Today, Star Wars Episode VII comes out! Something I’ve wanted ever since, as a child, that George Lucas was waiting until the cast was old enough and follow up their adventures. I didn’t think it would take this long but still, I’m pretty excited. Who knows when I will be able to watch the film.
Like the Transformers cover, for the Marvel 25th Anniversary theme, I wasn’t that familiar with who the cover character was.
That would be Wicket Wystri Warrick, from Star Wars Episode VI, Return of the Jedi. Who looked like this –
If he looked like this, I would have noticed him.
For more information on Wicket, here is his official Wookieepedia page :
This is a Star Comic, so I knew it was geared towards children but I hadn’t known it was based off of the Ewoks animated series, that I didn’t know existed.
This is a two part story, the first part appearing in Droids 4. In that issue, C-3PO and R2-D2 have gone through a Time Warp Portal, along with a King’s son, and they need to find the son and get him back. I imagine other nonsense happen, but that’s all that they let on at the offset of the issue.
Wicket and Princess Kneesaa are about to be crushed under a boulder, along with C-3PO and R2-D2. I like how 3-CPO calls him, Artoo, I guess I’ve always heard it as R2 but it makes sense to spell it out. Does C-3PO have a nice short hand?
Artoo lifts his arms and the boulder bounces off his feet. Once that threat has passed, Kneesaa (which when I first read it, I thought it was just a word of excitement that Wicket shouted) calls the Droads, demons. The Ewoks are under the impression that the boulder and the ‘demons’ are part of a Dulok trap. Duloks being the sworn enemies of the Ewoks.
Threepio (which I don’t believe is shorter but it saves one pinky extension) speaks the Ewoks’ language. He calls it an obscure dialect of the inner Zuma region. Artoo speaks in sound effects, which couldn’t have been fun to type.
The Droids are looking for Prince Plooz, if the prince doesn’t get back, two worlds will go to war. Kneesaa believes that Plooz is the Star Child. The Ewoks thought he was a good omen, for the upcoming peace talks. The two Ewoks and the Droids head to the Ewok village, to warn them.
And at the Ewoks Tree Top Village. The choosen village elders are on their way to the treaty site. They lost the star child, as he is eating honey, straight from a giant barrel. Chief Chirpa instructs them to give the prince, a bath. Plooz doesn’t care for it. Plooz doesn’t speak their language, so the poor child is just having these events happen to him.
Shortly. Wicket and Kneesaa and the Droids get to the village but no one is around. They look for Logray’s Hut, who is their medicine man. I guess he isn’t that important to bring to a peace talk – which makes sense. Logray strikes the Droids, as he also believes they are demons.
Logray shares the prophecy, that a blinding flash of light will bring good fortune to the Ewoks this day.
At the Peace Treaty Meeting Place. The Duloks see the elder Ewoks about to cross the bridge and prepare to undo the bridge. We can see that the sun is shining bright (that will be useful in a bit).
Before they can destroy the bridge, Chief Chirpa announces that a star child has come to Endor. The Duloks snatch the star child (who looks very panicked) and declare that they now own the child. Gorneesh threatens to throw the child off of a cliff unless the Ewoks leave, which they do. As they go over the bridge, Gorneesh’s second in command starts cutting the bridge.
Nearby. The Droids and the two younger Ewoks witness what is happening. Threepio comes running and the sun light bounces off of him and he appears to be glowing. This scares away the Duloks, so Threepio was the actual omen of Logray’s prophecy.
The prince wants to join his droid amigos but the bridge is unsafe. Luckily, handy Artoo is near and has rope, so the bridge gets fixed. The prince starts bouncing across and almost falls but Wicket makes a hero dive and saves Prince Plooz.
Threepio tells the Ewoks the story of Plooz’s father and the pending war.
A Race in Time!
Part Two of the Demons of Endor
The Ewoks wave goodbye and the trio fly off. They reenter the time void. King Gokus (Plooz’s father) threatens to end King Zornog, as he hasn’t return Plooz yet. General Sludd (who is betraying Gokus) is pleased with himself. He hopes the two kings kill each other and their respected empires are each to conquer after that.
Threepio states that only minutes have passed, so that’s a relief. The droids pilot the ship directly for the royal city, as Sludd’s ship gives chase. They land in front of the palace. Gokus comes running out, Plooz exits the ship, super excited to see his father – with the biggest grin ever that makes me smile.
Sludd tries to claim that the droids kidnapped the prince but the prince doesn’t let that stand. Good thing Artoo is around as he has Sludd’s original threatening message about his traitorous intentions.
The ends with C-3PO holding a sleeping, and happy, Plooz.
A pretty cute comic.
I’m not sure when I will be able to watch Star Wars Episode 7 : The Force Awakens but it looks amazing!
Spartax. The issue opens with Quill shouting that the delegates need to get to safety. Rocket can’t believe that crazy has followed Quill to his home planet.
Gamora recognizes the planet that now orbits Spartax, is it Kindun. Which I don’t recognize as something. Gamora states that the person who controls Kindun, hates her adopted father – Thanos, and is here to attack her.
Kitty (and me) needs someone to do a quick recap on Kindun.
Okay, this concept has only been around since Guardians Team-Up 2, and five came out recently (when I typed this originally). Kindun is the name of the guy who hates Thanos, and he also named the planet after himself.
Kindun has enlisted the Chitauri, who I only know from the Avengers film. I thought they were just the Ultimate version of the Skrulls, making the word – Skrull – a dirty slang word but that must no longer be the case. Or maybe it is, but in the Ultimate Universe and in the Proper Marvel Universe, they are their own race.
Gamora flies off to confront Kindun. Drax is fighting along side the Royal Spartax Guard.
Quill starts making a plan and Agent Venom arrives and joins the fight. Drax and Venom will stay on Spartax proper and Quill, Pryde and Rocket will follow Gamora’s lead.
Kindun, the Living Planet. Probably no relation to Ego. Gamora is ripping through fools. Kindun is connected to the planet, so he feels the damage Gamora is doing.
Spartax Royal Guardens. Groot is fighting off the aliens. We see Cosmic Kitty has a new form. I’m still pretty sure she isn’t the mysterious lady that will be featured in A-Force – which is a real shame. Pryde is getting used to Groot’s language.
I guess the away team didn’t leave as Quill had to tell Groot the plan. Venom is really letting Quill know that the surface fight is nothing more than a distraction.
Pryde makes sure Quill has a real plan and he says he does. I do like them calling each other “dear” and “honey.” Pryde’s cosmic form, looks like how it did at the beginning of Black Vortex, when we were given everyone’s enhanced form.
Kindun, the Living Planet. Gamora appears beaten so Kindun, the dude, tells everyone to stop the beating. She bounces back to her feet, she makes a big speech about how he needs to release his anger towards her. She will kill him, if he doesn’t leave her alone. He sends his forces at her and she just starts slaying them. She will kill Kindun and then her father but she rather just kill her father.
The away team gets closer to Kindun, except that it seems to be getting farther away from them as they approach.
The Chitauri are fleeing, which isn’t like them.
Gamora tells them that the fight is over. Rocket wants to kill some fools but Pryde tells him to calm down. Gamora has defended an entire planet and defeated an entire planet, this has been some day!
Gamora tells them that she has to leave.
Gamora being with the Guardians, has brought more fights than it has brought success. Gamora wants to take the fight to Thanos, as she can’t do that with all of these distractions. She loves the team and can’t bear to repeat that she is leaving to Groot, so she wants them to do it.
The Planet Spartax. The delegates are so thankful as Quill has saved the planet, and it is only his first day as acting President.
Quill wants a moment alone away from the delegates.
I really adore this last page and we learn that this is the last issue of Bendis’ Guardians of the Galaxy.
Prydc asks Quill want he wants to do. He only really wants to go to a beach and look at Pryde, which is awesome. She’s okay with whatever he decides to do, as long as it is the best decision he can make. She is on board with him staying as the President, she’s okay with him being a space pirate, she is all in.
I imagine we will get his decision in Star Lord and AoA Kitty Pryde, which I’m way excited about!
My son turns two, today, so we are celebrating with one of Pryde’s Pride!
Emma is taking out each member of the team, this is how she handles Kitty.
Colossus and Kitty welcome their new baby boy, Michael. I’m not sure why these two would name their son, Michael. Besides it being an English version of Mikhail, Colossus’ older brother. But that is a horrible person to name your son after, and I’m pretty sure Kitty and Mikhail has never had any panel time together. Which may explain why she would be cool with it, as she doesn’t have any negative implications with the namesake.
Is Logan’s reference to wanting to finally smoke a cigar, a reference to Joe Quesada’s No Smoking policy?
Xavier comes in and Kitty is very proud to to show off her son. Xavier makes a face, like something is wrong.
Years later, maybe only one, Michael is saying “Arigato” which is Japanese for “thank you.” Kitty isn’t sure where he is picking up this language, she figured Russian. She wonders if he has a power like Doug. Colossus quickly shoots that down, which I like that jealousy angle.
Xavier, in a new style hover chair – which doesn’t seem save, if someone pushed him off of it, as his legs are not protected at all. Xavier tells Kitty to get away from Michael.
Kitty, rightfully so, takes offense that Xavier refers to Michael as an, it. The whole team is here, to take away Michael. Including Colossus, who hits Kitty, as Xavier shut down her powers.
Michael, apparently, has some great and terrible power, no one is being specific. Kitty, as a great mother, refuses to allow them to take her child away from her, based off of vague details. Kitty whispers to Colossus to distract them as she makes a run for it. Proving that he is the worst, he hits her.
Kitty has Colossus dead to rights, with an axe currently phased through his head. If he doesn’t tell her where her son is, he is dead. She calls him a, big stupid metal robot – which is is how I feel about robots too.
Apparently, while being force-ably kept from her son, she sung him to sleep every night. This went on for eighteen months, which is forever, in terms of having a baby! Poor Kitty counted the days – five hundred and forty-seven times. For anyone interested, 1.5 years is 13,118 hours.
This is sort of breaking my heart, poor baby Michael went to sleep, 547 times without his mother, at his side.
Colossus reveals that Michael is in the basement and “Emma’s” mind tricks are lifted. Kitty, still in the illusion, heads off to the basement.
SWORD Peak station. Brand is discussing the situation with Sydren. Brand isn’t surprised that it was Emma, who was the traitor, Fury stated that would most likely happen. Sydren states that it feels like Cassandra Nova but not quite like her – which is super helpful.
Agent Deems comes in, and says the mole has a visual. Ord and Danger have teamed up. Brand hates that the Shi’ar are still screwing things up, as Danger is Shi’ar tech, giving life. I’m right there with Brand, Shi’ar have done more harm than good.
The mole checks in, wanting to stop Ord but Brand wants to see this play out. Brand talks directly to the mole, who is . . .
I sort of like how there is a two page spread about NBC’s Heroes, which that first season was so good, especially once Sylar shows up. What I like about the ad is how it builds suspense to the big reveal.
The big mystery since issue eight, who is the mole?, is finally revealed. It is Lockheed! What!?!
Look how boss Cassaday draws Lockheed, that little fella is built like a shithouse!
James wakes up Armor and catches her up. The Pryde girl walked away. Howlett saw Emma’s undercruve silhouette. Armor wants to know about Ms. Pryde, me too!
Kitty starts narrating how family always fails you. I love the phase, the only person you can trust is the one you make.
Kitty gets to the box that her son is in.
Blindfold wakes up Colossus. He is knocked out from when Shaw boxed his stupid ears. She gives him his orders.
Beast, still acting like a mindless animal, has killed a deer and is eating it raw dog.
We get a scene of the New Hellfire Club. Cassandra Nova is getting inpatient.
Kitty thinks to herself, that this is going to be difficult. The box has been made, Kitty-proof. She has 18 months of practicing for this one moment.
Kitty gets her hand into the box, and it is quite painful.
James isn’t use to all of this funny business, like women walking through walls. He knows she went downwards and westerly. Armor swears at him, in Japanese, that he calls “heathen funny talk.” He reminds her that he has claws.
Danger crashes into the room and James and Armor fall backwards. Ord is right behind her.
We get the page that this issue is mostly known for –
James Howlett disappears and Wolverine is back, thanks to beer!
Ord wants Danger to take him to Colossus.
Kitty has saved Michael. Colossus enters the basement but sees Michael.
Instead of a human baby, that we knew wasn’t going to be an actual baby – instead it is a giant green slug. And it is so disgusting that Colossus passes out. This is a hold over from the Morrison run, wherein Cassandra Nova’s essence is trapped in the slug. Which I thought she was stuck in the form of, Ernst, but I could be wrong.
Kitty passes out, from the strain.
Cassandra Nova can’t wait to transfer from the slug form to Kitty – which is a great idea!
So much fun that Cassandra Nova has plans to treat Kitty’s hair better than Kitty already does. She’s wasting it!
Before the Hellfire Club can make a move, Perfection (the fake Emma) is shot by . . . Cyclops! Which ends the issue.
Cyclops makes a reference to issue 14, when Emma told him that he doesn’t have claws, after she dressed him as Wolverine and he attempted to stab her. Instead, it was like a weak punch, I imagine.
. . .
Today is Walker Dennis’ second birthday! I’m so proud of you, son, and everything that you have accomplished!
Thanks to YouTuber Ryan Lewis for hosting his own video.
I’m currently obsessed with this song.
Other artists on the track (and in the video) are – Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee & Grandmaster Caz.
My favorite part, is the sweet hook by Eric Nally. I was hoping that – like Mary Lambert’s Same Love, that hook was part of its own song but I haven’t found it.
I like how long the rap is, and how it is like six different songs, strung together.
Lockheed only appears on the cover. Eva is wearing the outfit she wore to the club last issue. She also only appears on the cover.
The Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Now. Kitty is outside of Beast’s lab. He isn’t answering her summons, which he isn’t even listening as he is back in time.
The very first panel shows Kitty outside of the lab, with no one around. Three panels later, Iceman is right next to her. Where did he come from?
Kitty enters the lab and looks around. She is confused by some of the readouts that are displayed. Iceman knows she is a genius so this is way out of his league.
I like how Beast uses his classic 80s Beast ape man face as the warning screen.
Then. Beast is trying to convince the Original X-Men to come with him. Bobby can’t believe that the guy he knows, Scott, can be responsible for any deaths or destruction.
Beast asks Jean to read his mind, so that she knows he is telling the truth. This is shocking to her, as she didn’t know she could read minds. She was just a basic telekinesis type at this point.
Warren starts asking why Beast can’t talk to his time era Xavier. Beast takes a beat and then tells them that Cyclops killed Xavier. I really like the panel where they hear this with the broken glass effect before their heads.
Scott is just shock by all of this news.
Beast talks to his younger self, trying to convince him of the stakes involved. He even swears on their mother, which poor Hank doesn’t even know that an alternate timeline version of himself will later masquerade as him and kill his entire living family. I would leave that out too, if it was me.
Warren wants to know why Beast doesn’t just kill Cyclops, as he killed Xavier. Beast tells him that he refuses to take anymore lives.
Beast goes outside and has another attack. The Original Five are in costume now and agree to go to the present, just to investigate the claims.
Once there, they are amazed by the size and appearance of the school. Jean wants to know why the school is named after her now.
There is a double page house ad for Amazing Spider-Man 700. Don’t worry, Spider-Man comes back it takes a year and a half, but still.
Wolverine is teaching a class about what to do when fighting a ninja master. He then gets a whiff of a scent and leaves the room. Wolverine jumps at the Original Five X-Men, and Jean holds him in the sky and Scott optic blasts him. Bobby freezes him.
Storm, Kitty and Iceman all come out and are not pleased with what they see.
Then the Two Robert Drakes meet :
Pretty fun. Bendis knows, even at the start, to limit Bobby to just two great moments per issue.
Beast has another attack, this one freaks out Hank.
Kitty is the only one, besides Hank, who knows her way around the lab.
Storm tells them that Reed Richards and Tony Stark have messages for them to respond quickly. She mentions Horizon Labs, which I’m not familiar with. It is the place that Peter Parker works at that where Doctor Octopus once he is ‘Peter Parker’ excels at.
Iceman looks at the Original X-Men, wanting to know what they were told. Scott says that he is there to speak to his older self. Something that even in the present day, hasn’t really happened outside of a few lines.
Wolverine takes the ‘little X-Men’ to the study. Jean makes him fall asleep and it looks just like how our son, Walker Dennis, sleeps now :
Jean reveals that Wolverine’s thoughts are that he wants to send them back immediately but also that Beast is his new hero.
Scott still can’t believe he killed his mentor. They see Cyclops on the news. Bobby can’t believe televisions are not better in the future.
She also reveals that Wolverine runs the school. Bobby can’t believe a guy like that, with claws, will run a school.
Hank knows that his present day self is dying. That’s why he risked time itself to bring them forward.
Scott wants to really meet himself and have a nice chat. Bobby knows that Cyclops is seeking new mutants, so maybe they should. Just then a news reporter states a new mutant has been found at the University of Dallas, so they take the Blackbird and away they go.
Kitty enters the room and sees only Wolverine sleeping away.
Issue ends with the X-Men watching the Blackbird fly away. He can’t believe Jeannie is around again.
Not sure when I will review the third issue but it has been great to go back to these early issues of All New X-Men.
The Changling, One Hour Ago. Mystique is watching a new section (to us) of Destiny’s video. Destiny is explaining how crucial the final steps are, to bring her back. There will be a lot of improvising.
Poor Lady Deathstrike is holding onto Shogun.
Mister Sinister comes at Mystique, so hard. She starts talking and he grabs her by her lying dumb mouth.
X23 wakes up Daken, he wants nothing to do with Sinister and wants to just leave. X23 is under the impression if they all defeat him, Mystique will get them home. As they are currently in the middle of the ocean. X23 wants a progress report on Shogun from Lady Deathstrike, She informs the spawn of Wolverine that Shogun is dead.
Ogun, in awesome page turn reveal, tells her that he leaves. Which is so fantastic!
Lady Deathstrike thought Fang killed Ogun but he just pushed him way down. Sharp was finally at death’s door so Ogun was able to finally do what he has been wanting this entire time, and take control over the body. Ogun really enjoys Lady Deathstrike, which I like seeing a more romantic side of him. If, romantic, is the right word.
I really enjoy Lady Deathstrike’s disbelief of the situation. She has two dudes, well two minds, sharing one body, fighting over her to be her gentleman companion. Ogun’s stakes are pretty low, if he dies, he will get a new body and if Sinsiter dies, that’s one more impressive death to add to Ogun’s vita.
While talking to Mystique, Sinister gets a s-word through the chest and Mystique drops to the ground. She shouts that everyone should get to the ship. Which I guess wasn’t destroyed in the crash. There was a giant explosion but everything, once the dust settled, was pretty much the same. That’s some impressive construction!
Sinister recognizes that the person he is fighting, should be the soldier, Sharp. Ogun corrections him, Sinister is facing – The Father of Blades. Which I imagine sounds cool on the page but I’m feeling like I have to give a lot of emphasis on it, to give it the proper weight.
Ogun claims to be the demon that caused Sinister nightmares as a child. Sinister, in possibly the coolest line of the year, tells Ogun that he was never a child.
Ogun cuts off the fingers of Sinister’s left hand and Sinister is barely impressed.
Mystique gets the Wolverines back together and starts giving orders. Sabretooth can’t believe he killed Junk, he has no memory of it. Lady Deathstrike is to watch Sabretooth. Mystique keeps calling him, Shogun, and Lady Deathstrike hints that is no longer Shogun but Mystique doesn’t have time to ask follow-up questions. X23’s orders are to grab the contents of a red chest in Mystique’s room. Daken is to check on Siphon.
X23 opens the chest and sees that old costumes are in it but it looks like a wedding dress, to me.
There is a great Marvel tribute to Herb Trimpe’s passing. 1939 – 2015, in memory of a Giant among Legends. So true!
Mystique, as X23, tells Daken that they should fight Sinister. Mystique gives Portal the Zhulong, a dagger like item that will let him teleport anywhere. So he agrees to help her, also, he doesn’t want Sinister to kill him.
Elsewhere. Siphon bites Daken and he puts a collar on Siphon.
Ogun mistakenly tells Sinister how Ogun was so smart to take over Sharp’s body, once it was almost lifeless. Sinister injects Ogun with the same serum that released Endo, Neuro and Skel from their sooner-than-expected expiration dates.
Sabretooth still can’t believe he killed Junk, he suspects that Mystique had a hand in that. X23 interrupts Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike’s conversation to tell them that she is really done this time with Mystique.
Siphon obsorbs Sinister’s healing factor, which I didn’t see coming! I should have, as Sinister bragged earlier about how his healing factor rivals even Wolverine’s! And that guy survived an atomic bomb explosion!
I like how, once the serum kicks in, Sharp takes control of the body and the mask is back to being broken. When Ogun was in charge, the mask was for real.
Sinister doesn’t recognize Siphon.
It looks like Shogun (Sharp?) cuts off Sinister’s head. Siphon is back to being able to speak, and if he isn’t hurt – to badly – he shouldn’t have to feed for months. So, of course, he is shot multiple times.
Shogun and Daken are not happy with this turn of events but Mystique just has Portal teleport them elsewhere.
X23, Sabretooth (who is colored blue throughout this issue, but not everytime) and Lady Deathstrike arrive on the scene. X23 wants to know where the others were teleported too. Portal just teleports them to that location as well.
Issue ends with Portal teleporting the two of them to the Nexus of All Realities and he warns that the Nexus has a guardian. Which I already know who that guardian is, but the last page shows up Man-Thing! All who know fear, burn at Man-Thing’s touch!
So that ends the Sinister plot, and I imagine the final issue leads us into Secret Wars 2015?
I can’t believe I didn’t think about how the Nexus of All Realities, in Florida, would play some role in Secret Wars 2015, that just makes sense! I’m glad the series got back on track and it was so great to see Ogun back in charge, even for a little bit! I can only imagine Ogun/Sharp/Shogun appear in the final issue. Here is hoping!
Issue opens with Junk and Shogun, back to back, as the Wolverines surround them. Mister Sinister actually refers to them as, my Wolverines. He is preparing to make one of his giant speeches when the Changling crashes into the lab, exploding all around it. Amazingly, no one dies in the explosion.
X23 starts attacking Shogun, he says her release word, Mangonel, and she is no longer under the threat of any control words. That doesn’t help much, as Sabretooth – in a blind rage – comes barreling down on them.
X23 wants Shogun to release Sabretooth but Shogun needs to release Lady Deathstrike first. She gets in a few swipes on him.
Shogun gets it together enough to say Lady Deathstrike’s release word, Flamberge. She snaps out of it, amazed that he went through with it.
Junk tries to help X23 with Sabretooth, which mostly translates as – giving Sabretooth another target to concentrate on.
Skel wakes up Endo, as he wonders where Sinister went off to.
Mystique is also alive and is upset that things have gone so wrong and off course.
Shogun says Sabretooth’s release word, Ulfberht, but Mystique has blocked Sabretooth’s ability to hear. I have to admit to being impress with the codewords, as clearly they never would have come across someone saying these words before.
X23 tries to get Sabretooth off of Junk but Sabretooth straight up rips off Junk’s head. That guy is dead. Skel and X23 starts wailing on Sabretooth.
I like Shogun telling Lady Deathstrike that Sabretooth’s release word is, Ulfberht. That way, if he dies, she can say it whenever Sabretooth can hear again. Lady Deathstrike is sort of falling in love with Shogun, as he could have made her into a puppet but chose to not do so.
Endo knocks Lady Deathsrike aside and confronts Shogun for leaving her behind with Sinister. He may have saved the three Paradise folks but he also made it impossible for them to die.
Sabretooth shoots Sabretooth in the head, putting him down. Well, as down as Sabretooth usually goes. Skel says Mystique killed Endo but I can’t tell whenever that happen besides seeing the BLAM on the previous page. Marks painted style is incredible but I can’t figure out when a quasi-important character has been killed.
Lady Deathstrike even kicks Endo’s body aside and Endo lets out an agh!
Lady Deathsrike is trying to help Shogun. He knows he is dying but Ogun will most likely just jump to another body. Lady Deathstrike loves both of them.
Mystique unloads her gun on Skel, but isn’t sure if the bullets are even having an effect on him. Mystique gives some orders but X23 is done listening to her.
They start bickering but Lady Deathstrike tells them to stop, as he wants to hear Shogun’s last words. She really doesn’t want to lose either of the men in her life.
He doesn’t look like a blond Logan there, right? It is hard to tell without the distinct mutton chops.
Shogun’s final words (of the issue, maybe ever?) are that Lady Deathsrike is the toughest person he has ever met and he is glad they got the time together that they had.
Lady Deathstrike pronounces him dead and Mystique wants to get the heck out of the lab – as the issue ends.
I just found out that at San Diego Comic Con 2014, that this box set is being offered! Hopefully I can get one of these through a proper purchase down the road as it will be super expensive to buy a con exclusive.
(So I typed this on May 26, 2015 – so I’m seven months behind on my reviews – I have lots of comics! I didn’t realize I had that many but I really don’t want to just do reviews every single day but I recognize that the event is nearly over and I’m just now reviewing the issues.)
I went with this variant, as I’m sure that is Kitty Pryde playfully punching Peter Quill’s arm. I posed the question to the Uncanny X-Cast Facebook group and I’m being told there that those two are Clint Barton and Kate Bishop, the Hawkeyes, which would explain the target on his shirt. Still, I had to buy this issue for one character in specific, so I took a shot with this variant.
Issue opens with Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange and Molecule Man are trying to plead with the Beyonders but Doom has a plan. This is the only pages, I feel, that one needed to read the entire Hickman Avengers opus to fully grasp. Instead, to me, it just reads like Doom is speaking to a mysterious force, which sort of still works.
The Multiverse is dying. Only two universes remain. Today, Earths collide.
Manhattan. Earth-1610. Incursion Event Imminent. Just for anyone who doesn’t know and may be reading this, for the first time – 1610 is the Ultimate Universe and 616 is the Proper Marvel Universe.
The Triskelion. Headquarters of this Earth’s SHIELD. Ultimate Fury wants Reed to explain how much time is left.
The City. Home of the Cabal and the Children of Tomorrow. Currently residing in Manhattan. Ultimate Reed has a weird helmet on his head. Reed gives Fury some hope, there is still time to fight this out. Once Reed ends the call, we see that Reed has been working with the Proper Marvel’s Cabal (the villain version of the Illuminati) – Thanos, Black Swan and Terrax. Reed reveals that the two Earths should have no hope, he lied to Fury so that Fury could feel decent about his last hours.
Once I saw that Ultimate Shadowcat was actually in this title, I knew I was in a for a good time. As I suspect that I will be jumping in and out of this series.
Another crossover and looking over the list, I feel pretty good for knowing all but a few characters.
I still don’t know who the Avengers Manifold & Pod are. I’m not sure about the X-Men’s Nation X Sentinels, I know Hickman’s Avengers 38 dealt with Cyclops and Nation X but that didn’t have Kitty at all. So I didn’t read that issue.
I’m disappointed that proper Kitty isn’t counted amongst the Guardians of the Galaxy.
I’m not sure who Inferno is of the Inhumans, but I’m sure he’s just a new Inhuman that won’t be around in a year.
Ultimate Universe, I just assume that The City and Children of Tomorrow are both related to Reed, I know that is true of the City but it sounds right with the Children of Tomorrow, as well.
The only members of the Cabal, that I don’t know are Proxima Midnight & Corvus Glaive. This is a more cosmic Cabal than Norman Osborn’s Cabal. I do like the note that they are on the Ultimate Earth but they are from the Proper Marvel Universe.
Manhattan. Earth-616. The Incursion Point between both Worlds.Though the narrative, we are informed that the this world’s populace knows that their end is soon. Unless the heroes can help.
Baxter Building. Near it, an explosion occurs. We see that the Fantastic Four have been making a Life Raft, with a bunch of brains being invited. I like Reed growing a beard. Black Panther is also on board. We get the first check in with Black Widow and Spider-Woman, who are bringing in the majority of the scientists. A few didn’t want to come, opting to spend their last hours with their families. That is an impossible choice but I can only imagine I choose to stay on Earth. Unless I can pull an Elijah Wood in Deep Impact and marry Leelee Sobieski and bring her along with me.
Manifold is trying to save the day, by following Black Panther’s instructions but it really isn’t explained how he is going to do it or what his powerset is. He isn’t successful, like, not even a tad.
Ultimate Iron Man is leading the Ultimate army (of SHIELD soldiers) against a main heroes listed on the character list, so the Ultimate side of things have no chance.
Spider-Man is about, saving civilians as is Iron Fist and Luke Cage. Representing the Guardians of the Galaxy are – Star Lord, Drax and Rocket. No mention of where the other members are. Not sure why they didn’t bring their cosmically enhanced members such as Gamora and Shadowcat. Thor (who is really Jane Foster) is fighting along with Storm.
FalCap and Iceman witness Sentinels coming to assist as Cyclops is leading them, as he is a leader of Nation X. Captain Marvel is directly fighting Ultimate Iron Man. Groot is on the scene, as well. Ultimate Iron Man inappropriately hits on Captain Marvel.
She-Hulk fights a weak spot in the Ultimate Hellicarrier and Colossus fastball specials Doc Green, in that direction. The Ultimate Universe is not putting up a decent fight, at all. Ultimate Hawkeye is on board, aiding Ultimate Nick Fury, they know they are not putting up a fight. Fury tells Reed to begin to use his doomsday worldkiller weapon.
Giant explosions star occurring. We get a panel with Ultimate Jean, Wolverine, Cloak & Dagger and Shadowcat! Hence, why I own this issue. I’m hoping, since they are included here, that they are crucial (or at least, involved) in Ultimate End. Which I can only imagine takes place right before this issue. So the final issue has to recreate some of this.
There are these, practically, city wide domes on Earth now. They slowly open, revealing a slew of smaller ships. Seems like Ultimate City is just the Proper version of The World, of the Weapon X facility.
Ultimate Spider-Man was standing on one of the globes. Now the Ultimate Universe has brought its big guns.
Kingpin sent a massive e-mail to his fellow villains. I like their e-mails
I wish they were more imaginative e-mail handles, Fisk’s is pretty great. Punisher arrives at the party, he can’t bring his bullets to the afterlife, and so he kills all that are present. I imagine, the villains, didn’t put up much of a fight.
Natasha calls Susan, they are not going to make it to the Baxter Building. Black Widow is the first hero (and Spider-Woman) that we see die, on panel.
Oh, Manifold’s ability is to get the second life raft (you know, the one that contains named characters), and they take off. So we have Reed, Black Panther and Susan that are safe and the other Fantastic Four family members and fellow Foundation students.
Black Panther puts out the call to get the survivors that they need.
Cyclops grabs his Phoenix Egg, which I’m still not sure about.
Apparently, it just contains the Phoenix Force. Cyclops gets the Phoenix Force aura around him but not the red thong.
We get Drax, Groot and Rocket’s deaths – and Rocket did not want to be on Earth. We see Drax and an uncosmically enhanced Gamora, so that is odd. I imagine that Hickman was told everything before he wrote this issue, so he should have been told about the end of a very well promoted crossover, Black Vortex.
Star Lord disappears, as does Thor, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man. Manifold decides not to take off in the life raft, he wants to stay and keep gathering the needed heroes. The life raft launches from the Baxter Building. Phoenix Force empowered Cyclops is also on the life raft. Instead of a black mask with red cross, Cyclops’ mask is now yellow.
Reed if flying the life raft into the heart of the Incursion, as that is their best chance at survival. A lightning blast strikes the side of their round life raft. The carrier section breaks away, Black Panther tells Reed (and us) that Susan and their children are located there. Which is odd, as two pages earlier – Susan, Franklin and Val, are strapping in right behind Reed. What happened in the ensuing page (which was the full page of the lightning blast)?
Susan places a force field around the carrier section. Reed tells T’Challa to drop the shields, he is going to reach out and grab them. T’Challa tells him he only has seconds to make the attempt. Reed has five seconds and they go by so quickly and . . . this is so heartbreaking, fails. We see the carrier burn up – so Susan, Franklin, Val and Thing are all dead.
On Reed’s section – for sure – are, Star Lord, Thor, Captain Marvel and Black Panther.
How great is that narration? I full agree with it. You find your life partner, and you can’t believe you can love anyone as much and then you go ahead and have a child. You still love your life partner, but – somehow – you love this child more than you love anything you ever loved before. Reed has lost his family and, with that middle panel, has lost an entire planet and worst, a universe. Such a devastating page!
We end the issue with Doom, who use to believe in tomorrow but now he believes in nothing. Issue two will be defining Doom’s role and the new (temporary) Marvel Earth – Battleworld.
Such a great way to end the issue with the tombstone of the two great Marvel lines. The proper one, 1961 – 2015 and the Ultimate one, 2000 – 2015. I can’t believe the Ultimate Universe was 15 years old. Marvel was a very young, 54 year old.
Other famous 53 year olds? Michael J. Fox, Melissa Etheridge, Ralph Macchio, Eddie Murphy, Boy George, Richard Hatch, Scott Baio, KD Lang, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jane Leeves, Meg Ryan, Thomas Hayden Church, Enya, George Clooney and the Great One, Wayne Gretzky. All born in 1961 – how crazy how much they al accomplished for being born the same year and how different each of their careers are, no two have the same path. All with various levels of success.
While working at Hastings, I was trying to sell slash hype this issue and this one guy started flipping through the pages. I asked him to slow down as with each quick page turn, he was quickly killing the Marvel Universe. We had a good laugh after that.
Sadly, this fantastic issue is ruined with a six page preview of Uncanny Inhumans. Which is unwanted and unnecessary.
This handy website has a more detailed commentary of the issue :
Which is a pretty interesting read, as I read none of Hickman’s Avengers and two issues of his Fantastic Four run.
YouTuber ComicsIsland had this pretty awesome hour long episode –
Which is pretty great as I rather just watched this than buy the eventful Hickman Avengers Omnibus. There were parts that almost lost my interest but then the reveal with Doom and how everything starts paying off, sounds pretty great.
ComicsIsland has plenty of similar theme episodes, which is pretty great as well as review episodes and fun top ten lists and such.
. . .
Since I bought the variant cover at Hastings, I was awarded with a giant poster of the Battleworld Map!
I do enjoy being able to hold the entire map and seeing everything larger than I can on a computer screen.
I’ve tried my hand at scanning the one I have :
That isn’t any better but maybe someone with sweet skills can make that work.
I’m trying to find an image with all of the covers revealed, as at this point, only three portions of the map are still CLASSIFIED and no further information is available on those.
Apparently, Marvel released a trailer for this event and had started connecting with portions are which titles.
Thanks to Marvel Entertainment for hosting their own video, also this next video!
This was the first video of The Watcher’s that I have seen. I’ve seen previous videos of Lorraine Cink’s advertised before but I may have to check more of them out.
I was surprised that Wikipedia had the full list and the corresponding titles, that is pretty handy!
Battleworld map
Following numerous incursions across the multiverse, the remains of various realities have been fused together to create a new Battleworld. All of these realities are known as domains and have the ability to interact with each other, except for three (consisting of the Deadlands, Perfection and New Xandar) which are separated from the rest by the Wall for the simple fact that these domains contains threats that if set loose, would destroy all the others.
The following is a list of the domains and the Marvel Comics event titles that are their basis or reimagining as revealed on Marvel Comics’ Interactive Battleworld map. Secret Wars #2 will publish a complete guide to each domain:
43. Timely (may or may not be one of the classified domains) – The town of Timely where all the Marvel characters exist in an 1872 Wild West setting.
44. Genosha (may or may not be one of the classified domains) – The island that became the Mutant homeland and where the E is For Extinction mini-series will be set.
45. Holy Wood and Forest Hills (may or may not be one of the classified domains) – Though mentioned in the solicitation for the Korvac Saga, they are not shown on the Battleworld map.
Special thanks and shoutout to whomever typed all of that up and figuring it out!
I was looking for this Marvel Interaction Secret Wars 2015 Battlemap page but unfortunately it is only a hotlink on their main page for the event, so I’m not sure if it will still be an active website but it should work for a while, I imagine.
A nice brief summary of what each portion of Battleworld and which comic series that it correspondences with.
The titles and sections of the map that I’m mostly interested in, and at the very least, tracking are –
Number – Region Title – Comic Title
3 – Domain of Apocalypse – Age of Apocalypse
Which is above Limbo (which I’m also tracking) to the left of both Egyptia and Technopolis (which I’m not tracking). To the left of it is – Mutopia to the top left, Westchester (the FOX X-Men Animated series by Chris Sims) shares a small border and The Wastelands makes up the bulk of it.
11 – K’un-Lun – Master of Kung Fu
Which is to the right of Regency (the world if Peter never made a deal with THE DEVIL to undo his marriage to Mary Jane, so that his elderly aunt can live a few more years) / below King James’ England (the 1602 world) / to the right of Utopolis and above Weirdworld
17 – Marville – Giant Size Little Marvel
Which is surrounded by Utopolis above it, Arachnia to the right and New Quack City – where Howard the Duck is from, below it.
20 – Manhattan – a) Attilan (Inhumans) b) Proper Marvel New York City c) Ultimate Marvel New York City d ) Monster Metropolis
Don’t care about the Inhumans, but I’m sure b & c are going to crucial to the main series and whichever titles are not associated with a certain portion (such as Star Lord and Age of Apocalypse Kitty Pryde) and Ultimate should be where Ultimate End takes place in. Monster Metropolis is where Shiklah‘s kingdom is.
They are surrounded by several locations too! High Avalon to the left / CLASSIFIED above / CLASSIFIED to the left / The City (but not the City from The Tick, unfortunately) below. I imagine those CLASSIFIED locations are important only because of how close they are to the most important locations.
29 – Monarchy of M – House of M
I highly doubt SHIELD agent Illyana Rasputin or school teacher, Kitty Pryde, are going to be in this at all. Killville (where MODOK is important) to the top right and 2099 to the bottom right. 2099 is suppose to be a title that survives this event, somehow.
30 – Sentinel Territories – Years of Future Past
Killville to the left / 2099 to the bottom left / The Wastelands (Old Man Logan) to the bottom right / Mutopia (Morrison’s E is for Extinction) to the right
37 – Limbo – Inferno
Limbo, being so vast, covers quite some ground on Battleworld. Well, until I realize it was suppose to be a globe, so now I want a gif of the map spinning so I can get a better grasp on it. To the top of it is Domains of Apocalypse, along with 36 and 31 and below it (but separated by the SHIELD) is both The Deadlands (Marvel Zombies) & Perfection (Age of Ultron). Which makes sense as there is a comic, Age of Ultron v Marvel Zombies, which seems highly missable to me now. New Xandar (where Thanos is kept) is also separated by THE SHIELD. The SHIELD is there to prevent the horrors from escaping into the rest of Battleworld.
So this is all pretty exciting!
I was looking at the map, to make this post an my wife had a few things to add. First, that the Battleworld doesn’t look like Earth. Which brought her to ask if America was even represented. Which sort of blew my mind, as Battleworld is now like 90 percent American. There is an England, Egypt, Howard the Duck world, and maybe Mars? but the other 30 sections are American. New Xandar is Xandrian. Limbo is a different dimension. K’un -Lun is also another dimension.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 