X-Force #26 Review

Writer: Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Artist: Mike Choi
I know I'm already a little late jumping onto the review train for this issue considering the plot of it has already been so over-predicted that it basically got stale the day after it hit the stands. Before I begin I have to thank Adi Granov for his gorgeous Emma Frost cover...which also had that girl, but she's not important. A problem with Granov's covers is that he keeps putting Emma in her Hellfire costume on the covers even though everyone else's is current. Does she really need to be running around in panties? Do pants inhibit her telepathy?

The issue begins with a look at all the main players and where they are currently. By the way, the issue is done by Choi who is talented, but as I've said so many times, a HORRIBLE choice for X-Force because his style is way too pretty. Like dark grey inks aren't going to remove the fact that everything he draws is too pretty. This sort of issue comes up in the opening two pages.

If you didn't already know who these characters were, what would age would you think these three characters are? Because 16/17 year old X-23 looks the oldest out of these three and around her early to mid twenties. Psylocke looks around 17 even though I'm pretty sure she's mid to late twenties. And Emma looks like kid Layla Miller in lipstick. So 13. Except she's late twenties. One thing Choi does succeed at more than any other artist it seems is making Psylocke look like she's actually Asian.

But moving on, it turns out Karma's in bad shaper considering her leg was just eaten up to mid-thigh. Which maybe should have killed her pretty quickly? But apparently, science of the X-World being like magic again, her uniform helps stop the bleeding. How? Especially from a major artery? Anyway, the NM are undecided as to where they should go and talking it over with Cyclops. Because it hasn't been emphasized in this past two years that every mutant life matters. Finally, Cyclops tells them to head back to Utopia. And then Prodigy cameo queens it to say that communication is down.

Back at Alpha team plus Cable, they're still busy with fighting off Smileys and it's ok. The only thing that really stuck out at me was Psylocke and X-23 doing a Fastball Special. Which was pretty neat. Also, Colossus was pissed, and continues to be throughout the issue, about Ilyanna's being pulled into Limbo. This continues to be covered in next week's Second Coming- Revelations: Hellbound (click for preview).

Turning towards Hope, Nightcrawler, and Rogue, Kurt's exhausting himself with all the teleporting he's doing. Rogue offers to help him out by siphoning his power and doing the rest of the way. He refuses. Then Bastion shows up and Rogue gets to show off all the powers she has in her. Which I found pretty epic especially since Rogue is always wonderful in a fight. But. Her and Nightcrawler get their asses kicked in the end. And just as Bastion is about to get to Hope, it happens. Second Coming's. Next. Top. Death. Isssss....

Nightcrawler!
*cue Nick Nolan's "Free For All" that they play whenever someone wins ANTM*

Nightcrawler teleports himself so that Bastion's arm is right in Kurt's chest. He prays for strength and teleports Hope and himself all the way back to Utopia. Then dies. Later on, Alpha Team shows up and see Emma and Scott's faces. Psylocke asks, "Who?" and Logan already knows saying, "Elf." And that's pretty much the issue.

It was a powerful scene for what it was. But the thing is we all saw it coming, he was barely ever used, there was even a Manifest Destiny one-shot to emphasize this. Half of us probably won't even notice he's gone because we didn't notice his presence to begin with. Essentially, I'm saying I'm over it, and hopefully that when he comes back (which hopefully won't be next week) that he's taken back out because someone knows what to do with him.

Now to address the poll which had the question, "Who do you think is Second Coming's big death?" I have to say thank you to the 29 people that voted, I really do appreciate even just a simple thing like voting on one of my polls. The results for the poll are: Nightcrawler got 86% of the votes (25 people), Colossus got 0%, Beast got 3% (1 person), Archangel got 3% (1 person), and Other got 6% (2 people). So I definitely feel comfortable saying that those of you who read here weren't all that shocked by this issues big reveal.

Now for a bit of housecleaning which includes discussion of some recents news items and a new poll:

• Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow! For a list of the comics are this year, click here. I'm planning on going to Coast City Comics for FBCD needs especially considering they've also got sales going on at the same time. And plus, they've got quarter bins and it seems every three weeks they call my name.
  

• I found this picture of Cyndi Lauper recently and was just shocked. Take off a decade and she's Ariel, seriously. And I think it's perfect that Ariel's real life equivalent can be found in an 80's icon.

• Marvel released a teaser image about the upcoming New X-Force. My guesses for the new team members and what looks REALLY likely considering the image are: Deadpool, Gambit, and Psylocke. And the flying one is probably Archangel. And for my new poll, I want to know from all of you "Which X-Man do you want to see in X-Force the most?" And of course, yet again for the Other option, please feel free to leave a comment saying who your vote goes to in specific.
  

• Last week's Buy Pile had an amazing blurb in it about the Firestar one-shot:

Marvel, apparently, wants female readers. That's fine. However, making something as whiny, self-indulgent and bland as "Firestar" #1 is probably not gonna make hordes of estrogen-powered new fans ring up the Comic Shop Locator and rush to wherever this kind of tedium can be found.

I agree completely. Also, Marvel would do well to stop pandering to fan boys by having men always be the stars. Seriously, DC seems to get it with their solo female books, but Marvel, uh, where are yours? I know of a few, but I'm not even interested enough to list them. And the X-Men, supposedly a metaphor for minorities, has white, hegemonic males running everything. If Marvel's surprised by their inability to appeal to female readers, they stand alone there.

X-Men Legacy #235 Review

Writer: Mike Carey
Art: Greg Land
In. TENSE. That's how I would summarize this last chapter of Second Coming. I seriously haven't been this excited about reviewing an issue since Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia one-shot. But be warned, there is also a tragedy that occurs this issue.

We return to the New Mutants vs. Hodgo battle to find things not looking good for Karma. And what I mean by that is (SPOILERS OF INTENSITY FROM HERE UNTIL THE END) as evidenced by one of the pages in the preview (here) as well as the latest solicitation for New Mutants (here) it appears that Karma has lost her leg. Now we all know that it's Karma's that put the Leg in Legacy. Maybe she can accessorize her prosthetic leg with a headband?

Back at Utopia, it turns out Rogue has a connection with Hope that Emma cannot sense, so Cyclops sends Rogue out to look for her. By using the most glamorous means of transportation of course: ARIEL! Yes, my favorite diva in the world comes in and you can find her charming chattering in the preview.

Back with the NM, Cypher comes up with the solution of repowering Warlock and turning the tides of the fight by letting Warlock loose on their life energy. His reaction is basically, "NO!!! This is appalling!!!.....All right!" because he seems completely down for it in the next pages where he attacks the smileys. Also, point of note is what looks like a completely ripped off Warlock in his full one-page spotlight. A gold star to whoever finds out where Land got it from.

Concerning Rogue and Nightcrawler, it seems Rogue's functioning as a compass to find Hope and Nightcrawler is exhausting himself as he's had to teleport over 800 miles to get her there. And back at Dystopia, the expected happens:

YES! It's time for mandatory psychic attack time! Because nothing says "This shit's seriousssss!" like an attack on all the psychics. Because it wasn't enough to have this happen in Messiah Complex, Sisterhood, Dangerous, and many more. Luckily, this time it seems none of the psychics were actually knocked out so much as they were hurt by psychic feedback as Bastion had disabled their Cerebro machines. Yet another overdone move to make an arc seem serious. It's also revealed that Bastion can sense who's around the teams and it has to do with Bastion using the T/O virus and tapping into Cable's. More on that in a bit because we have something MAJOR to go over.

Returning the Alpha team, the group is split up in two vehicles with Archangel flying outside. We've got Ariel, X-23, and Wolverine in one vehicle and the rest in the other. And the worst thing EVER happens. A jet flies by and sends out missiles!

Andddd hits the car with Ariel in it. Yeah. My heart snapped in two at that point. And if there's any question within the issue if she got out, we've got commentary on that from both Emma and Wolverine.

BUT, there have been rumblings on the boards about the possibility that Ariel got out in time considering she is a teleporter and it's not like she was far from a door. Also, apparently somewhere on the CBR boards, someone said it could be like when Lady M "died" in Messiah Complex and I guess Carey's agreeing with that take or sounding like it. So here's hoping. For those of you hoping to relive the good times with our glamorous cameo queen, you can find her updated cameo queen page here.

In any case, I'm heartbroken because Ariel was the tranny that brought light to my life. There is no Legacy without Ariel much like there's no strawberry shortcake without strawberries. Plus, we still need to have our A Very Special X-Men Legacy where Ariel admits she used to have a D.

Anyway, Archangel takes care of the jet and there's the very dramatic moment of the other team looking over the place where the missile hit the vehicle, waiting for someone to come out. Adding the most to the serious mood of the moment is:

Psylocke's ass of untold power!

Yes, the real star of Uncanny has made a reappearance. You know the shit's going down when Psylocke's ass makes an appearance. I actually suspect it's omega-level. To find out more on the power of Betsy's awe-inspiring buns you can click on the newly created tag "Psylocke's ass".

X-23 and Wolverine finally come out of the wreckage looking absolutely terrifying, you can see Logan's creepiness above in the panel I just put up. Back at base Emma informs Scott of Ariel's (possible) passing and he takes a second to mourn in manly silence. And then Pixie volunteers to be replacement teleporter. He denies her, saying that he'd be sending her to her death if he let her go........Yeah? So? I fail to see the problem there.

Concerning the New Mutants, they end up winning overwhelmingly with Warlock going on a life-sucking spree. In the end, he takes out Hodgo. Which is a tragedy because he was SUCH a unique villain. Oh the rough days we have ahead ourselves with the absence of.....that guy.

Back with Alpha team, the revelation about Cable being tracked is revealed, and so he goes with Alpha team while Hope goes with Rogue and Nightcrawler. Only it isn't just any Rogue:

It's gorgeous Rogue! Who's got the fabulous hair mutation she siphoned?

So yes, she's got a sampling of all of Alpha teams powers, even X-23's foot claws. And I have to say I hope to hell she uses them all next week. Anddddd unfortunately, that's the end of the issue.

Conclusion: BUY this issue. It's both exciting and tragic. And it makes me extremely excited for next week, which of course will have the big reveal of who dies!

The List #27

New Mutants #12
Writer: Sean McKeever
Artist: Ibraim Roberson
To start off, a little out of order, but this issue we see Alpha team lose the use of both of their teleporters. Magik ends up being sent to Limbo or something close to that and Kurt ends up being slammed by some whammy thing that makes him severely disoriented. And of course, this is all thanks to the ever-annoying Stryker.

Cable and Hope end up going on the run again, which never gets old, and Wolverine orders Archangel to take care of Stryker. So he does by slicing him in half and Kurt is all, "NOOOOO!!!!" And Betsy's surprised as well, but she used to date the guy so her reaction should likely have been the more dramatic one. Also, it turns out the Alpha team needs a new long distance teleporter so they send in my favorite diva: Ariel! She ends up making a glamourous one-panel appearance. And back at the base, Rogue ends up speaking what Hope is think, so clearly there's going to be something developed on the bond the two share from Hope having rid Rogue of her death touch.

Concerning the New Mutants, their is to take care of Cameron Hodge and his army of smiling faces. Here we finally see Karma used in a respectable way, where she's used to possess some of the smiley guys and have them take care of a decent amount before the NM get directly involved. Oh and also, she gets Dani a set of Smiley armor so she can actually be useful in the battle. Which got me thinking:

How are the New Mutants a useful battle team?

In this case, Cypher and Warlock are on the sidelines, not that they'd be much use anyway, and then there's depowered Dani who's only got her mad fighting skills. Then there's Sunspot and Cannonball who are basically just strong and invulnerable. And Karma, who can possess people, but that's a limited sort of psychic power. The only real threat in this group is Magma, who has to have useful powers because she sure as hell can't fall back on a personality.

In response to the attack, Cameron Hodge turns himself intoooo.....Mojo! Not my first thought when people are attacking me, but I suppose it works in some twisted way. Not sure if this is something he does often, but definitely a bit of a disturbing transformation. From there, a massive battle ensues and Hodgo (Hodge+Mojo) ends up singling out Karma. Then stabs her in the fricking THIGH! Ouch! And then we get the OH NOES! ToBeContinued.

Overall, this issue was pretty mundane. That's really all there is to say on it. BUT do go check out the preview for next week's issue (Here!) because it looks like that issue is going to be epic! Campy Greg Land!? Karma with her leg looking cut off?! ARIEL GETTING A LARGER ROLE?!?! Definitely be on the lookout for that one this coming Wednesday.

Siege: Young Avengers #1
Writer: Sean McKeever
Artist: Mahmud A. Asrar
I read somewhere on CBR someone saying that this one-shot proved that someone can handle these characters just as well as Heinberg and that it's not necessary to wait for his return to the series. Except if you REALLY read the previous series you know that's a load of bullshit. The original series was some of the most talented work in the superhero genre I've ever read. This one-shot was nowhere near that and the handling of the characters was poor. Young Avengers, like Runaways, should only be handled by its original creators and the characters should just be tossed into Limbo when they're not there. I mean concerning the Dark Reign mini series, I think it's pretty clear that sometimes it's better to leave the poor character alone because if anything, that horrible series probably hurt readership.

This one-shot is broken up into three stories: Teddy and Billy's, Tommy's, and Eli and Kate's. Tommy's is this: He's running around to help the wounded in Asguard and can't work fast enough and feels bad enough. That's it. And no hint of his previously established personality.

Billy and Teddy's story is basically Tommy elaborates that he chose the title Asguardian for a reason, he feels very defensive of the area because it means something to him, and him and Teddy put the smackdown on the Wrecking Crew for trying to loot. It turns out that Billy's dad used to tell him stories about Norse Mythology when he was younger and one time he was a brat to his dad for it and he never told them again. Yeah, it's as dull as it sounds. It's not like his dad is dead or anything. At the very least we get to see them refer to each other as boyfriends as well as hug. No kisses of course, but I think it's an unsaid rule that Teddy and Billy's first kiss is reserved for Heinberg when he returns to the series. Which I completely agree with.

And in terms of Eli and Kate's story, the worst mistake was made here. Something I've believed since it was first hinted at, was that Kate's amazing, fearless character was going to brought down by her pairing off with Eli. Eli who I believe to be the team's weakest link, even worse than Cassie. And Cassie can be pretty frigging irritating. The story is Kate and Eli are trapped underneath some rubble and are trying to get out. And Kate is poorly characterized as a bitch who's just an aggressive bitch for no reason:

After Eli expresses confusion about how to get out. Like how undeserved is that?

Seriously, Kate's terrible characterization is the worst part of this one-shot. She's worse than any teenagers that's just hit puberty. Anyway, Eli and her end up kissing at one point which is as awkward and bland as it sounds. And she's pissed about that too. Eventually, they make it out and the team reunites and she ends up being the queen of mixed signals by commenting on the kiss positively. And that's the show.

Overall, this one-shot is completely forgettable and should've never happened really. So here's the good news. Which is so good I jumped for joy as soon as I heard it and it makes me so excited I could pee. The original creative team, Heinberg and Cheung, are RETURNING TO THE YOUNG AVENGERS. It's a bi-monthly 9-issue series starting this summer told largely from Wiccan's point of view and apparently about going to get the Scarlet Witch which means the STORY MANY HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. And you can definitely look forward to my covering of every second of this series.

Uncanny X-Men #523 Review

Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Terry Dodson
This issue was exactly what I thought it would be. An issue devoted to featuring the uninteresting hegemonic male character who all seem to be the same guy, just with different appearances and on different sides. Plus boring pencils from Dodson and Fraction doing the bare minimum to progress anything.

This issue starts with Cable and Hope on the run, robbing a store to get supplies. While this is going on, something catches Hope's eye, and it turns out to be a hairbrush set for little girls. Later on it turns out Cable got it for her, and she's touched by the gesture. I found this to be one of the effective moments in this issue because it reminds us that despite Hope being forced to act like an adult from such a young age, it's not like she's actually matured underneath it all.

Then again, I found this touching because I've dealt with her and her lost childhood for two minutes. But for other Marvel reader we've had the Cable SERIES, Messiah War, A Girl Called Hope or whatever backstory, AND a one-shot. And I'd be willing to bet this character doesn't even have a real personality yet?

Back with Alpha Team, Kurt's freaking out because he needs to have a character moment in the spotlight like he hasn't had in ages. Because it wouldn't be a proper sendoff if he didn't get some extra spotlight. Kurt even considers quitting, asks Scott is X-Force is sanctioned by him, and Scott owns up. So now that two year long bellyaching over "What if the other X-Men find out?" finally is over and done with, not like I didn't see this reaction coming the MINUTE X-Force was back.

Remember what I said about him becoming like Ink?

And how his power would be used in ridiculous ways with flimsy explanations just to say he's cool now and has some real power? Legit, just because he can read languages shouldn't make him able to split his attention between a million streams of data at once.

Back in some villain place, Bastion addresses Stryker, Hodge, and some other boring villains. OF course it was some cliched speech that I didn't even pay any attention to, but whatever, here's my take on what was said: "Bahaha, hello fellow uninteresting hegemonic male villains! Our goal here is to repel readers from the X-Books with our insane levels of mediocrity and with no one ever believing us to be any real threat to the X-Men! For we are white, heterosexual male characters, the easiest to be written as completely fucking bland! Go now, BORE THE MASSES!!"

So Stryker attacks Cable and Hope's motel, they fight, yet again it's Cable's series, and X-Force arrives and that's the end. Yes, so in the end this issue was exactly as predictably mind-numbingly mundane as I thought. And Dodson was not helping. Conclusion, do not buy this issue unless you absolutely have to have all the issues of Second Coming.

And on a side note, something I forgot about one of my candidates in my poll:

This released today and it pretty much guarantees Beast living past Second Coming [CBR].

Oh and if anyone was wondering about the general opinion of the Internet on who's going to die, all signs I've seen point to Kurt. Something new I've heard recently (and you'll see it if you click the link) is that apparently there will be seven deaths? I'm not sure whether to believe that or not, but sounds better than just the one. And that's all for my blog this week, see you all next week with Chapter 3 of Second Coming.

Second Coming Death: Update!

This morning Marvel released a new teaser image for Second Coming and it has to do with the death [Story found here]:

Here's what we know:

• The death happens in X-Force #26 and that's being released on April 28th which is three weeks from now.
• We already know it can't be Iceman or Cable because of X-Men Second Coming: Prepare #1.
  

Past that it's a guessing game, I'm not sure if the death has to be out of these characters presented or if they're just standing in for X-Men in general. If you'll remember the teasers for Messiah Complex, they kept talking about how "someone" dies and it turned out to be unnamed guy with fire breath in the woods, Peepers who has no hope for resurrection, and Caliban. Far from characters of any importance.

But I am patting myself on the back because this image includes three of the four candidates I presented on my poll. As for the other people, we know that Iceman and Cable live, so that leaves Emma Frost and I'm assuming Magma. Not that I think it's impossible for Magma to die, but she is a hardly ever used character and she doesn't seem to have much of a personality. And I think her dying is unlikely for those same reasons, it probably wouldn't have much of an effect. And in terms of Emma Frost, would Emma Frost ever die for real in the 616 Marvel Universe I would give up just about all X-Men-related books in boycott, and I would just lose my shit. So for this reason, she can't die.

Anyway, poll's still up, please do go vote for who you think will die, and feel free to disagree with me. Actually I invite disagreement because it's always fun to hear someone else's reasoning. See you all in a few days for my review of Uncanny X-Men #523.

The List #26

X-Force #25
Writers: Chris Yost and Craig Kyle
Artist: Clayton Crain
So this issue begins with all the important magic people reacting to Selene's ascension which includes Dr. Doom so this can seem like a REALLY big deal. Yeah, not so much.

Back at Dystopia, Cyclops, Daz, and Emma are finding themselves in the last minutes of a losing battle until Selene calls for the resurrected souls of the enemies. They get a contact from the Cuckoos on the situation. Referring to Mindee as Irma again. Which pretty much cements that change, and now Mindee is officially Irma, which is an ugly choice of an 'I' name.

Back with X-Force, Warpath shows them how to do that 'ghost' thing he did with Ghost Rider way back when (like issue #9 or something) so they can fight Selene. They rush to take out Selene's inner circle, and the Senyaka guy dies right off the frigging at. Yeah, rushed is definitely a good verb to describe the inner circle fight. Next, Rahne cuts Lois' throat, but doesn't kill her since she's part of the Dazzler one-shot. Elixir and Wither finally have their 'epic' fight and I have to say it was decent-ish. Wither is clearly still wounded over Laurie's death, and their fight is basically about Wither placing blame.

I have to say I found Elixir's last line to Wither before he killed him (yup, another Limbo-ed character bites the dust) was not particularly original, but it's a line that I could hear 30 times and still feel the impact of each time. Why I think that it's something that works is because in this case when Laurie's mentioned, it brings up the memory of Laurie and for some fans, how they miss her. And it's something individual to each character, so I think it's a line that's harder to overuse.

Speaking of depressing things, Warpath ends up having to kill his brother for his portion of the fight. But then Selene's starting to lose power and Lois and Blink flee the scene to the cozy comforts of X-Limbo in hopes of one day being cared about as much as their better halves (Exiles' Blink and Dazzler). Concerning the ALMIGHTY FIGHT WITH SELENE, I have to say that if one of X-Force had popped a Hot Pocket in the microwave at the beginning of the fight they'd still be waiting a minute after the fight was over. Yeah, they won and 'killed her' (meaning there's somehow still going to be a way for her to comeback in three years when some X-Writer hits a dry spell). And that's the end of the most predictable struggle in X-History. Maybe not most, but it ranks high on the list. In the end, all the souls are released and this leads to a heartbreaking moment for Warpath:

And also leads to a revelation for him. Which broke MY heart.

The last page of the issue is probably the most important one for everyone to pay attention to. Mainly because it was the first time in Necrosha where something not obvious from the beginning happened. Roster change-up! So Elixir being gone is fine with me, and I'm THRILLED that Rahne is off the team and I assume her next move is rejoining the New Mutants. I am, however, BROKEN-HEARTED over the departure of my boyfriend Warpath. If he ends up in Limbo, I'll be peeved. And lastly, what's not shown in this panel is Wolverine wants X-23 off the team, but it just sounds unlikely that that will actually be what happens. And that's the end of this dreadful goth-cliche crossover! Except we're just going into another one now, within this post actually. In 5....4....3.....2.....1.......

X-Men: Second Coming #1

Writers: Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Artist: David Finch
Let me begin this review with a massive sigh of a relief due to the fact that Fraction did NOT write this one-shot. I mean he'll still have his boring take on this crossover, but at least he won't be the dominating voice.

This issue opens with Hope and Cable returning to the present and being hunted by Bastion's forces (in the form of The Right, I don't know who's specific they are, but angry white man villain is all the same to me). Essentially, a large part of this issue is Cable's series all over again minus Bishop. Which was: run. shoot. manly aggression. run. I think the only reason that series sold for as long as it did was it was needed to bridge Cable and Hope's story into Second Coming. Otherwise it probably would've never made it past the third issue.

Back at Utopia the effects of Necrosha are being gone over, three background character deaths, and the writing team is desperately trying to convince us that this is significant. Anyway, if you needed the body count illustrated for you, here it is:

After Cyclops has another mangst moment post-Necrosha meeting, the Cuckoos alert him to Cable's return. From there we get the layout of where the teams will be: Namor and Rogue are to guard Utopia, Domino and Vanisher are stationed in San Fransisco, the New Mutants are to hover of the Mid-West so they can react to any sudden location changes in a hurry, and then there's one more special who's part of the plan. YES. She's glamourous, divalicious, but most of all, now possibly having some role in Second Coming: Ariel! Props to Yost and Kyle for thinking to include my favorite tranny.

The most important team organized is Alpha Team, whose function is to be the ones actively tracking down Cable and Hope. It consists of: Wolverine, X-23, Psylocke, Nightcrawler, Archangel, Colossus, and Magik for teleporting. In between this there's a lot of speechifying on why Hope is so important, and it's all things we've heard since the end of Messiah Complex so its just filler. In the end, Alpha team goes to attack Leper Queen's people, and try to interrogate them on where the enemies are. Psylocke can't get into their minds so X-23 kills one of them in front of the other so he'll talk. Nightcrawler loses his shit over it and Psylocke and Colossus are more just wondering what's going on rather than the dramatic reaction of Nightcrawler. In the next issue, he even threatens to quit the X-Men, so he's definitely getting a focus here that he hasn't had in awhile. Hmm..... And that's the issue. It was meh. If you like meh, do go purchase it.

Now, what I want to discuss is the big death of the Second Coming. There's supposed to be one that just strikes the X-Men hard, so it's someone who's considered a major character. My thoughts are that it's Nightcrawler. He's the one who's getting the uneasy spotlight right now despite being pretty ignored recently. He's outraged about the X-Force that's being revealed now. His death in the middle of this outrage over X-Force would capitalize on the shock. Also, when Alpha Team member's functions were being explained in an interview somewhere, I noticed Kurt's function wasn't mentioned. Hmmm.

I will be putting up a poll with I think the most likely candidates for the death are, so please do go vote on it. I imagine the death isn't too far away from now, so get on that as soon as you can. I will have an "Other" option that you can choose and I'd encourage you to leave a comment on this post or another Second Coming on and tell me who you think it is (and maybe why?). First off, here's who we know who it's not because of their appearance in Second Coming: Prepare #1 which takes place after the death: Bling!, Cable, Cannonball, Cyclops, Hope, Iceman, Magneto, Wolverine, Dr. Rao, and Dr. Nemesis. Here's my other candidates and a bit of why:

Colossus: Formerly a big deal. Not used very often and I'm pretty sure it's someone who used to matter a lot, but doesn't get that much character use these days. May not die because he just came back not too long ago.

Archangel: A symbol of what X-Force does to change people, and also one of the original five. He also may be spared because the orignal five may be reuniting soon.

Beast: Another opposed to the shit going on. He'd be coming back to die though. May not because he's one of the original five.

And that's the poll options! This concludes the end of my crossover mega-post, see you all next week.