X-Men Unlimited #120 - "Red Winter Sun" Part 3

[JB]

The Blood Dawn ritual has been roaring all night and sunrise is close. Sunspot is in pretty bad shape as Rii the Destroyer continues to beat on him. Rii's power as he describes it: "With but a taste of my prey, I obliterate any and all traces they've left upon creation. Every touch shared with a lover, every quarrel fought with an enemy - erased from memory. From even Lactuca's gaze.

Rii wonders if Sunspot hasn't yielded yet because a part of him desires that kind of oblivion. Rii wants him to beg but he won't and sunrise finally comes. We learn about some of the Arakkii characters and their emotional journeys through the ritual. Bei is still hurt and angry, the battling not having done enough to help her release her grief over Doug.

Roberto, weakly and held by Kobak, says he feels like he burnt off so much anger and hurt that it could be months before he feels anything at all.

A day or two after the ritual Storm, Sunfire and others have gathered. Sunspot jokes, hoping they're not about to start another pain-based holiday. Bei reminds him that Arakko lost its voice in Otherworld and now Redroot has finally returned to them.



Roberto says that he hated himself for not being at the gala when Sam and others were killed. He felt guilt over being on the other side of the planet at the time, tinkering on his next project.

Sunfire's chest wound is healed and Zsen plants Redroot into the ground.

Sunspot: Don't get me wrong, the X-Men are great. But they can't be everywhere all of the time. For that, you'd need something bigger. Even with all that's happened, there are still so many vulnerable mutants out there. It's funny, I celebrated the Blood Dawn out of spite. I wanted to put Rii in his place.

Storm calls down rain on Redroot who starts to grow.



Sunspot says he's wallowed in self pity long enough and has a more important role to play. Bei says their pain will not be without purpose. He approaches Zsen and tells her serving with her father and aunt was an honor. He then relinquishes his seat on the Night table and grants it to her.



Very cool to see Storm heal Sunfire after Redroot is separated from him. It's wonderful to have the voice of Arakko back and the ending is really interesting. "New Mutants." Hmm.

[Kingdom X]

New Year, same JB with the fantastic recaps!

Do we know if next is a continuation of this story or the start of a new one? Regardless definitely enjoyed this one even if it rushed a bit near the end. Excited to see what’s next for Berto.

[Factor]

I thought the Sunfire/Red Root merger would last longer, but I’m happy Shiro is healed already. He deserves a bigger role in the X-books.

[wlfking]

Did my mans just drop the "New Mutants" name on us? And he's going home? Ooooo!
This was a good read. Real excited to see what Sunspot gets up to next in this whole new year! Probably helps his profile if X-Men 97 manages to release this year.

[JB]

New Year, same JB with the fantastic recaps!

Do we know if next is a continuation of this story or the start of a new one? Regardless definitely enjoyed this one even if it rushed a bit near the end. Excited to see what’s next for Berto.

Happy New Year! It seems like the next one starts a new story but Dani is on the cover of #123 so maybe it's connected.
What I love is how the Steve's carried the Sunfire/Redroot story over here as a little subplot so maybe they'll do more of that with the Sunspot story, continuing threads along the way.

Did my mans just drop the "New Mutants" name on us? And he's going home? Ooooo!
This was a good read. Real excited to see what Sunspot gets up to next in this whole new year! Probably helps his profile if X-Men 97 manages to release this year.

I was excited to see "New Mutants"! It's interesting that he said they "need something bigger" regarding all the vulnerable mutants out there.

[Master of Sound]

The End made me feel that there are great plans for Sunspot for 2024. I must dat X-Men Red did great things for Roberto, so I do hope they will keep on going with Sunspot and not put him in a titel where he does not shine like he did the past year.

[dragon1440]

Happy New Year! It seems like the next one starts a new story but Dani is on the cover of #123 so maybe it's connected.
What I love is how the Steve's carried the Sunfire/Redroot story over here as a little subplot so maybe they'll do more of that with the Sunspot story, continuing threads along the way.



I was excited to see "New Mutants"! It's interesting that he said they "need something bigger" regarding all the vulnerable mutants out there.

Maybe some worldwide mutant rescue organization? Makes me think of something akin to X-Corps.

[Arachne]

New Year, same JB with the fantastic recaps!

Do we know if next is a continuation of this story or the start of a new one? Regardless definitely enjoyed this one even if it rushed a bit near the end. Excited to see what’s next for Berto.

According to the preview, this was a three part Arrako story, but Sunspot's leaving Arrako, so I'm hoping his story is continuing.

I really enjoyed this, I just wish they took the time to save Nova. Regardless, very curious about what Beto is going to be up to next.

[Dermie]

I really enjoyed this, I just wish they took the time to save Nova.

Ewing might be planning to resolve Nova's situation himself; perhaps in the upcoming RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO mini.

[Factor]

Happy New Year! It seems like the next one starts a new story but Dani is on the cover of #123 so maybe it's connected.
What I love is how the Steve's carried the Sunfire/Redroot story over here as a little subplot so maybe they'll do more of that with the Sunspot story, continuing threads along the way.



I was excited to see "New Mutants"! It's interesting that he said they "need something bigger" regarding all the vulnerable mutants out there.

The “something bigger” reminded me of OG X-Corps. Maybe Sunspot will restart as a more “humanitarian” organization. Not a classic super-hero team.

[CGAR]

I feel like this might lead into the Warpath / Dani Moonstar stories. I like how the Steve's are ebbing and flowing through all their stories.

[dragon1440]

The “something bigger” reminded me of OG X-Corps. Maybe Sunspot will restart as a more “humanitarian” organization. Not a classic super-hero team.

They could call the new organization the New X-Men....

[JB]

Steve Foxe revealed in a new podcast interview that the next Unlimited story is one continuous story until summer.

"Starting in January, we are doing an arc that will actually continue all the way until summer. So rather than doing short stories, we’re actually doing one continuous story. Betsy is involved, Betsy Braddock, Captain Britain; Thunderbird, who Steve [Orlando]’s done a lot of work with is involved, and also some other fun characters are going to get looped into that; Dani Moonstar, who was just in Realm of X. So very excited to be on that. That will actually, by the end, be the longest single X-Men story I’ve worked on, because if you count the Unlimited pages, it kind of equals out to almost seven issues. So very excited to be on that with Steve, and we’re working with Phil Sevy, who’s the artist of the X-Men Unlimited arc that’s currently running, and Nick Roche, who’s done X-Men Unlimited in the past. So, they’re going to alternate on and off, and we’re going to be on that through the summer."

Music to my ears as this gives the Steve's a ton of runway to utilize as it's a 6-7 month story. I'm stoked.

(The interview is mostly about Dead X-Men and it's great!)

[Factor]

So happy they’re doing something with Thunderbird. Ewing teased a big role for him in X-men Red, but it never happened and the character basically disappeared from sight. I can’t recall if he was even around for the last arc.
Thunderbird coming back should have been a much bigger deal than the little they have done with it.

[Kingdom X]

Steve Foxe revealed in a new podcast interview that the next Unlimited story is one continuous story until summer.

"Starting in January, we are doing an arc that will actually continue all the way until summer. So rather than doing short stories, we’re actually doing one continuous story. Betsy is involved, Betsy Braddock, Captain Britain; Thunderbird, who Steve [Orlando]’s done a lot of work with is involved, and also some other fun characters are going to get looped into that; Dani Moonstar, who was just in Realm of X. So very excited to be on that. That will actually, by the end, be the longest single X-Men story I’ve worked on, because if you count the Unlimited pages, it kind of equals out to almost seven issues. So very excited to be on that with Steve, and we’re working with Phil Sevy, who’s the artist of the X-Men Unlimited arc that’s currently running, and Nick Roche, who’s done X-Men Unlimited in the past. So, they’re going to alternate on and off, and we’re going to be on that through the summer."

Music to my ears as this gives the Steve's a ton of runway to utilize as it's a 6-7 month story. I'm stoked.

(The interview is mostly about Dead X-Men and it's great!)

Ditto! I'm a big fan of all the characters mentioned and I'm glad Foxe got to do a solid amount of X-work before the regime change.