All-New, All-Astounding Avengers #161 – ‘No Sleep ‘Til Jonah’ (part 4)

Posted on by phil.wrede
On the set of J. Jonah Jameson’s late night-style talk show, “No Sleep ‘Til Jonah,” the X-Force members Beast and Domino sit next to President Kirby (“played” here by an action figure of Bruce Campbell from the Evil Dead series, and named for legendary comics creator Jack “The King” Kirby) as he and Jonah chat. The title of this comic, “All-New, All-Astounding Avengers Presents… ‘No Sleep ‘Til Jonah’,” is visible at the top of the image. It’s Election Night, 2024.
The host and his guests talk over an image of the recently-arrested Reverend William Stryker (“played” here by an action figure of Michael Fassbender from the X-Men films), who’s surrounded by other members of X-Force - Cable, Warpath, Colossus, Sunspot - as he’s taken into custody, following his failed coup attempt against the government.
The mutant members of X-Force object to the idea that Stryker can still be a candidate for president, while Jonah and Kirby make some vague assertions about the rule of law.
Beast tries to calm Domino down as she responds heatedly to Jonah and Kirby’s comments, and she does not react well to Beast doing this. He apologizes quickly, and Kirby makes fun of him for doing so.
Domino announces that she’s never really been comfortable supporting Kirby. Compared to Stryker, who wanted to exterminate mutants, he’s the preferable candidate, but he isn’t actually a leader she wants to follow.
Jonah’s phone buzzes, and he sees that election officials around the country are posting voting updates. All the guests wait on pins and needles to hear what Jonah announces.
After a little delay, Jonah declares that Kirby is, in fact, the winner of the presidential election.
Beast, Kirby, and Jonah all stand up to celebrate. Music starts playing. Kirby tells Beast and Domino that he won’t forget what he owes the mutant community, but Domino doesn’t take him at his word.
To try and win Domino over, Kirby declares on this live broadcast that he’s going to create a cabinet-level position for her in his administration: secretary for mutant affairs. He holds out his hand, and Domino unsurely takes it, telling him that he’d better be serious.
The credits for the comic strip, citing the Simple Backdrops printed backdrop that was most of the background imagery, the use of fonts by Blambot, the stock visual effects photography by Action VFX, the ownership of Marvel by Disney, the creation of Marvel characters by actual human beings, and the figure and certain background photography/script/lettering by me, Phil Wrede.

I haven’t had time to post any text context/commentary along with a comic for quite a while; it’s been about all I can do to get the comics themselves posted regularly! But, I wanted to get this 2024 election-flavored visit to the set of No Sleep ‘Til Jonah (view the previous installments here, here, and here) posted for election day.

I don’t know what surprises the world has in store for us, but I’ve been trying to do a better job of embracing optimism this year, and in that spirit, I wanted to put my own little bit of hope out into the universe. Maybe it’ll help tip the scales? A little better is still an improvement.

Of course, what post of mine would be complete without a list of links where you can get caught up on this arc of the story so far? If you’re a new reader, please, welcome and enjoy!

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