X-MEN THE 198 FILES Didn't buy, but I leafed through this. Don't quite see the point of this. Headshots and brief descriptions of mutants who survived 'M Day' intact? Could've been a page on the Marvel web-site. But they wouldn't get $3.99 or whatever a pop.

Surprised to see Archangel there-- guess a cover-appearance on GENERATION X *doesn't* mean a character's an ex-mutant, after all.

Lots of faces I dimly remember- and many that were unfamiliar.

I'll be checking out the actual 198 mini-series, if only for MAGMA and a few others.

I ended up buying this because there were so many unfamiliar faces (or ones that I haven't seen in a long long time). The blue print they use is a pain to read.

Interesting that there's no Prof X.

Here's the list (which isn't complete, anyway), with thanks to Paul O\'Brien

X-MEN AND THEIR ALLIES:
Archangel, the Beast, Bishop, Cable, Caliban, Cannonball, Lila Cheney, Colossus, Cyclops, Dazzler, Domino, Forge, Emma Frost, Gambit, Gateway, Havok, Husk, Iceman, Karma, Kylun, Leech, Lifeguard, M, Magma, Marvel Girl, Micromax, Madrox, Nightcrawler, Nocturne, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, Rogue, Sage, Shatterstar (if he's a mutant, and his entry expresses some doubt), Siryn, Tabitha Smith, Storm, Strong Guy, Sunspot, Thunderbird (the Indian one), Warpath, Pete Wisdom, Wolfsbane, Wolverine and X-23

OTHER MAJOR SUPERHEROES:
- Aurora, Northstar (who apparently isn't undead after all), Diamond Lil, Madison Jeffries and Persuasion from Alpha Flight
- Big Bertha, Flatman and Squirrel Girl from the GLX. (No mention of the other two team members - Mr Immortal and Doorman - but on one view, current continuity has their powers deriving from Oblivion anyway.)
- Firestar and Justice
- Molly from the Runaways
- Franklin Richards (who used to be in Power Pack, so yes he IS a superhero)
- Ricochet from Excelsior
- Skein, formerly the Gypsy Moth, who was briefly a Thunderbolt

THE NEW MUTANTS AND OTHER STUDENTS:
- Elixir, Icarus, Surge and Wallflower from the New Mutants
- Hellion, Dust, Mercury, Rockslide and Wither from the Hellions
- Kid Omega
- The Stepford Cuckoos
- Anole, the gay reptile kid
- Blindfold, the telepath from ASTONISHING.
- Bling! and Onyxx from Gambit's X-MEN squad.
- Ernst, whose "Cassandra Nova" origin story has suddenly reared its head again. Somebody's finally read the comics!
- Glob Herman, the skeleton in the translucent body.
- Hisako Ichiki, the psychic exoskeleton girl from ASTONISHING.
- Martha Johansson, the disembodied brain
- Loa, a little known character with phasing powers
- Match, a pyrokinetic
- Pixie, the girl with butterfly wings
- Quill, the porcupine boy
- Trance, an astral projector
- Wolf Cub, the boy from the Dominant Species arc

SUPERVILLAINS:
- Avalanche
- Black Box, who used to be Commcast
- Jamie Braddock
- Joanna Cargill from the Acolytes
- The Dark Beast
- Empath from the original Hellions.
- Exodus
- Fever Pitch and Sack from Gene Nation
- Selene, Sebastian Shaw and Shinobi Shaw of the Hellfire Club
- Lady Mastermind, the daughter of the original Mastermind
- The Living Monolith
- Mammomax from Exodus' Brotherhood
- Arclight, Prism, Scalphunter and Scrambler from the Marauders
- Mentallo from Weapon X
- Dragoness and Tempo from the Mutant Liberation Front
- Mystique
- Mikhail Rasputin
- Omega Red
- Random
- Sabretooth
- The Silver Samurai
- The Toad
- Whirlwind, an occasional Avengers villain

RANDOMS AND NONENTITIES:
- Alchemy, the character from the "create a mutant" contest in the 1980s.
- Beautiful Dreamer and Erg, two of the surviving Morlocks
- Tatiana Caban and Kiden Nixon from NYX
- The Collective Man, national superhero of China
- Mr M, Jazz and Lorelei from DISTRICT X
- Litterbug from the MORLOCKS series a few years back, which is apparently canon after all despite taking place in a dystopian worldwhere Sentinels zap every mutant who steps above ground
- Outlaw from AGENT X
- Peepers, Frank Tieri's favourite minor character
- Rhapsody, who once met X-Factor in the early 1990s
- Sabra, national superhero of Israel
- Vanguard and Ursa Major of the Soviet Super-Soldiers
- Amelia Voght
- Evangeline Whedon, the X-Men's lawyer

Shatterstar and Shinobi Shaw are safe! Yay!

I'm still a Shatterstar fangirl in spite of that Liefeld mini.(What issue of Cable/Deadpool did he show up in? I seem to have missed it.)

Shinobi's long been my favourite minor villain. He'll likely need his powers to protect himself from his daddy.

I can't believe I'm asking this, but...
What about Beak?

(I'm just interested to see what the fate of a lot of the 'odder' mutants introed in Morrison's run...)

IIRC, Beak and Angel and all the kids but one were decimated. I don't think there were any deaths, though.

C/D #18

Blond and big-nosed

http://www.buzzscope.com/reviews.php?id=5159

No Captain Britain or Meggan I wonder if somebody forgot they were mutants (with magical backgrounds)

Also most of the Avenger x-men seem to have been shafted (Or forgotten) Triatholan, Silverclaw, Rage, Stingray, Falcon and probably a bunch others so any big name mutants lose there powers?

Captain Britain is NOT a mutant. And Meggan's technically dead right now.

Triathalon got his powers by being merged with the 3D-Man.
Silverclaw's a demi-goddess.
Stingray's powers are purely in his suit
Falcon got his bird-link from the Cosmic Cube. After the Sentinel thing, it's been reconfirmed over and over that he's not a mitant aand the Sentinel was broke.

I don't believe Rage is a mutant either -- wasn't he one of those "chemical accident" types?

I am very happy regarding Angel and Iceman. Two of my faves! A bit sad about Rictor.

Now if only they fix some of the time crossed characters like Bishop and Rachel Grey. Like putting them in the Exiles.

THE 198 #1

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Magma fans will want to pick this one up. She gets a really affecting scene featuring a moment when she falls in love with a man who shares her ability to travel into a volcano-- only to have that moment blown to bits by the poor timing of Wanda's HOUSE OF M 'No more mutants' incantation. Then she goes psychotic. Sigh. Would they have had a man go this kind of crazy after seeing his girlfriend similarly die?

I'm looking forward to seeing Empath again, as he was sent by Emma to 'contain' Magma. (Is the White Queen up to something?) Is Empath still considered a villain? Or is he striding a gray path?

I didn't read District X, so a lot of these character were new to me. Mr. M is intriguing, in a shamanistic kind of way. Lorelei seems like a bargain-basement Medusa. Why are so many hair-powered heroines (does that sound wacky, or what?) redheads? Odd.

When I went to my local comic shop on Saturday, I browsed through 198 #1 but decided not to buy it, even though I am a major Amara Aquila fan. The opening pages with Amara were beautiful and moving, but the rest of the story seemed to drift IMO. I'll browse through #2 when it's out, and see if I like it better.

#2's out... with an Empath/Magma scene that left me wanting more. Her actions are glossed over, I think- but that's not exactly unusual in superhero comics.

Is Karma living in the tents, too? If not, I can't imagine she wouldn't ask Magma to bunk with her. Or was she taking Magma to her tent? I forget.

Amara's pretty much the only reason I'm reading this-- though I think a pretty interesting dynamic could grow out of the situation, the 'getting there' isn't so hot, IMO.

X-MEN THE 198 #3

I'm basically buying this for MAGMA, who I really, really hope isn't going to suffer the same fate as Jazz in this issue. I hope she gets some more substantive scenes that settle her relationship with EMPATH once and for all, *and* a couple that have nothing to do with that relationship.

As tiresome as all the refugee camp stuff is, at least it's fostered the creation of one creepy-ass villain. Assuming he's a villain... at the least, he's now a murderer. What a disturbing, yet oddly beautiful power.

I doubt that VULCAN, over in DEADLY GENESIS is going to be a long-time villain. *This* guy could be...