X-Men #28 annotations
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 found by Apocalypse.
Sunfire 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.
In the interim, Sunfire’s story has been covered in X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic 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.
Sunfire meets Moira MacTaggert during that story, and learns about the fall of Krakoa, but doesn’t know how much of it is true.
Sxixm is a new character. Despite appearances, the gaping mouth that he’s led Sunfire to is apparently not a trap.
“Sunfire was elected to the X-Men when he told his fellow mutants he was ready to serve someone other than himself.” Sunfire was voted onto the X-Men at the first Hellfire Gala in X-Men vol 5 #21 (2021), but this particular bit comes from a flashback scene in issue #2.
Apocalypse and “the last seed of Okkara”. We last saw Apocalypse at the end of X-Men Red #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 X-Men: Before the Fall – Heralds of Apocalypse #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.
“The magic has led you right to my side once more.” Sunfire was briefly a Herald of Apocalypse during Peter Milligan’s X-Men run in 2006.
“We will march to war.” The Arakko civil war, currently underway in X-Men Red.
PAGE 6. Recap and credits.
PAGES 7-8. Feilong and Dr Stasis argue about Dr Doom.
We’ll come back to Doom and his mutants at the end of the issue.
“My blood transfusion from the Juggernaut.” 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.
Firestar is trying to dissuade Orchis from taking an interest in the mutants of Latveria. The X-Men were certainly at least somewhat interested in the fate of mutants living in Latveria, which came up in the X-Men / Fantastic Four miniseries.
North Valnon is a blatant North Korea stand-in which occasionally shows up in Gerry Duggan stories.
PAGES 9-10. Firestar sneaks into Randall’s Island.
The big dent in Juggernaut’s helmet is due to Nimrod beating him up off panel when he tried to escape last issue.
PAGES 11-12. Firestar visits Cyclops.
Basically, she’s tapping messages for him in Morse Code while going through the motions of trying to talk him into giving up.
PAGES 13-15. Juggernaut makes his escape.
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 removed 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.
PAGE 16. Juggernaut reports to the X-Men.
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.
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.
PAGES 17-18. Moira, Nimrod and Omega Sentinel berate Firestar.
Orchis aren’t complete idiots, and they suspect Firestar of betraying them. As we saw on pages 10-11, though, Firestar did 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 Hellfire Gala 2023, involved her working specifically with Dr Stasis, and the rest of Orchis apparently view her specifically as his ally, not theirs.
PAGE 19. Data page – a memo from Dr Stasis to Orchis staff, largely updating us on the plot. The Avengers Unity Squad are over in Uncanny Avengers.
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.
PAGES 20-23. The X-Men arrive in Latveria.
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.
“The X-Men had never been pushed so low as to fly commercial.” I know this is nitpicking, but they have. X-Men 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.
Wolverine 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.
Latveria is in Europe, but perhaps Doom just means it’s not in the European Union.
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).
PAGE 24. Trailers. The Krakoan reads DOOM, obviously.
Based on the design sheets released for the next issue (possible spoilers!), the three Doom mutants seen here are named Nerium, Slag and Volta (who appears to be the leader).
So Stasis WAS really planning to steal the Juggernaut’s power and it wasn’t just a trick to test Firestar. I’m not liking that. The entire point is that each Sinister represents a different path- Mother Righteous magic, Stasis post humanism. Stasis shouldn’t be using magic.
I’m not sure Duggan making Scott and Angelica literal Boy and Girl Scouts was a good idea. Angelica was 13 when Emma recruited her, so I guess it works for her. But Scott was with Sinister most of his childhood- did Sinister let Scott join the Boy Scouts?
I’m not sure how Firestar tossing the drive down Cain’s mouth was supposed to work. Wouldn’t he have reflexively either spit it out or swallowed it before he heard what she was saying?
Note that Stasis explains that Captain Krakoa was intended specifically as a countermeasure against Captain America. This is more evidence that Captain Krakoa is either William Burnside or Hydra Cap, both of whom are evil versions of Captain America.
Stasis seems sure that Jean Grey is permanently dead. Why? I mean, if he doesn’t know what happened to the Five when they went through the gates, why is he so sure the Five aren’t alive and won’t be able to bring her back?
Why on Earth did the X-Men feel the need to invade Latveria to go after Doom’s mutants? Doom and his mutants weren’t doing anything evil- they were literally just standing around. So why do the X-Men feel the need to invade a sovereign nation to find out more about them, when Orchis is actively persecuting mutants and is holding Scott prisoner?
Does Orchis have security cameras or not? Did no one witness Firestar pausing a fight with Juggernaut long enough to impart a paragraph of information? Did no one see that she was tapping Cyclops’s body as she talked to him? Why was Juggernaut able to escape this time?
The answers are either “to set up a big swerve,” “Orchis is both a threat to all mutantkind and wildly incompetent,” or “Duggan doesn’t have the skill to write these plots effectively.” Possibly all three.
“The X-Men had never been pushed so low as to fly commercial.” I know this is nitpicking, but they have. X-Men 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.
Professor X and Jean Grey also fly commercial (Air India) in New X-Men #133. They subdue a terrorist group that tries to commandeer the flight before landing in Mumbai.
I can buy the ‘whispering to juggernaut” I just wish she was using her other hand to produce light and microwaves to stop the cams. I buy the morse- they’re both trained- Duggans just trying to have the characters and readers relate briefly. She’s from a trailer park and he’s from an orphanage, scouts groups go to both.
@Daly- on one hand, I want some acknowledgment on panel that there are or are not cameras that do or do not capture everything. On the other hand, if Firestar interferes with them and something that benefits the mutants occurs, it looks extremely suspicious, and Orchis letting Anjelica have free rein at Orchis facilities makes them look stupid.
@Michael: I honestly don’t think Duggan remembers that the four Essexes are meant to be pursuing four different paths to Dominion – especially when the candidate meant to be pursuing posthumanity is instead working with the machines he’s meant to be stopping
I saw the recent trailer for the end of the Krakoan Era of X-Men. Wow, they are pushing this well into next year. They need enough time to resolve the plot threads and give enough time before Tom Brevoort takes over.
@Michael: He’s at least not treating it as magic, but just generic empowered blood. It could be grabbing blood from a Hulk as far as the process he described goes. So it isn’t directly stepping on Mother Righteous’s turf, and I can look past that part of it.
What it definitely is though, is pretty foolish. Sure, put the blood in one of his creations to experiment, but if you don’t know how the magic blood works, don’t put it in yourself! And yeah, it really is probably hubris to do so given what we know about Cyttorak occasionally making demands on his avatar. Stasis probably doesn’t know the details there, and that makes sense, but he should be smart enough to not go straight to putting this in himself first.
If this weren’t Duggan then I’d think it’s telegraphing some desperation. Stasis is realizing he’s not as needed now and he’s surrounded by more powerful beings. So he’s going outside his normal wheelhouse and treating magic blood as if it’s gamma blood or nanite blood or whatever, so long as it gives him more to work with. That would work for me, and in another writer I’d wonder if that’s what’s going on. But Duggan’s used up his credit with me when it comes to expecting character payoffs, so I’ll just be pleasantly surprised if he actually goes that way.
[…] #28. (Annotations here.) Well, there’s quite a lot going on here. We’ve got Sunfire feeding back into the […]
I’m surprised Duggan’s created a stand-in for North Korea, since he used it during his first run on Deadpool (“The Good, The Bad, the Ugly”)
It’s where the guy who’d been harvesting Deadpool’s organs (and pumping him full of memory-wiping drugs) to use to create knockoff X-Men was working and the story makes no bones that it’s North Korea. Wolverine identifies it as such by scent(?) one panel after regaining consciousness.
Obviously, totalitarian kimchi has a distinct smell.
Doctor Stasis- “As part of a dynasty that is all about bringing dead people back to life, I am in no way concerned if Cyclops is talking to the most powerful telepathic mutant who has, by herself, come back from the dead half a dozen times.”
I know villains always go for overconfidence before the heroes win, but that’s just ridiculous.
I just can’t with Duggan anymore. Genuinely. There is not a single aspect of this issue that is properly executed apart from Firestar’s posturing – or genuine hardening – under duress.
Even then, there’s such a wasted opportunity there. We’re treating the Hellfire Gala accident as a “massacre”, despite it being a relatively contained event – fine. Then have some engagement with the sheer, brutal weight of survivor’s guilt, compounded by the fact that not a single remaining mutant trusts or welcomes you.
It’s there to an extent, with Angelica’s death wish. But this should me more of a plot than an attitude – something we spend more time with, and have more of a chance to care about…
Then there’s just the complete laziness and clumsyness of the writing in general. It’s ridiculous that someone would be paid to produce something so half-assed and half-baked.
Why would Scott and Angelica need to be scouts, when the context cues all tell us the X-Men are a pretty militarized bunch? Why does Sunfire end up *exactly* where Apocalypse is? What’s with the paragraph-long infodumps that could be reduced to just one or two sentences?
Why the hell is Dr Stasis making puns (and signalling them) in official correspondence? Why do the mutants arrive at Latveria at the exact spot where Doom and co. happen to be?
And what the heck is “have never stooped so low as to fly commercial” meant to be? This has happened *a number* of times! Jean and Scott flying to Canada under Seagle, Jubilee travelling with baby Shogo under what’s his name…
Is it supposed to be a weird class dig? Is that really the angle you want to emphasize when everything is supposedly in peril? How bougie X-Men miserably concede not to flying in their private, military jet?
Oh goddesses, I could go on. Just really stupid, really terrible plotting and scant attention to the details that do matter. Dr Stasis doesn’t make any sense as a character, Kitty is at odds with Wolverine ’cause she’s just *way* too Wolverine-y to give a fuck…
Blah. Bah, and bleurgh.
@Salome H- in fairness, it’s been pointed out several times that Sinister and Stasis share a love of puns.
I’ve made that remark about an earlier issue, but Duggan writes this book like it’s only reason to exist is to advertised other Fall of X titles. Oh, you’re interested in Firestar? Lucky for you, a new X-Men Unlimited arc has just started that’s all about her. (Not that that’s mentioned here, though this issue came out days before the XMU arc started).
(Also it seems it will be the only place where Judas Traveller will do something. Maybe).
@Michael: Yeah, that I can get, and I understand there’s some overlap in terms of personality traits. But the wild trickster Sinister trope in the Orchis fold just read tone-deaf to me. Like a shoddy Deadpool insert, at odds with the rest of the text, I guess.
@a bunch of people: I’ve got my criticisms of Duggan’s writing, but acting like a clone of Nathaniel Essex bending the rules he made up for himself two centuries back in order to get his hands on more power is a character-breaking fuckup is the most deranged kind of fan-brain