X-Men United #3 annotations
X-MEN UNITED #3
“The Loneliest Ghost”
Writer: Eve L Ewing
Artist: Tiago Palma
Colour artist: Brian Reber
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: Emma Frost intervenes in an argument between Beast and Magneto. Charitably, something approaching this does happen in a subplot.
THE X-MEN:
Emma Frost. She’s unhappy with Beast’s time-travel glitches. At the end of the issue, she has a missed call from Lourdes Chantel; we haven’t seen Lourdes since she was killed by Orchis in the 2023 Hellfire Gala one-shot, though she was presumably among the many mutants resurrected in X-Men Forever #2 at the tail end of the Krakoan era.
Magneto. He grumbles that the mission was doomed from the start – although the actual problem that’s emerged is a technical time travel issue that has nothing to do with his argument in the previous issue that Captain America is only trying to assuage his own guilt. That said, his views from that scene are essentially echoed by Vernon Weaver in this story (see below).
Charts – 15 May 2026
Right, this is late, and it’s a busy week, so we’re going to dash through it.
1. Sam Fender & Olivia Dean – “Rein Me In”
Eleven weeks at number 1. It still needs another two weeks to match Alex Warren’s “Ordinary”. Drake is currently ahead in the midweeks, but not by a wide enough margin that I’d be confident of him hanging on until Friday. By this point “Rein Me In” has clearly peaked, but it’s still an absolute mile ahead of the competition, with a ridiculous 46% lead over Tame Impala at number 2.
6. Michael Jackson – “Human Nature”
In most countries, this was released as the fifth single from “Thriller” in 1983. In the UK, it wasn’t, and so this qualifies as a new entry and Michael Jackson’s 45th top 10 hit. It might actually be more familiar to British audiences as the sample in SWV’s “Right Here”. It has, however, been given a music video to promote the movie, which seems to have pushed it into the top three tracks being streamed on the back of the movie. “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” continue to climb, while “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” gets disqualified under the three song rule. (It would have placed at number 9.) “I Want You Back”, technically a Jackson 5 track, is also climbing.
The X-Axis – 13 May 2026
UNCANNY X-MEN #28. (Annotations here.) Well, I was correct in my assumption that all the weird New Mutants stuff was something to do with Inmate X. I’ve seen some people who were underwhelmed with the real of who Inmate X is, but it works well enough for me. Quite aside from the fact that this storyline looks suspiciously like it was derailed in order to free up Professor X for that Exiles book that seemingly isn’t going to happen, I’d rather have a new character created for this role than try to shoehorn someone like Proteus or Jamie Braddock in. And there’s been at least some set up for the idea that Corinna’s brother was going to be significant down the line. So sure, I can go with that. And it also means that the Greymalkin plot is coming to a head, which is a relief, because it’s tended to be a distraction from the book’s other features. I like the relatively understated nature of the weirdness in the scenarios, as well, which seems more effective than just reaching for the sledgehammer. Vecchio sticks to a relatively clean look with oddity creeping in on the edges, and that works. On the other hand, it’s not at all clear at this point what the two New Mutants scenarios have to do with the Greymalkin plot, so the big question for this arc is whether it all comes together and becomes more than just strangeness.
WOLVERINE #20. (Annotations here.) So this is the end of the Adamantine arc that started back in issue #1. It also parks the New Morlocks / Silver Sable arc, but that one is left sufficiently unresolved that I assume the plan is to come back to it down the line. As for the Adamantine, though… Well, it looks good. Martín Cóccolo gives the Adamantine a nicely mythic feel, and his designs for the alternate Wolverines are quite fun. He’s certainly elevating the book. As for the story, though, the Adamantine arc just doesn’t work. In theory, you’d think there’d be something interesting in the idea of the “real” mythical metal taking offence at its Marvel Universe imitation, but ultimately the Adamantine just turns out to be a raving warrior spirit that wants to fight stuff. Much of the final issue depends on you being willing to accept that things have to play out in a particular way in order for the Adamantine to be defeated, and that the creature who could shatter Wolverine’s claws last issue becomes vulnerable to them once Wolverine’s shown sufficient fighting spirit. But this isn’t interesting. I just don’t see any wider resonance to any of this, and it winds up as a story in which things happen because the plot demands that they happen – both in the normal sense and in-universe. It’s clearly aiming for some sort of grand, epic scale, but doesn’t achieve it, and I have no real idea of what it was even going for beyond the surface level. A bit of a disaster for such a long-running storyline.
Wolverine #20 annotations
WOLVERINE vol 8 #20
“The Savage Champions”
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artist: Martín Cóccolo
Colour artist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER: Wolverine in action, with an image of the Adamantine behind him.
WOLVERINE:
Apparently, Wolverine’s role as “Savage Champion” involves enacting a routine narrative repeated in multiple timelines, in which he has to heroically stand alone against the Adamantine to save the world in a seemingly hopeless battle, thereby earning the right to be aided by other “Savage Champions” who have defeated the Adamantine in a previous timeline. (How did the first one beat the Adamantine? To be fair, they seem to come from different time periods, so maybe there wasn’t a “first one” in that sense.)
The other Savage Champions all appear to be vaguely alternate Wolverines, and address him as a “brother”. Wolverine reacts to them with a degree of confusion before saying that it feels like speaking to his reflection; he comes across here as unfamiliar with the idea of Wolverines from other timelines, though to be fair, these guys are not particularly close counterparts. Although the Savage Champions can assist him after this point, the narrative still requires Wolverine to deliver the “killing blow” to the Adamantine, which he does with his remaining adamantium claws. (However, Athena tells us that the Adamantine isn’t permanently dead, but merely returned to dormancy.)
Uncanny X-Men #28 annotations
UNCANNY X-MEN vol 6 #28
“Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?, part three: And It Shall Come To Pass”
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Luciano Vecchio
Colour artist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: Gambit, holding the Left Eye of Agamotto, and with dragon wings growing from him.
THE X-MEN
Gambit‘s own search for the Outliers goes nowhere, though he seems genuinely grateful to the Vig for making the effort. When the fake “Cannonball” flies off with Rogue, he suddenly reveals that he can use the Left Eye of Agamotto to grow dragon wings, and gives chase.
Rogue, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Jubilee deal with the weird fake “New Mutants”, but otherwise don’t do a great deal. The X-Men themselves are only in about four pages of the issue.
SUPPORTING CAST
Jitter. She’s the first to clearly point out that the Outliers are in a fake world, since although she can’t remember her history with any of her teammates, she still feels an emotional connection to them – specifically, that she reacts to Ransom as a leader and that she’s in love with Calico. She doesn’t say anything in particular about Deathdream. Deathdream also pointed out last issue that he still had emotional connections with the others, but nobody really paid attention to him.
Housekeeping
Annotations will probably be on Friday this week, for anyone wondering.
Charts – 8 May 2026
In some ways, this is a relatively active chart. But not particularly in terms of new release singles breaking through…
1. Sam Fender & Olivia Dean – “Rein Me In”
Ten weeks at number one, which is now incontestably a record for a duet. And even after nearly a year on release, nothing else is even remotely close to it – it has a lead of around 65% over Tame Impala at number 2.
20. Alex Warren – “Fine Place To Die”
No, it’s not a Bond theme. It’s an Alex Warren song, and back to the standard format after “Fever Dream”. This is the second single from his upcoming album, but it isn’t really competing with “Fever Dream” at number 5. “Ordinary” remains seemingly immortal, and is currently at 21 in its 64th week on the top 40. We’ve certainly got to a point where zombie records like “Ordinary”, and reactivated back catalogue, are making it very hard to actual new releases to get headway.
The X-Axis – 6 May 2026
X-MEN #29. (Annotations here.) Part 4 of “Danger Room”, and naturally it’s the turning point where the X-Men start fighting back. On the whole, I prefer this book when it’s doing shorter stories – this arc has most in common with the 3K attack on the Factory in issues #14-18, which also felt like it dragged on a bit. Five issues for what in plot terms is an extended fight seems a bit much. But there’s still plenty to like in here – Jed MacKay picks up the Psylocke/Greycrow relationship well, and Netho Diaz does a lovely splash page of the laser being bent around the Marauder. Quentin and Idie screwing up the X-Men’s relationship with the town because they can’t resist walking into a trap even when it’s been pointed out to them is a nice bit too. But I’m not sure Beyond themselves are interesting enough to merit five issues of this.
STORM: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST MUTANT #4. (Annotations here.) Well, this is as berserk as ever. But for the life of me I don’t see how this is going to get to any sort of satisfying resolution with one issue to go. The actual invasion of Earth hasn’t happened yet, and much of the issue is devoted to Bogey negotiating with Hela to even try to be in a position to make the invasion happen. I’m also completely lost about who she’s supposed to be working for – wasn’t the plot that she was trying to free Susanoo? Isn’t he a thunder god? So why is she now saying that her people are older than the gods? Meanwhile, Storm seems to have been dragged away from the main storyline entirely by a weird meta subplot – or to be fair, perhaps that’s the point, and the whole idea is to find a solution that bodyswerves the apparent plot even happening. But… is that interesting? Is it a Storm story, really? Ostensibly the big event in this issue is meant to be the appearance of Storm’s daughter, but as it turns out to be just another alternate reality character who barely interacts with Storm before sending her home, I’m genuinely baffled as to why Ayodele thinks this is a big deal – at least in the story as published, as opposed to however many issues this was meant to take in his original pitch. It does have some very good art, and it would be no bad thing if more Marvel books swung for the fences like this, but it’s ultimately a bit of a mess.
Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #4 annotations
STORM: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST MUTANTS #4
“Mama”
Writer: Murewa Ayodele
Artist: Federica Mancin
Colour artist: Java Tartaglia
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Tom Brevoort
STORM:
We’re still “two days before Akujin’s invasion of Earth”, as in the previous issue. Storm is still outside the Marvel Universe proper at “the Wall” (the edge of the DC Universe), though in this issue it seems more like an area of metafictional swirl, complete with fan mail floating around. Storm seems to disregard all of the explicitly meta elements.
The alt-N’Daré’s basic pitch to Storm is that she should let Death destroy the Multiverse and then they can go back and restart it. Not surprisingly, Storm isn’t on board with this idea, not least because she’s working from an in-universe perspective and isn’t remotely convinced superhero universes work this way. However, we also get a flashback to the Krakoan era to remind us that, when she was infected by a techno-organic virus, she chose to fight it rather than just take the easy option of resurrection. This was Giant-Size X-Men: Fantomex and Giant-Size X-Men: Storm. The latter issue does indeed have a speech from Storm implying that she thought Krakoan resurrection undermined the value of life.
X-Men #29 annotations
X-MEN vol 7 #29
“Danger Room, part 4”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Penciller: Netho Diaz
Inker: Sean Parsons
Colourist: Arthur Hesli
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: A collective gravestone for the X-Men, with a gloating Frank Bohannan and Maxine Danger reflected in a puddle. Neither of them actually appears in the issue. Shouldn’t it be “Here Lie The X-Men”?
THE X-MEN:
Psylocke. The opening flashback explains how she and Xorn survived the attack from Beyond’s men at the start of last issue: Xorn used his gravity powers to bend Beyond’s laser away from the Marauder, and then Psylocke blasted the Beyond vehicle with the Marauder’s missiles. This fits well enough with the previous issue, though issue #27 had the Marauder dodging hails of attacks as opposed to the single major assault shown here.
