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2020 was the first full year of Jonathan Hickman era X-Men comics, following the summer 2019 House of X / Powers of X status quo reconfiguration, and the launch of the Dawn of X. We started the year early in the formation of Krakoa with Professor X, Magneto, and Apocalypse convening with world leaders in Davos, and we ended the year after the X of Swords event and the transition from the Dawn of X into the new era known as the Reign of X.

All in all, 2020 was a consistently interesting year for all things mutant, with some fantastic highs, and unquestionably moments that never lived up to the impossible highs of House / Powers. I’ve covered it all here in my Krakin’ Krakoa series, where I review every X-Men comic the day of release, and cover bigger topics, questions and themes with weekend videos. For those who missed out, are looking to get into X-Men in 2021, or just want a recap of what happened, this video will cover off on what I remember as the most important moments in the X-Men comics of 2020, with some thoughts on their relevance for anticipated or predicted stories in 2021.

Kicking things off with the saga of the X-Men vs the Children of the Vault, since this storyline is upcoming in X-Men #18, scheduled for release February 2021.

What’s the Story So Far:

In X-Men #1, Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu teased the return of the Mike Carey written creation, the technologically evolved Children of the Vault, who believe themselves the rightful inheritors of Earth, and then in 2020’s X-Men #5, the hunt for the Children and their Vault led to an X-Men infiltration scheme involving Laura Kinney (Wolverine), Synch, and Darwin. As I’ve highlighted a bunch, during this plan, Professor X calls the Children of the Vault “the greatest threat to mutantkind.”

Now, since this infiltration which we saw as readers in very early 2020, we haven’t heard hide nor hair of these three mutants, or the Vault. To add to the intrigue, we know that time passes differently in the vault, and that spending an hour inside the Vault, might mean days, months, even years in the outside world. So when Laura, Synch, and Darwyn return to the X-Men – assuming all of them do return – they’ll have been gone for a fairly unpredictable amount of years most likely.

Where’s It Going:

Again, we know from solicits we’ll get a return story in X-Men #18, and Laura and Synch are teased on the what’s to come “Reign of X” teaser promo for the year.

What’s the Story So Far:

Since House of X #1, Hickman and company have established a clear priority of Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, as a new bogeyman & one of the forsworn enemies of Krakoa, with her actions during Marvel’s House of M and Decimation, and her subsequent 2015 retcon removing her mutant status, leading to her new X-Men era label as “The Great Pretender.”

In 2020, there were two, fairly short but both essential, additions to Scarlet Witch’s place in the mutant narrative. The first came during the first and fourth issues of the Empyre: X-Men miniseries, both written by Jonathan Hickman, where Wanda sets out to atone for her crimes against mutantkind, depowering nearly a million mutants with three words “No More Mutants.” Wanda attempts to use her mystical prowess, and the aid of Doctor Strange, to resurrect the mutants in the leading mutant catastrophe this millennium, the Genosha genocide caused by Cassandra Nova and the Trask sentinels. Despite Strange’s warnings against this approach, Wanda maintains her course, only to see her spell go awry, resurrecting the deceased Genoshan mutants as corrupted zombies, which she and Stephen promptly have to undo (but not before the mutants, the invading Empyre Cotati, and those resurrected zombies) all clash in a very fun miniseries.

Most recently, in SWORD #1, Al Ewing and team also introduced the thread that Krakoa’s vilification of Wanda has cosmic alliance implications, since Wanda is now the official mother-in-law of Teddy Altman, aka Hulkling, aka the King of Space and leader of the newly solidified Kree/Skrull empire. This quick sequence was fascinating (like all of SWORD #1), both because it solidifies Wanda as a political inconvenience for the mutant space program, and because the information was delivered to long-time-father, first-time-PEAK visitors, Magneto.

Where’s It Going:

Unquestionably, mutantkind’s relationship to Wanda Maximoff and her role in Decimation will be discussed in the pages of SWORD (Al Ewing confirmed as much in his most recent AIPT interview). This could be as simple as a reluctant formal pause to the chilly hostilities, or even something more interesting, like fully integrating Wanda as a SWORD liason (while her powerset does actually seem like something that could benefit the program, welcoming the Great Pretender feels pretty unlikely).

What’s the Story So Far:

In the pages of the Jonathan Hickman written Giant-Size X-Men, we learned that Storm was infected by the Children of the Vault during the aforementioned X-Men #5, was given 30 days to live, and enlisted the aid of Fantomex, Cypher, Monet, and an AIM henchie to enter The World facility – a weapon plus program creation – and rid herself of this virus. The process was successful, meaning two things: 1) Storm resists resurrection, which could be meaningful if any ill effects or tampering are revealed and 2) some new, seemingly sentient intelligence was created in the process (perhaps only known to Doug Ramsey).

Shortly thereafter, Storm was included as one of the Stormbearers of Krakoa during X of Swords, putting her in the position of obtaining Wakanda’s hallowed Skybreaker sword. During Marauders #13, Storm breaks many of her longstanding ties to Wakanda, where she was once queen, by stealing the sword, battling the Wakandan guard and Shuri, and generally making known she is far and away mutant first. The relationship between Krakoa and Wakanda continues to be very interesting, as Wakanda is one of a handful of nations that do not accept Krakoan medicines, but they are the only nation that refuses the drugs on the basis that “they do not need them.” Storm’s former marriage to T’Challa and connections to Wakanda were one of the primary connections suggesting an alliance between the nations, but the actions of X of Swords put that in doubt.

Where’s It Going:

The “what” of Storm’s 2020 is comparatively minor, but it matters more because of the character’s clear major relevance in 2021. First, we heard from X-Men editor Jordan D. White that Storm had a MAJOR story coming, and that the story would be so huge there would be no question about if that was it when it happened.

Next, Storm is front and center on the Reign of X teaser, holding what was until SWORD #1 a mysterious looking shiny artifact. It would now appear that Storm is holding a piece of the Mysterium introduced in SWORD, suggesting to me the potential for a reality warping / altering / multiverse traveling role for Storm throughout 2021. Couple that with the X of Swords teaser that Storm is setting her sights to the stars, and I’m all in on the likelihood of an ongoing Storm series showcasing her new role traversing the cosmos for mutantkind.

What’s the Story So Far:

The saga of Franklin Richards got the most attention, so we’ll start there. In House of X #1, Franklin is listed as the only omega level mutant allied with humankind, and Cyclops makes a point of inviting the son of Sue and Reed Richards to Krakoa when Franklin’s ready. In the Chip Zdarsky and the Dodsons four issue X-Men/Fantastic Four miniseries, a whole load of poor communication and hostilities ultimately leads to Franklin spending time learning and visiting on Krakoa, while still living at home with his Fantastic Family. And most critically, in Fantastic Four #25, the Dan Slott written comic declares (for now) that Franklin is in fact not a mutant at all, and that he only convinced himself and the world around him he was a mutant to try to seem more special. I’ve already said my piece on ALL the many problems that entails, so I won’t do so again here.

The piece nobody is really talking about is that at the conclusion of X-Men/Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom (aka the greatest Marvel villain) basically promises a future war with mutantkind, after revealing in the mini that he has an island for experiments on Latverian mutants, as well as his own Doom Sentinels.

Better yet, at the conclusion of SWORD #1, there’s a surprising quote from Victor, revealing he’s keeping a close eye on the mutant space program, and still very much involved in their future plans.

Where’s It Going:

I actually think these two threads could come together again in the X-verse, especially if my theory is right that Doctor Doom is sending a hologram of Professor X to Franklin to convince him he’s not a mutant in Fantastic Four #25. Not to go full Charlie apologist, but the language is so careless and hurtful, it would work a lot better – for me – if it was one of Doom’s schemes to get Franklin and his powers on his side.

As for the Doom wars, remember he is seeking to prove superiority to mutantkind… and in many ways was humiliated by Professor X and company.

What’s the Story So Far:

I’ll admit, this is partially an excuse to rave about the excellence of Hellions, my favorite comic in the X-Men line through 2020. Or even just Sinister’s funniest moments, which could fill out an entire list of their own. Nonetheless, Mister Sinister has unquestionably been one of the top 5 most interesting characters in the Hickman era of X-Men, and all of his scheming this year inevitably means a lot for where the world of mutants is heading in the future.

The most recent development for Mister Nathaniel came during X of Swords, when Sinister and his Hellions captured the mutant DNA of Tarn the Uncaring and his Locus Vile during their trek to Arakko/Amenth/I can’t keep it straight without researching it every single time. We’ve seen Sinister’s mutant clone operations are alive and well in his secret Krakoan labs, and he’s offered the likes of Jamie Braddock a backup clone on file, but this DNA haul gives Sinister the opportunity to play with mutant DNA from new realms, which of course may possess new properties, and perhaps even move Sinister closer to his inevitable Chimera experiments of merging mutant DNA that we learned about in Powers of X.

Where’s It Going:

One of the biggest surprises of the Reign of X teaser promo was Tarn the Uncaring’s lurking face in the corner. Given the state of Arakko and its mutant inhabitants after X of Swords (we’ll talk about this in a minute!), I think we can pretty fully expect a confrontation between Tarn and Sinister in 2021. Or, given Tarn’s mirror-image to Sinister, it might be even more likely they form a mad scientist cabal (Beast is gonna be so mad if they don’t invite him) and perfect mutant chimeras together.

What’s the Story So Far:

In X-Men #7 we’re introduced to Krakoa’s plan for restoring depowered mutants, the arena of the Crucible, a symbolic Roman Coliseum style battle, initially a sword fight with Apocalypse, to prove your desire to live as a mutant. Crucible is important as a development of mutant culture, a statement on what it means to be mutant, and a clear mandate on questions around “cheap, quick” resurrection, especially in cases of suicide-for-the-purposes-of-resurrection. Likewise, Crucible answers those questions about the mutant plan for the mutants impacted by Scarlet Witch’s Decimation.

Where’s It Going:

After the highly memorable Crucible in X-Men #7, the post X of Swords landscape means Apocalypse can’t run these proceedings any more, although the ritual itself could go on unchanged.

While there are a handful of mutants that could certainly take Apocalypse’s place (assuming it was always going to be him anyway), my pick is new island friend Isca the Unbeaten, Apocalypse’s sister-in-law.

We’re also going to see a lot more with the problems Cyclops and Kurt discuss regarding requested *changes* via resurrection

What’s the Story So Far:

X of Swords led to a repowered Peak, the longtime headquarters of SWORD, completely devoid of human operators thanks to a Vescora alien invasion. Combined with the recent departure of Abigail Brand from the Alpha Flight Earth defense program, and you have a perfect recipe for a new mutant space program, as mutantkind looks to expand to the cosmic Marvel galaxy.

The first issue of the series by Al Ewing, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia and Ariana Maher is one of my absolute favorites since House/Powers, and does an incredible amount of building to layout what a mutant future looks like integrated into the grander Marvel Space Age. The issue is highly recommended (or at least my full video review!), but if nothing else the main takeaways for me are:

1)Mutants establishing diplomatic relationships with major Alien civilizations such as the new Kree/Skrull empire

2)Mutant exploration into multiversal travel, seeking out some of the largest cosmic artifacts in the Marvel Universe!

Where’s It Going:

Anywhere and everywhere, honestly! My primary SWORD theories are:

1)Mysterium is connected to the Project Pegasus and Squadron Supreme character Dr. Kyle Lightner, who has alternate dimension hopping powers, which means harnessing his powers in refined Mysterium crystals will offer X-Men the same opportunities. Meaning we’re going Multiverse hunting, and likely expanding mutant numbers that way!

2)Mutants will form massive alliances across the Galaxy, with the likes of Shi’ar, Brood, Vescora, and who knows who else, preparing for an inevitable conflict with the powered beings of Earth, the Kree/Skrull, and others on their side.

What’s the Story So Far:

To put it reductively, Kate Pryde kissed a girl and she liked it! The longtime subtextually queer character had her first on-page kiss with a girl, making her bisexuality canon. I’ve talked extensively on Krakin’ Krakoa why this matters, but simply put it’s a tremendously positive step for queer representation in X-Men comics, and a move that means so much to a wide variety of readers who’ve bene underrepresented for decades.

Where’s It Going:

Ideally, it’s just going to become a casually meaningful part of Kate’s identity, referenced through her story where it fits, and not an incident that happens one time for publicity and is forgotten.

What’s the Story So Far:

Uh, Broo, wee genius Brood mutant, snappy dresser, and all around great guy, ate a Brood King Egg and now he’s King of the Brood. There’s plenty that builds to this moment – the New Mutants stealing the King Egg during the Hickman written issues of the title, the Brood invasion of Krakoa in X-Men #8 – but nothing tops the fact that longtime X-Men ally Broo is now one of the most powerful leaders in the galaxy.

Where’s It Going:

This ties heavily into my theories discussed for SWORD, and the upcoming GalaXy of X-Men. Broo as King of the Brood potentially inverts the familiar Brood vs. X-Men narrative, and instead makes the Brood an alien civilization in an alliance with mutantkind. Again, everything in this era of X-Men is about breaking all the rules, and establishing mutant survival and dominance well into the future. An army of Brood is a huge step in that direction.

One thing I do like to call out here, though, is that we haven’t actually seen any evidence of this alliance. It’s virtually all an assumptive prediction at this point, and we can’t rule out that Broo leading the Brood will not work out exactly according to Krakoa’s favor.

What’s the Story So Far:

X of Swords was the first post-house/powers X-event, a 22 part mega crossover across every single title in the X-Men comics line. At its core, X of Swords is a follow up to the history of Okarra, Krakoa, and Arakko as presented in House of X #5, as well as an expansion of Apocalypse’s role in that history, and what it means for one of Krakoa’s oldest and most powerful mutants.

I’m not going to summarize the whole event because it’s huge, and I covered every issue on here, but the major outcomes after the Arakko vs. Krakoa tournament are:

1)Apocalypse is reunited with his family in the dimension of Amenth

2)Arakko should be reunited with Krakoa, and not only are the two halves of land getting back together, but all the mutants living in each region should be joining up as well

3)The resurrections of Rockslide and Gorgon are totally effed because they died in Otherworld

4)Krakoa’s Quiet Council is shaken up, and the twelve seat governing body now has two open chairs

5)Oh and there’s now an apparently all mutant, Betsy Braddock based Captain Britain Corps

Where’s It Going:

Honestly, most of the post X of Swords outcome is still to be resolved, despite a month+ of comics released after the final issue. First and foremost, I’m extremely interested in seeing how Krakoa and Arakko merge together, and what the plans are for all these new mutants welcomed into the nation (or will they be?). There are a lot of really great new mutants added to X-Men mythos in this event – Isca the Unbeaten, Solem, Bei the Blood Moon – and I’m excited to see their roles in the mutant nation of Earth as well.

What’s the Story So Far:

X-Men #6 follows up on Mystique’s role during House of X #4, the mutant’s mission to destroy the Orchis Mother Mold facility they determined would be responsible for bringing a Nimrod online, and setting mutantkind on a course towards extinction. The issue reveals that while infiltrating, Mystique had a secret mission to set up a stealth Krakoan gateway on the facility, which is currently in use as Mystique pretends to work for Orchis and pick up information about their plans. Her most recent report is a huge deal, telling Magneto and Professor X that Orchis still appears to be close to activating a Nimrod.

Essentially, Mystique is being toyed with, as Professor X and Magneto are holding the resurrection of her wife, Destiny, over her head as leverage to get her to comply with their continued every wish. This is of course to follow Moira’s “no precogs” rule, and will, of course, come back to bite them all.

Where’s It Going:

Before her death, Destiny told Mystique that if Krakoa wouldn’t bring her back (she didn’t know the specifics to call it Krakoa in the prophecy), Mystique should burn it all down. I honestly don’t know what Charlie and Magneto think is going to happen as they continue pushing Mystique further and further over the edge, but clearly she’s going to strike out sooner than later as revenge/retribution for withholding the one thing she wants in this supposed mutant paradise.

Makes me wonder if Moira’s “no precogs” allowed on Krakoa rule is a self-fulfulling prophecy, as through fearing precognitive abilities on Krakoa and denying Destiny her resurrection, Moira ensures that Destiny’s previous predictions push Mystique to “Burn it all down.”

The post Krakin’ Krakoa #139: 2020 X-Men Fast Track – 11 Biggest X-Men Stories in Dawn of X! appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

We highlight the best of Marvel in the 80s as we prep for the MMY’s journey into the 1990’s!

Up Next: My Marvelous Year – 1989 Pt. 1

You can find more Marvel Comics guides on Comic Book Herald at:

The Complete Marvel reading order

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Zack & Dave continue their coverage of the Ultimate Marvel line of comics!

* Should Sinister Six be more unforgiving of Nick Fury?

Comics covered in this episode:

*Ultimate Spider-Man #46

Up Next for Episode Nine (02/01/21):

*Ultimate X-Men #34-39

You can find more Marvel Comics guides on Comic Book Herald at:

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https://www.comicbookherald.com/the-complete-marvel-reading-order-guide/ultimate-marvel-universe-reading-order/

Music for My Ultimate Year is credited to By Divine Right. Support for My Marvelous Year comes via Patreon backers, for as little as $1 a month.

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The post MUY #8: Ultimate Sinister Six & Ultimate Doctor Doom! appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

Marvel comics of 1988. Captain America & Iron Man Armor Wars!

On this episode we cover the following issues (all available via Marvel Unlimited):

Up Next: My Marvelous Year – 1989 Pt. 1

You can find more Marvel Comics guides on Comic Book Herald at:

The Complete Marvel reading order

mymarvelousyear.com

Music for My Marvelous Year is credited to Disasterpeace. Support for My Marvelous Year comes via Patreon backers, for as little as $1 a month.

Make sure to subscribe now in order to get every reading list for every year of Marvel Comics! Subscribe to the Podcast! — iTunes, Google Play, Pod Feed

If you like the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!, to help us reach more readers & listeners!

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Zack & Dave cover your holiday questions and share their year-end favorites from 2020!

Topics discussed include:

Up Next:

My Marvelous Year – Marvel Year Twenty-Seven: 1988 Pt. 5 —

You can find more Marvel Comics guides on Comic Book Herald at:

mymarvelousyear.com

https://www.comicbookherald.com/the-complete-marvel-reading-order-guide/

Music for My Marvelous Year is credited to Disasterpeace. Support for My Marvelous Year comes via Patreon backers, for as little as $1 a month.

Make sure to subscribe now in order to get every reading list for every year of Marvel Comics! Subscribe to the Podcast! — iTunes, Google Play, Pod Feed

If you like the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!, to help us reach more readers & listeners!

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In late 1988 and 1989, Marvel’s X-Men line built to a decade in the making universe-wide crossover event, Inferno! The world outside your window became infested with a demonic takeover, literalizing Hell on Earth, and arguably the first and largest all-hands-on-deck Marvel Comics invasion, in what has now become an event staple, from Secret Invasion to Empyre to King in Black. While conceptually this may sounds simple, Inferno is anything but, with years of X-Men storylines and continuity woven into the saga that in so many ways marks the end of both the Chris Claremont and Louis Simonson corners of the X-Men Universe that dominate Marvel’s 1980s.

Today I’ll answer:

Get the Inferno Omnibus Here (affiliate link): https://geni.us/x-men-inferno

Taken on its own, Inferno is a fairly confusing, sprawling massive event, with enough standalone highlights – Mister Sinister’s star debut, Daredevil fighting a vacuum cleaner – to remain entertaining if a LOT. Plus, there’s enough star power across various tie-ins – The Michelinie/MacFarlane Amazing Spider-Man fresh off the debut of Venom in issue #300, Walt Simonson writing Avengers, Nocenti/Jr Jr Daredevil, Claremont and Alan Davis on Excalibur – to make Inferno Marvel’s best mega crossover event of the 1980’s (sure, the bar to clear is basically Secret Wars II, but still!).

But really, it’s nigh on impossible to take Inferno on its own, and again, I think it’s far more accurate to view the event as the end of an X-Men era. And as with all moments in ongoing Big 2 superhero comics, every ending is also a beginning.

There are effectively two primary threads that drive Inferno, Illyana Rasputin, aka Magik’s, full transformation into the Darkchylde and ruler of Limbo, and the revelations of Madeylne Pryor’s true origins, and the ramifications that knowledge has turning her into the Goblin Queen. In either case, women of the X-Universe turn to demonic allies for a full-on takeover of Earth, and desire to see the world burn in Hellfire.

Both threads were impressively set in motion years earlier. Modern readers like to talk a lot about Jonathan Hickman’s ability to seed plots and storylines years in advance, and to effectively tackle them and give each seed its due much later in a grand tapestry of interlocking story. I actually think the 1980’s X-Office’s ability to do this same thing, but often without necessarily planning to, goes extremely underrated.

Uncanny X-Men #160 by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson plants the seeds for everything to do with Illyana Rasputin, Limbo, and Sy’m and the demons of that realm, and that was was released in August 1982, more than 8 years before Inferno. Over that time, Illyana’s journey continues across her own miniseries, and New Mutants written by both Claremont, and especially in the build to Inferno by Louis Simonson and Bret Blevins. Whether it’s something that was known right from the jump, Illyana’s story was always building to an event like Inferno.

The saga of Madelyne Pryor is a bit different, although again, years in the making, just more adaptively so. Scott Summers first meets Maddy – the Alaskan redhead who looks a startling amount like the recently deceased Jean Grey – in Uncanny X-Men #168, the famous “Professor X is a Jerk!” issue, released in April 1983. Originally, Claremont has said in interviews that he intended this as a mysterious similarity, but ultimately just a bonkers coincidence that set the stage for Cyclops truly “graduating” from life with the X-Men, and starting a family with wife Madelyne and little baby Christopher.

These plans were interrupted when the Jean Grey remains dead edict that followed “The Dark Phoenix Saga” was overturned – against Claremont’s wishes – in the 1986 Fantastic Four / Avengers two-part story that established Jean and the Phoenix Force as two distinct entities (effectively absolving Jean for the Phoenix’s genocide of the D’bari). All reports are that Claremont was furious, but ultimately he did one of his most underrated traits as the Head of X in the 80s’: he adapted.

I’ve talked about this before, but when you look at situations where writers are sort of forced to connect their stories to some editorial linewide edict – Secret Wars II probably the most notorious – nobody is better at turning dung into gold like Claremont. Secret Wars II is literally one of my least favorite comics of all time, yet Claremont’s tie-in issues across Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants (especially New Mutants) are quite good, and utilized to great affect across each series. So when faced with the return of Jean Grey, and Scott’s world’s worst combination husband-dad-dude decision to flee back to her for X-Factor, Claremont spent the following two plus years reinventing Madelyne Pryor’s storyline and potential on the fly. And the end result is Inferno.

We’ll start with the Claremont written issues of Uncanny X-Men, because that’s the flagship, but also because it’s easily the moist notable instance in the entire X-Men line when other creators (namely Louise Simonson, writing across New Mutants, X-Factor, and X-Terminators) actually contribute more to the core narrative than the reigning X-writer. Claremont’s contributions are comparatively concise, and for my money they benefit for it.

In Uncanny X-Men #239 to #243, writer Chris Claremont, art Marc Silvestri, inks Dan Green, colors Glynis Oliver, letters Tom Orzechowski, we get the core story of Madelyne Pryor, Mister Sinister, and Scott Summers, set against the backdrop of Manhattan overrun by demonic transformations and demon hordes of Limbo.

As this demonic takeover of New York occurs, there’s a jarring blend of comedy, over-the-top satantic panic, and horror, with such horrific instances as a family eaten alive by a demon-elevator, a new York city tourist getting their eyes stolen by a demon binoculars, Wolvering killing a mailbox, Illyana killing a barber’s chair, Daredevil and the Vacuum cleaner… you get the drill.

There are a few reasons we see so many demons spilling into the realm of Earth, but primarily it’s the result of N’astirh, a demon introduced here in the pages of the Louise Simonson written New Mutants and X-Terminators miniseries, S’ym, who we’ve known as Belasco’s right-hand creep from the Magik miniseries, and Madelyne Pryor’s transformation into Marvel’s Goblin Queen, making a deal with N’astirh for the power and demonic armies that will drive her newfound desire to see the world burn in an Inferno.

Why does Madelyne Pryor go down this road? The in-story answer is that it’s in these issues of Uncanny X-Men when her history is retconned by creator Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri to show that Madelyne is in fact a clone of Jean Grey, created by Mister Sinister from DNA he stole from Jean.

It’s a harrowing revelation for Maddie, as everything that she thought she knew about her existence gets mixed up in this tangle of glam Sinister’s design.

Complicating matters further is the presence of Nathan Christopher Charles Summers – revealed in these issues to actually be named Nathan, a fact pointed out to me by Connor Goldsmith of the excellent Cerebrocast during our My Marvelous Year podcast conversation about Inferno.

The revelation that she’s a clone casts doubt onto Madelyne’s realness, her very personhood, and drives her increasingly controlled by rage, primarily expressed towards Cyclops and Jean Grey.

In a particularly harrowing sequence, Madelyne finds Jean’s parents at her tombstone (remember Jean is still believed dead by many at this point), and gruesomely turns them into demon pets.

Madelyne is so full of rage that she is ready to burn the world in fire, including her son, as a pure revenge play against Scott Summers. This is no small thing – Remember, Maddy stays with baby Christopher when Cyclops abandons the family, not the other way around.

If you’re keeping up with 2020’s Hellions – and it’s one of my favorite comics of the entire Dawn of X, and Hickman era of X-Men, so I recommend it – the first arc written by Zeb Wells effectively taps into these ideas of Madelyne’s absolute betrayal and removal of personage. Later in the story she says, in heartbreaking fashion, “I only wanted them to know that I was a real girl.”

This rage actually drives Madelyne further than Sinister ever anticipated, as he doesn’t fully see the activation of her own psychic powers and literal deals with the devil, in this case N’astirh, transformed into a techno-organic demon as the event progresses.

Ultimately, Madelyne is stopped by the X-Men, but not before really fully bonding physically and emotionally with Alex Summers, and seeing the majority of the X-team warped into darker versions of their innate personalities. The likes of Dazzler and Longshot get it particularly bad.

In psychic battle, with the full emotional weight of clones stealing one another’s life, Jean Grey absorbs her very essence, all her memories and, in terms of X-Men continuity, all her continuity and adventures.

I think you can make a compelling case that Mister Sinister’s influence on the X-Men, and Madelyne Pryor’s transformation into the Goblin Queen could have been enough of a core to spark this Inferno. And if you want to argue that the event is needlessly complicated and convoluted via everything else, I hear that. Nonetheless, Magik’s build from innocent young sister of Colossues, to tortured mutant growing up in a hell-realm, to full on badass Darkchylde ruler of Limbo’s demon hordes certainly fits the Inferno mold.

X-Terminators primary function as a four issue mini is to lay out the demon invasion of New York, build the Demon ruler players of N’astirh and S’ym, remind us all that yes, Limbo is still taken over by Warlock’s techno-organic virus, oh and to feature demons stealing mutant babies to put in a pentagram above NYC that will power further takeover by the hordes of Limbo. Plus, you get the introduction of Wiz-Kid, a major player in the just launched SWORD series in the Reign of X.

In yet another Zeb Wells written run – guy clearly has a fondness for Inferno  – these Inferno babies are brought back into the pages of New Mutants in a way I won’t spoil here, but will you mention you can check out my Krakin’ Krakoa on the whole run if interested.

On the New Mutants side, after Illyana, fully transforming into her Darkchylde dark half really since the death of Doug Ramsey in fall of the mutants, accidentally unleashes demons into the world, the New Mutants team transports back to Limbo where they are made aware of Illyana’s beginnings.

Illyana tells the team about what happened in Uncanny X-Men #160, the Magik miniseries, with Louise Simonson filling in and recontextualizing Sym’s abuses of Illyana, making the absolutely traumatic and tragic childhood of this little girl hit harder than it ever had.

There’s a lot to take from Illyana’s story here, as again, this is the full journey of Magik from early 80’s through the end of the decade, and in many ways it’s the end of her story until much, much later in Marvel history.

When Illyana sees her younger self she is filled with rage, at this innocence, all this potential, that she never got to have because she was trapped in hell.

Ultimately, though, Magik does get to choose between darkness and light, and rather than remain in limbo ruling over dark, she sacrifices herself, and saves her 6 year old younger self to give her the chance on Earth our Illyana never got. It’s a truly emotional reconnection between Colossus and his sister.

In the pages of the Simonson written x-Factor, with art by husband Walt Simonson (until an upcomer Rob Liefeld joins for the aftermath X-Factor #40), Louise Simonson more or less for the first time gets to really write a full X-Universe book, fully synchronizing with the events of Chris Claremont’s Uncanny and bringing the X-Men and X-Factor teams together for the first time since the Dark Phoenix Saga. Since Mutant Massacre Wolverine is really the only X-Men member aware Jean’s alive, and since Fall of the Mutants both X-Factor and the New Mutants believe the X-Men are dead.

Simonson shines in this role, concentrating most on the stories of Jean Grey and Cyclops, Scott’s family with Madelyne and Natan Christopher, and newfound connections to Mister Sinister.

So once the duel threats of Madelyne Pryor and N’astirh’s demons are seemingly solved, the X-Men and X-factor turn back to their former x-mansion base, only to find it’s been raided by Mister Sinister and his Marauders.

I do find it interesting, this idea of Sinister digging through their lives for clues, information, and DNA for future schemes. Moments like are hard to not view in a modern post House / Powers lens, with Mister Sinister as a clear key schemer in the Hickman era of X-Men. It’s the sort of moment that could become a casual flashback or reference point for a time Mister Sinister grabbed essential data off the X-Men that leads to whatever revelations are in the character’s future.

And of course, in Powers of X, one of the biggest Sinister Secrets is the reveal that “Inferno” has significance. I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking about it, I even have a notepad full of diagrams of squares and circles, but the language “square that circle” is no clearer to me now after rereading the event. What we do know though is that when Sinister’s Inferno re-enactment comes to fruition, “what took a long to build” (Krakoa) is likely to “come crumbling.”

This is not the point of the event, but what if for Sinister’s next, modern Inferno, he revealed that he had manipulated the genetics and lives of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff? Of everyone in Marvel, whose origins, genealogy, and as of 2015, mutant status, has been toyed with more often? It would be very easy for the walking retcon engine to waltz into their lives and say they actually ARE mutants, and he set them up for this, but that – and here’s where Sinister’s plan could go any number of directions – Charles Xavier insisted mutants have a Great Pretender bogeyman rather than acknowledge the truth.

Plus, Scarlet Witch is notoriously dangerous when people make her mad, just look at Avengers Disassembled and House of M.

During the battle with Sinister and the Malice controlled Lorna Dane aka Polaris that ensues, Mistah S reveals that not only was he behind Maddie, but he’s straight up been orchestrating events of Scott’s life since he was a wee orphan trying to understand his burgeoning mutant abilities. This is what I’m talking about when I describe Sinister now as a walking retcon engine because right here in ‘89 we get Sinister’s – admittedly unreliably narrated – tales of being with Scott in the orphanage, and dictating so much of Cyclop’s life and choices, right down to meeting and marrying Madelyne Pryor.

It’s an especially interesting reveal because Sinister’s presence does in many ways offer a left field potential defense for Scott Summers, a character who is really quite ruined by the editorially mandated resurrection of post Dark Phoenix Jean Grey in the pages of Avengers and Fantastic Four, abandoning his wife and child. I don’t think it works but you can see the thinking.

After much pulling prodding and needling, including by Alex Summers whose sibling cosmic powers sorta sting Cyke but make his blasts even more powerful, Cyclops lays (apparent) waste to Mister Sinister, finally ending his immediate threat, and generally wrapping the physical threats present in Inferno.

The emotional consequences and learnings are of course much farther reaching.

Even within this explanation, Inferno is so massive, and covers so many corners of the X-Men universe, that there are moments I still didn’t fully dig into here. For example, Warren Worthington, freshly in his Archangel persona as given by Apocalypse, dealing with Cameron Hodge, the Right, and Hodge’s murder of Warren’s longtime love interest Candy Southern.

Similarly there’s a lot here for modern readers concerning the debuts of Nanny and Orphanmaker, or the X-Men finally getting their violent confrontation with the Marauders after Mutant Massacre.

Music for Best Comics Ever by Anthony Weis, or Bensound. Check out more music at anthonyweis.com or https://www.bensound.com.

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For the Comic Book Herald reading club through every year of Marvel Comics, check out mymarvelousyear.com

The post Krakin’ Krakoa #133: X-Men Inferno Event Legacy! appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

Year-end picks for the best comics of 2020! Zack Quaintance (Comics Bookcase, the Beat) and I share our picks for top 5 comics of the year, best single issue, best surprise, and biggest disappointment.

For full lists from Zack and myself:

Zack’s picks on Comics Bookcase

My picks on Comic Book Herald

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Music for Best Comics Ever by Anthony Weis. Check out more music at anthonyweis.com.

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To learn how you can support Best Comics Ever and receive more exclusive content from Comic Book Herald, check out the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookherald

For the Comic Book Herald reading club through every year of Marvel Comics, check out mymarvelousyear.com

The post Best Comics of 2020 (w/ Zack Quaintance)! appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

Marvel comics of 1988. Venom! Kross Time Kangs! Secret Wars III!!!!

We’re joined by Brad of Comic Book Couples Counseling!

On this episode we cover the following issues (all available via Marvel Unlimited):

Up Next: My Marvelous Year – Marvel Year Twenty-Seven: 1988 Pt. 5

You can find more Marvel Comics guides on Comic Book Herald at:

The Complete Marvel reading order

mymarvelousyear.com

Music for My Marvelous Year is credited to Disasterpeace. Support for My Marvelous Year comes via Patreon backers, for as little as $1 a month.

Make sure to subscribe now in order to get every reading list for every year of Marvel Comics! Subscribe to the Podcast! — iTunes, Google Play, Pod Feed

If you like the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!, to help us reach more readers & listeners!

The post 1988 Pt. 4: Venom Debuts, Kang Kangs, & Secret Wars III! (W/ Comic Book Couples Counseling!) appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

The conclusion of the X-Men’s X of Swords crossover event teased the upcoming Reign Of X, as the Hickman era of X-Men comics moves out of the Dawn of X and into the Reign. It’s a wonderful teaser, full of references and possibility, hot on the heels of a satisfying conclusion to the Dawn of X and X of Swords. Now, it’s worth noting that previous Marvel teaser images do NOT lock in stories or characters to come. The Mark Brooks promos for House/Powers and X of Swords tease things (like Professor X leaping into battle with a sword) that simply never come to pass. Nonetheless, it’s quite fun to think through what may come to pass in upcoming comics.

Today I’ll answer:

+ Who is on Marvel’s Reign of X teaser image?

+ What do these clues & hints mean for the next era of X-Men comics?

+ Theories and predictions for all things X-Men!

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Music for Best Comics Ever by Anthony Weis, or Bensound. Check out more music at anthonyweis.com or https://www.bensound.com.

Subscribe on iTunes

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To learn how you can support Best Comics Ever and receive more exclusive content from Comic Book Herald, check out the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookherald

For the Comic Book Herald reading club through every year of Marvel Comics, check out mymarvelousyear.com

The post Krakin’ Krakoa #126: 17 Reign of X Theories, Pt. 1 — What’s NeXt for Hickman’s X-Men? appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

This week on Creannotators, I talked with comics writer Fred Van Lente about The Comic Book Story of Basketball, a history of the game and the global, societal, and political forces that have shaped it. We talk basketball, shaping non-fiction comics, and Fred’s various superhero comics like Taskmaster and MODOK’s 11.

On Comic Book Herald’s ‘Creannotators’ I’ll be interviewing some of my favorite creators in comics about specific runs, graphic novels or series, looking for their insights on the inspirations behind the work and ideas or hidden material readers may have missed. Creannotators is an audio annotative guide to enjoying the intricacies and thinking in the art. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the comics!

The Comic Book Story of Basketball is:

Writer: Fred Van Lente

Art: Joe Cooper, Dave Swartz

The post Creannotators #28: “Comic Book Story of Basketball” Interview With Writer Fred Van Lente! appeared first on Comic Book Herald.