As we end January, and happy birthday to me! 🙂
Our current standings for #BestXIssuesOf2025 are
I imagine at some point, the list will be nothing but Exceptional X-Men and Magik with Ultimate Wolverine, but until we get there, other titles have a list.
Follow along if you would like
https://www.comicreleases.com/2025/01/marvel-april-2025-solicitations
I’m hoping we are getting a Godzilla / X-Men oneshot.
Joe Kelly taking over Amazing Spider-Man and getting a new number one sounds fun.
Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe One Last Time 1 of 5, I’ll be checking this for character appearances. Avengers, and it is a fun callback to when he was the Superior Iron Man. And Doctor Octopus is involved, so they thought of everything.
One World Under Doom, 3 of 9, everyone is mad at Doom. This feels like an event I can skip out on.
Doom Academy, 3 of 5, after reading the Midnight Suns mini, I’m in the mood for a Strange Academy revisit, so I’m hoping this series has that vibe.
. . .
I had to reread the solicit for issue one, just to make sure Karma wasn’t on that cover. Adding Karma definitely gets me interested in this series.
. . .
Predator vs Spider-Man could be fun, just waiting for the X-Men to fight either the Predator or Aliens, or both!
Marvel Rivals 1, just makes me really wish I could afford a PS5
. . .
as soon as they announced this miniseries, I took a breath to get ready for how many variants I was going to buy. BUT! There’s only one cover with Lockheed on it, so I’m only buying that Marcus To cover, and it looks gorgeous. The first comic I’m actually preordering this month.
. . .
Weapon X-Men 3 is still a title full of bros
Uncanny X-Men 13 is still focusing on the Outliers, so I like that as I love Calico.
. . .
X-Men 14 is the first cover in the solicitations that reveals we are being treated to Marvel Bullpen Bits legend, Chris Giarrusso, variant cover series. A callback to the Official Marvel Handbook connecting covers.
So I’m committing to getting the ones that has Kitty Pryde and Magik, if those two show up on any of them. We got Lockheed, so I feel like their chances are high.
I’m excited to see what the huge image is going to look right.
also, Magik should be in this issue of X-Men, so that’s nice.
X-Men is double shipping too, which I’m not sure if this title needs that treatment.
. . .
Phoenix 10, probably has my favorite supporting cast in comics right now. Phoenix vs new friend, Adani.
Storm 7, she’s battling all of the thunder gods, minus Throg.
NYX 10, vs Mojo
X-Factor 9, Archangel is back, but even more devilish looking
Psylocke 6, I like the solicit being purposely vague.
X-Force 10 is also X-Force 300, proving why legacy numbers are important. Another X-Title where the overall plot isn’t doing much for me, but it has Rachel Summers, and I want to read her adventures, so here I am.
Laura Kinney : Wolverine 5, guest starring Winter Solider
. . .
Kitty is on both covers, and I have been missing getting Carnero’s proper cover, so maybe I’ll get that one. This is where I would love if I had a comic store closer to me than being an hour and a half away (one way). But there is also the Giarrusso variant to consider. I might preorder the Carnero cover, and if the Giarrusso cover features Kitty (could not happen, as many of these covers don’t relate to the title character(s)) get that one.
Poor Axo already getting a clone, and having to deal with Sinister.
My third issue I’m preordering.
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Wolverine 8 is also Wolverine 400, so fun!
Sabretooth : Dead Don’t Talk, 5 of 5, this is ending.
Cable : Love and Chrome, 4 of 5, penultimate issue.
. . .
Hopefully you, dear reader, enjoy just having the image, I’m liking how clean this looks.
I’m definitely not buying the Campbell cover, so I’ll blind preorder either the Momoko or Resch cover. Dani Moonstar is guesting in this issue, so it’ll be nice if either of those covers feature her.
My fourth issue I’m preordering this month.
If this title was simply a team-up title for Magik, that would be enough for me.
. . .
Kid Juggernaut 1, is printing the digital Marvel Voices that didn’t feature any of my favorite characters, but nice it is getting a physical copy. I’m still waiting for Lovable Lockheed to get a physical copy.
Rogue Savage Land, 4 of 5, the variant covers keep being full of cheesecake, but the interior for issue one was delightful.
Ironheart : Bad Chemistry 1, so that there will be a trade by the time the show comes out on June 24, 2025 (a day before my lovely wife’s birthday)
. . .
Ultimate Wolverine 4.
Ultimate Kitty Pryde is referenced in the solicit, but it reads like she won’t be in this issue. I’m going to preorder that sweet Magik solo cover, so even if Kitty isn’t in it, I’ll still get that Ultimate Magik content I crave. My fifth issue of the month.
Hopefully Kitty survives issue 3, if she dies, I’m going to be done with this Ultimate Universe. I’ll casually follow Magik’s adventures, but my heart won’t be in it.
. . .
Ultimate X-Men 14, Shadow King is still the ongoing threat of the series. I do feel bad for how much I was enjoying this series until Ultimate Wolverine came out, and started featuring the mutants I love.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur turn 10! That’s pretty cool.
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The sequel to Dazzler’s previous miniseries, but now we’re having a fun play of Contest of Champions with Concert with Champions. Dazzler and all of the musically inclined characters are going on the road!
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Deadpool / Wolverine 4, they are fighting Stryfe. Going to look amazing with Joshua Cassara’s art.
Every month, I scroll right pass the Spider-Man titles, and there are so many of them, yet, not a one that stands out to me enough to get interested.
West Coast Avengers 6, vs Avengers
Iron Man 7, issue 4 didn’t have any Emma Frost content, so we may have moved on to what I was looking for any crumb to hold onto.
TVA, 5 of 5, 2 felt like a step down from 1’s surprising high quality – too much TVA business for me, so I’m clearly in the minority, but it has Gambit and Jimmy Hudson, so I’m committed to finishing the series.
Hellhunters, 5 of 5, final issue.
Hellverine 5, vs Mephisto
. . .
April 2025 has me buying the most comics, and for five months at least, that is going to be the number.
Wolverine and Kitty Pryde 1, the Marcus To variant
X-Men 14, the Chris Giarrusso Lockheed variant
Exceptional X-Men 8 (cover to be determined)
Magik 4 (cover to be determined)
Ultimate Wolverine 4 (the solo Magik cover)
#NotMyUntilDawn
I can’t tell you how excited I was for the movie adaption of Until Dawn, one of my favorite games ever.
Then we got the trailer
Thanks to Sony Pictures Entertainment for hosting their own video
I knew not to expect any of the original cast to show up in this, even though the bulk of them are still acting – Hayden Panettiere, Brett Dalton, Jordan Fisher, Rami Malet, and Nichole Sakura.
I was super excited to learn Peter Stormare was in the movie.
But this trailer killed all of my enthusiasm for the movie.
Now, if they were to announce an Until Dawn 2 game, and have this be the story of that? Sure, I’ll be all for this movie, and what a brilliant way to get promote a game.
even if they went with an alternative title, that implied this was set in the same universe, such as Until Dawn : Loopers, or something, but to call it plainly, Until Dawn?
It isn’t a movie about a class reunion
It isn’t about the Washingtons
Even if the wendigos are in this, and I can only assume, if they are surviving 13 repeated nights, with each night being a different horror creature, one of those will HAVE to be a wendigo, just means someone was aware they should at least have the faintest connection to the game.
I’m surprised they didn’t just call this Dark Picture Anthology: Loopers, or something. At least promote that series of games.
I wonder how many script changes did they get before they finally got to the shooting script?
I had this whole plan of taking Walker D to it, I was going to replay the game, and now, all of that is gone.
Maybe I watch it once it streams somewhere?
#NotMyUntilDawn
or Siege V2, if you are so inclined
I’ll update this as we get more of these, if we get more of these – which I sincerely hope we do.
Imagine an entire History of X-Men miniseries done by Eve Ewing, Carmen Carnero, Nolan Woodard, and Joe Sabino? I know i have.
Exceptional X-Men 2
From Uncanny X-Men 129
. . .
Exceptional X-Men 3
. . .
Exceptional X-Men 4
From X-Men V6 25
. . .
Exceptional X-Men 10
From New Mutants V1 15
Magik’s first issue of her first ongoing came out on January 8, 2025.
Writer : Ashley Allen
Artist German Peralta
Color Artist : Arthur Helsi
Letterer : VC’s Ariana Maher
I treated myself to the David Nakayama cover.
Ashley Allen wrote the incredible Blood Hunt : Magik ongoing (thus, earned the right to write Magik’s ongoing).
German Peralta drew the Age of X-Man : Prisoner X is where I recognize his work from, and Cable 155 – 159.
Issue opens with someone chasing someone else down a street in Juneau, Alaska.
We see Magik was having a nightmare. I love that Kitty Pryde and Dani Moonstar are there. I imagine Beast is there as he’s currently on X-MEN with her. Cyclops and her are best buds, so that makes sense too. Illyana has a closer tie to the Storm who existed with her from her origin mini series, Magik & Storm. Events that occur there are the main reasons I like to think of why Magik & Storm are not that close. Even though they served together on Kieron GIllen’s Uncanny X-Men Volume Two, as part of Cyclops’ Extinction Team. Cannonball represents the boys of New Mutants.
Illyana wakes up, and I absolutely love that she is wearing a, Magneto Was Right shirt. He is her greatest teacher from her original New Mutants days. I also like how she could have easily worn a, Cyclops Was Right shirt but this is a more fun option.
I also adore how she has a New Mutants, original recipe, class photo, and a photo of her and Kitty. So we get that Kitty and her are still close. I thought the picture of Kitty came from Uncanny X-Men 600, because of the gray in her suit, but I think that is something else now.
Be nice if Kitty had a picture of Illyana in her room, but she barely has an origami Lockheed on her shelf, so she’s not decorating her current room with pieces of her past – which is a real shame.
That is further added by the fact that Kitty had called Cyclops to tell him that today is Magik’s birthday.
I also love how this is her birthday, Kid Omega implies she is having a quarter life crisis, so if she’s about 25, that feels right to me. Though Exceptional X-Men Kitty Pryde strikes me as a gal into her 30s, but Illyana could easily be in the 25-28 age range.
Comics disclosure is complicated, but also, Illyana has been de-aged and aged, that she could be floating anywhere from mid-twenties to early-thirties.
So it is her birthday, but also 2025 marks her 50th year in publication, so it works on a meta level as well.
This surprise party goes over better than the one Nico throws her in Midnight Suns.
(Starts around the 18 minute mark)
All of the attention is too much for Illyana, and she overhears a news report about missing kids, and like we learned from one of my favorite Uncanny X-Men Volume 3 stories, issue 33, Magik likes to rescue mutants when she’s not busy saving the world.
I do love how quick Cyclops is to explain her quick exit. He completely gets Illyana, and her intimacy issues.
In Juneau, we are introduced to Cal and Ren Isaacs, and their grandmother, Anges – the perfect grandmother name. Someone is hunting mutants, and there are jerk protestors who want these two mutants to leave the city.
Magik arrives, and any new readers are immediately shown Magik’s public persona, as well as get an explanation for her soulword.
Magik deals with the demons, and introduces herself to the Isaacs family. She gets her mission statement to protect the other mutants, and deal with the protesters.
Magik misses one of the students, who turns out to be our big bad, the Crow Demon. Who actually is working for the Liminal – a mysterious new organization.
Allen has set up so many threads to pull for future stories that it is bonkers.
The Crow Demon and Magik get into an intense fight, that we see Magik use her other magical skills, and not just swats at him with her appropriately sized sword.
Unfortunately, while Magik is trying to get her bearings, Crow Demon kills Ren. Agnes is trying her best to create a protection spell.
Unfortunately, we lose Agnes as well.
Magik and Cal have Agnes’ spellbook, and they are going to pursue the Demon Crow.
I like how Cal is aware of his grandmother’s abilities, so it isn’t like Magik has to explain to him how mutants and magic work, separately or together. Magik tells him she will pursue the threat, but he insists on coming along.
And that is the first outstanding issue of Magik’s first ongoing.
I’m excited to see Cal be part of, hopefully, her ever growing supporting cast.
Issue ends with someone prophesizing about Magik’s Darkchild persona, that is on the edge’s of Illyana’s mind.
I can’t wait for issue two. I treated myself to the Mark Brooks cover.
as bitter of a pill as it is 😀
. . .
My only goals for this series is that we get 50 issues of it (at least), and a crossover with Exceptional X-Men, that doesn’t necessarily have to also crossover with X-MEN. Though I can only imagine we will get a Magik – X-MEN – Psylocke crossover eventually, as those are three easy enough books to crossover as they share the same cast members.
I was maintaining collection on League of Comic Geeks
https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/profile/jackalsiii
https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/profile/jackalsiii/stats/collection
trying to keep it so Lockheed was always my top character, but then I really wanted to see what my stats really were, so I started cataloguing my collection.
 | Ron on Emily VanCamp |
 | John Klein III on Exceptional X-Men 12 |
 | MoxieMk5 on Exceptional X-Men 12 |
 | 1314sdf657 on Best X Issues of 2025 – M… |
| Joyland (2013)… on Heroes For Hope Starring the X… |
Shadow and Flame with Magik 