X-Men and Dr. Doom Annual '98

X-Men and Dr. Doom Annual '98
Writing: Jorge Gonzalez

Art: Aaron Lopestri

What Went Down:  This story takes place shortly after Uncanny X-Men #5 from the sixties.  Dr. Doom is utilizing a Seer to see the future.  The Seer is showing Doom images of Onslaught.  Although they don’t know the specifics, Doom realizes the danger and power Onslaught represents, and vows to utilize it to the fullest.  Doom also learns that he is not likely to survive his encounter with Onslaught.

Noting a similarity between Onslaught’s armor and that of the new (for 60s Marvel Universe) villain Magneto, Doom decides to travel through time to various points of the villain’s life to discover his connection to Onslaught and steal his power.  Starting with the X-Men’s first battle with Magneto, Doom tells the Seer to lock onto Magneto’s bio-signature to travel to future Magneto battles in the hunt for Onslaught.  After witnessing Magneto’s next defeat from the X-Men, Doom then witnesses Magneto’s first battle with the Giant-Sized team.  Phoenix actually detects the cloaked time platform and confronts Doom, but as the base collapses, Doom is able to escape.  The platform is damaged, and Doom is forced to the Days of Future Past storyline.

Doom leaves the time machine to look for parts.  He witnesses the future X-Men battling Sentinels from Uncanny #143, then escapes with the parts.  After fixing the time machine, Onslaught actually reaches out to the Seer in the time stream, and the old man learns that he is actually Charles Xavier.  The Seer takes Doom to the death of Thunderbird, Xavier’s battle with Dark Phoenix, his transformation into a Brood, and his near-death where he turns over the school to Magneto.

The time travelers actually make it to the present (meaning 1998 Marvel Universe), where Magneto is sitting on a throne by himself.  Doom attacks Magneto to weaken his mental guards so the Seer can learn about Onslaught.  After the battle, Doom escapes, and the pair travels to the events of X-Men #25, where Xavier shut off Magneto’s mind, planting the seeds of Onslaught.  Doom tries to absorb the Dark Mass to increase his power, but the entity is too powerful, so Doom has to return to his own time.  Upon returning, Doom kills the Seer because knowledge is power, and Doom doesn’t share power. 

How It Was:  This is a strange one, but not necessarily in a bad way.  In 1998, the theme of all Marvel’s annuals was team ups.  For example the Avengers annual had them team up with Squadron Supreme, and Captain America and Iron Man shared an annual.  Some of the team ups even involved bringing back bizarre obscure characters like Devil Dinosaur and Machine Man to team up with more established characters.  Anyways, the annual for X-Men features Doctor Doom.

Instead of actually having the X-Men team up with or fight Doom, we have a Doom story taking place early in the Marvel Universe’s history where he goes through a clip show of X-Men events to put the histories of Magneto and Xavier into context.  Because it would be weird to have Doom talking to himself for the whole issue, we get the one-off side character of the Seer introduced to exchange exposition with Doom and then unceremoniously get killed off when his purpose is fulfilled.

The premise is also a little weak as well because it involves Doom going after Onslaught.  We’re to understand that Doom can travel into the future to see how Magneto lost a million battles with the X-Men, so why doesn’t Doom just travel to see how Onslaught is defeated, figure out how he dies, and prevent it?  Moreover, why doesn’t he just observe one of his battles with the FF in the future, note how he loses, and change it?  So it invites all the questions that time travel stories invite without giving any satisfying answers.  Also we know Doom isn’t going to alter history, so he can’t succeed, but it really is hard to believe that he would know about Onslaught for so long and do nothing until it resurfaced again decades later.

So what we have is Doom visiting big moments in X-history, commenting on how feeble or respectable the X-Men and Magneto are at any given moment, then jumping to the next moment.  It does sort of work in a weird nostalgia stroking way.  It is neat to see all these big moments back to back, seeing how far the X-Men have come in thirty years of continuity, and remembering all the weird and unexpected turns they’ve taken.  Plus Lopestri’s art is remarkable and really captures the Silver Age feel of the story.  Even better, Gonzalez’s script takes advantage of Marvel continuity.  It’s neat to see that the confrontation Doom has with Phoenix actually fits into the story in Uncanny #113 if you ever get a chance to read it.  He does miss a chance to give hints of the present day Magneto’s plans though; it’s obvious the X-office had no idea what they were doing with Magneto, since when Doom shows up in our present, Magneto’s just sitting on a throne by himself for no reason.

Don’t get me wrong, this double-sized story is really padded and stretched out, and the main conflict isn’t very interesting. But there is just something entertaining, at least on a base level, about revisiting these memorable moments.  You’d probably be better off just rereading the original stories (I have the Essential X-Men black and white collections because you get a lot of story for a small price), but this one is fun, if completely inconsequential. 

B-

Uncanny X-Men #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 #354

Uncanny X-Men #354
Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down:  We open on Rogue running through the woods and crying.  Meanwhile, Sauron is in a big fight with the other X-Men.  Thanks to Wolverine’s absorbed energy, Sauron is able to take down Cannonball.  While chasing Iceman, Sauron remembers the events that led him here.  After fighting Ka-Zar in a one-shot, Sauron hid in the jungle lord’s luggage when he moved to New York.  After absorbing the life force of a random mutant off the street, he was drawn to the mansion because of the heat wave, since pterodactyls are cold-blooded.

Sauron pulls a gun out and shoots Storm.  Iceman knocks it away, but Sauron is able to hypnotize him into thinking Jubilee is a monster.  Maggott jumps on Sauron’s back in his blue super-powered form, but Sauron shakes him off, taking out Cannonball in the process.  In space, Bishop is now able to talk.  He questions Deathbird about not saving the other X-Men, saying he understands.  His internal monologue reveals that he knows Deathbird is insane.  Then their ship is attacked by a giant sphere shaped ship. 

Rogue returns to the mansion to find Joseph lying in a wrecked room.  It’s unknown if Magneto beat him and destroyed the room, or if Joseph just lost control of himself.  Rogue starts CPR, and Marrow walks in on her, commenting that Rogue should know better.  Joseph wakes up, and Rogue runs off again.

Jubilee takes on Sauron by herself.  Impressively, she manages to hold him off for a while, but she’s eventually knocked out.  In Alaska, Cyclops is trying to shoot holes through the middle of snack chips as part of personal training and rehabilitation.  Jean walks in wearing her Phoenix costume.

As Sauron decides which X-Man to absorb first, Wolverine wakes up and the two fight.  Sauron is about to triumph when Jubilee blasts his ears at full power, knocking him out.  We learn that Storm was only grazed by the gun, and Wolverine wants to find Rogue.

Speaking of Rogue, she’s in a taxicab on her way to the Agee Institute to learn about getting her powers removed.  Rogue has a flashback that reveals that she did indeed touch Wolverine while he was unconscious.

How It Was:  I cannot remember the last the time the majority of the X-Men team took on a threat together; it may’ve been Onslaught.  All I know is that most of Lobdell’s run was small pieces that focused on smaller groups of characters, or even solo characters.  Outside of the Sentinels from OZT, this is the first serious threat they’ve faced in a while.  And as unlikely as it is that Sauron could take on six X-Men, Seagle sells it by having the villain dismantle the team quickly.  Pulling a gun is an odd choice for an X-Men villain, but I’ll let it go.  Sauron’s reason for being there, that he was drawn to the warmer climate, is a little harder to swallow, but it’s still a pretty good fight.

I’m confused about the direction of the Joseph thread.  After his seizure was ignored by Wolverine last issue, Rogue finds him unconscious in a demolished room.  Was he attacked by Magneto?  Did he lose control of his powers?  It would be nice if I could tell what the heck was happening here.  Marrow’s undefined status on the team is also confusing.  After X-Men #72 it seemed like Marrow was leaving the team, but she keeps popping up in Uncanny and interacting with the characters. 

Rogue is still the driving force this issue.  She starts out slow this issue; always running off and crying does get a little old after a while.  But the end is so good when it’s revealed that she did touch Wolverine while he was unconscious.  This is a pretty dark place to take the character, but also an intriguing one.  I like the idea of her fighting her own temptations to touch, and not always being able to win.

This is a pretty decent fight, with some great moments from Jubilee.  Characters like Joseph and Iceman do get slighted, but the developments with Rogue are really intriguing.  While Sauron doesn’t have a great reason to be here, he makes for a good random villain of the week.  I’m just happy to see the X-Men being super heroes again.

B