Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Dead X-Men #1 Spoilers


Spoilers: During a discussion between Charles Xavier and Rachel Summers, they tackle the challenge of assembling a team for a mission  involving the complicated timelines created by Sinister's cloning technology. Xavier outlines a plan to engage Moira in her tenth life before her powers surfaced, underscoring the urgency of pinpointing the specific date, time, and location of this critical event. Charles raises concerns about Rachel's chosen mutants, expecting her to nominate Betsy for leadership. Rachel defends her choices, emphasizing the need for precision in navigating Moira's complex mind across various timelines. She opposes involving Betsy, believing Moira has psychic defenses against powerhouses. Rachel highlights Prodigy's passive psychic absorption, a crucial asset for subtly accessing information from Moira's well-guarded mind.

Monday, January 22, 2024

X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #123 Spoilers & Art


Previously: Camp Gozhoo, Indigenous reservation and home to the Proudstar brothers, opened its borders to mutant refugees in the wake of Orchis’ devastating attacks on mutantkind. Unfortunately, Orchis troops, somehow seemingly allied with the mutant Externals, invaded. Thunderbird and Warpath were able to take down the brutal External named Crule, through Warpath was injured… and Crule’s allies made off with the large bulk of the mutant refugees.

Spoilers: Grandma Lozen tends to Warpath's injuries at Camp Gozhoo while Dani telepathically contacts Betsy, who is busy doing press to counter Orchis' propaganda. Thunderbird is reluctant to join a team but agrees to help after Dani emphasizes the urgency of rescuing mutants being kidnapped worldwide. In Madrid, El Aguila is captured by Orchis goons. Dani recruits Thunderbird for the mission, leaving Warpath behind to heal and protect the camp. Shatterstar unexpectedly teleports in to take Dani and Thunderbid back to the team's base: the X-Corps island hidden and hovering over the Pacific ocean is revealed. In Hell, Michigan, Orchis goons transporting mutant children crash, and Gideon, the External, reveals himself as the one who stopped them.

Friday, January 5, 2024

Cryptid Creator Corner Podcast Chats with Steve Foxe


Cryptid Creator Corner Introduces Dead X-Men: We’re at the end of the Krakoan Age and beginning a new era with these two intertwining series The Fall of the House of X and the Rise of the Hours of X and enter the Dead X-Men where the new X-Men candidates, Cannonball, Jubilee, Dazzler, Frenzy, and Prodigy, who were killed by the ultimate Nimrod Power Bomb during the Hellfire Gala. They were recruited by Professor X for a secret mission and bouncing around different key temporal locations and realities past in an attempt to find a solution that just might reverse the fate of Krakoa and things that happened.

Steve Foxe about Dead X-Men: As you’ll see in Rise of Powers of X, Xavier actually recruits a small team himself and that includes Rachel Summers and Rachel’s in charge of this aspect of the mission. So, it’s Rachel who decides these five mutants are the ones who should be doing. So, she’s kind of the sixth dead X-Men even though there’s no dying involved at her path.

This [Dead X-Men] is pretty tightly interwoven with Rise of the Powers of X to the point where you will see exact scenes reflected in both, working so closely with Kieran throughout this has been really amazing. He’s a creator I look up to so much. So, it’s been very surreal these last couple months to be working so closely with him to determine how this is going to fit into Rise of the Powers of X. And he’s been so generous in reflecting plotlines and building things back and forth. I mean, even Rachel’s role in his book ended up changing when I had strong feelings about how I wanted to deploy her here. And as much as every other time I say, you don’t have to read the larger event, you can just read this. You should probably be reading both. These are some big concepts. What I can promise is that you’re going to get very character-focused work in Dead X Man. It’s really about celebrating these five and Rachel. Rachel to a lesser extent because she didn’t get squished by Nimrod. It’s about celebrating these five. It’s about celebrating the Krakoan era and looking back on it.

Steve Foxe about X-Men Infinity Unlimited: Starting in January, we are doing an arc that will actually continue all the way till summer. So rather than doing short stories, we’re actually doing one continuous story. Betsy is involved, Betsy Braddock, Captain Britain; Thunderbird, who Steve [Orlando]’s done a lot of work with is involved, and also some other fun characters are going to get looped into that; Danni Moonstar, who was just in Realm of X. So very excited to be on that. That will actually, by the end, be the longest single X-Men story I’ve worked on, because if you count the Unlimited pages, it kind of equals out to almost seven issues. So very excited to be on that with Steve, and we’re working with Phil Sevy, who’s the artist of the X-Men Unlimited arc that’s currently running, and Nick Roche, who’s done X-Men Unlimited in the past. So, they’re going to alternate on and off, and we’re going to be on that through the summer.

Steve Foxe about future projects: I actually do have a couple other even mutant related things I haven’t been announced yet. The best way I can tease that, I’ll say blue, and I’ll say purple. And that’s all I can reveal for now.

Steve Foxe Talks "Dead X-Men"

Steve Foxe: Let’s see, that covers all the D-words in the headline except…oh yeah, Dead X-Men. This bad boy won’t debut until the end of the month, but I’m writing a four-issue mini-series spinning out of Kieron Gillen and RB Silva’s Rise of the Powers Of X, one of the epic bookends to the long-running Krakoan saga. The cast was briefly a bit of a secret, but a poorly kept one: Dazzler, Prodigy, Frenzy, Jubilee, and Cannonball, the newly elected X-Men who died at this summer’s Hellfire Gala, are back in a time-and-space-spanning adventure.

There’s very little I can reveal about this book just yet, but I take writing these five (along with our other two primary cast members, Rachel Summers and [redacted]) as a serious responsibility. Besides being some of my personal favorite mutants (DAZZLER), this is the team-that-almost-wasn’t. While the book was already planned and started before readers reacted to their shocking deaths, seeing the passion and interest X-fans had in seeing these five as X-Men lit a fire under all of us. I got a taste of writing them all alongside Steph Williams and Noemi Vittori in their X-Men Unlimited shorts, but the tone is vastly different—and the stakes much higher—in Dead X-Men. I’ve described the book as my chance to channel Claremont and Cockrum and I’m sticking to that vague-yet-accurate statement for now.

What I can say, though, is that the art team on the book is BONKERS. In addition to main covers and stunning new costumes designed by Lucas Werneck, we’ve got eight (!) artists contributing to our four issues. It’s an ambitious plan and I didn’t think our editor superstars Jordan White and Lauren Amaro would want to wrangle all of these moving pieces, but it’s worked out, knock on wood, exactly as I hoped.

My Dark X-Men collaborator Jonas Scharf kicks us off, with Jean Grey’s Bernard Chang appearing in every issue and Astonishing Iceman’s Vincenzo Carratù doing the bulk of #1. Fan-favorite Peter V. Nguyen (who contributed a Wolverine backup) and my X-Men Unlimited partner Guillermo Sanna join us for #2, before Lynne Yoshii (also X-Men Unlimited), Javier Pina (X-Men), and David Baldeon (X-Factor) loop in for #3. Bringing us home on #4 are David, Vincenzo, and Bernard. Frank Martin colors the whole thing, and it’s been a huge thrill seeing his unifying take on these very different artists. This was an extremely rad instance of everyone we asked and hoped for lining up, and it’s making for a really heartfelt tribute to the Krakoan era as a whole.

Monday, January 1, 2024

Recap 2023 • Betsy Braddock/Captain Britain

Recap 2023  Betsy Braddock's journey in 2023 was led by Tini Howard in "Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain," running for just five issues before getting the axe. Senior Editor Jordan D. White expressed hope that it'd keep going but seemed disappointed by its abrupt end and poor sales, mentioning financial constraints. This year, Betsy only had five full appearances, marking a real low for the character. Some fans felt the series was a step up from "Knights of X," but unfortunately, it failed to resonate widely. The cancellation of "Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain" and its lukewarm reception left Betsy in comic book limbo for a frustrating seven months, much to the disappointment of her fans. Betsy is now set to make a comeback in 2024 under writer Steve Foxe in February's X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic, paving the way for her return in March's "Dead X-Men," also by Foxe, donning the beloved Disassembled costume. Fans are buzzing with excitement and hope for a fresh take on Betsy's journey. Take a trip down memory lane and share your favorite stories, writers, artists, quotes, and more. Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

JANUARY


X-Terminators #5
• The Book is Ending :C
Captain Britain and Rachel guide rescued Otherworlders safely home after X-Terminators' rescue mission.


FEBRUARY


Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #1
• Returns Home, Having Changed
Captain Britain faces public criticism, aids her Corps, suspects Coven Akkaba, battles Furies alongside Rachel, and confronts imminent threats. Alternate versions also appear.


MARCH


Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #2
• Two Captains, One Country
Captain Britain thwarts Morgan Le Fey's ploy, rescues Lizzie, combats the sorceress, liberates possessed Captain Carter, and senses Morgan's deeper machinations. Alternate versions also appear.


APRIL


Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #3
• The Captain We Deserve
Captain Britain protects civilians, deceives the Fury, seeks Pete Wisdom's aid, reconciles with Rachel, seeks counsel from Tony Stark against Morgan's plot. Alternate versions also appear.


MAY


Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #4
• Earth's Most Furious
Captain Britain seeks the Avengers' aid, unveils relationship with Rachel to the media, defeats the Fury, plans covert ops against Morgan with S.T.R.I.K.E.'s help.


JUNE


Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #5
• Thou Art More Near Thy Death
Captain Britain plans S.T.R.I.K.E.'s mission, confronts Morgan, defeats the sorceress with Faiza Hussain's help, and renews her commitment to the Corps with Rachel.


JULY


X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #97
• Control, Part 2
[Vision] Polaris senses visions of her loved ones, including Betsy, turning against her during Malice's possession of Dani Moonstar.


X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #98
• Control, Part 3
[Flashback] Polaris recalls how Betsy, Kwannon, and Emma Frost's encounter influenced Malice's change of heart.


OCTOBER


X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #108
• The Redroot Saga, Part 3
[FlashbackSheriff Gia Whitechapel tells Sunfire how Captain Britain and her Knights rescued her.