{"id":8421,"date":"2022-11-02T23:16:28","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T23:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8421"},"modified":"2022-11-02T23:16:28","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T23:16:28","slug":"x-men-red-8-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8421","title":{"rendered":"X-Men Red #8 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN RED #8<\/strong>
\n“Mission to the Unknown”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Al Ewing<\/strong>
\nArtist: Madibek Musibekov<\/strong>
\nColourist: Federico Blee<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Ariana Maher<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller<\/strong>
\nEditor: Jordan D White<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE<\/strong>\u00a01.\u00a0<\/strong>Cable fighting\u00a0Orbis Stellaris (or rather, Orbis serving as the head of the giant body).<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-4.\u00a0<\/strong>Cable and Khora recruit Weaponless Zsen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gosnell’s Bar\u00a0<\/strong>is a bar which appeared in several issues of Al Ewing’s\u00a0Guardians of the Galaxy\u00a0<\/em>run.<\/p>\n

Weaponless Zsen<\/strong> was last seen in\u00a0Legion of X<\/em> #5, where she left Nightcrawler a letter and signed up to work as an interstellar mercenary. As she says, she managed to leave the planet just before a massive war broke out – Legion<\/em> #5 ended with Uranos showing up to attack Arakko.<\/p>\n

This scene confirms that she’s the daughter of the Fisher King and sister of Khora, as very strongly implied by a data page in issue #6. Fisher King “returned from his shadows” in issues #6-7 when the Night Seats members of the Great Ring resurfaced in the wake of Uranos’s attack. We don’t know yet why she and Fisher King aren’t talking.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As established in\u00a0Legion of X<\/em>, Zsen’s power is a hazily defined thing about painting with truth, which she’s rather dismissive about – despite the fact that her creations seem to have significant psychological impact. She calls herself “Weaponless” because her powers have no military application; Cable tells her directly here that they do.<\/p>\n

Zsen says that she “paid dearly” for her weapons upgrades; she got them from Tarn’s Locus Vile outfit, so the cost was probably rather unpleasant.<\/p>\n

Blackjack O’Hare<\/strong> is a mercenary who debuted in\u00a0Incredible Hulk<\/em> #271 (1982), and used to be a Rocket Racoon villain. He also resurfaced as a mercenary in Ewing’s\u00a0Guardians of the Galaxy<\/em>, which is also where he hooked up with…<\/p>\n

The Prince of Power<\/strong>, who debuted in\u00a0Guardians of the Galaxy<\/em> #3 (2020). He’s a well meaning, attractive, vacuous moron. He’s the current possessor of the Power Stone, a job way, way above his mental pay grade.<\/p>\n

“I hear little Khora performed assassinations for Abigail Brand.”<\/strong> Khora killed various claimants to the Snark throne on Abigail Brand’s orders in\u00a0S.W.O.R.D.<\/em> #5 (2021).<\/p>\n

Cable<\/strong>‘s reasons for going after Abigail Brand are explained later in the issue.<\/p>\n

PAGE 5.<\/strong> Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

PAGE 6.\u00a0<\/strong>Data page: a list of the attendees (and obvious absentees) from the meeting in the next scene. This is mostly recapping established roles, and the other points of interest are largely flagged up in dialogue.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.\u00a0<\/strong>The meeting begins.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Kree\/Skrull<\/strong> Emperor\u00a0<\/strong>is Hulkling, who is a nice guy and doesn’t want to start a war. An obvious question that nobody raises is why he isn’t attending the meeting himself, given that his Shi’ar opposite number is attending – he doesn’t even show up on the data page. Since the absence of the Super-Skrull is noted, it’s curious that Gladiator doesn’t raise this question.<\/p>\n

“[The Super-Skrull] swore an oath not to commit murder in the Emperor’s service.”<\/strong> Presumably as a consequence of Hulkling transferring him to diplomatic duty in\u00a0Empyre – Aftermath: Avengers<\/em> #1 (2020), as punishment of sorts for his previous brutality.<\/p>\n

“Again, the Voice of Sol has no time to speak to us…”<\/strong> Storm also no-showed the arrival of a Shi’ar delegation in\u00a0S.W.O.R.D.\u00a0<\/em>#9 (2021). As of last issue, Lodus Logos has the regent seat on the Great Ring, so presumably Storm isn’t actually the Voice of Sol any more, but word of this hasn’t reached Gladiator. We’re never quite told directly what Storm is up to (Frenzy merely ventures a guess), which seems significant.<\/p>\n

PAGE 8.<\/strong>\u00a0Abigail Brand and Mentallo watch.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mentallo<\/strong> seems to be the only member of Brand’s group who remains loyal to her, or at least willing to take the money.<\/p>\n

Frenzy<\/strong> has been in unrequited love with Cyclops since the\u00a0Age of X<\/em> crossover, where they lived an alternate life as a couple.<\/p>\n

PAGES 8-10.<\/strong> Xandra accepts responsibility for the Shapeless Ridge incident.<\/em><\/p>\n

Shapeless Ridge<\/strong> has come up in some previous Ewing stories. The first mention seems to be\u00a0Rocket<\/em> #5 (2017), where a character called Max Sekuri is rumoured to be “ex-Kree military, disowned after his part in the Shapeless Ridge massacre”. Captain Glory mentioned that he “led the charge at Shapeless Ridge” in\u00a0Empyre<\/em> #3 (2020), suggesting that this somehow helped him to recognise Skrulls. In\u00a0Empyre\u00a0<\/em>#6, the Super-Skrull describes Glory as “the butcher of Shapeless Ridge”. This is the first clear explanation of what actually happened.<\/p>\n

The Ten Shames\u00a0<\/strong>are parts of Shi’ar history suppressed by the Kin Crimson cult, as covered in the first arc of Steve Orlando’s\u00a0Marauders<\/em>. Shapeless Ridge was indeed listed as the fourth of the Ten Shames in a data page in\u00a0Marauders<\/em> #2. Xandra’s attitude of confronting the Shi’ar past and atoning for it is consistent with her reaction in\u00a0Marauders<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGES 11-13.\u00a0<\/strong>Cable briefs his team.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cable recaps how he and Wiz Kid discovered Abigail’s schemes in the epilogue of the previous issue. Abigail’s alliance with Stellaris was established in\u00a0S.W.O.R.D.<\/em> #9-10. A data page in\u00a0S.W.O.R.D.\u00a0<\/em>#11 reveals that Stellaris is originally from Earth, but Cable doesn’t know that.<\/p>\n

Abigail got her techno-organic sample from Cable after he died fighting the Progenitors in issue #2.<\/p>\n

PAGES 14-15.\u00a0<\/strong>Cable’s group approach the World Farm.<\/em><\/p>\n

The World Farm<\/strong>, the home of the Progenitors, was previously seen in Al Ewing’s Inhumans series Royals\u00a0<\/em>(2017). The Progenitors in that story were much more powerful than the ones seen in issue #2, hence Cable’s surprise that they were apparently genuine.<\/p>\n

“Me too – before I had a few decades to think about it.”<\/strong> Cable is referring to the fact that he was a teenager when working with Brand at the start of\u00a0S.W.O.R.D.<\/em>, and has now returned much later in his life.<\/p>\n

PAGES 16-19.\u00a0<\/strong>Cable’s group explore the World Farm.<\/em><\/p>\n

An Einstein-Rosen bridge<\/strong> is a kind of wormhole.<\/p>\n

The aliens<\/strong> are the ones we saw resurrecting Vulcan in\u00a0X-Men<\/em> #10, recapped in issue #2. Basically, Cable and co are learning what the readers already knew.<\/p>\n

The Fault<\/strong> is the location to which Vulcan was banished at the end of the\u00a0War of Kings<\/em> crossover (along with Black Bolt, who also made it out pretty quickly).<\/p>\n

PAGES 20-21.\u00a0<\/strong>Vulcan makes his return.<\/em><\/p>\n

Vulcan’s resurrection after his death in issue #3 has apparently broken his conditioning. Presumably the aliens just didn’t anticipate that. At any rate, Power Skrull is keen for a war despite it being very unlikely that his emperor wants anything to do with it, and Vulcan – who considers that he never lost the Shi’ar throne – is more than happy to be oblige. Naturally, they’re all just being manipulated into a war by…<\/p>\n

PAGE 22. <\/strong>Data page: Abigail Brand explains her plan.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is basically Abigail tying together the events that we’ve seen over the last few years and explaining how her plans fit into it.<\/p>\n