We get Magik continuing her origin story. One day on Earth equals one week in Ultimate Limbo. When she went missing, her father was utterly broken. Colossus, on the other hand, was determined to find her. When he couldn’t, he assumed she was taken by dark forces.
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Magik had become a Dark Child, which is just cool to work all of her monikers into this story.
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I love so much that Colossus took care of her, she wasn’t a monster to him, but his sister. Also, sleeping is such a great cure for so many ails.
Balga Castle, E.R.
Logan and Jean Grey are trying to find a way into Limbo. A find a person who can open and they both enter it. They locate the missing people, and Jean starts getting them all to safety. Logan is going to head off by himself to confront Magik. He comes across a dreamscape, and sees Colossus chopping wood.
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Logan finds Magik sleeping on her bed, with her giant souldsword out. A younger Illyana shows up with her little teddy bear.
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Little Yana wants Logan to read her a story, just one story. My heart is breaking reading these pages.
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I love so much that Logan, the killer that he is, still read her a story. There’s always time for one last story.
But! He didn’t forget what Magik did to him, with the mind control, turning him into the Ultimate Winter Soldier. Logan kills Magik.
Jean rescues Logan, and they are ready now for Ultimate Endgame 5.
So this new Ultimate Universe killed both Katherine Pryde and Magik. We never got Lockheed introduced, or even teased. I would love to say this is me being done with the Ultimate Universe, but I can’t as I already preordered Ultimate Endgame 4 & 5, and I’ve been searching every panel for Magik, but that’s not going to be necessary anymore.
I imagine we might see them as characters we lost along the way. I also preordered Ultimate Finale, and the first issue of the Miles Morales Ultimate Reborn miniseries, but I am definitely done with this Ultimate Universe. All of my enthusiasm for it is gone.
It is nice that with four bonus issues, we got Magik’s origin story, and also, her last story.
The Rasputin Household. UST-Ordynsky Collective. Russia. Then.
Young Piotr is getting super bullied, which I don’t care for. Mama Rasputina, who we never really got much of before, needs to toughen up her middle child.
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Possibly the youngest we have ever seen Illyana?
Now.
Illyana is in an arena, being run by Koschei, who is trying to absorb magik.
I like how smart Illyana is, that she knows that’s the plan, so she’s just punching and kicking goons, and doing quite well for herself.
Then Magik has to fight . . . Count Kaoz, who seemed very familiar with me, and I wasn’t sure if we were going to get an editor note telling us where we know him from. He made his first appearance in Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo’s Doctor Strange V4 7, part of the Last Days of Magic arc, that I own many issues of. Which I’m sure whenever we get Doctor Strange 3, would be the storyline I’ll cover on the pod.
The Lucky Bear. St. Petersburg, Russia. Piotr is hassling some goons in hopes they’ll lead him to where Illyana is. I like that we get a Mikail reference here, that’s how Piotr knows who to talk to in the Russian criminal underground.
Colossus, one of the few guys who can headbutt a fool, and not also take damage doing so.
I love Magik & Kaoz’s chemistry so much! They are in danger, but they’re not in serious danger, so they are having fun.
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Colossus breaks through the barrier, and starts helping out. Did I need four pages of Colossus getting closer to Magik? No, show us that he’s on the right track, and then surprise us with the reveal. That’s such great pacing.
Colossus rips off a demon cow’s head, that’s pretty intense. Anyone start watching Primate now on Paramount Plus? We thought the trailer looked good, and been eager for it to start streaming somewhere. We got to the first scare, a gorilla ripping off some dude’s face, and Walker D noped out. I should try to go back, but it is hard to watch a movie by myself. The demon cow wasn’t as intense as that.
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Magik does not want to end up back in Florida.
The trio leaves, and Koschei takes it pretty well.
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I love so much the three pages we get of Illyana and Piotr sharing their feelings, I just love them communicating. It was worth the effort.
I also love so much that Illyana takes after her mother. If this entire miniseries was to make us love Mama Rasputina, then mission accomplish!
Count Kaoz is leading the Rasputins to his ex-girlfriend’s house. His ex-girlfriend being . . . Baba Yaga. Who is NOT happy to see Kaoz.
I got both the regular cover by Stefano Caselli & Federico Blee, and the Mahmud Asrar variant with Kitty & Lockheed (who doesn’t appear this issue, nor does Marigold, so she’s already living up his legacy).
Graymatter Lane. A Mind Palace Situated on the Psychic Plane.
Ben Liu, who is getting more page time in these two issues than he’s gotten in X-MEN, is trying not to get burned alive.
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I love seeing Magik and Nightcrawler chatting. These two barely have history together, but I immediately remember that time Magik was hoping up portals for Kurt during AXE Judgment Day. That was a great moment.
I looked all over the background here to see if Bronze & Marigold could be found, but nope.
I still like how this is the comic that is going to deliver us match ups we wouldn’t go elsewhere.
Cyclops finally gets to Ben. Emma tells Scott that this was all for nothing, there was no reason to attempt to burn down the school. Plus, how does that even work? Emma states everyone is at lunch, so no one is noticing this fire. Which I thought we would get a panel where Emma immediately shuts down the fire, but it doesn’t seem to be doing any harm.
Quentin Quire is actually the person who started the fire, so his track record of failed school destructions is now 0-2.
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I love seeing the bookcase in the back here. The Weapon X helmet, Jean’s yellow mask, and one of Storm’s tiaras. That’s a fun background detail.
Meanwhile. Prodigy is trying to get Iceman & Kitty Pryde involved in how to teach combat teamwork. Kitty is distracted by Rogue’s comments about internal threats. Which is odd, as half the school is on fire, but I guess she really didn’t notice. Plus, the real threat is from Mister Sinister, unless the X-Office keeps him pretty busy, which I believe they are, but we’ll get to that later. (He’s busy over in Inglorious X-Force 4).
I like Emma talking about whatever did she see in Scott, but also, I love Scemma, but it is fun to poke at the relationship.
Iceman references Scott’s flame war, so what is Kitty distracted by?
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Captain America stops by, as he has a mission for the X-Men. Iceman starts talking like he’s from the 30s, which I imagine Cap doesn’t love.
He wants to use the Empathy Engine to reach out to all of the Weapon Plus people, and make sure they are okay.
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Kitty is surprised that Cap knows about the machine, which does have a pretty cool name. Empathy Engine.
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I don’t love Emma having to try to convince them to get on board here. It is Captain America, asking for help, and it doesn’t even seem like a big ask.
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I do like Kitty and Magneto chatting. I know they were on the Quiet Council together, but it feels like forever since these two actually talked to each other.
I imagine Cap does make Kitty think about WWII, and all that deals with it, and her talking to Magneto, immediately, is there to make us think about those implications.
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I don’t care for the idea that the X-Men have to have a meeting to help Cap out. Maybe if it was to strategize about how to do it, but to vote on it? I’m not sure about.
Emma and Prodigy vote, yes. Iceman votes, no. Kitty abstains, which all of this feels weird.
Prodigy is going to pick the team, so that’s fun.
Prodigy picks Wolverine, as she’s the best, Melee, who I love, and apparently in the 50s, the Bureau of Indian Affairs moved her family to Chicago, so she’s motivated, and Jitter! Quite the trio of brunettes here.
I like how the 50s feels like long enough ago that it doesn’t call into question any sliding timescale stuff. Unlike the 80s, that feels like it would question the sliding timescale.
I also like how one of Laura’s strongest character points is how much she hates people being experimented on, especially against their will.
Jitter is a wild card
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I like how impress Cap is with this team.
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I do like Kitty and Beast being in the same room. Though this isn’t her Beast, so these two need to really connect, and rebuild that relationship.
Now, if the X-Men voted after this scene, that’ll make so much more sense to me.
Beast states it is possible to do the mission, but there are some major issues of gaps and errors to be accounted for. Axo doesn’t want to do it as there are gaps and errors that haven’t been accounted for. As far as we have seen, this will only be the second major test of the Empathy Engine.
I guess in my mind, the thing worked by sending out a pulse, and then the X-Men connect to it, and we go from there. Like, they think “rescue kid,” and the engine links up to the kid. So, to make this work, they send a pulse of “all thoughts involving Weapon Plus,” and anyone having those thoughts and memories, gathers, and links are made. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. Maybe because they are creating a mind palace so they can interact with it? Maybe? This could just be a case of comic book science, and of course, a world of fiction, so a problem has to happen.
So cute the hand holding here. Melee holds Jitter’s hand, who is holding Captain America’s hand, and he is holding Laura’s hand.
Jitter has her stutter here, but she seems overly scared, which makes me think that’s more of a Calico character trait. Jitter recognizes she’s in a haunted house, and is worried about dying.
I do like her wanting to hold Melee’s hands, though I don’t love that for Becca. But this also makes me feel like something Becca would want to do, find a strong lady, and hold her hand, and not necessarily what Jitter would do.
Cap comes across a young Maurice Canfield, but then he immediately turns old and evil.
Woldenberg Park, New Orleans, Louisiana. Issue opens with Rogue and Gambit on a date, which is very sweet. They are thinking about adopting the Outliers. Which seems to be a bit much. I would love to see the Outliers side of the story, where they are like, “um, we’re in our 20s, you can’t adopt us, we thought we were on the X-Men track?”
Though in Age of Relveations – Unbreakable X-Men, we see that Calico is their daughter.
Their date is interrupted by a punk robbing an older lady. He wants to be part of the Thieves Guild, and I like so much how quick Gambit is to tell them that he wouldn’t want some punks who rob old ladies, that isn’t impressive at all. But doing all of this, he’s coming off very intense, causing Rogue to try to calm the situation down.
Haven House. Kurt believes MacKenzie broke up with him, so he is very down, so this all makes sense to me. He’s wallowing in the fact that he can’t play the piano, though I am certain that there are hundreds of people with only three fingers one each hand that actually do play the piano. I imagine they do the classics, but have created beautiful music to match their abilities.
Jubilee is trying her best to be a friend, and I like that we’re finally getting these two hanging out. They probably have less time together than Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde.
Kurt is going to sleep, and Jubilee is going to check on the kids. Are they teenagers or are they young adults? I can’t get a feel for their ages anymore.
Ransom is having a nightmare from his hostage days. Taking on the Ransom moniker, he’s probably never far from this pivotal day.
Jitter is having a nightmare involving her mother’s lack of understanding of how she can do what she does, making a cheese souffle. Did she not even consider mutation? I just imagine all public schools include mutations when they talk about puberty. I imagine in elementary schools, that kids tease each other, cruelly, about who might turn into a mutation. Kids can be cruel. Her mother sends her to school, knowing poor Jitter will get taunted there. This is shown as a nightmare, but I can only imagine this happened all the time to her.
Deathdream sleeps the way I pretend to, with my arms crossed on my chest. Like, if I’m waking up in a hotel room with my family, I’ll like to strike the pose before opening my eyes. I’m usually up first, so no one sees. He’s having a nightmare involving his younger brother not breathing.
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Calico is having a nightmare. I do NOT like her mother, at all. A boy asked Becca about a lost dog, and her mother is just losing it. She claims Becca has a filthy mind just like Becca’s father, and anyone who uses the phrase “filthy mind” just isn’t right. Somehow Ember is next on the hitlist, Becca’s mother thinks the horse is coming between them, so naturally, she burned the stables. The heck?!
Jubilee wakes up Kurt, who sleeps in white briefs. I feel like, with how sexy Kurt is, he has a responsibility to his housemates to wear pajamas. That’s right, right?
MacKenzie shows up, and she was afraid for Kurt and his life. She wasn’t that thrilled with Mutina, but it is Kurt’s life she’s worried about. Plus, Kurt is talking to her in his underwear, so there are no hard feelings that we can see.
Waffles, the Sentinel shaped dog, shows Jubilee that the Outliers are all missing.
Sentos Island. Singapore. Elsewhen. This is odd. We just had the Outliers as Outlaws, and now we’re having a maybe time travel adventure with them? This is going to be interesting. Dr. MacTaggart recues Jitter. Beunos Aires, Argentina. Cyclops rescues Ransom.
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Loudoun Metallurgical Mine, Virigina. Calico and Ember rescue some miners. One thinks she may be a mutant, but the other believes she must be a miracle. Bro, she’s both. C’mon.
Logan and Beast picks her up.
Nightcrawler rescues Deathdream, so we know something is off if Deathdream doesn’t recognize Kurt.
Westchester County, New York. Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. The Outliers are brought together. There is a sixth member . . . Mutina!
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We have The New Mutants! Becca as Cannonball is a fun idea. They’re both from the country. She’s rich compared to his working class. They both have a flame element, I guess? Ransom as his cousin, Sunspot, seems to be the inspiration for this adventure.
I thought it would be Mutina from the cover, and we were right, though Simone tried to throw us off. I know Cannonball will eventually show up. Time will tell if we get Magik.
And, of course, who is behind this? Must be pretty massive if they were pulled from around the world, but also, were they?
Such a great issue! Well, besides that clear cliffhanger final page, but we’ll get there. I thought I misremembered Allen’s tease of Dani maybe getting a love interest in this series, and we only have Kian as an option right now. Yanisa is dead, though maybe she can come back? Kyron is definitely not an option.
Dani and Kian are looking for an artifact that Kyron probably will need if he needs a larger container to keep souls in. Kian says some hurtful things about wishing Dani had died instead of Yanisa, which seems a bit much, but he is grieving. I love so much that Dani doesn’t take it. She understands it, but she sets a real boundary.
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As they approach the alter, he zombie goon grips Dani’s ankle, and we get a very fun insert panel with a “grip” sound effect. I love this so much.
Kian embarrasses himself but not regrouping with Dani, causing himself to almost fall to his death, but Dani catches him. He’s completely silent, as he’s very embarrassed.
Then in very quick succession, Kian saves Dani, and she blushes when he accuses her of being embarrassed. So, maybe I like these two just a little bit? I wouldn’t say they have fun chemistry, or any chemistry, but sometimes intense experiences creates a relationship. They never work.
Kyron finally arrives, but makes a foolish mistake of taking the form of Dani’s beloved grandfather. She would have been in shock, but Kyron is talking complete nonsense, and she starts attacking him. Kyron does share his origin story, and his sister’s death, which is motivating his current actions.
Since he has to take a soul before he can sheathe is sword, he takes Dani’s. I don’t like that. Great issue besides that little detail.
No Magik references, but we did get Dani thinking about the X-Men.
The Airspace Near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Danger’s Room goons shoot down the Marauder, with Psylocke and Xorn aboard.
The Danger Room. Danger is updated that there are no survivors, which seems super silly not to actually triple check.
The Factory. Merle, Alaska. Quinten Quire wants blood from whoever shot Glob Herman. Magneto is telling him to calm down, and I like Quire’s retort of “you need to get angry!” Oya also wants revenge as the two of them head out.
The Danger Room. Danger is annoyed she hasn’t heard of any destruction in Merle yet, but Colton assures her, it is coming.
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The Spirit of St. Augustine. Currently a living biomechanical monster.
Such a cool team shot.
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I love so much Magik casting spells.
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I also love so much what such besties Magik and Juggernaut are. Juggernaut is stopped by the wires of the ship, and brought underneath them, and Illyana immediately dives in after him.
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Cyclops tries to get her to focus, but now the wires have her. Then Scott also gets tangled up.
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Danger is excited about how they monetize this technology now.
Quire and Oya have made it to Merle, so stuff is going to happen next issue.
70s Beast and Sheriff Robbins are trying to figure out what the ship is made out of, and Hank can only think of one way to figure it out, dive into its center. I guess she is maybe safer with him than being tangled up on her own? Seems like a conversation he could have had with her.
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Agent Jackson wants to kill Greycrow, and Danger tells her she can do that. Jackson gets confirmation that Greycrow is dead, which I feel like, even if he’s in a bed, he’ll put up more of a fight than that.
Turns out, Kwannon has gotten to him, and has taken out the goon squad. So next issue, the X-Men start fighting back, which is always the exciting part of the story.
Such a great anniversary issue! We get two stories, one with the Uncanny X-Men, and the back up, an Outlier story.
Writer Gail Simone
Artists David Marquez & Luciano Vecchio
Color Artist Matthew Wilson
Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles
This is Part 3 of 3 of the Where Monsters Dwell arc. Marcus St. Junior is wrapping up his bed time story.
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I love so much how Becca loves Ember. Her character in the story has a horse, and now she’s very excited.
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Such a cool page of the Outliers as Western characters.
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Seriously, I would buy an ongoing adventure of the Outliers as Western characters series.
We finally get the name reveal of our mystery villain. Agatha Timly, so it was Agatha All Along. It is very odd that we have two Agathas and two Lunas running around the Marvel Universe right now. But we also have multiple Spiders-Man, so these things happen.
Marcus is very brave trying to hold her off with a shotgun.
With the X-Men, Nightcrawler is being attacked by Frankenstein’s Monster, but he’s no longer taking the hits, he’s fighting back.
Morbius is trying to turn Jubilee, but she blasts his serum away.
Gambit is fighting off the Manphibian, until Sadurang eats Manphibian. Gambit willfully gives back the Left Eye of Agamotto. We’re getting close to a years worth of time since the first issue. Comics are very complicated when it comes to time passing.
Rogue fights off Wereverine.
Meanwhile, Waffles is fighting Salem, Agatha’s big wolf. We learn she is from Marvel Spotlight on Werewolf by Night 3, thanks Tom, from 1972. Fandom states her name is Andrea, but she must have changed it to Agatha when she become quasi-immortal.
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I have missed actual Ember so much!
I also really love that Becca has (hopefully) made peace with the fact that she isn’t a monster, she’s a mutant, and proud. And a hero.
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Calico & Ember attack Agatha.
I like Jitter has incorporated calling out her attack move from her Age of Revelation self. I’m not sure if she was given those memories.
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Such an awesome call back to their Western counterparts from mere pages ago (or seen above).
I thought we had lost a few pages, but we’re shown the next page how we got everybody back to Haven House.
Apparently, Agatha had every mesmerized. Logan’s healing factor cured him, and the “monsters” are back to their proper characterization.
Issue ends with Gambit keeping the left Eye of Agamotto, for some reason.
. . .
They Dwell Too in the Human Heart
Writer Gail Simone
David Messina
Color Artist Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer VC’s Travis Lanham
Nice title hold over from the main story.
Willow is missing, and the police department was hoping the X-Men would help. They are unfortunately in either Alaska, Latveria, or who knows where. The Outliers are here, and they’ll help.
Jitter uses the skills of a French detective to become a human lie detector. Jordy Dukes’ cousin has Willow. The two of them have been killing young ladies for years now.
Deathdream scares the rest of the information out of Jordy.
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Calico, Ember, and Ransom immediately take off to the rescue.
I love Calitter so much! Them referring to each other as girlfriends is such a delight.
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They arrive at the cousin’s trailer, and see they have been buried their victims under slabs of concrete. Poor Becca, she’s not ready for the true horrors of the world.
Ransom goes full hero mode, and takes out the cousin, and save Willow.
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“Even Ember seems glad.” This struck me. Is he not usually a glad horse shaped spirit boy? I don’t like the idea that he’s usually down. I much prefer a mood neutral horse, if he’s going to be anything. Poor guy.
I think I liked this more than I did the Deadpool / Batman crossovers, though I do wish we got more variety in the bonus stories.
Trust, Justice, and Great Responsibility
Mark Waid / Jorge Jimenez (A) / Tomeu Morey (C) / Tom Napolitano (L)
Brianiac needs Doctor Octopus to purge a virus. Clark Kent and Peter Parker have cheekbones for days. Fast Neurons are being worked on, and most companies are using Californium, but this lab is, of course, using, Kryptonite. Because of the purge, traces of Kryptonite are in the air, knocking Superman back a bit I like how the heroes assume the space villain is Brianiac, and the in the lab is Doctor Octopus, so they make the natural assumption. So, the page reveal that the Kryptonite empowered Doctor Octopus is in space, is very fun, plus, always great to see heroes trade villains. Also fun is Spider-Man getting trapped under so much rubble, harkening back to another classic Doctor Octopus story.
Lois Lane & Mary Jane “The World’s Finest”
Tom King / Jim Lee (P) / Scott Williams (I) /Alex Sinalir (C) / Pat Brosseau (L)
One of my three favorites! I really like how Lois Lane and Mary Jane discuss how they rescued a bunch of people, leaving them no time to save themselves.
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I can only imagine Tom King asked Jim Lee what or who he wanted to draw, and he said “Sentinels.”
Mary Jane makes a fun comment about how every alternate version of herself is quick to say “Face it Tiger, you hit the Jackpot.” She was 19, she’s said some other cool things.
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Sentinel punching Superman is just something I wasn’t expecting to see.
Mary Jane shares that Spider-Man has a sad thing for bridges.
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We get a Superman Spider-Man fastball special! This short is just giving us everything.
We get an Uncanny X-Men 142 with Superman substituting for Logan.
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The ladies meet Gambit, who has been looking for his deck of cards. One would think there was plenty of debris for him to use, but he’s committed to the bit.
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A very nice moment of the ladies sharing how lonely this life can be.
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Gambit looking cool, but the Sentinel is super destroyed. Pun intended.
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So cool getting Superman to say, Gambit. Lois Lane’s “He’s pretty nice,” with Mary Jane’s “and nicely pretty.” That’s just fun comics, ya’ll.
Somehow Gambit got Aces with both Superman S insignia and Spider-Man Spider insignia. Sure.
Superboy-Prime & Amazing Spider-Man “Pages”
Christopher Priest / Daniel Sampere (A) / Alejandro Sanchez (C) / Willie Schubert (L)
This one, I didn’t connect with. Superboy-Prime is breaking the fourth wall, but not in a fun way. This story’s main villain is the High Evolutionary. Superboy-Prime was going to trade his freedom for the Spider-Man’s black suit symbiote. We get Uncle Ben’s other favorite line, “stop feeding your veggies to the dog,” which I can only imagine he said more often.
Superboy & Spider-Man 2099 “Beyond the Cobwebs of Tomorrow”
Sean Murphy (A) / Simon Gough (C) / Andworld Design (L)
Legion of Superheroes’ Superboy & Spider-Man 2099 team up for a story that I wish got half the pages of the previous story got. This sets up a very fun story, and the “Beyond” of the title is because . . . we also got Batman Beyond! The potential here is sensational.
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen & Carnage “Jimmy Con Carnage”
Matt Fraction / Steve Lieber (A) / Nathan Fairbairn (C) / Clayton Cowles (L)
Jimmy Olsen needs to get pictures of Spider-Man for J. Jonah Jameson. Peter Parker can tell Jimmy isn’t saying Spider-Man with the hyphen, and warns him that signals he is a tourist around here. Jimmy notices a red suit, and goes down a dark alley. He runs into Carnage! AND doesn’t put the hyphen in, and Carnage doesn’t take to tourists. J. Jonah Jameson memorializes Jimmy Olsen, who died taking a real menacing picture of Spiderman. Jimmy tried to use his Superman watch, but it needed a firmware update. This was perfectly paced.
This was the perfect length for this story. Superman & Spider-Man are having a chat, through narration boxes, as what we are seeing is Jonathan Kent and Ben Parker rescuing some kids. The heroes are not that different.
Lois Jane and J. Jonah Jameson are “In the Crosshairs with Jack Ryder,” who I know from the Arkham games. Ryder is putting Jameson on the spot for his ridiculous take on Spider-Man. Jameson doesn’t like Spider-Man’s mask, and in the “respectable heroes” page, we get the Fantastic Four, Wonder Woman, Captain America (who is wearing a mask), and Superman. I guess Cap gets a pass as everyone knows his name. Probably could have been shorter, but then we wouldn’t have gotten Nicola Scott drawing those heroes, and I like as many characters as possible to show up in these crossovers.
Simone is wild for setting up Power Girl on a blind date with . . . Paul Rabin. That’s right, Mary Jane’s infamous ex-boyfriend that EVERYONE loves! Punisher is working protection for The Bar with No Name. It is raining, and he doesn’t have an umbrella, so Power Girl lends him her very pink and cute umbrella. The villains think Paul is Vandal Savage, who has a contract out on him. Not sure how Firefly, Ghost Nicely Suited Man, Chameleon, Taskmaster, Pink Haired Gal, and Catman (in a very nice tuxedo?) were going to kill Vandal Savage, but sure. Story ends with Punisher and Power Girl off to spend some more of the night together. I really wish we got more of this type of fun feature in this crossover.
I’m really looking forward to Spider-Man Superman next month.
Variant Cover Todd Nauck, the Doctor Doom Homage Cover
I’m on record that I’m a huge fan of a villain spotlight issue, which was true for X-Men V7 24. Is it too soon for another villain spotlight issue? For me? No, I’m on record for being a huge fan of a villain spotlight issue. This time, we get Ms. Danger’s Danger Room.
I’m also on record about how if a villain knows the X-Men will win, the way to get your agenda done is by making sure your end goal happens toward the middle of your plan, so even when you get optic blasted, you still got your goal accomplished. The X-Men are notorious for not locking their villains up.
Maxine Danger, who is between a high functioning sociopath and a narcissistic solipsist. Which I had to look up. Apparently they believe that the only thing they can guarantee is the existence of their own mind – which seems interesting, but also, other people do exist, but I guess not from their point of view. Which I know I’m the type of guy, once someone passes me on a highway, I do consider that person. Where are they going? How did they catch up to me on the highway to pass me by? Are they thinking about me right now? Probably just in terms of “get out of my way!”
We meet former SHIELD Agent Jackson, in Arbfield Women’s Prison. She has the ability to make people sad enough that they kill themselves, so that’s not great, please seek help before hurting yourself or others. She knew she had this within herself, so knew once she was a SHIELD agent, she’ll have to get her body count as high as possible.
Ms. Danger works for the Beyond Corporation, who I’m pretty sure Spider-Man also worked for, so is that the same corporation?
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We get the group shot of everyone together, as they are pleased with themselves. I do love seeing a plan come together.
I do appreciate that they planned to take Psylocke out first, by separating her from the rest of the team. One always has to take out of the telepaths first, then the speedsters.
Psylocke is with Xorn in the Marauder, as it gets blasted out of the sky. This new Danger Room is full of killers, who, of course, won’t be killing the X-Men. A real shame that we don’t have resurrections anymore so these new villains can be established as a new lethal force. I supposed that could make them deadlier, but there is a world of a difference between killing regular humans, and elite mutants.
We next meet Colton Colton in Calford Penitentiary. We all know a person with the same name, right? Or know a person who knows a person? In high school, my Life Science teacher was Thomas Thomas, and I’ll never forget him. In my jobs over the years, I have mailed letters to people with the same name. Those poor nurses having to bite their tongues to not want to request double confirmation on the name.
Fun fact, my college friend Susie, is a Leap Day baby, so she’s only nine now.
Colton is a Machiavellian, which I’m starting to think my understanding of some of these words are not exactly what I think they are. He lived in a trailer park, and turn everyone against each other, to the point they were killing each other, and then he killed everyone else.
We catch up to the X-Men at the Factory. Glob Herman is bleeding out on the table, which is odd they didn’t take him to a hospital, especially as they know they don’t have Xorn NOR 70s Beast. Which is very clever planning on the Danger Room’s part. I really do wish it was simply called, Danger’s Room, that’ll be fun, plus distinguishes her group from the actual room, or the robot gal. But like they mentioned in the issue, the X-Men and Merle, Alaska, don’t quite trust each other. Quintin Quire is mad enough to make some poor decisions.
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We see Magik on a screen in the back, which is fun, as we head towards the main event.
I was thinking, isn’t there two more bad guys, how many pages are left of this comic? So, the solution is, time to double up. We meet Grigos and Marquez, thanks to the podcast, I might have a chance at remembering their names, or thanks to the website, I can at least refer back to this. These are two guys who think they have depowered Skrulls, thanks to that cursed Reed Richards! I think it would be a lot of fun if it turns out that she’s wrong, especially being a solipsist, and they actually are depowered Skrulls. Why not? They created a giant fire, which brought the firefighters, who they murdered, so they hate infrastructures.
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We see the X-Men fighting off the ship. Even if they win the day, and we know they will, without Magik’s teleportation abilities, they’re still stranded deep in the ocean.
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More fighting of the ship.
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Magik’s “Cyclops, what’s the plan” reaction meme drop!
I do love Cyclops being “I knew there was a trap, so of course, I sprung it.” He brought along a slew of sledgehammers, and they’re going to wreck their way out.
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He’s going to make whoever this is pay.
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Then, to my wonderful surprise, I got my 11th letter published! I didn’t think a letter for Age of Revelation Book of Revelations 1 would ever get printed, but it is nice to see it was received, plus, I guess we’ll be picking up on Apocalypse’s kids eventually. Hence the publishing of the letter. I see you.
/ Jorge Jimenez (A) / Tomeu Morey (C) / Tom Napolitano (L)
Shadow and Flame with Magik 