That seemed like a lot of shiny at the time, too.

Even though I have a copy next to me, we saw Avengers #366 some time back. Fortunately, we have another shiny cover to go to: from 1993, Avengers #369, "Bloodties, finale: Of Kith and Kin" Written by Bob Harras, pencils by Steve Epting and Jan Duursema, inks by Tom Palmer.

Exodus kills Fabian Cortez, to avenge his murder of Magneto, but doesn't return Magneto's granddaughter Luna to her parents Quicksilver and Crystal. The Avengers and X-Men, having fought earlier in the crossover, team up now, and receive a summons from Professor X. They're able to stop the Genoshan Magistrates, but then have to face Exodus: the Professor describes him as a "boy...seeking to fill the boots of a giant," but don't make excuses for him; I'm pretty sure he was older than that, which was part of why Black Knight seems to recognize Exodus but can't place him. (They had met when the Knight was living back during the Crusades.) Exodus worshipped Magneto, but sees Luna--a powerless human--as a throwback and maybe as a betrayal. The Knight and the Professor stop Exodus, and the Professor makes a speech to the warring factions of Genosha. Still, Exodus gets in a parting shot, zapping Quicksilver. He nearly dies, but the Black Knight manages to save him, which seems to end his relationship with Crystal, as he tells her "that's what friends are for!"

The immediate crisis was over in Genosha, but as Captain America and Professor X consider the situation, Genoshan mutate Jenny Ransome gives the Professor an earful, suggesting it was hypocritical for him to hide his mutant status from the world. Cap defends him a bit, but the Professor has to admit, she might be right. 

I did stop to look up: that 'death' didn't keep Fabian Cortez down for long. He would be back about the same time the "Joseph" version of Magneto turned up. I was going to say, even though I ordered one, I can't believe there's going to be a Fabian Cortez Marvel Legends, but it's currently mis-labeled as Husk now! But it also appeared to have, maybe some new shoulder pads and a new head; much less of an undertaking than an Exodus figure would be.

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That first panel's pretty much the reason we read this, sure.

When we checked out Uncanny X-Men #29, I mentioned how the cover didn't seem to line up with the interior; and I just read #23 and #24, and they don't either, or at least not very well. This cover has got Goth Dazzler, for reasons probably not actually within the issue: from 2014, Uncanny X-Men #24, written by Brian Michael Bendis, art by Kris Anka.

This was the, I don't know, rival schools era of X-Men? (Not to be confused with Rival Schools, which was like a million times more fun.) Some were at the Mansion, now renamed Jean Grey's School for Gifted Youngsters; while others were with Cyclops, in his red-X, "New Mutant Revolution" phase. Both factions seem to kind of hate each other, and also some people are on sides I wouldn't expect them to be on? Kitty was on Team Cyke; I'm not sure how, unless she was rebelling against her mentors Wolvie and Storm. Still, She-Hulk tells the Jean Grey crowd that Cyclops has to be there, for the reading of Charles Xavier's will. Beast says he knows where he is, although he didn't tell the others: not out of loyalty to Scott, but because he couldn't stand him and "(didn't) want my life to be his life." Rachel, Firestar, and Kurt show up; then Wolverine comes in late, to admit he didn't own the school anymore: he had signed it over to Charles, just in case. Storm fears, the will would give it to Scott; since there's no way Charles would have expected him to kill him...Beast reveals Cyclops had been hiding out, in the old Weapon X facility, as it would've been the last place Wolverine would've looked; which he seemingly accepts with a wry smile. Well played, dickhead.

There's then seven pages, with new super-mutant Matthew, who blew up a town: Maria Hill tries to talk with him via remote, but it doesn't go well; and that plot's gonna run several more issues. Yay. Storm, Iceman, and Beast go to get Cyclops: while all of the other X-Men appear to be up and in costume, Cyclops is in bed? That's weird. When told of the reading, he claims he doesn't want it, but maybe changes his mind about going when he sees Wolverine glowering at him from the plane. Illyana teleports him, Kitty, Emma, and (goth) Dazzler for the reading. The color palette this issue isn't doing She-Hulk any favors, but she reads the will; and the first bombshell was that Xavier attests he was married--not to Magneto, that would've made sense; but to Raven Darkholme. She-Hulk tries to recollect where she's heard that name, but everyone else--the X-Men and the readers!--knew her as Mystique. Before that can sink in, a Shi'ar hologram of Xavier is activated, and he tells them about compromise, and was about to reveal his darkest secret...which, I'm 90% sure ties back to Matthew. Pffft. (Just like yesterday's Deadpool, this was an Original Sin crossover; although it doesn't seem to involve Uatu's eye or anything, just a secret sin revealed.)

Hey, Magneto doesn't appear this issue? I'd be surprised if he wasn't in that will, or if there wasn't any stipulations for him to be there. Also, the reason Dazzler was going dark (figuratively speaking) was that she had been captured and tortured by Mystique: I know she's on a face-turn now, but still feels like there's a lot of things she would've had to answer for. We're a few years removed from this era, so unless you're willing to read a bunch of X-books at once, I think it might be tough to recall who did what to piss off who at any given point. A few more of Bendis's trademark wisecracks hit this month than usual, though. Read more!

I'd like to read the issue this cover should've been on, not enough to read more of these, but still.

Some of this maybe aged better than I would've guessed, but again, not enough to make me want to keep reading. From 2015, Uncanny X-Men #29, written by Brian Bendis, pencils by Chris Bachalo, inks by Tim Townsend, Mark Irwin, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba, and Al Vey.

The cover appears to be a bunch of characters trying to read Charles Xavier's will over She-Hulk's shoulders; including some of Xavier's closest compatriots, Howard the Duck, the Man-Thing, Doctor Doom, and Forbush Man. I--just--anyway, that's not in this particular comic; instead, we've got Cyclops in his red-X mutant liberator/terrorist mode, trying to win over an insanely powerful new mutant, Matthew. Magneto confronts them, but while he cautions Cyke not to "poison him against me," Matthew still teleports him away, since nothing Cyke says about him was false, really.

Magik goes back in time for help with this, from Doctor Strange; who isn't thrilled about time-travel, but trains her in the use of the Eye of Agamotto, so she can see for sure if Matthew is going to be good or bad. Before they can do that, Magik, Cyclops, and Matthew are all blown to bits by what appears to be a helicarrier. But, another mutant, Eva--who looks way too much like Rogue, I assumed it was her, but it's Tempus--opts to also go back in time, to tell Professor Xavier that his plan for Matthew maybe hadn't worked out, hopefully without telling him um, his best student would kill him? This seems fairly typical for the X-books: somebody brings up, should we do this thing? Thirty seconds of debate over the morality of said thing, before somebody unilaterally decides to just do it.

Nightcrawler did not appear often in this series, but I know he's there at the reading of Xavier's will, because I've seen the scene where he flirts a bit with She-Hulk. What issue is that? Before or after this one? Read more!

"The Savage Sword of Solarr!" has a ring to it...ooh, maybe not.

I don't usually blog comics that are this recent, but this one does attempt to correct a most egregious error. That and I may be coming around on the whole Krakoa thing...from 2022, X-Men '92: House of XCII #3, written by Steve Foxe, art by Salva Espin.

This was the House/Powers of X stuff, except set in the animated X-Men continuity; so not a one-to-one comparison, but this was reading like an accelerated version. This issue was X of Swords, sort of, as longtime X-antagonist Arkon challenges Apocalypse and the mutants of Krakoa, with Arakko as the stakes. Apocalypse gathers Krakoa's mightiest; mostly X-Men from the series, plus Archangel, Psylocke, Shatterstar, the Silver Samurai, Nightcrawler, and--Solarr!? He's a deep cut, an old Captain America villain, killed off in Power Man & Iron Fist #113; but he had made an appearance in the X-Men cartoon! He's also there strictly to be jobbed; as Arkon has cheated and brought in ringers, including Apocalypse's old Horsemen, Sauron, Erik the Red, Juggernaut, Arcade, and Ms. Marvel! Apocalypse had known Solarr wasn't going to cut it, as it were; but it was a strategic move: sacrifice him, to show the rest not to hold back.

Nightcrawler doesn't get to do a whole bunch (except almost get friendly-fired by Storm!) but at least he's off the bench, since he wasn't tagged in for the regular X of Swords. Deadpool also makes a snarky cameo, piloting an animatronic Brood and wanting to get in before the Jubilee reveal. Beast is killed trying to warn the others: if killed on Polemachus, they resurrected weird; and Apocalypse faces the surprised Arkon, who is immeditately decapitated by Apocalypse's wife, Genesis. While some stay there, thousands of the Arakkii mutants return to Krakoa; and Silver Samurai, Solarr, and Beast are reborn, but off: Beast very strongly resembles the AoA Dark Beast, and seems to know of Jubilee. Professor X and Magneto suspect earth's governments aren't going to warmly embrace the mutant population doubling, but Magneto suggests maybe they should be done with earth...

There are aspects of the Krakoa era that I could care less about--again, why anyone would consider Apocalypse for the romantic lead is beyond me, and I don't know or much care about Arakko society. But it's an ongoing trainwreck: everything the mutants do has unforeseen--or completely predictable--consequences. The humans of the Marvel universe, who by and large spent literal decades spitting on mutants and laughing at their deaths, are now sore that mutants can come back from the dead and won't share. (I thought they couldn't share; but I doubt that distinction matters much.) Mankind also seems to warmly embrace the Eternals, for standing up to those muties; despite the fact the Eternals have not helped humanity noticeably in centuries? There's been a few points in the Krakoa era where mutantkind makes business or strategic moves, in their best interests, screw "humanity" and their hurt feelings; and I am 100% for it.

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"Disruption."

If you remember the last panel of the last strip, where Magneto zaps Kurt; the figures were in that position for a long time after that last shoot; since I had at best a vague idea where I was going. I kind of wish Kurt had got to call Magneto out to his face a little more; for whatever good it would do, he's not gonna change. 

 As I write this, I don't think Immortal X-Men has come out yet; but there have been solicitations and previews for the second annual Hellfire Gala; with more fancy costumes and some guest-starring Avengers. And...the gala just seems like a terrible party; about as fun as a coffin fitting. I feel like the mutants would need to be seen in more humanizing activities, if you'd pardon the expression. Or, and I admit I haven't read every X-book lately, I'd be more interested in what the mutant community was finding in terms of art or music. Right now, it feels like they've got Dazzler and maybe some paintings from Colossus, and that's about it?  As usual, I could be wrong there. 

Another point I had considered, then skipped, was that Kurt is a mutant 24 hours a day, and may be on call 24 hours a day, but he's not on the job 24 hours a day. That's Cyclops territory, and look how he turned out...And again, I think the Krakoa-era may have humanized him more than usual, giving him time with his kids Cable and Rachel, among other things. Still, Kurt also has less than no interest in being a mutant politician, although I admit I write him as not particularly invested in anybody's spiritual development, either. For me, Kurt does his job for mutantkind, then punches out to go hang out with Sat. Between Krakoa portals and his own teleportation (which may or may not be god-level at this point) Kurt could be on the scene first if he had to be. Of course, when I think of him punching the clock...

Also, while there are probably a ton of mutants who would be just jim-dandy with never seeing a human again; there has to be some with parents, siblings, or other loved ones that would like to have a place for them on Krakoa. Which doesn't seem likely.

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"Slumming."

...has anyone used the phrase "Krakoa über alles" in the actual X-books yet? It doesn't seem to be outside the realm of possibility, but it should be Kurt to say to it to Mags. Is there anything Magneto wouldn't do for Krakoa? I kind of feel like he could justify a scary amount. 

And, since I found it while prepping this, John Linnell of They Might Be Giants, covering the Dead Kennedys "California Uber Alles" since I was not expecting that.  

I had some friends in college that covered it; although I probably heard the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy version more than the original.

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"Seen One."

I don't think Sat would be the type for flowery speeches with Kurt, but it's easy to open up to a Spider-Man, isn't it? And Kaine has lived a different, and darker, life than either Ben or Peter; so I figured it's not a stretch that he'd be smitten with Satana. Besides her obvious charms, that is.

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"Glum."

I re-read all of Extraordinary X-Men the other day, because it keeps falling out of my head: I read most of it when it was coming out. Although, I may have skipped some of the more Inhuman-centric issues, because come on. 

But I think Nightcrawler is in a bad headspace most of the series, after witnessing a mass mutant grave; then he gets captured and a bit of torture from Mister Sinister and his crew. (Not the Nasty Boys, I don't think, which is a shame, but I think he did have Chimera from Wolverine!) In a later issue, Kurt angrily tells Storm he's got it back together, and to stop treating him like a liability. He then backstabs future-timeline Apocalypse, potentially putting the entire world at risk. Couple issues after that, to get Colossus restored from being a Horseman, Kurt tells Apocalypse he'll "let him go." Which he does, teleporting Apocalypse out and dropping him to his seeming death in Limbo. It is very action hero-y, and more so if Kurt overplayed his German accent to Schwarzenegger-levels. 

Anyway, Kurt's point about Krakoa is probably a vast oversimplification, but there's a bit of truth to it. I'm not sure Sinister has ceased doing evil crap in the slightest, but the powers-that-be in Krakoa seem to have accepted that as the cost of doing business.

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