{"id":5202,"date":"2020-03-19T23:07:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T23:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=5202"},"modified":"2020-03-19T23:07:14","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T23:07:14","slug":"x-force-9-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=5202","title":{"rendered":"X-Force #9 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I was going<\/em> to start doing reviews of the first volumes of the individual titles last weekend but, well, the pace of events has proved something of a distraction. No doubt there will be plenty of time for it in the time ahead. In the meantime, let’s continue with what can’t help feeling a little bit like telegrams from a bygone era…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Domino, Wolverine and Kid Omega in the Terra Verde jungle. Domino is looking especially 90s here, and you’d think she’d be more bothered about that snake climbing up her leg. It isn’t what she wears in the actual story either… Admittedly, Wolverine is similarly underdressed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 1-3.<\/strong> Wolverine and Daken play Spin the Bottle Russian Roulette in the Green Lagoon Tiki Bar.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Um. Basically, the rule here is that if the bottle stops facing you, you have to stab yourself in the head with your claws. Even granted that these guys both have healing factors, this is stupid – I just don’t buy either of them being interested in that sort of game, or lots of people gathering round to watch it, especially the characters actually shown here. Yes, Jean says that she thinks X-Force has undermined her moral compass… but what about the rest of the characters here? It feels like gratuitous gore to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, the characters shown watching the game:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • The unnamed kid spinning the bottle is Scout<\/strong>, formerly Honey Badger, from the X-23 Wolverine<\/em> series.<\/li>
  • The redhead just behind Wolverine is Siryn<\/strong> (easier to identify in the double page spread), though she’s nowhere near bloodthirsty enough for this.<\/li>
  • The guys in green and yellow are Multiple Man<\/strong> duplicates.<\/li>
  • Egg<\/strong> (formerly Goldballs) is a weird inclusion both in terms of his personality and because we’ve been told that the Five normally hang out with each other… did I mention that I hate this scene?<\/li>
  • Next to him looks to be Cypher<\/strong>.<\/li>
  • On the other side of Scout is Toad<\/strong> from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and latterly the X-Men’s janitor during the Wolverine and the X-Men<\/em> period.<\/li>
  • The guy in glasses with the stick is Triage<\/strong>, one of Cyclops’ trainees during the Bendis era. He died in Uncanny X-Men<\/em> vol 5 #21, and this is the first time we’ve seen him since his evident resurrection.<\/li>
  • Visible in a later panel is Avalanche<\/strong>, from a different version of the Brotherhood. He was murdered by the Red Skull in Uncanny Avengers<\/em> vol 1 #1, and this is the first time we’ve seen him since his resurrection.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    PAGE 5.<\/strong> A double page spread of the Green Lagoon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is the tiki bar mentioned in last issue’s data page, and created by Black Tom. The official purpose of the place is to “encourage a sense of community, social play, stress relief and mutant reproduction.” Some of the tiki statues are actually based on Cyclops’ Bendis-era costume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The characters visible… deep breath…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the top left, sitting at the bar are Marrow, Magneto<\/strong> and a guy with a pipe who could be anyone, really. Behind them are Professor X<\/strong> with his signature helmet, and Gentle<\/strong> with the metal strips on his body. No idea who the two either side of Gentle are. The weird guy standing over Marrow’s shoulder might<\/em> be Razorhead<\/strong>, a one-off villain from X-Statix<\/em> #5. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The signposts next to them have three visible destinations. One is Muir Island, where Moira MacTaggert’s Mutant Research Centre was based. The other two are in Krakoan. The top one is meant to say WESTCHESTER (where the X-Men Mansion was), though it’s wrongly used the C and the H symbols instead of the one that represents CH. I can’t read the other one clearly enough to decode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Serving at the bar are Anole<\/strong> (the lizard guy), Nightcrawler<\/strong> (in mid teleport, and also visible at the top.) and the Blob<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sitting around the rest of the bar, starting at the left and working anticlockwise…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Somebody whose hand is in shot.<\/li>
    • Iceman.<\/strong><\/li>
    • Bedlam<\/strong>, a late-nineties member of X-Force. He’s only appeared in cameos since being revived on Krakoa.<\/li>
    • Frenzy<\/strong>, or Joanna Cargill<\/strong>, the former Acolyte who went on to be an X-Man in the Mike Carey run.<\/li>
    • Gambit<\/strong> and Rogue<\/strong>.<\/li>
    • Black Tom Cassidy<\/strong><\/li>
    • Two ordinary-looking men, presumably mutant civilians before they came to Krakoa.<\/li>
    • Penance<\/strong> (presumably Monet St Croix) and Maggott.<\/strong><\/li>
    • One of the Stepford Cuckoos.<\/strong><\/li>
    • Sage.<\/strong><\/li>
    • A blond guy carrying a cocktail.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Behind the Cuckoo, watching the show…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • Storm <\/strong>and Forge<\/strong>, who used to be a couple; she doesn’t seem that interested in talking to him.<\/li>
      • Domino<\/strong><\/li>
      • Selene<\/strong>, the former Black Queen<\/li>
      • Strong Guy<\/strong>, with his arm around her (which is odd, but she doesn’t seem to be resisting.)<\/li>
      • A man with a red headband who could be anyone.<\/li>
      • Psylocke<\/strong> (the current one, ie Kwannon)<\/li>
      • A woman with a silver-white body and red hair, seen from behind.<\/li>
      • Someone with spiky hair, being held by a huge guy with white hair.<\/li>
      • Wolfsbane<\/strong>, sitting on the shoulders of a man with red skin.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        On the stage are Dazzler<\/strong> singing, Shark Girl<\/strong> on drums, and a woman who’s presumably Lila Cheney<\/strong>, the rockstar teleporter who used to be Cannonball’s girlfriend in the 80s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        At top right, Christian Frost<\/strong> is leaving hand in hand with an unrecognisable person in a black cloak (which is odd given that Marauders<\/em> has shown him as mainly interested in Iceman – but this is Krakoa, where everyone seems to be in very flexible relationships).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        To his right, you can see Mr Sinister<\/strong> watching, with a woman behind him. Down in the bottom right, also watching from a perch, are Tempus<\/strong> of the Five, and an unrecognisable guy in shadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In the water on the right:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        • Bling!<\/strong>, last seen in Fallen Angels<\/em>.<\/li>
        • She’s talking to Transonic<\/strong> from Generation Hope<\/em>.<\/li>
        • Tempo<\/strong> from the Mutant Liberation Front.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Wolverine and Daaken’s game can be seen from the reverse angle. This reveals the Krakoan text on Scout’s bench, which reads MAKE MORE MUTANTS (the Krakoan law which this place is supposed to be encouraging). Also watching, from this angle, are Colossus<\/strong> and Mystique.<\/strong> Colossus seems to be drinking an entire bottle of something, and it isn’t beer. Behind them are Forearm<\/strong> of the Mutant Liberation front, and Gorgeous George<\/strong> (of whom more later). Behind them<\/em> we can see Mirage<\/strong> of the New mutants, and a woman with red hair and a cape, presumably Hope<\/strong>. Cyclops and Jean are, of course, sharing their table with Apocalypse.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The other table (bottom left) has another Multiple Man, Havok, Karma<\/strong> (with her cyborg leg on the table), Polaris<\/strong> and Banshee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Just entering the bar from the left is Emma Frost<\/strong>, flanked by Callisto<\/strong> and Jumbo Carnation <\/strong>from Marauders.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The golden mermaid in the bottom left is Lifeguard<\/strong> from X-Treme X-Men<\/em> – she doesn’t always look like a mermaid, but her body adapts. She’s barely been seen since M-Day. And the other guy sitting with his feet in the water appears to be Sebastian Shaw<\/strong>, presumably drunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 6.<\/strong> Domino and Sage talk.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Domino has been resurrected without her memories of being tortured by XENO in South Korea. She assumes that this was what she asked for. As we saw last issue, it isn’t. She specifically asked to remember everything, and Colossus promised to make sure that happened. Presumably he betrayed her because he believed it would make her happier (and he seems to have been right in the short term).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 7.<\/strong> Recap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 8.<\/strong> Credits. This is “The Moral Jungle” by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara and Dean White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGES 9-10.<\/strong> Black Tom gets into a fight with Gorgeous George.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Black Tom is clearly being driven mad by the continual experience of being linked to Krakoa. As George points out, this makes Tom highly dubious as a protector of Krakoa. It’s hard to believe that the Quiet Council haven’t picked up on this, so you have to wonder what the agenda is in putting him in this position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Gorgeous George<\/strong> was a member of the Nasty Boys, who were henchmen of Mr Sinister during Peter David’s X-Factor <\/em>run. They’ve done very little since, until getting killed during the Rosenberg Uncanny X-Men <\/em>run. Evidently he’s been brought back on Krakoa. He’s a D-list henchman, basically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Scout<\/strong> calls Wolverine “family” because she’s a clone of X-23, who in turn is the clonal “daughter” of Wolverine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 11.<\/strong> Data page. The “then” section is a repeat of information that we were given about Terra Verde in issue #6. That story was apparently “several months ago”, which seems a bit ambitious in terms of the Marvel timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          “I couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with this.”<\/strong> The point of issue #6 was that Beast’s attempts to stymie Terra Verde’s “telefloronics” investment had gone horribly wrong and created a monster. Clearly, Beast’s plan hasn’t worked, and he’s getting defensive about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGES 12-13.<\/strong> Wolverine, Domino and Kid Omega set off for Terra Verde.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Wolverine has obviously picked up on the discrepancy between Domino asking to have her memories removed on her resurrection, and the way she was talking beforehand. He seems more to view it as a bad call on her part, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGES 14-17.<\/strong> Terra Verde is overrun with plants.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Sage and Jean.<\/strong> Beast gives no particular reason for leaving them out, but they’re both telepaths. The implication is that he doesn’t want them around to pick up on his thoughts if this is<\/em> all his fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Beast’s mug.<\/strong> The visible Krakoan reads MORN– SUNS–. (“Morning sunset”?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          President Cocom.<\/strong> We say him before in issue #6, since when things haven’t worked out well for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 18.<\/strong> A data page from Beast’s logbook about the mythology of Terra Verde. The Mayan angle isn’t new – it dates from Fantastic Four<\/em> #117. The Olmec were indeed an earlier civilisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Broadly, Beast is telling us that pre-colonisation Terra Verde had myths about plant gods, somewhat analogous to Krakoa itself. “Ya’ax” is simply the Mayan word for green. It’s a bit Swamp Thing<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Beast mentions that Krakoa “requires the consumption of two mutants each year if it is to thrive.” That refers back to Krakoa trying to consume the X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men<\/em> #1. We’ve previously been told that this isn’t a problem on Krakoa now, because there are so many mutants that Krakoa can take a little energy from each of them, with no problems. Beast… doesn’t exactly phrase it that way. But he could<\/em> simply mean that Krakoa takes the equivalent<\/em> of two mutants each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGES 19-20.<\/strong> X-Force reach the temple.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGES 21-24.<\/strong> Beast sends Black Tom into the field, while X-Force discover Terra Verde’s “angry god”.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Since Black Tom is meant to be a crucial part of Krakoan defence, Beast really shouldn’t be sending him off on a mission designed principally to cover up his own blunders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Cain Marko.<\/strong> Black Tom and the Juggernaut were long-time partners in 80s and 90s stories in particular. Although Juggernaut was an X-Man for a time, he isn’t a mutant and presumably can’t visit the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          “Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth in strange eruptions.” <\/strong>Henry IV Part 1, Act 3 Scene 1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGES 25-26.<\/strong> Trailers and credits. The Krakoan reads NEXT: MALIGNANT GROWTH.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. I was going to start doing reviews of the first volumes of the individual titles last weekend but, well, the pace of events has proved something of a distraction. No doubt there will be plenty of time for it in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5204,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5202\/revisions\/5204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}