Saturday, May 17, 2014
300 Posts!
I know I've been struggling to get material on this blog, but it, like me, is still a work in progress. I apologize that my professional and personal lives haven't left a lot of time and energy for this blog, but I do appreciate those who still visit, and I am still trying to get a more regular writing schedule down. Until then, I hope you enjoy what I do post, and thank you for visiting.
X-Factor #126
X-Factor #126
Writing: Howard
Mackie
Art: Stefano Raffaele
What Went Down: Forge starts of this issue repaying Mystique
and Sabretooth for saving him by painfully reactivating their inhibitors with
technology around him. They regroup with
the rest of X-Factor to find that Havok and Random have been captured. Polaris and Shard are left to guard the
prisoners while the rest break up to look for Beast.
Mystique and Wild Child trade banter while overcoming
some traps within the building, while Creed fights off some metal tendrils with
Forge. Forge deactivates them, and they
continue on while Forge contemplates the series of strange orders Washington
has been giving him, the most recent of which has been to work with
Sabretooth. Creed discovers the Beast
hooked to manacles that shock him with every step taken on the floor. Above, Fatale ambushes the two agents, but
she is ambushed by Wild Child and knocked out.
Outside, Polaris lectures Random for lying to her. Random explains that Dark Beast was helping
him control his powers and keeping him from becoming just a pile of goo. In fact Dark Beast created the Random
identity. He also admits Dark Beast has
been messing with Havok’s head.
Once freed, Beast is eager to rejoin the X-Men to fight
Onslaught. Sabretooth notices that this
Beast is actually Dark Beast. Forge
threatens to put Creed down, even though he acknowledges that Creed’s collar
should be stopping him, and Wild Child confirms that it’s the Dark Beast. Meanwhile Alex tricks Lorna into setting him
free. Random breaks out of his
restraints in an attempt to save her from Havok. Havok blasts Random, turning him to a puddle
that oozes into the sewer. Shard leaves
Polaris to guard Havok while she goes after Random. This gives Havok the perfect opportunity to
knock out Polaris and admit his treachery.
Back inside, Forge is still pointing a gun, convinced
Sabretooth is attacking the real Beast.
Creed knocks down a wall, revealing the real Beast restrained in a
different room. Dark Beast still tries
to convince Forge that he is the good one, but the original Hank McCoy attacks
him and knocks him out.
Shard returns to find Polaris unconscious and dying. She gives CPR and tells Forge they need to
get to the hospital. Forge orders Fatale
to teleport them all, and Dark Beast tells them to do it so that they can bid
their time as prisoners, exactly where he wanted to be.
How It Was: I’ve already written about how bizarre it is
that the Beast/Dark Beast plot resolution appeared in, of all places, X-Factor. So let’s forget about the randomness and
ineptitude that lead to that decision and instead focus on the pay off. After months of being held captive and
chained up in a small room—after having dozens…potentially hundreds of people
from his life, as well as innocent bystanders, murdered—Beast finally gets his
payback on the cruel, sadistic version of himself. So he kicks the villain once…and then the
fight and issue are both over.
What??!! It’s one thing to shunt
the focus of the majority of this story to X-Factor, and Sabretooth and
Mystique in particular, but to offer absolutely no satisfaction in the triumph
of our hero who has been put through the ringer the last few months is the
worst. The absolute worst! The only reason X-Men readers were picking up X-Factor
was to see how Beast was rescued, and the abrupt and anticlimactic end robs the
story of any sense of closure or gratification.
In fact Dark McCoy is gleeful to be captured, in regards to another
conspiracy theory with no payoff.
Aside from the lousy Beast thread, nobody else comes out
looking too great in this issue. The
plot decisions just seem antithetical to telling an interesting story. The villains without restraints…that’s pretty
cool, but it gets undone by the first page this issue. Random’s betrayal…apparently he’s been working
with Dark Beast since the beginning, retroactively tainting all his previous
appearances. Oh, and the tough bounty
hunter is actually a teenager, which is a little weird and disappointing.
If not for the Beast letdown, the worst offense would be
the obvious ruse Havok uses on Polaris to get free, making her look all kinds
of awful. All she had to do was be
patient and wait for the authorities to pick up the bad guys, but she frees
Havok because…? Similarly Forge refuses
to believe both Sabretooth and Wild Child about Dark Beast, even though they
have no reason to lie, and Creed’s inhibitor is letting him hurt the
Beast. Everything is just too
predictable…it’s no fun if the audience expects what is going to happen. It’s fun to have the villains pulling the
strings, but not if the heroes are so obviously dumb that there’s no challenge
or sense of tension.
Completists Only
X-Factor #125
X-Factor #125
Writing: Howard
Mackie
Art: Jeff Matsuda
and Stefano Raffaele
These two issues take place prior to X-Men #55
What Went Down: Dark Beast has taken Onslaught to his lab,
and Onslaught is conducting a painful looking probe on McCoy. Fatale tries to free her master, but fails
miserably. Former hero, and Cyclops’
brother, Havok shows up too, and Onslaught says he has plans for him.
Over at the Fall’s Edge base, X-Factor is being attacked
by a training Sentinel that has somehow been reprogrammed. Random suggests calling in the X-Men, but
Forge orders Mystique to go free their “heavy-hitter” Sabretooth. Mystique threatens to kill Sabretooth, but
frees him anyway. Both discuss how they
are biding their time in X-Factor to fulfill their own agendas. Creed mentions that Mystique might have feelings
for Forge. Suddenly Fatale appears and
abducts both of them. She also teleports
the Sentinel away.
Forge seems convinced one rogue Sentinel is more
dangerous than a missing Mystique and Sabretooth, so he sets X-Factor to
finding it. Random tries to warn Polaris
not to go on this mission. Back at their
base, the emergency transmission from Jean Grey warning about Onslaught plays
for the empty room.
X-Factor tracks the Sentinel’s signal to the abandoned
Brand Corporation. Havok and Fatale
attack the team; Polaris is heartbroken that Alex has turned villain, while
Random again tries to warn her away.
While Polaris shields everyone from Havok’s power, Random reveals that
he is a traitor as well.
Inside the Brand facility, Forge discovers an army of
Sentinels. He is attacked by someone off
panel. Outside, Polaris tries to reach
Havok. Fatale and Havok are about to
kill the team, but Random protests about killing them. Dark Beat appears to tell him the bargain has
changed. Forge and Onslaught’s henchman
Post bursts through the wall, interrupting the proceedings and giving Polaris a
chance to take out Havok. Random tries
to help Polaris, but Havok shoots him, revealing that Random is really a
teenager. Polaris again tries to reach
Alex, and it appears to work; however, instead of trusting him, Polaris decides
to knock him out. Post grows bored and
escapes, having succeeded in his mission to distract X-Factor long enough for
the Sentinels to launch.
What Else Went
Down: The second story deals with
what happens to Sabretooth and Mystique after being teleported. After surviving a steep drop, the pair is
confronted by the Dark Beast. McCoy
explains everything about Onslaught and holding his other self hostage. Dark Beast wants them to join Onslaught, and
offers to deactivate their inhibitors and let them kill Forge. Mystique and Sabretooth consider it, but
decide if they weren’t sanctioned operatives, they couldn’t use their positions
for their own purposes.
Sabretooth attacks Dark Beast; McCoy gets the upper hand,
but Mystique uses her shape-shifting abilities to create pointy armor for
herself. Dark Beast almost kills both
her and Forge, but Sabretooth saves them both and continues to fight. Creed is about to kill him, but Forge stops
him because they need information. Dark
Beast activates a teleporter, explaining that the real Beast will be dead
before they can find him.
How It Was: A double-sized Onslaught tie-in issue. How did I get so lucky? After Peter David left X-Factor, the book struggled to find an identity. No longer the quirky, funny book with the
C-list X-Characters, it tried to become the edgy, violent book with C-list
X-characters. Too bad nobody at the
X-offices realized that title was already called X-Force. X-Factor’s attempt to stay interesting and
relevant to fans was to have Mystique and Sabretooth recruited by the team and
forced to work with more traditional mutant heroes.
As for its attempt at ecking out its own identity, Mackie
seems to be going the conspiracy angle with multiple characters having
different conflicting goals and motivations, from the villains to the
government funding X-Factor itself. This
is all well and good considering they are the government based X-team—why not
introduce some X-Files like
government conspiracies and political intrigue.
The problem of course exists that none of these motivations or
conspiracies feel planned ahead; Sabretooth, Mystique, and Dark Beast all
insist that they have specific reasons for the things they are doing, with no
substantial hint as to what they might be.
Forge recognizes there might be strange motivations for including
villains on the team, but again nothing is done with this.
As an Onslaught tie-in, this story offers a unique
opportunity to bring in new readers by showing how great and interesting the
team is. Instead we see a team that
struggles to take down one Sentinel.
One! And it’s a Sentinel that
Forge was rebuilding. Right off the
start the X-Factor team isn’t looking great, especially when over in books like
X-Men and Uncanny, the X-Men, Avengers, and FF are taking out Sentinels left
and right by themselves.
Another problem is how telegraphed the twists are. Random warns Polaris twice that she shouldn’t
go on the mission, and then we’re supposed to be surprised when he says he’s
working for the villain of the issue?
None of this feels laid out or natural to the character as
established. Havok being a bad guy is
interesting, since he is the character that became synonymous with X-Factor after
the original X-Men left. The downside is
that his defection (at this point the story was that he was being brainwashed
by Dark Beast) reduces Polaris to a simpering and whiny character that gets
tiring after a while.
This issue should feel bigger than it does: Post shows up
for like four panels (?!), the Sentinels that attack New York are activated
here, and Sabretooth and Mystique get their inhibitors deactivated. Of course failing to stop the Sentinels makes
the team look incompetent, and the other two things are quickly brushed to the
side. It feels like the plot is trying
to cram in as many Onslaught related concepts in it as possible without
actually contributing to or moving the story along in any meaningful way; of
course, this was the main problem with the majority of Onslaught tie-ins.
Finally, we pick up on the captive Beast subplot that has
appeared in all three X-Men titles.
Why the X-offices would choose to resolve this months’ long story in X-Factor is beyond me. None of the
characters have a close connection with Hank; it just feels like the team had nothing
better to do than resolve this plot line that has nothing to do with them. Just some baffling choices.
Completists Only
Sunday, March 23, 2014
X-Men Unlimited #12
X-Men Unlimited
#12
Writing: John
Francis Moore
Art: Steve Epting
and Ariel Olivetti
This takes place
after Uncanny #335. After go back to Avengers #401
.What Went Down: Dr. Strange’s astral form approaches the X-Mansion, having sensed some great mystical disturbance or something. Strange casts a spell and discovers that Onslaught did not kill the Juggernaut in X-Men #54, but rather he somehow trapped Cain Marko in the Gem of Cytorrak (in case you couldn’t tell from the cover). This is strange because Onslaught’s powers are psionic, not mystical, but we’ll soon learn Onslaught can do anything. While Strange contemplates this, a Chinese symbol appears from a computer screen and is about to attack Strange. Strange is rescued by Gomurr the Ancient One, the little sage from Uncanny #329-330. Apparently the symbol was a spider from Gomurr’s nemesis Tar.
.What Went Down: Dr. Strange’s astral form approaches the X-Mansion, having sensed some great mystical disturbance or something. Strange casts a spell and discovers that Onslaught did not kill the Juggernaut in X-Men #54, but rather he somehow trapped Cain Marko in the Gem of Cytorrak (in case you couldn’t tell from the cover). This is strange because Onslaught’s powers are psionic, not mystical, but we’ll soon learn Onslaught can do anything. While Strange contemplates this, a Chinese symbol appears from a computer screen and is about to attack Strange. Strange is rescued by Gomurr the Ancient One, the little sage from Uncanny #329-330. Apparently the symbol was a spider from Gomurr’s nemesis Tar.
Gomurr explains that having Marko in the gem is somehow
more dangerous, but refuses Strange’s assistance. He goes into the gem to look for
Juggernaut. Meanwhile, Cain is trying to
free himself from the gem, which looks a lot like hell on the inside. Some lava boils up and starts to burn
him. He passes out, but when he wakes
up, he finds himself in a bed paralyzed.
Charles Xavier comes in and explains that Cain has been
hallucinating. When they fought in
Korea, Cain was paralyzed when the Temple of Cytorrak came down, causing him to
open a school for students with physical and psychological issues. His X-Men appear as normal humans with
different handicaps. Gomurr interrupts
the illusion, and the fake Xavier is revealed to be Spite, the sister of
D’Spayre. Gomurr chases her off with
some magic.
After freeing Cain, Gomurr explains that Cain no longer
possesses his strength, but offers to lead him out. The pair comes across a copy of the X-mansion
carved in stone and enter it. Inside
Cain no longer has his armor and is forced to observe memories from his
childhood. They include Cain watching
his dad and stepmom talking about how gifted Charles is as well as Cain’s
attempt to blackmail his father with knowledge that Kurt Marko was responsible
for the death of Charles’ father. This
results in Charles questioning them both, but Cain knocks over some chemicals
and causes an explosion. Kurt Marko dies
saving Charles, and Cain blames him for taking his father.
Gomurr insists that Juggernaut’s path will only lead to
the destruction of everything, followed by his own consumption. Cain contemplates giving up his obsessive
anger towards Charles. However, before
he can follow through, Spite reappears to offer Cain Charles’ death and the
subjugation of all his enemies. Gomurr
warns that his need to destroy will overwhelm him and leave him utterly
alone. Spite restrains Gomurr and
explains that long ago Gomurr and Tar were charged with containing the deity
Cyttorak. In order to defeat the being,
they constructed the crystal, but neither could trust the other with the power,
so they buried it in a temple in Korea.
Juggernaut goes with Spite to get his power back, leaving Gomurr behind
and at the mercy of a mystery character.
Spite takes Cain before Cyttorak. She is repaid by being eaten, and Cyttorak
explains that he is going to try to leave the crystal in Cain’s body. Cain tries to beat Cyttorak, but he doesn’t
have his powers. Gomurr, now freed, and
Tar, the mystery person, team up to help Cain contain Cyttorak. Unable to destroy the power, they give it to
Cain, hoping he will defeat Cyttorak and that the X-Men will be able to contain
him. Cain destroys Cyttorak, destroying
the dimension within the crystal.
Juggernaut reappears in the X-Men’s study, declaring how he’s bigger
than ever. Dr. Strange laments Cain’s
short sightedness.
How It Was: Oh cool, a Dr. Strange story in Unlimited! While a needless cross promotion, this could
still have potential…oh, wait…this isn’t a Dr. Strange story; it’s a Gomurr the
Ancient One story. To be fair, Gomurr is
alright in his own right—he still gets a few funny lines in (like the one about
being no relation to Dr. Strange’s Ancient One), but he’s just not that
interesting to carry the story. We do
learn some of his history, only there just isn’t enough to make him stand
out. When Juggernaut calls him Yoda, he
makes a good point about just how clichéd and derivative Gomurr is.
Still there’s some good material for Juggernaut
here. Most of it has already been
touched on, and like most Unlimited stories
the book feels the need to go into one too many flashback sequences. The idea that the Juggernaut is a curse and
could be lifted if Cain let go of his obsession with Xavier has potential. Plus the design for Cyttorak the god is
pretty impressive. The plot is a weighed
down by an unnecessary appearance from Spite (maybe her last appearance had her
trapped in the crystal?), and a long padded out sequence of events and
flashbacks. The end also only works in
that magical deus ex sort of way; basically Cyttorak takes back Juggernaut’s
powers, so Gomurr and Tar give the powers back and destroy Cyttorak (the deity
appears decades later though).
This may’ve been the first of its kind, but it feels like
a slog that I’ve already read before—Juggernaut dealing with his jealousy,
toying with overcoming it, then deciding not to. It’s hard to root for Cain since he is such
an alpha male bully douchebag. This
isn’t Moore’s fault, he’s writing him in character, it’s just frustrating to
spend so many pages delving into the character, only to have absolutely nothing
change at all. Also, this issue has
nothing to do with Onslaught. If you’re
a really big Juggernaut fan, hunt it down.
Otherwise just assume that he gets let out when Onslaught dies.
Completists Only
Labels:
Cytorrak,
Dr. Strange,
Gomurr,
Juggernaut,
Onslaught,
Spite
X-Men Unlimited #11
X-Men Unlimited
#11
Writing: Scott
Lobdell and Terry Kavagh
Art: Steve Epting
and Mark Millar??
What Went Down: Melody Watkins (Rogue’s landlady from X-Men #52) is at the local Humanity’s
Last Stand headquarters to report Rogue as a potential threat to her son. Unbeknownst to her, Rogue is enjoying her
life as a Hollywood Café waitress, free of the frustrations of superheroing. On her drive home from work, she notices a
construction crew that has been working for four nights and hasn’t gotten a lot
of work done.
Once home, Melody confronts Rogue to confess that she
turned Rogue into Humanity’s Last Stand, saying she was worried about her son
and the Legacy Virus. This leads to an
attack by soldiers in power armor who try to capture Rogue. Rogue beats them all, but she stops when she
sees Bastion holding Melody’s son Stevie as a hostage. Rogue takes a laser blast to save Melody.
At Humanity’s Last Stand’s compound, a shadowy figure
named Mr. Trask tells Bastion that Rogue can’t stay. Bastion explains his plot to Rogue: he is
going to burn down the compound, murder her and all the occupants, then blame
the deaths of all the humans on Rogue.
This will then stir up anti-mutant hysteria.
Before the soldiers can carry out Bastion’s plan, one of
them starts using super powers to defeat the others and free Rogue. Bastion runs off while Joseph introduces
himself to Rogue. He explains that after
the page in X-Men #53, he joined
Humanity’s Last Stand to go undercover and hopefully run into the X-Men. Rogue, thinking this is regular Magneto,
attacks Joseph. Joseph manages to
convince Rogue of his sincerity, and the two team up to save all the compound
dwellers from being murdered by soldiers.
Rogue and Joseph defeat the soldiers, but the civilians train weapons on
them, telling them to leave. Joseph
demonstrates that he could kill the people if he wanted to before lecturing
them on prejudice and flying off.
After flying for a while, Joseph asks Rogue about his
past as Magneto. Rogue tells him she’d
rather wait until they’re around the other X-Men, and Joseph explains how
Sister Maria told him about the X-Men.
Their conversation is interrupted by an attack helicopter with Trask on
board. Joseph uses his powers to catch
two missiles, but instead of killing the humans, he just detonates the missiles
and uses the explosion to cover their retreat.
Rogue and Joseph return to her apartment to get her car. Melody apologizes, and Rogue and Stevie say
goodbye.
How It Was: Some stories like to surprise you with plot
turns and revelations that make a reader stand up and take notice. While there is one pretty big surprise in the
plot, this story still reads like a predictable, by the numbers story; you
pretty much know how it’s going to end five pages in. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing—having
one of the X-Men become fed up with the lifestyle after the previous months of
hardship is a legitimately interesting direction to go. Like most of these Unlimited stories, it’s just unfortunate that Rogue’s taste of
everyday living is all but forgotten as soon as she returns to the
X-books. Lobdell sets up and explores a
simple, if tragic, idea that the X-Man who can’t touch would crave a normal
life more than others by way of the fact that she can never really have
one.
What really works in this story is that Rogue actually
succeeds at her normal life, and it’s prejudice and persecution, i.e. other
people’s issues with her, that destroy what she’s built. Lobdell wisely avoids bringing up Gambit too
much, choosing instead to deal with Rogue’s personality—she is outgoing and
desires to be around people, but she can never get too close. He also tries to make Rogue’s landlady Melody
come off as sympathetic, constantly bringing up her concerns for her son, but
really she just comes off as stupid and unlikable; she’s going to report her
friend to this group, and they’re going to “take care of her” somehow—frankly
I’m glad when her house gets destroyed.
While Humanity’s Last Stand is the same generic bigoted
human group the X-Men always come across (this one situated as a survivalist
militia), I must admit that I do love the designs for their power armor. And the fight with Rogue is well done. The one twist of the story (ruined by the
cover) is that Joseph has actually joined the racist organization that persecutes
mutants. His idea to infiltrate the
group to learn about the X-Men seems farfetched, but if you can ignore the huge
coincidence, it’s an efficient enough means of getting them to meet.
What really feels odd is that once Rogue and Joseph fight
each other, stop the soldiers from killing everyone, and have the civilians
turn on them; it feels like the story is over.
Unfortunately, due to the format of the book, the story has to keep
going, so we see Rogue refuse to tell Joseph anything and an anticlimactic show
down between the Master of Magnetism and a metal helicopter. The end does have a nice moment with Melody’s
son and Rogue, but it feels like it would’ve meant more right after they were
turned away by the humans they helped saved.
This issue works for Rogue fans, and it goes through all the beats
Joseph needed to after his previous appearance to line him up to join the
X-Men.
X-Fans Only
X-Men Unlimited #10
X-Men Unlimited
#10
Writing: Mark Waid
Art: Frank Toscano
and Nick Gnazzo
This takes place
after X-Men #50, but before Uncanny #331
What Went Down: Our
story begins with a flashback to a young Hank McCoy fixing a school bus and
annoying the heck out of Groundskeeper Willy.
The flashback is being retold by the former school principal, who is
retelling the story with pride in the present at a hospital. Unfortunately the principal’s visitor is the
evil Hank McCoy from the Age of Apocalypse, who promptly suffocates the principal
after learning everything he can about the Hank of this world. As Dark Beast leaves the hospital, it is
apparent that he’s killed everyone there, not just the principal, as he
recounts his history up until now.
Meanwhile, the real Beast is using the Danger Room as a
giant microscope to manipulate the molecules of the Legacy Virus for
study. Professor X and the other X-Men
interrupt him to implore that he spend more time outside the lab. In a secret lab, Dark Beast has hacked into
regular Hank’s computer and is keeping track of his work.
Dark Beast meets with another person from Hank’s
life—this time a former girlfriend named Mindy who recounts teenage Hank’s
fixation with the robotics of a haunted tunnel ride. As she tells the story, Mindy becomes ill,
and Dark Beast reveals he infected her and the rest of the restaurant with a
deadly virus.
At the institute, Iceman is helping Beast with yet
another experiment. Bobby has to use his
powers to keep a microscope from overheating, even though this eventually
causes him pain. The computer eventually
overheats and blows up. Afterwards,
Bobby gets Hank to agree to leave the lab, but it’s a trick to get rid of
him.
Dark Beast then visits a priest who retells the origin of
Hank’s fur to the villain. The priest is
repaid by having his church blown up.
After acquiring some files from the Brand Corporation, Dark Beast is
able to turn his fur blue. He heads to
the home of Hank’s parents to learn more about the genuine article. Evil Hank gets more of his origin filled in,
pertaining to the radiation accident that may have given him the x-gene. Both parents notice something wrong with
their son, and just when it seems like Dark Beast might kill them both, he
falters and leaves abruptly. On his way out of town, he kills a random
passerby.
As real Beast works on his computer, Dark Beast hacks his
computer and leads him to the abandoned Brand Corporation. Dark Beast traps regular Beast in a box and
gloats about all the people in Hank’s life that he has killed. Enraged Beast bursts free and a fight
ensues. Just when Beast has the upper
hand, he realizes he is about to kill Dark Beast and lets up, allowing Dark
Beast to knock him out. When Hank wakes
up, he is being bricked into a dungeon.
Beast begs him to let him go and help him cure the Legacy Virus, but the
villain seals him in.
How It Was: Well when you have a dark version of a
character hanging around a super hero universe, it is inevitable that he will
end up facing his better self at some point.
While it’s not the most original set up for a comic story, Mark Waid
wrote it, so there is actually a little substance to this tale. Dark Beast is a problematic character because
theoretically he shares the same temperament and personality with regular Beast,
only without all the patience and ethical concerns; his vague fear of Mr.
Sinister, who probably doesn’t know he exists at this point, seems
unfounded. Waid quickly defines the evil
McCoy by making him a remorseless killer the likes of which we haven’t seen in
the X-books up to this point. Even when
Sabretooth escaped and had a dozen chances to kill someone, he was never
allowed to; compare that to Dark Beast who wipes out entire hospitals and
restaurants full of people on a whim.
It’s off-putting, but the violence does serve a purpose. Having racked up an enormous body count by
the middle of the issue, I was almost certain Dark Beast was going to kill
Hank’s parents, who are probably as crucial to the X-books as all the made-up
characters from Hank’s life in this issue.
There is a marvelous sense of tension as Dark Beast reaches for the
axe. In fact, it might’ve ended up a
more memorable story and cemented Dark Beast as a more palpable threat long
term if he had gone through with it.
Some of the flashbacks are a little hokey (why is Groundskeeper
Willy at Hank’s school), but they establish that downhome mid-western
Smallville charm that makes for an excellent contrast with the over-the-top
violence of the Dark Beast. Regular
Beast’s experiments are shown for a little too long, and I don’t really get how
an electron microscope can overheat and explode, but once he’s lead to the
Brand Corporation, it’s worth it to see his reaction to Dark Beast’s
remorseless crimes. It’s unfortunate
that most of this is forgotten after Onslaught because although he’s sort of
derivative in terms of comics stories, Dark Beast would’ve made a more
interesting obsession for Beast to focus on as opposed to the Legacy Virus plot
that just kept going and going and going.
Waid injects personality and a hint of humor into the
characters (I love the line about Bobby getting a 200 point lead in
Scrabble). And although the two Beasts
couldn’t seem more different, Waid wisely uses the corny flashbacks to
establish the commonality that both of them need to satisfy their own
curiosities when it comes to how things work; Dark Beast just uses living
people as opposed to machines and lab equipment. Both are obsessed with figuring out how
things work, and it’s a shame we aren’t given more of Dark Beast’s history to
really drive home the similarities and differences.
This is probably one of the best issues of X-Men Unlimited I’ve ever read. It feels like a narrower focused story,
unburdened by the myriad of subplots that would undoubtedly be included in the
main titles; however, for the first time most of the book doesn’t feel like
padded filler. Dark Beast seems like a
genuine threat, even if he never does anything threatening or interesting while
undercover at the X-Mansion. This
could’ve been the foundation for rehabilitating a contrived villain—it’s too
bad it never was followed up on, so Dark Beast actually comes across in later
appearances as C-level Mr. Sinister.
Still, this is quite a good one.
Everyone Should
Read
Monday, March 3, 2014
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #4
The Adventures of
Cyclops and Phoenix #4
Writing: Scott
Lobdell
Art: Gene Ha
Note: Story continues in X-Men #35.
What Went Down: Nathan is at death’s door as the
techno-organic virus is breaking down his body completely. Apparently he has been in remission for a
while, but hitting puberty has caused the virus to flare up again. Turrin and his people are doing everything to
help him, but it doesn’t look good for the boy.
Jean thinks she could help him if she could reach him telepathically,
but she says there is psi-interference through the coma.
Over at Apocalypse’s citadel, the villain is preparing to
possess Stryfe’s body, in spite of the protests of Ch’Vayre. We learn that Apocalypse named the boy Stryfe
after an enemy who almost defeated him centuries ago. The irony being that Apocalypse thinks this
boy is an abducted Nathan Summers, but really he is the same Stryfe that will
grow up to try to kill him in the past yet again.
As Nathan is dying, he has an out of body experience, and
he is visited by the spirit of a young Rachel Summers. In the physical world, Scott decides to stay
with Nathan in lieu of going on another raid to defeat Apocalypse. He refuses to abandon his son again after
doing it once already. The rebels attack
the citadel. Turrin is taken out by a
psi-attack from Ch’Vayre, who proposes an alliance with Redd.
Rachel explains that the techno-virus is something he has
to accept and that he has more power than any other telepath. She explains that as the Mother Askani, she
brought Nate to this time and created a clone as a decoy. Rachel explains his destiny as Cable,
although she tells him he won’t remember any of this. Just as Nathan dies on the table, Nate fights
and comes out of it. He thanks Slym for
not leaving him and tells him they’re needed where Redd is.
As Apocalypse prepares to take Stryfe’s body, he taunts
Xavier and the other villains he outlived.
He is interrupted by a psi-attack from Jean and Ch’Vayre. The villain knocks them back and goes to
complete the ritual. Since the boy is a
clone, he cannot contain Apocalypse’s essence.
Scott and Nathan show up, and the Dayspring family focuses their powers
on Apocalypse.
As they are about to defeat the villain, Scott and Jean
begin fading from existence. Nathan
frees Stryfe, preventing Apocalypse from transferring his essence, and
Apocalypse “utters his final cry.” Scott and Jean try to say goodbye to Nathan
as they fade away. Rachel appears to
Jean and explains that her physical body died minutes ago. She says she lived a long life and asks Jean
to take the name Phoenix in remembrance of all the good the Phoenix force
did. As Scott fades, he tells Nate he’ll
never be alone, and he will be a cable that unites the past to the future.
After the couple fades, Ch’Vayre explains that
Apocalypse’s followers will try to avenge him and find his heir, Stryfe. He says his resources will protect Stryfe and
himself, but not Nathan. Nathan says not
to worry about him as he’s going to put back together the dream Apocalypse
dismantled.
How It Was: Well it’s the final issue, and we’re finally getting to the
meat of the story we’ve been waiting for.
Here’s the final battle with Apocalypse, which turns out to be very
underwhelming. What it amounts to is the
Dayspring clan shooting an old man just before he transfers bodies. It’s disappointing to see Apocalypse die in
such an anticlimactic and lackluster way.
Plus I thought Apocalypse ruled Cable’s future when he was an adult as
well, but I could be misrembering. On
top of the toothless defeat of one of the X-Men’s greatest enemies, there’s the
problem that Scott, Jean, and Ch’Vayre really have no major contribution to the
end. Ch’Vayre especially, as the only
new character we’ve really spent time with, feels like his potential has been
wasted by having him focus on the unlikable Stryfe.
Still this issue does have a lot going for it. The material dealing with Nathan’s near-death
is handled wonderfully. Gene Ha’s art as
the virus breaks down the young boy’s body is surreal and haunting. And the depiction in his mind of Nathan
accepting the virus is really well handled.
Having Scott stay in spite of the final battle is a nice touch, even
though as I said last issue we haven’t really seen him neglect Nathan yet. And then there are the inevitable goodbyes
that you’ve been expecting since issue one that are all pretty strong. Yes we all know Nathan isn’t going to die,
and Scott and Jean aren’t going to stay in the future. But the idea of them being separated from
their child is wonderfully handled, even if the trauma is forgotten after a
month or two in the other x-titles.
Along with Apocalypse, it’s sad to see there is no
comeuppance for Stryfe, since the boy has killed more in the series than anyone
else in the entire story. Obviously he
has to grow up to be the regular Marvel Universe villain, but almost getting
possessed just doesn’t seem satisfying enough.
There are also some pretty wonky plot devices going on related to
Stryfe. It’s necessary that Lodell
establish a purpose for Stryfe’s existence (a decoy for Nathan) as well as show
that there is some difference between the two.
So we get Apocalypse crying about how Stryfe isn’t the authentic child,
completely stopping the possession process, followed by saying it doesn’t
matter, and he’ll possess the boy anyway.
I do love the touch that Stryfe is named after his future self.
What does work is both the low-key and full-on dramatic
moments: Rachel and Nathan talking in his mind, Scott saying goodbye, and
Rachel saying goodbye to Jean. It’s nice
to go back to a time when the Marvel Universe didn’t automatically associate
the Phoenix with destruction, because that’s not its primary function. Although Rachel’s reasoning for Jean naming
herself Phoenix is somewhat off (as a tribute to the Phoenix force and all the
good it did) it comes off more as Jean’s tribute to the incredibly complex and
difficult life her alternate reality/possibly future daughter had to live. Even though the action is a little
disappointing, and the resolution is rather abrupt, there are some nice
character moments hidden in here. Plus
it does finally clear up some of the tangled continuity about Cable, Apocalypse,
Stryfe, and Cyclops.
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