Flailing Upwards

Written by: Jonathan Hickman

Art by: Esad Ribic

Colors by: Ive Svorcina

“LET US FINISH THIS... ...AND DO SO AS GODS.  ON THE EARTH... IN THE SKY... AND THE HEAVENS ABOVE.” - Victor VonDoom

There was so much good in issue 9 that I thought I would honor Hickman and the Marvel and turn one post about the last issue of Secret Wars into two because of the length that it will likely be. =)  Couldn’t help myself.  

Part one of this post is going to solely cover the Black Panther/Namor vs Doom tussle that opens the book and seriously delivers some amazing art.  Seeing the Infinity Gauntlet in the hand of a leader like T’challa up against a ‘god’ had to have been a tall order for Ribic.  It is also somewhat bittersweet for me to see a major cosmic power fair so much differently in execution than Scott did with the Phoenix force.  

Obviously there are outside factors to consider in both of those encounters but while the beautiful execution of this story wraps up like this there is still regret for what could have been, and hope for more to come.

Extraordinary X-men #5 Preview Images

So I may just have to read Extraordinary X-men #5.  This may be the first sighting of the original Scott. 

But it could be something else entirely;

Summers Clone - Sinister is there.  Clones are not a huge leap he’s been screwing with Summer’s DNA for a huge part of Scott’s life.

Original Cyclops - Panel 2 sure looks alot like part of the new costume with the piping.  The clear mutation on the left part of his body could be the effect of Terrigen mists, or something else Sinister did.

Alternate Universe Summers - Secret Wars Sinister created the Endless Summers for the Shield.  Or any number of Cyclops were featured in the different baronies.

All New X-men #2

Sooooo if All New X-men #2 is a taste of what this new book is going to be like under the new editorial/writer team I’m not likely to hang on for much longer.  The unexplained action that Cyclops supposedly took that alienated him even more from his former students, friends, and compatriots is getting old quick without actual details.  It is clear that whatever it was had to be captured on video for the “world” to see, but that makes the action even less plausible. Apparently multiple deaths occurred as a result.  Again part of this difficulty is that we’ve just seen Scott bring the Mutant race into a peaceful rally in Washington DC, (Uncanny #600)

I realize that in Marvel time that actual event happened 8 months before the Nation X events in Hickman’s Uncanny Avengers where Scott first mentions his nest ‘Phoenix egg’.  But this is part of the problem.  In a world that has gone through three timeskips, complete destruction, and two rewrites it makes it incredibly hard to hold onto the intended escalation that the character was likely intended to have gone through to get to the place they are describing.  The choice to turn Scott full villain off screen in my opinion was a mistake.  And while there are rumors this wasn’t actually Scott, that he may swoop in and save the day in Act 3 of this new era for the X-men it seems less likely every issue.  Especially with the ‘Ghosts of Cyclops’ which are clearly an attempt to further draw comparisons to Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants for the former X-men leader.

Full image of the modern look at Cyclop’s old visor and how it works.  If you haven’t seen Marvel Fact Files they are outstanding sources of detail covering everything Marvel.

The action scenes start on the first page of this epic issue in this outstanding series.  The Thors’ fight against the cabal with the narrative ongoing from Strange had such a perfect feeling to everything going on.  My only regret even with all of the opportunities that we’ve had with Scott Summers/Phoenix communicating I keep wavering at how much he was truly at the wheel.

Unfortunately, just when it looked like we’d have some dialogue to better gauge Scott’s behavior the Thor signal went off.  

I pulled some of the key moments from the issue of which there was MANY, but I felt compelled towards these.  Again if you haven’t picked up these books you are missing an amazing story people.  There is more to this issue than I’m showing here, and even moments after the last image below there is so much more to see.  

I’m not certain if this is truly the end of Scott, or if the phoenix in him will bring about his rebirth, it’s hard to say.  I will say a jealous part of my devotion to the character hopes this is not the end, but knowing there is future plot with Cyclops ‘missing’ after Secret Wars gives hope there will be some future for his story to continue in one form or another.

A good friend mentioned that perhaps this will finally let Jean and Scott reunite.  Which again I think has little chance, but would make me happy at least in the end.

R.I.P. Scott Summers - 616

R.I.P. Stephen Strange - 616

Secret Wars #3 - Doom and Sue...

Once again it needs to be said that far and away, Secret Wars is an outstanding success for Hickman and the marvel team.  And clearly the fans agree with the sales reports on the first issue dominating the market.  Now, gushing aside I need to get this out before it’s actually revealed, but when I read, re-read, and re-re-read this issue I was torn.  The panels with Doom and Sue together were so beautifully written and so emotionally painful to watch unfold.

Seeing Doom succeed where all others failed.  Watching the scions of the Richards family and Susan Storm-Richards treat Doom as the god he’s become made me sick to my stomach, but not for the obvious reasons.

The easy explanation for their behavior is unlike Stephen Strange, these innocents have been warped into the thinking/personalities that Doom desired to be the cherry atop his godhood sunday.  That would mean that there is hope for things to be righted once Reed and the remaining 616′ers go on the offensive.

However... the thing that scares me about where this story goes; and again let it be said how fucking awesome this story is... is that there is a logic that I can see where the Richards family survivors have not been altered, tweaked, or changed any more than Strange has.  

The 616 life raft is being opened now, 8 years since Battleworld was forged.  Let’s assume that Susan, Valeria, Franklin, and Johnny have been conscious and alive since it’s formation.  Eight years is a long time for a wife to wait for a husband that could very easily not exist.  And I don’t think it’s strange at all that conceptually while we’ve seen many baronies that touch the big Marvel groups (Avengers, X-men, Spider-man, Hulk, etc) there are or at leave have yet to be any fractured Fantastic Four, and definitely no sign of any Reed Richards.  But then, Doom would want it that way.

But how much sweeter a victory for Doom... if after eight years Susan made the choice to save her children, and a life for herself and commit to her husbands greatest enemy.

Now that being said... there are moments in this issue that speak against this potential plot.  If Sue, like Stephen had her full memories Doom would not likely have to explain what he did to save existence as he said he did when talking with Susan.  Stephen when speaking with the survivors of Marvel 616 seemed genuinely shocked that they still had their memories of the past.  If Sue and the others also had these memories Strange would have likely had a less shocked reaction to that news.  I really hope I’m just jumping at shadows on this one...