Quartermaster - January 2009 - War is Upon Us

Astonishing X-Men #27
Big action. Big Science. And a Big Mystery to solve! The superstar team of Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi take the X-Men on a mission that will take them into mind-bending and previously uncharted territory -- one that will test them -- and their leader Cyclops -- to their very core.
Quick, look! Before it disappears! Ok, so it’s only been delayed by one month, as it was replaced by Ghost Boxes for two issues. But this series just doesn’t appeal to me.
Not in supply.

Cable #10
In the present, Cyclops, Emma and Beast have been ambushed by Bishop and a nasty little surprise he’s smuggled into the X-Men HQ. Meanwhile, hundreds of years in the future, Cable realizes what the former X-Man has done to the planet -- all in an effort to make sure Cable and the four-year-old mutant messiah never, ever return to the present. Once again, the rules of the hunt have been completely rewritten, and the future of mutantkind has never looked more uncertain.
The baby isn’t a baby anymore, in January she’ll be four years old already. Hmm. I still don’t get how Bishop knows what to do to change the future so Cable can’t return. Oh well.
Not in supply.

Captain America #46
Eisner-Winning artist Steve Epting returns as the New Captain America comes face-to-face with an old ally -- Prince Namor -- on a dangerous trip to China. Can Bucky and Namor team up to save the memory of an old comrade-in-arms as Cold War crimes come back to haunt the Winter Soldier? Part 1 of 3.
Presumably the old comrade in arms is Jim Hammond the Human Torch, as he’s on the alternate 70th anniversary cover. I missed out on Namor in Herc, and now I'm missing out on this. Oh well.
Not in supply.

Civil War: House of M #5
How Magneto formed the House of M! It all comes down to this...the final battle between Magneto's mutant army and the United States of America! Can the Master of Magnetism stand against non-metallic Sentinels? What will happen when Magneto's children learn that he's their father? And how will Earth's superpowers respond when the planet's most powerful mutant finally makes his bid to conquer the world? The epic conclusion to the House of M's greatest untold story is here!
Still not a lot I can say about this, as I haven't got the second issue yet.
In supply.

Fantastic Four #563
December has a Cosmic Sized special instead of the regular book. This month has the FF nowhere to be found. Is Millar really killing off Sue? Does Reed bite it in the final issue of SI? Is the Fantastic Four no more? Marvel are being very quite about this.
Missing in Action.
Erm. My mistake. Looks like the Millar-penned #563 has been delayed from December to January. It seems to have a Human Torch alt cover, exactly like Cap. Or Marvel just posted the solicit wrong.
Not in Supply.

Guardians of the Galaxy #9
Star-Lord...trapped in jail...in the Negative Zone Prison...under attack from King Blastaar and his barbarian hordes! Will Rocket Raccoon and his new Guardians arrive in time to save their leader? Given their recent run of luck, probably not! Plus, cool art by Star Wars penciller Bong Dazo staggering revelations about Adam Warlock - as events continue to build to WAR OF KINGS! Surely you must be there for the next chapter of the series that has WeeklyComicBookReview.com raving: "If you aren't reading GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY yet, now is the time to get a taste of the awesome that is Rocket Raccoon and the gang."
I'm pretty sure something is missing from that solicit. But it's Guardians, and it never misses and thats why its...
In supply.

Secret Invasion: War of Kings #1
It's finally here...WAR OF KINGS! The Secret Invasion may be over, but the Inhumans are still reeling from the terrible wounds inflicted on them by the Skrulls. And this time, the Royal Family and their massively powered people have been pushed too far! You have never seen the Inhumans like this - and it's only the beginning! Plus: How will the empire-expanding Vulcan react to these recent universe-shaking developments? Before this double-sized shocker is over, vengeance will be had, daring alliances will be forged, and the first shots in a destiny-changing battle will be fired! The acclaimed team of writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning and artist Paul Pelletier unite to revamp heroes, reveal villains and rock the universe!
It costs more...buuut...its double-sized and written by DnA. So its gotta be good.
In supply.

Thor #600
The mighty God of Thunder hits a major milestone! THOR goes back to its classic numbering for this issue 600 mega-event, and even Stan "The Man" Lee joins the party with an all-new story! J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel bring their widely acclaimed run to a major culmination! And Chris Giarrusso lays down an epic Mini Marvels Thor adventure! PLUS jaw- dropping wraparound covers by Olivier Coipel and Marko Djurdjevic! Miss this issue?! We say thee NAY!
This makes me laugh. In a good way, though.
Not in supply.

Tech-powered Ex-X-Men #20…I mean, New Warriors #20
FINAL ISSUE!
This is it. This is what it’s all led up to. In a future that’s everything he’s ever fought against, Night Thrasher has achieved his mission and been reunited with his brother, Dwayne. But at a cost. One that’s growing. And when that cost becomes too high, Donyell realizes he needs to take it upon himself to set things right. In this final issue of NEW WARRIORS, all bets are off. And no one leaves unscathed...
I was just wondering last week how many people were buying this.Apparently, not enough. Fans of Chamber, start sending Paul Cornell your requests.
Not in supply.

Uncanny X-Men Annual #2
This appears to be classified alongside the Dark Reign stuff. Hmm. I better add the Dark Reign One-Shot to my December list. I need to know what dark dealings the X-men are getting involved in. For some reason, Newsarama and CBR didn't have the cover for this - but IGN did.
In supply.


X-Factor #39
Witness the most important event in the lives of Jaime Madrox and Siren—the birth of their baby! What will happen to X-Factor—and what will be the meaning for mutantkind!...All we can guarantee are that the answers are not what you expect—but that’s what makes it X-Factor! Don’t miss what is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of 2009!
It’s Siryn. Get it right people. You’d think the birth of the second mutant baby would garner a bit more attention than a normal issue of XF. But none of the power players from Messiah CompleX seem to care. I’m not complaining – X-Factor doesn’t need to get involved in another cross over, and Peter David generally knows what he’s doing. I’m sure he can make it an siginificant event without the involvement of other books. X-Factor have probably been able to keep it secret, what with Bishop taking out everything that can detect mutants and all the power players from Messiah CompleX embroiled in their own problems. Besides, no one ever said this baby was a mutant…
In supply.

X-Force #11
After Warpath's shocking discovery last issue, now it can be told... the origin and history of the mysterious man who betrayed the Purifiers, killed a Technarch, and plans a dark future for X-Force and all of mutantkind. Welcome to first century ROME, and meet the man named Eliphas and his Black Queen...the woman the X-Men know as SELENE.
Looks like they’ll be picking up the Wither/Selene loose threads here. Not surprised. But it’s X-Force. It doesn’t exist. I don’t know about it.
Not in supply.

X-Infernus #2 (of 4)
Darkchilde comes calling to the X-Men’s doorstep—and she’s not leaving without her Soulsword. The next pulse-pounding issue by C.B. Cebulski and Giuseppe Cammuncoli is here and it’s shaking up the X-Men in a big way.
Yeah, that doesn’t tell us anything. No cover image either. For all the information that’s been thrown at us in interviews we still know very little about this mini. But it seems like it will be good.
In supply.

X-Men: Legacy #220
It’s the moment that X-Fans have been waiting for — Rogue makes her return to the X-Books. But while Xavier seeks out Rogue, who is searching for him? Hunter becomes hunted and friend becomes foe, in a story that will change your favorite Southern Belle forever. Part 1 (of 5)
Looks like Legacy is going straight from the crossover into a five-parter about the Prof and Rogue. I don’t care much for Rogue, so it looks like I won’t be getting this for a while still. I like Mike Carey’s writing, I just don’t like the topic.
Not in supply.

X-Men: Kingbreaker #2 (of 4)
Marvel Girl, Korvus and Lilandra are the only resistance to Vulcan’s reign, but Vulcan aims to end their rebellion. With Havok, Polaris and rest of the Starjammers in prison, they don’t stand to get much help. The Shi’Ar Empire is expanding under Emperor Vulcan’s reign… Come see the road to the WAR OF KINGS!
There's still two more issue of this in Febuary and March, so I don't think WoK is actually starting till April, despite what SI:WoK says. I think its like the Annihilation events which had a one-shot, minis and a main series, except the minis are GoG, Nova, Inhumans and this, and the scheduling is a bit off.
In supply.

X-Men: Manifest Destiny #5 (of 5)
The final issue of the hit X-Men anthology mini-series is here! See the pulse pounding conclusion of Mike Carey and Michael Ryan’s Iceman story? What does Mystique want and why is she coming to Iceman? Also stories featuring the return of Avalanche and a rockin’ story starring your favorite glam-X-lady Dazzler!
Well here’s my answer – MD is definitely five issues. Despite the first issue saying 'of 4' on the cover. I hope that the Iceman story has a good finish. I don’t much care about Dazzler or Avalanche though. This is a hit series? I thought everyone hated it. You may think I’m crazy to get it, but I’ve committed myself and I’m stubborn.
In supply.

X-Men: Worlds Apart #4 (of 4)
On one hand, her husband. On the other, her teammates. While Storm races to save the lives of the Black Panther and the X-Men, she recognizes a third option: take down the one responsible for making her choose in the first place. And to do it, she just might get some help from an unlikely source…
Say what? After all the hype Storm’s not going to choose between the X-Men and Wakandia? Meh.
Not in supply, fortunately.


Young X-Men #10
You think you know everything there is to know about YOUNG X-MEN? Think again. One shocker has been brewing since #1 and the pot peaks with #10. Don’t miss this landmark issue of Young X-Men.
I’m really tempted to pick this up. The Y-Men arc will have finished in December, and this book looks like it will be going somewhere at last. But I’m still getting a lot of miniseries in Jan, so I’ll probably wait for some of them to end, and for the book to pick up threads from Infernus.
Not in supply…yet.

War Correspondence - The Legacy of Messiah CompleX

I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I've been putting it off until the direction of the X-books could bee seen a bit more clearly. With IGN running an interview with X-editors Nick Lowe and John Barber that I can steal fr…I mean refer to, I thought now would be a good time.

About this time last year, we knew that the four team X-books (X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, New X-Men and X-Factor) would be involved in an old-style crossover called Messiah CompleX that would shake-up the world of the X-Men and that it would result in every X-book having a clear mandate which was different to every other X-book. Have they succeeded? I'd answer yes, but it took them a little longer to get there than I thought it would.

Messiah CompleX worked well. The four writers worked well together to produce a seamless, fast-paced, weekly storyline with stunning twists that gave the X-Men new hope and direction after M-Day - which was especially needed after the way most books had just ignored it. It also counterbalanced the birth of the new hope with the death of the old hope that had been driving them since issue #1 of Uncanny - the hope that mutants can exist peacefully with humans. They can't.

So, Uncanny X-Men became about the new hope. X-Force started the story of the dark secret behind why the new hope will succeed where the old failed. X-Men became X-Men: Legacy and explained why the old hope failed. New X-Men became Young X-Men, and continued to be about the last generation of X-Men who have a new hope that they are not actually the last generation of X-Men after all. X-Factor continued to rebel against the leadership of the other X-Men, now by being depressed instead of hopeful. Cable took two mutants who were stuck on the periphery of the X-verse with nothing to do and pulled them right into the centre by pitting them against each other with the new hope as first prize.

Except, it didn't happen quite like that. When Messiah CompleX ended, there was still a few issues to go before Uncanny #500 which was going to be the launching point of the new directions. So the books treaded water under the Divided We Stand label, giving us such unfortunate stories as the X-men going on holiday in Uncanny, Arcade popping up in X-Factor, and Pierce pitting the new X-Men against the new mutants in Young X-Men, and Bishop repeatedly trying to kill the baby in Cable. Whilst some of these stories might have been ok on their own, they added up to a disillusioning vision that we weren't going to be getting what they had told us we would. Nothing of any importance was happening in the 'flagship' Uncanny. Young X-Men was nowhere as good as the beloved New X-Men. Cable was an excellent concept, but executed very badly. And X-Factor felt like the only thing that Messiah CompleX had achieved was to derail its storylines.

That just left X-Force and X-Men: Legacy, both of which were praised. It is possible that X-Force was only being praised cause everything else was so bad, but X-Men: Legacy definitely deserved its praise for its examination of the history of the X-Men. The only problem with Legacy was that new readers wouldn't understand it.

Fortunately, there was a second chance to get it right under the Manifest Destiny label, which was launched by Uncanny X-Men #500. Manifest Destiny is not finished yet, but this time, it looks like its working. All the pieces are finally falling into place and each of the books are now following a different concept - the concepts I mentioned in the third paragraph. So, where exactly are they, and where are they going?

Uncanny X-Men
This is the flagship. This is where we first saw the move to Los Angeles, where we will see the X-men taking hold of their new hope and destiny. If the X-Men need to get involved with other superheroes like the Avengers, you'll see it here. If the X-Men have a huge crisis, you'll see it here. We have often been told that Uncanny has no lineup, no set team, like it used to do. I don't think that's entirely correct. I'd say that before, it was like a cricket team. You have your list of eleven players. If one of them gets injured, bad luck, you're short a batsman or bowler and can't do much about it. But now, its more like a soccer team. You have a core team of players who always play the whole match, and a number of substitutes who are swapped in and out as the need arises. The core team is Cyclops, Emma, Beast, Angel, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine and Pixie. So far we've seen Cannonball subbed in to blindside Magneto, and Karma subbed in to fight the Hellfire club. I'm not sure where to put Storm as she's still supposed to be Queen of Wakandia which is a long way from LA, but that's what the Storm: Worlds Apart miniseries will tell us.

Astonishing X-Men
This is the X-Men team book. It has an actual set team, which overlaps a lot with Uncanny, but you won't be seeing substitutes or big direction stuff here. It’s about a set team of X-Men fighting villains, beating them, then fighting the next lot of villains. Its not trying to be anything else. I'd say its probably for people who haven't read or don't want to read much X-Men. That is, if it manages to come out on time, which it doesn't seem to be doing.

Young X-Men
This is about the young X-Men. Well, some of them. They happen to be ones I don't care about, but I'm sure some people like these characters and will buy this book. It had a rocky start - if they needed to wait for Uncanny #500, why didn't they just delay the launch of this book? Regardless, it is now in LA like the other X-Men. This books identity seems to be somewhat diluted by the new direction. Before, there were four books about adult X-teams, and one about a teenage X-team. It had identity cause it stood out from the crowd. But now, all the others are so different from each other that there is no crowd to stand out from. It just feels like this will be 'Astonishing X-Men lite'.

X-Force
This book is the part of Uncanny X-Men that you don't see in Uncanny X-Men. It’s a clandestine team-within-a-team. The X-men don't know the X-Force exists, and for good reason. The X-Men don't kill, but the X-Force does. Here you see the dark side of Cyclops, Angel and Wolverine, who together with X-23, Warpath, Wolfsbane, and Elixir, decide who must be killed to keep the X-men safe. It asks a lot of questions people don't want to answer. I'm prepared to pretend it doesn't exist and not buy it, rather than complain about it and ask them to stop publishing it. X-Force? I don't know about any X-Force. What does that say about me?

X-Factor
X-Factor hasn't changed a whole lot. It was a noir detective book about a group of X-Men, a close-knit business rather than a team of superheroes, who tend to disagree with Cyclops and the other X-men and do their own thing, and it still is. Sure, they've moved from New York to Detroit, but all that changes is that they are now even farther from the rest of the X-Men and even less likely to get involved with them. It was on a bit of a rocky road after Messiah CompleX, but it seems to have pulled itself together and started using the damage that was done to it as an asset rather than a liability.

X-Men: Legacy, Wolverine: Origins and Wolverine
This is not a team book, even though it has a number of X-men in it. This is a book about individual characters who are not currently with the X-Men in LA, but are off in various parts of the world assessing their relationship with the X-Men. It could have been called the X-ternals, but that would imply there was some sort of unity between the disparate characters. Its mostly been about Professor X, with some Gambit and Sebastian Shaw thrown in, but at the moment it’s the Prof, Wolverine and Daken. After that, Rogue will soon become a big player. X-Men: Legacy has just started a crossover with Wolverine: Origins, which many find amusing as they are reputed to be the best and worst X-books respectively. What the crossover has done is pull Origins out if its own corner and put it firmly into the X-verse. We are told it will be staying here, and stuff in it will impact other books more and more. What does that mean for Wolverine itself? At the moment its off in the future, crossing over with Fantastic Four, and having nothing to do with the X-verse. All Barber will say is that it will return to the present day next year. So Wolverine is a wildcard at the moment.

Cable
Cable is off in the future protecting a baby while Bishop tries to harm him by changing the present. I do not understand this book. I've read books like The Seeds of Time, by Wyndham, and watched series like Star Trek, so I thought I understood time travel. But I cannot fathom how Bishop thinks changing the future will harm Cable. He doesn't even know where Cable is. Does he have Layla Miller's powers now or something? There is hope though - according to Barber, Marvel will continue the good book / bad book crossover trend by having an X-Force/Cable crossover in the near future.

Events
I have spoken at length on X-Infernus, so all I will say here is that Lowe calls it a 'Deadly Genesis style mini'. Lowe say the X-men won't play a role in War of Kings - which I assume means that no X-Men except Havok, Polaris, Marvel Girl and Vulcan will be involved, but there is another big plan for them in summer 2009. Does this mean the X-men will finally get directly involved in an event? Then 2010 will see another Messiah CompleX style crossover - I'm glad they're doing another one, and equally glad that its only happening in 2010, giving the X-books time to settle into their new roles.

Quartermaster - Marvel goes Dark and Cosmic

I felt like playing with colour today. Blue for titles, green for if I'm getting them, red if I'm not.

Civil War: House of M
Sometime this week I'll put up a post explaining why I like house of M so much. Till, then, in supply.





Dark…Stuff
Not much to say here, as its all classified. Not even sure which of these are one shots and which are miniseries. Secret Invasion: Dark Reign was announced as a one-shot somewhere, I think. Dark Reign: New Nation seems to be an anthology of the type liked by X-Men writers, and could be a oversized one shot, or part of a mini-series. I'll chat more about the classified stuff tomorrow on Spoils of War. But as I don't know what any of this is, and won't be able to get Marvel Previews: Dark Reign edition until its too late to order anything…not in supply. Of course, Kickasskomix pride themselves on being able to get anything I want, so if I really really need any of this, I can get it in January.

Guardians of the Galaxy #8
Goodness gracious. Blastaar vs Star-Lord in the Negative Zone? Rocket Raccoon leads the Guardians of the Galaxy? (Well, they showed us that in last month's cover, but I didn't believe them.) It’s a War of Kings lead-in too! Which is a good thing, cause I thought they might throw in another mini-series that I can't afford to get cause there's just too much happening in December. In supply.

Fantastic Four: Cosmic Sized #1
The solicit title says Fantastic four Cosmic Special, the picture says Fantastic Four: Cosmic Sized, and the file was named 'ffinvcov.jpg' . I'm telling you all this cause the solicit itself gives no information, a suspicious move which leads me to think it has something to do with the end of Secret Invasion. Except that its nowhere near any of the Dark Reign stuff in the solicit list. Not in supply for now, but being cosmic, there's an outside chance it may link to War of Kings, so we'll wait and see…

Hulk Family #1
Now, I wanted to get this, cause of Scorpion, but there's just too much stuff going on this month, and its $5. I can almost get two other comics for that price! So, not in supply.





Marvel Studios: Iron Man: Fast Friends #1 and The Incredible Hulk: The Fury Files #1
Now this was unexpected. Sure, we've had Secret Invasion: The Home Invasion, but two movie tie-in series available exclusively on MDCU? It’s a very interesting move, I'll have more comments on this tomorrow. I don't subscribe to MDCU, so not in supply.


She Hulk: Cosmic Collision
She Hulk with Quasar's sword? With Storm, Susan Storm and Valkyrie in it too? Its written by Peter David? In supply.





What If?
A whole slew of these with an interesting gimmick that they each have part of a back up story involving the Runaway's becoming the Young Avengers. We've all seen the Doom/Guantlet cover to What If? Secret Wars and the Cap holding Iron Man cover to What IF? Fallen Son. Darn Marvel, teasing us like that. Oh, What If? House of M should really be named What If? Decimation, but it probably wouldn't sell as much then. Not in supply.

Uncanny X-Men #505
This cover threw me for a bit - but I think its supposed to be the hotel in Cyclops' head. Which makes me wonder whether Storm's audience with Emma is real or not. Evil from Russia run amok in SF? Didn't the Order fight Ursa Major in SF? Written by Matt Fraction? Plus Simon Trask's press conference and Angel and Beast putting a fringe science team together. It all sounds really good. I hope it is. In supply.

X-Infernus #1
At least we know what this series name is now. They went with the simplest option. Its better than X-Men - Inferno II: Infernus. I'm really looking forward to this - rumour has it Mercury and Pixie will be involved, and a depowered mutant will gain mystic powers unrelated to the X-gene. In supply.


X-Factor #38
I have no idea what the Karma project is, or what it has to do with an army of Darwins. And wasn't Longshot a skrull? But its X-Factor investigating a large corporation, which sounds a lot like the days when they were up against Singularity, so I'm pretty sure its gonna be good. Oh, and fending off the US government who want Siryn and her baby. In supply.

X-Men: Kingbreaker #1
I've spoken about this before, so I don't have anything else to say, other than it's in supply.






X-Men: Legacy #219
Talk about agonising decisions. I want to get this - but I'm getting too any comics, and I know Mike Carey's gonna be going into Rogue stuff soon which I don't care about. I want to see what Juggy and the Prof are up to, but only if its interesting. Gah. Not in supply…but I may change my mind.

X-Men: Manifest Destiny #4
I could have sworn this was a four issue series. But now it say 'of 5'. I'll be getting the first issue of this on Friday. Reviews have been mostly negative, but I'm an optimist - Mike Carey said the Iceman story is going somewhere, and I believe him. This issue has a story about Mercury, which will be welcome. I miss her. In supply.

Young X-Men #9
I promised I'd re-look at this, but I still don't have much interest in the characters. It’s the end of a 2 parter, so I'll take another look when January previews come out. Not in supply…for now.

Spoils of War - We Live in Dark Times

Biggest X-Men news this week is that Giuseppe Camuncoli will be drawing X Infernus. I don't know much about him, but his work on Ms Marvel looks really good. As do his character sketchesfor X Infernus (seen in this post). So I guess this confirms Pixie will be meeting Darkchylde again. Maybe she can get some payback. Mike Carey confirmed that Sunspot has in fact left the Hellfire Club, opening the way for a power struggle over control of the club. This is not good for the X-Men, no matter who ends up in control. Oh, X-Men Noir? Yeah, they've been hyping it up with the mysterious pictures for a while, but honestly I'm not that impressed. I already get X-Factor. The Daredevil and Spider-Man Noir books seem more interesting.
Speaking of Spidey, everyone seems to be enjoying his current storyarc, New Ways to Die. The name seems ironic to me, because its actually about the return of old Spidey villains, rather than the new ones. One can argue about whether Anti-Venom is a new or old villain, but his emergence has elevated Mr Negative to a new level of interesting. Mr Negative always struck me as the only one of the new crop who had much staying power. By the way, Dan Slott has confirmed that the phrase 'everything we did is still up and running' does not refer to Mephisto. I've never been much of a Spidey fan anyway - but I'm excited about the possibility of the Lizard being in the Spider-Man 4 movie.

I was pretty certain Mighty Avengers was going to be cancelled after Secret Invasion, and Newsarama confirmed my suspicions - only to quickly apologise and clarify that although Brian Bendis is leaving the book, its not being cancelled. There's still gonna be a new (fourth!) avengers book, Dark Avengers, which will tie into Dark Reign. Dark Reign itself appears to be one of these aftermath 'events' which are not really crossovers and not really events, but rather a label slapped on a whole lot of books that says 'in this book the Marvel Universe has changed, just like we said it would'. We've seen them before: Decimation, the Initiative Divided We Stand. I'm not saying they're a bad thing, just that you don't need to go out and buy every single one of them. I'm sure this Dark stuff has been in the works for a while, but its still interesting in light of DC's comments about making their movies darker. Seems everyone likes their heroes dark and their villains darker.

And why on earth does Doom have the Infinity Gauntlet? And what does it have to do with the Eternals? I have no idea, but it is interesting that he's granted asylum to Namor, who knows who has each gem, and that Namor and Doom are both in the 'evil illuminati' picture. Oh, also keep in mind that Magneto and the High Evolutionary have been messing around with the Dreaming Celestial, who is linked to the Eternals, and happens to be in San Francisco. Yeah, ok, maybe I'm paranoid. But I still think it would be cool if Doom, Magneto and Namor started a Dark Avengers team to protect the earth from god-like beings, however unlikely it is.

If any of you are getting fed up with the Marvel universe - now's your chance. Abandon ship and jump on board Mark Millar's Ultimate Avengers which will be the core of a five-book (no more, no less) Ultimate Universe. Plus, they'll have two Big Events every year, with the Ultimate Avengers series taking the place of an event mini-series. The Marvel U only has one Big Event every year. You only have to buy five books every month, and you're guaranteed to have all the tie ins. Plus, they're aiming for all of the Ultimate titles to do batter than every other Marvel title every month. It sounds too good to be true.

Military Intelligence - Guessing Games

I'm playing the guessing game today. So if you think I might guess something right and spoil a storyline, don't read this. But I never was much good at guessing.

C. B. Cebulski said that he could circumvent the ban on depowered mutants regaining their powers during X-Infernus - over the years there's a few X-characters that have had mystical powers, and he hinted that one of these might get their mystical powers back during the magical event. But who? He's not saying, but I have some ideas. I doubt any depowered witches will be showing up for X-Infernus, but I might put money on a certain former valkyrie showing up…

My sister is studying ancient civilizations, and we've been talking about the Egyptian Gods. I told her a few days ago that I thought Sekhmet, the lioness goddess of vengeance would make a good Marvel character. And whadda you know, in October Thor visits Egypt and duels the Egyptian Gods in Thor: Truth of History. I'm not sure how I missed seeing this in previews. He also meets something familiar that doesn't belong, and sets in motion a chain of events that affects the present day. What could this be? My first thought would be Apocalypse, but if it is I'd think they'd have publicized it more. As in having an article on Marvel.com titled: THOR FIGHTS APOCALYPSE!!!!!!!!! The Dreaming Celestial maybe?

Newsarama has an interview with Marc Guggenheim on Young X-Men. He says that the team would move to San Francisco, as they have realised that if you were once an X-Man, you can't just lie low, people will come after you. Scott and Emma don't know what to do with them until two of the New Mutants offer to train the youngsters. I'm going for Sunspot and Moonstar due to a comment I read somewhere on Marvel.com mentioning the moon and the sun. Which in turn makes me think that this book will be involved in an X-Infernus crossover. Who is Greymalkin? I think that he's Cypher. Or an amalgam of Cypher with some other dead students. If so, it will make a lot of people really happy, or really angry. One of the mutants is gonna discover they aren't a mutant. I'm not entirely sure what a golem-controlling psychic entity actually is, but I'm sure Rockslide still counts as a mutant. I'm guessing Ink will find out he isn't a mutant. A fan-favorite member of the New X-Men will join the team. I'm pretty certain it'll be Anole. They are purposely putting all the characters I don't like (Dust, Blindfold, Rockslide, Anole) in Young X-Men, and leaving the ones I do (Surge, Hellion, Mercury, Gentle, Loa) wandering around who knows where. At least Pixie's in Uncanny, and Mercury might be in X Infernus. I won't be picking it up yet, but I'll keep an eye on it, and if good things happen to it during or after X-Infernus, I'll probably pick it up.