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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 25, 2019 1:08:08 GMT -5
Monster Mashup Comic AnthologyVarious TitlesCover Date: Not Released Yet Writer: Too Many to List Artist: Too Many to List Featured Character(s): Various Public Domain Characters, Concepts, and Real Life People Villain/s: Various Public Domain Characters/Concepts Guest Stars: Various Public Domain Characters/Concepts/Real People Official Plot: Various, as it is an anthology Brodie's View: Doing something very different this time, as this will be my first "review for hire," so, rather than talking about comic books from the past, I will give my thoughts about a comic/graphic novel yet to be released. The Monster Mashup Comic Anthology is a pretty cool gathering of various Indie talent, both writing and art wise, taking on various characters from the Public Domain, and like any anthology, we get a hodge podge of different stories and styles, both in a writing and artistic sense. Some of the stories are comedic, some tragedies, some super hero-ish, some kind of wish fulfillment with certain characters, and some down right horror. As with many anthologies, I will honestly say that this is a mixed bag, quality wise; some are legit great (such as the story of Jack the Ripper coming across the wrong "victim," or Varney the Vampire going in search of El Chupacabra in a story that definitely mirrors events happening in the current day), some are really good (Paul Bunyan fighting King Kong, or Rapunzel falling in love with a being that's just as trapped as she is), some are decent (Van Helsing going in search of the Yeti), and some are just.....Meh, but I've never been the type to enjoy harping on what I didn't like. I'd rather talk up the good then focus on the bad, and I will say that there isn't really that much bad here. This was a pretty cool anthology that I would recommend picking up, if one would be interested in such a concept. Heck, if for nothing else, getting to see and read work by some GREAT comic talent before they're swooped up by one of the major companies. Here is the link for the kickstarter If one is intrigued by this anthology, please feel free to help make it fully happen, or at the very least, seek it out and read it when it is released. You won't regret it. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 2, 2019 1:32:18 GMT -5
House of X #1"The House That Xaiver Built"Cover Date: Sept, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Pepe Larraz Featured Character(s): X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl/Jean Grey, Angel, Penance, & Wolverine), X (Charles Xaiver(?)), Magneto, & Krakoa Villain/s: Orchis (1st Appearance of---Captain Erasmus Mendel, Agent Goodall, Dr. Smith, Dr. Alia Gregor, Dr. Cain, & Mothermold)(& Omega Sentinel) & Damage Control Guest Stars: The Stepford Cuckoos, Banshee, Cypher, Sage, Mystique, Sabretooth, Toad, Zorn, Xorn, The Fantastic Four, U.N. Security Council (Jean Pierre Kol, Walter Reppion, Natalia Vollock, Ma Mingyu, Reilly Marshall, & an Unnamed Israeli Ambassador), & a bunch of various X-Men in flashback Official Plot:Somewhere, X (Professor X's mind is in Fantomex's body and wearing a different type of Cerebro helmet) watches over several beings emerging from cocoons. "To me, my X-Men" he says as they crawl towards him. Starting five months ago, members of the X-Men began taking flowers from the island of Krakoa to various locations, notably Westchester County, New York, the Blue Area of the Moon, the Green Area on Mars, the Savage Land, Washington D.C., and the Jerusalem Habitat. Since then, they have grown into large bio-masses of plant life. Now at the Jerusalem Habitat, several ambassadors arrive to the area, responding to a telepathic message sent by Charles Xavier to recognize a new sovereign nation of Mutants Krakoa. The ambassadors are met by the newly appointed Krakoan ambassador Magneto. As Jean Grey leads the mutant residents of the X-Mansion to Krakoa, information is given through diagrams on the layout of Krakoa as well the main items of trade it produces: flowers designed for various purposes such as extending the human lifespan or creating portals directly to Krakoa. Near the sun, spacecrafts approach the station known as "The Forge," home base of a human group called Orchis. Orchis is the self-proclaimed "last hope" for humanity, made up of various members of human organizations such as A.I.M., S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, Alpha Flight, and others, allied to prevent the extinction of homo sapiens to mutants. The Forge is based on the remnants of Sol's Hammer (a planet killer designed by The Illuminati during the lead-up to Secret Wars) and a Mother Mold (a Sentient machine designed to create "Master Molds" which in turn create Sentinels). Orchis was activated when Xavier's message went out to the world, a seemingly "trigger" for the eventual extinction of humanity. Meanwhile, a team made up of Mystique, Sabretooth, and Toad infiltrate the base of Damage Control searching for information in the databases. While they get what they searched for, Sabertooth maims several guards in the chaos and is eventually captured by the Fantastic Four. At the same time, Magneto leads the ambassadors through several worldwide Krakoan habitats, connected through portals. The ambassadors question the war-like capabilities of the instantaneous travel, which Magneto declares is instead of an "instrument of war" an "unassailable refuge." He also reveals that the ambassadors will not be going to the island of Krakoa, for "Man is not welcome there." While the Fantastic Four are about to take away Sabretooth, Cyclops arrives to bring him back to Krakoa due to diplomatic immunity. While tensions arise between him and Mister Fantastic, Cyclops decides to leave Sabretooth to them to avoid a situation. While leaving, Invisible Woman asks if Cyclops and X are sure about what they are doing. Cyclops states that he believes in X and offers Invisible Woman's mutant son Franklin Richards a place to stay with his "family" on Krakoa before leaving. Back with the Ambassadors, Magneto reveals to the Stepford Cuckoos that he is aware of the true nature of the ambassadors as potential plants within Krakoa (while hinting that one member has a true alliance to Orchid). While he claims he is not threatening them, Magneto declares that he wants humanity to understand that they "have new gods now." Brodie's View:(Looking up) Wow! Am I right? Anyways, I've decided to finally cover the opening salvos of Jonathan Hickman's (hopefully long) run of the X-Books with the two mini series that are essentially one story told in two different ways: HOUSE OF X and POWERS of X. The first series will mostly focus on what is happening in the present, while the second, while also moving along the present plot, will also show events in the past that led to this, as well as how the actions taken in the present affect both the future (100 years) and the WAY OFF future (1000 years). There's a lot of retconning involved, but considering Hickman is taking the X-Books in a whole new direction that is as much Grant Morrison (or at least what he was starting to try and do with his run) as it is Chris Claremont's (although, there are quite a few concepts from his run that make their appearance, or are at least mentioned), I will definitely allow the retcons, especially since Hickman does them so well. I'll be honest with you, this is really my first time reading Hickman's stuff, as I sat out a good portion of the last decade of comics, being drawn back in only due to my love of the X-Men. After reading this, though, and especially hearing that all Hickman's Marvel stuff is really one large story, I definitely want to seek out his older stuff ASAP. Going back to Grant Morrison, though, this first issue very much reminds me of the beginning of Morrison's NEW X-MEN run, although, not as "Peaking on a hit of acid while writing"-y. Not to crack on Grant's writing. I'm actually a huge fan, but one can tell that Hickman is doing a more patient, thoughtful form of what Grant was trying to do with the X-books; move them beyond just being a rehash of the Claremont stuff, as great as that was. He very much does this from this first issue, as it's clear from what's stated both by characters in the book and Hickman himself (who provides charts/graphs/prose illustrating and expanding on points made, as well as dropping hints on future events/storylines that will take place as the series/X-books go on). One intriguing idea is that what Xaiver and Magneto are doing is creating a mutant society using the genetics of the former living mutant island known as Krakoa, and part of that is creating a mutant language that only they understand (although, we, as readers, are given the Krakoan alphabet a few issues into this. Hickman also gives us the next issue blurbs in Krakoan, forcing readers to have to go back to see what Hickman was trying to say earlier on. We get these callbacks thematically as well, especially that whole teaser with a few of the X-Men seemingly being born from pods. This is why I held off trying to do this, at least until we were almost done with these two series, as things are teased that seem strange, but are explained later. Before I move on, though, I do want to give a shout out to the art work of Pepe Larraz, which has a very Alan Davis/Bryan Hitch quality to it that adds to the overall experience of this story. Next up will be POWERS OF X #1, which, as I said previously, will explore not only the present, but the past and futures of the X-Men/mutant race as well. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 4, 2019 1:06:41 GMT -5
Powers of X #1 "The Last Dream of Professor X"Cover Date: Sept, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: R.B. Silva Featured Character(s): Charles Xavier, Moria MacTaggert, Krakoa, Mystique, Magneto, Future X-Men (Cylobel, Rasputin IV, and an unnamed member), Man-Machine Ascendancy (Librarian & Nimrod the Greater)(1st Appearance of all but the first five characters) Villain/s: Man-Machine Supremacy (Nimrod, Omega Sentinel, & other various members) Guest Stars: Toad & Future X-Men/Last Horsemen of Apocalypse (Percival)/(Pestilence / North, Death / Xorn (Kuan-Yin Xorn), War / Wolverine (James Howlett), & Famine / Cypher (Doug Ramsey) Official Plot:Powers of X, increasing in scale and complexity. X0 - Year One, the Dream. X1 - Year Ten, The World. X2 - Year One Hundred, the War. X3 - Year One Thousand, the Ascension. X0 Charles Xavier is walking through a funfair. He is enjoying himself on this beautiful day, sitting down on a bench to people-watch. Here, he is approached by a young woman, Moira MacTaggart, who makes cryptic remarks about a fortune-teller. As the conversation goes on, Xavier mentions a beautiful dream he had, which he is trying to work out in his head, so it can be a story he can tell people. Moira remarks that a dream ceases to be a dream once it becomes real. Xavier realizes that something is not quite right about this, so Moira asks him to read her mind. Puzzled, he complies, but is surprised by what he finds... X1 Mystique emerges from a Krakoan portal onto Krakoa accompanied by Toad. Telling Toad that he is off the clock now, she carries on alone to the House of M, where she meets Magneto. She tells him that her partner Sabretooth was captured during the heist, but she got the target - a memory stick. She will hand it over, but says her demands have increased. Xavier steps into view, and counters that they will ask more of her in return. Mystique mocks his seeming lack of humanitarianism. Xavier merely says that he is building a world safe for mutants, and that everyone will owe something to live there... X2 The war between the mutants and the Man-Machine Supremacy has gone on for years. A four-person squad of X-Men, consisting of three products of Mister Sinister's Mutant Breeding Program - Rasputin IV, an unnamed Cardinal, and Percival - as well as one defector from the Supremacy's Black Brain Program - Cylobel - are on a mission to extract something from the Nexus in the Northern Territory. Their mission has been discovered, leading to the death of Percival. The Cardinal plants a Krakoan seed to be the exfil point, but Cylobel is captured alive and Rasputin struggles to free her. Additional forces arrive, and Cylobel demands that Rasputin leave her behind to complete the mission. Anguished, Rasputin runs. There is a description of Mister Sinister's mutant breeding program where he ran the Sinister Breeding Pits on Mars. The mutant leaders would only endorse the program because constant fighting made it difficult for mutants to find the time to have children. The program lasted through four iterations: The first generation were designed to be divergent copies of a singular DNA source with an uncompromised X-Gene. They were the fodder that were trained until the age of 16 where they would be sent to defend Krakoa which fell 30 years later. The second generation marked the beginning of the "Chimera" process. They had DNA comprised of two separate X-Genes resulting in a mutant with the predictable power set of the sourced mutants. The third generation produced mutants with amalgamated DNA featuring up to five X-Genes. These generations were universally successful against the Man-Machine Supremacy. However, this generation had a 10% failure rate. These failures, with nonthreatening powers and pacifist dispositions, rejected individuality and refused names, thus collectively were called "Cardinal" The fourth generation suffered a systematic failure were produced with a corrupted hive mind that were responsible for the destruction of Krakoa and 40% of the mutant generation. They committed mass-suicide, collapsed Mars, the Sinister Breeding Pits, and themselves into a self-singularity. It was also mentioned that Mister Sinister was executed by the Man-Machine Supremacy after defecting. Cylobel is taken to the Human-Machine Monolith, to stand before Nimrod the Lesser. Nimrod, recognizing her as a Black Brain, offers a faux-apology: Black Brains like her were created by the Man-Machine Ascendancy to serve a purpose, but so many proved defective by defecting. Her very defective existence is a mark of the Supremacy's failure, and his tribute to that failure - her - will be to ensure that no-one like her is allowed to survive. The Supremacy wants to question Cylobel for information, but she is resistant to torture, and thanks to her status as a Black Brain, she is immune to telepathic reading. So, the Supremacy is forced to follow Nimrod's suggestion, which makes him briefly giddy. Nimrod orders that Cylobel be placed into a device of his construction - a coffin-sized tube of femtofluid, where she will drown as her body and mind will be rendered down as data, which, once the process is completed after an unknowable length of time, can be turned into a database to help the Supremacy win the war against the X-Men. There is a description of the Sentinel mutant breeding camps called the SalCen Khennil where they were used to breed mutants that were intended to fight other mutants. The first version of the program aimed to produced Hounds, fearsome man-hunting wretches who would evoke disgust and pity in the targets. This was a failure because the Hounds proved too psychologically submissive to be viable agents. The second version of the program aimed to produce Black Brains - infiltration agents, immune to telepathy, who could be inserted into mutant groups, and would then betray them to the Ascendancy. This too was deemed a failure, as the agents programmed to betray would very frequently betray the Ascendancy instead. The SalCen Khennil was destroyed 10 years ago, along with "all their biological and research material." Emerging on Krakoa - now on Asteroid K - the Cardinal apologizes to Rasputin IV, saying that, as a Cardinal, he is psychologically incapable of violence. Rasputin is inclined to hate him in the moment, but they have a mission to complete. The rest of the X-Men, including an aging Wolverine, are there for her to speak of the successful extraction of the target item, at the cost of Percival and Cylobel. Wolverine says they need to take it to "the Old Man..." There is a description of mutant demographic data: With the deaths of Percival & Cylobel, the mutant population of Asteroid K is 8 The majority of the mutant population lives on Benevolence, a converted transit station located on the fringe of Shi'ar space where it served as a buffer between the Shi'ar Empire and the wildness of the Brood breeding territory. The mutant population here is around 8,000. The Shi'ar homeworld of Chandilar has a mutant colony of just under 2,000 souls, by a treaty with the Shi'ar Empire. Most of them are used for warrior stock for the Imperial Guard. Currently, there are six mutants that serve as superguardians while 57 are under the subguardian classification X3 The Librarian considers the body of Cylobel, and laments that the minds in the database are beginning to fade to digital decay. Nimrod the Lesser has given way to Nimrod the Greater, who admits that the database was not meant to survive for so long. The database was intended as a tactical advantage to let the Supremacy win the war, but the world changed so much that the war became unnecessary. Homo sapiens and its subspecies are over and past, but a habitat is maintained in the Nexus, a sealed biosphere containing some recreated humans living wild in pristine wilderness. A museum piece, to prick the curiosity of younger minds. To give them a sense of wonder at the long story of life on Earth - and to give an idea of the horror that could ensue if such creatures ever ruled Earth again... Brodie's View:We move into the second chapter of this Twelve Part story that takes place over two titles (this and, of course, HOUSE OF X) with our first example of how POWERS OF X will move into different time lines, showing how things got to the way they currently are, and what effect that has on both the future and the FAR future. The past deals with a "chance" meeting between Charles Xaiver and the woman who would go on to be a long time X-ally, Moria MacTaggert. However, it seems as if Moria already knows Charles, which poses some interesting questions that will get answered in future issues. We then jump to the present to see the aftermath of Mystqiue and her "Brotherhood's" heist of information about the Orchis (who we were introduced to in HOX #1) and their plans to create more of mutant kind's ultimate enemy, the sentinels. However, what Xaiver and Magneto will discover will be more dire than just more sentinels, but we'll get to that in a bit. I will say it has to do with what is happening a hundred years into the future, as a group of rag tag X-Men (some the result of cloning using DNA from X-people we know, which will also get explained....you guessed it....in the future; we are, however, given the tid bits of knowledge that Sinister is involved with this, and that at some point he betrays mutant kind for the Man-Machine Supremacy (AKA the future evolution of the sentinels) at some point between "now" and then) fight to what seems to be the death against the machine army. One of these X-Men are captured, and we see that two of the "beings" in charge of the MMS is none other than the Omega Sentinel we saw helping Orchis in HOX #1, but also probably the deadliest sentinel of all (and I love that he's/it's involved with this), NIMROD. The captured X-Man is basically boiled down to data so the MMS can discover the location/plans of these X-Men. We also see that the surviving members of that team are brought to Asteroid K, and are confronted by a group that we find out later are the Last Horsemen of Apocalypse (Cypher, North, Xorn, and an old as hell Wolverine). We'll see more of and about this as we move on. Finally, we move a thousand years into the future, as mutant/mankind have come to some sort of peace with the machines. However, this peace is not really going to matter, as we will start to see as POX moves on, there is a greater threat hanging over their heads than any of those species types, and it's a threat that we've seen before in the X-comics. This is one of the themes that Hickman definitely seems to drive home here is that our fate always seems to lie in the hands of machines, and this is doubly true when it comes to mutant kind. Once again, what a great issue, and one that definitely sets a lot up for the future, as well as filling in details of the events going on in HOUSE OF X. I also want to give a shout out to R.B. Silva, who does an equally great job with the art work chores that Pepe Larraz did/will do with HOX. I will say where Silva shines the most is his depictions of the events taking place in both futures. It'll be interesting to see how all of this pans out. Speaking of which, our next review will take us back to HOUSE OF X, as we discover more than we probably wanted to know about Moria MacTaggert. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 8, 2019 1:19:55 GMT -5
House of X #2"The Uncanny Life of Moira X"Cover Date: Oct, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Pepe Larraz Featured Character(s): Moria MacTaggert Villain/s: The Sentinels/Mastermold (in Various forms), the Trask family (Bolivar, Donald, ect.), The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Mystique, Destiny, Pyro, & Avalanche) Guest Stars: Charles Xaiver, Magneto, Apocalypse, The X-Men (Various, and in various forms), The Avengers (Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Falcon, Iron Man, & Spider-Man), The Fantastic Four (The Human Torch & The Thing), NIMROD, First Horsemen of Apocalypse, and various members of the Kinross & Cowan families Official Plot:When she was 13 years old, Moira fell ill with an unnaturally high fever. Unbeknownst to her or anyone else, this was in fact her mutant power manifesting. Moira would go through life as an ordinary person, marrying, having children, and eventually dying peacefully at the age of 74. It was only now that her mutation made itself known, as Moira was reborn, reliving her life again with all her memories of her previous life intact. In her second life, it became obvious to her parents that Moira was gifted, but she was careful not to reveal her true nature, instead simply playing along and allowing her parents to push her into a life of academia, where she might learn more about her true nature. After watching Charles Xavier, an acquaintance from Oxford, announce to the world on television that he was a mutant, Moira began to believe that she herself was a mutant, and traveled to America to meet with him. While crossing the Atlantic, her plane crashed, and she died. In her third life, Moira re-aligned to focus on genetics and anthropology, and actively sought Xavier out in Oxford. By now however, she had developed a distaste for her abilities, and found Xavier arrogant and off-putting. She dedicated herself to developing a cure for mutations, but before she could use it on others or herself, she was intercepted by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Destiny, the leader of the Brotherhood and a mutant with precognitive powers, warned Moira against ever moving against mutants. She told Moira that she would be keeping an eye on her and would kill her again and again should she ever try to move against mutants. She also warned Moira that she was not immortal, but would live at most 11 lives, depending on her choices. After making her case to Moira, she orders Pyro to burn her to death. In her fourth life, Moira decided to dedicate herself to the mutant cause, and fell in love with Xavier. She co-founded the X-Men with him and together they led them for years, until they and their fellow X-Men were killed by the Sentinels. In her fifth life, Moira took a more aggressive approach, running away from home at the age of 13 to find Xavier. She allowed him to read her mind, revealing the knowledge she had accumulated over her first four lives. Radicalized by the experience, Xavier gathered a legion of mutants and built the city of Faraway as a mutant sanctuary. Once again however, their dream was killed by the Sentinels, who killed Moira during an attack on Faraway. In her seventh life, Moira decided to eradicate the Trask bloodline, hoping that killing anyone related to the inventor of the Sentinels would prevent them from emerging. She learned however that the emergence of the Sentinels is inevitable, and that someone else would simply be the first to create them instead. Moira was killed after discovering a Master Mold. In her eighth life, Moira rejected Xavier, and instead sought out Magneto. After revealing what she knew to him, he conquered America in the War of M, but he was eventually stopped by a coalition of mutant and non-mutant heroes. Moira died after an attempted prison-break. In her ninth life, Moira turned to Apocalypse. She awoke him early, in the belief that only he could ensure mutantkind's survival. They and their First Horsemen waged a war on humanity and the Sentinels, but eventually, Moira died once again. In her tenth life, Moira once again sought Xavier out at Oxford. She opened her mind to him again, and revealed all she knew. Brodie's View:It's in this issue that one of the biggest divergences from what had come before Hickman started his run happens here, as long standing human ally character, Moria MacTaggert, is revealed to be a mutant with the power of reincarnation. Not only that, but she can remember everything from her previous lives as she enters her new ones. We get a history of her ten (so far) lives, as she goes from living a completely normal life (in life #1) to trying to develop a mutant cure once she realizes what she is. Of course, Mystique and her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants put a kibosh on that (and we reveal that Destiny has discovered what Moria is, and challenges her to try to fight FOR her people rather than against them by trying to "cure" them. She then has Pyro set her on fire, ending Life #3 (Life #2 ended before she could even reach the United States, as she dies on the plane flight over). Life #4 most strongly resembles the reality we know (and has led many to believe that Hickman's whole run is taking place in an alternate reality, as certain things that happen as part of Moria's story, like Charles Xaiver admitting on television to being a mutant, happen WAY earlier than they did in the actual 616 reality....we haven't been given an answer either way of that being/not being the case), as Moria meets Xaiver, falls in love, and later helps him to establish the X-Men. However, like we would see in every subsequent life, she and the rest of her mutant brothers and sisters meet their end at the hands of the sentinels. In Life #5, she manages to meet Xaiver earlier, and helps him to establish a mutant sanctuary city to protect them, however, that too eventually falls to the sentinels. We don't get to see Life #6....at least not yet (However, we get a handy dandy timeline that shows most of Moria's lives), but in Life #7, she decides to take out the entire Trask family. However, someone else ends up inventing the sentinels, and she winds up meeting her end from a mutated looking Mastermold. In Life #8, she goes to Magneto instead of Xaiver, telling him of what she had experienced in her previous lives. However, instead of trying to protect the mutant race, Magneto, of course, tries to take over the Earth, and she and the Master of Magnetism end up meeting their ends during a battle with Earth's hero (a combined X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four no less). In Life #8, she hooks up with Apocalypse, who ends up remaking her in his image, and the two of them do end up conquering Earth, but once again end up falling to the sentinels. Finally, we end up on Life #10, which is where the current story seems to be taking place, as Moria goes to Xaiver and allows him to read the history of everything that's happened in all of Moria's lives up to this point, and setting up what has happened so far. Whew! Talk about a LOT of story being dropped on us in one issue, as this makes one rethink not only everything that has happened in X-Men history involving Moria, but also X-Men history period. Once again, this whole story isn't for one that hates any kind of retconning, as there is a LOT of retconning that happens both in this issue and in this run period, and I'll be honest, I'm usually kind of one of those people. However, I will allow it if it is done REALLY well, and Hickman does a GREAT job here, adding way more depth to the Moria MacTaggert character than she possessed before (and she possessed quite a bit before this), and explaining why Xaiver is going through the insane lengths he's gone through/will shown to have gone through to protect his people. Of course, as we're seeing in POWERS OF X's depiction of the future, even that might not be enough. Speaking of which, our next review will cover POWERS OF X #2, and we will see not only some fall out from what we've seen in this issue in the Past/Present, but also reaching into the Future (and FAR Future) of both mutant and humankind. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 10, 2019 2:16:47 GMT -5
Powers of X #2"We Are Together Now, You and I"Cover Date: Oct, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: R.B. Silva Featured Character(s): Charles Xavier, Krakoa, Cyclops, Magneto, Future X-Men (Apocalypse & The Last Horsement of Apocalypse (Wolverine, North, Cypher, & Death) Rasputin IV, and an unnamed member), Man-Machine Ascendancy (Librarian, Nimrod the Greater, & The Elders) Villain/s: Man-Machine Supremacy (Nimrod & other various members) Guest Stars: Moria MacTaggert Official Plot:In the early days of the X-Men, Professor X and Moira McTaggert visit Magneto on his island base in Bermuda. Xavier has come to mend the fences with Magneto, and despite initially mistrusting him, Magneto agrees to open his mind to them. Moira reveals her true nature to him, giving Magneto a glimpse into her previous lives. Seeing the many ways in which he has failed, Magneto agrees to Xavier and Moira's proposal; a long-term plan to guarantee the future of mutantkind. In the present, Magneto and Xavier show Cyclops the plans to a Mother Mold, a Master Mold that creates other Master Molds. They believe that the Mother Mold will usher in a new generation of Sentinels and that this is when Nimrod emerges. They order a strike on the Mother Mold, which is on a station orbiting the sun, and Cyclops leaves to assemble a team. 100 years in the future, Cardinal and Rasputin return successful from their mission, having retrieved an indexing machine which will allow them to know the location of key machine intel. Krakoa manages to successfully de-crypt the index, revealing the location. War points out that the information is useless, since they would have to hold off the Sentinels in order to access the information, which would in turn be a suicide mission, but Apocalypse assures them that they will succeed, as he will personally lead them. 1000 years in the future, the Librarian and Nimrod have been successful in their plan. In order to prove their value to the higher civilizations in the universe, they create a collective intelligence called the Nimbus, which transforms Nibiru into a Worldmind. The Worldmind is found by the Phalanx who successfully consume it and come to Earth to find its creators. They ask them what it is they seek, and they answer "ascension," wishing to be absorbed into the Phalanx collective. Brodie's View:We begin this issue with building somewhat off of the bombshell dropped on us in HOUSE OF X #2, as it relates to Moria MacTaggert. Speaking of Moria, she and Xaiver go to enlist long time Fri-enemy, Magneto, to their cause. Maggie initially blows them off, but after seeing a recap of all of Moria's lives, agrees to partner up with Charles and Moria. We then skip to the present, as Xaiver and Magneto brief Cyclops on what they have discovered about the top secret group, Orchis, who are currently hiding out in a space station overlooking the sun. Cyclops questions why this is any of their concern until he is told that this is the point that Charles/Magneto believe NIMROD will be created, which sets up what will happen in our next issues of HOX. Speaking of NIMROD, we see him angrily wasting (as NIMROD is written as being VERY human, which actually fits with what Claremont was doing with the advanced sentinel during the 80's portion of his run) two of his own soldiers 100 years in the future, as he is unable to figure out what the last bit of mutant resistance is up to. We then see what the resistance was up to, having stolen an indexing machine that will give them a head's up (their only advantage, as they are about to go into what is most likely going to be certain death) on what the machines are planning. We then see that the leader of this rag tag bunch of X-Men is none other than Apocalypse, who states that he will lead the group in one final mission against the sentinels. This will happen in the next issue of POX. Finally, we jump into the FAR future, as the Man Machine Ascendancy reveal what their final goal will be, which is making their world appetizing enough for the Phalanx to come and absorb, in their minds guaranteeing them immortality as part of a greater hivemind. BTW, I love the fact that Hickman is using the Phalanx in this, as up until now they were just kind of a forgotten relic of the 90's era of the X-Books. An offshoot of techno organic races like the one Warlock and his father, Magus, belonged to, this race tried to assimilate the various X-Teams during one of the crossover events that ran through the various X-Books in the summer of 1994 (this would also lead to the formation of GENERATION X). Anyways, one of the interesting things that I think Hickman does throughout this run is basically handing you random puzzle pieces, and forcing you to wait until he reveals the other pieces around it, showing you the full image. I just recently read the last issue of POWERS OF X, and I will say that this far future stuff DOES get a pay off that makes one wonder how the hell this relaunch of the X-Books is going to move forward from knowing what is revealed....but in a good way. I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Our next review will be of the next issue of POWERS OF X (before moving over to Two HOUSE OF X issues in a row), as we get to see if Apocalypse and the remains of the X_Men are successful against NIMROD and his sentinel army, or if the X-Men line pretty much ends there. GRADE: A-
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Post by thechase on Oct 11, 2019 4:39:04 GMT -5
I've given Hickman's run a fair shake so far and I'm just not feeling it, it's so cold and detached from everything I loved about the characters. I greatly preferred the RessureXtion line to this, much more fun books and you felt some genuine warmth.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 16, 2019 0:13:55 GMT -5
Powers of X #3"This is What You Do"Cover Date: Oct, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: R.B. Silva Featured Character(s): Future X-Men (Apocalypse & The Last Horsemen of Apocalypse (Wolverine, North, Cypher, & Death) Rasputin IV, and an unnamed member) Villain/s: Man-Machine Supremacy (Nimrod, Omega Sentinel, & other various sentinels) & The Church of Ascendancy Guest Stars: Moria MacTaggert Official Plot:As the Church of Ascendancy, dedicated to the worship of the machines, is giving a sermon at the Temple of Concordance, the X-Men arrive and attack. Omega Sentinel watches from the Human-Machine Monolith and tries to convince Nimrod the Lesser of the need to investigate, but he refuses, dismissing the attack. Omega heads off alone to confront the X-Men where she and her squadron of Sentinels gain the upper head, prompting Rasputin IV to remove Death's mask, unleashing the black hole contained within his head, killing both the remaining X-Men and the Sentinels. Meanwhile, Apocalypse leads War and Famine into an old machine databank in order to retrieve an information crystal. They are successful in finding it, but are intercepted by Nimrod. Famine opens a portal for them to retreat through, and Apocalypse stays behind to buy them time. War and Famine escape, with Apocalypse seemingly succumbing to Nimrod. Back in the safety of Asteroid K, War releases Mother Akkaba, also known as Moira Kinross, from her stasis. He presents her with the information crystal, force-feeding the information into her mind. As per Apocalypse's request, and with Moira's consent, War then kills Moira, in order for her to start over again, now armed with the knowledge of exactly when in time Nimrod emerges. Brodie's View:No time jumping here, as this entire issue kind of wraps up the "100 Years in the Future" storyline, as the Future X-Men/Last Horsemen of Apocalypse go on a suicide mission to try and gain information on when NIMROD was created, connecting us back to what's about to happen in HOUSE OF X. A few of the Future X-Men/Horsemen end up attacking a church housing a messed up religious group of humans that worship (and try to transform themselves into) machines. This draws Omega Sentinel and her/its army, and ends with Xorn exposing his true face and killing everyone. However, this was only a diversion, as the rest of the Future X-Men/Apocalypse break into a database to get the info on NIMROD. They get it, but are soon faced with NIMROD himself/itself, with Apocalypse and some of the others trying to buy time while one lone survivor, Wolverine, gets back to HQ with the information. It's here where we get a kick ass battle that we never knew that we wanted, and it's a bummer that we don't get too much of it, and that's Apocalypse Vs. NIMROD. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Apocalypse gets the better end of that battle, although, to be fair, we cut away before seeing the end of it. Once back to HQ, Wolverine brings Moria MacTaggert out of cryogenic freeze, in order to give her the information they have gathered. Once this has happened, Wolverine kills Moria, knowing that she'll be reborn with that information, and can help the X-Men at least put off a machine based Armageddon longer than what happened in their particular time line. Does it work? Well, time will tell, but I will say that these last two issues of POWERS OF X will kind of end up paralleling what will happen in our next two parter, which spans over the next two issues of HOUSE OF X, as we see another group of brave mutants blasting off for what may end up being just as much of a suicide mission as the one undertaken by the Future X-Men in these last few issues. Of course, the mission is much the same; STOP NIMROD, as they know that his/its creation means certain death for mutant kind. They're partially right about that, but as we find out by the time this is all over, NIMROD is merely the tip of the ice burg. However, I'm once again getting ahead of myself. HOUSE OF X #3-4 will be the next two reviews before we get back to this book. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 18, 2019 1:49:36 GMT -5
House of X #3 "Once More Into the Breach"Cover Date: Oct, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Pepe Larraz Featured Character(s): X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Mystique, Archangel, M/Monet St. Croix, & Husk) Villain/s: Orchis (Mothermold, Dr. Alia Gregor, Omega Sentinel, Captain Erasmus Mendel (dies), & various Orchis employees) Guest Stars: Charles Xaiver, Magneto, Sabretooth, Emma Frost, The Stepford Cuckoos (Esme & Sophie), & the U.S. Department of Justice (A.G. Tolliver, a Judge, and various other government officials) Official Plot:Cyclops informs Professor Xavier and Magneto that he has assembled a team in order to attack the Mother Mold facility orbiting the Sun. Cyclops briefs the team, composed of Wolverine, Husk, Archangel, Monet St. Croix, Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler, and Mystique on their mission, and they take off. In the superhuman prison known as Project Achilles, a trial is being held for Sabretooth. The trial is interrupted by Emma Frost, who presents the judge with a pardon from the U.S. Supreme Court, along with all requisite paperwork, as the U.S. government has agreed to a general amnesty for all mutants on American soil, in anticipation of Krakoa becoming a sovereign nation. Despite the protests of the human officials at the court, Emma and Sabretooth are allowed to walk free and return to Krakoa. On the Orchis Forge, where the Mother Mold is being constructed, the human scientists detect that the X-Men are inbound. Nightcrawler is sent in for recon and encounters the chief scientist and Omega Sentinel. Omega Sentinel deduces that the X-Men plan to attack the control collars in order to send the Mother Mold hurtling into the Sun. The X-Men dock onto the station and begin drilling their way in. Realizing that their only hope of defeating the X-Men is an asymmetrical response, Erasmus, the chief of security, sets off a bomb, killing himself and destroying the X-Men's vessel. Brodie's View:From one doomed mission in POWERS OF X #3-4, we go to another seemingly doomed mission going on in the next two issues of HOX, although, this one hits closer to home, as it is apparently taking place in the Present with a team of various X-Men we've all come to know and love. After being briefed on his mission in POX #3, Cyclops assembles a team of X-Men (see above) to try and take out the Mothermold that they believe will go on to create NIMROD in the very near future. To do this they must travel to Orchis' space station, which is orbiting the sun. Once they arrive, they begin to try and drill their way into the station, and the Chief of Security for the station (and the lover of the head scientist, Dr. Alia Gregor) realizing what is going on, decides to blow himself up, also seemingly destroying the X-Men's ship in the process. ( ) Thereby ends the first part of this two part story....the good half. Things go horribly down hill for the X-Men in the next issue, and will most certainly be the turning point for the events of HOUSE OF X, but I'll get back to that in a second. I do want to also mention the side plot going on as Cyclops and his team are rocketing towards Orchis' space station, and that continues events that we saw in HOUSE OF X #1, at least where it involves Mystique and her Brotherhood of Mutants, and more specifically than that, Sabretooth, who was captured by the Fantastic Four after a simple theft job turned into a mini massacre. This was mostly due to Sabretooth himself, who is back to being the ruthless killer he was in the 80's/90's X-comics (Yay!!!). We see Sabretooth standing trial at the superhuman prison known as Project Achilles, although, Sabretooth pretty much considers the trial a joke, as he knows he will escape in time. However, things never get to that point, as Emma Frost enters with two of her Stepford Cuckoos, and pretty much tells the entire court to kiss her ass, as now that Krakoa is officially recognized as a nation, all mutants have diplomatic immunity where it concerns human law. She winds up walking out with Sabretooth, who pretty much figures he got away with murder. We'll eventually find out how wrong he is, and that perhaps chilling at Project Achilles for a while wasn't the worst thing that could happen to him. However, just like the main plot, we'll see this resolved in due time. For now, we'll look forward to our next review, which will show the fate of Cyclops' X-Men team, and also show whether they were able to at least finish their mission, or if they've pretty much doomed the future by failing to stop the creation of NIMROD. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 19, 2019 1:49:34 GMT -5
House of X #4"It Will Be Done"Cover Date: Oct, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Pepe Larraz Featured Character(s): X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Mystique, Archangel, M/Monet St. Croix, & Husk....all die) Villain/s: Orchis (Mothermold, Dr. Alia Gregor, Omega Sentinel, & various Orchis employees) Guest Stars: Charles Xaiver, Magneto, Storm, Beast, Trinary The Stepford Cuckoos (Celeste, Mindee, & Phoebe) Official Plot:On Krakoa, X and Magneto contact Marvel Girl in order to keep tabs on the mission. Jean reveals that Archangel and Husk were killed in the explosion set off by Erasmus, while Wolverine and Nightcrawler were injured. Deciding that they still need to finish the mission at any cost, Nightcrawler teleports Cyclops, Wolverine, and Mystique into strategic locations in order to destroy the control collars, with Nightcrawler himself taking the last one, with Jean and Monet staying on the ship in order to maintain the connection to Krakoa. Wolverine and Nightcrawler are successful in destroying the collars, but the ship is boarded by Orchis forces. Monet puts Jean into an escape pod and fires her away, staying on board in order to cover her escape and buy her time. She transforms into her Penance form and begins fighting the humans. Cyclops finds and disengages his control collar, but Mystique, having gotten turned around, is intercepted just as she finds hers, and is killed as Doctor Gregor opens a hatch into space. Desperate, the humans power-on the Mother Mold, despite not knowing whether it will be sane or not. Xavier tells them to do whatever it takes to stop it. Wolverine and Nightcrawler volunteer to head to the final switch, which is now in a vacuum. Nightcrawler teleports Wolverine onto the collar before being instantly evaporated by the Sun, while Wolverine's healing factor buys him enough time to carve through it before he too is evaporated, as the now online Mother Mold hurtles into the Sun while raving maniacally via an Olympian allegory that the machines have found both man and mutant guilty and will destroy them both. With the mission complete, Cyclops tries to find a space suit in order to get to Jean's pod so that they can try and make their way home; however, he is intercepted by Doctor Gregor, who shoots and kills him. The Sentinel drones that were mining on Mercury, and thus could not reach the station in time to stop the X-Men, finally arrive, intercept Jean's pod, and work to kill her. As his proteges have seemingly all died at the hands of humans once again, Xavier cries and vows "no more." Brodie's View:Jeez Oh Petes! This is probably the best issue in this entire run, but it's also the most raw, leaving the reader wondering, "Where the hell can they go from HERE?!?" at the end of the issue. This is also very much Jonathan Hickman using the events of this issue to make a larger statement about movements like Black Lives Matter or the various LGBTQ groups, who must try to keep making their way forward, even through their heart ache at watching their Brothers and Sisters being killed. And Hickman very much walks that line, making the subtext that has always been there VERY much text, and I'm not even talking about the main deaths that happen throughout the main story (although, we'll get to those in a second). One of the supplemental pages Hickman provides is a simple, yet powerful list showing how many mutants have been taken off the board (either by death or de-powering) over the years. It blows one's mind when one looks at those numbers (the biggest two perpetrators being the Scarlet Witch, who de-powered all but 198 of the mutant population at the end of the HOUSE OF M storyline, and, of course, the various sentinels, who have been responsible for the most mutant deaths), and I think by listing the numbers like that, Hickman puts us on the side of Charles, Magneto, and the various other mutants who now reside in Krakoa, as creating a mutant sanctuary is about the only thing that COULD be done to potentially prevent any more mutant lives lost. Of course, this is all well and good, but there are certain humans who would have the entire mutant populace wiped out, as they fear what they represent; change, and as we saw in our last issue and will see in this one, they will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. At the end of the last issue, the director of security for Orchis' space station ends up blowing up a section of the station to try and stop the X-Men from boarding. This not only pretty much wrecked the Blackbird, but it killed two of the X-Men outright (Archangel and Husk). A few of the others (Wolverine and Nightcrawler) are badly injured, but carry on for the sake of the mission. Knowing that they have no choice now, the remaining members of the team attack different sections of the station, trying to detach the Mothermold before it can come online. They end up barely doing this, but at the cost of all of their lives. Mystique is sucked out into the vacuum of space, M dies off camera, but we can definitely assume she does die based on info we are given. However, before M goes to her death, she makes sure Jean Grey is put in an escape pod. Wolverine and Nightcrawler, after a touching moment together, end up sacrificing their lives to detach the last thing holding the Mothermold in place, sending them all into the sun. Finally, it looks like Cyclops might escape, but the Omega Sentinel and a vengeful Dr, Gregor get the drop on him, and blow his brains out. Jean feels Scott's psychic death, but she doesn't get to grieve for long, as a group of sentinels attack her escape pod, crushing her to death in the process. ( ) DAMN! Am I right? This leads a devastated Charles Xaiver to vow that there would be NO MORE mutant deaths. In the next two issues of this story, POWERS OF X #4 and the nest issue of HOUSE OF X, we will see what Xaiver does/will do to ensure that he loses no more of his children. To say we get more game changing moments is an understatement, but I will say, whether or not you bother reading the rest of the run, at least read THIS issue, as it is pretty damn great. GRADE: A+
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MrElijah
Crow T. Robot
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Post by MrElijah on Oct 19, 2019 6:58:17 GMT -5
One thing I've noticed: Marvel Futures/Alternate Universes SUCK. If ain't machines, it's demons, not them, it's aliens. I mean the only one, IMHO, that's hopeful in any way was MC2/Spider-Girl.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 20, 2019 1:46:34 GMT -5
Powers of X #4"Something Sinister"Cover Date: Nov, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: R.B. Silva Featured Character(s): Charles Xaiver, Magneto, Cypher, & The Man-Machine Ascendancy (The Librarian, NIMROD the Greater, The Elders, & Various others) Villain/s: "The Enemy" (Shown in flashback) Guest Stars: (Mister) Sinister (and various clones), Apocalypse (and the First Horsenen of Apocalypse (War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death), & Okkara (Krakoa & Arakko) Official Plot:Year One: X and Magneto seek Mister Sinister's assistance to build a database of mutant DNA. He declines and is killed by another Mister Sinister who claims to be the original version of himself. That version readily agrees to help. Xavier then wipes the memory of their meeting from Mister Sinister's mind. Year Ten: Several months ago, X and Cypher traveled to the sentient island of Krakoa. X brought Cypher deep into the island to meet the entity of Krakoa. Cypher conversed with Krakoa as he learned its language and some of its history. He revealed to X that Krakoa was once one island Okkara that was split into two islands named Arakko and Krakoa by the arrival of an enemy. This enemy sought to destroy the world and was stopped by the arrival of Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen. Later, X telepathically revealed his plans to Cypher. He tasked Cypher with building an interface system on Krakoa to allow the mutants to communicate with the island, and Cypher successfully creates a program that allows mutants to interact with the island without his help. Additionally, Cypher helped create four systems, transit and monitoring, defense and observation, secondary and external systems, and overwatch and data analysis, controlled by Sage, Black Tom Cassidy, Trinary, and Beast. There are rumors too that Forge built a large subterranean laboratory to help build biological machines as well. Year One Thousand: The Librarian offers himself to the Phalanx in hopes of ascension and offers an orb. The Phalanx assimilates it and transforms into a large, spherical shape, confusing the assembled group. The group explains that the Phalanx only absorb machine intelligence they find useful, and the Librarian has created an empty vessel and copied himself over into it in the hopes of ascension. They await for the Phalanx to decide if the form is acceptable. Brodie's View:After the events of HOUSE OF X #3-4, it'd be easy to look at the events of this issue and go, "Why the f*** are we wasting our time with THIS shit?!? What about the X-Men that just died horribly, and Xaiver's promise that no more mutants will die?!?" After all, the events that we saw in those last two stories are not even mentioned in this one, and yet, like Hickman has been doing all through this, hints are dropped that will come to mean more when we go back to HOUSE OF X for the next review. We do get another major retcon where it relates to (Mister) Sinister, as the character (if this is indeed the real Sinister we're dealing with here, as we see that Sinister seems to LOVE cloning himself in his spare time) is written as being a lot more....sassy than the Sinister we've seen in the past. Plus, we definitely get the hint that this new Sinister is not playing with a full deck of cards as well, or perhaps this is all an act for the benefit of Xaiver and Magneto, who we show wanting to make a deal with Sinister in the past. However, it does make a certain amount of sense, and will make a LOT more sense in the next story, as Sinister's "hobby" has always been collecting the DNA of various mutants/superhumans, and then making various clones of people he wants to make copies of. Let's not forget, of course, Madeline Pryor and various members of his Marauders, who he's cloned and replaced upon their deaths. Anyways, Xaiver and Magneto make a deal with Sinister to compile a coprhensive collection of the DNA of every mutant that has lived, including their own, which they offer up in good faith. However, once this deal is made, Xaiver forces Sinister to forget that deal until a time Charles and Erik decide it's right for Sinister to remember. This explains why none of this deal making stuff, at least where it relates to Xaiver and Magneto, has never come up during past encounters between Sinister and the X-Men. However, one of the supplemental pieces Hickman gives us in this issue is kind of a section of a gossip rag one can assume is distributed throughout Bar Sinister (Sinister's domicile) that gives us little hints at things that might pop up in the future, or little pieces of information that we might find interesting....one of those states that there is a copy of Sinister that knows that Xaiver messed with his mind....uh oh. To add to this, it is mentioned a few different times in supplemental sections that Sinister ends up betraying the mutant race at some point in the future, so, once again, Hickman dropping little hints of what's to come. However, while the Sinister stuff plays probably the most important role in this particular story, it's not all that happens. We get a more recent flashback showing Xaiver and Cypher/Doug Ramsey (a mutant with the ability to understand/speak any language) initially making their plans with the assistance of the mutant "living island," Krakoa. During this section, we get a flash back of an ancient battle that took place centuries ago, and involving basically creatures resembling The Great Old Ones of Lovecraft lore, and the heroes that forced these entities back; Apocalypse and his Original Four Horsemen, giving even more depth to the ancient mutant. We also see Xaiver/Cypher kind of laying down what it would take to make Krakoa what we see it to be by the time the events of HOUSE OF X #1 happens. Finally, we jump a thousand years into the future, as we see the Man-Machine Ascendancy still preparing for their eventual assimilation by the Phalanx. This is setting off a pay off that we don't get until the very last issue of POWERS OF X, but it will be worth it, as it will fill in some plot holes that have been left purposely open all throughout this two series story. In our next review, we'll head back to HOUSE OF X, and see what Xaiver did after Cyclops and his chosen team of X-Men met their final fate. It's another HUGE game changer of an issue, and will say it ties back to at least the Sinister related part of this issue. Plus, we get to see how serious Xaiver was when he declared Krakoa to be a sanctuary for ALL mutants. This will be another "Either you're in or out from this point on" issue. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 22, 2019 1:04:30 GMT -5
House of X #5"Society"Cover Date: Oct, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Pepe Larraz Featured Character(s): Charles Xaiver, Magneto, & Krakoa Villain/s: None, unless you want to count Human Kind Guest Stars: Polaris, Storm, The Five (Tempus/Eva Bell, Proteus, Hope Summers, Elixir, & Goldballs), The X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Mystique, Penance/M, Arch/Angel, & Husk), Emma Frost, Apocalypse, Fauna, Glob Herman, Beast, Cypher, Sage, Random, Wildside, (Mister) Sinister, Lady Mastermind, Animax, Mesmero, Mentallo, Sebastian Shaw, Selene, Emplate, Exodus, Gorgon, Callisto, Forearm, Daken, Astra, Azazel, Masque, Black Tom Cassidy, Frenzy, Marrow, and many unnamed mutants....also the United Nations Security Council (Jean Pierre Kol, Natalia Vollock, & various unnamed members) Official Plot:While conversing with his daughter Polaris, Magneto muses that it was when they abandoned hunting and gathering and instead claimed a place as their own that humans "took off" as a species. He points this out as the one good thing humanity has taught mutantkind; the need for society. In order to bolster their numbers, the Krakoan mutants have been resurrecting deceased mutants through a process developed by the Five. First, Goldballs uses his power to create eggs, which is what his "goldballs" were all along. The eggs are then made viable by Proteus' reality-warping powers. The preserved DNA of a deceased mutant is injected into the egg, and Elixir uses his powers to kick-start the process of cellular replication. With the egg now fully viable, Tempus uses her power of time-acceleration to mature the egg and the mutant inside into a finished state, resembling their status at their physical peaks or when they died. The process is overseen by Hope Summers, who uses her powers to boost the other four and to enable them to operate in unison. Finally, X transfers a stored copy of the deceased mutant's mind and essence into the re-grown body. Through this process, the eight mutants killed in the destruction of the Mother Mold are resurrected, and presented to the adoring Krakoan masses by Storm. At the United Nations, the vote to recognize Krakoa as an independent mutant homeland is passed, in no small part through Emma Frost's efforts in telepathically coercing the Russian ambassador. X telepathically lets Emma know that he knows what she's done, and thanks her for it. Two days later, a cohort of villainous mutants, former foes of the X-Men, led by Apocalypse arrive on Krakoa, in response to X's offer of amnesty. Apocalypse reveals to the X-Men that he is familiar with Krakoa, as he once fought a war there before the world knew anything about mutants. He tells them that for centuries he has fostered war and conflicts in the hopes that mutantdom would assert its dominance over the world, and declares that the mutants, in creating Krakoa, have now finally become what he wanted them to be. On behalf of himself, and all the other mutants following him, he agrees to submit to all the laws of Krakoa and to work in service of mutantkind. Brodie's View:This is yet another MAJOR departure from what has come before, X-Men wise, as we most certainly leave behind many of the tropes that had been formed throughout the history of mutant kind/the X-Men (or do we? Only time will tell). We also get the explanation behind the very first little segment we saw in HOUSE OF X #1 (the one we see a bit of in the picture I posted for that issue), and while it was along the lines of what people were thinking, the implications for it reach FAR beyond just simply cloning mutants. Using the DNA captured by Sinister over the years, along with a group of mutants known henceforth as The Five, Xaiver is able to basically grow copies of any mutant that has died, and by using back ups of their mind stored (and constantly being updated) on the portable Cerebro that Xaiver has been wearing for most of this story (at least the present part of it), Xaiver is able to basically perfectly transplant the mind back up into the newly cloned body. We see a step by step demonstration of this done on the X-Men who were killed in the last issue of HOUSE OF X. We also get various supplements explaining that Xaiver has really thought all of this out, creating various hubs of mutant DNA throughout the world, as well as keeping as current as possible containing the mind of every mutant on Earth. He also has back up members of The Five that can replace some of them if they fall (but not Goldballs, who makes the eggs himself, thereby making HIM the most valuable member of that team). We see Storm reintroducing the resurrected X-Men to the rest of the mutant populace, who embrace their mutant brothers and sisters with a fervor that is...kind of scary, which I'm sure was entirely what Hickman was getting at with this. However, that all happens in just the first part of the issue. We also get the UN officially declaring Krakoa it's own nation (with the help of Emma Frost, who influences the decision with Xaiver's admiration; yet another example of Professor X not f***ing around anymore where it comes to human/mutant relations). We are given a supplemental map showing the various countries who both did and didn't take Xaiver up on his offer (Wakanda being the biggest hint to future conflicts) Then, in probably the boldest move Xaiver makes, a good chunk of the mutants thought evil or unruly are invited to be part of Krakoa, with the understanding that they are all one people now, and that there will be no more infighting among the various mutant factions/teams. The spokesman for this group is Apocalypse, who basically agrees with Xaiver's terms, stating that a mutant society (a very important word for this issue) is what he wanted for his people all along. All is well in Krakoa....at least for now, but we can see several crumbs that Hickman leaves for us to discover, making one wonder just how long this will all hold together. In the next review, we'll be bopping back to POWERS OF X to see more background in how Xaiver was able to pull all of this off, as well as checking in on our friends in the FAR future. Then we'll come back for our final issue of HOUSE OF X, as we see the next step in creating a true mutant society....and discover what happened to Sabretooth. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 24, 2019 1:21:07 GMT -5
Powers of X #5"For the Children"Cover Date: Nov, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: R.B. Silva Featured Character(s): Charles Xaiver, Magneto, Krokoa, & The Man-Machine Ascendancy (The Librarian, NIMROD the Greater, The Elders (one of them die in this issue), & Various others) Villain/s: The Phalanx Guest Stars: Forge, Emma Frost, Namor, The Acolytes (Exodus, Delgado, Amelia Voght, Fabian Cortez, & Unuscione), (Mister) Sinister, Omega Clan (Omega Red, White & Black), & Gorgon Official Plot:In the past, Professor X approaches Forge in order to realize his project of copying over mutant minds through Cerebro. Forge is initially skeptical, asserting that the means required to make those modifications do not exist on Earth. After Xavier reveals that he can solve the two biggest problems; energy supply and storage space, through Shi'ar technology, Forge agrees to build the modified Cerebro. Shortly before the founding of Krakoa, Magneto and X contact Emma Frost, asking for her aid in their plan of establishing a new mutant homeland. Emma initially dismisses the idea, claiming that Magneto in particular should know better, due to the Genoshan genocide. The pair eventually convince her, and reveal that they need the aid of the Hellfire Corporation to distribute the miracle drugs that will buy mutantkind its homeland. In exchange, they offer her a 50 year contract of exclusive distribution rights in addition to two seats on the twelve-person council that will govern Krakoa. They also ask that Emma recruit Sebastian Shaw for them, believing that while Emma can handle trade and negotiations with countries with whom Krakoa will have official relationships, Sebastian Shaw will be best equipped to deal with countries and parties that reject mutantkind's offer. Emma agrees to their terms, on the condition that she receive three seats on the council. With everything in order, Xavier sends out a telepathic call to all of Earth's mutants, including various adversaries of the X-Men, offering them a place on Krakoa. One of the mutants who is offered a place on Krakoa is King Namor of Atlantis. Namor rejects the offer, believing that Xavier's front of mutant supremacy is disingenuous, and tells him to return when he really means it. In the far future, the Phalanx have agreed to the offer presented to them by the denizens of Earth, but kill the First of Elders. Nimrod the Greater hints that the Phalanx serve even greater masters, a collective of machine-minds so massive and dense that they have collapsed into black holes, and whose collective intellect and power is indistinguishable from that of what human stories describe as god. The Phalanx serve their masters by converting matter into energy, and having accepted the offer, they will now absorb the collective intellect of Earth into their collective, but also consume the entire planet. Brodie's View:We get more set up in the past, and a bit of progression in the FAR future, in this, the next to last issue of POWERS OF X. We start off in the past, as Charles Xaiver goes to the one man who could help make his "dream" (which we saw the culmination of, as far as being able to effectively conquer death, in the last issue of HOUSE OF X) come true; "The Maker," Forge, who lays down everything Xaiver would need to be able to create a mental database of every living mutant (and then five other back ups in case the main one fails). In addition, we find out that Shi'ar technology is also aiding in this entire endeavor, which makes a LOT of sense, as it was Shi'ar technology that ended up basically doing the same thing for Charles Xaiver (cloning his body, and then transferring his mind over to the new body) when his original body was infected by a Brood in UNCANNY X-MEN #167. Obviously, the technological part ended up working out just fine, so we then move closer to the Present, as Xaiver and Magneto go to Emma Frost, trying to convince her to be the business side of their endeavor (as well as wanting Frost's old Hellfire Club cohort, Sebastian Shaw, running the distribution of the drugs Xaiver "sold" to most of the world in exchange for recognizing Krakoa as a sovereign nation. At first, she refuses, bringing up the slaughter that happened the last time a large population of mutants were brought together (Genosha), but Xaiver and Magneto are able to bring her aboard. In addition, she and Shaw (along with a mysterious third) are given seats at the table of the mutant government Xaiver wants to form, which we'll see in action in the last issue of HOUSE OF X (and our next review). We then see Xaiver making the call to the villainous/unruly mutants that showed up at the end of the last issue of HOUSE OF X. However, one mutant turns down Xaiver's offer, King Namor, who basically sees disaster at the end of this whole deal. Only time will tell on that one, but I will say Hickman leaves a lot of potential plot threads before this is over, and I'm sure one or two could end up leading to the disaster Namor is predicting for Krakoa. Finally, we jump to the far future, as the Phalanx give The Librarian and the others (including one of the Elders, who they just flat out destroy) their answer; that they will indeed be heading to assimilate Earth in the near future. We do get a pay off for this whole FAR future storyline in the final issue of POWERS OF X, but first we need to finish up HOUSE OF X, which will set up the new status quo very promisingly. We then will head back to finish up with POX, which will kick that new status quo in the ass somewhat, but I'm sure all for the overall good of where Hickman is heading with all this. I will say that these last two issues will have plenty of shocks and surprises....oh, and a BIG ass party. GRADE: A-
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MrElijah
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Post by MrElijah on Oct 24, 2019 6:00:04 GMT -5
Does Namor has the biggest ego in the Marvel Universe? Vegeta would call him a prick.
I love it.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 25, 2019 0:27:42 GMT -5
Does Namor has the biggest ego in the Marvel Universe? Vegeta would call him a prick. I love it. True, he is an ass, but I have a feeling he sees where all this is heading more than Xaiver or Magneto.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 25, 2019 1:03:25 GMT -5
House of X #6"I Am Not Ashamed"Cover Date: Dec, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Pepe Larraz Featured Character(s): The Quiet Council of Krakoa (Charles Xaiver, Magneto, Apocalypse, Exodus, (Mister) Sinister, Nightcrawler, Emma Frost, Cypher, Krakoa, Mystique, Marvel Girl/Jean Grey, Storm, & Sebastian Shaw) Villain/s: Sabretooth Guest Stars: Moira MacTaggert, The Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, & Black Panther), The Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Orchis (Omega Sentinel, Dr. Alia Gregor, Captain Erasmus Mendel, & Director Killian Devo (1st Appearance of the last)), The Five (Elixir, Tempus, Proteus, Hope, & Goldballs), Wolverine, Dazzler, Siryn, and too many other cameos to name Official Plot:One month ago, Professor X, Moira and Magneto launch their plan to establish Krakoa as a mutant homeland. Magneto vows all the disagreements and conflicts he has ever had with Xavier will end today, as Xavier uses Cerebro to send a telepathic message to every human on Earth; he tells them of the three miracle drugs Krakoa has created, and offers them to humanity in exchange for the independence of Krakoa and a universal pardon for all mutants accused of crimes. In the present, the Quiet Council of Krakoa convenes for the first time. Composed of X, Magneto, Apocalypse, Exodus, Mister Sinister, Marvel Girl, Storm, the Black King, the White Queen, Nightcrawler, plus Mystique, and presided over by Cypher and Krakoa. Their first order of business is to try Sabretooth for killing several guards while on a mission, and in the process, establish the core laws of Krakoa; to continually make more mutants, to murder no human, and to respect the sacred land of Krakoa. For breaking these laws, Sabretooth is banished, to be held in stasis deep inside Krakoa, until an opportunity arises for him to redeem himself. With the business of the court concluded, the mutants of Krakoa hold a great party to celebrate their new nation. Brodie's View:As we've reached the last issue of the MAIN intro series to this new X-line, HOUSE OF X, there is a LOT of business that gets taken care of, but, hey, we get a big ass party at the end, but we'll get to that in the second paragraph. First we see the recent past, as we see Charles Xaiver donning the helmet he has worn throughout most of this (at least the parts set in the PRESENT), which we now know is the portable Cerebro unit he uses to constantly record and keep all the mutant minds/personalities that he has stored up in case he needs to download a captured mind into a new cloned body. Anyways, he issues his grand statement to everyone on Earth, stating what he and the rest of the mutant race are planning to do with Krakoa. In a particularly cold ass part, he brings up the drugs that Krakoa can manufacture for humans, but states that because of their actions (or inaction in the case of certain heroes, who we see in cameos) against mutant kind over the years, that he is basically selling them these drugs, rather than just giving them to human kind as he would have in the past. He admits that his dream of mutant/human integration failed, so, now he's taking drastic action. Talk about a major mission statement, but kind of a sad (but true) statement on the fact that there will never be a lasting peace between humans and mutants, at least one that would occur naturally. We then cut to the present, as we see the mutant government that Xaiver and Magneto mentioned to Emma Frost in the last issue of POWERS OF X meet up for their first orders of business. Unfortunately for Sabretooth, their first order of business involves him, as one of the first of three commandments they make for mutant kind is that the murder of humans in any form other than self defense, is one of the greatest crimes a mutant can commit. This basically means that Sabretooth is screwed, and now they must make an example of him, which they do by imprisoning him in stasis deep within the island of Krakoa him/itself; a fate worse than death for Sabretooth, who will stay down there seemingly forever. Before I move on, I will say that Hickman (working through Xaiver) made some interesting choices when it comes to who he chose to make up this mutant government. There are a few names that one would expect (Magneto, Jean Grey, Storm), and a few that we revealed in the last issue of POX (Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw), but there are some surprises on there...Sinister, Exodus (I'm glad Hickman is making him more of a major player, as this character has kind of been in the background of things since the mid 90's), Nightcrawler, his mother, Mystique, and the biggest shock of all, Apocalypse, who actually sits at the main table with Xaiver and Magneto (the tables are arranged by the 4 Seasons). What a crazy mix of good, neutral, and evil characters. I've kind of always thought the WWE should use that idea to solve their Authority Figure rut. Of course, how long this whole alliance ends up working out will kind of show how effective this whole idea of a mutant government ends up being long term, but I'm sure we'll get to all that in time. Just as sure as I am that Sabretooth somehow getting out of Krakoa and wrecking havoc on those he felt wronged him will play a part in things as well, but once again, that's a plot thread for another time. After the nasty business of government is done, the council then go outside to join a MASSIVE party that is already underway. There's so many great moments in this; Dazzler giving a concert that is aided by Siryn's sonic scream, Wolverine sharing a six pack of beer with Cyclops and Jean Grey (who also shares one with her former romantic rival, Emma Frost), all the various mutants who have died or been depowered over the years now back and better than ever thanks to Xaiver and The Five's resurrection process....it's a great ending, especially as we end with Xaiver and Magneto overlooking all of it, amazed at what they have created. Of course, the fact that we still have one more issue of POWERS OF X left makes one wonder how exactly Hickman is going to throw a monkey wrench into what is basically, at the current time, a true mutant utopia. I will say that it involves the running plot thread set in the FAR future. I will also say that the ending will end up answering a few question, but end up creating some new ones as we go full tilt into this new X-Line (which I will be reviewing some of the books along the way). But for now..let's end on the happy note. GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 26, 2019 0:51:58 GMT -5
Powers of X #6"House of X"Cover Date: Dec, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: R.B. Silva Featured Character(s): Charles Xaiver, Magneto, Moria MacTaggert Villain/s: The Librarian (Dies) Guest Stars: Man-Machine Supremacy (Various Sentinels and NIMROD), Wolverine, & Krakoa Official Plot:Before the founding of the X-Men, during her first meeting with Xavier, Moira asks him to read her mind, revealing to him the knowledge she has accumulated during her many lives. A thousand years into the future, the Librarian enters the Preserve, a zoo of sorts housing near-extinct species, among them mutants. Fending off an attack from some of the mutants, the Librarian encounters Logan and Moira. Logan and Moria, trapped in the Preserve, have been doing their best to rally the mutants within to overthrow their overlords. The Librarian informs them that they have contacted the Phalanx, and that tomorrow they will be absorbed by them, only for their Phalanx to in turn merge with a god intellect; a Dominion. The Librarian has arranged for Moira to be sent off-world, since he is aware that if Moira dies the timeline will reset, and thus the Librarian's intelligence will not be carried on; however, if he is absorbed into the Dominion he will exist beyond space and time and would thus have knowledge of Moira even if she were to die and reset the timeline. The Librarian reveals that he is having doubts about this however, because he is uncertain if existence as a portion of a divine intelligence is better than continuing to exist as he does. He muses over the inevitability of mutantkind's situation; that they were doomed to go extinct as he, a genetically engineered post-human, represents Homo sapiens mastering both technology and biology, rendering natural evolution obsolete. Before he can finish his musings, he is killed by Logan. Now armed with the knowledge that humankind will merely use the machines to buy themselves time to become something greater, a true threat to mutants, Moira asks Logan to kill her. He does so, ending her sixth life. Back in the current timeline, during her first meeting with Xavier, she reveals to him that mutants always lose. She tells him that this time she means for all mutants to unite, and that she will have to break him of his hope and idealism. As the years go by, Moira keeps a journal detailing her attempts at shaping the three foremost leaders of mutantkind, with whom she has aligned herself in her previous lives; Xavier, Magneto, and Apocalypse. Moira's journal entries conclude with her and Xavier losing Magneto as an ally and her faking her own death. In the present, one day before the first meeting of the Quiet Council, Moira is visited by X and Magneto. They discuss the members of the Council, and Moira warns them not to fulfill their promise to Mystique; that they resurrect her dead lover, Destiny, in exchange for her cooperation. Moira tells them that there can be no precogs on Krakoa, since they will see the truth Moira has endeavored to keep secret; that mutantkind always loses. Magneto and X ask her to trust them, declaring that mutantkind has always lost until now, but that things are different because they now stand united as a result of her efforts to change them into what they needed to be in order to survive. Brodie's View:We end this duel set up series for the new X-Line with the pay off for the whole "!,000 Years in the Future" subplot with a pretty major revelation; one that definitely casts a pall over the celebration we saw at the end of the last issue of HOUSE OF X. This secret is revealed to an older Wolverine and a still alive Moria MacTaggert (as this is us finally getting to see how her sixth life ended) by The Librarian, who also reveals to the two mutants that the planet is due to be assimilated by the Phalanx, and really that kind of leads back to the point of the secret, and it is this: Mutant kind will never win over Man and the machines they can create to both kill off and distract mutant kind from simply defeating human kind and taking over. This also ties into the way man can genetically enhance themselves to be superior to mutant kind. In reality, the Librarian is stating that mutant kind's superiority is merely illusionary, and man will always find a way to triumph over mutant kind. Talk about a royal bummer, especially after the highs from last issue's celebration, and after the Librarian is killed by Wolverine (as is Moria, to take what she has learned into her next life), we see that Moria did indeed reveal this secret to both Charles Xaiver and Magneto....neither take it very well. However, they still do join up with her, hoping that by working together, mutant kind can some how avert their doomed future. We see in a supplemental piece of Moria's diary (provided by Hickman) that this also doesn't end very well, and in addition Moria has been keeping more secrets that could come up and bite this new Mutant Utopia in the ass at a certain point. That being said, they all continue on, as we see Xaiver discussing his new mutant government with Moria. In particular, they mention Mystique, who has only agreed to be part of this is Xaiver were to agree to bring back her long time love/ally, Destiny, which Moria will not allow due to her ability to see the future (and thus reveal the awful secret that sits in the middle of all of this). Of course, this is yet another plot thread Hickman lays down, as we know Mystique is no dummy, and will eventually figure out she's being conned by Xaiver/Magneto. However, it is the secret, and it's eventually revelation that will probably be the biggest Achilles' heel to this new mutant paradise that has been created, and we end up back at the end of the huge celebration from the end of HOUSE OF X, but with Xaiver and Magneto discussing this secret, and how what they've done will hopefully change that empty future. Only time will tell on that one. I will say that the first time I read this issue, I was a little let down, as I was hoping for something more, pay off wise, than "Everything is F***ed!" However, really thinking about it, this is really kind of the perfect situation to lead into this new line. For as we found in the past, the X-Men are never better than when they're stuck in a completely hopeless situation, and have to fight their way through said situation. It'll be interesting to see how long this whole Krakoa thing stays afloat before those dominoes set in place by Jonathan Hickman start toppling over. Our next review will start looking at that, as it will be the newly relaunched X-MEN. I'll give a few days before posting that review, as I'd like to give at least a little time after each new issue comes out to avoid totally ruining something for someone who hasn't read their copy. Not that long of a break, though, so, enter into this tread cautiously, if you don't want certain things ruined. You have been warned. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Oct 31, 2019 1:50:27 GMT -5
X-Men #1"Pax Krakoa"Cover Date: Dec, 2019 Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Leinil Francis Yu Featured Character(s): X-Men (Cyclops, Storm, Magneto, Polaris, Havok, Vulcan, Wolverine, Dr. Cecilia Reyes, (Young) Cable, Marvel Girl/Jean Grey, & Prestige/Rachel Grey Summers) Villain/s: Orchis (Doctor Mars, Doctor Smyth, Director Killian Devo (1st Full Appearance of), Omega Sentinel, Dr. Alia Gregor, % Numerous Others) Guest Stars: Professor X, Serafina, Krakoa, The Starjammers (Corsair, Raza Longknife, Ch'od, & Hepzibah) Official Plot:In a flashback, Scott Summers meets with Professor Charles Xavier in his lab, and is gifted a pair of Ruby-Quartz Sunglasses; however, Scott refuses to open his eyes, fearing what would happen if he did. Xavier gently tells him not to be scared, telling him that going through life with his eyes closed was a human thing to do, reminding Scott that he isn’t human. Scott finally opens his eyes, shocked that the glasses worked and that he can see. Xavier proudly pats Scott’s shoulder, promising to show him many things. Back in the present, Storm and Cyclops mount an assault against the last Orchis stronghold on Earth, the Orchis Hub. Storm uses her lightning to take down several Orchis agents and Orchis-branded Sentinels, warning Scott to be careful, but failing to notice one robot sneaking up on her. Fortunately, Cyclops notices, and destroys it with his optic blasts, telling her that he’s always careful. Storm thanks him as he helps her up. He tells her that he’s surprised a robot sneaked up on her, but she retorts that she's tired of facing off against Orchis and their “engines of death.” The duo continue infiltrating the base, encountering a hallway filled with Orchis agents. As Cyclops discusses recent events, calling them “a giant leap forward” for mutantkind, he fires an optic blast down the corridor, stunning the grunts. Storm uses her powers to electrocute several soldiers, clearing a path forward for them. Agreeing with his assessment, Storm expresses her surprise that the humans weren't running away or surrendering, but were instead gathering, speculating that they are protecting something. Cyclops agrees, and suggests that they’ve found the main lab. Cyclops contacts their superior outside, asking if they have a lock on the duo’s position. The agent affirms it, and Scott tells him they are ready. The agent, revealed to be Magneto, helped by Polaris, rips open a hole in the roof, stunning the soldiers. He asks Polaris to clear the way for him, and she obliges, using her powers to incapacitate the Orchis agents, clearing a path for the two of them down into the lab. Magneto arrives to find Cyclops attempting to open the doors to the lab with his optic blasts. Cyclops explains that the door is shielded, affirming that he can break through that, but that the door itself is Vibranium which he is unable to penetrate. Magneto has Cyclops step aside, and proceeds to use his powers to force open the doors. Inside the lab, one of the scientists alerts Dr. Mars to the impending breach, asking for orders. Mars inquires about the level of redundancy between the Hub and the Forge. Another scientist reveals that there’s an 80% overlap, ensuring that most of the Orchis knowledge-base will survive if the Hub is destroyed. They ask if they should begin purging the mainframes and destroying the datacore, but Mars declines, suggesting instead that they make the “ultimate sacrifice.” Preparing a syringe, he states that they were too civilized to fight the mutants, and suggests that the solution in the syringe would help them protect their projects. He injects the contents of the syringe into his arm, and says that the mutants will have to kill him to gain access to his work. Soon after, the four mutants enter the lab. Finding it seemingly unoccupied, they hear a noise and discover that the scientists had transformed themselves into violent apes, who begin to attack the group. Cyclops warns the others to be careful and Magneto tells the other three to leave the apes to him, ordering them to find what they came for. Deep inside the Hub, Cyclops, Polaris, and Storm discover well over a dozen stasis tubes. Disgusted, Storm and Polaris begin scanning for mutants and freeing them, while Storm creates a Krakoan gateway for them to escape through. After freeing most of the mutants, Polaris and Cyclops discover one final tube, containing “something different” and not altogether mutant. They open it, and Serafina collapses out onto the floor. Shocked at seeing the three mutants, she attempts to plant a suggestion in their heads to render her invisible, but Storm only reacts with confusion. Polaris scans her and discovers that she exhibits atemporal development, and brands her “posthuman.” Serafina collapses once more, despaired over being unable to use her abilities on them. Storm kneels down, and gently asks if she was from the Vault. Serafina ignores the question, and instead rambles on about emerging before she was ready, talking about how there are gods loose in the world. Magneto, having suddenly arrived, tells the girl that the only gods on Earth were standing before her. Cyclops expresses mild surprise at the speed at which Magneto stopped the scientists. Magneto, smiling slightly, explains that the apes were still bound by tribal urges, and that once he expressed his dominance, the others turned on one another, and took themselves out. Serafina uses Magneto’s arrival to distract Storm, and translocates away. Polaris suggests following her, to which Magneto begin to agree to, but Cyclops interrupts, reminding them that their mission was to bring the other saved mutants back to Krakoa. On Krakoa, Cyclops and Storm leed the young mutants through the portal, and place them under Dr. Cecilia Reyes' care. Doctor Reyes notes that she isn't worried about the children, as they had healers for any physical injuries, empaths and telepaths for any mental injuries, and a paradise to help heal the children’s souls. Storm offers to stay with Dr. Reyes, concerned about two young mutants in particular who hadn't yet spoken, but were radiating large amounts of energy. Happy for the help, Doctor Reyes readily agrees. Cyclops, concerned, questions if Storm is sure she should stick around, reminding her that she was very tired earlier. Storm affirms that she’s sure. Cyclops gently reminds her that it’s okay to let others shoulder some of the burden, but Storm says that while she’s tired of fighting, she isn't tired of helping the mutants. Satisfied, Cyclops leaves, promising to check in on her later. Scott suddenly notices that several young mutants were cheering Magneto’s return and turns to watch. Magneto emerges from the portal and is immediately greeted by several young mutants. They ask him to tell them what happened on the mission. One mutant in particular asks to fight with Magneto the next time. Addressing the young mutant, Magneto explains that while he felt he’d wasted his life fighting humans, he did it to provide the young mutants with Krakoa, and to ensure the young mutants would never have to fight. The young mutant asks what they should do if the humans try to fight back, saying that they're not afraid, and that they won’t run. Standing up, Magneto assures them that they won’t have to run, because he will be there to protect them. His words awe the group, who begin to chant his name once more. On the outskirts of the group, Polaris and Cyclops watch as the children cheer for Maneto. Polaris notes, with some embarrassment, that Magneto seems like a young man again. Cyclops assured her that it is because he, and all the others, have been waiting for so long for something like this. Cyclops goes to leave through a new portal, with Lorna following him. She asks if he is going home, and he reveals that his father, Christopher, as well as his brother, Alex, have come to visit. He invites Lorna to join them, but she declines for the moment, wanting to move on a bit before seeing her ex. As they wander through Transit, Scott tells Lorna about the fear he felt when his son was born, because of the horrors his son would have to endure for being a mutant. He notes sadly that the worst part about his fears were that they were right, saying his son did suffer, and that it almost made him give up and stop fighting. But, he notes that because he held on, and never gave up, he now has his entire family surrounding him once again, as well as his friends, and that they have a home, marveling that because he believed in something, it became real. Lorna asks if Scott really believes in what he just said, and Scott, smiling slightly, answers that he believes every single word of it. At the Orchis Forge, several spaceships continue make their way to the base. On the observation deck, Director Killian Devo sadly stares at the Sun and discusses the mission statement of Orchis with Omega Sentinel. In response to his discussion about Orchis’ makeup, Omega Sentinel interjects that Orchis also contains members of H.A.M.M.E.R. and six Hydra geneticists, with obvious displeasure. Killian acknowledges that they tolerate some lesser evils for the greater good of survival. He laments what the mutants have done, and acknowledges several coffins emblazoned with the Orchis logo. Omega Sentinel suggests that conflict between humans and mutants was unavoidable, but Killian retorts that Omega Sentinel saw the conflict coming. She replies that it was obvious to anyone who wished to see it, but Director Devo reminds her that humans lack her machine brain. He watches as one of the Sentinels loads the coffins onto a conveyor belt, and continues to explain the purpose of the Forge as the last hope of humanity. Omega Sentinel chastises him for his hubris, and says that putting the Forge in orbit around the Sun was meant to deter humans, not mutants, and that their actions were always going to have consequences. She begins to discuss Dr. Gregor, but Killian cuts her off, and takes the blame for the attack. He laments that he wasn’t able to stop the attack, but Omega Sentinel assures him that it was for the best that he wasn’t on the base for the attack, saying that if they lost their leader, the entire Orchis experiment would’ve been pointless. At the Summer House, Scott stares out the observatory. His father, Christopher, interrupts his thoughts, and tells him that Jean said that dinner was almost ready. Scott tells his father that when the mutants first got to Krakoa, he was asked where he wanted to live. He put it off at first, preferring to sleep under the stars, but eventually settled on a place next to the Blue Area of the Moon. The residence of the Summers clan and their friends, as well as a base of operations for mutantkind sports a spectacular view of the Earth. Seven people have taken up permanent residence at the house: Scott, Logan, and Jean, who share adjoining rooms, as well as Gabe, Alex, Nate, and Rachel. Inside, Gabe cooks a steak on a grill, watched over warily by Logan. Logan demands to know what Gabe is doing, saying that he wanted his steak rare. Gabe teases Logan, but eventually agrees to cook his steak rare after Logan threatens him; however, he taunts Logan, telling him that the steak will actually be medium-rare, prompting an angry Logan to swear at him. Meanwhile Raza and Nate compared weapons; awed by his weapon, Cable asked Jean if he can trade guns with Raza, calling her “Mom.” Jean replies that he can do so after he sets the table. She turns and bumps into Ch'od, who reveals that he’s made tea. She thanks him for the drinks. As the Summers family and friends prepare dinner, Hepzibah and Rachel drink and talk. Hepzibah asks if all of Rachel’s clothes have spikes on them, or if it’s just for special occasions, which prompts an exasperated Rachel to ask for another drink. Scott and Christopher arrive, and Jean asks if Scott gave his father his present yet. Christopher, confused, asks about the gift, and Scott has Alex bring over a package congaing a Krakoan flower. Christopher is initially perplexed, so Scott reveals that the flower, once planted, will open a gateway directly to the Summer House on the Moon, and suggests that he plant it in The Starjammer' arboretum, so that he can be with them anytime he wants, no matter how far away he is. A delighted Christopher thanks his sons for the gift. Alex, Scott, and Gabe express their happiness that their father is able to visit, then Scott interrupts, and suggests that they eat. After dinner, Scott cleans up alone in the kitchen. Christopher joins him, intending to help him clean; however, Scott reveals that they didn't “clean” the dishes, rather just use a Krakoan goo, which consumes any bacteria and waste on the plate cleanly, something that disgusts Christopher. Scott retorted that it was better than the edible plates and “‘improved’... biological functions” that Krakoa initially gave them. Christopher changes the subject, and says that Scott’s world has changed. Smiling, Scott agrees, and says it has changed for the better. Christopher expresses his concerns that what they are doing is too dangerous, and tells Scott that he is worried for him and his brothers. Scott reassures him, and says that while people will always want to stop him, he will keep fighting, while staying focused on the things that make him want to live, namely his family and friends. His words reassure Christopher, who hugs him, and tells him he’s a good boy. At the Orchis Forge, Killian meets with Dr. Gregor in her lab. Alia insults Killian, but he brushs it off, and implores her to use her rage to fuel her work. He chastises her for not being at the funeral earlier, noting that they had buried her husband. Dr. Gregor sadly notes that there hadn't been enough left of him to bury, and explains that while he’s dead, he lives on inside her and in their work. Killian laments that his death was a significant blow to Orchis, which Alia agrees with. She reaches out and grabs a small red crystal, and cryptically reveals that she knows of a way to bring him back. Brodie's View:With all the set up that was House of X/Powers of X being finished, it's time to move into the new relaunched X-Line, and where better to begin than with the main book of the line, X-Men #1. This story obviously takes place a little bit after the events of House/Powers of X, but other than the Orchis storyline continuing, there really isn't a lot of throwback to those series in this particular story. Instead, it seems we're getting a re-introduction to what the new status quo will be, both story and character wise. The main focus, character wise, seems to be Cyclops, although, that could change from issue to issue, as could the team, as it seems to be far more large and sprawling than typical X-Teams would be. In fact, other than the bits with Cyclops and some of the X-Men kicking Orchis ass, most of the rest of the story, at least where it relates to the team, is set at Cyclops' "Summer Home," which is in space, and where it seems the rest of the team will be staying at when they're not in Krakoa/handling missions. We get to see a lay out of The Summer Home, including where the different team members will sleep, and I know a lot has been made over the fact that Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine all share a certain wing of the place, bed room wise, but I don't think Hickman would be that lazy, simply to fall back onto that now tired love triangle. I think if anything, that whole deal was simply meant to be a wink to the audience, but I could be wrong. Guess I'll find out in time. Anyways, it's interesting to see that Scott's team is made mostly up of family/close friends/allies. I particularly love seeing Rachel Summers/Grey on this new team, as I've always dug the character, and felt she got swept under the rug at certain periods. I'm glad to see this wasn't the case here. It's also interesting that Vulcan (the mysterious 3rd Summers brother that was revealed in the 2000's) is part of the team, as I thought he had pretty much went evil and was eventually killed in the X-Books. I mention that last bit, as he's written VERY different in this story, very over dramatic to almost the silly point. However, I think the reasoning for this all goes back to a theory that was thrown out during the revelation of Xaiver being able to clone and resurrect dead mutants, and that's that while Xaiver has up to the moment updates on the mind of every mutant, sometimes one doesn't want the most up to date version of certain people. Hell, that could explain why certain characters really show no signs of the darkness that has overtaken them at certain points, and I specifically mean Cyclops and Jean when I say that. Cyclops very much seems like that loyal soldier he was Pre 2000's here, and Jean seems to be regressed to her Pre Phoenix days in name, costume, and personality. Once again, I could be wrong about all of that. We'll find out in time. This was a decent start to the new series overall. I will say that it didn't HOOK me as easily as the House/Powers of X stuff, as it seemed at times that Hickman was writing this series assuming that the people reading it really hadn't read House/Powers of X, as certain things from those two series get repeated a few different times. At the same time, though, storyline wise, it most certainly builds off of at least the events of House of X, as we're still dealing with Orchis, and a few of the characters that we saw the doomed X-Men team from the present dealing with during their mission. We are also introduced to one of the masterminds behind Orchis, Director Killian Devo (Love that name, BTW, as the band Devo has always dealt with the idea of De-Evolution, which definitely fits in with the overall agenda of Orchis), who we can only assume is going to become a regular thorn in the side of the team. We also get a bit of chill time between the X-Men and the group of space pirates known as The Starjammers, who I've always enjoyed, so, once again, I'm glad they're getting included in the new storylines being undertaken by Hickman and company. I would say that if I had any complaints about this issue, other than rehashing certain things that were done better in House/Powers of X, and that has to be Leinil Francis Yu's art. Not that I'm not a fan of Yu's art. In some cases it can work like gangbusters, but not really here. Of course, perhaps I just got spoiled by all the GREAT art we got for House/Powers of X. All in all, this is a solid first issue for the series; not great, but definitely a book I'll continue to pick up. The next review will cover the second released book in this new X-Line, Marauders, which will answer of the mystery of just where Kitty Pryde has been for all of this (other than being in one panel at the very beginning of HOUSE OF X#1). GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Nov 7, 2019 2:20:17 GMT -5
Marauders #1"I'm On a Boat"Cover Date: Dec, 2019 Writer: Gerry Duggan Artist: Matteo Lolli Featured Character(s): The Marauders (Kitty Pryde, Lockheed, Storm, Iceman, & Pyro) Villain/s: Russian Armed Forces, Piotr Phobos, & Mrs. Zhao Guest Stars: Hellfire Trading Company (Emma Frost & Unnamed Others), Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Bishop, & Krakoa Official Plot:A while ago, Storm and Nightcrawler were helping mutants move to Krakoa through a Krakoan gateway in Central Park. One of them, Kitty Pryde, is awestruck and is ready to go to the island. She walks into the portal, but it ended up rejecting her and breaking her nose in the process. As Ororo and Kurt look on at Kitty, she is in shock over what just transpired. Six days later, Kitty is sailing towards Krakoa on a stolen boat with her faithful companion Lockheed and groceries for Logan. When she makes it to the shore, she meets up with Bobby and Logan, with the former welcoming her to Krakoa. As Logan swims towards her boat to get his groceries, Kitty watches him in awe and is shocked that the Five were able to bring him back. She and Bobby walk upon Krakoa, and Kitty wonders if she already has a place there. Bobby says she doesn't and explains that there is a process on setting up houses. Kitty wants to talk to Bobby about an offer from the Hellfire Club, but he interrupts her by saying she has to check on why one of the gates has no traffic and leaves her. After making a snarky comment at Bobby, she gets a telepathic call from Emma Frost. Emma asks her why she hasn't told her friends to call her Kate, and Kitty replies that they can't handle it yet. Emma then explains that she trusts Kitty because of how long she has been fighting for mutants and considers her dependable, which is why she needs her help for a mission. Emma reveals that she is creating a new economy with the life-sustaining drugs, but needs to control the black market as well. She dubs Kitty a captain in her new trading company, offering her a ship and the ability to recruit anyone she needs for her mission. She also asks her to help mutants reach the gates around the world in the process. She says that Kitty isn't a schoolteacher anymore, and needs to start living in the new world. In Vladivostok, Iceman prepares to help mutants cross into the gate but ends up confronting a splinter group of Russian Armed Forces led by a man in a suit of armor named Piotr Phobos, who declares that Russian mutants will not go to Krakoa. He decrees that mutants will either serve the state or get crushed, and blasts Bobby with a power-nullifying burst and tells the soldiers to open fire on him. Bobby jumps back through the gate, narrowly escaping with his life, and runs into a plastered Kitty. He explains the situation in Russia and Kitty drunkenly tells him to get into the boat, with a nearby Ororo joining in the process. In Taipei, a woman named Mrs. Zhao leads a protest with the people of Taiwan and asks why the mutants took her husband Lim. After leaving the stage, she runs into Bishop. He tells her that he is from Krakoa and asks to speak with her privately. He says that Krakoa doesn't have any records of her husband entering a gateway, but Zhao interrupts him and says his word is useless. As Bishop leaves, he reports to Charles Xavier about something rotten happening in Taiwan. Bobby explains to Kitty and Ororo about the situation in Vladivostok, when they are interrupted by Pyro who was sleeping below deck. Bobby realizes that this is not Simon Lasker, but the original Pyro who supposedly died fighting the X-Men in Transia.[1] Pyro explains that he was gone for a while, and is revealed to be one of the first mutants who was resurrected as a lab experiment. He was going to steal the boat they were using, but ended up taking a nap. After being forcibly drafted by Ororo, the foursome make a plan to save the mutants from Phobos. They reach Siberia and fight Phobos who drains Storm and Iceman's powers. Kitty disables his suit using her phasing powers, then she takes down a squad of soldiers and a tank single-handedly while stealing an officer's sword. After Pyro and Lockheed stop the rest of the soldiers, Kitty tells the group that they should take the gate back to Krakoa. The others deny this, and Ororo says that they will leave together. The captured mutants thank the group, with one of them recording Kitty. She declares that they are the Marauders, and that they will bring mutants who can’t get to Krakoa there for safety. Later, Kitty as Ororo discuss the team, Ororo remarks she does not like the name “Marauders,” and Kitty replies that she was on the spot and she doesn’t know if the X-Men would want to be associated with their plan. She asks her if Ororo will join her on the open seas and Ororo says that she will to help enslaved mutants around the world, but Kitty has to deal with Emma Frost. Kitty reaches out to Emma telepathically to accept the position she'd been offered earlier, Emma already knows about her plan and approves, as well as commends her decision. Bobby asks Kitty where they are going, and Kitty replies anywhere they want, but requests that they also call her Kate. Brodie's View:The first X-Spin Off book of this new line, Marauders (no relation to Mr. Sinister's group of mercenaries), is the subject of today's review, and I have to tell you, when I saw the previews of the new X-Books that were to come in the wake of Jonathan Hickman's relaunch, this was the one that most excited me. This was mostly due to the fact that I'm a huge fan of everyone's favorite "Mary Sue" ( ), and the leader of this new team, which I'm sure will drive those whiny manbabies out of their basement to once again bestow that lovely sexist name onto said favorite character, Kitty Pryde. I've always been a big fan, as I started reading the X-Men books in the early 80's, so, I got to see this character start out as an inexperienced, yet tough pre teen, and slowly mature into becoming a capable hero on her own (aided along the way by great writers like Chris Claremont, Warren Ellis, and Joss Whedon). Plus, I thought the team she assembled had promise, so, I was pretty excited to buy this when it came out. Sadly, the end result of the book itself, or at least the first issue, so, I won't bomb on it too badly, was merely being OK. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was hoping for something with more substance than the kind of pithy book we got, and don't get me wrong, I don't mind humor in my X-Books. In fact, speaking of Kitty Pryde, she was a member of one of my favorite X-Spin Offs, and that was Excalibur (which is a dream run to review, and will most likely happen at some point), which could be quite funny. But then again, Excalibur had some great writers involved during its run, so, it was smart funny. This kind of seemed like it was the kind of funny that teenagers might enjoy, but I wasn't very thrilled by it. The art, while not bad, was decent, but just kind of Blah, which probably didn't help things either. Ah well....maybe this book will grow on me. Anyways, I will talk briefly about the plot, as it kind of sets up why Kitty wasn't involved in any of the Krakoa stuff in HOUSE/POWERS OF X, other than a brief appearance in the beginning of HOX #1, and why she's on a ship playing Jack Sparrow with a few other random mutants (although, most with elemental/energy powers). For some reason (although, I have to imagine her phasing ability is probably the main reason), Krakoa will not permit her to enter through its doorways, as we find out near the beginning when Kitty (or Kate, as she wishes to be called now) tries to walk through one only to smack into it and break her nose. A bit later, we see her being talked into helping to run the seafaring part of the Hellfire Trading Company's distribution of the drugs Krakoa produces, as well as aiding mutants who have no way of getting to Krakoa otherwise. We see the formation of the core of this new team; opposites Iceman and Pyro, as well as long time friends Storm and Lockheed, but most of those are kind of done in an almost throwaway manner by writer, Gerry Duggan. We see a bit of intrigue involving Bishop, who is teased at being yet another member of this team. Kitty and her main team end up taking out Russian Armed Forces, who have captured a group of Krakoa bound mutants, but even that just kind of seems like a thrown together threat to show off the new team. Sadly, this whole issue just seems like kind of a lazy affair. Not terrible, but not as good as one would expect given the characters and situation that was set up by Jonathan Hickman. I'll give it a few issues before I drop it, but I will say that this might be the first of this new line dropped from my pull list. Next up will be the second of the new X-Books....a revamped Excalibur. GRADE: B-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Nov 8, 2019 2:00:23 GMT -5
Excalibur #1"Verse I: The Accolade of Betsy Braddock"Cover Date: Dec, 2019 Writer: Tini Howard Artist: Marcus To Featured Character(s): Excalibur (Psylocke/Captain Britain, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Trinary, & Apocalypse) Villain/s: Queen Morgan le Fay, Sir Gaheris, & Coven Solar Blackwood (Gerald, Kalim, & Diana)(the last three characters named die) Guest Stars: Brian Braddock, Meggan Braddock, Jamie Braddock, & Egg (the former Goldballs) Official Plot:The Otherworld is rocked by war! It is a new era for mutantkind as a new Captain Britain holds the amulet, fighting for the Kingdom of Avalon with her Excalibur at her side - Rogue, Gambit, Rictor, Jubilee...and Apocalypse. Brodie's View:Now this is more like it! After the Mehness that was Marauders #1, I'm happy to see the new X-line bounce back with this re-launch of Excalibur, which definitely kicks off with a good start. Plus, for the fans of the more 90's era of X-Men (Gambit, Rogue, and Jubilee), this is most definitely the book for you, as all three characters are part of this new team. In addition, we have a newer character, the Indian woman known as Trinary, and then the biggest shock of all....APOCALYPSE (who now wants to be referred to as "A" in Krakoan). We'll get back to him in a second, though, as the main thrust of this book (at least in the beginning) goes back to the core of the whole Excalibur legend, and that's the Braddock family, more specifically Psylocke/Betsy Braddock, who by the end of this issue takes up the Captain Britain mantle from her brother, Brian (we'll get to why in a second). We also see cameos by former Excalibur member, Meggan (who is Mrs. Brian Braddock), as well as Betsy and Brian's formerly dead (of course, with resurrection possible in Krakoa, we're going to be seeing the "formerly dead" label used on a LOT of characters) brother (and a dangerous mutant with the ability to warp reality), Jamie Braddock. However, while the threat of Jamie is teased, he is not the main antagonist for this first story arc. Instead, we turn to a concept that is very familiar in both Excalibur and Captain Britain lore, magic, and how this whole Krakoa thing is affecting the balance of power in the magical world. This leads us to our main villain in this (and one I love seeing back), Morgan le Fay. Somehow, the Krakoan plants are causing a threat to Morgan's power, so, Morgan lashes out at the Braddock family, drawing both Betsy and Brian into conflict with her and her knights. However, Betsy is soon outnumbered, as Morgan uses her magical connection to the whole Captain Britain concept to take control of Brian, which ends up transferring the Captain Britain mantle to Betsy. On the other end of things, Apocalypse (or Krakoan A) tries to help the rest of the team (who is drawn into this conflict) get Betsy back by using Rogue's power absorption abilities. However, this ends up backfiring on Rogue, putting her into kind of a mystical sleep, which massively pisses off Gambit (who has a strong distrust of Apocalypse, probably dating back to the time Apocalypse transformed Remy into one of his Horsemen). In other words, there's lot of interesting ideas introduced in this issue, which would definitely keep one coming back to see what happens, both in a story and character sense. I'm definitely interested in seeing how Betsy does with the powers of Captain Britain, and whether or not those powers will transfer back to Brian once he's free of Morgan's influence. There's also the future threat of Jamie Braddock, who could end up messing things up on a massive level on his own, and, hey, how long can one really trust Apocalypse? He's one of those characters that has been proven to always be working towards his own agenda, even when he's helping the good guys out. Lots of good set up here, and I will take a moment out and say that both the writing and art are pretty solid here, and I hope the standard set in this first issue lasts. In our next review, however, while we're waiting on the next new X-Books to review, I will knock out yet another short trade paperback. Which one? You'll have to tune in to see, sucka!!! GRADE: B+
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