Previously on X-Men: ‘Wolverine’ #13 Kills Time And More In This Week’s X-Books

We’re officially less than a month out from the start of “Age of Revelation”, and as such, we’ve got a bunch of books getting ready to wrap up their current stories or notch one final done-in-one before the shakeup.

Astonishing X-Men #35 by Tim Seeley & Eduardo Audino

Banshee faces off (pun intended) with a rogue Life Model Decoy looking to destroy the world.

• The guy with the weird robot head from the end of last issue turns out to be a SHIELD Life Model Decoy, the robot duplicates used to bring characters back from the dead (as in, “Nick Fury died but surprise! That was a Life Model Decoy of Fury and the real one is alive!”).
• It has the Ultron-esque desire to destroy organic life and is seeking the nuclear codes to do so, which…sure is a turn for this story.
• At one point, it tries to steal Banshee’s face; it ultimately fails thanks to the timely intervention of Morph, had it succeeded, it bizarrely wouldn’t have been the first time an evil robot stole Banshee’s face, after Moira X stole to infiltrate Krakoa during X Deaths of Wolverine.

This issue definitely makes it seem like this rogue LMD, and not Changeling, is the true villain, but then the tease for next issue has Changeling back looking menacing, so maybe we’re going for a duel threat built around the theme of impersonation.

Avengers #30 by Jed MacKay & Farid Karami

The Avengers penetrate Sub Rosa and learn the identity of Myrddin.

• Before heading off Earth, Captain Marvel deputizes Cyclops’ X-Men to protect the planet in their stead while operating out of the Impossible City. I suppose it’s appropriate given this is an X-Men column, but despite almost as big an Avengers fan as I am an X-Men fan, I was legit bummed when the narrative stayed with the Avengers after they left instead of the X-Men.
• Also, while it’s pretty obvious the X-Men are here because MacKay writes both books (and has used them earlier in his Avengers run), it is somewhat odd that the Avengers didn’t ask…other Avengers to fill in for them, like the West Coast team or the team featured in the Marvel Unlimited Infinity comic.
• Cyclops does acknowledge Storm’s presence on the Avengers, but she shares no dialogue with any of the X-Men, which seems like a waste.
• Within Sub Rosa/the No-Place/the remnants of Battleworld, Myrddin attacks the Avengers with the Marvel Zombies, who coincidentally will be appearing on Disney Plus in animated form in just a few weeks!
• The Hyperion who appears in this issue (who is generally speaking a thinly-veiled Superman analog) is actually a simulacrum of the “real” Hyperion created by Mephisto during Jason Aaron’s Avengers run. He last appeared in issues #17-18 of this volume, which concluded with the Impossible City sending him to a devastated alternate world where he could act as its hero.
• The issue concludes with the reveal that, despite having spent much of this series battling Kang as much as the Avengers, Myrddin is in fact Kang. While it’s not clear if he’s just an alternate Kang or someone who, like Immortus, is Kang from a later point in the timeline of the Kang he was fighting.

• All things considered, Myrddin being a Kang is probably the most appropriate reveal for the character if he’s not going to be just an original new character.

Whether or not MacKay’s time on the book is ending soon or not, the Myrddin reveal makes it clear we’re in the endgame of his big plot for the series. The Marvel Zombies bit feels like a pretty blatant bit of corporate synergy, but as these things go, not terribly disruptive (the Avengers needed something to fight in this issue).

Imperial War: Exiles #1 by Steve Foxe, Jonathan Hickman, Francesco Manna & Davide Tinto

In the midst of galactic upheaval, Xavier and Lilandra rescue Xandra from a political uprising.

• A tie-in to Jonathan Hickman’s Imperial event series (which features a murder mystery involving various heads of galactic states and promises to upend the status quo of Marvel’s various cosmic characters), this issue also serves as a setup for an upcoming Exiles series.
• Xandra is the daughter of Lilandra and Professor X, introduced in Mr. & Mrs. X shortly before the Krakoa Era.
• She had been serving as Empress of the Shi’ar under the tutelage of Lilandra’s sister Deathbird, prior to the uprising led by Electron, one of the Imperial Guard.
• Electron is the current Electron within the Guard (the idea being that each identity within the guard belongs to a specific race, and different individual members of that race have assumed that identity through through the years). He is claiming to be the illegitimate son of D’Ken, Lilandra and Deathbird’s older brother who tried to destroy the galaxy using the M’Kraan Crystal back during the first ever Shi’ar story.

• This whole plotline is the impetus for getting Xavier off Earth at the climax of the “X-Manhunt” crossover.
• It’s a bit odd to see the majority of the Imperial Guard fall in line behind Electron given how they’re typically depicted as having strict loyalty to the Emperor/Empress, to the point where they back D’Ken at his maddest.
• At the same time, Electron is saying a lot of the right things — no more imperial wars, no more propping up a royal bloodline at the cost of the well-being of the little people — which would typically put the heroes/readers on his side. Which means we have Professor X essentially fighting to restore a monarchial status quo that at least structurally rests on the backs of the lower classes (Xandra is and was portrayed as generally moral character, but the fact remains, there are people suffering in the empire she rules and she hasn’t made much effort to fix that). Which is an interesting role to drop the protagonists into, and it will be interesting to see if/how the upcoming series will address it (presumably, we’re heading either for a “Electron isn’t who he says he is so Xandra gets restored on a technicality” ending or a “Electron talks the talk, but in the end, is a worse leader than Xandra” one), or if it just ends up being a case of the superheroes fighting…populist revolutionaries for the benefit of a hereditary monarchy, which would sure be…a choice.
• The Death Commandoes are a black-ops squad, basically the anti-Imperial Guard (unlike the Guard, they are all mostly unique identities). Their most notable story is likely “The End of Greys”, in which they were deployed to wipe out the entirety of Jean Grey’s extended family.
• I believe this is the first mention of Urvogel, a secret sanctuary world for the Shi’ar royal family. “Urvogel” is a German word for “primeval bird” and is sometimes used as the name for archeopteryx, considered the first bird, which makes it a cute name for a world connected to the bird-like Shi’ar.
• While it seems a bit odd for Lilandra to have been the one to telepathically recruit the future Exiles, she was introduced communicating telepathically with Professor X across galactic distances, so it’s not unprecedented.
• The people she contacted, presumably the cast of the new book, are Rocket Raccoon (oft of the Guardians of the Galaxy), Corsair (of the Starjammers, a frequent ally of Lilandra), Danger (the sentient manifestation of the Danger Room) and Kid Gladiator (from Jason Aaron’s Wolverine and the X-Men).
• The fact that both Rocket and Corsair featured in previous issues of Phoenix just goes to show how much Imperial ran roughshod over that book’s initial plans.

As one-shot tie-ins to an event miniseries intended to setup a new series go, this isn’t half bad, buoyed by clever non-linear storytelling that at least zhuzhs up an otherwise-straightforward rescue plot. I have some concerns about the nature of Electron’s revolution and the role it casts the ostensible heroes in, but that’s probably more of a concern for the upcoming Exiles book.

Check out Scott Redmond’s full review of Imperial War: Exiles #1 here!

Laura Kinney: Wolverine #10 by Erica Schultz & Giada Belviso

Wolverine, Clea and Xarus battle Strega to save Gabby.

• Xarus did indeed expel a blast of red energy from his eyes in X-Men: Blood Hunt – Laura Kinney the Wolverine #1, though it wasn’t specifically called out as Cyclops’ power in that issue.
• Clea claims that Gabby’s healing factor being unable to account for the curse is the result of her being a clone and not a “natural” mutant. Which…okay, sure.

• We also get an ominous suggestion from Clea that Gabby’s healing factor may act up again in the future. This seems like a setup for a future story down the road, but…
• The issue concludes with Laura realizing she should hang out with her Avengers teammates more often, while affirming her mission to help mutants, now with Xarus and Gabby to help her. Which all reads a lot like the book setting up a new status quo for itself, except this is likely the end of the series. It will continue, in a fashion, as Laura Kinney: Sabretooth during “Age of Revelation”, but nothing has been said about it past that. Given its sales, the way Schultz has talked about it online, and Marvel’s recent policy to pull the plug on books that haven’t found an audience yet, it seems unlikely it’ll be back.

This has never been a terrible book, but I’m neither surprised nor terribly saddened to see it go. It did what it did well enough, but rarely did much — even the conclusion of this arc, which seems to be a restatement of purpose, basically boils down to “I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing, only now with a more stable supporting cast!”, isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire.

Magik #9 by Ashley Allen, Germán Peralta with Matt Horak

The conflict with the Society of the Eternal Dawn deepens.

• The resolution to last issue’s cliffhanger — Magik teleports herself, Dani and Liminal out onto the Strip — occurs off panel between issues.
• The moment when the Society shuts off the magic bow they gave Dani and Dani just switches to using her mutant power is pretty hilarious.

• On the flip side, the visual storytelling with the dragon fight is a little muddied; for example, at one point the dialogue suggests Dani’s arrows aren’t working but the art suggests they are.
• Dani siding with Illyana and refusing the Embodiment’s offer to become an Exemplar seems like its meant to be the end of the rift between Dani and Illyana that’s been simmering over the last few issues.
• Most of the Embodiment’s origin, involving different sects of secret magical users in the 1800s, is, as far as I know, original to this story,
• Her story also takes place before Henrietta’s backstory from Gail Simone’s “Dark Artery” story in Uncanny X-Men, which also played with the idea of pre-X-Men mutant societies operating in secret.
• As a precog, the Embodiment foresaw the fall of Krakoa but allowed it to happen as the alternative was worse for the planet, which is a typical move of retroactively-introduced precogs (“I had to let things down the way they did!”).

There’s one more issue of this to go before “Age of Revelation” so this is the penultimate issue of the story rather than the conclusion, but it’s becoming more clear this book has also been cancelled, despite relatively strong sales — which is a shame. That said, Allen recently wrote a Illyana story in Doctor Strange #450, offering some hope there may be a place for regular Illyana adventures — possibly even written by Allen — somewhere post-“Age of Revelation.”

As for this issue, its nice to see the Dani/Illyana rift healed, and the Embodiment’s backstory is fun; I’d definitely read more about these Victorian Era magic sects.

Uncanny X-Men #20 by Gail Simone and Luciano Vecchio – Book of the Week

Wolverine and Ransom travel to Buenos Aires to help Ransom’s half-brother get out of a cult.

• Monet was rather quietly shown to be an inmate of Graymalkin Prison in a background panel to issue #9.
• Warden Ellis says Monet never eats but has gained three pounds while in prison; not sure what that’s about, but it is clear the power dampening collars don’t affect her.
• Monet mentions that she was friends with Ellis’ brother Oscar, and he asked Monet to watch over her before he died. This is presumably why she’s in the prison despite clearly being able to leave under her own power, but as far as we know, Oscar is not a character we’ve ever met (he was previously mentioned in issue #8), so Monet’s dedication to him is unclear.
• Scurvy is the mutant telepath helping keep things in order at the prison; it was established in the “Raid on Graymalkin” story that Scurvy has a tumor (like the other Avians), which is presumably affecting his ability to keep things under control at the prison.
• Inmate X is the mysterious prisoner at the center of Graymalkin Prison; it sure seemed like it was going to be Professor X before Imperial came along and required Xavier be used elsewhere. We haven’t gotten much since to hint at their true identity. (Ed. Note: Is it Nate Grey? I think so!)
• Captain Ezra is effectively Ellis’ butler in this sequence, which seems an odd turn for the character.
• During the breakfast scene, we get another mention of Deathdream’s love of cinnamon and Jubilee missing Shogo.
• Rogue seeing a speech therapist was established earlier in the series; it remains as weird a character beat as Rogue and Nightcrawler accosting Jitter here to offer aid for her stutter completely out of the blue.
• Also, I don’t think Rogue and Spider-Man are particularly friendly on any terms outside possibly “work colleagues.”
• Ransom’s half brother Benicio and the Word of Strength cult are both new. Also, don’t forget that Sunspot is Ransom’s cousin.
• Gambit tells Ransom he can, “be a mutant or you can walk the mutant road,” a line Simone mentioned in her Uncanny Experience panel. I’m still not quite sure what it means.
• Wolverine telling Rogue to stay home since she’ll draw too much attention is pretty rich given his approach is to pick a bar fight wearing his costume.
• Gambit says going from New Orleans to Buenos Aires is the farthest he’s teleported using the Eye of Power; looking at a map, it is quite a distance.
• Ransom’s origin, established in issue #3, is fleshed out here, and it’s dark (with Ransom’s parents refusing to pay kidnappers ransom to return their mutant son).

• Ransom’s dad shows up at the end, appearing for the first time.

The incel-y Cult of Strength does little for me, but the Wolverine/Ransom pairing continues to be a strong one and getting some movement, however incremental or swathed in mystery, on the prison subplot is appreciated. Plus, Vecchio draws the hell out of it all.

Wolverine #13 by Saladin Ahmed & Martín Cóccolo

Wolverine repays an old debt by briefly becoming a Mafia Don.

• This story is paying off the backup story from Giant-Size House of M #2, making this is the first story to follow-up on one of those “Ms. Marvel time travels through X-Men history, but also, here’s a backup story that may be important later” issues. Basically, in his past, Wolverine worked for a mafia don and was tasked with passing on the don’s ring, symbolizing leadership of the family, to his son. Waylaid by unspecified Wolverine nonsense involving lost memories, he didn’t actually get around to it until much later, and offered the don’s granddaughter a favor as payment for his tardiness. Now, she’s calling in that favor.
• Wolverine is trying to get drunk in Louisiana in the wake of the last story as this issue opens; I’m pretty sure that’s this book’s first acknowledgement of Wolverine’s current base of operations being in New Orleans.
• It’s always a little weird when Marvel does “regular” Mafia stories when they also have the Maggia, which are meant to be their version of the Mafia.
• That said, the sight of one of the mob goons attacking Wolverine with a flamethrower while wearing a hoodie and flamethrower make me chuckle.
• In the end, Wolverine is released from his obligation, but it’s said the family may be willing to help him the future, so I guess maybe they’ll be back.
• Jay and Silent Bob make a cameo appearance at the end, for some reason. Maybe Cóccolo is a fan.

• It looks like we’re getting the return of Kid Wendigo — still the best thing about this volume of the series — in some form in “Age of Revelation”.

Talk about killing time. While other books are scrambling to wrap up plotlines before a long hiatus/cancellation, Wolverine — a series that will almost always exist in some form — does a goofy little done-in-one story involving the Mafia, predicated on a bunch of characters all agreeing to follow a bunch of made up rules (it seems wild to think the same lieutenants who are willing to kill Wolverine to stop him reaching their boss to sign a peace pact would turn around and abide by that pact once he fights past them and executes it; clearly, we’re not meant to think too hard about any of this). On the one hand, it’s almost ludicrously fast-paced, basically on the level of “then this happened, then this…”; on the other hand, I wouldn’t want to spend more time on it.