{"id":8581,"date":"2022-12-21T23:29:30","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T23:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8581"},"modified":"2022-12-21T23:29:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T23:29:30","slug":"x-men-annual-1-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8581","title":{"rendered":"X-Men Annual #1 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN ANNUAL vol 4 #1<\/strong>
\n“Radiant”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Steve Foxe<\/strong>
\nArtist: Andrea Di Vito<\/strong>
\nColourist: Sebastian Cheng<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Clayton Cowles<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen<\/strong>
\nEditor: Jordan D White<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Firestar fighting alongside Cyclops.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-4.\u00a0<\/strong>Firestar argues with the Hellions.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Avengers.<\/strong> Firestar was a member of the Avengers during the Busiek\/Perez run in the late 90s and early 2000s. The wider point being made here is that although she’s a mutant, she’s rarely been featured in X-related comics. In the Hellions’ eyes – or at least Roulette and Bevatron’s, since Catseye and Jetstream seem more ambivalent – she’s ignored the mutant struggle in favour of an easier life for herself. Moreover, as a member of the X-Men, she’s now been selected as a supposed representative of their nation anyway. They aren’t impressed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Beast was an Avenger back in the 70s and early 80s, before he was a sociopath. Wolverine was an Avenger during Brian Bendis’s run. Havok was not only an Avenger, but led the\u00a0Uncanny Avengers<\/em> team which was expressly a hybrid of the Avengers and the X-Men. Firestar could also have mentioned Rogue, who was a member of the same team, and Sunspot and Cannonball, who were Avengers during the Hickman period. Oh, and Storm, who inexplicably joins the Avengers for a handful of issues just before\u00a0Avengers vs X-Men.\u00a0<\/em>Nonetheless, all of those characters are predominantly associated with the X-Men, which is the Hellions’ real point.<\/p>\n

The<\/strong> Hellions.\u00a0<\/strong>Now that Hellions\u00a0<\/em>is over, these guys presumably have sole claim to the name again. From left to right, the group shown here are Jetstream, Catseye, Beef, Roulette, Tarot and Bevatron. Ironically, Beef and Bevatron rarely appeared in X-books either, except when they showed up to die; they were mainly\u00a0New Warriors<\/em> characters. While the Hellions’ nastiest member Empath is absent here, Roulette was certainly among the more villain-inclined members. Catseye was always a nice one (as was Tarot, to a degree), and Jetstream was broadly honourable and sensible.<\/p>\n

Firestar was a trainee of Emma Frost at the same time as the Hellions but was always kept largely separate from the rest of the team. I’m not honestly sure what the flashback on page 2 panel 4 is showing (or what it has to do with anything).<\/p>\n

The New Warriors<\/strong> were the team that Firestar was most associated with until she joined the Avengers.<\/p>\n

The Young Allies.<\/strong> Firestar was a member of an obscure incarnation of this team who had their own book for 7 issues in 2010-11.<\/p>\n

“We got killed for sport while she was auditioning for Captain America.”<\/strong> The Hellions were murdered by Trevor Fitzroy as part of the Upstarts’ game in\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/em> #281. As Firestar says, this is way before she was anywhere near the Avengers, but that doesn’t really affect the Hellions’ point.<\/p>\n

“I turned down being a New Mutant.”<\/strong> In\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/em> #193.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been an X-Man before but it never sticks.”<\/strong> She was a member of the X-Men in\u00a0Amazing X-Men<\/em> vol 2, which is what the flashback is showing.<\/p>\n

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

“Surviving the experience.”<\/strong> Referencing the familiar “Welcome to the X-Men, Kitty Pryde [or whoever], hope you survive the experience” line.<\/p>\n

PAGE 6.<\/strong>\u00a0Firestar and Iceman arrive back at the Treehouse.<\/em><\/p>\n

Um, was Firestar going to the bar before work, then?<\/p>\n

“Maybe Spider-Man called.”<\/strong> Meta reference to\u00a0the\u00a0Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends<\/em> cartoon, where Iceman and Firestar were the titular Friends. There’s no real link with him in the Marvel Universe.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.<\/strong>\u00a0Forge updates the team.<\/em><\/p>\n

Harrower<\/strong> (Harriet Bromes) is the villain from Steve Orlando’s\u00a0Curse of the Man-Thing<\/em> miniseries; she’s a relative of Augusta Bromes from Hordeculture. She’s also shown up in\u00a0Deadpool<\/em> lately.<\/p>\n

Bi-Beast<\/strong> is an android created by the Bird People who debuted in\u00a0Incredible Hulk<\/em> #179 and has been floating around the Marvel Universe as an obscure background villain for years.<\/p>\n

Mojo<\/strong> is apparently fighting the X-Babies version of Havok here, but we’ll come back to that.<\/p>\n

PAGES 8-10.<\/strong>\u00a0Cyclops decides to go with Firestar to investigate the hospital.<\/em><\/p>\n

“…especially with Shiro on Arakko…”<\/strong> Firestar has replaced Sunfire as the heat guy on the team after he moved to Mars.<\/p>\n

“Emma decided it for<\/strong> her.” <\/strong>Emma did essentially bounce Firestar into joining the team in\u00a0X-Men: Hellfire Gala<\/em> #1. This sits uneasily with the whole concept of it being a public vote, but since that sort of public acceptance would cut across the whole premise of this issue, it’s probably best to ignore that.<\/p>\n

Cyclops has a point that, up till now, Firestar hasn’t really done a great deal other than follow along and try to be loyal.<\/p>\n

PAGES 11-14.<\/strong>\u00a0Cyclops and Firestar arrive at the hospital.<\/em><\/p>\n

Krakoan drugs.\u00a0<\/strong>Apparently for the purposes of this story we’re going with the idea that Krakoan drugs are free and plentiful; more commonly the angle is that there are still limits on production capacity.<\/p>\n

Russia and the UK<\/strong> are singled out here because they’re countries which don’t recognise Krakoa (in the UK’s case, due to unresolved plot threads from\u00a0Excalibur<\/em>), and so don’t qualify for Krakoan drug distribution.<\/p>\n

Firestar’s cancer.<\/strong> This is the\u00a0Marvel Divas<\/em> miniseries from 2009. The other three women in the flashback are Hellcat, Spectrum and Black Cat. Firestar glosses over it here, but ultimately she got cured as a result of Hellcat doing a deal with Daimon Hellstrom on her behalf.<\/p>\n

“Have you ever considered fixing your powers?”<\/strong>\u00a0Resurrection normally just brings people back as duplicates (with a bit of tinkering around the edges), but Cyclops’s inability to control his optic beams was retconned by Chris Claremont into the result of a head injury, rather than an inherent feature of his powers. So in theory, the Five shouldn’t have that much trouble getting rid of it. But the visor and glasses are very much part of his identity at this point.<\/p>\n

PAGE 15.<\/strong> Data page: Firestar discusses her new costume with Jumbo Carnation.<\/p>\n

Firestar’s costume.<\/strong> Hank Pym gave Firestar a costume to sort out her lack of immunity to her own powers in\u00a0Avengers<\/em> vol 3 #12.<\/p>\n

Her leather jacket and goggles costume comes from\u00a0New Warriors<\/em> and her early days with the Avengers.<\/p>\n

PAGE 16.<\/strong>\u00a0Whirlwind attacks.<\/em><\/p>\n

We’ll come back to him.<\/p>\n

PAGES 17-18.<\/strong> Montage: the rest of the team in action.<\/em><\/p>\n

PAGES 19-20.<\/strong>\u00a0Firestar confronts Whirlwind.<\/em><\/p>\n

Whirlwind\u00a0<\/strong>started as an Ant-Man & Wasp villain, under the name Human Top. Unlike most Ant-Man villains, he actually does get used, but mostly as cannon fodder for more high profile villains. He is indeed a real mutant, and (like Firestar) a character completely divorced from mutant comics. Basically, he’s the classic “we couldn’t be bothered thinking of an origin story” mutant. Firestar and Justice defeated him, and earned their way into the Avengers, in\u00a0Avengers<\/em> vol 3 #4. It’s a little surprising that Whirlwind holds a grudge over this, since from his standpoint it’s just another in a long line of defeats.<\/p>\n

PAGE 21.<\/strong> Data page on Whirlwind, all of which is basically correct.<\/p>\n

“The Mandarin, Count Nefaria, the Hood…”<\/strong> Whirlwind worked for the Mandarin in\u00a0Iron Man<\/em> #513-514. He was a member of Count Nefaria’s Lethal Legion in\u00a0Avengers<\/em> #164. And he was one of the vast number of Z-list villains who hung around with the Hood in Brian Bendis’\u00a0Avengers<\/em> run.<\/p>\n

“[W]e have no records of notable conflicts with X-teams.”<\/strong>\u00a0Correct. The closest he’s ever come is fighting Domino in\u00a0X-Men<\/em> vol 3 #38, alongside everyone else who was in the Bar With No Name at the time. He also has a cameo in\u00a0X-Men: To Serve and Protect<\/em> #4, and he was a member of the Lethal Legion team who fought the Avengers (including Wolverine) in\u00a0Avengers: X-Sanction\u00a0<\/em>#1.<\/p>\n

PAGES 22-24.\u00a0<\/strong>The X-Men fight the Savage Land Mutates.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s\u00a0Brainchild<\/strong> leading the Savage Land Mutates. The others aren’t particularly recognisable but the big guy riding a triceratops is probably\u00a0Gaza<\/strong> (either that or it’s\u00a0Barbarus with his extra arms obscured). The redhead riding a pteranodon might be intended as\u00a0Lorelei<\/strong>, but she reformed years ago.\u00a0Piper<\/strong> is probably here somewhere, since he’s the one with the ability to control dinosaurs.<\/p>\n

PAGE 25.<\/strong>\u00a0Firestar fights Whirlwind.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bagalia<\/strong> is a massively corrupt country ruled by supervillains, from\u00a0Avengers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGE 26.<\/strong>\u00a0Mojo and the zombie X-Babies.<\/em><\/p>\n

The X-Babies<\/strong> were created by Mojo in an inane attempt to expand the X-Men brand – a parody of the way the line was expanding at that time to the ludicrous number of four books a month. Here, he’s crossed them with Marvel Zombies.<\/em><\/p>\n

Is that Adam X in the background helping to fight them, along with Spiral?<\/p>\n

PAGES 27-30.<\/strong>\u00a0Whirlwind is defeated.<\/em><\/p>\n

And he gets to be the voice of mutants who reject Krakoa as their identity. Not unreasonably, he thinks he’s better off downplaying his mutant status and (like the Hellions) thinks that Firestar feels the same way in private.<\/p>\n

PAGE 31.<\/strong>\u00a0The X-Men fight some old Sentinels.<\/em><\/p>\n

The militia are just a random group, I think.<\/p>\n

PAGES 32-33.<\/strong>\u00a0Firestar is accepted at the Green Lagoon.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m not sure I really buy Roulette being won round this easily, given that she doesn’t see anything that happened during the story. But she’s not\u00a0that<\/em> unreasonable a character, so maybe.<\/p>\n

“Why is Mojo so stuck on that old squad of X-Men?”<\/strong> This joke doesn’t really work, since the zombie X-Babies seem to be mostly a 1980 team with Kitty in her generic costume, but that doesn’t really explain what Havok’s doing there – or Cyclops, for that matter, since he left before Kitty joined.<\/p>\n

PAGE 34.<\/strong> Trailers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. X-MEN ANNUAL vol 4 #1 “Radiant” Writer: Steve Foxe Artist: Andrea Di Vito Colourist: Sebastian Cheng Letterer: Clayton Cowles Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen Editor: Jordan D White COVER \/ PAGE 1. Firestar fighting alongside Cyclops. PAGES 2-4.\u00a0Firestar argues with […]<\/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-8581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581","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=8581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8583,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581\/revisions\/8583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}