Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #X

                This is it!  Being that this might just be the end of the world, there are no pleasantries like an origin story, or anything like that.  We jump right into the action.  First things first, we find that Iron Man was killed in his attack on the Celestials.  It took a little longer than expected, but he succumbed to his injuries.  We then see an awesome double page spread (and there are a lot of double page spreads in this issue) that shows Galactus facing off with the Celestials.  Overlaying that image is text of X-51 basically recapping the series so far. 

                As Galactus begins drilling into the Earth’s core, aware but oblivious to the presence of the Celestials around him, Namor rockets out of the ocean, free of the influence of the Skull, and as pissed off as Namor ever is, he calls upon the creatures of the ocean to attack a nearby Celestial, damaging it, but not really doing much harm. 

                On the moon, John Jameson has turned into a werewolf and is attacking everyone else on the moon (including his wife and child).  X-51 uses his teleportation door to send John to Earth, the part of it that is lit by the sun so John changes back to a human.  Of course, at this point, John’s wife gets angry with X-51 for sending John to a planet that is about to be destroyed.  Women, am I right?  Back on Earth, Silver Surfer’s lady friend, Shalla-Bal (the whole reason he became the herald of Galactus in the first place) is killed by the Celestials.  We are then shown the true power of Galactus, the Celestial-beating majesty.  We are also treated to a conversation between X-51 and Reed where we learn that Galactus really was turned into a star and the Galactus that is now on Earth is not the Galactus we all know. 

                The Celestials strike back and attack Galactus, wounding him.  However, through the conversation of Reed and X-51, we learn that the higher form of mutation that everyone is heading toward, after they all become shapeshifters, is a metaphysical one.  A mutation where the individual is basically what anyone thinks that they are.  This is a great way to reintroduce the Asgardians (the dead ones anyway) led by Loki.  He has made them all believe that they are not dead (because they aren’t) and they ride in to fight the Celestials…who promptly cause them to think they are dead again, so they all just drop into the ocean. 

                As the fight rages, we follow Reed as he teleports to the side of the Inhumans in order to not only tell Medusa that her husband is dead, but to also show her that her son, the one they have been looking for this whole time, was the black knight in Captain Britain’s care.  Black Bolt made Captain Britain promise to raise him and keep him safe until the return of the Inhumans. 

                Back in New York, Galactus rises and keeps killing Celestials, to the point that they retreat.  We then find out that Galactus, this Galactus is actually Franklin Richards in a higher form of his mutation.  Reed can’t talk to Franklin as his son though as that would shatter the illusion that Galactus is Galactus, thus throwing the balance of the universe in jeopardy.  Reed bites the bullet and speaks to Galactus as the world devourer, asking him to spare Earth.  Galactus agrees, does something, then leaves, vowing never to return.  I am not sure if he killed the Celestial embryo or not, as that’s never explained, but I would assume so, or else Earth is doomed anyway. 

                We travel to the moon, where X-51 has unraveled the mystery of the Watchers.  Apparently, as penance for not stopping the birth of Galactus, the Watchers are forced to be nursemaids to the Celestial embryos for all time.  This is why Uatu gave Reed the Ultimate Nullifier in the first place, to do away with Galactus once and for all.  X-51 then removes all of the monitoring devices from Uatu, he can no longer even hear what is going on on Earth.  He is completely blind and alone.

                Back on Earth, Reed has come up with a way to remove the Terrigen mists from the air.  Each country is to build a giant torch that basically burns the mists away, making the population of the Earth human again.  There is nothing said as to whether this will only work on those that received their powers through the mists or not, as all the mists did was apparently activate a dormant seed inside humanity, that was activated by other means in other heroes.  Not everyone is building a torch though, as Black Panther would rather have weird animal people because of his religious beliefs.

                Towards the end, we see Captain Mar-Vell come to Reed in a dream, telling him that he is coming back from the dead, very Jesus-y, and to prepare for his return.  We end the series with Luna, Quicksilver and Crystal’s daughter gaining her final form, just in time for Cap to light the torch and remove the Terrigen mists from the atmosphere.

                While this entire series was very well conceived, it got a little long-winded in places and dragged on at times before getting to the good stuff.  The art was great, both in terms of the character designs as well as the actual narrative art.  The colors were dark, muddy and did little to help the book though.  Of everything, the coloring was the worst part of the book, but everything else was pretty well done, with the highlight being Cap’s monologue in issue twelve.

Next: We check out the return of Mar-Vell in Universe X!    

Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #12

                Our final origin story is that of Iron Man.  A character that has only played a peripheral role in the story so far but takes center stage now as he goes up to face the Celestials in his Iron Man house armor. 

                In one of the best pages in the series, we see a double page spread of the Celestials standing over the New York City skyline while the reactions of the heroes are all shown in small panels on the bottom of the page.  This is a magnificent illustration that shows not only how large and foreboding the Celestials are, but also how small and meaningless the super heroes of Earth actually are in the face of gods. 

                We follow this up with Iron Man running toward the fight, hurtling his armor, which is still miniscule compared to the Celestials, at the giant robot-looking creatures.  As Iron Man fights a losing battle on Earth, we travel to Asgard, where Loki has traveled to try and explain to Odin and the rest of the Norse gods assembled there that their life is essentially a lie.  No one believes him, of course, as they have lived their lives for this long with no reason to believe anything different.  Instead f staying and reasoning with them, Loki does exactly what you might expect and kills himself, traveling to death’s realm.  What will become of this, I’m not sure, as we only have one issue left. 

                On the moon, John Jameson seems to have been brainwashed by Uatu, and begins brandishing the Ultimate Nullifier about.  Down on Earth, we see Iron Man’s last stand, except somehow, some way, he survives a suicide mission.  As he collapses in agony, thinking that he has not bought enough time for Earth, he is proven wrong, as the Silver Surfer and his lady friend show up.  That can only mean one thing, right?  Before we get to that though, we head back to the moon where the moon has come out, turning him into a werewolf (don’t ask).  The transformation causes him to drop the Ultimate Nullifier, which is caught by X-51.  We then end with the image of Galactus in the night sky.  I thought Reed killed Galactus, turned him into a star, you might say.  Well, we’ll just have to see who this is if it’s not Galactus.  But it should be noted that when Black Bolt called someone before he was killed by the Celestials, this is who he was calling. 

                The appendix this month is Cap laying the Skull to rest, speaking to him and telling him not only Cap’s origin, but that of the real Red Skull as well.  It is one of the most poignant and beautiful moments of the series as Cap deals with survivor’s guilt, PTSD and everything else that an old soldier who has seen as much action as Captain America could expect to have.  The fact that the Skull’s real name is James, much like his former partner, may be the tipping point that caused him to be so introspective.  While this doesn’t really do anything to further the story per se, like the other appendices did, it is a great set piece that perfectly illustrates the toll that all soldiers have to endure.

Next (and final) Issue:  It all comes to an end.

Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #11

                One of the final origin stories is an odd one.  This origin is very Fantastic Four-centric as X-51 is not involved in retelling, it is solely up to a conversation between Reed Richards and Uatu.  Yes, we already had the origin of the Fantastic Four, but that is why this one is so odd.  It focuses on the supporting characters, villains like the Puppet-Master and Galactus, as well as the Silver Surfer.  This ends with the realization that Galactus is the sworn enemy of the Celestials.  He is not the destroyer of worlds, he is the destroyer of the Celestial embryo within those worlds (coincidentally, that also destroys the world, but Galactus can’t be worried about schematics).

                This brings us back to New York, where the Skull has taken over.  Iron Man has decided not to intervene as his fortress cannot be penetrated, while Vision worries about the well being of those outside the fortress walls (the android having more compassion than the human, that trope never gets old, while Wolverine has decided against helping either, because he’s lazy.  We also find out that who everyone thought was Jean Grey living with Logan, turned out to be Madelyne Pryor the whole time.  Outside, we see Cap waking up in an alleyway.  Apparently Spiderman saved him as seeing May in the clutches of the Skull was just what Peter needed to don the old costume (an actual costume from a costume shop this time).  They teleport back to Ben Grimm, and set up the plan using the clay versions of the Marvel Heroes that Alicia, Ben’s Wife, created. 

                We head into space to see Black Bolt give his life against the Celestials.  Did he go out there single-handed on a suicide mission though?  Nope, he apparently went out there to call someone to aid him and the Earth with the only voice that could span the entirety of space (even without oxygen I guess). 

                Back on Earth, the Clay heroes and the regular heroes are fighting the Skull’s minions.  We see the battle progress until a Cap version of the Clay Avengers makes it through the fray and grabs the Skull.  The Skull grabs at him, removing some of the clay to show that it’s the real Cap underneath, who promptly kills the Skull.  Seriously.  Cap straight-up murdered the kid.  That ends the threat of the Skull, but right as everyone breathes a sigh of relief, we jump right in to the bigger threat, the Celestials.  Reed contacts Iron Man and explains the situation, and Iron Man, finally realizing he may have to get his hands dirty, sends Vision away and rockets into space in a giant Iron Man suit.  Apparently the impenetrable fortress he had holed himself up in was a giant Iron Man suit all along. 

                Again, the Appendix is very dense but it offers some very cool insights into the true history of the Marvel universe, I’ll try and touch on all the good bits. Apparently, the Celestials mutate the populace of a world until they all have the same power set, such as the Skrulls, that can change their shape.  The Kree, the Skrull’s mortal enemies, were pissed that the Celestials gave them this advantage, so they created the Inhuman race as an equalizer, their secret weapon against the Skrulls and the Celestials.  The Skull was put on earth to prevent the overpowered population from destroying everything and killing the Celestial inside.  With the death of the Skull, the Celestials have given up hope when it comes to Earth and are coming to wipe out the entire global population so that nothing can disturb their seedling.

Next Issue:  That’s some pretty grim shit.  Will Iron Man make a difference?  Will the Celestials be stopped?  With two issues left, what is the fate of the planet?

Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #10

                We are nearing the end of the story and it’s fitting that one of the final origin stories is that of Machine Man/Aaron Stack/X-51 himself.  After learning about X-51’s origin, we join him on Earth where Reed has apparently informed Ben Grimm of the very grim future ahead of them all.  To save his family from  the impending Doom, Ben has decided to send them into space, to the moon to be exact, using the technology that brought X-51 to Earth. 

                Cap continues his recruitment drive by going to Wakanda to try and get Black Panther on his side.  T’Challa, being the douche that he is, not only refuses to help Cap (who did wind up recruiting Captain Britain after all) but also refuses to give him the cosmic cube, which Cap left to T’Challa for safekeeping. 

                Back in New York, Reed finds out that Black Bolt released the mists that mutated the human race, that this predicament was not his fault after all.  Reed then asks Black Bolt to do something for him, but we don’t hear what it is, then Medusa confronts Black Bolt and sees something when she takes off his mask, but we are not privy to that either.  What are these stunning revelations?  We only have a few issues left to find out.  In another part of New York, we find out that The Wizard, one of the Skull’s minions has gone crazy, literally crazy, and therefore the skull is unable to control him anymore.  With that info in mind, he has the Wizard killed.  We also get to learn the true extent of the Skull’s power.  He doesn’t control his victims as much as he has command of them.  Their minds are their own, as evidenced by the fact that Iron Maiden gets all sassy, but they will literally do anything and everything that he asks. 

                We then get the full-court press from Cap as everyone in the army he has amassed so far attacks at once.  None of the Skull’s army fights back though as he is mad at Iron Maiden for saying that she would rather be insane than under his control, a true indication that he is still just a petulant child, one with immense power, but nothing more.  Eventually, conveniently just as Hulk enters the fray, he decides to take command of his army again.  He makes short work of everyone and finally, Cap is bowing in front of him. 

                We then get the big reveal that Black Bolt is the one who blinded Uatu, preventing him from seeing the release of the mists on earth, all part of a giant plan to thwart the Celestials’ plan for Earth.  The short explanation goes like this:  The Kree hate the Celestials, for whatever reason, and they also know of the alliance that the Celestials have with the Watchers.  The Kree are who provided the Terrigen Mists that are the reason Inhumans exist at all.  Black Bolt, feeling a sense of duty to his people, blinded Uatu in order to help stop the Celestials, and he is one of the only beings with the power to do so.  We learn this as we see him flying to space to confront the Celestials.

                In the appendix to this issue, Reed and Uatu argue about Black Bolt’s true motivations, and Uatu has turned into a little bitch lately, that’s for sure.  Reed believes that Black Bolt knew about the Celestial within the planet and has set a plan in motion to not only destroy that Celestial, thereby saving the planet, but all Celestials.  We’ll see how well that goes.

Next Issue: It’s a showdown between Black Bolt and the Celestials, and what about Cap versus the Skull, is there any way for Cap to win? 

Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #9

                Everything seems to revolving around the Inhumans, who, coincidentally, are the subject of this issue origin spotlight.  Please note, this was years before the Inhumans became the new Disney-controlled Mutants of the Marvel Universe.  Ross and Krueger must have had a crystal ball or something, right?

                After the opening conversation and the Inhumans’ origin, we see that the Celestials have arrived, towering over all of the planets, looking as though they are going to pass judgment over Earth and all of its inhabitants.  The scope of these “Gods” is well sculpted by Leon, who shows the slightest sliver of a moon behind them in order to relay their size, and in this case, importance to the reader. 

                Back on Earth, Cap is still trying to recruit other heroes, taking his “World Tour” to Britain to attempt to recruit Captain Britain and those under his protection.  We find out that the Grey Gargoyle had turned the super team Excalibur to stone, which depressed Captain Britain and caused him to sequester his kingdom.  As it stands, Captain Britain is still against helping Cap, but we’ll see if he shows up things get crazy in America. 

                Speaking of America, we head back there, to the office of Norman Osborn, where The Skull and his entourage have cornered the President and his henchmen.  Spiders-Man, with his ability to cause people to hallucinate, uses his powers on Osborn, causing him to see Gwen Stacey.  She winds up pushing him off a cliff in his “dream” while in real life, the Skull actually pushes him out a window, where he falls until his foot gets caught in an American flag flying on the side of the building and his neck snaps, much like Gwen Stacey’s did.  Talk about coming full circle.

                In another part of New York, X-51 appears from the moon and confronts Reed Richards, showing him what the purpose of humanity is.  His foreboding “we’re antibodies” shows a much bigger game in play, something that the Celestials have had a hand in from day one.  We then switch to the Inhumans, where Karnak is still convinced that Maximus released the Terrigen Mists on the world.  Medusa uses her thinking cap though and figures out that it was actually Black Bolt that did it.  She thinks  that he did it, mutating the entire populace of Earth in order to prevent the Inhumans from dying when they moved outside of the hidden city where they lived.  Apparently, the regular Earth atmosphere was just different enough without the Terrigen Mists in it, that it was poisonous to Inhumans. 

                We finish on Reed and X-51 and the revelation that Celestials lay their egg inside the core of planets (Earth included), and superheroes are there to prevent destruction of the planet until the Celestial is ready to be born and…destroy the planet.  Now, it looks like the Celestial is ready to hatch, and all of Earth is doomed because of it.

Next Issue: And you thought the Skull was bad news, what happens when word gets out that the world is going to end because of a hatchling Celestial?  Does Cap recruit anyone else for what is turning out to be a pretty pointless mission of stopping the Skull?

Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #8

                We open with yet another conversation between Uatu and X-51 regarding his deletion of his personality circuits.  This one ends ominously though as Uatu pledges to explain to X-51 what the Celestials are actually doing, and why the Watchers watch.

                While X-51 downloads that information, we see the origin of Spiderman.  That’s pretty mundane though and doesn’t offer much else until the end when the conversation between Uatu and X-51 turns contentious.  You see, X-51 failed to actually delete his personality circuits, lying to Uatu and pretending that he was a mere robot.  As they are fighting though, John Jameson comes in and asks for X-51’s help to warn the Earth.

                With that we head back down to the blue marble, where Cap uses Lockjaw’s (pour one out for poor Lockjaw, who died of mange too young) teleportation device to enter Iron Man’s impenetrable fortress.  Iron Man immediately goes all crazy germaphobe, vaulting himself to the ceiling and encasing himself in a clear Iron Man suit to escape the germs.  Another theory is the fact that Cap wore the same “costume” across country in a train, that thing has got to be smelling a little ripe right now.  Cap is trying to get Tony to help against the Skull, but Tony brushes him off, telling him that the Iron Avengers probably have it all taken care of already.  We then cut to the streets of New York, where the Skull’s forces have overcome and dismantled the Iron Avengers and are now attacking Hydra.  The people of New York can’t catch a break.  When the cops try to stop the Skull, the Luke Cage led team is met with the Skull’s mind control powers as he commands the officers to shoot Cage.  Cage cannot be harmed, however, and the ricochet kills those around him.  The Skull is just playing with everyone now.  Instead of growing his army, he has turned to mass murder. 

On top of a building, we get another quarrel between Spiderman and his daughter, May.  Spidey doesn’t want May to be a superhero, and May, rightfully so, sees that with great power, like a symbiotic super suit, comes great responsibility.  Down on the ground, Reed is finding out that the Vibranium explosion that he thought mutated the population, was not the culprit after all.  Apparently everyone on Earth is now Inhuman.  The Terrigen mists were released on the world, transforming everyone.  This is also evident because Luna, upon exposure to Earth’s atmosphere, has begun to transform as well.  This, of course, brings to mind the Marvel event of 2013, Infinity, where the Terrigen mists were released on the world, mutating the Inhumans that were hiding there.  Karnak initially blames the release of the mists on Maximus, Black Bolt’s crazy brother, but it turns out that Maximus is dead.  Who released the mists on Earth then?  That’s a mystery we will soon uncover.

In Dr. Strange’s humble abode, Hulk and Thor come rocketing out of the land of the dead, apparently impervious to Clea’s candle trick.  This isn’t really explained, though the buildup to their emergence is masterfully done by John Paul Leon.  A fight ensues, one in which Loki stays out of even though Clea requests his aid.  The skirmish does wind up in the death of both Clea and Thor though, if you are to believe Loki, that is.  I will withhold my judgment. 

We now travel to Russia, as Cap goes on his recruitment drive to try and gain the help of Colossus and his awesome mustache.  Colossus reluctantly agrees to help and we then travel back to New York, where May is battling Iron Maiden in the skies above New York.  While this is happening, we see Peter, May’s father, mind you, taking pictures.  Spiderman has turned into the least likable character in the Marvel Universe.  May defeats Iron Maiden and lands in front of the Skull, who immediately takes control of her mind.  Peter, dumbfounded at his lot in life, doesn’t know what to do next, so he just walks home.  We end the action with the Skull and his posse showing up to say hello to Norman Osborn, the President of the United States, who has an office in New York City. 

The Appendix for this issue is dense, but important, so I’ll try to summarize the best I can.  The Terrigen mists were brought to Earth by the Kree, an alien race that loves to mess with the Celestials plans.  Apparently there is the ability for everyone to have superpowers embedded within every person, they just need a catalyst to bring them forth.  Sometimes that’s a spider bite, the detonation of a gamma bomb, or the disbursement of the Terrigen mists.  The real reason everyone has powers, why the Celestials gave them to the population will be reveled next issue.

Next Issue:  What is the grand Celestial plan?  Can it be stopped?  Should it be stopped?

Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #7

                We begin this issue, as with all issues, with a conversation between Uatu and X-51.  This time around though, it’s not much of a conversation as X-51 has apparently deleted his personality circuits as Uatu requested of him.  The focus of this issue then becomes clear as the origin of The Hulk presents itself, all expertly rendered by John Paul Leon and muddied up with colors from Matt Hollingsworth.  Before we head back down to Earth, which is pretty customary after these origin stories, we stay on the moon and see that John Jameson has been exiled there, and as he transforms into a werewolf, we get an indication as to why.  Apparently, John has been monitoring space and sees something large heading toward the Earth. Not being a Watcher, he feels it is his duty to warn Earth about this coming threat.

                Down on Earth, Reed has teleported from the X-Mansion to Ben Grimm’s doorstep, surprising him in the middle of the night.  Ben doesn’t mind as it seems like it’s been awhile since the two have seen each other.  Leon does a good job through the acting of the characters to show Ben going from sleepy-eyed annoyance to excitement in a couple panels.  Reed is not just making a friendly visit though as he requests some schematics that he left with Ben for safe keeping.  What are these schematics, you ask?  Oh, just the schematics of Charles Xavier’s brain, that’s all.  So what does Reed do?  He stretches his brain so that it resembles Xavier’s, giving him Xavier’s telepathic abilities.  This is odd as it makes mutation into a physical, not necessarily chromosomal “gift”, but it fits the story and doesn’t stretch things too much.

                Back at Clea’s Sanctum Sanctorum, Hulk is about to journey to the land of the dead.  He begins his descent and we eventually see all of the Marvel heroes that have died, and they are fighting all of the villains that have died.  The crazy thing is that the heroes and villains not only do not realize that they are dead, but they think that the living heroes and villains have perished.  Within the realm of the dead, Hulk encounters the spectre of Dr. Strange, who is neither alive nor dead in either reality.  Strange tells Hulk that Loki has allied himself with the being that killed Strange.  Back in the land of the living, we learn that if the candles burn out, that Hulk will be stuck in the land of the dead (it’s a magic thing, I guess).  To prevent that from happening, Thor travels into the land of the dead to bring Hulk back, leaving little Bruce all alone with Clea, who turns out to be the individual that killed Strange and allied herself with Loki.

 

                We end with Cap and Daredevil arriving in New York along with the Skull’s forces.  He shows up at Ben’s door with the X-Men, to recruit him to the cause.

                The appendix in this issue deals with member’s of Hulk’s extended family/rogue’s gallery.  There’s not much to be said about them really, but Alex Ross’s pencil illustrations that accompany the text are as beautiful as you would expect.

Next Issue:  Cap’s recruitment drive continues, does it include a bake sale?  I hope it includes a bake sale.  We learn more about the fun little relationship that Loki and CLea share, and what happens to Hulk and Thor?

Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #6

                Ah the X-Men, my favorite comic growing up, let’s see what has become of Charlie’s team of outcasts in the Earth X universe.  We start with a short conversation about Reed Richards’ actions and what the Inhumans found at the end of the last issue (the time machine).  We then cut to the history of the X-Men, including the origin of Magneto and the formation of the original and “Giant Size” teams. 

                The reason this issue is X-Men-centric is revealed in the first page after the origin.  Reed Richards is at the ruins of the X-Mansion to try and locate Cerebro, the old mutant detecting device, in order to use it to find the missing Inhumans, almost like a magnet to search for a needle in a haystack.  What Reed encounters instead is a blast from the past as the X-Men are tearing up the mansion in a fight with the Sentinels.  Of course, this is just a Danger Room scenario that was triggered by Reed’s entrance into the mansion.  Reed shuts off the program and plugs himself into Cerebro to begin his mission. 

                We then cut to one of the last remaining X-Men, Cyclops, as an old man, just walking along when he stumbles upon a group of mutants.  He adeptly takes them all out though because, apparently this is an alternate universe where Cyclops is a badass.  The group of mutants attacked Cyclops in order to show him how tough they are.  It turns out that Captain America sent the group to Cyclops for training, which they did not think they needed…and the best way to show that is to attack Cyclops.  This obviously didn’t work as an old man in a trench coat kicked their collective asses. 

                We now travel to Dr. Strange’s house where Clea, the reigning Sorcerer Supreme with Dr. Strange out of commission, is preparing to send the Hulk-Ape into the land of the dead to deliver a message to Mar-Vell.  Apparently, Hulk-Ape, not having a real mind of his own does not have to worry about going mad in a place like the land of the dead. 

                In Iron Man’s sanctuary we get a conversation on ethics between him and Vision, where Vision attempts to reason with him, explaining that Iron Man is actually needed by the people out beyond his walls, possibly foreshadowing some actual involvement by Iron Man in future issues.  We quickly cut to Cyclops agreeing to train the team of ragtag mutants, after he fits them with new uniforms, that of course have an X on them, before we focus on Spiderman and his daughter having a heart to heart on a water tower regarding her involvement in superheroics.

 

                We get a quick glimpse of the Skull’s forces traveling across the country via train, apparently heading to New York.  Along for the ride is Cap and Daredevil.  We end with an appendix that explains what happened to many of the X-Men.  Iceman is alone at the North Pole; Angel is flying around trying to help the unfortunate souls; Magneto has isolated himself amidst a city of repurposed Sentinels; Multiple Man is basically a living breathing CNN, providing info to everyone that wants it; Banshee, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, X-Man, Gambit and Rogue died; Dazzler is still touring, singing Disco music, Longshot and Cable have disappeared and the telepaths died when the Skull was born.  It’s a pretty shitty day to be an X-Man.

Next Issue: Cap rides a train, the new X-Men train and Reed trains his brain to find Inhumans.  You see what I did there?

Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #5

                We begin this issue, as we have with every issue thus far, with an origin story.  This particular origin story is for evryone’s favorite blonde-tressed Asgardian.  That’s right, Thor will play a major part in this issue.  I must say, the way Krueger and Ross are slow-burning the introduction of the heroes here, while also filling the issues with material in the interim is incredible.  They could have easily decompressed everything to the point where nothing happens until all of the heroes are revealed, but instead they give us a full story in each issue and then slowly bring the heroes along.  It’s masterful storytelling, and something that made me a longtime Krueger fan.

                Anyway, after the introduction (with more stellar art by Leon) we travel back to Latveria where the Inhumans and Reed Richards have come to the realization (at the end of last issue) that with the help of old Charlie Xavier’s Cerebro mutant finder, they can locate the missing Inhumans and reunite the kingdom.  It should be noted that when the Red Skull’s powers first manifested themselves, all of the telepaths died out, that means no Xavier, no Phoenix, no Emma Frost, etc.  Of course, once Reed leaves Doom’s castle, the Doom Bots attack the Inhumans.  It’s pretty well established that the Inhumans are capable of taking care of themselves in a fight though, so we don’t even stick around to see how that turns out.

                Instead, we are back to California.  Here, we see that  the hold that the Red Skull has over his “subjects” is not total and unbreakable.  Iron Maiden shows that she has a mind of her own, even though she is forced to follow the Red Skull, and she might even be a “hero” or what passes for a hero in this reality.  We now focus in on Cap, who is still in California, but is now just hanging out, extremely dejected at the humiliation of not being able to save his country, and losing yet another sidekick (seriously, who’s the worse mentor, Cap or Batman?).  Daredevil, the guy that can’t die wants to partner up with Cap, solely for the reason that all of Cap’s partners wind up killed.  This can only end well, right?

                Back in New York, at the home of Clea, the Sorcerer Supreme, picking up right where we left off at the end of the last issue.  We find out that Clea took over for Dr. Strange when he was attacked and put into a coma by an unknown force.  We then go into some mystical stuff regarding Mar-Vell and death/rebirth.  It’s a little crazy, but illustrated beautifully, and the coloring on this is excellent as everything is illuminated by the candle in the center of the room. 

                With that, it’s time to introduce Thor, who just so happens to be a woman now thanks to a trick from Loki (yes, Thor was a woman years before it became a stunt by Marvel to sell books and appear like they were progressive.  We get a brief exchange between Thor and Loki, where Loki is funny and condescending at the same time (as is his way) and then we are on to a quick jump around the Marvel Universe.  Our first stop is with Cyclops, who is now a balding old man that looks like he should be teaching history, not saving the world.  He is talking on a video conference with his father, Corsair of the Starjammers along with his brother Havok, and I’m assuming his sister-in-law Polaris.  Cyclops is pissed because his father is willing to come pick him up and get him away from Earth, but only him, leaving Jean Grey on Earth (even though it doesn’t appear as the two are together – and how she survived the telepath purge I have no idea).  We get confirmation that Jean is not with Scott on the next page as we see that she is with Wolverine.  Both would look more comfortable in WalMart than they would in tights saving the day at this point.

                Our last stop is back in Latveria, where the Inhumans are finishing up the dismantling of the Doom Bots.  Medusa then goes inside Reed’s lab and realizes that he has access to Doom’s time machine, and in his journals, we see Reed’s struggle with using that time machine to go back and fix everything and the moral quandary he has before him. 

                With that, we end this issue after a quick synopsis of the whereabouts of a few other Avengers (Ant-Man, Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man). 

Next Issue: What part does Lady-Thor play in this story?  Will Cyclops finally stop being a baby about Jean Grey, and who the hell changes Ape-Hulk’s diapers? 

Not so New Comic Review: Earth X #4

                This issue begins with the origin of the Black Panther.  It’s a pretty standard origin with good art by Jon Paul Leon, but again, the lack in variation when it comes to color makes everything a boring shade of grey.  After the quick origin, we are back in Latveria, where Reed Richards, along with the Inhumans, is trying to contact T’Challa, the Black Panther, out in his kingdom of Wakanda.  Reed is basically trying to rally all of his former friends, now the leaders of the various nations of the world.  T’Challa doesn’t want to help Reed by stopping the production of Vibranium (Wakanda is its place of origin) as he says that the spirits have spoke to him and he is doing this for his people.  What T’Challa has failed to tell Reed is that the same mists that changed the human population has also altered the animal population, they are all half animal-half human hybrids now. 

                Back in Latveria, Reed is still trying to figure out how to help the Inhumans, and comes up with the idea to use Cerebro, Charles Xavier’s old mutant detector.  With a few alterations, he believes that Cerebro can be used to find the real Inhumans amidst all of the “mutants” of the world. 

                Now we are back in California, as Cap confronts the Red Skull.  He believes that everyone deserves freedom because they are in America.  No matter what is happening, no matter how much the country, or the world for that matter, is falling apart, Cap will always be there to protect everyone’s individual freedoms.  That’s basically the lesson of this issue, and every issue of Captain America ever, right?  In talking to the Red Skull, we get a quick origin of Iron Maiden (who, as Krueger so eloquently states, like Jack Nicholson in Batman) gains her powers by falling into a vat of chemicals.  As Cap goes to stop the Skull, basically by pulling on his ear it looks like, he is hit with a flashback of Bucky courtesy of Spiders-Man (yup, that’s his name) whose power causes the target to hallucinate.

                To add insult to injury, the Skull, being the little douche that he is is content with mind-controlling everyone around Cap except for Cap in order to prove a point and force Cap to watch his country crumble around him.  To this end, he controls Redwing, making him beat the crap out of Cap.  He then basically banishes Cap, taking his partner from him yet again.  Leon does a great job of showing Cap’s isolation, and you really feel bad for the guy. 

                We are back in New York now, and we are greeted by the Hydra chasing after a winged devil girl, it turns out that she is Betty Banner, the Hulk’s wife (ex-wife?).  Right on cue, the Hulk shows up.  Now, this Hulk is different than the Hulk you know. He is two separate entities, yes, as we’ve seen in the past, but the smart, Banner part is a child now, while the Hulk part is more simian in nature than ever before.  Apparently saving Betty (who flies away in terror) was just a pit-stop on their way to Clea’s house (Clea, Dr. Strange’s old girlfriend, is now the Sorcerer Supreme).

                We end on that note, after a little exposition where X-51 comes to the conclusion that Celestials are the final step in human evolution, that all of the machinations of the Celestials when it comes to the populace of Earth up to this point have been in order to create new Celestials.  We, in essence, are their larvae.  An interesting theory indeed.

Next issue – Are we really larvae? Seriously?  And where does Cap go from here?