Monthly Comic Book Club - June and July - Inferno20843
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Monthly (Comic) Book Club - June and July - Inferno Reading Schedule June 3 - 9: (X-Factor 34, 35) Uncanny X-Men 239, X-Terminators 1 June 10 - 16: X-Terminators 2 and 3 June 17 - 23: X-Factor 36, Uncanny X-Men 240 (Uncanny 241) June 24 - 30: New Mutants 71, X-Terminators 4 July 1 - 7: New Mutants 72 (and 73), X-Factor 37 July 8 - 14: X-Factor Annual 4 July 15 - 21: (Uncanny X-Men 242, X-Factor 38) July 22 - 28: (Uncanny X-Men 243, X-Factor 39) The reading list is a combination of the Inferno part 1 TPB and mycomicshop's reading order for Inferno (https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?SeriesID=1711). Books in parentheses are optional because they're either lead-ins but in the TPB or they're in the part 2 TPB. In other words, things not in parentheses are the main reading from part 1. If you want to see how other heroes are dealing with New York being invaded by demons, definitely take a look at the MCS list because there are lots of other series that got pulled in. Discussion topic ideas: * Thoughts on the story or artwork * Details in the story, artwork, or presentation * References to outside events or other works of fiction * Making of/Behind the Scenes details * Editions you will be reading from * Items in your collection pertaining to this week’s selection |
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| Not sure if there is much difference but here is the reading list from Comic Book Herald and Marvel.com Also, for the next week or so we’ll be open to suggestions for next month’s reading for anyone that wants to join in. A few guidelines: -The selection should be under 12 issues, 16 at the very most. They can of course be shorter. -The selection should be easily available at a reasonable price, like a cheap tpb. We want to avoid stuff that is out of print, impossible to find, or very expensive -We want a bit of variety. This month we’re reading an X-Men story so we almost certainly won’t read another X book next month. There is a VERY loose pattern of Marvel, DC, indie |
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| I think the Marvel reading order is the same, especially for the 'core' books. The Comic Book Herald order would slip New Mutants 71 a week earlier. I don't have the TPB in hand but if anyone happens to, they could check the order of the books there. | ||
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| For folks who aren't up on their X-lore (or only know it from adaptations that changed things a bit), here's some background. Jean Grey died at the end of the Dark Phoenix saga. Shortly after, Cyclops leaves the team and wanders around. He ends up in Alaska and meets a woman who looks just like Jean, but her name is Madelyne Pryor. They start a relationship, Scott gets past Jean being dead, and they get married. They have a kid, Nathan (who will eventually be Cable), and Scott is basically retired. Later, Jean is found alive and Scott more or less abandons Madelyne and their child to start X-Factor. Madelyne is attacked by the Marauders, who kidnap her son, and takes up with Havok and the X-Men. She sees Scott and Jean on TV doing X-Factor stuff and is rightly upset. A demon from Limbo, S'ym, takes the opportunity to start her on the path toward becoming the Goblin Queen. She makes a deal with another demon to find the Marauders and her son. That pretty much gets you to the start of Inferno. |
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| The Marvel Unlimited reading list started with X-Factor 33 so I read that one first. The issue begins with a few events kind of converging. The first is a terrible heat wave in New York. Seems pretty standard for Summer but with an event named Inferno who knows if that will be relevant later on. Next you have the deadline for registration under the Mutant Registration Act. This is understandably a major event for mutants of all kinds. Beast was apparently injured in a previous issue and seems on the verge of death and seems to be shifting to and from his blue, beastly form and human. Finally, you have strange, unexplained events like manhole covers attacking random people, strange voices over the phone, etc. It is amidst all of this that the Alliance of Evil attacks a TV reporter to protest mutant registration and challenge X-Factor, who had previously beaten them. They find Jean and Iceman shopping with some young mutants for school clothes when the Alliance attacks them. Cyclops, out over the Atlantic, is watching over Hank as he recovers. I guess he had been primarily in his human form prior to his injury, recovers with his intellect intact and possibly greater strength? Beast and Cyclops teleport back to New York and help defeat the Alliance. Freedom Force, the reformed Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, arrive to take the Alliance into custody and remind X-Factor to register themselves, which they do, save for one of the young students who decides he will turn himself in to the Navy, who had been searching for him after he accidentally killed someone with his powers. Amidst all this there seems ro be a hidden group abducting mutant children to “save them” from mutant registration. Overall it felt like this issue packed a lot of stuff into it. I always question the wisdom of resistant groups outright calling themselves “evil” like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants or the Alliance of Evil. It’s pretty clear that evil in these cases are a narrative perspective not how the mutants actually see themselves or their motivation. The Alliance using violence to resist mutant registration may not be ideal, but evil? They make some decent points when they were trying to convert the student to their side, that the response to his “crime” shouldn’t be registration or incarceration, but education to teach him how to better control his powers. |
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| X-Factor 33 and 34 are pretty clearly tied to Inferno, 34 more so. I wonder how they decided where to draw the line between 'prologue' and 'the event' when they made the TPBs. Also, if you want a pinch more continuity, read X-Terminators 1 before moving over to Uncanny. I know all the storylines and the characters but never actually read these books, so that was kind of fun. I would consider Rusty and Skids to be deep cuts but they must have been in X-Factor somewhat regularly. Or maybe they just happened to show up again 30 issues after they first appeared at the beginning of the series. It was also fun to get some tidbits like when Rogue had Carol Danvers stuck in her head, one would pick up control of the body if the other was knocked out. Also, Psylocke was kind of a badass even before she was a ninja. |
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| X-Terminators 1 was actually next in the Marvel Unlimited reading order so I went there next. It’s mostly about all the kids from the previous X-Factor issue settling into their nee schools, and in Rusty’s case prison. The issue begins with a group of demons planning to invade earth and steal powered children to increase their own power. Apparently Magik’s sword is the key that seals the demons in their dimension and when she wields it they take the opportunity to invade. Two young mutants, Artie and Leech are kidnapped from their school and a latent mutant at the school spots the abduction and tries to stop them. When he’s knocked out the guardians at the school try to contact X-Factor but without luck since they’re off on a mission of their own. Annoyed that they write off his story of goblins as flights of fancy, Takeshi uses his newly discovered powers to pick up the X-Force teens from their dorms and together they break Rusty out of Military prison to go rescue Artie and Leech. There’s not as much here to unpack compared to the previous issue but you can see things developing. I thought Leech and Artie were cute though I wasn’t sure if his illustrated speech bubbles should be taken literally or if he was communicating ideas directly at people. I guess people do actually see the pictures though. Takeshi was a bit of a strange character. I expected him to be a young kid who hates mutants and before that edge was blunted he had Artie helping him on an invention while being frustrated and angry at Leech. When his outburst encourages the kids to leave he wants them back and even he doesn’t seem sure why. I’m also unsure how his power would be categorized. Is it like a form of reality bending or is it meant to be more grounded? I thought it was a little entertaining how quickly things escalated from “tough times at school” to “let’s assault a military prison and bust our friend out.” It’s really not gonna help Rusty’s “mutants are people not dangerous weapons” stance that he’s protesting for. I thought the art was fairly good, though maybe a little on the cartoony side at times. It worked especially well when Boom Boom and Skids were at school since it gave it an almost Archie Comics appearance |
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| Takeshi is a character I had never heard of until a year or two ago. Someone called Wiz Kid was in the X-Men Sword series and he was treated like an established character but I had no idea who he was. Turns out he's Takeshi. He has some kind of technoforming ability, where he can basically make what he wants as long as there's suitable material around. Sort of like Forge but he assembles things mentally. | ||
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| X-Factor 34 is primarily focused on Archangel’s attack on the base of The Right to save his girlfriend. The Right are being aided by demons in exchange for the list of infant mutants for them to abduct. There is a lot of exposition covering Angel’s past relationship with Hodges, the leader of the Right. Interspersed we have a mysterious group that is abducting the mutant children ahead of the demons and Cyclops has located his son and is rushing off to find him but Jean won’t let him go alone. Archangel ends up defeating Hodges and possibly saving his girlfriend. The art doesn’t make it super clear if Angel killed Hodges but the dialogue suggests Angel giving in to his darker side so I’m not sure if Hodges is meant to be dead. If he is then the demons somehow went back on their word (shocking, I know) |
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| Hodge shows up pretty prominently in X-Tinction Agenda (the Genosha crossover event) as a head on a robot. This filled in some backstory for me. | ||
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| X-Terminators 2 and 3 continues the story of the kids trying to find the children being kidnapped by demons. It's kind of silly in places, which I guess partially explains the vibe in the recent X-Terminators series. That had a different group (although Boom Boom was there) and they were fighting vampires, but it was over the top throughout. X-Terminators 3 does reference a couple of books later in the reading list but not in a spoiler-y way. It's possible the reading order should be a little different but I don't think it hurts to read these two together and keep a little continuity going. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by xkonk The head in a jar seems like a good “Sorry things turned out horribly but we TECHNICALLY kept our word” angle from the demons |
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| X-Terminators 2 really hits you with the 80s of it all and how much times have changed. The dress up sequence and the fashions they chose are all feel like they’re out of an 80s teen movie. Taki is a computer whiz and he even has a spellchecker! This leads to the joke that the demons thi k he can check magic spells and so decide to capture him. It’s a bit sad but I guess chalked up to teenage obliviousness that Taki is doing so much for the group and still gets so ignored. The demons are still trying to capture infants but I guess Artie and Leech aren’t exactly what they’re looking for. Given the state of New York, I can see why the event has so many crossovers. Overall it’s a fun issue but it still feels like the major players have yet to appear. Sure the teens may be main protagonists, at least that’s how it seems to be playing out so far, but what few major mutant characters that have appeared are distracted with other things and still aren’t tuned into the demon threat. The next issue in the reading order is Uncanny X-Men so we might see more known characters start to become involved |
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Quote:Originally Posted by dielinfinite I enjoyed this, and the general 'demon lackeys are not so smart' through line. I appreciate a bumbling goon. |
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| X-Men 239 basically has us checking in with each of the X-Men to catch up on their continuing dramas, as the X-Men are wont to have. Sinister is either observing or manipulating things but it is hard to be sure. I’d never really thought too much about when Mister Sinister was introduced. Apparently it was only a couple of years before the current arc and only about a year before when he was actually seen. I’m not sure what event he’s referring to when he says he defeated the X-Men but it must have been in a very early arc of his. As for the X-Men themselves, Dazzler and Longshot seem pretty happy but unwittingly rubbing it in Havok’s face, which Madelyne Pryor, who’s working with the demons, is taking advantage of for her own reasons. Storm discovers Jean is still alive after apparently dying in the Dark Phoenix Saga and that Wolverine has known for some time. Psyloke and Rogue/Ms Marvel seem to have some bubbling conflict. I was aware of Rogue absorbing Ms Marvel’s powers and her psyche from the animated series but this shared/dual consciousness is not something I was aware of. On a tangentially related matter, I would love for them to introduce the Rogue/Carol Danvers rivalry in the movies once they officially introduce Mutants into the MCU. I enjoyed the art in this issue. It looked familiar but I couldn’t place it. A glance at the credits says the artist is Marc Silvestri of Top Cow fame. I do like his art though it can certainly be a bit cheesecakey. Although to be fair, Havok in his trunks probably counts as beefcake. I think Silvestri and the other artists did a great job on Wolverine’s face in Storm’s rainstorm. Intense lighting in a nighttime rain may not be an original setting but it sure as heck looks dramatic |
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| I do enjoy some Silverstri. Mr. Sinister's first appearance was X-Men 221, so not too far before Inferno. They didn't say so at the time, but he orchestrated the Mutant Massacre a little before that (started in 210). I think the 'defeating them' was in the 221-222 story where (I think) the Marauders kidnapped baby Nathan. Rogue joined the X-Men (going by memory here) in part because Prof X promised to help with the Carol-stuck-in-her-head thing. That was X-Men 158, so it lasted quite a while. |
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| X-Factor 36 does indeed come after X-Terminators 3, so that was reassuring. Cyclops and Jean are looking for his son, which Jean has problems with for unclear reasons. Beast and Iceman save Trish and some commuters from a demonized subway car, which gives Beast and Trish some time to come to grips with her feelings for him. And Angel meets back up with the team after dealing with Hodge last issue. But the demons have started pouring in from the portal so things are going to get gnarly. Uncanny X-Men 240 and 241 focus on Madelyne finding out her origin, and the X-Men tracking down the Marauders. Both sides are surprised by what's happening to New York, but the influence seems worse on the X-Men. They go bloodthirsty, aside from Colossus. I feel like the X-Men issues move the plot ahead more, but I preferred the character development in X-Factor better. We're squarely into Inferno now though so more things should be coming to a head soon. |
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| X-Factor 35 is primarily some background on Cyclops’ past at a mysterious orphanage. The same orphanage his son, Christopher is now being kept at. While Beast and Iceman handle random demon trouble in New York, Cyclops and Jean infiltrate the orphanage only to find their presence going unnoticed and that all the children are mutants. As they explore the orphanage the lower levels open into a large lab where they are keeping mutant babies in suspended animation. As Jean and Scott try to free his son the facility is attacked by Nanny and her children as they try to kidnap the captive babies for themselves. Jean and Scott put up a fight, which the demons use as a distraction to make off with the infants themselves. As the demons and Nanny make their escape, Jean discovers one of Nanny’s mind-controlled children is her sister’s daughter. The facility reminded me a lot of the one in the New Mutants film, which I liked a lot despite the critical panning it received. That said, creepy mutant-experimenting facilities are a dime a dozen in this world and I’m guessing the movie wasn’t directly referencing this facility (I believe that one was meant to be a medical facility not an orphanage. Also, one thing I noticed in hindsight is the name Nathan/Nathaniel seems to surround Cyclops quite a bit. His son is Nathan Charles, Mr Sinister, whose real name is Nathaniel Essex, seems to focus a lot of attention on him, and now we learn that his childhood bully was named Nathan. Sinister is too old to have been Cyclops’ bully but I wonder if they are somehow connected. |
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| Definitely agree that X-Factor seems more character focused while X-Men is more plot heavy. That said, X-Men still has its character beats like Havok’a affair with Madelyne Pryor, and the Longshot/Rogue/Dazzler triangle. I also really liked Madelyne’s scene in the cemetery as you get a good, clear, understandable idea of why she’s angry at Jean and Scott. I also wonder if the the X-Men issue is pushing the story beats, the action and movie poster-like cover harder than we’ve seen before as it is officially the first issue of the Inferno event, meaning it really has to sell the event to the readers that might not be following all the X-books and just bought this one to see what the event is about. I thought the fight with the Marauders was mostly pretty cool, with Psylocke and Dazzler really standing out. It was meant to be an especially vicious fight but Wolverine didn’t do anything aside from light up a cigarette dramatically. I also thought Rogue was a little short-changed. I fully expected her to shrug off that collapsed wall like it was nothing and get to swinging. Instead, she just disappears for the rest of the fight. Again, I like Silvestri’s art though a panel here and there can look a bit wonky, like Wolverine’s face after Havok reveals the Marauders’ location and I always find it weird when colossus’ hands look too mechanical with what looks like rivets or bands as opposed to just being metallic skin |
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| New Mutants 71 is probably the darkest issue in the series so far. It spends a lot of time going back to Illyana's origin as Magick in Limbo. The possessed stuff on Earth is also more gruesome, with a guy losing his eyes and an elevator turning some people into a pool of blood. In the end, Illyana is tricked into opening a portal to Earth, which turns out to be the giant portal that lets all the demons in. Illyana also seems to have taken on a more demonic form, although maybe she's done that before? And now, the invasion is on. | ||
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| X-Terminators 4 wraps that series and appears to wrap N'Astirh. The New Mutants pop through the portal with all the demons, and they meet up with the X-Terminators enough to make some parallel plans. The mutants are going to save the mutant babies holding the portal open while the terminators try to save Taki while he works on stopping the computer he built. The issue says that it continues in New Mutants 72 but I think it overlaps a bit because S'ym has shown up to fight N'Astirh. He turns N'Astirh into a transmode thing but that lets N'Astirh control his computer, but Taki blows it all up by turning the computer back into normal parts. One demon down, S'ym and all the rest still to go. | ||
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| New Mutants 72 indeed overlaps with X-Terminators 4 but does continue a bit past it. This issue has a bit of the team saving the babies but focuses more on Illyana continuing to try to deal with being more demonic and her transportation discs not working how they should. She eventually slashes a possessed chair and N'Astirh, who indeed survived, shows up to claim her for doing bad things with her sword. She turns him down but isn't doing well at all, and S'ym is waiting in the wings. | ||
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| New Mutants 73 resolves some of the big conflict. Illyana overcomes her darker urges and wipes the demons off of Earth, apparently de-aging herself at the same time. In the meantime, Colossus was fighting S'ym and thus revealing that at least some of the X-Men who supposedly died are not actually dead. But Inferno isn't over; N'Astirh is still kicking around and Madelyne is still Goblin Queen'ing around somewhere. I'm guessing this probably made Chris Claremont happy. I don't remember if it applied to Illyana specifically, but I remember reading that he was unhappy when they aged up some characters. The X-Men were supposed to be at a school, and some of them were supposed to be kids. It could have been Kitty Pryde but maybe it was Illyana as well/instead. |
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| X-Factor 37 is, I think, concurrent with New Mutants 73, since there are still a bunch of demons around. Or else N'Astirh has his own supply that weren't pulled away by Illyana's magic stuff. But it's all a big light show and yelling fest between Madelyne and X-Factor. They fight demons, and her, and she flies around and blasts at them, and threatens to kill them and baby Nathan. Honestly not a lot to see here. But at the end it looks like the X-Men are going to show up, so that will be fun. | ||
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| X-Factor annual 4 has a few stories in it, which I skipped over except for the Inferno one. It also seems out of order in the reading because it's a post-Inferno story. Not really worth reading unless you want to check out the other stories. | ||
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| Uncanny 242 is the actual next part of the story. The X-Men being turned a bit by the environment gives a reason for a fight with X-Factor until they all turn their attention on N'Astirh and Madelyne. N'Astirh is defeated but things aren't over yet since Madelyne still has the baby. | ||
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| X-Factor 38 has the finale to Madelyne's story. It's a long one and mostly treads things we already knew, as far as the big speeches go. Madelyne is certainly a tragic and sympathetic villain, but still a villain none the less. The last two issues will wrap up the story by taking the fight to Mr. Sinister, who started all this by creating Madelyne. | ||
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| Uncanny 243 has a psychic confrontation with Sinister followed by a physical one. The X-Mansion gets destroyed yet again and Sinister comes out on top leading into the final issue. | ||
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| X-Factor 39 wraps the story with the big fight against Sinister (and Malice). We get a bunch of backstory on Sinister's control over Cyclops' childhood, which ends with Sinister being disintegrated. Everyone goes their happy way. Although, with the mention of saving baby Christopher at the end, I realize I didn't pay any attention to where he went. I guess with Jean's parents on Ship? I won't say it's my favorite X-Men story, but I did enjoy the reading and filling in the detail on something I only knew the rough outline of. Madelyne and Sinister come back other times in future stories and it's nice to have the foundational story. |
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| Is there anything folks want to read for next time? | ||
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