Charts – 21 May 2021
J Cole has an album out, then.
1. Tion Wayne & Russ Millions – “Body”
Three weeks, and still with a comfortable lead – it’s about 25% ahead of the number 2 single.
2. Olivia Rodrigo – “Good 4 U”
A final single from her album before its release today. She’s now released three singles complaining about her ex’s new girlfriend, but there’s certainly a range of genre – this time, she’s Paramore. “Deja Vu” climbs to a new peak of number 11 this week as well, and “Drivers Licence” is at number 35.
Way of X #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and the page numbers go by the digital edition.
WAY OF X #2
“Let Us Prey”
by Si Spurrier, Bob Quinn & Java Tartaglia
COVER / PAGE 1. The swashbuckling Nightcrawler in Kurt’s mindscape battle an attacking Kraken.
PAGE 2. David and Kurt.
Legion. The name “Legion” comes originally from New Mutants vol 1 #26-27, and used to be David’s codename. He started rejecting it in Spurrier’s X-Men Legacy vol 2. Strictly speaking, in the original story, “Legion” was a collective name for all of David’s multiple personalities.
The Patchwork Man. David is aware of the Patchwork Man, and evidently assumes that his father is jumping to conclusions in blaming him; he sees Xavier as completely distrustful and unsupportive, which is pretty much fair (and stands in stark contrast to his more paternal role with the rest of the X-Men).
Wolverine #12 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
WOLVERINE vol 7 #12
“Penumbra”
by Benjamin Percy, Scot Eaton, JP Mayer & Matthew Wilson
COVER / PAGE 1. Dracula and the Vampire Nation hook themselves up to a captive Wolverine in order to get his blood. The image is upside down, so that the vampires look like bats.
PAGES 2-4. Logan and Louise in Paris.
All fairly straightforward in terms of plot. Louise wonders if fighting on against her vampirism is heroic or just hypocritical; Logan tells her to fight on. We have been here before with Wolverine, in X-Men Annual vol 1 #6, with Rachel van Helsing. She was a former vampire hunter turned into a vampire, and she asked Logan to kill her. That time, he did.
Penumbra. A more mundane definition would simply be that it’s an area of partial shadow. The bit at the edge of a shadow where it fades out instead of ending abruptly. But the point works as well.
“Those vampire kids…” Wolverine is referring to the vampire kids he met in issue #5, who were indeed successfully resisting Dracula’s control. Perhaps they’ve had an impact on his thinking, but in the next scene his main point is that all his own losses of control have only made him more determined to do the right thing – not simply take himself off the board.
X-Men: Curse of the Man-Thing #1
X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MAN-THING #1
“Curse of the Man-Thing, Chapters 7-9”
by Steve Orlando, Andrea Broccardo & Guru-eFX
So here’s one for the “technically an X-book” file.
X-Men: Curse of the Man-Thing #1 might sound like a one-shot, but it’s actually the final part of a three-issue miniseries. The other two chapters are Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1 and Spider-Man: Curse of the Man-Thing #1. It’s what you might call an imaginative use of “#1”.
We’ve had this format once before, with a Typhoid miniseries. At root, it’s a tacit admission that Marvel would really like to do a story about Man-Thing, but that book obviously won’t sell at all, so maybe if we prop it up with guest stars it’ll work. Which is a bit of a shame for Man-Thing, as this is his supposed to be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of his debut in Savage Tales #1. The poor bastard doesn’t even get top billing at his own birthday party.
Charts – 14 May 2021
This was the week of the Brit Awards, and since performing your song on primetime TV to an audience who don’t necessarily care all that much about music tends to bring in new listeners, there are a couple of unlikely rebounds further down the chart. But it makes no difference to…
1. Tion Wayne & Russ Millions – “Body”
…which gets a second week at number 1, and continues to grow. It has twice the streams of the number 2 single (which is “Montero”, a record on its way down). So it looks set to be here for a while.
12. Coldplay – “Higher Power”
Produced by Max Martin, and it sounds it. This is the lead single for their ninth album, somewhat bizarrely promoted with a video livestream from the International Space Station. Coldplay’s last hit single was “Orphans” in 2019, but they haven’t been this high up the chart since 2017 (when they got to number 2 in a collaboration with the Chainsmokers).
X-Factor #9 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-FACTOR vol 4 #9
“Interlude: DJ Mark’s Mixtape of Mojoverse Beats to Make Out To”
by Leah Williams, David Baldeón & Israel Silva
COVER / PAGE 1. Dazzler and Lila Cheney perform in the Mojoverse, with X-Factor in the foreground.
This is the penultimate issue of the series, and issue #10 is a “Hellfire Gala” tie-in. So if you’re wondering why this issue seems in a terrible rush to tie up its storylines…
I’m so glad you enjoyed 9, and thank you for reading. 💗💗💗 I got the news about the book ending while scripting 9 so it immediately became a priority to resolve everything I could in a finite amount of space.
— Leah #XFAQtor Williams (@mymonsterischic) May 12, 2021
…well, there you go.
PAGE 2. Opening quote. Wind Dancer talks about her new role as reluctant overseer of the Mojoverse – she’s appointed as the Krakoan envoy later in the story. This is why she has a movie studio on hand to make promo videos for X-Corp in X-Corp #1.
X-Corp #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-CORP #1
“Simply Superior”
by Tini Howard, Alberto Foche & Sunny Gho
X-CORP. This is the first X-Corp series. X-Corporation was introduced in the Grant Morrison run, specifically in the 2001 New X-Men Annual. As described in the newspaper article on page 34, it was originally a sort of nonprofit organisation which existed to support mutant rights, rather than a corporate business as such. It was largely closed down after M-Day, but we’ve seen it mentioned from time to time during the Krakoan era. (Interestingly, it wasn’t mentioned in the data page in X-Force #4 that catalogued Xavier’s business assets.) Warren and Monet were shown running it in Empyre: X-Men.
COVER / PAGE 1. Well, it’s vaguely pharmaceutical-packing themed, but it’s also got corporate graphs and charts. Broadly, you’ve got Monet and Warren in businesswear, casting a shadow which shows themselves as Archangel and Penance.
With the corporate theme, mock branding and stylised colour palette, it’s very reminiscent of some of the early covers from Wildcats Version 3.0, which also did the superheroes-go-corporate angle.
PAGES 2-4. Warren and Monet film a promotional video.
It’s not exactly clear who this video is aimed at – it’s all vague aspirational corporate-speak, the idea (I suppose) being that we’re meant to take it seriously because it’s Krakoan. But who is X-Corp marketing itself to? The only product it has in this story is Krakoan drugs, and from the sound of it it just manufactures those; if it’s also selling them, what’s Hellfire Trading for? It’s odd that the relationship between those two entities isn’t really explained here – it is the premise of Marauders, after all.
Children of the Atom #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
CHILDREN OF THE ATOM #3
“Unusual Dinner Guests”
by Vita Ayala, Paco Medina & David Curiel
COVER / PAGE 1. The group panic aboard a crashing spacecraft. As we’ll see, the scene in the story is somewhat different, since it’s a flashback and they’re not in costume.
PAGES 2-4. Carmen readies herself for live streaming.
Carmen. Each issue so far has focussed on a different member of the cast, and been told from their perspective. This time it’s Carmen / Gimmick, who gets a full name for the first time. The basic angle is that Carmen feels that people appreciate her because of the stuff she does, and because they depend on her, but worries that they’re not all that worked up about her as a person. Of course, she leans into this by seeking validation in the form of a loyal audience for her cosplay livestreaming. There was a hint of this in issue #1, with Buddy asking Carmen “When do you sleep, huh?”
This is the first appearance of Carmen’s family. Carmen’s room has a Dazzler poster on the wall (consistent with last issue’s concert). In the first panel, she’s holding a photograph of herself, Buddy, Gabe and Benny – but not Jay Jay. Maybe he’s holding the camera? Carmen is gazing fondly at Benny, while the other three are looking at the camera.
Charts – 7 May 2021
Well, here’s a track I didn’t expect to get to number 1. “Montero” drops to 2 after five weeks, and…
1. Tion Wayne & Russ Millions – “Body”
That’s the remix video above, which isn’t officially the lead version – but it’s the version that’s largely responsible for pushing it up to number 1. This has climbed 21-12-11-14-4-1, with the remix coming out over the last couple of weeks. It’s being billed as the first drill number one, and fair enough, I guess – though it’s at the radio friendly end of the genre, as you might imagine. Tion Wayne has had three previous top ten hits, but this is his first time in the top 5. Russ’s previous best was number 7.
The Incomplete Wolverine – 1988
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
1974-1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980
1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987
At the end of last year, the X-Men set off for Dallas, to appear in “Fall of the Mutants”. After that story, the X-Men will be off limits for guest appearances for a while – but there’s time to shoehorn one in first!
INCREDIBLE HULK vol 2 #340
“Vicious Circle”
by Peter David, Todd McFarlane & Petra Scotese
February 1988
On their way to Dallas, the X-Men stumble upon the Hulk on a rampage. At first, Wolverine resists the temptation to go after his old rival, he but changes his mind when he sees the scale of the damage. He tries to keep his composure when facing the Hulk, but finally flies into a berserker rage which does indeed bring the Hulk down – briefly. The fight ends when Rick Jones and Clay Quartermain break it up. Dutifully following Uncanny X-Men, this story lays heavy stress on Wolverine’s discomfort with the unaccustomed role of team leader. Rather harshly, Wolverine feels that after all the progress he’s made, he let himself down by backsliding into berserker mode when confronted with the Hulk. The Hulk simply leaves without appearing to learn anything at all.
The Marvel Index lists a flashback in Wolverine vol 4 #12 as taking place during this story. It shows Wolverine fighting the grey Hulk and being treated as the hero who saves the day. But the disruption caused by the fight means that a man called Roger fails to get his pregnant wife to hospital in time to save her life. Roger goes on to join the Red Right Hand. The rationale for placing this flashback here is a bit wonky – the weather’s all wrong, for one thing – but you can treat it as an inaccurate recollection and it avoids the need for a second Wolverine/Hulk encounter during this period.
