Previously On X-Men: Chris Claremont And Gambit Are Reunited And It Feels Okay

The big issue this week is the Hellfire Murder, as the current X-Office continues to mine the one element of the Krakoa Era they apparently like (a Hellfire-themed one-shot), with a little twist (it’s Wolverine & Jubilee solving a locked room mystery!). How well does it work? Read on!

Gambit: Wanted #1 – Book of the Week

By Chris Claremont, Robert Gill, Bryan Valenza & Ariana Maher.

After meeting the X-Men, Gambit returns to New Orleans to mull his next move and gets caught in Bullseye’s sights.

• Though not a direct continuation of it, this is a spiritual sequel to Claremont’s 2022 Gambit miniseries, which took place slightly before this, chronicling an adventure between Gambit and the de-aged Storm before they reunited with the X-Men.
•  Storm was captured by Nanny in Uncanny X-Men #248, then emerged as an amnesiac child in Uncanny X-Men #253. She met Gambit in his first chronological appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266, and regained her memories shortly thereafter.
• On the opening splash page, Gambit is standing in front of a poster for O.N.E, the Office of National Emergency, which didn’t debut until after M-Day in 2004.
• More egregious, in the flashback to Storm introducing Gambit to her teammates (presumably set around the events of “Days of Future Present”) Wolverine is present; Wolverine did not reunite with the X-Men until “X-Tinction Agenda”, and on the credits page, this issue is explicitly said to take place before Uncanny X-Men #270, the first chapter of that story.
• That’s about it for annotations; I believe all the rest of the characters are original, except of course for Daredevil villain Bullseye.

Somewhat less superfluous than many of these continuity implant series which are all the rage these days, in that Gambit’s transition from the life of a thief to being one of the X-Men (and his own thoughts and feelings on that matter) remains largely unchronicled (Clarmeont had *a lot* of balls in the air back in 1990, and it was easy for stuff like that to get elided), and the fight with Bullseye is plenty fun. That said, Claremont works best in a group setting, and none of the new characters here are really popping, so it’s still too early to call this a success.

Moonstar #5

By Ashley Allen, Edoardo Audino, Arthur Hesli & Clayton Cowles

Dani battles Kyron to free the souls trapped in the Dainsleif sword.

• Per usual, not a ton of continuity notes or references to this.
• I did totally think Kian was going to die, so that was a nice swerve.
• The final page does a good job of leaving a door open for Allen to return to this take on the character and her supporting cast, without feeling like she’s leaving plot threads dangling in an unsatisfying manner.

And thus ends Allen’s Illyana-led little corner of the X-Universe (thankfully, she’s stick around to do another book, albeit a Jubilee & Apocalypse focused one). Having the resolution of Dani’s dilemma be tied to her various heritages is a smart bit of writing, with her refusal to sacrifice anyone a nice statement of character on which to end the series.

Uncanny X-Men #32

By Gail Simone, Rogê Antônio, Jim Towe, Federica Mancin, Matthew Wilson, Clayton Cowles

• Killers from Space is the name of a 1954 movie starring Peter Graves.
• I have no idea where Rogue was meant to be (in terms of why she was away from the team) at the start of the issue.
• I really hope MacKenzie isn’t carrying a Brood egg.
• Gambit’s transformation into Wyvern is laid out awkwardly; it almost seems like it was drawn on one page and then cut up and spread across multiple pages with panels inserted in between.
• The Brood are back to having their own guns again, after they were absent in the previous issue.
• Wolverine has both sets of claws, so this story is either set before the current Wolverine arc, or after he eventually gets them both back.
• It’s seem a little crass to have Deathdream calling out the dead from hurricanes (actual events which killed people in the real world). Also, it’s weird that apparently the school is built on a graveyard, as all the zombies rise up right there (this is on top of New Orleans famously not burying their dead).
• So Mutina has Dani Moonstar’s powers on top of everything else she can do.
• The Vig is still alive.
• Between this and Unbreakable X-Men, someone on this creative team really likes Galactus.
• Where did the new New Mutant uniforms (and logoed boxes) come from?
• Speaking of, it seems a little weird to christen the Outliers as the New Mutants with looks based on Permiter’s simulation from the previous arc (which none of the X-Men were even present for).
• Also, the Outliers’ reaction to Rogue and Gambit essentially taking a vacation seem way over the top. Like, they’re not leaving forever.

An awkward ending to an awkward story. The tone and individual bits work fine, but on the whole, it’s just a bunch of stuff that happens, and seems to lose the thread issue to issue. If the Nur are there to stop the Brood, why are they fighting the X-Men? Why do the Brood have the same guns? Why does no one seem concerned about the existence of a Brood nest under the school, and why is nothing done to wrap that up? I generally appreciate it when stories don’t get dragged out to five issues, but this felt like it could have maybe used another issue to really tighten things up.

Wolverine #24

By Saladin Ahmed, Martín Cóccolo, Jesus Aburtov & Cory Petit

Wolverine chases the new Post into Canada, running afoul of Alpha Flight.

• Vindicator on the cover appears to be the classic Heather Hudson Vindicator, rather than the current Agent Arsenault.
• Wolverine battled Post in X-Men (vol. 2) #50, that character’s introduction as part of the build-up to “Onslaught.”
• This issue confirms that Dr. Mor created the heart attack-inducing device from issues #15-16.

Pretty routine stuff. I remain equal parts confused and impressed that Ahmed is riffing on Post, of all characters, and looping this back around to Wolverine’s earlier encounter with Alpha Flight is a nice bit of inter-series continuity. But none of this is exactly lighting the world on fire.

X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1

By Saladin Ahmed, Gail Simone, Erica Schultz, Jed MacKay, Eve Ewing, Joëlle Jones, Luciano Vecchio, Aaron Kuder, Tony S Daniel, Mark Morales, Federica Mancin, Cory Smith, Oren Junior, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo & Ariana Maher.

• Sebastian Shaw was imprisoned in Graymalkin Prison until its recent changing of hands in Uncanny X-Men.
• His outrage about previous galas is odd given he was involved in them as part of the Quiet Council. His point about the current leaders of mutantkind lacking direction, however, is apt, and could be read as meta commentary on the post-Krakoa status quo of the X-Books. See also his complaints about Graymalkin still being in operation.
• Wolverine claws
• Temper can be seen amongst the crowd in the opening pages, before the sequence in which she gatecrashes the party from outside it.
• Kwannon and Greycrow fought the Locus Vile in Hellions #6
• Her and Cyclops’ flirtation (which is presented as a cover for their murder plot) is a reference to a brief subplot running in early issues of X-Men (vol. 2), though that was technically Betsy (it more or less climaxed with the introduction of Kwannon).
• Speaking of Betsy, this is her first appearance since the end of “From the Ashes” X-Force.
• Angel’s bone to pick with Mister Sinister is presumably a reference to Inglorious X-Force #4-5.
• Shaw killed Kitty Pryde in Marauders #6.
• Based on the similarity of the dress, the mysterious woman who dances with Kitty is Martinique Wyngarde.
• Martinique (who is later revealed to be part of Mystique’s Hellfire Brotherhood) is the daughter of Jason Wyngarde; she doesn’t like Wolverine because he just killed her father in Wolverine #12 (after he spent days torturing Wolverine psychically, granted).
• Namor and Emma were kind of a thing back in the Utopia Era.
• Kitty’s outrage at the idea of the X-Men killing is odd given her whole arc at the end of the Krakoa Era was about her becoming a killing machine.
• Mystique seems fine relative to her emaciated and wheelchair-bound condition at the end of her “From the Ashes” miniseries and in the recent Rogue miniseries.
• Empath was last seen in NYX.
• Toad was last seen dying in “Sabretooth War,” so he apparently got resurrected at some point.
• Wolverine trusting his senses regarding Mystique and Destiny telling the truth seems a bit odd, given they have an illusionist on the team, one who is the daughter of an illusionist who recently tricked Wolverine in a story referenced in the sequence with the Hellfire Brotherhood.
• That said, I like the idea of the Hellfire Brotherhood. I will also be stunned if they ever show up anywhere together again.
• I’m not sure what the twist that Emma killed Shaw after all is meant to add to things, other than for the sake of a twist.

The art is routinely solid, and good on Vecchio for getting paid to make all the masquerade designs. Otherwise, I’m not really sure what the point of this is. The Krakoa Era galas were a big deal because they signaled a significant change in the status quo. But the X-Books are much less centralized these days, and the linewide status quo is basically “miscellaneous” so there’s not much to upend.

It also doesn’t help that Shaw has been off the board since Krakoa, so killing him right after he gets out of prison doesn’t change much. As a murder mystery, this lukewarm, at best (though it does nail the feeling of a good murder mystery, where you know someone is going to die, but not who or when, and it’s clear characters are being setup to serve as suspects or red herrings), though the end, in which Wolverine more or less shrugs, is somewhat cathartic.