X-Men Blue 25 NM Legacy Venom 30th Variant Cover Magneto Sinister Bloodstorm 1sP

Description

X-Men Blue (2017 Marvel) #25B Marvel Legacy Venom 30th Anniversary Variant Cover

Published Jun 2018 by Marvel
Written by Cullen Bunn
Art by Jorge Molina and Mike Perkins
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
36 pages, full color

Cry Havok Part 3

MAGNETO comes face-to-face with HAVOK, with the fate of mutantkind hanging in the balance. EMMA FROST, MISS SINISTER and BASTION have formed an unholy alliance, and now is the time for them to unleash Project: Mothervine! With the Original Five lost in space, a NEW TEAM of X-Men must rise to take their place!

“This is how it begins, Magneto… with the symbol of mankind’s hatred of mutants… with Sentinels… sowing the seeds of ascension… Mothervine.” —Havok

Featured Characters:

X-Men
Polaris (Lorna Dane) (Joins team)
Gazing Nightshade (Leaves the Raksha and joins team)
Shen Xorn (Joins team)
Jimmy Hudson
Bloodstorm (Ororo Munroe)
Daken (Akihiro) (Joins team)
Magneto (Erik Lehnsherr)
X-Men
Angel (Warren Worthington III) (Past)
Beast (Hank McCoy) (Past)
Iceman (Bobby Drake) (Past)
Cyclops (Scott Summers) (Past)

Supporting Characters:

Ferris
Briar Raleigh
Blackbird (Danger)
Venom (Eddie Brock)

Antagonists:

Havok (Alex Summers)
Black King (Sebastian Shaw)
Miss Sinister (Claudine Renko)
Bastion (Sebastion Gilberti)
White Queen (Emma Frost)
Mutant Sentinel

Magneto confronted Sebastian Shaw who was using Mothervine against him. Sebastian Shaws’ 2nd mutation however backfired and turned him frail. This gave Magneto the advantage and asked Shaw to bring him to the people behind Mothervine.

Elsewhere, Jimmy and Blood Storm joined the battle between Xorn and the Marauders. They were able to save Xorn and distract the Marauders to escape the site.

Meanwhile, in the X-Men’s base at Madripoor, Malice took over Polaris mind and attacked the Raksha. Gazing Nightshade was the only member trying to stop the Malice-possessed Polaris. Just in time, before Malice could do more damage to the young Mutant ninjas, Polaris was able to regain control over herself and destroyed Malice.

In Spain. Briar Raleigh met up with Daken, the son of the late Logan/Wolverine. She had offered him a gift and invited him to join Magneto’s team.

Back at the coast of Scotland, Magneto with a weak Sebastian Shaw confronted Havok, Bastion, Emma Frost and Miss Sinister. Havok tried to persuade Magneto into joining their cause. Magneto cited that he does not approve of Mothervine. Havok insisted that these errors were a few minor concerns that were not an issue to the goal they had for Mutant-kind. Havok added that he was confident that Magneto would not refuse this opportunity once he knew real benefit of Mothervine.

Polaris, who was free from Malice’s control was shocked at the damage she had done and for almost killing the Raksha. She had Ferris prepare the medical bay to facilitate the recuperation of the young Mutant ninjas. She then told Gazing Nightshade that she will help them and that her team will be alright.

Elsewhere in Scotland, Havok still tried to invite Magneto to join their cause to help Mutant-kind. Magneto questioned Alex’s new circle, except Emma Frost who he knew that her intentions were really good for mutant-kind but just misguided. Magneto still tried to explain to Havok that the Mothervine could do more harm than good to mutants.

Havok told him that these slight mishaps had to happen to achieve their true goal. Miss Sinister added that for every experiment to succeed they had to go through the testing phase. Magneto retaliated that Mutants were not experiments. Havok once again tried to invite Magneto to join their cause. Magneto still refused. Havok then told Bastion to have his Sentinels deploy Mothervine globally. Havok then orders his team to attack and take on Magneto.

Magneto then used his powers to armor himself up and fought back hard. Emma Frost and Havok then combined their powers to hit back at Magneto, which was successful in weakening him. This then gave Bastion and Miss Sinister the chance to attack a weakened Magneto. Out of desperation, Magneto used a Mutant Growth Hormone he was hiding to boost his powers and lifted a Lighthouse and crashed on Havok, Bastion, Emma Frost and Miss Sinister. This gave Magneto the chance to retreat the battle.

At the X-Mansion in Madripoor, Jimmy, Blood Storm with Xorn arrived safely and met with Polaris who was in the infirmary looking after the Raksha. At the mansion’s entrance, Briar and Daken arrived meeting a mopey Gazing Nightshade. Briar asked Gazing Night what had happened. Gazing Nightshade told them that Polaris was possessed for a while and almost killed them. This made Briar excited, which Daken took notice and commented on.

Later, A weak Magneto arrived at the X-Mansion and met with Briar at the meeting room. Briar then praised herself for suggesting to have Magneto bring the Mutant Growth Hormone with him. Magneto then told Briar about Mothervine being released globally. He added that this was not natural and will be catastrophic. But he felt more worried because the X-Men were still in space. But Briar told him not to worry since she had brought a new group of X-Men. Greeting her father, Polaris then came out alongside her new team, Daken, Jimmy, Xorn, Blood Storm and Gazing Nightshade.

Another entertaining book from the awesome creative team. Cullen Bunn manages to keep you on the edge of your seat. This time by having Magneto fight their foes in an epic way. Aside from that, he also gave Polaris another moment to shine, even having Xorn comment about how powerful and dangerous she was with what had happened when she was under the influence of Malice. Goes to show that Bunn is really fond of developing both father and daughter; and will not hesitate to explore their skills as well.

The fun part of course, despite being revealed at the end would be the new team. I am very interested in the synergy of this new team and the potential dramas that will be explored as well. Best example would be the two sons of Logan, Daken, and Jimmy. I wonder how they will interact and if Bunn will add some tension between these two interesting characters. Also, another thing I found interesting was that Emma Frost being teased about her current circumstance. Magneto still acknowledged her good intentions for the Mutant-kind despite being misguided. Ever since Inhumans vs X-Men, Marvel has been assassinating Emma’s years of character development trying to turn her into a villain again. It was not until when Bunn started writing Blue that he was starting to fix her up which started during the Secret Empire crossover (especially when a lot of fans voiced out their opinions after IvX).

The art is ever beautiful and gorgeous to look. Jorge Molina gave another awesome job on this issue. His art looked fantastic and the part where Magneto used his power to armor up for battle looked awesome! As always Matt Millia’s colors were fantastic with Molina’s art.

Magneto is one of the greatest comic book characters of all time. So long as writers understand and respect what makes the master of magnetism so attractive (get it?), all they have to do is get out of his way and the character writes himself. As X-Men Blue #25 features a Magneto-heavy story, you already know you’re in for a treat. What you’re not aware of is that this oversized issue features Magneto unleashed!

OK, so writer Cullen Bunn deserves some credit, just don’t let Magneto know I said that (he has a temper). Following the frustrating “Poison-X,” the “Cry Havok” story arc has been consistently strong, thanks in equal measure to addictive writing and the return of original series penciler Jorge Molina. Overall, it finally feels like all of Bunn’s little subplots are coming together and generating real stakes in the process–something that couldn’t be said during the last story arc, no matter how many times we were told Jean Grey was dead (you’re smarter than that, Cyclops).

X-Men Blue #25 is actually a pretty quick read, which surprised me considering it comes with a $4.99 price tag. But don’t worry, you’re not being scammed–there are actually two stories in this issue: “Cry Havok Part 3” and “Meanwhile…,” which I’ll get to in a bit.

The main story focuses on the fallout from last issue’s battle between a Malice-possessed Polaris and the Raksha, the results of Briar Raleigh’s X-Men recruitment drive and, of course, Havok and his gang of villains’ efforts to seduce Magneto to their cause. That cause being Mothervine–which could make mutants the dominant species on the planet, but will probably end up causing more trouble than it’s worth. Cue Magneto unleashed!X-Men Blue #25 reviewHavok, Emma Frost, Bastion and Miss Sinister are no pushovers. So, to see Magneto stand up to them and counter their twisted logic at every turn reminds readers why he’s a force to be reckoned with. Also, he does something downright badass in battle that brings back memories from the conclusion of the “The Age of Apocalypse.”

The battle between Magneto and his adversaries is also where you’ll find some of Molina’s slickest visuals in this issue. Turns out inverted Alex Summers makes for a pretty menacing bad guy. I almost don’t want to see him revert back to normal.

One question: Do many comics still feature thought bubbles? I feel like we don’t get a peek inside characters’ heads as much these days, so kudos to Emma for bringing that back!

On the tail end of this issue, we have “Meanwhile…,” which returns the original X-Men to the series they’re supposed to star in. And yes, they’re still in space with Venom. BUT, Bunn knows I’m a sucker for Scott and Jean drama, so he distracted me with this tale of teenage Cyclops moping about Jean, who he thinks is dead. Seriously, can someone give Slim an X-Men comic to read? Anyway, this tale continues to hint that first, Jean isn’t really gone for good, and second, the original five’s days in the present are likely numbered. The art in this chapter, by Perkins, is a lot more realistic than Molina’s pencils. But the realism works well with the emotional storyline.

So, does this issue have a downside? I mean, I could mention how the cover is a pretty big tease, but this is an anniversary comic, so I’ll go easy on it. Not many series reach #25 these days, so a toast to X-Men Blue!

Near mint, 1st print. Bagged & Boarded.