X-Men Red #8 Review *spoilers*

[JB]

There's more to unpack here than luggage for a month long trip around the globe so I'll just throw some bullet points out:

- Cable and Khora meet with Weaponless Zsen to discuss Brand. Cable wants to hire her to kill Brand but take the "long way 'round."

- Data page for an Emergency Diplomatic Meeting : Code Red.
Gladiator and Deathbird repping the Shi'ar with Xandra on her way, Paibok repping Kree/Skrull, Frenzy repping the Sol System as Storm is unavailable, and Nova repping GoTG. Data page says "The Broken Land sees him. Richard Rider is of Arakko." I love it.
- Brand is watching the meeting as Paibok is telling a previous story of how the Kree received false intel that led to the slaughter of vulnerable Skrulls while they were at war. The Kree were told it was a facility where major weapons were being made. At the time, there was a ceasefire between the two but the slaughter sparked the war all over again.
- It's revealed that the Shi'ar fed the Kree the false intel. Xandra arrives and admits that this secret was one of the Ten Shames the Kin Crimson tried to bury. It was in the Shiar's interest that the Kree and Skrull continue fighting.

Cable, Zsen and Kora are now with Thunderbird, Manifold, and Wiz-Kid. Cable gets them up to speed and explains that he learned Brand is not only working with Orchis but also Orbis Stellaris, "a gene-tech entrepreneur" who also does "militarized cloning." (To BobbysWorld's theory). Cable now knows that Brand partnered with Orbis to steal a sample of his TO virus. Really awesome panel of Cable popping claws using the TO. He gives Manifold a sample of the viral load which allows Eden to detect an "end point" for his portal.

They reach Orbis' hideout faaaar out in space in the World Farm. Very far. They find the sample of the stolen TO virus and as Cable is trying to figure out why Brand wants it, they notice three figures in glass caskets. These are the three aliens that retrieved the floating/drifting Vulcan in Hickman's X-Men #10. Cable is able to hack into a file connected to their caskets and streams a video from his arm. We see the three figures discussing a subject, saying he has a thin layer of good in him but under that is the broken monster. The camera then shows it's Vulcan and Cable is understandably shocked. The retrieval of Vulcan and returning him to Krakoa and his family was all orchestrated. As Cable is figuring all this out, giant Orbis attached to a giant body smashes his way into the chamber. This is gonna be a good fight.

- Back at the meeting Paibok says unless Xandra can come up with a suitable offer, there will be war between the Kree/Skrull and the Shi'ar. Nova says over his dead body will he allow that. Enter Vulcan and the last data page.

[JB]

This is from X-Men 10 for reference.



So Brand recruited Orbis to find and retrieve Vulcan and to use him as her ultimate sleeper agent. This just got a whole lot more personal for Cable than I could have imagined as this obviously impacts his family directly. Brand theorized that putting Vulcan through the resurrection protocol would essentially destroy whatever small amount of good was left in him, so she orchestrated his death by the hand of Tarn.

It's a lot!

[JB]

"- An entire nation of mutants is a limitless resource if properly controlled and directed.
- My on-off personal relationship with Henry McCoy/Beast may be useful."

She's a genius and I hate her for it. This opens up so many possibilities on how she may have been undermining Krakoa from the beginning.

[Cyclone_Ablaze]

This Issue was GOOD. And DAMN!!!!! I WISH Abigail Brand was truly on our side, because she would have been a GREAT Assets. And she has a Great Strategical Mind, but she needs to be DESTROYED. Also, i'm glad Ewing confirmed that Storm IS STILL the Voice of Sol. I saw some people in complaining about it in other threads. To which there were no evidence said she was. But i'm Glad that little rumor is squashed. I LOVE that fact that Storm's missing Presence makes Abigail Brand Uneasy like Brand is a bit terrified LOL. And I have to believe that Orchis can't be THAT Naïve to the fact Brand is playing them also. Cable's X-Men Red Team looks really good. It's an interesting Dynamic they have which makes me want a Solo Book for themselves.

All in all a GREAT Issue. I'd give it a 9/10. So, EXCITED for the Storm vs Vulcan Battle. It's going to be GREAT.

[Taurean Sun]

Ewing just made everyone and everything happening in the other marvel books seem silly in comparison. Yes even the recent A.X.E event. Like the sheer scale by which brands machinations go is beyond anything I could have imagined. The shi'air alone have multiple galaxies under their control. It makes the mutant vs human thing seem benign tbh.

[Grunty]

"- An entire nation of mutants is a limitless resource if properly controlled and directed.
- My on-off personal relationship with Henry McCoy/Beast may be useful."

She's a genius and I hate her for it. This opens up so many possibilities on how she may have been undermining Krakoa from the beginning.

Kind of problematic for a writer to once again highlights that fact since it just makes the people in charge look bad and raises the question how any villains can actualy oppose them anymore, without making the heros look inept.

Not to mean this makes this story in particular bad though, just a general problem with the status quo.

[JB]

This Issue was GOOD. And DAMN!!!!! I WISH Abigail Brand was truly on our side, because she would have been a GREAT Assets. And she has a Great Strategical Mind, but she needs to be DESTROYED. Also, i'm glad Ewing confirmed that Storm IS STILL the Voice of Sol. I saw some people in complaining about it in other threads. To which there were no evidence said she was. But i'm Glad that little rumor is squashed. I LOVE that fact that Storm's missing Presence makes Abigail Brand Uneasy like Brand is a bit terrified LOL. And I have to believe that Orchis can't be THAT Naïve to the fact Brand is playing them also. Cable's X-Men Red Team looks really good. It's an interesting Dynamic they have which makes me want a Solo Book for themselves.

All in all a GREAT Issue. I'd give it a 9/10. So, EXCITED for the Storm vs Vulcan Battle. It's going to be GREAT.

Yes I'm very glad Ewing quickly confirmed that her role as Voice of Sol is unchanged. I believe it's going to be very important in hoping to avoid this all-out war and that's going to entail taking Vulcan down. But now I wonder if this is what will lead into her SoS book which I believe says it's a future where Arakko is destroyed? I can see a battle with Vulcan and/or a war between the Shi'ar and Kree/Skrull causing that. It's crazy.

[Cyclone_Ablaze]

Yes I'm very glad Ewing quickly confirmed that her role as Voice of Sol is unchanged. I believe it's going to be very important in hoping to avoid this all-out war and that's going to entail taking Vulcan down. But now I wonder if this is what will lead into her SoS book which I believe says it's a future where Arakko is destroyed? I can see a battle with Vulcan and/or a war between the Shi'ar and Kree/Skrull causing that. It's crazy.

It could be. But, we know that SoS is about Sinister so I'd have to wonder how would Sinister play a role into this if this is ALL Abigail Brand's FAULT. Y'know?? But, this was great. Ewing NEVER disappoints.

[JB]

Ewing just made everyone and everything happening in the other marvel books seem silly in comparison. Yes even the recent A.X.E event. Like the sheer scale by which brands machinations go is beyond anything I could have imagined. The shi'air alone have multiple galaxies under their control. It makes the mutant vs human thing seem benign tbh.

Exactly. It calls into question pretty much everything as we don't know how far her tentacles have reached. She straight up wants her own planet. This is beyond excellent writing.

[JB]

It could be. But, we know that SoS is about Sinister so I'd have to wonder how would Sinister play a role into this if this is ALL Abigail Brand's FAULT. Y'know?? But, this was great. Ewing NEVER disappoints.

That leads me to think about BobbysWorld's interesting theory that Orbis is a Sinister from the future, life 9 I think he said. Could you imagine? LOL! Gene-tech and cloning are Orbis' specialties.

[Cyclone_Ablaze]

That leads me to think about BobbysWorld's interesting theory that Orbis is a Sinister from the future, life 9 I think he said. Could you imagine? LOL!

I've never seen Bobbysworl's Theory about that, but that raises a GREAT POINT to which i've never considered it. Maybe this is the Spade of Sinister? or Queen LOL.

[CGAR]

Damn she's a snake but she's a good one.

[JB]

I've never seen Bobbysworl's Theory about that, but that raises a GREAT POINT to which i've never considered it. Maybe this is the Spade of Sinister? or Queen LOL.

The solicit for issue #10:
"IT’S ALL LED UP TO THIS! In the blazing ruins of the Autumn Palace, Storm battles for the soul of Arakko! Meanwhile, Abigail Brand and Roberto Da Costa play their last cards—and a sinister hand deals the Ace of Spades. You won’t believe where the Brotherhood goes from here…"

[Cyclone_Ablaze]

The solicit for issue #10:
"IT’S ALL LED UP TO THIS! In the blazing ruins of the Autumn Palace, Storm battles for the soul of Arakko! Meanwhile, Abigail Brand and Roberto Da Costa play their last cards—and a sinister hand deals the Ace of Spades. You won’t believe where the Brotherhood goes from here…"

!!!! OH ****. I swear I guessed that. I hope i'm right!!!!

[JB]

Kind of problematic for a writer to once again highlights that fact since it just makes the people in charge look bad and raises the question how any villains can actualy oppose them anymore, without making the heros look inept.

Not to mean this makes this story in particular bad though, just a general problem with the status quo.

It's true. It raises a lot of questions about Krakoa.

!!!! OH ****. I swear I guessed that. I hope i'm right!!!!

The whole thing kinda fits and if this war creates more destruction for Arakko, it could be exactly what Sinister wants. Hopefully BobbysWorld will chime in because he has more as it relates to Mars.