Here it is, your moment of Xen:

I've been meaning to get back to it for several years now, but I haven't sat down and read all of Earth X/Universe X/Paradise X in a while; even as I seemingly, slowly continue to randomly put together more of another run of it. (Got a cheap-but-readable Earth X #0 the other day!) From 2002, Paradise X Special: Xen #1, plot and cover by Alex Ross, plot and script by Jim Krueger, pencils by Steve Yeowell, inks by Bill Sienkiewicz.

I had to double-check a reading order for this, since there were several specials, and I wasn't sure where this fell. Also, I couldn't remember the order of the main series, and I forget there was the Marvels X prequel series from 2020, which seems like something I should be more interested in? But I kind of think it was maybe six issues of "here's where everything goes to crap and there's no stopping it," and I don't feel like getting into that? Anyway, if all of Earth X had proper numbering, prequels notwithstanding, like maybe triangle numbers like the Superman titles used to have; this would be like #41 out of #56? So, pretty deep into it, and yet there are a ton of characters this issue that readers would not have spent a lot of time with previously; as well as a few that had been involved to various degrees for much of the run.

Doctor Strange was back from the presumed dead, and gives a lengthy recap to the Xen team; most of whom openly disagree with their Lord Sunfire about this whole deal: when the Terrigen Mists mutated everyone on earth, public opinion swerved hard on earth's superheroes for their perceived failure to stop it. Strange had devoted himself to trying to figure out what happened, and didn't notice problems closer to home: Clea stabbed his body while he was in his astral form, but she had been turned against Strange by Wong, who had turned to Mephisto, seemingly in frustration over being a servant...and maybe over what his mutation had done to him. Mephisto's aid came with strings, though: the devil couldn't risk Strange's actual death, so Wong was forced into servitude maintaining Strange in a coma-like state, until discovered by Bruce Banner. Clea had been turned, with "unbridled lust" for Loki; and later Thor had banished her to Asgard: Thor and Loki had learned a lot of unpleasant truths about their father Odin, and themselves. Wong was killed by Adam Warlock, after his mutation had been revealed.

Loki and Thor advise the heroes, they can't let Odin find them too quickly; but with Strange and Xen go to Jotenheim; under the assumption that Odin wouldn't keep Clea in the city, since her magic could break the illusion of Asgard. They are set upon by Frost Giants, and Strange ponders why Xen was even a team: they weren't all Japanese, and he knew who Tao was, but didn't know why he wore a mask. The flaming Tora gives a brief origin, telling how Jim Hammond had helped her control her powers. But, this little journey had taken longer than the last few pages had indicated, and back in Japan the ghost of Fin Fang Foom is tearing up the place, while the Stark-created Seven Silver Samurai try to save the world. In Asgard, Odin feels betrayed by Mephisto, who says he's not the devil Odin knew. (Best of my recollection: "Odin" had been a storyteller, given power, to spin Asgard and the other realms besides 'Midgard' into being, setting himself up as the All-Father. Mephisto had a long game in mind; and Thor and Loki were rebelling against the roles Odin had forced them into.) While Xen fights the Warriors Three (who may have always been imaginary, creations of Odin) Tao speaks with Thor, letting him know hey, he's knows what it's like to have a villain for a dad.

Thor is distraught over the deaths of his old comrades, and Loki yells at him: none of them really "died," Odin just moved them around like pieces on a game board. At the world tree Yggdrasil, Strange tries to sense Clea, mentioning he couldn't stand to project his astral form anymore: Clea was with the Warriors Three and Balder...in Hel. Thor and Loki call foul, that Odin was changing the rules. Odin appears to them, Time Bandits-style, a giant, glowy beardy face. Thor falls back into his old role, but Loki resists, and threatens "Pops" that if he could convince Thor that Asgard was a lie, he could convince the other gods, so release Clea or else. Odin obliges, but Clea isn't overjoyed to see Strange: first, she thinks it must be a lie, or a torture, but says she'll "play along" after Strange calls her "wife." And it's brutal: Clea points out, Strange never treated her as his "wife." Strange has to admit that's true, but he's changed...no sale. Odin proclaims, someone had to take Clea's place in Hel: Loki agrees to, but Odin has no intention of letting him "poison" his realm, and takes Thor instead; sending everyone else back to earth, to the middle of the Foom/Samurai fight.

Counter-intuitively, Strange returns the ghost of Fin Fang Foom to its body; giving them the means to kill it finally. Some of Xen are still steamed with Lord Sunfire, and while Clea had supported Strange there, she didn't do it for him. Thor returns to Loki, since their plan had gone perfectly: Thor had freed all the "dead" Asgardians from Hel, even Hela. The returned Asgardians rejoice, while Odin feels his control slipping away... 

Hmm, this ends with a blurb for Paradise X #3; maybe this was issue #40 outta #56? The Foom/Samurai battle could've been a whole special by itself, too. Still, such a dense read; although I'm not positive much of Xen appeared in the rest of the run.

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An odd-shaped little freebie, but a Simonson cover? Nothing wrong with that!

From 2013, AAFES 16th Edition [Thor] #16, "Deep Freeze" Written by William Harms, pencils by Tom Grummett, inks by Cory Hamscher.

Hmm, the GCD says 'standard dimensions,' but my copy was slightly smaller; as you can see there. This looked like a promo for the US military--there are ads inside for "ShopMyExchange.com." On Christmas Eve, Thor tells Big Daddy Odin he's not going to make it for the festival of Yule dinner, he has to protect earth while his teammates are gone. Still, Jarvis fixes him a solid dinner; which Thor won't get to enjoy as a blizzard hits the city. More than that, it's an attack by Ymir and his Frost Giants! Of varying sizes. Some of them don't seem that big; I blame climate change.

A mom and daughter flee the Frost Giants, and are saved by Jarvis, who takes them on a little tour of the Avengers' Tower. Jarvis eventually holds off the Giants with some leftover Tony Stark gear, until Thor can banish Ymir and the rest back to Jotenheim, which, honestly, might be what they wanted in the first place? I don't know the continuity, but Ymir mentions being imprisoned on earth; and I could see him not loving that. Read more!

"Pumpkin."

Pumpkins are probably out of season, yet here we are: I pre-ordered Hallow's Eve, since I like the idea of Ben Reilly's girlfriend taking a more active role, especially when Ben is like she says, not himself right now. Then, the other day I stumbled across the other retro-carded figures, and picked up Jack O'Lantern and Spider-Shot. Somewhat surprisingly, it only took me a few minutes to find the 2016 Jack O'Lantern, the old Toy Biz Mad Jack from 2006, and the Fortnite Punk from last year.

Chasm and Hallow's Eve appear in this week's Amazing Spider-Man--probably not especially close to how they are here, but see for yourself!

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"Occasion."

No special occasion; but that's somehow a word I consistently typo--another is 'eligibility,' which I unfortunately have to use constantly. 

I don't have my Punisher Armory comics next to me, but there hadda be a bow in there somewhere, right? Frank musing about the utility of the modern fiberglass bow in the murder of mobsters. I've seen someone articulate this better, but while I find a lot of that stuff neat--a Thompson machine gun is just so cool, guys--it might as well be a lightsaber for how much I think people in the real world should have it. Fun in the context of fiction, less fun when your neighbor has like twenty AR-15's...

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Alarmingly few Neo-Nazis actually die this issue, the cover not withstanding.

From 1991, Web of Spider-Man #72, "Reckoning" Written by Danny Fingeroth, pencils by David Ross, inks by Al Milgrom, Keith Williams, and Andy Mushynsky.

This was the conclusion of a two-parter, guest-starring Silver Sable and Dominic Fortune; the latter of whom was trying to avenge the death of his son, who briefly took up the mantle, and find out what happened to his lost love, Sabbath. Sabbath's backstory gets a fair bit of page time, as she had been separated from Dom after a spat during WWII, married an anti-Nazi German and had a kid with him, but he was later assassinated and she was taken in by his Nazi-leaning brother. Her daughter was the spitting image of Sabbath, only Nazified.

Thematically, this all hits both Spidey and Sable where they live: Spidey had a bit of a complex, a need to save older mentor figures the way he failed to save Uncle Ben; while all of Sable's training and organization was built around crushing Nazis, this was kind of back-to-basics for them. Dominic gets around a lot, despite being on in years and having chest pains: he leaves a dummy in the hospital to get whacked, then trails the hitter back to the bad guy, who was going to leave town in Dominic's old riverboat! Cheeky bastard...(Actually, that might've been Sabbath's boat; he may have just lived there, but still.) In the end, the bad guys are wrapped up with a disappointingly low body count; Dominic and Sabbath are reunited, if maybe not back together yet, while the daughter seems to have gone full bad; and Sable still calls Spidey "amateur" even if she obviously respects him. Read more!

Ugh, so needy! Die with a little dignity!

Man, I knew "As the World Turns" was a soap opera, but totally conflated whatever its opening was, with the one for "Days of Our Lives." Just a smidge of soap opera in this one, though: from 1979, Action Comics #499, "As the World Turns...For the Last Time!" Written by Cary Bates, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Vince Colletta.

The storerooms at GBS are getting crowded, as it's not just Superman changing to Clark Kent in there, now there's Vartox as well, to his new secret identity "Vernon O'Valeron," security guy. A secretary finds them both in the storeroom, which probably would get some ugly rumors started; except the poor girl walks in on Lana Lang and Vernon not five minutes later. Vartox had this ID for about twenty minutes and already had a girlfriend, but there was no time to waste, since earth was going to explode soon. Somewhat surprisingly, Vartox doesn't keep the usual code of silence about his ID, and tells Lana everything, starting with how his world Valeron basically exploded out from under him. I honestly forget all of his massive grab bag of powers, I guess invulnerability was in there somewhere? But, now so was survivor's guilt.

Meanwhile, Superman investigates a story that comes through the teletype; about a small town in Wisconsin suddenly convinced the world was going to end. Feels like there should be a "go Packers!" joke there...Superman tries to calm the people down, and they immediately assume he's lying to "spare them from the truth." The mob piles onto Supes, some even trying to hang on to him as he flies away; and more apocalypse-panic continues to sweep the globe. Which, Vartox admits, is probably on him: his "hyper-powers" were psychic, and the dread he felt was bleeding out to the rest of the planet. (Supes and Vartox have most of this conversation, while trying to keep a "Eurasian" general from bombing his own populace, to give them a peaceful death!) In the Fortress, Vartox explains, he had accidentally picked up an unknown space element, that reacted explosively to oxygen: Valeron's atmosphere had a higher oxygen content and blew up sooner, but the result was still going to be the same. Or not, since Superman checks the oxygen in the room with his x-ray vision, and it was fine? Had the guilt just gotten to him?

The desperate Vartox sucker-punches Superman: Supes knows Vartox had an edge on experience, but Vartox knew he couldn't outlast Superman in a longer fight. He had to take Supes down quick, with a "hyper-brain blast!" Then, to try and convince Superman he was sane, Vartox...dresses up like Jor-El, and stages his plea to a manikin Kryptonian council, that the planet was doomed and they had to act now. Yeah, that seems...like a dick thing to do, really. Superman smashes his way outside, but then notices, hey, oxygen was exploding out there; why wasn't it in the Fortress? 

Working together, the heroes realize radioactive fragments of Valeron were countering the space element, so they have to gather a lot of the exploded planet, and scatter microscopic fragments of it over earth, until the chain reaction stops and oxygen was safe again. (Traditionally, wouldn't the radioactive chunks of Valeron be like Kryptonite to Vartox? Valerite?) While earth is saved, it's still not an entirely happy ending; as Vartox opts to go into space, and find another world that needs protecting. (Yeah, 'cause he did a bang-up job on the last one...too soon? Too mean!) He says a sad goodbye to Lana; but he'd be back.  I bought this from the quarter bins because of the cover, but I had read it before. See if I remember not to buy it again...maybe.

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If Roy tries to take credit for creating Nightcrawler, I'll be ever so pissed.

I am unreasonably mad at a long-dead reprint title today, since I've always wanted reprints of the Hulk/Doom fight from Hulk #144, but Marvel Super-Heroes #93 reprints Hulk #142, and the next issue jumps to #145! Ugh, pain in my...Still, we mentioned this one recently, and now's as good a time as any: from 1979, Marvel Super-Heroes #78, reprinting 1970's Incredible Hulk #126, "...Where Stalks the Night-Crawler!" Written by Roy Thomas, art by Herb Trimpe.

In the previous issue, the Hulk had fought the Absorbing Man; and Bruce Banner is seemingly worn out already. Luckily, some friendly folks pick him up and take him home...because they intend to sacrifice him, for their "Undying Ones." As often happens to Bruce! Cultist "Sister Barbara" seems to be having some qualms, but lets herself be bossed about, dosing Bruce with "the Vapors of Valtorr!" Hmm, those sound familiar. The head cultist, Van Nyborg, also name-drops Dormammu and Satannish, as he launches the groggy Bruce, into another dimension, to face...the Night-Crawler?

Meanwhile--literally a meanwhile here! Doctor Strange, in his blue facemask era, has been trapped in the realm of the Undying Ones, since Sub-Mariner #22--holy cr--I mean, Shades of the Seraphim, that issue hit stands 11/11/1969; Hulk #126 was 01/13/1970. Enh, not that long, I guess; it looked longer at first glance! The Undying Ones had been unable to force Strange to let them out of that dimension; but Strange was also unable to leave himself. Van Nyborg was putting 'plan B' into effect for the Undying Ones; siccing the Hulk on the "Night-Crawler" so then the Undying Ones could use his dimension as an exit route. A couple problems, though: the beligerent Night-Crawler wasn't going to let that happen, since he seemed to have a long-standing grievance with them; and Bruce was going to let himself get killed, rather cause more terror. When Barbara stands up to Van Nyborg, that gives him an idea, and he calls an audible, punting Barbara to land with Bruce: Night-Crawler recognizes her outfit as Undying One colors, so she was an enemy. Bruce had been okay with dying, but couldn't leave the girl to it, and Hulks out.

Even so, this Night-Crawler was pretty good sized, seemingly still bigger than the Hulk; and armed with a darkness-casting "Sceptre of Shadow." Knocked off the floating rock, the Hulk is drifting helplessly in the dark, until he brushes against another floating rock, and punches it so hard it creates a massive explosion of heat and light, weakening the Night-Crawler. Before he can use his Sceptre to finish off the Hulk, Barbara gets a lucky shot in when she throws a stone infused with "light-energy" and smashes the Sceptre. He moves to threaten the girl, and the Hulk defends her, eventually unleashing a mighty hand-clap that seems to do a number on Night-Crawler's weird floating rock dimension, forcing him to transport them all to the Undying Ones' realm. Pissed, Night-Crawler tears into them, intent on taking their home to replace his own. Strange is relieved: that fight would hold things up until the stars were unaligned, and the Undying Ones wouldn't be able to make a try for earth for maybe centuries. (Or five years. Either or.)

The Hulk offers to free Strange; but Strange tells him he can't leave, without someone taking his place. To redeem herself, Barbara chooses to do so, freeing him; and Strange and the Hulk escape: it wouldn't be the last we'd see of her, though. (Would it? Poor Valkyrie's origin was always kind of murky, and multiple retcons haven't helped.) The Hulk reverts to Banner, who urges Strange to get away from him; but Strange isn't one to abandon a friend, and helps him into the Sanctum Sanctorum, where they both make a change of clothes. Strange was leaving his old home--to "walk among men--as a man!"--seemingly turning away from the realms of magic. The caption in the last panel really tries to sell it: "And so, moments later, two most unique mortals depart--perhaps nevermore to meet this side of the grave--!" Strange wouldn't be seen again until the introduction of the Defenders in Marvel Feature #1, on sale 07/27/1971! A year and a half break! 

Anyway, you might have recently seen Roy Thomas wrangling to get (co-)credit for creating Wolverine. And...yeah. Even if he had a lotta input there; geez, let's face it: Chris Claremont might not have created Wolverine, but he made him, dig?

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The secret is, to repress any curiosity about what's in the stew.

Huh, I wouldn't have bet Marvel was still making new Rawhide Kid stories in 1973. Rawhide Kid #112, "Frontier Fury!" Story and art by Larry Lieber, inks by George Roussos.

Cole Jessup, a gunhawk on the run, spies Rawhide Kid enjoying a nice bowl of stew in the saloon, and has an idea: he joins the Kid for dinner, so when the Fargo gang catches up to him, they draw on Rawhide as well. Unwise. Surprisingly, no one gets killed in the shootout, but Rawhide isn't thrilled about being used. Before that can go any further, "another angry figure enters the saloon!" as a woman slaps a man, accusing him of trying to run her off her ranch. She looks for help, and doesn't find any, except Cole and Rawhide. The bad guy kind of wonders, if she hasn't hired herself trouble, and opts to let things play out.

The rancher girl isn't named, for like three pages, but Cole and Rawhide are of course both interested in Nora: Cole makes his move, getting grabby in his proposal. Rawhide has to give him a thumping, then shoot his gun out of his hand. Cole storms off, maybe forgetting that he had pissed off the Fargo gang, who bushwhack him. The Fargo Gang join up to help rustle Nora's cattle, but while Rawhide has to recover the cows and shoot it out with the gang; Nora finds the wounded Cole, and hugs him when he recovers. Cole gets there in time to help with the gunfighting, this time with more fatalities: Rawhide finishes the boss, then rides off, leaving Nora and Cole to their happy ending. Or toxic relationship. Could go either way.

Also this issue: reprinted from 1960's Kid Colt Outlaw #95, a Lee/Kirby/Ayers short, "A Man and His Gun!" A preacher's son won't carry a gun, but proves his courage by pulling a jerk out of a fire. Read more!

"Resistance."

I hadn't intended for Hawkeye to work herself into these strips, but here she is; I wonder if Machine Man will be around for a bit. (Nick Fury and Talos have already ducked out!)

DC doesn't traditionally have mutants like Marvel, although I thought there were a few; but the Justice League of America didn't usually have them, so the Squadron Supreme of America doesn't either. I could see this Squadron having a corporate sponsorship or three, maybe somebody buying the naming rights for them like a pro stadium. Or--shudder--crypto. This being the Mephisto-created Squadron, they're maybe not going to be super-inclusive; Power Princess herself is only grudgingly treated as an equal because she could kick the crap out of any of them. 

There was something on a message board recently, about how the 100th Marvel Legend Build-a-Figure would be out soon; a number that immediately makes you think 'no way' but yeah, pretty much? Somehow, Lockjaw still hasn't happened, but I wonder if Magik's demon S'ym isn't on a shortlist somewhere: he maybe wouldn't be a ton of tooling, and lots remember him from Inferno. But, one BaF I haven't made a lot of headway on, is the Totally Awesome Hulk, but as I type this, a near-ish Wal-Mart has Karnak and Kate's ex, Marvel Boy Noh-Varr on clearance. Or, "clearance," as right now they're marked down to $20. I'm holding out!

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