Previously in everyone’s favorite comic that perfectly mixes Quantum Leap with the X-Men – After defeating the Vampire King, the Exiles were leaping away, when he cast a spell on them. The team got separated, across various dimensions. Maybe this is a better mix of Sliders and X-Men, or a mix of all three. In the previous issue, Sasquatch and Morph ended up in a world where Wolverine had just escaped the Weapon X Program.
This issue, Nocturne and Sunfire are on the Earth from Exiles 20, 21 and 23. The world overrun by the Vi-Locks. The world wherein the Phanlax came to Earth, took over the heroes of the day and started going after everyone else.
12 Miles Outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. 9:47PM. Nocturne and Sunfire are in the middle of the desert, Mariko is exhausted and completely out of it.
It doesn’t take long before Nocturne realizes that they are not near their teammates. TJ shouts for everyone, except for Magik – and Sunfire notices that, immediately. Illyana is a tad intense for this team.
There is a fun moment when TJ realizes that Mariko is using alliteration. “Mensa member at the moment” and “terrific time to talk in tongue twisters.”
Nocturne can see in the dark, but the Vi-Locks come up from behind. Sunfire is able to get it together enough to fly them both out of harm’s way. Unfortunately, Mariko passes out, in mid-flight.
32 hours later. Mariko wakes up and sees TJ and Hank Pym (with a beard!). As they are catching her up, Mary Jane, who is Spider-Woman, jumps into the room. MJ and Mariko had quite the relationship in those few issues. They were not ever expecting to see each other, ever again.
9 Days later. Beast is explaining to TJ that she and Mariko are still emitting their unique signature, that makes them Exiles. Beast theorizes that the two of them could teleport away, at any time.
There is a half page ad for Smallville Season One, which was pretty decent. It got much better around seasons three and four. The other half is promoting David Mack’s Ruule, that I’ve never heard of. I couldn’t get into his Kabuki but I dug his Daredevil stints.
There is a nice scene of Mary Jane and Mariko, discussing when they knew they were lesbians. MJ was always gay, she believes, she had a huge crush on her first grade teacher, and never outgrew those feelings for ladies. Mariko was thirteen, she fell in love with her best friend, but she didn’t return her love. Friendship over.
12 Days Later. TJ and Mariko have joined the team – as if they are never leaving. The team is Thor, a green Juggernaut, Luke Cage as Iron Fist (we’ll see more of him in Exiles Then and Now), Rhino, Longshot and Iceman.
2 Days Later. TJ confronts Mariko about how close she is getting to MJ. She reminds Mariko about how, at one point, they will leap out of here. Which I completely get that Mariko knows that and is wanting to enjoy every minute of this, that she can. MJ overhears this, and starts to get sad.
4 Days Later. MJ and Mariko are in a movie theater, an empty theater. Mariko is trying to enjoy it but MJ is trying to get real. Both of them are going to be hurt, but Mariko doesn’t want to think about that one future day. When Mariko says that this is the happiest she has ever been, she means that. Her own timeline was a horrible place.
13 Days. $ Hours and 33 minutes later. MJ is not happy with a returning Captain America, who is super bossy. They are in the bathroom. MJ is about to shower and Mariko is coming her own hair. While listening to MJ, Marko disappears. MJ, once the bath has filled, comes out and sees the dropped brushed.
Issue ends with Beast confirming that they leaped or slid. Mary Jane and Mariko had 41 days together, maybe 42 days.
Inked by Danny Miki with Allen Martinez & Walden Wong
Colored by Brian Reber
Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit
Cover by Adi Granov
Special Thanks to Russell Jackson
Cover Dated February 2010
Earth Give Up Your Dead, Part One of Three
I own this issue and the next issue but not the third part. As I like to do, whenever I first dip into an older crossover, is to give a quick overview of the issues involved and how involved I was with the crossover. With this one, I feel like I was pretty involved with it, with how Cypher came back in the pages of new Mutants but let’s see if my memory matches the event itself.
While looking for a website that lists the reading order, I came across this website, that has a pretty decent overview of the event.
One of the nice things, in this modern age of comics, is that there was a handy checklist in the back of the title, of the issues and when they came out.
So the issues I own, in order are – Necrosha One-Shot / New Mutants 6 / New Mutants 7 / New Mutants 8 / X-Men Legacy 231 (naturally) / X-Men Legacy 232 /
I skipped Chapter Two (X-Force 21), The Gathering (which is mostly an issue to remind people of the characters), X-Force 22, Chapter Four (X-Force 23), Chapter Five (X-Force 24) and the Finale (X-Force 25).
So 13 issues, and I own six so just under half of the crossover. Once I was looking over the issues involved, I figured I didn’t actually own the main issues involved, which is typical me. Essentially, my need to collect all of Magik’s appearances, made me take an interest in this crossover.
Onto the issue itself. The issue is printed around the midway point. At this point, Selene’s army of undead characters, have invaded Utopia.
Four miles off the US Coast. The Dead Rise. Utopia Burns. Cyclops, Colossus and Psylocke are finding off the undead as the Cuckoos provide mental assistance. One of the undead, is Maggot – Cyclops makes short work of him. Blindfold shows up, and Cyclops is not that pleased or impress. Blindfold wants a private moment with Cyclops, which he has this great reaction of – we’re in the middle of a war, there are no timeouts. The Cuckoos get Cyclops inside Blindfold’s mindscape – I really like the choice of making the room light blue with the objects in the room, only white outlines. Blindfold has been blind, since she was a baby, so everything looks only like how it felt to her. Cyclops does a decent job of keeping his cool as Blindfold relates a story of what Destiny told her in a previous issue.
There is an ad for the Honda Civic, so go out and buy one of those!
Destiny told Blindfold about how Selene is on Genosha (now called, Necrosha) but there are serious threats on Muir Island.
Necrosha. The Palace of Selene. And its Dungeons. Destiny is in a cell, as Stonewall guards her. She offers to tell him his fortune, if he releases her.
The North Atlantic. International Airspace. Three Hours Later. Cyclops has picked his away team, lead by Nightcrawler, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Blindfold, Rogue, Trance and Husk. Pretty random sort of characters, because it is Legacy, we knew Rogue would be on the team. I like her and Nightcrawler on the same team, Magneto makes sense, as the next page will show. Carey will use Trance later.
Trance implies that Blindfold is rarely correct, also I like how Trance doesn’t like Blindfold, or at the very least – they don’t get along. I imagine Blindfold is the freak amongst the freaks.
Magneto takes the opportunity, that he is sitting next to Rogue, to talk to her. They have a very rocky relationship. Rogue likes that Magneto is back on the side of heroes, he likes that he is being reminded of their intimate time in the Savage Land. Rogue reminds him that she lost interest again, when he started killing flatscans again.
Actually, he killed Zaladane – I guess that explains why we are not constantly getting stories about Polaris trying to prove if they were sisters or not.
Magneto tries to counter that they did share another kiss, in the middle of Uncanny X-Men 304 – Illyana Rasputin’s funeral after she died in 303. Which, really, is all that it takes for me to buy a comic.
Rogue reveals that she only kissed him so that she can weaken him.
The team lands on Muir Island and Kurt asks Trance to check the island for any threats. I like Magneto trying to offer advice and Kurt shooting it down as it is the obvious choice.
There is an house ad for Siege, an event seven years in the making. I read it, just the main event, and possibly one tie-in, the New Mutants issue. I like that tag line, as I feel like most events during this era could have just swapped the number of how many years.
Colossus decides to make some time with Psylocke but chooses to insult her, as he regrets that she only has her telepathy powers instead of her telekinesis. If she had the lather, she would be a heavy hitter, in response to this silly insult, she knocks him down on his back and stands on top of him. What a moron.
Rogue wants Blindfold to repeat everything Destiny told her. Blindfold reveals that Destiny was hoping to have spoken to Rogue instead of her would-be granddaughter.
Mortis, Dagger’s half-sister, is informing Selene that Stonewall has let Destiny escape. An unconscious Warpath is dragged into the room, with an editorial note stating to read X-Force 22, to learn more.
The X-Men have a clear path to Moira’s lab. They get inside the lab and don’t see any signs of anything. There have been two notable deaths on Muir Island – one, was Destiny at the hands of David Haller and the other, was killed by Colossus – Proteus!
Blindfold runs into Destiny and touches her hands, this is all Proteus needed to transfer bodies, from one undead to one very alive body. Rogue shows up, doesn’t notice that Blindfold isn’t speaking in that broken English way of talking, Protifold takes down Rogue, as the issue ends.
The previous issues, Deadpool has helped Loki lead a battle to Asgard. After conquering that realm, they came to Earth, which upsets Thor and all of the combined heroes.
I tried reading, Sun Tzu’s Art of War, but I just couldn’t get into it. Deadpool’s writing of the book, reveals to me that I’m still not ready to read it. Deadpool is having to rewrite the book, as he apparently killed Sun Tzu, in the past.
Onto the issue. Loki has brought some Orges to New York City and Loki, himself, is standing on a walking giant Whale. All the whale needs is a pair of overalls and it could have been Blow-Hole from The Tick.
Deadpool’s Art of War – Chapter 10 : There are six problems that can arise for an army that extend from poor leadership. Flight, Insubordination, Collapse, Ruin, Disorganization, Rout.
The gathered heroes, including Magik (making her sole appearance, this issue), Cyclops, and Tempus, of the New Xavier School. From the Jean Grey Schook, Warren and Storm are representing. Invisible Woman, back when the Fantastic Four were wearing red and black costumes. It isn’t a bad look, but I didn’t recognize her until I saw Reed Richards in the same color scheme.
Deadpool’s Art of War : There are six kinds of grounds to worry about : accessible, entangling,, narrow passes, temporizing, precipitous heights and great distance from the battle.
Deadpool is fighting Captain America, who is trying to calm Deadpool down. Deadpool is having to deal with making Loki all powerful and coming to Earth. Spider-Man successfully knocks Deadpool out.
Thor is leading the heroes of Asgard against Loki’s army.
Deadpool’s Art of War, Chapter Eleven : There are nine varieties of ground : Dispersive, Facile, Contentious, Open, Intersecting Highways, Serious, Difficult, Hemmed-in, and Desperate.
Deadpool is back in the fight but isn’t doing so well.
There is an ad for Black Vortex, I can’t recommend it enough.
Deadpool’s Art of War, Chapter Twelve : There are five ways to attack with fire – Burn soldiers in their camp / burn their stores / burn their baggage / burn their weaponry / drop fire among them
Deadpool writers this as Human Torch is fighting off some ogres but is taken out. Namor saves him before he can hit the ground.
Deadpool’s Art of War, Chapter Thirteen : Raising a hundred thousand men for battle can be a drain.
Reed, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Thing, Hulk, Iron Man, Storm, Beast, Jean Grey, Scott Summers and Wolverine are fighting a horde.
Thor and Loki are fighting, Thor goes down a moment. Deadpool, with swords, comes at Loki. Thor gets back up, grabs Mjolnir and strikes down lightning onto Loki – taking him out of the fight, for good.
Later, Deadpool is trying to sell his book. The first publisher laughs him out of her office. He takes it to Marvel and editor, Jordan D. White (who likes to put himself into comics, as he is in Deadpool Volume Three Issue 45 / 250). White recommends they get Peter David to write it, which he will later do.
Daredevil 241 by Ann Nocenti, Todd MacFarlane and Al Williamson
GI Joe Special Missions 4
Strikeforce : Morituri 5
New Mutants 50 – Xavier returns and the team fights Magus by Chris Claremont, Jackson Guice and John Beatty
Avengers vs X-Men 1
December 30
Alpha Flight 45 by Bill Mantlo, June Brigman and Whilce Portacio
GI Joe and the Transformers 4
Fallen Angels 1 by Jo Duffy, Kerry Gammill and Tom Palmer
Power Pack 29
Fantastic Four vs the X-Men 3 by Chris Claremont, Jon Bogdanove and Terry Austin. I did not realize that the FF and Avengers versus minis came out at the same time, as the the X-Men are radically different, at this time.
January 6
Marvel Age 49
Uncanny X-Men 216 by Chris Claremont, Jackson Guice and Dan Green
GI Joe 58
The Nam 5
Elektra : Assassin 7
January 13
X-Factor 15 by Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson and Bob Wiacek
Classic X-Men 8 which reprints X-Men 100
Magik is shown to promote New Mutants 50!
Bullpen Birthdays
December 6 – Frank Springer
December 8 – Mike Hobson
December 11 – John Buscema
December 13 – Kyle BakerDecember 15 – Marc DeMatteis
December 17 – Andy Mushynsky
December 19 – Peter Gillis
December 20 – Dave Simons
December 23 – Phil Felix
December 25 – Joe Rosen
December 27 – Mark Bright
December 28 – Stan Lee & Ralph Macchio
December 29 – Paul Becton
Top Ten – August 1986
X-Men 212
X-Factor 11
GI Joe Special Missions 2
Classic X-Men 4
The Nam 1
Elektra : Assassin 3
GI Joe 54
GI Joe Order of Battle 2
Marvel Universe 13
Strikeforce : Morituri 1
The Mutant Report features the X-Men versus Avengers miniseries.
There is a Fallen Angels feature.
Fred Hembeck does a classic What If Fantastic Four fought X-Men story.
There is an Alien Legion feature, whatever that is.
A second part of a New Universe look through
The Marvel Age looks by at 1973, Part IV.
Issue ends with a slew of letters! From Richie Donato of Staten Island, NY / P. David Hunter of Sandy, UT / Scott Morse of Santa Clara, CA / Josie James of Waukega, IL // Rick Houston of Richman, VA. Even Brent Anderson wrote a letter, explaining what happened with the issue of 45 of Marvel Age, and its description of his series “Strikeforce : Morituri” a series that gets mentioned a lot in this issue but I’ve never heard of it. It even gets the back cover!
. . .
Happy Veterans’ Day, all of you who has ever served! I really appreciate it!
Art Billy Tan, Matt Banning and Justice Ponsor & Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend and Antonio Fabela
Lettering RS & Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne
Cover Art Billy Tan, Matt Banning and Paul Mounts
Cover Dated May 2009
I only own this issue for the Magik appearance on the cover. I will eventually review issues 53 and 54 of this series but Jessica Jones only appears in this issue.
This issue is broken down into two stories, the Doctor Strange portion and the New Avengers section. So that is how the two art teams break down, which is pretty smart. Tan gets the New Avengers and Bachalo gets Doctor Strange.
Here is a quick recap of what has been going on. Secret Invasion happened, Norman Osborn killed the Skrull Queen and became Director of SHIELD, which he renamed to HAMMER – for reasons. Due to the World War Hulk, Doctor Strange tapped into some dark magic and became overpowered and had to leave for a time.
The Hood’s Penthouse. The Hood has summoned Dormammu, so that he can have even more power.
Avengers Tower. Mockingbird watches as her boyfriend, Ronin – secretly Hawkeye (to the world at large) as he goes on television to review Norman Osborn for the villain that he is. The news media is skeptical.
Dover, New Jersey. Wiccan, of Young Avengers fame (and possible son of Scarlet Witch) uses his magic to prevent a car crash. Doctor Strange interviews Wiccan – as he is waiting for the Eye of Agamotto to reveal who the new Sorcerer Supreme will be.
It is a real shame that Bendis didn’t make the cut to be the Sorcerer Supreme, though Bendis would sort of correct this in the Uncanny X-Men Annual 1 2014.
There is a house ad for Exiles 1, the third attempt at the series, this time with Jeff Parker and Salvador Espin, it was pretty good for the six issues it lasted.
Doctor Strange is approached by the suped up Hood.
Th second issue of War of Kings is coming out.
Avengers Hideout. The Bronx, really it is Bucky Cap’s safe house. These are my favorite pages of the issue, with one being very fun.
Ronin wants to conduct their meetings in the classic Avengers fashion. There will be a leader and a deputy leader, even a handbook. Cage is surprised to learn that he has been the acting leader. No one wants the leadership role.
Secret Warriors 3 is coming out. Blair Butler of G4 TV’s Fresh Ink Online states “Hickman is the next Warren Ellis, the next Alan Moore.” Which seems pretty bold back in 2009.
Spider-Man offers that Bucky Cap has the military experience but he counters that he doesn’t have the Avengers experience. Jessica offers up that her friend, Carol, has military training. Carol turns it down. Since no one else wants it, Ronin will lead. Ronin makes Carol the deputy leader.
Ronin has an issue, and it is with Spider-Man.
Thor 601 by Straczynski and Djurdjevic start the concept of Asgard in Oklahoma.
Look at that first image above, notice how all of the Avengers are maskless? Except for the one, not at the table. That is an issue for Ronin. Wolverine vouches for Spider-Man but since he couldn’t tell Skrulls from the genuine article, so he can be tricked. Of the Skrull big reveals, only one of importance is that Mockingbird is back in the world of the living.
That panel of Danielle Cage (named after Luke’s best friend, Iron Fist – which I love!) eating sloppily with her hands? So true to life!
Ronin wants no secrets, so he wants Spider-Man to unmask. Spider-Man is cautious as he doesn’t want to risk his family’s safety. This is Post-Civil War, where he had unmasked in front of the world – but it is also Post-One More Day, where he made a deal with the Devil (Mephisto) and rewrote time and his identity back into the hands of a few.
Peter Parker unmasks and introduces himself. Jessica Jones recognizes him, immediately. They went to high school together. All of this was revealed in the awesome two part origin story of Jessica’s over in Alias 22 & 23.
Poor Jessica, she was even more invisible than Peter was! Peter had, at least, bullies in Flash and the popular kids, razzing him on a daily basis. Jessica was just in the background, so even Peter didn’t see her.
Jessica reveals she had a massive crush on Peter, which shocks Peter AND Luke Cage!
I love this page so much! Jessica knows she has to give Peter some additional information. She repeats her origin (briefly) about how she was doused by radiation and was in a coma forever. Apparently students at Midtown High School called her, Coma Girl, as they were pretty clever. She is not happy with the nickname.
Luke’s running commentary is a delight. He can’t believe she had a crush on Peter, who is pretty much the opposite of, in every way.
Jessica, in full flirtation mode (look at that classic hair pull!) she claims it was a billion years ago but she sure does want to keep talking to Peter. I like how the rest of the team is merely watching in silence. I imagine this is more along the lines of two friends from high school, catching up after years apart. Then she says she use to love Peter and Cage starts losing his mind.
Apparently they spoke to each other in ninth and tenth grade, but he barely noticed her. Cage wants to know if it was a crush or love, which at sixteen, I’m not sure if there is a difference.
Peter wishes she was up front with her feelings, as he was just stuck at home with his test tubes and eating flapjacks. Which I adore that, as a Spider-fan, that it is a term that I just know and recognize but Mockingbird and Ronin have no clue that Peter is talking about pancakes.
So I believe you are suppose to read the top row, then the right panel and then move to the middle row. Those panels do seem out of place, as she just leaves and they were talking. I guess she is thinking about how life would have been different. Now that would have been a decent What If, right there!
Wolverine is very pleased that reunion happened, as it was fun to watch.
Peter reveals that his best friend’s father is Norman Osborn, they have a history. He leaves out that his blonde girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend’s father and flew to Paris and birthed his twin babies and then Norman threw her off a bridge and Peter broke her neck with his web. I suppose I would have left that part out too.
There is a hug crash and we get Luke saying, Sweet Christmas, which I totally say too!
Issue ends with Doctor Strange beaten and weakly asking for help.
I read every issue of Alias and the short lived sequel series, Pulse, and I became a huge Jessica Jones fan. It was a sad day when I started selling those issues. Such a great original series.
So the answer to my question, how you name a fifth part of a four part storyline is to title it, Epilogue. I guess I would have still numbered them, 1 of 5, though.
Since this is the final chapter, I sort of like how we get a revisit to the characters’ early days.
That isn’t the most girlish panel of Illyana that I have ever seen but that has to be her, right? That is clearly a tractor behind Colossus. If not, I didn’t need to buy this issue.
I like how Fornes keeps the same pattern. Top Left – Cyttorak, Top Right – Cain Marko; Bottom Left – Colossus; Bottom Right – Charles Xavier. The placement makes sense, as Cyttorak’s story leads to Cain, I suppose it would make more sense to switch Xavier and Colossus, as Marko leads to Xavier easier and Xavier transitions to Colossus, easily as well. Though I do like how the corners work together. Cyttorak and Xavier have been both destructive, through their avatars or students. Marko and Colossus just been the front line.
It is a nice four page sequence.
Southeast Asia. Now. Colossus is trying to hold off Juggernaut. Cyttorak granted Colossus’ wish, to be given more power than ever before, power enough to kill Cyttorak. Cyttorak choose, instead, to give it to Marko. Cain wants to avenge his brother (I’m glad someone picked up this plot point. It was nice when Carey remembered it for David in Legacy) by killing Cyclops.
Since Juggernaut isn’t going to be convinced, with words, to not kill Cyclops – Storm instructs the team to take off Juggernaut’s helmet.
Marko takes off the helmet, and his head sort of looks like Neuro’s head, so even without the helmet, he is resistant to telepaths. In fact, Juggernaut has no weaknesses.
Juggernaut puts the helmet back on, all of the X-Men let Xavier die so they are all targets of his. Colossus stands before him and starts wailing on him. He is pretty sure that he breaks his hands. Oddly, he narrates that he is one of the strongest beings on the planet. I’m pretty sure that he is on the weaker end of that scale. I doubt he is even in the top ten.
One punch later from Juggernaut, Colossus is regretting his decision, even more. Colossus searches for another strategy, and he things “what would Logan do?” Wolverine would have cheated. Apparently they were on a cliff and Colossus breaks the ground under their feet and Juggernaut goes into the ocean. They both end up in the ocean but Colossus comes to the shore first. The X-Men joke about last issue’s reveal that Colossus likes to make the self-sacrifice.
Since Juggernaut is unstoppable, he is still sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
Issue ends with the gathered X-Men choosing to not warn Cyclops and Juggernaut punches his way through the rock bottom.
Pretty good arc, I would say! Who knows if I will get the next issue.
Or issue 250 of Volume One, pending on who you ask. Since the Indicia states, 45, that’s the one I’m going with. I own this for
Deadpool Roasts the Marvel Universe
An Infinity Gauntlet Tie-In
Words Gerry Duggan & Brian Posehn
Lines Scott Koblish
Hues Val Staples
Balloons VC’s Joe Sabino
Special Thanks to David Mandell
How great is it that 24 years later, we are getting an Infinity Gauntlet tie-in!?! So great!
You can tell that we are about to begin a twenty page awesome story with just that title page above! I’m surprised the entire thing isn’t on the Internet yet (as oppose to other stories being fully available, maybe it is the length of it?)
“The writers chose to write bizarre versions of current characters and to include characters that had never been seen before. . . . wait 24 years” so great.
Then. Deadpool has just successfully stolen something. Inferno is coming, Spider-Man is a clone, Phoenix is dead – pretty much tells us where we are in the world of Marvel. Gosh, from 1991 to 2015, so much has happened!
Deadpool’s client is . . . Thanos, in his legendary Thanos-copter (of course). Thanos had Deadpool steal him a cosmic cube. Turns out, Deadpool didn’t give Thanos the real cube, he used it to snatch the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos.
What does Deadpool do with the most powerful item in the universe? One Night One : Deadpool Roasts the Marvel Universe. This will be my second most favorite Marvel Roast. Deadpool does this so that he can get back at everybody that has kept him down. A lady mistakes him for Spider-Man, so he erases her from continuity. Before he can start, Howard the Duck arrives. Howard changes the marquee, as it is in his rider to – Deadpool Roasts the Marvel Universe Special, Guest MC : Howard the Duck.
Deadpool’s dais consists of – Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor and Nick Fury.
I own this entire $9.99 comic due to the one panel that Magik appears in above! Emma gets a line later in the comic and Illyana isn’t even in that panel!
Like any good roast, there is a common easy joke that everyone can make, in Deadpool’s case, it is his face. His face is pretty tore back, due to his cancer, which is pretty messed up to make fun of him for it.
Howard makes a great joke about how everyone only likes Deadpool when he graces their comic cover, as that is a boost to their sales.
There is a great panel of how the blind characters got horrible seats. There is Stick, Shroud, Daredevil, Blindfold, her mother, Destiny, Madame Web, Echo and Blind Al. I thought Echo was deaf and not blind.
The first roaster is Wolverine, wearing a Goblin Queen outfit, but he doesn’t know it. Elektra is enjoying herself. Sabretooth is not happy that he is trying to be the new Wolverine.
Storm is up next, she is surprised to see that Hitler is in attendance. Magneto isn’t happy to discovery that Hitler is sitting at the table behind his. Hitler gleefully says that he was the star of issue 26, the issue prior to Deadpool and Shiklah’s wedding.
Deadpool starts to grow tired of Howard’s antics and makes a reference to Howard’s after credits scene in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Thanks to YouTuber Eczavier Chaff for hosting this video.
Emma is tired of this silly business. I wish Magik got to be appear in that panel! Poor Phoebe, she still can’t get colorist to color her hair red, outside of Uncanny and All New.
Cable is up next and he is extremely tired of being paired with Deadpool. There is a second theme of the roast, that people are just plain tired of Deadpool.
Thor states that no one likes Deadpool, god or mortal. Deadpool’s face looks like Heidrun the Goat’s backside, which looks like Mangog’s backside. Magog does not appreciate that and makes fun of Thor via a Thunderstrike reference.
Spider-Man gets on the mic and bombs. He references seeing Gwen’s dead and her father, George Stacey’s death. He discusses the Venom symbiote, Agent Venom states that Spider-Man likes it. Spider-Man tries to fake that Doctor Octopus has controlled again. Doctor Octopus chimes in, that he is the superior joke teller.
Daredevil jokes that he has heard back things. Howard the Duck makes fun of the lame joke and Blind Al swears at him, again.
Kim, who has had forced surgery to look like a purple Nightcrawler (I reviewed an issue he was appeared in issue 38 of Volume Three). He compliments Deadpool, so Howard pushes him off the stage. Kurt, the real Nightcrawler, takes the stage and claims that being dead is funnier than listening to Deadpool.
Agent Adsit takes the stage. He chooses to not make any jokes about Deadpool’s face – instead, going after Little Deadpool. He describes it as being a hot dog that has been microwaved too long. Shiklah laughs so hard, as it is so true.
Michael the Necromancer states that he is no hero but neither is Deadpool, which isn’t the most untruthful thing to say.
Hulk is next. He starts strong, with stating that he is the strongest there is. Except in stink, Deadpool wins that. When the jokes don’t go over well, he smashes his way out of the room.
Nick Fury Jr. is next but he doesn’t know what to say, so his father steps in. Proper Nick (not the old guy from Original Sin, so this must be a LMD) states that Deadpool is the worst guy in the universe. Which, funny enough, insults Hitler.
Captain America (but also not old) states that he doesn’t get a lot of Deadpool’s jokes but ends with a cheesy joke about how Deadpool and Red Skull must share a dermatologist.
Doctor Strange says that Deadpool covers his pain with jokes and wishes that no one had to be present for this.
A giant lizard dude shows up but isn’t name checked, I was hoping he would be. Deadpool and Thor tore him a new one and now he shits in a bag, which he offers to show people. I wish we got the name and the issue number that happened in.
The Ghost of Benjamin Franklin gets a turn. He comments on how horrible Deadpool’s face is that people are ignoring the fact that he is a horrible friend and pretty shallow.
Shiklah (I can’t seem to remember how to spell her name) takes the microphone. She agrees that his face isn’t great, vampires even feel bad for him but he is the hottest man she has ever met. They have a rule, no matter how much they battle, their love making is that much more intense.
Agent Preston gets her turn, her son – Jeff – wrote the jokes. The jokes are all poop jokes but funny poop jokes. “Your face looks like a doody took a doody on it. Your face looks like a sewer farted on it. Your face caught on fire and someone tried to put it out with poop. You face looks like a wizard made a poop sword and a young knight pulled it out of a poop stone and stabbed your face with it.” Deadpool is very proud.
Deadpool finally gets to defend himself. He gets a swipe at Alpha Flight. Because he is wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, his jokes are super funny to those who hear them and everyone starts laughing. He starts taking shots at the guests. Man Thing’s table is giant size. Deadpool has never killed anyone in a wheelchair, unlike Cyclops. Though Xavier wasn’t in a wheelchair at that time. Deadpool says that once Domino is done with her guest panel, she will go back to obscurity. Nightcrawler isn’t able to teleport away, as people start noticing something is wrong.
Deadpool was making people laugh as nothing matter, as he thinks about his origins retold in five panels (the lights of the Infinity Gems). Due to him wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, he can see us, the reader. Deadpool is depress as he knows he isn’t real and his torments are due to us needing to be entertain. Howard the Duck knows who Deadpool is talking too, as Howard the Duck was breaking the fourth wall decades before Deadpool came out of Rob Liefeld’s pen.
Issue ends with Thanos, still in the Thanos-copter. Deadpool gives Thanos the Infinity Gauntlet and is kicked out of the copter.
The other stories in the issue are –
The main story, which is pretty fun.
Thanks to the Recap page, we learn that Deadpool has a daughter, Ellie, and Agent Preston has been raising her.
U.L.T.I.M.A.T.I.U.M. is going after Deadpool’s friends and family but they are being killed as they make their attempts. Agent Adsit is shot though. Flag Smasher suspects Deadpool is going to go the traditional route of over reacting and barge at them with the full fury of an animated wounded animal. Instead. Deadpool has a plan that pretty much goes as he planned it. Deadpool has everything finalized, including buying a farm in Kansas and he invites U.L.T.I.M.A.T.I.U.M. to attack him. Deadpool starts killing everyone of these foolish fools. He makes a AXIS reference by referring to his Zenpool identity. Deadpool saves Flag Smasher for last. Wade Wilson kills Deadpool, so that he can keep his friends safe and that he can spend time with his wife and child.
Six Days Later. Everyone is on a stolen yacht. Agent Adsit is in a wheelchair, so he lives.
The final Incursion between the Proper Marvel Earth and the Ultimate Earth. Wade thought all of this Incursion silliness was Avengers nonsense, which I thought so as well. Wade hugs his daughter one last time.
The main story ends with the Death of Deadpool but also, of everyone else as the Incursion of the Proper Marvel Earth and the Ultimate Earth begins.
There is a section of stories regarding Deadpool’s Pals ‘N’ Gals
Shiklah in Shiklah’s Catching Up (this credit page is what I kept referring back to so that I spelled her name right)
Agent Preston in The Family S.H.I.E.L.D.
Evan Sabahnur in What Do We Want? Apocalypse! When Do We Want It? Now!
Agent Scott Adsit in The Thwipster and the Quipster Battel the Hipsters!
Benjamin Franklin in All About the Benjamins
Michael the Necromancer in Parents : The Meeting
Then came the Roast
There is a three pages of #RIPdeadpool reprints that I wish I had known about so that I could have gotten involved.
Finally, a fun page of Clark Gregg yelling at editor Jordan D. White for killing off Deadpool.
As much as I’m not crazy about Colossus, him and his sister, Magik, being on the team, guarantees that she should get plenty of panel time.
I really like Humberto Ramos experimenting with his sytle, as that is an awesome cover for issue six!
It really is the A-List title, with the roster of – Magik, Storm, Nightcrawler, Old Man Logan, Teen Jean Grey and Colossus.
There is a question posed about if Banshee will be appearing in the title, I thought he was back in the realm of the dead, after that Apocalypse Twins storyline in Uncanny Avengers, wherein he was the Horseman of Death, one of them. Apparently, that storyline ends with Banshee being taken in by the X-Men, to start the long healing process.
I like that Magik is going to get her own spotlight storyline, I’m really looking forward to that! It also sounds like she won’t be as glib as she has been shown to be, in the past.
Kitty Pryde is on Lemire’s list of characters he hopes to write, one day, he does say that he has got to write a few of them, so maybe we will see her within the pages of these series.
We are definitely going to be getting an X-Men / Inhumans crossover, even if Marvel hasn’t hinted or announced it.
Sinister is the villain of the first arc, that doesn’t excite me too much.
Lemire is a huge Kitty Pryde fan but won’t be able to write her, for the first couple issues. He references that she is in a couple titles so I wonder what her other title is?
Storm is the new leader of mutants, which makes sense with the other players off the board.
Not too much is revealed, in either interview, but these interviews are part of the hype factory and it is nice to see interior art.
So that is why it came out when 39 came out, and I wanted to do the Black Vortex issues as a group so I also am writing this after 37. I imagine that the story that was hinted above, will probably show up in issue 600. There is 40 pages of that issue, but I reckon that if she didn’t get any pages done, the story above is never going to be seen. Not that I was all that excited to read a Bobby and Hank buddy book, especially as they have barely hung out for 37 issues prior to this. Instead, we got a Jean and Emma story.
Madripoor. Magik has teleporrted Jean and Emma, so that Emma can give Jean some in the filed training. Magik doesn’t want to leave the ladies behind. I don’t blame Illyana for not wanting to go back to the school. What is there for her to do that will trump this adventure. Illyana leaves and the issue suffers for it.
Jean talks about how Illyana is getting tired of being a taxi service, which more people need to talk about that. She has so much potential but instead, she ends up bookending stories.
Emma gives a brief history of Madripoor. It was a Hydra Terrority, a Ninja Assassin Terrority and then Mystique’s attempt at a mutant paradise. Jean also learns about MGH, Mutant Growth Hormone, which apparently has been around forever now. I thought it was something that came along in the 90s with the Legacy Virus but it has been around since 1972, with Amazing Adventures 11,which is the first appearance of Grey Furry Beast. That’s two things!
Emma shuts off Jean’s telepathy, she can do that. I like Emma implication that Xavier was putting blocks on Jean’s mind since their first sessions together. Jean can’t believe it but if she just researched Xavier’s deeds, she would find out that he has done so much worst.
Emma’s powers have come back as she has been earning them back, with the assistance of the Cuckoos.
Emma’s goal for Jean, today, is to practice her telekinesis. Jean claims she uses her telekinesis but she isn’t flying about.
Jean finds her target, the Blob, who is both in charge of Madripoor and extremely addicted to MGH. Bob is confused as Jean looks so much smaller here than how he remembers her. Which I like, the existence of the Original Five is not a known detail to the public at large. Though Mystique knows but she must not have told Blog about that.
Jean throws Blob across the room, along with everyone else but he gets right back up and charges at her. Something I wouldn’t want done to me. He flings Jean across the island. Jean is littler and Blog is much larger. Like Kitty, I enjoy seeing Jean use a gun, of course, bullets have no effect on the unmovable object.
That could make a decent What If, the Blob did join the X-Men, way back in Uncanny X-Men 3.
Jean and Blob end up floating about in the sky. He calls her bluff and she drops him to the ground. The fall doesn’t kill him but he is knocked out. Emma approves of the session and gives Jean back her telepathy.
Issue ends with Emma wanting Jean to be better. Magik isn’t coming to pick them up but how does someone leave an island? I imagine Emma keeps a credit card on her for these circumstances.
Cover is a tad disappointing as Gamora and Warren should be cosmicly enhanced. I know that they couldn’t have revealed that three months ago, when the covers are first shown but they could have changed that by the time the issue came out. Instead of the Jean Grey Cosmic Variant, they should have just redone this cover – but with the new versions of Gamora and Warren. That would have been both cool and appropriate.
Issue opens with Gamora checking on Beast, who is crying as he has finally realized that he is the worst. He broke space and time, and there is no fixing it.
We are treated to another Beast diagram, this time with Excalibur making a reference (on the left side).
Hala, Homeworld of the Kree, The Crown Jewel of the Kree Empire. Carol is speaking to the Supreme Intelligence. She references how she is part-Kree but she was forced to be part-Kree (that is what the Brood did to her, right, when they accidentally turned her into Binary – or am I remembering that wrong?)
Supreme Intelligence still doesn’t want to do anything with the Black Vortex, it was missing for thousands of years, and he rather it stayed that way. Supreme Intelligence goes further to threaten that since Earthlings attacked the Kree throneworld, there will be repercussions for Earth.
Drax provides the information that I needed last time and should have remembered. The Enhanced heroes were deciding their next move when the Kree showed up, and snatched the Black Vortex. Which caused the trio to go to Hala and attack the city. That’s all I needed and now that I typed all of that, I bet it was on the recap page of Guardians Team-Up 3.
Supreme Intelligence wants to rehide the Black Vortex. Jean establishes a mind-link with Carol, Quill, Storm and Drax. Quill starts getting loud with the floating head and Storm gives the command. Nova swipes the Black Vortex and rockets out of there. I like how young Jean and Nova are, as she says “go go go” and he responds with a “I’m go go going!” Which is a simple (and enjoyable) way to show their youthfulness.
Captain Marvel punches Supreme Intelligence to his dumb face. Nova gets outside and sees that the Kree Armada is still outside and now he is on the run again. On the fly again?
Back inside, Supreme Intelligence tells the Kree to stop fighting the heroes, and to go after the child Nova. I like Quill commenting on the fact that they don’t really have an exit strategy. Add ‘strategy’ to words that I can’t spell, this is getting bad ya’ll.
Jean reshows that she still has that super move, of collecting psychic energy and an harnessing that into her purple form. It helps that Supreme Intelligence is practically all psychic energy (as he has thousands of years of knowledge in his head). From the coloring, it doesn’t appear as if she turns purple – but it has been quite some time since she has shown this trick. Was it the last crossover, the Trial of Jean Grey, it may have been.
The Flying Fortress of Mister Knife. J-Son and his ship are right above Nova. J-Son gives the order and the ship starts raining down missiles to the planet. Supreme Intelligence shouts that everyone needs to leave. Quill gets everyone off planet, as well.
Hala is destroyed. J-Son has reached Phoenix level of evil! Jean can’t believe she finally gets to see a planet die. The heroes are not sure if Nova is dead or if the Black Vortex was destroyed in the explosion.
J-Son is advised to leave the scene of the crime but he wants to watch the continued destruction. I suppose I would too, as how often does one get to break a planet in half? But one has to watch from a safe distance. One has to wonder what stops J-Son from doing the same to Earth. Besides all of Earth’s heroes putting a stop to it.
J-Son wants Misa to hand over the cosmic mirror but he doesn’t have it. We see that Nova is unconscious and the mirror is floating next to him.
Cut to Magik and Rocket (I would like to see what these two have been talking about for the previous pages). Rocket is having a bad reaction to all of Magik’s teleporting.
Gamora is happy to see her friend, which worries Rocket, as she is never happy. I do like Gamora referring to her as, Lady Magik. Magik tells her that they need the trio’s help.
Beast is still having his “Beast is horrible” revelation and Rocket just responds with “sucks to be you then.” And it really does!
Magik offers that she can help the trio deal with the burden of the cosmos that are enhancing them, as she has been dealing with her own dark force inside of her and she’s been doing that since she has been seven! That Bendis, he really does have a good grasp on Illyana.
Beast senses something and tells everyone to get down.
Everyone is blasted backwards. Beast informs them that Hala is gone. Magik is concern for her friends, possible, only really concern about Quill – as his death would upset Kitty. At least a little bit, I give her less than six months to get over him and probably forget all about him until the next Peter comes around.
With this new development, Gamora promises the trio’s aid to the regular heroes.
Inside the Flying Fortress. Scott, Bobby and Groot are held captive, so we are not waiting months before checking on them – and I’m glad for that. Groot’s inability to say more than three words (and those same words in the exact order, every time) is starting to rattle Bobby. J-Son comes to check on his captives.
J-Son is keeping them alive as he wants to trade their lives for the Black Vortex, and he knows that Nova still has it.
Issue ends with Nova floating in space, which naturally leads us to his own title and Part Eight! We are still moving at a pretty decent clip!
Shadow and Flame with Magik 