The X-Axis – 28 October 2012
Quite the grab-bag we have this week – some second-tier X-books, a new title from the Max imprint, a blaring novelty.
A-Babies vs X-Babies – Do you need me to tell you that this is the novelty? I can’t be the only person who saw this in the solicitations and groaned at the prospect of yet another rehash of a joke Chris Claremont coined in the late 80s, and which has been relentlessly beaten to death over the years by a company seemingly oblivious to the fact that, when Claremont revived the one-shot joke X-Babies (originally just the X-Men de-aged in Silver Age style for a comedy one-shot) as actual characters, he did so as a not-even-remotely-veiled parody of Marvel’s money-grabbing dilution of his beloved franchise.
What Skottie Young and Gurihiru have produced, however, is not the umpteenth retread of that ailing joke. Young’s script ignores all previous versions of the concept and goes for a mixture of cuteness and knowing absurdity. There’s barely a plot here, but to the extent there is one, it goes like this: there’s a suburban neighbourhood, and all the little kids who live there are the Avengers and the X-Men. Why? Because they just are, that’s why. And they’re fighting because Scott has stolen Steve Rogers’ Bucky doll, and Steve wants it back. It’s silly, but it’s kind of adorable for all that, and keeps up the variations on the gag just long enough to ensure it doesn’t outstay its welcome.
Astonishing X-Men #55 – My god, it just keeps going. Is there no end in sight? Well, the January solicitations are for a Warbird story, so I guess there is. But eight issues in, my overwhelming impression is of a series that might be paced perfectly acceptably in a collected edition, but is dragging like hell as a serial.
The plot does advance a little bit. Hatchi’s plan turns out to involve some sort of scheme to discredit the X-Men in general and Karma in particular, so apparently there’s a bit more going on with her than just screwing with them for the hell of it. Iceman’s supposed death at the end of last issue isn’t exactly followed up, but we’re given enough information to let us figure out that, yes, it is indeed a deliberate scheme to free him from Hatchi’s control. Gambit is also surreptitiously giving messages to the other side. And Karma’s father is also apparently around. But overall, it’s another issue of Hatchi screwing with the X-Men because she’s a scheming villain, and – yes, WE GET IT, move on.
Oh, there’s also a brief origin flashback for (presumably) Hatchi, but thus far it doesn’t really do much to flesh out her one-dimensional character, other than to add some “sold into slavery” cliches.
Perhaps this arc will read better in a single sitting with the benefit of hindsight, but right now, I’m bored.
AvX: Consequences #3 – Despite the A in the title, the “consequences” in this series are overwhelmingly for the X-Men. The cover, showing Iron Man lamenting the wreckage of K’un-Lun, relates to an opening two-page subplot, while Cyclops’ storyline continues to predominate in the issue as a whole. The point of that two-page scene, by the way, is to push the idea that Iron Man’s faith in rationality has been shaken by the recent Phoenix storyline, which was at least meant to be a main theme of that story, and which Kieron Gillen can presumably develop further when he takes over Iron Man after the upcoming relaunch.
Cyclops’ storyline develops the idea that he’s determined to make himself into a martyr, but not by getting himself killed by a bunch of thugs in the prison workshop. Instead, we’re seeing his rational planner start to re-emerge, as he starts to quietly take control of his surroundings and build an image (or at least self-image) as a political prisoner. Instead of going into the usual emotional tailspin for a hero who’s hit rock bottom, Cyclops is remaining radical and only partially repentant, and it makes a lot of sense. And he still has at least somebody on his side helping him out – something that feels necessary if he’s actually going to occupy this political leader role in future.
Other subplots seem more concerned with checking in on loose ends or setting up future stories – Kitty visits Emma in jail, Magik tips Storm off to Colossus’ whereabouts, Hope goes looking for Cable. Still, even these give an impression of direction for the wider line, and Hope gets a nice monologue that feels like it’s trying to round off the emotional loose ends from Generation Hope before she moves on. Considering its seemingly transitional remit, this is turning out to be a rather satisfying book.
Gambit #4 – James Asmus dials up the scale on his caper book, as Gambit and That Mysterious Woman Who Hasn’t Been Named Yet (she gets named this issue, though) discover that their attempt to retrieve (and in her case, exploit) some old Guatemalan macguffin, they’ve accidentally opened a portal to a world of three-headed giant serpents. The idea is apparently meant to be that these were the sort of things the ancient locals used to worship, except, um, I’m not sure the design really does have much to do with anything south American.
But whatever – it’s Gambit fighting a giant snake, in an inventive and well-constructed action scene that understands there’s more to this sort of thing than just having them fight. Clay Mann’s art gets the set pieces across well, and that segment of the audience that enjoys seeing Gambit with his shirt off will be pleased to hear that he spends much of this issue with his shirt off.
Wolverine #315 – I get the feeling here that Cullen Bunn has a storyline he wants to do with these Covenant characters of his, and he’s shoving it in here because he’s got a few issues to kill before the relaunch. In general terms, the plot is that, long ago, the members of the Covenant hired Wolverine to find and kill somebody called the Dreaming Maiden, who is apparently terribly dangerous for reasons that remain unrevealed. Wolverine didn’t kill her, and now the various members of the Covenant are trying to track her down and… do something?
While there are some imaginative touches in the fight scenes, and some well-written dialogue to liven up the “Melita goes to a library to learn some exposition” bit, the heart of this story is a mystery about who the Dreaming Maiden is and why she matters, and the story doesn’t really give us material to let us speculate on that. The result is a story in which a bunch of characters run around chasing after an undeveloped macguffin, but without us having a particularly compelling reason to care.
Wolverine Max #1 – Unexpectedly decent. Quite honestly, my expectations for this book were rock bottom after Marvel’s last attempt at a “mature readers” Wolverine title, the abysmal Best There Is. That series plainly started from the premise that it needed to justify its mature readers tag with over-the-top violence, and worked back from there to fill in the pesky details of a plot and a point afterwards. The result, while committing too enthusiastically to its grindhouse agenda to be dismissed as merely lazy, certainly failed to work, and didn’t connect in sales terms either.
Jason Starr seems to be taking a different tack. His series starts by embracing the advantages of not being set in the Marvel Universe, and pares its Wolverine down to the very core elements from the character’s defining era – the claws, the healing powers, the amnesia, the (largely unremembered) history of violent urges and a struggle to contain them. That last theme was the one that made Wolverine a success for Chris Claremont in the 1980s, and while it’s largely been exhausted in the Marvel Universe by Wolverine’s gradual transformation into an alpha male and elder statesman, Starr is free to return to it in this book’s rebooted history, shorn of the sci-fi and spandex trappings of the wider Marvel Universe. The book justifies its adult rating with a bit of swearing and some slightly more graphic violence, but doesn’t seem to be going out of its way to do so. So while the official selling point of the series is uncensored violence, the actual selling point of the series is Wolverine without the compromises required by the Marvel Universe.
The book has two artists – Roland Boschi does the present day sequences in a relatively clean and sparse style, while Connor Willumsen’s flashbacks are looser, more exaggerated cartoons and sketches, verging at times into Kyle Baker’s territory. It’s an odd contrast but one that sort of works in terms of selling Logan’s mental state. The flashbacks also offer an interesting reinvention of Sabretooth, who shows up in this world as Victor, a genial suited psychopath who makes the case for Logan simply embracing his violent urges. Sabretooth makes an ideal arch-enemy for Wolverine when he’s being written with this approach, since he represents what Wolverine would become if he didn’t try to be better than his instincts. (Equally, without that context, he tends to either devolve into a tedious serial killer, or be “developed” into an ersatz Wolverine in his own right.) Here, Victor is serving the same function, but he’s the killer who you can imagine functioning in society, and he’s making the sort of argument that follows semi-logically from the platitudes of a culture that tells us all that we should learn to love ourselves just the way we are.
Admittedly, it wouldn’t have taken much to exceed my expectations for this book. Correct punctuation might have sufficed. But Wolverine Max refreshingly sees that the real opportunities open to it are those presented by the chance to reboot Wolverine outside the Marvel Universe, not to dump the things that work about him, but to focus everything around them.
X-Treme X-Men #5 – This Exiles relaunch remains decidedly hit and miss, and unfortunately, it’s more miss than hit. There are a couple of interesting ideas or subplots – a curious suggestion that the worlds they’re visiting are somehow matching their own preoccupations (which would obviously be a remarkable coincidence), and a clear confirmation that the Professor X head is hiding something from the rest of the group. This seems to be building towards the idea that the series’ rather contrived premise will eventually turn out to be just a front for something else – perhaps inevitably given the inherent limitations in the team’s starting mission. And there’s a nice moment with Howlett’s rather bleak idea of how to make sure his underage local counterpart retains his childhood innocence. (“A boy shouldn’t kill anyone until he’s at least eighteen.”)
On the other hand, the actual story still boils down to the heroes running around a western town fighting cosmetically altered versions of familiar characters in a way that doesn’t really seem to do very much with the western setting, and in a story that boils down to not much more than “they find the bad guy they were looking for, and they fight him”. It all feels a little half-baked. If the whole set-up is going to turn out to be a feint then that might turn out to be a deliberate choice, but it’s not working right now.
“Unexpectedly decent” sums up Wolverine MAX for me too.
At first read, I was completely puzzled what Cyclops’s “talk” with a bit of workbench debris was supposed to be, but after reading the review, I think I might have understood… that debris is metallic stuff, isn’t it? Still not sure if the pattern he formed with it meant to be a hint or just a doodle from the artist, though
Re: Wolverine’s urges, when’s the last time the phrase “berserker rage” appeared in a Marvel comic?
Looking at the pattern, I think it was entirely random. He just knew that Magneto would be out there, and left him the means to communicate.
This is probably the most imaginative new use for Magneto’s powers we’ve seen in years.
I made the mistake of thinking that it was actually Magick Scott was communicating with. I thought the pattern was some sort of occult symbol.
Of course, it is far more exciting for Scott to be communicating with an unseen Magneto than with a Magick we saw only a few minutes earlier.
Hearing you on AXM. My biggest disappointment about this arc is that, for all the elements of Karma’s past that are involved, she doesn’t seem to be getting much spotlight herself — she was even relegated to being a quest object for an entire issue.
Even if we wind up with a spectacular finish, I think this is going to wind up being a mediocre arc, alas.
I loved the Cyclops/Magneto scene in AvX #3. I really hope we continue to get to see the two work together… not just because they’re two of my favorite characters, but because I think there’s a LOT of room for stories to tell of the dynamic between the two now that they’ve grown much closer in outlook.
(Then again, I really hoping that is Magneto, not Magick. I liked how understated it was too. Unfortunately, Niall points out that the symbol Scott makes is somewhat occult-looking and so Magik is a possibility).
I had no idea that Cyclops was supposed to be talking to Magneto. I was under the impression that he was supposed to be talking to Magik. I feel like Magik would have had the means to locate and help Cyclops escape immediately, given her powers, whereas Magneto would be lacking resources at the moment. Though, if the two are working together, then it makes a lot of sense. The symbol allows Magik to locate Cyclops and the metal scrapings allow Magneto to communicate.
“It’s silly, but it’s kind of adorable for all that, and keeps up the variations on the gag just long enough to ensure it doesn’t outstay its welcome.”
Oh if only the adult version had taken heed of that lesson. Hell the Parody sounds like it has a more plausible plot to boot. And speaking of which…
“Despite the A in the title, the “consequences” in this series are overwhelmingly for the X-Men.”
That’s not surprising since one of the problems with this whole “event” is that the Avengers have NO personal stake in the outcome outside of being generic heroes. This crossover could have been called “Random Cross-media Synergistic Property to be X-ploited vs. X-Men” and it would have been just as accurate. I mean since none of their sorry asses actually had anything to do with taking down the Big Bad, there’s very little reason to revist them during the wrap-up. The Avengers are changing their status quo IN SPITE OF the actions of the crossover (because such arbitrary decisions are now mandatory after events) not BECAUSE of them. And speaking of THAT…
I wouldn’t get to attached to Iron Man’s subplot. I could have sworn he was suppose to have a similar “crisis of rationality” during Fear Itself (which had him surveying the wreckage of Paris after negotiating his sobriety with vengeful gods and mystical trolls and such.) Maybe that’s why the spent so little time on it.
@Jon Dubya:
“Random Cross-media Synergistic Property to be X-ploited vs. X-Men” — Best. Title. Ever.
And what’s happened to Magik’s characterization over the past few years? Since when did she become Scott’s loyal sheep? Logically, she should seek help from her friends in the New Mutants, but I guess the current writers and editors of Marvel don’t even know what “logical” means.
I think Magick’s recent characterisation can be summed up as: She’s been crazy and evil all along, but she’s been playing the long game.
She was following Scott around because it let her stay close to Colossus, and her endgame was driving him crazy.
“Still, even these give an impression of direction for the wider line”
I’m still wondering what that is, and how long this will last before the NEXT BIG STATUS QUO CHANGING EVENT.
As much as they are trying to set up Hatchin as some grand villain…er, just no. She bores me more than anything, and I wouldn’t be disappointed in the slightest if she disappeared and was never seen again after this story.
Will, I wouldn’t say that Magick is supposed to be seen as evil. I think it’s more that she’s crazy and dangerous. Her actions toward her brother were pretty horrible, but her motivation came from a desire to be understood and to make her brother understand that she did not deserve his love.
She’s a monster, but not evil.
Paul, as a lawyer, could you take a stab at explaining why Cyclops et al are locked up at all? And why the Avengers aren’t?
Go back to the beginning of this thing; Cap and the Avengers show up on Utopia, which may or may not be a sovereign country (it was claimed to be a “mutant homeland”, but no one seemed to be having to show a passport when hopping into San Francisco or elsewhere in the US) and demand that the leader of that location turn over his adoptive granddaughter to them, even though said girl had committed no crime. They assume something which might have bad results may happen to her soon, but they have no way of preventing or dealing with a Phoenix possession if it does happen to Hope. So what law exactly is Scott violating in not allowing the Avengers to take Hope away?
Next up, the Avengers, specifically Iron Man’s gadget, cause 5 people to be possessed by the Phoenix. None of Scott, Emma, Illyana, Peter, or Namor were trying to get the Phoenix power; they only got it due to an Avengers attempt to mess things up.
Now, it was being claimed that only Hope could contain the Phoenix power without being corrupted (ignoring the case of previous entities, such as Rachel, managing to do so). At first, the “Phoenix Five” did good things, but were gradually corrupted, just as the Avengers believed would happen. So Scott et al are being imprisoned or wanted for what they did under the influence of a known corruptive power…which was given to them involuntarily due to actions of the Avengers. Wouldn’t the Avengers have at least equal, if not considerably greater, responsibility for said crimes?
And finally, I’m pretty sure that by now the Marvel Universe must have some laws on the books about changing someone’s genetic structure without their consent. In which case, it’d seem Hope should be up on charges for making people mutants (with at least one significant physical appearance chance) without consent, and Wanda up on double charges for taking away the powers and cooperating with Hope to make people non-consentual mutants.
Toss in Cap’s hypocrisy of lecturing Scott about “breaking alliances that had been around for years” (Two words Cap: Civil War), and I’m honestly confused as to how and why any of the Extinction Team can be up on any charges vs. why the Avengers at the very least aren’t the subject, both group and individually, or any number of lawsuits and/or arrests.
i also thought that the pattern was ‘occult looking’, but i still think cyclops is communicating with magneto… it just makes much more sense all around.
they really make sure gamit is shirtless at least once every issue, dont they? i think thats kinda funny. and i appreciate it, eventhough clay mann isnt really a beefcake artist, in my opinion.
I’ve read the preview for Consequences #4 and it states on the recap that it was Magneto.
I’m a bit curious as to how the Extinction Team will be charged, too, but to be fair I think the Avengers are more interested in the Phoenix Five. After all, they know nothing of Danger’s role with Unit, and Hope, Psylocke, and Storm are in the clear after their roles in AvX. Magneto has a lot to own up to so of course they’d want to bring him in or at least question him, but Cyclops, Emma, Namor, Magik, and Colossus are the real “criminals” in their minds.
Possibly they can say they want to bring them all in to make sure they still not ‘crazy’ anymore?
” The idea is apparently meant to be that these were the sort of things the ancient locals used to worship, except, um, I’m not sure the design really does have much to do with anything south American.”
I thought the dragon was supposed to be losely based on Quetzalcoatl (aztec feathered serpant god). I think there is a mayan version of him, too, though I don’t think either had three heads. So that would be artist license. 😉
@Tom Galloway
Don’t question, switch your brain off, and accept any plot holes or lapses in logic/common sense.
I mean, I’m guessing that’s what Marvel wants us to think.
I’d like to see a class action suit filed against Hope/White Phoenix on behalf of all the people she changed into monstermen.
@Tom Galloway
Nice summation of how unfair Marvel’s universe seems to have become with their obsession of having hero v hero events.
I’m guessing Civil War era Tony or Dark Reign Norman Osborne used their clout to push through a lot of legislation similar to the stuff that allows Guantanamo Bay in ‘our’ universe.
It could be that Marvel’s US has some older laws from when mutants were really hated giving them less civil rights than the average human.
I guess that makes the Avengers the equivalent of one of those private security companies they’re using in Iraq/Afghanistan. There’s probably a massive government PR exercise covering their asses.
Boy I really need to cancel that news-email I get from Amnesty International.
Didnt the avengers used to be sanctioned by either the us government and/or the UN.
Im sure they have some kind of super secret Patroit Act jurisdiction to basically do whatver they want.
This is why we need a Jennifer Walters/She Hulk book – to investigate the legal repercussions of disappointing crossovers.
(Mind you, she’d need to go back to lawyering first – that said I’ve got no idea what her current status quo is as I haven’t kept up with her since her last solo book was cancelled).
I’m no lawyer, but I think it makes perfect sense that they want to put the Phoenix Five in jail (Hopefully a real lawyer will set me straight if I’m getting something wrong here):
1) The X-Men set up a compound in US territorial waters and declare themselves a sovereign nation. The government mostly looks the other way on this, but considering how easily Wolverine set up his own school in New York after Schism, clearly the X-Men didn’t renounce their US citizenship (if they did, every time they entered the US on a mission they were breaking the law). From the US government’s point of view, they have jurisdiction over Utopia. Cyclops certainly doesn’t agree with that, but telling the police that you don’t recognize their authority has never been very effective in getting them to stop trying to arrest you.
2) Captain America shows up on Utopia under orders from the President and Joint Chiefs of Staff and under the authority of SHIELD to take Hope into custody for questioning in regards to a potentially extinction-level threat (heck, for all we know SHIELD has an equivalent of a Good Samaritan Law requiring you to save the planet if you can – call it “Uncle Ben’s Law”). While Cap us uncharacteristically undiplomatic, it’s mostly a chest-thumping excercise between him and Cyclops until Cyclops blasts Cap. That’s assaulting a representative of the US government (If you do consider Utopia a sovereign state, it could be considered an act of war, but I really don’t think SHIELD considers Utopia a sovereign state). The rest of the X-Men join in, making them accomplices. They may have grounds to claim unnecessary use of force against the Avengers, but they’ll have to appear in court to make that claim.
3) The X-Men go on the run into the continental US, which is resisting arrest and fleeing across state lines, which I belive makes them felons if they weren’t already (and, if you consider them foreign nationals, they’ve illegally entered the country again).
4) The X-Men show up on the moon to attack the Avengers. During the fight, the X-Men end up with Phoenix powers. While Tony Stark probably considers himself morally responsible for what happens next, the X-Men got those powers while attacking the Avengers; it seems to me that, legally, saying the Avengers are responsible for what the Phoenix Five do with those powers is like saying a police officer is responsible for what you do with his gun if you attack him, knock it out of his hand, and pick it up during the struggle.
5) The Phoenix Five proceed to TAKE OVER THE WORLD. There absolutely has to be an internationally agreed-upon law against this in the Marvel Universe; if there isn’t, then it’s legal to build a weather dominator in the middle of the ocean or something. Let’s not forget that they’re seen destroying military vehicles and equipment, presumably without the permission of the militaries in question. The only way they’re not war criminals at this point is if they manage to stay on top and get to keep making the rules. One of them destroys Wakanda. The others are welcome to argue that Namor acted unilaterally but they’ll have to appear in court to do so.
6) Cyclops then tries to DESTROY THE WORLD. The others are welcome to disavow this action but they’ll have to appear in court to do so. Scott is welcome to argue that he was not in his right mind when he did it, and may well do so in court (but it’s actually looking like he may not, which can only hurt the others’ defenses).
7) Cyclops and Emma are taken into custody for attempted geocide and conspiracy to commit geocide or whatever the charge is for “he tried to destroy the world and for all we know she helped.” The rest of the Phoenix Five are also sought on related charges. They don’t get a free pass just because they weren’t there for the final battle any more than a Hydra agent would get a free pass on a bank robbery because he got knocked out before they got the vault open. All the other X-Men either go on the run or don’t. The ones that don’t are not, are far as we’ve seen, prosecuted in any way – in fact, some of them are invited to join the Avengers. The ones that do are sought for questioning and asked to turn themselves in.
The X-Men may have many reasons for what they did, and you can agree with them if you think they were right, and they may have many valid complaints about the way the Avengers handled it, and the Phoenix Five may have the mother of all diminished capacity defenses, BUT the Avengers have more than enough grounds to want to bring the fugitive X-Men in, and all the exculpatory evidence in the world doesn’t mean a thing until you present it to the authorities.
This is one of the weeks where I am a bit sorry that you don’t touch other Marvel ongoing series from outside the X-verse. Journey into Mystery had one of the most devastatingly well-written tragedies I’ve ever read and I would have loved to see what your opinion on that comic is.
Were Wolverine and Colossus ever U.S. citizens? I know this is one of those things we’re supposed to discreetly ignore, but still….
Then again, Alan Davis got some brief mileage out of the concept during his Excalibur run by using it to provide F.I.6 with leverage over the non-British members of the team.
Totally unrelated to anything. Apparently the next x movie is days of future past. Wow. Take my money now. Brian singer is back, too.
Thank you ZZZ for your post. I started to write up a similar list, but your review is much better than mine was turning out and I didn’t even think of #3 or #4.
That’s a good question (and the real answer is probably “even Marvel doesn’t know”).
For some reason I always assumed Xavier gave someone at the immigration office a piece of his mind and smoothed things over in regards to the non-US-born X-Men’s immigration status, but I don’t remember whether that’s something I actually read or just something I figured was a reasonable explanation for why no one ever brought it up.
They were briefly federal agents, though, (the abortive XSE subplot) which implies that either their status was in order or they were granted some sort of amnesty (I don’t know if you have to be a US citizen to be a US federal agent, but I’m sure you have to at least have a work visa or green card or something). And there’s no way Wolverine’s getting the local school board to consider approving a school run by an illegal immigrant.
Of course, I guess that really only applies to Colossus and Magik. Magneto’s almost certainly in the US illegally (if he even is in the US at the moment) and doesn’t much care about US law, Namor is certainly an Atlantean citizen with some (possibly recently revoked) diplomatic status, god only knows what Danger’s legal status is but nationality probably doesn’t factor into it, Scott and Emma were born in the United States, and I’m pretty sure everyone else is on good terms with the law at the moment.
Don’t they normally just hand wave these sorts of things away as “nick fury said its okay”.
That’s how Logan gets on commercial airlines. (Wolverine vol 2 issue 55)
I appriciate the attempt, zzz, since you probably put more thought into this then the actual writters did.
For one, let’s look at bullet point #6. The Thing in the crossover JUST BEFORE THIS ONE was possessed to do awful things to the world and his friends. At the end of it, the Thing had obvious remorse, and yet EVERY Avenger there gave a “it’s not your fault, don’t beat yourself up over it” speech. That was then the end of it. Hell they asked HULK for help who was also one of the hammer-weilders in the last “event.” (not even counting the trouble he has gotten into in his recent series.)
Well, Consequences #4 made it pretty clear – it’s both Magneto and Magik working together (or at least, Magik working for Magneto). Couldn’t really care less about Magik or Danger, but hopefully the Magneto/Cyclops relationship gains some legs.
ZZZ: Namor actually should be an American citizen: his father was an American.
Well, the ANXM cover that featured Cyclops, Magneto, Magik & Frost as a team post-AvX was probably a clue!
Talibak: You can’t maintain dual citizenship when you’re the *ruler* of another country, surely.
Reboot – Depends on the country!
Well, there’s some mutual monarchical considerations – I believe Liz2 is eligible for Danish citizenship because she’s a direct descendant of their King Christian IX, although she hasn’t taken it up – but that wouldn’t apply to the USA as a non-monarchy.
On an unrelated note, does anyone know if Marvel discontinued hardcover releases for X-Factor? I’m trying to find if volumes 16 and 17 are paperback only and Google isn’t being my friend.
@Taibak It is my understanding that, yes, they did, although perhaps somewhat silently. Paperbacks for vol 16, 17, 18, and 19 are available for (pre)ordering but none of those volumes are available in hardcover.
It does not give me warm, fuzzy feelings about the longevity of the series. I would not be surprised if “Hell on Earth War” is the book’s swan song; I just hope PAD gets to complete all 6 issues of it.
Did you check amazon? As a rule hard covers are available before tpb.
Checked Amazon, Tales of Wonder, Google, here, the Marvel Masterworks message board, and a friend of a friend who works for Marvel. Looks like softcover only from here out. 🙁
I blame Bendis. :-p
@Reboot: Hadn’t seen that cover yet. Guess All-New X-Men will be taking the place of Uncanny as the “main” X-book. Kinda was hoping with its silly plot setup it would be more of a side book.
Fat chance Carver! Bendis is going to have 2 X-books where he will be given free reign to assassinate the character of any X-Man he chooses.