond words.
She was mutated in Age of Revelation. But, given the rather light, comedic tone of the current Black Cat series (…and most of the previous ones as well) I rather expect it’s some kind of misdirection.
As someone who is reading and reviewing BLACK CAT currently, I am almost certain that the teaser solicitation which has gotten the internet in a tizzy about Felicia “possibly” being a mutant is just a teaser to sell the comic, which is what a solicitation is.
The fact that all of the “comic book journalists,” including Bleeding Cool, fell for it hook line and sinker proves there really are no “comics journalists,” just fanboys and girls who shill and repost ad copy. I should know, I wrote “comics news” articles online a while and most of it really was just commenting to ads or rumors (which are ads). It got tiring after a few years. The Comics Beat comes closest to “real” journalists, but the bar in the medium is low.
Meanwhile, ICV2 just released the top 50 sellers list for August and Stephanie Philllips’ Daredevil is still a top 10 seller, 5 issues in. That’s very rare for a non Ultimate or Spider-book. Wasn’t it just a few months ago when her PHOENIX book was so bad people assumed she was blackmailing someone? I guess it really does wonders to escape the ghetto which is a line senior edited by Tom “The Hat” Brevoort or Nick “Marriage Is The Devil” Lowe.
The two of them may not be the most worthless senior editors in the history of comics, but they clearly have to make a case for being the worst two in active circulation. Brevoort’s tenure with the X-Books has been an unmitigated disaster. And under Lowe, yes, ASM is still a top seller, but that’s the definition of a zombie book. A chimpanzee could edit or write it and it would sell above a certain amount so long as the art is pretty.
DC is cleaning Marvel’s clock comics wise, at least for two quarters. Marvel was so desperate they announced a MARVEL/STAR WARS crossover, which was inevitable as a desperate Hail Mary pass, and not even THAT made the news rounds beyond a day. The interwebs treated it as little more than Howard The Duck getting relaunched, which astounded me. If Marvel made that announcement in, say, 2015 or even 2023, it would have circulated the globe for weeks. The Marvel Malaise really is sinking in deep.
I say the move to Burbank, and the inevitable retirement or redeployment of Brevoort (who was unwilling to join DC and move to California a decade ago, and now he’s older) can’t happen soon enough. There’s no saving the Spider-books so long as Lowe is there, though. G. Willow Wilson turning BLACK CAT into a hot seller is almost in spite of him. She’s had to work with one asinine Spider-crossover or status quo shift after the next, in less than a year and a half, and still manages to make it a fun, quirky book.
The fact that different comic “news” sites posted that the Midnight Universe was going to attempt to compete with the DC Absolute Universe by relaunching horror characters like Werewolf by Night or Morbius shows how seriously they should be taken. The writers of said “news” were making an educated guess based on Marvel releasing a promotional ad for a new “Midnight Universe”. Anyone in the internet could have created such a “news story”.
Maybe Black Cat’s book will be renamed “the Mutant Misadventures of the Black Cat”.
About the top 50 lisT for August:
Uncanny X-Men 33 came in 16th, X-Men 35 came in 17th, Uncanny X-Men 34 came in 27th, Wolverine 25 came in 35th, X-Men United 6 came in 43rd and X-Men of Apocalypse Omega 1 came in 50th.
Wolverine 25 did okay but it was still beaten by Moon Knight.
I don’t think the comic book “journalists” actually fell for this obvious bait and switch in Black Cat 17 solicitation, they are just using it for rage/click bait in order to drive engagement as usual.
[…] Paul O’Brien reviews the puzzling intrigue of Gail Simone, Luciano Vecchio, et al’sUncanny X-Men #35. […]