{"id":9181,"date":"2023-06-14T21:53:05","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T20:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9181"},"modified":"2023-06-14T21:53:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T20:53:05","slug":"x-men-red-12-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9181","title":{"rendered":"X-Men: Red #12 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN: RED #12<\/strong>
\n“Storm Warning”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Al Ewing<\/strong>
\nArtist: Jacopo Camagni<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Federico Blee<\/strong>
\nLetterer & production: Ariana Maher<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller<\/strong>
\nEditor: Jordan D White.<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Jon Ironfire in the foreground, with Nova, Sunspot and Storm surrounding him, and an image of the White Sword in the background.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-6.<\/strong>\u00a0Flashback: The White Sword frees Jon Ironfire and sends him to Arakko.<\/em><\/p>\n

Essentially, the White Sword knows that Genesis’s forces are coming and that he’s going to wind up under her control. He sends Jon Ironfire away with his sword, partly to save Jon, partly to alert Arakko, and partly to keep the sword itself out of Genesis’s hands.<\/p>\n

The White Sword and Genesis<\/strong>‘s back story was covered in “X of Swords”. Basically, the Sword and his personal army of 100 champions battled the enemy forces on Amenth for centuries, with the Sword using his omega healing powers to resurrect them all daily. On page 3, the White Sword refers to Genesis’s shifting alliances in the past. Originally, she led the forces of Arakko in their battle against the demons of Amenth – the Sword regards them as bringing up the rear. Later, she fell under the control of Annihilation, via its demonic helmet, and led<\/em> the Amenth forces against the White Sword.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That was the position going into “X of Swords”. At the end of that crossover, in\u00a0X of Swords: Destruction<\/em>, Genesis’s estranged husband Apocalypse freed her from Annihilation by taking the helm himself, and then resisted Annihilation’s control long enough to surrender her forces. Saturnyne then turned the helm into a staff. Most of the population of Arakko were then transported to Earth along with Arakko itself, while Apocalypse and Genesis went back to Amenth to rule it. The White Sword and his champions also returned to Amenth.<\/p>\n

The White Sword claims here that Saturnyne deliberately cursed the staff. Here’s what she actually said in\u00a0Destruction<\/em>:<\/p>\n

“Nothing changes in regard to what’s required. Whoever wields the helm controls the world. And that world most certainly does need controlling. But this will make it more manageable. Still corrupting, of course – there’s no satisfying that appetite, but at least now it won’t have direct dominion over the wielder.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Saturnyne offered to turn it into a sword, but Genesis rejected that. Saturnyne then chose the staff form herself, despite Annihilations’ protests. She did tell Annihilation that “This is a better look for you, and a deeper lure if you want it.” The White Sword seems to suggest here that in its staff form, Annihilation is actually able to influence\u00a0more\u00a0<\/em>people than before.<\/p>\n

Jon Ironfire<\/strong>. Apparently the first of the Sword’s 100 champions, but also a close friend before that; the Sword clearly indicates here that Ironfire, at least, was not viewed by him as cannon fodder, but as someone he was actively protecting. Jon refers to him with evident affection as “Blue”.<\/p>\n

“Tell them all – but especially the Seat of Loss…”<\/strong> Right now, that would be Storm. The Seat of Loss is supposed to be consulted when battles are lost. White Sword probably doesn’t know who the current occupant is, and really does just want Jon to bring it to the attention of the appropriate Ring member.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.\u00a0<\/strong>Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

PAGES 8-15. <\/strong>Flashback: The White Sword’s champions fight Genesis’s army.<\/em><\/p>\n

The First Horsemen of Apocalypse<\/strong> are back together, serving their mother Genesis again. Death, in particular, has been hanging around with the vampires of Otherworld over in Excalibur<\/em> and Knights of X<\/em>. The other three did return to Amenth after “X of Swords”; Pestilence and Famine were shown in\u00a0Excalibur<\/em> #22 acting as the regents of the Otherworld realm of Dryador (annexed by Amenth at the start of “X of Swords”).<\/p>\n

Summoners<\/strong> are basically mutants who control monsters in Arakko. One of them showed up in\u00a0X-Men<\/em> #2 near the start of the Hickman run.<\/p>\n

“Where is your husband?”<\/strong> The White Sword doesn’t get an answer to this question, but it’s a very good one. What\u00a0did<\/em> happen to Apocalypse? Presumably, he hasn’t fallen under the control of Annihilation and he’s been sidelined somewhere.<\/p>\n

Purity<\/strong> was the White Sword’s sword as seen in “X of Swords”. Genesis is evidently very keen to get hold of it, which is presumably why she goes out of her way to suggest that it might be the White Sword’s only chance. He’s not falling for it.<\/p>\n

Quite\u00a0why<\/em> Purity is so significant hasn’t previously been explained, but Jon tells us later on that it’s essentially an embodiment of the pure concept of cutting, and capable even of cutting a portal between realities. Which sounds quite useful in the wrong hands.<\/p>\n

“Arakko calls you, General.”<\/strong>\u00a0Genesis appears to be positioning herself as the representative of the true Arakko.<\/p>\n

PAGES 16-18.\u00a0<\/strong>The Brotherhood of Arakko listen to Jon’s story.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Red Lagoon. <\/strong>Sunspot’s group are using his Red Lagoon bar as a temporary base because the Autumn Palace was destroyed by Vulcan in issue #10.<\/p>\n

Dryador<\/strong> is the former water world that was turned into a desert wasteland by Arakkii\/Amenthi invaders at the start of\u00a0“X of Swords”.<\/p>\n

Blightspoke<\/strong> is another of the Otherworld realms – basically a dumping ground for detritus from failed realities. Poor Jon seems to have taken the most uncomfortable route possibel through Otherworld.<\/p>\n

Fisher King\u00a0<\/strong>takes surprisingly badly to Jon Ironfire, and Storm makes sure to flag up that this is out of character for him. Fisher King is normally a wise elder figure, after all. But he’s also an embodiment of a less aggressive conception of Arakkii society compared to the White Sword’s champions, who are so extreme they didn’t even fit in regular Arakkii society in the first place. It’s maybe also significant that the champions have a history of routine resurrection – something which we’ve been told in no uncertain terms is generally frowned upon in Arakkii society. That was the whole point of Storm and Magneto giving up their ability to resurrect.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Jon invokes the “Where were you?” mantra which was frequently directed at Storm by Arakkii characters in the early part of the series.<\/p>\n

Nova<\/strong>, bless him, doesn’t seem to realise how traumatic his back story has become – despite it being central to Al Ewing’s take on him.<\/p>\n

PAGES 19-21.\u00a0<\/strong>Genesis arrives on Arakko.<\/em><\/p>\n

Arakko Prime\u00a0<\/strong>here apparently means the location of the original Arakko, i.e. the living island that was the counterpart to Krakoa. It was blasted into this state by Uranos during the\u00a0A.X.E.: Judgment Day\u00a0<\/em>crossover.<\/p>\n

The Okkara Gate<\/strong> is new, but it’s worth noting that “Okkara” was the name of the single island that split into Arakko and Krakoa aeons ago.<\/p>\n

Genesis<\/strong> has evidently been led to believe that the destruction of Arakko during\u00a0Judgment Day<\/em> reflects the failure of its current rulers, which may have had something to do with her succumbing to Annihilation’s influence.<\/p>\n

Marianna Stern<\/strong> is the High Priestess of Coven Akkaba from Excalibur <\/em>and\u00a0Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain<\/em> – Reuben Brousseau gets used much more often as the Coven’s leader figure, but they seem in principle to be equals. She’s h Their association with Orchis is new, I think, though hardly a surprise.<\/p>\n

PAGE 22.<\/strong> Data page: a memo from Marianna Stern to Orchis’s “Director” (presumably still Killian Devo).<\/p>\n

Marianna was evidently hoping for an outright invasion or at least a larger force than just Genesis on her own.<\/p>\n

PAGE 23.\u00a0<\/strong>Data page: speaks for itself, really.<\/p>\n

PAGE 24.<\/strong> Trailers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. X-MEN: RED #12 “Storm Warning” Writer: Al Ewing Artist: Jacopo Camagni Colour artist: Federico Blee Letterer & production: Ariana Maher Design: Tom Muller Editor: Jordan D White. COVER \/ PAGE 1. Jon Ironfire in the foreground, with Nova, Sunspot and Storm […]<\/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-9181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9181","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=9181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9183,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9181\/revisions\/9183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}