Letterers VC’s Joe Sabino with VC’s Travis Lanham & VC’s Ariana Maher (yes, the VC is before each of their names)
This is a physical print of Luciano Vecchio’s Iceman Infinity comic. I really like how this is everything someone would want in an Iceman comic. I like how Bobby has to fight three generations of Ikthalon. We really into Bobby’s mindset this issue, with his reflections on his life.
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Including a picture of his favorite teammates, including Kate Pryde, I believe.
This comic was during the Krakoa age, so it is nice to get a comic from that era. He fights lava dudes, which is a fun visual contrast with his powers. PuriFire does seem set up to be is arch nemesis. Bobby saves a dude, and gets a smooch as a reward.
One of my favorite aspects of Krakoa was that anyone can appear in any comic without it feeling like approval had to be made first. They were all on the same island, so people could just show up whenever, and it wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. Bobby is having lunch with both Rictor and Northstar, which is pretty cool. Bobby reflects on his, and this gets a little complicated, his Inhuman boyfriend, Romeo, that his time displaced younger self dated. Then his Amazing Friend, Firestar, shows up. This is before she joined X-Men in Volume 6, she’s just here to use the gates. She’s not ready to abandon her non-mutant father (as flatscans weren’t allowed to live on Krakoa, which still feels messed up). No Spider-Man appearance, but I’m always happy to get Firestar. They rescue some folks. Some debris knocks Iceman out.
Iceman wakes up, to find an aged up Romeo! He’s been aged up due to Inhuman nonsense, but now they’re the same age! So that’s nice. They immediately start hooking up.
While out and about, they come across Julian from the 2021 Reptil series, thanks to a very helpful editorial box. Her favorite mutant is Rictor. Sure.
A giant beast shows up, Iceman attacks it, but Romeo has empathic powers (but uses them for good, unlike gross Empath), and turns out, the giant create woke up early from its hibernation, and was panicked. Iceman creates a nice cocoon for the big fella, and all is good again.
I like the idea the World Council would seek out Iceman to help with Earth’s climate problems, after he terraformed Mars. Earth is very much populated, so he can’t just turn deserts into gardens. So that answers why he doesn’t do that, for some folks out there.
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Iceman’s father is dying, and tries to get to him as fast as possible. On his way through a gate, we see Magik and the New Mutants, including Karma, who I love to see. Mr. Drake is so racist, he refuses to take the mutant medication (which is a good thing, as he would have ended up being a pawn of Sinister’s), and dies. Mr. Drake is the worst, so at least we’re done with him now.
In his grief, Bobby hooks up with Christian Frost. We get a fun Kate Pryde reference, as Bobby doesn’t want any adventures at this time, and any calls from Kate or Romeo can wait.
Iceman has a fun adventure with Teen Loki, who is a prisoner of the third Ikthalon, who is a cool edgy teenager. Loki has to deal with his frost giant of a father, Jotunheim. But since this is an Iceman comic, Ikthalon turns Jotunheim into Bobby’s father, so he does get to take his anger out on something he can hit.
Iceman goes on some other adventures, takes out Nuclear Man, then Abomination. He’s doing hero stuff.
He even assists the Avengers (Captains Marvel & America, Iron Man, and Black Panther). We get an awesome image of Silver Surer and Iceman together. Iceman uses too much of his omega power, and needs his friends, Northstar & Firestar to help calm him down. I like that it is Christian Frost and Romeo that get through to him. A nice mutant circuit there. Issue ends with Iceman just being great.
Then we get a reprints of Vecchio’s Pride pages, and short stories. The short story is a history of LGBTQ+ superheroes, told through Prodigy.
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Final page is a house ad promoting X-Men United, stating Iceman will appear, so Eve Ewing must also be a big Iceman fan. It is the Stefano Caselli image, surrounded by ice, so Lockheed barely is seen on the very right edge.
Such a great comic! Here is hoping many many people buy it, so that we can get Lovable Lockheed and Strange Tails printed.
Milwaukee. Issue opens with Greycrow robbing a bank, and getting shot up during his escape.
Merle, Alaska. Scott is happy it is spring time. Kwannon is surprised as Scott grew up in Alaska, and thinks he’ll be comfortable with the snow. He corrects her, that he was only here as a child. I suppose it is smart of him not to mention he lived there for a time with Madelyne and Baby Nathan, but that was like what, a few months? Better not to mention it.
Sheriff Robbins is missing, as Deputy Smith informs them.
Glob Herman is setting up a nice garden, as he’s producing too much for the X-Men to eat. He was going to give the food away, but Scott thought that would be suspicious. Which he’s right, as even I would think there was something wrong with the food, or that it was expiring soon. I like the older couple who arrives, they haven’t heard of the Shi’ar or optic blasts, which I would think the Shi’ar was known, but I guess if all you are getting from the news is alien attack after alien attack, they probably all sound alike. Before they arrive, Glob is visited by Piper and her mother, Rose. Piper’s twin sister, Robin, is working with 3K now, but it is nice that they’re keeping her in the loop. Well, now she’s in the loop, seems like someone should have sent an email or telepathic message to Rose about her other daughter.
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Cyclops asks Magik to track Sheriff Robbins’ blood to the source.
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Magik has located the nice sheriff, in the Gulf of Alaska.
Psylocke can’t make the mission as she has to check on Greycrow. Cyclops tells her to take Xorn with her, as Greycrow will need a healer. That’s nice of him.
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Gulf of Alaska. The Spirit of St. Augstine. We get a very cool team splash page.
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Things are a little too Raph. And a little too quiet.
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They locate Sheriff Robbins, she informs them it is a trap. I like how 70s Beast knows it is a trap, but they have a handy teleporter.
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Except, of course, Magik can’t teleport them, so ruh oh.
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The X-Men have to battle the ship.
Glob Herman gets hate crimed, which I immediately was worried about when Scott and Kwannon was discussing Glob having a garden, and I thought the room they hinted was his shop that was wrecked, but it was the police station (though it should be a sherif’s office, if they’re sheriffs and deputies, but okay). Glob is shot, and we don’t have resurrection anymore. Maybe he was just shot in the shoulder? I have my doubts.
Washington DC. The Office of National Emergency. We see Crimson Commando talking to new character, Maxime Danger. At first I thought she was WARDEN Ellis, but she’s a different lady. Danger is working with or for the Bureau of Prisons, so one would think Danger and Ellis would eventually be working together, right?
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Danger is all about branding, and wants her think tank to be called, The Danger Room. I guess Danger’s Room was too silly of a name.
Variant Cover Sanford Greene, the Doom homage, as it had Kitty Pryde on it.
A rare aftermath issue!
I like seeing old Morlock, Ape, hanging out with new Morlock, Deep Fake. We learn more of Deep Fake’s history.
Logan ambushes them. Silver Sable is swimming in the river to continue her exercising.
We meet Tushar, a very young mutant, maybe 12 years old? I like how his mutant power is to restore buildings (from what we can see). I like how his power comes from what he needs right now. Their last base was destroyed, and they come across abandoned cabins, that are far from being able to be repaired easily. But here is a young mutant who can repair cabins very easily, and that’s nice.
Silver Sable and Logan are definitely hooking up. I imagine they have not talked about Nightcrawler at all. Sometimes it feels like I’m the only one who kept Uncanny Spider-Man in my heart.
Tushar was taken by a mutant, Coldbug, who is Hybird levels of gross. He looks like a regular dude, until he takes a knife to his own face, and now has a bug face. How does that work? I rather not know. Logan kills him, and Tushar is saved.
Tactical Soldiers Corp. Croatia. Adamantine arrives, looking for the best there is. Some jerk goon wonders if he’s looking for the best mercenary, and name drops Silver Sable. I don’t love that. I love that she’s so well respected, but don’t answer that question.
So, it looks like Silver Sable is sticking around through the Adamantine arc, so I guess I will be too. I imagine I won’t love it as much as I loved this one, but there will be aspects I like, so that’s all I can really ask for.
I love this issue so much! I treated myself to the Benjamin Su variant cover, with Dani (and a giant wolf I don’t recognize), reading Stephanie Phillips’ first issue of her Daredevil run.
Issue opens with a history of the Dainsleif sword, created by dwarves of Nidavellir. Its curse is it demands a kill before it can be sheathed.
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We get a nice recap of Magik’s ongoing series that Dani was a co-star of. We get quite a bit of Magik in this series, which I was hoping for, but I was sold on this series regardless.
Present day, we see Dani riding Brightwind, and I just love that we get a mutant powered, and Valkyrie powered Dani Moonstar. She’s not powerless here.
We get a recap of her New Mutants days. We see her parents, who I would have sworn were dead. Their spirits were trapped in the Demon Bear, and I thought they were released, as I never see her talk to her parents, or hear from her parents, or even discuss them. I was expecting a final page reveal that they were figments of her imagination, but nope, they’re alive and very well.
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I like Dani referring to Illyana as her best friend. It definitely feels like her and Rahne haven’t been as close since . . . forever, maybe?
With Immortal Thor’s 25th issue, no one remembers Asgard, which seems odd as isn’t Thor flying around? Or part of Avengers history? I’m sure Mortal Thor is handling all of these questions. I’m curious, but not curious enough to look into it. I’m sure time will be restored.
Yanisa and Kian from the Society Dani was working with, and who Dani and Magik brought down, arrive. They need Dani’s help with retrieving Dainsleif.
It was teased that we were going to get a romantic interest for Dani in this series, so I immediately thought it might be Yanisa.
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Yanisa asks if Dani still has access to the teleporter mutant. She’s so much more than that!
Instead of enlisting her, Brightwind seats three.
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We get another flashback to Magik & Dani fighting the Society.
We meet the threat of the series, Kyron, who has a mystical artifact that he’s trying to bring this cities dead to him, to power up Dainsleif.
Yanisa and Kian rush into battle with Kyron, leaving Dani with only a poor decision to get into the fight sooner than she would have liked to. Yanisa sacrifices herself so that Dani and Kian can get away.
Which leaves Kian as the guy who will be having feelings for Dani, but that doesn’t mean Dani is going to return those feelings.
Kyron needs a new artifact, and Dani has an idea of what he will need, so they have a next step to follow.
I think I’m just not a X-Force guy. There are parts of the issue I really enjoy, and then other parts I just gloss over. I like the MLF being a thing again. I like seeing Akihiro and Angel training together. I like Boom Boom saying they are X-Force on a budget. So, there is humor here for me to hold onto.
Cable can’t get his memories clear enough to figure out which of these teammates is the one who kills President Kamala Khan. Which is a big stumbling block I have, as I rather they drop this, and this was a comic abut Ms. Marvel trying to make X-Force better. We get the vision of what each scenario would be for them each to kill her, but they’re all in such drastically different ways, that one would think (or remember) that’s how she was killed. A hell claw, an exploding heart, or dagger through the heart. Actually, that does seem like it wouldn’t be Boom Boom, the other two are very similar.
Ms. Marvel can join them for the day’s mission, as it is a teacher in-service day, which as a father of a sixth grader, I can tell you this happens quite a bunch, maybe four times a school year?
My favorite parts of the issue is Domino’s growing friendship with a squirrel. I truly am a sucker for an animal companion.
X-Force is heading to Blasphemy Cartel, which does sound like a band Boom Boom would wear a black miniskirt to see. I’m not sure if that was supposed to be that cutting of Ms. Marvel, but Boom Boom plays it off as it DOES sound like band she’ll wear a black miniskirt to.
Ms. Marvel doesn’t love Hellverine just killing goons. Lots of fighting.
I do like Ms. Marvel trying to be a bright example to follow. She even stands between Hellverine and a goon to prevent the goon’s death. Ms. Marvel uses her new powers, which I’m not sure how or what she did. She brighten up, and force came out of her? Maybe?
Cable gets the intel he was looking for, and takes Ms. Marvel’s side, she is supposed to be the inspiration for the team, and for humans, and for the world.
Like most team books, I’m here for the team dynamics, and not quite the fighting, but this issue has plenty of team interactions, which I really like.
Rogue tries to get answers from her mom, Mystique. Destiny was in jail at the moment, so she can’t really provide any insight. Rogue leaves, wanting to talk to Constrictor. Gambit reveals that both Constrictor and Sabretooth are dead, or at least, at the moment.
Destiny states that Rogue will eventually remember everything, so Mystique should have just told her now, it would have been better that way. Mystique wonders if this is another one of her prophecies, but Destiny gets a great line about how that’s just common sense.
Flying in a general direction, Rogue starts using Mystique’s power, even though she never touched her mother. So either Rogue’s powers are broken, or Mystique’s broken powers are causing Rogue issues.
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I like Rogue turning into Emma’s leg, Glob Herman’s arm, Magik’s arm, and Beast’s leg. I imagine Luigi Zagaria had fun thinking of which characters to attempt here. Needed to be mutants we immediately recognized.
Because of Rogue’s powers, I believe, whoever she shapeshifts into, she has that person’s powers, so it isn’t looking like Emma, but still her traditional powers, she would Emma’s physical powers.
As Rogue is falling from a great height, she shifts into Fred Dukes, to absorb the blunt of the impact as she falls through a warehouse. One of those classic normal looking warehouse, full of evil, and goons.
Some gross mutant hating goons are making a arms deal. One of them states that only a mutant can crash through a building and not get hurt. Which immediately makes me think about how any number of superpowered individuals can withstand that fall, and walk away.
Rogue shifts into her 80s look, which is fun. Her arm shifts to Emma’s diamond form to block the bullets. She shifts into her current look, then shifts into some goons to retrieve their information.
Issue ends with John Stelton, who set off this entire adventure, coming home. He saw Rogue, and now wants to make her pay. He has a real Why So Serious grin facial scar.
Solid enough issue. Is Sabretooth currently dead? Is Constrictor? Constrictor is getting his own Secret Wars action figure from the same line I got my Magik from recently.
Issue opens with Wong and Chthon having some tea, and boy time. Then we get to the good stuff. Wanda Maximoff, the current Sorcerer Supreme, versus, Madelyne Pyror, the Sorcerer Supreme of Limbo!
Wanda arrive already on fire, due to the actions of Agatha Harkness from the previous issue. Madelyne shows up, calling Wanda, The Great Pretender. Bernard Chang and Ruth Redmond draw and color a beautiful Madelyne Pryor. Steve Orlando really has her voice right too. Letterer VC’s Joe Sabino makes everything so readable.
Apparently, Agatha (the so-called official Sorcerer Supreme) made a deal with the Goblin Queen herself to take out Wanda. Madelyne is also motivated as she’ll get a lot of cred for taking down Wanda.
There is a telepath exchange, where they are in Limbo, then in Wanda’s mind, then in Madelyne’s. It got a little confusing there.
Madelyne not only reminds Wanda that she comes from the strongest telepathic stock, but that Jean Grey always hated Wanda. Which seems like an odd opinion for Jean to have. Maybe when they first met in X-Men 4, Jean picked up on all of the boys really liking Wanda (maybe even Bobby too, adding to the insult?).
Madelyne keeps getting early wins against Wanda, but then Wanda reveals there is such a thing as phrenomancy, the magic version of telepathy. Wanda plays on Madelyne’s one weakness, her memories of Nathan, which I hate that this is Madelyne’s one weakness, thus, needs to be threaten every time. She just got these memories back, that she worked so hard to obtain, in Dark Web X-Men 3, thanks editorial box, plus, we’ll be talking about Dark Web more this summer on the pod. Just annoys me that this is even a thing Madelyne has to worry about. She’s a mother, and deserves to have these memories be properly hers. Madelyne tries to negotiate that Wanda is a mother, and this is a low blow from her.
Madelyne gives in, giving Wanda the cheapest of victories, I supposed there is an argument to be made that Wanda chose the road with less fighting, but the emotional damage, I don’t love that.
Wanda promises she’ll keep this a secret. Two demons approach, and Madelyne quickly spins it so that she won the battle, and to spread word of the victory to everyone.
Then we get to the ongoing plot again, but I loved the Madelyne Pryor Limbo pages so much. We didn’t even get a reference to Magik, which I miss, but also love that Madelyne is the Queen of Limbo, and doesn’t need to mention Magik at all times. One of the panels of memories of baby Nathan had Logan, Colossus, and Storm in it, but no Kitty Pryde. I guess we really are waiting until X-Men United before we see Kitty in a monthly comic for more than a page.
The Veshanti Trio are annoyed Agatha isn’t getting the job done. I love the pages of the WandaVision family (my favorite family tree in comics, even after losing the Magneto branches – but I imagine we still keep those, just those are broken lines now? Maybe?). I like Vision stating he needs to spend more time with his flesh sons.
Agatha shows up to Strange’s old house, rips Wong from his tea party, but Wanda shows up in time to stop Wong from getting too hurt.
Be nice if Madelyne Pryor will show up again in this series. That’s how you’ll get me to stay interested.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 