Uncanny X-Men #324

Uncanny X-Men #324
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Roger Cruz

What Went Down: Psylocke is taking the time to invade Gambit’s mind while he’s unconscious to find out what he is so afraid of. The landscape of Gambit’s mind is a black and white noir version of Bourbon Street. Gambit discovers Betsy’s intrusion, even though he shouldn’t be able to. Gambit wakes up and asks what Psylocke was doing. She makes up an excuse about being worried about him and leaves.

In New York City, three of the X-Men and Charlotte Jones are getting ready to throw down with two members of Gene Nation with the unfortunate names of Sack and Vessel. Storm worries about Wolverine losing control of his feral nature, and we find out that bullets can’t hurt Sack. Sack also brings up that their forefathers were the Morlocks, which alarms Storm. We also find out that Vessel’s powers involve absorbing the life essence of people, explaining the dead people with no physical markings. Storm interprets this to mean that Vessel is stealing people’s souls, and Wolverine seems to buy this explanation as well.

Rogue and Iceman find a small town to call for a tow truck. Inside that bar, Bobby once again sees Emma Frost, this time as the waitress of the bar. In the air, Sack is in the process of absorbing Cannonball, while down below, Vessel attacks the Graydon Creed rally. Beast shows up in time to save Creed from being crushed by debris and rubs it in that a mutant saved the life of an anti-mutant bigot.

Wolverine attacks Vessel, who starts to leak energy. An energy blast knocks Wolverine away, but he figures out that they have to destroy Vessel to release the people’s souls. Cannonball flies into a building to defeat Sack. Storm overloads Vessel with lightning, causing lights to pour out of him, releasing the “souls.” Both Sack and Vessel’s remains seep into the ground, hinting that they will return.

At the bar, Rogue pays for the bill and tells the waitress to give her regards to Grey Crow. Rogue doesn’t know why she said this because it is a residual memory from Gambit, and the waitress turns out to be an old friend of Gambit’s. Outside, Bobby is trying to call the Massachusetts Academy. Emma Frost is standing next to the ringing phone, saying that there is no one to take Drake’s call.

How It Was: It’s hard to know how to judge this story since it’s mostly set up for future stories. Should it be measured on how intriguing the set ups are, or on how good the payoffs turned out to be? For example, the scenes hinting at Gambit’s past really felt significant at the time, but we won’t get any real resolution until #350 in about two years time. The Iceman scenes do go somewhere, but the territory of Iceman not utilizing his powers to their fullest has already been explored in past Uncanny issues.

This leaves us with the fight with Sack and Vessel that is woefully unexciting. Unlike the Holocaust fight going on in X-Men at the same time, this battle features uninteresting characters and has no real stakes for the reader to be concerned about. Lobdell tries to up the tension by having Storm bring up the fate of people’s souls, but it really feels like a random conclusion that she’s jumped to. Vessel absorbs energy, he’s an energy vampire. Storm seems to be overreacting; after all, she doesn’t say that Rogue is stealing people’s souls when she absorbs people’s energy. The outcome of the story is so hollow; it’s meant to feel significant when the energy returns to the victims’ bodies, but they’re still dead so it doesn’t really matter.

Other than some fun scenes between Beast and Graydon Creed, and some intriguing Gambit mysteries that take a long time to pay off, there is not a whole lot to recommend in this issue.

C-

Uncanny X-Men #323

Uncanny X-Men #323
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Bryan Hitch

What Went Down: Rogue and Iceman are still on their road trip around the country, but their car has broken down. Rogue insists that neither one of them use their powers, so they begin walking to the nearest town.

Archangel and Psylocke are spending the afternoon in the Danger Room, since Sabretooth is no longer living in it due to his injuries from Wolverine. Psylocke senses that something is wrong with Warren. It turns out he is still shaken from seeing massacre at the disco from last issue. The couple is interrupted by Gambit, who asks about Rogue’s whereabouts before he passes out again; he is concerned that Rogue has absorbed his memories and may’ve discovered some secrets.

Outside, Sabretooth is running around like a puppy dog because the claw Wolverine shoved through his skull seems to have caused some brain damage. Attached to Creed’s collar is a leash being held by the newest X-Man Cannonball, formerly of X-Force. Sam struggles to take Creed on his walk, but Creed hesitates when they come across a very angry Wolverine. Wolverine threatens Sabretooth and scares Cannonball a little when the youth comes to his prisoner’s defense. Storm interrupts with a mission, and Wolverine says he can squeeze it in before meeting with James and Heather Hudson of Alpha Flight over in his own book.

At Trish Tilby’s news building, the Beast visits her and accuses her of selling out mutants for a scoop. Tilby argues that it’s a public health concern that people have a right to know about. Beast brings up the death of Dennis from X-Men: Prime, but Trish says the death is as much Hank’s fault for failing to save the man.

Graydon Creed is making an impassioned speech outside of City Hall. Noah Dubois pops up again, observing that Creed is reminiscent of Hitler. A block away, Wolverine, Cannonball, and Storm meet up with Charlotte Jones because she has something to show them. Rogue and Iceman are taking a break when Bobby decides to ask Rogue what is bothering her. Rogue can’t seem to remember, and Bobby starts seeing hallucinations of the White Queen, Emma Frost, taunting him.

At the city morgue, the coroner shows the X-Men images of the dead club patrons; it is revealed that they just stopped moving, and there was no physical evidence for why they died. Wolverine realizes that the doctor smells wrong and attacks him. His friends think he might be losing it, but it turns out that the doctor is being possessed by a new villain named… (sigh) Sack. Yes, his name is Sack. Then Sack’s partner Vessel appears and announces that they are members of a group named Gene Nation, and of course they are going to try to kill the X-Men.

How It Was: The “new” direction for the X-Men continues with Cannonball joining the X-Men for some reason…I didn’t collect X-Force, so I don’t really know why. Unfortunately, the writers decided to portray him as a young, naïve, in-over-his-head neophyte as opposed to the seasoned veteran and leader that he is supposed to be. The X-staff’s comments on this period were that Cannonball would be intimidated by joining the main, core X-team, but that explanation doesn’t really fly with past events. Sam has fought with and against the X-Men many times, and he shouldn’t be scared of being one of them. X-Force and X-Men fans around the country were both quite bothered by this, but Sam remains a member of the X-Men for about three years before going back to X-Force.

As for the rest of the story, not all of it works. Sabretooth’s lobotomy is kind of interesting, especially given the events in Age of Apocalypse, and it comes off as a genuine attempt to reform the villain. Wolverine’s regression to a more feral nature doesn’t work as well since all he does is stop wearing his mask and act slightly angrier then usual. In all of the action sequences, he acts perfectly normal, so his deterioration can’t be that severe.

The reveal that all of the club customers died from stopping is also a letdown since earlier it is set up as the most horrific thing that Archangel has ever seen. Gambit’s outburst is intriguing, although it is going to be a long while before we get a definitive answer as to the specifics of what he is afraid of. And Noah Dubois continues to pop up in Uncanny, misleading you into thinking that this is leading to something significant.

Worst of all is the return of the Morlocks in the form of Vessel and Sack. They both have cool designs, horrible codenames, and zero personality. Worst of all, they tie into Gene Nation, a group that somehow manages to convolute the Morlocks even more than when Dark Beast was made their founder.

There’s a lot going on in this issue, but unfortunately most of it doesn’t really go anywhere interesting. Iceman’s visions of Emma, the Noah Dubois appearances, Sabretooth and Wolverine’s changes in attitude, and the Gene Nation all end up either getting dropped or leading to some really disappointing stories. Graydon Creed’s political campaign does begin here, affecting the titles for the foreseeable future, and the conflict between Beast and Trish is really well done, presenting balanced arguments for both sides. And of course Cannonball needs some work.

C+