New X-Men? #105

All-New, All-Different X-Men #105

“Phoenix, Unleashed!”

Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum

Synopsis

The X-Men get to New York just in time to kick Eric the Red’s ass- that is, until Firelord shows up to back him up. But why? And what’s with all these Battlestar Galactica rejects, anyway?

Rolling Commentary

Apparently the X-Men have arrived just in time to fight Eric the Red at the Institute. Off panel. Meh.

Pages 2 and 3: Holy shit its Firelord. Fuckity shit. See, Firelord is sort of like the Silver Surfer in terms of power level. Except that he’s a fucking nuclear reactor. These guys are so screwed.

Page 5. Well that was brief. I totally called how this fight would end.

Page 6. Oh Firelord…. You may have the power to snuff suns, but you really aren’t very bright, are you? Believe it or not, this sort of thing happens every single time you ever see Firelord. Ever. He's so lovably gullible.

Page 7: Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Enterprise…. And yes, Miss Science Officer, we have thwarted Galactus multiple times, and defeated him. Because we’re Americans, damnit!

Page 10- Now remember, we at home know where all this is eventually heading. But back in the day? This is the first time we’ve really seen Jean since issue 101, and no one at this point is really sure what she’s capable of. So her getting all Exorcist on us and charging at Firelord (not generally the smartest move in existence) is somewhat awesome but mostly terrifying.

Pages 11 and 12. *sigh* Well, they say poking fun at yourself is good for the soul, so I’ll let these couple panels speak for themselves.

Page 16. Charlie really needs to chill out. I mean, I know he’s been having “visions” and all, but what does he really know about this Space Princess? She just materializes in front of him and gets captured, so he instantly assumes the universe is in immediate and dire peril? Chill, dude. Luckily, we have Jean here to explain Charles’ crazy rantings, along with the plot.

Port Mortem

Giant fiery battles in the sky are always cool. This is the first time we see Phoenix cutting loose, and it looks pretty damn cool. And bad Star Trek jokes aside (I’m allowed to make them, since I have the entirety of Wrath of Khan memorized), you’re definitely left with a sense of “What the hell is going on here?”

Firelord is always fun, even if he is rather stupid and short tempered (he’s made of freaking fire, though, so why would his temper be surprising?). Also, I love how Eric the Red has no issues with potentially killing his mind controlled minions. Such ethics. Next issue: Things get more bizarre!