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