X-Lapsed, Episode 036 – X-Men #4 (2020)
Today we join the Autumn Quarter of the Krakoan Quiet Council as they attend a meeting of the World Economic Forum. When Magneto is offered a pulpit, you can be sure he’s going to take it!
Also: Listener Mail discussing Boom-Boom’s depiction as a drunk, more plotting and planning for the future of this program, and chatting about Dawn of X‘s unfortunate habit of picking some of the easiest targets around to critique.
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Help your humble host figure out the order of coverage for Dawn of X books released from February, 2020 until today! Here’s the list:
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February 5, 2020
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Marauders #7
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X-Men + Fantastic Four #1
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February 12, 2020
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Excalibur #7
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X-Force #7
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X-Men #6
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February 19, 2020
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Marauders #8
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New Mutants #7
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Wolverine #1
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February 26, 2020
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Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey & Emma Frost #1
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New Mutants #8
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X-Force #8
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X-Men + Fantastic Four #2
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X-Men #7
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March 4, 2020
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Excalibur #8
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Marauders #9
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March 11, 2020
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Cable #1
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New Mutants #9
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X-Men #8
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March 18, 2020
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Excalibur #9
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X-Force #9
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March 25, 2020
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Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1
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Hellions #1
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Wolverine #2
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X-Men + Fantastic Four #3
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X-Men #9
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May 27, 2020
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Marauders #10
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June 10, 2020
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Excalibur #10
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New Mutants #10
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July 8, 2020
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X-Force #10
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July 15, 2020
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Free Comic Book Day: X-Men
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Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto #1
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July 22, 2020
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Empyre: X-Men #1
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Hellions #2
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New Mutants #11
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Wolverine #3
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X-Men + Fantastic Four #4
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July 29, 2020
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Cable #2
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X-Factor #1
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X-Men #10
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August 5, 2020
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Empyre: X-Men #2
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Giant-Size X-Men: Fantomex #1
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August 12, 2020
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Empyre: X-Men #3
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Marauders #11
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X-Force #11
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August 19, 2020
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Cable #3
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Empyre: X-Men #4
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Excalibur #11
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Wolverine #4
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August 26, 2020
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Hellions #3
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X-Factor #2
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X-Men #11
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September 2, 2020
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Cable #4
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New Mutants #12
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Wolverine #5
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September 9, 2020
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Marauders #12
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X-Factor #3
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X-Force #12
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September 16, 2020
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Excalibur #12
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Giant-Size X-Men: Storm #1
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Hellions #4
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X-Men #12
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September 23, 2020
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X of Swords: Creation #1
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September 30, 2020
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X-Factor #4
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October 7, 2020
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Marauders #13
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Wolverine #6
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X-Force #13
As I was listening to you say the US Ambassador as villain was a safe target it reminded me of House of X number 1. I went searching through that issue and quickly noticed that both Reilly Marshall and Ming-Ma Wen are from that issue, this means that Magneto really didn't need to notice Reilly fiddling with his earpiece as this is the guy who threatened him with a gun. House of X number 1 established that both of them were there primarily for their own interests and weren't really interested in representing their nations. I know Hickman is trying to reward close reading but he should have put on the page that Magneto knows that Reilly isn't really representing the US and that Ming-Ma isn't really representing China. In House of X number 1 Esme says Ming-Ma is there for his pharmaceutical company and Reilly "is an ex-SHIELD and SWORD black-ops agent. There's some other affiliation, but he's fighting me…" I'm sure this is deliberately vague so we can place him in Orchis or Xeno or wherever.
I'm completely useless to help with the reading order of the forthcoming issues as I dropped down to Marauders and X-Men only from about issue 6 and gave up on X-Men from about issue 9. I do know from reviews that the Empyre series takes place between 2 issues of X-Men and apparently that is clearly stated in the next issue box. The X-Men and F4 book is not edited by the X-team but my understanding is that the whole series has to happen before Marauders number 6, although it was mainly published later. Generally speaking I would stick with release date. I've got to say that I was impressed with the number 4s that X-Men was delayed to allow for Xavier's resurrection. I like that kind of linked storytelling. It takes me back to when Wolverine would disappear for a couple of months to appear in a limited series.
I continue to wonder why Leinil Yu is drawing this book. It pretty much plays up all his weaknesses. He should be drawing a book that's all action and explosions not people eating dinner. My memory is that he gets a story more suited to his skills in a few issues but I wish they'd give him a more appropriate book for his talents.
My ranking of the issue 4s is the same as yours. I know I was highly critical of Excalibur but it did what it did well. Even if I disagreed with it.