The X-Axis – w/c 6 May 2024
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #138. By Steve Foxe, Steve Orlando, Phillip Sevy, Yen Nitro & Travis Lanham. Part 18 of the story that will not end. In this issue there is a fight scene, and then next issue we are promised a fight scene. Foxe and Orlando have both done good work during the Krakoan era, but this is just pointless.
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2024: BLOOD HUNT / X-MEN #1. (Annotations here.) This was released for Free Comic Book Day last Saturday, but like all Marvel’s FCBD issues, it was added to Unlimited on Wednesday. Gail Simone and David Marquez take on the unenviable remit of trailing their upcoming Uncanny X-Men run without giving away too much about how the Krakoan era ends – and doing so in a story which is also meant to be suitable for new readers brought in by FCBD, not just an exercise in hint-dropping for the regulars. In ten pages. What that means in practice is a fairly standard “hero saves a mutant civilian from some bullies” story of the sort that wouldn’t have been out of place in the 1980s and a few pages of subplot to introduce Uncanny‘s new villains.
With all that in mind, it’s perfectly fine, but it’s not immediately gripping. It does have a vibe of “Fall of X, but less so”. Granted, Fall of X would have been vastly improved by being Fall of X, but less so. Still, the new villains are a bit too close to Orchis to be immediately engaging – maybe that’ll change when we learn more about them. And perhaps the execution of “Fall of X” has created an intractable problem that the new books are just going to have to meet head on: In theory, we’re coming off months of horrific human rights abuses and the defeat of Orchis ought to be an upswing for the books. But because “Fall of X” was done in such a way as to hold out the possibility of Krakoa’s return, when that doesn’t happen, the ending becomes a down beat instead. So we’re back repeating the same loss of Krakoa that we already did six months ago. That’s a problem, but it’s not the fault of anything that this story is doing.
X-MEN: FOREVER #3. (Annotations here.) The Enigma plot is the strongest part of Rise/Fall, and the cliffhanger here is a really strong twist. The real focus of this issue, though, is on Mystique, Destiny and Nightcrawler, who finally get together to further the family revelations from Uncanny Spider-Man. Destiny winds up as the most compelling character of the three – Kurt kind of has to be here for plot reasons, but it’s really Destiny and Mystique’s story. Elsewhere, you can see plotlines being tied off and the pieces being readied to go back in the box, but it’s nicely paced and doesn’t feel too forced. Where it does kind of lose me is with the whole “Hope is going to do something or other involving the Phoenix” plot. I don’t really get what she’s meant to be doing or what she’s expecting it to achieve, and I kind of get the feeling that I’m meant to, rather than it being an intentional mystery. And the Hopesword is used in a way that doesn’t seem to fit with Si Spurrier’s issues. But the character beats land. Luca Maresca’s art is a little rough around the edges at times, and maybe a bit one note in the pacing, but Cable’s cameo is nicely done, and Enigma’s on-panel debut is pleasingly understated.
WOLVERINE #49. (Annotations here.) This is more of a Sabretooth story than a Wolverine story, isn’t it? The title character’s barely been in the last two issues. I don’t know quite what to make of this story right now: the basic take on Sabretooth seems solid to me, and the idea of well-meaning liberal Cypher thinking that he can bring out Sabretooth’s empathic side seems to work. On the other hand, Graydon Creed as Bad Seed is a very thin character and, ultimately, what was all that stuff with the alternate-universe Sabretooths about? “Sabretooth War” has improved a lot from the first couple of chapters, which were over reliant on shock value, but it’s still got a lot to do in the final issue to tie everything together.
GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1. By Ann Nocenti, Lee Ferguson, KJ Díaz & Cory Petit. This is one of a series of Giant-Size one-shots with a regular-length original story coupled with a reprint. It’s really an Angel issue, and the selected reprint is his appearance in Marvel Two-in-One #68. As for the story: it’s apparently during Fall of X (but before Warren died), and Warren stumbles upon new villain Maze. Maze claims to be a protegé of Arcade who’s more interested in using Murderworld-style simulations to interrogate and challenge her victims, though we’re probably not meant to take that entirely at face value, since she was hanging around with Arcade in the first place. Supposedly she lets people go if they show some sort of insight and growth in response to her scenarios. Ann Nocenti has always had a tendency to write characters who are more concept delivery vehicles than people, and this is very much one of those stories – it’s weirdly eccentric and abstract, and doesn’t really convince enough to pull off an ending where Warren thinks the experience might have been worthwhile enough to let Maze go.
What bothered me about this issue was Warren claimed that the reason why they didn’t put safeguards into the drugs to keep them from being tampered with was because that would make them too expensive. This is ridiculous. The drugs were presented as the main reason the world allowed Krakoa to exist. I thought it was Beast who was supposed to be in charge of preventing the drugs from being tampered with but he was too busy putting kids in comas. And how could their precautions prevent someone like Dr.Stasis from tampering with the meds? They tried to prevent Sinister from tampering with the resurrection process and we all know how that turned out.
Another weird thing- Maze tells Warren he murdered Cameron Hodge and Warren doesn’t reply. What actually happened is that Candy was dying due to Hodge’s machinations, Warren begged Hodge to stand aside and let him rescue her, Hodge refused and Warren had to kill him. But Hodge didn’t die because of a deal he made with a demon. Does Nocenti know this? Or did Warren just not bother to correct Maze?
Also, is Maze supposed to be a telepath? She claims to be a hacker using robots. But Warren has no reaction to seeing Candy alive when she’s supposed to be dead and Betsy in Kwannon’s body instead of her own body. And both of them are working as waitresses! It’s hard to explain that if Warren isn’t mind-controlled. Also, Maze seems to know about the time Candy hoped the X-Men in Jean’s Marvel Girl costume during Byrne’s Hidden Years, which is an obscure incident that would be very difficult to find online.
I bought the Giant-Size issue (because it was Nocenti) and enjoyed it. It reminded me very much of classic Nocenti. The ending was abrupt and unearned though. It felt like Nocenti ran out of pages and tacked on a random ending that didn’t hold up with what came beforehand. Still, I thought it was worth the read (the price, especially with a reprint I already owned, on the other hand…).
It seems that Nocenti might not have understood about the Krakoan drugs, or she just wanted to make a comment about the pharmaceutical industry, so she just went with her own version of Krakoan drugs. With Nocenti’s politics, it might have been more interesting to see her reference Krakoa being something like a post-scarcity society instead.
I’ll ask here because it’s unlikely Paul will cover it. What’s up with that Marvel Voices Unlimited Juggernaut story? Is it completely noncanon? Alternate universe? Just unbelievably sloppy with continuity?
It has editor’s notes referring to the main universe, and it ends with a note that the kid’s origin will be the next story it tells.
And the earlier part with Escapade mentioned that mutants are no longer resurrecting all the time.
It seems to be canon, and if it is, it should even be post-Fall of X.
@Si- we discussed this at the Marvel Chronology Project. It is a continuity mess. The major issue is that in the earlier part of the story Professor X and the Original Five appear together and seem to be on good terms but the story seems to take place during or after the Krakoan Era (Jean is in her current costume, there’s a reference to a Luna Snow concert). At the end of the story Kid Juggernaut makes contact with Carol Danvers, and that seems to be after Krakoa fell.
Midnighter suggested that the earlier part of the story takes place before Hank killed Logan and the meeting with Carol takes place much later. Clive Reston suggested that the entire story takes place after Enigma is defeated but before Jean leaves for outer space. The problem with the former is that Hank has two eyes in the story but Jean didn’t wear her current costume until Hank lost an eye. The problem with the latter is its difficult to see the Original Five being on good terms with Xavier after he killed humans that were fighting against Orchis.
Some more X-news today:
Storm’s series won’t be starting until October. I wonder if that’s because people didn’t like Storm’s look in the art they released.
Dazzler is getting her own series starting in September.
In August, an X-Man is joining the Avengers. (“Earth’s Mightiest Mutant Joins Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”) I wonder who. One possibility is Iceman. Another is Xavier,if he isn’t inmate X- it’s possible Magneto asked Wanda to watch over him after the Enigma mess.Another possibility is Polaris- it’s been hinted that Lorna and/or Maddie will be opposing Alex in the X-Factor book, so if it’s Lorna, then it will be Maddie in X-Factor. It’s probably not anyone who’s been an Avenger before.
That leaves 2-3 titles that haven’t been announced yet. I wonder what they are.
In other news, Jordan White claimed today that the reason Kitty couldn’t pass through the gates was because her phasing powers disrupt technology. And when the gates were reversed, they were reversed for her. This makes no sense. It was a plot point in X-Men 25 that Kitty could walk through the gates but Synch and Rasputin couldn’t when they were using Kitty’s powers. Plus Forge couldn’t figure out why Kitty couldn’t pass through the gates and in X-Men 25, Kitty wondered if she might not be a mutant because she couldn’t pass through the gates. Also, when Reed was analyzing Rasputin in issue 27, his scanner didn’t detect Kitty’s power for some reason. It seems like either there was some plan for Kitty that was aborted because it clashed with Ewing’s plans for Kitty or Duggan had a different idea about Kitty and the gates than Jordan White.
I am expecting and hoping that it is Iceman joining the Avengers. He has the proper personality and power level and it is probably better for overall human-mutant relations than establishing and then dissolving yet another “Avengers Unity Squad”.
What I’m waiting for, as we tick down the wire, is whether there is going to be any explanation given for why the Krakoan era has to end in the comics. Given the number of times, including apparently now, that they return to stately Xavier manor and rebuild that there doesn’t seem to be any reason, including if the island were to be atomised, that they couldn’t rebuild that too. But then editorial mandates rarely lead to good stories.
There are far too many high fantasy elements incorporated into the X-Men mythology by now. They could establish a roster with headquarters in Limbo, another in Shiar territory and a third in an an undersea base if they wanted to – and have them all team-up biweekly as well. For all I know, that exact setup may even have happened already.
Whichever status quo comes next will unavoidably be an editorial decision. That has been true for decades. But this time it seems to at least play to the writers’ strengths.
Wait, you were actually throwing out random ideas, not doing a bit? Jeff Lemire’s Extraordinary X-Men were based in Limbo (the whole Xavier school was teleported there to escape the Terrigen Mists) and Tom Taylor’s X-Men Red were using an undersea base – Searebro – in his very short run. They weren’t contemporary, but they were not too far apart (like one status quo change apart).
No Shi’ar X-Men so far, but with Xandra on the throne it will probably happen sooner rather than later.
I think Hickman was going to pursue mutants in the Shi’ar Empire had his run continued to his own “Fall of X”.
We did hear about such a thing happening in the past Moira timeline of Life Nine.
As for which X-Man joins the Avengers – it’s Storm, they’ve announced it today.
It can’t be worse than her previous stint in the Avengers, so there’s that, I guess.
(I like MacKay, but three arcs into his Avengers I’m still not sold on why I should care about the Avengers).
It looks like it is Storm who is joining the Avengers.
@Krzysiek Ceran:
Technically, we already got our Shi’ar X-Men with Secret X-Men–the one shot of the X-Men candidates who didn’t make the cut. So Luis is 3/3!
And it turns out it’s also Luis’ favorite character, Storm, joining the Avengers ranks as “Earth’s mightiest mutant.” =p MacKay’s Avengers run so far has been super lightweight on character beats so far (and frankly no character arcs that I can think of), so I can’t imagine throwing Storm into the mix fixes things. That is, unless you’re going to set her up to challenge Captain Marvel for the leadership mantle, which would be lol
The reason why nobody has used Storm and Thor on the same team since Storm was introduced in 1975 is because their powers are redundant. Even in the first Secret Wars series Shooter had to constantly contrive to have them be in different places half the time. There are some powers, weapons or skill sets that you can have two of on a team. You can have two people with super-strength, two people in powered armor or two swordsmen. You can’t have two weather-controllers.
Breevort indicated that the reason why he did this was because if you stuck Storm on an X-Men team, everyone would have to let her lead. But if you stick her on an Avengers team, there’s a different dynamic. I’m not liking that idea. Captain America is one of the top leaders at Marvel and he let the Wasp and Monica Rambeau lead while he was on the Avengers. It’s only recently that Storm’s leadership has been treated as unchallengeable. For example, in 2000, Gambit led the X-Men while Storm was on the team. (Readers hated the run but that was because of lame villains like the Neo, the Crimson Pirates and the Goth, not because of Remy’s leadership.)
So neither Iceman nor Lorna are on the Avengers. I wonder where they’ll show up. Maybe Lorna will be in X-Factor.
@Loz- I think the problem is that there aren’t enough mutants left. it looks like a quarter million Krakoans will be trapped in the White Hot Room and Hope will be “lost forever” to prevent the Five from resurrecting more mutants. Remember. Krakoa feeds on mutants. The only reason the mutants were able to live there without side effects is that there were hundreds of thousands of them.
Now that I think about it, Thor was just framed for murder in his own book. Maybe Storm is filling in while Thor clears his name.
I was aware of the otherdimensional quarters for the X-Men (it was Storm’s latest leadership role until X-Men: Red, IIRC) but had forgotten that it was actually in Limbo (which is sort of a dangerous choice, but what can I do?). I also remember the undersea base, but not how they went to the surface. Maybe in that Sentinel?
Now, having Storm back in the Avengers might be interesting. Having Ororo in the Avengers to play off against Tchalla, Sam and Carol might do her character some good. I sure think she needs the chance after what I perceive as disastrous characterization in X-Men: Red. I was expecting someone who had not been a member before, though – and I think that calling her the “mightest” X-Man is overselling it, even after Al Ewing’s take.
It is worth noting that before Krakoa there were complaints that she was not even leading the teams she was a part of (basically Kitty’s X-Men Gold and Jean’s X-Men Red). And indeed, she was rather docile, follow-along-like at the time. Al Ewing seems to have overcompensated.
I understand that some may feel that it is excessive to have Thor and Ororo in the same team, but I don’t really agree. Power redundancy is not a real factor. Containing Ororo’s ego, though, just might.
I wonder what it will be like to have a solo Storm book under Brevoort’s editorial guidance while also having her in the Avengers under a different editor. Since MacKay will also be writing what I see as the most ideological X-Men book of that period, I am hoping for some sort of cross-over that puts Scott’s perspective face front towards Ororo’s.
In any case, I don’t expect Storm’s tenure in the Avengers to last long. The team is too big for her to feel confortable, particularly now and all the more because it is probably Tchalla recruiting her. Whatever else Ororo might be or refuse to be, she is not an extension of Tchalla’s plans.
What we really need is an odd couple book featuring Storm and Moondragon. The possibilities are endless and very entertaining. It practically writes itself.
I’m fine with Storm being an Avenger. Anyone remember the Marvel Adventures Avengers series from the early-‘00s? That was a fun comic, and Storm fit in with the team in that continuity. I realize 616 Marvel won’t be as light-hearted, but I think a Storm-led (or co-led) Avengers could work.
My concern is that McKay’sAvengers has been ok, not great. I think the storytelling needs to be tighter- decompression does not work for team books. Also, the arcs have fallen into a typical pattern of threat/fight/repeat. Avengers works best when there are subplots and soap opera. No one has cracked the Morrison/Porter JLA code since the Authority, having your team made up of icons fighting the biggest threats possible doesn’t always work.
Hopefully, having Storm on the team will shake up the character dynamics and lead to more interesting stories.
The problem with Storm and Thor isn’t power duplication in general. It’s specifically two things: There’s only so many ways you can contrive using weather in a mission, beyond throwing lightning. Doubling the characters means doubling the contrivances, and that’s not good for the plot. Secondly, Thor can do everything Storm can, *plus a bunch of other things involving strength and magic*. Which automatically makes her Thor’s teen sidekick in the team.
Now their personalities and priorities are very different, a comic focusing on that would work just fine. But will that be done?
I guess you also have the whole “worshipped as a god” vs “real god” vs “aliens pretending to be gods” dynamic,unless that’s already been done with the two of them.
@Mark Coale:
I can’t really see Marvel going there, at least right now. Lots of trouble, lots of risk, hardly any point or potential benefit.
Besides, it goes firmly against the grain of pretty much everything about the current situation of the characters, Marvel, and the Real World(TM).
@Si: Yes, power-wise Thor makes Ororo redundant instead of the other way around. Which is precisely why I want to see it happen now.
Ororo can be a good character, but she can also be an insufferable, self-entitled Mary Sue. Currently she is in insufferable mode, so much so that apparently she can now command solar storms without even any remark. Heck, feat for feat she is probably being treated as more powerful than the Phoenix and more infallible than Fantomex right now.
That can be very satisfying for a certain moment and a certain segment of fandom. But it is quite the narrative blind alley. Superman has been criticized for decades (unfairly, no less) for supposedly being inherently stuck into just that role: that of an infallible paragon of good judgement who also happens to be an unstoppable (even space-worthy) force of nature.
Once a character is there, you can only do so much with him before you have to take him to some other, more modest yet more workable role so that there is still story to be told with him. And that is precisely the dilemma that writers and editorial face with Storm. There is no obvious reason why she shouldn’t arrive at most scenes and immediately solo whatever challenges are present while in her current state. That is pretty much what she has been doing since X-Men: Red began; she does not even have much of a supporting cast now. Team? Who needs a team?
It is at times like this that Ororo’s connections to Wakanda, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers come in handy. Putting her out of her confort zone (which has become very extensive indeed) is necessary now.
It’s possible they called Storm the “mightiest” X-Man because she’s replacing Thor. He usually owns that adjective, so maybe it was a hint?
“What we really need is an odd couple book featuring Storm and Moondragon.”
I would 100% read that.
Interesting- Dazzler’s series is just a limited series.And it will feature Domino as her head of security?
Jason Loo is the writer.
It seems like it is for the best that it’s a limited series as I doubt it would be able to sell at the level necessary to maintain an ongoing, especially with launching nine X-titles in three months time.
I realize there are rumours of Taylor Swift portraying Dazzler in the new Deadpool movie, but those rumours have been shot down a few times. Besides, that wouldn’t guarantee that a Dazzler series would do well either.
I’m not sure how well the Storm solo series will do either. I give it twelve issues.
I doubt Storm can sustain an ongoing, particularly after such a lengthy period of overuse and overemphasis. I assumed the series would be a limited run, probably five issues.
If it has been solicited as an ongoing, then yes, twelve issues tops.