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Ugly John Lives!
I love when this happens. I love the Krakoa Era of the X-Men! Everything and everyone is fair game! Including the gloriously underserved Ugly John. He’s alive and well on Krakoa now, according to the latest issue of X-Men. Check out this nifty letter that Forge sent to Cyclops that namedrops our three-faced boy!
This makes me very happy.
So who is Ugly John and why do I care so much? I’m so glad you asked!
Ugly John is a mutant created by Grant Morrison at the very start of their New X-Men comic all those decades ago. Ugly John was the first taste of the madness that Morrison had in store for the X-Men. Just a dude with three faces.
Morrison then promptly killed Ugly John. He never lasted more than an issue or two. Cyclops and Wolverine went all the way out there to save him, but Ugly John got killed by Morrison’s great villain plans. It happens. But the character always stuck with me because I love superheroes who are also just regular dudes.
Ugly John didn’t have laser eyes or weather control. He was just a dude with three faces, but he was as much a mutant as anybody. And then he was killed, never to be heard from again.
Until now! That letter from Forge in X-Men #8 confirms that Ugly John is alive and well on Krakoa! How nice!
And I care because Ugly John was on my List of Six of obscure mutants I wanted to see return on Krakoa. How cool is that? Did somebody see my list once upon a time? Or are there other people out there who remember Ugly John?
What’s especially cool is that 4 out of the 6 characters I listed have shown up somewhere in the Krakoa Era. Which is awesome! Now we just have to wait for Lacuna and Postman.
Also, quick note, that letter from Forge also seems to doubly confirm the existence of Soft Serve, the X-Man who poops ice cream from her butt. This was one heck of an Easter Egg-filled letter. This is all rather pleasing to me.
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The Next X-Men Shake’Em-Up Is Right Around the Corner!
X-Men comics are always evolving. This obviously makes perfect sense. And their next minor evolution is right around the corner. Thankfully, they’re staying on Krakoa for now. There’s just gonna be a whole wave of new comics, under the banner of Destiny of X.
First of all, no signs of Multiple Man or Mimic or even Strong Guy, so my excitement is slightly tempered. Still, there are a ton of new comics, so maybe my favorite X-Characters will get to show up somewhere.
Second of all, I’m fine with all of this. I love the Krakoa era and I absolutely want it to continue. I look forward to trying out each and every one of these new titles and I’m hoping for the best! I will try to share more info once it gets released.
And, again, if one of my personal favorites shows up, you best believe I’m gonna write about it!
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 10/2/21
My vacation is almost over and I accomplished not much of anything. Such is my usual style of vacation. Thankfully, it’s only my first vacation of the year. I’ve got a couple more weeks to burn. And thankfully, there were some good comics, like the second issue of Darkhawk and the start of X-Men: Inferno!
Comic Book of the Week goes to Superman: Son of Kal-El #3 for an issue that has everything, from great family dynamic stuff to cool action stuff.
Meanwhile, I saw Venom: Let There Be Carnage and it was all sorts of things. Better than the first one, for sure. A great movie? Not really. But a lot of it has me excited for what comes next, and that’s no small thing. I’ll post my review and thoughts on Venom 2 on Wednesday.
Comic Reviews: Darkhawk #2, Inferno #1, Superman: Son of Kal-El #3, S.W.O.R.D. #8 and Thor #17.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/10/21
Does it feel good to have Marvel movies back in the theater! Went and saw Black Widow and I loved it! I’ll have my review/thoughts up on Wednesday. Until then, I also had some great comics this week, like Batman, Runaways and Wonder Girl.
Comic Book of the Week goes to X-Men #1 for a fantastic launch of the new series. Very excited about this one.
Meanwhile, I’ve got my 20th high school reunion on Friday. It will be exciting to let everybody know I’m still fat. But seriously though, should be a fun lark. I’ll tell everybody to come read my comic book reviews more often.
Comic Reviews: Batman #110, Children of the Atom #5, Runaways #37, Wonder Girl #2 and X-Men #1.
Read the rest of this entryI’m Disappointed We Didn’t Get to See Stacy X’s Crucible
Stacy X has finally returned to X-Men comics! She’s a favorite character of mine because she debuted just as I was finally starting to read and collect X-Men comics on an ongoing basis. But for a variety of reasons, she was dropped from the team after a short while. I’ve kept up with her in whatever weird little appearances she’s made over the past 20 years, and I’m very pleased to say that she’s on Krakoa and she’s got her powers back!
Stacy X showed up in this week’s Way of X #3. I hope she becomes a reoccurring character!
While it’s great to have her back, I’m a little disappointed that we did not get to see her Crucible. I was very much looking forward to that. And it would have been a pretty big moment for her character, considering her loss of powers has been her defining character trait over the past 20ish years.
Allow me to explain, because I love talking about favorite obscure mutants of mine!
So Stacy X is a mutant with both snakeskin and the power to control the pheromones and other chemicals in a person’s body. The X-Men met her while she was working at a mutant brothel, where she used her powers to give customers some truly mind-melting sexual experiences. This backstory and general attitude did not sit well with some of the X-Men (and perhaps Marvel?) and she was dropped shortly thereafter.
Then Stacy was one of the more high profile mutants to lose their powers on M-Day. She was an X-Man, after all, and most of the team kept their powers. In their M-Day aftermath comic, Generation M, Marvel really twisted the knife by turning Stacy into a real hooker living and working the streets.
Stacy did eventually clean up her act and joined a random incarnation of the New Warriors a few years later. This version of the New Warriors was made up of ex-mutants using technology to become superheroes again. Stacy was known as Ripcord and she ended up getting killed. Such a thing happens a lot to New Mutants.
Stacy made a random and minor appearance in the comic Vengeance, which I think was supposed to be some kind of statement comic by Marvel? It didn’t go anywhere. Her rebirth was never explained.
Then she showed up in an issue of the recent Domino comic, attending a Mutants Anonymous meeting put together by Domino and Nightcrawler for mutants struggling to live with powers that make them look abnormal.
So as you can see, after a brief membership in the X-Men, Stacy X has been defined by the loss of her powers for nearly the past 20 years. It was a bigger deal for her character than pretty much anyone else in the X-Men franchise (if we don’t count Jubilee’s weird couple of years as a vampire).
When Marvel introduced the idea of the Crucible on Krakoa — depowered mutants fighting in an arena in order to earn their death/resurrection/repowering — I had hoped to see Stacy X go through it. I think it would have been a great way to cap off her major story arc.
But alas, it apparently happened off-panel. I’m just going to have to be happy with the fact that Stacy X is back, she’s got her powers and she’s doing good on Krakoa. I should be able to make my peace with that.
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Henchman-4-Hire 