Remembrance Beast

[Note: this contains spoilers for the issue being covered here. I recommend reading the issue first.]   A.X.E.: Judgment Day #2 Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Valerio Schiti Colors by Marte Gracia Lettered by Clayton Cowles Over the last couple of months, I read through the entirety of what could be considered the "Golden Age" of X-Men comics--the period from 1976-1991. During this era, the X-Men line became, well, a line, primarily under the guidance of Chris Claremont and, later, Louise Simonson.  I mention this because the second issue of A.X.E.: Judgment Day hammers home the event's echoes--whether intentional on the creators' part or not--of "Judgement War," an incredibly weird little epic storyline from the latter half of Simonson's X-Factor run (it's issues 43-50, with a guest-penned interlude in the middle). In that storyline, drawn by Paul Smith, X-Factor's sentient Ship was teleported across space by its Celestial creators to bear witn

[Note: this contains spoilers for both issues being covered here. I recommend reading the issues first.] Immortal X-Men #5 "Meditations on the X" Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Michele Bandini Colors by David Curiel Lettered by Clayton Cowles Immortal X-Men #5 covers the Eternal Uni-Mind's psychic attack on the Quiet Council of Krakoa and the Council's counterattack in detail after it was previously shown in Judgment Day #1. More importantly, though, this issue puts the character focus on Exodus, recounting his centuries-long backstory in as concise a manner as possible before focusing in on his role in beating back the Uni-Mind attack. I'll admit that I wanted more out of this issue, but the issue was still good--and honestly, this issue had to happen  given how buckwild Exodus' origin story is. Michele Bandini has really stepped up his game in the issues of Immortal X-Men he's drawn. I was really impressed with how he handles motion in the issue, using

I'll admit it: I'm a mark for Marvel's particular brand of event comics. Since the mid-2000s, Marvel's doubled down (and then tripled down, then quadrupled down, then--) on the Big Superhero Event Comic. At their best, Marvel events are bombastic, powerful capstones to eras of Marvel history, definitive statements on what stories worked at the time of the event--see Jonathan Hickman's 2 excellent 2010s events, Infinity and Secret Wars, or the capstone to Jason Aaron's Thor run in War of the Realms. At their most aggressively mid (Fear Itself, Avengers vs. X-Men, Original Sin, Empyre), they're still dumb fun, capturing the infectious joy of smashing action figures together. In my eyes, there are only a handful of Marvel event stories that have been properly miserable (both Civil Wars, Shadowland, AXIS, and Secret Empire, FTR) A.X.E.: Judgment Day, then, will probably be an easy win. How can it not? Half of the event's issues are being written by Kieron Gi

[CW: discussion of sexual coercion, fascism, and police brutality.] All images used from The Batman's Grave , copyright DC Comics. First released from 2019-20, The Batman's Grave  is a hard comic to talk about, and it's entirely because of the context behind its publication. The 12-issue series was spearheaded by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, a writer/artist duo known for kickstarting Wildstorm's The Authority. That book, with its lean, mean 12 issues of weird superheroes fighting global threats while nudge-nudge wink-wink commenting on the political ramifications of a superhero power fantasy was the harbinger of how most superhero comics are made today. Every work by the creators since then (especially Bryan Hitch, whose work with the ever-abysmal Mark Millar consists of The Authority 's view of the world being taken to its most ghoulish, authoritarian extremes) has been chasing its success in some way. That The Batman's Grave  was touted as Ellis and Hitch wor

If you have no idea what the hell Kingdom Death: Monster  is beyond its awesome name, I don't blame you. The game itself, copies of which are essentially made on a case-by-case basis, is incredibly expensive. Like, $400 per core box expensive plus $80-150 per expansion box. Yes, fucking really. And the community around Kingdom Death is highly secretive, remaining close-lipped on the game's inner workings so as to not spoil it for new players. That's their rationale, at least--on paper, it's really just more RPG gatekeeping that's grown very tiring and needs to stop but oh shit I'm about to go off aren't I? I found out about Kingdom Death: Monster  a few years ago when a let's player I like began dropping a short playthrough of the game, using a Steam Workshop mod for Tabletop Simulator rather than shelling out the money for the physical game. I was immediately taken with the game's overall aesthetic. One look at the immaculate miniatures and art will

"On the Darkest day    May we hold to temperance   To quell their vengeance."  -official motto of the Eclipse Paladins "Bleed 'em dry--it's what they deserve!" -unofficial motto of the Eclipse Paladins Twice a century at most, the day of the Harvest Equinox in the third season of every year is not just a day of celebration and mourning. Sometimes, the full 24 hours of sunlight are...diluted. The moon gets in the way. And for an entire day, the city of Spire is bathed in the dim light of a solar eclipse. On equinox days like this, the agents of the Crimson Vigil either fall back to their boltholes and hide or go out into the streets prepared to die and die fighting. It's a day when even they are filled with fear. A day when the Eclipse Paladins arrive to cull their ranks in a great conflagration. The Day of Crimson Ash has arrived. You are not ready. Jason Nguyen The Eclipse Paladins The Solar Basilica is a place built on old sec