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In which a whole lot of things burn; Nightcrawler gets gritty; it’s hard to be Dead Man Wade; Apocalypse’s IT department has some explaining to do; Mystique is the most mom of all moms; Doug Ramsey dies (again); and Jay will fight anyone who says comics can’t be “real” literature.
X-PLAINED:
- Damask
- X-Calibre #1-4
- Switchback
- Cain Marko of Earth-295
- Avalon
- Destiny of Earth-295
- Nightcrawler of Earth-295
- Ghost Dance (actual)
- Ghost Dance (fictional)
- John Proudstar of Earth-295
- The Infernal Gallop vs. the Infernal Galop
- Moonstar of Earth-295
- Dead Man Wade
- The Pale Riders
- Videoconferencing software of Earth-295
- The Excalibur
- Walter Newell
- Callisto of Earth-295
- A lot of murders
- A really dark historical precedent
- Parenthood
- Death by existential crisis
- The worst plan
- Variations on the death of Doug Ramsey
- Geography of the Age of Apocalypse
- The rest of the Marvel books during the Age of Apocalypse
- Jay vs. Western canon
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My first exposure to the AoA was the second X-Men Legends game, which came out around the time X-Factor Investigations started. As such I have never been able to see the Madri as anything but awful. Pock has a cult that’s just one guy with a million bodies? Bah.
Is earth-295 the new inferno?
Yes, but it’s even longer…
I enjoyed X-Calibre, though I agree that it was less than the sum of it’s parts, and a few more Excalibur members would have been nice, even as background characters in Avalaon.
Yeah, Doug’s power here is wildly different, as there was no externally active component to his power on 616, but given we’ve seen other young mutants probably born after the AoA timeline diverged, like Paige, have variations of their 616 powers, though Destiny being psychometric seemed very different given she was born decades before the AoA schism.
(Such things inspired me, MANY years ago, to write possibly the most self-indulgent, niche-fandom fic I ever wrote (which is saying something), which I’ve now added here; https://archiveofourown.org/works/24126292
It addresses things like how Irene and Raven met (this was written years before we saw any of their backstory in canon), how they came to find the Savage Land, why certain powers were different, why Doug seemed to be quite so… flighty, and who ran the ferry to Avalon, but that’s neither here nor there)
Normally I love the way Ellis has characters utilise their powers and combine them in unexpected and creative ways, so everything OTHER than “The Shadow King’s psyche travels through the same dimension I use to teleport” I love about the take down.
Sabretooth being Kurt’s dad didn’t seem to be that surprising at the time (and if I have to choose between him as Azazel as Kurt’s daddy, well, Creed is a horrible, horrible person, but that at least gives
As for Kurt swearing, well, part of me always thinks of Terry Pratchett’s comment that “It takes a special kind of atheist to yell ‘Nonexistant relic of an outmoded belief system!’ when you stub your toe” but yeah, I think from his reactions there has to have been a strong faith there once, and it was not an amicable split.
Oh, and I will cheerfully defend the name X-Calibre against all and sundry! (Though it should not be confused with Xcalibur, a turn of the century CGI swords and sorcery cartoon, which was good too, even if the animation is a little stilted now)
That Dr. Druid series was also written by Warren Ellis and ends after 4 issues with Druids corpse being burned in a trash can by Damian Hellstorm.
Best hair tangent ever.
So AoA meets CXG:
Cyclops is Nathaniel – child of privilege who has a redemption arc but may be fast-tracked on that arc quicker than he deserves because of Love (granted, CXG calls itself out on that).
Sabretooth is Valencia – former baddie who ends up being one of the strongest forces of good and most sympathetic figures.
Morph is Heather – hear me out. Heather is too cool for school and is reluctant to sing sometimes, and Morph is the AoA equivalent – he’s too cool for brooding/the general feel of AoA. But just like Heather, he’ll give into the narrative when he has to.
Nate Grey is Maya – newbie, big-eyed bisexual who just seems to want people to like him.
Forge is Darrel – daddy of a band of merry misfits who has taken Nate under his wing. Honestly, a little too pure for this world.
This doesn’t fully work, but I love making Quicksilver and Magneto Hector and his mom.
Well, I for one have to say that it’s obvious — and shameful — how our hosts this week were avoiding confronting the truly major and important question raised by these issues, which is — does “Darkhölme” have an umlaut on the o or not? The inconsistency is maddening!
For safety’s sake, I will be pronouncing it with the umlaut, and also sounding the final e properly, from now on, and so should everyone else. Just as we should always make sure to pronounce “Baron Zemo” as Baron “Tsaymo.”
No, don’t do this!
Do we not all remember the pain and suffering of earlier Umlaut Wars… The trauma inflicted by the Cedilla Skirmish, and god help us all… the horrors of the Circumflex Incident.
Won’t somebody think of the ˈtʃɪldrən ?
I can one hundred percent see this version of Mystique spouting my favorite Naomi Bunch line.
“Happy is for s****d people. I want you to *survive.*”
‘Greg is Gambit’
Thanks, I hate it
I keep hearing “I could if I wanted to” in his accent and it’s kinda glorious
Well, I finally get to bring this up in a relevant episode, but as an Avengers fan, Dr. Druid is not cool or entertaining at all. He basically existed to be the older white male constantly belittling the younger, black female Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) because he decided she didn’t deserve the role and he should have it.
The Ghost Dance was also used by X-Force in X Necrosha.
AoA was my first time really collecting comics as a hobby. Still have every issue.
Sorry, little late to the podcast this week. (It’s business as usual in some parts of the world.) You guys kept calling him the Shadow King. I recall him being referred to as the Shadow Demon, presumably I assumed at the time because Apocalypse wouldn’t allow anyone else to be called king. Am I misremembering?
What would AOA Doop be like..?!
The electrical mutant in Avalon shares a name with 616 Stinger. It’s never been confirmed, but I’ve always assumed they were multiversal counterparts.