X-Force #25 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-FORCE vol 6 #25
“The Edge”
by Benjamin Percy, Robert Gill & Guru-eFX
COVER / PAGE 1: Wolverine faces off against the surfers that he meets later in the issue. The fact that they’re all shooting at him kind of gives the twist away.
The previous issue ended with the under-the-influence Colossus killing Kayla and then being approached by Professor X. That storyline isn’t mentioned at all in this issue, presumably because it does indeed lead into the cliffhanger of Inferno vol 2 #2. Instead, we have something… completely unrelated.
PAGES 2-4. Wolverine collects his surfboard from Forge.
Apparently, this is what Wolverine asked Forge to make for him (or rather, was about to ask for before he was interrupted) way back in issue #4. It’s… an adamantium covered surfboard. Right. I’ll come back to that.
We’re told that Wolverine is still waiting for something else from Forge, so that’s a dangling plot.
S.W.O.R.D. #10 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
S.W.O.R.D. vol 2 #10
“Triple Threat”
by Al Ewing, Jacopo Camagni & Fernando Sifuentes
COVER / PAGE 1: Well, it’s a S.W.O.R.D. station exploding with Wiz Kid, Cable and Storm in the background.
PAGES 2-4. Wiz Kid starts his day.
Last issue ended with the revelation that Wiz Kid is Henry Gyrich’s man inside S.W.O.R.D.. He was sitting right in front of Abigail Brand when he was talking to Gyrich, though, so there was always a suggestion that it might be a bluff. Much of this issue is devoted to teasing the possibility that Wiz Kid might genuinely have turned on S.W.O.R.D., specifically because he sees no real difference between humans and mutants in terms of the way they treat him, in particular as regards his wheelchair use.
Charts – 12 November 2021
At last, a busy week.
Not right at the top, admittedly. The top three is all non-movers, with Ed Sheeran at both 2 and 3 (and he’s at 6 too). “Easy on Me” gets a fourth week at number 1; it still needs a fifth to match 2011’s “Someone Like You”.
5. Arrdee – “Flowers (Say My Name)”
This is Arrdee’s third top ten hit and the biggest – marginally, following two number 6s. It is what it is. The chorus draws on both “Flowers” by Sweet Female Attitude (number 2 in 2000) and “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child (number 3 the same year). “Flowers” is a heavily referenced track – Nathan Dawe’s cover reached number 12 in 2019, and Pinkpantheress used it on “Pain” earlier this year, which got to 35.
Excalibur #25 annotation
As always, this post containers spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
EXCALIBUR vol 4 #25
“Come Fate Into the List”
by Tini Howard, Marcus To & Erick Arciniega
COVER / PAGE 1. Captain Britain and Arthur fight while falling from the Starlight Citadel.
PAGES 2-5. Betsy and Tom Lennox in the Green Lagoon.
Page 2 is intercut with flashback to the battle against Merlyn’s forces which was in progress at the end of the previous issue. As we establish in the next scene, Excalibur wound up retreating to the Citadel, and Betsy apparently takes some time here to return to Earth and check in on the newly-resurrected S.T.R.I.K.E.. Which seems a bit lacking in urgency, but I guess it’s a long-term siege, so why not.
S.T.R.I.K.E. were resurrected at the request of Pete Wisdom in a subplot in issue #22, and this is the first time we’ve seen them since. They were a S.H.I.E.L.D. equivalent from the supporting cast of old UK Captain Britain stories. Tom Lennox, in particular, was Betsy’s love interest. Specifically, this group were S.T.R.I.K.E.’s psychics – the organisation itself was bigger.
Hellions #17 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
HELLIONS #17
“Trauma Response”
by Zeb Wells, Stephen Segovia & Rain Beredo
COVER / PAGE 1: Orphan-Maker rescues the Right AI baby.
PAGES 2-3. Psylocke decides to help Orphan-Maker.
Psylocke decided to leave Krakoa last issue, after Havok (under Empath’s influence) destroyed the A.I. copy of her daughter’s mind, which Mr Sinister had been secretly using as leverage over her. She told Cyclops that “I was tasked with keeping the Hellions in check. If only I’d known they also tasked another.” That referred to the clear indication that Havok and Empath had been put on the team by Emma Frost specifically for this purpose. This is the subtext of Psylocke and Emma’s exchange on page 2, which is alluded to in Psylocke’s line “I think you do know.”
Emma refers to Psylocke as a “Great Captain”, so this is after she was appointed in Inferno #1.
House to Astonish Presents: The Lightning Round Episode 6
Lightning strikes six times! This is surely a sign of the Biblical apocalypse!
This time round we’re diving into the second year of Thunderbolts, covering issues 13-16. Bug people! Political intrigue! Hulkbots! Guys called Dirkson! Santa Claus the Luchador! Justice League Norwich! It’s all here, and it’s all go!
You can get the podcast here, or here on Mixcloud, or via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Twitter, via email or through our Facebook fan page. And hey! There are t-shirts! For sale! And they have our logo on them! This is quite a lot of exclamation marks for one post!
(Also – today is our 13th birthday. House to Astonish Episode 1 was launched on November 8th 2008. Thanks so much for sticking with us – we genuinely appreciate every single person who listens to the show. We’re not stopping any time soon, so get ready to wish us a happy 20th anniversary when Paul and I are both orbiting 50.)
The Incomplete Wolverine – 1994
Part 1: Origin to Origin II | Part 2: 1907 to 1914
Part 3: 1914 to 1939 | Part 4: World War II
Part 5: The postwar era | Part 6: Team X
Part 7: Post Team X | Part 8: Weapon X
Part 9: Department H | Part 10: The Silver Age
1974-1975Â |Â 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979Â
1980 | 1981 | 1982Â | 1983Â |Â 1984Â |Â 1985
1986Â | 1987 | 1988Â | 1989 | 1990 | 1991
1992Â |Â 1993
Following a frantic couple of years, with Wolverine making guest appearances all over the place, 1994 is a remarkable change of pace. There are a few reasons for that. One is that the early 90s speculator bubble has burst, and Marvel’s line is shrinking. In particular, Marvel UK and its firehose of guest stars is now behind us. But also, Wolverine has lost his adamantium, and he’s going to respond to that by spending most of the year going off to find himself. And, for the most part, the rest of the Marvel Universe leaves him to get on with it.
WOLVERINE vol 2 #77
“The Lady Strikes”
by Larry Hama, Adam Kubert, Mark Farmer, Mike Sellers, Mark Pennington & Steve Buccellato
January 1994
When we left off, Wolverine was visiting Heather Hudson, and learning that he was going to die without his adamantium because his immune system didn’t work without it. Then, Lady Deathstrike showed up to attack. So this is a fight issue, with the payoff coming when he uses his bone claws and she find out that he doesn’t have his adamantium any more.
Lady Deathstrike’s whole motivation as a Wolverine villain is that she believes his adamantium skeleton was given to him with technology stolen from her father, and she feels obliged to avenge that theft even though she knows Wolverine had no say in it. The loss of his adamantium, in a story that she wasn’t even involved with, makes her whole agenda futile, and means that she gave up her humanity for nothing. But at the same time, she’s  freed from her perceived duty, albeit in the least satisfactory way she can imagine – so she just leaves in order to figure out what she’s going to do with her life instead. There are murmurings about giri and honour.
Charts – 5 November 2021
Ed Sheeran has an album out, but fortunately we’ve heard most of the hits already.
Three weeks. That matches the run of “Hello”.
4. Ed Sheeran – “Overpass Graffiti”
This is the release-week single from his album “=”, which naturally becomes his fifth number one. All of his albums since 2011 have reached number 1 – that’s “+”, “÷”, “x” and “No 6 Collaborations Project”. The two previous singles, “Shivers” and “Bad Habits”, rebound to 2 and 3 respectively, so no doubt if we didn’t have the three-song rule, he’d be swamping the charts. I’m slightly surprised that the final single didn’t get a number one, but I guess it’s diluted somewhat by the release of a whole album of material.
Housekeeping
No annotations this week, because… well, there’s nothing to annotate. The only X-books out this week are X-Men: Legends and X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic (and they’re both in mid-storyline, so they’re not due for a review either).
So… yeah.
On Sunday, though, it’ll be time for Wolverine in 1994.
Charts – 29 October 2021
I’m starting to wonder if people have given up on releasing new singles.
Two weeks. Adele’s longest-running number one was “Someone Like You” (five non-consecutive weeks in 2011). So that’s a way off. But it heads up a static top four, with two former number 1s making up the rest of the top 3 – and the rest of the top 10 is just records that have passed their peak shuffling places around. It’s not like the challengers are queuing up.
15. The Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd – “Moth to a Flame”
