The X-Axis – 16 September 2026
DNX #1. (Annotations here.) I’m really not sure how Cyclops’ jaw is meant to work on that cover. Or where the light’s coming from if it’s glistening on both sides of his visor at once, come to think of it. But anyway. This event seems to be the climax of the 3K storyline that’s been running throughout Jed MacKay’s X-Men run. And I’m rather relieved to see it being kept to just X-Men and a couple of issues of Fantastic Four – DNX, after all, seems to be basically just extra issues of X-Men. But where “Age of Revelation” went wrong was in trying to turn the middle act of an X-Men storyline into a linewide event. By all means let’s keep it focussed.
This first issue is basically the X-Men showing up to stop 3K from releasing the X-virus in Philadelphia, while 3K continue to squabble amongst themselves, and the Alaskan Beast tries to get the Fantastic Four to help out with the plot. It’s fairly straightforward stuff, but I enjoy Federico Vicentini’s art, particularly on the Chairman. There’s a nice angle here with the way he can’t seem to understand why a bunch of people he only enlisted as an alliance of convenience to get this point are looking over their shoulders now that they’re about to become expendable. Despite being openly manipulative with them, he can’t understand why they aren’t true believers.
X-Men #37 annotations
X-MEN vol 7 #37
“Psi-War”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Penciller: Netho Diaz
Inker: Sean Parsons
Colourist: Arthur Hesli
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: Kid Omega and Cassandra Nova fight in the mindscape.
This is a DNX tie-in issue.
PAGE 1. Kid Omega prepares to fight Cassandra.
This is technically a flashback to “three minutes ago” – i.e., immediately before Kid Omega attacks Cassandra during the scene in pages 11-13 of DNX #1. Page 16 of DNX #1 (where Kid Omega confronts Cassandra in the mindscape) takes place between pages 1-2 of this story, and the rest of the issue picks up from there.
He’s speaking telepathically with someone who isn’t identified at this stage, but since she goes on to say that “you’ve got backup” at the start of page 2, we can take it that this is the character he calls in as back-up later in the issue.
DNX #1 annotations
DNX #1
Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: Federico Vicentini
Colour artist: David Curiel
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: The X-Men and the Fantastic Four facing the camera, basically. The art is by Kaare Andrews.
DNX is a crossover running through this five-issue miniseries, X-Men #37-41 and Fantastic Four #17-18. X-Men #37 also comes out this week.
This feels like a story more suited to the scene-by-scene format, so let’s go with that. I’ll use the story pages, since Amazon’s reader still persists in listing every comic as starting at page 2.
PAGE 1. Cyclops recaps the Age of Revelation.
This page is essentially a recap of the “Age of Revelation” event, set mostly in a future timeline in which Revelation had released a “X-Virus” that turned some humans into mutants, and killed the rest. The future Cyclops and Beast attempted to swap minds with their present-day counterparts in order to kill Revelation before any of this could happen, but accidentally swapped places with the original Beast – the Chairman of 3K – instead.
House to Astonish Episode 220
We’ve got a tidy little hour of comicsy nattering for you this time, as we discuss Marvel/Star Wars: Hope Assembles, Fugitive X-Force, Origin III, The Snail and the extensions of Fury of Firestorm and Deadman. We’ve also got reviews of Fixation and The Forever Home and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is getting in a bit of a flap. All this plus The Human Muppet Christmas Carol, the Ed Miliband of the X-Men and the Little Mermaid beating someone up with a crowbar in a car park.
The episode is here, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments, on Bluesky or via email.
Daredevil Villains #87: Shotgun
DAREDEVIL #272-273 (November 1989)
“Liberation” / “The Billion Dollar Ashtray”
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Penciller: John Romita Jr
Inker: Al Williamson
Colourist: Max Scheele
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Ralph Macchio
There’s still a way to go in the Ann Nocenti run after these issues, but this is where we leave it. While she created a string of new characters in the early part of her run, the later issues feature longer storylines and returning or guest villains, with a couple of one-off stories about everyday bad people along the way.
So, to be specific, issue #274 has Skip Ash as the villain. Issues #275-276 are an Acts of Vengeance tie-in, with guest villain Ultron. Issue #277 is a one-off story about a manipulative psychiatrist. Issues #278-282 feature Mephisto and Blackheart. Issue #283 guest stars Captain America, and the villains are assorted corporations. Issues #284-290 are a Bullseye storyline. And her final issue, issue #291, has Bullet.
Which means that for us, Ann Nocenti’s run draws to a close with the entirely unrepresentative figure of Shotgun. These two issues are part of the Number Nine storyline, which we’ve already looked at in the context of Skip Ash. As you’ll remember, Skip is a factory farmer who’s doing illegal operations for the CIA on the side. But he’s also got a laboratory which is altering women to make them “perfect”, and one of them, Number Nine, has been freed by his semi-estranged daughter Brandy. Since this is still a superhero comic, Skip calls in some favours from his government contacts to try and get Number Nine back. And so they send Shotgun to help out.
Charts – 11 September 2026
At last, turnover!
1. Sienna Spiro – “Great Expectation”
This has taken ten weeks to climb to number 1, which is positively sprightly by 2026 standards. Of course, there’s an asterisk here – if “Rein Me In” wasn’t subject to downweighting, it would be thrashing this track with a margin of more than a third. But you can make a fair case that the aim of that rule isn’t just to speed up the charts, it’s to attach less weight to tracks that are just hanging around on playlists.
The X-Axis – 9 September 2026
WOLVERINE #27. (Annotations here.) Another quiet week, then. Just the two books. It’s been a long time since we were getting this sort of week on a regular basis. It’s quite refreshing, to be honest.
That said, even without much in the way of competition, Wolverine continues to underwhelm. This is a weirdly half-formed story. Saladin Ahmed spent an age setting up the first Adamantine storyline, and presenting the resolution as an epic battle. That story ends with Wolverine somehow losing the adamantium on his right-hand claws. And now, about six issues later, we get the Adamantine coming back for a dashed-off two-parter. There’s no apparent rhyme or reason to this – it really does seem to be Wolverine and some of his counterparts being arbitrarily yanked to another dimension so that they can fight the Adamantine again and summarily dispatch it. There’s nothing apparently at stake, and no real explanation of why we shouldn’t expect him back in another few months.
Inglorious X-Force #9
INGLORIOUS X-FORCE #9
“A Force to be Conflicted”
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Michael Sta. Maria
Colour artist: Romulo Fajardo Jr
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Editors: Mark Basso & Alanna Smith
COVER: The two X-Force teams fight.
X-FORCE:
Cable. The entity that’s been possessing him throughout this series is named Catharsix. Cable remains oblivious to the fact that he’s possessed; his own dictaphone recordings actually show him talking to himself, but he apparently can’t register the other voice.
The previous issue ended with another time slip, in which Cable’s mind appeared to be transported to the Askani timeline, somewhere amongst the flashbacks in Cable vol 1 #1-2. There’s no direct follow-up on that – Cable’s mind appears to have returned to the present day, and he either doesn’t remember or doesn’t mention what happened.
Wolverine #27 annotations
WOLVERINE vol 8 #27
“This Man, This Metal”
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artist: Julius Ohta
Colour artist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER: Wolverine holding up his claws, with one of the other three Savage Champions – Wolf With A Gun, Red Hare and Boneclaw – reflected in each claw. It’s a loose homage to the cover of Incredible Hulk #340.
WOLVERINE:
His narration says that “I’ve recently learned that I’m one of the Savage Champions – warriors with the power and duty to defeat the Adamantine”. That’s his pep talk from Athena in issue #19, which is also the source of the material in this story about the Savage Champions embodying man, beast and metal. Broadly, the point of this story seems to be to convince him that he should get his adamantium restored, by reminding him that his status as a Savage Champion, and thus his ability to beat threats like the Adamantine, depends on being a combination of man, beast and metal. He seems ultimately to be won round to the idea that he can only fulfil his role as a protector by embracing his adamantium.
The other three Champions seem to defer to his leadership, despite the fact that he’s got the least experience with the Adamantine of all of them. This may just be because he’s the only one who’s actually voicing any sort of ideas. His approach is to go for the mammoth’s unprotected eyes, which is basically how he beat Romulus in issue #8.
Daredevil Villains #86: Blackheart
DAREDEVIL #270 (September 1989)
“Blackheart!”
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Penciller: John Romita Jr
Inkers: Mike Manley & Al Williamson
Colourists: Max Scheele
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Ralph Macchio
We skipped over quite a few issues last time, so for anyone wondering what was in them: issues #259-263 are the end of the Typhoid Mary storyline, with the last two of those issues doubling as Inferno tie-ins. Issue #264 is a fill-in story with the Owl. (Yes, I know there are some gimmicky street gangs in it too, but it’s an Owl story.) Issue #265 is another Inferno tie-in. Issue #266 was a Christmas story with guest villain Mephisto. And issue #267, which we covered last time, has Bullet and the debut of Skip Ash, with Daredevil leaving New York City to spend some time upstate.
Issue #268 is a small town crime story, and issue #269 has Freedom Force as the guest villains. So that brings us to issue #270. I skipped over Mephisto earlier, but he does show up quite extensive in the next year or so. Nonetheless, he’s still an outside villain, as the storyline acknowledged – it ends with the Silver Surfer showing up to deal with him, and Daredevil leaving the two of them to get on with it. Besides, we get to talk about those issues anyway, thanks to Blackheart, who is a Daredevil original.
