Free Comic Book Day 2022: Avengers/X-Men #1 (June, 2022) Free Comic Book Day 2022: Spider-Man/Venom #1 (June, 2022) "Of Deviation and Mutation" "Let's Talk About Krakoa..." "Lost in the Mail" Writers - Kieron Gillen, Gerry Duggan, & Zeb Wells Art - Dustin Weaver, Matteo Lolli, & John Romita, Jr. Inks - Scott Hanna Colors - Marte Gracia, Rain Beredo, & Marcio Menyz Letters - VC's Cory Petit, Clayton Cowles, & Joe Caramagna Design - Jay Bowen Edits - Biro, Cohick, McGahey, Amaro, Bissa, Lowe, White, Brevoort, Cebulski Cover Price: FREE Available: May 7, 2022
Welcome to AXE-Lapsed!
Kicking off the X-Lapsed coverage of the Summer-into-Fall, 2022 Crossovent, AXE: Judgment Day! Today, we're taking a look at three short subjects from two of Marvel's 2022 Free Comic Book Day offerings - two from FCBD 2022: Avengers/X-Men #1 and one story with a surprise X-Twist from FCBD 2022: Spider-Man/Venom #1!
All three stories are fun... and offer your humble host some (uncharacteristic?) optimism about the near future of the X-Books! Also: I willingly eat a bit of crow when I admit that Marvel (and DC) finally used the FCBD opportunity to actually deliver the goods... and reward reader loyalty!
Wolverine (vol.7) 021 (July, 2022) "Glory Daze" Writer - Benjamin Percy Art - Adam Kubert Colors - Frank Martin Letters - VC's Cory Petit Design - Muller, Bowen Head of X - Deadpool Edits - Baumgartner, Basso, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: May 18, 2022
Deadpool continues stumpin' for a spot on X-Force, while Wolverine... well, he pretty much just sighs and seethes, which is probably the right response to x-tended Deadpool dialogue!
A fun issue, full of action and actual humor! Worth your time (unlike this program).
Plus: A dip into the Mailbag to chat up s'more Knights of X!
Knights of X 002 (July, 2022) "Part Two: Never Split the Party" Writer - Tini Howard Art - Bob Quinn Colors - Erick Arciniega Letters - VC's Ariana Maher Design - Tom Muller Edits - Okoye, Brunstad, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: June 1, 2022
One of those "good news, bad news" situations, wherein your humble host reports that he'd weathered a pretty horrifying health scare -- but, is now back to talk s'more about Otherworld... and Pop-Tarts!
Heyyy, anybody remember that whole Gameworld story that kicked off this volume? Well, our creative team just did!
The adjectiveless "flagship" of the line still meanders on... a victim of poor timing, and a certain Head of X abandoning ship when the waters got choppy. Here's hoping "season two" of this title feels a bit more relevant than all this!
X-Force (vol.6) 028 (July, 2022) "Cerebrax" Writer - Benjamin Percy Art - Robert Gill Colors - GURU-eFX Letters - VC's Joe Caramagna Design - Muller, Bowen Edits - Baumgartner, Basso, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: May 18, 2022
The Hentai Helmet continues its rampage thru Krakoa... and the casualties are beginning to mount, including a couple of Silver Age Mutants! Also, Wolverine gets a hangnail... and, no, I'm not kidding.
Plus: By special request, your humble host dips back into his "Idiot's Guide to Comics Podcasting" to give some, perhaps harsh, advice regarding the need to become "podfamous".
X-Men Red (vol.2) 002 (June, 2022) "Man on Fire" Writer - Al Ewing Art - Stefano Caselli Colors - Federico Blee Letters - VC's Cory Petit Design - Muller, Bowen Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: May 18, 2022
It's the X-Men vs. the Brotherhood... fixed in a little different sort of way.
Today the hearts and minds of the less-warrish Arakkii are contested for... and we get plenty of food for thought regarding the potential tempests in the Marsarakko teapot! Plus, an attempt at correcting a continuity gaffe that your humble host hasn't been able to shut up about since it happened!
I might rant a bit about attention to detail... and, how the fans who seem to care about things like continuity are usually mocked by the people who fail to adhere to it. Please listen anyway!
Marauders (vol.2) 002 (June, 2022) "Extinction Agenda, Part 2" Writer - Steve Orlando Art - Eleonora Carlini Colors - Matt Milla Letters - VC's Ariana Maher & Clayton Cowles Design - Tom Muller Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: May 4, 2022
It's time for me to pull out the ol' X-Corp/X-Men Green disclaimer... today's book was one your idiot host did not enjoy. If that fact threatens to ruin your day, feel free skipping this episode.
It's more Shi'ar Sh...tuff, and yet another attempt at shoehorning even more ancient mutants into the X-Men lore. No, not those ancient mutants... or even those ancient mutants... these are All-New, All-Different ancient mutants! That is, until next month's ancient mutants.
Also, we get a lot of obscure bits of Marvel history casually namedropped... the Marvel Wiki Randomizer was working overtime for this one!
Plus: a brief mailbag segment.
Again, this was not a book I cared for... so, if Chris being a negative nellie isn't what you're wanting to hear, feel free to skip this one!
Immortal X-Men #002 (June, 2022) "Part Two: All Mankind's Woes" Writer - Kieron Gillen Art - Lucas Werneck Colors - David Curiel Letters - VC's Clayton Cowles Design - Tom Muller Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: May 18, 2022
Back to the Destiny of X flagship for another installment of Quiet Council intrigue!
Note: There's a pretty long pre-ramble this time out, so for "Just the X", feel free to skip ahead to around the 25 minute mark.
We've got another solid issue today, but one where there are some moments where I feel like we need to squint and tilt our head to make 'em "work". Maybe I'm just an idiot? You be the judge, dear listener!
Reign of X, Volume 12 (2022) (00:00:00) Marauders #21: "You Are Cordially Invited to the Hellfire Gala" & "Out With the Old" (00:53:26) X-Force (vol.6) #20: "The Secret Garden" (01:34:26) Hellions #12: "Gatecrashing" (02:21:43) Excalibur (vol.4) #21: "Don't Feel Like Dancin" (03:24:32) X-Men (vol.5) #21: "The Beginning" Writers - Gerry Duggan, Chris Claremont, Benjamin Percy, Zeb Wells, Tini Howard, & Jonathan Hickman Art - Matteo Lolli, John Bolton, Joshua Cassara, Stephen Segovia, Marcus To, Nick Dragotta, Russell Dauterman, Lucas Werneck, & Sara Pichelli Colors - Edgar Delgado, Glynis Oliver, GURU-eFX, David Curiel, Erick Arciniega, Frank Martin, Matthew Wilson, Sunny Gho, & Nolan Woodard Letters - Tom Orzechowski, VC's Cory Petit, Joe Caramagna, Ariana Maher, & Clayton Cowles Design - Tom Muller Edits - Amaro, Bissa, White, Grunwald, Kirschhoffer, Kavanagh, Nocenti, Shooter, Cebulski Cover Price: $17.99 On-Sale: July 12, 2022
Marvel's finally decided to release the next volume of the Reign of X Anthologies! Darn those supply-chain issues, that DC Comics and all the indies have somehow been able to sidestep! Anyway, we're back -- and we're just in time for the Hellfire Gala! Oh, you didn't know? There's going to be a Gala! If only these books would bother to mention it!
Since Marvel trade paperbacks are suffering the affects of shrinkflation (which we're surely only imagining), we only get the first five issues of the event here. Looks like the Gala will be eating up the next two collected editions as well!
It's over four hours of fun, frivolity... Carnation Abominations, and a fake-ass vote to elect our new (already obsolete) X-Men!
Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird #1 (June, 2022) "And Then There Was One" Writers - Steve Orlando & Nyla Rose Pencils - David Cutler Inks - Jose Marzan, Jr. & Roberto Poggi Colors - Irma Kniivila Letters - VC's Travis Lanham Design - Muller, Bowen Edits - Okoye, Brunstad, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $4.99 On-Sale: May 4, 2022
A review gone neutral!
Today's most challenging episode of X-Lapsed has your humble host stumbling and fumbling his way around sharing whether or not he liked this book! We talk about some of the initial social media spoo and outrage this one invited, as well as how difficult it is to honestly analyze books like this without being lumped into the extreme ends of the argument! It's a toughie!
Also: A brief mailbag, wherein we talk a bit more about the "Nazarene Mutant", as well as my emotionally painful process as it pertained to walking away from the "daily grind" of comics content creation.
New Mutants (vol.4) #025 (June, 2022) "Best Laid Plans" Writer - Vita Ayala Art - Rod Reis & Jan Duursema Colors - Rod Reis & Ruth Redmond Letters - VC's Travis Lanham Design - Muller, Bowen Edits - Okoye, Brunstad, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $4.99 On-Sale: May 18, 2022
After what feels like forever, it's New Mutants day again!
We're kicking off the NuMu's first Destiny of X storyline, The Trials of Magik... which, as you might have guessed, takes us into Limbo. You WILL believe that a SoulSword can shatter!
Also: a sorta-kinda mailbag segment wherein I talk a fair amount about shill reviews and how difficult it is to find honest opinions about comics (and other things) on the internet. It's a challenging discussion... and I'd love for you to be a part of it!
Legion of X #1 (June, 2022) "Do What Thou Wilt" Writer - Si Spurrier Art - Jan Bazaldua Colors - Federico Blee Letters - VC's Clayton Cowles Design - Muller, Bowen Edits - Okoye, Brunstad, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $4.99 On-Sale: May 22, 2022
Officially on the "Road to 400", today we're taking a look at the last ALL-NEW #DestinyofX offering, the follow-up to Way of X, which we enjoyed so much -- Legion of X!
We'll be hitting some potentially problematic topics here... including discussions of faith, justice, and how we treat one another. Also: A sorta-kinda mailbag segment, which facilitates my mind wandering down Comics History Lane, where I follow-up on our discussion regarding CGC Slabs last episode, exploring the concept of "comics as collectible", and how the industry & fandom "DNA" has changed in (relatively) recent years.
It's a heavy episode, full'a heavy topics... and I'd love to have you "in" on the discussion!
Wolverine (vol.7) #20 (June, 2022) "Trigger Warning" Writer - Benjamin Percy Art - Adam Kubert Colors - Frank Martin & Dijjo Lima Letters - VC's Cory Petit Design - Muller, Bowen Edits - Baumgartner, Basso, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: April 20, 2022
We've finally arrived... it's the landmark, milestone three hundred fiftieth episode of X-Lapsed! That said, it should come as no shock to anyone that our focus today will be on Wolverine! The Canucklehead never fails to pop up when it's a nice round number!
We're taking Logan into the Destiny of X era, and a fun team-up with Deadpool. Also: Curmudgeon Chris makes an appearance to complain about continuity errors, CGC slabs, and hashtag-x-spoilers! Are you just as curmudgeonly as I am... or are you a bit more fun at parties? I'd love to know! Please share your thoughts!
Huge thanks to everyone who has come along on this three hundred and fifty part journey with me. I do not have the skill to put into words what it truly means to me!
X-Men (vol.6) #10 (June, 2022) "Sisterhood of the Metal Bones" Writer - Gerry Duggan Art - Javier Pina Colors - Marte Gracia Letters - VC's Clayton Cowles Design - Muller, Bowen Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: April 13, 2022
On the Eve of Episode 350, we hop back into the (alleged) flagship of the line for, sadly, another unsatisfying soulless story (complete with forced flashback to the Hellfire Gala)!
X-Men continues meandering on its way to the next big "shakeup". Be still my heart.
Sabretooth (vol.4) #3 (June, 2022) "Whisper Campaign" Writer - Victor LaValle Art - Leonard Kirk Colors - Rain Beredo Letters - VC's Cory Petit Design - Muller, Bowen Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: April 27, 2022
As we continue our approach to 350, we hop back down into The Pit for a discussion on the nebulous nature of "law"... with a focus on the concept that some citizens are more "equal" than others.
We go a bit into the weeds here, drawing (as vague as humanly possible) comparisons to the current real-world socio-political landscape, and talk about rules being implemented by those who aren't accountable to anybody.
Knights of X #1 (June, 2022) "Part One: Hated and Feared" Writer - Tini Howard Art - Bob Quinn Colors - Erick Arciniega Letters - VC's Ariana Maher Design - Tom Muller Edits - Okoye, Brunstad, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $4.99 On-Sale: April 27, 2022
Well, I couldn't put it off any longer... it's time for us to dip back into Otherworld for the follow-up (miniseries, I hope) to Excalibur (vol.4) -- Knights of X!
This time out, Betsy Britain opens a book and whisks a bunch of her pals away to the boring place. And, well, that's about it. At least it's very pretty to look at!
X-Men Red (vol.2) #1 (June, 2022) "The Broken Land" Writer - Al Ewing Art - Stefano Caselli Colors - Federico Blee Letters - VC's Ariana Maher Design - Muller, Bowen Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $4.99 On-Sale: April 11, 2022
Finally fleshing out the Marsarakkii!
In the follow-up to S.W.O.R.D. (vol.2), Al Ewing starts spillin' the beans on all things Arakki. Seeds are planted for a team of Martian X-Men... as well as an All-New, All-Different... Brotherhood?! It's off to a great start, and I hope you'll join me for the fun.
Also: I drone on more about Beast in the Mailbag + an x-tended rant about Marvel's current publishing and distribution woes
X-Force (vol.6) #27 (June, 2022) "From Cradle to Grave" Writer - Benjamin Percy Art - Robert Gill Colors - GURU-eFX Letters - VC's Joe Caramagna Design - Tom Muller w/Jay Bowen Edits - Baumgartner, Basso, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: April 6, 2022
In Part Two of our X-Force "double-header", we see Frasier and Lilith arguing before the Quiet Council about whether or not they ought to bring back Omega Red (already), while Forge finds himself attacked by the Hentai Helmet!
It's a fun issue, and a better-than-decent return to the x-ploits of our Mutant CIA. I hope you decide to check it out!
X-Force Annual #1 (June, 2022) "Lab Work" Writer - Nadia Shammas Art - Rafael Pimentel Colors - Carlos Lopez Letters - VC's Joe Caramagna Design - Tom Muller Edits - Baumgartner, Basso, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $4.99 On-Sale: April 6, 2022
A current year X-Annual that's... worth reading?! Are you kidding me?
Today we kick off our X-Force "double-header", ushering in the Mutant CIA's Destiny of X Era with a far better than expected Annual. The Strike Force takes the fight to Orchis... and narrowly sidesteps Annual-itis, where they're forced to face their weaknesses.
We get some fun banter between Beast and Emma Frost to boot!
Plus: The return of the MIGHTY X-Lapsed Mailbag! It's a good time, I hope you'll join me!
Marauders (vol.2) #1 (June, 2022) "Extinction Agenda" Writer - Steve Orlando Art - Eleonora Carlini Colors - Matt Milla Letters - VC's Ariana Maher Design - Tom Muller Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $4.99 On-Sale: April 6, 2022
Kicking off the second volume of Marauders proper with... a trip into Shi'ar Space? Oh, c'mon...
That's right, we open with a big ol' dollop of "Chrystonite"... but, I guess at least it's not Otherworld. Listen to me raspily kvetch about unnatural-sounding dialogue and the bloat of the Destiny of X line... or, please listen in spite of all that!
Sabretooth (vol.4) #2 (May, 2022) "Know Your Enemy" Writer - Victor LaValle Art - Leonard Kirk Colors - Rain Beredo Letters - VC's Cory Petit Design - Tom Muller Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $3.99 On-Sale: March 9, 2022
After quite the delay, we're about to hop back into The Pit with Sabretooth and his Uncanny eXiles!
This time out, we get more questions than answers... thankfully, they're questions we're interested in seeing play out! Sabretooth raises some inconvenient truths about the Krakoan Culture, really showing what a house of cards, it actually is!
A very interesting series that X-Lapsed highly recommends you check out!
Immortal X-Men #1 (May, 2022) "Part One: The Left Hand" Writer - Kieron Gillen Art - Lucas Werneck Colors - David Curiel Letters - VC's Clayton Cowles Design - Tom Muller Edits - Amaro, White, Cebulski Cover Price: $5.99 On-Sale: March 30, 2022
It's a brand-new era... with your same old host, now with extra Covid!
It's time for us all to be flies on the wall to witness the machinations and maneuvering of the Quiet Council... which is somehow some of the most interesting X-Stuffs to come down the pike yet!
An excellent start to the Destiny of X era... and an issue I can't wait to hear your thoughts on!
Another oldie -- this time from on-or-around June 9, 2016! I wrote this as a fill-in for Weird Science DC Comics for their "Top Five Fridays" when the regular writer of that column was outta town or something. I decided to write about some re-purposed DC Comics characters/concepts... some of which were the inspiration for the ol' DC "Near Miss" columns I wrote a couple years back here at the mothaship. Enjoy!
So, you've got a great idea for a new DC Comics character... or maybe it's a new take on an old property... that's great news! The only problem is, DC ain't interested... or maybe they're on the fence and give you a few months before giving the thumbs down... or just maybe you put got a great idea for a pitch, and DC just couldn't get the rights.
Either way, your creation went on to find a life outside the source-wall that surrounds the DC Universe... and just maybe took some of that source material influence with it for the ride, either wholesale or with some cosmetic tweaks. What follows is my Top 5 re-purposed DC characters (in no particular order).
5. Planet of the Apes Okay, this is a bit of a cheat... as neither Carmine Infantino nor Jack Kirby created Planet of the Apes. It's still pretty interesting, and the Infantino did express a great amount of interest in publishing this title for DC. When the brass failed to procure the license to do so (losing a bidding war with Marvel), he turned to legendary creator Jack Kirby to create a series similar in concept to Planet of the Apes.
Jack had worked on a story that was similar to Planet of the Apes... and which was actually published before the first Apes novel, so clearly Kirby was the best fit for the gig.
The King went into his archives and dug up a series of strips he'd worked on in 1958... called Kamandi of the Caves. After reworking that into a series, what we were left with was, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth. Jack even gave a nod to some of the Apes film's imagery with the Statue of Liberty on the cover of the first issue.
4. Void Indigo During the early 1980's Howard the Duck creators, Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik pitched a revamped Hawkman to the DC brass... they ultimately passed. It's unknown just how in depth the pitch was, but judging by the story it morphed into it's easy to see why. Void Indigo was the resulting title, and it was published by Marvel Comics under the creator-owned Epic Comics imprint.
Initially commissioned as a standalone graphic novel to be followed by a six-issue series, Void was cancelled after only two... due to poor reception to it's "extreme depictions of violence". In the comics press it was referred to as a "crime against humanity", which likely didn't help. Having stumbled upon this title during the 1990's it feels quite tame in comparison to much of the extreme comics offerings of the day, however this would have been a pre-Crisis Hawkman title, and would certainly not have fit on the racks next to a Curt Swan Superman book.
3. Fallen Angel This one's a toughie... as most of the connections involved in this one are only implied "on the record". Back around the turn of the century, Peter David was writing a(n excellent) Supergirl title featuring Linda Danvers... a literal Fallen Angel. This title needed to be shuffled off to make room for the returning Kara Zor-El (from the Superman/Batman series).
Following the cancellation of his Supergirl, DC Comics launched a series called Fallen Angel, which starred a young woman named Lee working out of the city of Bete Noire. There were plenty of hints scattered throughout that Lee was in fact Linda, and Peter David played along... even going as far as to announce that issues #14 and 15 would be intriguing to fans of his Supergirl.
The title sadly never found an audience, and would only last 20 issues before being cancelled. Peter David retained all rights to the character, and brought her with him to IDW Publishing where he continued documenting her exploits.
When asked about the connection in an interview with Comic Book Resources some years back, David responded with: "Can I say this is Linda Danvers? Of course I can't. However, it's pretty freaking obvious that it is."
2. Nightcrawler Before debuting in Giant-Size X-Men #1, the German mutant we all know and love was set to debut as a member of the Outsiders (not those Outsiders...), a team whose tales would spin out of the Legion of Super Heroes title.
In the X-Men 30th Anniversary Magazine published back in 1993, Nightcrawler creator Dave Cockrum pitched the character to editor Murray Boltinoff, only to have his creation rejected for being "too funny looking"... yup, good call Murray... there's certainly no odd looking Legionnaires out there!
1. Shaft Before creating Cable and Deadpool... and doing the whole Image Comics thing, Rob Liefeld worked on some DC properties including a Hawk & Dove miniseries. One of his favorite DC properties was the Teen Titans (he was even part of a Titans fan-writers association called TTalk). This led to Rob putting together a pitch for his own Titans series (which just may have been called... Titans Force).
This was set to be a team run by Speedy/Arsenal who would be viewed as celebrities and work under the government... just like another team Rob would create... Youngblood.
In an interview with Newsarama, Rob gave the goods: "Shaft was intended to be Speedy, Vogue was a new Harlequin (Joker's Daughter) design, Combat was a Kh'undian warrior circa the Legion of Super Heroes, ditto for Photon and Die Hard was a S.T.A.R. Labs android." It's strange to consider how (or even if) the comics landscape would be affected had DC utilized the characters in the above pitches, in the way they were intended to be used. I suppose it all works out in the wash, however, had DC given Liefeld that Titans Force book... we would have been robbed of having the opportunity of buying Rob's fully-poseable 7" Shaft... and let's face it, there's no fate worse than that!
