X-Men #1/2

X-Men #1/2

Writing: Todd Dezago

Art: Mike Wieringo

What Went Down:  We begin in a medieval fantasy city named Salaam Centaur (see where this is going?) full of knights, horses, fairies, and traders.  Nightcrawler is there, but he’s dressed like someone form Lord of the Rings and going by the name Kurt of the Ulfen Warriors.  Kurt comes into contact with a beggar, who is actually Marrow.  While the warrior gives Marrow some coins, she picks his pocket and takes the rest of his money.  However, when she returns to her hiding spot, the coin purse disappears from the spot she left it. 

Elsewhere, Ororo the Goddess-of-the-Winds is visited by Kit, an elven ambassador of Phaerie.  Of course these characters are actually Storm and Kitty Pryde.  At a tavern, Kurt comes into contact with a mercenary named Logan, who of course is Wolverine.  Wolverine and Storm simultaneously tell the story to their respective companions of a dark wizard that clouds men’s minds and his army of townspeople who protect him.  Both Logan and Ororo want to rescue the kidnapped people.  As both groups leave, Storm and Kitty are tracked by Colossus while Nightcrawler and Wolverine are tracked by Marrow.

Outside the castle, Kurt confronts Marrow, and Colossus confronts all of them.  The group decides to join forces, although Marrow is reluctant, thinking it is not her fight.  The Dark Wizard confronts the X-Men and commands his horde of townspeople to attack.  As Kurt teleports he notices reality flickering, revealing present day people fighting in a mall.  Kitty confirms the illusion when she phases. 

Logan gets an idea to stop the wizard.  Individually all the heroes attack the wizard and are one by one mind controlled.  The wizard reveals himself to be X-Men villain Mesmero, who is obviously hypnotizing the X-Men and the civilians into believing the medieval illusion.  After Colossus is possessed, Kit phases through him to punch out Mesmero. With Mesmero unconscious, the world turns back to normal and all of the civilians are freed.  The X-Men decide to leave with Mesmero, assuming that they will get the blame for this.

How It Was:  This issue was a special that could be ordered from Wizard Magazine.  Every month they would have a different ½ issue to be solicited from Marvel or Image (and rarely DC).  Most of these were one-off stories that never affected the major plot lines of the characters, since the issues were only available to Wizard Magazine readers and inaccessible to most regular X-Men readers.  So hence we have this little diddy that fits in after the Excalibur group joins, but before Gambit does.

What really works in this book is the setting and fantasy redesigns for all the characters.  Mike Wieringo really went above and beyond; from the first page it captures the feel of a swords and sorcery epic like Conan.  The costumes for all the characters are phenomenal.  They’re completely different form their regular costumes, but still feel true to the characters. 

The story is hampered a little by its brief length; it’s only sixteen pages long.  And the first half of the story is just introducing the characters, the characters introducing themselves to each other, and then explaining the big wizard that they need to fight. Again the art carries the book as the scope of the final battle is pretty impressive; there are a dozen townsfolk on any given page for the heroes to fight.  It’s just too bad the fight is only like four or five pages long. 

The reveal of Mesmero is quite random, and he doesn’t have any motivation here for making a mall full of people and the X-Men believe they live in a Tolkien novel.  He just does it for the sake of doing it.  Mesmero’s plot doesn’t even make sense.  He obviously has to have hypnotized the X-Men in the first place to make them believe the illusion of the fantasy world, so why not just make them his slaves to begin with; probably because that already happened when he made the X-Men circus performers in Uncanny #111.  Still, he tries to convince the X-Men to join him, then he takes over their minds at the end, but he still has to have some control over them for the fantasy world to work.  I just don’t know.

This is pretty easily skippable.  It has no bearing on the plot of either of the main titles.  It’s essentially filler that would have wound up in an issue of X-Men Unlimited if Wizard hadn’t approached Marvel to make a gimmicky collectable for the most popular comics franchise at the time.  Having said that, it is still worth a look to see the fantasy spins Wieringo gave the X-Men; between this and his FF run, it’s obvious Wieringo was a truly amazing talent.  Other than that it’s too short and inconsequential.

C

X-Men #80

X-Men #80

Writing: Joe Kelly

Art: Brandon Peterson

What Went Down:  Kitty starts off the issue making her escape while the evil X-Men pursue her.  She manages to make it down to the sewers where she finds the captive Peter Corbeau.

Elsewhere in the Florida swamplands, Colossus and Wolverine tear themselves out of the crashed Blackbird.  Wolverine acts abrasive towards Peter, angry about his time as one of Magneto’s Acolytes.  Storm appears to remind him that it is not worse than his marriage to Viper.  Rogue wakes up powerless and is saved from a hungry alligator by Marrow. 

There is more exposition from the blond news reporter, followed by a scene where a scientist and a general discuss the rockets true purpose…to hunt down and kill mutants.  Back in the sewers, Corbeau warns Kitty that she has to stop the rocket from launching.  Kitty escapes, forced to leave Corbeau behind. 

With Storm and Rogue powerless and Nightcrawler badly injured, the X-Men are forced to hike through the swamp.  Colossus helps Marrow remove some of her broken bone shards so new ones will grow.  Marrow mentions that Peter’s brother used to do the same thing for him.  With the team’s spirits down, Storm gives an impassioned speech that inspires them to continue on.  Kitty appears at a copy shop and sends a fax to SHIELD that is intercepted by Xavier.

The X-Men make it to Cape Citadel, just in time for Nightcrawler to feel better and Rogue and Storm to get their powers back.  Kitty also shows up at the control tower, just in time for it to be attacked by the alternate X-Men.  Fortunately the real X-Men show up to save her.  The Grey King is tinkering with the rocket when the true X-Men attack.  A fight ensues and the control team tries to launch the rocket.  In the middle of the fight, Xavier confronts our heroes and demands that they stop interfering with his goals.  The X-Men question his behavior, but Xavier explains that the Benassi Rocket contains hardware to complete a network that can identify and kill mutants with satellite lasers at will.  The X-Men are conflicted about what to do until Wolverine smells him and realizes that this Xavier isn’t even human.  After being attacked, the false Xavier turns into a being of blue energy. 

The Grey King removes the satellite from the rocket to help Xavier catalogue mutants.  The rocket is triggered with the X-Men right where the engines are, but Kitty is able to phase the team to prevent them from being disintegrated.  The rocket has to be stopped because it contains a nuclear payload, so Rogue absorbs Nightcrawler and Colossus’ powers as well as Wolverine’s military knowledge to stop it.  The X-Men stop the other “X-Men” and destroy the satellite while Rogue disarms the rocket.  The blue energy Xavier is appalled that the X-Men stopped him and vows vengeance, and the X-Men steal their enemies’ jet to get home.  The final two pages show the scientific, military, and government officials being grilled about attempting to wipe out mutants through the Benassi rocket.  The last page reveals that the false X-Men are just hard-light programs, and the false Xavier is really Cerebro, the X-Men’s mutant detecting computer, brought to life.

How It Was:  I’ve always liked Joe Kelly’s issues just a little more than Steve Seagle’s, and reading them side by side with the exact same cast and plot makes this preference even more apparent to me.  Both writers have a great handle on the characters, but Kelly just adds more small touches, more humor, and more of an emotional impact altogether.  The scene that exemplifies this the most is Marrow saving Rogue from the gator.  Whereas Seagle’s Marrow is more of an angry kid who rubs everybody the wrong way and doesn’t always realize what she’s saying, Kelly’s Marrow is a jaded, battle hardened youth who points out the weaknesses that others take for granted.  When she stands up to Storm about their odds against the evil X-Men, she’s being realistic, not condescending, and even Rogue and Strom agree with her a little.  Plus the scene of her killing the gator just makes me laugh.  Other stand out moments include Storm’s pep talk and some of the characters’ reflections on Xavier’s meaning to them.

Of course there are some nitpicks.  The worst offense is Rogue being drawn with her pink outfit from Uncanny #342-350 instead of her original green costume that she was wearing last issue.  This always, always bothers me every time I read this story.  Wolverine’s behavior towards Colossus feels a little hypocritical, considering how conflicted Wolverine has always been about straddling the line between hero and killer.  It still kind of works as Wolverine reacting to missing his friend in the only manner he can while maintaining his gruff persona, but it feels a little forced.  Also, there are some issues with the order of events in the story.  Xavier tells the X-Men to process Kitty towards the end of Uncanny #360, then the bad X-Men take out the real ones, then the next issue opens with them trying to capture Kitty, which they should’ve done before attacking the real X-Men.  Oh, and Peter Corbeau serves absolutely no purpose in this story; yeah he warns Kitty about the rocket, but fake Xavier is the one who explains to the X-Men why it’s important.  Corbeau doesn’t even show up in the end; there’s just a brief mention about the officials under investigation because of his testimony.

As for the villains of the story…they’re okay I guess.  They’re not funny, they’re not scary, they’re not really noble…they just kind of do whatever the plot requires of them.  As for the reveal at the end, I like the design of the living Cerebro, even if the concept is a little silly.  Plus the reveal confuses the origins of the all-new X-Men; my understanding of it is although they think they’re real mutants, they’re just programs constructed from Cerebro, made up of file combinations from all the mutants Cerebro knows.  So Rapture is a combination of Angel and Mystique; Landslide is a combination of Sabretooth and Blob; etc.  I can’t remember if this is from future issues, or if I just read this theory somewhere online.  I guess we’ll see.

There is a nice conflict here, not between the two teams, but with the idea of the X-Men’s identities being robbed from them, both by these new villains and the unfortunate circumstances that have left them down and out.  Kelly manages to make it feel significant that the X-Men are reclaiming their agency and their purpose.  Again, all the X-Men just feel perfectly characterized, and although their villains here are forgettable, the stakes of being supplanted or made obsolete feels very real.  It’s nowhere near as good a starting point as X-Men #70 was, but this is admittedly a likeable cast, and both writers have a strong handle on them.

B+

Uncanny X-Men #360

Uncanny X-Men #360

Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down: On the anniversary of Magneto’s first battle with the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #1, a news reporter is covering the controversial launching of the Benassi rocket.  While the government insists it is just carrying camera equipment, skeptics are protesting the secrecy of the project and the nuclear components on the rocket. 

A mysterious bald figure in a wheelchair is collecting a new team of mutants to help him save the world.  There is the Grey King, a graduate assistant with telepathic dampening powers; Chaos, an autistic who can shoot psycho-plasmic force blasts; Mercury, who has liquid metal limbs; Rapture, a nun who is blue and has angel wings; Crux, an ice skater who can shoot fire and ice; and Landslide, a giant brawler.  At the end of the recruitment we see that it is none other than Professor X inviting the mutants to join the X-Men.

On a cruise ship named Titania, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, and Nightcrawler are enjoying a vacation after the disbanding of Excalibur.  The group discusses how it is the anniversary of the X-Men going public, and the ways that this event changed their lives.  Their reverie is interrupted by the new X-Men, who attack the cruise ship.  While Nightcrawler evacuates passengers and Colossus tries to plug a hole created by the fake X-Men, Kitty is captured by the group.

In the sewers of Washington D.C., Marrow, Rogue, Storm, and Wolverine are fighting a high tech security system.  Finding a door with an X on it, the group enters it to find a room outside a lab.  Although they were invited by sometime X-ally Peter Corbeau, it appears Corbeau has been abducted.  A tape left at the crime scene incriminates the X-Men. 

In a bunker in the Florida swamps, the evil X-Men are holed up with the captured Kitty.  Kitty is shocked that the mutants call themselves X-Men, and even more shocked to find that they have intimate knowledge of the real X-Men.  Professor X shows up to chastise Kitty for her behavior.

Inside the Lincoln Memorial, the four remaining X-Men meet with Val Cooper to discuss Corbeau’s disappearance.  Val offers the X-Men resources to help them clear their name.  Over in Salem, Nightcrawler and Colossus have gone to the mansion to enlist the help of the other X-Men.  The mansion is empty except for a shotgun wielding Cecilia Reyes, who is housesitting for the team.  After a brief misunderstanding, Cecilia leads the two heroes to the hanger where the original Blackbird is being housed after it was salvaged in Uncanny #353.  Kurt thinks he can fix it.

Back in Florida, Xavier tells Kitty that he cannot access his emotions because Bastion attempted to bind his functions to a computer with a virus.  Xavier’s detached behavior worries Kitty, as does the fact that he didn’t just ask for her help.  On the X-Men’s borrowed jet, the team observes a press conference outside the Cape Citadel rocket launch where a US director is seemingly assassinated.  We then get a scene where some shadowy government figures discuss how this was a fake distraction to take people’s attention away from what is really on the rocket.

Kitty manages to purge the virus from the computer.  Xavier rewards her by having his X-Men recapture her and prepare her for storage.  Up in the sky, the X-Men’s plane is dismantled in the air.  They assume Magneto is attacking, but it’s actually the fake X-Men.  A mid-air battle takes place, but Storm and Rogue lose their powers due to the Grey King.  Wolverine is left plummeting to the ground, but he is saved by Nightcrawler.  After saving the rest of the team, the Blackbird is shot down by Mercury.  

How It Was:  I had assumed I was done with gimmicky shiny foil cover double-sized issues, but lo and behold here we have two in a row.  Uncanny X-Men #360 and X-Men #80 are celebrating the 35^th anniversary of Uncanny X-Men #1; to my recollection these are the end of the foil-cover era for the X-Men.  These issues also mark some drastic changes to the books, mostly forced upon the writers by editors.  The team has been scaled back to a core cast of seven regulars, Uncanny and X-Men tie into each other regularly making for essentially a bi-weekly reading experience, and the former members of Excalibur are being shuffled back on the team. 

I’m torn about the inclusion of Nightcrawler, Kitty, and Colossus.  On the one hand I’m overjoyed as an X-Men fan to see them since these characters haven’t been on the main X-Men team in almost a decade (Excalibur lasted 125 issues).  On the other hand, it’s clear there is no real reason or story behind having them back on the team—somebody just thought it would be neat, which it is.  But there is something to be said for picking a cast because of potential stories to do and picking a team because people like the characters.  Worst of all, the majority of the new X-Men (Maggott and Cecilia), who had tons of story potential as the characters grew into their heroic roles, have completely been thrown out without any warning.  I really liked both these characters and the books feel more directionless without them.

But I should probably talk about the comic itself.  It’s double-sized, and fairly padded out, although there are some nice action sequences towards the end. A lot of the fluff revolves around the tedious newscaster exposition scenes that just aren’t very interesting.  There’s an incomprehensible attempt to make them more relevant by having a government conspiracy with a faked assassination that makes no sense at all.  If you wanted people to not pay attention to you’re high profile satellite launch, pretending to kill a member of the staff seems like it would be counterproductive.  Having the story take place at Cape Citadel is a nice call back to the first issue of the series, but many of these scenes feel tiresome, constantly reminding the reader about the rocket and that mutants are a divisive issue.  There’s a whole four-page sequence with Val Cooper that serves no purpose other than to say out loud that the X-Men are still hated and mistrusted, and for Val to give the X-Men a TV and a plane.  Also, the necessity of Kitty to “Xavier’s” plan seems arbitrary.

While I really like the homage to Giant-Sized X-Men #1 with Xavier collecting his new team, none of the characters really stand out.  Most of them do feel derivative, although that does tie into their origins, and none of them really come off as likable or menacing.  Plus Chaos, the autistic character, speaks in these one-word fragments, and I’ve never known any autistic person to do that.  Strangely it is played for comedy most of the time; Nightcrawler even mocks him for it at one point in the story.

Bachalo does a great job making the cruise ship and air battles seem frantic and chaotic.  The X-Men versus guns in the sewer feels a little forced for the sake of action, and I don’t understand how a door in the sewer leads to a vent on the surface where the X-Men can see the hole their friend was abducted in.  Peter Corbeau is pulled out from comic limbo for no other purpose then he was a scientist in that one space story in the seventies.  You know, the Phoenix Saga. 

The mystery over Xavier’s cold demeanor does work really well, and it’s about time the books actually addressed what is up with Charles.  And although I still think the Excalibur recruits feel forced onto this team, they do get some nice moments.  I enjoy the discussion of life without the X-Men where Kurt realizes he’d probably be dead.  There is also a sense of exhilaration from the team when Colossus and Nightcrawler first show up to save them. 

This issue could work a little better as a normal-sized issue.  Take away some of the exposition from the newscaster and Val Cooper, maybe a little more time for us to get to know the evil X-Men and care about them one way or the other, and this could’ve been one of the greats.  It does succeed in feeling like a new direction, it gets the characters right, and it is bookended by two solid action sequences. 

B-

X-Men #79

X-Men #79
Writing: Joe Kelly

Art: Germain Garica

What Went Down:  The issue opens on Officers Aguinal and Cleveland, who you might remember as the police officers Marrow beat up in X-Men #68, if you’re a fan of inconsequential background characters from comics.  The narration establishes that these two cops have had a string of bad luck since their run in with Marrow. 

Speaking of Marrow, she’s busy on the street terrorizing a young couple for calling her a freak.  After leaving the couple, we learn that Marrow is in a particularly foul mood.  Pursuing the young mutant is Storm and a healthy Callisto.  Both women are worried what Marrow might do since she is so angry.  We get a flashback of Marrow arguing with Storm.  Callisto interrupts to tell Marrow that she needs the young Morlock to stay with the X-Men.  Callisto tells Storm that she wants Marrow to have a shot at life.  Storm notes that Callisto makes a cryptic reference to her own safety, but Callisto ignores her.

Down in the Morlock tunnels, a shadowy figure is going to Callisto’s room to give her an injection.  Of course Callisto isn’t there, so this causes the figure to become angry, worrying about the effects on his agenda.  Marrow is off sulking in Battery Park over everybody leaving her.  Cannonball shows up to bring Marrow home.  Marrow is elated that he cares, but proceeds to attack him anyway.  Meanwhile the cops interview the attacked couple, and they both realize that the girl being described is Marrow.

At the mansion, Beast and Maggot are discussing Marrow’s disappearance.  Cecilia bursts in and yells at Maggot because his slugs have eaten her medical books and underpants.  While they fight, Beast wonders if there might be a better place for Maggott to develop his powers.  Above Manhattan, Storm and Callisto debate where Marrow belongs and whether someone can be helped if they don’t want it.  Callisto brings up how Storm tore out one of Marrow’s hearts, which angers the X-Man. 

Cannonball loses track of Marrow, so he pulls out a letter from his brother Josh to reread.  The letter says that Sam’s mother is very sick, and Sam needs to come home.  Marrow attacks Cannonball because she is angry that he is leaving, and the two fight for a bit.  Cannonball explains to Marrow that she isn’t the only one to suffer loss, and the two police officers show up to arrest Marrow.

Maggott chastises his slugs for eating Cecilia’s books and not destroying the evidence.  Beast comes in and suggests to Maggott that he might learn to control his slugs if he were to join Generation X in Massachusetts.

Marrow attacks Officer Cleveland, and Cannonball tries to explain that the cops are just doing their jobs.  Marrow remembers her own anger when she heard Sam on the phone describing how he was leaving.  She asks the officers if they’ve lost anything, and they describe their bad luck and the fear and uncertainty that has gripped them ever since being injured by Marrow. 

Storm and Callisto show up, and Marrow realizes she doesn’t want to be a monster.  Callisto shares a final moment with Marrow before leaving, and Storm vows to be Marrow’s teacher and ally.  Cannonball offers to take Marrow home, and the X-Men fly off.  The two cops decide to return to their old beat, realizing that the monsters aren’t so bad, and we catch a glimpse of the mysterious shadow figure.  He is excited that Marrow has been left alone with the X-Men.

How It Was:  This is the conclusion to Marrow’s drastic redemptive character arc, and although it’s pretty overt and on the nose, it’s still pretty good.  Yes the lesson that actions have consequences and everyone suffers loss seem obvious, but looking at a young girl raised away from civilization, deprived of things we take for granted, it’s just about believable.

Kelly’s dialogue and character interactions are phenomenal.  From Callisto and Storm’s debate that shows their distaste and mutual respect perfectly to Marrow’s naive teenage perceptions of unfairness in the world, every word feels just right.  I love how Storm is meant to confront the perceptions she has of herself in light of the way Marrow fits into her life.  Still, my favorite moment is Maggott yelling at his slugs, and then forcing them to finish off the doctor’s books. 

The inclusion of the two cops from issue #68 seems pretty random and unnecessary, since Marrow has Cannonball to juxtapose her life against and the couple on the street to feel remorseful about, but I guess it does bring closure in a weird way to her first “heroic” act in an X-Men comic.  It’s unclear whether Cleveland and Ag were injured by Marrow, or randomly injured in Operation Zero Tolerance in their flashbacks; obviously it doesn’t matter since Kelly is just laying it on thick for Marrow to learn her lesson.  I can’t really stand these whiny cop characters, but they’re tolerable for one issue.

This issue is notorious for hanging plot threads.  The mysterious creature experimenting on Callisto never gets resolved to my knowledge, just forgotten.  My understanding from interviews is that it was meant to be Dark Beast, in case you’re curious.  Also, it’s clear that Kelly intended for Maggott to join Generation X, but the character only makes a guest appearance in an issue or two before fading into Marvel character limbo. 

This issue is light on action, but heavy on solid characterization.  It’s a shame that this is the last we see of Cecilia and Maggott on the team since there was so much potential left unexplored with those two.  And I personally thought Maggott was really funny.  Still, I think Kelly is to be commended for creating a believable redemption for Marrow, goofy cop characters not withstanding.

B+

Uncanny X-Men & Fantastic Four Annual '98

Uncanny X-Men & Fantastic Four Annual '98
Writing: Joe Casey
Art: Paul Pelletier and Leo Fernandez

What Went Down:  A Stark-Fujikawa scientist named Doctor Beynon has just completed his invention, a miniturizer, with his robot assistant Hadley. Taking a break, Beynon decides to go with a colleague to Reed Richards’ press conference.  Beynon holds utter contempt for Richards, but goes regardless.

At the conference, Richards shows off his newest invention, a miniturizer of his own; Richards’ version is superior because, unlike Beynon, he though it might be more convenient to be able to return items to original size afterwards.  Beynon is escorted away from the conference after trying to confront Mr. Fantastic.  Later he is accused of stealing from Richards, even though he had been working on the invention for months. Losing his job, Beynon vows revenge on Reed Richards. 

At the X-Mansion, Cecilia Reyes is bored, and Beast is trying to entertain her with a game of chess.  He invites her to go to the opera with him, although Cecilia wants him to clarify whether it is a date.  Storm watches amusedly.  Elsewhere, Wolverine is forcing Cannonball to come with him to a poker game. 

Beynon breaks into the Stark offices to recover his invention.  He also discovers some other devices that he plans to use to exact his revenge.  At Pier 4, the FF’s new base, we learn that Reed and Sue just happen to be going to the same opera as Beast and Cecilia.  Meanwhile, the Thing is forcing the Human Torch to cancel his date to play poker with him and Wolverine. 

At the Met, Cecilia feels like everyone is staring at her because she hasn’t been out in public since being outed as a mutant.  Beast insists it’s just her imagination.  At the same time, the paparazzi are overwhelming Reed and Sue.  Back stage at the opera, Beynon has stolen the device that FF villain the Psycho Man uses to control the emotions of people.  He plans to use it during the opera.  Hidden in a closet, Beynon can’t tell if the device is working, but outside the actors and audience alike start going insane, jumping to anger and depression.

At the pier, Cannonball turns out to be really good at poker, even though he insists he doesn’t play.  Hadley, programmed into a Psycho Man robot, attacks the heroes.  Mr. Fantastic triggers the emergency flare before being overwhelmed by emotions.  After taking out the robot, Cannonball and the Torch fly off, while the other two run to their vehicles.

Inside the Met, Sue Richards attacks her husband while Cecilia attacks the Beast.  Wolverine and the Thing learn that both their vehicles have been smashed, so they have to get a taxi.  While in the taxi, the Psycho Man robot reactivates and goes after them.  The Psycho Man’s emotion controller shorts out due to all of the people it was controlling, and Beast and Mr. Fantastic confer to assess the situation.

Ben and Logan are attacked by the robot again and defeat it.  When everyone converges on the opera house, Beast and Reed have already captured Beynon.  While arguing about what to do with the Doctor, Beynon manages to get away, stealing the emotion controller as well. Upon returning to Stark-Fujikawa, Beynon is attacked by the actual Psycho Man.  The X-Men and FF soon show up to fight the villain.  Beynon actually tries to attack the heroes with a pipe.  The scientist tries to use his miniturizer on the FF, but it explodes taking Beynon and the Psycho Man with it.  Reed postulates that both of them have been sent to the microverse.

The issue ends with all the heroes returning to Pier 4 to relax.  Johnny and Sam have fallen asleep at the card table, while Ben and Logan continue to play adamantly. 

How It Was:  Uncanny’s annual teams them up with Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four.  In case you’re curious, the FF also had another annual in 1998 where they teamed up with an alternate version of themselves.  And this tale is written by future Uncanny scribe Joe Casey, who I believe was writing Cable at the time.  Anyway, you can see what Casey was going for, teaming the FF with their character equivalents on the X-Men: Beast and Reed are the intellectuals; Johnny and Sam are young, inexperienced, and energy-based fliers; Sue and Cecilia are serious and grounded nurturers who both have forcefields; and Thing and Wolverine are cigar chomping tough guys.

The biggest issue with this issue is the villain, Bradley Beynon.  He is this deluded, unintimidating, and unsympathetic whiner who has a weird fixation on Reed Richards.  He is so incompetent that he can’t figure out the Psycho Man’s emotion controller, even though it is essentially a box with buttons next to labels with emotion names on them.  I think he’s meant to be comedic, but Beynon is so over-the-top delusional that he’s hard to take.  I do like that Beynon has built a robot assistant, Hadley, with a dry, passive aggressive sense of humor.  Hadley gets some great lines, and I will say that it is interesting Beynon would build a helper who doesn’t mind taking him down a peg.

Casey has a great handle on all the heroes.  Thing and Beast’s comments are funny, which is crucial, and there are some great moments, such as Wolverine and Thing in a cab.  I also like the attention to character detail; Beast’s reaction to Psycho Man’s box is to be sad that he hasn’t cured the Legacy Virus, and the Invisible Woman is haunted by her time as the villain Malice and tells Mr. Fantastic that she was a better leader. 

There is an unintentional continuity hitch with Cannonball saying he’s never played poker, even though he has in X-Men #48.  In fact, that story featured the same order of events, where Cannonball insisted he wouldn’t be any good, then proceeded to clean out everybody.  It’s a small detail, so I can forgive it; you could even read into it that Cannonball is some kind of diabolical poker hustler, since I don’t think Wolverine was present at the last game, and the Thing left before Sam could play. 

Apologies for getting caught up in continuity details…it’s probably not that big of a deal.  As for the story, there are some good fights, even if the villains aren’t very interesting.  There is a weird plot hole where Beynon manages to escape and steal the emotion controller in the middle of eight super heroes discussing his fate.  Still, this is mostly a fun, slightly goofy team-up story that again has no real bearing on the bigger picture of the Marvel Universe.  It’s a mediocre story with some fantastic (reference intended) character moments.

B-

X-Men and Dr. Doom Annual '98

X-Men and Dr. Doom Annual '98
Writing: Jorge Gonzalez

Art: Aaron Lopestri

What Went Down:  This story takes place shortly after Uncanny X-Men #5 from the sixties.  Dr. Doom is utilizing a Seer to see the future.  The Seer is showing Doom images of Onslaught.  Although they don’t know the specifics, Doom realizes the danger and power Onslaught represents, and vows to utilize it to the fullest.  Doom also learns that he is not likely to survive his encounter with Onslaught.

Noting a similarity between Onslaught’s armor and that of the new (for 60s Marvel Universe) villain Magneto, Doom decides to travel through time to various points of the villain’s life to discover his connection to Onslaught and steal his power.  Starting with the X-Men’s first battle with Magneto, Doom tells the Seer to lock onto Magneto’s bio-signature to travel to future Magneto battles in the hunt for Onslaught.  After witnessing Magneto’s next defeat from the X-Men, Doom then witnesses Magneto’s first battle with the Giant-Sized team.  Phoenix actually detects the cloaked time platform and confronts Doom, but as the base collapses, Doom is able to escape.  The platform is damaged, and Doom is forced to the Days of Future Past storyline.

Doom leaves the time machine to look for parts.  He witnesses the future X-Men battling Sentinels from Uncanny #143, then escapes with the parts.  After fixing the time machine, Onslaught actually reaches out to the Seer in the time stream, and the old man learns that he is actually Charles Xavier.  The Seer takes Doom to the death of Thunderbird, Xavier’s battle with Dark Phoenix, his transformation into a Brood, and his near-death where he turns over the school to Magneto.

The time travelers actually make it to the present (meaning 1998 Marvel Universe), where Magneto is sitting on a throne by himself.  Doom attacks Magneto to weaken his mental guards so the Seer can learn about Onslaught.  After the battle, Doom escapes, and the pair travels to the events of X-Men #25, where Xavier shut off Magneto’s mind, planting the seeds of Onslaught.  Doom tries to absorb the Dark Mass to increase his power, but the entity is too powerful, so Doom has to return to his own time.  Upon returning, Doom kills the Seer because knowledge is power, and Doom doesn’t share power. 

How It Was:  This is a strange one, but not necessarily in a bad way.  In 1998, the theme of all Marvel’s annuals was team ups.  For example the Avengers annual had them team up with Squadron Supreme, and Captain America and Iron Man shared an annual.  Some of the team ups even involved bringing back bizarre obscure characters like Devil Dinosaur and Machine Man to team up with more established characters.  Anyways, the annual for X-Men features Doctor Doom.

Instead of actually having the X-Men team up with or fight Doom, we have a Doom story taking place early in the Marvel Universe’s history where he goes through a clip show of X-Men events to put the histories of Magneto and Xavier into context.  Because it would be weird to have Doom talking to himself for the whole issue, we get the one-off side character of the Seer introduced to exchange exposition with Doom and then unceremoniously get killed off when his purpose is fulfilled.

The premise is also a little weak as well because it involves Doom going after Onslaught.  We’re to understand that Doom can travel into the future to see how Magneto lost a million battles with the X-Men, so why doesn’t Doom just travel to see how Onslaught is defeated, figure out how he dies, and prevent it?  Moreover, why doesn’t he just observe one of his battles with the FF in the future, note how he loses, and change it?  So it invites all the questions that time travel stories invite without giving any satisfying answers.  Also we know Doom isn’t going to alter history, so he can’t succeed, but it really is hard to believe that he would know about Onslaught for so long and do nothing until it resurfaced again decades later.

So what we have is Doom visiting big moments in X-history, commenting on how feeble or respectable the X-Men and Magneto are at any given moment, then jumping to the next moment.  It does sort of work in a weird nostalgia stroking way.  It is neat to see all these big moments back to back, seeing how far the X-Men have come in thirty years of continuity, and remembering all the weird and unexpected turns they’ve taken.  Plus Lopestri’s art is remarkable and really captures the Silver Age feel of the story.  Even better, Gonzalez’s script takes advantage of Marvel continuity.  It’s neat to see that the confrontation Doom has with Phoenix actually fits into the story in Uncanny #113 if you ever get a chance to read it.  He does miss a chance to give hints of the present day Magneto’s plans though; it’s obvious the X-office had no idea what they were doing with Magneto, since when Doom shows up in our present, Magneto’s just sitting on a throne by himself for no reason.

Don’t get me wrong, this double-sized story is really padded and stretched out, and the main conflict isn’t very interesting. But there is just something entertaining, at least on a base level, about revisiting these memorable moments.  You’d probably be better off just rereading the original stories (I have the Essential X-Men black and white collections because you get a lot of story for a small price), but this one is fun, if completely inconsequential. 

B-

Uncanny X-Men #359

Uncanny X-Men #359
Writing: Steve Seagle & Joe Kelly

Art: Chris Bachalo & Ryan Benjamin

What Went Down:  The issue starts with Rogue dreaming about being intimate with Gambit.  She is woken in the waiting room of Dr. Agee’s on the day of her mutant cure treatment.  In Alaska, Michael Twoyoungmen, aka Alpha Flight’s Shaman, is running tests on Jean Grey after she collapsed last issue from the events of the Psi-War.  He says she is healthy, and plugs his upcoming appearance in Alpha Flight, before it is revealed that Jean herself has lost her powers.

Back at Dr. Agee’s, the doctor has invited a Senator named Brickman, his wife Mallory, and Henry Gyrich to observe his procedure.  The government has been funding Agee’s research, so they are checking in on him.  The nurse asks Rogue if she is having second thoughts, and Rogue reflects on her experience with Gambit, as well as the events of Uncanny #353-354 that led her here.  Senator Brickman’s wife tells him that she can’t watch.

The nurse comes back in, as Agee is about to cure Rogue, and opens fire with a machine gun.  Rogue saves Agee, and it is revealed that the nurse is really Mystique in disguise.  Mystique was also posing as Mallory Brickman.  Back in Anchorage, Jean struggles with the loss of her powers and its effect on her perceptions and her identity.  Cyclops tries to comfort her.

Mystique tries to talk Rogue out of the procedure, saying it’s a betrayal of herself and mutantkind.  She tells Rogue about the government’s funding and plans to use the process on mutants.  Also, the process is based off of Forge’s neuralizer from the eighties.  Mystique taunts Rogue with the image of Gambit, so Rogue decides to see if she is telling the truth by absorbing her powers and memories.

Gyrich and Agee have moved to the Mutopia center, assuming it is safer since there are soldiers stationed.  Gyrich insists that Agee comply or lose his funding.  Mrs. Brickman shows up again, but it is really Rogue using Mystique’s powers.  Having absorbed some of Mystique’s personality, Rogue is compelled to attack some guards.  A battle breaks out, and the real Mystique shows up to knock out Gyrich.  She is about to kill Agee when Rogue stops her.  Rogue decides to absorb Agee’s memories to see if the treatment works.

Rogue learns that early forms of the treatment led to some fatalities.  It worked briefly for Agee’s sister, but then it mutated her further.  However since then he has perfected his process and it does in fact work.  Realizing it works, Rogue decides to destroy the machines, rationalizing that the government will force mutants to use it.  She warns Agee not to continue his work, and suggests he take care of his poor sister.  Then she destroys the lab.

Jean comes to accept that her powers are gone, and apologizes to Scott for ruining his plans for the X-Men (that we never learn about).  Scott confirms that she is the most important thing in his life right now.  Rogue flies back to the mansion, and Wolverine tells her that he knew about the treatment, but decided to let her decide.  He tells her that she is still welcome.

How It Was:  This issue could’ve felt way out of character for Rogue, so it is to Steve Seagle’s credit that he makes it work.  Grounding Rogue’s confusion in her recent interactions with Gambit is a justifiable approach to doing this story.  Having Mystique show up is a random coincidence, but it does give Rogue the opportunity to vocalize her frustrations and come to her decision.  The conflict of weighing the value of love vs purpose is far more compelling than any villain battle.  Even better, it’s nice to see Rogue become so overwhelmed that she doesn’t know what to do, resorting to using her powers on Mystique and Agee.  This does somewhat dilute the lesson Rogue is supposed to learn, but I do really like the sequences and they still feel in-character.

And speaking of villains, the government conspiracy behind this story is a little too convoluted for its own good.  Basically they are brought in to provide action sequences for Rogue and to justify her decision at the end.  Plus I’m not quite sure how the Mutopia business fits in; originally Agee said he refused their offer, so was he lying or is it just Gyrich who is in bed with both Agee and Mutopia?  It’s a shame that instead of exploring the conflict as is, the writers had to resort to bringing in Gyrich and shady government officials to take the decision out of Rogue’s hands.  It’s just too clear that they want the mutant cure for nefarious purposes, making the right choice too obvious.  The reveal that Agee is actually on the up and up is interesting, but doesn’t quite fit with things he has said previously while alone in his lab. 

Chris Bachalo and Ryan Benjamin are two artists whose styles couldn’t be farther from each other.  I have to say I like Benjamin’s a lot more; he doesn’t draw Agee with a head that is three times as tall as it is wide.  Plus Bachalo’s Gyrich doesn’t look right, and his Wolverine looks like a recolored Beast. 

The sequences with Scott and Jean should have more of an impact, but they don’t.  This may have something to do with the fact that Jean’s power loss gets completely ignored after this issue. Personally I think there is just a disconnect between this plot line and the Rogue one, which is strange because thematically they should tie together perfectly.  Rogue is struggling with whether she wants her powers; Jean loses her powers and in doing so loses a part of herself.  It should work, but it just doesn’t.  Maybe it’s due to the fact that Jean was semi-retired at this point and didn’t really need her powers for much.  Also, it’s strange that the rest of the original X-Men have gone home after Jean had such a horrific trauma, and instead we’re meant to settle for the familiarity and comfort of Shaman from Alpha Flight.

This is actually a solid conclusion to the arc Seagle set up for Rogue since coming onto Uncanny.  The end is maybe a little too sappy for some, but it works as a personal journey for Rogue.  While the character is essentially at the same place at the end, this felt like a story that needed to be told: the story of why Rogue doesn’t use technology to cure herself.  Seagle and Kelly make this story compelling by choosing a tumultuous time in Rogue’s life, building off of events and traumas relating to Gambit.  This is some solid character work.

B

Team X 2000 #1

Team X 2000 #1

Writing: Sean Ruffner and A. Smithee

Art: Kevin Lau

 
What Went Down:  Deathbird opens describing a vivid dream to Bishop where she is fighting Shi’ar vermin, then biting the head off of a bird.  Bishop attempts to interpret the dream while the two play chess; Deathbird cannot get over some of the rules of the game.  It is implied that the two have had relations with each other, though Bishop insists it was a mistake.  Their ship comes across an uncharted jump-gate, and then they are attacked by an Ursaa ship (the guys from Uncanny #358).  Bishop decides to chance going in the gate.

Upon exiting the jump-gate, the ship comes out in orbit around Earth, but the planet is surrounded by Shi’ar warships for some reason.  On Earth, it is revealed that Alanna Nermani, the daughter of Lilandra, is the ruler of a war-torn future version of Earth. Archangel, Sauron, Dazzler, and Vulture are all servants of Alanna.  The queen is alerted to the discovery of Bishop’s ship.

Taken aboard one of the warships, Bishop and Deathbird encounter some Shi’ar soldiers.  Deathbird attacks them, but she is shot by a stun blast; Bishop decides not to intercede, allowing himself to be taken prisoner.  Shi’ar scientists confirm to Alanna that Deathbird is the genuine article, so Alanna orders her released.  Deathbird learns that the year is 2018, and the Shi’ar have conquered Earth.  Meanwhile Bishop is stuck in a prison cell with a depowered Cain Marko, normally the Juggernaut. Cain isn’t sure whether Bishop is real, but explains some of the history of the planet.

Bishop is escorted to a healing pool where Deathbird is already bathing.  Bishop doesn’t trust Alanna, but Deathbird insists it is all right.  Alanna goes to a truth-seer, who informs her that Deathbird will be the key to her triumph or defeat.

The next day Alanna takes Deathbird and Bishop on a tour of New York to discuss restoring Deathbird’s name and royal title to her.  The people of New York are being starved by the Shi’ar for not turning in the rebels.  A disguised Longshot confirms Bishop’s identity and calls Cable.  Alanna is confronted by some starving peasants and demonstrates that she has psychic powers, due to the fact that her father was Charles Xavier.

The rebels of this world, the Morlocks, attack so they can liberate Bishop.  The group consists of  Cable, Longshot, Falcon, and Vertigo-the present day Jubilee. Vertigo is almost killed by Sauron, but Falcon sacrifices himself to save her, while Longshot is captured due to Deathbird’s interference.

Back at the Morlock base, Bishop is introduced to their leader, an eyepatch wearing Wolverine.  Dr. Doom is also a member of the rebellion. Wolverine explains that the Avengers, X-Men, Lilandra, and Professor X were all killed by Alanna, who studied the history of her aunt Deathbird.  This allowed her to take over the planet.  Beast, Doom, and Hank Pym planned on seeding the past with time gates to bring help from the past, but their plan was foiled by soldiers before they could finish; Bishop’s gate was a freak accident.

The Morlocks use Vulture to infiltrate the Shi’ar celebration for Deathbird.  When offered her birthright, Deathbird refuses saying that the title means nothing to her.  While Bishop takes on Sauron, Deathbird and Alanna fight as well.  Bishop sets off the explosives after the control is damaged, and uses Sauron to survive as they both absorb the energy from the explosion.  Alanna’s telepathic powers allow her to anticipate Deathbird’s moves, but Deathbird is able to defeat Alanna using a pressure point that Bishop taught her off-panel.  Deathbird shows mercy on Alanna and kisses Bishop.

With Alanna defeated, the Morlocks send Bishop and Deathbird back to their own time.  Doom leaves the base, telling Cable that next time they may not be on the same side. 

How It Was:  This is actually a fun little diversion for X-fans.  Regular readers will know that I’m a sucker for alternate reality/future stories, and for such a brief one, this does deliver some neat alternate moments.  I especially like the all too short visit with crazy Cain Marko, and the little touches like Falcon’s importance in the resistance, or Wolverine and Sauron’s rivalry.  Some aspects never get the room to pay off: Dr. Doom is introduced as an unknown quantity, but never affects the resolution one way or the other.  Also Jubilee has been renamed Vertigo for no particular reason, and I can’t tell if the team of rebels is supposed to be called the Morlocks or Team X because the script uses both.

I am wholly unfamiliar with the writers of this story, but I’m happy that they continue the solid relationship established between Deathbird and Bishop.  The romantic tension mixed with utter contempt and unpredictable motivations makes for great reading.  What I really like is that while Uncanny #358 focused mostly on Bishop’s history and perspective, Team X is much more about Deathbird.  From her cryptic dreams to confronting her relationship with her identity and family, it’s nice to see the character struggle with these conflicting aspects.  Although the reader can probably assume that Deathbird will side with Bishop, it’s still interesting to see how it all plays out.

The plot mechanics are a little frustrating.  The Morlocks’ plan to use time traveling gates to bring heroes from the past makes no sense; why not use them to travel back and change the future?  Plus I really don’t understand why they needed other heroes to implement their straightforward plan at the end.  It feels like the plot itself could’ve been resolved without Bishop or Deathbird; somebody else would’ve just had to kill Alanna.  Still, the fighting is solid and there are some hastily constructed, but solid character interaction.

The art style is manga, but for some reason it doesn’t bother as much as the style normally does.  Sure it does slip into ridiculousness with the scantily clad Shi’ar servants, and Jubilee’s redesign is super-cyberpunk anime influenced, but the action is clear, the expressions are never distorted or exaggerated, and just about all the characters are on model.  To tell you the truth, I like Lau’s work slightly more than I like Joe Madureira’s.

This is a little story that continues to build on the relationship between Bishop and Deathbird.  I like where it takes the characters, and I like the time travel gimmick because it doesn’t overstay its welcome.  Bishop traveling through time works a lot better with the character’s roots than Bishop in space.  This is definitely a peek if you can find it for cheap.

B+

Uncanny X-Men #358

Uncanny X-Men #358
Writing: Steven Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down:  Bishop opens and narrates this one-off story as he and Deathbird have crash-landed on an alien planet.  Bishop internally recaps the circumstances that have led him to this point, and then rescues Deathbird from the wreckage.  They are beset by a group of alien scavengers who shoot Bishop with a harpoon, so he can’t absorb it.  They fight off the scavengers, and an alien named Karel, who speaks perfect English, offers to give them transportations.

Karel explains that the scavengers are called the Ursaa.  He also tells them that he is a freedom fighter whose world was invaded by the Chnitt, the same aliens who shot down Bishop’s ship.  The group discovers that Karel’s camp was attacked by Chnitt while he was rescuing Bishop and Deathbird, so he takes them to his friend Tu.  Karel tells Bishop that he has come to this planet to retrieve a weapon that will raze the Chnitt from his home.  The planet they are on is a trader’s planet, so Karel plans to use a warp gate to return home.  Bishop thinks he might have a chance to get back to Earth.  Deathbird internally chides him, saying that she loves him and will force him back to the Shi’ar.

Back in Alaska, the original X-Men are helping Scott and Jean pack their belongings; they are leaving Alaska because people around them know they’re mutants.  Scott tells Jean that the buyers for their house have backed out, so they don’t know what they’re going to do.  Some kids throw a brick through the window and scare everyone.  Scott tells them to let it go.  Suddenly Jean senses the psychic event from the Psi-War story (in X-Men #77-78), and is knocked into a catatonic state. 

Back on the trader planet, Deathbird is attacked by a Chnitt, which looks like a giant spider.  After killing it, Bishop realizes that Tu has sold them out, and probably died for his troubles. After acquiring a transport, the group is almost eaten by a giant monster.  Right before they reach the warp gate, the group discovers a giant ball that has been tracking them.  The ball is attacking the city, knowing that Karel has the secret weapon, nullifier charges, which eat metal.  Bishop decides he cannot allow the alien citizens to suffer on their account.  He takes one of the charges and tells Karel and Deathbird to go through the gate without him.  Bishop climbs a roof, throws a charge, and destroys the ship.

After destroying the giant ball, Bishop runs to the warp gate just in time to see it collapse for no reason.  Bishop laments his loneliness, until he discovers that Deathbird has remained on the planet to be with him. 

How It Was:  Bishop and Deathbird’s wacky space odyssey continues as they make their way to a completely generic sci-fi planet.  I don’t even think it has a name; it’s just called the trader planet.  It’s obvious that Marvel is testing the waters to see if Bishop might be able to sustain his own book—years later he would go on to receive it. 

While the designs for the Chnitt are really great, everything else is just so forgettable.  The reader knows right from the beginning that he’ll never see the bland Karel ever again, or his plot-convenient grenades.  Even the mothership at the climax of the story is just a giant ball that fires lasers. Some of the action set pieces do look pretty cool even if they don’t really drive the plot.

So why did I enjoy this issue so much more than I thought I would?  The answer lies in the Bishop/Deathbird dynamic.  It’s really not what super hero readers are used to.   Deathbird is so attracted to Bishop that she fails to pick up on how their worldviews are so different, and Bishop is so repulsed by the idea of being with a villain that he can’t see how attracted he is to her.  I like how Seagle forces Bishop to be the level-headed one of the group, while Deathbird is the wildly impulsive brawler.  Their interactions and the ways they play off each other are great.  It’s just great to see how even they can’t tell whether their feelings for one and other are genuine affection or familiar comfort. 

It’s also nice to see Seagle trying to address the problems writers have been having with Bishop since the Onslaught event.  With his purpose for existing nullified, nobody has known what to do with Bishop.  Seagle tries to play up how out of place he is, and how weird it must be to interact with people who are supposed to be dead.  It’s a bit of a stretch to say that Bishop hasn’t made friends with anyone from the team, but this might just be Bishop’s way of softening the blow of losing his teammates.  Playing up the fact that Bishop is always out of place is as good a way to go as any. 

The Scott and Jean scenes are rather abrupt; Scott’s injuries seem to have disappeared, and I can’t tell if the couple is supposed to be going back to the X-Men or leaving just to escape the townspeople.  I do appreciate that the Psi-War is tying into the greater Marvel Universe; it’s just a shame that there is only really one more issue where Jean deals with these events.  I don’t remember liking this as much when I first read it, but now I feel I can better appreciate just what Seagle was trying to do.

B

X-Men #78

X-Men #78
Writing: Joe Kelly

Art: German Garcia

What Went Down: In New York, people are going insane as the massive psionic event takes place.  Shadow King now has the power to manipulate any mind he wants, and is doing so to create chaos and destruction.  Shadow King explains to the dying Psylocke that he was defeated way back Uncanny #280, but the rise of Onslaught gave him the chance to rise again without Xavier’s noticing.  After tricking Storm into bringing Psylocke, and tricking Psylocke into giving him power, he is prepared to rule the world.  Psylocke’s astral form shatters as Shadow King disappears. 

In another dreamscape, Marrow’s bones return, causing her immense pain.  Shadow King appears in his normal form, offering the three new recruits their hearts’ desires.  Cecilia can be a doctor, Maggott can be a hero who can control his powers, and Marrow can be normal. As this is going on, Psylocke reappears in her shadowy Crimson Dawn form; not even she understands how she survived.  After finding Ainet, Betsy wraps her in the same shadows; apparently these shadows can hide them from the Shadow King. 

As Shadow King messes with the minds of the United Nations, Psylocke and Ainet rescue Storm from her nightmare.  This involves Ainet bolstering Storm’s confidence so she doesn’t blame herself for what’s happened.  Psylocke has also come up with a plan to stop Shadow King.

Later, Psylocke appears to Shadow King.  Shadow King is amused that Betsy is still alive, and offers to make her his queen.  With the villain distracted, Storm and Ainet rescue the new X-Men from the influence they were under.  Marrow wanders off, and saves Cannonball by killing a violent illusion of his father. 

Psylocke sends the other X-Men away as Shadow King reaches out to every mind in the world.  While Shadow King overextends himself, Psylocke is able to attack his “nexus point,” an area that all telepaths must guard because it defines psionic essence.  Psylocke is able to contain the Shadow King, but he warns that if she ever uses her telepathy again, she will release him from this prison. 

Back in the village, the X-Men work to help the dehydrated villagers.  Cannonball thanks Marrow for saving him, and internally she reflects happiness that Sam likes her.  Psylocke explains to Storm that she has lost the use of her telepathy, and Storm reassures her that she will always be part of the X-Men. 

How it Was:  This is a little disappointing after last issue’s set up.  Yes I know I had problems with the set up of the conflict, but the conflict itself is pretty solid—Shadow King has control everyone’s mind and nobody can stop him.  It even works pretty well as an X-Men story since telepathy has pretty much been relegated to the X-Universe.  However problems abound in the fact that the X-Men are supposed to be fighting the Shadow King, and Kelly hasn’t found any creative ways for the team to combat a disembodied psychic entity.  None of the X-Men have anything to do, aside from Psylocke.  Theoretically Storm should have something to do with this story because it’s dealing with her back story, her home, and her main villain, but no; Psylocke does everything, and it’s pretty unsatisfying.

Kelly does get to have some fun here, mostly in the scenes with the villain driving ordinary citizens insane.  These scenes are pretty absurd; it’s more goofy than unsettling, but it adequately sets up the stakes.  It’s also nice to see the recruits coming together a little; I like how Cecilia comes to Marrow’s defense, even though they still “hate” each other.  And I like how Marrow comes to Cannonball’s aid, even if the specifics of how she does it are a little off.  Seeing these bonds just starting to form makes it all the more sad that the direction of the books is going to shift after another issue. 

As for Psylocke herself, well…this is probably the best Psylocke issue I’ve read on this blog, but that really isn’t saying a lot.  The shadowy effect for her does look really cool against the astral plane background, but once again we’re going back to the well of the mysterious Crimson Dawn fixing everything, so I can’t say I’m really interested.  As for her big sacrifice at the end, I can’t say I really care.  Psylocke’s never been a favorite character, and it’s clear she’s only here because the plot needs a teleporter and a telepath.  And while her guilt for causing this big event is nice to see, the end just doesn’t feel very emotional or satisfying.  Maybe it would’ve been more effective if Betsy had been in more than four issues since the Legion Quest story.

It’s too bad this story was so anticlimactic because the art is great, and in theory a lot of the characters should have some interesting reactions to being in Africa.  Instead we get an okay Psylocke story that ends with her finding the Shadow King’s magic defeat button at the end.  This has a lot of holes in it, but at least it doesn’t overstay its welcome like most events today.

C+

X-Men #77

X-Men #77
Writing: Joe Kelly

Art: German Garcia

What Went Down:  We open on a quick flashforward of Storm buried alive with the corpses of her teammates.  That’s a solid attention grabber.  The book then flashes back to Storm explaining the set up to the story.  A village elder named Ainet helped Storm in her past escape her life of thievery and develop her powers to help people.  She’s also a village priestess with magic powers, hence the talking sand statue from last issue.  Storm insists that this is her problem, but the other X-Men decide they want to help her.

Psylocke shows up randomly, along with her recently acquired plot convenient teleportation powers; Marrow also gets pulled along by Wolverine.  Psylocke allows the X-Men to travel to Africa.  When they come out the other side of the portal, Psylocke and Wolverine have been separated from the others, and they are being attacked by tribesman made out of sand with web patterns on their bodies.  Wolverine vanishes in the middle of the fight.

The rest of the X-Men discover Storm’s village.  Cannonball gets sucked in the ground, while the rest find that the villagers are all in catatonic trances.  Ainet appears, but she is under the influence of Anansi, the spider/trickster god. 

Meanwhile, Cannonball has found himself in a mine from his childhood in Kentucky.  Sam also finds the zombified corpse of his father waiting to kill him.  Back in the real world, Storm and the new recruits face Anansi.  Anansi knocks Maggott, Cecilia, and marrow into comas, causing Storm to attack him.  In another dream world, the group is shocked to find Marrow without any bones coming out of her.  Anansi appears to offer them their desires; he also shows that Wolverine has been devolved into a dog.

Psylocke catches up with Storm and attacks Anansi.  She tells Storm that Anansi is a high level telepath, and he is using his powers to control Ainet, and in turn the sand that she controls.  Anansi taunts Psylocke for her nature as second stringer and a haunted, broken character.  Betsy takes Storm to the astral plane to do battle with Anansi.  As Psylocke and Anansi battle, Ainet warns Storm that Anansi is not what he seems.  Storm starts to realize the plan and warn Psylocke, but Anansi banishes Storm as well.  Taunting Psylocke for her continual failures, Psylocke loses it and lashes out. 

At the last moment, Anansi disappears and is replaced by a cage.  For some reason, this act sets off a huge psychic backlash that destroys Psylocke’s astral form.  We are also told through exposition that the feedback of this chain reaction is unlike any other ever experienced, and it affects telepaths and intuitives all across the world.  The final page reveals that Anansi is actually the Shadow King, and this has all been part of his master plan. 

How It Was:  This is part one of an “event” called Psi-War that is meant to shake the foundations of the X-Men.  Right away I like it a heck of a lot more than most modern events because it’s only two issues long.  So it doesn’t drag out and it goes at a pretty decent pace.  Plus it’s got a relatively small cast, so it doesn’t feel too crowded.

That said, the mechanics of this story are a little wonky.  I think it’s pretty ambitious to create an event that effectively dampens telepaths.  After all when you think about it, telepaths are super powerful and can pretty much take out any hero or villain by thinking at them.  The problem comes in that I can’t really tell you how Shadow King brings about this psychic event that leaves him the uncontested ruler of the astral plane; it just sort of happens.  There is some vague explaining about Shadow King arranging synapses to focus and amplify power, but really the plot doesn’t make sense.  Shadow King gets Psylocke to stab something, and all psychics lose their powers while Shadow King can now control everyone’s mind.

Even more strange, Psylocke shows up for this story out of nowhere, and unlike Archangel, nobody is accusing her of ignoring the team and abandoning her responsibilities.  She just shows up like nothing is wrong and uses her plot-convenient powers to forward the story.  What’s really strange is that Shadow King’s plan has focused on Storm for the last couple of issues as the package has traveled to the mansion.  All of a sudden the plot shifts to focus on Psylocke, which couldn’t have been the initial plan since Psylocke isn’t even around that much.  This story has been promoted as a Storm story, but it’s really a Psylocke story that comes out of nowhere.  It just doesn’t seem like the plan makes a lot of sense.

All right, let’s push the plot nitpicking aside.  This book has some great visuals; the design for Anansi is superb, as is the scene with Storm buried alive.  And while it’s clear that nobody but Storm and Psylocke has a purpose in this story, there are one or two nice moments for the other characters, like Marrow’s reaction to life without her bones. 

This is a great idea for how to use continuity; having stories affect the Marvel Universe as a whole, without reader understanding being dependent on knowledge of the set up stories.  And while I like a lot of the visuals here, you can’t escape the fact that this is a Storm story that Psylocke has been shoe horned into, with absolutely no purpose for the rest of the X-Men.  It’s nice to see more classic villains wheeled out, but it’s just really odd to see so much emphasis on Psylocke after she’s been gone or in the background for so long.  

B-