Previously On X-Men: A Free Giant-Size X-Men Story Leads The Week in X-Books

Free comic book day sets up this summer’s anniversary event, X-Men does X-Men things, Storm does Storm things, everything Laura Kinney knew is wrong, and Psylocke fights the ghosts of the past in this look at the week’s X-books!

Giant-Size X-Men Free Comic Book Day 2025 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Iban Coello

With the original X-Men captives of Krakoa, Cyclops leads a group of all-new, all-different recruits in a training session, overseen by a time-traveling Ms. Marvel.

• This is a setup for this summer’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the All New, All Different X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1, which according to solicitations involves Ms. Marvel time-traveling to notable moments in the history of the ANAD X-Men.
• The event is spearheaded by Lanzing & Kelly, late of NYX, and they write this story.
• This is the latest in a surprisingly-large tradition of shoe-horning retroactive stories into the events of Giant-Size X-Men #1 (see also Deadly Genesis and “Original Sin” for some notable other examples); given that Sunfire quits the team after that issue and Thunderbird dies two issues later, one of the things I always enjoy about these kinds of stories is seeing those two in action alongside the rest of the new X-Men who stick around much longer.

More tease/setup than an actual story, this is basically just Cyclops taking on the new X-Men for a few pages to teach them a lesson before revealing the presence of Ms. Marvel in the past. As a devout Cyclops fan, I certainly can’t object to watching him go toe-to-toe with the entire team, and best them all.

Check out our brief review of the issue in our FCBD round-up as well!

X-Men #16 by Jed MacKay and Netho Diaz

Cyclops’ X-Men battle 3K’s X-Men aka the Santo Marco Six from the first issue.

• Netho Diaz is back, spelling Ryan Stegman. The 18 issues-a-year schedule is punishing for any artist, but I wish they could synch things up so we could have the same artist on the entire story.
• Beast gives Magneto a drug which temporarily restores his control over his powers, and also enables him to walk, though it’s never been clear why “can’t control his powers” also means “can’t walk.”
• The prosthetic mentioned last issue turns out to be the Sentinel overlooking Merle, which Magneto commandeers to use as, essentially, a mech while fighting the Twin which is, admittedly, a pretty cool comic book setup. (Ed. Note: And makes for an amazing final splash and closing line.)

• Beast mentions Magneto’s children; technically, at this point, Polaris is his only child, though there’s enough history there with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to count them even if they’re no longer blood relatives thanks to the machinations of studio ownership. There’s also the fact that this Beast is New Defenders Beast, and may not know that the full ins and outs of Magneto’s paternity.
• Schwartzchild uses the phrase “here comes tomorrow”, which is the title of the last arc of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run; the line seems to be an intentional homage.
• The 3K X-Men are: Schwarzchild (the guy with a black hole above him whose arm Magik cutoff in issue #1), Constellation (the one with mist for hair), Timebomb (the female speedster with a pony tail), Galatea (the stone one), Psychovore (the guy in the containment suit) and Juice (the liquidy guy). More than anything, they remind me of Cerebro’s X-Men from Uncanny X-Men #360.

It’s tough to get a good read on six essentially new characters just from their visuals and maybe a line or two of characterization, but for the most part, this is another example of this book’s solid comic book storytelling.

Laura Kinney: Wolverine #6 by Erica Schultz and Giada Belviso

Laura wakes up in a world where Logan is her dad and Gabby is her sister, but none of them are mutants with claws and metal bones.

• After getting sucked into a portal at the end of the previous issue, this issue opens in media res with Laura waking up in a “normal” world, her life as a superhero said to be the mental delusions crafted by her grief-stricken mind.
• Her sister Gabby is Gabrielle Kinney aka Honey Badger, who debuted in All New Wolverine #2 back in 2015. A mainstay of that solo series, this is her first appearance in this one.
• Dr. Xavier and Dr. Frost are, of course, representative of Professor X and Emma Frost.
• Laura recognizes the pizza delivery girl as Ms. Marvel, whom she’s been hanging out with post-Krakoa in NYX.
• Julian, the dreamy boy who shows up at the end, is Julian Keller aka Hellion, also late of NYX, though their history together goes back further, to the 2000s-era days of New X-Men.

The “all your fantastical adventures were just a creation of your damaged mind” plot is a mainstay of serial genre fiction, and Schultz hits all the expected notes here, with the presence of Gabby an appreciated touch.

Storm #8 by Murewa Ayodele, Lucas Werneck and Mario Santoro

Storm learns on ongoing war between storm gods, then gets interrogated by the FBI over her actions in “The Hunt for Xavier.”

• Thor pops in to tell Storm about a war raging between Hadad, the first Storm God, his followers, and the storm gods who oppose him. It all turns out to be, essentially, a prologue for future stories and not germane to the immediate plot of this one.
• In our world, Hadad is the name of a Mesopotamian storm god; its been mentioned in previous comics, but as far as I know, we’ve never seen an active Hadad before the way we have, say, Thor or Zeus.
• The One Above All (said to be the only deity capable of standing against Hadad previously) is basically the Marvel Universe’s version of a Jewish/Muslim/Christian captial-g God. Sometimes, it is depicted as looking like Jack Kirby.
• Storm is teleported to her FBI interrogation by Eden Farsi aka Manifold, making his first post-Krakoa appearance. He says that, if needed, mutants will rise up in defense of Storm and start a second Krakoan Age which seems like…bluster.
• Back at the Storm Sanctuary, Maggott has organized a fighting tournament to test his new powers. His chosen opponents (appearing only in one panel each) of note include Gentle (making his first post-Krakoa appearance), Strong Guy (wearing his Peter David-era government agent X-Factor uniform for some reason) and Abomination (who is presumably there because he fought in a cage match in the MCU Shang-Chi).

• Storm is interrogated by an alien FBI agent named Fabiyi who breathes nitrogen; the notion of the FBI employing aliens is new.
• During Storm’s interrogation, she states that mutants like Gambit and Jubilee are naturally resistant to telepathy due to the amount of energy routinely coursing through their body, and thus, she keeps a constant charge on herself to help block her mind from telepathy. This seems like an attempt to explain cryptic hints about Gambit and Jubilee from early in their existence while underscoring the fact that Storm was acting of her own accord during “X-Manhunt” (and certainly, Storm has shown a similar resistance to telepathy in the past), but while it’s presented as an established bit of lore, this is pretty much the first time the “it’s their energy powers” idea has been suggested.
• O.N.E Agent Lundqvist from X-Men is observing; for some reason, Fabiyi thinks Storm can sense him through the two-way mirror.
• The Storm Sanctuary is said to have been built by Tony Stark, Moon Girl and Shuri. SHIELD has deemed it emission-free (the current version of SHIELD, established by Ryan North in Fantastic Four, is a regulatory agency over superhuman matters).
• Fabiyi makes a big deal about Storm having been a thief in Cairo and never being penalized for it; this is, based on interviews, something Ayodele thinks Storm needs to reckon with, though as she points out here, that’s a matter for the Egyptian authorities. Also, she was a kid, which makes it seem like a weird thing for Ayodele to focus on (she’s done plenty of other morally dubious things as an adult if he wants to make a point about her facing up to her sins).
• It’s suggested that the events of issues #4-7 all took place over the last six weeks; I always hate when comics try to attach specific timing to events like that.

Another gorgeous-looking issue that struggles to make sense and is playing fast and loose with established characterization and continuity, yet remains fascinating in its way.

Psylocke #7 by Alyssa Wong, Vincenzo Carratú and Moisés Hidalgo

Psylocke, Rogue and Magik battle a possessed Deathdream

• Rogue’s characterization here largely matches her “stern taskmaster mama bear” routine from Uncanny X-Men.
• The effect of Magik’s Soulsword continues to be depicted inconsistently; its meant to work on spells, and there’s seemingly at least SOMETHING supernatural going on here, yet her sword doesn’t seem to have any effect. At at the same time, it also seems to work like a real sword, which, if what she’s fighting ISN’T supernatural/mystic, it shouldn’t.
• Carratú deploys another DeLuca Effect, this time to show lil’ Kwannon and Mitsuki making their way through a wintery forest. It’s fun to see the effect used for a non-action setpiece.

• In that flashback, the kids encounter a nuppeppō, a creature from Japanese folklore.
• The weird contorted being that’s been taunting Psylocke the last couple issues (and is, I think, meant to also be possessing Deathdream throughout this issue) is revealed to be (the ghost of) Mitsuki.

This gets bogged down a bit in the action (lots of repetitive taunting and flailing about) but the plot progression is nice – this is probably the exact right time for the Mitsuki reveal.