X-Men #1-9
So, then. We find the X-books at a strange time, in an involuntary hiatus brought about by the Covid-19 lockdown, which has interrupted distribution of new comics. Presumably publication will resume in due course; in the meantime, I suppose we’re spared a series of issues that would read like missives from a parallel universe.
In the meantime, let’s take stock of where the books have reached, starting with X-Men itself – written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn, for the most part, by Leinil Francis Yu.
(more…)Charts – 3 April 2020
We’ll get to reviews in the coming days, but let’s cover the topical stuff first. The charts haven’t succumbed to weirdness just yet, but the number of cancelled releases is starting to mount up. It’s on the horizon…
1 The Weeknd – “Blinding Lights”
Swaps places with Saint JHN to return to number 1 for a sixth week. It’s now been displaced from number 1 twice, and it’s been out for a total of 18 weeks. It surely can’t keep this up much longer – can it?
6. Dua Lipa – “Break My Heart”
(more…)Housekeeping
So, what now? Marvel have stopped shipping comics, either digitally or physically, at least for now. This might last a couple of weeks until some other arrangement is put in place. Or it might last a while.
Either way, I’m finally going to clear some of the backlog by looking back at the Hickman-era titles. That should see us through until things start up again… assuming this is indeed just a brief interruption.
One plan that’s doing the rounds seems to be that some sort of stopgap arrangement could be put in place, so that direct market retailers will be able to sell digital copies now with a view to receiving physical copies in due course. How practical that is, time will tell – are they really going to ship what could be months of backlogged comics to direct market retailers in one go? How is that going to work?
But if something like that turns out to be the plan then presumably we’ll be back to regular comics fairly soon – even if they’ll all be taking place in a parallel universe. By that time we should be up to date on reviews. If the plan doesn’t work out then… well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
COVER / PAGE 1. Nightcrawler sees Phoenix and Thunderbird in the X-Men’s overgrown mansion.
PAGE 2. Establishing shots of the Mansion.
This is the X-Men’s traditional base, now abandoned and overgrown with Krakoan plant life, which we last saw in House of X #1. Panel 1 is the front of the Mansion; panel 2 is Xavier’s study; panel 3 is the Danger Room; panel 4 is Cerebro; panel 5 is the main hall, with the Krakoan gate in the middle. Normally in the Hickman era the Krakoan foliage is portrayed as lush and positive, but here (when it comes directly up against a symbol of traditional X-Men-ness) it’s a sign of dilapidation. An unanswered question is precisely why the X-Men have abandoned the Mansion entirely. You’d think they’d have more attachment to it than this.
(more…)X-Men/Fantastic Four #3 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and the page numbers go by the digital edition.
COVER / PAGE 1. Well, it’s some of the X-Men and some of the Fantastic Four, isn’t it?
PAGES 2-6. The X-Men shoot down the Fantastic Four and capture them.
Hey, it’s a team-up series, they’ve got to fight. This is going to be a pretty short post, if you hadn’t figured.
We’ll see in the next scene that the FF get shot down over Doom’s island, which is where they were heading at the end of issue #2, but still feels a bit convenient.
(more…)Charts – 27 March 2020
Welcome to the first of the lockdown charts, featuring people at home streaming records that nobody was able to properly promote. For the moment, it doesn’t look that different from normal… but this could go on for a while. Interestingly, the preliminary data shows more of an increase in radio audiences. In America, streaming actually seems to be down significantly.
1. Saint JHN – “Roses”
Two weeks at number 1. The rest of the top 10 is becalmed. “Lonely” by Joel Corry climbs one place to 4; “Physical” by Dua Lipa climbs 7-5; “Say So” by Doja Cat climbs 8-7. A little further down, “Boyfriend” by Mabel climbs 17-11.
17. The Weeknd – “In Your Eyes”
23. The Weeknd – “After Hours”
Wolverine #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. And this one, we can take fairly quickly.
COVER / PAGE 1. Wolverine imagines himself being attacked by villains (under the Pale Girl’s influence).
PAGES 2-4. The Pale Girl makes the Marauders turn over a crop of petals.
Pretty self-explanatory. The clear implication is that the Pale Girl controls people using music, and that Bishop is initially unaffected because he has headphones on. Presumably he’s starting to succumb by the end, when he sees Kitty as a zombie.
PAGES 5-6. Recap and credits. The story is “Your Own Worst Enemy” by Benjamin Percy, Adam Kubert, and Frank Martin.
(more…)Hellions #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
HELLIONS. The original Hellions were Emma Frost’s trainees when she was the White Queen of the Hellfire Club – the New Mutants’ opposite numbers, basically. Most of them were killed in 1991, though they’ve presumably been revived now. The name has been reused several times before. Emplate had a team in Generation X who were called Hellions in solicitations; a version led by King Bedlam showed up in late 90s X-Force; a squad at the X-Men’s school took the name in New X-Men in 2004; and Kade Kilgore’s version of the Hellfire Club had its own Hellions in Wolverine and the X-Men. This team… has no particular connection with any of the above.
This is the first Hellions series, though the New X-Men version had their own miniseries in 2005 (called New X-Men: Hellions).
COVER / PAGE 1. The team.
PAGE 2. Epigraph, attributed to Nightcrawler. Essentially he’s saying that an attempted utopia (like Krakoa) has to find something to do with the bad guys.
PAGES 3-7. The X-Men take down the Hellfire Cult, and Havok maims some of them.
Havok seems to be briefly possessed when he attacks the Cult members, and has no memory of it afterwards.
(more…)X-Men #9 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
Five books this week, so I’m going to try and take some of these fairly quickly… but, well, I’ve said that before. Whether there are actually going to be any comics next week is an open question at this stage, but I’m working on the assumption that digital distribution is likely to continue. If not… well, even more time to catch up on reviews….
COVER / PAGE 1. Well, it’s lots of characters from the issue posing more-or-less dramatically.
PAGES 2-6. Thousands of years ago, the Kree Supremor gives the go-ahead to the King Egg.
This is largely exposition about the Brood and the King Egg. Broadly, the idea is that Kree scientists have stumbled upon the Brood and have come up with the idea of trying to weaponise them by displacing the Queen with their own King, and seizing control of the Hive. Planning for the long term, the Kree figure this will be useful in several thousand years time, when the Brood hive is larger. Rather implausibly, the Kree scientists don’t explain what a King Egg actually is and how it works (because that would spoil the ending), and nobody asks them.
(more…)Charts – 20 March 2020
Welcome, then, to what looks set to be a bizarre (and perhaps simply bestilled) era for the charts. As the UK edges closer to lockdown, streaming of music can continue, and the data to compile the charts will still be available. There’s no particular reason not to compile them, in the circumstances. But what they’ll actually contain is another matter – will people keep releasing new material? How do they promote it? Does the chart keep looking broadly normal, or does it fill up with weird viral inspirational tracks?
1. Saint JHN – “Roses”
(more…)