X-Men #75

X-Men #75
Writing: Joe Kelly

Art: German Garcia

What Went Down:  Wolverine wakes up asking about Maggott.  Storm and Cannonball tell him that he’s been unconscious due to his severe injuries and needs rest; Wolverine ignores them and tells them to find Maggott and save him.  In an alley, Maggott yells at his slugs, thinking them responsible for the Salem Center murders.  He kicks them, but this causes him pain.  At the institute, Cecilia explains to Beast that the slugs couldn’t be the killers because the wounds on Wolverine are consistent with a post-mortem autopsy. 

We get a quick glimpse of a Russian person strapped to a table about to be cut up, followed by the X-Men searching for Maggott.  Cannonball brushes off Storm due to their conflict over Marrow, and Rogue explains that she and Marrow aren’t that different.  Wolverine returns to the N’garai cairn and finds it active; he is also weakened from his injuries.  Beast shows up with Cecilia, who is wearing one of the Wasp’s old costumes that Beast picked out for her after his adventures with the Avengers in Avengers #1-4 (Continuity, Yea!).  The group notices figures coming out of the cairn.

Maggott is about to turn himself over to some police officers, but Rogue stops him just in time.  Storm tries to convince Maggott it’s not hopeless, but his slugs run away, so he jumps off the roof after them.  Instead of landing on the ground, everyone goes through a portal to find a room of dead bodies.

Cecilia panics seeing the alien monsters.  Beast and Logan let her go, but quickly realize that the attackers can negate their powers with sorcery.  Cecilia is about to be eaten by an alien dog, but Marrow saves her and kills the one Beast is fighting.  More monsters show up with Wolverine’s bloody mask, making them think he is dead. 

Maggott materializes in front of some of the monsters.  He hopes they’ll kill him, but Wolverine shows up in tribal garb to save him.  Beast and Marrow are forced to observe the alien trying to pierce Cecilia’s forcefield.  When she calls him a N’garai, it gets angry and insists that it is called Pilgrimm.  Elsewhere Wolverine explains that time works differently in the N’garai world, and he’s been there for a lot longer than it would appear. 

The Pilgrimm explains to Cecilia that his people, the Ru’Tai, were the slave caste in the N’garai hierarchy, but Mai’keth the Undying One freed them and allowed them to ascend.  All of the X-Men converge, and a fight ensues.  Pilgrimm recognizes Wolverine as Mai’keth, the liberator of his people, and Wolverine realizes that his actions are responsible for giving Pilgrimm his power and killing all the people.  The whole team works together to destroy the Eye of Kierok—the source of Pilgrimm’s power, and Cecilia winds up being the one to save the day by sitting on it.  The X-Men save the remaining prisoners as the base crumbles; they exit the portal and wind up in Las Vegas.  Meanwhile, the alien N’garai have surrendered to the police, and Pilgrimm has escaped in the guise of the Russian he was torturing earlier. 

How It Was:  Remember when every 25 issues you were treated to a double-sized anniversary issue.  No…well that’s probably because nowadays comic books renumber every other year.  But in the eighties and nineties this was a standard tradition, or maybe it was a standard gimmick. So soon after the double-sized X-Men #70, this could’ve come off as excessive.  However this issue does feel like a defining moment in the overall adventures of the X-Men by presenting a story that allows the three new members to all step up and take their place on the team.  This is a classic X-Men saving the world tale, which seem to occur less and less as time goes on.

First off, the humor is great in this issue.  Whether it’s Wolverine’s take on the classic “time to make the donuts” line, Marrow’s handling of the alien monsters, or the Beast’s attempts to provide Cecilia with a super hero uniform, this issue is just full of smiles.  Which isn’t to say that it’s all laughs; Kelly mixes the jokes with very human moments for the characters.  Beast’s moment where he thinks he solved the Legacy Virus is a great, out of nowhere touch that shows the true insecurities behind his jolly demeanor.  Some of it is a little over the top—I can’t see Wolverine feeling so guilty about being responsible for deaths that he freezes up instead of flipping out, and Maggott’s desperation seems over done at times.  But it’s nice to see something beyond the goofy Maggott we all know (and some of us love); here he is fragile and vulnerable which goes a long way in making him sympathetic. 

Plus I really enjoy Kelly’s nods to continuity.  The macguffin is the Eye of Kierokk, which ties to the N’garai’s first appearance.  Rogue’s discussion with Storm over Marrow is also really well handled.  This is a double-sized issue that manages to handle a lot of things, and balances it all mostly well.

There are some pacing issues.  The second third of the issue gets bogged down in mythos and exposition.  A lot of it is confusing—there’s a lot about the differences between the N’garai and this new type of N’garai that is essentially the same thing.  And it’s never really revealed why Pilgrimm can control Maggott’s slugs or what they were doing at the crime scene.  Mostly minor issues.

Garcia’s art is pretty fantastic, and it’s understandable that Pacheco wouldn’t want to do a second double-sized issue so soon after the last one.  His designs for the N’garai are pretty awesome, and I just love Marrow’s reactions in this one.  Reading this, I was struck by how superior it was to many team books today.  While it seems like common sense to build up new characters with stories like this, to show growth and stakes of some kind, I can’t help but notice the trend today of introducing members to teams and then completely ignoring them for months, or even years, as they fade to the background.  Kelly and Seagle both should be commended for writing these characters and trying to invest readers in them by creating significant moments for them.

A

X-Men #74

X-Men #74
Writing: Joe Kelly

Art: Carlos Pacheco

What Went Down:  Marrow is in the Morlock tunnels with a suffering Calisto, praying for Calisto to be saved.  We see that she is praying to a handmade doll of Archangel, calling him the one who was reborn. Coincidentally, Archangel is flying high over New York, enjoying the feeling of flying with his organic wings.  He has decided that he must confront his personal demons, which involves revisiting the Morlock tunnels…the place where he first lost his natural wings.

At Harry’s Hideaway, Wolverine is talking to the proprietor and reading the paper about the mysterious murders and mutilations in the city.  At the mansion, Beast and Cecilia are testing Maggott’s powers while he hams it up.  Maggott throws a snowball at Cecilia, causing Beast to laugh, so Cecilia tackles Beast.  Maggott notices that Eany and Meany, his slugs, have disappeared. 

Down in the sewers, Marrow goes off for fresh water while Archangel relives his memories of the Morlock Massacre.  He crashes in the sewer, and he is confronted by the Abomination.  Marrow observes this from far away.

Wolverine examines a crime scene, using fake credentials to gain access.  Below, Archangel knows he is outmatched by Abomination, so he tries to get away.  Marrow realizes he is going the wrong way, and runs off to help him.  In her weakened state, someone approaches Calisto with a needle.  Calisto hallucinates that it is Colossus, who she used to share a relationship with; the stranger notes it is strange that she sees Colossus, but plays along.

Marrow confronts Abomination to try to buy Archangel time to escape.  Warren feels ashamed that a young girl is coming to his rescue, so he makes a stand to save Marrow.  Back at Xavier’s, Maggott finds his slugs, but finds evidence that they may’ve murdered someone.

Abomination tries to disillusion Marrow by showing Warren how ugly she is.  Abomination lashes out and tries to explain that they will never be appreciated by the surface world.  Marrow digs out some knives and throws them at Abomination’s eyes. 

Wolverine is running back to the mansion after smelling Maggott’s slugs at the crime scene.  Suddenly, he is attacked from behind.  Abomination pulls out the knives and debates with Archangel whether Marrow can ever be accepted on the surface.  Abomination walks off, warning Marrow that she’ll be back.  Marrow reveals her real name of Sarah to Warren, and Warren says he’ll put in a good word for her to the X-Men.  Archangel notices that her knives are old flechettes from when he had metal wings, but Marrow disappears before he can question her.  Maggott finds Wolverine in the snow covered in blood and thinks that his slugs are responsible.

How It Was:  This is a bit of a random one, with a ton of coincidences driving it, but it’s actually a fun little shot of Warren and Sarah’s personalities.  This is one of the better stories to feature Archangel; he hasn’t had much to do in any X-Men stories in a while.  Kelly wisely ejects the horrible idea that Warren thinks his life is super difficult, instead choosing to focus on his more traumatic and sympathetic experiences.  Whether intentional or not, this serves as an excellent revisit of the previous Morlock story with Archangel, where he froze up and cried for the whole story.  Kelly sets this up as something that Warren has to do in response to all of the changes that have occurred in his life; he hasn’t really had to time to process anything, and he has to show himself that he can take charge of his own destiny.

As for Marrow, this is a strange turn to have her crush on/worship Archangel, but Kelly wisely focuses mostly on the power of the imagery.  The idea that as a child Marrow wanted something to believe in is a solid direction that isn’t really exploited enough here; Marrow comes off as a little out-of-character after having rejected so much from the material world.  It’s a shame that the story chooses to ignore Marrow’s past life as a terrorist because I think that might make for a more interesting conflict.  Still, it’s nice to see that the writers are actually doing something with her and not letting her fade to the background.

As for the plot, it’s quite odd that Marrow wouldn’t seek help from the X-Men if Calisto was actually dying.  Also, I’m unfamiliar with the Abomination having anything to do with the Morlocks before this, so his appearance seems out of the ordinary.  Kelly has clearly set up the themes of darkness and redemption, but in dealing with both characters’ histories, it’s strange that they’d confront an antagonist that has so little to do with both of them.  Plus his motivations are a little off.  First he wants to kill both of them, and then it becomes a debate over whether Marrow can be accepted on the surface. Yes the angel and devil parallels are not lost on me, yet it feels a little over done.  I think this might’ve worked better if Marrow had just attacked Archangel for trespassing, with the two eventually coming to an understanding over their dark histories and mutual respect.  The stuff with Marrow’s hero worship and the Abomination doesn’t quite fit.

As for the subplot with Calisto, this gets forgotten after X-Men #79, so don’t get your hopes up.  It was supposed to lead into a story about the Dark Beast and his connections to the Morlocks, which might’ve been interesting, but we’ll never know.

The art is pretty fantastic; Pacheco brings his A game and does a great job contrasting the bright snow-filled sky with the dark, oppressive sewers.  In a story where so much of it is dependent on atmosphere, Pacheco sells us on the quiet desperation of Marrow taking care of Calisto, or the internal struggle between Archangel and his memories. The only flaw, although it’s a pretty big one, is the final page.  It’s supposed to be a big reveal that Maggott’s slugs have potentially mutilated Wolverine, but due to the Comics Code, we only get Wolverine with a scar on his chest screaming.  It doesn’t really convey the horror that Maggott is feeling; it looks more like Maggott walked in on him in his underwear.

This is probably the best Archangel story of the nineties, which isn’t saying a lot, but still it’s pretty good.  I question the structure of the story, but I really like where it takes the characters, and I like the overwhelming odds, even though the threat just sort of peters out and walks away.  It’s still worth a look.

 B-