"If there’s a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis." but it's about the Quiet Council of Krakoa.

Hickman about to take a Hammer to Bendis's creations, just as Bendis took a hammer to Hickman's.

GO CHARTMAN GO!

What did you think of X-Men Blue Origins?

(I may turn this into a People's History of the Marvel Universe later today, so keep an eye on this space.)

X-Men Blue: Origins and the Power of the Additive Retcon

(WARNING: heavy spoilers under the cut)

Introduction

If you've been a long-time X-Men reader, or you're a listener of Jay & Miles or Cerebrocast or any number of other LGBT+ X-Men podcasts, you probably know the story about how Chris Claremont wrote Mystique and Destiny as a lesbian couple, but had to use obscure verbiage and subtextual coding to get past Jim Shooter's blanket ban on LGBT+ characters in the Marvel Universe.

Likewise, you're probably also familiar with the story that, when Chris Claremont came up with the idea that Raven Darkholme and Kurt Wagner were related (a plot point set up all the way back in Uncanny X-Men #142), he intended that Mystique was Nightcrawler's father, having used her shapeshifting powers to take on a male body and impregnate (her one true love) Irene. This would have moved far beyond subtext - but it proved to be a bridge too far for Marvel editorial, and Claremont was never able to get it past S&P.

This lacuna in the backstories of Kurt and Raven - who was Kurt's father? - would remain one of the enduring mysteries of the X-Men mythos...and if there's one thing that comic writers like, it's filling in these gaps with a retcon.

Enter the Draco

Before I get into the most infamous story in all of X-Men history, I want to talk about retcons a bit. As I've written before:

"As long as there have been comic books, there have been retcons. For all that they have acquired a bad reputation, retcons can be an incredibly useful tool in comics writing and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Done right, retcons can add an enormous amount of depth and breadth to a character, making their worlds far richer than they were before. Instead, I would argue that retcons should be judged on the basis of whether they’re additive (bringing something new to the character by showing us a previously unknown aspect of their lives we never knew existed before) or subtractive (taking away something from the character that had previously been an important part of their identity), and how well those changes suit the character."

For a good example of an additive retcon, I would point to Chris Claremont re-writing Magneto's entire personality by revealing that he was a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. As I have argued at some length, this transformed Magneto from a Doctor Doom knockoff into a complex and sympathetic character who could now work as a villain, anti-villain, anti-hero, or hero depending on the needs of the story.

For a good example of a subtractive retcon, I would point to...the Draco. If you're not familiar with this story, the TLDR is that it was revealed that Kurt's father was Azazel - an evil ancient mutant with the same powers and the same appearance (albeit color-shifted) as Kurt, who claims to be the devil and is part of a tribe of demonic-looking mutants who were banished to the Brimstone Dimension, and who fathered Nightcrawler as part of a plot to end this banishment.

I don't want to belabor Chuck Austen, because I think that Connor Goldsmith is right about his run actually being a camp cult classic in retrospect. However, I think we both agree that the Draco was a misfire, because of how the retcon undermined Kurt's entire thematic purpose as established in Giant-Size X-Men that Nightcrawler was actually a noble and arguably saintly man who suffered from unjust prejudice due to the random accident that his mutation made him appear to be a demon, and because of how the retcon undermined the centrality of Mystique and Destiny's relationship.

X-Men Blue Origins

This brings us to the Krakoan era. In HOXPOX and X-Men and Inferno, Jonathan Hickman had made Mystique and Destiny a crucial part of the story in a way that they hadn't been in decades: they were the great nemeses of Moira X, they were the force that threatened to burn Krakoa to the ground by revealing the devil's bargain that Xavier had struck with Sinister (and Moira), they were the lens through which the potential futures of Krakoa were explored, and they ultimately reshaped the Quiet Council and the Five in incredibly consequential ways.

This throughline was furthered after Hickman's departure, with Kieron Gillen exploring the backstories of Mystique and Destiny in Immortal X-Men and Sins of Sinister, and both Gillen and Si Spurrier exploring their relationship with Nightcrawler in AXE Judgement Day, Sins of Sinister, Way of X, Legion of X, Nightcrawlers, and Sons of X. One of the threads that wove through the interconnected fabric of these books was an increasing closeness between Kurt and Irene that needed an explanation. Many long-time readers began to anticipate that a retcon about Kurt's parentage was coming - and then we got X-Men Blue: Origins.

In this one issue, Si Spurrier had the difficult assignment of figuring out a way to "fix" the Draco and restore Claremont's intended backstory in a way that was surgical and elegant, that served the character arcs of Kurt, Raven, and Irene, and that dealt with complicated issues of trans and nonbinary representation, lesbian representation, disability representation, and the protean nature of the mutant metaphor. Thanks to help from Charlie Jane Anders and Steve Foxe, I think Spurrier succeeded tremendously.

I don't want to go through the issue beat-by-beat, because you should all read it, but the major retcon is that Mystique turns out to be a near-Omega level shapeshifter, who can rewrite themselves on a molecular level. Raven transformed into a male body and impregnated Irene, using bits of Azazel and many other men's DNA as her "pigments." In addition to being a deeply felt desire on both their parts to have a family together, this was part of Irene's plan to save them both (and the entire world) from Azazel's schemes, a plan that required them to abandon Kurt as a scapegoat-savior (a la Robert Graves' King Jesus), and to have Xavier wipe both their memories.

Now, I'm not the right person to write about what this story means on a representational level; I'll leave it to my LGBT+ colleagues on the Cerebrocast discord and elsewhere to discuss the personal resonances the story had for them.

What I will say, however, is that I thought this issue threaded the needle of all of these competing imperatives very deftly. It "fixed" the Draco without completely negating it, it really deepened and complicated the characters and relationships of both Raven and Irene (by showing that, in a lot of ways, Destiny is the more ruthless and manipulative of the two), and it honored Kurt's core identity as a man of hope and compassion (even if it did put him in a rather thankless ingénue role for much of the book).

It is the very acme of an additive retcon; nothing was lost, everything was gained.

I still think the baby Nightcrawler is just a bad bit, but then again I don't really vibe with Spurrier's comedic stylings.

Clash of Titans: Captain America and the Avengers Meet the X-Men in X-Men '97!

Could the Appearance of Captain America and the Avengers Bring About a War with the X-Men?

The potential ramifications of Captain America and the Avengers intersecting with the X-Men storyline in X-Men '97 raise intriguing questions about the dynamics between these iconic superhero teams. While the appearance of Captain America offers a compelling narrative twist and enriches the series' world-building, it also introduces the possibility of conflict between the two groups.

Avengers vs. X-Men (AvX or AvsX) is a 2012 crossover event that was featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The event, consisting of an eponymous limited series and numerous tie-in books, involves the return of the Phoenix Force and the subsequent war between the Avengers and the X-Men. The 12-issue twice-monthly series was first published in April 2012, and features a storyline by Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, and Matt Fraction, with a rotating team of artists including John Romita Jr., Olivier Coipel, and Adam Kubert.

Captain America's presence underscores the global impact of the Genosha tragedy and aligns with his established role as a symbol of hope and leadership in the Marvel Universe. However, his differing ideology and approach to justice may clash with the X-Men's methods, particularly in the aftermath of Rogue's vigilante actions. As a beacon of morality and order, Captain America may view the X-Men's actions as reckless or misguided, potentially leading to tension and disagreement between the teams.

Moreover, the Avengers' involvement could complicate the X-Men's ongoing struggles with anti-mutant sentiment and government persecution. If the Avengers perceive the X-Men as a threat or liability, it could escalate into a larger conflict, especially if other Avengers members share Captain America's concerns.

On the other hand, collaboration between the two teams offers exciting storytelling opportunities and the potential for alliances forged in the face of common threats. Their shared commitment to protecting humanity could ultimately outweigh any initial differences, leading to a united front against formidable adversaries like Bastion and Mister Sinister.

The event was preceded by the four-issue limited series Avengers: X-Sanction by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness and Avengers vs. X-Men #0. Avengers vs. X-Men also ties into the limited series AVX: VS, described as "the fight book" which expands upon many of the one-on-one battles featured in the main series, the digital series; Avengers vs. X-Men: Infinite, and into a number of ongoing series including Avengers, Avengers Academy, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and the X-Men and X-Men: Legacy. The event was succeeded by the limited series AvX: Consequences.

Overall, while the appearance of Captain America and the Avengers adds depth and complexity to the X-Men '97 narrative, it also introduces the possibility of conflict and rivalry between these beloved superhero groups. The repercussions of their interactions may shape the future direction of the series, offering fans thrilling storylines and compelling character dynamics to explore.

A preview of Uncanny Avengers #1

UNCANNY AVENGERS #1

THE FALL OF X CALLS FOR THE RETURN OF THE AVENGERS’ UNITY SQUAD! Innocent people and world leaders are dead after simultaneous attacks on the U.S. and Krakoan governments, and that means one thing: It’s time for a new squad of Avengers. False-flag attacks meant to whip up anti-mutant hysteria are unfolding, and hey, some of Steve Rogers’ best friends are mutants. Your new unity squad is: Captain America, Rogue, Deadpool, Quicksilver, Psylocke and Monet. They must solve the mystery of who the new, murderous Captain Krakoa is—and stop his team of killers from igniting the fires of a new world war. PLUS: A bonus page written by Jonathan Hickman—WHO ARE THE G.O.D.S.?

Written by: Gerry Duggan Art by: Javier Garron, Morry Hollowell Cover by: Javier Garron, Morry Hollowell Page Count: 36 Pages Release Date: August 16, 2023

pietro is going to be in the new uncanny avengers comic written by gerry duggan

Sure seems like it. Marvel announced the Avengers/X-Men crossover special for Free Comic Book Day a while back, and at the time I assumed it was just a crossover a special... but it turns out it's a prelude to Duggan's new Uncanny run, which will launch properly in August.

From Marvel:

This August, the Avengers’ Unity Squad will return in a new run of UNCANNY AVENGERS written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by Javier Garrón. Innocent people and world leaders are dead after simultaneous attacks on the U.S. and Krakoan governments, and that means one thing: it's time for a new squad of Avengers. 

False flag attacks meant to whip up anti-mutant hysteria are unfolding and hey, some of Steve Rogers' best friends are mutants. Marvel’s new unity squad will include Captain America, Rogue, Deadpool, Quicksilver, Psylocke, and Penance. This powerhouse new team must solve the mystery of who the new, murderous Captain Krakoa is—and stop his team of killers from igniting the fires of a new world war.

Sounds like a pretty ambitious story, and it seems like this book will be well-integrated with the X-Men line's overarching plot during the Fall of X period. In fact, it sounds like it's going a main feature in Fall of X, which is intriguing-- sounds like the strict editorial divisions between X and non-X series are beginning to soften.

I'm ambivalent to the Unity Squad as a concept, but I have a soft spot for the 2016 volume of Uncanny Avengers, especially Jim Zub's run. I think Duggan, if nothing else, can turn out a fun, well-paced team book and I... sometimes appreciate Garrón's work. Everyone looks good on the FCBD cover. I'd really like to know who's coloring the series, though, because I'm really concerned with making sure Wanda and Pietro's new look actually sticks. The FCBD cover was drawn well before those changes were implemented, so I'm trying not to judge, but... he looks pretty pale.

Uncanny is a good fit for Pietro. I think it's been hard for writers to figure out what to do with him since the AXIS retcon, and that's partially because he crossed over with X-Men a lot more than Wanda. Uncanny lets him bridge that gap again without worrying his revoked mutant status. It will be nice to see both twins in ongoing Avengers books again, on top of Wanda's solo series. I wish they were in a book together, but beggars can't always be choosers.

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2023: AVENGERS/X-MEN #1 [GOLD TITLE] Written by GERRY DUGGAN & JONATHAN HICKMAN Art by JOSHUA CASSARA, JAVIER GARRÓN, & VALERIO SCHITI Cover by JAVIER GARRÓN Available 5/6

“I’m Not Anti-Mutant Just Anti-Krakoa '' - Why We Should Compare Krakoa to Israel.

When HoX\PoX came out in 2019 I was living in Jerusalem and talking to a friend about it and eventually the question went up “Do we want to talk about Krakoa and Israel?” The answer was a resounding no. Unfortunately for me, some of the latest issues of X-Men titles made the connection between my actual homeland and my fictional favorite Island-state clearer and clearer. I don’t know if the writers meant to make the connections I see, but they are there and in order to truly understand what we’ve seen as the road to Fall of X is being published we need to look at the triangle of Israel, Anti-Zionism, and Anti-Semitism in real life. 

Since we are talking about a volatile subject we do need to put on some very basic ground rules. Many critics of Israel claim Zionist would use the Anti-Semitisim card in order to ignore valid criticism. While my side of the issue needs to understand that not every criticism of Israel is antisemitic, the other side needs to understand that not all Anti-Zionism is automatically not Anti-Semitic. Anti-Semites also use criticism of Israel to ignore criticism of their own anti-semitism. In my opinion, both sides of this equation are not opinions rather basic recognition of reality needed to talk about this issue. The point of this article is not to prove that Israel is the source of all evil or to justify its existence/importance. This is about understanding what the plot of a comic book means to readers living in the real world and vice versa.

The Naive - Krakoa as Ugande.

While I decided to write this specifically during my reading of Duggan’s X-Men issue 23, I think it is best to start at House of X issue 1. It’s hard to ignore the parallels between Krakoa and Israel when Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, is hosting foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem. The new mutant nation was showing what Krakoa is, and what it has to offer to other nations. Host of the Cerebro podcast, Connor Goldsmith, brought up Krakoa as Israel without the Palestinian Issue. Since Krakoa is a newly formed island it can represent the good in the Zionist project without the bad - the fact that the country was formed in a land that was already populated. As an Israeli who is temporarily living in the US, this seems to be a desire shared by many left wing jews who want to love Israel but feel like they cannot due to the plight of the Palesstinians. Jonathan Hickman himself, while being a guest on said podcast, said that Magneto represented a form of politics evolved and better than humanity’s politics.

This aspiration, formed out of both of these hopes, reminded me of two Zionist naive works. The first one is a parody song by the Israeli comedic trio “Ma Ka’shur” - Why Not Ugande. The song, released in 2008 celebrating the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel, claims that Theodore Hertzel, as a symbol for the entirety of the Zionist leadership, was wrong to decline the British Uganda Scheme to create a Jewish national home in Uganda instead of our ancestral homeland. The chorus of the song begins with the words “Why not Uganda, why not Uganda, we do not go on busses” refering to the waves of suicide bombers who bombed Israeli busses during the time of the Oslo Agreement and during the first couple of years of the second Initifada. This naive view of the early days of the Zionist movement assumes that the Zionist project would not be opposed in Uganda. 

The other work is from the writings of Rav Avraham Issac Kook, a rabbi who’s writing would eventually be the basis of the contemporary Religious Zionisim movement in Israel. Rav Kook was heavily influenced by European philosophers who believed that WWI was the last war in history. In his most famous book “Orot” (Lights in Hebrew) he writes “We have left the global political stage [after the destruction of the second temple and the beginning of the Diaspora YT] due to an external source forcing us, in a way that also reflected our inner wishes. Until that glorious time where a kingdom can be run without wickedness and cruelty.” (Orot, Lights out of Darkness, War, Passage 3) 

Thinking that if only Zionism went a few dozen miles to the side everything would be perfect is as silly as saying that WWI is the last war in history and that’s why the Zionist project is going to be perfect. But this silly naivety can also become insidious. Krakoa started out as a perfect nation, harming no one while helping everyone. But that wasn’t enough. Setting the bar for what humanity expects of Krakoa so high that no other country could ever pass it, while expecting the mutant nation to do it is a ruse. Even when they ran a seemingly perfect country it wasn’t enough because Krakao’s actions were never the issue. Not when Krakoa is morally wrong, not when it is morally right. From its birth, Krakoa could never be accepted by those who prosecuted mutants. The problem would always be the existence of Krakoa because the world that hates and fears mutants cannot accept that they would have control over their own future. 

The Good - Krakoan Pharmawashing

Since its inception the island nation of Krakoa has performed many outreach programs. The krakoan miracle drugs were the big opener of the nation’s international activities, the X-Men team built and lived in the tree house to help people outside of the island and now we’ve also seen Mutant First Strike, a team meant to act as disaster relief. It would be one thing if those efforts would simply fail to move the needle of public opinion towards mutants, but we see how these efforts are being used in anti mutant/Krakoa propaganda. 

The mutant medicines are seen in the pages of X-Force and Wolverine to be a point of contention by those who oppose the island nation. In X-Men 22 we even see that Orchis are blaming mutants for poisoning their medicines. Sure, the lie is because Orchis are the ones who put the poison in, but all I could see is Krakoa being blamed for poisoning wells. Israel was also accused several times in poisoning wells, but the source for these rumors seem to come not out of fact, since those haven’t been presented, but out of the centuries old antisemitic trope of Jews poisoning wells. 

In the real world, Israel is being blamed for “Pinkwashing the Occupation”; later on it also evolved to other issues like Veganwashing. The pinkwashing campaign does not mean that the good Israel does can not cancel out its wrongs, which is an actual critique. It started, back in 2010 as a critique saying the Israeli government uses its LGBT community to hide our atrocities. It also evolved, and today, in its extreme form Israel is blamed that many of the good we do (such as promoting green energy and vegan products) are only done in order that we can continue and oppress the Palestinian people. Every other country has done both good and evil, and reasonable people can see that a country, or people, can be both at the same time. But if you view a group as demonic then even its best qualities must be viewed in that light.  

The Bad - Why Is It always Sentinels

I started writing this after reading X-Men 23. In this issue, Orchis, a global union of many anti-mutant groups, use of a sentinel as a proposed vehicle for peace and feint of ignorance made my blood boil. Orchis propaganda claims they “do not know” why the X-Men decided to attack a sentinel. The intentional use of Sentinels, the most recognized symbol of mutant oppression, is not foreign to me. While being accused of being a Nazi is pretty common for most people on the internet, it’s different when it’s used against the victims of that regime. When Roger Waters wanted to ‘criticize’ Israel he chose to do so wearing Nazi uniforms. Many Arab countries who ethnically cleansed their Jewish population blame Israel for committing that act, without an inch of recognition for what they did to the ancient Jewish Communities they used to have. The choice of Sentinels was not meant only to bait a response from the X-Men, it was meant to hurt them by reminding them all of their shared trauma. 

The only thing I was missing in the issue was the claim that Orchis isn’t Anti Mutant, it is simply Anti-Krakoa. But Duggan already wrote that scene in his original Marauders run at the Dawn of X. And while it is not said explicitly here, Orchis are asking us to believe that the use of sentinels is not out of mutant hatred but due to something else. The idea that mutants shouldn’t attack a sentinel is absurd, but claiming that mutants are not allowed to defend themselves in face of clear aggression actually does makes sense. Because even after Israel spent decades developing a defensive technology that doesn’t hurt any Palestinian, we are still being blamed for using it, as famously seen made by Jon Oliver regarding the Iron Dome. In the last year we have seen so much bad spewing out of Krakoa, but the hatred came before all of that. Krakoa is primed to be a quick excuse for mutant hating bigots, just like Israel is used by many anti-semites regardless of all the bad and good that comes out of my country. 

One of the common conceptions surrounding X-Men comics is that the mutant metaphor is problematic since minorities are in a position of weakness while mutants have super powers. But while Jews and Israelis do not shoot lasers from the eyes we are at the bottom of every conspiracy theory. From space lasers from the right to being blamed for American police brutality on the left, we are attributed fictional powers and being blamed for them long before the forming of Zionism as a modern political movement in 1840. Krakoa isn’t Israel, it is better than we could ever hope to be and it is worse than we will be able to become. Krakoa is mostly a fictional state, something that we will never be again. So the answer to Israel-Palestinian conflict would not be found in the Fall of X, but looking at the hatred, be it justified or Antisemitic, surrounding Israel is a great way to write visceral scenes that sticks with the reader. Especially now as things are about to take a turn for the worse for my favorite made up nation. 

I do not know what the Fall of X has in store for us. I truly hope we are not about to witness the end of Krakoa, but I know it’s a possible outcome. Both from watsonian and the doylist perspective Krakoa was always going to fail. In the pages of Powers Of X issue 6 we learned that Xavier, Magneto, and Moira , the founders of Krakoa, knew the threats that are facing this miracle island and are not sure they will make it in the long run. From an industry perspective, many fans simply assume that Krakoa can’t last since every big change in comics gets pushed back eventually into the status quo. Not to mention that no one thinks that the MCU is going to let Krakoa in. 

Even if Krakoa doesn’t fall, the threat of the destruction of the nation is on full display in previews we’ve seen. And that’s the point, most countries in the world are not under constant threat of complete annihilation, but Krakoa and Israel are. When we criticize most nation we demand a regime change, not promoting relocating millions of people, but that is always the explicit goal of anti Krakoa and Anti-Zionist campaigns. You do not have to support Israel in order to be a “true” X-Men fan, but it is my opinion that the best way to understand this age of comics, and the best way to write it, is to lean in on the Israel metaphor.

Ultimate Invasion #3 Review

Ultimate Invasion #3 Review #ultimates #ultiamteinvasion #secretwars #hickman #MARVEL #marvelcomics #comics #comicbooks #news #mcu #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews

Writer: Jonathan Hickman Art: Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Alex Sinclair, and Joe Caramagna Publisher: Marvel Comics Release Date: August 30th, 2023 After Kang descends upon the City of Tomorrow, the Illuminati must regroup! Iron Man has a heart-to-heart with Tony Stark! Doctor Doom – the anti-Maker – prepares his own plans to deal with this evil Reed Richards…and the Ultimate Universe that the…

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UNCANNY AVENGERS #1 (OF 5)

GERRY DUGGAN (W) • JAVIER GARRÓN (A/C)

AVENGERS CONNECTING VARIANT COVER BY ALEX ROSS

AVENGERS CONNECTING SKETCH VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY ALEX ROSS

X-MEN CONNECTING VARIANT COVER BY ALEX ROSS

X-MEN CONNECTING SKETCH VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY ALEX ROSS

WOMEN OF MARVEL VARIANT COVER BY ELENA CASAGRANDE

VARIANT COVER BY GEORGE PÉREZ

VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY GEORGE PÉREZ

G.O.D.S. VARIANT COVER BY GREG LAND

MISS MINUTES VARIANT COVER BY JEN BARTEL

THE FALL OF X CALLS FOR THE RETURN OF THE AVENGERS' UNITY SQUAD!

Innocent people and world leaders are dead after simultaneous attacks on the U.S. and Krakoan governments, and that means one thing: It's time for a new squad of Avengers. False-flag attacks meant to whip up anti-mutant hysteria are unfolding, and hey, some of Steve Rogers' best friends are mutants.

Your new unity squad is: Captain America, Rogue, Deadpool, Quicksilver, Psylocke and Monet. They must solve the mystery of who the new, murderous Captain Krakoa is – and stop his team of killers from igniting the fires of a new world war.

PLUS: A bonus page written by Jonathan Hickman – WHO ARE THE G.O.D.S.?

40 PGS./RATED T …$4.99

It’s really interesting how the context of the real world or larger franchise that a story is written in can make a huge difference in its quality and how it’s received, and depriving it of that context can utterly ruin it.

I say this in regards to X-Men with the whole Krakoa Age which is fantastic for the most part and probably the best X-Men has been in years, but which can ONLY exist and be good in the specific context in which it was created; as a return to form making the best out of decades on end of X-Men as a series getting horribly mistreated and subjected to near-endless terrible stories with only pockets of hope between long stretches of shit.

Jonathan Hickman’s refreshing of the X-Men is built entirely around taking all the absolute rancid garbage the Merry Mutants have suffered through since Decimation and making something out of it — the repeated mutant genocides, the mass slaughter of beloved characters, the pointless revivals of characters that should’ve stayed dead, the derailments of heroes into villains, the woobification of villains into heroes, the snarled and convoluted or abandoned plotlines, the incessant misery, the demonization of humans, the refusal to let the X-Men progress in their goals, the constant spamming of Sentinels, and above all else, the general victimization the comic suffered from people like Ike Perlmutter and Joe Quesada for daring to have its film rights owned by somebody else or wavering off the status quo respectively.

Hickman took all the terrible writing decisions and awful point-missing revamps and stagnant status quos and he fixed them by taking them all to their logical conclusion.

The constant deaths and resurrections was reworked into the mutants conquering death, leading to all the crap deaths being undone and stories examining the logic of a world where death is a revolving door and even the most major of X-Men have lost all fear of it because they just come back when killed brutally. The Sentinel spam was developed into a brilliant larger idea of robots and transhumanity being the “third side” of the mutant-human conflict, then deconstructed by showing how the robots only become antagonistic because of how humans and mutants both mistreat them. The genocides are taken to their logical endpoint; the constantly-victimized and demoralized mutants are manipulated by amoral, power-hungry mutants who exploit the hate crimes and evil humans to get control over their people, luring them into embracing mutant-supremacist viewpoints, turning against humanity, and joining the creepy, radicalizing cult island where the manipulators are on top of course — all mutants equal, but some more equal then others. This, in turn, is used to make the derailments work, as the divide between mutant hero and mutant villain starts to break down, and the X-Men find themselves increasingly divided between those who reject this awful new path and those who embrace it out of despair and anger, creating the horrifying image of once loving and noble heroes like Cyclops or Storm happily standing next to mass murderers like Apocalypse and spouting the same anti-human bile that Magneto used to. Meanwhile, the demonization of humans is reversed and explored, with humans being manipulated with bigotry by amoral, power-hungry members of their own kind in the same way, led to believe that mutants are evil and seek the destruction or subjugation of “baselines” (and some are and do), which is what stirs the pot of tensions and drives humans into creating robots and cyborgs to defend themselves, which backfires and creates the three way man-mutant-machine conflict.

None of this could have worked prior to the rock bottom low point the X-Men were in when Hickman came in. If any prior X-Men writer in any prior time period had tried this, it would’ve been probably the worst X-Men story ever, something completely out of nowhere. But in this specific context of responding to and making the best out of years of mismanagement and bad writing, it ends up being one of the greatest X-Men stories ever instead.

It’s utterly fascinating.

Something to consider…

Both times Cyclops has been killed in the X-Men comics, it was immediately followed by a notably lackluster time in the franchise history, then he was resurrected outside of the main book, followed by a singular storyline of him being emotionally distant and more militant in his battle to protect mutantkind, immediately followed by an iconic rebrand of the X-line by a marquee writer.

He died in Alan Davis’s The Twelve, followed by probably the least popular Chris Claremont X-men run ever, came back in The Search For Cyclops mini, was a militant dick partnered with Wolverine in Scott Lobdell’s Eve of Destruction arc, which was followed one month later by Grant Morrison’s New X-Men.

He died in Charles Soule’s Death of X, followed by the dreadful X-Men Gold and Blue runs that included that included anti-semitic imagery, came back in Cable and an Uncanny Annual, was a militant dick partnered with Wolverine in Matthew Rosenberg’s This is Forever arc, which was followed one month later by Jonathan Hickman’s House of X.

Why is "don't change the past" such a prominent theme in SF stories? The latest Flash movie, the Flash TV show, Doctor Who, the Flash comics, too much written SF to mention. Why is there such strong condemnation of something that'll always be impossible anyway?

So part of this is a storytelling constraint in serial fiction: by the end of the story, you need to return to a recognizable status quo. Even after the most definitive run, there's going to be someone coming after you who'll have to do the next run, so it's only professional courtesy to make their job a little easier. Jonathan Hickman, who's destroyed and rebuilt the Marvel multiverse, taken the Iron Man vs. Captain America fight to its logical conclusion (i.e, death), and put the X-Men on Krakoa, describes this as "putting the toys back in the toybox."

Another aspect of this comes out of the very nature of time travel as a storytelling device. Time travel inherently brings up the question of paradoxes, being trapped in time loops, and so forth - and outside of going back in time to kill Hitler, which is seen as enough of a moral good to at least sustain a philosophical argument if not win it outright, people generally see most of these outcomes as bad.

A third reason is what I refer to as our anti-revolutionary imagination. There is a strong cultural tendency to view our current society as the best of all possible worlds and a similar strong inability to imagine better presents or futures. In the context of time travel, this lends itself to a defense of the status quo: hence why so much Alternate History depicts bad outcomes, hence why going back in time to change the past has to be shown to be a destructive act that can only makes things worse.

In conclusion, kill Hitler.

Here's hoping that Hickman just does what the rest of us do, and pretend that Slott and his stories don't exist.

This is just me whining, but I feel like I need to get it off my chest. In the past two months, for the first time in a year, I feel like there’s been a few issues under the X-Men that should have worked for me. Not perfectly, but when has there ever been a perfect superhero comic. (Specifically, S.W.O.R.D. #1, New Mutants #14, X-Men #15-ish, and X-Factor #5) But they just haven’t. And if I’m honest with myself, its literally just because the current era has put Xavier back in a real position of power for the first time since M-Day. And I just hate him so much. It literally spoils everything for me. Like, Jean and Scott getting back together while Xavier is in a position of power hugely strengthens a theory about their characters and relationship that I’ve been shoving under friends’ noses since I became an X-Man fan, and even that isn’t enough to make it palatable. I just hate him so much. And I knew that this was what it was going to be from the start. When Hickman said at a comic con that Scott just needed to be brought back under Xavier’s wing (or something to that effect), but I didn’t expect it to spoil the story for me this much. I don’t know why I got my hopes up that something would change this week, but I did, and now I’m a little heartbroken.

I am still holding out a little hope that Xavier will be revealed to be totally evil at the end of this. The implications of something being rotten at the heart of Kroaka aren’t as strong as they were at the beginning, but they’re still there. But honestly, even if that turns out to be the case, I kind of don’t feel like its worth it. First of all, I’d just be more invested if it was someone else. I know I think Xavier’s a bad person, I’m not going to have any sympathy for his motives. I’d rather just not deal with him. Second, its really not worth the amount of Xavier worship I’m being subjected to right now. Scott’s whole heroic speech in X-Men #15 was about how Xavier raised him to be a hero. And this week Jean talked about how they’d learned they’d needed the X-Men from being on Kroaka. And that’s just the last two issues of the main X-Men comic.

I don’t know. I’m just tired, and sad, and disappointed. I don’t even know that I think the story is bad overall. I’m just consumed by how much I hate this piece of it (well, and the resurrection piece, but that’s a different whiny post).

If your legal system at any point involves a pit, I am not on board.

Ultimate Invasion #3 Preview

Ultimate Invasion #3 Preview #ultimates #ultiamteinvasion #secretwars #hickman #MARVEL #marvelcomics #comics #comicbooks #news #mcu #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews

Ultimate Invasion #3 Preview: After KANG descends upon the City of Tomorrow, the Illuminati must regroup! IRON MAN has a heart-to-heart with Tony Stark! DOCTOR DOOM – the anti-Maker – prepares his own plans to deal with this evil Reed Richards…and the Ultimate Universe that the Maker thought he had rebuilt frays at the edges as they prepare for cosmic war! JONATHAN HICKMAN • BRYAN HITCH…

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