Not So New Comic Review: Universe X #8

                This issue starts with a brief history of the cosmic cube, and the realization that the cosmic cube might just be a Skrull (they have the power to basically be whatever they want to be, the next step on the evolutionary ladder).  It seems odd, but kind of right that the most cosmic of macguffins in the Marvel universe is just some random Skrull that decided one day that he was going to turn into a magical cube.

                This leads us to New York, where X-51 has come down to Earth to retrieve Nighthawk.  He takes Nighthawk down to the street where last issue ended and we see Gargoyle asking Mephisto (Mr. Church) to take back the ability to feel.  It’s a little late for Gargoyle to go all emo, but he hopes to make it to his friend by sacrificing his newfound ability to not be made of stone.  Nighthawk still wants to save him from Mephisto though, even after his treachery.

                We get a quick aside with Daredevil (who is not actually Matt Murdock, that Daredevil is dead) being approached by someone that was changed into a regular looking human by the Terrigen Mists.  He wants to be changed back into…whatever he was before and he asks Daredevil to point him to Reed Richards because, Reed is the only one that can change him back.

                With Iceman in New York, he has provided a little reinforcement to the torch as he has placed a giant, thick wall of ice between the torch and the seething masses.  Of course, that won’t hold forever as the mutants will stop at nothing to ensure that they stay mutated.  While that madness happens below, Luke Cage and Marshall Muldoon decry the fact that the Silver Surfer told them that he would help them keep the torch lit, but has yet to show up, even though most of the other torches around the world are doused.  Daredevil then shows back up amongst the churchgoers and basically begs to be killed, which they happily oblige him. 

                In Wakanda, Marv asks the Black Panther for the cosmic cube.  The Panther refuses him, but agrees to put up Marv and his Merry Mutants for the night in order to hear their argument.  We then get a mini X-Men reunion as Beast, Storm and Cyclops are all in Wakanda.  Of course, it wouldn’t be an X-Men reunion if Scott wasn’t mopey about Jean’s death.  Ten points for consistency!

                I Latveria, Reed is just now realizing that the Absorbing Man’s head is gone, so Reed, Sue and the Thing’s two kids head to a vault to find Doom’s time machine so they can go back and prevent the Tong of Creel from stealing the head.  When they get there, though, they see that the time machine is gone, stolen by the same people that took the head?  We don’t know yet.  The mutants on the outside of the vault break in so they can kill Reed and make sure that he never changes them back (they are lots of fun).  Just as they are about to make their move though, the mutants that want to be changed back to normal attack, driving back the “evil” mutants. 

Next Issue:  Have the good guys won?  Can they ever truly win?  Will Reed change the mutant population back?  And what is up with the cosmic cube?

Not So New Comic Review: Universe X #7

                We begin this issue with a brief history of all things cosmic, including Galactus, the Watchers, the Celestials and even the Silver Surfer.  We then begin the real issue where we ended the last issue, with X-51 speaking to the Supreme Intelligence.  The Supreme Intelligence issues a warning to X-51, saying that Marv is one piece of the Cosmic Consciousness away from being all-powerful.  This is apparently a pretty bad thing, according to the Supreme Intelligence.  The last piece that he is missing, happens to be Nighthawk’s eyes, the eyes that can see the future that were given to him by Mephisto. 

                With that segue; we travel to New York, where Nighthawk and Gargoyle are having a heart to heart, as Nighthawk has accused Gargoyle of selling out everyone to get his “humanity” back.  Gargoyle denies this and leaves, heading out into the cold, among the throng Immortus’ followers. 

                On the moon, Marv’s band of merry mutants show up to retrieve the Ultimate Nullifier, which Uatu was keeping in his vault o’ super weapons.  We then find out that the Celestial embryo in Earth (that was destroyed by Galactus at the end of Earth X) is not the only Celestial embryo in Earth.  Each reality (and there are a bunch of them) has its own Earth and therefore has its own embryo just waiting to burst out all Xenomorph style and destroy the Earth.  The rest of the heroes, on their way to ask the Watcher where he keeps his Ultimate Nullifier see him travel through a portal that basically takes them through history, not as active participants per se, but more as observers, unable to interact, kind of like Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol”.  They eventually corner Uatu and he relents, at first threatening to use the Ultimate Nullifier on them, and then when Marv explains that that would be interfering, he just hands it over. 

                In New York, Iceman shows up to help, while Spiderman goes into the holding cell where they are keeping Spiders-Man (apparently the truce they struck at the end of the Spidey Special Issue was a tenuous one).   Spiderman first wraps webbing around his eyes so as not to fall prey to Spiders-Man’s illusions, though, and then he asks Spiders-Man to join them yet again.  In Japan, Xen fails at their job of protecting the hands of the Absorbing Man from the Tong of Creel, and now only his head remains until he is made whole.  It just so happens that his head is under the care of the one-armed Reed Richards in Latveria.  We journey to Latveria at that point (Krueger does a phenomenal job throughout the entire series of threading things together so that we go seamlessly from one location to another as the action demands, and while this may seem like something mundane and not really worthy of praise, I’m giving it to him because there are so many damn locations in this series that he could easily confuse the readers).

                                In the realm of the dead, the heroes fight on against the minions of Thanos and Death.  Marv explains yet again that Thanos is not special, that everyone eventually gets a kiss from Death (she’s apparently pretty slutty, raise your standards Thanos!).  Marv explains that he will eventually be strong enough to kill Death, his whole reason for the fetch quest in the land of the living it appears.  Back in the land of the living, Mr. Church is confronted by Gargoyle, who refuses to help him anymore, to fuel his religion and the hatred and violence it creates.  We then get the big reveal that Mr. Church is in fact Mephisto, the devil, lord of lies, etc.

Next Issue: So, the devil has been pulling the strings, got it.  Now what?

Not So New Comic Review: Universe X #6

                We begin this issue with the history of Moon Knight, and quickly transition to New York, where Gargoyle can now feel things, as in human senses, it’s apparent that he already had human emotions if he desired to feel things.  Nighthawk then accuses him of something sinister, as apparently, Mr. Church is using the information he is gathering from the pages supplied to him by Gargoyle to lead the Tong of Creel to all of the pieces of the Absorbing Man.  The odd thing is, Gargoyle is speaking to someone that can see the future, and yet Nighthawk still told him everything that he needed to know.  Maybe Nighthawk couldn’t see that far into the future, to the actual consequences of the actions until they were upon him, but still, you would think someone that had a secret like Gargoyle apparently does wouldn’t try to hide it from someone that can see the future. 

                In Latveria, the Tong of Creel is closing in on the piece of the Absorbing Man that Reed Richards is keeping safe, while in Canada, Sasquatch and Guardian, or, the head of Guardian, to be more specific, realize that they are being overrun by Wolverine-looking mutants. 

                In Egypt, Marv and his band of merry heroes arrive to find Moon Knight fighting against the Sons of Set yet again. The heroes aid Moon Knight and then go to retrieve the statue they came for.  Once they retrieve that, not only do the perpetually regenerating Sons of Set fade into dust, but so does Moon Knight, finally able to die and rest in peace. 

                In Latveria, everyone is fighting the mutants that are trying to douse the “human torch” while Mr. Church enters Doom’s castle to find the piece of the Absorbing Man.  In Japan, Marv has come for the Mandarin’s rings, the next item on his quest, and leaves with the rings and the hands they came on.

                In the realm of the dead, the battle continues between Marv’s dead heroes and Thanos’ dead army.  Moon Knight shows up, which adds another body to the fight, but doesn’t do much else at this point.  On the Moon, X-51 is carting around the Supreme Intelligence who warns him that Marv must be stopped for the sake of all of the multiple realities. 

                In New York, Immortus, now locked out of Limbo, begins to mutate, which sends him into a mental tailspin.  At that moment Mr. Church walks in, asking Immortus to address his flock.  In his current state, Immortus can’t do that, he’s going crazy as it is, so he puts that on Mr. Church, who gladly accepts.

Next Issue: Who the hell is Mr. Church!?

Not So New Comic Review: Universe X #5

                Back in the normal series, we begin issue five with the origin of Prince Wayfinder and his sword, a sword that created the entire world of Subatomica, a world within our world.  The magical sword lay dormant after the death of Wayfinder, but came back to “life” to find Wayfinder’s descendant, Arcturus Rann.  Rann held the Enigma Force, which he added to as he was in a state of suspended animation.  While this was happening, a portal was created to Subatomica known as the Prometheus Pit.  A villain appropriately named Psycho-Man tried to invade Earth from Subatomica but was soundly defeated by all the superheroes, so he turned his attention to Subatomica instead.  Psycho-Man used his suggestion device to cause Rann’s own wife to kill him.  The Enigma Force essentially died with Rann, ending up in the realm of the dead, where it transferred to Captain Marvel (the adult version in the land of the dead). 

                Well, that was a mouthful.  We open the action on the funeral for Cap.  If you read the special issue directly preceding this one, you would know that Cap died protecting Marv.  If you didn’t bother to read it because, well, it’s not part of the series proper, then you missed out on one of the central characters in the series meeting their untimely demise.  This is quite the odd thing to do, in my opinion, but, speaking as someone that picked up everything to do with the series, I’m not sure why anyone would skip out on the special issues.  Many of the heroes assembled pledge to help Marv complete his quest, while Wyatt Wingfoot is none too happy with Marv for leading Cap to his death.  Thor chases Loki away when he tells her that she can be whatever she wants, that her destiny as a God of Thunder is not set in stone.  Marv then makes the proclamation that all of the heroes are going to Hell.  Like, literally going to Hell, not in some vague, you cut me off in traffic kind of way. 

                In Britain, the Tong of Creel attacks Captain Britain’s home to steal another piece of the Absorbing Man, and of course they succeed.  All of these heroes in the world and they still can’t keep pieces of a dead man secure. 

                We are back with Marv and his merry band of heroes as they head to the Prometheus Pit.  It appears that, in order to prevent anything from crossing into the real world, Man-Thing sacrificed himself to plug the hole.  We get a brief history from the Micronauts Proton and Neutron along with the glowing visage of Rann’s wife.  Basically, Psycho-Man won in his attempt to enslave Subatomica.   The only way he was beat was through the help of Man-Thing who, when he clogged the Prometheus Pit, he lodged Psycho-Man’s suggestion device within himself and released his fear burning tendrils into Subatomica.  Rann’s wife seems to be speaking to everyone from the land of the dead, and of course, that causes Scott to ask about Phoenix.  He is told that she is with him, that the dreams he has of her is actually her reaching out to him.  Marv then retrieves the suggestion device from Man-Thing and they go about their merry way. 

                We end with X-51 talking to Uatu on the moon about Galactus, and about how Wayfinder’s sword was not a sentient being as he once thought it was, it was the star that Wayfinder shoved his sword into that was sentient, and the only sentient star out there is Galactus.  We then see X-51 walk over the containment unit of the Kree’s Supreme Intelligence (the hive-mind like creature that acts as the Kree’s governing body). 

Next Issue: What does the Supreme Intelligence have to do with all this?  Better yet, what does Galactus have to do with all of this?  Can the heroes actually hold on to a piece of the Absorbing Man, or are they the worst heroes ever?

Not So New Comic Review: Universe X #4

                Issue four opens with a brief summary of Norse mythology, which apparently all came about because of aliens, yes aliens.  An alien inhabited Odin, and the stories that Odin told, about himself and others, became the myths that were passed down.  Everything that was created n terms of Norse mythology was just made up by an alien.  The worlds that were created, the nine realms, the rainbow bridge, was all basically due to an overactive imagination. 

                Back in New York, the mystery of Mr. Church and his connection to Gargoyle deepens and we learn that the Tong of Creel is fighting Xen out in Japan as Cap and Marv arrive for their next piece of the puzzle.  Unfortunately, Cap and Marv arrive in time to see Xen lose and another piece of the Absorbing Man claimed.  Cap gets on a video conference with Reed to find out what happened when he was out of commission.  Cap remembers nothing of the past, about when Johnny and Sue died, as well as the Avengers, which is good news for us as neither do we. 

                Apparently, as Reed tells it to Cap, the Absorbing Man was pretty dumb, but that all changed when he merged with Ultron, absorbing all of Ultron’s knowledge and power into him.  He became a deadly foe, becoming anything and everything he had to in order to counteract the powers of the Avengers, killing them off, one by one until the Vision infected him with a computer virus.  In order to counteract this, the Absorbing Man turned to stone, to isolate the virus.  At this point, Vision shattered him into multiple pieces, each piece given to someone else to safeguard with the thought that if he was ever put back together, the individual that killed the Avengers would continue his rampage unabated across the globe. 

                We then find out that Dr. Strange has been moved to Japan by his assistant, Wong.  We are then transported to a Hydra holding facility because Marv and Cap are looking for Rick Jones, who has the Nega Bands (which are next on the checklist).  Unfortunately, they see that Rick now only has one arm, the other one, including the Nega Band that was on it, is missing.  Unfortunately, the piece of the cosmic consciousness that was in the Nega Bands is now gone (maybe because the two are not together?) so they don’t need those trinkets after all.  It is then revealed that Hydra actually inhabits dead bodies, that they kill their victims and take their minds over, so being one of the Hydra is not a worry free life like we had once thought.  Cap decides to destroy everything in his path in his grief. 

 

                In New York, the torch is being defended by the heroes, while Immortus is trying to retreat to Limbo to avoid being changed by the Terrigen Mists, but he is locked out for some reason.  While in Hell, or New Jersey, I’m not sure which, Loki explains to the fire demon Surtur of Norse Myth that he is not actually trapped, that he’s basically just playing his part in a big play.  He is not really imprisoned, and he doesn’t actually have to cause Ragnarok, he can do whatever he wants to. 

                In the Hydra base, Cap destroys everyone and everything with the Spaceknight gun.  He then turns the gun on Death herself, as she is still following him around.  It crumbles in his hands and he does his best to shelter young Marv from its advances.

Next Issue: It’s another special, this time focusing on Cap.  Will death finally come? Will it bring cake? 

Not So New Comic Review: Universe X #3

                We start this issue with a brief overview of the Savage Land (for those not in the know, that is a spot in Antarctica that was untouched by the ravages of time and still contains dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts).  It is also stated that the savage land is kind of a gateway to Limbo, you know, that place between heaven and hell.  We then get a brief history of Belasco and Limbo, including Magik’s involvement in the realm. 

                Back in New York, the mysterious bookbinder continues to do his job, and we quickly transition to Britain, where it is revealed that Cap and Marv are off to the Savage Land next (hence the opening sequence).   Cap and Marv enter the cloak and teleport to the Savage Land where they are met by Ka-Zar and Shanna, who are now cat-people.  Cap and Marv are not carrying the books they picked up from the Omniverse last issue, so it is interesting to wonder where all of these artifacts are going.  Do they have a specific vault where they are storing all these, away from the masses?  Does the cloak have a shit-ton of pockets, like cargo pants?

                Sorry, I got carried away.  Back in the Savage Land, Cap and Marv come upon Sentinel City and enter the ruins, only to find that Toad is now the master of magnetism and Magneto is his dancing court jester.  Apparently, when the polarities were shifted, Magneto’s powers vanished and…went to Toad?  Anyway, Toad, as with any petulant child that now has a tiny modicum of responsibility, is kind of a dick.  However, Cap appeals to his superiority complex and asks for his help, to which Toad agrees to allow them access to the door to Limbo.  Marv, Cap and Ka-Zar enter Limbo to pick up anti-metal and are immediately met with Wraiths.  They fight the adversary, with the help of one of the greatest Space-Knights and his laser guns until Mephisto shows up, which is never a good sign.

                In the realm of the dead, Marv and the dead who know they are dead are looking for the Kree, so Marv can convince them of their death and draft them into his army, but they are nowhere to be found.  They are then met by Thanos who, true to form, is still holding a torch for Death.  Marv puts him in his place by saying that Death does not care for him, but Thanos is in love, and he doesn’t believe it. 

                We quickly cut to New York to see that the Tong of Creel have almost completely reassembled the Absorbing Man (you know, that guy that killed the Avengers and was then split into multiple pieces and hid around the world….that guy).  We are then in a different part of New York, where Immortus seems to have a handler known as Mr. Church who plays him like Dick Cheney played GW Bush. 

               

                Back in Limbo, Mephisto wants to warn Cap and Marv that Death is following them.  Way to be late to the party, Mephisto.  Of course then he holds a glowing orb that he calls the “key to Limbo”, that is until Cap knocks it out of his hands and into the “frozen in carbonite” visage of Belasco.  This sends Belasco back in time, to start his cycle over again, which is kind of a recurring theme in this series.  Cap and Marv receive the gun from the Greatest SpaceKnight and leave Limbo.  As Cap looks over his shoulder, he sees Death silently following him.

Next Issue: Will Death finally claim her victim?  Will Cap get to use the big gun first?  Will Mr. Church shoot someone in the face?

Not so New Comic Review: Universe X #2

                Issue two starts with a brief retelling of the origin of Captain Britain, which involves a lot of magic and resurrection.  Really, Superheroes are modern day myths, that are all built upon the myths of yesteryear, which would explain why Thor, Hercules, and even Merlin are fixtures in superhero comics.  Captain Britain was created by choosing the amulet of life instead of the sword of death, and he went on to be Britain’s greatest champion, forming Excalibur with Nightcrawler.  Unfortunately, Excalibur was turned to stone by the Grey Gargoyle, who was then killed by Captain Britain before he could force the villain to change them back.

 

                That brings us to the present day as Cap and Marv arrive in Britain on the next part of their “fetch quest”, the books of Darkhold and Vishanti.  Captain Britain asks Marv to bring Meggan, a member of Excalibur who was also Captain Britain’s girlfriend back to life much like he did with Sue Richards.  Marv explains how impossible that is based on all the circumstances that led to Sue’s return.  We find out that Nightcrawler actually escaped being turned to stone as he teleported out of there, unfortunately leaving his arm behind.  Marv explains that Nightcrawler is still alive, because Marv knows who is dead, because he is actually in the realm of the dead.  Sounds odd and kind of creepy, right?  Now imagine it coming from the mouth of a toddler.  Yeah, even worse. 

                Speaking of the realm of the dead, it’s time to check in on those individuals that are stuck there, led by Marv and Dr. Strange, who is only sort of dead, which is why he’s a ghost.  The individuals in the realm of the dead that know they are dead are involved in their own fetch quest so to speak.  Their quest is to gather an army, not objects, as they are fighting death herself.  They start by gathering the best and the brightest in the Marvel Universe, such as Iron Man.  They need everyone they can, as they are not only fighting Death, but all of her minions as well.  In Latveria, as is the case all around the world, masses are forming to destroy the “Human Torches”, to prevent the mutated populace from reverting back to their more docile, human selves.  Unfortunately for them, the last remaining vestiges of superheroes in the world are massing against them, to prevent the destruction of all Reed worked to build. 

 

                In Britain, Marv and Cap visit the Omniverse, where Roma and Merlin are residing to grab the books they seek.  Merlin tells Marv that he has a piece of the cosmic consciousness in him, not the whole thing as he once thought.  They then exit the Omniverse to see that death is following Cap and Marv. 

Next Issue: Does Death want Cap or Marv, or both!? Will Marv ever get all of the cosmic consciousness?  Does Dr. Strange the ghost know Casper?

Not so New Comic Review: Universe X #1

                Earth X opened every issue with a retelling of the origins of some of Marvel’s greatest heroes.  Universe X is no different as the narrators, Nighthawk and Gargoyle continue the tradition started by Uatu and X-51.  Dr. Strange is the subject of this issue, and we get a refresher course on his hubris, and how that hubris transformed him into Dr. Strange.  Back in New York, it’s a frozen wasteland thanks to the switching of the polarity within the planet.  Tucked away inside their apartment, Nighthawk tells his tale, while Gargoyle writes it down.  When a page is complete, he then sends it down a chute to the basement, where someone binds everything Nighthawk says into books.  We get a peek at the figure, but we don’t actually know who he is (nor will we for quite some time).

                In another part of New York, we come across Marv and Cap (this obviously takes place some time after “Four” as Cap is now entrusted with Marv’s care, and last we saw, Marv was in Latveria.  I will say, Doug Braithwaite does a great job of drawing Marv as a young kid.  Kids are not easy to draw consistently, especially realistically, and Braithwaite does an exceptional job at it for the entirety of the series.  This series basically turns into one big Legend of Zelda adventure as Marv and Cap traverse the Marvel Universe to gather all the goodies that Marv needs to complete his quest.  The first item on the list is Cloak’s…cloak.  It just so happens that Dagger, now an old woman, is using it to keep warm and mourn her friend.  Some street punks want to take it from her because, well, they’re cold too.  They don’t realize that it’s a portal to another dimension though and the cloak begins to envelope them all.  Cap saves a couple of the kids, and Dagger is bent out of shape as apparently, the cloak just basically eats people all the time.  Marv does what Marv tends to do through the whole series, he tells people how the dead person that the living are mourning is doing well on the other side.  Because this is the Marvel Universe, no one thinks he’s a nutty little kid.   Marv then takes the cloak and he and Cap now use it as a teleportation device.

                In Latveria, Reed and Sue are back together, and because of this, Reed has ditched the beard and Doom armor.  Out of nowhere, Immortus shows up and says that the torches are crippling everyone (which they kind of are by removing everyone’s powers).  Reed explains to Immortus that the Earth is going to die soon anyway, so basically who cares if people don’t have powers.  That seems pretty shitty coming from someone that just got their reason to live back. 

                In New York, Spiderman is now a police officer who is stopping some thugs from stealing food.  They attack him, and Spiders Man, the guy that casts webs of illusion shows up to cast another one, showing the thugs that there is plenty of food for them to eat.  They subsequently start chowing down on absolutely nothing and Spiderman notices that Iron Maiden is hanging around as well.  Basically, it looks like we are connecting the two series at this point, showing what everyone is doing at this point in time. 

                Cap and Marv are now in Dr. Strange’s house, looking for some books of his.  They encounter a bunch of mindless ones that leave them alone at first and then turn to attack.  As they are enveloping Marv, Loki plucks him out of the fray.  Cap reiterates the position that no Avenger can actually trust Loki, which Loki debunks because he is no longer the same person.  While on the moon, X-51 enters some ruins, looking for answers.

Next Issue: Does X-51 find the answer?  Do we even know what the question is?

Not So New Comic Review: Universe X #0

                When last we left this alternate reality (Earth X #X for those keeping score at home), the planet had been saved not once, but twice, first from the Red Skull (thanks to Cap’s handiwork with his shield) and from the Celestials (thanks to Galactus’ handiwork with…well, being Galactus, I guess).  Not only that, but Reed Richards designed devices to remove the Terrigen mists from the air, thereby “curing” people of their mutation.  What do the heroes get for putting their lives on the line like this?  Uprising and revolt by the individuals that want to keep their powers.  So grateful.  Wait, a revolt against those sworn to protect you?  Where have I seen that before?

                Anyway, we have new narrators for this series!  While X-51 is busy being the new Watcher and Uatu, the old Watcher is busy being blind, we get Nighthawk, who has been gifted the power to be able to see the future by Mephisto because of some fancy eyes, and Gargoyle, who is writing all these future predictions down so that future generations can read them, kind of like writing a history book before the history happens.  After a brief introduction to our new narrators, we go to Latveria, and Reed is still heartbroken over Sue’s untimely death (many, many years ago at this point).  We also get the explanation from Reed that the elimination of the Celestial host in the center of the Earth has thrown off the polarity of the planet, basically making it opposite day everywhere.  The poles are warm and the equator is cold, and it will get worse, according to Reed.  We are also introduced to Him, also known as Adam Warlock, who has had a child with Her, the woman created to be his wife.  This is the first new child since the mutations, and people are a little freaked out by it, so much so that they have split up Him and Her in order to prevent them from doing it again.

                We now take a trip to the Savage Land, where the X-Men and the Hulk stumble across Sentinel City (which is exactly what it sounds like).  We then travel from the South Pole to the North Pole and see that the kingdom that Iceman created is melting.  We then fly over Africa and see that it is completely frozen over, save for a man-made biosphere that surrounds Wakanda.  We then head to the moon to see Thor trying to come to grips with what Loki told her in Earth X, that they are not technically gods at all.  We then travel to New York, where Steve Rogers is swearing in Marshall Muldoon as the President (after Norman Osborn’s untimely demise at the hands of the Red Skull in Earth X).  We peek in on Immortus, who is watching the whole thing unfold and get a glimpse at the big role he will play as well. 

                In Egypt, Moon Knight is fighting the Sons of Set in a never ending battle, while in England, the Black Knight (Black Bolt and Medusa’s Inhuman son) is becoming king.  In Japan, Xen, the ninja clan fights the Tong of Creel (which will come into play pretty huge in the coming issues), while in Russia, Colossus is coming to grips with the fact that his job as the world’s grocery store will soon be coming to an end with the changing weather patterns. 

                Back in New York, Angel visits Gargoyle and Nighthawk, bringing them food and supplies.  Angel has become a good Samaritan as his namesake suggests, helping others in their time of need.  He does do everything he can to avoid hearing the future from Nighthawk though.  He states that what killed the majority of the X-Men was the fact that they knew the future, and working to prevent it just brought it about at a quicker pace, which makes a lot of sense in an overall sense, not just related to the mutants. 

                After Angel leaves, we get an ancient history lesson, about the Skrull and the Kree.  The Skrull were apparently already an advanced race when they met the Kree, and actually were prepared to offer science and knowledge to whoever was able to create the greatest advancement on the Earth’s moon, between the Kree and the Cotati, a race of plant looking people.  The Cotati won, because, while the Kree were able to build a huge, technologically advanced city, the Cotati were able to cultivate part of the moon to sustain life (this is how Marvel’s fabled blue area of the moon came into being).  The Kree, being such sore losers, massacred the Cotati and took that technology for themselves, while also seeding a hatred for the Skrulls deep within themselves, one that would carry over into multiple conflicts for generations to come. 

                We are then treated to the life and eventual death of Captain Marvel, the Kree warrior, as a lead-up to the fact that the new baby that was born of Him and Her, is actually Captain Marvel come back to life.  He has all of the knowledge of his past life, but he is just a child.  We end on an image of Captain Marvel, as a child, and Captain America, his nanny of sorts traversing the frozen wasteland (my guess is it’s somewhere in New Jersey.

Next Issue: What are Cap and Cap doing in New Jersey?  And what is this whole story even about?