Well, you know what they say about god and plans and assumptions and Celestials, right?
Neither of these issue are much of a tie-in. Between the two of them, I’d argue that there are eight pages related to the event with the rest having nothing to do with the Judgment Day beyond the odd reference or allusion that makes no difference. Both of these comics function as just your average issue of each title with a scene plugged into each involving the Progenitor that could be excised completely and have no impact whatsoever.
No, I can’t copy and paste what I wrote two weeks ago, because this is a whole different sort of pointless cashgrab tie-in approach. This is the “technically it did feature something about the event” tie-in meant to silence anyone complaining that the banner on the front was false advertising. Because it’s not. Because these comics each feature scenes with the Progenitor. So it’s about Judgment Day, really. 18.18% is about Judgment Day to be a bit more exact. Shame I couldn’t have just paid $1.45 for the parts that I wanted, right? It was still $7.98 (more in Canada).
I don’t want to harp on about money and get back into that “riding the gravy train” stuff. I’d much rather continue discussing the Progenitor and the Eternals and the mutants and all of the things that I’m loving about this event. That’s not what events are about, though. They’re about giving you enough of that other stuff to get you excited and wanting more, so you begin buying anything with the banner on the cover, because you love the story so much! You see a cover with Cyclops in what looks to be Celestial-esque bonds, hood over his head, and you think that you’re going to get yourself an issue of Cyclops facing down his judgment with the Progenitor.
You get three pages that feel like an afterthought to the other 19.
None of this is about the quality of the comics themselves or even the creators involved necessarily. I don’t have the knowledge to know why they made the decisions they made, why editorial made the decisions they made, or why the event banner is on the cover of comics that have little to do with the event. All I can talk about is what it feels like when you pay your money with certain expectations and get comics that do the absolute bare minimum to fulfill those expectations. It feels like a cynical cash crab. It feels like everyone involved is happy to take your money by lying.
It doesn’t have to be that way. If you go back ten years, Wolverine & The X-Men took an issue off from Avengers vs. X-Men in the middle of a run of tie-ins to do a Doop issue. No AvX branding or anything. Just took an issue off from the event, because they felt like it. That’s what X-Men #14 seemed like it wanted to do. And I get it. We went from the Hellfire Gala when the new X-Men roster was set right into a big line-spanning event and maybe everyone involved just wanted to do an issue involving this new team doing some X-Men shit. Then go for it. Take an issue off from the event. No one will mind.
I mean, me, personally, I knew what I was getting into when I signed up to buy about every comic getting released with this event and write about them every week. Every event has bullshit like this. Comics that say that they tie into the event when they don’t; pointless mini-series and one-shots that add nothing; creators gritting through their teeth as they shoehorn in event details without derailing their ongoing plots... that’s the name of the game, right? Money for nothing.
The X-Force scene where Kraven faces the Progenitor naked, wanting some sort of acknowledgment tell us nothing. It’s about Kraven and the lack of response from the Celestial doesn’t tell us anything of any value. Was it ignoring him? Was it still judging him? Was it even aware he was there? Dunno.
The Cyclops scene has a little more meat to it, though not by much. It works best if you know a little bit of the history between Cyclops and Celestials. Along with Jean Grey and some aliens, he managed to blow Arishem’s hand off once; and, then, later, he told a whole group of them off in a manner that got them to leave Earth alone. Cyclops is nonplussed when it comes to the judgmental space gods. His unwillingness to be judged except by his wife, someone who knows him and his goals, successes, failures, etc. intimately falls in line with each judgment being subjective to an extent. Cyclops is living his life as best he can these days and generally succeeding at what he sets as his goals. His recent disclosure of the resurrection protocols was a definite doing what he thought was right no matter how it looked. Of course he gets the pass. Krakoa Cyclops is very much living his best life and doing it up to his own standards.
I wish I could say that these are the last issues I’ll be buying for the event that will feel like wastes of my time and money (at least in how it relates to Judgment Day). I doubt it, unfortunately. As I said, it’s how these things go and, looking over what’s coming, it’s hard not to spot a few questionable comics. It bugs me not just because of the money it costs me; I’ve really been enjoying this event and am excited by the potential stories left on the table by the main series for others to pick up and run with. Instead, we get brand issues that engage minimally with the event, and it’s hard to not jump to conclusions as to why.
Next week is a rather large week with Death to the Mutants #2, Immortal X-Men #6, Marauders #6, and Wolverine #24. With two of those written by Kieron Gillen, we are assured two issues about the event. That I feel the need to jump to the solicitations in order to prepare myself for the other two is sad. The “this issue takes place concurrently with Wolverine #24” note in X-Force #31 doesn’t warm my heart.
