Good idea: making a list of all the Earth X/Universe X/Paradise X books I've bought additional copies of, to see what I need to complete another run of that. Better idea: maybe putting that list somewhere I'd actually be able to read it while I'm looking, like in my phone or something? No, that makes too much sense. And I'm at least 40% sure I hadn't bought another of this one, anyway: from 2000, 4 (Universe X) #1, plot by Alex Ross, plot and script by Jim Krueger, art by Brent Anderson, additional inks by Will Blyberg. Cover by Alex Ross.

Unlike most characters in the Earth X setting, at the start Ben Grimm is happy and thriving, largely retired, and living with his wife Alicia and their two boys, Buzz and Chuck. (Alicia had gained some kind of sculpt-to-life powers in the Terrigen Mists, and maybe wasn't blind anymore, so she was doing way better than a lot of the people changed thusly.) Reed Richards, however, is a wreck; having not only lost Sue and Johnny, but also Franklin: as X-51 recaps at the start of this one, Franklin was Galactus now, but unaware of who he had been prior; Reed couldn't tell him without changing him back, and Galactus was needed to eat planets and keep the Celestials' numbers down. Still, Galactus had been summoned to earth previously, and defended it, when called as Franklin; now he asks X-51 to tell him of Franklin Richards, trying to determine why that name meant something to him.

Meanwhile, at Castle Doom, problems continued to pile up: Adam Warlock had returned, although Ben wonders why he wasn't trying harder to find Her. Even as Reed's "human torches" worked to burn away the Terrigen, Warlock and Her's son was the source of a lot of strife with mutated humanity, so Reed stashed the kid the last place anyone would expect: with Namor, who was still half on fire, since killing Johnny Storm. This triggers a sidebar about the nature of mutation, at least in the Earth X mythos, that might give 'Galactus' a clue as to what he had become. (Basically, if stage 1 mutation was random and stage 2 somewhat more of what the mutant wanted, stage 3 was like becoming what the universe needed you to be; which may have meant the end of what you had been.)

Reed send Ben to Namor, with one instruction: "Don't hit him." Yeah, you're sending the wrong guy then, Reed. In the underwater fight, Ben inadvertently frees Orca, Tiger Shark, and TS's sister Diane; the latter of whom had been mutated by the Terrigen as well. Ben's helmet is smashed, but he's saved by Namor giving him mouth-to-mouth, which is beyond mortifying for him. Namor then introduces him to Warlock's 'son,' the reborn Captain Mar-Vell, who Ben calls Marv; that name might stick. Marv explains, there was nothing for Ben to be mad at Namor about, it wasn't his fault. Then, the kicker: the afterlife, for super-heroes and villains, wasn't heaven but not quite hell: everyone that had died and gone there, thought they were still alive, and that those still alive were dead instead! So, grudge fights continued, as Sue and Johnny thought Reed and Ben were dead, and were still fighting Doctor Doom. Marv was in both universes now, appearing in the dead one as an adult with the Enigma Force, as he has a conversation with Stephen Strange and the Micronauts' Commander Rann, who had given Marv the Enigma Force. (The dead universe is also color-swapped: the Scarlet Witch was green there, Doom's usual green cape was red; Sue and Johnny's FF uniforms were now orange and the numbers were backwards!)

X-51 continues to explain-without-explaining why Reed had called 'Franklin' and 'Galactus' had come: after first meeting Uatu on the moon, Reed would have realized, the Watcher had always been watching, and maybe not as a friend. The FF had travelled back into the past (more than once! But FF #19 is referenced here) and Uatu would have seen that, before they actually met him. Uatu would've known of the Inhumans, the secret origins of vibranium, the creation of Adam Warlock: all of this might have inspired Reed to investigate the Microverse and the Negative Zone, perhaps looking for a place away from prying eyes...In the dead universe, Marv plans to reunite Reed and Sue: not by killing Reed, but by bringing Sue back, if they can convince her that she was really dead. Johnny had been convinced, but Sue tells him the only thing that would convince her would be to "get Victor Von Doom to come to me and apologize for his entire existence."

An aside: to keep the narration clear, X-51 is given caption boxes with like a circuitry underlay. They're really annoying to read at a glance, you have to focus there! But, pressed further, X-51 explains how Frankin's mutations had affected him: he'd been turned into an adult, back to a kid, a teenager for a bit, kid again, with the Celestials later keeping tabs on him after he had created the "Heroes Reborn" pocket universe. Galactus forces X-51 to admit, Franklin had been a threat to the Celestials; which doesn't add up for him, since 'Galactus' thought he was the only threat to the Celestials. Back in the dead universe, Johnny faces off with Doom: almost literally, as he unmasks him, to show him his scars were gone. Although, he does threaten, he wasn't quite sure how it worked there, but probably could scar him up again if needed.

Forced into a corner, X-51 shows 'Galactus' the final fate of Franklin Richards: killed by Sentinels in X-Men #141...huh? 'Galactus' accepts that explanation, and annoyed that he wasted time talking to a robot, leaves. X-51 is confused, since he knows it didn't go down like that, at least for his world, and is grudgingly forced to consult with Uatu. Namor takes Marv and Ben back to Castle Doom, but then leaves, saying he wanted it to happen but he couldn't be there for it. Marv asks Reed to tell him about Sue, and he breaks down, since he had never even really been able to mourn her. In the dead universe, Sue does get that apology from Doom, who explains everything, from how his hurt pride led to everything he had done, to how he had always been able to manipulate Namor by not letting him split his time in and out of water correctly, to trying to kill Reed with a 'suicide' bomb. It wouldn't really have been suicide, Doom had planned to teleport away; but he chose to kill Sue instead to hurt Reed more, then his teleport failed and he died as well. Looking back on it there, Doom is able to see...yeah.

Now that Sue accepted her death, Marv was able to bring her back: using Reed's right arm as the clay, Alicia sculpts Sue, then Warlock gives her the soul gem, returning her to the living universe. This isn't a sacrifice for Warlock: Ben had thought his soul had been in the gem as well, but Warlock says he was now free, and takes his leave to go find his wife, which should get an "atta boy" from Ben. And back on the moon, X-51 offers to plug Uatu back in, so he can at least hear the world; if he can explain why he was seeing different histories...to be continued, in Universe X #1? Good lord, I thought we were further in than that. But, along with being a satisfyingly dense read, this issue shows how they were able to take something editorially inconsistent like Franklin's multiple age changes, and make them make sense. Sure, you have to go around the long way, but it gets there!  

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Somehow, Atlantis Attacked...again.

I poke fun, but I also don't know if I remember seeing this when it was coming out. If I had, maybe I would've remembered it was five issues, not four. Grrr...From 2021, Atlantis Attacks #4, "Secrets Revealed" Written by Greg Pak, art by Ario Anindito and Robert Gill, color art by Rachelle Rosenberg.

This would've been based on much more recent continuity, not going back to the 1989 annual event, or even to Namor's then fairly recent demise (and return) at the hands of the Squadron Supreme. Instead, this followed the creation of the new Agents of Atlas in War of the Realms and was somehow a King in Black crossover as well. High point recap: Jimmy Woo had both his new and original Agents, mostly defending the Pacific rim. Billionaire Mike Nguyen had built a "portal city" called Pan, which featured a teleportation network that could reach numerous cities worldwide, including Tokyo and NYC. (This would've been when the mutants had Krakoa, did everyone teleport everywhere for that stretch?) But, of course there's a dark secret--uh, no, not the dark you're thinking of when billionaires come up--the city was powered by scales of a captured Atlantean dragon! Namor, of course, won't let that stand: most of the Agents aren't especially keen on enslaving the dragon either, but maybe don't want millions to die if the Atlanteans attack the city. Throw in another underwater faction, the Sirenas; who hated both Namor and the dragon, and partnered up with Nguyen against them.

Even with assorted forces closing in Atlantis, Namor is still prepared to fight his way through whoever and destroy Pan himself. Nguyen appears to him via hologram, wanting to cut a deal, since he thought he had all the cards. Namor realizes, as civilians try to defend their homes, that Nguyen had opened the city to refugees not out of benevolence, but more to use as human shields. Nguyen thinks he, Namor, and the Sirenas would be unstoppable together; Namor counters, no one could stop him now, and he wasn't about to make a deal with someone he couldn't trust...a lesson politicians in the real world are maybe starting to learn in dealing with the U.S, but that's neither here nor there.

Namor's fight with newcomers Luna Snow and Aero is cut short, as M-11 hacks Nguyen's mainframe, which exposes Jimmy Woo's secret: there were more dragons. In fact, earth was perhaps secretly ruled by dragons, including Woo's consigliere of the Atlas Corporation, Mr. Lao. But, Woo went along with it, because if the dragons weren't fighting with human proxies, they could destroy the world themselves. The argument continues, while young hero Wave saves Atlantis from the dragon: the second time she'd save Atlantis in this series, so she was pretty popular there, even when Namor shows up. Back in Pan, Amadeus Cho discovers Nguyen's secret bunker, but Nguyen then takes control of Cho with a robot crab, beefing him back up into the Totally Awesome Hulk! To be continued...which is super-annoying, since I found four issues in the same box. That fifth, though... Read more!

"The End" Week: Heroes for Hire #19!

I'm pretty sure sometimes you guys can tell, when I blog some random issue mid-year, that the last issue will turn up later. Like today! From 1999, Heroes for Hire #19, "Sold Out!" Written by John Ostrander, pencils by Pasqual Ferry, inks by Jaime Mendoza and Pasqual Ferry.

Like the earlier issue we mentioned, this starts conversationally, with Ostrander seemingly telling the reader since this was the last issue, maybe not everyone makes it out...? Nah! This was the conclusion of an adventure in Madripoor, which of course includes a Wolverine guest-spot; as the team faces the pirate Lionsmane, who was really a mutant Chinese general. He was planning on overthrowing the current Chinese government in the future, but currently didn't care if Madripoor was blamed for his acts. He also had gotten Shen Kuei, the Cat, to change sides: that might have been planned from the start, or maybe because this issue had Shang-Chi Ostrander didn't need the Cat anymore? Who can say?

Wolverine sees the Heroes as "flamin' amateurs," as he brings Madripoor's working-class thugs to defend it; but he does need Iron Fist's help with Lionsmane, since he had some degree of invulnerability and Wolvie's bone claws couldn't penetrate. But, while victorious, the Heroes get bad news back home, as Namor had told Jim (Human Torch) Hammond that he had sold Oracle, Inc. Namor had wanted to do more environmental-protection work with the company, but the Heroes for Hire weren't necessarily conducive to that; and he no longer wanted to funnel Atlantean wealth to a surface company, so he sold out to Stark-Fujikawa. ("Stark-Fujikawa" was maybe a throwaway line in Spider-Man 2099, but they tried to make it happen for a while! And I'd almost suspect Tony bought the company, to get his long-standing assistant Mrs. Arbogast back!) A corporate man tells the team changes were needed, like firing ex-cons Luke Cage and Scott Lang, as to not project the wrong image. Everyone quits immediately, which might have been the intention; although She-Hulk threatens legal action if their severance packages were messed with. The team goes their separate ways; no hard feelings.

Hammond also has a cat on his shoulder when he quits, and I had to check: this was long before he adopted Speedball's cat Niels; dude just likes cats! He also maybe didn't have his powers this series, but still tended to look like he was going to burst into flames at any moment. Read more!

This is one I've wanted to flip through for a while, although it maybe only needed one blurb on the cover? Two feels like too much. From 2014, All-New Invaders #9, "Death-Locked!" Written by James Robinson, art by Steve Pugh. Cover by Michael Komarck.

Most of the Invaders are trying to rescue Jim Hammond's old sidekick Toro from German terrorist Kurt Dagmar, with Captain America racing to join them. Bucky has already started to realize this is a trap, as he fights his way past a rather generic cyborg, while Namor and the Torch fight an army of Deathloks! Another, somewhat Cap-themed Deathlok (with shield!) shoots down Cap, holding him up a bit. Dagmar is all smiles, as his lackey continues a scan, or a hack, on the Torch; while also chatting it up with original Deathlok Luther Manning. Luther was under Dagmar's control, given just enough freedom to be frustrated and mouthy. Dagmar confides how he started his collection by buying a Deathlok from Roxxon, and he had gotten others from seemingly dozens of alternate timelines.

While the Winter Soldier meets a weird cybernetic woman in the base's central storage hub, Dagmar has the Torch disabled, then has Luther use a modified Kree weapon on Namor. He's confident it will kill Namor outright, but Cap arrives just in time to block it and save Namor, who he's not thrilled with: Cap seems so mad at him that he momentarily forgets about Dagmar, but he reflected the blast back at him, killing him...and revealing "Dagmar" to be a Martian! Huh, it's kind of a big thing; and I don't remember them being able to change shape like DC's Martians. Also, unless Cap saw Martians earlier in this run, it had been a long, long time since he'd seen any: wait, I was thinking Marvel Two-in-One #5, but that would've been Cap vs. the Badoon. When did he see Martians? Or did he just know them from the files? Cap was one to do the research. Read more!

Feels like this should be "Spider-Man 2099 Forever."

Hey,  a recent comic! From 2024, Symbiote Spider-Man 2099 #1, written by Peter David, art by Rogê Antônio.

I had been behind on reading these, and just sat down to read like the last 10 Spidey 2099 issues the other day: the Miguel O'Hara: Spider-Man 2099 run is five issues, single-issue stories introducing new 2099 characters. (Or re-introducing characters in the 2099 setting, like Dracula and Terror, Inc.) Then, Peter David's Symbiote series, which picks up from 1996's Spider-Man 2099 #43, which was David's last unaltered issue of the original series. Get your back issues if you need to catch up! And while Antônio does a good job, it's a shame original artist Rick Leonardi couldn't come back at least for the opener, which recreates a scene from Spider-Man 2099 #1 and Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man, as a group of joyriding teens this time run into Venom 2099! It goes worse for them than usual; and this really isn't even "Venom 2099" as much as a venomized Sub-Mariner 2099, Roman. Miguel tricks him into riding a Public Eye skycycle, which explodes without its authorized rider; then returning to the Atlanteans, Roman casts the symbiote out. 

Back at Alchemax, which Miguel currently had control of, he gets the bad news that his half-brother, Kron Stone, had escaped from an ambulance; which Miguel put him in after a stout beating. A bloodied and swollen Kron returns to his apartment, while Miguel has a stern talk with a Dr. Hibby, who had been running a Super-Soldier program, with symbiotes. Which had spawned, for good measure. Miguel orders him to destroy the symbiote, then asks his holographic assistant Lyra to check on that:

Miguel suits up, to see if Dr. Hibby would maybe take Spider-Man's advice, but he sics the symbiote on him. The symbiote seems to find S-M more interesting, though. Meanwhile, a pouting Kron wonders how wimpy Miguel kicked the crap out of him, but is advised not to worry, he'll be dead in a few, courtesy of Punisher 2099! Who is so thrilled to have another chance to kill Kron, that he talks more than he probably did in much of his series; but is momentarily distracted when Kron's shower has "plumbing problems." Namely, the symbiote returning to Kron! Punisher is outclassed, and intends to get Spidey 2099 for help, but is instead murdered by the real Venom 2099. (This would be another break with previous 2099 continuity, as I'm pretty sure Jake Gallows gets got in Punisher 2099 #34? Or 2099 A.D. Apocalypse #1.) Venom then gets blown up by the Punisher's skycycle; it's a common safety feature! Meanwhile, back at Alchemax, the other symbiote has bonded with Miguel, which arguably would make him Carnage 2099, but I don't think we're going there.

If you like David's stuff previously, you'll dig this. Also, another 2099 character makes an appearance later in the run; and David maybe plants seeds for a later storyline, or continuing one from 1996: shades of the Hobgoblin, but the reveal of Green Goblin 2099's identity wasn't what he had planned, and he was maybe steering back to it. 

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"Sorehead."

It's been a long time, but I swear the Super-Skrull and probably Paibok needed power broadcast or transmitted to them; at least in early appearances. I can't remember if that was a plot point in the Secret Invasion comic, since everything I've read from that keeps falling out of my head?

And, this Squadron is different than the one from the James Robinson series a couple years back; which featured Namor getting his head punched off but he was brought back before the end of the series by the repentant team. No, this Squadron is probably the most recent, but we'll get into that more later.

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"Snitch."

It's entirely possible that everything Blur says is just a high-pitched whine, allruntogetherlikethis; and the Squadron can maybe understand him like 30% of the time. Still, he wasn't the brains of the operation; so most of them probably weren't super interested in anything he had to say. Also, there's apparently a band called "Zip Tang," I thought that was trademarked by the Road Runner! And "Gotta go, big meeting" is from Some Assembly Required, a moderately amusing Netflix kids' show my Youngest liked, set in a toy factory.

Also, today we continue with the notion that the Squadron had certain utility positions they were interested in filling; which of course line up with classic Justice Leaguers. I'm considering now if there's a Marvel character that would be close to Firestorm, as that would kind of be the cut-off...But, we've got the most recent Ant-Man and Namor figures: the Namor seems a bit unnecessary, as I feel like I just got his movie figure.  

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Yet another "The End" Week begins!

I started this bit 14 years ago, partly because the last week of the year was probably going to be a low-content area for comic book blogs...back when there were a lot of them, posting on the regular...and because last issues have always held an interest for me. It seems like even longer ago, but it used to be the last issue of a comic maybe meant the big goodbye, that you were not going to see those characters again, ever. Back when Star Wars was cancelled, I thought that was it; there would be no more Star Wars for me, in any way, shape, or form, forever. Really! When you're done laughing, yes, I was wrong. And comics being what they are, tons of books are cancelled, then retooled and relaunched later...sometimes by 'later' I mean 'immediately.' Every so often there might be one like Master of Kung Fu #125 or Micronauts #20 that seem like a hard stop, and they still come back! He hasn't got a new series yet, but Marvel's brought back Crystar; and I suspect are eying ROM. (Two last issues I haven't blogged yet!) 

So, we'll start with a title that's I know I've got two last issues for right here; but it's also had um, at least two miniseries, and like three more series since; and that's before you start throwing adjectives like 'Secret' or 'Fearless' into the mix. From 2002, Defenders #12, "Silent but Deadly" Story and art by Erik Larsen; and "Fooling with Mother Nature" Written by Jo Duffy and Kurt Busiek, pencils by Ivan Reis, inks by Randy Emberlin.

Even though Busiek and Larsen would've been pretty good gets as far as creative teams go, this series seemed to have a rough time of it: #8 features a blurb on the cover from a comics site (actually, a magazine!) proclaiming Defenders "The Worst Comic Ever Produced" but I've mentioned before, I liked the issues I read. The opener this issue isn't the strongest, as it was for 'Nuff Said month (like the Captain Marvel issue we mentioned the other day) and was silent: the cursed Defenders (Strange, Namor, Hulk, and the Surfer) get teleported to defend the earth yet again, this time in a mysteriously silent and rocky environment, which is shortly filled with rocky monsters.

Larsen's usually good for comedic touches, like the Hulk getting Namor's attention, by throwing a good-sized rock at him. It might be intentional: when the spell is broken, and sound returns, the guys still don't seem to have anything to say to each other, they were pretty over this...The second story, "Fooling with Mother Nature" includes the Defenders that did (usually) want to be there, Nighthawk, Valkyrie, and Hellcat; helping fight time-distorting baddie Chronarch. Who turns out to be a janitor that accidentally broke/created a time vortex, and gets wrapped up in a few pages; but the main four are again pissed that they had to show up for that, as the curse was getting to them. Back at Doctor Strange's Sanctum, Nighthawk's "spiritual advisor" Papa Hagg stops by to help, and gets bounced by Strange. The four then decide, if they can't get at the dead Yandroth to break the curse, they can go to Gaea, goddess of earth, and make her break it.

Nighthawk, somewhat dismayed, follows them and observes them petitioning a seemingly disinterested Gaea, who refuses to release them, even after they attack her. She teleports them away, dismissively; and when Nighthawk finds them again, the four have resolved to "tolerate this state of affairs no longer--and we will do what must be done!" This was setting up them going bad for a bit, in the Order, another name Marvel seems to trot out every so often. I'm not sure how much Nighthawk's relationship to the team was explored (or Patsy's, or Val's) as this feels like he's on a basketball team with four other guys who would barely let him sit on the bench.

Well, since I've got a moment, we might as well glance at another last issue that's been in the pile for some time: from 1986, the New Defenders #152, "The End of All Songs" Written by Peter B. Gillis, pencils by Don Perlin, inks by Dell Barras.

This is yet another last issue that's still part of a crossover event, so drink! It's a Secret Wars II tie-in, so of course we get the Beyonder midway through this just to muddy the waters, but this was straight-up editorial deck-clearing: Angel, Beast, and Iceman had to be reset and freed up to go to X-Factor #1, which I read when it came out, and can't recall if any of them so much as mention being part of the Defenders or losing all their teammates. Also, Beast had a dog, and doesn't get to bring it with him? Man. Moondragon, infected by the "Dragon of the Moon" and then empowered by the Beyonder, wants to do good, but also thinks killing the Defenders would be a good first step there. While Moondragon tortures the X-guys by threatening various supporting cast members, the other Defenders sacrifice themselves to destroy the Dragon, and are seemingly reduced to crumbling ash.

Valkyrie's pretty much the only one we really care about, and while Gillis may have intended to bring everyone back later, I think it was a spell for her. Despite being really vindictive and mean here, Moondragon is given a bit of an out in the end, that she helped save some supporting cast before her end; and she would be back in 1989, well before the others. I think Moondragon gets the bump because she was an Avenger; but Valkyrie had to be more popular?

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"Dibs."

...Does anyone still say "Dibs"? I don't think I've ever heard it in real life! Jake saying it, well, maybe. Especially if he's just Marc Spector's idea of what a cabbie talks like. 

Tigra was an actual cat for a bit, wasn't she? That seems potentially darker than the Void. If she hadn't been cat-sized at the time, I shudder to think what her bodycount would've been. "Dark Quasar" could potentially be the biggest bad of all: in that vein, I loved Adam Warren's Dirty Pair: Fatal but not Serious. A bad guy activates Yuri's clone, tells her this was a simulation, go kill the Dirty Pair. 'Bad' Yuri asks, what are the parameters? How hard should she go? The bad guy doesn't care, which gives her a blank check for mayhem: since she thinks it's a sim, she doesn't have to worry about property damage, innocent bystanders, common decency; she can do whatever to complete the mission. And taking those restraints off, she goes hard. Quasar, without any morality? Could be scary!

Namor didn't just fall out of the last shot; I think he would not be as sentimental as the rest. Even if he thought he would forget, he doesn't care enough to remember. On the other hand, Jake probably seems the toughest, but is pure marshmallow inside. Cries at movies, sad pet videos, etc. 

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