As geeks in Northwest America count down to Emerald City Comicon I look forward to seeing my favorite X-Men couple! Yes, Kitty Pryde and Colossus have broken up in the comic books. Peter was possessed by a demon, then the Phoenix go give the guy a break. Kitty is taking a cue from the movie and moving on Continue reading Kitty Pryde & Colossus! Emerald City Comicon Flashback
You just can’t keep a mutant cyborg from an alternate future down for long! Cable is back but he’s getting a rough reception in the Marvel Now. The son of Cyclops will become one of the world’s most wanted. Dennis Hopeless and Salvador Larroca launch Cable and X-Force this week. Domino, Forge, Colossus and Dr. Nemesis join Cable on his new misadventures. Hopeless and Editor Nick Lowe shared his take on the team and shared preview art on Marvel.com.
“You get dropped smack dab in the middle of a pretty horrible situation on the first page of Cable & X-Force #1. You see our X-Force team and a bunch of dead bodies. They’re surrounded by the Uncanny Avengers who have just arrived on the scene. Things do not look good,” said Lowe.
“Cable and X-Force have tried to stop something really bad from happening and it’s gone as bad as possible. Cable has one last job to pull before he can retire from being a crazy time-hopping Askani’son. It goes awfully,” says Hopeless, “Cable comes up the team and he’s the one they have to trust, even though he doesn’t say much.”
For fans of Hope Summers this is the book to watch. Lowe confirmed Cable’s adopted daughter will play a huge role in the book.
“The crux of my original pitch and the emotional core of the book is that Cable and Hope both want to be done with the craziness and live normal lives, but neither are very good at it,” said Hopeless of the mutant messiah and her father.
“Hope plays a unique role early on. She’s not strictly a member of the team, but in my mind, Cable doesn’t think of this as X-Force, just people who can help him with a problem. The news call them X-Force, which Cable finds asinine,” says Hopeless of the team name.
You can see Cable has a new look including an eye patch but the disease that’s cursed him since birth is gone.
“Cable no longer has the T/O virus. His arm is messed up and he’s never had to use his powers like this. He recruits Forge to help him with that, and we’ll explain why he’s not quite as crazy any more,” explains Hopeless.
Cable’s team will be on the run from Marvel Now’s newest supergroup.
“The supporting cast is basically the Uncanny Avengers. If this book is ‘The Fugitive,‘ they’re Tommy Lee Jones,” Nick Lowe explained.
“In my mind, Havok is the reason the Uncanny Avengers get pulled into this and become obsessed with finding Cable. Things have gone bad for the Summers family. His brother is in jail and now his nephew appears to be a terrorist. Rick Remender has made it very clear to me many times that they are not jackbooted thugs. There’s an interesting dynamic between the two teams,” said Hopeless of the crossover elements.
“Early on, the Uncanny Avengers are the big problem. The situations that lead to the job are less villain-based, more ‘something awful is going to happen and we have to stop it.’ We’ll roll into who caused this situation as the series continues,” he adds.
Cable has one of the most complicated backgrounds in comics. Personally there are moments when I love him and when I wish he’s stayed dead.
“Cable is an interesting character because his past is so varied. He’s not a guy who likes to talk about his feelings, but here he’s the guy with all the answers. He’s a complicated sort of guy. He’s a person who wants to make the world a better place and be a good father to his daughter, but he’s also really good at using big guns and breaking into military bases. We’re going to play with all his incarnations.”
I love this description – it’s a good way to explain who Cable is:
“Cable is Steve McQueen in the body of the T2 Terminator. He’s a super hero version of Parker. I tried to surround him with interesting characters who are really good at solving a certain kind of problem, but they don’t get along. There are some elements of the classic X-Force, but it’s wrapped around a crime story and an emotional story about a father and his daughter.” – Dennis Hopeless
Every incarnation of X-Force has had an outlaw element.
“We wanted to take the idea of X-Force as the intense paramilitary X-Men book to a new level,” said Lowe.
There will also be a new Uncanny X-Force in the Marvel Now. The X-Editor explains the difference:
“Cable & X-Force is about fugitives on the run from the Marvel Universe, criminals and murderers as far as the world can tell. Uncanny X-Force deals with the dark underbelly of the Marvel Universe and a lot of moral quagmires.”
Warpath was the angry big rebel in the first X-Force. After AvX Colossus is free of his demons but full of hate and anger.
“Colossus ends up on the team partially because where he is as a person after AvX. Things are not great. He gets sucked into all this in a way that is very much not what he plans or what he wanted,” explains Hopeless.
“Colossus is the muscle. A veteran. A guy who doesn’t get shaken under pressure,” adds Lowe.
It will be nostalgic to see Nathan and Domino together again. She was part of his Six-Pack team of mercs before joining his first X-Force.
“Domino can get you in and out of any situation,” said Hopeless, “Their relationship is interesting. They were together at one point and since then have both been through a lot. Cable was in the future for years and had a wife who died. Domino calls him on his crap, but they’re not going to jump in bed together just because they’re in the same room.”
After a long run on Invincible Iron Man Salvador Larroca is back with the Children of the Atom. You can definitely see how his style has evolved – a mix of his X-Men era and what he developed on Iron Man which is perfect for Cable and his crew.
“We talked about what roles the characters would play and then let Salva loose on the new costumes. We knew we wanted to limit the color palette and have them look not too much like super heroes, but keep the trappings. Cable needed a big mech arm because the loss of the T/O virus ravaged his body,” explains Lowe of the new designs.
“There is a story reason for why most of the characters are wearing what they are and why they have the tech they do. Salva deserves all the credit,” adds Hopeless
Hopeless confirmed the X-Force teams will interact.
“If you’ve got Cable in one book and Bishop as a villain in the other, that’s a big deal,” said Lowe.
For the entire liveblog here’s the Marvel.com link.
By Editor
Nathan Summers is back running the team he founded back in the 1990’s. New Mutants evolved into the the first volume of X-Force. In recent years the X-Force concept evolved and the team was run by Wolverine as a covert ops unit doing the dirty work the X-Men couldn’t. This Cable and X-Force launches in the Marvel Now. Writer Dennis Hopeless recruits Colossus, Domino, Dr. Nemesis and Forge for this new team of mutants that have been branded as terrorists.
Hopeless told Comics Newsarama about his plans for the team and the roster. I was really interested in the inclusion of Colossus who has literally been to several versions of hell and back thanks to Magik, his bonding with Cyttorak and possession by the Phoenix Force. Apparently things will get even worse for Peter.
“Colossus is coming out of a pretty dark period when our book kicks off. Peter has a lot of regrets. He’s an introspective guy and his recent past will definitely weigh on him. All of that will affect his decision-making for sure.
Unfortunately, we won’t be giving the guy much of a break in which to reflect. He’ll be busy running for his life.”
This new book marks a reunion between Nathan and Domino. Hopeless says don’t expect the former lovers to have the same dynamic.
“Domino has developed into a different kind of character lately. She’s matured some I think and like you said, she now at least tries to be a hero first.
Both Domino and Cable have grown into different people than when they were together. Cable may not look it, but he’s a lifetime beyond the man Domino knew. He raised a daughter, got married and grew old with his wife. Fans shouldn’t expect these two to pick right back up where they left off and fall into bed together. That wouldn’t make any sense.
But they are going to have to work together. They’ll have to figure out what all that history means in the here and now. It’s a complex relationship that’s very fun to write.”
I was thrilled to see that Dr. Nemesis will be part of the team. The genius egomaniac has a new look Hopeless said was redesigned by acclaimed artist Salvador Larroca.
Hopeless says he will address Forge and his most recent appearance in which he was the bad guy in the Ghost Boxes storyline.
Sam Humphries and Ron Garney will launch a brand new Uncanny X-Force. Hopeless says “there will definitely be some interaction between the two X-Force books. Just not right off the bat. These are very different books.”
For more of his interview here’s the Comics Newsarama link.
By Editor
In 2013 Cyclops’s son is back with a brand new team in a brand new book – and they’re branded Marvel Now’s most wanted! Dennis Hopeless and Salvador Larroca launch Cable and X-Force this January. Domino, Forge, Colossus and Dr. Nemesis join Cable on his new adventures. Hopeless and Editor Nick Lowe shared his take on the team and shared new art on Marvel.com.
“You get dropped smack dab in the middle of a pretty horrible situation on the first page of Cable & X-Force #1. You see our X-Force team and a bunch of dead bodies. They’re surrounded by the Uncanny Avengers who have just arrived on the scene. Things do not look good,” said Lowe.
“Cable and X-Force have tried to stop something really bad from happening and it’s gone as bad as possible. Cable has one last job to pull before he can retire from being a crazy time-hopping Askani’son. It goes awfully,” says Hopeless, “Cable comes up the team and he’s the one they have to trust, even though he doesn’t say much.”
Lowe confirmed Hope Summers plays a huge role in the book.
“The crux of my original pitch and the emotional core of the book is that Cable and Hope both want to be done with the craziness and live normal lives, but neither are very good at it,” said Hopeless of the mutant messiah and her father.
“Hope plays a unique role early on. She’s not strictly a member of the team, but in my mind, Cable doesn’t think of this as X-Force, just people who can help him with a problem. The news call them X-Force, which Cable finds asinine,” says Hopeless of the team name.
You can see Cable has a new look including an eye patch but the disease that’s cursed him since birth is gone.
“Cable no longer has the T/O virus. His arm is messed up and he’s never had to use his powers like this. He recruits Forge to help him with that, and we’ll explain why he’s not quite as crazy any more,” explains Hopeless.
Cable’s team will be on the run from Marvel Now’s newest supergroup.
“The supporting cast is basically the Uncanny Avengers. If this book is ‘The Fugitive,‘ they’re Tommy Lee Jones,” Nick Lowe explained.
“In my mind, Havok is the reason the Uncanny Avengers get pulled into this and become obsessed with finding Cable. Things have gone bad for the Summers family. His brother is in jail and now his nephew appears to be a terrorist. Rick Remender has made it very clear to me many times that they are not jackbooted thugs. There’s an interesting dynamic between the two teams,” said Hopeless of the crossover elements.
“Early on, the Uncanny Avengers are the big problem. The situations that lead to the job are less villain-based, more ‘something awful is going to happen and we have to stop it.’ We’ll roll into who caused this situation as the series continues,” he adds.
Cable has one of the most complicated backgrounds in comics. Personally there are moments when I love him and when I wish he’s stayed dead.
“Cable is an interesting character because his past is so varied. He’s not a guy who likes to talk about his feelings, but here he’s the guy with all the answers. He’s a complicated sort of guy. He’s a person who wants to make the world a better place and be a good father to his daughter, but he’s also really good at using big guns and breaking into military bases. We’re going to play with all his incarnations.”
I love this description – it’s a good way to explain who Cable is:
“Cable is Steve McQueen in the body of the T2 Terminator. He’s a super hero version of Parker. I tried to surround him with interesting characters who are really good at solving a certain kind of problem, but they don’t get along. There are some elements of the classic X-Force, but it’s wrapped around a crime story and an emotional story about a father and his daughter.” – Dennis Hopeless
Every incarnation of X-Force has had an outlaw element.
“We wanted to take the idea of X-Force as the intense paramilitary X-Men book to a new level,” said Lowe.
There will also be a new Uncanny X-Force in the Marvel Now. The X-Editor explains the difference:
“Cable & X-Force is about fugitives on the run from the Marvel Universe, criminals and murderers as far as the world can tell. Uncanny X-Force deals with the dark underbelly of the Marvel Universe and a lot of moral quagmires.”
Warpath was the angry big rebel in the first X-Force. After AvX Colossus is free of his demons but full of hate and anger.
“Colossus ends up on the team partially because where he is as a person after AvX. Things are not great. He gets sucked into all this in a way that is very much not what he plans or what he wanted,” explains Hopeless.
“Colossus is the muscle. A veteran. A guy who doesn’t get shaken under pressure,” adds Lowe.
It will be nostalgic to see Nathan and Domino together again. She was part of his Six-Pack team of mercs before joining his first X-Force.
“Domino can get you in and out of any situation,” said Hopeless, “Their relationship is interesting. They were together at one point and since then have both been through a lot. Cable was in the future for years and had a wife who died. Domino calls him on his crap, but they’re not going to jump in bed together just because they’re in the same room.”
After a long run on Invincible Iron Man Salvador Larroca is back with the Children of the Atom. You can definitely see how his style has evolved – a mix of his X-Men era and what he developed on Iron Man which is perfect for Cable and his crew.
“We talked about what roles the characters would play and then let Salva loose on the new costumes. We knew we wanted to limit the color palette and have them look not too much like super heroes, but keep the trappings. Cable needed a big mech arm because the loss of the T/O virus ravaged his body,” explains Lowe of the new designs.
“There is a story reason for why most of the characters are wearing what they are and why they have the tech they do. Salva deserves all the credit,” adds Hopeless
Hopeless confirmed the X-Force teams will interact.
“If you’ve got Cable in one book and Bishop as a villain in the other, that’s a big deal,” said Lowe.
For the entire liveblog here’s the Marvel.com link.
By Editor
Spoiler Warning:
This review/post reveals key elements of AvX: Consequences #4 and #5.
Seriously.
Here is comes.
Kieron Gillen wrapped the second volume of Uncanny X-Men but he has more mutant stories to tell that propelling fan favorites into the Marvel Now. Gillen’s Extinction Team have been the stars of AvX: Consequences. This 5-part epilogue to Avengers vs. X-Men reveals how the Phoenix Five are facing the consequences of their actions while possessed by the cosmic entity.
In Chapter 4 Cyclops submits himself to Tony Stark as a cosmic lab rat. Scott has been playing the martyr but is he really playing possum to outwit the genius?
Abigail Brand of S.W.O.R.D. has been keeping secrets. She’s hiding fugitive members of the Phoenix Five and she reveals that she’s more than a green haired alien. I really hope Brand might pop up in Gillen’s upcoming Iron Man run.
If you’re wondering about Hope and Namor’s roles in the Marvel Now this is the issue! Hope and the King of Atlantis share an exchange in the underwater ruins of Utopia. In one line Gillen captures the personality of Namor and why I love him so much.
Storm and Colossus fought it out in Brian Wood’s final issue of X-Men but here Peter and Ororo share a bitter reunion. Colossus may be free of his demons but his former little snowflake left him filled with hate. I know that Peter will be part of Cable and X-Force and I can’t help but think of when Nathan recruited a rage filled Warpath to join his first incarnation of the team.
Wolverine comes back to prison to deliver sad news to Cyclops. I really enjoyed this encounter. After the bitter fallout of Schism and AvX I think Gillen is setting the stage for a reconcilation between Scott and Logan. (I wrote this part of the post before I read issue #5)
I think the most exciting plot springboard is when the fugitive Magneto finally makes his appearance. Erik is back playing the role we all know he can do best: the villain.
This week’s final chapter picks right up with a new mutant unholy trinity: Magneto, Magik and Danger. The clues have been there the entire series but I wanted to believe Scott Summers was accepting his role as the martyr and on the road to redemption.
Logan said it best when he tells the Avengers, “Scott is gone.”
Magneto, Magik and Danger stage a daring jailbreak and execute Cyclops’s severe punishment on his prison tormentors. Scott leaves a note for Logan. The letter sums up what Kieron Gillen has pulled off: the role reversal of Wolverine and Cyclops. The bad boy who did the dirty work to keep mutants safe is now the heir to Professor Xavier’s legacy of teaching young mutants. The former golden boy is now the self-appointed and ruthless defender, protector and avenger for the mutant race.
From the preview art for All-New X-Men #1 we know Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto and Magik will be part of Brian Michael Bendis’s Marvel Now X-Men era. Marvel has teased another Bendis book (with Chris Bachalo on art) with the simple word: Uncanny.
From the finale of AvX: Consequences #5 it looks like my theory of an Avenging X-Men may not be that far off! You may have read my earlier op/ed about how AvX should have been called Operation Hate Cyclops. This week’s finale may cement the hate for some of you.
All-New X-Men #1 is out November 14th. Maybe we’ll find out then?
By Editor
In Uncanny X-Men #20 Kieron Gillen wrapped up the story of Cyclops’s Extinction Team. It was a satisfying ending, set up some characters for their new roles in the Marvel Now and left some intriguing possibilities for others.
You could say Gillen was back for a post-op in his final X-Position (a must read each week for me) on Comic Book Resources. I wanted to share some of the best answers and my thoughts on them.
Colossus has been a tortured soul for years. Peter was possessed by Cyttorak, became the Juggernaut and it cost him Kitty Pryde. Colossus became a member of the Phoenix Five and created hell on earth with Magik. Turns out Peter was being tortured by his twisted sister the whole time. A fan asked if Peter was the only member of the Phoenix Five who regretted his actions in the Avengers vs. X-Men conflict.
“Well, Colossus does like having a big ol’ whine.
More seriously, I think you’re a little hard on the Phoenix Five. Colossus is most openly repentant, but just because Scott would do it all again doesn’t mean he doesn’t wish it went a different way. I’ve written him openly suicidal in “Consequences,” for example, and that’s not a man who is entirely at home with what he’s done. We’ve seen very little of Emma and absolutely nothing of Namor post-Phoenix Five. And even when we have seen them, they’re two incredibly proud individuals. Even if they did have regrets, who would they admit it to?
And Magik keeps her cards close to her chest. She kept the fact she was torturing her brother secret for 25 issues. Who knows what’s going on in the be-banged head of hers.”
Magneto joined the X-Men because he believed in Scott for uniting the mutants on Utopia. How does the Master of Magnetism connect to Cyke now?
“You’ll see more of Magneto in “Consequences” shortly, but while he’s certainly hurt mutants’ reputation, he’s also brought them back. There will be a future mutant race. You have to suspect that Magneto will respect that.”
I’ve always thought Scott’s drastic actions have been because he was possessed by the Void. Emma and then Scott kept this sliver of Robert Reynolds (aka The Sentry’s) evil dark side in the minds. A fan asked if Cyke was possessed or if he truly became the new Magneto.
“I think Scott’s route to where he is now was taken a step at a time. I don’t think he’s Magneto, even now. I think there’s still a sliver of idealism in him — which is something I explore in “Consequences.”
You’re right to bring up the concept of possession though — how much is Scott to blame for it? I’ve said that Logan considers he really is, as he was of his right mind as he went along that road. But, once he’s started, he’s definitely being influenced. That Scott held himself together for as long as he did is no small thing.”
I believe Cyke was right but what does Gillen think about Scott’s stance in AvX?
“Scott was right in many ways. However it’s also worth stressing — and I suspect this is the thing which most pro-Scott advocates are skirting over — is that if we did everything like Scott said, the Earth would have been destroyed. Hope wasn’t ready. She was ready eventually but that required time.
(That said, there’s also the reading that Hope was always fine and could have dealt with it if she had too. I think that’s a bit of a reach — but we’ll never know.)
Scott’s position was always a fatalistic, providence-heavy one. The Avengers’ resistance was all part of the universal plan. Scott taking the Phoenix for as long as he did allowed Hope to be ready. It all worked out.
That’s the thing which makes Scott’s mono-vision more questionable, for me. By believing it all worked out in the end does mean you remove the possibility that it could have worked out in a better way.
Though I suppose when you’ve killed your mentor and father figure, that’s a question you may want to avoid for as long as possible.”
Gillen is taking over Iron Man with Greg Land and said Tony’s role in AvX Consequenceswill foreshadow what he’s had planned for the Armored Avenger.
Gillen is also launching a new Young Avengers with Jamie McKelvie and said he will use a member of the New/Young X-Men team.
By Editor
Kieron Gillen has been keeping secrets all along via three manipulative members of the diverse cast of Uncanny X-Men: Volume 2. Gillen delivers a satifying ending to the Uncanny X-Men series for a second time. The writer masterfully gives us six characters in 3 powerful revelations. Cyclops is imprisoned in a SHIELD facility when Kate Kildare, his superhero PR specialist, pays a visit. Gillen delivers an Ace he’s been holding since the series relaunched and it’s a helluva reveal. Kate’s real identity is a shocker and could lead to a whole new adventure for Scott and perhaps his greatest enemy.
Unit may be my favorite creation (he first appeared in S.W.O.R.D.) of Gillen’s run – I have already pleaded with the writer to use the android against Tony Stark in his upcoming Marvel Now relaunch of Iron Man. Unit and Danger’s final confrontation is beautiful and cruel. Those last panels of Unit are a perfectly chilling sendoff of the creature Gillen called aptly called a hybrid of C3PO and Hannibal Lecter.
Gillen managed to make the most bizarre brother/sister dynamic in comics even more tragic and strange during this Extinction team era. Illyana confronts a brooding Colossus on the ravaged Phoenix farms in Siberia. Magik takes Peter to Limbo for one last act and revelation that leaves him free of the Cyttorak and vowing to kill her. Illyana’s last line is cold and demonstrates the little snowflake has long been burned away. Colossus will turn up again in Cable and X-Force but I would love to see where Gillen would have taken Peter next.
Uncanny X-Men #20 could have packed in Storm, Psylocke, Magneto and Hope but their fates will be featured in other X-books. I was satisfied with the three big reveals. The only missing? Where was Emma Frost?
By Editor
Brian Wood and David Lopez deliver their final issue of X-Men this week. I hate to see this end of this creative team. They have crafted one of my favorite Storm stories of all time. Wood writes her as the strong, decisive leader that Chris Claremont made her.
Storm and her unit (Colossus, Psylocke, Domino, Pixie) discovered the remains of a race of proto-mutants that lived on the planet before modern mutants. The team’s search for the truth led to a ruthless scientist, a deranged cult and finally to the one proto-mutant left alive on Earth.
Storm felt this discovery was so powerful she kept it from Cyclops and Wolverine. The tension between Ororo and a disapproving Colossus has been building. In each previous issue you can feel the confrontation building. In this issue the tension explodes into a bitter, violent confrontation between the old friends.
Pixie confronts Gabriel hoping he can give her answers missing links in mutant evolution. In a masterful exchange the young mutant tries her best to argue with this ancient solitary ancestor.
David Lopez’s art is beautiful and powerful. He conveys the shifts of confidence and conflict in Storm, the hope and desperation in Pixie, the anger and pain in Colossus.
I’ve said it before – this storyline reminds me of the classic Chris Claremont/Paul Smith era with generous twists of a Torchwood or X-Files case to create a compelling mystery of corrupted science, the burden of secrets and search for answers about the origin of mutants.
I hope Brian Wood and David Lopez will soon be added to a Marvel Now book. The revamp is about new ideas and new takes on Marvel characters – they already delivered this year in a big, creative and satisfying way.
By Editor