ANXF #20 Spoilers - last issue

[Living Silver]

Thoughts on this issue:
I did not understand a single thing that Snow was going on about...
Kinda happy that they will be in Spider-Man 2099?

And because I know nothing about the 2099 world, it's confusing. (Has anyone been reading both?). If some of the characters move across I might pick up some issues and see where it's going.

For people that have been reading Spider-Man 2099, this issue was ridiculously awesome.
Here's a quick run-down of what you need to know from that book, as it seems that very few people have been reading both:

Miguel O'Hare is Spider-Man in the year 2099. As of the start of his new series, he has been transported back into time to 2014.
Miguel's father (Tyler Stone) is the head of the biggest, most evil mega-corporation in 2099, named Alchemax. In 2014, Alchemax is still growing in power, and Miguel's grandfather, Tiberius Stone, is in charge in our era.
As the series progresses, Miguel gets a job at Alchemax. Because he doesn't want to alter the future by having his name in the company database, he uses a fake name (Mike O'Mara).

That's basically all you need to know. In ANXF #20, we learn that Harrison Snow is from the future and has been a friend of Spider-Man 2099 this whole time, and that he's a "good guy" who is using his company Serval to take down the evil empire of Alchemax.

IMPLICATIONS: I don't recall if Spider-Man 2099 is working as a hired bodyguard at Alchemax yet, but it was a plot direction that PAD was moving towards for certain. This means that we will probably get to see X-Factor fight Spider-Man 2099 in the near future, as one company head attempts to attack or sabotage the other.

*I haven't read PAD's Hulk: Future Imperfect, but I'm willing to bet that the green guy ruling in the future is Maestro.

[Kurolegacy]

As a reader of Spider-Man 2099, it PAD kinda spoiled Miguel's status past-Spider-Verse in this issue by revealing that he will return to the year 2015 due to whatever went wrong in 2099 that Maestro is ruling it.

[Starfish]

Are Danger and Warlock going to have a baby?

That was the first thought that came to my mind, as well, especially since we know Danger can reproduce sexually with other AIs by combining her source code with them (which is what involuntarily happened between her and the alien AI in X-Club). Not to mention that the sex scene between her and Warlock reminded me a lot of Danger mating with Ultron in the Astonishing X-Men what-if:



Besides, the Technarchy's numbers dwindling to the point where Magus issued the moratorium on their father-son-murdering traditions was another plot point that came up before. In the what-if above, Ultron and Danger became father and mother of the Phalanx, wiping out all organic life in the universe with their children. I can see PAD going for a similar yet more benign approach with the dying of the Technarchy, and Warlock and Danger starting a new generation of technarchs to save them.

[Sea Hound]

For people that have been reading Spider-Man 2099, this issue was ridiculously awesome.
Here's a quick run-down of what you need to know from that book, as it seems that very few people have been reading both:

Miguel O'Hare is Spider-Man in the year 2099. As of the start of his new series, he has been transported back into time to 2014.
Miguel's father (Tyler Stone) is the head of the biggest, most evil mega-corporation in 2099, named Alchemax. In 2014, Alchemax is still growing in power, and Miguel's grandfather, Tiberius Stone, is in charge in our era.
As the series progresses, Miguel gets a job at Alchemax. Because he doesn't want to alter the future by having his name in the company database, he uses a fake name (Mike O'Mara).

That's basically all you need to know. In ANXF #20, we learn that Harrison Snow is from the future and has been a friend of Spider-Man 2099 this whole time, and that he's a "good guy" who is using his company Serval to take down the evil empire of Alchemax.

IMPLICATIONS: I don't recall if Spider-Man 2099 is working as a hired bodyguard at Alchemax yet, but it was a plot direction that PAD was moving towards for certain. This means that we will probably get to see X-Factor fight Spider-Man 2099 in the near future, as one company head attempts to attack or sabotage the other.

*I haven't read PAD's Hulk: Future Imperfect, but I'm willing to bet that the green guy ruling in the future is Maestro.

Thanks Living Silver. That's very helpful.

I don't know if Snow is being set up as unambiguously heroic. He seems very "ends justifies the means" to me. I can see SM 2099 fighting both him and Alchemax down the track.

[salarta]

Reposting from the ANXF Appreciation thread.


There's a lot of nice, bittersweet moments to this issue. I really liked that we saw nothing of what happens with Axis #7, and we got a little bit of final insight into Lorna and Pietro and how they feel about each other as brother and sister. Also as a Lorna fan, I was very happy to see her take Warlock aside and ask him to reach out to Danger. It showed a lot of maturity and empathy on Lorna's part, both not assuming she could do it herself and in caring about the feelings of "a machine" when I'm sure it would be easy to just accept that statement after the final fight.

So, as a Lorna fan I want to say thank you very much to Peter David for this final issue.

We didn't see much with Gambit, and I can completely understand Gambit fans wanting more. Honestly, I really wish Marvel had allowed for a final issue that's double the size, if possible. It feels unfair to me that fans of other characters didn't get much, and I think that's entirely due to limitations on how much time and space Peter David had available.

Snow's origins and purpose were things I didn't expect. It really makes me wonder what's going to happen in the future, since it's obvious Snow must know at least a little something about all the characters and what events are going to take place. The only very minor criticism I have at the moment is that getting all heroes working for Serval seems like something that could never be achieved regardless of plot devices. Snow wanting to do that comes across to me as naive and in conflict with his cunning.

I also kind of expected the team wouldn't necessarily disband, given Peter David has other books they can be pulled into. I don't think they're going to fully go to Spider-Man 2099, but appear in stories from time to time.

There's one more thing I've waited a long time to say. I couldn't say it until now because I wanted to make sure there was no risk of my genuine feelings looking like a cheap attempt to affect the writing. I doubt Peter David will read this, but I'm writing it as if he is anyway.

Peter David, I've said a lot of very harsh things about you and your writing in the past, and I'm sorry. I can be a terrible person at times. I try to be fair and reasonable, but there are a lot of moments where I fail, and say some really harsh, mean things that are completely uncalled for.

The truth of it is, I didn't give you the fair chance you deserved from the start. From the moment Marvel announced you were writing Lorna and Alex again, I assumed the worst because that's what I came to expect when a veteran goes back to past characters. You slowly proved those assumptions wrong, but I wasn't nearly as considerate as I should have been.

So, with all of that in mind, I'm deeply sorry for any harm my worst moments caused for you, and thank you for listening to criticism and trying to do right by the characters while all that was happening.

Oh, one last thing. About a decade ago, I did actually read the first TPB of Fallen Angel and loved it, and only realized you were the writer last year.

[Cyke]

One thing I've noticed is that X-Factor is barely in other books, period; not even cameos. Compare to Ms. Marvel -- I love her to death, but her book is younger AND has had several crossovers or guest-appearances already. Now that ANXF is kaput, hopefully we'll see them interacting more with the larger universe. (lately I've been paying attention to the writers of those crossovers, too. If two books crossover but they share the same writer, then it's kind of a cheat. I'm looking at you, Bendis, for ANXM and GoTG).

To wit, that image of all those heroes wearing Serval uniforms was very neat, but Snow is one *heck* of an idealist.

[Living Silver]

So Cyke, you just identified the dilema that PAD faced very often in his last volume of X-Factor (XFI): a good chunk of loyal PAD fans are not x-fans and hate cross-overs. They want to read X-Factor and only X-Factor. PAD deliberately avoided cross-overs for the first couple of years of the book. It's hard to tell if there is a causal relationship, but the Messiah Complex crossover and the She-Hulk cross-over happened during the same time that sales took a huge dip. And fans still complained that X-Factor felt isolated from the rest of the Marvel Universe. So PAD then started heavily featuring characters from other parts of the MU. But because these weren't true cross-overs and the events in the X-Factor were never reflected in the original title, people still felt the book existed on an island.

tl:dr ... So what it all comes down to, is being acknowledged by other books. This means either editorial has to push other books to feature another books characters (like how I'm sure Ms. Marvel has a huge push from editorial and corporate, because of the demographic the title represents. in addition to just being a good book, of course). The other option is to have friends or fans working on other books. That way, a fan/friend will drop guest characters or elements in the background (like when Anka put the Serval billboard into that All-New X-Men book).

[Heroine Addict]

So yeah, kind of an open-ended final issue... bit of an oxymoron there, but it was alright & I'm OK with it. Obviously, some of the ANXF goings-on will carry over & continue into PAD's SM2099, but it remains to be seen just exactly how much that'll be... and I wish him well.

With that, I'd like to take a look back, and give a quick, lil' takeaway for each of the team members:

Quicksilver... benefited most, I think, as his character was somewhat rehablitated... or at least put on the path to redemption, and was made more sympathetic in the process. His story was the most resolved & he's now in a good place for his official move to the Avengers, where hopefully he'll receive more positive growth. My ANXF for Pietro verdict: he's the better for it!

Danger... alls I can say here is... if you still don't care for her after this run, then you probably never will. I DID grow to like her however, and found her complete, unfiltered candor really funny at times. I may not follow her wherever she goes, but I will likely keep tabs on her latest happenings, as I'm curious about her future now. And I would've never said that before ANXF, so it's defintiely thanks to PAD's take on her... my verdict: she's WAY the better for it!

Polaris... many things I could say here, but I wanted to single out the sometimes rather acerbic wit PAD had her readily display. I've seen it touched on before elsewhere, but here it seemed more pronounced, more front & center as an aspect of her overall personality. A for instance from this most recent ish, in regards to her knowledge of Danger's more... intimate yearnings, "... I'm amazed it's not a crawl on CNN." LOL - loved it! And all those like it, that came before & after, from which I could cite many more examples. I hope her future writers take note *cough, Cullen Bunn, cough*, and further cement it as an ingrained trait of our seemingly ascending... "Mistress of Magnetism". My ANXF for Lorna verdict: she's the better for it!

Gambit... is the hardest for me to quantify, TBH, so I'll do the same for him that I did for Lorna. One thing I liked, was the slight geek factor PAD gave him, with his knowledge of & references to... pop culture. I think it endeared him even more to me, as it humanized him some. It's qualities like that which can serve to make him more down to earth & relatable to the average reader, I would say. Basically, he's none the worse for wear though, so my ANXF for Remy verdict is: he's pretty OK after it.

Warlock & Cypher... the meter didn't really move a whole lot with these two, for me. A slight uptick perhaps, I'm maybe more ambivalent towards them now, and less adverse as I was before... but that's about it. I did like Warlock's constant, self-corrected attempts to assimilate himself further. My ANXF verdict for them: they're kinda OK after it.

Georgia & Sunfire... honorable mentions, and to sum it up succinctly - good enough! Though I would've liked to seen A LOT more of Shiro, and seen him a lot sooner. I do have 2 parting words for these 2 in particular tho - "... Tuna sammiches", lol. My ANXF verdict for them: they'll be just fine.


The Harrison Snow reveal was a neat enough twist I suppose, but was a bit underwhelming for me personally. I agree with everyone else, that this final ish belonged mostly to Polaris, and I'm selfishly not sorry about that. Her poignant moment with Quicksilver's message, her insightful exchange & urging with Warlock, and her fraternization with rest of the team throughout, came across as a nice send-off... for me, anyway. And with that, I can honestly say that while ANXF didn't quite live up to all my admittedly high expectations, I will look back on it with mostly fond recollection. So to PAD, CDG, my fellow ANXF fans, and everybody & anybody else involved with it... I leave you with this sappy - but sincere & heartfelt - video message:

[kumiho]

I can't really say I like where this leaves the team. Not only was nothing resolved at the end, but the team in general was given little panel time compared to setting up matters for a shift to Spiderman 2099. Quicksilver gets to run off to the Avengers. Supposedly Sunfire is somehow taking over as head of A.I.M.. Polaris may be moving over to things with Magneto, though perhaps just for a couple issues. But really, whoever is staying is now stuck in a hole. They go from being heroes themselves to being at best side characters used once in a while to a third-rate Spiderman with a convoluted time travel tale. As a fan to this team, I'm not amused. Particularly as a Gambit fan i'm unhappy. Through out this book his role steadily declined from featured narrator... who still did nothing right... to guy that pops in a bland one liner now and again and contributes nothing to the team. All while wearing that hideous yellow outfit with those stupid Bono glasses. Considering he came in at first with the intent to investigate Snow, to see what he was really about, it annoyed the hell out of me that he never did any of that, in spite of all his resources as a thief, and head of a global underworld order, and with a team of super techs right next to him at his disposal, and still he sat around just petting his kittens! WTF!? Now this book just ends off with him still stuck in that awful yellow monstrosity, with a future of possibly appearing once in a while as Snow's right hand bitch. As the King of the International Thieves guilds Gambit should be on par in power, money and influence to someone like Snow. Instead PAD has made Gambit into a do nothing pet monkey, never questioning the guy he supposedly joined the team to investigate. So no... Gambit is WAY WORSE OFF.. after this book.

[Neko]

I wouldn't go that far ... that Gambit is worse off. He was funny and was humanized quite a bit by PAD. He didn't get much story, and for this Gambit fan, that is why I'm not happy with the ending. Gambit was already restless with the team and the company. He should have just left. That said, allot of things were not addressed. It wasn't a good way to end the book. In comparison to the time he was in Legacy, at least Gambit wasn't damaged.

[Starfish]

Seeing how Serval Headquarters is apparently located in Virginia, would it even exist on the new Battleworld thing?

Though I think I've seen a 2099 land.

[Sea Hound]

I wouldn't go that far ... that Gambit is worse off. He was funny and was humanized quite a bit by PAD. He didn't get much story, and for this Gambit fan, that is why I'm not happy with the ending. Gambit was already restless with the team and the company. He should have just left. That said, allot of things were not addressed. It wasn't a good way to end the book. In comparison to the time he was in Legacy, at least Gambit wasn't damaged.

I wonder will we ever get a hint of the future plans outlined for Gambit? As you said, there are loose ends aplenty. I can't see him being happy to go along with Snow manipulating him into being a hero. And there was definitely something developing between him and Polaris, IMO. Oh well.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

There was a kiss and nothing more, you could say that same about Gambit and Danger from that...at least from what was actually shown in the book.

[kumiho]

There was a kiss and nothing more, you could say that same about Gambit and Danger from that...at least from what was actually shown in the book.

Yeah, PAD didn't really give them any kind of a development toward romance. It would be awkward at best to add in now. If he tries to do it off panel and have them a 'thing' in Spiderman 2099.... well, beyond being dumb, I just won't likely be reading anyway. If he paid these characters so little time and attention in developing their personalities and emotions in their own book, I don't want to think of the slop job he'll give them as side characters in another book. Really.. I'd rather they both just decide to leave Serval for better things. Lorna may get called away due to Magneto and Genosha..... and Remy is SUPPOSED to be leading an international organization in need of a major overhaul. So yeah... both can find better things to do then stroke Snow's ego.

[Neko]

I wonder will we ever get a hint of the future plans outlined for Gambit? As you said, there are loose ends aplenty. I can't see him being happy to go along with Snow manipulating him into being a hero. And there was definitely something developing between him and Polaris, IMO. Oh well.

Definitely some build even if just friends. They talked to each other like real people do and argued with each other like real people do. The kiss being what it is, was just another element in the build in general of the relationship over all. And I'm a bit sad, nothing more will be done with it.

I'm willing to bet the set of writers won't even remember they were at least friends for a time being.