#btw if youre broke like most of us are you can just uh pirate the comics online–

[aion-rsa]

What’s Happening With Marvel’s X-Men?

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This article contains spoilers for recent Marvel X-Men stories.

A long time ago, back at the beginning of the interminable, endless month of March that the pandemic has trapped us in, Marvel’s X-Men books were barrelling towards their first big post-Dawn of X crossover, X of Swords. And then the world stopped, and plans changed for the X-Men while everything was paused.

Now that we’re back, plans have changed, and books are coming fast and furious. So what’s going on with Marvel’s Merry Mutants? Which book did Storm get sick in? What book should you read for a good Laksa recipe? New Mutants, but we can answer all your other questions on what’s going on with the X-Men below. 

While we won’t rehash the entire thing, House of X/Powers of X reset the entire X-Men line. Mutants can’t die anymore (or rather, if they do, they’re resurrected from clone bodies and emergency backup minds by The Five and Professor X). The X-Men, and all mutants alive, are now living on Krakoa, a living, mutant island in the Pacific that, at some point in the distant past, broke in half, sending one part of it to a dangerous, monster-infested realm with Apocalypse’s first Horsemen standing guard making sure it didn’t return. 

Humans are back to hating and fearing mutants on a wide scale, but this time it’s mostly because the mutants are vehemently anti-capitalism, flooding markets with cheap, life-extending and health-improving drugs and vowing to take down the human world with economic weapons of their own making. This has the humans initiating some pretty intense Sentinel programs, particularly around the sun, where Nimrod – the adaptive Sentinel whose existence dooms mutantkind in one Powers of X future – was very nearly created. 

And amidst all of that, Moira MacTaggert, the secret mutant mastermind with the power of Groundhog Lifeing (when she dies, her consciousness is immediately transported back to her prenatal self to be born again with all her old memories. She’s on life ten now, btw), is frantically trying to manipulate events so that mutants continue to exist in the long run as the next phase in human evolution, averting a future where man-machine hybrids (like Omega Sentinels and the Children of the Vault) develop while humans and mutants are busy fighting among themselves. She’s also not allowing Charles and Magneto to revive any mutants with precognitive powers, expecting them to see her plan and ruin Krakoan civilization.

X-Men

X-Men, by mastermind Jonathan Hickman with art mostly from Leinil Yu, is where big ideas are being seeded for later use.

This is where the story of Krakoa and its estranged, otherdimensional partner Arakko was further developed (following its introduction in Powers of X and setting up X of Swords, the first mutant crossover of the Dawn of X era). X-Men introduced Hordeculture (think the Golden Girls if they were also ecoterrorist botanists); reintroduced the Children of the Vault; showed how depowered mutants get in line to get their powers back; and saw Magneto and Apocalypse threaten humankind with the most terrible weapon of all: finance capitalism.

New Mutants

It also, just prior to the break, X-Men had a spiritual crossover with New Mutants, initially a split book by Hickman and Rod Reis on the space issues, and Ed Brisson, Flaviano, and Marco Failla on the Earth issues. Brisson, Flaviano and Failla’s story follows a group of Earthbound mutant kids (including Glob Herman and Boom Boom) as they track down stragglers to Krakoa, like Beak and Angel.

Hickman and Reis took the original New Mutants plus Chamber and Mondo into space to go pick up Cannonball (who was living on Chandi’lar with his wife, Smasher). On the way there, they stole a King Egg from the Starjammers and brought it back to Earth, where it turns out, we discover in X-Men, the King Egg is a bioweapon created by the Kree to control the Brood for an eventual war with the Shi’ar. Broo, the supersmart mutant Broodling from Wolverine and the X-Men, eats the egg and becomes the Brood King.

Excalibur

Excalibur is the shining star of the line so far. Tini Howard and Marcus To are growing the mythos of mutant magic with a very odd team that includes Betsy Braddock (now back in her original body and the new Captain Britain); Rogue and Gambit; Jubilee and her mysteriously dragonified son Shogo; new earth mage Rictor; and Apocalypse, who is clearly up to some stuff. Apocalypse picks a fight with Otherworld and places a newly resurrected but still batshit Jamie Braddock on the throne of the magical realm.

Excalibur was one of the first books to return from hiatus, and it came back with maybe the best single issue of the entire relaunch in issue #10. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Marauders

Marauders launched as the story about the Hellfire Trading Company, the corporate arm of Krakoa that distributes the miracle drugs around the world while also smuggling mutants in trouble home to Krakoa. But Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli’s book quickly turned into the mystery of Kitty Pryde – why she’s not able to use the Krakoan gates that allow instantaneous travel around the galaxy, and whether she can be resurrected by The Five. That story has just about come to a head, but it is worth noting that it still contains a great deal of Hellfire Trading Company intrigue between Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw, and a lot of drunken pirate antics. The resurrected original Pyro does get a tattoo of the Marauders skull on his face at one point. It’s fun.

X-Force

X-Force, by Ben Percy and Joshua Cassara, immediately killed Professor X. He was resurrected, of course, but it served as both a notice that everyone is fair game, and alongside Marauders, keeps some slight mystery to character death alive post-The Five’s perpetual resurrection machine. It’s also the story of the Krakoan CIA, so it sets up the global threats facing the mutant nation, and then sends Wolverine to get cut in half fighting them. Also, Forge creates a bio-mech loader suit and smashes the two halves of Logan back together at one point. If that’s something you find yourself chuckling at, this book is going to exceed expectations.

Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels focused mostly on resetting the current Psylocke’s status quo. Kwannon was brought back to life and placed in her old body shortly before the reboot (very quickly: Spiral switched Psylocke and Kwannon’s bodies, then before they could be reverted, Kwannon got the Legacy Virus and died, then when Betsy used a villain’s powers to recreate her old body and reinhabit it, Kwannon…uh…got better…). Here, she teamed with X-23 and Cable, with ops backup from Mister Sinister, to track down Apoth, a technological being selling cybernetic drugs to humans.

It’s mostly setup for Psylocke, X-23 (now Wolverine again, I think), and Sinister while adding another technological foe to the mix. It leads almost directly into Zeb Wells and Steven Segovia’s Hellions, a book about Sinister’s team of mutants who are all gleefully, unrepentantly screwed up and are currently on a mission cleaning up some old clones Sinister left lying around.

Cable, Wolverine, and More…

Cable, Wolverine and the Giant Size issues, are still mostly seeding future storylines. Cable, from Duggan and Phil Noto, has only had a couple of issues so far, but it’s brought the Galadorians (the Spaceknights minus ROM, who belongs to IDW now, I think) into mutant orbit and given Nathan a sword for the crossover.

Wolverine, by Percy, Adam Kubert and Victor Bogdanove, has Logan tracking down illicit Krakoan flower dealers, and also Omega Red works for Dracula now. And the Giant Size issues are mysteries piled on mysteries piled on incredible art. Hickman has scripted all three, and so far, Storm caught a technovirus from the Children of the Vault in the Jean Grey/Emma Frost issue (drawn by Russell Dauterman); we find out what’s up with Cypher’s techno-organic arm in the Nightcrawler issue (from Alan Davis); Magneto buys Emma an island from Namor with art from Ramon Perez; and we get actual backstory and incredible Rod Reis art in the Fantomex issue. 

Empyre

The recently wrapped Empyre: X-Men’s opening scene is simultaneously one of the most important to the metanarrative of mutant struggle that’s been developing since the Professor’s “No More” scene in House of X #4 AND the best setup/punchline in any Dawn of X comic. It also starts to deliver on some of the rumored-but-never-announced X-Men ideas that were floated early after the reboot – Angel and M are two of the leads, playing out a little of the boardroom drama we hoped for after an X-Corporation book was rumored.

X-Factor

X-Factor, from Leah Williams and David Baldeon, more or less just launched. It’s about the team investigating and verifying mutant deaths, to put those lives into the queue for resurrection. This feels like the book set up to deliver on the weirdest promises of the relaunch, and the creative team are inventive, fun storytellers, so keep an eye on this. Williams has a very sharp ear for patter and knows her characters well – while it’s not an X-book, Amazing Mary Jane is a stunning accomplishment of delightful character work. Early X-Factor is more of the same, with more mutant high concept.

And all this is leading to X of Swords, the new X-writers room’s attempt to outdo X-Cutioner’s Song: a 22-part Tini Howard-led crossover where everyone swordfights over half of Krakoa. And still dangling in the ether, unannounced but long discussed, are Vita Ayala and Bernard Chang’s Children of the Atom, following a group of mutant teenagers who idolize the X-Men, and a Moira X book that’s expected to fill in some of the gaps in Moira’s many, many timelines. 

The post What’s Happening With Marvel’s X-Men? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[seawardboundsammy]

Hey this is a thing inspired by a post @imstuckathome12 made! its p long so be warned. Also btw skipper means the same as captain.

When traveling over the sea there are many dangers. Whales and sharks and scurvy, the like. Storms can destroy ships and send sailors against the rocks before they can get out of the harbor. But for sailors lost at sea, there's always a hope. A tale passed down from parent to child, master to apprentice, a story of what to do when all hope is lost.

Declan had been looking over the horizon for over an hour now. Still, he saw no sign of land. No birds, plants, nothing. “Hey skipper?” He said, leaning down from his perch up on the mast.

“Yeah? See anythin’ good?” They replied, looking up hopefully.

“Uhh I’m seeing nothing. I think we’re lost” Declan said as he slid down the mast.

“Well shit. I guess we have one thing left to try. Go get Jeya from the hold,” They mumbled, running a hand through their hair and pulling out a sand dollar from their pocket.

Declan hopped off the mast and went down the stairs, seeing Jey sitting at the nav station, working with a map. As he approached her she quickly glanced up, looking at him quizzically.

“Are we landing yet? I thought we would be there by now. Though I can't be sure, these maps are absolute shite.” She muttered, glancing back at her maps a bit angrily.

“Uh yeah bout that. We’re lost as fuck. Skip’ wants you on deck.” He said nervously winding his hands together.

“Hey, kiddo don't worry too much. They know what to do.” Jey said, stepping away from her station, and patting Declan gently on the shoulder. ”We’ve been in situations like this before, we got this.”

As they headed up the stairs to the deck Declan saw the skipper sitting cross-legged and putting out a sand dollar with an agate and a piece of kelp in from of them. The sun was beginning to set behind them as they beckoned the others forward.

“So Dec’ there’s a story we ‘aven’t told you yet. A story that we both heard long ago.” They said as Jeya sat down next to them taking her hand. “This is a story of a lost lover of the sea and a mermaid.”

“But those don-” “You might think that now but once you hear the tale you’ll understand. Lumi, continue.” Jeya added in.

“Well let me tell it the way my old man told me. It's a doozy.” Lumi said with a small smile.

“A long time ago in the sea of the shale, there was a sailor who loved the ocean more than anyone else. I know that’s saying a lot, seeing how we all love the ocean. But this man truly CARED about each and every being that lived in the water. He would spend hours throwing starfish back into the water at low tide. He fought against pirates who poached pretty fish just for their scales. And one day that got him into a bit of trouble.”

“He had been fighting some pirates and his boat got damaged. He always sailed alone, prefers to have the waves be his company. So he limped his boat to the nearest by island and beached it. He was looking it over for repairs and turned to look for wood on the island when he saw the strangest thing out of the corner of his eye.”

“A mermaid was lying in the sand, a gash cut in its tail and a net over its torso. Its face was scratched up and it looked like it was dying. While most people would react in shock and start freaking out, this absolute madman only saw a thing that needed help, in his eyes. The mermaid was unconscious so he ran to grab his medkit and started stitching up the main wound on the tail. He did so as gently as possible, trying not to wake the creature.” Lumi now putting the sand dollar in the middle of their little circle, surrounded by the agate and kelp.

“As he cleaned its wounds the mermaid started to wake up. Seeing a human, it panicked and flopped as best it could away from him. As it tried to get away he reached out his hand and told it he was just trying to help. The mermaid didn't trust him at first but he was able to convince it to calm down.” Declan leaned in closer to hear Lumi’s story better.

“He helped it down to the water and it asked him what he wanted in return for his kindness. ‘Anything you could wish for. My magic is great. Your kindness is one of a kind. Let me repay you’ it said. But he refused. He said that being able to help was enough. The creature looked at him as if he was growing another head then smiled. It told him ‘As long as you are on the ocean, me and my brethren will aid you in your time of greatest need. We will help your fellow sailors as you have helped me. May your sails be filled and your seas calm.’ Then it swam away.”

“As it left an agate, a piece of kelp and a sand dollar were left behind. The sailor gathered these items and fixed his boat, sailing away with a light heart and a smile on his face. This smile would not stay forever though. He ran in a huge storm months later and his mast had been snapped. He had nowhere to turn and his mind went back to the mermaid’s promise. He pulled out the sand dollar, agate, and the kelp. He whispered, barely heard over the thunderous waves ‘Oh mermaids of the sea, children of the waves, please help me now. I invoke your promise’ and he broke the sand dollar in half and threw it overboard.”

“Wait he broke it in half?!” Declan shouted.

“Yep! The absolute madman.” Lumi smirked back at him. “Now back to my story.”

“He threw it overboard and watched it sank into the waves. When he could no longer see it the ocean immediately calmed the sky shifted from a dark stormy gray to a pale fog. Around his boat appeared several mermaids who lifted his boat and carried him to harbor. As he tied off he saw the tail of the one he had saved and it looked back at him and smiled.”

“He told his tail, pun intended, to his fellow sailors and that story has been passed down to you now. And now we will invoke the promise of the mermaids. Oh and by the way, only do this if you’re really fucked. Like right now!” The skipper finished, lifting up the sand dollar. “Say it with me” “Oh mermaids of the sea, children of the waves, please help me now. I invoke your promise.” They all said in unison, breaking and tossing the sand dollar overboard.

“Now since we know the mermaids will get us to port safe I personally think we should get some sleep! And some new maps once we get there!” Jeya said, yawning.

“Of course hun, let me just thank them. You two head to the berth.” Lumi replied leaning over the side. Jeya lead Declan down below and they got tucked up in bed.

Later, Lumi walked down and snuggled up next to Jeya.

“Guys, guy look!!” Declan shouted, standing up in his little crows nest. “We’re here!” The port was in sight and the sun was just barely rising illuminating it like an omen. He looked down the side of the boat and saw one of the last mermaids leaving. He waved down at it and yelled thanks, and it looked back up and smiled and great big smile. Lumi and Jeya walked up on deck and Declan gave them a big smile too, and a thumbs up.