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.

X-Fans Only

The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #3

Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #3

Writing: Scott Lobdell

Art: Gene Ha

What Went Down: We enter on Jean again instructing a now eight-year-old Nathan on using his powers to conceal his disease.  It is difficult for him, but he manages to do it.  Nathan complains about the fact that the family has to conceal who and what they are, and Jean does her best to console him. 

In the heart of the great city, we see Apocalypse and Ch’Vayre interrupting Stryfe as he tortures humans for fun. Ch’Vayre again brings up how Stryfe is being robbed of a childhood, still somehow oblivious to the idea that Stryfe is to be his master’s vessel, even though Apocalypse tells him again.  Back with our heroes, Scott and Jean meet up with Turrin and some other rebels to plan a raid on one of Apocalypse’s facilities.  Turrin expresses regret that Redd and Slym won’t kill in a war, and Jean pulls Scott aside to tell him that he is neglecting Nathan, just as he did back in his X-Factor days.  Many of the rebels share their distrust of the couple with the group, all while Nathan excitedly observes the meeting in a tree. 

Nathan follows the group secretly as they break into the installation.  A robot rebel named Gyak discovers files that Scott and Jean recognize as the Legacy Virus, although this version is designed to kill humans.  The rebels are suddenly ambushed by prelates; Nathan tries to go down to help, but a voice stops him.  Scott and Jean do a good job of fighting back without their powers, although the rebels lament how the couple always wounds instead of kills.  Stryfe appears and tells the soldiers to ignore Ch’Vayre’s orders and kill all the rebels.  Scott feels there is no choice but to use his optic blasts, revealing himself as a mutant.  Ch’Vayre chides Stryfe for panicking the rebels, while the mystery voice instructs Nathan on using a computer, even though he’s never seen one in his life. 

Stryfe sees the light from Nathan’s location and goes after him while Ch’Vayre recognizes Redd and Slym as the rebels who got away.  Nathan and Stryfe meet and are astonished by their resemblance.  Stryfe begins to kill Nathan, commenting on how he can feel the pain.  The voice instructs Nate to fight back, and he knocks Stryfe unconscious.  However, the strain compromises his body’s control of the tech virus. 

The prelates are confused as to why mutants are helping the resistance.  As the facility blows up, Turrin saves Scott while Jean saves Nathan.  We learn that Nathan programmed the self-destruct, and that the voice’s name was Rachel.  Later Scott visits the comatose body of Rachel and thanks her for the help.  We end on Ch’Vayre contemplating how Apocalypse and Stryfe betray the idea of survival of the fittest. 

How It Was:  Issue three of this series continues to depict events without any real feeling or understanding of their significance.  The entire raid has some decent action, but there’s never a point where it feels like it matters to the big picture—the battle against Apocalypse.  Even worse, all the rebels come off as ungrateful and self-serving jerks, complaining about Scott and Jean even though they themselves never seem to contribute to the rebellion in any meaningful way.  We’re introduced to a half dozen new characters, and they’re all either whiney or completely void of personality.  It’s also at this point that I’m starting to see just how incidental Scott and Jean are to this story.  Really we’re just waiting for Nathan to age old enough to be left on his own, and in the meantime Cyclops and Jean are left padding time with adventures that don’t seem to affect Apocalypse one way or the other.  After all, both the rebels and Ch’Vayre decide blowing up the lab is a good idea, so it’s obvious that neither side really cares all that much about its strategic value.

Speaking of Ch’Vayre, the interesting aspects about him have waned.  While it was nice to see him as an outsider and true-believer in the philosophies of Apocalypse last issue, now he’s devolved into this nervous mother figure worrying about and scolding Stryfe.  His compassion for the boy wouldn’t be so bad if Stryfe wasn’t such a spoiled and remorseless brat with absolutely no redeeming value.  The audience wants the sadistic Stryfe to suffer; aligning Ch’Vayre’s sympathies to Stryfe makes him almost as unlikeable.

Lobdell does get some pretty good material out of the conflicted Jean and her knowledge of young Nathan’s fate and the life she is condemning him to.  But other than that, nothing really stands out.  For such a long and padded series, it seems strange that we would have to receive exposition that Scott is neglecting Nathan as opposed to actually seeing an example of it.  All in all this issue is more of the same as last.  We’re teased with reveals that in hindsight never pan out to anything meaningful, such as the Legacy Virus, and the battle driving the plot never seems impacted one way or the other.

Completists Only

The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #2

Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #2

Writing: Scott Lobdell

Art: Gene Ha

What Went Down: Jean and Scott, now going by the aliases Redd and Slym Dayspring, have taken the now five-year-old Nathan to the settlement of Coastcrest.  According to Apocalypse’s law, all non-mutants must return to their home for scanning, and this is the location given on their forged papers.  Redd and Slym have spent the last years travelling from town to town, trying to keep Nathan protected.  Scott and Jean are overheard by another traveler speaking Old English, and we learn that Scott’s knee was injured in his fall last issue.  Crestcoast also happens to be home to the remnants of the Askani clan.

Over at the House of Apocalypse, we catch up with Ch’Vayre, finding himself in the midst of a party while condemning his fellow mutants for becoming lazy, weak, and decadent.   Caught up with notions of pageantry and status, Ch’Vayre feels that the ruling mutant race has lost sight of Apocalypse’s philosophy of the survival of the fittest.  Also all of the partygoers are intimidated by him. 

While contemplating his failure to end the Askani Clan years ago in issue one, Ch’Vayre walks into a young Stryfe incinerating one of his instructors.  The soldier tries to explain to the boy how he shouldn’t use his powers on people, but he is interrupted by an elderly Apocalypse, who embraces the boy and greets him.  Once Stryfe leaves, Ch’Vayre expresses distress at the decision to enhance the boy’s powers at his age, but Apocalypse is desperate since each body he takes wears out sooner and sooner. 

Back at the gates of Crestcoast, Jean instructs Nathan how he can hold back his techno organic virus with the power of his mind.  Scott and Jean give a lecture about hard work, and how one day he’ll be accepted for who he is.  At the gates, the guards destroy the group’s transit papers and rough up Scott, thinking the group only human.  The traveler that overheard them speaking Old English has ratted them out for a reward.  Scott takes the beating, hoping to alleviate suspicion, but Nathan decides to attack and bite one of the guards. 

Scott is about to engage the guards when a man named Turrin shows up and recommends the guards back off.  Turrin is mostly machine, having been presumed dead at a raid years ago, but apparently he’s been living in Coastcrest, and the guards use him as a means of obtaining “amenities.”  The snitch argues that Turrin is a criminal, so the guards kill the rat as the group departs.  Turrin takes the group to an Askani stronghold, where they lay eyes on the suffering humans.

How It Was:  Right from the beginning of the issue the creators have over-embraced the idea of Nathan as a messiah.  We see Scott and Jean crossing a desert, with donkey, while Jean holds the young Nathan.  It’s obvious that they’re going for a biblical motif—Jean even has a blue veil on similar to the Virgin Mary.  It’s an interesting motif to go for, and while the script doesn’t do a lot with the Nathan as messiah idea, the art sure makes the most of it.  The cities even look like the sets from a biblical story.  Although the future world is never fully defined, it definitely has a grand scope to it.

Where things get complex is when dealing with the language of this world.  Scott and Jean at times speak in subtitled dialog, which I assumed was the native language of this world.  They are approached by the traveler speaking unsubtitled English, and the traveler accuses them of speaking Old English then, but in English without the brackets that indicate a different language.  While the way our heroes are caught is functional enough, it doesn’t come across clearly in a written medium. 

Also Ch’Vayre is getting a little more interesting.  He’s definitely more likable as a noble warrior in a room full of spoiled and pampered debutantes, but he brings up an interesting question that is never fully addressed.  Apocalypse’s defining attribute as a villain was this idea of honing all life into the fittest survivors: the ones worthy of life.  But this world of privilege and excess for mutants flies in the face of that.  We get some half-hearted excuse that Apocalypse can’t really be bothered because he just needs a new body, but that’s pretty unsatisfying.  The main villain has been diluted into this parasitic body snatcher, which really isn’t that interesting.  We get none of the ruthlessness or cunning seen in Age of Apocalypse, nor the stoic acceptance of fate—the willingness to fight and prove himself worthy, as we did in The X-Cutioner’s Song.  Also, Ch’Vayre seems weirdly fixated on how Stryfe is being brought up when it is obvious with Apocalypse’s dialogue that the boy is just being used as another body.

This is actually a pretty quiet issue.  There’s no real action to speak of, other than Scott being hit a few times and Nathan biting a guard.  Instead we get some of the quiet character moments that Lobdell is known for.  Nothing really stands out though, and it’s all a little slow.  There is a scene showing Jean instructing Nate in his powers, but we get a similar scene next issue so this one is redundant.  Nothing outstanding really happens—the plot just continues to chug along.

Ha’s art is just great; the alien look of Turrin almost makes up for how little we learn about him.  The landscapes and backgrounds as the family travels to the gates are beautiful.  I’ve read reviewers comment about how ugly some of the designs are, but that is sort of the point—seeing the horrifying amalgamation of machine and man that is Turrin is supposed to be…well, horrifying and grotesque.  It’s just too bad this character (or any of the others) never really gets fleshed out or defined.  And although the end isn’t really a cliffhanger, it works because of the pained expressions on the people and the elaborate complexity of walls, pipes, and debris in the room.  You don’t learn much about the organization, but you can feel the desperation and despair in the splash page at the end.

Honestly this isn’t anything groundbreaking.  There are a couple of tidbits for fans—we learn how Nathan got his surname of Dayspring, and see some of his training in his burgeoning powers.  Plus Gene Ha draws such intricate designs for the parts of Nathan enveloped in the virus, as opposed to the standard shiny, metal arm.  The plot’s slowed down after the spectacle of issue one, and what we discover about our main villain is underwhelming.  Still, the art is some of the best you’ll see.

Completists Only

The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1

The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #1

Writing: Scott Lobdell

Art: Gene Ha

Note: This story takes place after X-Men #30, but right before X-Men #35
 

What Went Down: Jean Grey wakes up in an unfamiliar setting after falling unconscious during her honeymoon with Cyclops.  Unable to use her powers, she still manages to escape and save a fellow prisoner who just happens to be Cyclops.  Turns out the happy newlyweds have been transported two thousand years into the future to the Askani Cloister during a raid by Apocalypse’s troops.  The remaining Askani are losing, but still fighting, and their leader is an elderly Rachel Summers. 

Rachel is almost defeated by one of Apocalypse’s head soldiers, Ch’Vayre.  The powerless Scott and Jean attack him, and manage to fend him off with the help of a futuristic gun.  While they escape, Rachel explains that Apocalypse rules the world.  The Askani is the organization that took Scott’s son to the future back in the eighties in X-Factor to cure his techno-organic virus.  A clone was created to throw Apocalypse off the real Nathan’s trail.  You see, Nathan is the perfect bodily host for Apocalypse, since the villain wears out the bodies he possesses faster and faster with each one.  Together a cured Nathan and Rachel would be powerful enough to defeat Apocalypse. 

Rachel uses her powers to give Scott and Jean weaker versions of their own powers, since the bodies they inhabit are cloned from their genetic descendants.  Then she falls into a coma.  The couple recalls passing out on their beach vacation, and then they discover Apocalypse’s army.  Ch’Vayre holds up the baby Nathan, and threatens to kill the child if they don’t turn over Mother Askani (Rachel).  Scott and Jean get in another fight, rescue the baby, and flood the area to cover their escape.  Trapped in the future in bodies of their closest genetic descendants, the couple vows to raise Nathan (the future Cable) by themselves.

How It Was:  Even though Cyclops is my favorite X-Man, the idea of him headlining a series without the benefit of the other X-Men to demonstrate his leadership is still a hard sell.  Add in the fact that Jean is along for the ride, and we all know this series is going to be chock full of reaffirmations of undying love and affection.  Still it’s good that Scott Lobdell takes the time to celebrate the couple’s new status quo as husband and wife with a mini that resolves some lingering storylines.

The real reason to buy this book is the artwork by Gene Ha.  Everything is so clear, but looks so alien—the design of the Askani Cloister is a perfect example with its angled and curved walls.  Just looking at it makes you feel like you could get lost in it.  His Scott and Jean duplicates are suitably old and haggard, as opposed to the pinups most super heroes resemble, and Ha’s characters are some of the most expressive I’ve seen in comics.  Rather than just draw Baby Nathan with some metal crap on his face, Ha goes the extra mile and makes something that is creepy and unnerving in its appearance. 

As for the plot, it moves at a decent pace even though it’s all setup.  The body-swap of Scott and Jean is a nice callback for Rachel from ‘Days of the Future Past,’ and realistically Cyclops never got any sort of narrative closure from the eighties X-Factor story where he gave up baby Nathan.  There’s a decent amount of action to break up the exposition, even though the stakes aren’t readily apparent at the beginning. 

Where it falters is that this issue doesn’t really give us much of a feel for the new alien world Scott and Jean find themselves in, nor does it give them any time to really reflect on their situation.  There are some fun comments where Scott pokes fun at the absurdity of Summers family continuity, and they do acknowledge that everything they know is gone, but we never get the “freakout” or any relatable response to these circumstances—Scott and Jean just go on because they’re X-Men and that’s what they do.  Also, the enemy Ch’Vayre is sort of interesting—he’s characterized as an honorable knight-sort who genuinely believes in the order brought by Apocalypse’s rule—but his design, especially his hair, is bland and generic.  In a world where mutants are dominant, I was hoping to see more than a bulked up helmetless-Robocop.

Immunity to shock and despair aside, this is a fun little adventure so far.  Unlike most dystopian Marvel Universes, this one doesn’t have the fun geek appeal of seeing changes to all your favorite characters and concepts because they’re all gone at this point.  What works is the family on the run, and the fact that by the end we have an impossible task for the couple to complete.  Though their reactions are a little too stoic to be believable, it’s still fun to see Scott and Jean face such a huge problem with limited allies, resources, or familiarity with anything.

For X-Men Fans

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

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

Uncanny X-Men #357

Uncanny X-Men #357
Writing: Steven Seagle

Art: Dan Norton

What Went Down:  On the streets of Ptarmigan Creek, Alaska, a swarm of crows has begun to attack people on the street.  Unaware of these events, the original five X-Men enjoy drinks at a local restaurant.  Jean has interrupted the conversation about Scott’s new direction because she finds it too serious for the get-together.  The team sees the pandemonium outside and jump into action. 

Outside they decide to help people while trying to remain incognito.  Each hero takes a turn saving civilians.  Sheriff Chris shows up and shoots a gun in the air, scaring off the birds.  Iceman presents his hypothesis that the crazy shaman is behind this, but nobody believes him. 

At the Agee Institute, Dr. Agee is examining Rogue’s DNA sample. He talks to his sister about how hideous Rogue is now, and how he’ll cure her as he did his sister.  It is revealed that his sister is a horrible looking monster in a glass tube.  At Scott and Jean’s cabin, the team discusses recent events while Jean gets into costume.  Staci’s sister Melissa barges in and sees the team as mutants.  She says she is okay with it because she has six toes on each foot, so she’s a mutant too. 

Up in space, Bishop (remember him) is still strapped to his bed while the ship he and Deathbird are on plummets towards a sun.  He convinces Deathbird to release him, feigning feelings for her, and the two are able to plot a new course towards a nearby planet. 

In Alaska the team gets into costume and splits up to get to the bottom of the rampaging crows.  Iceman goes after the crazy shaman, Beast and Archangel discover toxic waste in the birds’ habitat, and Cyclops and Jean rescue Chris and his deputy from a swarm of birds.  They are initially insulting to the mutants until their lives are saved by the X-Men. 

As the birds converge and the team reunites, the birds form a big person shape.  Jean discovers that one of the birds is a robot and destroys it at the same time that Cyclops blasts the person-shape and Iceman knocks out the shaman.  The bird-person dissipates, although nobody can say who was responsible.  Cyclops’ is weakened from the use of his power exacerbating his injuries, and Iceman discovers that the shaman’s “bag of enchantment” is full of bird see.  As the rest of the team walks away, Iceman sees the Indian guy’s spirit form into a bird and fly off (I think).  The bird announces the end of the issue.

How It Was:  So…this is an issue where the original X-Men fight a lot of birds.  Nuff said.  It really is that simple and there isn’t anything more to it.  Most disappointing of all is the way Jean derails Scott’s new idea for the X-Men; it’s hard to say if Seagle just never got around to it, or if he never had anything and was just teasing it to fill up space.  Either way it’s a bummer.

And then there’s the fighting with the birds.  This issue has some “so ridiculous they’re good” panels in it, such as Cyclops punching birds mid-air or Iceman beating birds with a sandwich board.  It’s the kind of thing that’s so absurd that it sort of works in an unintentionally humorous sort of way. 

Then we get to the ambiguous ending…I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be a true mystery or just playing off of the fact that the plot is so ridiculous that it shouldn’t matter.  It doesn’t really bother me at the end of the day, but I do find the robot bird’s presence a little odd.  There are some story inconsistencies; Cyclops and Jean fret the whole issue over Scott using his power because of his injuries.  However, he also manages to carry a grown man over his shoulder with absolutely no effect whatsoever.  Cyclops and Jean work so hard to maintain a low-profile, but they leave the door unlocked for Melissa to barge right in and learn everything.

Even odder is the pick-up of Bishop’s thread after about four months of losing track of it.  This is a pretty sudden shift, made even more abrupt by the solo focus on Bishop next issue.  As for the events affecting Rogue—this issue more or less states that Agee is crazy, yet the events of #359 seem to brush this aside if I remember right. 

This isn’t something that would sell a new comics reader, but it is fun for longtime X-Men fans to reconnect with the history of the book.  It’s too bad the veteran members of the team could not have had a bigger threat to go up against.  The crows sort of overwhelm this half of the story though, replacing ambiguous suppositions with the fun character moments from last issue.

C

Uncanny X-Men #356

Uncanny X-Men #356
Writing: Steven Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down:  In the snowy north of Alaska, Archangel, Iceman, and Beast are in a cab on their way to visit Cyclops and Jean.  They’ve traveled all this way after listening to a concerned message from Scott.  The cab they’re in gets hit by a bird and crashes into a moose.  This allows the X-Men to meet secondary character Sheriff Chris Miller—Scott and Jean’s neighbor. Iceman sees a local crazy man and considers that he might be responsible.

Back at the mansion, Wolverine is waiting in the yard for SHIELD with the captive Karl Lykos, the alter ego of Sauron.  Wolverine has recaptured him off-panel after the end of #355.  Rogue shows up in her original costume and tells him she’s going to the city.  After Rogue flies away, there’s a big flash and Lykos is gone, presumably taken by GW Bridge.

In Alaska, the original X-Men are reunited and introduced to Chris’s wife and sister-in-law.  Inside, the X-Men ask Scott why he summoned them.  Scott is hesitant, because he doesn’t want to talk about Jean in front of her, so he talks about wanting to discuss a new direction for the X-Men.  Upstairs Cyclops explains to Beast that he is concerned about Jean’s powers and her wearing of the Phoenix costume.  He mentions that last time he saw Jean wear the costume he was silent while it took her over, but now he wants to stay on top of it. 

Downstairs the X-Men reminisce about the events of Uncanny X-Men #1 and discuss recent events in the comics.  They also discuss trying to find the Professor, although Jean says she’s been looking with her powers.  The room fills with smoke, and Warren flies up to find a dead bird clogging the chimney.  Staci’s sister sees Warren on the roof.

In Manhattan, Rogue observes Dr. Agee to see if she can trust him.  After seeing him leave a research facility called Mutopia, she confronts him.  He claims that Mutopia wanted him to join their consortium, but he declined.  During this conversation, Rogue slips into Gambit’s speech patterns for a moment. 

Scott and Jean take the rest of the X-Men out to a restaurant.  They’re forced to park far away due to a protest of the local Inuits over land rights.  Iceman sees the crazy shaman again, and Cyclops sits down with the X-Men to discuss his bold new direction from Xavier’s dream as a large flock of crows flies over the restaurant.

How It Was:  This is a random one, but it’s full of nostalgia and faithful characterization.  Seagle’s story is reminiscent of the quieter, more character-centric issues of X-Men that Scott Lobdell used to write after a big crossover.  The main difference is that this isn’t after a big crossover; it seems to be setting up a future Phoenix story or a new direction for the team, but it never really gets around to doing either.  All that really happens is an original X-Men reunion with some offbeat Twin Peaks-esque supernatural occurrences happening around it.

In spite of weird tone of the plot, the reunion is actually really nice to see.  Even though the majority of these characters have been in circulation for over thirty years by this point, most of them had been more or less overshadowed at the time by newer, more popular characters like Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, and Gambit.   Seagle nails the relationship of the group perfectly—the playfulness, the desire to help each other, the comfort these characters have around each other, and the way being around each other makes them feel younger.  The scene between Beast and Scott over Jean works really well; the concern Scott expresses feels authentic and it’s a strong use of continuity that reinforces the story, rather than convoluting it.  Seagle also has some fun trying to hide the Beast’s appearance, but the joke might go on for a little too long.

As far as weaknesses…well, Chris and Staci are still one-dimensional as ever, and so is their new sister Melissa.  And the bird storyline is just an odd direction to go; it really feels like a forced reason just to get the team into costume next issue.  There was a focusing on birds in #352 as well, so I do wonder if the cosmic entity in that story was meant to be the reason for Jean’s sudden interest in the Phoenix.  Ah, we’ll never know.  Bachalo makes the most of the imagery, and his designs for the characters are all vibrant (even if he gives Iceman a goofy soul patch). 

Also worth noting, the Rogue/Agee subplot has a lot of setup this issue that never plays off.  The Agee scenes especially are positioning him as a crazy villain, but all this gets forgotten soon enough.  As for Rogue being possessed by Gambit, this doesn’t pay off, except for maybe some throwaway lines from Rogue later.  Seagle’s character work is top notch this issue, even if his plot feels forced.  I like that the spotlight is being directed on characters that haven’t had it on them in a while.  It’s just really a shame that a lot of what is here gets dropped later on.

B-

Uncanny X-Men #355

Uncanny X-Men #355
Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down:  We start with a clever bookend involving the answering machine at the Xavier Institute.  We hear messages of Nightcrawler saying hi, department of education inspector Margaret Stone talking about a representative staying at the facilities, and Jean wanting to alert the group about their adventures in #352. 

Meanwhile, Wolverine has decided to chain Sauron up in a burlap blanket and drive him on his motorcycle to the authorities.  Sauron tries to get out of it, mentioning their time together in the Savage Land, but a low-flying aircraft interrupts them. 

In Manhattan, Rogue is meeting with Dr. Agee, a scientist who says he has a cure for being a mutant.  Rogue doesn’t fully trust him, as shown by her clever alias of Ms. Smith, but she does allow him to take a DNA sample. 

Wolverine continues riding until he is confronted by Alpha Flight--Canada’s premier super team. Alpha Flight has been tasked by the Canadian government to bring in Wolverine for killing their teammate Madison Jeffries; unknown to the team, their bosses at Department H are brainwashing them and faked the footage of Jeffries being murdered.  Wolverine goes through all the team members to introduce them to new readers, then nonchalantly ignores them and drives off.

All the way in Alaska, Jean is outside crying in her Phoenix uniform; she has also summoned a pretty large and fiery Phoenix effect.  Cyclops apologizes for yelling at her and tries to make her understand that he has a lot of bad memories associated with the Phoenix uniform.  Jean insists that she is claiming the Phoenix identity to empower herself and overcome the ghosts of Dark Phoenix and Madelyne Pryor

Believing he has convinced Alpha Flight not to pursue him, Wolverine is surprised when the team attacks.  AF members Murmur and Sasquatch catch Sauron making a run for it and stop him.  Rogue just happens to be flying home from Dr. Agee’s and spots Wolverine fighting all of Alpha Flight.  She flies off to get more X-Men. 

Wolverine holds his own against the team.  During the fight, Alpha Flight is shocked to notice that Wolverine has bone claws because Department H told them they were tracking his adamantium signature.  Wolverine points out that James and Heather Hudson have both examined him since he lost the metal skeleton, so they should already know his bones and claws aren’t metal anymore.  They seem to be coming to a consensus when Sasquatch attacks.

The X-Men show up to save Wolverine.  During the fight, Cannonball and Flight member Flex stop to discuss what the fight is all about.  At the same time Maggott gets beaten up (again) and Murmur tries reading his mind, but this causes her to scream.  Cannonball yells for everyone to stop fighting, and he and Flex explain that Wolverine and the X-Men were captives of Operation Zero Tolerance at the time the murder was supposed to have taken place.  Alpha Flight starts to realize that they are being manipulated.  Wolverine and Storm offer to help the team if they need it.  Wolverine also notes that Sauron has disappeared.

The issue ends with Cyclops leaving a message on the machine about his concerns for Jean.

How It Was:  Real quick to get out of the way…there is a minor continuity issue with this story.  It’s obviously written to take place right after Uncanny #354, with Rogue leaving to the Agee Institute and Scott and Jean fighting.  However, X-Men #73 has to take place in between these two issues because Joseph is there in #354, but gone in this issue.  You can write it off as Rogue making two trips, but it’s clear that this is her first meeting with Agee and the writer intended for this to be a continuous story.

Anyways, this is a tried-and-true example of a writer trying to leverage the popularity of a successful comic to boost the sales of a flagging one.  Steven Seagle was the writer of both Uncanny and Alpha Flight, and at the time the X-titles were consistently #1 and #2 in comic sales monthly.  It makes sense that you’d try to expose your less popular characters in a more popular book, and the two teams did have a history together, so it wasn’t totally out of the blue.

Just for some background, Seagle’s Alpha Flight involved a new team that was being manipulated by their handlers at Department H; any time the team would start to catch on, they’d be subdued and brainwashed to forget.  So we have our premise, where Department H wants Wolverine, so they come up with a false reason to compel Alpha Flight to action.

As an introduction to Alpha Flight from an X-Men point of view, it’s not very strong.  None of the characters really get to shine, Radius is a jerk, Flex is a wimp, and the other characters aren’t very well defined personality-wise.  The twist of Wolverine’s bones not being metal makes no sense since the team is obviously tracking him somehow, so why would their shady manipulators choose to create a lie that would be so quickly found out?  Wolverine hasn’t had metal claws or bones for almost five years at this point.  On the other hand, it doesn’t really make sense that Wolverine would take Sauron out on his bike by himself.  Can’t he just call the authorities and have Sauron taken away?

So the plot’s not strong, but that doesn’t matter because we all know the real purpose for this issue is some hot hero-on-hero action.  So how does it rate as a big, dumb fight scene?  Well…not spectacular.  The scenes with Wolverine fighting Alpha Flight are pretty fun, but once the other X-Men show up it soon devolves.  Storm takes out Vindicator with one lightning bolt, and the X-Men are able to pretty much dominate even though they’re outnumbered eight to five.  Except for Maggott, who once again gets taken out.  Even worse, the story struggles to find something to do with Sauron, but winds up just having him disappear.  Still, I will admit that I do have a soft spot for Alpha on X fights, even if this isn’t the best example of one.

The art is pretty good, although sometimes Bachalo’s distorted style looks off.  Dr. Agee’s head is just way too big, and Puck and Wolverine don’t seem to be proportioned right.  As a marketing ploy, I can’t say that this was too successful, as I can’t really see this inspiring too many people to pick up Alpha Flight.  There was even a tie-in issue to this story that was so poorly advertised that I, the X-enthusiast, didn’t pick it up until years later because I was unaware of its existence.  There’s a lot of weird plot mechanics going on with this one, but it is an amusing distraction as a big, dumb fight.

C+

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+

X-Men #71

X-Men #71
Writing: Joe Kelly
Art: Carlos Pacheco

What Went Down:  This issue is narrated by Jean Grey.  We open on Jean telekinetically meditating and trying to wipe the mansion of traumatizing telepathic residue, conveniently allowing her to recap the last couple of issues.  Cyclops, newly operated on, yells out in pain, but when Jean recovers, Scott has fallen back asleep.  Both of them are preparing for a vacation to Alaska to help Scott heal.

Downstairs, most of the X-Men are being repulsed by Marrow’s bad manners at the breakfast table.  Beast and Cecilia Reyes analyze one of Marrow’s bone shards, and Cecilia accidentally makes a comment that sounds like a pass at Beast.  Marrow gets angry at the X-Men for judging her and throws her food on the floor.  Jean walks in and Cannonball gets in a fight with Maggott over the language he uses in front of the lady. 

Outside, Wolverine helps Storm dig up her tiara and some golden coins she has hidden for emergencies.  They discuss their guests, especially Marrow, whom neither of them trusts.  Jean tries to sneak up on the pair, but Logan still manages to detect her.  Jean observes that Logan doesn’t want her to leave, even though he’d never admit it.

Cannonball has decided to take Cecilia and Maggott to Westchester, and Jean decides to join them.  Marrow interrupts, noting that she wasn’t invited because of her appearance.  Maggott offers to stay with her, but she rebukes him and storms off after arguing with Storm. 

At the Hellfire Club, Sebastian Shaw is being served tea by his servant Kiko and recalling the events of a recent Cable story.  A mysterious shadowed figure appears, stops time around them, and presents Shaw with a picture of a golden idol that distresses Shaw.  We also see what appears to be crow or raven.

At the mansion, Beast says goodbye to Trish Tilby and Iceman as they drive home together.  Wolverine has a man-to-man talk with Cyclops, expressing his concerns about the new recruits.  He tells Scott that if he leaves, things will be done differently.

While in Westchester, everyone bickers until they notice a news story announcing that the Avengers and the Fantastic Four have returned after “dying” during Onslaught.  Jean allows herself to get lost in the feelings of hope from the crowd of people.  In the attic, Wolverine and Storm discuss how they are going to handle Marrow.  In Cairo, we get a quick set up scene of a man running a package to a mail pile outside a plane.  As soon as he puts the package in, the man starts to bleed to death, but he tells Anansi that he has beaten him.  The package is addressed to Storm.

Back in Westchester, the group seems more hopeful.  We get another subplot setup of a homeless man getting murdered while Cannonball asks Maggott where his slugs are.  The next day Jean and Scott leave after discussing the future of the team.  In an epilogue, Marrow is carving things in the wall of her room and complaining about the X-Men.  Wolverine appears and tells her that she needs to be taught a lesson.

How It Was:  Even though the last story was kind of a wash, it was still supposed to be a major crossover, meaning that this issue is a quiet, contemplative issue that examines the new status quo.  Basically there are three new potential recruits, all of the X-Men’s nice things are gone, and Cyclops and Jean Grey are taking a break from the team.  And although it’s not much, it’s a solid direction for the book; certainly more than we ever got in the post-Onslaught issues. 

This is a great issue for Jean, who hasn’t had a lot to do recently.  She makes for the perfect narrator since she knows the established characters inside and out, and Kelly’s script really emphasizes this.  From Jean’s confusion over how Logan detected her downwind to her reaction to Storm’s hidden trove, Kelly establishes that Jean is a lynchpin to the X-Men, and he actually manages to make it feel like her leaving affects the team significantly.  In fact all of the characters really come into their own under Kelly’s hand.  Marrow’s rebellious attitude really shines as she riles up everyone else in the group.  She remains sympathetic even though she is purposefully trying to antagonize the team due to the fact that she’s had such a hard life and most of her arguments are actually true.  In another interesting dynamic, it’s clear that Storm and Wolverine aren’t being objective or open to Marrow at all, yet their view also has credence given recent issues with Sabertooth and Onslaught.  Even the flirting between Beast and Cecilia is enjoyable.

The center of the story, the Marvel heroes returning, is handled very nicely.  In what could’ve come off as an in-house ad for the Heroes Return line, Kelly puts the focus on the X-Men’s reaction to learning that Onslaught did not kill the heroes.  The moment of hope at the end makes for a good juxtaposition to the frustration and melancholy that have led up to it thus far. 

So really this issue is just an exercise in great characterization.  Well, the conflict between Cannonball and Maggott feels forced, but other than that everyone else comes off perfectly.  The only other misfire with this issue is the Sebastian Shaw subplot that gets mentioned in a couple of future issues before disappearing forever.  It’s disappointing to see this problem persist with a new creative team, but I guess it can’t be helped.  Overall this is still a fantastic issue.  There is absolutely no action at all, but the characters and interactions are handled so well, you’ll hardly notice.

A

X-Men #70

X-Men #70
Writing: Joe Kelly
Art: Carlos Pacheco

What Went Down:  We open on Iceman using an ice slide to bring Cecilia Reyes and Marrow back to the X-mansion.  Cecilia is terrified by the height and speed, but Marrow goads Iceman into going faster.  When they reach the mansion, they discover that not only has Bastion stolen everything in it, he has used nanotechnology to strip the building of the paint and carpet.  Cecilia runs off, demoralized that she has nothing in her life.

As Cecilia cries to herself, she observes the X-Men bursting through the ceiling because Cyclops has a bomb implanted in him that is going to go off soon.  Of course, all of their medical equipment is gone, so they all start to despair.  Storm is shocked to see Marrow in the mansion. At the same time a giant is carrying a lawyer down the road to the mansion.  Seeing how little hope the X-Men have, Cecilia takes charge of the situation.  After getting a telepathic explanation from Jean, she assigns everyone tasks to do to help Cyclops.

Storm has to get boiling water.  While she generates some rain, Marrow appears to taunt Storm for trying to kill her.  Storm tells her she might want to go back to the sewers.  Cannonball manages to steal some medical supplies, but there’s no scalpel, so Wolverine’s claws have to be used to operate on Scott.  As the surgery/bomb removal begins, the doorbell rings.  Storm finds the Juggernaut, wearing a suit and tie, outside with his lawyer.  It turns out that with Xavier missing, the school and its assets fall to him as Charles’ stepbrother.  Storm slams the door on him and uses her powers to wash out the roads.  Marrow flirts a little with Cannonball while Cecilia continues the operation.

Juggernaut bursts through the door, but he is surprised to see the mansion empty.  He changes into his Juggernaut armor, but the remaining X-Men return just in time to confront him.  Juggernaut taunts the team when he sees that Gambit and Bishop are missing, causing Rogue to lash out.  Maggott decides to take on Juggernaut, but he is easily subdued.  Seeing how pathetic of a state the team is in, Juggernaut decides to leave and come back.

Beast and Joseph show up to help get rid of the bomb.  Wolverine lashes out at Trish Tilby, blaming her story on the Legacy Virus for creating the hysteria that has led to Operation Zero Tolerance and Cyclops’ situation. 

It turns out that this bomb doesn’t explode; it expands and fills a three-mile radius with goo that suffocates and preserves anything in its path.  Marrow gives Cecilia some bones to pry the bomb out and Rogue throws the bomb to one of Maggott’s slugs, who promptly eats it.  Cyclops thanks Cecilia for helping him. 

Later, everyone leaves Cyclops’ room.  Jean explains to Scott that she is worried about how fractured the team is, along with the addition of three strangers.  We end on Marrow carving some menacing threats on the door to the basement.

How It Was: Two double-sized issues in one month!  Brilliant!  I’m just going to go ahead and proclaim that I really love Joe Kelly’s run, especially this issue.  He just has such a great handle on the characters, similar to Lobdell, but he also manages to infuse his characters with a healthy amount of humor and agency.  Even double-sized, this issue has a lot of characters in it, and Kelly balances them all incredibly well, giving each one a moment or two.

Most important of all is that this is the issue where Cecilia demonstrates that she has value beyond whining and absorbing damage.  While her personality could be hard to take in previous issues, coming off as almost selfish, one page into Scott’s operation is all Kelly needs to demonstrate that Cecilia’s abrasive personality is a necessary, and valuable, quality in her field of work.  She takes charge of veteran X-Men in a convincing way, prioritizing her patient over all else.  Marrow also gets some great scenes.  Her playfulness leaves her motivations ambiguous; the reader isn’t quite sure whether Marrow wants to be a hero or stab them all in their sleep.  The tension between Marrow and Storm is well portrayed, and well-earned, setting up a lot of Kelly’s future issue.

Even Maggott is finally more fleshed out.  Yes, his personality has gotten a complete overhaul from his appearances in Uncanny, but in my opinion it’s for the best.  Before Maggott was so generic and uninteresting; now he may be a little goofier and full of himself, but it’s entertaining if you go with it.  And really, who wants to take a hero with giant mutant slugs seriously?

As much as the issue is about the new characters, it’s also about how utterly defeated the old ones are.  Longtime readers have seen the mansion destroyed numerous times by this point in continuity, but having it completely stripped bare is a new and even more unsettling visual.  Yes there is no real reason for it, other than Bastion going out of his way to be a tool, but it presents an interesting obstacle for the mutants to overcome, physically and emotionally.

I even really like the stuff with the Juggernaut.  Yes, it’s absurd that Xavier hasn’t willed his assets to any of his students, especially before voluntarily leaving for the government, but this gives us more conflict and tension for the main characters.  Unfortunately as I always say—too bad the stuff with the Juggernaut never really goes anywhere. 

Some minor hang-ups: it is a little convenient that Maggott’s slug could consume a bomb capable of coating three miles of area.  Yes I know Maggott needs something to contribute to his intro, but it is a little forced.  Also, Jubilee, Archangel, and Psylocke have disappeared.  I realize that Kelly already has an overwhelming cast, but it feels strange to have these characters missing, even if Steve Seagle comes up with an excuse for Betsy and Warren later.  It’s just odd that Jubilee would leave before this was resolved, but I understand she would’ve had nothing to contribute to the story.

In the span of this issue, Kelly delivers a fun one-and-done story while also setting up a number of plot threads, most of which will go unfulfilled.  He clearly has a handle on where he wants to go, and all the new characters have unique and compelling voices.  My only regret is that many of these threads go unfurthered and the new characters don’t stay around long enough.  This is the most substantial roster shake up since 1991, and it’s all for the best.  The title has energy and direction that it hasn’t had since Onslaught.

A