The fact that the FF are dead in this world is one of its weirdest aspects. You expect the FF to be a part of something this big, but they’re done away with by an offhand comment in a single panel. Well, the schedule is clearly slipping, because Rick Magyar and Scott Hanna are helping Tim Townsend on inks this issue.
Espionage! While the heroes sneak into Genosha in a very public way, Magnus is there receiving a big guest in the form of Victor Von Doom, who is not scarred and wears no mask in this world. They both express surprise to be standing here together as they stand for a photo op, while we see Pietro looking on conspicuously. Back on the helicarrier…
A nice personal moment for those two amidst the big business. Jessica Jones briefly dated Scott Lang between interludes with Luke, so he’s got to be hurting as much as Peter is.
Still don’t reality get why Felicia Hardy has the Gwen Stacy headband in this, it’s distracting.
It must be said, Spider-Man’s House of M costume sucks. There’s no point in trying to reinvent the wheel, every variant on the red & blues is inferior to the original, that’s just how it is. The black costume worked precisely because it was totally different. Spider-Man 2099 worked because it’s totally different, Miles Morales works because it’s different, etc. Any suit like this just reminds you the real thing is better.
I think I’ve mentioned before that in the book All of the Marvels, author Douglas Wolk astutely identified the archetypal Brian Michael Bendis plot as “the status quo has changed, how does everyone react?” House of M is really fertile ground for that. As the big guests of the evening are announced on a red carpet in Genosha, first T’Challa, then Doom, then Genis-Vell of the Kree Empire (Marv-ell’s son in either timeline), then Princess Ororo of Kenya, which is a big revelation, then King Namor of Atlantis. Scott explains Emma, Layla and Cloak’s job is to find and “wake up” Xavier, if he even exists. He warns that no matter how protected they are, the Genoshans are going to notice something is up. Team 2 is just Dr. Strange trying to reach and reason with Wanda. And team 3 is everyone else causing a distraction. As the house of Magnus is presented to the crowd, one of their soldiers notices something is up, and one of their sentinels comes falling out of the sky.
She-Hulk’s boob there is so ridiculous. That aside, or maybe included, the original art for this splash must have gone for a zillion dollars. Battle is joined with maximum destruction, and Pietro notices his dad has disappeared. While that’s going on, Emma’s team discovers Xavier’s memorial.
Well of course not, Cloak, we got 2 more issues!