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thequiver · 11 months

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Who is....Ruth Aldine | Blindfold? A Reading Guide

Ruth Aldine in an X-Men affiliated mutant from Marvel comics first introduced in 2004. She was born with no eyes or open eye sockets and due to her mutant condition her father left her, her mother, and her older brother only a week after her birth. Spending her childhood tormented by her abusive older brother, Ruth would eventually find freedom and happiness only after her mother had died protecting her from her brother's attempt on her life. Now living with her aunt, Ruth would begin to teach herself to harness and control her extensive mutant powers, but her brother's execution would result in him stealing half of her powers and her being sent to the Xavier Institute, where she first received her codename, Blindfold.

Ruth is currently the girlfriend of Professor Xavier's son, David Haller, and does not have a corporeal form on Krakoa, instead living inside of David's head. David has however as of 3. May. 2023 blinked himself out of existence and Ruth's fate is unknown.

Ruth was born in North Carolina and it is implied that she is from the Appalachian region of the state!

Below the cut you'll find a mostly complete reading order for Ruth!

First Appearances

Ruth's first appearances are found in the lead-up to M-Day/Decimation and its immediate aftermath. It may be beneficial to read Astonishing X-Men (2004/Vol. 3) #1-6 for context before reading Ruth's first appearance if you would like a better understanding of the run.

Astonishing X-Men (2004) #7-8 New X-Men (2004) #23-24 X-Men (1991) #201-204 [A stories only] New X-Men (2004) #37-41 Astonishing X-Men (2004) #15-18

Divided We Stand, Manifest Destiny, and Utopia

In the wake of Messiah Complex Charles Xavier is presumed dead and X-Men are disbanded. There is no home for mutants, no trust and no purpose to live for. Scott Summers is at this time the leader of mutantkind...things are going about as well as you'd expect. This gets picked back up following Necrosha (explained below).

Young X-Men (2008) #1-6 X-Men: Manifest Destiny (2008) #3 [C Story] Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus

Necrosha

Necrosha is a crossover event that deals with mutants being resurrected for the dark purposes of Selene Gallio (an old enemy of the X-Men, first appearing in New Mutants (1983) #9) who intends to use these resurrected mutants in her quest to become a goddess.

X-Necrosha (2009) #1 X-Force (2008) #21-22 X-Men: Legacy (2008) #231-233

Utopia Continued

The following issues are a continuation of Utopia!

Nation X (2010) #2 [C Story] X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back (2010) #1-3 <- this a 4 issue story so I would personally recommend reading #4 as well ;) X-Men: To Serve and Protect #3 X-Men: Legacy (2008) #244

Age of X (sort of)

The mutants are almost extinct, tortured by a strike force led by Colonel Graydon Creed. The first signs of the Age of X appeared in X-Men: Legacy #244; the events were removed from the Earth-616 mainstream continuity, with no memories of the alternate lives. If you've taken a look at my David Haller Reading List you'll see this event explained as "David’s desire to be loved forces him to grapple with reality," and as a story that "places David in a role where he has to choose between a false universe where he is considered a beloved hero and reality where he must choose to be a hero despite the fear others feel about him." Ruth's appearances here are still pretty connected to the X-Men: Legacy (2008) plotline we've been following now for a bit.

New Mutants (2009) #22, 24, 27

Curse of the Mutants

In what can only be described as the "oh shit we've run out of ideas" last resort of any creative company putting out too many crossover events in a short period of time..... the X-Office put out Curse of the Mutants. The arc centers on a human bomb exploding in San Francisco's Union Square, covering dozens in vampire-converting blood. It then becomes the mission of the X-Men to track down Dracula's son Xarus, now "Lord of the Vampires", even if that means enlisting vampire-hunter Blade. Yeah.... I don't know either.

X-Men (2010) #11

Schism and Regenesis

Schism follows the break-up of the X-Men at a moment of peak anti-mutant sentiment. Regenesis is the period of regrowth and reorganization following Schism.

X-Men: Schism (2011) #5 <- May be helpful to read #1-4 as well! X-Men: Regenesis (2011) #1 X-Men: Legacy (2008) #259, 261, 263

Avengers vs. X-Men

When the Phoenix Force approaches Earth, Hope Summers is assumed its next host. The X-Men and the Avengers are divided on how to handle the situation. The X-Men believe that the Phoenix Force will herald the rebirth of the Mutant Species, while the Avengers believe that it will bring an end to all life on Earth. This leads to a war between Marvel's two powerful superhero factions.

Avengers vs. X-Men (2012) #3

Legion: Son of X

This is where Ruth's path first crosses with the professor's son, David Haller, in any real meaningful way. It does however mold her story around his and start the descent of her story into being focused around David rather than Ruth.

X-Men: Legacy (2013) #1-24

Ruth has a handful of blink and you'll miss it appearances between Son of X and This is Forever but they aren't..... really important at all and don't really do anything to tell Ruth's story.

This is Forever

The X-Men are all presumed dead, but this isn't the case.

Uncanny X-Men (2019) #11

Legion of X and Before the Fall

Ruth Aldine is back from the dead.... and is now living inside of David Haller's head rather than having a body, and oh did we mention that she now pretty much has no motivations that don't revolve around David and is only seen when she can promote David?..... As a David fan, I am exhausted.

Legion of X (2022) #1-10 X-Men: Before the Fall- Sons of X (2023) #1

Reading list is current up until 6. November. 2023!

#ruth aldine #blindfold #reading guide #reading list #comic reading guide #x-men #x men #xmen #x-men reading list #x-men reading order #comic reading order

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fang46 · 2 years

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akihiro reading list

GOOD LUCK WITH GETTING THROUGH THIS LIST. akihiro has been really through it with the 18 years of publication history he’s been in. added in TWs too and tried to make them as accurate as possible (i might have gone overboard but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

ESSENTIAL (?) READING LIST (check complete list for issue numbers)

wolverine: origins (2006)

dark avengers (2009)

dark wolverine (2009)

dark wolverine (2010)

uncanny x-force (2010)

uncanny avengers (2012)

wolverines (2015)

all new wolverine (2017)

x-factor (2020)

marauders (2022)

wolverine (2020) - just the sabretooth wars arc

hellverine (2024) - limited series

hellverine (2024) - ongoing

COMPLETE READING LIST STARTS FROM HERE

(red = essentials, yellow = important but not necessary iykyk, blue = cameos/events)

origin + introduction

[OPTIONAL] house of m #1-8

[OPTIONAL] wolverine (2003) #36-40 (TW for gore)

wolverine: origins #5, #10-15, #24-27 (TW for gore and torture, and mentions of abuse, neglect, racism, brainwashing, child murder, suicide, and weird depictions of neurodivergency)

original sin [wolverine: origins #28, x-men: original sin #1, x-men: legacy #217, wolverine: origins #29, x-men: legacy #218, wolverine: origins #30, wolverine: origins #31-36, dark avengers #1-4] (TW for mentions of child abuse, torture, grooming, brainwashing, memory loss, and uncomfortable discussions about telepathic mind control and conditioning; also mr. sinister being a nazi eugenicist and sebastian shaw + charles xavier being horrible people in general)

dark avengers era

dark wolverine (2009) #75-77 (TW for mentions of racism, references to child sexual assault, and homophobia)

dark avengers #5-6

dark wolverine (2009) #78-80

[OPTIONAL] incredible hulk #603

[OPTIONAL] utopia [dark avengers/uncanny x-men: utopia #1, dark x-men: the beginning #2, uncanny x-men #513, dark avengers #7, uncanny x-men #514, dark avengers #8, dark avengers/uncanny x-men: exodus #1, dark x-men: the confession #1 (TW for references of racism)]

dark reign: the list - punisher #1 (TW for gore)

dark avengers #9-12

siege [dark wolverine (2009) #81-84 (TW for disassociation, mentions of child abuse, suicide, and torture), dark avengers #16]

solo adventures

reckoning [wolverine: origins #46, dark wolverine (2009) #85, wolverine: origins #47, dark wolverine (2009) #86, wolverine: origins #48] (TW for abuse, gore, gaslighting, and references to self harm)

dark wolverine #87 (TW for depression and implied suicidal ideation?)

[CAMEO, OPTIONAL] wolverine: origins #49-50 (TW for gore, mentions of abuse, and disassociation)

punishment [dark wolverine (2009) #88, franken-castle #19, dark wolverine (2009) #89, franken-castle #20]

wolverine goes to hell [dark wolverine #90, wolverine: road to hell #1, [CAMEO] wolverine (2010) #11, #14-15 (TW for child murder, disassociation, alcoholism, and mentions of child abuse and neglect)]

[CAMEO, OPTIONAL] deadpool (2010) #37, #49.1-54

dark wolverine (2010) #1-7 (TW for suicide and gore)

collusion [x-23 (2010) #8, dark wolverine (2010) #8, x-23 (2010) #9, dark wolverine (2010) #9] (TW for torture, child murder, and mentions of child abuse)

dark wolverine (2010) #9.1-20 (2010) (TW for drug use, heavy depictions of addiction, self harm, gore, medical trauma, unhealthy amounts of disassociation, discussions about psychopathy and mental illness, toxic and abusive representations of queer relationships, homophobia, depression, plus mentions of racism, grooming, and child abuse; moonwalking and pride comes arc's "claws killer" mystery is also a clear reference to the hollywood ripper case)

dark wolverine (2010) #21-23 (TW for suicide, disassociation, and drug use)

[AU, OPTIONAL] what if: wolverine father

death and resurrection

uncanny x-force (2010) #25-35 (TW for child abuse, disassociation, and brainwashing)

uncanny avengers (2012) #9-15, #19-22 (TW for torture, gore, and brainwashing)

logan’s death

death of wolverine: the logan legacy #1, #5, #7

wolverines #1-2, #4, #9, #14-17, #19-20 (TW for gore, graphic depictions of amputation, medical trauma, mr. sinister being a fucking nazi eugenicist (AGAIN), depression, suicidal ideation, and a fair bit of victim-blaming for akihiro's plotline)

iceman (2017) #4, #8-10 (TW for gore and mentions of depression and brainwashing)

[AU, CAMEO, OPTIONAL] uncanny x-men: winter's end

[CAMEO] all-new wolverine #21

all-new wolverine #25-30 (TW for gore, graphic depictions of amputation, mentions of child abuse and brainwashing, and torture)

x-men: blue #24-30

hunt for wolverine: claws of a killer (TW for gore and brainwashing)

[CAMEO] return of wolverine #2

krakoa

[CAMEO] house of x #5

[CAMEO] x-force (2019) #9 (TW for gore and self harm)

x-factor (2020) #1-3, #5-10 (TW for slutshaming, disassociation, and mentions of domestic abuse, grooming, suicidal ideation, and trauma + implied alcoholism in #1?; issue #10 needs a special TW for a clear reference to the ed buck serial killer case)

[CAMEO] wolverine (2020) #8

[CAMEO] hellions (2020) #12

[CAMEO] trial of magneto #1-2

new mutants (2019) #15, #19-20, #24, #29 (TW for child murder and mentions of child endangerment)

[CAMEO, OPTIONAL] x lives of wolverine #3 (TW for gore)

x deaths of wolverine #3-5 (TW for graphic descriptions of torture)

[AU, CAMEO, OPTIONAL] spiderpunk (2022) #3

marvel's voices infinity comic #27-32

marvel’s voices: pride (2021)

marauders (2022) annual, #1-12 (TW for gore, brainwashing, and torture)

alpha flight (2023) #1-5

wolverine (2020) #41-42, 44 (TW for gore)

hellverine (2024) #1-4 (TW for gore, brainwashing, and torture)

hellverine (2024) #1- (ONGOING)

in total, he has around 180 appearances where he’s the main(ish) focus... if you wanna see my notes and commentary here (+ additional context) here's the longer spreadsheet version (NEW)

#fang #hellverine #akihiro #daken akihiro #reading list #updating this list has been. very funny

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hakka84 · 1 year

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Betsy’s 2012 Time continuity

Following to me trying to give sense to Betsy's 2013 continuity, here I am with Avengers Vs X-Men. Betsy fights alongside memoryless!Warren in the crossover, and I want to cover that in my fanfiction, but where this meeting fits, in Betsy's complicated life post Dark Angel Saga?

I draw a complete blank on the timesetting of the crossover, in relation to Uncanny X-Force. There’s no reference to the Phoenix, the Phoenix five or Charles' death in Uncanny X-Force to understand where the crossover fits, in the X-Force timeline.

If we look at the releasing date, AvX happened at the same time of Final Execution, Uncanny X-Force’s last arch. Where there’s literally no time for the team to go and join the fight between Utopia’s mutants and Avengers. It’s unlikely that the crossover happens after the end of Uncanny X-Force either, and not only because UXF wraps up in December and AvX in October: in the latest issue of UXF Betsy leaves not only X-Force (that disbands) but is implied to leave also X-Men active duty to live her life with Fantomex.

Here's a canon-chronological (not cover date chronological) list.

Uncanny X-Force #18, 14 December 2011: Dark Angel Saga ends;

Uncanny X-Force #19: 21 December 2011: Warren is sent to the school;

Wolverine & the X-Men #4, 11 January 2011. Follows up with Warren's story as he arrives to the school;

Uncanny X-Force #19, 21 December 2011: The Otherworld arch starts here, with Fantomex's kidnapping;

Uncanny X-Force #20-23, January-March 2012: Betsy is in Otherworld;

Uncanny X-Force #24, 18 April 2012: Betsy and Fantomex return from Otherworld; Betsy seduces Fantomex:

Uncanny X-Force #25, 9 May 2012: the morning after. Betsy temporarily leaves X-Force and visits the School. From Kitty's words its implied they're still hoping Warren could remember himself.

Uncanny X-Force #26, 13 June 2012: Betsy is living on her own for an unspecified period of time (days? Week?). Charles Xavier is alive - but it's a Shadow King illusion. Unlikely he could play with Betsy is Charles had been already killed - Betsy would know and the illusion wouldn't work.

Uncanny X-Force #27, 11 July 2012. Shadow King has won over Betsy, Fantomex comes to the saving. (literally no time to force anything else in this).

Wolverine & the X-Men #10, 9 May 2012. Rachel has finished Warren's psychic evaluation and the response is that there's no memory left of Warren's old life.

Avengers Vs. X-Men #2, 18 April 2012. Betsy is in Utopia.

Avengers vs. X-Men #3, 2 May 2012. Warren (still student) officially joins the crossover.

Wolverine & the X-Men #11, 30 May 2012: Warren & Betsy (and Bobby) team up for a mission.

Wolverine & the X-Men #11, 30 May 2012: Warren Vs Hawkeye.

AvX #5, 29 August 2012: expands the Warren vs Hawkeye fight above, and we see Betsy is there as well.

Uncanny X-Men #13, 6 June 2012. Betsy recalls her time fighting beside Warren (as per W&XM #11 and AvX #5)

Warren graduates in Wolverine & the X-Men #15. (AvX).

Avengers Vs. X-Men #2 (Betsy in Utopia) is released the same day of Uncanny X-Force 24.(Betsy is in Otherworld / in Aerie having sex with Fantomex).

It's likely that, by the time UXF wraps up, Betsy has left her post in Utopia. Something that happens during/after Cyclops wreck havok as Phoenix.

There's also Kid Gladiator presences to help us:

Uncanny X-Force #25. Start of the Final Execution arch. Kid Gladiator is one of the students that take a trip to Genosha, where Evan is kidnapped.

Wolverine & the X-Men #15.. Kid Gladiator leaves.

Also. Fantomex doesn't take part to the Avengers vs X-Men crossover. It could suggest that the battle takes place before he was cloned and resurrected?

The only place to fit AvX would be in the time when Betsy is living on her own. But the pace in UXF doesn't offer much space for Betsy (and Wolverine) to go join the X-Men against the Avengers. The only place where a timeskip could be forced is after Betsy's visit to the school in UXF #24 but before the events of UXF #25. But in UXF #25 Shadow King creates an illusion with Charles Xavier to torture Betsy. If AvX had already happened, Betsy would immediately smell burning because Charles couldn't be in her apartment with Warren. Timing on Wolverine's own feats in UXF would disagree too. But there's literally no other way to fit AvX in the UXF continuity.

Marvel Database, on Evan's page, places AvX before Final Execution. On Betsy's page, on the contrary, Final Execution is placed before AvX.

Canon, I hate you. Again!

#xmen #warren worthington iii #angelpsylocke #Warrenbetsy #elizabeth braddock

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namor-the-submariner-dot-net · 1 year

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Thursday Two or More: Teams

Dark X-Men Dossiers: Namor

The Atlantean ruler forges an alliance with Norman Osborn’s Dark X-Men

By Marc Strom

With the release of DARK AVENGERS/UNCANNY X-MEN: UTOPIA #1 on June 24, writer Matt Fraction and legendary X-artist Marc Silvestri begin one of the most eagerly anticipated stories of the summer. As Norman Osborn continues to extend his Dark Reign, he assembles a group of Dark X-Men loyal only to him. This week, Marvel.com presents the Dark X-Men Dossiers, bios on each of the team's members straight from Cyclops' personal files, along with writer Matt Fraction's thoughts and exclusive art from Terry Dodson.

It's All About the Politics As UNCANNY X-MEN writer Matt Fraction recently revealed, the Dark X-Men's leader, Emma Frost, has something of a past with Namor. Now, after their mutual involvement with Norman Osborn's Cabal has brought that history to the surface, fans should expect it to play a major role in the upcoming DARK AVENGERS/UNCANNY X-MEN crossover, "Utopia." "[UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #2] is super important in terms of grounding and framing what [Emma and Namor's] relationship is," the writer explains. "['Utopia'] is an extension of that. They're both members of the Cabal with Norman, and now they're both on this X-team. It's the critical relationship of the team." Fraction also tells us that, if not for his relationship with Emma, Namor wouldn't have found himself on Osborn's team of X-Men. "Here's a little reveal: Norman has assembled every one [in his X-Men] but Namor," Fraction divulges. "Namor is Emma's pick, and part of the deal for Emma to lead the team is she wants Namor there. So Namor is Emma's insurance." But Emma's request alone didn't factor into Namor's decision to ally himself with her team.

"There is no silver bullet reason [for his joining the group], there's this very complicated web of political intrigue and media one-upsmanship," Fraction enlightens us. "Without revealing where several stories are going, this is the right move for Namor at this time." Given Namor's strong, forceful, and rather arrogant personality, the idea of him getting along with any team seems a little odd. But according to Fraction, Namor doesn't see the Dark X-Men in quite the same terms as most of its other members. "It's very much something that he tolerates, but the politics of the moment are much greater," he elaborates. "What he's doing above the surface and what he's doing below the surface—that's literally a metaphor—it's very complicated. He's not a team player, so this is more of an association, a political alliance if you will. One that's very crucial to this exact moment in time."

Cyclops' Strike File: Namor

The son of an Atlantean emperor's daughter and an American sea captain, Namor first came to the surface world's attention around the start of World War II, during which time he would frequently attack New York City and clash with the original Human Torch. Though he eventually assisted the Allies' war campaign, Namor has only ever acted in the name of Atlantean interests. Prince Namor has only taken action against the surface world for perceived injustices committed against Atlantis. Namor's a ruler first and foremost, and thus does not fall into any traditional categories of the X-Men's typical opponents. Though himself a mutant, Namor feels no particular allegiance with the surface-dwelling community now concentrated in San Francisco, and as such can only be counted on as an ally if the relationship were to benefit Atlantis in some political manner.

Most recently, Namor saw his kingdom destroyed in a massive explosion centered on Nitro in the midst of an attempted coup led by his own son, Kamar. He currently maintains an alliance with Latverian ruler and longtime Fantastic Four foe, Doctor Doom. As part of this partnership, Doom has allowed Namor to base a contingent of Atlantean soldiers in Latveria. While this alliance may appear unsettling, mutantkind itself should have little to fear from Namor unless he finds we have committed some perceived crime against the Atlantean people. With Atlantis in ruins and its people scattered around the world, Namor now must go about rebuilding his kingdom while also restoring its status on the world political stage. Every move Namor currently makes has some political logic behind it, and it is important to remember that he does nothing without reason.

Terry Dodson's costume design for Dark X-Men Namor.

From an old article on Marvel.com that is no longer on the site.

#Namor #Sub-Mariner #Terry Dodson #X-Men #Thursday Two or More #Teams #Thursday #Costume #Covers #Dark X-Men #Emma #Cyclops #Matt Fraction #Uncanny X-Men 513

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616rogue · 3 years

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hey! so I really want to get into comic books I've read a few before in the saga series but I was wondering where do you start with xmen? I'm so confused about the order which is why I've haven't started the marvel ones either Is there a guide or something? thanks

hi! comics are very messy and confusing in general, but the x-men's time-line is quite complicated. the x-men have been around since the 60s and are among the most popular superhero teams of all time, so there's a lot of content from them. before i start with this guide, keep in mind that you don't have and shouldn't read all of those titles. there's a lot of content, and you should just read the ones you're truly interested in, and skip the ones you don't like. the concept of canon is really subjetive, and it's really up to you and your interpretation of these titles.

this guide is not as detailed or accurate as i would like. this is just my take on which titles i think you should read, or at least keep in mind. either way, i hope it's useful to you.

x-men, the reading order:

uncanny x-men (1963) → this title is a must read. it's the debut of the x-men as a team, and it has more than #500 issues. this title is probably the main x-men comic-book, because it has a lot of x-men classics. i recommend you to read the following issues: uncanny x-men (1963) [#1 - #93], giant size x-men (1975) #1, uncanny x-men (1963) [#94 - #100], uncanny x-men (1963) [#101 - #108 + #129 - #138] (phoenix/dark phoenix saga). then, continue with the following issues that contain these classic x-men stories, such as: days of the future past, the brood saga, mutant massacre, fall of the mutants, inferno, x-tinction agenda, muir island saga, x-cutioner's song.

x-men (1991) → this title is a must read. alongside uncanny x-men (1963), x-men (1991) is a classic, and it has more than #200 issues. i sugest you to read x-men (1991) [#1 - #109] and go thought the age of apocalypse saga, onslaught, etc.

new x-men (2001) → this title is a must read. it contains key events that shaped modern x-men comics considerably. it contains more than #40 issues.

x-treme x-men (2001) → this title is not as important as the previous ones, but it is interesting. the main plot revolves around the destiny's diaries storyline.

astonishing x-men (2004) → this title is a must read. it contains more than #60 issues and it has a lot of memorable moments. the plot revolves around a genetic cure that is able to neutralize/erase mutant powers.

house of m (2006) → this title is a must read. this event is very significant to the x-men, and it completely changes the status quo of mutantkind.

then, you should read the following storylines, in this order: supernovas, endangered species, messiah complex, dark x-men, utopia, nation x, necrosha, second coming, age of x, schism, avengers vs. x-men. all these storylines are scatered around a lot of x-titles, such as:

uncanny x-men (1963) [#492 - #544], x-men (1991) [#188 - #207], x-men: legacy (2008) [#208 - #275], x-men (2010), x-men: schism (2011), x-men: regenesis (2011), uncanny x-men (2012), avengers vs. x-men (2012), uncanny x-men (2013), x-men (2013), uncanny x-men (2016).

after that, a new era starts:

uncanny avengers (2012), wolverine and the x-men (2015), all-new x-men (2016), death of x (2016), inhumans vs. x-men (2016), astonishing x-men (2017), x-men: gold (2017), x-men: blue (2017).

those are the main titles and storylines that you should keep in mind to get into the x-men and their story. in 2019, the x-men universe got rebooted and a new era started, called dawn of x. to follow the events of the dawn of x era, you should read:

house of x (2019), powers of x (2019), x-men (2019) + x-men (2021).

that would be a really rough and general reading order for the x-men comics. the x-men have a lot of subdivisions/secondary teams, like new mutants, x-force, x-factor, excalibur, generation x, etc. those teams are also key parts on the x-men story, but they aren't main titles. you could take a look at those titles, but if you decide to skip them, it wouldn't really make a huge diference.

i tried to summarize it the best way i could. i hope this was helpful to you!

#q & a #reading guide

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nickfuryagentofsword · 16 years

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Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia 1 (2009) variant by Jae Lee

Norman Osborn: Director of H.A.M.M.E.R.

Dark Reign

#Dark Reign #Norman Osborn Director of HAMMER #Norman Osborn #HAMMER #Iron Patriot #Dark Avengers #X Men #Cyclops #Jae Lee

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acyclops · 3 years

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Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia (2009)

#favourite panels #scott summers #cyclops #utopia (2009)

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kurtty-drabbles · 4 years

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Pirate au Redone (Part 4)

N/A: I think I´ll have to make a bonus part of this au later. This was a challenge to do and I hope I got it right.

@djinmer4 @dannybagpipesarecalling @bamfoftheundead @everykurt @muninandhugin

The ship has the name " Sesame" in big letter and font very eye-appealing and one lonely woman is watching the sky- seeing the birds flying by near the ship/yacht completely oblivious to the inner turmoil she carries in regards her new life- and the contemplation only stops when the Captain of the ship sits next to her offering her a drink-nothing alcoholic as she promised with a mischievous smile and a wink- and replies. "How life is treating so far, Kwannon?" and the Japanese woman has to pound this question for a minute or two.

"Captain Pryde" she humors the other woman even if she knows that pirates, well, real pirates, don´t have a yacht or aren´t so heroic as she´s lead to believe. "I have issues with Krakoa but I´m also ...thankfully for that abomination...look" she gestures her own hands and Captain Pryde follows the motion with her eyes calmly. "I´ve my body back...I´m not dead nor in some white woman´s body. I´m me again and ...this makes me think..." she trails off and Kitty Pryde encourages her to speak freely.

"I was born with nothing, I die with nothing and now I don´t even have the ''nothing'' anymore...Kitty, does God truly exist, or is this all a cosmic joke for him or her?" Kwannon question plug´s Kitty heart and she can remember a certain mutant who aside from loving piracy (among other things) and whose faith was something Kitty and him could talk freely-even through both have different religions it was also covered with a deeper respect for each other- and Kitty only answeres "I believe there is a God or even Gods...but, trying to understand them is a null point"

Kwannon nods but doesn´t seem to be a topic well- answered for her, yet, she´s gracious enough to change the topic. " You think we can trust her...of all people?" and Kitty narrow her eyes.

"Are you going to call her the pretender?"

"No...I´m just unsure of what to feel about her"

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Getting the title of the sorceress supreme from Dr. Strange is not something that will give any dark pleasure- Dr. Strange was a friend, if nothing else, and while his taste for women can be questionable at best, there´s no real pleasure in getting his tittle now- and Wanda Maximoff donning herself with the famous crimson cape is in agreement with its new master.

Tommy and Billy are working with her-Billy return from the space to learn his "twin" not only is working in a magic school but has some small traces of magic, and Billy, only respond by hugging his twin until the other threats to curse him for all eternity- and her magic school is now a real vision(sometimes, Wanda chuckles at this word. Sometimes, Wanda cries) with demons kids from Limbo and other parts of the globe or planes wanting safe heaven to learn magic.

The X-men used to be like that...or am I wrong?

The Sesame´s flag is in view and Wanda shakes her nostalgia away ("let the past in the past, Wanda") and is there watching as Captain Pryde is present and the one who is making an effort to go talk with Wanda-the rest of the crew looks unsure, she de-powered them not too long ago and not everyone is forgiving nor forgiving means friendship- and the two woman are now facing each other.

"You really are here..." Wanda´s tone is laced with surprise as she watches the yacht on the port and back to the captain. "Afraid of me?" she asked still impressed.

"I´m really here...Am I afraid of you? No, not really Wanda...Yet, I can´t ignore M day, I´d not blame you...in the full extension the others do...you were out of your mind and others try to take advantage...still, I won´t call you the pretender or any shit like that" Kitty responds with honest and while she´s never one to use swear words- and is something Terry Pryde installed on her since a young age- she feels this is an appropriate moment to use it.

Wanda only nods at her words. It is much better than she was expecting or hoping for. "Do you really want to do this? Krakoa isn´t supposed to be a paradise to all mutants?"

"The paradise is more for horror island than anything else...and while I think Utopia is still a pretentious name...is better than a cult on an alive island...Can you help us, Scarlet Witch?" Kitty asked sincerely now. Nothing is bounding Scarlet Witch to do this task.

Wanda closes her eyes and opens with now crimson. "I´m Scarlet Witch for a reason...and I´m sorry...for what the Avengers did"

"Apologies from them mean next to nothing"

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Kurt Wagner noticed the absence of Logan, Scott, Jean, and even Ororo and is surrounded by people who in the past-and, not a too long past- were his enemies. Looking at Apocalypse gazing at him with wraith in his eyes mixed with envy does make his stomach rumble. Prof X is speaking and to be frankly, Kurt is not interested in listening any more.

"This is a cult!" Kurt shouts ignoring Raven´s look- the woman may have given birth to him, but, she´s far from being a mother in any sense- and looks in disgust to the villains on the quiet council. "There´s only villains here. What type of paradise is this?"

And Prof X put an uncanny smile on his face-still wearing that helmet and Magneto is close by. As always- as he speaks in a leery way. "And that wouldn´t make you a villain as well? I know...I know what you did in some other universes. Nate may have used you as an avatar to live his wet dream, but, in other realities, you make you with a woman in front of your dead daughter´s cold corpse" and show the image to Kurt who denies this as being a trick.

"I´m not a monster. I´m not like this. I´m Kurt Wagner...and I refuse to be on this island" and tries to attack Prof X and is only meet with vines wrapped around his waist.

"Do you miss Kitty Pryde that much or are you just lonely?" Prof X sounds different now. "Because...I never thought you´re worth her time" and his golden eyes watch as each member on the clan is nothing more but vines. And Krakoa has made her decision to reject Kurt.

Sesame managed to fish Kurt Wagner with a bit help of luck- Kurt opens his golden eyes to see Kitty Pryde staring at him with a myriad of expressions. Concern is one of them- and Kurt breaks down crying as Kitty only hugs him.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Doug Ramsey is not one to think of himself as a James Bond type of spy or archetype, yet, Captain Britain aka Betsy counts on him and Doug wants to do something, anything to help his fellow mutants. Doug uses his power unashamed and telepathically calls Betsy.

"We have to take as many mutants we can..." his eyes are watching the scene incredulous. "That story of Dr. Moira being a mutant? Well...is fake as much everything else in this island" and the call ends with Doug looking at the clones of every single X-men and the versions of Dr. Moira...It has the words written "the last clone" and it sends a shiver to his spine as the clone opens her eyes and speaks one line.

"I´m a mutant, just like you" and the others continue to do so.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Queen Lilandra is looking at the New Mutants with a stoic expression enrobing her face and body language as well- The X-men aren´t enemies, per se, but aren´t allies and Queen Lilandra has a daughter she wants to prevent the X-men to ever meet- and Karma is the one to break the silence again.

"Where is Pheonix?"

"What do you mean? Pheonix has never left Earth...."

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Britan and the Neo Excalibur are working to smuggle as many mutants they can from Krakoa- Doug can only calm the island for so long as he repeats his words to Neo Excalibur-and Rogue and Remy are running from the time. "Are they the real thing or ..." Rogue will later wonder if she jinxed this rescue mission as a good part of the mutants rescued...turned into green goo.

And Betsy takes a whiff in the air and screams. "Fire!" and Neo Excalibur runs away in their ship as Rogue can swear the shape of the fire is similar to...

No...it can´t be...

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Madeline Pryor concludes her tale many days ago, yet, still feels as if is lingering on Scott and Jean´s mind and Jean is the one not taking the news well-the resistance against Krakoa is ever surprised to see Jean and Madeline in a semi civil way- as the New Mutants confirm Madeline´s tale and everything else.

"So...this is all because I´m a bad mother?" Jean asked almost laughing -not a joyful one, rather one devoid of any positive emotion- and Madeline is not taking pity on Jean.

"Is a way to see things...Look, I´m not the greatest example either...Nate became a monster" Madeline´s expression softened a little. She can feel sorry for Meggan if nothing else-she, among all the members of the resistance, can understand how cruel truly is when someone takes your ability to do anything for their own gain- and she continues not bothering to look at Jean. "You thought Nate as your own and ignored your own daughter...yet, Scott is the only one who seems to still remember her"

Jean says nothing as she watches Scott and Kitty talk -whatever is about Utopia or how to deal with Krakoa is not important right now- and she wonders why she never bothers to check on Rachel Grey.

Thanks to Scarlet Witch, Utopia is back and unlike Krakoa there´s a chance of organic change into a real country-Emma Frost is taking diplomacy like a fish to the water and all the surviving mutants have no more complaints in regards Scarlet Witch, at least, it appears so- and Captain Pryde looks at Nightcrawler who looks still befuddled by everything, yet, refuses to leave Kitty behind.

If Pheonix wants a fight...she´ll get one...but if Rachel wants revenge...can I give this to her?

#Pirate au redone au #kitty pryde #madeline pryor #Jean Grey #wanda maximoff #doug ramsey #Kurt Wanger #Kurtty yet #Scott Summers #I thought in the NEO scene for Moira #Which means the real Moira is dead #Sorry but is kinder than canon was to her #Rogue #Betsy Braddock #Utopia is back and is still a pretentious name #The Pheonix

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Best Marvel Comics to Binge Read on Marvel Unlimited

https://ift.tt/2UR4Tzi

With an enormous swath of the world involved in varying degrees of social distancing, many of us suddenly find ourselves with a lot of time on our hands. Never fear! There are more options for streaming comics than ever before, and that means we have access to more of comics history, more hidden gems, and more epochal runs than ever before. But the variety of options to read can be daunting. That’s why we’ve put together a recommendation list of some of our favorite comics binge reads to help you through quarantine. Marvel Unlimited has been around for more than a decade. It runs about six months behind print release of books, so it’s a good way to stay sorta-current with the stories you love. But the real draw is the back catalog: with 25,000 issues in its library, you’ve got access to some of the most important and most entertaining runs of superhero books of all time. From Lee and Kirby creating the modern superhero comic in the pages of Fantastic Four through Chris Claremont and John Byrne revolutionizing the X-Men, and through several Wars (Secret, Infinity, or Civil), everything is here.

You don’t need us to tell you to read some of these stories. You know “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” Kraven’s Last Hunt, “Demon in a Bottle,” or Jonathan Hickman’s behemoth are all important and good. And some of them, Marvel’s even giving you for free. We’re going to skip over some of the obvious ones and point you towards hidden gems, the harder to find stories that fill in the edges of the Marvel Universe and make it such a rich, lush experience. We are also looking for monster runs that will keep you occupied – you can read six issues in one sitting with no danger of nearing the end. Some of these might take you an entire round of social distancing to finish.

A quick note about the reading guides: We’ll list out the issue numbers for most of these. Many of them may have their own separate entry under Marvel Unlimited’s reading lists – those are helpful, but these are definitive. One of them, we’re going to refer you to the events – to find those, you can go to “Browse”, then scroll over to “Comic Events.” And for one of these, we’re linking to the inordinately helpful Comic Book Herald. They’re a great site for comic reading orders in general, and have helped me through several other binge reads before.

Walt Simonson’s Thor

Thor (1966) #337-360, Balder the Brave (1985) #1, Thor #361-362, Balder the Brave #2-4, Thor #363-382

This probably shouldn’t be on the list. It is in the conversation for the greatest runs on any superhero comic ever. But if you’ve never read it, you’re truly missing out.

If you watched Thor: Ragnarok and loved how it looked or any of its story, chances are you are going to adore this, the run that Ragnarok borrowed so much from. Walter Simonson took the Asgard realized by Jack Kirby, the mythological realm pumped full of color and Kirby dots, and turned everything way up to create the most iconic Thor run of all time. Simonson started the run on art before handing off to Sal Buscema, and Simonson and Buscema are two of the artists I could recognize by style the soonest. Everything is HUGE.

Movies

Thor Comics Reading Order: Ragnarok for Beginners

By Marc Buxton

Movies

Thor: Love and Thunder Release Date, Cast, and Story Details

By Mike Cecchini and 1 other

It’s paced immaculately, with whatever story is in the foreground holding your complete attention, but always with something drip drip dripping in the background that will eventually crescendo. This run made so many characters wonderful, but Loki, Volstagg, and Beta Ray Bill are highlights. And have I mentioned the art? It’s incredible, and doesn’t suffer one bit when Buscema takes over. This is my favorite run on any comic of all time. You absolutely must read it.

X-Men: the Messiah Cycle

Messiah CompleX, Messiah War, and X-Men: Second Coming

The hottest take you’re going to find on the internet today is this: the Messiah Cycle is the best era of X-Men comics. It has everything I want from the X-Men line: books have distinct voices and missions, but contribute to the overarching direction of the line. There IS an overarching direction to the line. New characters are brought to the front, and new ideas are injected into the line.

Comics

First New Marvel X-Men Crossover Revealed

By Jim Dandy

X-Men: The Animated Series – The Essential Episodes

By Michael Mammano

You get all of that from the Messiah era. Messiah CompleX picks up with Cerebro identifying the first mutant birth in years; Messiah War has the members of the Mutants with Claws and Swords era X-Force heading to the future to check up on that baby; Second Coming is when she returns to present day. Each one has a different tone; Messiah CompleX and Second Coming bring together every book in the line to tell their stories, but also let each creative team keep telling their stories and end up being the best-handled X-crossovers since Inferno. And Second Coming is the best straight action X-book I think I’ve ever read.

If you like these crossovers, you should absolutely check out other books from this era. Utopia X, a crossover between Uncanny X-Men and Dark Avengers, is amazing, as is Duane Swierczynski and Ariel Olivetti’s Cable and Zeb Wells’ New Mutants.

Mark Gruenwald’s Captain America

Captain America (1968) #307-422, 424-443

Full confession: this is my current binge read. After years of hearing about how wonderful Gruenwald’s Cap was, I finally decided to jump in and within three issues, I was texting people to scream at them for not forcing me to read it sooner. For starters, the goddamn Serpent Society turns into a union. In fact, the Serpent Society’s union meeting is the most fun I’ve had reading a comic scene in a while, and the fact that it is based on a real meeting of comic book creators from 1978 makes it both more accurate sounding and HILARIOUS (I think Constrictor is Gil Kane, when you read it).

Comics

Avengers: Endgame – The History of Captain America’s Climactic Moment

By Gavin Jasper

Movies

Captain America Comics Guide and Reading Order

By Mike Cecchini

But the real appeal is how much movie Cap is based on this era. Gruenwald’s Steve Rogers is a really nice guy. Everybody loves him, everyone respects him, and there’s not a lick of condescension or mean spiritedness about anything he does, from sparring with Black Knight to taking on a gang of criminal jugglers with Hawkeye to trying to help joke villains like Rocket Racer. He’s also extremely competent, and Gruenwald and artist Paul Neary do an incredible job of showing this, as Cap breaks into the West Coast Avengers’ headquarters while trying to figure out, through his jet lagged brain, what day it is. It only gets bigger and more traditionally superhero as it goes on, with artistic contributions from the likes of Kieron Dwyer, Ron Lim, and others.

You’ll see even more of this run’s influence in Marvel’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier TV series on Disney+, as it introduces key characters who we’ll see on screen there, so get reading, and pay attention!

Runaways

Runaways (2017) #1-current

Rainbow Rowell’s current run as writer on Runaways captures the Marvel spirit better than just about any comic coming out right now. It’s a masterful mix of superheroics, joyful immersion in Marvel continuity, and soapy teenage drama. A lot of people are doing good work at Marvel right now, but nobody is hitting these notes as consistently well as this crew.

This book is remarkably accessible for something so steeped in its own history. If you’re new to comics, or if you’re here because of the Hulu show, you’ll find plenty to love. But if you liked the original series from Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, you’re going to be shocked at how much this feels like if that same book had never ended. Even though the characters have grown and changed substantially, their voices are distinct and seamless. This is one of my favorite Marvel comics being published right now, and once you’re all caught up, make sure you add it to your pull list at your shop.

Darth Vader

Darth Vader (2015) #1-12, Star Wars: Vader Down #1, Darth Vader #13, Star Wars (2015) #13, Darth Vader #14, Star Wars #14, Darth Vader #14-25

Remember that moment in Rogue One where Vader just kicked the shit out of everyone without looking like he was trying? And how everyone squealed in delight at old, force of nature, badass villain Darth Vader being back? If you were reading the comics at the time, that moment had already happened for you a full 18 months before the movie came out, in Darth Vader #6.

Comics

Star Wars Canon Timeline in Chronological Order

By Megan Crouse and 1 other

Movies

Star Wars: Darth Vader’s Best Moments from the Marvel Comics

By Marc Buxton

This entire series is Vader killing everything he can. It’s like watching a space tornado. What’s especially surprising, though, is how Kieron Gillen manages to sneak some important character development into the book. While Vader slices through Sith intrigue and Rebel scum and the entire royal line of a mining planet and a bunch of others, we’re also learning about why he’s the way he is. This series takes place between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, so some of the lines that get filled in add to the rest of the OT as well. There have been several very good Star Wars comics since Marvel got the license back, but this run on Darth Vader is the best.

Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man saved Marvel Comics. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley didn’t do it with flashy variants or crossovers. They did it by telling good, pure, core Spidey stories.

It’s hard to separate Peter’s origin from Ultimate Spider-Man from Peter’s origin in the 616. The Ultimate origin is so definitive and iconic in how it fills in the spaces between the necessary beats. Bagley’s art especially – even now, thinking about this series that I haven’t read in forever, I can still pull up Peter jumping over Norman’s car, or MJ’s face when she and Peter have “the talk.”

Movies

How Shifting MCU Release Dates Could Impact Spider-Man 3

By Don Kaye

Movies

Spider-Man 3 Story Is “Absolutely Insane” Says Tom Holland

By Kirsten Howard

For the absolute best, and purest this book can be, just read the first 38 issues, ending with the first Venom arc, but the book stays solid for its entire run. Bendis’ work with both Peter Parker and Miles Morales is my favorite work of his career, especially when Miles joins the cape world, but nothing will ever match just how fantastic these first few arcs of Ultimate Spider-Man are.

The Annihilation Era

Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest, War of Kings, Realm of Kings, and The Thanos Imperative

You will be hard pressed to find better comic book space opera than the Abnett/Lanning era of Marvel’s cosmic characters. Marvel’s cosmic line was an afterthought when these first started coming out. By the end, it was a widely beloved corner of the Marvel Universe that was popular enough to be mostly transcribed whole by the movies.

Movies

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Cast, Release Date, Director, Story, and News

By Mike Cecchini and 1 other

Comics

Guardians of the Galaxy Reading Order

By Gavin Jasper

The nice thing about this era of the cosmic line is how neatly the main books move from event to event. Annihilation tells the story of a cataclysm that befalls the universe, and how the remaining heroes – Nova, Star Lord, Silver Surfer, Drax, Gamora, Ronan the Accuser, and Super-Skrull, among others – fight a war to survive. Rich Rider gets his own solo Nova comic from there, and it leads right into Annihilation: Conquest, about the catastrophe that follows in Annihilation’s wake. It also sees the formation of the Guardians of the Galaxy as we know them and launches their book, before tying both comics together in War of Kings where the Shi’ar and Kree empires collide. Realm of Kings is the aftermath of that war (and has one of my favorite Shi’ar Imperial Guard stories of all time), and that leads directly into the conflict that mostly closes out the era, The Thanos Imperative. This is a great introduction and immersion in Marvel’s cosmic universe, and will have you hooked by the halfway point of the first crossover.

Black Panther

Black Panther (1998) #1-22, Deadpool (1997) #44, Black Panther #23-62

There are certainly better parts to this run, but there is a scene where Namor, T’Challa, Doctor Doom, and Magneto stand around an apartment outside of the United Nations shouting at each other about diplomacy, and to this day I still have not found a comic book more specifically designed for my interests than this one.

Movies

Black Panther 2 Cast, Release Date, Villain, Story, and News

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

Best Black Panther Comics: An Essential Reading Guide

By Jim Dandy

Priest is one of the sharpest minds ever to write comics. He’s so good at misdirection and storytelling – he will overwhelm you with style and flash, and you won’t even notice the subtle clues he’s dropping, or the way themes and characters weave together to show key parts of the story. This run on Black Panther is probably the definitive one for the character, and contributed a ton to the movie version, but there’s so much more depth (and humor!) that Priest puts into the Marvel Universe that it’s very worth reading.

Incredible Hercules

Hulk (1999) #106-112, Incredible Hercules (2008) #113-115, Hulk Vs. Hercules: When Titans Collide, Incredible Hercules #116-137, Assault on New Olympus Prologue, Incredible Hercules #138-141, Hercules: Fall of an Avenger #1-2, Heroic Age: Prince of Power #1-4, Chaos War #1-5

Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente are two of the best people writing comics right now. Each individually writes really good comics, but the two of them working together almost always put something special out. Incredible Hercules spun out of World War Hulk and came out better than it had any business being.

Movies

Hulk Movies Marvel Should Make

By Marc Buxton

Who is She-Hulk? A Guide to Marvel’s Next TV Star

By Gavin Jasper

Hercules exists in a unique place. Pak and Van Lente used him as a gateway to the mythology of the Marvel Universe – the Greek pantheon, but also the Norse pantheon, Japanese gods, Inuit gods, even Skrull deities. And several of these aren’t exclusive to Marvel, so you get a very clear and obvious statement about some of the differences between the Big 2 universes, some clever in-jokes, and the requisite moving story about godhood. This all comes with wonderful characterization, clever plotting and a great sense of humor.

Nextwave: Agents of H.a.T.E.

Read Nextwave after you’ve read everything else, not because it’s a good capstone to your Marvel experience, but because it’s aggressively anti-continuity, and (lovingly) EXTREMELY disrespectful of the rest of the Marvel Universe. It’s also one of the funniest comics Marvel’s ever put out.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530" }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

This whole story is Warren Ellis brutalizing superheroes. Boom Boom from X-Force, Monica Rambeau (sometimes Captain Marvel, sometimes Photon), Machine Man, monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone, and Captain &#($$&*#!@ (or The Captain) are brought together by the Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort (H.A.T.E.) to fight Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction. It’s aggressive nonsense, less anti-continuity than acontinuitous which isn’t a word but also fits the spirit of the book – characters make no sense even from issue to issue, and only serve the plot, but that nonsense later serves the plot. And it is an absolute tour de force from Stuart Immonen, who draws every type of comedy you can imagine – slapstick, absurdity, somehow sarcasm, puns – with incredible layouts and storytelling. This is not a good Marvel comic, but it is an incredible comic book that you’re going to love.

The post Best Marvel Comics to Binge Read on Marvel Unlimited appeared first on Den of Geek.

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lornahs · 5 years

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Where to start reading Karla Sofen/Moonstone?

Her first appearance was in Captain America #192

Captain America v1 #230, 379

Spectacular Spider-Man #61

Incredible Hulk v1 #228-233, 449

Avengers v1 #230, 236-238, 273, 276-277

Dazzler v1 #32

Captain Marvel v2 #1

Fantastic Four v1 Annual #23

Thunderbolts v1 #1-75, 101, 107, 109-127, 144-174

Avengers/Thunderbolts: The Best Intentions

Nova vol. 4 #2-3

Dark Avengers arc (esp Dark Avengers #1-16, 175-190 Annual #1, Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1, Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus #1, Mighty Avengers #33, Dark Wolverine #15, 75-78, 80)

X-Men: Legacy #226

Ms. Marvel v2 #37-46

Siege #1-4

Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Alpha #1

Thunderbolts v3 #1-12

#karla sofen #moonstone #marvel #comic recs

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ty-talks-comics · 5 years

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Best of Marvel: Week of July 24th, 2019

Best of this Week: House of X #1 - Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles

“You have new Gods now.” - Erik Lehnsherr, 2019

The new era of X-Men is here and for all of its familiarity, it does something new and sort of unsettling with a tried and true formula. This is thanks to the beauty and scale of Larraz’s art and the far and wide nature with which Jonathan Hickman is crafting yet another saga to rival both his SHIELD and Avengers runs. If you let it, House of X will engulf you in a rich new mutant world filled with happiness and untold amounts of pride by it end, but also with a good helping of fear… as if everything is just a little bit off.

The book begins with a great wide shot of a figure staring up at what appears to be the root of or at least some important part of a tree. Two other figures, a woman with red hair and a man with glowing eyes, are birthed from two sacs under the tree and we get the familiar line, “To me, my X-Men. Presumably, this is Charles Xavier and as we progress, this idea is made clear as it seems we are doing away with the “X” identity he took up during Astonishing X-Men (2018). This also serves as some clear symbolism of a new rebirth for the X-Men.

Over the next few panels, we are shown shots of various X-Men planting flowers, plucked from the island of Krakoa, in various areas from their home in Westchester, New York to Mars, the moon and the Savage Land. The book is then framed around Magneto and two of the Stepford Cuckoos giving ambassadors from various countries a tour of the various locales that Krakoa has been placed upon as they ponder Charles’ proposed deal. This deal would allow them to make use of the flowers of Krakoa for various medicinal purposes, possibly making the world a much better place, so long as they agree to recognizing the sovereignty of the Krakoa nation state. A new Haven for Mutantkind.

Of course there have been such efforts made in the past. Genosha, the first and most prominently mentioned example, is alluded to have been the catalyst for humankind not being taken over by the mutant X gene. Mutantkind apparently would have become the dominant race on the planet Earth within ten years if not for Genosha’s destruction. Asteroid M and Utopia weren’t mentioned, but my guess is that they simply weren’t as impactful in regard to mutant kind likely because of the events of House of M (2005) dwindling their numbers to nothing. As it stands now, after the implementation of Krakoa spiking the birth rates to much higher than previously calculated, that humanity has about 20 years left.

These estimations are made by a brand new organization known as The Orchis Protocol, a network built for the purpose of monitoring evolutionary anomalies and preparing a doomsday protocol in case humanity is threatened by Homo Superior. The organization apparently consists of ex assets from practically all major organizations in the Marvel Universe from AIM, SHIELD and Hydra to even Hammer, Alpha Flight and SWORD. Some of Larraz’s best shots are in the scenes where we’re introduced to this mysterious group. They pilot a ship towards the sun and we get a good shot of the outside of a portion of their space station as they dock their ship.

Karima, an Omega Sentinel character that hasn’t been seen since sometime after Second Coming (2010) accompanies an Orchis higher up as they talk about the state of absolutely giant station so close to the sun. We get a bit of a tour before we get the best and most ominous shot of the full station. It appears to be the head of MASTER MOLD surrounded by hexagonal plates, the most terrifying shape in all of fiction. Master Mold hasn’t been really seen since about 1994, and again in 2010 because of universe jump in Second Coming. Master Mold was one of the X-Men’s most dangerous threats for it ability to produce sentinels at a rapid rate, so there’s no way that this can mean anything good.

Cutting back to New York, Mystique, Sabretooth and Toad are stealing information from the Damage Control Database. Mystique and Toad manage to get away, but Creed is captured by Invisible Woman and the rest of the Fantastic Four. Scott Summers shows up to remind them of the amnesty that’s apparently been granted to mutants, including thieves and possible killers like Sabretooth. Scott and, normally even tempered, Reed butt heads a little bit as Reed has a problem with Sabretooth getting away with his crimes and Scott acquiesces, seeing that Reed is serious. Scott does leave them with one sick burn as he tells Reed and Sue that Franklin has actual family on Krakoa when he’s ready.

What I love best about this scene is just how smug Reed is about all of this. For years, mutants have tried to stay out of the affairs of the greater Superhero world out of fear for their reputations. The shoe is on the other foot now that they have all of the leverage and the power that they so deserve. Even more awesomely, Scott’s new costume is a fantastic design combining the best of his Astonishing costume with the angular design of his Uncanny X-Men costume, minus the X mask, with blue lines instead of red.

Speaking of colors, Marte Garcia excelled in this regard. There’s so much symbolism to be gleaned from something as simple as a color change. Cyclops wore that suit in a red hue when he was a violent radical; having it recolored blue gives off the hint that he’s still a radical, but in the way that he dealt with the situation between Reed, he’s more hands off, non-violent even. Magneto normally wears red and purple when he’s angry and evil and gray during the AXIS (2015) era and that alluded to his anti-hero nature during that time. This go around he’s wearing white. He’s also peaceful, but at the same time he’s as graceful and imposing as he always has been, never betraying the idea that he is still the same man, but won’t harm anyone as long as they respect mutants. The most glaring example is the change in color from the AIM scientists where they’re wearing red instead of yellow.

In between each different scene we’re given these little interludes in the form of documents called Xavier files. These give some background on the new elements introduced in the book and the best one is the Omega Level file. There have been hundreds of mutants introduced over the years, many of which could have been considered Omega Level mutants, but thanks to Hickman’s expert writing, things have been parsed down to just fourteen. On Twitter, he stated that the X-Men lore was nothing but chaos, so he wrote a 14,000 word memo on what the new status quo would be, including limiting the use of the term “Omega Level.” This undoubtedly helps to establish something of a power structure given the high number of mutants that are known about while also acknowledging other heroes. Notably, while Forge is a master of technopathy, his level has been surpassed by humans in the past, but Magneto is the only master of Magnetism.

I want to bring things back to the tour. After it is over, several of the ambassadors agree to support Xavier. Russia’s ambassador never had intentions too, neither did one of the representatives of STRIKE as he was simply assigned to watch another ambassador. The last ambassador had a weapon hidden and Magneto immediately dismantles it and promises to each of them that things will be different. He wants them to tell their superiors that while Charles made the offer out of grace and love, it is NOT a negotiation.

Magneto takes pride in this. So much so that his assurance and steadfastness in his stance is powerful. It moved me. He tells them to be grateful for the bounty they’re receiving out of graciousness as mutants, like Thanos, are inevitable. It’s like he can actually see a future, one not shrouded in darkness for mutants and he’s smiling because he knows it’s coming.

This is one of the more interesting aspects of the book. Charles Xavier had always wanted to coexist with humanity, but after years of divisions and attacks, he seems to mostly be done with that. He’s willing to give humanity Krakoa’s flowers to make pills that will help them as long as they leave mutants alone. He’s effectively made something that will definitely topple the pharmaceutical market and he has to know that humanity would start to get very afraid. Not only that, but Krakoa has the ability to create portals that can move mutants from place to place without humans being able to track where they’re going. Of course the ambassadors are afraid of the use they could have as far as movement and positioning in case things went to war, but Magneto assures them that it is only them that wants war.

Everything seems perfect. Everything seems like it’s going to be alright, but that helmet… something about that helmet and the bodysuit reminds me of The Maker, another Jonathan Hickman creation from his turn on The Ultimates. It scares me and I needed that, I needed something to keep me hooked and the fear that everything is not as it seems is just that.

House of X hit the ground running. While it does little to acknowledge the fantastic Uncanny X-Men run from Matthew Rosenberg, that’s probably for the best. Jonathan Hickman does his best work when he has a fresh slate. He took over Avengers from Brian Michael Bendis and made an amazing story over the course of nearly four years. He reinvigorated SHIELD and the Fantastic Four with innovative stories that had nothing to do with the books prior to them. Hell, the reverberations of his runs on each of these are still being felt to this day.

Pepe Larraz was possibly the absolute best artist to capture Hickman’s vision for this project. His high angles and wide shots give credence to the size of the story. His facial expressions give into the idea that mutants have won this time, there’s hope where previously there was none. Body language surprisingly upbeat, bouncy even. There’s a lot to say about symbolism in terms of sun positioning in many scenes. The book has many showing the sun rising, symbolically showing a rise for the mutants. I see Orchis base near the sun as an allegory for Icarus flying too close to it. As the book ends with a sunset over Jerusalem, I see things as the sun setting on the time of humanity.

X-Men and their vast history is absolutely ripe for fine tuning if not complete destruction only for it to be made bigger and better in the years to come. I have no idea where this story is going and with 80,000 spin-offs incoming with a bunch of different creative teams, there will absolutely be something for everyone. In an attempt to revitalize a part of the world that used to sell like gangbusters, Jonathan Hickman is gearing up to shoot the X-Men right back up to the moon and light the world on fire behind them.

#comics #marvel #marvel comics #x men #xmen #house of x #charles xavier #magneto #erik lehnsherr #cyclops #scott summers #mutants #jonathan hickman #pepe larraz #marte gracia

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eddycurrents · 5 years

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For the past few years, you could argue that the X-Men franchise has been working on trying to rediscover its identity. Since reality reasserted itself coming out of the Secret Wars event, they’ve been in a kind of flux. The initial relaunch set up the mutants in opposition to the ascendant Inhumans. When that was brought to a head, Marvel’s merry mutants then redefined themselves in part through nostalgic “back to basics”. In the past year and a bit, the mutants through a series of endings in “Disassembled” and Uncanny X-Men, while the Age of X-Man event traumatized them in a loveless utopia. It’s been an interesting ride.

You don’t really need to know any of that, or anything at all of recent or past history of the X-Men, in order to jump into House of X #1. This hits the reset button on the franchise and, while I expect that the past will inform some elements, it can largely be enjoyed coming in blind.

This is arguably the largest, most dramatic change to the X-Men since Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Tim Townsend, Brian Haberlin, and Comicraft took over back in New X-Men #114. Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia, Clayton Cowles, and Tom Muller kick off a new era that is firmly built on a science fiction grounding. It frames the mutant identity in a new understanding and begins a new conflict with the rest of humanity as human governments and organizations react to the new status quo.

Without going into any details in this section, I can say that House of X #1 takes many of the common themes and elements of decades of X-Men stories and gives them a new spin, both familiar and strange at the same time. All of it is brought beautifully to life through astounding artwork from Larraz and Gracia, taking it to a completely different level. It’s brought together nicely through the design work of Muller, implementing a number of text pieces yielding further information, making it decidedly feel like a Hickman comic.

The digital edition on Comixology is also another instance of having “Director’s Cut” material, including Hickman’s redacted script for the issue, a wide array of the variant covers, and process pages of line art and coloured pages.

It’s a bold new era starting point for the X-Men and I’m excited to see what else is in store.

There will be spoilers below this image. If you do not want to be spoiled on House of X #1, do not read further.

SPOILER WARNING: Below I’ll be discussing the events, themes, and possibility of what’s going on in House of X #1 and beyond. There are HEAVY SPOILERS beyond this point. If you haven’t read the issue yet and don’t want to be spoiled, please stop reading now. You’ve been warned.

PREAMBLE | First Impressions

I had high expectations for House of X #1.

Jonathan Hickman is easily one of my favourite writers currently working in comics. He’s full of mad ideas that you look at and wonder why no one has implemented them in quite the same arrangement before. He’s great at execution and construction for the long game. While each story usually works on a micro individual story-arc/issue level, they also build a large tapestry that tells an even larger tale. One merely needs to look at his previous outing for Marvel telling one grand story that began in Dark Reign: Fantastic Four (with elements you could say were seeded even in Secret Warriors) and ended in Secret Wars. It was wonderful.

Pepe Larraz has been wowing me with his art since Uncanny Avengers. There’s a fluidity of motion and design that evokes the spirit of Alan Davis, Neal Adams, and Bryan Hitch, while adding what feels like an even more gargantuan attention to detail and sense of design. He elevated that even further with stellar showings on Avengers: No Surrender and Extermination. He’s easily become one of Marvel’s premiere artists to me.

When you combine Hickman and Larraz, and couple it with a marketing machine hyping this as the next big thing in the X-Men evolution, expectations were huge.

House of X #1 exceeded those expectations.

This first issue feels like a sea change for the X-Men, in terms of the team’s status quo and in the approach to storytelling. This is a science fiction story with heavy political leanings. With Xavier pushing the lead, Marvel’s mutants have staked a claim on a new mutant nation on Krakoa, with tendrils through Earth and beyond.

And it’s breathtaking. The artwork from Larraz and Marte Gracia is beautiful. The landscapes and vistas, the designs for the characters, the page layouts, and more, this is a visually stunning book. Larraz has truly outdone himself with the line art, but it’s taken even higher by the sheer beauty in Gracia’s colours. It’s very rich, emphasizing the beauty and wonder of this new world being birthed into existence.

There’s also an interesting choice here in Clayton Cowles’ letters, it’s mixed case. These days it’s not necessarily as unusual not to be in ALL CAPS, but it is different from what we’ve seen in Uncanny X-Men as of late and helps to foster that idea of this being something different. Similarly the text pages scattered throughout from Hickman and Muller that give this the stylistic feel of a Hickman comic and enriches the depth of this new world with more information.

ONE | X Nation

The idea of a mutant nation isn’t a new one. Magneto broached it before and attempted a kind of compound with Asteroid M. Genosha was set up as a mutant paradise for a while. The fallen remnants of Asteroid M served as the X-Men’s home repurposed as Utopia. A corner of Limbo was briefly carved out as a haven for mutants. There was that enclave with Xorn. And Jean Grey kind of set up mutantkind as an amorphous nation within nations given central home in Atlantis during X-Men Red.

More often than not the nation merely serves as a backdrop for the X-Men’s interactions in the rest of the world. I mean, when mutants had their own homeland in Utopia, more stories took place in San Francisco even before the schism that drove half of them off to the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning in New York.

What’s presented in House of X #1 feels different.

Ostensibly, the new mutant nation is headquartered on Krakoa itself, but the implication is that it’s so much broader. The X-Men have seeded Krakoa flowers all over the Earth, on the Moon, and Mars and have grown what feel like embassies and external outposts of the fledgling mutant nation. And it’s the fact that these outposts are within other nations, with the potential of moving a superpowered army unseen and seemingly instantaneously, that has the government representatives met this issue nervous.

While it is a home and a haven for mutantkind, it’s also actively being treated as a political entity. Similar to how Jean argued her case for mutantkind in X-Men: Red, we’ve got ambassadors of sorts checking in with Magneto and two of the Stepford Cuckoos. There are some intrigue elements that sync up with other aspects of the story, but the fact that it’s being used as a tour, a show of force, and an ultimate in order to broker a deal recognizing Krakoa as a nation is an interesting development. It takes it from a place of superheroes playacting at being politicians to actually being politicians. Abrupt as it may be to have Magneto as the face of the operation.

But that’s part of the genius of this play. Like with Magneto siding with Scott upon the founding of Utopia, Xavier and Krakoa is a further fulfillment of Magneto’s dream. A mutant homeland with mutants in control. Every previous time this has happened it’s come to ruin, but it’s always fun while it lasts.

Also, it’s an impressive show of power to have Magneto as the liaison to the rest of humanity. Where Kitty Pryde or Jean Grey would likely be more diplomatic, that isn’t the intent here. Sending out not only one of the most powerful mutants as your face, but also someone who has been in direct conflict with humanity over the years, pushing a mutant independence angle, is a statement that the new mutant nation isn’t something to be trifled with.

TWO | Who are these X-Men?

With the release of titles, creative teams, and team line-ups for the forthcoming “Dawn of X” reboot following House of X and Powers of X, there have been a lot of questions about what’s going on. Characters who have died during recent issues of Uncanny X-Men are alive and well. Characters who were in different configurations and statuses seem to have been changed to more familiar versions and attitudes. So it raises the question for House of X, who are these X-Men?

This first issue doesn’t answer that. I don’t know if we’re going to get an explicit answer that, but I think we’re given a clue on the very first page.

A key element in this first issue is the utilization of the mutant island Krakoa, both as a new home for the X-Men and as refined and adapted through application as portals, habitats, and medications. But in the opening scene, we see a central tree essentially acting as a birthing matrix overseen by Xavier.

The first born being Jean and Scott, I’d guess, then maybe that’s Bobby on the second page with some others. It’s possible that the one guy is even Gabriel Summers. It could be that they’re being rejuvenated, refreshed, and refined through healing properties heretofore unrevealed of Krakoa, but it may be more sinister. There’s a reaching, a yearning towards Xavier that makes me suspect. Are they the characters that we know? Or are they something else? I don’t even know if that’s a question we’re supposed to be asking.

Other than Magneto working front and centre with the team, they’re also working with a number of other traditional villains/antagonists like Sabretooth, Mystique, and Toad. All three have had their dalliances back and forth between the sides of good and evil, but it’s interesting to see them in the fold here. One the one hand, it reinforces the idea that this initiative of Xavier’s is for all mutants and that they’ve come together. But it also raises the question further, how?

I think it’s worth noting that every X-Men character we see fully interacting in the real world has been a villain at one point. Cyclops included, since the last time the world at large saw him before his resurrection he was “Mutant Terrorist Most Wanted #1″.

With characters seemingly back from the dead, characters changed to different versions, characters rejuvenated and healed as it appears that both Cyclops and Banshee are, characters who’ve previously been at one another’s throats, there’s a lingering doubt of how Xavier achieved this. There’s also a happy Wolverine playing with kids, so just think on that for a bit.

THREE | Master of Puppets

Professor Charles Xavier died (again, but who’s keeping track?) during Avengers vs. X-Men back in 2012. Then was brought back in Astonishing X-Men, first as a disembodied psyche caught in the Shadow King’s web and then through the personality sacrifice of Fantomex, inhabiting his body. He referred to himself as “X”, as something new, despite repeatedly claiming that he is the one, true Charles Xavier. His actions, both in his initial appearances and in the subsequent Astonishing X-Men Annual wherein he reunited with the remaining original five X-Men (Cyclops was dead at this point), could be considered manipulative, possibly even evil, callous, and villainous. We’ve not seen him again until now.

With the uncertainty of the origins of the wide cast of characters on the team, whether or not they really are our X-Men we know and love, doubt is cast on Charles Xavier as well. And it’s not just because we only see part of his face. Larraz’s design for Xavier’s new large, portable Cerebro deliberately distances us from him. It’s alien and off-putting, and I believe that’s the idea. I’m unsure whether or not this was the intention, but it also evokes the memory of another villain that Hickman enjoyed using, The Maker. The visual similarities and implication of another hero turned villain can’t be missed.

Consistent with that idea is the portrayal of Jean here. From a real life perspective, there’s an argument that all of the X-Men in House of X and beyond are taking on the costumes and behaviours of their most popular incarnations. In that regard, it would kind of make more sense that Jean would be in a more Phoenix-inspired get up or something similar to her blue and yellow outfit from the ‘90s.

Instead, we get Marvel Girl. Which seems odd to me. It’s not only regressive, but it represents a time period that in-canon Jean supposedly hates. It was, however, a time where Xavier’s somewhat lustful intentions towards his student were more apparent (creepy and disturbing as they are). It further reinforces that maybe not everything is on the level with what’s going on.

FOUR | A New Religion

Religious symbolism and outright textual substance are rife throughout this issue. From the beginning of Xavier acting as a kind of god to the newly reborn mutants beneath a Tree of Life through to Magneto’s proclamation at the end of the story, this first issue is planting the seeds of a new mythology for mutantkind. It’s something that sets them apart from the rest of the superheroes on Earth, giving them an explicit framing as the overseers of the world, but with it, there’s a tie back to how this new nation feels different.

There’s a definitive feeling from House of X #1 of building an entire society. Religion as an aspect of that, both real and implied, but we also get a new language of Krakoan (the glyphs we’ve seen before and again in this issue) and the idea of a broader organizational structure to Krakoa. It’s not just a school any more.

FIVE | Dangerous Beauty

There’s an interesting dichotomy set up in this first issue as well between the mutants and humanity. Of nature versus technology. It’s one we’ve seen before in mutants being the natural evolution of mankind coming into conflict with the sentinels constructed in order to prolong mankind’s grip on power. It tends to lead to the kind of nightmare scenarios of post-apocalyptic futures as we see in Days of Future Past.

Krakoa is an inspired choice for the catalyst of mutant change in the world, delving into some of what was explored in Wolverine and the X-Men, but going steps even further. Creating pharmaceuticals, creating properties similar to Man-Thing’s ability to transport throughout the world, and the various habitats. It’s like the Weapon Plus application of The World in that everything is grown, organic, nature-based objects all ostensibly pieces of the greater Krakoa entity. I wonder if this gives Xavier and the X-Men effective “eyes” all over the world?

It’s also important to recall how dangerous Krakoa has been throughout X-Men history, acting as an antagonist that kickstarted the all-new, all-different era in Giant Size X-Men #1, built out even in Deadly Genesis with the lost team, and the problems had at the Jean Grey School with the baby Krakoa.

And then there’s the flip side.

Orchis is a new organization introduced here comprised of a number of former agents of Marvel’s intelligence community, good and bad, ranging from SHIELD to AIM. And we’re brought aboard the Forge. There’s a fearful symmetry to it, a station close to the Sun building machines to counteract whatever it is that Xavier is ultimately doing. At the Forge’s heart what appears to be a new kind of Master Mold sentinel, decked out in some of the same colour schemes that we recently saw with the golden sentinels of ONE in Uncanny X-Men.

I can only imagine that this is going to wind up well.

We’re shown a face that we’ve not seen for a while (outside of solicitation covers), since I thought she was an “ordinary” human again, in Karima Shapandar. It’s kind of sad, though, as her Omega Sentinel protocols seem to have been reactivated.

SIX | We Can Be Heroes

The presence of the X-Men within the broader Marvel Universe framework can be problematic at times. It’s one of the reasons why they’ve often been shuffled off to parts unknown, set up as a rag tag band of fugitives, and limited in number to the point where they’re culturally, socially, and politically insignificant. Because the heart of mutant existence within the Marvel Universe is one of intolerance.

Mutants are feared and hated, hunted down, enslaved, or executed. While it works extremely well as an analogy for real life racial and sexual bigotry and prejudices, it takes on a different level of problem in the face of a world filled with superheroes. For superpowered people who aren’t mutants, you wonder about a couple of things, such as why the general populace even makes a difference and why non-mutant heroes don’t seem to care about mutant prejudice.

That latter one has been approached a few times previously, as recently as this latest volume of Uncanny X-Men, and it always seems strange. It’s like the question that you see raised in Swamp Thing and Marvelman and later The Authority of the realistic application of near limitless god-like powers as a force for change; if you’ve got these powers, why don’t you do something to change the world’s ills?

It really undercuts the heroism of teams like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, because it eliminates them as defenders of a universal justice, but merely teams that fight for the status quo. And so eventually the X-Men get shuffled off to Chandilar.

I think it’s great that House of X #1 goes straight for that jugular. Cyclops’ confrontation with the Fantastic Four beautifully displays his integration and friendliness towards the other heroes, that he’s happy for Ben’s wedding, but still at odds with them when it comes to overall mutant rights. Including those of Sabretooth, who admittedly just robbed a place and probably killed a few dozen people. So, it’s not like the Fantastic Four are in the wrong in trying to apprehend Sabretooth, but it’s reinforcing bits of the laws of the state versus possible ethical or moral concerns.

This scene also reminds us that mutants are everywhere. They can be anyone within society, anyone’s husband, wife, mother, father, friend, daughter, family, neighbour...anyone’s son, including Franklin Richards, son to Reed and Sue. It helps underline that compassion, understanding, and fighting for what’s morally right is something that really should be at the forefront here. And that Cyclops and the rest of Xavier’s new nation of Krakoa are making it known that they’re not going to accept the intolerance any more.

It’s also interesting the incorporation of the broader Marvel Universe as a catalyst for this confrontation in that Sabretooth, Mystique, and Toad were stealing information from Damage Control. It’s a neat bit of the shared universe and presents something potentially nefarious about Damage Control appropriating broken Stark and Richards tech. Though, we are left wondering, what did they steal?

SEVEN | Nothing As It Seems

One of the central themes we’re presented with in the ambassadors’ tour through Krakoa as led by Magneto is that nothing is quite as it seems. It’s even mentioned explicitly through the dialogue when the ambassadors are discussing the deal as lain out by Xavier. Worrying about the drugs, but even more about the amnesty. The terms of the amnesty aren’t actually stated here, but the gist seems to be that all mutants, criminal or otherwise, need to be set free (and presumably allowed passage to one of the gateways to Krakoa), if the country is to take part in the life-saving drug aspect.

Now, there’s an in-story payoff to the ambassadors statement, in that they’re all plants of one form or another, working for different organizations in order to gain information or surveillance on one thing or another and in Magneto’s ulterior motive for gathering them, but it feeds back into that tingling suspicion from the first page.

Something feels off. Something feels wrong. But that could well be the point. The seeds of doubt may well be planted intentionally for Xavier’s plan and the appearances of the characters. It could well be that we’re supposed to think that something hinky is going on, just to keep us in suspense. And that everything we’re seeing, everything we’re being told, really is the truth.

CONCLUSION | A More Perfect Union

As I said previously, House of X #1 exceeded my expectations.

Hickman, Larraz, Gracia, Cowles, and Muller came together to produce what is one of the most exciting and intriguing first issues that I’ve read in a very long time. Every single element from dialogue to line art, colour to letters, to cover to design gels into one massive stroke of storytelling. Every single thing within the comic adds another layer to immerse yourself into this brave new world of mutant merriment.

This is an incredible start to this new era and I am very excited to see what comes next week in Powers of X #1. Especially in how it relates back to House of X #1. These issues are apparently meant to be paired, but how exactly remains to be seen. I find that interesting, since PoX is apparently set in a different time frame.

d. emerson eddy is not an island.

#Examinations #X-Men #House of X #1 #Jonathan Hickman #Pepe Larraz

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xavierfiles-blog · 6 years

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When Will Marvel Stop Being Cowards And Let Nightcrawler Be Amazing?

In AGE OF X-MAN: THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER #1 by, Seanan McGuire and Juan Frigeri everyone’s favorite blue and fuzzy mutant is the most popular and famous figure in the world. This is the best indication we have that this alternate reality is actually the utopia it is claimed to be. Over forty years past his introduction and it still shocks me the Kurt Wagner isn’t the biggest name, not just in comics, but in media as a whole. Nightcrawler possesses the winning combination of an incredible and visually exciting design alongside a charming and likable personality. He has been beloved by X-Men fans for generations but has not been able to teleport himself out of that bubble and into solo success.

It isn’t that Kurt has been ignored, writers pretty much immediately got the appeal. Nightcrawler was a pet character for his creator, Dave Cockrum. While Dave was drawing UNCANNY X-MEN and Chris Claremont was writing, Nightcrawler seemed to be the break-out character, pulling a lot of focus. This lessened after John Byrne began drawing the title and wanted to focus on the Canadian Wolverine. Still, Nightcrawler remained a popular mutant. He was the second X-Man to get a solo mini-series and briefly led the X-Men in the mid-80s. During the mutant madness of the early 90s, Nightcrawler was positioned as the lead character in Excalibur. But as time went on it became clear that no one was able to figure out what to do with the character.

Credit to Marvel, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. Nightcrawler just started his 5th solo series, but none of them have lasted past issue #12. While the jury is still out on THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER (it had an enjoyable but imperfect first issue), only one of his solo series actually got to the core of what works about the character. Dave Cockrum’s 1985 NIGHTCRAWLER limited series sees Kurt on a swashbuckling adventure where he gets to become a pirate, save a princess, and live out his Errol Flynn fantasies. It isn’t a self-serious character piece or an examination on the human condition, it is just a beautiful drawn romp by way of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is the sweet spot for Nightcrawler.

Other attempts to kick off a story about the character fell on their face by looking at the wrong aspects of Nightcrawler. Chris Kipiniak and Matthew Dow Smith’s 2002 NIGHTCRAWLER for the Marvel Icons line examined a relatively recent (at the time) development for the character, his ordination into the Catholic priesthood. Ignoring the fact that no one involved in this story knew how priest work, it is an interesting angle, but one that fundamentally changes the character and his appeal. Up until around 2000, Nightcrawler’s faith was an aspect of the character, but not the defining one. He was religious in the way most religious people are. It was part of his life sure, but it didn’t define every action he made. Kurt wasn’t one to go on moody diatribes about the existential nature of faith. This series focused on that at the expense of the joy and energy that normally comes when Nightcrawler is on the page.

I’m curious why external media choses to play up this aspect of the character. In both his appearance on X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and X2: X-MEN UNITED, Kurt’s defining characteristic is his piousness. Perhaps the creators see the appeal of exploring the duality of a demon on the side of angels, but in execution it never goes deeper than that. I wouldn’t advocate for eliminating his faith, it is an interesting dimension to the character, only to balance it with other aspects of his personality.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Darick Robertson tried again in 2004 with a book that leaned really hard into the supernatural. This is post-Draco, a horrible story when Kurt was revealed to be the son of a satan. It mixed those ideas with the well-established concept that his adopted mother, Margali Szardos, and his sister/lover were both powerful sorceresses. Again, this could be a fun concept if it was just Nightcrawler plus magic. Instead it became an overly dark and serious story about exorcism, abuse, and the destruction of relationships.

The crux of this twelve issue series deals with Nightcrawler’s brother Stefan Szardos. Kurt was forced to kill a demon possessed Stefan to prevent his brother from murdering children. This led to the formation of the mob the chased Kurt in GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1. It’s a dark origin for the character, and one most writers tend to leave in the past. It doesn’t play to any of the swashbuckling strengths that Nightcrawler has and doubles down on some of the worst tendencies of mid-00s comics. The last issue is Nightcrawler having an existential crisis while talking to Mephisto. It isn’t what anyone wanted from the character and that tone is a big reason why it didn’t resonate with readers.

The closest we have gotten to a Nightcrawler ongoing that actually worked was Chris Claremont and Todd Nauck’s 2014 series. It came in the aftermath of Nightcrawler fighting his way out of heaven and hell to come back to life in Jason Aaron’s AMAZING X-MEN. Tonally, the book hit a sweet spot, while probably leaning into the X-Men elements of the character too much to make it stand out. The first arc dealt with magic thanks to the return of Margali Szardos, but it was done in a whimsical, Excaliburesque way. Claremont smartly built up a unique supporting cast around Kurt, including the students Ziggy and Scorpion Boy, and an antagonistic love interest in the form of The Crimson Pirates’ Bloody Bess. Nauck’s artwork elevated the series by providing a joy that is essential to the character.

Unfortunately, the series had several roadblocks to success. Claremont’s tone and character voices were as good as his plots were bad. It was a mishmash of canon that was better left forgotten with a writing style that never evolved out of the 80s. The market dynamics at the time did little to help the book last. AMAZING X-MEN had just recently begun, and it was already marketed as the “Nightcrawler book”. Many customers weren’t going to double dip on the character. At the same time, Marvel was starting solo series for MAGNETO, CYCLOPS, STORM, and DOOP. Those existed in tandem with five other X-Men team books, two Wolverine books, and two books featuring secondary X-Teams. The market was flooded with X-Men and Nightcrawler didn’t stand a chance.

Even with these failures, Kurt Wagner remains beloved and his current mini speaks to that. In the Age of X-Man, the only intelligent thing Nate Grey did was make Nightcrawler the biggest star in the world. He is a celebrity in every sense of the word. He is beloved and iconic as a movie star and the premier superhero. It is no coincidence that the book is titled THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER, or that the logo is a riff on Spider-Man’s. In the Age of X-Man, Kurt is as loved and well known as Spider-Man is our world. The trick is replicating that adoration.

Nightcrawler should be a slam dunk as a solo hero outside of the X-Men. If writers can lean into the swashbuckling adventure and away from existential questions of religion, they have a shot at making Nightcrawler a world-wide phenomenon. Let Kurt fight The Spot or Kraven The Hunter to get him out of the bubble of the X-Men. Let him join the Avengers and prove his mettle against the biggest threats. Let my dude be what Spider-Man is, the iconic character of the Marvel Universe. He deserves it.

PS: Give him his damn beard back!

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