{"id":8154,"date":"2022-08-05T21:34:11","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T20:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8154"},"modified":"2022-08-05T22:22:03","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T21:22:03","slug":"x-men-red-5-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8154","title":{"rendered":"X-Men Red #5 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN RED vol 2 #5<\/strong>
\n“The Hour of Uranos”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Al Ewing<\/strong>
\nArtist: Stefano Caselli<\/strong>
\nColourist: Federico Blee<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Ariana Maher<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen<\/strong>
\nEditor: Jordan D White<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1:<\/strong> Cable, still with a twinkle in his eye even in adverse circumstances.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-3.<\/strong>\u00a0Destiny’s warning is relayed to the Great Ring.<\/em><\/p>\n

The lead-in for this scene is on page 9 of\u00a0A.X.E.: Judgment Day<\/em> #1, where Magneto, Cable and Nightcrawler decided that they would relay Destiny’s warning about an imminent Eternal attack to the Great Ring, while Storm joined the Quiet Council meeting on Krakoa. Abigail Brand wasn’t seen in that issue, so presumably Magneto and co went out of their way to alert her – partly because of the seriousness of the problem, and partly because this whole affair is completely unrelated to any of her schemes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For some reason, Brand doesn’t identify Destiny as the source of this warning, just calling her “our source” – but since Destiny is on the Quiet Council, presumably the Arakkii are well aware of who she is.<\/p>\n

Idyll<\/strong> is, apparently, an omega-level precognitive who can see the “true future” but cannot alter it, which begs the question of what use that is. Continuity purists will question how a world of branching timelines can actually have a “true” future (though we’re not told that she sees everything<\/em>, so maybe Ora just means that once things become settled, Idyll is 100% reliable about them).\u00a0Logicians might wonder how anyone can actually\u00a0know<\/em> that Idyll is a completely reliable seer if she never gives any indication in advance (but maybe she writes things down to prove it).<\/p>\n

Ora may be suggesting here that Idyll has one of those rules-lawyer powers like Isca: her predictions are so accurate that by the very act of viewing the future, she locks it into place – or simply that she is compelled not to act in a way that could falsify her own visions.<\/p>\n

Anyway, none of this will matter by the end of page 4.<\/p>\n

Isca<\/strong> not unreasonably questions where Ororo, the supposed regent of Arakko, is at this time of crisis. But since Ororo has been disavowing any sort of regal trappings throughout this series, calling her “Princess Ororo” is sarcasm.<\/p>\n

Cable<\/strong>‘s briefing of the Quiet Council, and its interruption by Uranos’s attack, also appears on page 21 of\u00a0Judgment Day<\/em> #1. His only dialogue in that issue is “Okay this is – What in the?” Here, we get some of the lead-in, in which he’s just telling us that their only hope “is to be prepared beforehand”, which of course they aren’t.<\/p>\n

“Greetings, meine Mitmutanden.”<\/strong> “Greetings, my fellow mutants.” (I assume.)<\/p>\n

PAGES 4-6.<\/strong>\u00a0Isca switches sides and Uranos attacks.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nightcrawler’s line about getting too safety also appears in\u00a0Judgment Day<\/em> #1, but otherwise all this is new.<\/p>\n

Isca<\/strong>‘s defection is a callback to her backstory when she swapped sides to join Annihilation’s forces. The basic idea is that Isca’s power is “not to lose”; this is involuntary, so she can’t be on the losing side even by choice. If it’s simply not possible for her to win, then her power compels her to “not lose” by changing sides before it’s too late. Like Idyll, she’s on rails somewhat. Nightcrawler correctly figures that although Isca can’t be beaten, she can at least be sidelined. This also helps her not get killed in the course of the issue.<\/p>\n

Uranos<\/strong>, the Darkseid-adjacent genocidal Eternal, was released by Druig to attack Mars for precisely one hour in\u00a0Judgment Day<\/em> #1. Correcting “excess deviation” is one of the compulsions of the Eternals, as covered in detail in their own book; the interpretation of mutants as falling within that rule is a matter of political convenience for Druig. For Uranos, it’s merely an aspect of his view that the best way of protecting the Earth is to wipe out its inhabitants.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.<\/strong> Recap and credits. A footnote tells us that events in this issue are “referenced” (whatever that means) in\u00a0A.X.E. Judgment Day<\/em> #1 and, curiously,\u00a0Legion of X<\/em> #6, which won’t be out until October. Hmm.<\/p>\n

PAGE 8.<\/strong> Data page. A map of Uranos’s attack to date. He’s killed 11,553 Arakkii in thirty seconds.<\/p>\n

PAGE 9.<\/strong>\u00a0The Armories of Uranos begin their attack.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Art Community of the Morrowlands<\/strong> was previously seen in issue #2.<\/p>\n

PAGE 10.<\/strong>\u00a0More attacks.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nightcrawler and Isca<\/strong> are nice and far from the fight.<\/p>\n

The Valley of the Fallen<\/strong>, first seen in\u00a0Planet-Size X-Men<\/em> #1, is the bit with the giant commemorative statues of Apocalypse and his wife Genesis.<\/p>\n

Olympus Mons<\/strong> is a well-known Martian volcano.\u00a0Argyre Planitia<\/strong> is a plain.<\/p>\n

S.W.O.R.D.<\/strong>‘s space station, the Keep, is coming under attack in the third panel. Abigail tells us in two pages time that she’s lost contact with it, but we don’t actually see what happens to it. On page 18 panel 2, the narrator tells us that “A breach was opened to a dimension of pure destructive force”, the sealing of which “comes too late for all hands on the Keep”. So apparently everyone dies.<\/p>\n

PAGE 11.<\/strong>\u00a0Ora Serrata fights Uranos.<\/em><\/p>\n

Which goes about as well as you’d expect. It’s not entirely clear\u00a0why<\/em> Uranos is unaffected by her power to erase things from existence, but the suggestion seems to be that you have to recognise her authority (or the authority of the legal system that she represents), and Uranos simply doesn’t.<\/p>\n

PAGES 12-13.<\/strong>\u00a0Legion fights Uranos.<\/em><\/p>\n

This takes place almost entirely off panel, and apparently lasts less than 30 seconds. Presumably we’ll get to see more of this in\u00a0Legion of X<\/em> #6.<\/p>\n

“Mutant circuits are rare on Arakko.”<\/strong> The Krakoans have been very keen on mutants using thier powers in synergy. The suggestion is that the degree of (fairly basic) co-operation seen here is highly exceptional for the Arakkii.<\/p>\n

PAGE 14.<\/strong>\u00a0Another attack montage.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first panel shows us Sunspot and Wrongslide, who only joined the cast last issue.<\/p>\n

Panel 2 shows Nova; we’ve been reminded in previous issues of storylines where he’s fought on alone as the last remaining Nova, and things of that nature.<\/p>\n

Isca’s defeat of Nightcrawler took place off panel and again, we may come back to it in\u00a0Legion of X<\/em> #6.<\/p>\n

PAGES 15-16.\u00a0<\/strong>Uranos fights Magneto.<\/em><\/p>\n

Note that Magneto loses his helmet on page 15 panel 3 – we saw it lying on the ground at the end of\u00a0Judgment Day<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGE 17.<\/strong>\u00a0Cable fights Uranos.<\/em><\/p>\n

Naturally, Cable’s last resort is a really,\u00a0really<\/em> big gun. The sort of thing that even early 90s Cable would have regarded as a bit much.<\/p>\n

PAGE 18.<\/strong>\u00a0More chaos.<\/em><\/p>\n

I think this is the first time we’ve seen what Xilo actually does, though I’m not sure the art bears much resemblanec to the swarming effect that the narration seems to be describing.<\/p>\n

The Kymellians that Nova fails to save are members of the horse-like alien race from\u00a0Power Pack<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGE 19.<\/strong> And more chaos.<\/em><\/p>\n

Xilo<\/strong> served as the historian on the Quiet Council, so in saying that a “millennia of eye-witnessed history” has been “lost forever”, the narrator is very strongly implying that Xilo has died. But as we’ll see later on, Xilo does in fact survive, with serious memory damage.<\/p>\n

Abigail Brand<\/strong>, we’re told, “tries to avoid the resurrection protocols”. That might just be a poetic (or more accurate way) of putting it, but there might be genuine reasons why Abigail doesn’t want to be resurrected. After all, would you want one of Krakoa’s top telepaths downloading your memories into your body, when they include your dealing with Orchis?<\/p>\n

The Fisher King\u00a0<\/strong>seems to have managed to avoid all of the chaos entirely, though he did prefer living away from everyone else. At any rate, he sees this as more of a turning point in Arakkii history.<\/p>\n

PAGES 20-22.<\/strong>\u00a0Uranos leaves and the surviving Great Ring members regroup.<\/em><\/p>\n

Curiously, Lodus says that Ora was “gouged in the eye” but her “body [was] untouched”, which begs the question of which part of her body isn’t the eye.<\/p>\n

Magneto inherited the “seat of loss” from Tarn, and is invoking the cultural idea that it takes the lead in times of defeat. He seems to have some sort of energy hole in his chest. The narrator bills this as the start of “the hour of Magneto”, in contrast to the hour of Uranos that we’ve just witnessed.<\/p>\n

PAGE 23.<\/strong> Trailers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. X-MEN RED vol 2 #5 “The Hour of Uranos” Writer: Al Ewing Artist: Stefano Caselli Colourist: Federico Blee Letterer: Ariana Maher Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen Editor: Jordan D White COVER \/ PAGE 1: Cable, still with a twinkle in […]<\/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,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8154","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=8154"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8157,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8154\/revisions\/8157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}