{"id":11247,"date":"2025-07-23T22:38:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T21:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=11247"},"modified":"2025-07-23T22:38:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T21:38:23","slug":"uncanny-x-men-18-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=11247","title":{"rendered":"Uncanny X-Men #18 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY X-MEN vol 6 #18<\/strong>
\n“Corn Dogs and Carnage”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Gail Simone<\/strong>
\nArtist: Luciano Vecchio<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Rachelle Rosenberg<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Clayton Cowles<\/strong>
\nEditor: Tom Brevoort<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE X-MEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calico.<\/strong>\u00a0Either she’s having nightmares about Mutina following the previous issue, or Mutina is genuinely stalking her. These encounters prompt her to sleepwalk, something she’s been doing “almost every night of late.” The very strong implication is that Mutina really is teleporting into Calico’s room to threaten her at night – when Gambit and Jubilee try to take her back to her room, they find the bed slashed, along with the painting on the wall. It was fine when she got up to start her sleepwalking a few pages earlier.<\/p>\n

According to Gambit, she’s a hopeless cook (“she don’t know how to cook toast”), presumably because her rich family always had people to provide her with food. Despite this, she tries to make pancakes while sleepwalking, and seems at least to be vaguely aware of the correct ingredients. While sleepwalking, she recites some of Mutina’s threats, but also says “Everyone cooks, everyone cleans”, which are two of the Haven house rules from issue #3.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gambit implies that on previous nights, she’s said disturbing things about her mother while sleepwalking – though the only thing we hear her say in this story is “love you mama” when Rogue is holding her. He thinks that her overly cossetted upbringing (which, per her origin story, was extreme even for the wealthy) has “ruined” her as much as the more conventionally traumatic backgrounds of other X-Men.<\/p>\n

She really<\/em> likes horses. She wears horse pyjamas, sleeps in horse bed clothes, and has horseshoes on her slippers.<\/p>\n

Gambit.<\/strong> He’s clearly concerned about Calico’s mental health, for obvious good reasons, and wants to make helping her a priority – though without any very concrete plan of action for doing so. He’s ambivalent about the Friendship Fest. He’s in favour in theory, but minded to “keep to the shadows” to make sure it all goes smoothly.<\/p>\n

Rogue.<\/strong> She persuades everyone that they should show up at the Friendship Fest and endorse it as the X-Men. However, the Outliers are kept to the side. Her relations with Cyclops have improved markedly from the start of the series. When he shows up, she defers to him giving orders, even though it’s her team – but seems comfortable enough with that, since he’s the more experienced leader and it’s a genuine emergency.<\/p>\n

Jubilee.<\/strong> She’s up in the middle of the night for some reason – or at least very early in the morning – but since Calico is the immediate concern, nobody asks why.\u00a0She’s sceptical about the Friendship Fest – she believes that MacKenzie means well but sees it as an obvious target if the X-Men show up.<\/p>\n

Nightcrawler.\u00a0<\/strong>He goes to visit MacKenzie Deneer, asking to have a word with her – we don’t actually see what he came to talk to her about. He certainly seems to trust her, and we’re pretty obviously moving towards them as a couple.<\/p>\n

Wolverine.<\/strong> He’s sceptical about the Friendship Fest but willing to go along with the decision that the X-Men should attend. By his standards, he’s on his best behaviour, agreeing to pose for photos without being visibly grumpy about it.<\/p>\n

Jitter.\u00a0<\/strong>She seems slightly put out at not being allowed to appear in costume at the Friendship Fest.<\/p>\n

Ransom\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Deathdream<\/strong> are also at the Festival in civilian clothes, but don’t do much.<\/p>\n

SUPPORTING CAST<\/strong><\/p>\n

MacKenzie Deneer.<\/strong>\u00a0Having sold the mayor on Mutant Friendship, MacKenzie has been saddled with the task of actually organising it. She’s delighted to have Nightcrawler drop by, and keen for him to stay for lunch. Once again, there’s no suggestion of any husband around. She lives in Gentilly, which I gather is a fairly middle class neighbourhood.\u00a0The flier for the “Friendship Festival” is a slightly amateur affair, complete with the Hallmark-style slogan “A stranger is a friend you haven’t met yet!” That said, it seems perfectly well organised for a local fair, and MacKenzie is a bit self-conscious about its more amateurish qualities.<\/p>\n

Her children.<\/strong> The two kids show up again here. The previously unnamed boy is called Dylan. Oddly, the daughter – who was called Lena in her first appearance – is now “Lindy”. Traditionally, this is where Marvel Index<\/em> and the\u00a0Official Handbook<\/em> would mutter something about nicknames and both names being right.<\/p>\n

The Friendship Festival attendees.\u00a0<\/strong>The Festival seems well attended, with a handful of actual mutants there. The X-Men are pleasantly surprised to find a crowd who treat them as celebrities.. Some of the attendees seem to be in cosplay – the opening splash page includes a girl in a Wolverine T-shirt (with Laura, surprisingly), a Sunfire on stilts, someone in a Colossus costume, a woman in a Storm costume, and someone who seems to be going for Polaris’ first costume from the 1960s. There are some kids with insectoid wings flying around who might be the children of Beak and Angel.<\/p>\n

Among the crowd is a big guy who looks a lot like Cable, standing with a redhead who might be Rachel Summers. If it’s them, they’re consciously staying in the background.<\/p>\n

There’s a stall where people can put their heads through cutouts in a picture of Cyclops and Marvel Girl and have their photo taken. The picture in question is the cover of\u00a0X-Men<\/em> #137 – since this is a shot of them fighting together in the Blue Area of the Moon at the climax of the Dark Phoenix Saga, it really is a testimony to MacKenzie’s research skills.<\/p>\n

Five characters show up at the children’s hospital to help deal with the fire, having apparently intended either to attend the Festival or at least keep an eye on it:<\/p>\n