Writing: J.M. Dematteis, Ralph Macchio, Scott Lobdell, and Matt Idelson
Art: Terry Dodson, John Paul Leon, and Ramon Bernardo
What Went Down: Starting with 1995, all Marvel Comics annuals discard their old numbering systems and are solely distinguished by the year…for a while at least. It’s hard to say when exactly this one takes place; it’s sometime after X-Men Prime, but before X-Men #45, which is still a really large time frame.
The issue starts off in a convalescents’ home where an old woman disappears from her room. We cut to the Beast running through the woods and diving off a cliff into a river for fun. Jean Grey is at the bottom, and the teammates joke with each other and reflect on recent events. Beast has invited the original X-Men to a cabin to reconnect, and Jean empathizes with his need to immerse himself in the comfortable and familiar.
Back at the nursing home Nathaniel Essex, who is really Mr. Sinister, is visiting the old woman from earlier, Faye Livingstone. A nurse leads Essex into her room, but the only person in the room is Genesis. For those who don’t know, Genesis is Cable’s stepson that was abducted in the future by Apocalypse and brainwashed. Genesis kills the nurse, and tells Sinister that he has observed Sinister visiting this woman every year. Thinking that he has discovered Sinister’s weakness, Genesis has abducted Faye and used genetic engineering to temporarily de-age her. Also, Genesis has gained the leadership of the Dark Riders.
After Genesis and the Dark Riders teleport away, Sinister has a flashback to when he first met Faye. Posing as Nathaniel Essex, Sinister lived in a large mansion in Hollywood during the 1930s. Essex throws a party and Faye Livingstone, a radio comedienne of the time, gets to dance with the host. Faye finds Essex very attractive and ends up staying over. In the middle of the night, Faye finds Sinister in his lab with his normal white skin.
Back at the cabin, Beast eats popcorn with his feet, and Jean goes to bed. Beast stays up and contemplates his bachelor status. The Dark Riders teleport in and tell Beast that they are going to kidnap Jean Grey. A fight ensues, and Jean is captured, but she is able to leave a psychic trail for Beast to follow in the Blackbird.
Genesis, Sinister, and Faye are located at Sinister’s old lab in Hollywood. Jean is suspended above them in a power cage, but she breaks out after a page. Genesis hides behind Faye, and Sinister asks Jean to stay back.
The flashback continues with Sinister holding Faye in his mansion for weeks while he conducts experiments on her. Her DNA has the potential to have a powerful mutant offspring. After weeks of her being terrified and imprisoned, Sinister sets her free without a word.
Beast arrives at the mansion and is attacked by goblin creatures engineered by Sinister. The scene ends with Beast appearing to be overwhelmed, but later he shows up and is fine. Inside, Genesis wants Jean to mind-link Sinister and Faye to force Sinister to reveal his feelings. Jean refuses, and Beast shows up to rescue her. Jean tries to lift Faye out of there, but Sinister begs her to let it play out; Beast tells Jean to listen to him after seeing distress on Sinister’s face.
In the mind-link, Faye and Sinister dance. Faye tells Sinister that she knows he loved her and he couldn’t find a way to express it. Faye then turns old again and dies. Sinister claims that her final thoughts were delusions and he shows no emotion at all. Genesis admits he was wrong and teleports away. Sinister tells the X-Men to leave. Beast puts an arm on Sinister’s shoulder, showing that he empathizes with his pain.
After the X-Men leave, the mansion bursts into flames. Sinister stares off in the distance silently. Genesis talks with one of the Dark Riders about his next plan, which deals with Wolverine and occurs in Wolverine #99-101. The next day, Cyclops and Archangel show up at the cabin. Cyclops wants to clean up after the battle with the Dark Riders, but Jean tells him there is nothing wrong and they kiss.
What Else Went Down: In the back-up story, Captain Britain—aka Brian Braddock is at a post office while the postmaster searches for a letter from Brian’s sister Psylocke. Brian then reads Psylocke’s letter about her new relationship with Archangel.
With the letter serving as Psylocke’s narration, we get a scene of Warren and Betsy at a carnival and discussing their relationship. They get cotton candy from a vendor who has a crush on Warren. Then the couple talks about their relationship some more, and they go off to ride the Ferris Wheel. The ride jams, they talk about their relationship some more, and Archangel flies off carrying Psylocke. While flying, they talk some more and determine that they really care about each other. After reading the letter, Brian feels inspired and flies off, leaving his boat behind for some reason.
How It Was: This is a pretty big character piece for the Beast and Mr. Sinister; Jean’s around but she doesn’t get as much characterization to work with. Beast is presented with all of his personality and humor intact, and it’s nice to see him get the spotlight since over in the main titles he hasn’t had a lot to do other than work on the Legacy Virus.
The real surprise of the issue is the attempt to turn Sinister into a sympathetic character. It’s a decent attempt, but it’s hard to empathize with a guy that locks a woman in a room, experiments and degrades her for weeks, sets her free, and calls it love. It works if you look at it as exploring Sinister’s inability to express love and emotion, but Faye’s admission of love really makes her look weak and pathetic; sure it could be written off as Stockholm Syndrome, but Faye would have come off as a stronger character if she stood up to her abuser instead. And it’s really difficult to believe that the Beast would put his hand on Sinister’s shoulder as a sign of understanding, given all of the ways that Sinister has manipulated and threatened his friends over the years.
The other anomaly to this story is the presence of Genesis, Cable’s son. The reasoning behind his attack is pretty faulty, and the story seems to present Sinister as more powerful than him, so I can’t understand why Sinister doesn’t just kill him at the end. The end is silly with Genesis essentially apologizing for wasting everyone’s time and teleporting away. Plus Genesis brings the Dark Riders with him, one of the worst super villain groups ever; so bad in fact that they disappear midway through the story so that the Beast can fight some generic, but visually interesting monsters instead.
The art is really the star here. Leon’s dark, almost scratchy style works incredibly well for the gothic interiors and horror movie tone of the flashbacks, while Dodson’s smooth, clean style works fantastic with the scenes of Jean and Beast having fun and the flashy super hero battles.
If you couldn’t tell from my synopsis of the back-up story, it’s terrible…truly terrible…possibly the worst thing that Scott Lobdell has ever written. It’s good that Lobdell is keeping up with his vow to play the couple completely straight and realistic, but this is a little too realistic in that it is as boring as listening to two people talk about their relationship in real life. Plus there are so many pointless moments that serve to slow that story down even more, like the cotton candy girl with a crush on Warren or the postmaster who loses Brian’s letter. Worst of all is probably the portrayal of Brian Braddock as an apathetic loser, who basically has lost the will to live until he reads a letter about the boring, mundane happenings of his sister and her relationship. It’s hard to see what he finds so invigorating about this story whatsoever. So, this leaves us with an average main story and a terribly below average back-up all in one.
C+
No comments:
Post a Comment