Writing: John Ostrander
Art: Bryan Hitch
What Went Down: In a long-winded prologue accompanied by some gorgeous art, a member of the alien race the Brood explains their back story: that they are all part of a hive mind that needs to lay eggs in other species for reproduction. This prologue seems to be part of a shared nightmare between Jean Grey and a woman named Hannah Connover. Jean wakes up, and we find out that she and Scott are on vacation in Arizona with Jean’s family. Jean telepathically contacts the Professor, and Xavier in turn summons the rest of the X-Men. Xavier explains that they are going to be fighting the Brood, and then the X-Men leave to meet Cyclops and Phoenix.
At a ministry in Arizona, Reverend William Connover and his wife Hannah are having an argument over Hannah’s nightmares and secrets. In a dropped subplot from way, way back in Uncanny X-Men #232-234, Hannah went with a mysterious woman to try to cure her arthritic hands. This issue picks up on that eight-year-old thread by revealing that the woman was a Brood that impregnated Hannah with a Brood Queen. Hannah was healed, and she has been miraculously “curing” some of her husband’s followers by turning them into Brood as well. While looking at a crucifix, she has a change of heart, and somehow she was able to overcome the Brood influence to her mind. She feels very guilty about all of this, but she can’t tell her husband.
At the Grand Canyon the Brood that turned Hannah, named Josey, meets with some pods full of elite Firstborn Brood, sent directly from the Brood Empress. Their mission is to eliminate Hannah because she has gained freewill, as well as all Brood she has created and Josey for producing the anomalous Brood Queen.
Cyclops and Jean show up at the Crusade, and Scott worries that they are going to upset one of the few religious leaders that is accepting of mutants. Jean detects the Brood in Hannah, but also the fact that Hannah is still in control. Meanwhile, Hannah is going into town with two parishioners that do not know that they have been infected by Hannah. The Brood are waiting for her, and attack. Hannah’s followers try to defend her by turning into Brood, but they are killed. Meanwhile, other people that Hannah has infected are summoned by a mental distress call.
Cyclops and Phoenix show up to protect Hannah. There’s a big fight, and right when they’re about to be overwhelmed, the rest of the X-Men show up. An even bigger fight proceeds, and eventually the X-Men manage to kill all of the aliens with an exploding gas truck.
Later, the X-Men have to decide what to do to Hannah. Wolverine wants to kill her and be done with it, but Beast wants to study her to find out how she can avoid the Brood’s control. Bishop mentions that in the future there are several factions of Brood, some even friendly; Hannah is potentially the cause of these benign factions. Hannah asks the X-Men to kill her because she is constantly in contact with the Brood, and they won’t stop sending soldiers to kill her until she’s dead.
How It Was: *Gasp* Two double-sized mini-series issues (with no ads), followed by a double-sized anniversary issue—I don’t know how much more of this I can take. This particular mini wasn’t actually published until after the Onslaught event was under way, but it has to take place at this point because Beast hasn’t been replaced by Dark Beast, Iceman doesn’t have a hole in his gut, and Wolverine hasn’t been turned into a monkey-dog creature yet.
This is yet another odd story that started life as someone remembering a dropped subplot that everyone else had forgotten about, including most readers. Realistically, its only purpose is to offer a straightforward X-Men story as an alternative for readers who didn’t really care for the bogged down, continuity tangle that was the Onslaught crossover.
As far as the story goes, it’s not too bad. Instead of the smaller stories that Lobdell and Waid had been doing that focused on only two or three X-Men at a time, Ostrander presents an epic that requires the combined forces of most of the regular team. It had actually been a while since we’d seen this, minus the Onslaught stories. And the story actually delivers on the action as the X-Men enjoy a good fourteen or fifteen page fight with the eponymous aliens. Nice and straightforward.
The central conflict is also pretty compelling in that the X-Men have to decide between the practical, quick solution vs. the more ethical, but seemingly impossible choice of protecting Hannah from an endless wave of aliens. All of the parties make solid cases, and I like how Bishop’s knowledge of the future is used in the decision-making; I never understood why the X-Men didn’t use him more in this manner.
The issue’s main weakness is that there isn’t really enough story to fill ninety-six pages with no ads at all. The prologue is a huge never ending dump of exposition, although the pictures of the Brood in space and conquering other species are gorgeous. Hannah and William are one-dimensional characters that constantly reiterate the same beats every time they are on panel: Hannah feels guilty about infecting people and lying to her husband, William feels frustrated that his wife won’t tell her what is bothering her. This is all these two characters talk or think about in every scene they’re in, and in forty-eight pages they are in a lot of scenes.
There’s also plenty of page filler as the book takes its time introducing each individual X-Man, or repeating the exposition about the Brood for “the sake of the X-Men who haven’t faced them.” Heck, Hannah’s flashback takes up four pages when it easily could have been contained to one.
Hitch’s art is really the highlight of the issue. All of the X-Men look awesome, although some of the close-ups of Wolverine look a little rough. But the action is solidly paced and the elite Brood warriors look really cool. I’m not a fan of the designs for Hannah’s Brood followers, but most of them get killed instantly so there’s not a lot to worry about.
This is a pretty good story that probably could have worked better in just forty-eight pages, or maybe something around sixty pages. When it works, it works really well, but there is a lot here that is completely ancillary to the plot. As a result, this issue often feels more like a cash-grab then a classic X-Men story.
B-
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