The Day The Earth Stood Still.

Waiting with baited breath for the moment that will never come. Everyone has faced memories and future's undone like that. For Laura it's most pronounced through those that have come and gone in her life. The family she can never see again whether they are dead or on the run, all the happy times she's had. These moments tend to be fleeting but we also need to cherish them. Sometimes these moments are painful though. That feeling of loss and lingering on for more innocent times. In a busy life people rarely have time to reflect on this which is probably best for escapisms and coping. Reflection can be both a blessing and a curse.

Mistakes, joy, anger, sadness, fear, life is full of conflicting emotions and experiences. Things that can make us smile in wonderment and awe, or moments that we fear to ever face.  In the end though, they are beautiful.  Gorgeous on levels we can never understand until in hindsight.

In life we travel on. We move forward, we make new memories. Though the feeling of loss is there and those people remembered, new memories and friends travel through that can lessen the blow. We've been given small teases of this with Jubilee and Laura becoming friends after a rocky start. We're starting to see it with Finesse and Laura too over in Avengers Academy.

Life always keeps moving forward, but sometimes the past can catch up with us. Sometimes those we thought were long buried and best left forgotten can surprise us. Life is unpredictable. Life is chaos and order. Existence is a duality of good and bad and how you roll with those moments helps define who you are. It's a test of character. Something X-23 just had with how she dealth with the New X-Men at Avengers Academy.

Sometimes I wonder though.  Would Megan and Debra Kinney start keeping a scrap book of X-23 news clippings and sightings to keep tabs on Laura?  Is Laura ever given pause on a street by the scent of a familiar perfume?

X-Men First Class Sequel Rumors *Potential Spoilers*

This movie's rumors caught me off guard so I wanted to sit and ponder them awhile.  These rumors were reported on Bleeding Cool, and on various other outlets. 

Not only will we be dealing with period assassinations, we might be seeing the future too. Rumors and comments of Cable, New Mutants spin off, and more.  The current running rumors are that it's going to potentially have Cable, use an adapted Days of Future Past storyline or just the title for the time travel element, and be centered around the Kennedy assassination.

We also need to consider that the serial self contained multi-title universe feature building has been proven to be a moderate to decent success with fans, TV viewers, and movie goers at large in succession. So this opens an interesting door for Fox. Granted it seems the entire purpose of a future story (*Cough* young justice *cough*) is to change the future. That still means these various mutants shown could prove potential for a spin-off same universe feature.

Could prove for a decent testing ground for any character to make a cameo and be able to gauge audience reception. This is of course refering only to the future landscape or side. 

The past period is limited moderately so from previous films.  Let's see what we've got to work with if they keep the details. 

The timing seems difficult since we're still in the 60s in comparison to other recruits. The X3 Jean Grey flash back would have to be checked for her time period(check for newest model car or appliance).

The three mile island incident sets a date on by when Xavier needs to go bald. So that gives us a year there for Cyclops too.

Emma Frost(getting old? Someone Shatters her?) the telepath gaining a new body from young Emma Silverfox after the 3 Mile Island incident(Which makes Charles learn about leaping bodies as shown in X3 and his lesson plan on Coma patients).

The future inbetween flashbacks period doors are also wide open for any background character teaser to gauge reactions. So we could have Cannonball's farmhouse, Dani Moonstar from her reservation, X-23 and her creation(leaves more room for when she tells her story to megan in an innocence lost feature). The doors are open for anyone, maybe even archangel and Apocalypse. Really the windows are open too for anyone. Even Dazzler and Pixie. If they talk to Ellen Page back, could they get her as an older Kitty Pryde, or will they continue Kitty Pryde's running gag of a different actress every film? What about Colossus? Hugh Jackman I could see for the future story line too, so they can cash in on his character and try to gain more audience appeal. Lots of potential on this end, just to name a few. In an even scarier way, the rumors of Cable in the past set up the potential for Cable and Deadpool feature at some point if they manage to actually do a Deadpool feature that fixes his issues back to who he is with the costume included. He's the Spider-man of the X-Men. Just doesn't work without the suit and wisecracks. Thankfully this just means you only need Ryan Reynolds voice which frees up the filming schedule if that feature were to ever exist.

So c'mon Fox. I dare you to take X-Men to Avengers heights while maintaining a cohesive X-Universe. Make your franchise the star wars of comic features that focus on the key points of the mutant war. Discovery(XFC), Magneto killing a major politician, Birth of Weapon X(XMO:W), Mystique becomes a senator, Destruction of Weapon X(X2), the red haired lady incident and cure injections(X3). That leaves them open for another feature before the original X-Men feature after this one before they need to dive into an official X4, of course this split could also be used to bypass the serial titles and just append an immediate continuation of both eras until they formally meet as a variation on the multi title system.
Though that'd be a bit pecular and forceful.

So churns the rumor mill, and decisions they need to make.
Keep your fingers crossed for whoever you want to see.

A Few Observations From Avengers Academy Issue 31

Continuing the tie-in to AvX, this issue brings up some interesting points.  So let's get to it.


X-23 on Guidance.
Laura raised a very valid point on the difference between the two teams.  One side tried to tell her what she needed to do or be, while the other gave her the information she asked for and let her make her own decisions.  In life this is true.  The more you try to tell someone the choices they need to make, the more likely they are to rebel even if it is best for them, but if you give them the information they need to make an informed decision and let them think for themself and choose, they might surprise you by making the right choice themself.

X-23 as a Leader.
More and more Laura is coming across in a leader capacity.  This isn't surprising considering her training and her history at Academy X, but it's nice to see that new Laura after her self-discovery journey is becoming more than just a tactics-to-win leader.  The elements of empathy are there and she genuinely cares for helping life.  This is an interesting change from her Academy X days where they had to tell her no killing.

X-23 and the New X-Men.
Seems the Academy X kids have finally grown... Somewhat.  There were apologies all around on the New X-Men side for how they treated Laura and parted ways ages ago, but a lot of that was said in thinking she'd be leaving with them when she wasn't.  Dust again seems to be the voice of reason here, telling Laura if they ever need her they'll be there.  I kind of wonder how Surge's leadership is going to be affected by this, and if she might throw more tantrums, but it was nice to see Surge finally calm down and not be a total raging hypocrite still.

X-23 and the "New" Avengers.
Laura decided to stay with the Avengers Academy.  She has an interesting knowledge of her teammates and how to ask for help when needed.  This goes back to her as a leader, them respecting her, and how they accept her, but it's still interesting to see how she quickly took an inventory of all the powers available to read the situation for the most information about what's going on.  Instead of diving into a headlong fight against Shaw, she dove into figuring out what his intentions were.  Instead of attacking, she asked why.  This outright is the key to life.  Asking why and understanding leads to not jumping to conclusions and casting others down like they were nothing for what you think is going on that couldn't be farther from the truth.  It plays up her empathy, but it also shows a very well rounded Laura who doesn't fall into prejudgements.  It's an interesting notion between the X-Men and the Avengers.  The X-Men have been judged so much they fall into this time and time again about condemning others for perceived slights, whereas that isn't what the Avengers are about.  It's the difference between doing the right thing because it's right, and doing things because you want to prove others wrong out of fear or spite.


This was a great issue, and it brought many more points than that up, but it's worth buying and reading for yourself for those points.  Gage and his creative team continue to impress time and time again with how they handle these characters and make them grow. 

Be there next issue, as Avengers Academy will be picking up a powerful moment from Marjorie Liu's run on X-23's solo book as Emma Frost comes a-knocking at the Academy to take apart the sentinel!
(Just a reminder, next week might be a more or less dead week here with sparse postings or late notices.)

Preview: Avengers Academy Issue 31

CBR has the preview up for Avengers Academy issue 31.  It'll be released Wednesday, June 6th.

Be sure to grab your copy as it looks to be another amazing tie-in to AvX.

Cloaked Mystery Woman Theories - Round 2!

Okay, well first off I want to apologize for this.  I've been taking notes on what I wanted to say here for awhile, and then putting it off.  I made more notes and went back over some issues.  All around it's a pretty scattered mess with no coherency, but I've got a vacation coming up in June so I need this to go forward now rather than later since I don't have anyone that can fill the dead time with material while I'm gone (the other contributor for here is preoccuppied until late August or early September).  For a vacation this couldn't be worse timing, but I really need it too.  My other projects besides here are taking a step back so I can come back fresh to everything.  Sometimes in life you just need that mental sabatical.  Originally that vacation was going to lead to more material for here, including retracing half of Laura's bus trip from San Francisco to New York as depicted in Target X.  Instead, now it's a genuine real vacation so I can remember what I'm working towards in my own life and just have good times with friends that have long since scattered to the four corners of the world.

So anyway, with all that said, I may as well get this one out of the way since it's the easiest to cover out of everything that needs to go up before that week.

So who is this mystery woman?
Well that's a hard question to answer outright since we honestly don't know.  It was never answered in the ongoing comic.  Sadly the comic was canceled before it could answer that question.  We have been left with some hints though.  If you add in the interview remarks about who it isn't, that helps narrow down the possibilities.

What do we know?
Since she first appeared in issue 9 of X-23's ongoing comic, it has been suggested she potentially is in league with those that were financially backing the Facility and those who are trying to start Weapon X up again.  We know it's not Kimura, and it is someone that's tied solely to X-23.  More accurately, she's someone tied to X-23's future.  So to be blunt, everything here is conjecture and assumptions based around what would work with what we do know.

Based on her speech patterns, and note she left for X-23, we do know one interesting thing.
She has the same speaking pattern as Laura occasionally.  That being the lack of contractions.  Though in the two pages from her first appearance, she did use them.

The note she left reads:

Please accept this token of my appreciation, Laura. After all, without you, this weapon would not have been possible. In addition to the money, I offer you something far more valuable: A name. Alex Cimini.  Years ago you were sent to kill his family, but you resisted your conditioning, and left him alive. Perhaps you should find out why.

This note is what led the story to the Chaos Theory arc.  A story that revealed what the "soul mark" on Laura's hand is from.  It's a remnant of the Uni-power or Enigma Force.  A power that has its own will and motives.  Something that called Laura its "chosen vessel."  A vessel for what we've been led to believe is a sword, a weapon.

This is rather interesting as the letter also gives reference to a weapon, leaving the reader to assume it's the newly created Triggerscent that works on everyone.  What if that's not the weapon referenced?  What if it was a hidden self-reference by the one who wrote the note?

This does fit to what else she had said.

But when will that meeting happen?

As mentioned above, we potentially know she's tied to the financers of the Facility that created Laura.  We were led to believe this in issue 9 of the ongoing during Colision, the mystery woman's first appearance.  We've also been told she was working with Colcord on recreating Weapon X, potentially for years.

These raise even more questions.  Just how does she know?  Okay, well maybe that one is obvious since this is Laura we're talking about.  Nothing has been able to stop her from accomplishing a mission before.  Why would that change?

This is potentially where the vial of blood for the Circle of Four clones may have come from too.  Did she sell one off for an influx of cash with whatever her plans are?  Possibly.

The only other information we really have, is what was in the "Previously..." box for issue 13 of the ongoing.

This woman claimed to represent Laura's future, but what does that mean?
Is it literal, or is she simply messing with Laura's head like Kimura loves to? 

Every appearance leads to more questions from this leftover story remnant of the ongoing.  Who is she?
Is she literally Laura from the future trying to make sure she will exist?  Is she an older additional experiment from the Facility financers that was outside the Facility's view?  Is she that remnant of the Uni-power given flesh but turned dark?  Is she the only woman that could be a match for Laura's strategic prowess? 

I have no clear answers since it was never told in the comic.  The story could go many directions, but she does have a rather uncanny resemblence to the cloaked Laura we saw briefly in Collision when X-23 met Daken for the second time.

Does that mean something?
Is it possible that Laura in the future forcefully removes the soul mark?  An act that could manifest itself into a new being with all of Laura's memories but with a will of her own?  That's one possibility.  Which could explain the lack of claws, and potentially even the lack of the full uni-power.  It'd also explain why she would send Laura to Alex.  An act that set it all in motion with awakening the full power inside Laura, but has ulterior motives that may not be altogether altruistic.  If Laura did remove her hand at the wrist above where her claws store, she would just grow a new hand like she did her full arm in X-Force.  This also explains why she reattached her arm during Chaos Theory, as the cut was below where her claws are stored.  It'd also explain why this woman knows so much, but just how far back in Laura's history was she sent, and how?  Was that also from the last of the Uni-Power left in Laura's soul-mark after this theoretical incident?  If it is this, I'd half expect her name to be Sarah after Laura's mother, but using Sarah and Debbie Kinney's mother's maiden name as a refusal to take the last name of the man who abused Laura's mother(their father sexually assaulted Sarah as a child).  It'd also explain how this woman stays one step ahead of Laura, and would make for a concept of her playing chess against herself.  Afterall, who is the best opponent for someone who never loses at chess? 

If she's not that.  Then what is she?  How does she know all of Laura's innermost thoughts and history?  Is she working with the telepathic parasitic pervert that's constantly assaulting Laura's mind?  Is she an agent for the financers that are trying to harness the Weapon X project anew?  Was she thanking Laura for helping them perfect this new triggerscent, or was the weapon she refered to a thank you for her own future creation?

More questions, no answers.
All we do know for certain is that this may not be the last we see of her and that somehow it is all connected.  When next they meet, we may finally get answers.  Whether when they meet next is this woman's creation or simply her revealing who she is to Laura, has yet to be seen.  Hopefully Marvel someday allows Marjorie Liu to pen that revelation.  The best timing for which with marketing would be next year.  Anytime between August 2013, which is X-23's ten year anniversary, to October 2013.  The month and year when October 23rd falls on a Wednesday and is literally X-23 twice over. 10-23 being the breakdown of the roman numeral X to 10, and 2013 being an anagram of 1023.  As it is, it seems we're one pixel short of a full resolution on this story remnant.