#cyclops 2026

THE CYCLOPS 2026 SERIES WRITTEN BY ALEX PAKNADEL

i am in goddamn love with this mcheckin series.

hang on hang on i gotta post some panels because gjkasl;gjdfksla; THIS IS WHAT I'VE WANTED. IT'S JUST HIM.

while having a chunk of wood impaled in his side, he not only keeps his head, but also teaches a child probably the most useful mental/emotional trick ever... especially for a mutant living in this horrific world that is the marvel universe.

(Now, bear with me, the adhd is in full swing right now and I'm having brain-translation-organization troubles.) i was like "omg that's what he does! this is how he does it!" Paknadel laid out a specific exercise (that works irl btw. stuff like this is real for centering oneself/focusing/calming down) to explain the Scott Summers brand of stubborn fuck syndrome. Scott's vise-like grip on his mind and faculties has been a comics staple for decades, but the most we ever get that explores what that requires and what it says about a person has been vague shit like 'oh he puts his worries in a box, lalala', moving on immediately afterwards. I cannot articulate how much i adore this and how much this means to me.

The exercise works, Mei can use her superstrength again, and pulls out the 'splinter' (fuckinnNN CHUNK) of wood.

sidenote: thank you Paknadel for addressing the fact that pulling out a huge impaled object is the last thing you want to do under normal circumstances. (since they're no where near any med facility, have to move and potentially fight, AND scott has magical heckin sealant, leaving it in would just cause it to move around and damage even more tissue).

i love this exchange: Mei: "But I wasn't under psychic attack..."

Scott: "Sure, you were. From yourself."

fjsalkf;jdsaklf; SO GOOD FSAJFDS

i'll stop it there for this post even though i want to continue on. Paknadel is fantastic writing Scott again, just like he was in "Eversong", just like I had hoped he'd be. This series is a delight, all the fuckin knowledge and understanding of the history and characters and THEMES surrounding this particular character aaaaaaaaaa.

𝒜𝓁𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒾 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝓃𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒸𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝒾 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒮𝒸𝑜𝓉𝓉 𝒮𝓊𝓂𝓂𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝒸𝒽 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝒶 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝑔𝑜 𝒾𝓃 𝓈𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝒹𝒾𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒹𝒾𝓇𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈.

𝒞𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓅𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓉𝓎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹, 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽.

𝒪𝓀𝒶𝓎, 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉- 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝒾𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒻𝓊𝓃 𝓅𝒶𝓃𝑒𝓁 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝒾 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓌𝓈 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝑒𝒻𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈𝓁𝓎 𝒮𝒸𝑜𝓉𝓉'𝓈 𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝓊𝓉𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃. 𝐻𝑒 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝓇𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝓃𝒶𝓉𝓊𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎. 𝒲𝑒'𝓇𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒻𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅 𝓆𝓊𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒸𝓊𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝐼𝓁𝓁𝓎𝒶𝓃𝒶 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒬𝓊𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓃.

𝒞𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝐼𝓁𝓁𝓎𝒶𝓃𝒶 𝒶 𝓀𝒾𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝑔𝒾𝑔𝑔𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒬𝓊𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓃 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼𝓁𝓁𝓎𝒶𝓃𝒶'𝓈 25 𝑜𝒻 𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒶 𝓀𝒾𝒹 𝓁𝑜𝓁.

𝒜𝓁𝓈𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓁𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒷𝒾𝓉!! 𝒯𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑒𝓌 𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝒻𝒻, 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝑜𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓃 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓉 𝑜𝒹𝒹𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝒳𝒶𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓇, 𝒾𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒳-𝓂𝑒𝓃. 𝒞𝓁𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹 𝓈𝑜𝓁𝒹𝒾𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒾-𝓂𝓊𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓈. 𝐿𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓃?

𝐼'𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝓁𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝒻 𝒾 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹 𝒾 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈𝓉𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓅𝒶𝓃𝑒𝓁 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝒾 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝒮𝒸𝑜𝓉𝓉 𝑜𝓇 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀𝑔𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹. 𝐼'𝓂 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽.

𝐵𝓇𝑜 𝓌𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓈 𝓊𝓅 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓈 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝒻𝑒, 𝑔𝑜𝓉𝓉𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝒷𝓇𝑜 (𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝒶𝒹 𝒶𝒷𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝑀𝒶𝒹𝒹𝒾𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽)

𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝑜𝓂𝑔𝑔𝑔. 𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝓈𝑜 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝑅𝑜𝑔ê 𝒜𝓃𝓉ô𝓃𝒾𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝓈𝑜 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝒮𝒸𝑜𝓉𝓉'𝓈 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒. 𝒲𝒽𝓎 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝒾 𝓋𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝓁.