Uncanny X-Men #305

Uncanny X-Men #305
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Jan Duresma

What Went Down: Before I hear any complaints: no this isn’t a mistake and yes there is a storyline that takes place smack dab in the middle of the Fatal Attractions crossover. Today, Marvel probably would have labeled the issues in question as some kind of crossover fallout event, but the 90s were simpler times.

Anyways, mysterious soldiers that somewhat resemble Judge Dredd are camped outside of Opal Tanaka’s house, but they are ambushed by the X-Men. Rogue, Bishop, and Iceman defeat the soldiers, although two of them dissolve into pink slime. Opal is also quite angry with Iceman for being used as bait and at the very absurdity of her boyfriend’s life. She finally breaks up with Iceman, this time permanently.

In Washington, Storm and the Professor are attending a fancy party: among the guests are Senator Kelly and an ambassador by the name of St. Croix (no relation to Monet St. Croix, a character who will appear later in this title). The ambassador turns out to be a human member of Xavier’s Mutant Underground, a group dedicated to preserving mutantkind by keeping Xavier informed. Storm asks the ambassador why he puts his career and life on the line for mutants, and the Ambassador tells the story of his wife Lenore who was injured by a drunk driver, and was denied medical care because it triggered her mutation and scared away the paramedics, resulting in her death.

In the Blackbird, Iceman’s team is attempting to interrogate the surviving member of the soldiers. Rogue tries absorbing his memories, but the result causes her physical form to dissolve. The reason for this is that the soldier is an early form of the Phalanx, an alien race that is made up of techno-organic fibers. Outside the party, Xavier asks Storm to steal data on a power suit that is being tested to use against Magneto. Storm is hesitant to do so.

Bishop uses his powers to absorb some of Rogue’s powers so that she will regain her form. Back in D.C., Storm recalls encountering Xavier when she was a child. As she breaks into the facility, she questions whether or not Xavier might have used his powers to plant a hypnotic suggestion that compelled her to join the X-Men. Storm returns to Xavier with a disk containing the schematics of the suit, but she refuses to destroy it since the humans have every right to try to protect themselves. Storm leaves Xavier and tells him that she will never steal for him again.

How It Was: An odd little interlude that introduces us to the Phalanx (even though we don’t know what they’re called yet), ends Iceman’s go nowhere relationship with Opal, and introduces some potentially interesting revelations about the relationship between Storm and Professor X that are never mentioned again. The fight between the X-Men and the soldiers at the beginning of the issue is enjoyable enough, and I like the twist that the soldiers explode into goo and cause the X-Men to question each other’s techniques. Also the visual of Rogue absorbing the one soldier’s powers is very cool looking. Opal’s rationale for dumping Bobby is understandable, but not necessarily groundbreaking; it’s hard to be affected by this scene knowing that Iceman and Opal were hardly a couple at this point anyway, and the breakup doesn’t exactly affect Bobby long term.

Lobdell gets to show off his character skills with Storm and the Professor; St. Croix is an unremarkable character with a somewhat compelling back story. But what is really interesting to see is a Professor X who has become even more driven to stop Magneto after seeing a driven Magneto who is ready to finally end the conflict between humans and mutants. Storm’s recollections about her childhood seem convenient to the plot, but they do offer some potentially explosive revelations if they ever turn out to be true. Unfortunately the subject is never touched upon again, and the plot with the power suit is dealt with in a back up strip in X-Men Unlimited. A pretty average issue all told.

B

Uncanny X-Men #290

Uncanny X-Men #290
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Whilce Portacio

What Went Down: Storm’s on the cover standing in the rain; that means a happy ending for her subplot, right? At any rate, the book opens on Iceman’s girlfriend Opal and his parents hiding behind an ice wall. Iceman’s father, an incredible racist, hates Opal because she is Asian (although it’s the 90’s, so it’s still considered politically correct to say Oriental). He also blames her for the appearance of the Cyburai. In case you haven’t guessed it, the Cyburai are samurai warriors who have cybernetic enhancements to their bodies.

On the other side of the wall, Iceman is fighting the four Cyburai with the assistance of Hiro, Opal’s former boyfriend/cousin.

Back in Westchester, Colossus and his brother, Mikhail, are outside a travel agency. Peter is going to get tickets so that they can both go to Russia, and Mikhail can be reunited with their family. You might be asking why they don’t just take one of the X-Men’s jets. All I have to say is that is a very good question. After Peter goes inside, Mikhail has a flashback to when he killed all of the people in the void with his powers. As this is happening, a pizza boy bumps into him, and Mikhail turns him into a tree. Yes, he has very vague powers that seem to change to fit the occasion. Colossus doesn’t see what happens, and both men go home.

At the same time Storm is flying around and considering Forge’s proposal. At the mansion, Forge and Jean Grey are discussing the proposal. Forge is bitter that Storm had to think about the proposal when he loves her more than anything. He asks Jean if the stray thoughts she picks up off Storm indicate whether or not she reciprocates that love as much as he does. Strangely, Jean’s answer seems to indicate that Storm does not.

Back at the restaurant, the fight is still going on. When asked why they want to kill Bobby’s parents, the Cyburai just mutter a bunch of generic stuff about honor. During the fight, Hiro says some impressive things about Opal that impress her a lot. Hiro realizes that he and Iceman are outmatched, so he tells Iceman to get Opal to safety because he has a plan.

Outside the mansion, Bishop is meditating in the rain. Mystique comes out to taunt him by turning into Randall to make him feel guilty. Right as Bishop is about to shoot her, Forge comes out to stop him.

As Iceman and Opal make their getaway, Hiro blows himself up, taking out the Cyburai with him. Iceman thinks he teleported away, but Opal claims she can feel that he is still there. She is devastated and resents Bobby for this.

Finally, Storm returns to talk to Forge, but before she can say anything, Forge tells her he’s leaving with Mystique because she actually needs him. After he leaves, Storm reveals that she was going to say yes.

How It Was: Pretty much the same as what I said about the last issue. The stuff with Storm is great; the stuff with Iceman…not so much. The real problem is that the Cyburai are just really crappy villains. None of them have names or personalities, and they just come off as so generic. If you play any kung-fu fighting game, you’ll probably see the same designs for the Cyburai as you will for the game’s enemies: the fat, bald guy, the long haired guy with a goatee, the shorthaired, skinny guy. Hiro is no better, and all anybody can do is talk about honor or reiterate plot points from the X-Factor story where they first appeared. Absolutely horrible.

The plot with Storm is much, much better as it is not predictable, and it explores the complexities of their personalities. Forge comes to believe that Storm has developed a façade as a tough, emotionless leader and that she is afraid to allow herself to be viewed in any other light. That’s not a bad assessment, since while the character of Storm has always been established as the tough but wise leader who gets the job done, the stress of maintaining that presence would start to wear on a normal person. The dialogue here is subtle and very well done. As for the parts with Mystique, she jumps in and out of lucidity at pretty convenient times, although this might be intentional to show that she is faking it. Otherwise, it’s just annoying.

Quick note—what’s up with Mikhail’s powers? First he can control portals, and then he can turn people into trees. In the next arc he gains even more powers, and it’s a little frustrating.

This is Portacio’s last issue of Uncanny, and it’s a pretty good one to go out on as far as the work on Storm goes. And even though it’s a dreadful storyline, the Cyburai parts still look good.

This issue ends a quaint little story about why it sucks to date superheroes—whether they have issues of their own or they are always getting attacked by villains. I’d still recommend it, but only for the Storm/Forge material.

B

Uncanny X-Men #289

Uncanny X-Men #289
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Whilce Portacio

What Went Down: We begin with Storm and Bishop together in the mansion. They are looking at portraits of the X-Men over the years, and Storm is reiterating how the X-Men strive for peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. Poor Bishop continues to insist that he understands, but he hasn’t had an opportunity to prove it yet.

Several floors below, Iceman is getting ready for a date with Opal Tanaka and needs help with his bow tie. He asks for help from Forge, who also has no idea. Bobby asks Forge if he wants to talk about his relationship with Storm, but he declines.

Outside Jean Grey and Professor X are having a tender father/daughter type moment where they discuss the reasons they do what they do and the sacrifices that they all have made. Jean Grey tries to bring up the Professor’s paralysis, but he also declines.

Over in Long Island the Drakes, Iceman’s parents, are getting ready to go to dinner and meet Bobby’s girlfriend Opal; Mr. Drake is an incredible racist, and it boggles the mind why Bobby or his mother would agree to this dinner. Hiro, Opal’s cousin/ex-boyfriend I think, is observing the Drakes when a police officer surprises him. The cop tries to arrest Hiro, but Hiro knocks him out instead.

Bobby finally gets help with his tie from Archangel, who is also depressed because he feels that he isn’t good enough to date anybody, what with having blue skin and all. After Bobby leaves, Archangel is surprised by a version of himself from before he was transformed by Apocalypse. After beating up the imposter, the false Angel turns out to be Mystique, who is staying with the X-Men since Wolverine #52. Mystique is suffering from some kind of dementia due to the death of her good friend Destiny and as a result from her constant shape changing.

Mystique claims she was only trying to help Warren by having him confront his depression; Warren flies away angry as Storm chews out Mystique for meddling. Forge comes to Mystique’s defense, although it is unclear whether he actually agrees with her or if he is just doing it because he is mad at Storm. Storm senses that Forge is projecting his emotions about their relationship, and he storms off.

Storm and Forge finally acknowledge their relationship for the first time since the relaunch. Forge accuses Storm of being too afraid to live any role other than that of X-Man, and that she refuses to have a life of her own. Then he asks her to marry him.

At the restaurant, Bobby introduces Opal to his folks; his mother is warm and friendly, while his father is a complete jerk. Right as Bobby is about to confront his father about his behavior, Hiro shows up in the restaurant saying that his family is about to die. Bobby mistakes this as a threat against his family, so Hiro informs him that he is not the one who wants them dead. Just then the Cyburai burst in, pronouncing that Robert Drake’s parents must die.

How It Was: This is somewhat of a landmark issue as far as the creative team goes. It marks the beginning of Whilce Portacio’s last story arc before abandoning Marvel to cofound Image Comics, and it marks the beginning of Scott Lobdell’s run on the book. While not quite as long as Claremont’s, Lobdell wrote Uncanny from this issue to issue #349, as well as X-Men on and off throughout that period. So get used to him because I’m going to be writing a lot about his work for the next couple of months.

As for the issue itself, it is a textbook example of your average Scott Lobdell work; the quiet character scenes at the mansion are very good, and the action scenes are kind of dull and boring. Lobdell does his best work when he’s having characters express feelings and emotion, but when they go to fight actual villains... well I think the use of the Cyburai says it all. More on them next post.

The highlight of the book is Storm and Forge’s relationship. At this point the two characters hadn’t had very many opportunities to interact in any of the books. Rather than just forgetting about the relationship, Lobdell capitalizes on the fact by having Forge question why Storm hasn’t made an attempt to make their relationship a priority. Some people might say that Forge goes a little overboard on her, but I think he’s perfectly in the right. When she answers her duties as an X-Man, it gives him all the justification to lay into her about how she views herself and others. It’s really nice to see a super hero relationship struggle for such a common, normal reason, as opposed to having ex-wives pop up or one of the characters die.

The stuff with Archangel struggling with his identity is also quite good, and Lobdell makes good use of having to be stuck with Mystique in the mansion. The scenes with Iceman and his parents are slightly harder to get through. His father is just so blatantly over the top, I just can’t believe any member of his family would think this was a good idea. I’m not saying it’s completely awful, since most prejudices are narrow-minded, unjustified, and illogical; it’s just that every reader knows that the only place for Bobby’s father to go as a character is to have him realize what a fool he’s been and become more enlightened. And he does…it just takes about six years until it happens.

The arts fine—Storm’s eyes are back to normal…thank goodness. You know the words, so sing along—Portacio draws some beautiful characters, but the majority of his backgrounds are just solid colors. Oh and somebody forgot to color in Storm’s face on a page. This issue’s not bad, just nothing special.

B