X-Chat #15: The end is nigh — and a hot mess.

It’s all coming to an end in X-Chat #15! In X-Men #33, the series continues to go out with a whimper from Gerry Duggan, Joshua Cassara, Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles. X-Force #50 comes to some kind of a conclusion from Ben Percy, Robert Gill, Guru-eFX and Joe Caramanga. And Wolverine #47-48 features a fight between Wolverine and Sabretooth — but not the ones you think and also the ones you think — from Percy, Victor Lavalle, Geoff Shaw, Cory Smith, Alex Sinclair and Cory Petit.

Tony Thornley: You know Matt, here in the intro, I like to just have a brief witty exchange and dig right into it. I feel like this time, I can’t do that. Yes, except for Wolverine, these books are weeks old. And absolutely, some of that is because I have had some personal stuff that kept me from kicking off this chat. (Behind the scenes stuff here — often in these ToX review, one of us is kind of the lead. Matt usually takes that role for the Bat-Chat column, while I take the role in this one. Not to imply one of us is more or less than the other, just kind of how it works.)

But a big part of the delay as well is that the line doesn’t feel like it’s coming to a conclusion. Rather, it feels like it’s dying, and that’s not fun. Even the good books — say, Ms. Marvel or X-Men Forever– feel like a little bit of a chore.

Matthew Lazorwitz: And, hey, it took me four days to get to this thanks to a truly gigantic reading list for this week’s BatChat pod (well, the one we recorded. You’ll hear it in a month), so I am not blameless.

“Friends, Arraki, countrymutants, lend me your ears. I come here to bury Krakoa, not to praise it.” Sorry, I have to use my very expensive degree in theatre history and Shakespearean studies every now and then.

But, seriously…

Beyond just this feeling like the era is dying, and I can’t argue with that point, it feels like the body of the Krakoa era is dying from six different diseases. So many of these books feel disconnected. Wolverine and X-Force, Cable, and Ms. Marvel all feel like they’re doing their own thing away from the main plot of Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X. What started out as feeling like a line that was curated and everything was feeding into one well-thought plot is now just a collection of random asides to the main event.

Tony: And even then, the main stories in RoPoX and FoHoX both started at least okay (the former better than the latter), but now they just feel like a jumbled mess. It’s driving me completely up the wall. You and I haven’t ever talked about the differences between Marvel and DC event stories but hear me out on what I’m about to say. 

For me, the biggest difference is that Marvel events are usually big blockbuster stories that the tie-ins series flesh out. Whereas DC events take a minute to peel away from the main plotline to give us specific moments with beloved characters. There are examples of it working — Final Night and the events written by Morrison — but often that’s to a story’s detriment. I’m thinking of Zero Hour and Infinite Crisis. If you weren’t reading the tie-ins, you would get three pages in the event book featuring a plotline from Action Comics or Wonder Woman that you couldn’t understand without reading that book (or worse, it’s just an aside with nothing else to give context or flesh it out).

That’s a long-winded way to give some context to what I’m about to say: this last couple of months have felt like a bad DC event.

Matt: Oh, do not get me started on Millenium or Genesis, two of the biggest sinners in that department.

The X-Men Of Doom

Tony: I’m of two minds on this issue.

There’s stuff to like here. I’m glad Cassara is back. His art made a lot of the weaker material in this issue more palatable. Wolverine pulling a “now it’s my turn!” on Orchis drones kind of ruled. The X-Men of Latveria are very good. I kind of love the twist of Devo having his mind replaced by a Nimrod-approved computer.

But the stuff not to like… oh man.

Emma is written SO poorly.

The slaughter of the Morlocks in Madripoor just feels like violence for violence’s sake.

The pacing is ALL over the place.

Kamala — one of the bright spots of the last year of the series — isn’t being written righjt.

I’m one that always tries to find the good in a story, but much like Adam and Anna have been talking about over on their write-ups for Fall of the House of X, this is not good.

Matt: X-Men as a series since the start of FoHoX has felt like a vestigial organ. It’s there, it exists, but it serves little-to-no purpose. It’s just a way for Duggan to tell stories with some of the characters that he likes but can’t fit into the big show, or to tie up loose plot threads, because there are more important things to do to bring the curtain down on Krakoa.

The two plot threads here that just feel like afterthoughts are the Family Shaw and Dr. Devo. We haven’t seen Shinobi Shaw in ages, and I don’t think Duggan has written him since Marauders. I do get a kick out of him betraying his shitty “dad” AGAIN. And for being the founder of Orchis, Dr. Devo really got forgotten, since every other senior member of Orchis was more interesting than him. While the computer brain is a neat twist, didn’t do enough to make him a character you cared about.

The X-Men of Latveria are a ton of fun, and I feel like it’s a real shame we will probably never see them again unless Duggan eventually gets a run on Fantastic Four, because I doubt anyone else is going to pick them up. 

But it does indeed look pretty.

Tony: Yeah, exactly. 

Devo has the same problem as Alia Devlin. (Is that her name? I’m not even going to bother to Google, that’s how little I care, especially now that she’s dead.) [Ed. Note: It’s Alia Gregor]. There was an interesting character presented to us at first, but considering Omega Sentinel, Nimrod and Moira were all way more interesting, we’ve gotten nothing from them for literal years.

I can’t think of the last time he appeared, so this is literally just putting the toy away. Broken, but it’s put away.

And yeah. Shinobi Shaw… a character who is definitely good at sex, and no one but Jay and Miles listeners are going to care about. And even then, it will be just to make the exact joke I made at the beginning of that last sentence. 

Matt: I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen Devo since Inferno, because it was around then that Stasis popped up and was revealed as Clubs Sinister, and so there was a character that literally everyone cared more about then Devo.

Going back to comparing this to a DC event, the Morlock Massacre in X-Men #33 felt like the death of a bunch of Titans during Infinite Crisis by Superboy-Prime:  just there to “raise the stakes” by killing some characters that no one remembers, or are new and equally forgettable. And with everything that the Morlocks have been through, this felt like Duggan kicking a puppy. A sewer puppy, but a puppy nonetheless.

Tony: Which is frustrating both because they deserve better (I mean, look at “Remember It” from X-Men ‘97), and because Duggan himself did better with them in Marauders.

The End

Tony: I almost feel like this has been too easy.

X-Force has been a book its entire run about asking the hard questions, and the dangers of moral grey. It has been dark and violent and unrelenting at times, but it’s stuck with that mission the entire time.This last arc just feels like putting the toys back in the box (and in some cases fixing them) so MacKay, Simone, et al. can play with them come July. It’s been fine, but I haven’t loved it.

X-Force #50 is about Beast creating a new mutant Utopia far away from Earth in an act of terrorism (yeah, it’s that complicated). Defenders-era Beast tries to talk him out of it while X-Force tries to blow them both up. Then ultimately, the day is saved by… Wonder Man.

And then everything gets a nice little bow on it before these characters move into “Sabretooth War.” I didn’t hate it, but I sure would have liked it a lot more if it was a little more challenging. Or even if there was a hint that evil Hank wasn’t completely gone — whether he’s living in now-Hank-Prime’s head or something else.

Matt: If there is any book that has no excuse for a rushed ending, it’s X-Force. This book has been telling one (1) story from issue #1. But we get one here, and you’re spot on. It’s too easy, too pat and reads like, “You want to see the REAL end of these characters? Go buy “Sabretooth War.”

Defenders-Hank just gets to go and couch surf at Wonder Man’s place? It might not have been HIM him, but Beast is still a war criminal. I can’t imagine there aren’t quiet international warrants out for his arrest. And thematically, it feels like there should have been more struggle with the idea that this is what he could become, and the question of what can he do to stop it from happening again. Unless that is a thread that MacKay is going to pick up, it feels like just a “Poochy died on his way to his home planet” handwave, which is not what this book deserved for one of its most interesting characters. 

Tony: Hell, to what you said, there’s an interesting story there with “I’m not the same person who committed those war crimes.” Whether MacKay picks that up or not, I don’t know. I’d love to read it if he does (it would make for a great She-Hulk crossover) but this is all just too neat.

X-Force #50 really shows the problem with this entire run of X-Force. Percy told some great long-term stories, but literally none of them have stuck the landing in their resolution. Peacock Tattoo had a WTF swerve with no emotional impact. The Vampire Nation is getting resolved in “Blood Hunt” by another writer. The Russia stuff was resolved in a single issue with Colossus not having to face any consequences for his actions (mind controlled as he was). And now this issue, in which it appears Beast will not have to deal with any consequences of HIS actions.

This isn’t a bad issue by any means, and Robert Gill and Guru art the hell out of it. It’s just an unsatisfying conclusion.

Matt: I hope Gill gets a nice gig after this, because he did some really good work on this book.

I would be sure this was set-up for more stories to come if it didn’t feel like this whole era was being ended with a hard period and not an ellipsis, with Beast and with Colossus very specifically. But with that period at the end of the sentence, it just feels like a dull thud rather than the fireworks we were expecting.

Tony: I’m genuinely hoping that this transition between Krakoa and “From the Ashes” is closer to the one from New X-Men to Astonishing X-Men, rather than something much more jolting. I want to see plot threads and character beats picked up, not ignored.

Revenge of Wolverine — No, Not That One

Tony: I have had some complaints about this story —mainly with the pacing. But honestly, I REALLY enjoyed Wolverine #47. There’s something about Percy finally including Laura in Logan’s story that clicks. The Multiverse Sabreteeth worked for me a bit better as well. And outside of the overused “Logan’s healing factor is turned off” trope, I’m actually looking forward to the last few chapters.

Matt: I’m one of those weirdos who has never been a huge fan of Logan as a solo character; he’s a fine character, but I haven’t ever followed him on his own, and prefer him in a team setting. But somehow, All-New Wolverine made me really love Laura (and Gabby. I miss sweet Gabby and I feel like no one has talked about how she’s gone). So I was happy to see Laura get her licks in on “Savage” Sabretooth. And I hope we get some “daughter of Logan vs. son of Sabretooth” next issue, since I’m always for Graydon Creed getting smacked around.

Wolverine #47 is a fine issue. I think Geoff Shaw’s plant monster eating Sabretooth might be my favorite piece of art in this entire arc. It finally feels like all the separate plots have come together in the back half of this story, as all the players are now on the same board, rather than in their own corners. The plot boulder is rolling quickly downhill, rather than lingering on the hilltop, so I am all for it.

Tony: Then we get Wolverine #48, which is nothing but recap and place-setting. It’s like we get one good issue of plot progression and action, but have to pay for it with one issue of set-up and wheel spinning.

Artist Cory Smith made it look good but that’s the best I can say about it.

Matt: We get maybe four points of plot momentum here: Wolverine has new adamantium armor and a Muramasa Blade. Sabretooth is breaking out of the flower that ate him. X-Force is making a jet out of Krakoan Veg. And Laura jumped out of Sabretooth’s ship as Graydon Creed bonded with a Stark Sentinel. That sounds like a lot of stuff happening, but each of them are moments sandwiched between so much navel-gazing recap. We’re eight parts into a story. The plot boulder should be rolling down hill, but it feels like it hit another boulder, and is now frozen.

Plus, Graydon Creed is back, probably my least favorite mutant hater of all time. He has a background and motivation, but has never had any personality. He’s just, “Wah! My mommy and daddy were mutants and didn’t love me, so now I’ll kill all mutants! Wah!” It seems like Percy and company are trying to make him something more here, but with only two issues left, and the focus on Wolverine vs. Sabretooth, he feels like one ingredient in the stew too many.

Tony: He does indeed. His inclusion takes away from the main plot, just like Logan losing his powers, and the Exiles and Quentin, and, and, and…

Just like X-Force, it’s having trouble sticking the landing, and I don’t like it.

X-Traneous Thoughts

• That X-Men team we saw fight Devo: Wolverine, Synch, Emma, Forge, Magik and Ms. Marvel? I really wish they’d actually been a formal squad, because dang, they would have been fun.
• It just dawned on me while we were writing this, where the hell has Colossus been during “Sabretooth War?”
• The Tank character in the upcoming X-Force series is totally Piotr, speaking of him.
• So… Wolverine’s new adamantium armor is just Stryfe cosplay, right?