red snow

I wonder what's happening to the "5th generation" plan now that dan didio has been fired from DC? Wonder if it will be a separate line rather than the main continuity? I think the latter option is more appealing as it could be akin to marvel's ultimate imprint. The company seems in a bit of flux at the moment caught between prestige "black label" books and regular "event" series. I guess the black label has a longer term future in book sales.

I had a quick glance and the art does look fun. How many "issues" or time investment is required to get up to speed with the series

I've been reading it in trade format so I'm not sure if the final volume is out. If it is i have some catching up to do! I liked how despite all the various factions and threads it appeared to be coming to a head.

I am warming to Ellis again. I only really went off him when he went through a phase of never finishing projects (although I understand some of that was a combo of him losing a hardrive of stories and artist issues) but he's becoming more reliable. Maybe working in TV has taught him some deadline techniques. It seems more of a publishing issue that Wildcats is on hiatus. I thought the story was weak (but I'm not a fan of the whole symbiote mythology that's been created over the last few years) but I completely agree that the artwork blows away any problems with the story. Some of the most interesting pop art in comics I've seen in a while. I've heard the new Thor series is sort of a successor title to Silver Surfer Black but I'm hesitant given I didn't really like the story and it's a different artist. Undiscovered country is turning out to be a comic that's probably better read in trades. I was meh about the first issue but following ones have been grabbing more attention. It still makes me appreciate East of West a lot more.

It was odd how it started out feeling more like a wildcats book and then became more of an authority title. Maybe because Ellis thought he was doing a wildcats spin-off? The only version of wildcats I'm familiar with is the 3.0 one where they were saving the world as a corporate entity and it remains one of the most original takes in superheroes but sadly underexplored. I guess there was the one issue by Morrison and Lee too. It's a shame the wildstorm universe is plagued by delays and unfinished projects. Probably due to DC always being unsure of how to handle the characters and possibly scared/embarrassed at the imprint ever being more successful than their main books. Still a bit bizarre given Jim Lee's position at DC and him being the founder of wildstorm.

It's odd how Hickman is really leaning into the comedy with his dawn of X titles. Manhattan projects was zany but X-Men and new mutants have been laugh out funny. I like this side of him. Emma and Jean's trading of insults in issue 3 was great too. I'm a little bit behind with the series due to xmas but enjoying his books and finding the others ok/average. Bumper volume of immortal hulk landed this morning. 16 issues for the price of 4. Although I'd already read the first 5.

Maybe he's writing a star wars comic or novel? Maybe even a film/tv trilogy

I think he is a lot better as a guest star and like you say he had a lot going on health wise and arguably shouldn't have been working in what i imagine is a stressful and heavy workload as a show's lead

Season 1 was always pretty ropey particularly with Sinclair as the lead but a lot of the main story beats were present from early on. I wonder with 22 episode shows if there was a limit in terms of takes as it did seem like they just made do. It would also explain how as actors became more comfortable with the role that their performances improved

Haven't got my hands on this week's releases but I did enjoy "Punisher: Soviet" which is what you'd expect from Ennis at this stage. I've been reading some of Joe Hill's horror series thanks to a cunning free sampler my comic store gave me and I found both "Basket full of heads" and "Dollhouse" intriguing (the back up "sea dogs" not so much). Weirdly Lemire's "family tree" also feels like it could be part of the horror line. Must be the season getting me to try those books out. I finished Ellis' "the Wild Storm" and found it to be a great nostalgia trip/reboot. There was a lot to juggle but Ellis managed to pull it off in a single title. It maybe left the WildCats by the wayside as it became more of an Authority comic but there is supposed to be a Wildcats follow-up series (although it was supposed to be out in August so that's a bit of a worry). The book should also be used to show other companies how to switch genders and races of known characters as Ellis and co. have made what was a fairly male then white dominated cast much more diverse. Maybe it's because the characters aren't as "big" as say Superman, etc or because the original characters technically still exist in the DC universe (Midnighter does at least) but it worked really smoothly for me and I'm someone who was a big fan of the Stormwatch/Authority cast. Probably boils down to the characters maintaining their essence and the new versions being as strong (better in the case of the Doctor) as the originals. That and the title being obscure enough that DC/Marvel trolls can't get enraged at a level where I can hear it.

Chances are he had similar ideas for both of them. A bit like his obsession with black and white character designs. I wasn't that impressed with X-men 2. Krakoa mating was the main thing the issue had going for it and suggests the overall story will keep moving forward. The art was very sketchy and rushed in places too - I've never been sure why Yu gets so many high profile gigs. Fallen Angels was very focused on Psylocke which was ok. Kid Cable is popping up everywhere unfortunately - it's not that I hate his characterisation it's just I find it pointless to have a character we've known as an adult for so long. There's also the original 5 problem of Kid cable has his mind wiped and forgets everything at some point rendering Kid Cable pointless or there's a massive plot hole in Cable never telling anyone to watch out for all the things from his past that would be in the X-men's future. Out of all the Dawn of X books, New mutants has easily been my favourite. It could change with additional issues New Mutants X-men Marauders Fallen Angels X-force Excalibur Only New Mutants has really impressed me. I think HOXPOX maybe set too high a standard moving forward but none of the ongoings have come close to capturing the intrigue and excitement of those books. The majority of the books feel like fairly average X-books but with the new dressing of HOXPOX. Probably a lot better than the X-men books have been for a while though.

I best get a bottle before reading tomorrow

What happens when one of them decides they want to be referred to as "dad" rather than "father" though? Wasn't there a fairly solid rumour that Hickman was going to develop LOSH for DC a few years back? It's easy to see how X-men could easily have used his "unused" legion ideas. From the LOSH lead in it looked like there were quite a few similarities with HOXPOX. Not the first time marvel and DC have had very similar stories at same time

He really should form a band. I didn't notice any name changes in "new mutants" or "X-Force". EDIT: no goldballs is now egg. What gives? I'd have thought Rahne would have wanted a name change along the lines of "Maisie Williams" (the artist clearly knows there's a probably never to be released new mutants film) or "wolfsembrace". Speaking of Rahne, it was good they acknowledged her recent death as it's probably the closest we've got to an acknowledgement the events pre Hoxpox happened. Still seems crappy of Xavier to let all the mutants die over the last few years and not bring back when he seemed to have all the mutants necessary for his resurrection factories. Unless goldballs/egg didn't realize what his powers were until very recently (and Moira didn't know). I'm still a bit unsure about krakoa too - did the island only recently resurface? Probably all things that come from not having read x-men for a few years and not really things that get in the way of the story.

Silver surfer wound up a book i could only love for the artwork which was amazing. The story paled in comparison. New Mutants is my favourite dawn of x-book so far. The stand out was the book was fun and had characters in it as opposed to mouthpieces for speeches and plot. I liked the amost painted style of artwork too. I liked that krakoa seems to be terraforming and using mutants in much the same way plants use insects, birds and animals to spread seeds. Also interesting that mondo was uncomfortable with krakoa. X-Force felt a bit rushed and agree how it seemed pretty stupid how they were so easily attacked. Poor Black Tom Cassidy was seemingly the only person with his shit together. There was also a complete lack of X-force. And i don't buy the "death" at all. Undiscovered country nowhere met the hype. The structure is very similar to that of letter 44 (which i think was also by soule) and like others said it feels like east of west and manifest destiny are comics that execute the same idea more effectively. I have to hope that there's a reason for the mad max and Mortal engines rip offs bring intentional otherwise it feels like a lot of clichés. Maybe this is a concept that should have just stuck to being a TV show as it already feels like that's what it was designed for?

I just think it's odd that several characters in the same franchise are wanting to change how they are called. Must be a krakoa thing but felt it's already been done years ago when Magneto and his acolytes were using their codenames as their real names as a way of dismissing their human given names. Excalibur is one of those books that'll be absolutely fine for folk who like the magic side of Marvel - I'm not. I do give the title credit for being different from any of the other X-books currently out though. I also hope they do something interesting with this change. It's going to be confusing though as the character and image are inseparable to me so my concern is kwannon will behave just like Betsy or she'll feel "off" in the sense she's no longer familiar. That said Psylocke in X-force was a ninja assassin which is exactly what kwannon is. I don't know whether they addressed the splitting of the characters when it happened but I imagine Kwannon would not be happy with Betsy.

Trying to get into habit of reading comics on the day rather than accidentally winding up just collecting most of them. Some solid efforts from DC Black label. Last God #1 was a bit GOT/conan with some nice art and a bit of a change from superheroes. Joker:killer smile was OK (the woodrue joke was the highlight for me) - definitely better than the Harley quinn black label book. Hellblazer was very good - I'm familiar with the character but never read his main series so this was a great introduction and I'll be checking out the new series next month. Reminds me I need to catch up on some of the other Sandman universe books. Dark Universe: Death of superman was a weird mix of old school and grimdark. I guess there was an argument for why Superman doesn't use his power to permanently tackle humanity's problems in there but it's subtle. Not really my cup of tea. I didn't like Excalibur at all - it's main crime was being dull/tedious. I've never been a fan of the otherworld and captain Britain mythology and this title is as much about that as it is Krakoa. Feels like it's been made to fit in with Dawn of X. I also really dislike Apocalypse as a sorcerer (guess my bias to the character was when he was all celestial tech) and the character is nowhere near as cool as the way Hickman was depicting him. And what's with everyone wanting new names of sudden? Kitty, Psylocke and now Apocalypse. I guess it's good for my wallet that there's already one Dawn of X book I can give up on. Hopefully New mutants will be stronger as it's co-written by Hickman. I still have Silver Surfer and Chrononauts to check out.

I was still an avid reader back when pyro first died. So Xavier maybe downloaded a copy while necrosha was happening. I suspect Hickman is going to find it hard to resist not having multiple wolverines with the new set up given how it's been a ling running joke it's the only way he could be on so many teams. I've been reading saga of the swamp thing and it really is the essential reading everyone says it is. I'm surprised by how much the Sandman series emulates it. Also working my way through the wild storm. It's impressive how Ellis is weaving the whole of the wildstorm universe into a cohesive single narrative. It's probably just my own bias but I'm loving how the authority cast are being worked in. Shame it's so slow as to be impossible to read in monthly installments for me.

If the first issue is anything to go by it's definitely the kitty/kate pryde show. That said it's the most entertaining she's been in a while. I think Bishop may have an interesting storyline but they barely scratched the surface. For me it all depends on how they play the mutant rescue/smuggler angle as well as developing why Kitty can't use Krakoa teleportation. So, is adult Iceman openly Gay now? Or Bi? I know there was that iffy storyline where Jean outed young Iceman (which seemed a shitty move for a telepath) but never read far enough to see what the implications were for the older Iceman. X-men continuity is complicated! I'm also finding it tenuous to believe Xavier had an up to date memory back-up of everyone. Pyro for example. Also, the more i think about it the more I feel like one of the resurrection 5 should have been a brand new mutant. Otherwise I'm still left wondering why they waited until now to do the whole dawn of X (besides it just being the point where Hickman came on board). Also I'm still waiting for these mutants to be very high on the anti-mutant hit list. Although I wouldn't put it past Xavier to have back-ups ready to go for the five as they are too integral to the new scheme.

Really vicious but a good highlight of her powers. Did anyone else notice that lockheed had fingers in his mouth at the end of the fight? Hopefully only eating hands as opposed to entire people. I'm also really curious as to why she can't used the gates or why Krakoa appears to be hostile towards her. I actually like the set up of the ship being used to smuggle out mutants who are being held hostage in their native countries - far more interesting than them being drug smugglers which was the vibe I was getting prior to reading. Not so sure why Storm is part of the crew when she seemed so against being Red Queen and captain. I guess she could be useful when dealing with Wakanda though - although again it would seem odd of Wakanda not to let their mutants leave. Guess it'll be more to do with the drugs. I'll give it a few issues to see where it goes - seems more "traditional" X-men. A recent review was making out it was nearing the end of its run. Not sure if that's the case or whether it's just relaunching. It's nice to have a marvel book that's self-contained though and doing horror.

I'm trying to get my head around why she was such a problem? I know she threatened Moira and seemed to be aware of her past (and future?) Lives but I'm still not clear why she'd be such a threat to mutants? Also there must be other precogs in the mutant world (or super folk) so what about them? And time travellers for that point. I really don't like kid cable. Hickman should have retconned that when he had the chance

Marvel does love a civil war. This one could be even more fun with villains on various sides too. I can see a schism (another one) based around magneto having his own cult following and some being pissed if they found Xavier was editing them. Mystique is also going to be angry when they don't bring destiny back. As for the budding relationships i suspect there's a bit of eugenics at play. Sinister and/or Moira probably have a notion of which pairings could create new omega level mutants. It's slso one of their "laws" to make more mutants but this is also probably with creating power mixes similar to those seen in the chimeras from POX. It'd be interesting to see if any of the relationships hinted at were in the chimeras listed. Wasnt one of them a pryde, colossus mix? There was also a nightcrawler one so it'd be interesting to see who he's cosying up to. Although you'd think moira would remember how to make chimeras unless it was Sinister alone who knew how to do that?

It's weird how the polygamy thing seems to be the main focus of the issue regarding reviews and online response. For me it's a big "so what" and at best is a fun poke by Hickman at how incestuous the X-men have been over the years anyhow. I was more interested in how Magneto was being depicted as a god like saviour/protector of mutantkind and how he seems to be relishing it. Seems a bit dangerous to me further down the road as Magneto has been known to do some shitty things in the name of protecting mutants and worry what would happen if he was tipped over the edge again. I'm also intrigued by Cyclops. I'm glad he's happy but he seems to be on the same kool aid that everyone else is currently. I noticed Polaris and Corsair both made a point of asking whether he actually means it - both with a sense of doubt. If it turns out there's something far more sinister at play with Dawn of X then I'm hoping Cyclops will be one of the characters to unravel it. Part of me feels like Krakoa is producing a spore that's creating the cult but Xavier might also be doing a bit of editing whenever he brings characters back to life. Hickman has made a point of saying he's created a story that allows all the toys to go back in the sandbox once he's done - I suspect that the "real" X-men are all in storage along with Sabretooth and that when his run is complete the "originals" will be back free of any taint/development under Hickman's run. Also wonder what the chances are that at least one of the mutant kids rescued in this issue are sleeper agents infiltrating Krakoa?

Read the first volume of "the wild storm". Great artwork and a good way of combining all Wildstorm mythology together but it's incredibly decompressed - even as a trade. It feels more like a really good script for a tv show and I'd love to see a cartoon of it in the style of Ellis' castlevania. Definitely making good use of my amazon unlimited trial at the moment. The phone app works quite well too.

I enjoyed the end of POX. It still feels a bit like it's all set in a pocket continuity from the rest of marvel but that's reassuring for me not wanting to follow too many marvel comics. It's a bit sinister the notion that xavier and co's mission is to try and stop post humans arising but i did like the idea that human/AI would vastly outcompete mutant kind. Although i can't see why mutants couldn't use the same technology to keep up especially with mr sinister already capable of such manipulations. Although maybe Hickman feels if a mutant did this they'd be post human and no longer mutant. I read "Batman's grave" mainly for Hitch's artwork which is enjoyable as usual and i guess Warren and him are a perfect match for "wide-screen" comics. I liked Alfred pointing out that bruce could probably buy Gotham for a lot less than beating up villains