Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Age of X-Man, deadpool, marvel, marvelous x-men, uncanny x-men, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

Darkness Shrouds the Returns of Cyclops and Wolverine [X-ual Healing 2-6-19]

Published Sun, 10 Feb 2019 18:00:41 -0600

by Jude Terror

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Cyclops is back, his complete return somehow stretching into its third issue! Wolverine is back as well! But things aren't going so well for the rest of mutantkind, neither in the real world nor in the Age of X-Man. Read on for recaps of all of this week's X-books save one (more on that later)…

Sworn to sell comics for Marvel executives who feared and hated the fact that Fox owned their movie rights, The Uncanny X-Men suffered great indignities, but with a corporate merger on the way, the X-Men can finally get back to doing what they do best: being objectively the best franchise in all of comics.

Uncanny X-Men #11
(W) Matthew Rosenberg (A) John McCrea, Juanan Ramirez (A/CA) Salvador Larroca
SPECIAL OVER-SIZED ISSUE!
After the devastating events of "X-Men Disassembled," it falls to Cyclops to rebuild the X-Men in the face of overwhelming hatred. Thankfully, he's not the only X-Man to have just returned from oblivion. Scott and Logan are together again, and they are mutantkind's only hope. Writer Matthew Rosenberg and returning superstar X-Artist Salvador Larroca lead the X-Men into their darkest hour…and beyond!
Rated T+
In Shops: Feb 06, 2019
SRP: $7.99

Well, it's been 10 issues since the big Uncanny X-Men relaunch, so that must mean it's time to pay eight bucks for another major shift in direction, right? You guessed it! Uncanny X-Men #11 is a massive comic, kicking off yet another new era for the X-Men, beginning with Cyclops trying to make sense of a world where the X-Men are gone. A broody, unshaven Scott Summers walks the streets of New York, trying to track down the X-Men, and on his way, he encounters Blindfold, being harassed by some anti-mutant thugs in the street. She warns him not to do something in the future and then slips away. Cyclops first tries to get Ben Urich to investigate the X-Men's disappearance in exchange for an EX-X-XCLUSIVE interview, but Urich says that's not a good idea, and besides the X-Men are gone. Later, Scott gets drunk on a rooftop when Jamie Madrox finds him and also tells him to just give it up, though Scott asks him to find Blindfold for him because he's worried about her. He then heads to the sewers and has an unpleasant encounter with Callisto and Chamber. The theme of all these interactions is the same – the world doesn't want mutants around anymore and now that the X-Men are all gone (transported to the Age of X-Man), there's nothing to stop the world from wiping them out.

Soon, Madrox finds Cyclops and gives him the location of Blindfold, but when Scott goes to find her, she's dead, having committed suicide. Scott heads next to a rally for the latest anti-mutant politician character where he tries to confront her, only to be stopped by Captain America. Scott rightfully points out that Cap and the Avengers didn't do anything to help mutants and is basically protecting Nazis at this rally. Scott finds a TV camera and puts out a desperate plea for any remaining X-Men to join him on the grounds of the Xavier Institute. When he gets there, however, its only anti-mutant villains from the X-Men's past there to meet him: The Reavers, The Purifiers, the Sapien League. But before they can kill Scott, Wolverine shows up and he and Cyclops defeat them all. Wolverine tells Scott they have work to do and the new era of X-Men begins.

Except there's two more stories in this book. Or, more accurately, the same story, told from different perspectives. First we see Wolverine's perspective, as he first encounters Kid Cable watching Scott from a rooftop when Scott ran into Blindfold at the beginning of the issue. Cable tells Logan to watch over Scott and sends him to see Layla Miller, currently living with her husband Jamie and raising their child. Unfortunately, Layla doesn't know things anymore, but she does send Wolverine to find Blindfold. He heads to the sewers and saves Callisto and the Morlocks from some O.N.E. mutant hunters who are rounding up and killing mutants. Unfortunately, Blindfold is no longer there, but Velocidad is, having aged by about fifty years. He tells Logan Blindfold doesn't want to be found.

Nonetheless, she ends up finding him in Brooklyn and takes him back to her house. She's been living in a well-off neighborhood because people ask less questions there. She tells Logan that Scott watched over him in the past and now it's his turn. She wants him to leave and is obviously hinting at her plans to kill herself, but Logan doesn't take it seriously enough we guess, so he leaves her alone. He runs into Black Widow and Bucky at the anti-mutant hate rally and gives them the business for their Nazi support. Then he decides to go join Scott, and we know what happens from there.

Finally, we see all of this again from Blindfold's point of view, seeing her and Velocidad (young again here) join the Morlocks after seeing Loa murdered. But Blindfold begins to see her own future, or rather lack thereof. She leaves the Morlocks in order to have her first interaction with Cyclops. Then she buys a lottery ticket so she can win and become well off. She's then visited at her new home by Jamie Madrox, and she tells him she's sorry for what's going to happen to him and asks him to apologize to Layla for him too. Then she meets with Scott and Logan again. Ruth has been setting things in motion that we imagine we'll understand in a future issue. But this is the end for Blindfold, as the story ends with her getting the bath ready for her suicide.

Wow. We were looking forward to this issue to see Scott Summers finally return and set the X-Men back on track, and even though he's a hairy little Mary Sue, we were even looking forward to seeing Wolverine back where he belongs with the X-Men. But this issue was dark! Not only is Scott obviously troubled, but "The Last Blindfold Story?" We're still processing all of this, but we'd love to hear your thoughts. And writer Matthew Rosenberg shared his thoughts on Twitter earlier this week, which you can read here (yes, we know he "quit" Twitter — just read the article).

Though we're still coming to grips on our feelings for this issue, it handily beats all the other options this week. The story is told in a clever way, with lots of details coming together only after you've read all three perspectives, and despite his recent comments complaining about his colorist, we're still a sucker for Salvador Larroca's art, reminding us fondly of the X-Treme X-Men days. Not only that, but we have no idea where this story is going, other than the fact that we know bad things are in store for our beloved heroes. Unpredictability is a good thing, as the next issue in this recap will remind us. But mostly, while we love Cyclops and demanded his return for some time, we all know that he's at his best when he's suffering. And coming back to a world where everything he's ever stood for has been destroyed is a whole new level of suffering for our dear Cyclops, which will, of course, provide the opportunity for his stubborn perseverance to shine.

Best part of the comic though: Wolverine referring to the Return of Wolverine mini-series as "some dumb @#$%."

That's why Uncanny X-Men #11 is the Wolverine's Weiner X-Pick of the Week!

Congratulations to the creative team.

Age of X-Man Marvelous X-Men #1
(W) Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson (A) Marco Failla (CA) Phil Noto
ENTER THE AGE OF X-MAN!
The perfect heroes for a perfect world! The X-Men have helped make the world into a utopia where living in fear and hatred is a thing of the past. All people are united under the banner of mutantkind, and all of mutantkind idolizes the X-Men. Jean Grey! Colossus! Storm! X-23! X-Man! Nature Girl! Magneto! And of course, the amazing Nightcrawler! When danger threatens the world, the Marvelous X-Men set things right for the good of all. And no one dares say otherwise.
Rated T+
In Shops: Feb 06, 2019
SRP: $3.99

Marvelous X-Men #1 ostensibly takes place in much less bleak reality than Uncanny X-Men #11, but of course we know the utopia created by X-Man where everyone in the world is a mutant, love, relationships, and family are outlawed, and mutants are born in hatcheries is actually a dystopia doomed to failure in roughly the span of six mini-series. As the issue opens, the Marvelous X-Men are called to an emergency meeting at their X-Sanctuary headquarters. A forest fire in Los Angeles (apparently they don't rake in utopia) threatens to destroy Cerebro West, the West Coast's big mutant hatchery. Colossus and Nature Girl head to the forest to save the wildlife, Storm uses her weather powers to fight the fire, X-Man heads off to rescue scared citizens, Magneto keeps the building from collapsing, X-23 heads to the hatchery, Jean Grey to the nursery, and Nightcrawler begins evacuating people with his teleportation powers. The PA system in Cerebro West broadcasts insidious-sounding messages telling people to stay calm and that everything is okay.

In the hatchery, when X-23 picks up an unborn baby mutant, she has a flash of memories of her sister, Gabby. And while Jean is saving kids from the nursery, she receives a psychic broadcast from Apocalypse, who we learned in Age of X-Man Alpha is leading some kind of revolution, telling people it's okay to love despite it being outlawed by X-Man's regime. Eventually, the X-Men save everyone in the building with zero casualties and the media applauds them for averting yet another catastrophe. Nature Girl brings home a pet bear.

Back at X-Sanctuary, Laura talks to X-Man about her memory flashes and he reveals she did indeed have a sister, but she's not allowed to see her (she's starring in a different mini-series), and then he mind-wipes her. The next day, Jean collapses after recieving the psychic message, discovering that the revolutionaries are holding a meeting in Central Park tomorrow, led by Apocalypse, Genesis, and Kitty Pryde.

Off to an interesting start, we suppose? Things are going pretty much how we'd expect as Age of X-Man kicks off. The utopian world created by X-Man is obviously not the paradise he thinks it is, and that will surely be unraveled in the coming months. We can pretty much predict how the main story in Marvelous X-Men is going to go, with the X-Men eventually figuring out they've been deceived and setting things right. At least, that's probably what will happen. The more interesting stuff seems likely to happen in the other various mini-series that will explore more off-beat and less cliche subject matter. We'll have to reserve judgment on this event until we've gotten to see all of them.

Deadpool #9
(W) Skottie Young (A/CA) Nic Klein
THE HEART IS A LONELY MERCENARY…
• Someone has stolen Deadpool's heart…LITERALLY.
• The Merc with the Mouth hires the Snoop with a Private Eye, Jessica Jones!
• You'll never guess where this twisted trail leads!!!
Parental Advisory
In Shops: Feb 06, 2019
SRP: $3.99

Deadpool #9 is a noir pastiche wherein Deadpool teams up with Jessica Jones to find his missing heart, which someone has stolen. Most of the story is designed to set up jokes about the hard-boiled genre. First, Deadpool and Jessica visit Daredevil. He can't hear the heart, but he suggests they try crime lord Tombstone. He doesn't know where it is, but after a quick beating, he suggests they try Brother Voodoo. Jessica and Deadpool beat up a low-level magician named Senor Magico to get him to bring them to The Bar With No Doors, a hangout for Marvel's magical types. After a brief battle there, Brother Voodoo locates Deadpool's heart, which has been taken by an old man named Louis the Heartless, who wanted it to save his wife, who is being kept in magickal stasis until Louis can locate a heart that can save her from her conveniently heart-based medical condition.

A sucker for a love story, Deadpool decides to let him keep it, as Jessica, annoyed with having her time wasted, rips out his currently regrown heart and threatens to do the same every day until he pays her for her services. After they leave, Weasel shows up at Louis's house. It seems it's Weasel that wanted Deadpool's heart, and he made some kind of deal with Louis. We see what appears to be Mephisto laughing as the issue ends.

Um, okay. It's not for lack of trying, but this Deadpool series just doesn't do it for us. It's got jokes, and sometimes those jokes are funny, but mosty they're predictable. And it definitely lacks the heart of past Deadpool stories (no pun intended). Maybe things will pick up soon, but we are 9 issues in, so we're not feeling all that hopeful. Disagree? Let us know.

X-23 #9

Well… DCBS didn't send us this issue for some reason, even though it's on our order, so no recap this week. Feel free to talk about it in the comments though. Maybe we'll get it next week? If they don't send it, we'll buy a digital copy and recap that in the near future, while remembering to get our orders into DCBS before the end of the month in the future (we missed the last issue of Multiple Man for ordering past the cutoff date last year too.) Punctuality is important, people!

Well, that's all for this week. Age of X-Man continues next week with NextGen, Shatterstar concludes, and there's a new issue of Dead Man Logan and Mr. and Mrs X. Until then, let's hear what you thought of this week's X-books in the comments below.