Issue 2
Issue 6
Issue 7
Issue 11
Issue 12
Rosenberg – Rachelle
All posts tagged Rosenberg – Rachelle
Script Greg Pak
Pencils Andre Araujo and Raul Valdes
Inks Andre Araujo, Lorenzo Ruggiero and Walden Wong
Colors Rachelle Rosenberg
Letters VC’s Joe Sabino
This second team of X-Treme X-Men are also the newest form of The Exiles. The team members are – Dazzler, Kurt Waggoner, General James Howlett (who is dating his universe’s Hercules – which is pretty cool), Charles Xavier (with his head in a globe) and Sage – I believe she is our Sage, a hold over from the Exiles team. This is a .1 issue, which was meant to be perfect jumping on points for new readers. This is the only issue I own of this second volume. The main mission of the X-Treme X-Men are to kill ten evil Xaviers. I thought this was the Dazzler of our universe.
Issue opens inside Sage’s robot space ship. Dazzler explains how evil Xaviers are going to destroy the multiverse. Howlett was the former Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada. Kurt is fourteen. I like comics with these character caption boxes, perfect for the .1 program.
Dazzler asks Sage for help finding their Futurama Xavier.
Seventeen Minutes Later. Sage was able to locate the nearest Xavier, so the mission begins. They see a few Brood and with an amazing page turn reveal, we see a giant Acanti with Xavier’s face! So crazy! He is being controlled by a pimp Brood Queen, who wants to go to a defenseless dimension. It is defenseless due to it not having a Xavier.
We see Cyclops, waking up in a tent off the shore of Utopia, the former home of the X-Men. I’m not sure if this is suppose to be the Proper Marvel Universe. I suspect that it isn’t, as his powers are broken but he is living on his own and eating trash. Scott sees an Xavier but turns out, he is a Brood induced nightmare.
Dazzler kills the few Brood that was holding Cyclops.
Later. Dazzler confirms it is not her Cyclops. This Earth was practically ruined by the Avengers versus X-Men battle. Here, the same X-Men were given parts of the Phoenix Force, including Magik. Hence, why I bought this issue.
Howlett says that Cyclops are stubborn in every dimension. This Cyclops did kill his Xavier. Dazzler and Kurt recount the evil Xaviers – Cowboy Xavier, Steampunk Godworld Xavier, Cthulu Floating Brian Xavier and this Cyclops’ Xavier – four dead, six to go.
The Acanti Xavier appears on Earth. The Brood Queen instructs her minions to feed on the planet. The X-Treme X-Men start killing the Brood.
A Brood grabs Johnny Ito, Dazzler’s lover.
Cyclops wants to kill whale Xavier, but Dazzler is concern with all of the deaths once he lands on the ground. Howlett saves Johnny Ito. Howlett gets to cut loose on the Brood, it gets pretty bloody.
Acanti Xavier lands on the ground, Howlett kills the Brood Queen. Sage thinks it is too easy but Xavier reveals that he was resisting the Queen’s influence. Xavier tells Dazzler to kill him, there is too much as risk if two Xaviers unite. She does it.
Later, Cyclops is mad at Dazzler, as there were other options, there was no need to rush to the decision to kill Xavier. Issue ends with him giving her some advice on leadership.
. . .
With this issue, I complete all of my reviews of the comics my Mother-In-Law was nice enough to give me a Mile High Comics’ gift card so I can buy them. Been a pretty fun bunch of comics and only one of them, I didn’t need for the collection.
Written by Greg Pak
Art by Mike McKone
Color Art by Rachelle Rosenberg
Lettered by VC’s Joe Caramagna
Exalted, Part Three of Four
Cover Dated March 2012
I have part two on my Wishlist and I own part four but won’t be reviewing it next.
Inside front cover ad is for AvX 0, It’s Coming.
This whole arc is like a back door pilot for the second volume of X-Treme X-Men, which was like another failed Exiles attempt.
The Charles Xavier of this Alternate Earth, is young and has long blonde hair. His X-Men killed Magneto. He let the entire world read his mind and the world felt joy. In Magneto’s last minutes, he cracked the world. The brains of the Earth created a machine that sucks the power out of a mutant, killing them, but saving the planet. For some time.
Savior’s Hold. Santo Marco. Now. The Savior is the blonde Xavier. He needs the latest mutant to step into the machine.
One Mile Below Savior’s Hold. The latest mutant? Cyclops, of the Proper Marvel Universe. He has made a few friends of some renegade X-Men – Emmaline Frost, Kid Nightcrawler, General James Howlett and Shadow.
Xavier admits that they have killed so many of their own kind. Cyclops starts optic blasting walls.
The other X-Men start waking up. Emmaline admits that Xavier is stronger than her. General Howlett has an adamatine-lace skull, the metal of gods, that keeps bad thoughts out. That is a reference to his husband, Hercules.
Kid Nightcrawler recommends they don Magneto helmets to keep Xavier at bay.
It is pretty easy to look bad arse in Magneto helmets.
Cyclops makes the teams. Kid Nightcrawler, Shadow and Emmaline will be looking for the X-Jet and how to get him back home. Cyclops and Howlett are the other team, they are going to kill Savior.
Once alone, Howlett explains to Cyclops that on his world, Scott is 19 and only Howlett has threaten to kill him.
There is an ad for Wolverine and the X-Men 6, with Intergalactic Gambling 101. AvX is about to start.
Outside. Kid Nightcrawler states he is a big Spider-Man fan, he calls Shadow “Spite” which isn’t her codename.
Emmeline does a first strike against Savior, which gives him a nose bleed. He counters and she nearly passes out, he is a hundred times stronger than her. He reads her mind and knows what their plan is. He instructs Storm to defend the X-Jet. As she flies off towards the X-Jet which frees up the bunker that they needed to go to.
Kid Nightcrawler teleports in front of Storm, she doesn’t care until Shadow pops out through him and attacks Storm. Kid Nightcrawler calls her Sprite one too many times, she tells him her name is Shadow and to head towards the bunker. Storm lightning strikes Shadow and carries her off the battlefield. Storm lands in front of Savior, Cyclops optic blasts her. Howlett stabs Savior to his left arm, seems like a waste of a move.
Storm has Savior open her mind to Cyclops. Storm spends most of her time thinking of the people who died from Magneto’s last attempt at justice. She also remembers all of the heroes who sacrificed their lives to keep this Earth alive.
Issue ends with Cyclops optic blasting Storm then Savior. He’s ready to let this planet die.
There is an ad for Circle of Four, starring Ghost Rider (sinner), X23 (slayer), Red Hulk (savage) and Venom (soldier), I guess those four have some commonalities.
Back cover ad is for the Honda Civic, with a luchador, so that should sell a few cars.
Writer Brian Wood
Penciler David Lopez
Inker Alvaro Lopez
Colorist Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Dated September 2012
Blank Generation, Part Three of Four
This is the only issue of the storyline I own, so any questions we have or what happens next, is beyond me.
The X-Men are – Storm, Psylocke, Pixie, Colossus and Domino
So this is the series where Colossus and Domino first meet. There is no sexual tension that I can see. That must come later in Cable and X-Force.
Previously, the team has been chasing monsters across the globe. Once they confront one of the monsters, they die. Colossus punched one in the head and Domino shot another one. Storm hasn’t been informing Cyclops about anything that is going on with the team. This has been annoying Colossus. Storm is concern with what Cyclops will do with the information. Storm got a human researcher involved. The monsters are really proto-mutants. In Quebec City, a giant proto-mutant has been located. With each step, he grows!
Onto the issue :
Quebec City, Canada. Storm has created a giant thunderstorm so people stay in their homes. The news reports that it is an isolated storm. Which is odd, as by now, with how long Storm has been around – wouldn’t people just assume Storm is the reason for any odd or freak weather conditions? Is that racist?
We get two pages of how Storm is maintaining no one being outside. Then Psylocke sees the giant man. Turn the page, the man is human sized and wearing an X-Men shirt (do they just keep a hundred on board the X-Jet?) and surrounded by the rest of the X-Men. That is resolving the problem post haste!
Which, and I’ve notice this about myself with television shows and movies, I don’t really need to see or hear certain conversations or see a big fight scene. If the next scene is a quick recap of what happened, I’m okay with getting to the events that matter.
Psylocke is on Storm’s side that they should know all of the information before involving Cyclops.
X-Jet, over the mid-Atlantic. Colossus admits that he isn’t very good at medical duties, he only has field training. Which harkens me back to the good ol’ days when Nightcrawler was the resident healer. Maybe Colossus picked up a thing or two from Kurt.
The X-Jet is pretty large as they have a room for the proto-mutant and an office for Storm to sit. She tells Pixie to speak and keep the stranger calm. Colossus and Storm go to her office.
Now this scene, would probably benefits the longer readers but I get the jist of it. Colossus really wants to inform Cyclops with what is happening. Storm doesn’t and she is being super vague about her reasons. Which doesn’t really help the tension between the two. What really doesn’t help? That Storm threatens to have Pixie teleport Colossus over 500 feet above Utopia. Which seems highly unnecessary.
I really like the visual of the massive Colossus standing tall and with his arms crossed and Storm sitting in her chair, he’s trying to physically intimidate her but she’s Storm and isn’t even bothered by him as he’s Colossus – the worst X-Man.
Before Colossus can respond to that horrible threat (did Storm really just say that?) that research student, Ms. Hunter, is called via Storm’s computer. Hunter reveals that their camp site was ruined and their hard drives were stolen.
Storm asks where Hunter is and she tells her she is in an Internet cafe. This sends Colossus into a rage and he can’t believe she is calling them from an unsecured site. As if the X-Men couldn’t defend themselves. But I guess it is nice that Colossus knows enough about the modern world, to be worried about someone tracing them. Though they are in a plane, so I imagine that tracking them wouldn’t be that easy.
Once that call is over, Colossus tells Storm that if she threatens him again, that he will be a bigger problem to Storm than whatever she thinks Cyclops will do. Why does Storm want to keep Colossus on the team? To smash stuff? Psylocke can do that and Pixie can teleport them beyond any walls. He really isn’t necessary at all, except that he is the sole male on the team, thus, he is holding the team back. Domino can destroy walls as well. Maybe Cyclops made Storm keep Colossus on the team and she was able to choose anyone else?
Pixie enters the room, informs the two of them that the proto-mutant only speaks Russian. I guess Xavier quit inserting languages into students’ heads prior to her joining the school. Probably something to do about students at a school and learning, or some silly thing like that.
Colossus is thrilled to hear the guy speaks Russian but wants his sister to be brought to the plane. The man speaks an old fashion dialect of Russian, it is very rural. For some reason, Illyana should be able to decipher it? Maybe because she spent more time in Russia than he did? He’s been too Americanized? Or he wasn’t very smart at learning? There are many reasons. I wonder, once Magik gets there, if Storm wondered if she could swap the Rasputin siblings. Though then she wouldn’t need Pixie around as much. Except to teleport at greater distances.
Pixie still isn’t comfortable around Magik, as she hesitates before retrieving her. Magik took a piece of her soul (hence why she can do magic now) but did give it back. But it was a pretty traumatic experience.
Later.
Magik has been able to speak to the proto-mutant, whose name is Ister. He is roughly 665 years old. He is most likely 666 years old but doesn’t want to be viewed as relating to the devil.
His story reminds me of One Tin Soldier song by
Thanks to YouTuber Soheil Koushan for hosting the video!
Such a great song! It is one of the songs my wife knows every word of so she sings it a bit around the house.
Pixie wonders how Ister has all of these memories. Colossus is somehow the brains of the team, and he explains that it must be Ister’s power.
These poor proto-mutants are victims of genocide.
In a nice artist choice, Psylocke is present via her telepathic powers.
http://xmen-supreme.blogspot.com/2012/07/x-men-32-secrets-lies-and-awesome.html
Thanks to my pal from over at the X-Books forum, MarvelMaster616, and his great blog – for having the Magik pages! That was pretty handy!
I like how quickly Magik comes to the instant conclusion that they have to call Cyclops and figure out how to save the proto-mutants. Storm doesn’t want to do that, just yet.
In an odd choice, Magik has the idea that she should go back in time and save them. Storm doesn’t want that as it could change the present too much. It is odd because why Magik doesn’t always have this plan. Especially now that she has a better grasp of her powers.
Also, nice to see Magik in her New Mutants uniform. Makes me appreciate her current uniform more. She wore that uniform far too long. Just like her dear friend, Kitty.
Colossus told his sister earlier about the conflict between Storm and Cyclops.
In the cockpit, Psylocke and Storm talk. Psylocke is concern about the tension of the team. Storm relieves Psylocke so she can get some rest.
Storm wonders about where Ister came from. Just then, she gets a vision of the mad scientist who is experimenting on the proto-mutants. Of course, he is harassing Ister’s sister. He tells her that he is about to kill her brother.
Storm wakes from the horrible vision.
There is an ad for New Mutants Volume Three issues 47 and 48, the covers combine to make a larger image. I own issue 47.
Colossus tells Storm that Pixie has returned Magik to Utopia. Magik isn’t afraid of Storm, why would she be?, so she will probably tell Cyclops what is up.
Psylocke also had a vision.
Pixie has Cyclops on the phone, Storm tells her to take a message.
Ister’s head starts losing blood from every orifice. He is dying.
Storm tells Psylocke to download his memories, something I’m surprised doesn’t happen more often.
Ister sadly dies but Psylocke was successful. She also knows the scientist’s name and location. David Michael Gray is his name.
As I have never heard of him nor the proto-mutants, I imagine they all die and the X-Men fail but learn an important lession. Or Gray dies and the proto-mutants find a small piece of land to claim as their own, that isn’t on Utopia.
Pretty good issue!
Writer Simon Spurrier
Artist Paul Davidson
Colorist Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Dated June 2012
We Do Science, Part Five and Five
Good thing there is the Previous page! I have issues three and four on my wishlist, but this issue starts right off in the thick of it.
Let me see if I can recap what happened previously from the page and throughout the issue. There is a Nazi spirit like guy, Schragesturm, and he has this other techno god like being as his captive.
The X-Club members are – Dr. Nemesis, Kavita Rao, Danger and Madison Jeffries.
There was a chemical spill that affected the Atlanteans and Rao is trying to cure them. She didn’t have much success with a priestess.
Danger is pregnant by the captive god via an energy blast.
Jeffries isn’t up to much except that he has romantic feelings for Danger.
Also, for some reason, they built an elevator from Utopia to space.
Onto the issue :
“Stringstar” Anchor Base. 0.000. 42.837.
Jeffries is carrying Danger, who is in labor. The would-be father is able to speak to them via a pink computer image.
Danger faintly tells Jeffries that she needs him. He tells her that he doesn’t got a socket-thingy for her. I’m sure she meant she wanted his support. This isn’t the time for sexual tomfoolery.
Meanwhile, the priestess has mutated to a full on sea monster has gone to the base to die fighting Nazis.
Rao has retreated to inside the base. Dr. Nemesis is laying on the ground.
This is my first introduction to the winner of the Best Breakout Character of 2012 (from the X-Books forums), the Starfish on Doctor Nemesis’ head who reveals all of his secret desires and thoughts. He doesn’t get as much screen time here but he has some great lines, regardless.
Doctor Nemesis, the charmer that he is, refers to Doctor Rao (they are all doctors, except for Danger – who I can imagine can become a doctor pretty easily as Jeffries isn’t a doctor either) as “Petri-Girl.” The Starfish reveals that Nemesis finds her to smell nice. Nemesis wants to know if she has any of the Terrigen Mist left. Which I only know that to be an Inhuman item, so that’s nice to see it outside of that title and those characters.
Nemesis wants to be injected with the Terrigen serum, so that he can have his mind widen and enter a new realm of being. Thus, he can fight Schragesturm as a quasi-equal.
We learn that Schragesturm’s big plan is to rewrite history. Rao is worried as the serum will kill Nemesis. Nothing short of saving the universe, is worthy of a death of a character of Nemesis’ caliber. Or so he says.
Nemesis seems to be the star of the series, as he gets some of the best lines – which makes sense as he is the most charismatic of the group.
Meanwhile, Jeffries has been cybernetically linked with Danger, so he is within her mindscape. Programscape? I don’t know. He’s in her mind’s eye. Optical interface? He’s there for her, and he’s in the form of a program as well.
In a splash page that looks cool, Danger delivers her baby. It looks cool but it is confusing with what is actually happening there.
The Between. The Beyond. The Abstraction of Exoversality. Doctor Nemesis is about to confront Schragesturm. Schragesturm isn’t that concern with Nemesis as he has been in this state longer than Nemesis has and thus, more skilled at being close to godlike. Schragesturm reveals that he was the reason why the X-Club originally built the space elevator.
Doctor Nemesis belittles Schragesturm with a guess of how lame his master plan is. He’s going to rewrite history so that Hitler won the war and that ol’ story will happen. Schragesturm thinks very little of Hitler (who doesn’t) and wants to rewrite history so that Hitler died rather early on and Schragesturm became the leader of the Nazi party.
That is the nice thing about Hitler, you can say all sorts of horrible things – as long as it is about Hitler, no one will bat an eye at it.
Doctor Nemesis sees only one problem with that plan. It is hard to lead an army with a man’s fist down your throat and he punches Schragesturm to the face!
There is a double page ad for the Honda Civic!?! Honestly, is this a good use of one’s marketing budget? Probably kept comics at $2.99 for a while.
Doctor Rao is thinking of what she can do to be productive. She looks out at the waves and an idea comes to her. She leaves and in a fun sequence is gone for a panel and comes back and says, thanks. Great use of a comic page.
Over at Danger and Jeffries, the new baby emerges from the pink image of the father. It rips the father in two, releasing him. It reminds me too much of the whole Carol Danvers, stuck in Limbo, and forced to have Marcus’ baby – who was really just Marcus but now he could be born and return to Earth. Not a great story to harken back too.
http://carolastrickland.com/comics/msmarvel/
While trying to remember if that guy’s name was Marcus, or not, I found this very interesting website. Figured I would share it. Such a dark moment in that character’s history. It makes sense that Marvel would constantly go back to the whole Rogue stealing her powers and her memories thing and not also keep going back to the Marcus situation as that whole situation is a real mess. Mess, being the nicest word to use. Claremont tries to ratify it a little with Avengers Annual 10 but ooof, the only way to get away from it is to just forget about it.
Sorry for the random thought there, but Danger’s whole baby situation seems odd. Maybe if I had read issue four, it may have made sense.
So the reason why Danger got impregnated was that the god that Schragesturm has captured, is locked behind a program it can’t figure out so it sent a request to work around it and that got into Danger and she had to release it. They use ‘pregnancy’ to put it in terms we would understand. That’s my understanding of it.
Back in the In-Between. I sort of like how we keep just checking in on the team. The team is divided, so our interest is divided.
Doctor Nemesis is loving the situation he is, it is a giant achievement in science and I also could not be happier along with him.
Schragesturm is going on about how powerful he is and Nemesis just wants all of the exposition to stop.
Doctor Nemesis pulls the ol’ ‘look behind you’ trick and of course, Schragesturm doesn’t want to fall for it. Which I like how the new thing with the trick is to actually have someone be behind the person. Behind him, is the entity that impregnated Danger and Schragesturm only knows as ‘the entity.’ To the entity, time has no real meaning but he knows that he was held prisoner for quite some time and now, it is pay back. Schragesturm disappears along with the entity.
Doctor Nemesis returns to his earthly body, shouting, win! He wins at all science. He goes on and on about how much better he is than others. He wants a larger tombstone than Darwin.
Not being content to just say the words aloud, he looks for an audience. He begins to call Rao “Petri-girl” again when she shushes him. She just saved his life. He’s surprised by this as she (being a microscope monkey – maybe the worst insult of all time?) isn’t suppose to have access it grown-up physics toys. She had the cure for the Terrigen but it wasn’t set to the right frequency, or wave.
If Warren Ellis wrote science like this, I may be a bigger fan of his.
Before injecting him with the cure, he wants to tell her something. If he had more time, he is sure that he could have grown to tolerate her company. Such a charmer! She shoves the syringe into his neck stating, you romantic devil. They were not this much fun during their time in Uncanny X-Men, so I’m glad they were given this miniseries. I really must seek out issues three and four.
There is an house ad for Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force storyline, Final Execution. I own most of them.
Four days later. Still at the Anchor Base. Cyclops is trying to give a speech to some gathered reporters. Behind him are the X-Men and the members of the X-Club. Did the reporters really have to be flown to the base? Couldn’t the presentation be done closer to shore? I guess the X-Men couldn’t be on shore so this was the next best thing.
Cyclops makes the mistake of stating that he can’t really explain all of the complexities of what happened. This gives Doctor Nemesis the opening he wanted and he pushes Cyclops aside.
His explanation of what happened is genius –
That an extra-conceptual entity which was held captive by their secretly fascist allies has now returned to its native plane, taking with it all trace of existentially problematic pollution and sealing the dimensional fracture behind it. ‘Just another boring day at the office’.
Thanks to UncannyXMen.net for the paragraph assistance!
http://uncannyxmen.net/comics/issue/x-club-5
He has more to say but since people are taking the mic, Rao wants to add that she had divine inspiration.
Cyclops tries to reclaim the press conference but the word ‘divine’ sets off Nemesis. He and Rao start having a conversation behind Cyclops that can be picked up by the microphone. Clearly, Cyclops did not rehearse what was going to happen today.
I wonder why it took four days? Do reporters wait for all of the bodies to be taken from a site before agreeing to go to a location? That doesn’t sound right.
We learn that Rao’s cure did work for all of the Atlanteans. She cured all of Neptune’s divine realm. A line that I sort of read and moved on from but now I get her divine comment. The God of Freshwater and the sea, Neptune, inspired her with the waves.
Doctor Nemesis tells her that he doesn’t believe in any of that sentimental nonsense. The starfish pipes up next, stating that Nemesis wishes he could believe in that as science can be scary.
Rao finds it cute that Nemesis has decided to keep the starfish. He claims it is so he can study it but then the starfish reveals that Nemesis gets loney. Or Roney, as we say at Klein Manor.
Cyclops tries to reclaim the press conference again but Danger takes the podium. She has decided to claim the base in the name of all inorganics. The base shall be a sanctuary for artificial life. Sounds like a case for Matt Murdock!
Danger states that her child is the Stringstar (which I’m sure the reporters have ceased recording at this point).
Cyclops can’t say anything but to mutter that this isn’t what he agreed too.
Jeffries goes to Cyclops that they have an Utopia and AI should have one now.
Cyclops tries to remidn Jeffries that the entire project was about breaking down communication barriers. Cyclops isn’t sure how they will do that with machines.
Which is a silly question in a world with Danger and the Vision. Jeffries, instead of saying all of that, just gives Danger a sweet makeout session.
I like how happy Magik is there.
Do Jeffries and Danger have a relationship? I know, now, that Warlock is trying to flirt with her in All New X-Factor but I’m not quite sure what happens to X-Club after this.
I know Doctor Nemesis leaves to join Cable’s X-Force after Schism.
So that’s two of the four members.
Head Writer / Coordinator / Production Mike O’Sullivan
Overseer Jeff Christiansen
Coordination Assistance Mike Fichera
Writers Madison Carter, Jeff Christiansen, Anthony Cotilletta, Patrick Duke, Mike Fichera, Kevin Garcia, Daron Jensen, Rob London, Chris McCarver, Sean McQuaid, Roger Ott, Markus Raymond, Marc Riemer, Jacob Rougemont and Stuart Vandal
Image Refurbishment / Production Assistance Gally Articola, Anthony Cotilletta, Mike Fichera, Mike O’Sullivan, Roger Ott and Emily Schmidt
Cover Art Mike McKone and Rachelle Rosenberg
Special Thanks Steven Boyd, Shawn “Keebler” Byers, Peter David, Aida Duran, Steve Topper, Jeph York, http://www.g-mart.com and the guys at the Appendix (www.marvunapp.com)
In loving memory of Arthur Jensen (2000-2015)
My heart goes out to Daron Jensen, over the lost of Arthur, as that is simply heart breaking!
I wanted to spotlight a few entries –
Obnoxio the Clown
Nice that the late Alan Kupperberg’s creation gets a spotlight. Kitty isn’t mention in the Old Man Logan spotlight.
Secret Wars II
In my mind, Secret Wars II has a lot to do with the X-Men and the New Mutants but the event was much larger than that. The New Mutants were really affected by the event. Nice that Magik gets name checked in it.
Spider-Man (Morales)
Miles time with the All New Ultimates, which also had Ultimate Shadowcat as a member, gets spotlighted.
“Ultimate Universe” (Reality-1610)
Really surprised that the entire Ultimate Universe can be squeezed down to five pages, especially with the lack of crossovers (at first).
Puff
Glad to see the green dragon from Secret Wars has an official name. I want to say she got the name in Shadow and Flame, but I’ll find out when I reread that series – someday. Also nice is that she doesn’t have any other adventures that I have to track down.
I like how in Zsaji’s spotlight, Colossus cheating on his then girlfriend, isn’t mention. That should be in his spotlight. Zsaji’s entry shall be her heroic sacrifice.
Nice to actually read about Ruby Summers, as I’m not going to seek out those X-Factor issues.
Other spotlights worth checking out –
Age of Ultron
Cabal
Children of the Secret Wars, from the amazing What If 114 issue. Apparently they showed up in another issue, which I wish was revealed in this issue. Apparently Avengers Forever 11 and 12, had an appearance by a few of these kids, I wonder if I picked up on that, when that issue came out.
Egyptia is a region of Secret Wars 2015’s Battleworld, so it is nice to read about the proper version.
Incursions, always good to know more about what Hickman’s Avengers run was leading up to.
Iron Avengers, from Earth X – always nice when Marvel acknowledges that maxiseries.
Maker (Ultimate Reed Richards) had an update, but doesn’t mention Ultimate Kitty Pryde. Not even due to Cataclysm.
Nightcrawler, but the one from Age of Apocalypse, that was a member of Uncanny X-Force.
Shiklah, Deadpool’s wife
Spider-verse, nice to read what that entire crossover event was about, in three pages.
Tyler Stone from Spider-Man 2099, who I read (before) had gotten a complicated twist to his story. Though the entire Stone family is pretty complicated.
Throg, that mentions Pet Avengers, all over the place, but Lockheed isn’t named – not even once. Lockjaw is the only member to get name checked.
Thunderball, of the Wrecking Crew fame, gets two pages.
Volcana, the best aspect of Mocular Man, gets two pages.
Weirdworld, another domain of Battleworld, the original version, gets three pages.
Such a great handbook but I’m a sucker for these.
Writer Kieron Gillen
Artist Filipe Andrade
Color Artist Rachelle Rosenberg
Double Page Spreads Pepe Larraz & Ian Herring; Gary Choo; Bill Sienkiewicz
Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles
Issue opens with a fun moment. Brand and Kang confirm that the man, before them, is Thanos – as soon as he confirms that he is him, they pull guns on him. Thanos tells them to stop attacking, he only wants to talk. If they don’t want to listen, he will reactivate the Fury. Thanos wants to be taken to a small cell now.
This issue, and maybe Old Man Logan 5 – seem to be the only two issues that actually tie in to Secret Wars 2015.
Thanos hints that he knows about pending attacks. Brand will think about listening to him, and they leave to investigate some leads. Once Thanos is alone, he asks to talk to Ben Grimm, who is ever present as he is the actual shield. Grimm isn’t sure why Thanos calls him, “Ben.” Thanos hints that this conversation will take some time.
Meanwhile, on the top of the shield – Leonardo da Vinci, Ms. America, Kate Bishop and Scott Summers, are chatting. I like this moment of downtime, something comics could use more of. They are talking about pizza and parsnips. Kang gets Summars and da Vinci, as Brand needs their help with interrogation.
Thanos, essentially, wants to unseat Doom, he is a false god. I believe that Thanos is making references to the Secret Wars 2015 Infinity Gauntlet series. Now that there is peace, beyond the southern border of the shield – those armies can now turn their attention to Doom. Thanos offers that they can try to kill him but the attack is about to start . . . NOW!
I can only guess that Pepe Larraz & Ian Herring did the above double page spread. Choo signed his page and the other double spread looks like Sienkiewicz, especially with the Warlock like things.
The poor Kitty Pride, having to fight on, even though poor Lockheed has fallen. I do like how the Kitty Pride are either yellow cats or blue cats – great use of her color scheme.
Jack of Hearts has fallen, as have the Winter Soldiers. Squirrel Girl was believed to be dead, but like she do, she got better.
The Thors showed up and start cleaning up the mess.
Thanos and Grimm get to keep talking. From my understanding of Secret Wars 2015 6, is that Doom made Battleworld. He made Human Torch, the sun and Thing into the planet (or at least, the southern hemisphere). Sue he married and had two children, Val and Franklin. They made up the Fantastic Four, but they didn’t last. So this Thing, doesn’t believe Thanos, at all. Thanos shares, that back in the old Marvel Universe, he loved one that he will see again, only when he died. If he dies here, he will see Doom’s face, last. Thing jokes that Thanos is attracted to Death’s cheekbones – there is a nice dark humor, with this series.
I do like Thanos talking, at length, about his respect for the Fantastic Four. Even though, I don’t know how often the Fantastic Four have run up against Thanos.
I also like how Gillen / Thanos recognize that he will have to really spell this out to Thing. Doom is pretty petty, when it comes to his rivalry with Richards and his clan. So it makes sense that there is only one Thing and he is tortured, every day – due to the siege attempts. There is only one Human Torch, and he has to shine down, onto the planet.
Thing is told how Battleworld is real but it isn’t how t should be. Which makes sense, what type of planet would have specific realms? It isn’t like different states, each realm is like an entire planet, unto itself. Thing should stop protecting this bastardize planet and start fighting for whatever it takes to restore a Doom-less order.
I do enjoy how the enlightened canon has “ENLIGHTENED!” sound effect! That is all types of fun! The heroes are using the canon to fight back the Marvel Zombies, including Zombie Wolverine. Zombie Magneto, and Zombie Spider-Man.
Kate Bishop, realizing that arrows are not going to have much of an effect on the living dead. That she fights on, is what makes her a hero.
Thing materializes where the heroes are, he wants Leo to shoot the canon at him, so that he can answer the age old question – why are we here? The canon is fueled by the Vitruvian Man, who is actually, Michelangelo, which I’m not sure if this is all in that SHIELD title from a few years ago.
Thing now knows that Thanos was right. With a powerful right hook, he knocks Thanos down. Thanos stands, easily breaks his chains and tells Thing that they must fight back. I’m not sure if Thing has all of his old memories but he knows that his life, that he knew, is a lie.
Thing, in his proper miles long form, stands and leaves. Miles of the shield are now gone and the rest will crumble, Brand’s War Journal informs. Thing’s final words, to his friends, were a sound so loud, none could understand. Not until, Eardevil the Klawyer broke it down, for human ears can hear. Three words, five syllables. “It’s Clobbering Time” which is so great.
Thanos tells Brand, Kang and Scott Summers – that he is also leaving to confront Doom. Kang offers to change history but Brand reminds him that is how the one version of himself died, in issue two. Things have to play out this way, so that Kang can live. Kang still attempts it, so he will still die.
I like how Brand and Summers can be friends, on this world. They started so hostile, back in the Proper Marvel Universe.
This really was a great title! These Secret Wars 2015 tie-ins seem to be making a point of having fantastic final issues.
Another Last Stand
Writer Sina Grace
Artist Ken Lashley
Color Artist Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer VC’s Cory Petit
The Sentinel Territories. I’m a big fan of Tolstoy, bigger fan of Anna Karenina than War and Peace. I wish I had the chance to take a Russian Literature class, senior year of high school. Instead, we had English Literature, which felt like Sophomore year, part deux.
I like the quote, attributed to Tolstoy – the two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
Great homage to Uncanny X-Men 141. That would have been enough for me to buy this issue, but there are more reasons (two more!) but that’s a decent start.
Since this issue takes place in The Sentinel Territories, so this takes place within the same realm of the series, Years of Future Past.
Kyle Jinadu, husband to Northstar, has found Psylocke – who is living a lie. She is blonde and living in the suburbs. Once he mentions, Kitty Pryde, he ruins Psylocke’s day.
Kyle wants to save Northstar, who is stuck in a concentration camp. She tells Kyle that she won’t help. Later that night, she erases her husband’s memories and takes off. She has made a decision.
Psylocke has joined Kyle’s quest. The two make short work of the soldiers, in the camp. Psylocke has really missed, cutting loose.
We get a very touching panel, of the two husbands hugging.
A dumb Sentinel tries to ruin the moment, but Psylocke destroys it.
Kyle really does owe Kitty a giant gift basket! It is the least they could do.
Eight more Sentinels are coming, and a dozen more guards. Psylocke tells Northstar to fly him and Kyle out of their, The poor guy only has enough strength to carry the two of them, and only a very short distance.
Issue ends with Psylocke fighting on, even though she (and we) know she doesn’t really stand a chance. Since she doesn’t appear in Years of Future Past, I suspect she doesn’t survive. Though, neither does Kyle and Northstar.
Not a bad ten pages.
There is another story, Primary Function, that stars Punisher and Iron Fist, it is the lead story.
Writer Kieron Gillen
Artist Filipe Andrade
Color Artist Rachelle Rosenberg
Double Page Spreads Julian Totino Tedesco; Juan Jose Ryp & Andy Troy; Michael Wm. Kaluta & Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles
The Shield. Fun joke on the credit page, about the title of the series being about how the story is about a siege, on the Shield.
I believe this double page spread is is done by Julian Totino Tedesco, based off of the TT on the far right. Pretty great spread!
Not only do we get the hive mind blue Kitty Pride, we also get a pretty large Lockheed! I do like how Gillen combined Nick Fury with the Fury, old school Captain Britain villain. Pretty clever!
Brand has sent a request to the barons of Battleworld, send aid now!
Marvel put the pull out ad in the middle of another double page spread. Super awkward. The Summers Clones take on Nick the Fury.
Scott tells Brand that he is down to the final 100. I need to start using “fluster of clucks” as it is fun to both write and say. Kang is trying to figure out a way to use the timestream to take out Fury. Brand uses Thing to transport them to the Units. We learn that the Units are in love with each other, so they are committed to ending Fury and the army of Ultrons.
The Units don’t do that great of a job, taking out Fury but they slow him down. Kate Bishop and Ms. America don’t stand up, much better, against Fury. This is all a good distraction, as Kang grabs Fury The Fury and goes through time.
The plural of Units is Unite, apparently.
Kang uses the chronomines to hurt Fury, which actually works. With Fury out the way, now they have to deal with the Perfection (the army of Ultrons) but they are prepared for that. The only problem, now, is that they barely survived the fight with Fury.
Good thing Magik and Leah arrive! I’m so glad that Magik lives! I do like the idea of them traveling on a giant Colossus.
I’m not sure who provided the art, for this double page spread.
Through Abigail Brand’s War Journal, we learn the motivation of Illyana and Leah. Essentially, it boils down to them being in love. Doom doesn’t care about anything, south of the Shield. So the two demonic queens fled their domains and dove into the southern realms.
The two are married now, great for them! They are also in control of the Marvel Zombies.
It is great to see Magik, not evil like in Inferno and in the present day of the pages of this series. Baby Magik, in Giant Size Little Marvel AvX, has been adorable.
The ladies are not going to rejoin the team, they will not serve God Doom, at all.
Brand threatens to out them to Doom, but they all know she won’t.
Kang returns, triumphant. Kang and Brand have a nice hug.
The issue ends with Thanos, the real deal, arriving on the scene. He surrenders himself to Brand and Kang.
“Time Before the Fall of the Shield : 1 Day and Counting. There is No Hope.”
Writer Kieron Gillen
Artist Filipe Andrade
Color Artist Rachelle Rosenberg
Double Page Spreads Yasmine Putri, Kyle Strahm & Jesus Aburtov; In-Hyuk Lee
Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles
The Shield. Brand is trying to get Leah to not go after Magik. Leah has to go, she loves her. As she should! Leah is sure she can find Thanos, before Kang could. Brand isn’t looking forward to having to work with Kang, at all. Leah believes she can find Magik and come back, before the 20th day, when the Shield is philosophized to fall, from a future Kang. If Leah can find Magik, then Illyana can use a stepping disc to come right back. Which, if she could do that, Illyana would be there right now.
How great is this double page spread? So many pages like this, in these first two issues!
Brand’s Journal. Brand likes Magik, immediately – who wouldn’t? Leah and Illyana got together, as they worked well together, as they both employ magic. So they were paired up, quite often. Look how happy Illyana is there! I didn’t even know she could smile!
Illyana’s prescense brings out the lighter side of Brand – which I like.
I really need to learn more about Leah, Marvel Database makes it seem like she has a complicated short history.
Leah is determined to go after her special lady friend. Leah takes off, confident that she will, both, find Magik and return.
15 Days Later. 5 days Before the Shield Falls. Which is a crazy time jump! Kang takes great pleasure in announcing his promotion, as Leah and her Hel-Ranchers have gone missing. This news takes Brand to her knees. She is super angry at how Kang went about telling her the news.
Apparently, if Brand fights anyone, if the other person wins – they become the Commander of the Shield. Summers attacks Kang, so that Brand wouldn’t have to. This makes Kang believe that Brand is weak.
Summers doesn’t live with any fear, he is like the thousandth clone, so he can be replaced. Summers reveals that Brand doesn’t make friends easy, or at all. She has lost few and has even lost her love of her life.
This leads to another two page spread. Hank McCoy, Beast, has returned to the Shield. Except he did it as a giant gross worm like creature. Brand had to kill him with a laser, through the head. Head shot, boom!
Brand hasn’t loved anything, ever since. Kang respects Brand now, as her underlings have such loyalty for her.
Later. Leonardo Da Vinci reveals that Thanos is seeking a glove, one might even call it – an Infinity Gauntlet. Kang suspects the future Kang was a fake, as any Kang should be a master of the timestream.
Brand wonders what would Fury do, and this segues us to a flashback. Fury believes that Brand is too hard on people.
Brand asks the robots, Unit and another Unit. There is no Thanos in their database. Units access the Perfection database, the Ultron database. This is what the Ultrons have been waiting for, as the Unit robots are bombarded. The Units believe in 47 years, the Ultrons will own the wastelands – but not the Wastelands where Old Man Logan is from. Every week, the Ultrons attack one part of the Shield, severely weakening it.
I had to read this page, so many times!
Ms. America calls the pride of blue kitties, Kitty Pride – but I thought she was calling Kate of Bishop, that she was Kitty Pryde. It was pretty confusing. I think the cats being blue, like Beast – really threw me off. Hopefully they appear in anther issue, so that I can make sense of it all. So it is like five cats, that share a hive mind, like the Cuckoos? That’s my guess.
On the Wall. The issue ends with Brand seeing who is leading the Ultrons. It is Nick Fury! It looks like the Fury, as he did as the final boss fight of Avengers Alliance 2, but all purple.
Siege 2’s Last Page –
Ultimate Alliance 2 –
Well, I guess they are not that similar but that was the impression I got.
The official countdown, in Two Days, the Shield will fall.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 