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  1. #46
    Fantastic Member alanyoung909's Avatar
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    Alright, I can't seem to find the main Inferno thread, so I'll post this here.
    I've had some free time over this last weekend so I went through all the released Inferno art (from unlettered previews, the trailer, the X-Men Monday teases and Valerio Schiti's Twitter and Instagram feeds) to see if I could construct a reasonable breakdown of how the first issue is laid out.

    The (potentially only) great thing about having different artists for each issue is that you know all of the art released so far is from issue 1. (Schiti is also doing issue 4, but he just started working on that a couple of weeks ago so it definitely has not been coloured yet).

    I think I've done a decent job in cracking at least a third of the issue, as I've detailed down below. Feel free to comment on anything you think does not sound right.

    The issue has 43 pages of art. I suspect that there is around 4 to 5 data pages in addition to that.
    We start off with:

    DATA PAGE:
    An opening quote from someone to start off the issue. Probably something about consequences coming home to roost.
    Most likely candidates: Moira X, Mystique, Destiny, Professor X or Magneto. Could be an eccentric choice like Nimrod too.

    Scene 1 (Pages 1-2): ARBOR MAGNA, TO BE REVISITED
    A direct copy of the first two pages of House of X 1 except with Emma in the place of Professor X.
    Krakoan pods > Emma stands in the Arbor Magna > The pods crack open > Emma stands above the resurrectees > Emma says 'To me, my X-Men / my mutants / my Krakoans' or some equivalent.
    I expect the resurrectees to be X-Force, after their fatal trip to the Orchis Forge. There's a slim chance that it could be Destiny as well.
    This scene is just a teaser for Inferno 4, where it will be reprinted, only with proper context. This 'flash forward prologue' is actually a popular Hickman trope, one he's been using ever since he wrote Pax Romana more than a decade ago.

    I do expect the discussion around this issue to be dominated by this scene, much like how the discussion around House of X 1 kept returning to the 'clone farm' that Xavier supposedly had.
    There'll be plenty of theories and/or complaints on how Professor X and Magneto are dead or in the Pit or something.
    As with all of Hickman's flash forward prologues, I expect this to be a quasi-fakeout.
    There'll be some element of Xavier and Magneto getting their just deserts in this series, but I don't think they will completely lose control of Krakoa.

    Scene 2 (Pages 3-5): THE ORACLE, REVISITED
    The point of this scene is to reiterate to readers what the central problem of the series is: Professor X and Magneto have refused to resurrect precognitive mutants on Moira X's orders. Destiny had a premonition of this situation years ago and gave Mystique specific orders to circumvent it.

    Now, the likely option here is for the three Mystique/Destiny pages from X-Men 6 to be repeated, only with Valerio Schiti's art this time.
    Repeating pages wholesale is another one of the Hickman tropes that he's been using forever.
    Otherwise, we could get a new sequence between Mystique and Destiny that effectively conveys the same thing.
    There is a panel in the trailer of Mystique kissing Destiny's hands. I suspect that it is from this sequence.

    I expect to see the lines 'When those days come, remember these words ... then burn that place to the ground' repeated somewhere in this scene.

    RECAP AND CREDITS
    INFERNO, ISSUE 1: (insert title here)


    Scene 3 (Page 6-X): THE WAR CAPTAINS OF KRAKOA
    This is the scene where Storm crowns Bishop with a Krakoan wreath.

    According to Schiti's Instagram, the page with the Quiet Council assembled is page 6. Two potentially interesting things to note about this page:

    a) The location - I don't think we've ever seen this area of Krakoa before, or if we have, ever seen it depicted this way before. Schiti did say that we will be introduced to new locations in Krakoa, so this is probably one of them. It looks like a caldera with a crystalline island.

    b) The council-members - We see Professor X, Magneto (in his black suit), the White Queen, Storm, Mister Sinister, the Red Queen, Nightcrawler and Exodus. The absentees: Mystique, the Black King and Cypher. Cypher's absence makes sense - most artists forget that he is part of the Council anyway. Mystique might have obvious story-related reasons for not being there. But what happened to Sebastian Shaw?

    About the plot:

    a) The coronation - One popular theory is that Bishop is being invited onto the Quiet Council. I think that this is unlikely but only because Sinister Secret 56 insinuated that the filling of the empty Council seats would be a sordid affair. I'm much more inclined towards the other popular theory that this is Bishop being promoted to being the Captain Commander of Krakoa. Cyclops has now become co-leader of the X-Men, and cannot shoulder both roles at the same time. Another possibility is that this has something to do with the War College that Bishop is presiding over. It was first mentioned in X-Men 11 but it has not come up since. This feels like a good place to bring it back to the fore.

    b) The captains - I also believe that Psylocke will be selected to be a War Captain in this scene. The resurrected Gorgon is clearly in no position to resume his role, and Psylocke is as good a replacement as any.

    The likely reason for this shuffle in Captains is probably the escalating threat of Nimrod. Bishop will probably pledge to take active counter-measures against that Sentinel.

    In terms of teaser art, there is a panel where Cyclops and Storm are having a conversation (her face is reflected in his visor), a panel where Kate is saying something and another panel where Magik is saying something. Magik, Cyclops, Bishop and Psylocke walk out of this location together, as can be seen in the last frame of the trailer.

    Scene 4: QUIET COUNCIL MEETING
    A meeting in the Grove.
    At the very least, Professor X, Magneto (still in his black suit) and Mystique attend this meeting.
    Mystique seems upset about something. This could be Charles and Erik's final refusal to resurrect Destiny that galvanises Mystique into taking decisive action (and kick off the main plot).

    I'm not sure of the order of the next few scenes, so I will label all them as X.

    Scene X: MAGNETO RETURNS TO ISLAND M
    Magneto (now in his white suit) arrives on Island M on some type of ship (why didn't he just take the gates?). This can be seen in a couple of shots in the trailer.
    I would normally have said that he is here to collect the Cerebro Cradle that is on this island, but thanks to Leah Williams, it would seem that the Cradle has teleported itself into the House of M on Krakoa.
    My alternate theory is that this is where Magneto is going to use that key he got from the sea-witches way back in Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto. That was a Hickman set-up, and I don't see anyone else doing anything with it, so Hickman will probably pay it off as he wraps up.
    The key either opens a door to somewhere or it opens a vault or something from which Magneto retrieves something.

    Scene X: CYPHER, KRAKOA AND WARLOCK
    Cypher and Warlock, both perched on Krakoa's branches, have a three-way conversation.
    This is a callback to the Cypher-Krakoa-Warlock conversation that Cyclops stumbled upon back in X-Men 7.

    This Warlock plot has to be one of the most incoherent plot threads in the Krakoa era. I think different writers came at it from different directions, until the original plans were completely mangled. Hopefully Hickman can salvage something here and set up a solid path forward for Cypher and Warlock (and the Technarchy stuff).
    I think we might get a reveal that Krakoa has been infected with the techno-organic virus here. Sinister Secret 54 sort of hints towards this possibility. But then again, I also thought that we might get this reveal back when Warlock was revealed to the Krakoan public in X of Swords and I wrong then so I could be way off base here as well. You can never be sure with this particular plot thread.

    Scene X: MOIRA X GOES TO PARIS
    Moira leaves her No-Place habitat and travels to Paris. Paris is probably the 'greatest culinary city in the world' that she mentioned in Powers of X 6.
    She has a flashback to her time in [the Muir Island facility?] when she was working with Project: CURE. She still has some of her old notes.
    She goes to one of her safe-houses.
    According to Schiti's Instagram, the page where Moira arrives in Paris (with a flashback of a burning building) is page 26.

    There is an ORCHIS agent in Paris (I don't think that it's Bastion like many have speculated) who is watching Moira from behind some blinds.
    There are two possibilities here:
    a) This is some ORCHIS agent who is trailing Moira or a random ORCHIS agent stationed in Paris who happens to see Moira walking down the road and is reporting her movements to his bosses at the Orchis Forge.
    b) Moira works with ORCHIS and she is coming to Paris to talk to / deliver something to this agent.

  2. #47
    Fantastic Member alanyoung909's Avatar
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    DATA PAGE:
    A map of the Solar System, showing the Sun, Mercury and Venus at very least. There was a preview of this in the X-Men Monday teasers.
    This page probably details the location of the Orchis Forge, the Sentinel City and the Orchis watchtowers.

    Scene X: X-FORCE INFILTRATE THE ORCHIS FORGE
    According to Schiti's Instagram, the page where X-Force arrives on the Orchis Forge is page 29.

    Kid Omega, Wolverine and Domino infiltrate the Orchis Forge (under the orders of either the Beast, Bishop or the Quiet Council).
    How they get to the Orchis Forge: well, there is a gate, previously planted by Mystique, that goes from the House of M to the Orchis Forge.
    At the end of X-Men 20, Omega Sentinel reports to Doctor Devo that the gate had been booby-trapped by Orchis.
    X-Force seem to be fine in the preview, so they either dodged the trap or they took a ship to the Forge instead.

    In any case, I expect all of them to die during this mission.
    This scene is likely a callback/repeat of the scene in Powers of X 3 where the X-Men infiltrated the Sal-Cen Node, right down to a panel of Wolverine sensing danger followed by the team being attacked by multiple Nimrods.
    Only Wolverine survived in Powers of X 3, and even then only long enough to be able to deliver the information the X-Men were looking for back to the interested party. I expect something similar here, where Logan sends whatever they came to find back to Krakoa before dying.
    Unless, of course, the mission was to kill Nimrod, in which case they just fail I guess.

    The secondary point of this scene (in terms of plot structure) is to spur Nimrod into taking direct action against Krakoa (which should happen in Inferno 3).

    Scene X: MOIRA X, PROFESSOR X AND MAGNETO HAVE A CONVERSATION
    This is possibly one of the final scenes of the issue.
    Moira, Charles and Erik have a conversation, most likely taking place in Moira's No-Place Habitat.
    There are several panels of this scene in Valerio Schiti's Instagram.
    They probably have a discussion about Nimrod and/or Destiny.
    Moira makes a Shocking Revelation, which sounds like a good place to end the issue on.

    DATA PAGE:
    An closing quote from someone. Once again, someone from the Moira X, Mystique, Destiny, Professor X and Magneto group.

  3. #48
    Mighty Member GeneTitan's Avatar
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    Happy Inferno Eve, Mutants!
    Mutant and Proud!

  4. #49
    Braddock Isle JB's Avatar
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    I'm so excited to get this party started.
    "Danielle... I intend to do something rash and violent." - Betsy Braddock
    Krakoa, Arakko, and Otherworld forever!

  5. #50
    Mighty Member Captain Nash's Avatar
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    I am so ready for the **** to hit the fan tomorrow. Better get your resurrections on while you can!

  6. #51
    Extraordinary Member Purplevit's Avatar
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    alanyoung909, very cool breakdown.

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