Wolverine #16 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
WOLVERINE vol 7 #16
“Ill-Gotten Gains”
by Benjamin Percy, Adam Kubert & Espen Grundetjern
COVER / PAGE 1: Wolverine and Solem fight, with Solem using the Muramasa Blade.
PAGES 2-3. Solem approaches Wolverine in the Green Lagoon.
When we left off last issue, Wolverine had just discovered that his version of the Murasama Blade had been stolen from his room by Solem. Evidently he’s been investigating further since then (i.e., a whole bunch of other stories could have taken place since last issue, which is handy).
Logan’s reflections about Solem’s confusing nature are broadly in line with what we’ve seen so far in this book. The bit about him potentially being a victim largely stems from his origin story as related by Sevyr Blackmore last issue; even on Sevyr’s version of events, Solem was the sole survivor of an attack on his village, who then got taken in and raised by the people who had slaughtered everyone he knew. Solem then bides his time before taking revenge… none of which makes him seem that bad. But he goes on to be an all purpose pirate and rogue himself.
S.W.O.R.D. #8 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
S.W.O.R.D. vol 2 #8
“Unbroken”
by Al Ewing, Guiu Vilanova & Fernando Sifuentes
COVER / PAGE 1. Storm fights some Arakkans.
PAGES 2-3. Storm descends to Arakko.
Storm is making a point of using her powers to return through space, rather than doing the sensible thing and taking a gate, in order to assert her authority over the bunch of lunatics who live on Aarakko. As she descends, we get to see some of the landmarks of Arakko that were established in Planet-Size X-Men #1: the statue of Apocalypse in the sacred valley (there’s one of Genesis next to it), the Lake Hellas Diplomatic Ring, and the town of Port Prometheus.
Although Mars is terraformed, the art in this issue still largely depicts it as something of a desert wasteland.
PAGE 4. Recap and credits. Storm isn’t technically a member of S.W.O.R.D., but she’s joined the cast by virtue of her role on Arakko, and she’s our star character for this issue.
Inferno #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
INFERNO vol 2 #1
by Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti & David Curiel
INFERNO. “Inferno” was the name of the big X-books crossover of 1989, in which demons invaded Manhattan. On the face of it, this series has nothing to do with it. But we’ll see. Inferno vol 1, if you’re wondering, was one of the miniseries from the Secret Wars event of a few years back.
COVER / PAGE 1. Moira stands over the fallen members of the Quiet Council.
PAGE 2. Opening quote from Omega Sentinel. It’s from page 12 panels 4-5.
PAGES 3-4. Emma resurrects Charles.
Obviously a flash forward. This scene is a direct callback to the opening two pages of House of X #1, in which Professor X resurrected the X-Men after their first suicide mission against Orchis. The layouts are basically the same. This time it’s Emma resurrecting Professor X and another guy who isn’t easy to recognise – presumably Magneto?
The line “To me, my X-Men” was used by Xavier in the original (and was the only line of dialogue in the scene). Emma’s line here is new. Xavier is cast in the role that Cyclops had originally. Xavier has been killed and resurrected before in the Krakoa era, but this is very clearly presenting a role reversal.
Charts – 24 September 2021
It will never end…
That’s a second week for “Shivers”, but combined with the 11-week run of “Bad Habits” immediately before it, it means that he’s now been at number one for 13 weeks. That matches his own record from 2017, when he spent 13 weeks at number 1 with “Shape of You”. The next target for him is 15 weeks, which would match the run of Drake’s “One Dance” from 2015.
10. Lil Nas X – “Thats What I Want”
That’s not a typo. There’s no apostrophe in the title. It’s the release week single from his album “Montero”, which enters at number 2. Officially “Montero” is meant to be his debut studio album, but his EP “7” reached number 23 in 2019, and that had “Old Town Road” and “Panini” on it, so it’s kind of hard to say it doesn’t count.
X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN: THE ONSLAUGHT REVELATION #1
“Altar/Piece Alter/Peace”
by Si Spurrier, Bob Quinn & Java Tartaglia
Despite the title, this is effectively Way of X #6.
COVER / PAGE 1. Nightcrawler and Legion face an Onslaught-possessed Professor X.
PAGE 2. The mutants gather for the Cruciball.
“There was once a sacred land where death had been dethroned…” Obviously, the narration is partly a plot recap for anyone gamely taking that #1 on the cover at face value. But it raises directly the question of whether the resurrected mutants are actually the same people as the original, or just copies who believe themselves to be the same person because they share memories. This is a very awkward question which the X-books have genuinely tiptoed around.
X-Men #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 6 #3
“Fearless, Chapter 3: Problematic Fan”
by Gerry Duggan, Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia
COVER / PAGE 1. The X-Men fight the Evolutionary Guard while the High Evolutionary looks on.
PAGE 2. Data page. An opening quote from Mr Sinister.
Herbert is the High Evolutionary, Herbert Wyndham. As Sinister points out, it’s surprising how little interest the High Evolutionary has taken in the X-Men over the years, given the premise of the team. Of course, in reality, the reason is that he’s a character generally associated with other books.
“Anything remotely interesting about him comes from me.” X-Men vol 2 #99 established that the Evolutionary did indeed know Mr Sinister (as “Dr Essex”) when he was a young scientist, that he “learned more from the theoretical heresies of Essex than conventional textbooks could ever have occurred”, and that the Evolutionary regarded Essex as a mentor and “old friend”. So for once, Sinister’s self-aggrandising claim has a basis in history.
X-Corp #5 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-CORP #5
“Closing Costs”
by Tini Howard, Alberto Foche & Sunny Gho
This is the final issue of X-Corp. It’s possible it gets relaunched in some form after Inferno, but I suspect it’s going to wind up as another Fallen Angels. You can see what they were going for, but it just never quite worked.
COVER / PAGE 1. Angel symbolically falling, and the face of…. I don’t know, honestly. Himself as Archangel?
PAGES 2-3. The Madroxes guard the Noblesse soldiers.
These are the guys who were captured last issue trying to storm X-Corp’s HQ.
“Ces bêtes nous gardent prisonniers.” “These beasts keep us prisoners”, though the printed version is missing the circumflex.
“…cet endroit pue comme des mutants.” “This place stinks of mutants.”
Charts – 17 September 2021
A lot of good stuff this week!
1. Ed Sheeran – “Shivers”
Well, the 11-week reign of Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” is over, and it’s replaced by another Ed Sheeran song. (A better one, if you ask me, though the video is trying way too hard.) “Bad Habits” is still hanging on at a very respectable number 3, and while we’ve all probably forgotten about it, he has a third track on the chart too – “Visiting Hours”, which entered at number 5 at the start of the month and is currently at 19.
X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN: THE TRIAL OF MAGNETO #2
“Welcome to Krakoa”
by Leah Williams, Lucas Werneck & Edgar Delgado
COVER / PAGE 1. Magneto fights the Avengers.
PAGES 2-4. Professor X and Hope try to read Magneto’s mind.
They’re trying to put him at ease, presumably to lower his psychic defences in order to make it possible to scan his memories. Obviously, this is trying to close the potential plot hole of “how can there by a mystery when you can just read the subject’s mind”?
Despite what Hope says, this process is quite plainly not torture. Torture would be extracting a confession by inflicting, or at least threatening, pain and suffering. What Professor X is trying to do here is the exact opposite. That may be an invasion of privacy or an unacceptable violation of the right to silence, but it isn’t torture. In fact, if Hope has ethical problems with this, she should really have problems with most of the telepaths on Krakoa.
PAGES 5-6. The X-Men greet the Avengers.
Strictly speaking, this isn’t actually the newly elected X-Men, but rather Cyclops and Phoenix (who are on the team) and Wolverine (who isn’t). But they’re a natural trio to act as ambassadors to the superhero establishment. It’s also a somewhat retro-classic Avengers group, rather than the current regular line-up: Captain America, Iron Man, the Vision and the Wasp.
Note that Hope asked on page 4 why Jean and Emma hadn’t been asked to help with the psychic search. Xavier claimed that they were both “busy with an urgent matter of diplomacy”, but that seems to be true only of Emma. It also doesn’t really explain why Xavier is turning to the relatively inexperienced Hope in place of, say, one of the Stepford Cuckoos – or indeed Exodus. Is there some reason why he wants to carry out this scan without the rest of the Quiet Council knowing?
Marauders #24 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
MARAUDERS #24
“Date Night”
by Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto & Cory Petit
COVER / PAGE 1. Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost nad Kate Pryde face off against aliens in the Red Lagoon bar.
PAGES 2-4. Eden Rixlo arrives at Port Prometheus.
Port Prometheus is the main intergalactic hub on Mars/Arakko. This is the first time Marauders has spent any significant time on Arakko since the terraforming during “Hellfire Gala”.
For the most part, Port Prometheus in this issue is basically just Star Wars which… seems ill-advised when the place hasn’t really been defined very clearly yet. Doesn’t it have an identity of its own?
Eden Rixlo is, as far as I can tell, a new character.
