{"id":9550,"date":"2023-11-01T22:05:59","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T22:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9550"},"modified":"2023-11-01T22:05:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T22:05:59","slug":"x-men-28-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9550","title":{"rendered":"X-Men #28 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN vol 6 #28<\/strong>
\n“Jail Break!”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Gerry Duggan<\/strong>
\nArtist: Joshua Cassara<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Marte Gracia<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Clayton Cowles<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen<\/strong>
\nEditor: Jordan D White<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Firestar fights the Juggernaut.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-5.<\/strong> Sunfire is found by Apocalypse.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sunfire<\/strong> was last seen in this book at the end of issue #24. In that issue, Magik transported him to Otherworld so that he could set out on a quest to retrieve Redroot, the Cypher-equivalent for Arakko, who had been trapped in Otherworld since “X of Swords”. The issue ended with a flash forward marked “X months later” (sic, but let’s assume Otherworld has wonky time), with Sunfire and Redroot basically as we see them here.<\/p>\n

In the interim, Sunfire’s story has been covered in\u00a0X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic<\/em> in a storyline that ended this week. For present purposes, all you really need to know is that Orchis had set up a Blightswell processing facility in Blightspoke, and they were using Redroot there. Sunfire is briefly captured but escapes with Redroot. Thanks to his injuries from fighting Orchis, he also bonds with her as some sort of healing measure. Redroot herself remains basically a non-character throughout.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sunfire meets Moira MacTaggert during that story, and learns about the fall of Krakoa, but doesn’t know how much of it is true.<\/p>\n

Sxixm<\/strong> is a new character. Despite appearances, the gaping mouth that he’s led Sunfire to is apparently not a trap.<\/p>\n

“Sunfire was elected to the X-Men when he told his fellow mutants he was ready to serve someone other than himself.”<\/strong> Sunfire was voted onto the X-Men at the first Hellfire Gala in\u00a0X-Men<\/em> vol 5 #21 (2021), but this particular bit comes from a flashback scene in issue #2.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse and “the last seed of Okkara”. <\/strong>We last saw Apocalypse at the end of X-Men Red<\/em> #16, when he emerged on Arakko accompanied by the demon seen here, and a hooded figure who… well, didn’t bear much resemblance at all to Sunfire, as seen here, but you never know. He was certainly using the last of the three Okkara seeds which were introduced in\u00a0X-Men: Before the Fall – Heralds of Apocalypse<\/em> #1, which we also see him planting here. The key feature of these three seeds is that they create gates which work even without a pre-existing gate at the other end.<\/p>\n

“The magic has led you right to my side once more.”<\/strong> Sunfire was briefly a Herald of Apocalypse during Peter Milligan’s\u00a0X-Men<\/em> run in 2006.<\/p>\n

“We will march to war.”<\/strong> The Arakko civil war, currently underway in\u00a0X-Men Red<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGE 6.\u00a0<\/strong>Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

PAGES 7-8.\u00a0<\/strong>Feilong and Dr Stasis argue about Dr Doom.<\/em><\/p>\n

We’ll come back to Doom and his mutants at the end of the issue.<\/p>\n

“My blood transfusion from the Juggernaut.”\u00a0<\/strong>Last issue, Dr Stasis said that his plan was to surgically extract Juggernaut’s magic gem “and then ingest it”. That’s not quite how he describes it here, but close enough.<\/p>\n

Firestar<\/strong> is trying to dissuade Orchis from taking an interest in the mutants of Latveria. The X-Men were certainly at least somewhat\u00a0<\/em>interested in the fate of mutants living in Latveria, which came up in the\u00a0X-Men \/ Fantastic Four<\/em> miniseries.<\/p>\n

North Valnon<\/strong> is a blatant North Korea stand-in which occasionally shows up in Gerry Duggan stories.<\/p>\n

PAGES 9-10.\u00a0<\/strong>Firestar sneaks into Randall’s Island.<\/em><\/p>\n

The big dent in Juggernaut’s helmet is due to Nimrod beating him up off panel when he tried to escape last issue.<\/p>\n

PAGES 11-12.\u00a0<\/strong>Firestar visits Cyclops.<\/em><\/p>\n

Basically, she’s tapping messages for him in Morse Code while going through the motions of trying to talk him into giving up.<\/p>\n

PAGES 13-15. <\/strong>Juggernaut makes his escape.<\/em><\/p>\n

Firestar sabotaged the anaesthetic back on page 10, and takes the chance to shove into his mouth the data stick she copied from Orchis’ systems on page 7. It’s worth noting that Juggernaut escapes last issue because Shadowkat phased him out of his bonds; he escapes this time because Stasis had him\u00a0removed<\/em> from the bonds in order to carry out a questionable operation to try and seize control of magical forces he doesn’t really understand. This might not help Stasis’ cause within Orchis, and we’ll come to that.<\/p>\n

PAGE 16.\u00a0<\/strong>Juggernaut reports to the X-Men.<\/em><\/p>\n

Firestar has given the X-Men details of how to break Cyclops out, and details of the Latverian mutants who we’ll meet at the end of the issue. Note that according to the records, these guys weren’t just too far from a gate – they “resisted” Professor X. Presumably that’s something to do with Doom.<\/p>\n

Shadowkat remains entirely unconvinced that Ms Marvel belongs on this miserable iteration of the X-Men, so presumably the arc here is Kamala proving herself to Kitty. Not that Kamala seems all that desperate to do so – she’s been around long enough that she doesn’t need Kitty’s endorsement.<\/p>\n

PAGES 17-18.\u00a0<\/strong>Moira, Nimrod and Omega Sentinel berate Firestar.<\/em><\/p>\n

Orchis aren’t complete idiots, and they suspect Firestar of betraying them. As we saw on pages 10-11, though, Firestar\u00a0did<\/em> make a point of being seen entering the building twice, and her excuse is that Mystique must have been there. Still, Moira is now openly angling for Firestar to be killed. Nimrod and Omega Sentinel aren’t, at least not yet. Firestar’s cover, as established in\u00a0Hellfire Gala 2023<\/em>, involved her working specifically with Dr Stasis, and the rest of Orchis apparently view her specifically as\u00a0his<\/em> ally, not theirs.<\/p>\n

PAGE 19.\u00a0<\/strong>Data page – a memo from Dr Stasis to Orchis staff, largely updating us on the plot. The Avengers Unity Squad are over in\u00a0Uncanny Avengers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The final paragraph is interesting: Stasis is well aware that some of his colleagues may want to kill Firestar. Ironically, he seems to be genuinely appreciative of her efforts on his behalf, and he’s trying to shield her.<\/p>\n

PAGES 20-23.<\/strong> The X-Men arrive in Latveria.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ah, the ever-popular “don’t tell a character something absolutely fundamental to their mission so that it can be revealed as the cliffhanger, even though we already mentioned it at the start of the issue” device.<\/p>\n

“The X-Men had never been pushed so low as to fly commercial.”<\/strong> I know this is nitpicking, but they have. X-Men\u00a0<\/em>vol 1 #36 is entirely about the X-Men trying to raise money to buy a plane ticket to Europe so that they can rescue Professor X from Factor Three.<\/p>\n

Wolverine\u00a0<\/strong>evidently has been in contact with the X-Men, despite not actually hanging around in their book. Since he’s been seen in New York and meeting with Captain America in his own title, this does make sense.<\/p>\n

Latveria<\/strong>\u00a0is<\/em> in Europe, but perhaps Doom just means it’s not in the European Union.<\/p>\n

The three mutants standing behind Doom are new (and judging from promotion for the next issue, we’ll find out a lot more about them then).<\/p>\n

PAGE 24.\u00a0<\/strong>Trailers. The Krakoan reads DOOM, obviously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. X-MEN vol 6 #28 “Jail Break!” Writer: Gerry Duggan Artist: Joshua Cassara Colour artist: Marte Gracia Letterer: Clayton Cowles Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen Editor: Jordan D White COVER \/ PAGE 1. Firestar fights the Juggernaut. PAGES 2-5. Sunfire is […]<\/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-9550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9550","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=9550"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9553,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9550\/revisions\/9553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}