The Fall of X continues, and mostly ends, in X-Chat #13!
In X-Men #29, Doom invites the X-Men to dinner, by Gerry Duggan, Joshua Cassara, Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles.
In X-Force #47, Colossus finally breaks free of his brother Mikhail, by Benjamin Percy, Daniel Picciotto, Guru-eFx and Joe Caramagna.
And Logan’s world tour ends with a Spider-Man team-up (aka the best kind of team-up) in Wolverine #40, by Percy, Ibrahim Moustafa, Frank D’Armata and Cory Petit.
Tony Thornley: Wow, I feel like tons has happened since we talked last, but it’s really only been a month!
Matthew Lazorwitz: The ball is rolling fast toward Fall of the Powers of X/Rise of the Powers of X, so let’s get to it.
At Least He Didn’t Call Them D-Men
Tony: Man, I am SO glad after this issue that this series isn’t wrapping like all the other series are. We need another six months or so to really get into some of these stories. But also, as cool as this X-Men #29 is, I wish it were an extra-sized annual or a two-parter.
I loves me some DOOM.
Matt: Yes! It’s always fun to see Doom be high handed, and he has the highest of hands throughout this issue, from the flashback to his reaction (and interaction) with Charles at the announcement of the dawn of Krakoa to him insisting on the X-Men come to dinner after fighting his Latverian mutant squad. Duggan captures Doom’s voice really well here.
Tony: He writes a really solid Doom. I really dig these new characters too. I’m not sure if you read the Slott Fantastic Four run at all, but they sort of remind me of Victorious, the superpowered bride of Doom. There’s something charming about them while also being a little disturbing. It’s probably a good analogy of how some people raised under a dictatorship end up. There’s the true believers, the doubters, and the good soldiers.
This issue also made me want for the dynamic Duggan showcased previously, of an actual team. Seeing Kate, Kamala and Logan working together really kind of showed what this iteration of the squad in “Fall of X” was lacking.
Matt: I liked the way artist Joshua Cassara tinkered with his style just a little in each of the flashbacks for those characters to give those scenes a distinct look. I had the same thought about Victorious; Doom can inspire that kind of loyalty, which is hard to wrap your head around sometimes, but it makes sense when you think about it enough.
It does feel like it took all of “Fall of X” to get the team together, just so it could all fall apart, huh? A shame, since this is such an odd but fascinating collection of characters.
Tony: And knowing what we know about the rest of the run, this squad is still going to be featured this title. If I remember correctly, a return to the High Evolutionary plotline from X-Men #2 is on tap for the next few issues, with Synch, Talon and Juggernaut.
Ultimately, this issue is too short, but it had great art and some solid character moments. Still one of the strongest single issues of the run.
Matt: I think this issue plays to some of Duggan’s strengths as a writer. It has humor that is situational, such as the awkward dinner scene, and is a character focused story, despite all the action. So much of what we’ve gotten since the Gala has been plot, plot and more plot. No offense to Duggan, but he’s not a writer I go to for plot. I’m sadly worried that as the bullet train heads to the end of FoHoX/RoPoX, we’re going to spend a lot more time wrapping up plot threads; there are quite a few left over.
Tony: Yeah, he’s not a high concept writer. When he cooks, he’s doing character writing (just look at his Deadpool). If he can focus his plot-style writing on Fall of the House of X and focus on the character-centric plot points for the rest of this volume — especially Synch and Laura — I think it’s going to end on a high note.
Retribution
Matt: Speaking of books I’m glad aren’t ending as we roll into FoHoX/RoPoX, we’re getting what hopefully is the planned endgame of X-Force. The past couple arcs wrapped two of the three main threads, as we have discussed previously: the Man With the Peacock tattoo and Mikhail. And now, we just have one left: Hank McCoy. While this issue didn’t have much there, we’re clearly at the point where the pieces are going to be moving around and into position against him. I have been looking forward to that for a lot of issues now.
Tony: I really liked X-Force #47. Returning Logan into the fold, Black Tom getting back in on the action, forcing THIS team to be leading the refuge. There’s a lot to like here. I dig the idea of Akihiro, Northstar and Aurora joining the cast for the final arc, too. It makes for a very interesting cast.
Plus, I always enjoy when a writer focuses on logistics, like who’s growing the food for them, how they’re going to get the message out, stuff like that.
But then there’s Colossus.
What we DO get isn’t bad, but man, does Piotr’s penitence not go far enough.
Matt: Yeah, I don’t think there’s enough time left for Colossus’ attempts at redemption to get the attention they need, especially after all the stuff he was forced to do (plus Beast is still out there). That’s a shame, because there’s so much story potential to mine there. The podcast Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men is at the point where the Excalibur X-Men are returning to the fold, and in their recap they point out how Logan was slower to welcome Colossus back after his whole defection to the Acolytes, and now we’re at that point again, sort of, only now he was instrumental in bringing down all of Krakoa, so I’d want to spend more time understanding Logan’s mindset in relation to him.
Tony: My hell, I forgot about Piotr’s defection. That guy just… that guy.
Matt: And let’s not forget Quentin. His powers are still glitching, he’s still willing to endanger himself to save Phoebe Cuckoo. After Quentin’s journey earlier in this series, seeing him willing to do anything to save her is important to show exactly how much he’s grown.
Tony: It’s interesting to think of Quire’s journey over the last decade plus. If there were any characters out there you could consider irredeemable, he was it. While he hasn’t grown quite to the point of nobility, he’s definitely more sympathetic and much more of a hero than he is an anti-hero. I did half expect his actions to bring Sentinels down on them, though.
THWIP-SNIKT!
Tony: I am SO behind on Wolverine, but I love a good Wolvie-Spidey team-up. They might be the best MU pairing outside of Peter and Johnny Storm. And I think we said this about the Amazing Spider-Man issue that came out after the last Gala: Spider-Man being the X-Men’s greatest ally just makes sense.
Matt: I think I might have said this at the time we talked about that issue as well, or during “Dark Web,” but I am not a Spider-Man guy. I appreciate the character, have read the occasional run, but his is a corner of the MU that I have never gotten too deeply into. So my exposure to him is usually when he’s teaming up with Daredevil, the FF or Wolverine. And I agree, the chemistry is great between them. They’re so different, but at the same time both are processing guilt and grief all the time, so they fundamentally understand each other.
Tony: They’re sort of a Marvel Superman and Batman partnership. You have the bright optimistic paragon and the dark brooding vigilante. A peanut butter and jelly of a partnership.
But Wolverine #40 is a pretty light on plot. Logan recruits Peter to try to blow up Orchis. It goes wrong. Pete narrowly saves Logan. Everyone learns a lesson.
Kind of like the Latverian X-Men issue, it’s two or three issues of story wedged in a single issue — because it needs some character development and back and forth between Peter and Logan — and I think that’s to its detriment.
Still a good issue, and I dig Ibrahim Moustafa’s fill-in art, but the light story that ended with meat still on its bones was frustrating.
Matt: And like the Latverian X-Men issue, it feels like this is all being shortened because the timeline is now limited. Percy needed to finish this story to get to “Sabretooth War” before everyone is shuffled off their books. The whole “Logan infiltrating Orchis” plot is what this arc has been building toward, and it doesn’t get the time it needs to breathe. It feels like the moment from A New Hope where Han and Chewie are chasing the stormtroopers, come around a corner to see a much larger battalion, and run the other way.
Tony: Yeah, exactly. Though I skipped the previous Captain America and Black Panther team-up issues, I think if Percy had skipped one of those and taken two issues with this story, it would have had that time to breathe. The gag could have even worked with two issues, and it would have given the story space to give Logan more than a pyrrhic victory.
X-Traneous Thoughts
- I kinda love that everyone has just ignored the Oscorp Spider-Man costume ever since Kamala’s sacrifice. Seriously, it just doesn’t work.
- Was Pheobe’s diamond form so unusual because she was injured before she transformed, or was Daniel Picciotto taking artistic license in X-Force #47?
- I’m glad to see the Doom-Men on an upcoming cover. It’s great to know they’re showing back up and it’s not going to be left a dangling plot.
- With leftover plot points from Alpha Flight carrying over here into X-Force, I wonder how many other “Fall of X” plot points will end up in these remaining series.
- Stay tuned very soon as we begin to cover Fall of the House of X!
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Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
