Comic Book Herald

X-Men Dawn of X comics are back! Marauders #10 kicks off the return of post-Comics Shutdown X-Men, and it’s another great entry by Gerry Duggan, with art from Stefano Caselli and Edgar Delgado.

Today I’ll answer:

Potential spoilers for discussed comics may follow!

Hickman X-Men

Modern X-Men

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Marauders #10 focuses on Emma and the crew’s efforts to squash their many enemies, after the death at sea of Captain Kate Pryde. The proceedings begin with the Russian manufacture of mutant power dampening weapons, based on designs originally built by mutant and Krakoan ally Forge. This is a smart and much-needed focus, as it’s felt like mutant squelching tech has been available to every tom, dick and Igor throughout the Dawn of X.

I particularly like that it’s Storm who confronts Forge about the misuse of his designs, since it was Storm who was hit and depowered by this tech back in Uncanny X-Men #185 and explored in Uncanny X-Men #186 (“Lifedeath” by Chris Claremont and Barry Windsor Smith). This doesn’t come into play this issue, but having coincidentally just read Marvel Fanfare #40 last night, I do also like to point out that it was actually Mystique who set Storm up to get hit by that tech way back when, and that she cosplayed as Mohawk Storm during their nightclub meeting.

Emma kicks off the Hellfire Trading Company’s mission without consulting the Krakoan Quiet Council, standing them up and particularly leaving Sebastian Shaw out of the loop., It’s revealed that the prevalence of these new anti mutant weapons is the result of a kidnapped former Forge assistant, fortunately still somewhat loyal to Forge (despite working against his will for anti-mutant threats, he’s at least intentionally mitigating the weapon’s power so the effects are quite temporary).

Emma, Forge, Bishop and crew infiltrate an opposing vessel to destroy the technology and free the weapon designer. With Kate out of action, Emma steps into a more active role, taking out a variety of soldiers with Pyro and his “I know that’s a Marauders tattoo on his face but it suuuuuure looks like Blackface” look at her side.

One of the most memorable scenes involves Emma unbuttoning her top and confronting soldiers, before psychically ordering them to shoot each other in the kneecaps. With Emma weaponizing her sexuality, I didn’t find this as sleazy as it can often be throughout superhero comics history, and frankly it’s perfectly in character for Emma to own her sexiness as a weapon. That said, the strangest part is that she would need to? Emma’s a remarkably powerful telepath, and it seems odd to me that she would need to distract soldiers in this way.

Upon completion of the successful mission, Emma mindwipes the vessel’s opposing forces, not only so that they’ll forget the last month of their anti-mutant lives, but so that they will become accepting, tolerant, empathetic people towards mutants and all oppressed minority groups, specifically calling out gay, disabled and trans peoples. My first thought here was that I love Emma resolving threats with a dose of inclusivity, but I’ll admit this is also a bit of a Pandora’s box. Why not do something like this more broadly? Why not manipulate minds to remove hate and bigotry on larger scales? Surely with all the powerful telepaths at Krakoa’s disposal there are options here. I don’t think the intention is anything other than this confined gesture, but it begs the question about psychic control as a larger part of mutantkind’s plan.

The biggest development during the Marauders’ successful rescue mission is the reveal of the team’s dead ass spaceship.

The other biggest development is the reveal of the team’s dead ass spaceship. Bishop – looking absolutely dapper in his new Black Panther meets Red Bishop costume – asks Christian Frost about the ship and receives some relatively mysterious answers.

The ship is called “The Mercury,” which is the same name of the ship we’ve previously seen in Submarine form, piloted by Christian Frost, in Marauders #5. I take the name to allude to the shape-shifting, liquid state of the vehicle. There is of course one of the younger, newer mutants Cessily Kincaid, Mercury, but the idea that this young mutant was turned into a ship seems quite unlikely!

Otherwise, my first thought was a repurposed EVA, Fantomex’s ship/mutation. Not entirely sure how this would work sans Fantomex, and given his mysterious status presumably until Giant-Size Fantomex we may just have to wait and see. Still, I quite like the idea of EVA playing a role in the Marauders work.

Which brings us back to the mystery Marauders has been teasing since issue one – what’s the deal with Kate Pryde and Krakoa? Issue #10 once again confirms that Sebastian Shaw was correct in postulating Kate would not be able to revive via resurrection protocols, as Professor X and the Five face yet another failed attempt. I’ve seen a billion really fun theories about why this is the case from Krakin’ Krakoa comments (my favorites are probably “Kate’s a Neo!” and the “She’s a non-mutant X-Men sleeper based on The Adamantium Agenda”), and while researching I found a FANTASTIC debunking exploration video from BlerdsWithoutFear (link in the shownotes). Seriously, well worth a watch.

In the meantime, though, I’ll pitch my current working theory (aside from the most likely answer that I’ve been saying, which is that Kate’s powers are simply unique and freak out Krakoa).

For starters, I don’t think Kate’s being locked out of Krakoa by Moira and company intentionally. In her letter to Nightcrawler, Kate writes “Hell, I can’t even phase through most of Krakoa,” which I’ve seen X-fans take to mean Moira is blocking Kate’s powers so she can’t uncover her no-places on the island. A couple thoughts here – 1) I don’t believe Krakoa has “power dampening” set up for non-mutants, so if Kate was some sort of non-mutant mutant (a Neo, an External, etc), her powers should still work. Again this is conjecture but we’ve seen the Fantastic Four’s powers work on Krakoa, so it’s not inherent to mutants and 2) Kate’s inability to phase through Krakoa would have to be a one-person block set-up and somehow implemented by Moira et al, on the off chance that she might accidentally phase directly into one of Moira’s no-places. That just seems like an extensively irrational fear to have, as opposed to say Precognitive mutants, who would be likely to uncover Moira’s secrets.

So, if there is going to be a rationale beyond incompatible powersets, back in the original Fantastic Four vs. X-Men miniseries from 1987 the “Mutant Massacre” had left Kate unable to turn solid, stuck in a phased state that was threatening her life. To save Kitty, the X-Men turn first to the Fantastic Four, and ultimately to Doctor Doom. It seems not only believable but likely that Doctor Doom would have altered Kate in some way in order to ensure leverage against mutants at a future date.

Likewise, Doom’s own plans may have been complicated by an absolute comedy of errors that occurs while Doom (and then Reed Richards) attempt to keep Kate’s body from completely dispersing to the winds. Magneto’s messing with the systems left and right throwing around Magnetic blasts, Psylocke’s desperately trying to keep Kitty’s personality and memories together, and Reed has to perform all the calculations instantly in his head without any errors! I’d completely buy that whatever backdoor secret Doom implanted got warped in the process and are causing feedback that keeps Kate out of Krakoa.

A few supporting pieces of evidence, apart from the fact that Doom never acts out of pure benevolence that won’t also support his own quests for power. First, there’s a callback to Kate’s injuries in the “Mutant Massacre” in Duggan’s letter from Kate to Kurt. More directly, in the pages of 2020’s X-Men/Fantastic Four, Kate is a central player (with the series occurring chronologically prior to Marauders #6), accepting the aid of Doctor Doom as he now seeks to aid Franklin Richards in his own fading powerset. Kate’s turn to Doom is perfectly validated within the storyline, but it’s also possible this is a part of the triggers Doom implanted.

Plus, it’s perfectly clear that Doom resents the hell out of Professor X’s Krakoa, and the implication that anyone could be superior to him. It’s hypocrisy to the utmost coming from Victor, but again, the idea that Doom would view the rise of Krakoa as the time to implement Kate as his sleeper agent is something I fully buy.

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

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The post Krakin’ Krakoa #56: My Kate Pryde Resurrection Theory! Marauders #10 Review appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

This week on Creannotators, I talked with Tyler Boss about 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank, his work on Lazarus, and the upcoming Dead Dog’s Bite!

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/visual annotative guide to enjoying the intricacies and thinking in the art. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the comics!

Black Mask Comics

Best Comics of All Time

4 Kids Walk Into a Bank is one of my favorite comics to recommend to comics curious readers, and the current #54 on my best comics of all time list. It’s promoted as the tongue-in-cheek “torrid tale of child crime,” and one of the funniest and most impressive works of the last 5 years.

The 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank team is:

Writer: Matthew Rosenberg

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

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The post Creannotators #2: “4 Kids Walk Into a Bank” Deep Dive with artist Tyler Boss appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

Marvel comics of 1984. Zack’s List! Cap, Hulk, Rick Jones, Ben & Johnny, Alpha Flight, and Power Pack!

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

Up Next:

My Marvelous Year – Marvel Year Twenty-Three: 1984 Pt. 4

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.

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The post Marvel Year Twenty-Three: 1984 Pt. 3 appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

The Jonathan Hickman led era of Marvel’s X-Men began in July 2019, and continued through the end of March 2020 prior to all of comics – and in many ways, all of the world – being put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the return of X-Men comics imminent – Marauders #10 is scheduled for publication on May 27, 2020, followed by Excalibur and New Mutants #10 on June 10, 2020 – it’s a good time to look back on what’s happened in this new era of X-Men comics so far, and to refresh our memories on where the World of X stands heading into the hopefully glorious return of comics.

Today I’ll Answer:

Potential spoilers for ALL OF THE DAWN OF X may follow!

Hickman X-Men

Modern X-Men

All Comic Book Herald X-Men videos

In the aftermath of House of X / Powers of X, Marvel’s mutants (nearly all of them!) now inhabit the independent, sovereign nation of Krakoa. While there have been plenty of threats to the nation including the infiltration and assassination of Professor X, and a full-scale Brood invasion, Krakoa and mutantkind still stand tall.

Behind the secret plotting of Charles Xavier, Magneto, and Moira MacTaggart, with a leadership council that includes Jean Grey, Storm, Nightcrawler, Apocalypse & Mister Sinister among others, mutant pharmaceuticals have established global financial dominance, and mutant resurrection protocols have ensured at least the appearance of immortality for mutantkind. There are still many threats, but there’s also more reason to celebrate than mutants have seen in their lives.

Crucially, while mutants have had sanctuary before – they’ve even had islands before – they’ve never been quite so tentatively unified. Traditional “hero” and “villain” archetypes have largely fallen to the wayside on Krakoa, as frequently embodied by the central role Apocalypse plays in the nation’s government and course. The same can undoubtedly be said for Mister Sinister and Exodus.

Likewise, mutantkind is led from the shadows by the lifetimes of experience the artist formerly known as human ally Moira MacTaggert brings to the nation. In House of X #2 it’s revealed that Moira’s secret mutant ability is reincarnating across lifelines with all memories of previous lifelines in tact, giving her unprecedented tactical advantages preparing mutantkind for man-machine dangers that threaten to wipe them out. So yes, there are enough significant differences to Krakoa that it doesn’t feel exactly like a return to Genosha, Utopia, or Xanadu for the X-Men.

The single biggest “death” in the Dawn of X came in X-Force #1, by Ben Percy and Joshua Cassarra, when human terrorists tortured Domino and used her mutant DNA as skin grafts to infiltrate Krakoa and assassinate Professor X. Predictably, he got better, but the impact led to the re-formation of the black ops X-Force unit of Wolverine, Domino, Quentin Quire, Beast, Jean Grey, Sage, Black Tom Cassidy, and in a clutch cameo role, Forge.

While the team has had their hands full with the rise of mutant-hating group XENO, and the expanding moral vacuum inside an increasingly arrogant Hank McCoy, the biggest lingering thread to look for when the series comes back is who’s the mysterious traitor on Krakoa?

It’s been some time, but way back in X-Force #3, a shadowy hand snuffed the life out of the remaining XENO terrorist mutants had taken prisoner in the hopes of obtaining information about the organization. There’s a traitorous presence on Krakoa waiting in the wings, and it remains a huge threat to mutantkind.

While I was skeptical of the title at launch, Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli’s work on Marauders (with gorgeous series covers by Russell Dautermann and Matt Wilson), is a pitch perfect blend of high-octane pirating and Hellfire Trading Company power plays. The White Queen, Emma Frost, Black King, Sebastian Shaw, and all-new Red King, Kate Pryde, form alliances and internal competition throughout the work, all plotting to their ends, and all threatened by the rise of the former Kid Hellfire Club from the pages of Jason Aaron’s Wolverine & The X-Men, now calling themselves Hominus Verendi.

All this in-fighting escalates when Sebastian Shaw stages the assassination of Kate Pryde at sea. The mystery of Kate’s inability to use Krakoan gates has been one of Marauders greatest mysteries, and this is now coupled with the Five’s strange struggle to resurrect the good captain Kate. Theories here abound from “Kate’s not actually a mutant,” to “Well, technically she might be an off-shoot of mutants that we don’t really understand yet…” but either way it’s the biggest question Marauders can answer upon the return.

While the 5 and out unintentional mini has its fan, I’m on record as loathing Fallen Angels. It’s the book that most passionately failed to live up to the hype of Dawn of X, and stranger still, the rest of the X-Men titles seem to agree. The inclusion of Kwannon (Psylocke), Cable, Laura Kinney, and Mister Sinister in this title is almost immediately undone by the use of those same characters in X-Men, Cable, and Hellions respectively (Hellions first issue at least seems to acknowledge that Fallen Angels happened, which is a testament to ongoing relevance).

Who let this happen? I’m being facetious, but I’m truly curious what the plan was for this title, and why it so rapidly didn’t fit within the Dawn of X. Did the X-team forget to invite writer Bryan Edward Hill to the X-Slack? It’s bizarre how out of synch this comic is with the direction of literally everything else in Marvel’s X-Universe.

I’ve been critical of the launch of Excalibur by Tini Howard and Marcus To, but it’s not for lack of trying or relevance to the X-Men’s big picture. Indeed, Excalibur remains one of the core titles as the X-lineup heads towards its first major event, with Tini Howard co-writing X of Swords with Jonathan Hickman. As a result, I’m deeply curious about Betsy Braddock’s status as the new Captain Britain, and of course all Apocalypse’s machinations in Otherworld, where he’s set up omega-level reality warping Jamie Braddock as the mystical realm’s new king (pour one out for the deposed Morgana Le Fay).

What is Apocalypse planning and why does he need Otherworld? Likewise, Excalibur’s recent events have brought Apocalypse into conflict with Saturnyne and the powers of the Omniverse – how deep into Marvel’s multiverse do Apocalypse’s plans for mutantkind extend? All signs point to these questions being explored thoroughly in X of Swords, and I can’t wait.

First off, I lump New Mutants and X-Men together because for the Jonathan Hickman and Rod Reis issues of New Mutants starring the original kiddos (1-2, 5 & 7), the series is essentially building to the events of X-Men #8. As a result, I’m still waiting for Ed Brisson, Flaviano and the creative team to settle into their story, and I look forward to that as New Mutants continues.

On the X-Men front, Hickman, Leinil Francis Yu, and Mahmud Asrar’s first nine issues have been somewhat divisive both in reception and structural approach. The storylines are all over the map (X-Men #8 and #9 are the first back-to-back issues in the run that continue the same story!), and they vary from exceedingly instructive to the post House / Powers X-Men landscape to shockingly focused on elder comedy (Hordeculture stans, stand up!). Nonetheless, when you add it all up, Hickman and company are quickly tackling a huge array of fascinating subjects including:

As a result of the fractured approach to X-Men, there are plenty of intentional hanging threads that mostly tie into the same questions readers had coming out of House / Powers. Here are the first five that come to mind based on the issues so far:

We’re 75% through the four issue X-Men/Fantastic Four mini, and it’s the X-Universe’s most significant taste of the broader Marvel Universe players to date. The conflict is centered around Franklin Richards status as an omega level mutant, and whether he should choose to stay with his human Fantastic family, or join life on Krakoa among his fellow mutants. Naturally, Franklin, Valeria and a pre-Marauders assassinations Kate Pryde turn to, uh, Doctor Doom for help?

Will Franklin Richards wind up on Krakoa? In the same vein, what does his presence and the collection of his DNA mean for Professor X and Mister Sinister’s plan for omega level mutants. We’ve seen Mister Sinister ogling Franklin’s DNA in the pages of Marvel Comics Incoming #1, and we know from House of X #1 that Omega Level mutants are considered Krakoa’s greatest resource. My theories here are that this ties to Sinister’s plans for a Chimera army (and likely the Professor’s plans that he can control said Sinister Army) but we don’t yet know for sure.

Two issues of the Hickman written Giant-Size series are available, the first a Jean Grey / Emma Frost ode to New Mutants #121 silent issue with art by Russell Dautermann and Matt Wilson, and the second a stealth Doug Ramsey solo about a haunted X-Mansion with art by Alan Davis. While the connective tissue is not instantly apparent, the series has so far worked in two hive-mind threats to mutants – the return of the Children of the Vault and their infection of Storm, and the X-history deep cut pull of the Sidri.

How will Storm escape the Children of the Vault’s trap, and how will Hickman bring all these stories together? We know Magneto, Fantomex, and Storm one-shots are to follow, and my hope is both Magneto and Fantomex bring in 2 more hive-mind based species or threats, before finding a way for Storm to save herself. Have to acknowledge that our first Dawn of X glimpse into Fantomex – last seen giving up his body to Professor X, and no I will not rephrase that – is full of potential as well.

In their opening issue, Zeb Wells and Stephen Segovia craft a vision of the X-Men’s Suicide Squad, the all-new Hellions at the command of Mister Sinister (and the return of Psylocke).

What’s Madelyne Pryor planning and how might it invite in an Inferno 2.0? Just as importantly, will we finally get the long-awaited issue entirely from the perspective of Madylene Pryor’s sentient underboob? Only time will tell.

Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto’s Cable #1 was a loaded opening shot, full of X of Swords connections, the Galadorian spaceknights, and a fantastic tease of everybody’s favorite Old Man Cable. Basically, Cable finds a GIANT ASS SWORD in the foot of an Arakko monster, and the sword used to belong to Rom’s boys, the Galadorian Spaceknights.

There’s obviously plenty still to come, but most pressing to me is where is Old Man Cable trapped? All appearances indicate he’s in the same hellish dimension as Apocalypse’s first horsemen, which certainly gives off very strong Limbo vibes, connecting back to where so many of the X-books appear to be heading!

There have been various references to Krakoa and the X-Men’s new status quo in Marvel Comics including Black Cat, Valkyrie, The Unbelievable Gwenpool Strikes Back, and a Weapon Plus one-shot. Linewide, though, Krakoa is still kind of under the radar, and far from thoroughly integrated into the status quo of the Marvel U.

That could all change in the coming months with the Avengers #32 reveal that Namor has plans for the Phoenix. What’s Namor doing with that Phoenix in Avengers? As Avengers vs. X-Men readers remember, it’s certainly not the first time Namor’s flirted with the power of the Phoenix, and last time he had it, he laid waste to Wakanda. Plus, Hickman teased Namor’s refusal of Professor X’s invitation to Krakoa already, setting the stage for greater plans for the increasingly villainous ruler of the deep. Namor’s sights are currently set on the Avengers, but with the Phoenix in play, it’s only a matter of time before the X-Men come calling.

The march towards the X of Swords crossover event is in full swing. X of Swords: Creation #1 is scheduled to kick things off in September 2020, written by Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard with art by Pepe Larraz.

As a side note, the story was supposed to begin in May with Free Comic Book Day. It’s *Possible* the FCBD X-Men story will get released prior to “Creation,” but if not, I haven’t been able to find any confirmation of how Marvel would proceed with that piece of the story. If they’re smart, they’ll release it for free anyway (good will, great PR, and a good hype machine for the crossover), but I’m not holding my breath.

I’ve shared my X of Swords theories in detail immediately following the event’s announcement at 2020’s impossible con, C2e2, but I’ll just reiterate that every new piece of info unveiled since the teaser art supports my predictions.

I anticipate X of Swords will focus on Apocalypse’s attempted retrieval of his first horsemen from the demon-infested realms of Limbo, and the promo art includes the first horsemen hovering in the clouds above Apocalypse, a Summoner, Cable, Rachel Summers, Beast, and Monet. I have very high hopes for this event, and look forward to it answering questions about Apocalypse’s motives, the nature of Arakko and Krakoa, and the mysterious Summoners.

So, what major questions do you want to see X-Men comics begin to answer when they return? Let me hear ‘em in the comments.

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

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The post Krakin’ Krakoa #55: The X-Men Dawn of X Story So Far! (May 2020) appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

I’m very excited to launch a new series, “Creannotators,” exploring the Image Comics comic Ice Cream Man in depth with book writer W. Maxwell Prince.

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/visual annotative guide to enjoying the intricacies and thinking in the art. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the comics!

Best Comics of 2020 (So Far)

Best Image Comics

Best Comics of All Time

You can find the Quarantine Comix project we discuss at: https://www.quarantinecomix.com/

The Ice Cream Man team is:

W. Maxwell Prince

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

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The post Creannotators #1: “Ice Cream Man” Deep Dive with writer W. Maxwell Prince appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

Zack & Dave cover your questions, poll results, and recap the Marvel Comics of 1984 parts 1 and 2!

Topics discussed include:

Up Next:

My Marvelous Year – Marvel Year Twenty-Three: 1984 Pt. 3 —

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

mymarvelousyear.com

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

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In between the end of Marvel’s 2019 Uncanny X-Men #22 and the start of the Jonathan Hickman led era with House of X #1, there’s an in-universe time jump forward of 6 months. Over the course of House of X and the Dawn of X we’ve seen a smattering of flashbacks filling in details from this time period, but many questions remain, the biggest of course being: Just what exactly happened during these 6 months that we haven’t seen yet?

Today I’ll Answer:

Spoilers for discussed comics may follow!

Hickman X-Men

Modern X-Men

While House of X and Powers of X do sparingly reveal essential details – examples include Emma Frost’s recruitment and Hellfire Company, Professor X’s financial portfolio and pharmaceutical reach, and that time Professor X and Magneto took a vacay to Bar Sinister – there’s still plenty we haven’t seen, and a fair amount of mystery generated by that fact.

Certainly, I don’t have secret answers to the exact details, but what I can do is lay out the questions and hanging threads that exist, examine what we do know to be true, and then engage in reckless and unsound speculation about what’s to come in the world of X-Men!

General consensus around Age of X-Man is that it’s a stopgap event in the X-line holding down the publication calendar until Hickman, Larraz, and Silva kicked off House and Powers. Whereas Marvel comics payoff to read in sequence as part of this neverending shared universe story, most readers would pretty confidently say you don’t need to read Age of X-Man to get to House of X.

I’d mostly agree, save the potential and implications of the event’s conclusion. Spilling out of the pages of the comically short-lived 2018 Uncanny X-Men relaunch, Age of X-Man is the story of an attempted mutant utopia created by Nate Grey, codename X-Man, the alternate reality Cable from the Age of Apocalypse timeline. Nate warps like 99% of mutants to this world where mutants have ascended to generally peaceful power – the Marvelous X-Men function more or less as the world’s Avengers – although inevitably it all comes undone when the X-Men’s memories start returning and its revealed that Nate’s using secret police to enforce his rule (classic, alternate Marvel reality shenanigans really). If you really want to experience this event, I’d recommend checking out the alpha and omega issues, and the Leah Williams written X-Tremists.

There are a few interesting components to the world’s collapse. The first is in the semantics of Nate’s creation, as he tells the X-Men his world isn’t merely some alternate reality, but instead another plane of existence. You could argue this is just comic book mumbo-jumbo (the best side of Mumbo-Jumbo this side of Banjo-Kazooie), but it’s exactly the sort of thing that takes on new meaning in the wake of House of X #2 and the lifelines of Moira X.

One question I’ve wondered is how to define the lifelines of Moira. Are they alternate realities? Are they futures that may yet come to pass? Nate’s Age of X-Man offers another alternative, “planes of existence,” perhaps more in line with Doctor Strange’s “separate realities” than the X-Men customarily deal with.

The most ominous teaser from Age of X-Man comes in the Omega issue’s final pages, with Magneto and Nate coming to a secret agreement to keep the plane of existence alive, and to somehow separate Magneto into two versions (he returns to Earth-616 in time for House of X monologs, but also retains an Age of X-Man version). Nate asks Magneto “what are you willing to sacrifice?” and the scene ends: Everything is House of X.

Admittedly, this could do down as one of the many forgotten teases in Marvel history, but it actually seems a bit unlikely to me. The arrival of Hickman’s X-Men aws well known within Marvel editorial for years, and writers Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler would have had at least some awareness. So the question of course, is what are they planning?

Some CBH commenters have posited that this ties Nate and AoX Magneto to the rise of Krakoa. To me, though, the question of Magneto’s sacrifice would mean either the death of his dream of mutant superiority, or removing the gifts that make him special. On the surface, Krakoa kind of requires some sacrifice from Magneto – he has to play along with Charles and Moira rather than build to his Magneto War and violent mutant supremacy – but dig deeper and it’s really just the methods that have changed, not the means.

In X-Men #4, we see Magneto admitting exactly this. So if Krakoa is a sacrifice for Magneto, there has to be another shoe to drop. I have two theories here:

I don’t think it’s inconceivable, then, that the teaser does suggest some Age of X-Man influence in the rise of Krakoa. The other option, though, is that their story is yet to be told, and we’ll be seeing more of Nate and AoX Magneto in a future storyline.

One of the most discussed “unseen changes” in House of X is the return of Professor X to his own body (or at least… a version) after kinda bizarrely inhabiting the body of Fantomex during the Charles Soule written run of Astonishing X-Men. While the “how” is explained via Krakoan resurrection protocols, the specifics remain left to the imagination. There’s also the question of the impact the events of Astonishing X-Men has on the Professor.

I could very easily see an all flashback, all Xavier issue of X-Men in the future (and I very much look forward to it!), but until then, this is what we know. Following his death by a Phoenix-possessed Cyclops in Avengers vs. X-Men, Charles Xavier’s psychic essence was imprisoned in the Astral Plane by longtime nemesis the Shadow King. In a wild twist of Krakoa era X-relevance, Proteus was also under the thumb of the Shadow King on the astral plane during this time.

Long story short, the Professor merges his consciousness into Fantomex’s body to escape, and starts boldly going by X and striking Captain America poses. The simplest resolution to get from Astonishing X-Men #12 to House of X #1 then is via Krakoa resurrection protocols. Right? Charlie move his consciousness from Fantomex’s body to a husk of one of his own (a walking model selected, with the tint on the bodysuit).

Except… there are a lot of questions that come along with this. The biggest one is actually directly tied to the Astonishing X-Men run – after his escape from Shadow King’s realm, Proteus enacts his own typical conquest plot, is disrupted by the X-Men, and his energy straight shot into space. Why does this matter? Well, Proteus as part of the 5, Proteus is essential to the resurrection process. So, assuming he wasn’t killed in Astonishing X-Men #11 (resurrecting Proteus, as a member of the 5, feels way too chicken or the egg), his recovery becomes an essential part of the lost “Man Called X” months. Before Professor X could launch Krakoa with resurrection in tact, he had to save Proteus.

Let’s say he manages this, and corrals Krakoa and the 5 together, alongside Moira and Magneto. At some point in this process X either dies – forcing a resurrection – or the Professor opts-in for a test run “resurrecting” himself into his traditional body (perhaps with Sinister amplifications?). This definitely violates a number of resurrection rules (the mutant’s death has to be confirmed, or they have to “earn” death via the Crucible), but this is early days trial runs, and the Professor is clearly above these rules as he installs the process. There’s even the possibility here that he somehow saves the Fantomex “husk” to put the Grant Morrison creation back in his original body, but I’m not sure that would be altogether necessary.

A major question I have through all this, though, is the presence of the Shadow King. Throughout Astonishing X-Men he continually takes a hold of Professor X’s thoughts, to the point that the Prof enlists the future Captain Britain, Betsy Braddock, as the only X-Men member who can keep an eye on the Man Called X until he reannounces his presence (presumably as Krakoa is being established). The Shadow King is apparently defeated at the end of Soule’s run, but that’s kind of his thing! He hides, lies in wait, and strikes. He could very much still be influencing Professor X’s actions. Until his whereabouts are known, this can’t be ruled out.

Another choice, is the Amal Farouk is in fact dead, and Professor X and company are faced with the decision whether or not to resurrect the Shadow King. This is a fascinating resurrection question to me because Shadow King is the Professor’s longest running nemesis. There are at least two council members – Professor and Storm – who certainly have reason to want him nowhere near Krakoa. Farouk puts the “everyone together” dream to the test – and we haven’t yet seen reason to believe he’s not on the triumvirates secret black list alongside Destiny.

The first 10 issues of 2018’s Uncanny X-Men were released weekly, as part of a much ballyhooed (by Marvel PR) “Disassembled” event, that of course all built to most mutants being pulled into the Age of X-Man. The remaining mutants, led by Cyclops and Wolverine reconciling some differences, were left to fend for themselves under the pen of writer Matthew Rosenberg from Uncanny X-Men #11 through Uncanny X-Men #22.

Any conversation I have about this time period has to begin with a caveat: The Matt Rosenberg and Tyler Boss graphic novel 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank is one of my favorite comics of all time. It’s just outside my top 50 right now, and I could easily see it moving up. I also find Rosenbergs previous X-line work compelling, if middling.

I feel compelled to state that up front because Uncanny X-Men by Rosenberg is very, very bad.  It’s a sadistic nightmare poem written in the key of pain. It’s depressingly bad and badly depressing. Re-reading the comics was a tremendous reminder why House of X and the Hickman era was so desperately needed for Marvel’s X-Men.

Like Age of X-Man (which, by contrast, I greatly prefer), you don’t have to read Uncanny X-Men prior to House and Powers, nor would I recommend it. Still, because I care about all of you, I’ve done the difficult work of trudging through this empty vacuum of joylessness to figure out what parts of the state of the X-Men might actually help contextualize the 6 month time gap in the world of X.

This desolate era of Uncanny will be remembered – if it is remembered at all – for wanton, callous death, and that’s definitely the easiest piece to resolve given Krakoa’s resurrection protocols. The likes of Strong Guy, Blindfold, Wolfsbane, Havok, Madrox, and more all need to be resurrected following Uncanny X-Men, and with one notable exception, I believe we’ve seen them all in some capacity. It’s not just the “good” X-Men who get offed during this run either, with shouts to the OG Marauders and the Nasty Boys.

Again, given the mystery of how resurrection actually impacts characters – in terms of power augmentation, possible personality changes, and in the example of Synch, residual trauma – all these characters are now included among those impacted. I find this particularly interesting for Havok, who in Hellions #1 expressed some lingering 2014 Axis inverted personality effects, which seem like a very strange thing to carry over via resurrection.

Most significantly, one of the earliest casualties of this run is Blindfold, who commits suicide after forseeing she “has no future.” As Ruth puts it, “My gift is seeing the future. My curse is I no longer have one.” To my mind, this has to be addressed. First off, other mutants on Krakoa should be asking why Ruth hasn’t been resurrected (if that is in fact the case – strange as she can seem, this would stand out). Second, is her vision of no future (very Sex Pistols) seeing Moira’s true plan? There’s the self fulfilling prophecy aspect of this (Moira refuses her resurrection, so she doesn’t have a future on Krakoa), but then there’s also the long-term secret plan of Moira. Again, to keep in theme with Magneto’s sacrifice, this could be something that requires mutants to literally merge together and lose their selves. It’s also possible that Blindfold could see Moira’s ultimate truth – mutants always lose – and sort of twist that into the darkness of “no future.”

Speaking of resurrections, Uncanny X-Men does also leave us with the implication that some non-deceased characters underwent resurrections during the 6 month time gap. For starters, Cyclops lost an eye during UXM (during a comically hyperviolent sequence in which Hope shoots Cyclops in the head, uses Cyclops eyeblasts to roast Wolverine, tries to assassinate a Politician, and then gets sliced and diced by Well-Done-Wolvy), but when we see him in House of X, he appears patchless. Same goes for the modern-do and Suicide Squad scar Emma Frost sports by series end.

Now, since both of these things are cosmetic, and we’re operating in a universe where Forge is like 60% manufactured limbs, it wouldn’t have to be resurrection that fixed these things. But it could be, and combined with other character transformations, I’m certainly willing to believe the end of House of X #4 and #5 isn’t the first resurrection for some of these players.

Take Jean Grey for instance. Her return in the Tom Taylor / Mahmud Asrar X-Men Red is very much about the power of empathy in a world of hate and division, with Jean stating “No humans and mutants. No us and them. Just ‘us’” It’s a beautiful sentiment, and one that’s hard to reconcile with that same strong person turning around shortly thereafter and joining an all-mutant island. Forget whether or not the aims of Krakoa are right for mutants, and consider only whether they map to the motivations Jean had only recently expressed. You could make a strong case that they do not, and wonder whether Jean was backed up to a pre-Phoenix version of herself more susceptible to the Krakoan council’s manipulations.

If that’s the case, and they have undergone resurrection, it raises plenty of questions about what happened during the 6 month time gap that led to the need for resurrection, as well as some pretty sinister theories about Professor X’s role in the development of Krakoa. Over on Screenrant, former CBH writer Thomas Bacon theorizes the X-Men may have gone to war with Professor X when they realized his plan. The idea that they sensed the real truth of Krakoa, opposed the Professor, and were brought back in more controllable circumstances.

While I’m generally a little weary of “Professor X is the bad guy!” takes, this one has something to it. Again, Jean Grey’s behavior in X-Men Red runs expressly counter to the stated aims of Krakoa. I remain skeptical of the heel turn by Charles Xavier. It simply feels too telegraphed to actually be part of the grand plan. But I won’t pretend it’s not a question worth asking.

A few other strange but intriguing threads from Uncanny:

Extending from the Rosenberg written New Mutants: Dead Souls, the surviving New Mutants enter the run with Warlock spreading out his transmode virus across their team. Dark Beast “cures” them all of this, leaving some questions about the actual end state of Warlock.

A Madrox-Dupe hosting Warlock discovers the use of Warlock Sentinels in the X-Men’s final confrontation in the run, which could imply making Warlock closer to whole, but I won’t pretend to have a perfect read on this.

The next time we see Warlock, he’s merged with Doug Ramsey (who was himself last seen in the pages of the Charles Soule written Daredevil literally unable to access the internet again without losing his sanity). Something happened in the 6 month gap to bring Doug and Warlock together, and this has been kept purposefully mysterious throughout the Dawn of X. I am very confident this is a story that will be told.

A final note from the run… Dark Beast plays an important role (at least until Illyana transports his head into a wall), which has me wondering about the status of alternate reality mutants on Krakoa (and in the resurrection protocols). Would someone like Dark Beast (from the Age of Apocalypse timeline) be welcome on Krakoa, or queued up for resurrection? If he’s not, the same should apply to Nate Grey and a host of others, including all the omniversal shenanigans that accompany the Captain Britain Corps and the developments in the pages of Excalibur. Same goes for oddball clones like Miss Sinister or Joseph (aka 90’s Magneto). What’s their status on the isle of Krakoa? Here’s to an upcoming Exiles book that doesn’t exist yet to answer these questions and more!

Questions? Predictions?

What were Charles and Moira waiting for? Why go through the charade of decades of X-Men stories? And in Charlie’s case, death after death?

Next Time – What would you like to see covered? I have the following topics queued up for coverage:

——————————————————————————————————-

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

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The post Krakin’ Krakoa #54: The Hickman X-Men Time Gap (6 Months Later) appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

Marvel comics of 1984. EVERYTHING IS SECRET WARS!!!

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

Up Next:

My Marvelous Year – Marvel Year Twenty-Three: 1984 Pt. 3

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

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The post Marvel Year Twenty-Three: 1984 Pt. 2 – SECRET WARS appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

The Zeb Wells written run on New Mutants (the 2009 to 2011 volume) is definitely an underrated gem of the era, bringing the Xavier School students of the 1980’s Chris Claremont X-Men into the 2010’s as fully formed young adults, graduating to X-Men status.

Through connections to X-Men history and lore, Wells and company weave in developments for Legion, Inferno, and the realm of Limbo, all concepts and characters that have plenty of resonance in the X-Men comics of 2020.

Today I’ll Answer:

Spoilers for discussed comics may follow!

Hickman X-Men

Modern X-Men

Covering issues #1 to #11, #13 to #21, with a gamut of artists including Leonard Kirk, Paul Davidson, Diogensis Neves, and some excellent Adam Kubert covers, the 2009 New Mutants launches at the tail end of Marvel’s “Dark Reign” and the X-Men’s “Utopia” era, tying into Necrosha and Second Coming throughout the run. Importantly, New Mutants by Wells returns to the classic roster established during the Claremont, Louise Simonson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Bob McLeod, and Art Adams heyday (among many other creators!). The players are: Cannonball, Sunspot, Mirage, Karma, Wolfsbane, Magick, Warlock, and Cypher. Overall, Wells’ run is about the team growing up, finally making that true transition from New Mutants to X-Men.

For my money, it’s not quite as strong as the Mike Carey X-Men run I just covered on Krakin’ Krakoa, but it’s well worth a read, especially if you’re familiar with the original volume of New Mutants and the 1989 “Inferno” event crossover. Likewise, given Wells’ continued interest in “Inferno” era threads in the Dawn of X’s Hellions #1, it’s fun to connect the dots.

The run opens with an engrossing “Return of Legion” story, although even here it’s important to note seeds are building to the “Fall and Rise of the New Mutants” story arc which concludes the run. Legion re-emerges with Shan trapped in his mind with rampaging personalities who don’t want the New Mutant “fixers” to bottle them up again.

The use of Legion’s “Jack Wayne’ personality – the gruff, dirtbag man’s man – and his fixation on Warlock, Doug, Rahne and Dani is a nice callback to Claremont and Sienkiewicz’s debut of Legion in New Mutants #26 to #28. Essentially, the number of personalities vying for dominance in David Haller’s psyche has now increased legionfold, a development that would continue into the pages of X-Men Legacy under both the pen of Mike Carey and Si Spurrier.

Nonetheless, the seasoned New Mutants do find a way to defeat the omega level Legion – a fact Bobby is all to happy to announce to Rogue, repeatedly, in the hopes of impressing her – with Illyana Rasputin’s soulsword dealing decapitating desecration to David Haller’s mind, and the team ultimately subduing him enough to bring him back to Utopia.

It’s a little detail with surprising significance in the Dawn of X, but I’ll also note that the doll in Legion’s mind that allows personalities access to the “real world” is named “Moira.” Legion’s connection to Moira X will of course resurface in the upcoming Age of X crossover as discussed in the recent Mike Carey X-Men dive, and I continue to think it will be meaningful in the Krakoa era of X-Men. Again, at this point, if I met someone named Moira in real life, I’d assume they knew what was to come in the Dawn of X, and restraining orders would assuredly follow.

Although the core cast all mostly get their time in the sun (Warlock is probably the most underserved, but isn’t that always the case?), Wells centers his run on Illyana Rasputin, Sam Guthrie, and perhaps most surprisingly, a depowered via Decimation Dani Moonstar. Mirage is cool as hell throughout this run, tough as nails and chomping at the bit for action among her teammates even without her mutant abilities. Of course, her lack of mutant powers leads her to turn to Hela – yes, Thor’s Hela – to restore a version of her Valkyrie abilities, leading to a really great Siege tie-in written by Kieron Gillen where Dani is the Valkyrie of Death

In addition to a good comic, New Mutants #11 has some nice X of Swords tie-in potential, with Dani wielding a magic Death-Valkyrie blade. If for no other reason, I hope Dani has a major role so I can utter the phrase “Death Valkyrie Blade” again and again. And no, Hela residing in Las Vegas’ “Club Inferno” did not escape my notice.

Much like X-Men: Legacy, Wells own vision for New Mutants is notably interrupted during Second Coming, when the title simply functions as the next chapter in that (quite good) mega crossover event. Wells has an easier time making the Necrosha tie-in issues his own, employing some truly exciting interpretations of the resurrected Doug Ramsey’s powerset, such as Doug’s ability to interpret body language to reveal his former teammate’s true meaning in a conversation with Professor X, or his developing battle prowess as he learns the “language of violence.”

Necrosha also affords Wells the opportunity to write the resurrected original Hellions, a small bit of trivia as Wells and Segovia’s Dawn of X Hellions launches. They’re essentially just Selene’s pawns trying to return Doug Ramsey to their master, but nonetheless, Hellions they be!

A final observation before the real meat of the story –

There’s a standalone issue in between crossovers and tie-ins, New Mutants #10, in which Scott Summers reveals to Emma Frost that he’s seeking the next New Mutant leader. It’s a very good single issue, with the assumption that Sam Guthrie and all his X-Force training makes the “right” next leader, clearly inverted when Dani Moonstar and Shan clearly lead the team’s victory.

Here’s the question: Is this even relevant in the Krakoa era? Do people still age and die? Or do they just resurrect in younger bodies? I hadn’t really paused to consider before since the ongoing concern is the unnatural end of mutant lives, but I really don’t know the answer. The primary evidence I’ve seen so far would be Wolverine aging throughout Moira’s lifelines in Powers of X, but those are situations where Krakoa has been decimated, and again, we don’t actually know that resurrection protocols were in place in those lifelines.

Although there are multiple stages to Wells run, the big picture story is building to a timey-wimey “Inferno” reckoning from New Mutants #1. Illyana Rasputin comes to the New Mutants from “a future,” having witnessed the death of the team, remaining scant on the details until the full fledged army from Limbo and their allied “Inferno Babies” come to Earth to unleash, well, hell on Earth.

Emma Frost is likely the most skeptical of Illyana’s central role in the unit’s success, as she tells Scott the rest of the X-Men are too overwhelmed with guilt over losing her to Belasco years ago and allowing her to become the Darkchilde without Illyana’s soul.

There’s a lot of mystery and questionable motivations with this Illyana, and for generally fair reasons. I’ve actually publishing a Magick reading order on Comic Book Herald  the week of this video’s release that I’d recommend for those devoted readers, but her road to 2009’s New Mutants includes stints in New X-Men (post Morrison years) and X-Infernus where she’s very much at odds with the X-Men (particularly Pixie!), and her allegiance to Limbo – where she’s the on again / off again demonic overlord – is very much of concern to the likes of Emma Frost.

The Darkchilde presence – the influence of Limbo’s onetime demon ruler, Belasco, and the corruption of Illyana’s soul – is very much present in this “pirated copy” of Magick as Warlock puts it. On a simpler level, too, Magick’s powerset is immense, ruling realms of demons, wielding the magical Soulsword, and traveling back through time and space to confront the impending attack on the New Mutants. If you’re a mutant and Illyana doesn’t scare you, she should. Likewise, she’s an incredible ally to mutantkind – it’s far from a perfect example, but mutants did establish safehaven in Limbo through Illyanana in the post Secret Wars pre House of X years.

What Illyana fails to mention – at least initially – is that the United States military has inhabited Limbo and is both seeking Illyana’s violent ends, and a means to get justice for their time trapped in limbo. We’ll touch on this more shortly, but this version of Limbo in the Marvel Universe – yes, there’s more than one! – does not adhere to Earth’s rules of time and space.

As a result, years in Limbo could mean only months or days back on Earth. So we’ll learn these soldiers have been stranded in this hellscape for years while a more limited time passed on Earth. Intriguingly, the desire to send military into limbo, to better understand it and weapons applications comes out of the wake of “Inferno,” with a governmental awareness that mutantkind – in some capacity – set off the events that opened a portal to hell in Times Square.

The wildest continuity connection, and the way Wells fully integrates his run with an event that happened 20 years prior (in publication years at least… there’s a note in the comics that make it sound like it’s 4 years of Marvel time, which is wild!), is the evolution of the “Inferno Babies,” which as we’ll see are the reason the US military is in Limbo in the first place. I’m not going to do a full “Inferno” deep dive (yet… when the My Marvelous Year reading club gets there in 1989, all bets are off), but here’s the completely off-the-chain background:

Thirteen mutant babies were kidnapped and used by the demon N’astirh to keep open a portal between limbo and earth. The details are even wilder – like the fact that there’s 13 because the babies form the points of an inverted pentagram – but at the end of the day, these babies were rescued by the New Mutants, and ultimately turned over to the US government for safekeeping.

Turns out safekeeping also meant experimenting on and turning the babies into the government’s own “mutant weapons.” It’s a horrendous fate for these aggressively mistreated children, but certainly goes a long way to explaining their own collective desire for revenge on, well, just about anything, but especially the mutants who put them in this situation. Realistically, had the new Hellions own Nanny and Orphanmaker actually obtained the children back in the pages of X-Factor, the inferno babies would have had a better upbringing!

Considering Zeb Wells also wrote the Amazing Spider-Man story “Shed” in which the Lizard eats his own son, few at Marvel can quite lay claim to his crown for “most uncomfortably violent moments that happen to kids in otherwise quite good comics!”

After they’re left to die, the military’s ultimate goal is effectively revenge and domination of the demon hordes of Limbo, and if they can’t achieve that through any other means, the plan is to release the Elder Gods using the bloodstone amulet.

This goes as badly for General Ulysses as you’d expect – he has no control over the unleashed Elder Gods and is torn apart – but nonetheless the extradimensional beings are released and make way for Earth, and the New Mutants are unable to stop them.

The “Elder Gods” motivation is a nice callback to where Magick’s journey started, following Uncanny X-Men #160 in the 4 issue limited miniseries Magick from 1983-1984. Belasco’s ultimate goal in corrupting Illyana is to set these forces free, and set them upon Earth.

He creates the Beatrix Medallion, or the bloodstone amulet to do so, with the intent that Illyana would function as the gate through which the Elder Gods would enter the universe. In Magick, Illyana ultimately creates her soulsword and defeats Belasco before he can succeed, but releasing the Elder Gods has remaind a threat ever since, something that was also explored in X-Infernus.

In this take 2 of Illyana’s last stand with the X-Men against the Elder Gods, she’s able to turn the tide when Shan finds the “real” Legion locked away inside David Haller’s mind, and his full reality altering powerset is utilized against the monstrous beings. This is a fairly incredible job by Wells and company of unexpectedly connecting nearly every beat from the 21 issues on New Mutants into one satisfying conclusion.

Wiping out the Elder Gods via Legion’s reality warping abilities – Warlock refers to it as “Hacking reality” – has a finality to it for the purposes of the run, but given Legion’s unpredictability and the presence of extradimensional beings, I’m not so convinced they’re gone for good.

At the same time, I’ve been noticing a recurring presence of Lovecraftian Cthulu horror at the edges of X-Men comics, and am beginning to believe that the impending Inferno 2.0 will feature a coalescence of extradimensional entities that threaten mutantkind and their world.

Consider for a moment that Inferno already unleashed the demonic realm of Limbo into Earth. Repeating the same threat feels tired, and 30+ years behind the times.

It would make more sense to me that the demon hordes would this time gather in an extradimensional location and combine forces to conquer the inhabited planet they’ve long sought. It’s an idea not dissimilar from the Masters of Evil, or Brian Michael Bendis’ council of cosmic powers from the pages of Guardians of the Galaxy, but applied to all manner of Kaiju / Chthulu wandering nightmare.

Who are these extradimensional forces? Let’s flip through a few options:

While most commonly an enemy of Doctor Strange (and believe it or not, Conan the Barbarian), Shuma-Gorath is weirdly on the edges of this slice of Marvel history, and the most likely “face” of the demon alliance that could launch Inferno 2.0. I could have this wrong because I let my certification in demonic history slip this year, but I also believe Shuma-Gorath (a “Great Old One”) is one of the Many-Angled Ones. I think these things are one in the same, or at least very similar.

There are two aspects of Shuma-Gorath’s history that blow my mind with connections to Hickman’s X-Men. The first is that the dark entity was brought to Earth by Doctor Strange (under the influence of the Black Order’s Ebony Maw) during Hickman’s 2013 Infinity event. He brags about drinking bad milk, which is actually a pretty bad MC boast, but nonetheless he’s there.

The second is way flippin’ wilder. Kulan Gath is a sorcerer from Conan the Barbarian’s Hyborian Age, at one time holding the title Sorcerer Supreme, and seeking the power of Shuma-Gorath. Well, Gath was transported to ‘present day’ Marvel via mystical means in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #188 to #191, which also happen to coincide with the debut of Nimrod in X-Men comics! Gath more or less murderizes all Marvel’s finest heroes before Doctor Strange and Magick combine forces to create a divergent timeline in which Nimrod threatens the X-Men again.

So what if there’s a timeline out there where Gath ascended and ushered in an era of worship for Shuma-Gorath?

The visions Moira puts in Magneto’s head during House and Powers of X also suggests some possible textual evidence of this demonic threat, with the bottom right image showing Magneto vs an unnamed monstrous visage. My read on this is still some sort of Magneto vs. Krakoa battle, but it could easily be one of the extradimensional beings as well.

Which brings us to Arakko and the first horsemen of Apocalypse. Throughout much of the discussion of Arakko it has felt like a realm akin to Limbo, which always left me with the question why Apocalypse is going to such lengths to reach it. Couldn’t he just DM Illyana for a ride? But, if the extradimensional forces that Apocalypse once stood in the gap to defeat are being held at bay in a realm beyond Limbo – ala the Elder Gods – it would make more sense why he’s so interested in magic as a means to access that place.

There’s also the question from Cable #1 about where Old Man Cable is trapped – is it simply Limbo, or is it this same realm of extradimensional beings and summoners? I’m also really curious what events lead Cable to rooting out legions of demons on Earth – is this something we’ve seen before in X-history (unless it’s just him time-traveling back to the original Inferno, but that seems to obvious), or is a new revelation? Either way, his suspicion “that the demons are attempting to replicate the old spell that caused Earth to nearly burn in an inferno of Hellfire” fits my theory.

Next Time – What would you like to see covered? I have the following topics queued up for coverage:

——————————————————————————————————-

Music for Best Comics Ever by Anthony Weis. Check out more music at anthonyweis.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 #53: How Zeb Wells’ New Mutants Leads to 2020 Inferno 2.0 appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

Marvel comics of 1984. Search for Reed Richards! Hobgoblin! DAZZLER THE MOVIE!!!

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

Up Next:

My Marvelous Year – Marvel Year Twenty-Three: 1984 Pt. 2 SECRET WARS—

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!

The post Marvel Year Twenty-Three: 1984 Pt. 1 appeared first on Comic Book Herald.