X-Men #4
Writers: Jim Lee and John Byrne
Art: Jim Lee
What Went Down: The book opens with a weird cult ritual/medical experiment that ends in the deaths of a lot of Russians. The result is the birth of Omega Red. This is Omega’s first appearance and he is probably one of the most successful villains created in the 90s as far as not fading into obscurity by being absolutely horrible. Matsuo Tsuryaba greets him and offers him revenge on Wolverine.
The X-Men are playing basketball at the mansion; traditionally they would’ve been playing baseball, but starting with this issue basketball becomes the standby for a couple of years. Rogue accuses Gambit of cheating because they’re not using powers and his powers include, “natural agility.” This results in a fight.
Elsewhere at the mansion, Moira is having nightmares about her son, Proteus, and Magneto as a result of the previous issues. Oddly, Dr. MacTaggert is asleep during the middle of the day. At any rate, Professor X, Banshee, and Cyclops burst into her room because Xavier sensed her psychic distress, even though he wasn’t trying. Honest. Everyone once again reassures Moira that what happened in the last story arc wasn’t her fault, although Xavier has to help Banshee with his mental powers because Sean’s jaw is still broken from last issue.
Moira appears to be calming down until Rogue bursts in through the wall after being hit by an energy-charged basketball courtesy of Gambit. Moira runs off hysterically. Strangely, neither Cyclops nor Professor X are angry with the other X-Men for destroying a room in the mansion or traumatizing Moira.
In Berlin, Matsuo is shown meeting C-list villains Andrea and Andreas von Strucker, collectively known as Fenris; they are the children of Captain America villain and nazi scientist Baron von Strucker. The meeting is about Fenris’ desire to use Omega Red and their money to obtain immortality somehow.
Gambit once again tries to kiss Rogue and is rewarded by getting socked; he is still convinced Rogue’s power won’t hurt him. Sean is still trying to comfort Moira, but it is not going so well. She eventually decides to leave the mansion because… well, she just insists that she can’t stay.
Gambit and Rogue get ready to go on their first date, but Beast, Wolverine, and Jubilee decide that they are going with the couple to make sure Gambit behaves. Gambit tries to lose his chaperons, but all the X-Men are soon attacked and captured by the Hand and Omega Red. I don't know why, but the ninjas of the Hand are now wearing sunglasses and trench coats, and Wolverine is back in his old yellow and blue uniform. Moira’s taxi passes by, but she is too distraught to look out the window and notice her friends being hauled off.
How It Was: Well, for the first time in three decades Chris Claremont is completely unattached to a single X-Men project. Jim Lee had been credited as co-plotter for the previous arc and his first crack at solo plotter is pretty solid. Despite coming off as a mostly stereotypical evil communist Russian, Omega Red has managed to become a fairly popular villain since his first appearance; it’s hard to tell whether this is due to his eerie, corpse-like design, or the fact that his origin is tied to Wolverine’s. Visually, he has a lot going for him, although his “death factor” is a very contrived attempt to provide an evil equivalent to Wolverine’s healing factor. Having heroes get sick and fall over around him is kind of a lame way for them to get defeated, and later writers would usually ignore this power and have Red suck the life out of them with his tentacles.
The scenes with the X-Men playing ball are really solid. Jubilee provides some humorous moments; Gambit and Rogue demonstrate their dysfunctional/flirtatious relationship; and Wolverine gets to act grouchy and potentially violent. Unfortunately, the scenes with everyone else attempting to calm down Moira are a pretty painful attempt to get her out of the mansion on the part of the creators. The whole time she just cries and overreacts to everything Banshee and Xavier tell her. Plus, Moira justified why she wasn’t responsible for Magneto’s return to evil in the last issue, so the whole point should be moot. It’s even more difficult to get excited about this plot line because it will be completely dropped and forgotten in a couple of months when Moira returns to help treat the Legacy Virus. The scenes with Matsuo and Fenris are okay, but these ultimately lead nowhere also, as Fenris disappears after this arc.
The art is great. All of the X-Men look great in their sports and evening wear, the end battle with ninjas is dutifully flashy and action packed, and the opening sequences with Omega Red are suitably disturbing. And even though the poses during the basketball game are a little exaggerated, they still give off a nice sense of speed and movement. A great issue held back by plots that will go nowhere and a perplexing direction for Moira.
B+
No comments:
Post a Comment