#I really like that Warren was a hero even before joining the X-Men

[practically-an-x-man]

Okay random but have you ever seen those "in another universe" posts?

It's from that blog where people submit what their "in another universe" would look like.

(example: 'in another universe I told them how i felt' but it could be anything really).

Anyway, prompt if you'd like to do it. What would your ocs' "in another universe" Look like?

Oooooh, interesting! Thank you!!

Some of these will be sweet, some of them will be angsty... we'll see how this goes.

Rae: In Another Universe... she walked away. After Warren had his wings burned and was spiralling, she decided it was too much to handle and walked away. When Apocalypse came for him, she wasn't there and didn't have her mutation expressed - she doesn't join the X-Men, Warren sadly dies in Cairo without her shields to save him, and Rae continues with her translation work while never learning of the latent mutant gene in her DNA.

Robin: In Another Universe... she looked before she leapt. While rescuing the clones and captive mutants from the Shadow Group, she noticed Six wasn't doing well, and had him swap places with Hank (who was helping coordinate the escape vehicles). When Six collapses, it's frightening but not actively dangerous; and with the addition backup from Hank, Robin is able to fight off the feral mutant that would have given her that TBI. This spares her months of recovery and other ongoing side effects, though Sean and Peter have a slightly more strained relationship without her injury to bring them together. She and Peter do still get married in the end and have a happy life (though I think the main storyline does add some depth to their relationship, with him helping her through her recovery)

Madison: In Another Universe... she returned to the wild. Rather than taking the triplets in as her new sisters and returning to the X-Men with them, they part ways after their initial encounter and Madison resumes her life as a loner. She's able to provide for herself well enough in the wilderness, just like she'd done before, and she doesn't think about domestic life enough to realize how much comfortable that would be - she's used to her situation and doesn't look back. Alex regards her as the one that got away, and internally wishes he'd shared his feelings before she left.

Ophelia: In Another Universe... her anger consumed her. Grief over her family led to a very dark period for her throughout college, but instead of taking on the Argonaut mantle and becoming a hero, she takes on the role of Doctor Octopus and maintains her father's legacy through any means necessary. She's already lost everything that mattered to her, and she'll tear down every system that led to the deaths of her family if it kills her.

Gia: In Another Universe... HYDRA won. In their goals to make a weapon that could truly never be killed, they brought Gia into further training and even had her reconditioned alongside their Winter Soldier project. With her family still believing she'd died and with no other friends to remind her of who she was, it comes down to the goodwill of the Avengers and if anyone will see the girl beneath the weapon in time to save her...

Jasper: In Another Universe... Kyle stayed back. On the night of that fateful bus crash, Jasper gets an unshakable bad feeling just hours before the party starts. They ask Kyle to stay back and spend the night in with them instead- it's probably irrational, but they just can't shake that feeling. He agrees to stay back, and they hear about the bus crash the next morning on the news. Jasper gets called in early to treat the surviving victims of the crash, but it's out of both their and Kyle's minds within a few days. They move in together, graduate from college, and things progress along smoothly. Even years after the crash, Jasper still can't shake the feeling that they might have lost Kyle if they'd let him go to that party...

Kestrel: In Another Universe... they gave up. After Warren was first struck by the revenant and the rumors began to fly that Kestrel was at fault for it, the constant blame and grief became too much to bear and they decided to leave Fablehaven. At first they tried to check in every few months in secret, but always found Warren in the same state and eventually resigned themself to the idea that the curse was permanent. They went back to the life they'd had before meeting him, freely exploring the world but feeling vaguely dissatisfied with it all... but something compells them to attend the next meeting of the Knights of the Dawn, and they swear they hear a familiar face in the crowd...

Katherine: In Another Universe... she doesn't know. Rather than come clean about the museum and its magic, Ahk decides that he's going to keep the magical world a secret from her, and comes up with an elaborate chain of lies about his situation (such as why he can only visit her at night). While this works well enough in the early days of their relationship, Katherine continues to feel like he's hiding something as they get closer, and his refusal to come clean drives them apart in time. They break up, and she goes on to live a semi-successful if underwhelming life as a commission artist. She still thinks about him from time to time, feeling like that could have been a beautiful relationship, but the lies were just too much for her.

Quinn: In Another Universe... she didn't reach for him. When Billy falls in Kyiv, she doesn't dive to catch him, and therefore doesn't fall herself. She attends Billy's funeral and continues running gigs with the crew, and eventually succeeds in running Lex (Billy's old girlfriend) clean out of the parkour crew by exposing the way she let him fall. One still needs a good pickpocket, though, and Billy still finds a way to track her down - it's the shock of Quinn's life.

Eris: In Another Universe... he was raised right. When his sense for conflict was first uncovered while on Themyscira, his mentors chose to take it in stride and train them with greater discipline and self-control instead of immediately turning to fear and distrust. Being raised in a healthy, supportive environment allowed her to channel her sense for conflict in a much healthier way, using it as a boon in battle but refusing to let it overwhelm her. This power is still considered godly, though is attributed more to Bellona than Eris, and they take that name instead. If they leave Themyscira at all, it comes much later, and as a part of a warrior's quest rather than being chased away from their home.

Nikoletta: In Another Universe... she was found out. While attempting to build her position as the Queen of Belle Reve, presenting her shadows as an omen of death and destruction... she makes a false move, and targets a prisoner with a bit too much following behind him. When her followers don't immediately jump on the new prey, people begin to find out that her shadow-touch is no more dangerous than a tattoo, and her position of power quickly topples. She manages to escape the worst attacks by vanishing into the shadows, and later slips out of Belle Reve entirely when it grew too dangerous for her. She's back to living on the streets, and while her tricks and scams are enough to keep food on the table and a roof over her head, she's caught back in the same cycle she was stuck in before.

Jimmy: In Another Universe... he was honest from the beginning. There's not much he can gain from being silent about his emotions, especially given he can't die again. Rather than bury the way he feels for Lars as those emotions begin to grow, he bites the bullet flat-out and admits his feelings. It takes Lars a few days to come around, mainly because he'd been struggling with the concept of being with a literal ghost, but in the end this jump-starts their relationship much more quickly, and without near as much slowburn back-and-forth like we get in the main fic.

Vivienne: In Another Universe... it fought back. When she learns of Dracula aboard the ship, attacking the crew, she refuses to sit by and leave this in the hands of the crew. Internally, it still struggles to understand the power it now holds, and it's terrified of the thought of facing this ancient evil head-on... but it knows it's better equipped for the fight than any of the men on board. The next time Dracula emerges for his nightly meal, she strikes- dragging him to the bottom of the ocean and tearing out his rotting heart. Is this enough to kill him for good? Maybe not. But it's enough to spare the crew, including her beloved husband.

Spider: In Another Universe... his tape recorder broke. It doesn't matter how it happens. Sacrificed to save his life when one of the monsters attacks, dropped and broken unexpectedly, or simply worn down by time and unable to be fixed in the apocalypse. Without the ability to play his "monster bait" tape, he loses his main defense against the Death Angels. He might not die immediately, but things are much more dicey without that little bit of protection. And even worse is the mental toll: his tape recorder allowed him to process the world through sound, it was a comfort to him, and it became one of the only familiar things to keep him going in the apocalypse. He's a resilient guy, but without that as a talisman... he's not navigating the new world nearly as well.

Terra: In Another Universe... she accepted the offer. When Pluto first encounters Viktor and is purged of Shimmer, Terra ends up accepting his offer to be purified herself. She's assimilated into the same cult/hivemind... it's a sinking ship in the end, but at least they're going down together.

Pluto: In Another Universe... he ran. Rather than stay and investigate as he hears unfamiliar sounds out on the streets, he decides to run home and warn Terra of something nefarious going on. He's always been a skeptic, after all, and as the rumors begin to spread of a man who can miraculously cure people of their Shimmer addictions... he doesn't buy it. If it's not something he can devise for himself, he doesn't want any part of it. This decision ends up saving his life, though he does remain addicted to Shimmer and has to readjust as he fully loses his sight.

[worthington-iii]

Obligatory "I'm biased as shit so take anything I say with a grain of salt" before I yap but. Warren. Yes.

I think one of my favorite pieces for him is Angel: Revelations. It holds a strange space narratively speaking, since the other four original X-Men all got a cohesive oneshot backstory in the same comic line, but Warren got a five issue backstory with a more intense maturity rating, published at a later date. If you haven't read it yet, I think it's some of my favorite character work for him and can stand alone even without X-Men or Marvel context.

One of the biggest takeaways from that series, though, is that Warren always felt drawn to do something more, but lived in such an isolated social bubble that he didn't know what to do with it. Even when he's able to save lives, though, he doesn't feel entitled to be proud of it because he recognizes he can continue to be the golden boy, or he can be the hero. Being a mutant won't allow him to do both.

Interestingly, Warren is the only one of the O5 to pursue solo hero work before joining the X-Men. Again, he has that sense of justice and a calling to help while still feeling a degree of shame and embarrassment for his mutation.

I think I pull a lot of my character interpretation from what's not necessarily written on the page, but from reading between the lines. Warren takes time to get comfortable with his mutation in daily life while picking up that big hero persona to show off. When he's the Angel, he flaunts his wings and is loud and proud. When he's just Warren, he covers up even in front of other mutants for pretty much the entirety of the silver age X-Men comics. His parents never find out he's a mutant, and he blames, in part, his own inaction for their deaths later on. I really wish this was expanded on more in canon.

It's also clear he did continue to struggle with personal turmoil about his mutation being so physically noticeable, and how hiding it came with pain and consequences. A bit of a jab from him to hank in Amazing Adventures during Beast's issues over there:

Another missed opportunity to me is Warren coming out publicly as a mutant. It's a throwaway line in Champions (1975). But to me, this reads as a consistent arc for him growing confident in himself and finally acknowledging the power that could come with his status combined with his mutant identity. He's able to use that status to rocket new teams to brief popularity and financial security, like the Champions or his iteration of the Defenders.

Basically in all of the random appearances following his departure from being a full time X-Man, we watch Warren's confidence grow and his self awareness change. I'd propose that this is a big influence of having Candy in his life - some form of stability and care for him that he couldn't find within the X-Men. Part of his reason for leaving (at least seemingly as he agreed with Jean) was wanting to seek out meaning away from the X-Men, potentially with love and a family in the future. I'd say this is probably the peak of his mental health. We see him getting a little obnoxious and overly flirtatious at times here, but he does seem pretty self aware of those traits and just doesn't view it as a problem.

Then, we hit X-Factor. The beginning of X-Factor sees Warren feeling a big win with Jean's return. He thinks he's at the top of his game and unbeatable. That's why the narrative takes a plunge with Archangel and the betrayal of Cameron Hodge. When you're at your peak, the only place to go is down. I think this is a very interesting turn for him, watching him struggle to recover from that brainwashing and mind control from Apocalypse. He begins to fall back into those old habits of seeing himself as a freak and as monstrous. He spends a lot of time there wallowing in self pity and fighting against the urges Apocalypse instilled in him, debating whether they're really from Apocalypse or something that had been deep inside him all along.

I really think healing begins again for him when he meets Betsy. She's a telepath who can help him untangle those things in his mind and allow him to move past the guilt and fear of the Archangel persona. Especially as Betsy faces her own similar struggles, the two bond and share fears over their changing powers and bodies. Crimson Dawn, while its reallyyyyy not my favorite, does some interesting early character work for both of them.

Continuing, he begins to feel more in control of Archangel again and slides back to the X-Men team in the 2000s era from time to time. While he isn't there, he's shown doing nonprofit and charity work with his fortune alongside just running his company. He actually is a big part of the efforts with mutant outreach on a global scale, working diplomatically when he isn't fighting evil. And not just work for mutants, either. He does end up running a charity cause for disabled children. To me, a lot of this reads like him trying to repent for the damages he'd done as Archangel. It's clear he carries a lot of guilt from that which never really went away, especially as Archangel style powers emerge from time to time in battle.

While Warren continues this public work alongside work with the main X-Men team, he provides his home in Colorado as a safehouse for the X-Force team. It feels like he's initially hesitant and doesn't even want to know what they're doing because he continues to fear the implications of Archangel coming forth. But he's dragged into it as Wolfsbane is essentially brainwashed to attack him, making the issue personal. I think this marks another tonal shift for Warren as he begins to get more in-tune with Archangel instead of repressing it. Logan and Betsy are both wary of this, training the X-Force team to kill Warren if they need to, which he clearly is uncomfortable with. (Uncanny X-Force is also one of my top Warren arcs, and my number one Warren/Betsy narrative.)

In short, Apocalypse is eventually able to regain control of Warren's mind and Betsy does need to kill him. I wouldn't necessarily consider any of this to be a direct reflection of Warren himself and his own personality, though. I see it more as another thing knocking him down a peg when he's been doing too well. Same goes for his memory-wiped era after this - that man really isn't Warren in any palpable sense aside from appearances. What is interesting, though, is the younger time-displaced Warren's reaction to this.

The younger Warren here is the same insecure teenager that I talked about earlier. He doesn't feel comfortable truly being himself around the other X-Men, and seeing all the awful things that happened to his older self was a breaking point. His mask slips here, and we see the person who's been underneath a lot of those silver age stories. He's deeply uncomfortable with himself and immediately recoils when he can't maintain his preferred status quo. He goes so far as to accept a cosmic curse in the hopes of permanently changing himself, so that he may never become the older version that he sees in front of him.

It's never explicitly explained how the older Warren regains his memories, but from a few tidbits in random stories like one of Iceman's solo runs, it's implied that older Warren was able to get along with younger Warren much better once he was. Yknow. There to speak for himself. Around this same era, a revived Charles Xavier gives Warren a mental barrier that allows him to more freely switch between Angel and Archangel, which he's immediately grateful for.

Not much else happens character-wise until X-Corp for him, which sees him paralleled with another character that faces very visceral and sometimes violent transformations - Penance.

While Warren continues to try and use his business skills to help mutantkind by spearheading Krakoa's economic front, he clashes with his business partner. Monet/Penance is very comfortable with her transformations in a way Warren never was. It's clear here that "acceptance" for Warren is something very different than acceptance for Monet. Monet's powers stem from something internal, allowing her to understand it as a core part of her being. Warren, though, sees Archangel as an external insertion into his life. While he is comfortable using those powers now and has accepted what happened to him, it's stirred a lot of anger within Warren's mind. A lot of those questions like "WHY did this happen" etc. The potential safety of Krakoa is finally allowing him to move beyond the denial stage of grieving his past self.

While he doesn't get a lot of on-page time in the Krakoa era aside from X-Corp, we do get to see him again in Heir of Apocalypse, finally able to stand up to Apocalypse. While before he'd been afraid of him and worried about the mind control returning, he straight up refuses to help Apocalypse now and fights him outright. This is a big shift in Warren's character and in his personal confidence, and I think it's safe to assume that his experiences with Penance and the rest of the Krakoa era changed him as a person, finally allowing him to truly accept his trauma and vow to make a difference in his behavior. It's a short read, but really badass!

Then we tag back up with him in the current X-Factor run, where he's completely lost Archangel's powers. With Apocalypse finding a new heir, Warren is freed from his nightmare, but has been battling it so long that he doesn't know what's left for him anymore. He doesn't know where to find meaning outside of reconciling with Archangel and beating Apocalypse. That's where we've left him now, trying to find meaning in a post-Krakoa post-Archangel life.

tl;dr Warren's biggest theming is a journey of self acceptance and figuring out what comes next once you think you've got it all figured out. While his story is full of missed opportunities and inconsistent characterization, I think reading between the lines of the good, bad, and ugly writing can reveal a really interesting character that's worth picking apart!

SOMEBODY GIVE ME YOUR CHARACTER BREAK DOWNS

I NEED TO LEARNNNN

SOMEONE GIVE ME THEIR ANALYSIS ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WARREN PLEASE

I WANNA LEARN HOW DEEP CHARACTERS GO

If you’ve been desperate to tell someone about a character you’ve dug into

TELL ME

as long as it’s a Marvel Character I’ll listen

And I’ll even take select DC characters but don’t push it.

[tomhiddelstonandzaynmalik]

Love at first sight?

Chapter 7

prologue chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 chapter 4 chapter 5 Chapter 6

Warren Worthington III x reader

Word count: 1259 words.

Warnings: language

"Once upon a time, there was a lonely creature

Mind always shrouded in darkness

Hopeless was he, without a prayer for salvation

Dwelling forever in the abyss [...]".

-The Demon Loved an Angel by Xan Abyss

"fuck,fuck,fuck,fuck,fuck!". "Had I been too forward?". "What if she thought I was a perv?". "You twat, you can't do anything right, can you?".

Warren's inner voice was screaming at him. The tender kiss and quick wink had seemed appropriate at the time for some unknown reason. You see, it wasn't Warren's style to show his affection to others, even more so with people he knew recently.

"Darling, how many times must I tell you: One shall never do any public display of affection, for it must be reserved only for those you are close to in the confinements of one's home." Warren's mom said, kneeling in front of him after his seven-year-old son had rushed to squeeze in a hug a kind waiter who'd managed to sneak one of the leftover chocolate treats before the little kid left the exclusive Gala he'd attended to with his parents. "Even when they give me chocolate truffles?" The little boy said. "Even when they give you chocolate truffles. It is not proper etiquette, Warren". The kid couldn't help the weepy look on his face. He was still too young to understand it. Why couldn't he show his love for the people he liked? Nor the silver lining from his mother's words. "People like us cannot mix with people like them". After all, the Worthingtons were one of the wealthiest families in Europe. They belonged to the elite. For them interacting with the working class was a capital sin.

Even when Warren had left his former life behind years ago, old habits die hard. Like it or not, his family's beliefs had been engraved into his mind, resulting in Warren rejecting any affection altogether that turned him into the most touch-starved man on earth. Whereas it was coming from an older man like Hank, caressing his shoulder in a comforting manner after one of his usual nightmares. Or from his only friend patting his back after he splurged out the sassiest come-back ever. Even when the physical contact had come from an almost stranger like Peter, they were quite an emotional shock, making Warren's mind rewind those interactions on an endless loop.

"[...] But then one glorious afternoon

An angel's light broke through the gloom

They were both far from home

In a land they didn't know

She held out her hand

And asked him to follow [...]".

Perhaps it was the fact you forgave him without a second thought for having almost killed you. It could have also been how you never seemed to disapprove of anything he let out about his past. Maybe it was how your beautiful Y/E/C eyes would sparkle slightly whenever your gazes crossed paths. Another possibility was how talking with you was comfortable it was light and free of judgement, allowing him to open up unconsciously. Or the way you would tilt your head to the side in curiosity when he told you about a particularly delicate subject.

"... And that's how I got stuck with this fucking monstruosities". "What the hell? They're fucking awesome, Angel!". You said, taken aback. "Well, if you say I'm an angel now, you would've lost your shit if you had seen me with my former ones". Yes, his Horseman wings were sleek and imposing but, they were nowhere near that majestic white-feathery pair of wings he used to have. "Angels were supposed to be God's soldiers, you know? I don't know about you, Angel, but these beauties do fit with the description!".

And for the first time, Warren hated them a little less. After all, you had seen beauty into the grimmest-looking part in his body.

Or most definitely, it was all of the above which had made Warren's instinct act on its own, allowing them to come out for you to see them.

"HURRY UP, YOUNG MAN!". Just like before, a shrilling sound followed by Charles's voice inside Warren's head made him twist in pain. He got so lost in himself he couldn't notice he'd been standing in the foyer all along.

It was 11:25 when he entered the professor's office, it hadn't been so late, but for someone like Charles, even 5 minutes past the agreed time was an atrocity. "Don't worry sitting down since you're this late, we only have five minutes before my next appointment". Charles wasn't pleased with Warren's tardiness but tried to remain with the same calmness so distinctive of him. "I'm sorry, I got-". "I know, I know, you got entertained with our new arrival". Charles had cut him off mid-sentence, and after mentioning you, he couldn't help the knowing smile to come up, causing Warren to feel embarrassed.

"I'll go straight to the point. Do you have any plans for yourself, warren?". the question had surprised him. Living on the streets makes you focus your energy on making it through the day. there is no time to think about the future when you don't even know if you'll make it to next week. "Not really". Warren let out. "What would you say about staying here?". "I would say, I was never a fan of homework".

The concept of living at Xavier's was weird. Wasn't it a school? The last time he set foot in a classroom, Warren had been 14. Yes, by then, he was fluent in 7 languages, played multiple instruments to perfection and could recite Shakespeare by memory. But that had been eight years ago. Who knows just how far behind the rest he would be if he started school again. "Don't worry about that, Warren. You do not necessarily need to be a student to live here. There are plenty of other options". He clarified after reading the young man's mind. "Oh yeah? like what?". He asked with an untrusting look. "You can teach music or any of the many languages you know, or train the older students... or perhaps you would like to join our "little club" ". The man was talking about the X-MEN which caused Warren's demons to show up once more. "You are not a hero you dumb bitch! You never were and you will never be".

Charles took notice of Warren's overwhelmed face and said something before it was too late. "Those were only the first things that came up to me. What I'm trying to say is, you have to start to think ahead. You survived the crash for a reason, Warren. Maybe this is life's way of telling you what happened in the past is now gone, that you need to start moving on. We all want you to stay, Warren. Not just to be a passer-by." The Professor was wheeling towards the door where Warren stood doubtful. "Just think about what I said, please." "Now, if you will excuse me. I'm about to ask a young lady the very same thing". With that, The Professor wheeled out headed to the infirmary room.

"That cleaver old man". Warren mutter to himself, amazed by Charles' intellect. He knew if he pulled the right strings, like implying the possibility of you staying at Xavier's, Charles would honestly make him consider the idea of settling down here too.

"[...] They knew they had to return home

But he could not say goodbye

The thought of losing her forever

Ripped through him inside[...]".

And maybe, he wasn't so wrong after all.

[popculturebuffet]

New X-Men Xtrospective Part 2: Germ Free Generation (Annual, #117-120)

Hello all you happy mutants! And welcome back to my look one of my faviorite runs of one of my faviorite super teams by one of my faviorite comic book writers!

For those of you just joining us.. it’s been a while. I did the first instalment of this retrospective back in early January as a present to my friend for christmas, as he had never read E is for Extinctoin and what with this run being vital to the current, utterly brilliant Krakoa era of X-Men. But with both Black History Month and Valentine’s day, February had no real room for this one and march ended up being just as crammed with me doing essentially the entire della arc of ducktales in one month. I didn’t mean for this retrospective to get pushed so far back, but since I gave up doing weekly coverage of Final Space I had some room on the schedule so this retrospective is back with a vengance with two entries this month and hopefully at least one a month afterword to keep it at a decent clip. 

Last time I covered the background of this run and didn’t really find much for the issues after, so I won’t have to spend as much time on background. 

So since i’ts been a few months, a refresher is probably in order

PREVIOUSLY, ON X-MEN:  Our merry mutants enterted a marvelous new era. As Charles redidciated to the dream with new equipment and a new uniforms our hero encounter a new villian: The Mysterious Cassandra Nova, a powerful telepath who used an uwitting patsy from the trask family and a defucnt sentinel factory to slaughter the mutant nation of Genosha, killing 16 million mutants in the most horrific act of genocide against mutants ever known. And the fact there has been more than one genocide against mutant kind MIGHT, just MIGHT be the reason they blackmailed for peace with life saving drugs instead of helping willingly and freely in the current comics. Just maybe. 

Cassandra was captured by the X-Men soon after but escaped and nearly got a hold of Cerebra only to be stopped thanks to a combination of former enemy, genoshan resident at the time of the genocide, and that bitch Emma Frost who snapped her neck and Charles himself who uncharacteristically shot Cassandra in the head. That night Charles took a bold step over that would change the X-Men forever and told the world on live tv:

While all of this was going on we got caught up on the team’s personal struggles, currently consisting of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast and Wolverine with Emma joining as of the issue we’re about to cover. Beast is grappling with a secondary mutation that makes him look like Aslan, the jesus of narnia and all lions. Meanwhile Scott and Jean are grappling with their non existant sex life as Cyclops possesion by Apocalypse shortly before this story has severely rattled him and caused him to close himself off emotionally. 

So that’s where we pick up. Our heroes are now no longer hiden saftely in the shadows from a world that hates and fear them but are out front and center with the world watching. And we’ll see both how that helps their cause and how it puts them directly in the cross hairs under the cut.  Content Warning: This review discusses Transphobia and a scene involving a school shooting. If either of these are a trigger for you or something you do not want to read about  please skip this part of the retrospective for your own well being. Thank you and have a lovely day. 

The Man From Room X:

We have three stories today: an annual that introduces our final team member and the main villians of our next arc, a one off that moves the main plot for the first 12 issues along, and a three part arc about said villains.  Before we get into the Annual, I have to talk about it’s weird gimmick: The issue is entirely sideways. I don’t mean it’s bad though some parts are problematic I mean when bought it’d be on it’s side and in my trade I have to flip the whole thing over on it’s side to read it. It’s just a .. weird choice. Not the weirdest thing about this issue somehow but not unexpected from Grant as they like to play with the formula. 

We open in said Room X, a location in China where a mutant named Xorn is kept and showed off to a mysterious group of dickweeds in suits representing “Mr. Sublime”.  His jailer, General Aao Jun,, shows him off as most bad guys would : By undoing his helmet and thus disntegrating two innocent children just by looking at them. Sublime says they have a deal. 

Meanwhile also in China the X-Men are there for a funeral and Emma and Scott trade insulting questions back in forth: She mocks him about his lack of sex with Jean lately and he brings up her criminal past. As for why Emma’s still with the x-men.. it’s out of pragmatisim. WIth Genosha gone, the x-men are the saftest faction to throw in with. 

As for why the X-Men are in China, Charles has rapidly expanded his operations now he’s public by setting up X-Corps, a multinational humantarian aid organization dedicated to helping mutants in need wherever they sprout up. He’s set up offices in Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Mumbai and Melborne. 

He’s also half assed it, at least for the Hong Kong office and only gave them two employees: Domino, who those of you not as familiar with the comics may remember from deadpool and Risque.. who I honestly had never heard of before New X-Men and frequently forget existed. I just looked her up for the first time and she’s a minor mutant who was an associate of X-Force and Warpath’s love intrest. She could compress matter causing it to implode. My assumption here is that Morrison simply picked a minor mutant at random for the job. 

But yeah naturally with only two mutants charged with, according to domino “All of asia” went horribly and the x-men are there for Risque’s funeral and to find out what happened. Unsuprisingly it’s tied into our cold open: Risque had found evidence of a mutant trafficking operation and died fighting them off and Dom is naturally f eeling in over her head since said operation involves the chinese goverment, who according to her exccute most mutants at birth and John Sublime and his cult. 

We soon see a press confrence from this asshole and find out what his deal is: Sublime is the head of the U-Men, a group that belivies they are a “third species” of mutants trapped in human bodies that deserve to have the surgery to make them into mutants, and thus wear weird suits until the world is pure and allows them to have surgery for it. 

Yeahhhh this.. this is really fucking uncomfortable and is going to be present throughout today’s piece so let’s just go ahead and rip that band-aid off:  The U-Men come off as HIGHLY transphobic. They use terms similar to trans people call themselves trans species and are trapped inside a body they don’t belong in. It’s VERY uncomfortable to read as a result and something that hadn’t really sunk into till thsi reading but once it had.. oh god does this not age well. 

The one thing that keeps this from runing the run and Grant Morrison as a whole for me.. is that I do not think for one second it was intentional. Grant themself is genderqueer, nonbinary and a cross dresser. None of this means they CAN’T be prejudice, being Queer does not magically make you immune to being prejudiced. But before this Grant had the genderqueer sentient street Danny the Street over in doom patrol and a trans main character in his book the invisibles, Lord Fanny. And given New X-Men’s biggest flaw as a whole is clumsy early 2000′s unforutnate implications such as a good chunk of the things about Cyclops affair with Emma, we’ll get to that at the right time, Angel in the next arc and Dust, who was introduced as from afganastan wearing an outfit not seen in the country and speaking a language not spoken in the country. Grant didn’t make these mistakes TWICE, it’s why I still have respect for them, and this won’t be the first or last comic i’ve forgiven for being stupid for it’s time. But I will still call Grant out when I see it. Just because I respect an author just because they changed my life does not mean I won’t call them out when they fuck up. And if they prove to be truly vile, have harmed someone or what have you I will cut them the fuck out of my life. I’ve done it with JK Rowling, Warren Ellis, Brad Jones and Joss Whedon. I would do it with Grant if I truly belivied they were transphobic and instead didn’t just write something very stupid without thinking the metaphor through 20 years ago. 

So anyway back to the comic book bollocks as Wolvie and Dominio prepare for an infiltration and flirt a bunch. We also find out Jun is a mutant himself with a power only Grant could dream up: his skin, hair and what have you that falls off him turns into a naked golem for a bit before expiring. And if you hadn’t read this issue before reading this review, yes that actually happened. While the first arc had a BIT of Grant’s trademark batshit insanity, the series REALLY starts to pick it up from here: This issue has a mutant with functioning star for a head, a poorly thought out bucnh of sci fi new age organ theives, and a general whose power is “makes naked clones out of his dandruff”. Oh and his fondest wish?

I just... I don’t know how to respond to that. I don’t know how you respond to an old man’s weird murder fetish that he tells a somehow even creepier cult leader while said cult leader is paying him to buy a star man, and their both surronded by the creepy old guy’s skin golems that weirdly look like mudokons. Look i’ve  read Grant’s entire utterly bonkers run on doom patrol. I’ve seen a man who looks like a question mark use a bicycle that makes everyone high like their on LSD for president. And THIS is what breaks me. 

So while.. THIS is going on, Dom and Wolverine plan to do it all night long on the professor’s credit card, no really he gives all his professors carte blanch to use school fun, and inflitrate, Dom through the elvator this horrorshow just took place in and Wolvie james bond style. Also I gotta say I REALLY love how Morrison writes Domino. She’s wittiy, entertaining and her power is as awesome as always, super luck if you didn’t know. It’s a real shame he didn’t add her to the team: She wasn’t on any other x-teams, with X-Force having been rebranded into X-Statix by this point. She would’ve been a fun addition to the cast. 

Naturally wolverine is found out.. but that was the entire plan, for him to serve as a distraction then cut his way to domino while she steals something from the vault. As for the rest of the X-Men, Cyclops, Beast and Emma are all downstairs in the parking garage and find a secret entrance. Jean is not on this trip and that’s a major plot point for this run. This is where Risque died.. and it only get’s worse when Hank goes inside, finding a bug like child, basically htink a giant caterpillar but with tons of human arms inttead of legs with her wings cut off. 

Thankfully as Logan and Dom escape above, the U-Men are dumb enough to storm down bellow.. and while they incapacitate beast with some launched tiny knives, designed to incapcicate but leave them in tact for harvest, Emma beats the shit out of them and get the info out as only she can....

Granted she could’ve just turned back to normal and used her telepathy.. but what fun would that be? Plus they have blockers and you know CUT UP A FUCKING CHILD. SO yeah fuck them, let emma have her fun. 

Thanks to her they find out the U-Men are a front for illegal organ harvest, and while they can’t prove sublimes attached Emma suggests killing him.  Good idea but Scott suggests the lighter approach and we find out what Dom stole, a key, something Emma can psychcially scan. She warns it might take her a bit to get something.. only to be flooded instantly and we find out who the man in the box was. Shen Xorn... i’ll let emma tell you more herself. 

It’s stuff like this why, despite some serious flaws like the U-Men debacle and some stuff to come, some I mentioned above other that’s just with the plot that i love this run. Morrison just gets how to really tell an x-men story and the real tragedy of being a mutant. That just for being diffrent, you get shut out, or in this case thrown into a box when you could’ve and should’ve been something more. As emma turns herself to diamond to deal with the psychic backlash, Beast has some solemn words to share. 

That night Scott rests in his bedroom while presumibly hearing some truly horrific and sexy things next door while talking to jean before clocking out.. only for Emma to head in in a sexy dress with champagne. What happened? Well we won’t know for sure for most of the run. 

The next day the U-Men prepare to load and we get some scrap of what the idea was supposed to be: John talks to Ao Jun about his procedures. We see wings crudely sewen to his back and his throat implaants hurting “But one day I will fly”. THe IDEA is their supposed to be lunatics, people who envy mutantkind but don’t actually respect their culture or their sense of personhood. It’s not the worst idea and had Grant not used trans termnology for htis, it would’ve been a great one. I think he INTENDED for them to be coopting the idea of being trans and what not to maks their true intentions.. which is problematic due to debates like the ones on bathrooms where a lot of transphobic asshats make the bad faith argument a bunch of people are going to pretend to be trans to assault people. 

We’re.. we;’re not even to the main storyarc yet. 

But things soon go wrong as Xorn’s starhead starts to collapse into a black hole, with no solution as the x-men took the key to his helmet.. and assault the compound. Turns out the star collapse thing is Jun’s revenge on humanity for lockig him down here and he gets his neck snapped.  Scott has a solution though.. and it’s stuff like this why I fucking love Scott Summers and get annoyed when people call him “boring”: He realizes Xorn is comitting sucicide.. so he’s going to talk him out of it. Not just for everyone else but he deserves to live. And while Emma points out only logan among htem knows chinese and she can’t get through to Xorns’ head due to the way his brain works, Scott has a simple workaround: Use the nearest chineses speaker to teach Scott chinese. So.. with that he talks to Xorn. 

And that my friend is Scott Summers. A man who faced with powerful man whose given up, whose lost all hope... convinces him he can still go on. That living’s better than dying.. and that it does get better. The issue closes with Xorn basking in the sunlight for the first time in decades while Domino sweats having an extremley powerful unknown mutant out in the world. Scott’s already thought of that.. and signed him up with the x-men. Granted it won’t be until our next article that he actually fully joins the team, but w’ell get to that next time. 

This issue is great... while the U-Men stuff is pretty bad and isn’t going to get better, the tale of xorn is excitiong, Aao Jun is an intresting antagonist and the sideways gimmick suprisingly works. So now we’ve finshed our apitizer let’s get on to the main course. 

Danger Rooms:

We open in well.. the Danger Room with Beast training a new student. 

This is Beak. Beak is my faviorite character Morrison came up with and one of my faviorite X-Characters. Beak is a bird like boy who can fly, it’s just a struggle and due to looking diffrent and not having the most impressive power has very low self esteem. It’s also part of something Morrison took a concerted effort to do: introduce more mutants with genuinely odd apperances and drawbacks. Like we saw with Ugly John last time and Aao Jun in the previous issue, Morriosn really likes adding weird mutants but he also uses it to give a genuine downside to being one. While this isn’t NEW to x-men, Morriosn upped the scale and number of characters like this with weird powers and apperances. We see a bunch of human passing ones too but the backgrounds just jammed with all sorts of unique designs and students. It’s also the point where the school became far more crowded like the movies, a good call on my part both to help those coming in from the movies, and to help sell the mutant baby boom going on. After all it wouldn’t make sense if the school was just about 5-7 students and a bunch of grown adults doing superhero stuff like usual would it.

But we get to see that Hank is a good teacher, as he reminds the boy that he’s getting better and won’t be an x-man overnight, and worries about him to the professor, wanting the boy not to slip through the cracks, figuratively, and not to feel like an outcast.. especaily here. But Hank dosen’t feel blue for long, metaphorically he was blue long before he became the lion minus the witch and the wardrobe, as he has a date to night.. and so does Charles. 

Or rather he did.. his girlfriend trish, a long time love intrest of his and a reporter.. breaks up with him. Over voice mail. While in washington. And the reasons she gives are not great

Yes Hank’s transformation is radical.. but not only was it not his choice... she’s being a coward, sending the message it’s okay to dump someone because hteir a mutant or because they happen tobe diffrent and that efffects your career. Again it’s moments like this that make the run soar over the more awkward bits. 

Meanwhile Logan’s off doing logan stuff, i.e. gazing at a deer. Wow. Jean followed him. Both notice a space ship: Despite recently outing himself as a mutant, leading to an increased number of students and a bunch of rioting morons at the gates, Charles has decided NOW’S a good time to take a vacation to the Shiar empire. As for why Jean’s really out here, her marriage to Scott isn’t doing so good and while Logan encourages her to stay it’s just not that simple: Her telekenisis is coming back, stronger than ever. She feels the most alive she’s been while he’s shutting her out and feeling his deadest. She tries to turn to logan for comfort but he shuts her down. Just wait two decades jean... he’ll open up to a threesome. In all seriousness though having Jean try and come onto Logan .. will backfire slightly on later storylines. But we’ll get to that eventually. 

In the basement Hank is studying Cassandra or rather a virtual version of her since her body is naturally in storage. And he’s found out something disturbing: She’s Charles Genetic Twin.. oh and it gets way worse. The Professor’s weird behavior? Barely staffing the hong kong office, leaving suddenly with rioters t the gates, outing himself? About that...

Cassandra tourtures Hank with the possiblity he’s devovling and then tries to mind controlli him into cleaning himself with his diploma when Beak enters. The good news is this allows hank to shake off her control and tackle her, showing off why hank mccoy is fucking awesome in the process. 

That is the Hank McCoy I know, love.. and miss dearly. The one we’ll probably never get back sadly after what others did and what Percy’s had to do to reconclie with all they did. 

Unfortunately beak being around means cassandra can force him to beat beast into a coma with his bat. She plans to tear Charles dream down around him and make him watch.. and cryptically says he tried to kill her. She then cheerfully leaves Jean in charge.. and talks about just how much damage one could do with an entire interstellar empire in the wrong hands....

This issue is also excellent and sets up the next two arcs nicely while giving us a nice peak in hank’s head. Great stuff. The artist also hid the word sex in a lot of the images see if you can find them. 

Germ Free Generation Issue 1: 

So now we get into our main story for today. This story and the one before it were drawn by Ethan Van Sciver whose a talented artist.. but also highly contrversial for being a conservative. I myself.. don’t know what he’s said or did, though calling himself “Canceld Superstar’ on twitter really isn’t a good sign. So I really can’t comment on it but I also know someone would mention it if I didn’t bring it up and if you know what he did please enlighten me. 

So we open with a school shooter who also scooped out a guys eyes and is part of the U-Men. He get shot by the swat team while making his speech> it’s an effective opening but one that’s become more uncomfortable to read with each passing day due to school shootings going up and up in number. And mass shootings in general and I... I need a second. I need something to relax me

Thank you Stoopy. Your doing Odd’s Work. 

So the news reports on this and we soon see how Jean watches the news.. by using Cerebra to read the minds of every person on the planet. Neat. Everyone’s talking about them. We also get a hint for later as we hear on the suicide of one martha johanson who wrote the note in her own blood. She’ll be important later.... and I mean that both in the context of this retrospective and for the fact she’ll go on to be part of x-men in perpetuity. 

This is also where another great concept of Morrison’s pops up: Mutant culture. After all mutants are a minority, they should have their own culture. It’s something Hickman’s era has taken and ran with, but it’s a damn good idea and one that it shoudln’t of taken almost 20 years for someone else to use given Decimation was undone way back around 2012 in Avengers Vs X-Men, aka that event half hte articles on the mcu around the fox sale used as either their image for the article or asked about happneing. And yes that is a pet peeve of mine: while I do think like Civil War AVX could use a movie version to make it better, I don’t think it’s an event that could be done right away and would have to be almost entirely redone anyway given the context for AvX is entirely couched in decimation i.e. something NO ONE wants in any x-adaptation. 

So it turns out while watching the news in a next level way Jean is also talking to Logan. “Stay out of my personal fantasies”. Yeah I .. I don’t think your ready for a hairy canadian dry humping a transformer.. specifically killbison. And yes.. that is an actual transformer and why yes, I have been waiting to bring him up. 

And he is , and I am not making any of this up, part of a group of decpticons known as the breastforce. Your life is better for knowing that and you are welcome. 

Anyway as you’d imagine a genocidal old woman in her brothers’ body leaving the X-Men to fend for themselves after having a teenager bludgeon one into a coma after publicly outing them with a rabid bunch of bigoted morons at the gates has not gone great. Henry is still out and despite the short staffing Jean needs logan to stay where he is as he’s close to an emerging mutant and within range to go get her. 

Emma of course has never been so fucking irate in her whole life and is plotting various forms of psychic tourture with the help of her proteges the Stepford Cucokoo, 5 teenage mutants who functoin best as a unit and are easily some of MOrrison’s most prominent additions to the x-cast. Unlike a lot of the x-kids, they’ve been featured prominently in every era of x-men after this including the current one. 

Jean decides for a less “Make them hate us even more” approach, but no less pissed off, opening the gates and going out directly to chew out the assembled bigoted morons, pointing out the ones carrying “Mutants Go Home!” signs are especailly dumb as this IS her home. And while she dosen’t point this part out, it’ the same for all of them: most of the mutants are either adults who choose to live here, teenagers who along with their parents choose to live here, or in the majority teens who have no where else to go due to either being abandoned by their families or it being way to dangerous for said families for them to stay due to bigoted assholes like the ones holding mutants go home signs. 

A member of the press asks if she’s willing to talk to the media and she refutes most of his bullshit allegations: He asks if their building an army, she and Scott respond they are not and are simply educating mutants and protecting them. When he counters with the fact their living weapons and wearing uniforms... she counters with the fact she’s wearing them to protect herself, rightfully, from people like her, and the x-men are an aid orginzation going where needed to protect the world and while asshole points out no one apointed them.. jean shuts him down by pointing out there are no mutants in goverment and a genocide just happened, so someone has to do the job. Another random asshole tries to pipe up with “Genosha declared war on us” and Emma senses this is just going to go round and round and round and simply presses the assembled mob’s “bliss buttons” in their brains to knock them out. Non violent but honestly warranted: A dangerous part of bigoted assholes is they’l bring up racist bullshit to try and couch it like an actual conversation. None of these complaints really hold water if you looked at the x-men’s history for more than 5 minutes. Yes Charles is training them to fight and yes hte ingial class was an army but every class since has only been trained for self defense: they still got into adventures and what not, but it was usually by their own choice or because they were thrust into them by circumstance. Xaviers is exactly what jean said and endudgling these morons, while good on paper, only makes them seem legit. 

Jean retreats to the infirmary where she’s on the verge of breaking down from the sheer weight of everything. Cyclops proves that despite not being the best husband right now... he still loves his wife, offering to go look into Sublime with Emma and hoping Hank wakes up. Turns out his mind for now is a big blank room.

So she can’t get any info off his skull, and neither of the two think what happened with Beak adds up. Something is up here. Their also coming down with colds which will be important later. And just as important.. Magneto is becoming a symbol among people and merch sales with his image are on the rise.  We then get this. 

So Jean is trying to be a supportive, honest wife, and while the questions incredibly insulting.. his answer is equally so. Spoilers, as mentioned we do get an answer long after this.. and they did not. So Jean is wrong to be suspcious, at this point, but is at least trying to be polite about it and gave him the benifit of the doubt.. and Scott basically said he slept with her without actually saying it despite not having to. You could’ve said “no we did not have sex, we simply talked all night”. It’s not ENTIRELY better given the horrible state of their relationship right now, but it’s still better than HEAVILY implying he rocked her body to the break of dawn for no damn reason. 

So we meet our next major addition to the cast Angel Salvador, an abused teen who is a mutant.. and whose abusive and molesting step dad beats her and throws her out over this. The scene’s a bit overdone, coming off like an after school special.. but it’s what happens AFTER that’s truly heartwrenching. 

A poor scared teenager clutching herself, finding herself homeless alone and desperatly wishing she wasn’t what she was. It’s just a striking image and shows how well Grant uses the mutant metaphor. I could easily see myself in that position had my parents not been good peopl and had I come out far sooner as bi. The idea of desperatly hoping your not what you are simply becaus eof what hell it brings, despite all the joy it can bring too. . it’s heartbreaking to hear. 

Naturally though things don’t get much better as the next morning the U-Men have found her, calling her a freak and successfully kidnapping her.. if only because while she uses acid spit to escape, she flies into a power line. 

We then get Sublimes meeting with Emma and Scott and a BETTER use of teh u-men as while Grant made the horrible mistake of calling them “transpecies”, seriously what the fuck were you thinking, the way sublime frames it here is a MUCH better, much less accidently bigoted concept. 

The idea isn’t bad: A group of humans jealous of the mutants powers, blatantly ignoring the horrible downsides and mountain of persecution that comes with being one. Grant just made the mistake of couching in in Trans metaphors, clearly trying to have the U-Men steal from Trans People too as a way to make themselves seem legit. And I say if you want superpowers.. fine.. wanting to be a superhero or a mutant is fine, the issue with the U-Men is their copoting a culture, trying to be part of mutantkind without having any of the drawbacks and by actively butchering them. It’s why the concept HAS shown up elsewhere; it’s not TERRIBLE, Grant just made a bad creative choice that’s only gotten worse as Transphobia has ramped up further and further. 

Sublime denies it when our heroes bring up Hong Kong.. but naturally he’s simply just keeping them talking long enough to bring out his trump cards, an army of u-men and a brain in a jar he uses to incapacitate them.. and announces his plan to use the school as an organ farm for his third species. 

Meanwhile Logan finds the U-Men in their truck preparing to rip angel apart.. and given he snikit’s soon after.. i’ts very clear whose REALLY about to get ripped apart. 

Germ Free Generation Part 2: 

Part two begins wth Sublime monologoging about how Mutantkind are just cattle to them and reveals the brain is martha’s, her sucicide having been faked and her brain currently being controlled to use as a weapon. 

So while Johnny monlogues we find out what happened with Wolverine last issue he didn’t cut up the guys yet as they fired their little flichete guns at him... it was about as useful and effective as you’d expect and the massacre you were expecting occurs. Though in a nice bit of reality the fact wolverine’s soaked in blood and just killed a bunch of blood shockingly does not make the already frighttend teen feel he’s safe and she spits acid on him. Logan pours some stuff on the acid, figuring rightly a black ops murder farmacy would have something to counteract it and tells her she’s safe now .. and tells the guy behind him not to try it. He’s stupid and does anyway and likely gets a claw to the head off panel. 

They go to a diner to eat and find a local asshole who threatens them with a shot gun to leave once angel uses her power to digest and goes on a rant about how he snapped his own son’s neck to prevent him being born a freak. Just.. fucking hell this arc is not good for my depression. We get some more angst from Angel and whiel her dialouge is not the best, i’ts a too bit mark millar flavored edgelordy for my taste and if I wanted that i’d go read Ultimates or Ultimate X-Me, her pain is real and Logan helps her through it. 

Back at the Mansion the U-Men are on their way to strike, whlie Jean unaware continues to buckle under the weight of all the shit she’s had to deal with, feeling SOMETHING is making them weak with the colds and something worse is going on and thus tries going to Beak’s mind instead and gently helps talk him through it, showing her grace and empathy.. and in return finding out Charles was the one responsible. The alarms flair up and Jean tries calling the police now that’s an option.. but it goes exactly how you’d expect. 

Also a second artist took over for this issue and the next Igor Kordey. He’s fine, but not nearly as good as Quitely or Van Sciver and it shows. Meanwhile Beast awakens and heads for the body drawer with Cassandra’s body, and professor’s mind in it. 

However Jean’s finally had enough and got her second wind. She’s outgunned, outmanned and left to her own devices. And she’s fucking fed up with it. She steels herself and assembles the students. This is obviously a last resort.. but some of them can defend themselves and their going to need to. But today they won’t be learning.. they’ll be teaching and as the U-Men call them defensless Jeans simply asks “Are you sure about that?”

Germ Free Generation Part 3:

So we come to the finale of this arc. Angel is once again an ungreatful brat to logan and he opts to just leave her there if sh’es going to be like that pointing out being a mutant sucks, it’s going to keep sucking.. and she needs to deal with it instead of lashing out at him and herself over it. 

We get back to the U-Men, one of whom is utterly flabergasted they want to him to cut of Cyclops head... only for Emma to awaken.. and take back her regular form meaning she has her telepathy back. The only reason they were able to get her ealier is she was in diamond mode which is stronger but lacks that, a nice way to check and ballance her new powers. She quickly takes them out and disables Martha. 

Back at the school we get one of Jean’s definting moments for me and a true chance to show how badass she can be. Before this while Morrison wrote her well, and his version’s still my favoirite, she didn’t really get to do much and was motly in the background. This arc has been her time in the limelight, having trouble grappling with all the stress of running this place by herself.. and emerging from it stronger, more capable and ready to kick some racist weirdo ass. She tries a few diffrent tactics first, having a mutant with a voice power project it to make them think their san invisible army and having the cuckoos fuck with their heads but when both fail, Jean REALLY gets to show off. Thier blade ammo gets turned into a cool looking 3 dimensioinal shape with her telekneisis, and in a cool moment and a wise use of something gross makes the only one of them with useable powers throw up, before issuing a badass boast, wreathed in flames all while she crumples their guns into uselessness. and tears open their suits. 

Bad ass.. and logan and Angel arrive just in time for the cecendo as hte u-men flee in terror

The Phoenix has been Reborn. Jean Grey has risen from the ashes and returned to full power. 

Meanwhile Sublime is pankcing.. and it gets worse when Emma shows up, fully enraged after all of this and has some words for him. 

Iconic. Emma prepares to drop him out of a building but Scott rightly tries to get her to back off, pointing out the pr nightmare it’d create and the fact that they have enough evidence ot shut him down. Martha however has other ideas and gets him to let go of his own accord, falling to his death.. but given he’d aranged a stunt for the press apparently this gives our heroes deniability and Martha her revenge. 

So we end this three parter as Jean revels in her new power, and Beast returns with an announcment:

Final Thoughts for Germ Free Generation:  This arc is pretty good if forgetable. The struggle of Jean to run the school herself and her rising from the ashes of her own pain at the end with the power of the phoenix at the end is fantastic, finally both giving her a chance to shine.. and a worrying sign for her friends given what her phoenix force copy whose memories she has a copy of, long story, did is awesome. The other parts are okay and ehhhhhhhhh though. Scott and Emma’s investigation into the u-men while having a really good climax, is pretty standard x-men stuff, and Wolverin’es trek with angel is just okay with Angel being highly intolerable during this arc, with Morrison trying a bit TOO hard to make her a “realistic” teen instead coming off as horribly unplesant. She’s supposed to just be lashing out but comes off obnxious as a result. That said this arc does furhter a lot of Morrisons best idea and introduce more, and is a great setup for our next arc, which we’ll get to in two weeks. Soooo

Next Time On X-Men: We find out just what the hell Cassandra Nova is, what her plans are, and what happened with her and charles as our heroes come down with a cold as the might of the shiar empire bears down on them. It’s IMperial in two weeks. 

Next Time ON This BLog: Speaking of long Delayed Projects, I finally return to The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck as a young Scrooge starts his prospecting career, learning the ins and outs from a rich new mentor, and finding the price tag striking it rich comes with. Raid a copper hill with me tommorow. 

If you liked this review, subscirbe for more, join my patreon, and if there’s a comic you’d like me to cover suggest it in the comments or outright comission a review from me via ask. See you at the next rainbow

[bigskydreaming]

thehollowprince said: And I also stand by the opinion that they could have just done a solo run of the O5 X-Men starting a new timeline with the information they got from the future.

thehollowprince said: Its not like Marvel doesn’t constantly do AUs and retcons

OMG Josh you have no idea how bad I wanted this. They could’ve done SO MUCH with that concept. Letting the 05 keep their foreknowledge and the world they could have created with that?

They could’ve averted the initial Krakoan mission and saved Darwin, Gabe, Petra and Sway in the first place. They could have all been X-Men from their Day One, Scott and Alex would have actually gotten to KNOW their brother and Gabe quite possibly would never have gone full Dark Side despite the writers apparently now seeming obsessed with the idea there’s just something innately bad within Gabe that’s always destined to bear fruit at some point, ugh, whatever, like who do you think you are, Kant?

They could’ve recruited the Giant Size X-Men lineup earlier, and saved John Proudstar, who side by side with his brother Jamie, are a force to be reckoned with. 

They could have convinced Pietro and Wanda to join them instead of the Avengers and been like no but seriously that way lies nothing but shitty storylines and bad decisions that will be blamed on you by your teammates despite the fact that any and all of the bad decisions that were ACTUALLY yours could have been averted if any of your teammates were capable of functioning as an actual support system. Come join us. We have actual support systems, except for the times when we don’t, but we recruited Deadpool to break the fourth wall and he and Logan are currently cutting through the ranks of every writer who would write as hating and fighting each other instead of being a loving fucking family goddammit.

Jean could have faced the Phoenix head-on when the time for that came, using her knowledge of the future not to fear an inevitable death, but rather to know she had nothing TO fear, that the power to not control this force, but just be ONE with it, with no NEED to control it or be controlled by it, a symbiotic union, two beings in harmony deciding on courses of action together. The Phoenix’s innate powers and prerogative of rebirth and destruction tempered by Jean’s mercy, aimed and focused by Jean’s reason, the double-edged sword that is fire capable of warming homes or destroying them completely combined with Jean’s conscience guiding it to use its power for the former rather than the latter.

They could have stopped the Legacy Virus from getting out and killing millions as well as spared us from migraines induced by an AIDS metaphor so shitty at being a metaphor most people forget it was literally written to be an AIDS metaphor.

The body swap would never have happened and Kwannon could have joined the X-Men as a full member from the time she was introduced, rather than dragged along in the wake of Betsy’s tangled storylines for a couple decades.

They could have stopped Fitzroy from killing the Hellions. Hell, if they train Illyana early enough and have her mentored by Wanda who is perfectly fucking competent when left to her own devices, then like, maybe they can even take a jaunt to the future to save Fitzroy from dying in the first place and being resurrected with no soul. Not gonna lie, ever since then I’ve kinda been seriously interested in what the hell would a hero version of Trevor freaking Fitzroy even BE like, y’know? Call it morbid fascination, but like. I kinda want it, guys. LOL.

Add to that note, they could have taken another jaunt to the future and rescued Rachel from being made into a Hound by Ahab. Through the power of some convoluted plot tangle I just made up for convenience, Scott still ends up in a relationship with Maddy briefly, in one of those self-fulfilling prophecy type things where he went into it with the full intention of just averting the future and saving Maddy from her fate as the Goblyn Queen, but somehow ended up in a love triangle with a very alive Jean and Maddy who is fully informed of Sinister’s shenanigans and quite displeased with that asshole, and look, I don’t know how all of this goes exactly, but let’s cut to the chase, my only real endgame with this is making sure that Nate’s born properly, saved from Apocalypse and the techno-virus by the combined efforts of Scott, Maddy and Jean as well as Uncles Warren, Bobby and Hank, and Jean calls up the Phoenix through some psychic bond or whatever and is like hey girl, can I hit you up for a loan real quick? Got some losers that need toasting. 

And in this AU the Phoenix totally has her back, and one brief cosmic power-up and gratuitous Sailor Moon transformation later, Jean glows and intones some epic one-liners with appropriate gravitas, and then just punts both Apocalypse and Sinister to the far side of the universe, never to be seen or heard from again. They like, hit a black hole on the way there I guess. It was very sad. Violin strings may commence with the requiem. Okay that’s enough, they can stop now.

So then through the plot contrivances of fuck you, I said so, Scott and Maddy ultimately part amicably and Scott and Jean get back together and the three of them civilly co-parent both baby Nate and Rachel, as Maddy keeps the healing powers she gained as Anodine and stays with the X-Men for her own reasons.

The telepaths are all better trained by the expertise Jean gained in her powers while in the future, so the next time the Shadow King comes bumming around looking to cause chaos, Betsy, Emma and Jean just look at each other and laugh and say nuh-uh before psychically squishing him into a marble.

Warren never becomes Archangel. Onslaught isn’t a thing. They make nice with Magneto and say okay you may have a couple points, let’s discuss. Bishop arrives in the past for reasons totally unrelated to his original story, has no traitor to seek out among the X-Men, and thus he and Gambit end up besties in complete defiance of that stupid fucking story and because I just think they’re neat together. Yes I said neat. Gambit and Bishop are just neat. Deal with it. 

Bishop still hates that Fitzroy guy though, he’s like, I don’t even know what it is about that guy, he just rubs me the wrong way, even though Fitzroy is not evil here and has always done good with his powers, which are channeled through a device Forge made him that lets him just absorb life force from a wide range around him, spread out and diluted enough that its like, the grass feels weird for a second, like whoa what even was that, and then its over. Actually, y’know what, scratch that. Fitzroy’s powers are stupid and unnecessary the way they are now anyway, so fuck it, this Fitzroy doesn’t need life force or whatever, he’s just a dude who makes time portals. He’s like Illyana with green hair and that ugly goatee. Hey I said this Fitzroy was non-evil, not that he was perfect.

Bobby’s out and proud since he was sixteen, and with actual competence and proficiency with his powers, which make him a Literal Unkillable Gay Icon, he’s an inspiration to LGBTQ+ teens everywhere and inspires other gay, bi and trans heroes to come out. He’s a big brother figure to all the baby gays that later join the X-Men, like, Rictor comes to him for advice back during the time equivalent to early X-Factor, when Rictor’s a trying-too-hard sixteen year old who thought college age Bobby was like the coolest, which is valid, because X-Factor Bobby was like A+ Bobby characterization and deserves more reads. 

So Rictor comes out earlier as well, and by the time they even meet Shatterstar, instead of a slow burn friends to roommates to lovers scenario, Rictor takes one look at the love of his life and wastes no time coming out swinging with an absolutely terrible pick up line. Look, I said his big brother figure Bobby was out and proud in this AU, not that he magically had a better sense of humor. Some things just don’t change, y’know? Luckily, Shatterstar is a weirdo, and thus he finds terrible pick-up lines charming. At least when its Rictor saying them. They walk off for a first date, already practically hand in hand, voices fading into the distance as Rictor asks “By the way, have you met Dazzler yet? According to Bobby, apparently she’s your mom. That Longshot dude with the mullet over there is your dad I guess. We should go say hi.”

Hank gets an assistant hand-picked by the rest of the original X-Men, and who has one job and one job only. To follow him around and observe all his experiments, and he has veto power over experiments that People With IQs As High As Yours Should Know Better But I Guess You’ve Got Reed Richards Syndrome.

Hank’s like, “Hmm, if I built a time machine I could go back to the Jurassic Period and observe whether my theory of - “

Hank’s assistant: “Veto.”

“Damn. Okay I was also thinking of making a deep space communicator that can reach into the farthest reaches of space beyond any known civilization and just say hi, y’know? See if anyone’s out there.”

“Veto.”

“If I combine these genetically modified antibodies here with this strain of of DNA from - “

“Veto.”

“Well Forge built this device that does this to mutant powers but I think I can make it do - “

“Veto.”

“These nanobots I - “

“VETO,”

“Honestly, at this point I think you’re just saying that just because you like saying it.”

“Dr. McCoy, I promise you, I’m really, really not.”

Logan finds out about his future clan of stabby children, and seeks them out. He rescues Daken from Romulus, somebody stabs that loser with the immortal-killing sword, I don’t even care who, and after a few tense months of Logan trying too hard, he and Daken eventually bond over how hockey just isn’t violent enough. If you’re going to make a sport all about hitting each other, just really go for it or don’t even bother, y’know? Logan claps him on the shoulder and sniffs. That’s my boy. Then they find and rescue Laura and Gabby and take a road trip to Earth 1610 to pick up Jimmy. They have a house on campus, and new students walking by it are used to hearing loud growling and even howls. They were assured during orientation that that’s nothing to worry about, it just means the House of Snikt are watching a game and are rooting for opposing sides. 

Emma’s recruited practically the day they get back. She’s only just started at the Hellfire Club and has only done a tiny bit of Evil when Warren schedules an appointment with her, and then he, Scott and Jean make a better pitch than Shaw and his ilk could ever match. They’ve been to the future. Come join with us and we’ll give you an all access pass to memories detailing exactly what’s going to happen in these particular areas and many more. All you have to do is ask. Oh and also please don’t seduce any married teammates. Its bad form. To be honest, I don’t think it’ll be an issue because Deadpool assures us Morrison has been taken care of, and don’t worry if that makes no sense to you, its a head-scratcher for us to. Just roll with it. 

Nate ages normally here so its not like he ends up besties with forty year old Wade, but the latter having his own plot-contrived knowledge of the future because He’s Just Like That, decides that he won’t be denied at least SOME kind of bond with The Bestie That Wasn’t. He becomes Nate’s official babysitter. Well, not official, seeing as how Scott, Jean and Maddy don’t hire him and are very clear that their son is not to be left alone with this man at any time, he is a terrible influence and he keeps giving our kid guns. But then Wade just shows up anytime they’re out because he just has a sixth sense for Making Trouble, and he terrifies away whatever babysitter’s there and greets the returning and exasperated parents with a cheery wave. 

“I know what you’re going to say, but don’t worry, we didn’t do anything dangerous or against the law. All we did today was I taught him to make bombs, but we were very careful, we wore safety goggles and really, they were very little bombs. Not even anything atomic. I honestly don’t think any of them could have even blown up this whole house, and I’ve been meaning to say, I’m not impressed with the structural integrity of this place. Couldn’t you have picked something with a sturdier foundation? Its like you don’t even expect random space mercenaries to attack your place out of the blue every other month. Have any of you even read a single issue of your own comics?”

Scott’s jaw twitches Ominously. Wade starts gathering up his things. Jean rubs her forehead wearily.

“Wade, what do you even think ‘dangerous’ means?”

Wade pauses and cocks his head. Gives it a solid twenty seconds of thought. Then he shrugs. 

“I don’t know actually. Don’t think I’ve ever really thought about it. I always figured it was just one of those things people just say. Like, ‘oh, it looks like rain today,’ even if they’re not a forecaster and have no real meteorological credentials to speak of. ‘Oh, this mission will be dangerous,’ and I don’t even have to use up all my ammo and I only get shot twice. Y’know?”

“Leave,” Scott says. More like intones. House shakes a little bit but that might just be Wade’s imagination. Its very active.

“Leaving!” He says hastily. He jumps through the closed window and then teleports away amid the falling shower of broken glass. Why didn’t he do that while he was still inside the room? No one knows. Not even Wade knows. Why did the chicken cross the road? Who the fuck cares, now is it Original Recipe or Crispy?

Scott, Jean and Maddy search the house while Nate angelically claims they won’t find anything, Wade doesn’t even bring him cool stuff anymore cuz he knows you’ll just take it.

Maddy finds a high-tech laser space gun under a floorboard in the closet. She holds it up with one eyebrow raised pointedly. Scott and Jean flank her and their own eyebrows raise in solidarity. Well Jean’s does. Scott’s probably does but its hard to tell sometimes. Depends on what glasses or visor he’s wearing.

“That was already there,” Nate tries. Most powerful telepath and telekinetic in the world, but the kid can’t lie for shit. There’s not much point in trying when one of your moms is the freaking Phoenix, and that’s a skill that takes practice he just doesn’t have. 

The three sets of parental eyebrows make a V, judgingly.

“One month of no video games or TV?” Okay, so terrible liar but quick on his feet. At least he knows when he’s beat and jumps straight to trying to shape his own punishment proactively.

“Two months. And no flying lessons either,” Jean says. “And don’t pout at me, young man. You know the rules. No weapons inside the house unless your grandpa Corsair is visitng and we’re too tired to fight him on keeping knives under his pillow. This is a Do As We Say, Not As We Do house. Deal with it. Now, this is going with the others and you can have it back when you’re eighteen.”

It would have been three months, but Jean and Maddy caught a telepathic sniff from Scott. He’s just so proud of his kid thinking so tactically. He’s growing up so fast. Both women mentally roll their eyes. Why is he like this.

“I don’t see what the big deal is anyway,” Nate sulks. “Its just a stupid laser gun. I mean, Uncle Gabe blew up our last house with his brain.” 

“Yes and it was an accident and he feels absolutely terrible about that which is why we’re not going to bring it up when he and Armando come visit this weekend, right?”

“You can have my full compliance for two weeks off my sentence.”

“Or we can have your full compliance or two weeks will be added to your sentence,” Maddy says.

“You guys suck,” declares the ten year old vessel of near unlimited psychic might. He goes to his room, stomping all the way up the stairs so his grievances can be heard even by the House of Snikt next door. Course, they’ve already been listening to the whole thing with their enhanced hearing. There was nothing good on TV. Jimmy made popcorn and chewed with his mouth open just to piss off Daken. 

‘The second Father leaves the room, I am going to stab you in such a slow healing place you’ll still be bleeding at bed time.’ Daken mouths at his little brother from another universe. Jimmy scrunches his face in confusion. 

‘What?’ He mouths back. He’s terrible at reading lips. Or anything that isn’t skateboarding, really. And yet Father’s so happy that ‘at least one of my kids is content with stupid normal stuff and doesn’t go around drawing cover fire just because a mission is going so well its boring and they haven’t even gotten to pop their claws out yet.’

“That’s only because you’ve coddled him. He’s barely ever even been shot at. Just the one time on vacation in Majipoor and he wasn’t even the target, the assassin was aiming for me. If you would just let me take him on a proper outing to gain some real experience - “

“Not gonna happen.” Logan shuts that down real quick.

“Really Father, just look at him. He has zero situational awareness. I’ve been glaring a hole in the back of his head for a full minute now and he has no idea. That could just as easily be an actual laser scope, you know. He’s a disgrace to the whole family.”

“Daken, we’ve been over this,” Logan says firmly. “You have your sisters to bond with over gratuitous violence. Leave your brother alone. I don’t want anyone traumatizing him until trauma finds him all on its own. It’ll happen sooner or later, he’s as much a part of this family as anyone and that means its as good as done already, so there’s no need to hurry it along. If later on he decides he’s got a taste for it, you can take him on all the outings to get shot at that you want. But he’s gotta figure it out for himself first, and he doesn’t need his big brother being the one who introduces him to all that. He idolizes you, you know.”

Daken scoffs. He can’t even get the brat to chew with his mouth closed.

“He cut his hair from that style he liked so much, just because you hated it so much,” Logan says obliviously. Daken nods like he’s conceding the argument and hastens from the room while he can still keep his mouth shut. It won’t benefit anyone at this point to tell their father that Jimmy really only cut his hair because Daken told him he would set it on fire if he didn’t. 

Ugh, families are the worst. Don’t even get him started on Laura stealing some of his clothes to wear without asking. And then has the gall to yell back at him when he yells “Silk! Its the finest cut of silk! Does that mean nothing to you?” at her.

“Oh get over it. Its not like I asked for killer robots to interrupt my date.”

“Of course they were going to interrupt your date with that Julian boy. I keep telling you, he’s a magnet for trouble. I can tell. I’m one too, remember?”

“Fine, whatever, you’re right and I should just expect every date with Julian from now until the end of time to end with fire and disaster.”

“Well now you’re being melodramatic. There’s no way that boy makes it past twenty five. He doesn’t even have a healing factor.”

“Why do you hate him so much anyway? If you’d just give him a chance - “

“What are you talking about? I give him a chance every single time he’s here and I don’t kill him.”

“Ugh, I can’t even talk to you when you’re like this. You always do this, you just decide on something and then you commit to that like the fate of the world depends on you standing firm on what’s usually a completely arbitrary decision in the first place!”

Daken sniffs. “I can assure you, there’s absolutely nothing arbitrary about my disdain for the Keller boy.”

“His name is Julian,” Laura enunciates with a glare.

“I don’t care,” Daken enunciates with an expression of lofty superiority.

“You two are so dumb,” Gabby says from the end of the hallway. They both turn identical glares on her. They’d noticed her arrive several minutes ago but they weren’t about to be distracted from their battle of wills. “Laura, you know Daken isn’t actually going to kill Julian. He doesn’t do that anymore except for really bad people sometimes and he just talks about stabbing people or killing them cuz he thinks he’s funny and then he gets all pissy because nobody ever gets that he doesn’t really mean it. He doesn’t even hate Julian and he used to be fine with him before he started dating you, its just he doesn’t think he’s good enough for you.”

Daken frowns at the petite would-be peacemaker. Meddlesome toddler. “What are you even babbling about? None of that is remotely true.”

Gabby rolls her eyes up at her brother from her much lower height. She taps the side of her nose with emphasis. “You do know we all have the same abilities to smell and analyze scents as you do, right? And you know everything you can tell from peoples’ scent, right? Of course I’m right, I can smell it as clear as anything and so can Jimmy and Dad and we actually all know this and talk about it all the time, and its why Dad never actually gets mad at you for talking about killing people because he can smell you’re saying it just cuz you’re used to saying it but really you’re too marshmallowy on the inside now to do half the stuff you claim you’re gonna do. Hate to break it to you bro, but you’re a closet softie and you’ve been made. The nose doesn’t lie. Only reason Laura doesn’t know it is because you piss her off like its your favorite hobby and its probably impossible for her to smell anything beyond her own scent of Royally Pissed Off.”

Ugh. Meddlesome insightful toddler. Who asked for her intervention anyway? Daken crosses his arms in a way that’s decidedly aloof and not at all sulking.

Laura’s staring at their sister assessingly. “That’s really what you think is going on? And Jimmy and Dad think so too? You’re not just saying all that?”

Gabby bats her eyes up at them. “Would I lie to you?”

“Yes,” Laura says without missing a beat.

“Without a shadow of a doubt,” Daken says dryly, right on her heels.

“For the sake of a candy bar,” Laura adds, because that really did happen.

“Or just boredom, because god forbid you pick up another hobby that isn’t just Chaos.”

“This from the guy who only has fun when there’s blood and bullets flying about,” Gabby fires back from a position of petite petulance.

Daken smirks down at her. “Didn’t you just say I don’t really mean it when I say all of that?”

Gabby narrows her eyes. “Touché. My own words thrown back at me. I am undone.”

“Yes, well - “

Daken’s cut off as Jimmy chooses that moment to walk past them down the hallway to the bathroom. He’s laughing and shaking his head.

“You guys are both so dumb. She plays you like this all the time, and you never see it.”

“Silence, mortal!” Gabby thunders at their brother menacingly. The effect is somewhat diminished by the fact that she can’t hit a baritone note to save her life.

“No, I’m interested in hearing what he has to say,” Daken says coolly. “For once. This is a moment without precedent and one unlikely to occur again, so let’s explore it a bit.”

Jimmy sighs and shakes his head without ever losing that amused smirk. “Had to tack on that last part, didn’t you. Just couldn’t help yourself.”

“I am a faithful student of the Truth,” Daken says, matching his brother smirk for smirk.

“The point, Jimmy?” Laura prods aggressively before that can erupt into a wholly separate thing she wants no part of.

“Oh, right.” He shrugs nonchalantly. “Its kinda her thing with you two when you get like this. You pick a fight with Laura, Laura gets pissed off and succumbs to the family curse of Tunnel Vision at the Worst Possible Time, and you both go back and forth endlessly and like you have all the time in the world for your stupid tete a tete, because on account of you both being practically unkillable and immortal, you kinda do and you know it. And then whenever she gets bored of listening to you two, Gabby swoops in and draws both of your attention until you’re both so focused on being annoyed with her you don’t even realize you’re actually side by side agreeing with each other, and she keeps it up just long enough til she’s sure she can just say she’s bored now and just leave the room, leaving you both annoyed and frustrated by a fight you can’t even claim to have won because she really just kinda...left, in the middle of it, and you’re so focused on that, you’ve totally forgotten to be pissed at each other. And by the time you do remember, like, the moment has passed and peace has been returned to the kingdom. Or at least as peaceful as this place ever gets.”

Daken stares at his mistake of a brother in the hopes that if he stalled long enough, his senses would arrive at a different conclusion. But nope. Scents don’t lie, unlike baby sis, apparently. He’s telling the truth. And Daken really does not....care for that conclusion.

Gabby stamps her foot and glares up at their brother.

“You are such a tattletale. I am providing a service, by keeping this family free of these two constantly at each others throats, and how is that service repaid? With betrayal! I hate you, you’re dead to me. Never speak to me again or at least not until I’ve stopped being mad at you, but that could be like ten years or something, I don’t even know right now.”

She draws up to her full height and squares her shoulders as she thunders this Mighty Mouse style at the still laughing Jimmy. Then, seeing she’d yet to make a dent in his armor of amusement and he was failing to take her pronouncement seriously, she punctuated her declaration by spitting on their brother’s shoe. Daken’s eyebrows shoot up again, this time in amusement of his own. Gabby then spins around on her heel and stalks off down the hallway, muttering more dire threats under her breath as she goes, the sound of them nonetheless carrying clearly to three siblings with enhanced hearing of their own. And apparently, little sis could be quite creative. Who knew she’d been hiding such talent?

Jimmy barely even notices; he’s still staring down at his shoe.

“Dude, you spit on me! That’s so not cool.”

“Some things need to be expressed so strongly, mere words will not suffice,” Daken says loftily, savoring a slightly renewed sense of superiority.

One quickly dashed, of course, because apparently he just can’t have anything.

“Bold words from the seventy year old who needed the sixteen year old to clue him in he’s being regularly manipulated by the twelve year old,” Jimmy fires back. As a return volley, its obnoxiously effective, and Daken’s still grinding his teeth and searching for an adequate rejoinder as Jimmy just grins even wider and then strolls off down the hallway as well. Whistling either an absolutely hideous song or else proof that he’s absolutely hideous at whistling. Tough call. With him it could be either.

Daken and Laura both stare after him in silence as he rounds the corner and disappears, leaving only the lingering scent of smugness in his wake. Daken hates the scent of smugness. It has a particularly....cloying feel to it. Well not his of course. But everyone else’s, especially little brothers? Acrid is the only word adequate for that.

“Sometimes I really do want to stab him. Just a little bit. And I’m not even lying,” Daken says. Laura just nods, her own nose scrunched up in distaste as well.

“Honestly? Me too.”

Brother and sister enjoy the rare moment of solidarity.

“You know what’s really bugging me?” Laura says suddenly, still staring off down the hallway. Daken turns an inquiring eye on her, prompting elucidation. She frowns.

“Where the hell did he learn a phrase like tete a tete? I mean. Its Jimmy.”

Daken does know what she means, and frowns as the nagging awareness of that leaps from his sister to himself like memetic chain lightning.

“And he used it correctly. That’s....unexpected.”

“Sometimes I wonder if maybe he’s not as completely airheaded as he pretends, and the fact that he’s got everyone so convinced of that actually means he’s running circles around the rest of us,” Laura says. She shrugs. “Of course, then I have to question everything and who has that kind of time and also the very idea of genius mastermind Jimmy disturbs me on a deeply visceral level. So then I just. Stop doing that.”

Daken nods and sighs. “Sometimes, that’s all you can do.”

“Okay, this is annoying. I kinda still want to fight, but now fighting with you feels kinda anticlimactic. Ugh, siblings are the worst,” Laura declares with a glower. “They ruin everything.”

“On that, we can agree. With allowances for temporary occasions of some of them being bearable,” Daken says. “Some.”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve never said to me, big brother,” Laura says lightly. Daken swiftly scowls but she holds up a hand to forestall any rebuttal. “Sorry, don’t mean to ruin the moment. I’m thinking about how else we can put all that frustrated energy to good use. Wanna go pick a fight with the Summers’ kids?”

A slow smile spreads across Daken’s face. “Well now. Finally, a family outing I can get behind. I believe that’s precisely what we need right now. Care to lead the way?”

He still hates her boyfriend, of course, but he supposes he can let that be. 

For now, at least.

[aion-rsa]

Helstrom: The Comic History of Marvel’s Son of Satan

https://ift.tt/33Vbv3V

On Oct. 16, Hulu will be releasing the latest Marvel tie-in series Helstrom. It’s not so much like one of those upcoming Disney+ MCU shows that feature high-profile superheroes telling stories that will be important to the overall fictional universe. It’s more like Daredevil or Runaways where quality be damned, you’re never going to hear anyone in the movies make anything close to a reference to it, but it counts as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe anyway.

The series is about siblings Daimon Helstrom and Ana Helstrom, who have seemingly normal lives, but oppose demons and evil people on the side. Their mother is institutionalized, which is fairly true to the comics, but their father is also referred to as “a powerful serial killer.”

In the comics, things are a bit grander. Their father isn’t just any serial killer, but a variation of Satan. Marvel has a bunch of guys whose identities are “basically Satan, but not really.” Instead of suits and turtlenecks, the two have comic adventures where they dress like they shopped off the sexy Halloween costume rack at Party City.

Daimon Helstrom (played by Tom Austen) gets both L’s in the comics as Daimon Hellstrom, but also has the rad nickname of Son of Satan. Shockingly, he’s a good guy! Mostly. Even when bare-chested with a glowing pentagram over his torso. Even with a magical pitchfork as his weapon of choice.

Son of Satan and his sister Satana are essentially the Marvel versions of Dante and Vergil from Devil May Cry. Both are half-human/half-devil and they lean on opposite sides of their genetics.

So let’s say you want to get into Hellstrom’s comic book exploits. Well, you’re in luck because we have a list of his main character runs since showing up in 1973.

The Early Spotlight (1973-1975)

Hellstrom made his first appearance in Ghost Rider #1. In the first two issues of that series, Hellstrom was hired as an exorcist to help deal with a missing woman who had been possessed. Interestingly enough, they never gave a clear look at Hellstrom in those two issues other than the demonic birthmark on his chest.

Initially, Hellstrom had a Jekyll and Hyde gimmick to the point that he told the woman’s loved ones to lock him up in a dark room and not let him out no matter what he said. Unlike the supporting characters in Young Frankenstein, the bozos didn’t take that to heart and let Hellstrom’s more maniacal personality Son of Satan loose.

Sidenote: His adventures were originally going to be called “the Mark of Satan” with more emphasis on Satan as the antagonist, but doing comics focused on Satan was deemed a little over-the-line, so they changed it.

Second sidenote: I did not hit her, it’s bullshit, I did not hit her, I DID NOT! Oh hi, Mark of Satan!

Read more

TV

How Helstrom Became One of Marvel Television’s Last Shows Standing

By Alec Bojalad

Son of Satan’s adventures continued into Marvel Spotlight #12-24. It didn’t take long for Marvel to realize that giving him a double-identity was kind of a lame idea and instead had Satan Sr. magically handwave that away and make Son of Satan just one dude. Definitely for the better as he no longer felt so blatantly like Marvel’s answer to Jason Blood/Etrigan.

Hellstrom continued to fight against ghoulish enemies while opposing his father’s ways and dated some generic woman whose name I couldn’t tell you if you paid me a million dollars. It all culminated in a really strong finale issue where Hellstrom fought against and with his sister Satana, but maybe ignore the part where Hellstrom had a dream about the two of them making out.

Striking Out Solo (1975-1977)

Son of Satan had his own self-titled ongoing series that only lasted eight issues. From the beginning, Hellstrom went to Hell to basically tell off his dad as a way to say that this series wouldn’t be about their rivalry. Instead, it was Son of Satan dealing with a bunch of random villains that nobody would ever really remember.

There was one ridiculous enemy named the Possessor (not to be confused with the Elder of the Universe) who wore a mask to hide the fact that he had demon faces where his ears are supposed to be. Too bad he never showed up outside of this series.

It was a trippy outing, but ended before it could find its footing.

Demon Defender (1981-1983)

The Defenders are, of course, the bundle of heroes who don’t quite fit in with the Avengers, Fantastic Four, or X-Men but need people to hang out with. Guys like Hulk, Dr. Strange, Namor, Valkyrie, etc. Son of Satan became a regular ally in the team’s early days, appearing to help out every now and then. Most notably, he was part of a storyline where the Serpent Society kidnapped the Defenders and Clea put together a second team to rescue them, featuring the likes of Son of Satan, Daredevil, and Luke Cage.

Then again, the only thing anyone truly remembers about those issues is a very bizarre and legendary scene of a random guy getting killed by an Elf with a Gun.

As the series reached its 92nd issue, Hellstrom finally joined the team. On one hand, having Son of Satan on the team meant the Defenders had to take on the occult more than usual. On the other hand, Hellstrom soon fell in love with fellow Defender Hellcat, who was regularly dealing with constantly being possessed and turning into a scantily-clad demoness.

When Defenders hit its 100th issue, they did a really climactic storyline where a handful of the various Marvel Devil guys invaded Earth and Son of Satan had to take on Father of Son of Satan for the fate of Earth. The conclusion is rather surprising.

Prince of Lies (1993-1994)

Okay, so Daimon Hellstrom and Patsy Walker have been married for ten years (our time). It’s a fairytale romance where they’ve made a few guest appearances here and there, but have otherwise retired, happily ever after. What could POSSIBLY taint such true love?

90s comics. That’s your answer.

Welcome to Hellstorm: Prince of Lies, a 21-issue ongoing series where every issue looks like a Nine Inch Nails video and they try to see how much lanky nudity they can get away with showing in a Marvel comic. Like, holy crap, there has to be a world record for shadowed-out junk in this series. They even edit in some obvious, hastily-drawn underwear on characters at times as if the editor has realized they’ve gone too far.

It’s a gritty and grimy series that you’d expect from a 90s comic where much of it is written by Warren Ellis and the main character is Satan’s son. Lots of spikes, sharp teeth, long hair, suffering, insanity, and so on. It’s most definitely a product of its time.

Plus it’s called “Hellstorm” instead of “Hellstrom.” Scout’s honor, I didn’t notice the difference until my editor pointed it out.

Maximum Hellstorm (2006-2007)

Ah, Marvel MAX. The days when Marvel decided to give R-rated comics a shot and just threw everything at the wall. Hellstorm: Son of Satan was one of them, going for five issues. By this point, we’re in the mid-00s, so Hellstrom has a more down-to-earth look and is constantly talking to his father on a cellphone and tries so hard not to remind us what he looked like in the 70s and 80s.

But because it’s Marvel MAX, it means that his adventure is filled with lots of curse words, ultra-violence, gross demon boobs, and explicit Jesus imagery you normally wouldn’t see in a comic like this.

While the whole “Hellstrom messes with Egyptian underworld deities” storyline is a bit high concept, it still feels more like the new Hulu show than anything else.

Zombie Slayer (2009)

Speaking of gritty Marvel trends, there’s Marvel Zombies! While the initial Ultimate Fantastic Four storyline and the first two volumes of Marvel Zombies dealt with the happenings of a doomed universe, the next few volumes went slightly more uplifting. After all, sometimes you need to have people to root for who can back it up.

In Marvel Zombies 4, the Black Talon and the Hood (under the influence of Dormammu) try to use the decapitated head of Zombie Deadpool (otherwise known as Headpool) to bring forth the zombie apocalypse in the regular Marvel universe. Yes, we actually have canon stakes this time.

To prevent this, we have the Midnight Sons, made up of Son of Satan, Morbius, Jennifer Kale, Werewolf by Night, and Man-Thing. It’s an incredibly badass group working through an incredibly badass adventure. Too bad the team doesn’t last.

On a similar note, around this time there was a miniseries called the Last Defenders where Son of Satan was a major character. It’s just that by the time the team came together, they were an immediately-forgotten afterthought, so there’s no use in giving it its own entry.

Ghost Riders in the Sky (2009-2010)

Jason Aaron had a really, really, really great run on Ghost Rider. Most definitely read it. It’s pure grindhouse and I love it.

The whole run finished with Ghost Riders: Heaven’s on Fire. This culmination featured Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch working together against a corrupt angel, the anti-Christ, and a group of villains from earlier in the run teaming up.

At least they have Daimon Hellstrom there to help out. Unfortunately, Hellstrom looks outright goofy with a bald head and Fu-Manchu mustache. The story brings back Jaine, his EXTREME love interest from the 90s series who he ended up with after his relationship with Patsy went very south.

Anyhow, Jason Aaron’s Ghost Rider run. Read it!

Strikeforce (2019-2020)

Much like how X-Men had X-Force as the team that would do the really dirty work, Avengers had a spinoff team called Strikeforce. Made up of Winter Soldier, Angela, Blade, Spider-Woman, Wiccan, and Spectrum, the team soon brought Hellstrom into the fold. Which is just as well, since he was working for Baron Zemo for a little while and really needed to get his head back on straight.

Unfortunately for Hellstrom, 1) he retained his bald look from Heaven’s on Fire and 2) the series didn’t last all that long. Only nine issues, sadly. Eh, it was fun while it lasted.

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At least he’s joining the Savage Avengers next! And they’re giving him his hair back!

The post Helstrom: The Comic History of Marvel’s Son of Satan appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/31dX5KF

[fakeyellow]

Revolutionary War spy Kamilah x MC Part 2. Kamilah learns about the curiosity of Genevieve Allen. Genevieve reflects on the events that led to her becoming a spy and makes another life-changing decision by falling for Kamilah. 

(there’s a fair amount of backstory in this chapter but there’s also tension and kissing so you should read lol)

Summary: While infiltrating a British camp, Kamilah meets an unknown woman at gunpoint. Three years later, in the midst of the Revolutionary War, Kamilah crosses paths with Genevieve Allen, youngest daughter of the prominent Loyalist family and the belle of Philadelphian society. Part 1. 

May 19-20, 1980

Over the next two days, Kamilah found herself gracing the parlours of all the well to do women of Philadelphian society. It seemed that they were all curious about the wealthy widow that was Kamilah Walton and it played to her favour since she was able to ask them innocuous-seeming questions about Peggy Shippen and General Arnold. 

Fond of gossip as they were, every person she met was more than happy to oblige, regaling Kamilah with endless tales and gossip, and Kamilah filed each tidbit away.

But once she was satisfied with the information she’d gained on the couple, Kamilah found herself asking about Genevieve Allen.

“Evie? Oh, she’s a darling. She was a bit of a wild child in her younger years but staying with her aunt in New York did her good. You might have known her, Edith Allen?...”

“She’s a charming young woman. Such a good family...”

“Her sisters married so well, it’s a shame things didn’t work out between her and the Shippen boy. I suppose Major André is courting her now but he’s not exactly a Shippen, you know...”

“Oh, it was quite the scandal. You know, Edward and Evie are the same age and having grown up together, everyone just expected they’d marry. But I heard that Evie rejected him right before waltzing off to New York and her father adores her so. There was no way he’d force her to marry him so poor Edward was left to nurse his broken heart. I don’t understand why, he’s so handsome.”

It was at this last house that Kamilah felt like the pieces were slowly coming together.

“Yes, but how did Peggy take that? She seemed close to Miss Allen the other night,” Kamilah interrupted, smoothly redirecting the woman’s attention away from Edward Shippen. 

“That’s all an act,” Sally or Samantha or Sarah whispered conspiratorially, leaning towards Kamilah with an excitement that only gossip could bring her, “They’ve never had a good relationship. And not just because Evie rejected her brother. You know, I heard Major André and Peggy used to be really close before her marriage and now he’s all besotted with Evie… But you know how it is, keep your enemies close and all that. Poor Evie, I don’t think she realises how much Peggy dislikes her.”

Kamilah nodded and the woman quickly began talking about a perceived offense that one of the Penn girls had committed against her. 

Genevieve Allen, beloved daughter, respected lady, secret revolutionary... 

Everything she learned about her seemed to be contradictory but now it was time and Kamilah would finally be seeing the woman herself.

—-

May 20, 1980

Genevieve often thought back to that fateful autumn day: the day that had set her entire life in motion.

Being the youngest child of her family, her siblings had all married or moved onto their own professions by the time she was five. And while her father doted on her especially after her mother’s death, Genevieve had needed more to occupy her restless soul.

From Murray and Wollstonecraft to Warren and Paine, she gorged herself on the eloquence of these writers, feeling the words stir her formerly dormant heart until she decided she could no longer stay still. 

Stealing one of her father’s old, black outfits and covering her face with one of her fine, black scarves, Genevieve spent several months sneaking out at night, committing acts of sabotage that gradually grew in size. 

It was upon the news of her brother’s promotion that Genevieve finally felt prepared enough to do the biggest act she’d ever done yet and after careful nights of planning, she’d snuck out to set fire to the British company’s supply wagons. 

And for the first time in her life, she’d felt like she had a purpose. She was more than just the babied, youngest daughter of the Allen family, she was more than just the future wife of another rich man who would view her only as a breeding mare. She was now part of something bigger than herself, a small cog in the great machine that would be America. 

When she’d locked eyes with the stranger in the woods, she’d felt fear that she’d be discovered. But greater than that fear, she had keenly felt the limitations placed on her. As Genevieve Allen, she would be restricted to these nightly jaunts, unable to do what her heart burned to do, unable to fight as her country needed her to fight.

So the next day, she’d begged her baffled father to send her to New York to indefinitely stay with her aunt. He’d agreed and although Edward, sweet, sweet Edward had begged her to stay and marry him, she’d set on the carriage to start her new life with no regrets. 

She’d bribed the carriage driver to drop her off at a boarding house instead of her aunt’s house and subsequently bribed a messenger to intercept all of the letters sent between her aunt and father. Dressed in trousers with her hair knotted beneath a cap, Genevieve had bought a nice rifle and promptly joined one of the many voluntary militias in New York.  

With her small size, she’d often been sent on scouting missions or petty skirmishes, hiding in the grounds and taking out the British one by one. She’d grown dirty without access to regular baths, her trousers becoming ripped and muddied, and there wasn’t a moment that went by without her muscles ferociously aching but Genevieve had never felt more alive. 

Then it had all changed once she’d gotten clipped in the side by a bullet from the British. She’d been too careless, too confident in her concealed position that a soldier had been able to see and subsequently shoot her. 

The pain was instantaneous, a burning agony flaring out from her grazed side but she was more worried about what this injury meant. Her comrade had seen her go down and if she returned to their camp, she’d be treated by the medic who would undoubtedly reveal her gender. And there was no way she’d go back to her old life, not now when she was finally fighting for her country. 

Through sheer force of will, Genevieve had dragged herself to the boarding house she hadn’t set foot in since her first day in New York. There’d been an unquenchable stream of hot, sticky blood flowing from her side, but she’d pressed her hand against it with clenched teeth. Somehow, she’d been able to pay for her room and go up the stairs before she finally passed out. 

When she’d woke, she’d been freshly bandaged and the owner had sat at her side with a stern expression of motherly concern. 

“There are other ways to help the Revolution,” she’d said and that was how Genevieve had first met Abraham Woodhull, brother of the owner and spy for General George Washington.

He’d quickly recruited her, his eyes gleaming with an unconcealed delight when she admitted her true identity as an Allen.

And so with a fresh scar on her side hidden underneath a thick petticoat and a mission on her mind, she’d finally returned to Philadelphia.

She learned to restrain herself, immersing herself in the subtleties of the society she’d once abhorred, molding herself into the perfect, charming, pure, harmless woman. Her grandmother remarked on how her time in New York must have done her good as she had finally blossomed into a proper lady and Genevieve responded with a beatific smile.

With her new integration into high society, Genevieve wrote down all of the gossip, all of the little hints that slipped out of men ensnared by her beauty, women trying to gain her favour, sending them to a Samuel Culper Jr. 

Although her heart longed to be running out in the battlefield again, adrenaline coursing through her veins, Genevieve knew that this was something much more valuable, something that only she had the access to do. She dutifully sent information, including her growing suspicions that someone high up in the patriotic cause had plans for betrayal. 

Peggy Shippen, the younger woman she’d once been friends with until she’d rejected her brother and run to New York, had married a patriotic general in her absence while maintaining all of her Loyalist connections. General Benedict Arnold was a revolutionary hero and while on all accounts, they seemed to be the model couple, Genevieve saw the fraught tension between them, saw the fissures that Peggy seemed to be pushing wider in him. 

However, with his new command over West Point, he was far too busy and out of her reach. She switched her focus to John André, Major of the British Army and dear friend of Peggy. Although he’d been a formidable opponent, charming and suave in his own right with many women chasing after him, Genevieve had finally caught his eye. It was a precarious game to play with him as she could never be too adoring or too aloof but slowly and surely, André was falling for her, trusting her.

It was him that Genevieve presently should have been focusing on, the man who was her opening into the Loyalist cause, but she found her mind focused instead on the woman who had abruptly entered her life.

Kamilah Walton.

While Genevieve had learned how to blind people with her beauty and charm so that they wouldn’t truly pay attention to her, Kamilah Walton was magnetic. 

Even as Genevieve had danced with Major André, her eyes had been drawn to her: her gloriously tanned skin, her gleaming, brown locks, her utterly sinful, scarlet lips. She’d never seen a woman such as her and when she’d finally heard the woman’s voice, Genevieve had known this was yet another pivotal moment that would change her life forever. 

Though she knew she should feel worried that this woman seemed to know her secrets, or at least that she’d set fire to British supplies, Genevieve felt her heart begin to race at the thought of her. She would be here soon. 

“Evie, I daresay I’ve been conversing with myself this entire time!” Major André teased and Genevieve suddenly regained herself. She was sitting in her parlour, Major André leaning towards her with a playful smile as he ignored the disapproving look of the servant. 

“Please forgive me, I’m not feeling quite myself today,” she quickly responded.

“I suppose I’ll have to try harder next time to gain your attention,” he teased and Genevieve forced herself to smile back at him.

She followed him to the foyer, desperately trying to ignore the woman who had just stepped inside and the furious beating of her treacherous heart.  

“I’ll call on you later this week Evie,” he said, mock saluting her in farewell.

“Don’t keep me waiting too long,” she teased and finally he was gone, leaving her alone with the woman who had occupied her thoughts.

“Evie?” Kamilah asked amusedly and she rolled her eyes in response to the nickname.

“Please, call me anything but that. Genevieve, Eve, they’re all fine.”

“Genevieve then,” Kamilah sounded out and Genevieve couldn’t help but stare at those scarlet lips shaping out each syllable. Her father had once told her she’d been given a name fit for royalty but she’d doubted it until this moment. Because when it came out of Kamilah’s mouth, how could it not be fit for a queen?

She finally raised her eyes to meet Kamilah’s amused eyes, and feeling flustered, she quickly guided them to her parlour. After taking a moment to compose herself, Genevieve spoke.

“Mrs. Walton.”

“Kamilah.”

“Mrs. Walton,” Genevieve repeated, determined to maintain a distance between them, “What brings you here?”

“You’re the one who invited me,” Kamilah replied slyly, looking completely at ease.

“Let me clarify. Why are you here in Philadelphia?”

Kamilah examined her closely now, seeming to slowly admire the flattering cut of Genevieve’s dress before meeting her eyes.

“For the same reason you are, I suppose.”

“That is a very dangerous thing to insinuate, Mrs. Walton,” Genevieve responded with a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. 

“Well it’s a good thing I’m well versed in dangerous things,” Kamilah retorted, moving her skirts so that the gleaming tips of her dagger could be seen.

Genevieve immediately grabbed the ivory pistol in her own skirts, aiming it straight at Kamilah. Other than the finery they were dressed in and the well-decorated parlour they were in, it was the same scene from three years ago. But this time, Genevieve was trained. She was no longer the inexperienced rebel she’d been.

“Whose orders are you under?” Genevieve asked steadily, her arms outstretched.

Although she was facing the end of a gun, Kamilah remained unflustered, her fingers leisurely stroking her blades.

“None except my own.”

“That’s a lie.”

“I suppose you could say it’s someone with a vested interest in seeing America win its independence,” Kamilah finally offered and Genevieve slowly lowered her pistol although she maintained a tight grip on it.

“Now if you'll indulge me, how is a well to do woman such as yourself involved with the War? I can’t imagine your family approves of your revolutionary tendencies.”

“That was simply a folly of youth,” Genevieve smoothly said although she didn’t let her guard lower, “I was angry at my father and brother and I thought the best way to get back at them was to undermine my brother’s new promotion. That’s all.”

Kamilah nodded, unconvinced, “Of course.”

“I empathise greatly with your cause but I hope you’ll understand that the only way I can help you is by keeping your secret,” Genevieve continued in a manner that made it clear the conversation was over and Kamilah rose to leave. 

“Take care Genevieve. I look forward to getting to know you,” She turned to say, freezing the younger woman in her seat with the intensity of her stare.

Genevieve stayed still long after Kamilah’s departure and it was only when she felt her blush subside that she exhaled and began to write.

“To Mr. Samuel Culper Jr…”

—-

June 1, 1980

While Kamilah knew that her mission was to investigate Peggy Shippen, it had been so long since a mortal woman had captured her interest so completely. Kamilah had not missed the endless amount of inane small talk required to fully ingratiate herself into society but Genevieve’s presence was something she welcomed.

Due to Genevieve’s popularity and her own demand as the new woman in town, it was rare that they weren’t both at the same events. They hadn’t been alone together since their tense meeting but Kamilah felt herself being drawn to the enigma that was Genevieve Allen.

There was clearly so much more to her than the charmingly innocent persona she portrayed and Kamilah longed to see it all, to see the fire ignite in those beautiful green eyes again, to hear the younger woman moan her name in a breathless gasp of delight...

Kamilah focused back on the current conversation as one of the Chew daughters said something particularly asinine. In an attempt to contain her growing exasperation, she looked away, inadvertently catching Genevieve’s eyes that were also brimming with annoyance. 

Kamilah gave her a small, knowing smile and she felt satisfied as the woman repressed a laugh, raising her hand to demurely cover her mouth.

The afternoon tea suddenly didn’t seem so bad.

—-

Kamilah spoke and Genevieve wondered how everyone could seem fine and unruffled. Surely she wasn’t the only one who was so affected by Kamilah. With each stroke of her neck, each piercing glance, Genevieve was unable to tear her eyes away from the captivating woman, feeling Kamilah’s each and every action deeply within her.

She hadn’t thought it possible for a person to evoke the same kind of instinctual, passionate response in her that the revolution had. In all her time with Edward and Major André, not once had they made her feel the way Kamilah did. Not once had her heart ever skipped a beat upon locking eyes with them, not once had she ever felt an unbidden blush rise to her cheeks because of them. 

As a younger girl, there had been times when she’d felt a strange infatuation with other women like Angelica Schuyler, but she’d chalked it up to the quirks that came with being a motherless girl. Yet what Kamilah made her feel was at once the same and yet wholly new, and the sheer magnitude of her feelings kept surprising herself. 

“What does our dear Miss Genevieve think?”

Genevieve stared at Kamilah and thought that she could very easily get addicted to the sound of her name coming out of Kamilah’s mouth. She suddenly came to herself and once again, she felt thankful for cosmetic powder; it had been useful in covering up her baggy eyes from sleepless nights and now it was useful in covering the bright red blush she was sure she had. 

Kamilah stared at her without any malice, giving her a small smile and Genevieve made another decision that would change the course of her life.

“I’m feeling rather faint. Would you be so kind as to get some fresh air with me, Mrs. Walton?” Genevieve asked suddenly, rising before she could hear a response.

“Of course,” Kamilah murmured, masking her curiosity.

They made their way out of the parlour, the other ladies not bothering to give them a second glance as they continued their fascinating discourse on the newest British fashions. 

Genevieve wondered if Kamilah could hear the furious beating of her heart and halted upon closing the door behind them.

“Well?” Kamilah asked as she leaned against the door and Genevieve’s eyes seemed to harden with resolve at the sight before she finally leaned in to capture Kamilah’s lips with her own.

Her lips were softer than Genevieve could have imagined and she felt them quirk upwards after a terrifying moment of stillness. In a fluid motion, Kamilah reversed their positions so that now Genevieve was the one pressed against the door and they melted into each other, a week’s worth of tension finally being relieved. 

Genevieve felt Kamilah’s hands wrap around her waist and hair, bringing her even closer, and she lost herself into the kiss, momentarily forgetting that they were in someone else’s house, that they were both spies for the patriotic cause, that their lives were literally on the line.

A sharp burst of laughter behind the door suddenly brought them to their senses, causing them to separate although their foreheads remained pressed against each other. 

Genevieve’s eyes remained closed as if to savour the lingering sensations on her lips and with a boldness she didn’t know she had, she breathlessly asked, “Would you come to me tonight?”

She finally opened her eyes and saw Kamilah’s eyes light up with surprise that quickly darkened into an emotion Genevieve couldn’t name but somehow felt.

“Of course.”

—-

A/N: Upon reading this, I think Carol (the movie and book) may have unconsciously affected my characters, my bad. Let’s just say that as an 1800 year old, Kamilah’s a little less guarded.

Research dump: I was inspired by Agent 355 who is a real historical figure although her exact identity is unknown. She’s referred to in a single letter but she is known to be a Revolutionary War spy in the Culper Spy Ring, who was instrumental in uncovering Benedict Arnold’s treasonous intentions. I won’t say any more so I don’t spoil too much of the next and final chapter. 

The Culper Spy Ring was a patriotic spy ring and Abraham Woodhull was one of its main members, going by the alias of Samuel Culper. He did have a sister named Mary Underhill who had a boardinghouse in New York. Robert Townsend was another spy with the alias of Samuel Culper Jr. There’s lots of speculation that Townsend was in love with Agent 355 and that Agent 355 may have had Townsend’s illegitimate baby (although I think it may have been disproved). While I’m not going to have that in my story, I thought it’d be nice to have Genevieve write to him as her main way of sending information.

I really wanted to put in a Hamilton reference and have Genevieve join Alexander Hamilton and the gang in New York but the timelines just didn’t match up. So I settled for merely sneaking in Angelica once. 

[thisiswhatwereupagainst]

The Forgotten LGBT Characters of 1990s Marvel Comics

Hey X-Men fans! It’s still June, still Pride month, so I wanted to talk about three lesser-known LGBT Marvel characters. They’re very obscure, and they’re all also all from the early 1990s. Like Mystique, one might consider them pioneers of Marvel becoming inclusive of LGBT people. Unlike Mystique, no one really knows about them, as they never became major players (far from it, in fact) Be warned, two of them are villains and very much products of their time and the unfortunate way that society was still treating LGBT people; Marvel was starting to include them, sure, but in very demonized, stereotyped ways. But problematic or not, they existed and they’re close to my heart, and I’d like them to be remembered by a greater amount of fandom. Who knows, if enough people like them, maybe they will come back in canon one day and be treated with greater sensitivity!

Shinobi Shaw (bisexual) - Shinobi Shaw appeared as the young estranged son of Sebastian Shaw, who abused him terribly as a child. While he looked pretty badass at first by killing his father (it turned out not to take, alas) he spent the rest of his time being pretty much a joke as a villain. He preferred to just get drunk and hang out with a bevvy of hot men and women than really do any villainy, and what villainy he did commit was largely limited to trying to get X-Men he liked (Warren and Storm) to join him. Seriously, he sent Warren an invitation to a Hellfire Club party on a PERFUMED card with a LACEY border written in LOOPY PINK INK, and wanted him to be his White King. He totally had a crush on him. Jubilee drives it home with a “Liberace” comparison just in case that was all too subtle for readers. And of course he was attracted to Storm because...STORM. All bad guys like Storm! That’s not where the hints of bisexuality end, though. And by “hints” I mean “on more than one occasion he’s surrounded by men and women who are in various states of undress” like basically the art is trying to tell us that he’s in the middle of an orgy at any given time. At one point, his butler asks him if he’s having oysters or snails tonight, which is an old-timey way of saying “women or men”, and Shinobi replies he thinks he’ll have dinner first, just so the readers are sure he AIN’T talking about food here. Also he dresses in a purple pirate coat and lilac pinstripe pants. I don’t like stereotyping but COME ON GUYS. Fashion bicon right here! Shinobi is definitely and blatantly depicted as bisexual, but he’s really not what could be called good bisexual representation. He’s not only a villain, he’s played up as simultaneously despicable and ineffective, as too effeminate and damaged (his status as an abuse survivor is not treated sympathetically either) to be any real threat, but still as disgusting nonetheless. He’s also depicted as something of an attempted sexual predator, but also as, again, not really enough of a “real man” for it to be scary, just gross. He’s also played up a LOT as a decadent hedonist obsessed only with pleasure, which is an age-old stereotype of gay people and bi people both, but especially bi people. There’s a lot of problems with Shinobi. But he’s still a lot of fun as a character, at least to me, and the hints of how emotionally damaged he is from aforementioned abuse and the implication he may have a substance abuse problem and that all this decadence might just be his only way of coping because he’s clearly unable to connect with people but WANTS to somehow...there’s a great character arc here waiting to happen, if some writer only sees it. Those familiar with the far more famous Daken might notice some similarities in design; both are the eastranged predatory  bisexual abused half-Japanese son of a burlier, hairier, pre-established white male character. Of course, Daken was far more competent and became a much more major, complex character. Maybe Shinobi was sort of his first draft? Who knows! All I know is that as of June 19, Shinobi has finally re-appeared alive in Uncanny X-Men #20, and I’m hoping for more shenanigans--preferably in the flamboyant bisexual disaster Shinobi style! Mindmeld (transgender) - Mindmeld appears solely in X-Force #62 as a bodyguard in the employ of Shinobi Shaw. No alternative name is given for her, and it’s my headcanon that “Mindmeld” is her chosen name as both a mutant and a trans woman. How do we know she’s a trans woman? Well, we don’t. But she’s drawn with the same body type and facial shape as all the male characters are, because this is comics and there’s one mold for guys, one for ladies. However, despite big muscles, a strong jaw, and a distinct lack of breasts, she presents pretty feminine, with makeup and a lot of jewelry. The other characters (the heroes, no less) express confusion about her gender, saying things like “Now, Mr. or Mrs. Mindmeld...” and “What is your real name? Pat? Chris?” (get it? those are unisex/androgynous names?) However, only “she” pronouns are ever used for her. Given all this, I think it’s fair to say that these jabs along with her physical appearance are meant to hint to the audience that she’s a transgender woman. She could fall into some other trans category, such as non-binary or genderqueer, but considering this was the 90s (when those identities were less known) and being written by straight cis guys (the least likely to know about said identities) I think that her being a pre-op/non-op/non-passing trans woman is a safe guess. My bet is that her presence was meant to add some shock value and play up Shinobi’s own bisexuality (since it’s a common misconception that a straight man couldn’t possibly be into a trans woman) In any case, she was short-lived and ill-treated by both the story and the other characters, but I find her intriguing. She’s also very important despite her obscurity, as she’s the first representation of a transgender mutant that I’m aware of that didn’t involve something like shapeshiting or or bodyswapping (though her powers could swap the brains of other people!) or being an alien with no knowledge of gender norms, or any other “explanation” that accounted for being trans that had no real-world equivalent. She just seems to have been trans in the way REAL people are trans, something that thus far no mutant I’m aware of (save for another one-time character, Jessie Drake) has been. And I think she damn well deserves some love for that. Plus look at her, she’s just cool! Nocturne (wlw) - Nocturne aka Angela Cairn (no, not TJ Wagner, this is a different Nocturne) is the only non-villain on this list, and the only one whose sexuality was treated sympathetically, perhaps because it was only hinted at and her story was told largely in metaphor. Ironically, she’s also the only chracter here who is not a mutant or an X-Men character, despite X-Men being the publication that’s supposed to be all about embracing the different and downtrodden. She first appears in the 1993 Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #13, and had a few subsequent appearances before disappearing from the page altogether. Angela Cairn was a police officer of Black, Cuban, and Native American (tribe unspecified) heritage. As a lifelong victim of prejudice, she joined the police in hopes of using the law to protect others from being victimized. She is implied to have been in a romantic relationship with a fellow female officer, Jackie Kessler, and the two may have co-habited. After Jackie is murdered in the line of duty, Angela went on the trail of a serial killer who she believed was the same supervillain that killed Jackie. Following a false lead, she was lured to a warehouse where she was trapped and experimented on by one of the nameless mutates created from humans by Baron Zemo. Unlike the other monstrous mutates, this one did not seek to return to human form, and, for reasons unknown, wanted Angela to become like her. As a result, Angela was transformed in the mute, winged, vampire-like being called Nocturne. No longer able to live in human society or even explain to others that she’s Angela, Nocturne becomes homeless and protects those who also live on the fringes of society, including a boy who is the victim of a gay-bashing. Her journey ends up being not a typical superhero tale, but an introspective single-issue saga of pain and self-acceptance. It’s told largely in what I interpret to be metaphor for coming to terms with being open about her sexuality only after she lost her partner, which I write more extensively about HERE, and I personally find it to be a surprisingly deep and nuanced story---especially for comics, which are usually about as subtle as an anvil when it comes to whatever social commentary they’re trying to get across (not that this is always a bad thing either!) Anyway, if you read this far, I’d very much appreciate it if you would reblog! I think these characters deserve to be more well-known, and I think a lot of people will enjoy seeing their representation, flawed and dated though it may be.

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #33: UXM issues 169-170

Warren makes a return in this issue, which begins with his girlfriend Candy retiring to their apartment. Unfortunately, he's been kidnapped and one of the assailants- a huge man named Sunder- is waiting to attack her. She manages to call Xavier, who sends the nearest X-Man, Kurt. Unfortunately, he's in Amanda's hot tub with her, and there's nowhere else safe within range, so he ports over, grabs Candy, and reappears in the tub. We cut to the Hellfire Club, where Emma Frost has arrived looking for Shaw before immediately falling into a coma. Someone is stalking the Inner Circle, toying with them for amusement. But we'll pick up on that thread later. The X-Men have gathered in Amanda's apartment- Kitty in yet another new costume, I guess to differentiate her from the New Mutants- and leave Amanda and Lockheed to defend Kitty while they follow Warren. Ororo asks if Rahne can join them as a tracker, since Logan is away, but Xavier refuses to put the New Mutants in the field and gives them a mini Cerebro that can track Warren. They venture down into deep subway tunnels to follow the trail, and are attacked by a horde of strange mutants. Kitty is separated from the group, and rendered ill by the mutant Plague. She's saved by Caliban, the empath tracker from a while ago that tried to kidnap her and has apparently joined up with this group. Continuing the search, Ororo, Kurt, and Peter find a huge tunnels deep below anything they knew existed. Kurt is very worried about Ororo, who's both scared of being this deep and acting cold for reasons she refuses to talk about. They find Callisto, the leader of this group, called the Morlocks. She's kidnapped Warren to serve as her husband and prince. Ororo is painfully reminded of the long teased but still unrevealed incident that happened when she was twelve, when a man looked at her the way Callisto looks at Warren. As the Morlocks attack the X-Men, a similar situation plays out nearby, where Caliban decided that he has fallen in love with Kitty, and makes desperate plans to save her from Plague's disease so she can stay with him forever.

Issue 170 is very special to me, because I have a copy signed by Claremont and Smith. It begins not with a follow-up to the cliffhangers, but with Scott and Madelyne on their first date. They're dancing in silence, even after the music stops, until she finally breaks away and starts a conversation. Dancing is one of Claremont's favorite motifs in the weird Scott-Jean-Madelyne love triangle, and here it shows how Scott is using her to cling to something that's over. He tells her about Jean, and shows her a picture, which is understandably freaky for her, but he also says that he really does like her, despite the weirdness. Neither of them are sure if this is something real or a weird coping mechanism for Scott, but they both want to find out. Back in New York, the X-Men watch helplessly as Callisto moves forward with her wedding plans, Warren pinned by his wings to a wall. The heroes break free, and Kurt takes out Callisto and ransoms her for their freedom. There's a panel where Kurt stands on the wall surrounded by brimstone, gazing over Warren, who's still unconscious and pinned up in a way that resembles a crucifixion pose. I don't think there's any real subtext to this panel, but it's a very cool piece of imagery. Plague touches Ororo and demands a surrender, which Kurt and Peter have no choice but to accept. Callisto tells them the story of the Morlocks- they were brought together by her and Caliban, who could track the others down. Like Caliban, none of them can fit in with the human world, so they found refuge in this abandoned bomb shelter from the Cold War. Speaking of Caliban, in his room, Kitty briefly wakes and promises to stay with him if he helps save the X-Men. In another abrupt cutaway, we find ourselves in a dream Mystique is having of being trapped in 1783. She's being hunted by Jason Wyngarde and Jean Grey, but just before the kill, she wakes up. Destiny, her "roommate," tells her that there are forced blocking her powers, just before they discover that Anna has run away. Back in the tunnels, Callisto offer Kurt membership in the Morlocks, but he says he refuses to give up Xavier's dream. Just then, Caliban arrives, begging someone to save Kitty. Kurt says they need to get her to a medical facility, but Callisto refuses, and no one will disobey her. Caliban says the only way is to beat Callisto in a combat challenge to the death to win leadership of the Morlocks. Kurt challenges her, but Ororo says that as team leader, she'll take the battle for him. No powers are allowed in the fight, so Callisto gives her a knife, which she wields with cold precision. Callisto thinks it'll be an easy fight, drawing some blood and knocking off Ororo's tiara, but Ororo trips her up with her cape and stand her through the heart. Callisto survives thanks to the Morlocks Healer, but Ororo had no idea whether that would happen. She offers the Morlocks sanctuary with Xavier, but Caliban says their place is here. Kurt and Peter are shocked that Ororo broke her vow against killing, but they follow her out of the tunnels with the unconscious Warren and Kitty. For one final scene in Alaska, Scott tells Madelyne his secret identity by flipping a coin and blasting a hole through it in midair. It looks like a ring, and he gives it to her, which is some pretty obvious symbolism for the bond they already have. When he explains the curse of his power, her first thought is how awful it must be for him to live with it. Scott is incredibly guarded, even around his family, but he tells Madelyne his secret without hesitation just because she asked. It's a very sweet moment, and they embrace as our story ends.

A lot happened in these issues, and I'm not gonna say anymore about Madelyne here, because in a few issues she'll be getting a lot of focus and I'll talk about her story as a whole. Kurt got a lot of thought bubbles and things to do, which is great. He doesn't usually get that kind of focus during missions, usually saving his character moments for the downtime parts of the stories. It's very interesting that we see Ororo's duel from his perspective rather than hers, but it's a great choice. This is a huge change in Ororo's personality, and doing it this way leaves the reader as shocked as her friends are. Ororo the claustrophobic pacifist attempting murder to become ruler of an underground society is very ironic, and speaks to how much turmoil her identity is in. The Morlocks are very important thematically over the next few years, a reminder that not all people experience persecution the same way and that the X-Men aren't just fighting for mutants like them. They're also fighting for the lowest of mutants, the ones who can't or won't fight for their own dreams. I don't know what it is about Paul Smith that Claremont trusts so much, but there's more textless panels in issue 170 than I think I've seen in any issues so far. This is definitely not a complaint, because the art is incredible and often speaks for itself. Another cool thing about this story is that for most of these two issues, the A plot is following a team of three. Over the next couple years of the book, Claremont will be spending some time with smaller groups of characters as opposed to always using the full team. I like that he's willing to play with the format. It's the right choice for the book right now, and when he renews the focus on full team stories somewhere around Mutant Massacre, it's the right choice for the book then.

[emeraldnebula]

Thoughts on the comic book industry, Part 5

In my last rant about the state of the comic book industry, I talked about how completely out of touch the Big 2 publishers are with reality, both creatively and politically. And naturally, it's going to beg the question: "Why not support other publishers?"

It's not an invalid question on its face. But it is a very difficult question to answer, because of the way the industry has changed over the last 26 years. Again, the Big 2 are acting like it's still 1992-1993, when the industry was at its peak thanks to the '90s comic book boom. And at that time, the industry had expanded to such a point that smaller publishers were growing in prominence and new publishers were showing up in droves. But over the last two decades, the industry has massively atrophied, with many smaller publishers dying out, distribution channels shrinking to a monopoly benefitting DC and Marvel, entry into the industry perversely becoming harder at a time when digital media should be leveling the playing field, and the remaining other publishers making their living on wares that have a limited shelf life.

Simply put, it's not so easy to ignore DC and Marvel when the current comics market doesn't allow for any true competition to emerge.

Let's go back to the early '90s and see what was going on at the time. DC and Marvel were obviously still the market leaders. But you also had Image, founded by several of Marvel's biggest and most popular artists, launching their own creator-owned properties and making a huge splash based on star power alone. You had Valiant, founded by former Marvel editor Jim Shooter, which relaunched several vintage comic book properties in addition to their own, more modern superhero/vigilante books. You had Dark Horse Comics, which made its name with both high-profile creator-owned material (Hellboy, Sin City, The Mask), classic mnaga books, and high-end licensed comics (The Shadow, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Alien, Predator). You had Topps Comics, which did licensed books like Zorro (and its spinoff Lady Rawhide) and Bram Stoker's Dracula. You had Defiant, another Jim Shooter company. You had Malibu, a superhero-themed outfit that eventually became a Marvel brand. You had special imprints from the major publishers, like DC's Vertigo, Helix, and Paradox Press and Rob Liefeld's Maximum Press. You had Fantagraphics doing everything from classics like Usagi Yojimbo to off-the-cuff indie material. You had Penthouse, of all people, launching their own comics line that included fully-painted adaptations of Bible stories. And tons and tons of indie publishers were available, with long-standing cult books like Zen: Intergalactic Ninja getting new attention (and movie deals, too).

There was a lot to choose from at the time, and much of that was due to their being a big range of distributors. I recall one of my all-time favorite catalogs, Advance Comics, whose parent company used to be my local comic shops' distributor of choice until 1996 or so. Every issue of that catalog was like a comic book adventure in its own right, because there was so much to see, so much that I was unaware of previously. The comic book industry at that time was so much bigger than I could have imagined, and to see it all brought together in one monthly catalog with news articles was always a treat. And because there were still a lot of distributors to work with at the time, the barrier for entry to the comics industry was wide open for anyone who had the talent...and admittedly, for some who probably shouldn't have been let in. One of Wizard Magazine's Top 20 best-selling comics of 1994 was Double Impact, an indie comic ripoff of Andy Sidaris' tits-and-guns flicks. So yeah, there was definitely some drek that slipped thru the cracks. But that aside, the state of the industry was that of a wide playing field where anybody and everybody could be part of it.

But to the surprise of absolutely nobody, the greed of the Big 2 was what brought it all crashing down. Marvel was at a high at the time not just because they were a breeding ground for the hottest artists in the industry, but because they had the #1 comic book franchise in the world: the X-Men books were always Top 10 sellers. So they not only bought their own toy company (Toy Biz), but they also bought their own distributor – Heroes' World – and went exclusive thru them. Not to be outdone, DC went exclusive thru Diamond not long afterward. This obviously impacted the other distributors, who now had to deal with losing a ton of business as a consequence. Gradually, the other larger publishers joined up with Diamond as well, killing off all the other distributors completely. And when Marvel suffered financial problems near the end of the '90s, they too joined up with Diamond.

Thus we ended up with the distribution monopoly we have now, and it was a sad thing to see play out. Not only was it a shame to see things like Advance Comics slowly lose more and more content before finally being snuffed out, but it also led to (a) comic book fans and shops having to deal with a single distributor they had problems with and (b) a greatly increased barrier for entry into the industry. If you don't get into Diamond's Previews catalog, you're screwed. And in an age where digital media dominates, for the comic book industry to be so closed off not only limits your choices for what's available, but it also cuts off any real chance for there to be legitimate challengers to DC and Marvel.

Again, let's look at what's changed between 1992-1993 and 2018. Image, which initially looked to be a real competitor to the Big 2, has splintered and shrunken. Jim Lee sold out his portion of the company to DC (and is currently helping to run DC into the muck), several of its artists have returned to DC and Marvel, Todd McFarlane doesn't draw anymore, and the properties it was hyping so hard died out with the '90s. (Seriously, does anyone even remember Spawn anymore, much less care about it?) Most of Image's output now is small creator-owned projects, with The Walking Dead being known far more for its TV incarnation than for the comic it originally was. Dark Horse lost many of its licensed properites to Disney-Marvel as a result of Disney acquiring Lucasfilm and the 20th Century Fox library, and many of its big creator-owned properties have ended. It's a shadow of what it once was. Valiant got bought out by Acclaim Entertainment and suffered financial issues that shuttered it for years, and has only been making a comeback in recent times. Malibu got shut down after Marvel bought it out. DC shut down all of their imprints besides Vertigo, which went from being one of their crown jewels to being a non-entity. Topps, Warren, Defiant, NOW Comics, Maximum Press, Awesome Entertainment, and countless other publishers have bitten the dust over the years. CrossGen, the Florida-based publisher that tried to take on DC and Marvel in the early 2000s, died a swift death a few years later and got bought out by Disney (and their artists picked up by Marvel). Really, the only publishers of note that have shown any real endurance are three fairly recent ones: Zenoscope, Dynamite and IDW. Beyond that, it's gotten much, much harder for new companies to get any traction or really develop into powerhouses in the current market.

It should also be mentioned that companies like Zenoscope, IDW, and Dynamite are getting by in large part by emulating what made Dark Horse such a force in the '90s. Creator-owned material. Licensed comics. And in Zenoscope's case, reinventions of public domain fairy tales. All of this is well and good in and of itself, but it's not really the stuff of major players in today's market. Don't get me wrong: properties like Star Trek, He-Man (currently split between DC and Dark Horse), Transformers, GI Joe, My Little Pony, Flash Gordon, The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, and The Green Hornet are deservedly iconic and long-lived, and I'm all in favor of them being comic book staples. But those properties frequently go into periods of hibernation from version to version, and no one version lasts indefinitely. It's all well and good that IDW's made its fame with My Little Pony, but what happens when it's time for that property to go back to sleep? What happens to Dynamite when their versions of The Shadow and The Green Hornet run their course? You can't build your brand purely on licensed material. It's partly why Dark Horse got hit so hard by Disney buying out Lucasfilm and the Fox library. And in today's smaller, more monopolistic comics landscape, the '90s Dark Horse model isn't enough to make you a powerhouse on par with the Big 2.

(And if current rumors of IDW possibly shuttering its comic book operations and going full Hollywood end up coming true, it'll be yet another publisher going down...and again, more attrition for the comic book industry.)

Now, it can be argued that part of the reason Image and so many other companies fell off when the comic book boom ended is that they'd banked themselves too much on popular trends of the era. Big Titty Bad Girls, Big Gun Pouch-Wearing Vigilantes, trading on flashy art over quality writing, attempting DC/Marvel-style event-gimmicks with characters nobody knew or cared about...all of that's true. I can't and won't make excuses for that. But in an age where digital and social media dominate, there's no excuse for comics to be so closed off, so hard to find, or so hard to break into. The equal parts country-club-and-echo-chamber setup of the current comics industry certainly benefits the major publishers and their major players of choice, but it also curtails any real chance of new blood making a splash and reinventing the game. It's not uncommon for indie or small-press creators to make their living hustling on social media and on the convention circuit. And sometimes it pays off; husband-and-wife team Adam Withers and Comfort Love (The Uniques, Rainbow in the Dark) have been very successful at that, even racking up Harvey Award nominations. But again, it's the artificially high barrier to entry imposed by the Diamond monopoly that's the issue. Not everyone can get in, and unless you can get into Diamond's Previews, you're going to have a hell of a time getting your comics out there. And since the industry is still staunchly brick-and-mortar, that's another added hurdle.

And it's not just small-press or indie creators who face these problems. Established industry talent who've been shed by DC and Marvel often have trouble getting their books published, often turning to crowdfunding instead. Sometimes it pays off handsomely (Tom Grummett's upcoming Section Zero, Steven Butler's John Aman: Amazing Man), sometimes it hits the skids (Kieron Dwyer's proposed West Portal). Unless you're the current flavor of the moment, it's far from a given that long-standing comics creators can see their projects to fruition. Again, that's down to the atrophy of the comics industry and the impact of the distribution monopoly. Because it's shrunken so much, become so biased in favor of the major publishers, and abandoned any notion of being accessible to a wider audience, even industry talent with years – hell, decades – of work to their name have a difficult time getting a green-light for their projects, and have to rely on the crapshoot that is crowdfunding. And even at that, while you might get some really good individual works, it's still not going to be nearly enough to challenge the Diamond monopoly, much less present an alternative to the dominance of the Big 2.

So much of the state of the industry makes little sense when viewed in context of today's digital age. There shouldn't be such a huge barrier to entry for new creators. It shouldn't be so hard for established talent to get their projects green-lit. It shouldn't be so damn hard, especially in the age of digital media, for indie and small-press works to find wide distribution. And it definitely shouldn't be impossible for a new comics company to rise up and take the industry into the future, since DC and Marvel won't. But that's where we're at. Even the distribution model is over two decades out of date, and as a monopoly it's unfairly stacked against anything but entrenched industry players. No real opportunity for growth, no real opportunity for change, just the prolonging of an ever-shrinking echo chamber stuck decades in the past.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 10 September 2018

Quick Bits:

 Archie: 1941 #1 is fairly morose and downbeat in tone and execution as a recently graduated Archie Andrews seemingly sleepwalks through this opening chapter, depressed and anxious about the future, both in terms of what he wants to do with his life and with the growing fear of the war in Europe. It’s not bad, elevated by wonderful art from Peter Krause and Kelly Fitzpatrick.

| Published by Archie Comics

Birthright #31 returns after an extended break, opening a new arc following Kallista and Brennan, while diving into the backstory of Mastema. I like Joshua Williamson taking us off down this thread and the art from Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas is as beautiful as always.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Cemetery Beach #1 is a very entertaining start to this new action/sci-fi mini-series from Warren Ellis, Jason Howard, and Fonografiks. It’s been a while since I’ve seen some of Ellis’ dialogue be this funny, but it’s very welcome.

| Published by Image

Champions #24 tackles the increasing problem of school shootings with the added intersection of a world with superheroes. Now, that may sound like a recipe for disaster, condescending patronizing or an after school special with saccharine solutions, but that’s not what’s presented here. Jim Zub, Sean Izaakse, Marcio Menyz, Erick Arciniega, and Clayton Cowles instead present a thoughtful story of the helplessness of the situation, that you really should pick up and read for yourself.

| Published by Marvel

Crowded #2 is as good, possibly even better, than the first issue as we get further development of Vita and Charlie’s characters, and a broader understanding of many of the facets of the series’ world. This really is a great comic, wonderful humour, amazing premise, interesting characters, and beautiful art. Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, Tríona Farrell, and Cardinal Rae have something special here. Don’t sleep on it.

| Published by Image

Exiles #8 is a good jumping-on point, as the team’s history is explored and the issue sets up a new group of antagonists in the Watchers. Saladin Ahmed is doing a great job of building these characters and making their unique alternate realities interesting. Nice guest art this issue from Joe Quinones, Joe Rivera, Jordan Gibson, Chris Sotomayor, and Muntsa Vicente. 

| Published by Marvel

Fantastic Four #2 has a couple things in its opening page that could be considered problematic, the first in its depiction of an alien race that could be an analogue to the racial stereotype of Native Americans as the “noble savage”, the second is of the sexualization of a child. Neither are particularly endearing in how they’re presented and I’m kind of surprised they made it to print.

That being said, the rest of the issue is pretty good. It’s the kind of sci-fi adventure you’d expect from the FF, though it does feel like we’ve been dropped in at the end of an adventure we’ve never seen, and it has beautiful artwork from Sara Pichelli, Elisabetta D’Amico, and Marte Gracia.

| Published by Marvel

Hot Lunch Special #2 is just plain great storytelling. Eliot Rahal, Jorge Fornés, and Taylor Esposito are crafting a crime story here that is the perfect storm of characters, plot, and execution. It’s dense and heavy, navigating through the Khoury family and their shock at the death of their youngest, masterfully told through both dialogue and art.

| Published by AfterShock

Iceman #1 isn’t a bad start to a new series from Sina Grace, this time with Nathan Stockman and Federico Blee joining him for the art duties. While still cracking wise a bit, this seems like it’s going in a much more serious direction than some of Grace’s previous series. Great art, and an interesting hook for a new group trying to “cleanse” mutantkind.

| Published by Marvel

Infinity Wars #3 gives us the twist in the tale that’s going to deliver most of the tie-ins and spin-offs for the series, as Gamora remakes the world and causes the fusion of various heroes. It’s an idea we’ve seen before in things like the merged DC/Marvel Amalgam universe, which could be fun depending on where the creative teams take it.

| Published by Marvel

MCMLXXV #1 is kind of a mash-up of different 70s exploitation film genres, creating an interesting action horror story from Joe Casey, Ian MacEwan, Brad Simpson, and Rus Wooton. MacEwan’s art is very nice, reminding me a bit of Troy Nixey, with some interesting character designs and wonderful depictions of the action.

| Published by Image

Mech Cadet Yu #12 concludes the series with a final battle between the robos and the Sharg, again following the important themes of teamwork and sacrifice. This has been a very entertaining, action-packed story from Greg Pak, Takeshi Miyazawa, Raúl Angulo, and Simon Bowland.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Oblivion Song #7 is the big answer to the Transference, maybe, as the series turns itself on its ear again with more sweeping changes. I really quite like how Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo de Felici are keeping us on our toes as the series keeps pressing forward. 

| Published by Image / Skybound

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #309 concludes this two-parter focusing on Sandman, with gorgeous art from Chris Bachalo and his army of inkers. This one’s a lot more action-oriented than the quiet reflection upon death in the first chapter, but it’s still very satisfying.

| Published by Marvel

Runaways #13 begins a new arc with some incredible guest art from David Lafuente and Jim Campbell. Along with the return of Alex Wilder, this drops in another old threat for the team, leading to one of the more action-packed issues of the series so far. Still, amidst the chaos, Rainbow Rowell still has a laser-focused eye for character development, giving us some interesting reactions to Wilder’s return.

| Published by Marvel

Scales & Scoundrels #12 concludes this two-part arc with Dorma and with it the series for the foreseeable future. This has been a great all ages fantasy adventure series from Sebastian Girner, Galaad, and Jeff Powell, and I wish it had have caught on better since the quality has been extremely high. Great characters and beautiful art, I do hope they find a way to bring it back in some form, and I highly recommend people to check out the series in the collections. 

| Published by Image

Volition #2 is another beautiful comic. The artwork from Omar Francia is gorgeous with a nice polished sheen to the colours that enriches this world of sentient machines.

| Published by AfterShock

Weapon H #7 continues to be more entertaining than anyone probably thought possible. Though I really quite like Cory Smith’s art, I’m thinking that Ario Anindito’s is even more suited to the weird, alien creatures of this turn in the story.

| Published by Marvel

The Wrong Earth #1 is a solid debut, kicking off new publisher, Ahoy’s, foray into comics. It’s a nice package with a lead story, a back-up comic, some interviews, a one pager, and a short story. It gives nice value for what you’re picking up, especially when you consider the talent involved. 

The lead story from Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle, Juan Castro, Andy Troy, and Rob Steen is the main draw, though. It’s a rather brilliant premise of a superhero crossing alternate realities, switching from a kind of Adam West Batman-esque quaint, bright world to a much darker grim and gritty world, and vice versa. It’s executed very well, capturing the tone and atmosphere for both takes perfectly.

The backmatter also nicely enhances the experience, particularly the back-up comic featuring Stinger from Paul Constant and Frank Cammuso, presented in a kind of retro comics fashion. And a suitably bonkers adventure prose story from Grant Morrison, with illustrations by Rob Steen.

| Published by Ahoy Comics

X-23 #4 pushes further to paint the Cuckoos as out and out villains now. Which is a bit of a shame, much like with Emma Frost, but I can’t deny that Mariko Tamaki isn’t doing something interesting with them and the story overall. Also, Juann Cabal and Nolan Woodard continue to deliver stunning artwork.

| Published by Marvel

X-Men Blue #35 takes a moment for each of the time-tossed original five X-Men to chat with their present day counterparts about going back to their own time, while flashing forward to the seemingly nightmarish future that would exist if they stayed. Obviously with Extinction going on events are a bit out of order, but I still like the handle Cullen Bunn has had on these characters.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Accell #14, Amazing Spider-Man #5, Astonisher #10, The Beauty #23, Dejah Thoris #8, Charlie’s Angels #4, Daredevil #608, Domino #6, Farmhand #3, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #256, Head Lopper #9, Joe Golem: The Drowning City #1, Journey Into Mystery: Birth of Krakoa #1, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Tempest #2, Low Road West #1, Mage: The Hero Denied #12, Moth & Whisper #1, Ms. Marvel #34, Nancy Drew #4, The New World #3, Ninja-K #11, Old Man Logan #47, Proxima Centauri #4, RuinWorld #3, the seeds #2, She Could Fly #3, Sleepless #7, Star Trek: The Next Generation - Terra Incognita #3, Star Wars: Darth Vader #21, Star Wars: The Last Jedi #6, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #36, Venom: First Host #3, Wasted Space #5, The Weatherman #4, The Wicked + The Divine #39, World of Tanks: Citadel #5

Recommended Collections: Anthony Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts, Dissonance - Volume 1, Dry County Complete, DuckTales - Volume 3: Quests & Quacks, Elsewhere - Volume 2, Infinity Countdown, Infinity Countdown Companion, Kick-Ass - Volume 1, Koshchei the Deathless, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - Volume 6, Oblivion Song - Volume 1, Slam: Next Jam, Star Trek: The Next Generation - Through the Mirror, Star Wars: Darth Vader - Volume 3: Burning Seas, Star Wars: Thrawn, Strangers in Paradise XXV - Volume 1: The Chase

d. emerson eddy did not start a joke that started the whole world crying.

[weirddemiwood]

Imagine being Warrens twin and joining the Avengers (and the Bird squad)

Fandom: Marvel (Avengers, X-men)

Pairring: none, maybe platonic with Clint and Sam

Warning: I tried to write Wandas accent but idk how good I did that

You have Wings (like Warren) and Warren survived Apocalypse in this, although you don’t know from the whole Apocalypse thing.

“You must be (Y/N).” A woman with red hair stated. “I’m Pepper Pots, nice to meet you.” She continued as you nodded. She led you into the gigantic tower and to an elevator, then up and through a maze of hallways.

You got a few odd looks since you were wearing a long coat under which you hided your wings, they were tucked together with a holster you and your brother had made years ago.

Pepper stopped in front of a room and looked to you “ready?” As you nodded she opened the door and the two of you stepped inside.

Ten people were sitting in the room. You had only met one of them; Nick Fury. Before you had decided to join the team of heroes, you had talked with the direktor of Shield. Of course you also knew the other people. Thor Odinson, Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton, Sam Wilson, Tony Stark, Natascha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, Vision and Bruce Banner.

“Guys, this is (Y/N) Worthington.” Pepper said and caught the attention of the Avengers. Fury stood up from the armchair, in which he was previously seated and said. “she will be joining the team. Now excuse me, I have thangs to do.” with that he left and Tony stark was the first to say something.”So, why exactly are you here? he asked.

“I`m a mutant and a good fighter.” you told them. “Vhat exactly are your abilizies?” Wanda asked with her sokovian accent. you shrugged of my coat and opened the holster. My large white wring still felt a bit numb from being pulled together so long so you expanded them to their full lenght. The avengers eyes grew wide till Clint Barton aka Hawkeye said, “Sam, we’re changing Bird Bros to Bird Squad.” and Sam Wilson aka Falcon nodded.

In the evening you laid on your bed and could’t sleep. You wandered what your brother was up to this days and rememberded how you would climb into the vents as children. Due to both of your wings, it wasn’t very easy but you managed and when Warren ran, or rather flew, away from home you still went there to feel near him.

Deciding that you could’t sleep anyway, you pushed open the vent, that was right above your bed, and climbed through it. The vents in the Avenger Tower were a bit broader than in your home so you didn’t really struggle as you crawled through shaft. You didn’t have a destination, but you somehow came to a place that was almost as big as a little room. With red spraypaint the Words The Nest were written along the metal wall and a few tablets were sticked to it under the writing. You could see that the tablets were there too overlook all the cameras in the tower. The floor of this ‘nest’ was covered with pillows and blankets and there were Clint and Sam.

“We have awaited you, fellow Bird.”

[inhumansforever]

Secret Warriors #1 Review

spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers

Spinning out of the Secret Empire cross over event, Mathew Rosenberg, Javier Garrón and Israel Silva bring us the debut issue of the all new Secret Warriors.  Full recap and review following the jump.

A sentient version of the reality-bending Cosmic Cube has altered the fabric of reality, changing history so that Captain America has been transformed and has secretly been an agent of Hydra, quietly biding his time and putting into place a grand scheme to seat Hydra as the rulers of the United States and soon the world.  The plot has been initiated and the world’s heroes were caught by surprise as the greatest among them has been revealed as a traitor and the most dire of threats.   Rogers and his Hydra forces have sprung their trap, encasing much of Manhattan in an impenetrable orb of Darkforce energy while using Alpha Flight’s earthly shield to strand many of the world’s more powerful heroes in outer space.  Shield has been compromised, the majority of its agents having been brainwashed into following Hydra’s command; and there are plenty of angry young men and women willing to join Hydra’s new world order.  Things are pretty bad.

The issues narrative jumps back and forth between periods of time before and after Hydra’s sinister take-over.  The central focus is on Daisy ‘Quake’ Johnson.  Along with being an Inhuman who can control seismic waves, Daisy is additionally a high ranking Shield agent who led ‘Moth Squadron,’ a task force that had monitored Inhuman affairs.  Daisy had become suspicious of Hydra’s plots and Steve Rogers set her team on a mission that was covertly an ambush where her team was attacked by the villainous Wrecking Crew.  

Daisy was ultimately able to defeat the Wrecking Crew, but her entire team was killed in action (including, it would appear, YoYo Rodriguez, the former Secret Warrior known as Slingshot - although I certainly hope she isn’t truly dead because it would be a terrible loss).  

Aware of Rogers’ treachery, Daisy arranges a secret rendezvous with her trusted alley, Phil Coulson.  Coulson cannot believe that Rogers has gone rogue but agrees to investigate the matter and the two arrange to meet once more at a coffee shop in The Bronx.  

Then the take over occurs and Hydra assumes control of the majority of the Eastern Seaborne.  The Inhumans are viewed as impure in accordance to Hydra’s racist world order and the city of New Attilan is sacked, its citizens arrested and placed in a heavily fortified internment camp. Daisy awaits Coulson in the coffee shop but he never arrives, instead she is accosted by a group of her former fellow Shield agents who attempt to take her in for ‘reprogramming.’  

Daisy is able to defeat these agents and she formulates a plan for mounting a resistance to Hydra’s rule.  A key facet to this plan is locating a freeing a specific Inhuman.  She calls upon the assistance of Ms. Marvel and Moon Girl to intercept a convoy she believes is transporting the individual Daisy is searching for.  It remains unclear how Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur managed to escape the DarkForce dome encasing Manhattan, but she agrees to join Ms. Marvel in taking out the convoy.  Ms. Marvel and Moon Girl are initially suspicious of Daisy; the other Shield agents have somehow turned evil, so what should make her different?  Fortunately, Daisy is able to pass Devil Dinosaur’s smell test… her scent seems clean to him and this is enough to assure Moon Girl and Ms. Marvel that Daisy is on the up and up.  There’s a good deal of tension and salty banter between the three.

It turns out that the convoy is not transporting the individual Daisy is looking for but is rather holding the young Inhuman, Inferno, as well as a pair of additional unnamed Inhumans.  Discouraged, Daisy dismisses her allies, opting to continue her mission on her own.  Yet Ms. Marvel, Moon Girl and now Inferno are not so easily deterred.  They have learned that The Inhumans are being kept at an internment camp and will not rest until their peoples are freed.  

Daisy and Ms. Marvel continue not to see eye to eye.  Daisy feels that stealth and digression is advised whereas Ms. Marvel simply cannot stand by leaving their fellow Inhumans locked up in what is essentially a concentration camp.  

Before the two can reach a consensus, Moon Girl takes matters into her own hands and approaches the front gate, distracting the guards long enough for Devil Dinosaur and the others to sneak up and begin to wreak havoc.  A massive battle erupts as many of the Inhumans are freed and fight against their Hydra captors.  

Among the fracas, Daisy seeks out the specific Inhuman she has been searching out: Karnak.  Daisy needs Karnak, his ability to perceive the flaw in all things may prove essential in devising a stratagem for deafening Hydra.  Surprisingly, Karnak is not especially interested in being rescued.  He has once more retreated into a utterly pessimistic and nihilistic mindset.  With he loss of the Terrigen Cloud his race has been effectively doomed to extinction and he doesn’t feel especially concerned that the human nation of America is currently tearing itself apart.  

Karnak’s mood and attitude shifts quite quickly when he sees that Moon Girl has accompanied Daisy in his rescue.  He is quite pleased to see Lunella and quite suddenly changes his mind and decides that he will join Daisy’s crusade after all.  This exchange entails what is sure to be my favorite panel of the day... 

Karnak suggests, however, that who they truly need is not incarcerated in this camp, that he has instead been taken by The X-Men.  Whom Karnak is referring to and what The X-Men are up to are both matters left unrevealed as the issue ends on this cliffhanger.    

A fun albeit slightly disjointed first issue.  The narrative is a bit hampered by being so tied into the goings-on in the pages of the main Secret Empire book.  I’m actually an issue behind on Secret Empire and, while I was still able to follow the plot, the enormity of the stakes did not quite sink in for me.  And this made it especially jarring to see characters like Ms. Marvel and Inferno fight with a level of ferocity that I’m not used to.  I realize that these villains are nazis and all nazis should die terrible deaths, but are some of the bad guys just mind controlled?  Whatever the case, Inferno straight up incinerates a number of goons and nazi or not it is quite disconcerting to see your heroes killing people.  

Mathew Rosenberg’s decision to utilize a time-skipping narrative, jumping to points before and after the Hydra takeover is a risky choice.  It works for the most part, but also adds to the general feeling of the book being a mere side-story to the main tale taking place in Secret Empire.  My guess is that the main Secret Empire book has these matters covered and it may have been a smarter choice to focus on character development rather than the sinister mechanisms of Hydra’s plot.  As it stands, Daisy is offered development and motivation whereas Ms. Marvel, Moon Girl and Inferno feel more like supporting players.  

Fortunately, Rosenberg excels at writing Daisy.  Nick Fury’s training has led her to suspect everyone and trust no one.  Just as she was coming to be able to rely on others, Steve Rogers turned on her and it cost her the lives of her team.  It has left her somewhat traumatized.  It is clear that she is fearful over the prospect of leading the younger Inhumans into battle... frightened over the idea of these young heroes also dying under her command.  Yet she attempts to suppress this fear through a rather transparent facade of jaded sass and quippy insults.  

It’s clear from the get-go that Daisy and Ms. Marvel are not going to get along.  Even in these dire times, Kamala is unwilling to give up on her ideals of what it means to be a hero.  And this is sure to be at odds with the moral gray areas Daisy will need to resort to in order to succeed in their mission.  Daisy knows that this is war; and there’s no way to win a war without getting your hands dirty.  It’s a grim truth that Kamala is sure to have a great deal of difficulty with.  

Karnak only shows up for the last few pages of the issue, but makes an interesting impression.  In the Karnak miniseries, Warren Ellis established the character as a supreme nihilist, a pessimistic curmudgeon who was wonderfully fun to read about despite his sour demeanor.  And yet this nihilism is cast in a very different light against the backdrop of a world taken over by fascists.  Everything that is sort of cool or appealing about ‘not caring’ is recast as complicit when such terrible things are occurring.  Yet Karnak has no interest in the world of humans and sees his own race as already doomed to extinction. 

It is only the appearance of Lunella that changes Karnak’s mind.  It is not yet made entirely clear what it is about Lunella that causes this change in attitude.   My current guess is that Karnak sees in her a sense of dueling intellect and innocence that offers him the one things he feels is beyond him: hope.  Whatever the case, I’ll be very interested to see how Karnak and Lunella’s relationship evolves in future issues.  

Javier Garrón’s art is on point.  He is asked to fill in a great deal of action is a relatively small number of pages and utilizes a panel economy that is highly busy while not disorganized (which I cannot imagine is easy to do).  The action is fluid and dynamic and he really excels at illustrating chaotic scenes.  The quieter scenes are a bit more static and I’m still warming up to Garrón’s particular approach to relaying facial expressions of emotion.  

Colorist, Israel Silva, also does excellent work, especially in terms of using different pallets to distinguish those scenes set in the past versus those set in the present.  My one gripe is the curious choices of how Daisy and Kamala’s hair are colored.  For some reason, Daisy’s hair is now brown instead of black and Kamala’s black instead of brown.  I’m not sure why this decision was made and, while it’s a minor nitpick, I nevertheless hope it gets rectified in subsequent issues.  

All in all this first issue feels more like a preview of Secret Warriors as opposed to its official debut.  It’s a good read, but being so tethered to the Secret Empire event is certainly a handicap.  A part of me feel like the real first issue of Secret Warriors will come when Secret Empire is over and Rosenberg and company can be free to tell their own story in a much more independent and unencumbered fashion.  Nonetheless, it’s still lots of fun and recommended.

Three out of Five Lockjaws

[hakka84]

I had some time to think and I might come up with further suggestions for the anon, if you'll allow me. Strictly Angel/feathered-wings titles.

X-Men: The Hidden Years This is a must-read, IMHO. It's been some years since I re-read it, so I don’t recall much of it besides the amazing last issue (my memory isn’t the best). But I'd suggest it because it's Original Five Team (the good old times, before Wolverine, before the power-ups, before everything) but with a more modern touch in the dialogues. The X-Men (the original, first title that run between 1963 to 1970 for 66 issues) is much verbose and the characterization is clearly influenced by the years it was written (like all 60′s Marvel Comics) and can become quite boring or hard to read. Hidden Years keeps the spirit and the art style but, you know, less verbose. The story takes up when The X-Men closed (to then be revamped with Giant Size and the Second Genesis - the team with Storm, Wolverine, Kurt, Colossus) so perhaps reading some issues from The X-Men would be suggested, but issue #1 acts as a “where were we?” so it isn’t necessary. (there’s also a preview/issue #0 featured in X-Men #94)

If you feel like following the stories of the Original Five, there’s also X-Men: First Class (volume 1, volume 2 and Finals). The characters are indeed modernized (the setting is in the first 2000′s) and sometimes you have a WTF?! reaction, but it’s a good read for a fan of Warren. There are many re-tales about the O5 (some featuring amazing arts like Mythos) but First Class are new stories, that’s why I suggest i. And you can’t miss X-Factor (1986), but that’s a very intensive reading: it happens SO MUCH in the title to all the characters, and from a Warren Fan point of view... woah, yes, very very intense. I would like to add The Champions (1975) and The (New) Defenders (1972 - from #125) , but... not truly a bad ass Warren in there (it becomes quite embarrassing at times), so forget about them anon: just remember that Warren at some point founded(and funded) a superhero team group with the Black Widow/Hercules/Ghost Rider and was part of another team with Valkyrie & others. (if you happened to read Iceman (2017) there’s a two-issue arch (#6/#7) in which Bobby and Warren meet up with their Champions colleagues to mourn Natasha - that’s a good issue, Warren speaking).

Angel: Revelations Pre-X-Men Warren. I have my issues with this title because of the art, which is... quite unique, but that is a very good Warren story. It’s basically the origins of the origins, even before Warren became a costumed hero (yep, Warren was his own hero before joining the X-Men, yet we never got a series on that time and Warren is considered a B-series character most of the time in comics and in the fandom *insert very enraged emoji*). Young!Warren, all characterization, no hero-ing (almost).

Ka-zar (1970) #2/#3 + Marvel Tales #30 Angel is the main character, and there’s his family and Candy (<3). This is a mostly forgotten story but IMHO important.

Tales of Suspense #49 Not much bad ass Warren, and he is a guest start, but if you want to see Warren outmaneuver Iron Man in air, that’s your issue.

Marvel Fanfare #1 to #4 Again, the story is a Spider-Man one, but Warren is a co-protagonist and... really, any story in which he is alone and without the X-Men (in this one the X-Men actually pop up but he isn’t there as member of the X-Men) is worth a reading. At this point I just believe he should be entrusted to a non-mutant title, for him to reach his potential. Which leads to...

Marvel Two-in-One #68 Warren and the Thing. Nothing too memorable, but Warren on his own. Thumbs up.

X-Men Unlimited (vol 1) #17 You didn’t know you needed a Warren with an assault rifle until you see it. It’s a Wolverine story, but Warren gets good part in it.

X-Men Unlimited (vol 2) #8 One of the best (and few) Warren’s one-shot. And, despite all starting from Cyclops and being related to the X-Men, is focused on Warren-the-winged-person, and not Warren-the-X-Men’s-Angel. Short but lovely.

Thunderbolts story featuring Warren mentioned above starts at issue #27(the second best Warren-feather-wings ever, I fear) and ends in #30.

If we want to enter the Warren/Betsy hell (seriously, I want answer about them in the current status quo of the group  😠 😠), Psylocke and Archangel: Crimson Dawn is a must-read. Although it would require the reading of the Warriors of the Ebon Night arch (Uncanny X-Men #329/#330) which spans from the events of UXM #328 (and in Sabretooth's Special)

The rest (and some of most Warren’s best arch and stories) are in his Archangel/metal wings and usually are long arch or arch that need to reading of other arch so we will leave them aside.

I guess that’s all?

(Angel ask) Is there a comic you'd recommend reading with him? 😲

Hey!!! Sorry it took me a bit, but I wanted to make sure I gave you some good recs!!

@hakka84 provided some good recs too!  Excalibur (2005) (there’s only one issue hakka is referring to, but I think the whole story is pretty fun, so do you!) and his cameo in Thunderbolts. (I don’t read Thunderbolts, so I have no opinion on that one) I did like him as "boss" during his co-regency of the team with Kurt (back in the black-leather uniform times) but I know some didn't like that specific characterization of Warren. (Nonnie, you should still check them out. A big part of Warren’s character is that he believes in Xavier’s mission.)

--

One of the X-men series I particularly enjoy was Uncanny X-men (405 issues, yikes) and Angel does play a particularly strong role in the Lovelorn portion of it (4 parts) (link to all the issues: https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-uncanny-x-men/4050-3092/ )

And (personally) I adore him and Betsy together. It always felt like a good fit that really helps humble Warren because of his better upbringing. So anything with the two of them is fun.

He was also in the Morlock Massacre if you want to check out those comics. It crosses Avengers and X-men, a lot of people got hurt, and it’s later thrown in Gambit’s face. (So much drama with the X-men, man)

And I know that Archangel is a big part of Warren’s character. Most X-men fans know that because he is one of the more consistent horsemen we see. BUT, if you can, read Warren more so as Angel and himself before jumping into all of that. It’s a whole other world of chaos. XD

Hope this helped!!!

[god-hunter]

X-Men: Blue #8

Wow!  This was a fantastic issue.  X-Men Blue is doing the tie-in treatment correctly.  This one definitely took us places.

So last time our O5 and Jimmy Hudson got rocked by a team of familiar mutants consisting of Wolfsbane, Firestar, Havok, Toad and others.  They work for New Tian, which is basically Emma Frost’s version of Scott Summers Senior’s Utopia.  I can’t exactly tell you why they’re fighting, other than maybe survival amongst the times.  [If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em sort of thing, I guess?]

But our heroes refuse to fall in line with that.  They were the rebels, and most of them just lost and were captured by New Tian’s X-Men.

However...  in this issue, we find that Jean and Jimmy got out mostly unscathed.

[SPOILERS]

With the Blackbird, fully speaking to them as an A.I, the ship saved them.

Then, we get to see Cyclops and Emma talk at Utopia.  This was a very interesting and mostly satisfying encounter.  Emma seems to want to... make Scott her Old Scott.

“When I’m through... You’ll be whoever I want you to be!”  - that one surprised me.

She definitely gets in his head and says that “In time, you’ll come to see things my way on your own. And then you’ll be free.”

[Whoa...  Are we about to see the slow return of Revolutionary Cyclops??]

Iceman, Angel and Beast are stuck in a cell together with power dampeners as well.  Hank is upset that he can’t use any of the spells he’s learned in this condition, while Warren kind of hopes that Magneto will save them.  Bobby calls him a fool for thinking such a thing though.  [And I just want to pause for a second to talk about how horribly inconsistent this book is with Angel’s hair.  I’m always happy to see him with mid-long length of his hair, but the last issue gave him a short hair cut.  I feel like that happened before too, but I didn’t mention anything.  With his hair long again, I’m happy to see that, but I just wish they would stay consistent.]

Then we see that Briar Raleigh, (who really came into this book out of nowhere...) is not in a cell at all.  She’s been given preferential treatment by Havok to be placed in basically a Hotel suite accommodation.  With a nice bathroom, a luxurious bedroom, a nice TV, a sweet bathrobe...  You get the idea.  Briar asks what all of this is about and can already tell that the rest of her team isn’t being treated the same way.  “You want something.  And my guess is the White Queen is too busy to come and take it from me.”

She also mentions something about “Shi’ar Wetware” in her brain that I don’t really understand...  I don’t understand her disposition here.  She’s like super coy and almost flirting with Havok when she says, “Want to skip ahead to torture? Because that’ll be fun.”

...we cut to Magneto who talks to his Robotic Butler Ferris.    He brings up why he hasn’t been doing anything yet.  Especially in this extreme tie-in World.  “I made a promise that I would stay out of the affairs of Hydra’s America and New Tian.  I plan on honoring the terms of my agreement.”

He seems to have a box, holding Red Skull’s head.  Then he closes it.  “Even though my promises prevent me from helping the X-Men personally... I have arranged for them to have more-than adequate support when the time comes.”

[This line blew right by without any meaning until the very end.]

But we could sum it up by saying that Jimmy and Jean travel to New Tian by the Blackbird Jet, who is basically self-running on A.I Autopilot at this point.

They encounter Firestar, Wolfsbane and Marrow once again as well as a bunch of dreadnoughts, or whatever you call them.

Jean uses a sweet technique to scare all of them off, by pulling up a mental image of Wolverine, Cable, Colossus, Rogue, Sunfire, Sabertooth, James Proudstar, Storm, Gambit and Banshee.  

Then the Blackbird descends and tells them to keep going while it protects them.  It starts to dismantle itself and form itself into that of a Woman.  Not just any woman though.  - Danger!!!

[Whaaat!?  Danger’s back!??  Sweet.  I was kind of wondering where all these Blackbirds came from.  I’m pretty sure Gold Team has the Jet too.]

They not only have help in the form of Danger, but when they get inside and encounter Havok, suddenly Polaris arrives too!  She catches him off guard and blows up the wall nearby, knocking him over and surprising him.

“Hey, Alex. Long time no see.  I hate to say it, but this is going to be a Painful Reunion.”

-To Be Continued!-

What makes this exciting, besides all of the surprise returns is that Polaris is Magneto’s other daughter.  [Whether it’s confirmed that Wanda is or isn’t anymore...]  They’ve still got Polaris!  And she’s out here to help Magneto do his bidding.  And if that means that she is a guest player on the X-Men Blue Team, I am all for it.

And I really like that Danger is still around too.  She was always cool in the past.

So glad Cullen Bunn is writing this book in this way.  Why couldn’t he do this type of stuff during his run of Uncanny??

Oh well.  Looking forward to X-Men Blue #9

[rodrigohyde]

From triathlete to action star: How Daniel MacPherson bulked up for ‘Strike Back’

Daniel MacPherson perfectly remembers the moment he decided to change the course of his acting career.

“It was halfway through a marathon at the end of an Ironman competition in Germany in 2014,” MacPherson tells Men’s Fitness. “It was over 100°; I was having a bad day, heart rate was super-high, my calories had gone wrong. I was seeing stars, and I had this moment of clarity: ‘Why am I still doing this?’”

That was the question that led MacPherson to the biggest role of his life: starring on the Cinemax action series Strike Back.

[RELATED1]

From "overweight kid to action hero"

A self-described “overweight kid,” MacPherson played rugby and was bullied in school, but when he first started doing triathlons, everything clicked into place. Since he was a teen, the now-37-year-old MacPherson had been competing and training for triathlons. In fact, when he was growing up, MacPherson didn’t have dreams of becoming an actor—he wanted to be a professional triathlete.

After being discovered by an acting manager at 16 while competing in a race, MacPherson put together a successful career in his native Australia, starring in a number of stage productions, television, and film projects, including the long-running Australian soap Neighbours, the police drama City Homicide, and hosting gigs on The X Factor and Dancing With the Stars.

But MacPherson left that behind when he moved to Los Angeles, following a generation of Australian actors who made the successful jump to Hollywood—like MacPherson’s good friend Chris Hemsworth, Jai Courtney, Luke Bracey, Simon Baker, and, of course, superstars like Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe.

[PQ]

But for all his success in Oz, something was holding him back in America. While MacPherson was getting auditions for what he called “big roles in big productions”—lots of tryouts as soldiers, FBI agents, and military operatives—he kept finishing in second or third.

“I had been competing in triathlons for over 20 years,” MacPherson says. “But I had moved my entire life to LA, and started to wonder if I should just pack up and go home: 'Maybe it was a stupid decision to come.' I was getting so close to breaking through on these projects, so I made a conscious decision around three years ago to put on 20lbs of muscle. I went from trying to be a lean, efficient triathlete for two decades—no one was ever going to cast me in Man of Steel at that time—so I felt I had to make that shift. As an Australian male in Hollywood, I needed to have that physicality in my toolbox.”

  Swingin’ into the weekend like....👌🏼👌🏼 #Swinger #StrikeBack #Budapest #BackAbs #MensFitness #MensHealth #Flyer #Gymnastics #NotStrict #HaveAGoodOne 🤙🏼

A post shared by DANIEL MACPHERSON (@danmacpherson) on Jan 26, 2018 at 9:09pm PST

  Transforming his body—and his career

MacPherson had been spending 20-25 hours per week training and focusing on his triathlon work, but following that fateful Ironman race in Germany, he poured his energy into transforming his body to fit those auditions.

“I shocked my body into growing it as quickly as it could, and burning more body fat than ever before,” MacPherson says. “I went from training my body to make one calorie to last for as long as it can for a triathlon, to trying to gain size and muscle. I spoke to Chris Hemsworth's trainer, Luke Zocchi, and he helped me get maximum results in a short amount of time to make that transition. I did a lot of fasted cardio, a lot of high-intensity workouts, and eccentric moves.”

[RELATED2]

Consider the transition a success. Following his physical change, MacPherson quickly booked roles on MTV’s The Shannara Chronicles, and the FOX series APB, both of which eventually were canceled. But MacPherson’s fitness transformation led him to getting his biggest American role: playing Sergeant Samuel Wyatt on Cinemax’s Strike Back, a high-octane action-drama featuring special forces missions around the world.

MacPherson added even more muscle to his frame to get into character, putting on another 15-20lbs while focusing on his shoulders, chest, and back to get as “thick” as real-life Navy SEALs and commandos he met while doing research. MacPherson built his foundation with deadlifts and squats so he could move like his real-life character would while carrying 30–40lbs of equipment and weaponry.

“I was the heaviest I've ever been in my life,” MacPherson says. “I worked with a body-shaping and bodybuilding coach to maintain the frame and the size, and to create the physicality that these guys have. I was doing weighted hiking—like, five-hour hikes with weight vests on. I did a lot of thrusters, a lot of up-and-down movements, rowing, and depth through chest and back with the squat press, shoulder press, a lot of Arnold curls for the triceps, and building up the delts. Growing up, I had a weaker lower back, and was quad-dominant over glutes from cycling and running from such a young age. The training really helped me right those imbalances.”

[RELATED3]

Facing death—and having fun—on Strike Back

The cast of Strike Back (which also includes former professional Muay Thai fighter Warren Brown), did firearms training at Taran Tactical, at which Keanu Reeves trained for John Wick. (“We got to go out on the same range as Keanu,” MacPherson says. “I was pinching myself.”) The cast also trained together in a three-week bootcamp in Jordan, in which some of the show was filmed. MacPherson and the actors lifted weights in the morning, followed by an hour of jiu-jitsu, and then rock climbing. The rest of the day, they trained at the state-of-the-art King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center alongside Jordanian Special Forces.

“The place was like Disneyland for soldiers,” MacPherson says. “You've got a full Boeing 737 for practicing hijack takedowns. It's got a full five-story kill house with the doors that can move and smoke and sirens and things that pop up at you. We were training on a range, all live-fire stuff, being trained by incredible instructors. We’re next to Russian spec-ops guys, the Polish Special Forces. There were Americans there, too. The fact that we got into that facility and were allowed to train there for three weeks is an experience that I'll probably never get to do again, it was incredible.”

[RELATED4]

But not even all that training could totally prepare the actors for what they had to do on set. Given that Strike Back portrays adrenaline-soaked military missions, filming called for death-defying stunts—explosions, gunfights, and close-quarters combat—and almost all of it was done without CGI assistance.

“My first stunt sequence was insane,” MacPherson says. “Warren [Brown] and I are being chased in a Jeep, and I have to jump from a moving Jeep into another moving Jeep, have a fight there, throw a guy out of it, then I jump back into my Jeep, and the other one explodes. We have one of the best stunt teams in the world—some of the guys worked on Game of Thrones, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and the new Hellboy—but when you’re standing 20' from an exploding car that’s doing a full somersault in the air, and your job is to run into that explosion, if you mistime that by three seconds, you’re dead. So it’s intense. You're treading a fine line every day. There are things that I don't tell my wife or my mother that I've done that day [laughs].”

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Another Australian Wolverine?

Clearly, MacPherson survived the production, and his work on Strike Back has already gained him notice in Hollywood. MacPherson will appear in Disney’s $100 million epic adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time coming out in March, and he has a few other projects lined up, too. Perhaps his new physicality could lead to the actor stepping into a genre in which fellow Australians have had success: superhero films.

With his friend Hemsworth starring as Thor in the Marvel films, and fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman hanging up his Wolverine claws, it's worth asking: How would MacPherson feel about taking over as the bearded, cigar-chomping X-Men hero?

“I'd love to go on a physical transformation as a superhero,” MacPherson says. “If I can marry my physical background with my acting again, like I did on Strike Back, then that’s the Holy Grail for me. I’m Australian, it might soften the blow for fans to see another one take over for Wolverine. But it also would be fun to play the bad guy, one of those rich, big villains.”

MacPherson’s already working on that training. The actor's been keeping up with the workout regimen that helped him get Strike Back in the first place, and he’s hoping that he’ll get to step into Wyatt’s shoes again for a second season.

“When I returned from Strike Back, I joined a CrossFit gym, and I’m feeling better than I ever have,” MacPherson says. “The mobility work has really helped my hips, and I’m doing a lot of new stuff in my weightlifting. I’m really hoping the show gets renewed for another season. I love Wyatt—these kind of characters don't come along every day.”

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from Men's Fitness https://www.mensfitness.com/life/entertainment/triathlete-action-star-how-daniel-macpherson-bulked-strike-back