The X-Axis – w/c 11 March 2024
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #130. By Steve Foxe, Steve Orlando, Phillip Sevy, Yen Nitro & Travis Lanham. In which Gambit and Feint go to New Orleans to see if Candra knows what Selene is up to with the Externals. On the one hand, this does actually do something useful: it follows up on Feint becoming a proper X-Man, of sorts, in Dark X-Men, and on Gambit taking her with him at the end of the issue. Basically Candra explains that Selene is planning to sacrifice a bunch of mutants so that she and her allies can become invulnerable as well as immortal. Well, at least we’re advancing the plot, but bringing in yet more characters to do so only compounds this arc’s lack of focus, and the book still has the basic problem that – with the exception of a couple of characters created independently and retconned into the group – the Externals simply aren’t interesting. If you’re going to bring back a concept that’s been largely ignored or used simply as a plot device for a quarter century, you need a compelling case about what it is that everyone else has missed, and this arc doesn’t have one.
FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X #3. (Annotations here.) Well. I mean, I’ve read worse. But it’s not good, and as an anchor series paying off a whole era of the X-Men it’s really not good. I’m inclined to give the creators the benefit of the doubt that some sort of backstage chaos has been going on, given oddities like entire trailed storylines going missing, cliffhangers not connecting with the next issue and such like. Or Alia Gregor turning out to be important to the plot of this series when basically nobody has done anything with her in a year or more, even though X-Men‘s “Fall of X” issues seem to have been marking time with Latverian filler. Or… you get the idea.
But what we’ve got is a clunky, arbitrary-seeming book where stuff just happens because it’s time for the heroes to win now. It’s full of pay-offs that haven’t really been built to and don’t land. It’s a book where mutants with no flight powers think that skydiving in from orbit might be a good idea, even though they’ve got a mass teleporter on hand from the previous page. It’s a book where Magik decides that the best way to give Cyclops his visor is to throw it to him, even though he has his eyes tightly shut. It’s a book where Firestar is somehow reconciled with Emma because, again, it’s time now. The bit with Alia and Nimrod at the end kind of works, and there are other bits that might have landed better if they’d actually been built to. But it’s weak, and it feels hopelessly last-minute.
DEAD X-MEN #3. (Annotations here.) The Dominion/Moira side of the plot, over in Rise of the Powers of X has seemed much less chaotic, and Dead X-Men has the good fortune of tying into that side of things. This is by far the weakest issue to date, though. It’s clear by this point that Foxe doesn’t really have anything to say about any of the cast except perhaps Prodigy, and that most of the group are straightforwardly replaceable. What’s more, seven pages are devoted to the cast simply debating whether they ought to advance the plot and eventually agreeing that, yes, yes, they should probably advance the plot. You’d think the plot here would be the X-Men pursuing Moira back through her lives in reverse order on their way to the final destination, but no, it’s just randomly sequenced cameos and a lengthy conversation. It’s an issue of filler, in a 4-issue mini that shouldn’t need one.
WOLVERINE #45. (Annotations here.) Given how abysmally “Sabretooth War” started, I’m more than a little surprised to find myself saying that this is the best X-book of the week. The arc seems to have got the ultraviolence out of its system and it seems to be getting to some sort of point about the relationship between Sabretooth and Wolverine. It’s still some way distant from the previous Sabretooth arcs from the Krakoa period, but it’s entirely fine, and seems to have a clear idea of what it’s doing, and it’s the sort of week where that’s enough.
All this, of course, comes to an end soon with the new administration in town. We’re obviously going for a much more traditional and small-c conservative take on the X-Men, which was always to be expected. That’s just what the X-books do after their experimental phases, and the Krakoa model was so far removed from any version of the X-Men that Marvel would have movie plans for that a reversion to the mean was always inevitable. From the creators announced so far, I’m expecting some pretty decent books in a less ambitious line. Who knows, maybe we’re finally going to get that “mutants try to claim a place in the real world” angle that I hoped for when X-Men Gold relocated the Mansion to Central Park. That’s never really been done. I can’t honestly say I’m excited about any of these books so far, but on paper they sound like they ought to be solid if nothing else.
One thing to note is that Amazing Spider-Man 45 came out this week. It’s after Gang War and it takes place after the cure for the poisoning of the Krakoan drugs has been invented but before it’s been dispersed in X-Men 31. Since X-Men 31 takes place during Fall of the House of X 1, that means that Gang War takes place before Fall of the House of X. But since the interlude where Typhoid Mary and Kingpin are reunited was in X-Men 31, and Typhoid Mary and Kingpin are together in Gang War, that means that those pages have to take place long before the main story. In other words, pages that were supposed to take place concurrently with the main story (“meanwhile”) have to take place days or even weeks earlier. That’s how well coordinated this crossover is.
That doesn’t make sense, true, but it’s the sort of circular continuity error that happens from time to time between different offices, so I can’t get too worked up about it.
In other news, NYX is rumored to feature Kamala and be written by Vellani.
The one thing that makes me nervous about McKay writing Magik is that when McKay was writing S’ym in last year’s Black Cat and Mary Jane series, he had S’ym basically claim that Magik never let him rule Limbo because she was racist against demons. In reality, of course, S’ym kidnapped Magik and helped Belasco abuse her, she gave him a second chance, he betrayed her and turned Maddie into the Goblyn Queen, she gave him a third chance and Illyana finally lost her patience with him and let Maddie cut off his finger. Of course, it’s possible that McKay just mean that S’ym just sees himself as a victim when the reality is anything but. Still, he had MJ and Black Cat leave him with two soulswords, which is just INSANE.
I have little doubt that there was a lot of confusion and time-killing that ended up leading into this Krakoa finale due to having to wait on Brevoort to come up with his plans for post-Krakoa and the creators having to make changes accordingly.
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It’s also rumoured (but it’s probably a leak) that Saladin Ahmed and Greg Capullo are the creative team on Wolverine.
Stephanie Phillips is probably the writer on Phoenix.
There was apparently a leak with titles and creative teams put online prior to Marvel’s official announcement. The problem was that many of the titles did not match with what Marvel released. This could point to it being fake. On the other hand, the creative teams announced so far were listed on the leak (how likely is it that a hoax would just happen to list Eve L. Ewing and Jed MacKay as two of the writers?). However, I am guessing that this was an early list Marvel was using before they figured out most of the actual titles they would use (for example, Ewing’s book is titled “Young X” on this list). So, for example, one of the books listed was Mystique, but there is no Mystique solo book as part of Marvel’s announcement, most likely because Mystique will be leading one of the teams not yet announced (X-Force?), and Marvel hadn’t decided on the title for that series yet.
For what it’s worth, Declan Shalvey was listed as the writer on this Mystique title. He’d do well on X-Force.
The biggest question mark was a book titled Sentinels, which doesn’t fit anything announced.
Thinking about it further, Sentinels could have ended up as X-Factor. It may hint to the role of this incarnation of X-Factor. Alex Paknadel was listed as writer for “Sentinels”, if anyone is interested.
I’d read a Sentinels comic about that sentinel that Forge reprogrammed, the one that made friends with that kid in the Sentinel comic, and one of the mecha pilots from yhe ONE programme, all teaming up to punch Godzilla or something.
Paknadel had some rather inventive one-shots over on Unlimited, I’d love to see him do a proper run. The incorrect “Sentinels” title might also line up with the rumor that Fall/Rise is going to end with a mutant-machine alliance. (Which, after Alia Gregor’s whole General Hux turn, at this point would just be par for the course I suppose)
We finally got an answer on Breevort’s blog as to what New X-Men was supposed to be:
Tom: “this would have led into something that Jordan White would have been putting together in the post-Krakoa period had he remained on the X-Line—he had started to develop some thoughts as to where to take things next before we made our editorial switch. So it’s a casualty of me taking over. Sorry about that.”
Well, when your only “praise” is that you’ve read worse, then you know what you’re dealing with. Sad. I would have hoped that the Krakoan Era would have ended on a positive note. Maybe Gillen can find some way to polish this turd into something that is acceptable. I’m not really feeling the new books that are supposed to be coming out in the summer. Really giving me the Chris Claremont year 2000 run vibe, which fizzled out sometime later. But I could be wrong.
It reminds me a lot of the post-Onslaught period…which makes me uncomfortable to compare Krakoa to the abysmal Onslaught. Then, Professor X was a prisoner of the government. Now, there’s the mysterious Prisoner X being kept in the mansion (by the X-Men or is this an olive branch to the humans?). The X-Men scattered, on the run without the mansion.
Now that I think about it, the editorial changes probably explain the second Ms. Marvel series- Jordan promised Imran she could write a second Ms. Marvel series, then Breevort told White he was taking over and the new X-Men series starts on July 10th, so they had to squeeze it in before the Krakoan Era ended.
Interesting information about Heir of Apocalypse. It started life under Jordan White. it was intended to take place between the end of the Krakoan Era and whatever came after. Then, White got fired and Breevort took it over. I wonder how much it will really relate to what’s coming next, then. Or if it will end up being irrelevant.
In other news, the Kingpin is returning to Daredevil’s pages as a major villain in June. I wonder if this means he’ll no longer be in charge of the Hellfire Club.
Does Candra have a grudge against Gambit for betraying her to Apocalypse?
I really thought Marvel had chilled out about tying the comics into the MCU, after all the latter doesn’t have Steve Rogers or Tony Stark and although they kind of had Falcon-Cap back for a bit they don’t seem to be making a push on either Ironheart or Bishop-Hawkeye right now, and T’Challa is still Black Panther in his comic. If synergy is the excuse being given for ending Krakoa and going back to the mansion it’s not a particularly good one.
The thing that annoys me is that pretty much since the end of Sins of Sinister and the start of Hellfire Gala most of the comics are being written like they are all three issues from the end of the era, and that was over a year out. Before Sins of Sinister, so even longer ago, everyone was at each other’s throat, but that plot had to be dropped. But after HG3 you have mostly timewasting filler like New Mutants going back to Asgard or the X-Team in Limbo nonsense, and now X-Force, Wolvering and Cable with stories set before ‘Fall/Rise’ and both ‘X-Men’ and ‘Fall’ being written as though it was only decided to bring them out a month or so before they hit shelves.
I came back to X-Men for Krakoa, what little I’ve heard about the titles post-Krakoa is making me inclined to stay with any of them.
@Loz- It’s not true Marvel has given up on synergy. Nebula is still an antihero in Guardians of the Galaxy instead of a psycho who’s just as bad as Thanos himself and Hank Pym was aged in Avengers Inc.
But as I understand it, Marvel felt the line wasn’t selling as much as it should be. That’s why Jordan White lost his job.
Yes. I think it was just a matter of time before sales dropped, as they always do after a relaunch/revamp. Krakoa lasted for five years. It started out selling very well, but those sales figures weren’t going to last in the modern comic market. The same thing will happen after the Brevoort relaunch. The sales will go up at the start and then more readers will drop off as it continues. At which point, it will be time for new #1s. The vicious cycle continues.
Marvel does seem to be in panic mode though. Cancelling Avengers Inc. and GODS after only a handful of issues. “Blood Hunt” being marketed as if this was the early-‘90s. The reality of almost all their books being increased to $4.99 (American) isn’t going to help.
@Chris V- Avengers Inc was an example of Al Ewing being too clever by half. If he had just marketed the series as Wasp having to team with a good version of Ultron to save Hank Pym from Evil Ultron, it might have had a long run. Instead, he decided to present the series as “the Avengers acting as the Avengers”. As a result the sales were abysmal. Plus, the reason for Jan and Mark to have to be in civilian clothing was Fisk’s ordnance against superheores- but Marvel was doing a major crossover between Peter’s and Miles’s books to get rid of that.
Ewing should have gone with a straightforward superhero plot.
Oh, they’ve cancelled GODS already? But however will the… dude and his ex-wife and his glued to the phone Russian assistant… save the world from the… something something… Tribulation Event?
No, wait, that’s from MacKay’s Avengers.
Anyway. It’s funny, I remember how they marketed it as The Next Biggest Thing Ever, and it fizzled out so fast.
@Chris V: I always had the impression that G.O.D.S. was going to be a limited run. It seemed like Hickman’s other “big architect” projects, such as his “ancient SHIELD” stuff and, well, HoX/PoX (as opposed to the ongoing Krakoa-era books).
For one thing, it was constructed around a series of reveals — redesigns of cosmic entities, mysterious new characters, and so forth — that are by definition finite.
The initial marketing and the high price point of the opening issue felt like “event” book pricing, not like something you do to encourage jumping onboard a new ongoing.
More generally, I think any Hickman series at Marvel that isn’t just him taking on an existing, long-running title has to be understood as a limited series, at least functionally. Not only does he tend to jump ship or go on long hiatuses, he also sets up overarching premises that have natural conclusions.
The new Ultimate line seems similar; the high concept seems to be that familiar characters recast as ordinary people who must belatedly step into their roles as classic Marvel heroes in a world secretly stunted by a mad scientist. But at some point, they either get comfortable in those roles or have the defining confrontation with the main baddie.
@Michael: I think Ewing was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. I don’t think a Wasp book — especially one steeped in older continuity, one that isn’t digital-and-Zoomer-friendly Nadia Pym stuff — would have sold all that well either.
They tried using Avengers branding to bring people in, but, as you said, this also wasn’t an Avengers book.
It’s the kind of project that the current U.S. comics market doesn’t seem to have much room for.
‘The new Ultimate line seems similar; the high concept seems to be that familiar characters recast as ordinary people who must belatedly step into their roles as classic Marvel heroes’
That only applies to the Ultimate Spider-Man book. Ult X-Men are a slightly unsettling horror-lite, I don’t know, coming of age story, maybe, while Ult Black Panther is, uh, Black Panther.
@Krzysiek Ceran: That’s interesting! I guess the end of Ultimate Invasion and the buzz around the Spider-Man title left me with the impression that all of the new Ultimate books were doing something similar.
But I guess it’s really just USM with the premise of belatedly assuming a classic heroic world. Ultimate Black Panther is running what appears to be a “freedom fighters” plot, and the solicits suggest the same for the Ultimates 2024 reboot. Ultimate X-Men 2024, though seems to be off doing its own thing.
The whole bit with the Maker coming back in “three months” does suggest a big crossover or event coming up for this rebooted imprint, and I’m be curious about how they’ll do it without making it feel like everything after it is an epilogue.