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Writer: Matthew Rosenberg / Artist: Pere Pérez /Marvel
“No one is coming. Asgard has fallen.”
No one is safe from a publisher-wide event, not even the X-editorial office. Despite being midway through the”Age of X-Man” splinter universe, the “War of the Realms” storyline (spearheaded by the long-game plotting by Jason Aaron in the pages of Thor) finally makes its way to Uncanny X-Men. Excessive tie-ins assemble!
For the collectors and habitual Uncanny X-Men readers, this will be a bit confusing and (definitely annoying). The previously released issues of Uncanny X-Men were numbered 15 & 16, with Legacy numbering at 634 & 635. In order to make these “War of the Realm” tie-ins feel relevant and possibly marketable, they also carry the Legacy numbering so that they can be catalogued alongside the Uncanny reboot. The real confusion begins when you realize this initial “War of the Realms” issue carries the exact same Legacy number as Uncanny X-Men #16 despite the events of the issue taking place directly after Issue #15. In terms of release schedule, the issue feels like bad timing in favor of company synergy. The heavy cliffhanger in last week’s #16 in which Dani Moonstar collapses in agony as she senses the death of Wolfsbane now feels a bit odd. Rahne is very much alive in this War of the Realms tie-in, and it will only get more confusing moving forward. For example, if Wolfsbane lives throughout the planned three issues of the series, how will they fit numerically within the legacy sequence? If she is dead in the next two issues of Uncanny but alive in the War of Realms mini-series that that places immediately after Issue #15, how ill the numbering system resolve this discrepancy? Narratively and logically, shoving Uncanny into this multi-realm battle only takes away from the strong work going on in the flagship title.
The issue starts not long after issue 15. Cyclops’ bandaged eye is evidence, since his loving granddaughter Hope shot it out. In the midst of a mission to stop Orphanmaker from kidnapping mutant children, the X-Men take an uncalled-for beating when Mirage (Dani Moonstar) and Magick (Ilyana Rasputin) take off without warning. Unbeknownst to the others, Dani hears the cry of the Odin’s warrior Valkyries. When Magick returns, she immediately teleports the remaining team to Manhattan to face the sieging hordes of Malekith. Unable to find Moonstar, the team decides to remain in the battle in anticipation of coordinating with the Avengers or Thor. Midgard is home to human and mutant alike, so the X-Men are more than willing to join the battle. After battling generic Malekith forces and angry flying alien dog creatures, the X-Men find Dani alone and without any hope for reinforcements.
“War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men” continues for two more issues. Aside from the hope that the series continues to explore Dani Moonstar’s inner journey as both a mutant and Valkyrie, not much helps this book stand apart among other strong X-titles on the market. All in all, it’s a completely skippable tie-in between release weeks of the flagship title.
Rating: 5 out of 10 Synergy Traps
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The post War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #1 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Writer: Matthew Rosenberg / Artist: Pere Pérez /Marvel
“No one is coming. Asgard has fallen.”
No one is safe from a publisher-wide event, not even the X-editorial office. Despite being midway through the”Age of X-Man” splinter universe, the “War of the Realms” storyline (spearheaded by the long-game plotting by Jason Aaron in the pages of Thor) finally makes its way to Uncanny X-Men. Excessive tie-ins assemble!
For the collectors and habitual Uncanny X-Men readers, this will be a bit confusing and (definitely annoying). The previously released issues of Uncanny X-Men were numbered 15 & 16, with Legacy numbering at 634 & 635. In order to make these “War of the Realm” tie-ins feel relevant and possibly marketable, they also carry the Legacy numbering so that they can be catalogued alongside the Uncanny reboot. The real confusion begins when you realize this initial “War of the Realms” issue carries the exact same Legacy number as Uncanny X-Men #16 despite the events of the issue taking place directly after Issue #15. In terms of release schedule, the issue feels like bad timing in favor of company synergy. The heavy cliffhanger in last week’s #16 in which Dani Moonstar collapses in agony as she senses the death of Wolfsbane now feels a bit odd. Rahne is very much alive in this War of the Realms tie-in, and it will only get more confusing moving forward. For example, if Wolfsbane lives throughout the planned three issues of the series, how will they fit numerically within the legacy sequence? If she is dead in the next two issues of Uncanny but alive in the War of Realms mini-series that that places immediately after Issue #15, how ill the numbering system resolve this discrepancy? Narratively and logically, shoving Uncanny into this multi-realm battle only takes away from the strong work going on in the flagship title.
The issue starts not long after issue 15. Cyclops’ bandaged eye is evidence, since his loving granddaughter Hope shot it out. In the midst of a mission to stop Orphanmaker from kidnapping mutant children, the X-Men take an uncalled-for beating when Mirage (Dani Moonstar) and Magick (Ilyana Rasputin) take off without warning. Unbeknownst to the others, Dani hears the cry of the Odin’s warrior Valkyries. When Magick returns, she immediately teleports the remaining team to Manhattan to face the sieging hordes of Malekith. Unable to find Moonstar, the team decides to remain in the battle in anticipation of coordinating with the Avengers or Thor. Midgard is home to human and mutant alike, so the X-Men are more than willing to join the battle. After battling generic Malekith forces and angry flying alien dog creatures, the X-Men find Dani alone and without any hope for reinforcements.
“War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men” continues for two more issues. Aside from the hope that the series continues to explore Dani Moonstar’s inner journey as both a mutant and Valkyrie, not much helps this book stand apart among other strong X-titles on the market. All in all, it’s a completely skippable tie-in between release weeks of the flagship title.
Rating: 5 out of 10 Synergy Traps
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Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
The post War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #1 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Source: Leon Bennett / Getty
Last week, we reported that director John Singleton had suffered a stroke. Afterward, the story got a little muddled. While Singleton’s mother claimed his situation was dire and she needed to take over his finances, his daughter told the media that her father’s stroke was mild and his condition was improving every day. She said that he was not placed in a coma.
Apparently, Singleton’s mother was correct and the director has been on life support. Recently, according to TMZ, the family has decided to remove Singleton from the life-preserving mechanisms.
In a statement obtained by TMZ, the family wrote:
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that our beloved son, father and friend, John Daniel Singleton will be taken off life support today. This was an agonizing decision, one that our family made, over a number of days, with the careful counsel of John’s doctors.”
The statement also shared that Singleton “quietly struggled with hypertension. More than 40% of African-American men and women have high blood pressure, which also develops earlier in life and is usually more severe.”
The family encouraged Singleton’s fans to recognize the symptoms of hypertension and visit heart.org to learn more information.
As everyone is now prepared for battle in season 3 episode 8 of Game of Thrones, not only Winter is Coming, but so is the Night King.
Last week’s episode of Game of Thrones gave us kernels of moments between our faves and now reality has hit that all good things must come to an end. Spoilers ahead…
Yet another leak happened this evening, this time leaked photos of the Battle of Winterfell emerged on the net. If you wanted a sneak peep of this great war, you certainly got it. Now let’s dive into one of the most epic battle episodes in the Game of Thrones series.
The entire episode was dedicated to the impending battle between the armies of Winterfell and the White Walkers. As Winterfell’s enemies descend on their territory, several Dothraki soldiers are killed and they are nearly annihilated. Luckily, Greyworm stayed behind and was safe from harm. However, we don’t quite know his fate, since he didn’t appear in the last scenes of the episode. Since we didn’t see him die, it’s safe to assume he survived the battle.
Melisandre makes her first appearance this season and ironically uses the same fire spell she used to kill young Shireen — an innocent and defenseless young girl — to save the lives of hundreds. She sets the swords of every soldier on the battlefield with flames of fire. As the theme of redemption lingers on from each episode this final season, Melisandre also pays penance to her past sins. However, her fire spell is still not enough to subdue the army of white walkers which have them all outnumbered.
Samwell Tarly tries his best to play a part in the battle, but is more of a liability than an actual warrior, getting himself nearly killed at every turn. Unfortunately, his lack of experience and just simply being in the way, caused the death of Edd who risked his life to save Sam’s.
What is remarkable about this episode is that the women have full autonomy and take control as true warriors prepared to fight and destroy. Brienne of Tarth, who is now a knight of the seven kingdoms, fights aggressively, enduring several moments where she is nearly killed. Thankfully, she survives this episode, but just barely.
Daenerys and Jon Snow look off into the distance as they see the chaos happening all around them, and each grabs a dragon to use as a weapon to fight. However, when Dany corners the Night King and yells “Dracarys” to him, expecting him to be extinguished, he emerges from the flames unharmed. This is now confirmation that the Night King too, is a Targaryen.
Sadly there were some deaths that occurred tonight. After Edd dies, Beric was also was killed sacrificing his life to save Arya’s. Then there was the most gangsta moment in the episode when Lyanna aka Lil Bear runs directly to the giant white walker, to which he picks her up and crushes her little body. Before she perishes, she manages to stab him in the eye which slays the giant and she dies a victorious death.
In the #ThronesYall recap of episode 2 of the BGNPodcast, I predicted that Theon Greyjoy would die tonight. The writing was on the wall since episode one and this season was Theon’s redemption tour. His debt was paid in death and it was a sacrificial one indeed. Bran’s last words to him were, “you’re a good man Theon”.
Jorah’s death was quite poetic because he died saving his one true love, his Queen Daenerys Targaryen. There’s a long history between these two and Jorah always was willing to risk everything he had for his queen, and he did so in death. With both Lyanna and Jorah gone, it’s safe to say this brings an end to House Mormont.
The Night King is finally defeated and it was a defeat that we didn’t see coming this soon. As the Night King approaches Bran, and Bran sits there unbothered and expecting that he will be protected, Arya descends onto the Night King and kills him instantly.
Melisandre foresaw her own death and tells us at the beginning of the episode of her impending demise. Her watch is now over, the Night King is dead, and her mission is complete. She takes off her necklace (which keeps her youthful and full of life) and slowly disintegrates as she walks off into the distance.
The haunting score filled with a compelling melancholic rhythm was perfect with the tone of this episode. This episode wrapped up beautifully some of the deceased character’s story arcs and now we anticipate what is to come next week.
Stay tuned for our breakdown of episode 3 of the #ThronesYall Recap Show this week and we will catch you next Sunday to live-tweet episode 4!
Game of Thrones airs Sunday nights at 9pm ET on HBO.
The post #ThronesYall Recap: In The Game of Thrones You Win or You Die appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.
Daenerys Targaryen walked into the flames with three stones and rose from the ashes with three dragons, just like she burned the khals alive and emerged from the inferno Khaleesi of all the Dothraki. Her immunity to fire is a power only she possesses, and it has made her fearsome, but is there a limit to what even she can withstand? Would she be unharmed if bathed in dragonflame? There’s reason to think she would, which could help her survive a dragon battle with the Night King.
Of course, if things go wrong for the living and she ends up fighting with the dead, her greatest strength could become Jon Snow’s biggest problem.
A One-of-a-Kind Power
“Fire and blood” might be the words of House Targaryen, and though they have the blood of the dragon running through their veins, they can still burn. Daenerys is the only known Valyrian ever to be immune to fire. Jon Snow, son of her brother Rhaegar, burned his hand throwing a lantern at a wight while saving Lord Commander Mormont, and her older brother Viserys was killed by molten gold.
Past Targaryens weren’t immune either. Maester Aemon’s younger brother, King Aegon V, died during a massive blaze at Summerhall when Aegon tried hatching stone eggs with wildfire. Before that their awful older brother Aerion Brightflame (also known as the Monstrous) thought if he drank wildfire he would turn into a dragon. He did not, but he did die screaming. And the Half-Year-Queen, Rhaenrya Targaryen, died in a dragonflame bath from her rival half-brother’s dragon.
However, just because Daenerys is immune to regular fire doesn’t mean she’s immune to flames that come from magical beasts known as “fire made flesh.” The fact she appears to be magical herself does though.
A Revealing Change in George R.R. Martin’s Original Plans
Her fire immunity was hinted at in both the books and show before she hatched her dragons, when she entered a scalding bath and picked up her burning hot eggs without being harmed. But originally George R.R. Martin planned for her special birth to be a one time only event.
In an archived 1999 online chat Martin did ahead of the release of the third book (a.k.a simpler times), the author was asked by a fan if “Targaryens become immune to fire once they ‘bond’ to their dragons?” His animated response answered a lot more though, when Martin said:
“Thanks for asking that. It gives me a chance to clear up a common misconception. TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE! The birth of Dany’s dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn’t immune to that molten gold.”
Another fan followed up by asking, “So she won’t be able to do it again?” and Martin replied, “Probably not.”
Her burning of the khals, which hasn’t had a chance to happen in the books but certainly feels like it will, clearly altered Martin’s intent. The hatching of the eggs wasn’t a miracle. Daenerys seems to be magical herself, and that makes her like her dragons.
That might not guarantee she’s immune to dragonflame, but all the evidence we have makes a convincing argument.
Advantage Fighting the Night King
While some body parts are vulnerable, especially their eyes, dragons themselves are mostly immune to dragonflame. The older they get and the thicker their scales grow, the safer they are from their fellow dragons’ fire, so they primarily fight by biting at each other’s necks and tearing at their bellies with their claws.
They can still kill opposing dragon riders with their fires though, so Jon Snow could easily be melted by the Night King.
As for the Night King, himself a magical creature whose powers we do not fully understand, not even Bran knows if he can be hurt by dragonflame, since “no one’s ever tried.” We did see the White Walker leader walk through a ring of fire at the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave, flames parting as he stepped through, so it’s very possible that like Daenerys his fire immunity will also makes him safe from dragonflame. But at the very least the Night King won’t have any advantage on Daenerys while they are fighting in the skies.
The problem will be if he kills Daenerys another way and then recruits her into the army of the dead, because then the living might not be able to kill her with any kind of fire.
How to Kill a Night Queen Immune to Fire
If the Night King kills Daenerys she will become a wight, not a White Walker, but that difference might not matter. White Walkers can only be killed by drgaonglass and Valyrian steel, but wights can also be killed by fire, which is why dragons are the living’s greatest weapon.
But if Daenerys the Unburnt, whose dragons might not know she is dead when they see her walking around, is still immune to fire even in death, it will mean someone with a dragonlass dagger or a Valyrian steel sword – maybe someone like Jon or Jorah – will have to kill her while looking right into her blue eyes. Will they be able to do that? Can anyone withstand a moment so terrible?
Or even worse, because dragonglass and Valyrian steel are both connected to dragons themselves, will there be anyway to kill her directly? Could she be invincible to any known way of killing a wight?
Is Daenerys immune to dragonflame? The living might be better off if she’s not.
Images: HBO
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