X-Men #72

X-Men #72
Writing: Joe Kelly

Art: Carlos Pacheco

What Went Down:  In the attic of the mansion, Storm is shown pruning a plant while Marrow discusses the finer points of darkness and control.  Wolverine explains to her that he wants to help her, but he won’t take any of her crap.  The two decide to battle it out. 

In Jerusalem, Israeli ambassador, and former Xavier love interest, Gabrielle Haller is composing a letter to Senator Kelly to convince him to have Charles released.  Side note: she was also the mother of Xavier’s son Legion.  She is about to go to bed when she is visited by Israeli super mutant Sabra, who is on a quest to find Magneto. 

Back at the mansion, Cannonball debates going down into the basement to try to befriend Marrow.  Storm tells him not to, claiming Marrow is a terrorist and attempted murderer, and she is undeserving of his compassion.  Cannonball gets angry and leaves. On the roof, Beast and Joseph are plugging the hole Cannonball made from issue #70, but Cannonball bursts through again.  Below, Cecilia Reyes is feeling sorry for herself after losing her job in Uncanny #351.  Maggott joins her and tries to make her feel better, but fails. 

In the basement, Wolverine holds the upper hand in the fight.  Marrow explains that her people were made to suffer for being different, but Wolverine explains about the Morlocks’ strength and dignity.  Back in Jerusalem, Sabra explains to Gabrielle Haller that she is looking for Georg Odekirk, a forger who was responsible for creating the identity of Erik Lensherr.  She is trying to discover Magneto’s true identity because…well we never really find out.

Back at the mansion grounds, Joseph observes Maggott and Cecilia.  He thinks back to their first meeting and remembers that Maggott recognized him as Magneto.  In the sky, Cannonball realizes that he has to stand up to Storm for what he thinks is right. 

In Romania, Georg Odekirk is visited by the real Magneto, who chastises him for betraying Magneto through his poor work.  Back at the brawl, Marrow discovers she can control the growth of her bones and makes her fingers grow into claws.  Wolverine takes her down and offers to help her become a hero.  She grasps his hand to get up, but then stabs him in the throat with a bone shard.

In Romania, Magneto kills Odekirk to preserve his secrets.  Sabra and Haller break in the door, but they are too late.  Magneto is gone and the forger is dead.  Meanwhile, Wolverine has gone into a berserker rage and is about to kill Marrow when Cannonball flies in and knocks him out.  Marrow runs away, and Sam chastises Storm for arranging this confrontation between Wolverine and a child.  Cannonball ignores Storm’s protests.  Marrow runs back to the sewers to visit the recuperating Calisto (see Uncanny #346).  Marrow lies about her experiences at the school.

We end on a scene featuring two cops discovering the murdered bum from last issue.  From their description, it looks like an animal tore him apart, and the trail stretches to the grounds of the Xavier Institute.

How It Was:  Ahhh, Joe Kelly’s characterization.  It’s just magical.  The battle between Marrow and Wolverine, both physically and verbally, is just magnificent.  We have Wolverine as the guy who’s seen everything telling Marrow how it is because he’s lived it, and we have Marrow who’s so damaged from being denied basic human rights all her life and so full of anger.  It’s great how Marrow points out the hypocrisy of Wolverine and Storm, and yet it never feels out of character for the heroes since Marrow presents herself as such a wild and unstable individual.  And the end where Kelly reverses your expectations and has Marrow stab Wolverine in the neck is just great.  There is some great humor and drama as this whole scene plays out. 

Cannonball’s scenes aren’t quite as interesting, mostly because he’s whining through most of them, but I like that Kelly is subtlely shifting his function on the team.  When he first joined he was cast as a nervous novice out of his depths, which was completely wrong.  Now he’s being put at odds with Storm, a clashing of the generations, and that’s a lot more satisfying.   The scene where Cannonball calls Storm out on her crap at the end is one of the best scenes he’s had since joining the team, even if the journey to that point is kind of slow and boring.

Like last issue, while the interactions with the characters are solid, the stuff with the villains is just not as enticing.  Again, it’s due mostly to the fact that this thread gets dropped and never seen again.  Instead of Shaw’s weird golden idol, now we’re setting up a Magneto story that goes nowhere.  This is a really odd one though.  There is no real reason for Sabra to be working with Gabrielle Haller, and while it’s an interesting choice to reveal the Erik Lensherr identity as a hoax, there is no reason given for why Sabra wants to find Magneto’s identity so badly.  After #73, this all goes away, so it’s not too important.  As for the other Magneto, it feels pretty off that Joseph would wait to gain life-altering news because he’s afraid of bothering Maggott.  Also, the fact that Magneto’s real name isn’t Erik is forgotten for a while, but then oddly brought back by Greg Pak in the awesome Magneto Testament.

Carlos Pacheco draws a pretty awesome fight, and unlike comics today, he had to work within the Comics Code, so he couldn’t  just float by on gratuitous violence.  The expressions really make the fight; Wolverine remains calm until the end while Marrow’s variety of expression tell the story of her own personal battle as she fights Wolverine.  Even with the dead end Magneto plotline, this is still really great reading.

A

Uncanny X-Men #351

Uncanny X-Men #351
Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: John Cassady, Terry Dodson, and a whole bunch more

What Went Down:  On a plane to Alaska, Jean Grey is telepathically searching for the Professor, but her abilities are hampered by something or someone on the plane.  The plane lurches as a small aircraft attaches to it.  Cyclops and Jean discuss her troubles until they are interrupted by Staci, their new Alaskan neighbor.  As the couples talk, another passenger panics and has to be restrained. 

At the institute, Archangel flies over to assist the team with the cleanup from X-Men #70 and say goodbye to Scott and Jean, unaware that they’ve already left.  Wolverine complains that it’s been three days since they asked for help, and Warren should’ve been there to help from the start.  Warren tries to explain that he’s been busy with his business and his relationship; Maggott and Logan mock him.  Joseph even complains that Betsy should’ve teleported him to a hospital.  Archangel leaves angry; he’s observed by Marrow, who is infatuated by him. 

Back in the air, the plane is invaded by soldiers of AIM.  Since they are an organization dedicated to science, all the agents are named after famous scientists.  The soldiers capture a Dr. Sibelius and ask him about the entity.  Dr. Sibelius tells them that they have no idea what they’re dealing with, so the AIM members shoot him with a taser.  Jean is away from her seat, so she decides to look for the Entity. 

Suddenly, all of the passengers and soldiers are overwhelmed by memories of sad moments in their lives.  The soldiers tase the unruly passenger; Cyclops goes to stop them, but decides his eyebeams would be too much strain on his injuries.  Back in Westchester, Cannonball receives a letter from Tabitha “Boom Boom” Smith inviting him to go to Colossal Man, a Burning Man analogue for the Marvel Universe, with the rest of his old teammates in X-Force.  Sam flies off, and the editor plugs his adventures in X-Force #75.

In the storage compartments on the plane Jean discovers the entity: a fiery ghost presence that has been imprisoned.  The Entity can control emotions, and Jean is afraid to use her powers around it.  Instead, Jean hides as AIM brings the scientist below, but Dr. Sibelius explains that Entity’s container is rigged to explode if it is opened at this high of an altitude.  The soldiers are assaulted by another wave of negative emotions.

Outside the plane, the AIM hovercraft detaches to let the plane land, but ends up crashing into the plane’s wing.  Cyclops tackles one of the guards, and a pilot hits another with a fire extinguisher, saving the passengers.  Jean takes out another guard and convinces Entity to project calm emotions into everyone on the plane so they won’t panic.  After the plane lands, Jean talks to the government officials on behalf of Entity, saying that she should be freed.  The soldiers are from Department H, basically the Canadian equivalent of Weapon X.  Jean and Scott finish the issue talking to their new neighbors about how crazy an adventure they just had.

How It Was:  After the heartfelt goodbye of X-Men #71, it’s surprising and a little disappointing to see Cyclops and Jean Grey again so soon afterwards.  Yes, this story was teased last issue, but with Cyclops on the mend, how good of an adventure could the two really get into?  The answer is not a great one, especially since it is dependent on an extraordinary amount of coincidences.  The plane that they’re on contains their future neighbors, an imprisoned disembodied spirit that controls emotions, has two super heroes on it, and is the target of an AIM robbery.  Again Seagle is going for a seemingly normal everyday experience interrupted by the fact that the protagonists live in the Marvel Universe, but this one feels really forced.

The Entity itself is a curious character because the descriptions of it as a firebird always led me to believe that it was the Phoenix Force, or somehow related to it.  This would explain some of the events that take place in the next few issues.  But then the climax is Entity making everyone feel good about themselves, and then disappearing to never be seen again.  Pretty lame.  The rest of the action isn’t great either: we get Scott and Jean punching out a couple of guards and Cyclops complaining about his injury for like ten pages straight.

The Archangel thread is also a surprising choice.  I do like that Seagle acknowledges Warren and Betsy’s exclusion from the events of X-Men #70, but this scene seems like a lot of overreaction, and not a lot comes of it.  Psylocke was teleporting everyone home after an adventure, so why does it matter to everybody where they ended up?  And Archangel sounds like such a twat when he complains how hard his life is compared to the X-Men.  He’s a freaking billionaire!  It’s not a particularly interesting direction to take Archangel, and it’s an even worse choice to introduce Marrow’s infatuation with him when he’s complaining about how hard it is to maintain an apartment, a business, and a relationship.  Yes, I know the writers are setting up this religious experience to further Marrow’s character transformation, but hearing Warren whine like he does would go against everything Marrow believes about survival and superficial trappings making you weak.

And now for the huge issue with this issue.  The cover boasts more artists than any other single issue, and they’re probably right.  There are six pencillers and six inkers.  Which leads to the obvious question: how does it look?  And then the answer which is: pretty terrible.  The art is horribly inconsistent, with drastically different art styles being swapped in the middle of scenes.  It’s incredibly jarring.  For example, the beginning of Archangel’s argument is drawn in a dark, thickly inked and sketchy style with a drab, dull color palate.  Then you turn the page and it switches to bright colors and typical Marvel house style with virtually no inks.  Cyclops goes from the thickest five-o-clock shadow you’ve ever seen to completely shaved a few pages later.  It’s clear that the X-offices were still scrambling to replace Joe Madureira as a regular pencil, but there’s no excuse for this.  If you’re trying to sell comics as a legitimate entertainment form next to movies and TV, more effort has to go into the product to make it look good.  So we end up with a mediocre story with a lot of art snags. 

D+