Cover by Barry Bradfield
I got this variant for two reasons. I am a sucker for all Uncanny X-Men 141 variants and a variant featuring Kitty Pryde on it.
This cover reminds me that I still want to buy this Minimates Days of Future Past set.
My review for the issue proper, can be located here :
Writer CB Cebulski
Artist David Yardin
Colors John Rauch
Cover Dated July 2008
I like having a glance at what Illyana’s life was like post-Colossus leaving. She was always trying to get ahead in life.
Her father would try to slow her down with an old Russian proverb – Every seed knows its time.
He had an old watch.
Now she haa her own trinket.
Look at those sexy legs!
Wearing a skirt is an easy way to work around having a tail. Imagine how much time Nightcrawler spends each morning trying to get his tail through that small hole in his tights.
If she can get four more souls (or parts of them), she can get her own soul back. I wonder why she just doesn’t go to terminally ill wards and take those soul potions. That would be better than stealing homeless people’s souls.
Magik is determined to get her life back.
Before she can get her soul back, she wants to regain her heart. She teleports to the mansion, it is in ruins. After the events if Messiah Complex, I believe. Mister Sinister got to blow it up for the second time.
In the wreckage is Magik’s old bed is seen. She recalls Kitty’s fairy tale from Uncanny X-Men 159.
Story ends with Illyana choosing to not regain her soul, not through love but via the suffering of those who wronged her.
This was her last appearance before X-Infernus. Which was such a good miniseries.
Writer Chris Claremont
Penciler Marc Silvestri
Inker Dan Green
Letterer Tom Orzechowski
Colorist Glynis Oliver
Cover Dated February 1989
Inferno, Part The Second
This issue is infamous for ruining the character of Maddie Pryor FOR ALL TIME!!! That’s right, ya’ll, the Sinister reveals she is a clone of Jean Grey issue and I own it now as Illyana is mentioned.
Inside front cover ad is for the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game on NES.
Issue opens with Maddie, in full Goblin Queen mode, meeting Mister Sinister. I really wish I recall reading Inferno but I have no real memory of it, outside of the Excalibur tie-in issue. I should have the New Mutants in my mind but I really don’t.
Mister Sinister tells Maddie that he is her father. Is there any reason, at all, why Pryor had to be a clone? Wasn’t it enough that Scott fell for her and that he left her and their son for Jean Grey? Did we have to completely ruin the character?
Sinister tries to explain but Maddie blasts him and sends her Limbo demons at him. Her second in command, her S’ym if you will, is N’astirh. N’astirh is also planning on betraying Maddie, so that is why I never have a second in command.
Maddie tells her demons that she wants Sinister’s heart, they can have the rest. Sinister holds his own against the demons. Sinister refers to his homebase, which is in the high-tech catacombs of Scott Summers’ Nebraskan orphanage, as his Sanctum Sanctorum. I really do believe that there should only be the one recognized Sanctum Sanctorum, and Doctor Strange has a claim on that for decades.
Sinister’s machines trap Maddie into a device that turns her energy onto herself. N’astirh chooses this moment to betray her and side with Sinister.
May I add how great Maddie looks in her Goblin Queen garb? You can see it on the cover, it is way sexy as heck and Jean would never wear such a thing. It is highly impractical but there is something super sexy about it. I just did a Google search and there are several brave women out there who have donned the outfit.
Back in Manhatten, the X-Men are fighting the Marauders. The X-Men are – Longshot, Storm, Rogue, Dazzler, Havok, Psylocke, Wolverine and Colossus. The Marauders are – Polaris (mind controlled by Malice), Scalphunter, Riptide, Harpoon (the bastard who severely hurt Kitty during Mutant Massacre), Prism and Vertigo. The Marauders are fighting for keeps.
Because it is Inferno, inanimate objects like mailboxes have been demonized, which seems to work as comedy relief in the background to offset the harshness of the battles. A fire hydrant beats a dog over the head.
Colossus recognizes Riptide, who he killed in X-Men 211 (thanks Bob Harris for the excellent editorial note!). So we get the big reveal that Sinister has them all ready to be cloned whenever he needs to.
Everyone knows that Polaris is controlled by Malice, so they try to be gentle with the Mistress of Magnetism.
The battle is pretty intense, this is as playing for keeps as it gets!
Nebraska. Sinister starts messing with Maddie, asking her for her earliest memories. Sadly, her earliest memory is one of Jean’s, when her friend Annie Richardson got hit by a car and Jean experiencing her friend’s death – telepathically.
Manhattan. Wolverine slashes a mailbox, after it ate a man. It is too late and the guy is now a stamp on an envelope. This reminds me that I read the Spider-Man tie-ins of Inferno, where Spider-Man mostly fought inanimate objects.
Nebraska. Sinister reveals why he has been tracking Jean Grey, for her genetic material. He had his clone body but she didn’t wake up from the process until Phoenix died on the moon at the end of the Dark Phoenix Saga. By doing so, a Phoenix spark entered Maddie – giving her life.
Manhattan. The X-Men are now fighting the machines of The Right. Inferno really brought out the big bads.
Colossus grabs one of the smiling machines, as he recognizes it from an instance in Limbo. It acknowledges that and states that Limbo is no longer under his sister, Illyana’s control. S’ym, staying true to form, has taken control from Magik. S’ym has been working with N’astirh. The machine reveals that one of the plans is to transport Earth to Limbo. Which Limbo tried to do in Power Pack 20, three year ago. That is some long term planning!
The machine references that this is all going on at the top of the Empire State Building. Storm and Wolverine are out for blood and want to chase down the rest of the Marauders. Colossus decides he is done killing and needs to protect his sister.
Nebraska. Sinister placed Maddie so that Cyclops will meet her and fall in love with her. One way or another, this was always going to happen. Mister Sinister really wanted to make sure that Scott got laid.
Manhattan. Longshot encounters with a demon and it absorbs his pure soul.
Bullpen Bulletins. “Best way to make people of one mind is bash their heads together.” Hulk, Incredible Hulk 352. Other titles out that month are – Wolverine 4, New Mutants 72, Alpha Flight 67, Excalibur 5, Incredible Hulk 352, Uncanny X-Men 241, Classic X-Men 30 and Cloak & Dagger 3.
All of these truth bombs finally irritates Maddie so much that she overpowers the machines. I really like the panel of Sinister cowering in front of her.
Issue ends with Maddie being presented with her son, Nathaniel. Maddie promises that Sinister may have the world but she is going to make it into dust.
The story continues in X-Factor 37 before coming back here. I don’t own either issue.
Story and Script Jim Krueger
Story, Cover Painter and Character Designer Alex Ross
Pencils Dougie Braithwaite
Inks Bill Reinhold
Colors Laura Depuy
Letters Todd Klein
Cover Dated December 2000
I really enjoyed the Earth X series and then dropped out of Universe X and the concluding, Paradise X of this trilogy. When I looked up the issue on the Marvel Database and saw that both Magik and Kitty are referenced in this issue – which I knew, but I clicked on their name links to see if I had all of their appearances. I had to add issues 0 & 4 of Paradise X and Universe X : 4 Special (spotlighting the Fantastic Four).
I was e-mailing Krueger back and forth as Earth X was being released, as that series had various quotes at the end of the title and he provided his e-mail and I thought I would take a chance on learning more about the quotes. A great deal of research went into making Earth X – which was sort of like Marvel’s Kingdom Come, especially with Alex Ross’ involvement and how both series take place in a possible future. I do recall there being an issue when Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas took over Marvel and how this series was more like the old Marvel that those two were getting away from. My memory is that there were more plans for the Earth X universe but they were haltered and they may have had to fight for Paradise X. Which I can see it being far more continuity heavy for their New Readers mission statement. I tried to do a quick Google search and couldn’t find any articles so maybe I’m misremembering a Wizard article.
Inside front cover ad is for the amazing first Activision Spider-Man game for the original PlayStation, I loved that game so much!
On the credits page, we get a text conversation between Kyle and Isaac – hopefully we learn their identities throughout this issue. This was how Earth X started every issue with Machine Man and Uatu the Watcher having a conversation that sets up the issue. This time, Isaac is done talking about mutants. Kyle mentions how through mutants, the devil will come. Which seems harsh, at the offset.
Issue opens with a recap of the Savage Land, Ka-zar, Shanna and Belasco.
This segues into Belasco and his X-Men history, which of course, invovles Magik.
In the present, Black Knight has declared that he will not be the Inhuman King. Luna, will not be his wife and Medusa is not happy at all.
Captain Britain (or King Britain?) is talking to Steve Rogers, it has been three years since Earth X ended.
There is an ad for Spawn coming to TBS, what an odd thing to promote? Hopefully people bought the issue in a timely fashion to take advantage of watching it on October 29 @ 8:00pm, a Sunday night. I feel bad that it only promotes starring Martin Sheen and John Leguizama. Poor Michael Jai White gets left off. Also, Todd McFarlane was available to chat on TBSsuperstation.com Wednesday, October 25 @ 7pm.
Steve Rogers and a boy Mar-vell is in the Savage Land. Ka-Zar is dead, but Zabu is alive and walks like a man. They are lead to the Master of the Savage Land, Magneto’s old kingdom. Turns out, Magneto – in a Toad style outfit, is not the fool and Toad is the master.
Toad gives permission for Zabu to lead Rogers and Mar-vell to the portal that goes to Limbo. Once their, they see that everything is frozen over. There are a slew of references to how Limbo is Hell.
They are attacked by demons. The demons are really Dire Wraiths (as in the Earth X timeline, everything is two things – sort of like Once Upon A Time) and the heroes are saved. The awesome thing is that they are saved by legendary ROM! Who Marvel doesn’t own the name of, so Rogers has to call him “the greatest of the space knights” so we know it is ROM in human form. I’m not sure why Marvel can’t just reprint all of those issues but with this character. Probably because it would be a little too in the face of the current owners, Parker Brothers.
Mephisto appears before the gathered heroes.
We cut to the Realm of the Dead. The heroes here are -Iron Man, Jean Grey, Doctor Druid and an adult Mar-vell. Also there is Thanos, who must be happy to be in his lady love’s realm.
Limbo. Mephisto wants to make a deal with Rogers, but to shut him down, he throws his mighty shield at the statue of Belasco. This is exactly what Mephisto thought would happen and now Rogers has unleashed Belasco to the past to repeat the cycle of history.
Issue ends with Rogers and Mar-vell having to make a new plan.
The ending quote is “The devil is good when he is pleased.” by John Clarke.
Writer Robert Kirkman
Penciler Ben Oliver
Inker Jonathan Glapion
Colors Jason Keith
Letters VC’s Joe Caramagna
Phoenix?, Part Three of Three
Cover Dated August 2006
We finish the Ultimate X-Men issues that I bought at Christmas 2014.
If you want to follow along, this spectacular website has all of the pages :
Previously, Sebastian Shaw froze Xavier’s bank accounts. Lilandra Neramani, Majestrix of the Church of Shi’ar Enlightenment, has offered to give Xavier the needed money – if she can get examine Jean Grey. She wants to do this as Jean is suppose to be the manifestation of their god, the Phoenix – of course. Xavier accepted, as he needs money. The examine has been quite painful for Jean. Emma Frost is trying to hold a dance at her school and the Brotherhood of Mutants has crashed it. Cyclops has brought a team to fight the Brotherhood. The X-Men have a new team member, Elliott Boggs, who will be named – The Magician.
The issue opens with The Blob on the attack. The Magician is trying new techniques to bring Blob down. Toad and Cyclops are fighting each other.
Xavier Institute for Gifted Children. Jean is going full Dark Phoenix and Lilandra can’t believe it. The Phoenix manifestation isn’t suppose to be a sudden transformation, more like a gradual change. So she doesn’t believe Jean is doing it right. Xavier comes into the room and tries to calm Jean down.
The Academy of Tomorrow. Rogue still has Gambit’s powers at this point. Magician makes it so that everything around Blog is light so he falls off his feet. Once he is in movement, he is easier to deal with.
Xavier Institute for Gifted Children. Xavier shuts down Jean and is knocked out in the process. Gerald comes inot the room, I guess he is a partner of Lilandra’s.
Emma Frost’s Academy of Tomorrow. These two couldn’t come up with a regular name for a school, I guess. The media starts calling Boggs, the Magician, they are really digging him. We start seeing that Scott isn’t a big fan of him. He’s all powerful so him being on a team seems unnecessary. He doesn’t last that long and gets his own three part storyline as the very next storyline. So this is a three parter and the next is a three parter, so that makes up a trade. Cyclops sees Angel, who was sent to Academy of Tomorrow, at some point. Scott has an awkward greeting with his brother, they really don’t get along well. Some things never change. Scott tells Colossus that if he wants a ride home, they are leaving soon so he should say goodbye to his boyfriend, Northstar.
Xavier Institute for Gifted Children. Jean wakes up, not proud of her actions. Lilandra concludes that it must be the Phoenix that is coming through Jean. Gerald speaks up and states that Jean’s parents were members of the Church of the Shi’ar Enlightenment, so Jean must be acting out what she overheard as a child. Plus, her blood test results came back all wrong. Gerald states that Jean has a split personalities. This, naturally, makes Jean very upset as she has been called crazy, for all of her life.
Later. Kitty comes out of her room (I imagine she didn’t go to the dance, as she’s dating Spider-Man at this point) stating that the media is loving the Magician. Kitty is excited about being on talk shows, unfortunately, Xavier will never put one of his better and smarter students on the news. Even though, she is the best example of a non-threatening mutant – unless you really think about how deadly her powers are.
Storm wonders if Wolverine is back yet. Kurt is still not talking to Colossus, we learn in the second annual that it is due to Kurt being disgusted with Colossus’ life style – which is way too harsh and unfair.
Cyclops looks for Jean and Xavier intercepts him first, as he has to tell the young man the news.
Scott goes to Jean, she wants to be left alone. We see that goblins are all over Jean, but Scott didn’t see them, so she may be going to sleep. I do enjoy Ultimate Jean getting to experience the Goblin Queen and the Phoenix Saga, all in one go. That seems like a decent way to handle it as we will never get a Maddie Pryor in the Ultimate Universe, which is a real shame. Though I don’t recall exactly what happens with the goblin subplot, we will have to watch and see.
The Church of Shi’ar Enlightenment Headquaters. Gerald makes a call to Shaw, so we know he is a bad guy now. He tells Shaw the truth, Jean is the vessel for the Phoenix and he suspects they can use her. Actually, he is working for the Hellfire Club but not necessarily with Shaw. This is how the issue ends.
Cover by Brian Stelfreeze
Writers
Ads Howard Mackie, John Rozum, Bob Washington
Features Gary Barmum, Tom Daning, Jack Morelli, Fabian Nicieza, Michael Rockwitz, Tony Stark, Rob Tokar, Ben Urich, Janet Van Dyne
Swimsuit Shoot Max Fleisher
Artists
Ads Paul Ryan & Tom Palmer, George Perez, Mike Zeck, Tom Morgan, Walt Simonson, Ron Frenz & Joe Sinnot, John Buscema & Tom Palmer
Features Donald Hudson, Joe Jusko, June Brigman & Al Milgrom, Jon Bogdanove & Stan Drake
Swimsuit Shoot Jim Lee, Steve Leialoha, Joe Jusko, Kevin Nowland, Rob Liefeld, Michael Golden, Jackson Guice, George Perez, Whilce Portacio & Scott Williams, Marc Silvestri & Terry Austin, Ron Frenz & Joe Sinnot, Steve Geiger, John Romita Jr., Rick Leonardi & Al Williamson, Walt Simonson, Paul Ryan & Joe Rubenstein, Bret Blevins, Mike Mignola
Cover Dated 1991
This is Marvel’s first Swimsuit Issue, so they try to match a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special. The four that follow (and I own them all as Kitty Pryde is in each one) are simply characters in swimsuits.
We’re reviewing this issue today, as we lost Paul Ryan this day, a year ago.
Special thanks to Le Messor, from the Comics Should Be Good post memorializing Paul Ryan’s death –
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2016/03/07/r-i-p-paul-ryan/
Without his help, I wouldn’t have known which pages Paul Ryan contributed nor who drew the Dazzler feature.
This issue has ads and features, which is pretty fun.
Paul Ryan gets the very first ad, starring Wolverine for Macho, Speed Stick Deodorant.
The photo shoot took place in the Savage Land.
Northstar gets an interview
Wonder Man gets an ad for underware
Super Olympics is a feature
Beast gets an ad for shampoo, Ultra-X
She-Hulk gets a workout feature
Silver Surfer gets a feature
John Bogdanove and Stan Drake’s art is featured in the Rockin’ in the Stone Age.
The Boys and Girls of Summer is the straight photo shoot pages
Reed Richards gets an ad for Kronex Watches
Quicksilver gets an ad for Spike shoes
Marc Silvestri gets to draw the X-Ladies and Lockheed! Major points for Lockheed and Kitty Pryde sharing the same swimsuit pattern. Other ladies present are – Storm, Jean Grey, Rogue, Rachel, Psylocke and Dazzler.
Hercules gets an ad for Atomi-Flex.
Paul Ryan gets the final two page splash piece with the Avengers v West Coast Avengers playing a classic game of Tug O War. The Avengers are – Thor, Hercules, Se-Hulk and Captain America. West Coast Avengers are – Hawkeye, Mockingbird, US Agent, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch and Iron Man. Seris is the dame floating in the middle. Quasar, Tigra and Wasp are watching from the sidelines.
Ben Grimm gets a feature
Matt Murdock gets the final feature, written by Ben Urich
Namor gets the inside back cover for his company, Oracle
Thor gets the back cover ad for Flic Disposables
For $3.95, pretty impressive that there are no real ads.
Story Brian K. Vaughan
Art Steve Dillon
Colors Paul Mounts
Letters Chris Eliopoulos
Cover Dated June 2005
If you want to follow along, this amazing website has the entire issue :
A nice done-in-one issue.
Xavier is at a bank, all of his money is tied up as Sebastian Shaw is claiming that there was an unauthorized transfer of funds. Xavier resists the urge to dilute the banker’s savings account. Before Xavier can leave, the bank is held up by conjoined twins, who go by the name – Syndicate. A lady calls them a Siamese twin but he isn’t from Siam, which is an awesome comeback and I imagine until the word, conjoined, caught up, was a point of contention.
The bank manager tries to give them the money, as the bank is insured and gets a gun to his face – which is completely uncalled for.
Xavier tries to play mind games but since they are conjoined at the brain (is that the wording?) they are able to resist the trick. They kick him out of his chair. He mentally calls out to the local police. Xavier starts trying to mentally give the rest of the bank hostages courage to speak up. He mentally calls to Jean, wondering how they are doing in New Jersey.
Dillon draws a pretty nice Shadowcat there. I really dug his style on his legendary Punisher run and the little I read of Preacher, but I’m not typically a big Dillon fan.
The X-Men are fighting Ultimate Warlock, making his first appearance here.
Syndicate sends out a kid to relay their demands. They want a jet in an hour or they start killing people every 15 minutes. They send the hostages into the vault.
Xavier quickly becomes the leader of the hostages, as he keeps calm. Xavier wants them to come up with an escape plan.
Xavier turns to Sara and unblocks her doubt in her mind so that she can attack with her skills she learned in Tae Kwon Do. Mr. Thomas doesn’t like Xavier sending children out to fight for them – which is super funny as that is what Xavier does best! Mrs. Thomas revives Mr. Kleinfield, the bank manager. Nice to see a fellow Klein in print, I feel like there are a few fictional ones out there.
Xavier comes out to Syndicate, as they are bickering to themselves. He offers the contents of his safety deposit but they turn it down as everything in the bank is theirs. He throws the bag at them.
The dye packs, anti-theft measures, explode and Xavier orders the two teams out of the vault. Team One heads to the exit and Team Two attacks.
There is an ad for God of War on the Playstation 2. I only played the third game and that was pretty fun.
Sara and a blonde dude attacks Syndicate. Xavier tells the two of them, the man’s name is Kevin, to go outside. Once they are gone, Syndicate chokes Xavier.
Xavier calls them by their names, Luke and Matthew. They are robbing the bank so that they can pay for Alice’s (their sister) operation. If they don’t do what he tells them to do, he will order Alice to jump off the roof of the hospital. He tells them he is the leader of the X-Men, so they know he is serious.
They call him on his bluff. He tells them that the cancer has weaken her mind so much that she is easy to locate and control, she is at Central Bronx Hospital.
They come out peacefully but change their minds and go hostile. The police respond in kind and shoot the brothers down. The police only believe they killed Syndicate and leave. They will do better for Xavier’s cause as living beings than dead mutants.
The issue ends with Xavier wanting Syndicate to infiltrate the Hellfire Club, get his money back and he will pay for their sister’s operation.
Writer Brian K. Vaughan
Penciller Andy Kubert
Inker Danny Miki
Colorist Justin Ponsor
Letterer Virtual Calligraphy Chris Eliopoulos
Cry Wolf, Part One of Four
Cover Dated October 2004
If you want to follow along, this incredible website has all of the pages –
Xavier Institute for Gifted Children. Westchester, New York. Jean is outside, meditating. Scott shows up, his mother didn’t sign the permission slip, so he didn’t go with the rest of the X-Men to Coney Island. I guess Ultimate Scott still has his mother in his life. I’m sure Scott’s mother doesn’t sign permission to all of their foreign locations or impromptu adventures. I can imagine Xavier drawing a line at fun activities. Once a month, Jean’s telepathy starts affecting her telekinesis. Jean comments on the sunset, but Scott sees it, like everything else, red. Jean gets him to take off his glasses and blast into the sky. So he can see normally for that little bit. Could thing Xavier owns all of the property for miles on end.
Coney Island. Brooklyn, New York. Colossus is trying out one of those strong man games, but it isn’t budging much.
Colossus gets super frustrated, as he knows he is much stronger than the game lets on. He makes a reference to Illyana, so this is the issue that she is mentioned in Ultimate X-Men 18. That’s sort of cool that I bought both of these appearances for Christmas.
Rogue and Bobby are going to go to the Spin ‘n’ Puke, and Bobby invites Kitty – which she is thrilled to be a third wheel.
Storm and Wolverine are going to roam about.
Dazzler is left behind with Colossus, she doesn’t like being called, Dazzler. That is her band name, her name is Ali – I will try to remember that. Ali, like Beast, suspects that Xavier messed with her mind to make her join the team. Ali keeps coming on super strong and Colossus isn’t making a move.
Storm and Wolverine come across the ‘freak show’ tent which upsets Storm. We get the first appearances of Ultimate Wolfsbane, Puck and Great Lakes Avengers’ Big Bertha, as well as Spiral. Wolverine tries to calm her down. We start seeing that Gambit is stalking various members of the team. Storm feels back for Nightcrawler and Angel, as their mutations means that they can’t be out in the public.
We see that Nightcrawler and Angel are in a Danger Room Pirate scenario. Angel wonders if they are going to get into trouble and Nightcrawler suspects Xavier is off rehearsing a dumb speech. Turns out, Xavier is enjoying watching the session.
Rogue is in the bathroom, so Kitty decides to lay into Bobby. She doesn’t like Rogue as she use to work for Magneto and when she was in Weapon X, she messed up Bobby pretty well. Bobby has since forgiven Rogue as she wasn’t in her right mind, at that time. Kitty’s third example is that Rogue nearly killed the insane Mister Sinister, Bobby says that he was trying to kill them, so that is pretty reasonable.
Bobby doesn’t like it that Kitty references how a guy can’t really be dating a girl he can’t touch.
Bobby wants her to stop. Kitty wants him to admit that he is only dating Rogue so that he can avoid being in a real relationship. Bobby kisses Kitty and she’s been desperate to be in a relationship, so she kisses him back. Rogue witnesses this.
Rogue makes her way over to her boyfriend and straight punches out that hussy, Ms. Pryde! She will spend the rest of the issue knocked out.
Gambit asks if there is anything wrong here.
oh, Gambit, does anyone look good with a perm? I haven’t seen any evidence to prove otherwise.
Bobby turns into Iceman and Gambit takes him out.
The other four X-Men hear the ruckus and come over.
Gambit has been training and can now make killer shots and brings down an entire Ferris wheel, with one card.
Wolverine gives some orders and he takes on Gambit.
Wolverine pops his claws and Gambit brings out out his bo staff. He breaks it over Wolverine’s head.
Gambit grabs one of Wolverine’s claws, which must really cut up his hand, right? He starts charging Wolverine’s skeleton and Wolverine sheathes his claws as he doesn’t want to explode. Now, I really want to see Gambit do that to Wolverine, with his healing power, he can take the beating and it would be a cool thing for Gambit to do.
Instead, Gambit charges his bo and places it in Logan’s mouth and explodes his skull.
Issue ends with Gambit telling Rogue that he has been charged with stealing her away.
I own the other three chapters to this storyline, so I will review those one of these days.
Thanks to YouTuber ColbieCaillatVEVO for hosting the video!
I really dig Colbie Caillat’s Try, it is a great message and sung beautifully. I do other songs of hers, I just have a hard time remembering her when she is in-between singles.
With all of the close ups on faces and the white background, the video reminds me of the title sequence to Orange is the New Black.
Thanks to Netflix for hosting this video!
Which we really like the show and the theme song but the title sequence, itself, is hard to watch. Which is probably the point. Both videos have that in common, women keeping it real and good for them! The theme song of the show is Regina Spektor’s You’ve Got Time.
Story Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils David Finch
Inks Danny Miki
Colors Frank D’Armata
Letters Chris Eliopolus
New Mutants, Part Five of Six
Cover Dated June 2004
If you want to follow along, this excellent website has all of the pages –
Issue opens with Angel and Wolverine in the Danger Room. Angel wants Wolverine to train him so he can fight better. Once the claws snikt out, he gets scared and wants to stop. Wolverine ends the session by showing how in control of his claws, he is. Wolverine smells a familiar scent.
Fury is talking to Xavier while Storm, Jean and Cyclops listen. Fury wants Xavier’s help with a delicate situation. Wolverine was attacked during Bendis’ Blockbuster arc and Fury believes he knows who may have been behind it. He believes there is a fraction of high rank government officials. The fraction under the impression that Xavier may be manipulating the President, as Xavier manipulated the world into believing Magneto was killed on live television. The President is Pro-Mutant now, and they find that suspicious.
There is an ad for Encore’s Daredevil video game, that never came out but I wish it did.
Fury knows Xavier isn’t doing any of that type of activity. Fury isn’t able to confront this group directly. The group has high ranked military officials. Fury can’t make a move without proof. If he did, he risks being decommissioned, detained or even, court martial-ed for treason. Worst, the group could go back into deeper hiding. Fury can tell Wolverine is behind the door.
What is bringing all of this to a head is, the President is going to announce a new mutant education program. He has a group of young mutants, who are lead by Emma Frost – who Xavier has a history with. In the Ultimate Universe, Xavier got himself around.
The President is trying to distance himself from Xavier. The students are Beast, one of Fury’s trainees and Havok – who Cyclops doesn’t keep in touch with. Xavier wants to know what he should be doing about all of this information.
Fury can’t confront the group and he can’t warn the President without tipping the group off. He can’t have his people make a presence as that would alarm the group. Fury can’t, legally, enlist the X-Men, as they are civilians. The President is holding an outdoor press conference on the steps of the Capital Building to announce the new agenda.
Fury is worried about the President’s safety and the safety of the students. His hands are tied and he can’t tell Xavier Xavier about any of this. He wants to know what Xavier is going to do.
The President is making his speech.
The President (Bush 43)’s face is covered as the policy in the Ultimate books is to try to keep the comics evergreen, which is silly. I get, like with the original Spider-Man clone saga, that there is a scene where President Ford makes a speech, which instantly dates the comic. But how many winters have passed in the Ultimate Universe? Marvel is so silly with their sliding time scale but they are stuck with not wanting to lose their properties.
Next to President Bush is – Emma, Havok, Beast and two unnamed ladies, one looks like Dazzler. Marvel Database confirms Dazzler and the other is Karma, which makes sense with what I know is to come in this title.
There is a kid in the audience who recognizes the X-Men and asks Kitty why they are not on the stage. He is a big fan of theirs, as they are awesome.
A Sentinel arrives, the President is moved to safety. Xavier shouts to the X-Men to save the day.
The Sentinel eye blasts the steps and Beast is struck. Wolverine tells Angel to fly him up.
Angel learns how heavy Wolverine is and can’t fly up high enough.
Issue ends with Beast dead for the first time, he will come back in like twenty issues and will die in the first issue of Ultimatum.
The Second Ever X-Men Letters Page has letters from – Lindsey Douglas of Myrtle Beach, SC / Patrick Guaschino / Roland Shum / Ann Nichols of Sierra Vista, AZ / Hubert Tyrelle of Charlotte, NC / Adam Weinstein / Craig Yoshihara of Atlanta, GA and finally, Ame and Eric. Eric wrote a letter that was printed in Ultimate X-Men, wherein he proposed to Ame and on this page, we are told that she said yes. Congrats you too! That is a pretty cool!
The back cover ad is for the Thomas Jane Punisher film, which I still really like. I like how, if you combine this film with Punisher : War Zone, you essentially get the Welcome Back, Frank storyline by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.
 | 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 