X-Men Unlimited #3

X-Men Unlimited #3

Writing: Fabian Nicieza

Art: Mike McKone

This issue takes place between Uncanny #308 and X-Men #28

What Went Down:  Maverick breaks into a church to discover the grisly murder of a priest.  He is tracking Sabretooth, and discovers the mutant holding another dead priest.  Sabretooth is on a killing spree because his assistant Birdy, a telepath, died and is no longer around to give him the “glow” which calms him down.  The two fight, and Sabretooth manages to stab Maverick with his claws before fleeing.  Maverick decides he needs Wolverine’s help.  In Germany, we see an old man named Mr. Geinstach attempting to hire a mercenary named Bashur to kill Sabretooth because of his killing spree.  It turns out all the victims were members of a government operation, even the priest.  Bashur refuses the job since the potential for failure is so high, but recommends Maverick and Wolverine.  He also deduces that Sabretooth’s next target will be in Japan due to the conspiracy.

In Westchester, Gambit is freaking out as Rogue drives like a maniac on the road; Maverick is tracking them.  When the X-Men return to the mansion, Bishop greets them with his guns drawn.  He was worried because they entered without activating the perimeter override, but apparently it can just read biosignatures, so it doesn’t matter.  While all the X-Men argue, Maverick attacks them with anesthetic gas and tranquilizer darts.  After taking down the three X-Men, Beast and Professor X show up and calmly ask Maverick what he’s doing.  He’s here to recruit Wolverine, and decided it was somehow easier to attack the X-Men first.  Beast explains that Wolverine left the team after losing his adamantium, but offers the X-Men’s help.

Sabretooth meets with the merc Bashur, asking where he can find a telepath.  Bashur tells him that there is one on the Yahsida estate, and that Maverick is already on his way.  On the Blackbird, Bashur contacts Maverick and tells him what he told Sabretooth.  Maverick and the X-Men debate whether they should kill Sabretooth, and the team decides to split up.  Rogue, Gambit, and Bishop go to Germany to protect Geintach, while Beast and Maverick go to Japan.

In Germany the X-Men find everyone dead, and Sabretooth ambushes them.  Rogue accidentally absorbs Creed’s memories, and Bishop is forced to let Creed go for Rogue’s life.  In Japan, the remaining two protagonists meet with the Silver Samurai and agree to help him fight Sabretooth, despite having been adversaries as recently as X-Men #22. 

Sabretooth fights through the ninja guards and discovers that the telepath in question is an old man whose mind shut down after the bombing at Nagasaki.  The man wakes up long enough to link everyone’s minds.  Creed thinks back to his Team X days when he was assigned to kill a man and his family.  Creed had to chase the young boy, who only wanted to say goodbye to his pet rabbit. Sabretooth has been killing everyone connected to this operation.  When Beast wakes up, the old man has been killed by Sabretooth, with messages of help written in blood on the walls. 

Sabretooth decides to go to the X-Mansion.  Professor X calmly greets him and holds him off with his mental powers. The X-Men show up and Bishop shoots Creed in the head.  Using this opportunity, Xavier enters Creed’s mind to view a memory of a young Creed locked in a basement and forced to kill a rabbit to survive.  Having learned harshly that killing is the only way to survive, Xavier feels sympathy for Sabretooth and offers to help him.   He tells the X-Men that Sabretooth will be staying.  We end on Creed and Xavier standing in the Danger Room simulating the outdoors.  Xavier explains that he is a prisoner, and that Charles is man enough to stop him.

How It Was:  This is a slight improvement over last issue and does significantly impact the main titles for years to come.  Also it works a lot better because the focus of the story, Sabretooth, has a lot more to do and say this time, as opposed to dozens of people just talking about him.  Sabretooth actually feels dangerous here as he’s finally allowed to kill people, and while the bunny rabbit thing is corny, I like what it says about the character.  The idea that he was conditioned as a young child to think that killing is a means to survival, that attachment is a weakness, well that’s as good a take on what motivates Sabretooth as any.  It’s better than, “I just like killing people because I’m evil.”

The X-Men don’t come out too well this issue.  They get taken down once by Maverick and again by Sabretooth in a matter of a few panels.  What’s worse is how repetitive the action is.  Sabretooth holds a character by the neck and threatens to kill them no less than three times this issue.  Although I will admit that the repetition does pay off in the climax when Bishop once again has Sabretooth at gunpoint and just shoots him in the head.  Maverick doesn’t get a lot to do once he shows up to explain the plot to the X-Men, and the Silver Samurai is similarly wasted.  Sure we get to see him eventually in his armor carrying his cool glowing sword, but he doesn’t ever actually use it.  His only role is to be the caretaker of the plot device old man.

You know who does come out great in this issue?  Xavier.  Man he’s tough, not even blinking when confronted by Maverick or Sabretooth.  The surety of his position is fantastic as he makes his decisions without giving a crap about his students’ positions because he knows that morally he’s right.  Who are they to judge Sabretooth when he hasn’t had any of the benefits that the other X-Men have had?

Mike McKone’s art is disappointing.  When characters are standing around and talking, they look fantastic, but any time they fight on the same panel it looks awkward and stiff.  Thus the emotional stuff works a great deal better, and the action is dialed back quite a bit.  There’s one bizarre sequence where the X-Men are between Sabretooth and the telepath, so he dives through a door or window and ends up next to the telepath.  Also Gambit’s eyes should be red in the opening, but that’s not McKone’s fault.

Ultimately this is a much more satisfying villain-centric story.  It’s still padded out quite a bit (the killing debate could be a little shorter), but there’s enough here to make you think the writers have bright plans for the future of Sabretooth and the X-Men.  Xavier gets some awesome moments, and although Sabretooth’s flashbacks are a little sappy, they work as a way of taking him beyond the two dimensional maniac he’s always been, especially now that Wolverine isn’t around anymore.

For X-Fans

Uncanny X-Men #365

Uncanny X-Men #365

Writer: Steve Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down:  It’s Christmas Eve in Salem Center when Colossus is awakened by a mysterious voice leading him to the attic.  The voice tells Peter to “remember” after doing some crazy things with his perceptions.  Peter immediately goes to Storm, who brushes it off as a bad dream.  Peter thinks the voice has something to do with his latest drawing, but his canvas has mysteriously vanished.

Peter starts to recreate his drawing, but notices a light outside.  Wolverine, Gambit, and Alpha Flight’s Puck are in a cabin enjoying a fire.  Colossus returns to his room and finds his drawing returned with writing on it telling the story of an ice princess who lost her face.  Peter starts a new drawing, but is again interrupted by a noise downstairs.  It turns out that Nightcrawler and Kitty have obtained a tree to decorate for the team. 

After excusing himself, Peter finds Xavier in his study contemplating photos of his students that have passed away over the years.  The two heroes talk about ghosts and spirits, until Peter takes his leave.  Peter begins yet another drawing, believing he is being compelled by the spirit.  It again visits him, leading him again to the attic.

Peter finds a teleportation ring and meets the spirit of his dead sister Illyana.  She explains that she left the portal there before she died, and she needs someone alive to do something for her, but she cannot say it out loud.  After talking, Peter realizes that he has left his picture of Illyana packed away.  After unpacking it, his sister is able to move on.  Peter makes one more sketch before falling asleep.

In the morning it is revealed that Marrow was the one writing on Peter’s pictures; she frames one of them in bones as a thank you for the picture he gave her in X-Men #81. 

How It Was:  Seagle takes a stab at a Dickensian Christmas tale in the Marvel Universe for a post crossover downtime issue.  While this issue is somewhat of a nightmare for continuity enthusiasts, it does capture the somber tone perfectly without becoming too grim and broody.  Colossus is definitely a character who has faded to the background up to this point, so it’s great to see him get some time in the spotlight.  Although he had plenty of time to reflect on his sister’s life in Excalibur, X-Men fans never got a chance to see Peter really process his sister’s death; he just went off to Avalon and then came back one day.  This issue serves as a nice bookend to bridge his previous affiliation with the X-Men up to the here and now.

I also like that it is the members of the Claremont/Byrne era, back from such a long absence, who are again in charge of pulling the “modern” X-Men out of the doldrums of holiday depression.  Even though they don’t have any subplots of their own going on, it’s nice to see Kitty and Kurt serving a consistent function on the team.  The scene with Xavier is also a nice touch, tying well into the themes and resolution of the story.  It also reestablishes Xavier’s sentimentality after being away from the books for two years.

While the tone of Peter’s confused journey is spot on, there are still some odd choices for the issue.  Puck makes a baffling cameo for no purpose whatsoever.  Also the climax of the story is a little strange if you look at it literally.  Illyana can’t “move on” unless Peter figures out her vague riddle for her?  Unfortunately she cheats by saying “get the picture,” robbing Colossus of the personal victory of being able to help his sister on his own.  And of course with Illyana recently resurrected, I don’t know what that means for this story continuity wise.

I’m also not sure how I feel about Marrow’s turn as sneaky secret Santa.  It feels like a bit of character whiplash; I get that Peter’s efforts last issue were very selfless and well-intentioned, but Marrow’s personality is seemingly changed overnight in one issue.  She’s gone from the new Wolverine to the new Jubilee: smiling, friendly, and excited about Christmas.  To me Marrow should be reluctant to celebrate Christmas, but eventually discover a personal meaning in it for her.  You could argue she does do this, just all off panel.  It is after all Peter’s story.

It’s not the best sentimental issue, but it’s far from the worst either.  Despite the weird mechanics and out of place fairy tale shoehorned in, the dialogue and art make this a relatively enjoyable read.  It’s probably not going to the top of anyone’s reading stack, but it does manage to feel like genuine X-Men Christmas, with a few extraneous parts tacked on.  While it’s odd to see Illyana pop up again, it’s nice to see Peter get some closure sixty-some issues after her death in the X-Men titles.

For X-Men Fans

X-Men #84

X-Men #84

Writing: Joe Kelly

Art: Adam Kubert

What Went Down:  Reunited, Xavier holds Nina as the prime Cerebro basks among the captured X-Men and Brotherhood members.  Elsewhere, Nightcrawler has picked up Rogue, Colossus, Gambit, and Renee.  Using tracking systems, Kurt is able to find the captured X-Men as well. 

Cerebro explains his origins to Xavier.  Its programming was shunted to a different vessel when Bastion and a Prime Sentinel tried to use it.  After gaining sentience, it analyzed its own existence and realized it needed a dream and purpose.  Creating the false X-Men from its own detailed files, Cerebro wanted to create peace by cataloguing all humans and mutants, imprisoning them forever.  Cerebro wants to use Xavier’s telepathy to catalog the entire planet at one time. 

Xavier argues that he still doesn’t have his powers after Onslaught, but Cerebro knows that Nina can return those powers.  Fortunately the remaining X-Men come to the rescue.  Xavier decides that it is time for Nina to return his powers to him, just as the remaining X-Men are captured.  Using his powers Xavier is able to free the X-Men, so Cerebro activates the Xavier Protocols—the files on the weaknesses of every X-Man.  The X-Men are put through excruciating torments, but it is all revealed to be an illusion from Xavier and Nina.

The X-Men tear apart the Cerebrites, and Xavier uses his powers to show the Prime Cerebro the minds of humanity, not just their genetic codes.  Before it dies, Cerebro apologizes to the X-Men for not seeing how unique and special the world is. 

How It Was:  Well this issue concludes much as you’d expect it: Xavier gets his powers back and Cerebro is vanquished.  The main difference between this issue and the previous ones is that Kelly and Kubert both have the entire team to utilize in the fight, and they find a way to give every character a moment to shine. Interestingly, the Brotherhood is never brought up at any point other than when they are shown as Cerebro’s captives. 

Probably the best moment is the double page spread where the Xavier Protocols are used on the X-Men.  It’s a dark and striking visual that stands up even if the moment itself is revealed to be a hoax.  As with the Machine Man/Bastion story, I am baffled by the idea that telepaths can use their powers on machines to fool them, but whatever.  It’s a standard X-Men solution, and Kelly does try very hard to sell the idea of Cerebro gaining true sentience as a response to Bastion’s attack. 

The imagery in the astral plane makes for another amazing visual, causing me to be more forgiving of the sad, redemptive ending that comes out of nowhere.  It’s hard to feel sympathy towards Cerebro when he’s been such a bland villain…cataloguing people by locking them into eggs.  Still, it’s a good concluding fight and some of Adam Kubert’s strongest work.  Even if the Hunt for Xavier was too long and stretched out, it had its moments.  It’s just a shame that it had to stick so close to its parallel structure, almost devoid of novelty or surprise.  But this is still a solid conclusion.

For Comics Fans

Uncanny X-Men #364

Uncanny X-Men #364

Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Lenil Francis Yu

What Went Down:  The Prime Cerebro unit is monitoring world events and notes that it is likely that Magneto will be surfacing soon. It orders a self-destruct sequence of its base, which includes the forms of the fake X-Men from Uncanny #360 to hide any evidence. 

At Alcatraz the X-Men and the Brotherhood are trying desperately to defeat the Beta Cerbrite.  Kitty tries to evacuate the Professor, but Post of the Brotherhood refuses to allow it.  The Cerebrite fires a beam at Toad, causing him to disappear, just as Storm did last issue. Nightcrawler and Mimic use Kurt’s teleportation powers to teleport the Cerebro robot away.

Blob and Post won’t let Kitty take the Professor because they see Xavier as their only hope. The X-Men fight the Brotherhood until Cerebro returns.  Exhausted from teleporting the Cerebrite, Nightcrawler returns to the Blackbird and radios the other team of X-Men for help. Of course, they’re busy with their own Cerebrite, so they don’t answer.  Kitty and Marrow try to rescue Xavier, but they manage to phase right where the battle is occurring.  The Cerebrite chases Kitty, and the robot shoots her, making her disappear as well.  It then takes out the remaining members of the Brotherhood.  Xavier explains that they’re not dead, just moved to the main Cerebro; Wolverine decides he and Marrow need to be captured to rescue their allies.  Nightcrawler sees everyone get shot as he brings the Blackbird in to rescue them.  He decides to take the plane to Russia to get reinforcements from the other team.

How It Was:   The opening of this issue feels like somebody remembered that the phantom X-Men from Uncanny #360 were tied to this Cerebro story at the last minute.  So those characters are all conveniently disposed of in three pages.  The rest of this issue is another big fight with a Cerebro robot.  Lenil Francis Yu replaces Bachalo, and boy…their styles couldn’t be farther apart if the editors tried.  Yu specializes in darker tones and more realistic proportions, which works for the most part.  He draws Post like a ghost made out of rocks, and his Marrow is a little too attractive, but overall it looks great.  I love the detail of Kitty, Toad, and Nightcrawler using Marrow’s bone shards to attack the robot since none of them have offensive powers. 

This fight is a lot less interesting, and I think it basically comes down to the fact that all the X-Men and most of the Brotherhood here just don’t have a big variety of offensive powers.  All of them pretty much just hit people, and that’s not as exciting too look at.  Plus the Brotherhood has to have an obligatory disagreement with the X-Men in the middle that makes no sense; if they care about Xavier, as a mentor or asset, why wouldn’t they want the crippled and powerless man out of the way of the huge battle?

Once again we have a Seagle book ending the same way the previous Kelly issue did, this time with the Cerebrite flying away triumphant with its quarry after soundly defeating the X-Men.  And once again the ending is diminished by the fact that we just saw this very thing happen last issue.  It’s a shame that Seagle has to follow up all the Kelly issues with the exact same structures, plus he’s been saddled by a weaker and less visually engaging team.  Even the addition of the Brotherhood can’t make this one stand out.

For X-Fans

Uncanny X-Men #363

Uncanny X-Men #363

Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down:  We open on what I think is a number of the creators of this very comic discussing chocolate at Ghiradelli Square when they are interrupted by falling debris from the sky.  It turns out to be another Cerebro unit—this one being the Beta unit.  At Alcatraz the Toad, who now speaks only in rhyme for some reason, takes an apple to a captive Charles Xavier. 

At the Golden Gate Park, the other four X-Men discuss how they are going to proceed.  Nightcrawler gets to show off the cloaking device he installed on the Blackbird.  Because the X-Men only own one portable Cerebro, this team is depending on Wolverine to track Xavier.  As the X-Men strategize, a local couple is attacked by the Beta Cerebrite, which overwhelms and “catalogs” them.

Despite having a futuristic space age cloaking device for their ship, the X-Men have neglected to bring normal clothes to walk the streets of San Francisco in.  Kitty is forced to take coats from a homeless vagrant, but she leaves some money for him. As they walk the streets, Nightcrawler finds a twenty in one of the pockets and buys a necklace for Kitty. 

Wolverine finds a building with Charles’ scent, but all they find is a smashed up wheelchair.  Marrow gets into a confrontation with a punk, but Logan diffuses it.  In a secret base called Area 52, another Cerebro robot sneaks in and retrieves some nanotechnology developed by Bastion.

After failing to find Professor X, Wolverine takes the team to Chinatown where they meet a wise Chinese person named Black Crane, who is from Logan’s past.  Black Crane is able to see that Professor X is at Alcatraz, but another is searching for him.  Outside Kurt gives Kitty the necklace he bought her.

Arriving at Alcatraz, the X-Men are attacked by the new Brotherhood of Mutants.  The X-Men are thrown off because the Brotherhood is utilizing teamwork and tactics that they normally do not display.  The fight is stopped by Professor X, who has been training the Brotherhood to combat Cerebro.  The Brotherhood is also responsible for breaking Xavier out of the Hulkbuster base.  The issue ends with the Beta Cerebro bursting through the wall and attacking. 

How It Was:  Note to publishers: maybe you shouldn’t spoil your one minor twist on the cover.  One could argue that this reveal is spoiled by the first scene with Toad and Xavier, but up to this point Charles is only revealed to be a prisoner.  Not that this is a huge spoiler, it’s just that after months of buildup, one would think that the discovery of Xavier might hold some type of surprise.  Either way it doesn’t really matter since the Xavier training the Brotherhood angle is dropped as quickly as it is introduced. 

As for the rest of the issue, it’s mostly more stretching out the hunt.  The first half of the issue has the X-Men doing such exciting things as shopping in downtown San Francisco, threatening hipsters, and meeting a stereotypically wise elderly Asian man who just tells the where to go.  Why didn’t they talk to this guy months ago? While Seagle is teasing a potential romance between Nightcrawler and Kitty, it’s really subtle and almost completely forgotten after this issue if I remember right.  Other than that, the characters really don’t have much to do except reiterate events of past issues leading up to this point and agonize over not having enough money to shop for jewelry.  This team is so terrible that they don’t even think to bring clothes to change into when they’re visiting downtown San Francisco!  The other team had enough time to put on coats and boots for the snowy mountains…it’s not hard.

After being told by Black Crane to get the story moving, the X-Men fight the Brotherhood for a couple of pages.  Bachalo’s art shows off the scope of the destruction and craziness quite well, but his superdeformed style makes some of the characters look odd.  His Wolverine looks more like Beast, his Blob changes sizes by the panel, and his Marrow has dreadlocks somehow. 

Of course if you read X-Men #82, you already know that the cliffhanger is once again going to be another Cerebro robot, and it’s pretty sad that a six part story has to use the same ending twice in a row.  Yes we’re supposed to glimpse the events from each team’s side, but this is a pretty unoriginal structure they’re using.  The X-Men issues at least had some novel uses of artwork to move the story, as well as the wonderful tension between Gambit and the rest of the team.  Here there is none of that, so all we get is an average story that ends with a very lackluster reunion with Xavier.

For Completists

Uncanny X-Men #362

Uncanny X-Men #362

Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down:  The SHIELD Helicarrier shows up over a farm in Nebraska where Legacy Virus victim Pyro is once again losing control of his powers.  Nick Fury calls the X-Men in because Pyro is asking for Xavier and something has him frightened.  The X-Men agree to help.

Xavier has a dream where harmony has been achieved between man and mutant.  He wakes from the dream a prisoner in a dark place.  Over at Cecilia Reyes’ doctor’s office, Cecilia receives a large package from Muir Island. 

The X-Men split up with half going after Pyro while the others help fire fighters and rescue workers.  Along the way Gambit has an internal conversation with the mystery parasite inhabiting his body.  As the X-Men work, they all discuss their feelings about Charles Xavier, what he means to them, and the hope they have for finding him.  Marrow is unimpressed with all of this.

Pyro’s powers are so out of control that Colossus can feel the flames through his metal skin. This is disconcerting because Gambit is attacked by a flame woman who kisses him.  Storm makes it rain, and creates a collapsing air mass.  They chase Pyro and Wolverine punches him out.  He then notices a mysterious figure inside the flames directly behind Pyro.  The figure announces a systems failure and melts. Before he passes out, Pyro tells the X-Men that Xavier sent him before exploding into flames.  Fury arrests him and the X-Men leave. 

Back at the mansion, the giant package Cecilia received for the X-Men turns out to be a new Cerebro unit to replace the one Bastion stole during OZT.  After setting it up, the X-Men use it to try to locate Charles Xavier.  The only problem is that there are two separate signals for Xavier; one in Russia, and the other in San Francisco.  The X-Men declare that they will find their mentor.  In both locations, robots crash to the ground, both searching for Xavier. 

How It Was:  The Hunt for Xavier kicks off with the X-Men running around and not doing a whole lot of anything.  This issue can’t really be described as a fight with Pyro, since most of the story is rescuing civilians, chasing after the villain, and talking about Xavier.  And maybe that’s a necessary evil since Professor X has been out of circulation for almost two years at this point.  Marrow is used as the new reader’s entry point as she quizzes each X-Man on the significance of Professor X and what he means to the team.

At this point in X-History it was well established that the writers of both books wanted to bring the X-Men back to basics with less dependence on technology.  Hence, their technology was stolen or destroyed by Bastion.  So imagine my surprise when the X-Men’s sophisticated mutant detecting computer Cerebro is casually replaced when Moira Mactaggert decides to send them a spare.  Why did she wait so long, especially when she knows that Charles is missing?  This just feels like some lazy plot convenience to detect Charles and get the story on the road. 

As for the rest of the story, it’s mostly just fighting fire.  At one point Pyro conjures a fire woman to kiss Gambit.  I’m pretty sure this should give him some serious burns and facial disfigurement, but it doesn’t.  Perhaps the mist lady helps him, but this is never explained at all.  Poor Pyro has never been as pathetic as he is taken out by a fire extinguisher from Kitty and one punch from Wolverine; this dying of the Legacy Virus shtick is getting pretty tired for the character. 

This is an okay issue with some weird plotting choices made out of plot necessity.  The revelation of two Xavier signals reeks of the need to pad this story out, but at least the books go bi-weekly to accommodate the long story (remember when six issue stories weren’t an industry norm?  Those were the days.).  Not the most exciting kick off, but it’s also not unreadable.

For X-Fans

X-Men #80

X-Men #80

Writing: Joe Kelly

Art: Brandon Peterson

What Went Down:  Kitty starts off the issue making her escape while the evil X-Men pursue her.  She manages to make it down to the sewers where she finds the captive Peter Corbeau.

Elsewhere in the Florida swamplands, Colossus and Wolverine tear themselves out of the crashed Blackbird.  Wolverine acts abrasive towards Peter, angry about his time as one of Magneto’s Acolytes.  Storm appears to remind him that it is not worse than his marriage to Viper.  Rogue wakes up powerless and is saved from a hungry alligator by Marrow. 

There is more exposition from the blond news reporter, followed by a scene where a scientist and a general discuss the rockets true purpose…to hunt down and kill mutants.  Back in the sewers, Corbeau warns Kitty that she has to stop the rocket from launching.  Kitty escapes, forced to leave Corbeau behind. 

With Storm and Rogue powerless and Nightcrawler badly injured, the X-Men are forced to hike through the swamp.  Colossus helps Marrow remove some of her broken bone shards so new ones will grow.  Marrow mentions that Peter’s brother used to do the same thing for him.  With the team’s spirits down, Storm gives an impassioned speech that inspires them to continue on.  Kitty appears at a copy shop and sends a fax to SHIELD that is intercepted by Xavier.

The X-Men make it to Cape Citadel, just in time for Nightcrawler to feel better and Rogue and Storm to get their powers back.  Kitty also shows up at the control tower, just in time for it to be attacked by the alternate X-Men.  Fortunately the real X-Men show up to save her.  The Grey King is tinkering with the rocket when the true X-Men attack.  A fight ensues and the control team tries to launch the rocket.  In the middle of the fight, Xavier confronts our heroes and demands that they stop interfering with his goals.  The X-Men question his behavior, but Xavier explains that the Benassi Rocket contains hardware to complete a network that can identify and kill mutants with satellite lasers at will.  The X-Men are conflicted about what to do until Wolverine smells him and realizes that this Xavier isn’t even human.  After being attacked, the false Xavier turns into a being of blue energy. 

The Grey King removes the satellite from the rocket to help Xavier catalogue mutants.  The rocket is triggered with the X-Men right where the engines are, but Kitty is able to phase the team to prevent them from being disintegrated.  The rocket has to be stopped because it contains a nuclear payload, so Rogue absorbs Nightcrawler and Colossus’ powers as well as Wolverine’s military knowledge to stop it.  The X-Men stop the other “X-Men” and destroy the satellite while Rogue disarms the rocket.  The blue energy Xavier is appalled that the X-Men stopped him and vows vengeance, and the X-Men steal their enemies’ jet to get home.  The final two pages show the scientific, military, and government officials being grilled about attempting to wipe out mutants through the Benassi rocket.  The last page reveals that the false X-Men are just hard-light programs, and the false Xavier is really Cerebro, the X-Men’s mutant detecting computer, brought to life.

How It Was:  I’ve always liked Joe Kelly’s issues just a little more than Steve Seagle’s, and reading them side by side with the exact same cast and plot makes this preference even more apparent to me.  Both writers have a great handle on the characters, but Kelly just adds more small touches, more humor, and more of an emotional impact altogether.  The scene that exemplifies this the most is Marrow saving Rogue from the gator.  Whereas Seagle’s Marrow is more of an angry kid who rubs everybody the wrong way and doesn’t always realize what she’s saying, Kelly’s Marrow is a jaded, battle hardened youth who points out the weaknesses that others take for granted.  When she stands up to Storm about their odds against the evil X-Men, she’s being realistic, not condescending, and even Rogue and Strom agree with her a little.  Plus the scene of her killing the gator just makes me laugh.  Other stand out moments include Storm’s pep talk and some of the characters’ reflections on Xavier’s meaning to them.

Of course there are some nitpicks.  The worst offense is Rogue being drawn with her pink outfit from Uncanny #342-350 instead of her original green costume that she was wearing last issue.  This always, always bothers me every time I read this story.  Wolverine’s behavior towards Colossus feels a little hypocritical, considering how conflicted Wolverine has always been about straddling the line between hero and killer.  It still kind of works as Wolverine reacting to missing his friend in the only manner he can while maintaining his gruff persona, but it feels a little forced.  Also, there are some issues with the order of events in the story.  Xavier tells the X-Men to process Kitty towards the end of Uncanny #360, then the bad X-Men take out the real ones, then the next issue opens with them trying to capture Kitty, which they should’ve done before attacking the real X-Men.  Oh, and Peter Corbeau serves absolutely no purpose in this story; yeah he warns Kitty about the rocket, but fake Xavier is the one who explains to the X-Men why it’s important.  Corbeau doesn’t even show up in the end; there’s just a brief mention about the officials under investigation because of his testimony.

As for the villains of the story…they’re okay I guess.  They’re not funny, they’re not scary, they’re not really noble…they just kind of do whatever the plot requires of them.  As for the reveal at the end, I like the design of the living Cerebro, even if the concept is a little silly.  Plus the reveal confuses the origins of the all-new X-Men; my understanding of it is although they think they’re real mutants, they’re just programs constructed from Cerebro, made up of file combinations from all the mutants Cerebro knows.  So Rapture is a combination of Angel and Mystique; Landslide is a combination of Sabretooth and Blob; etc.  I can’t remember if this is from future issues, or if I just read this theory somewhere online.  I guess we’ll see.

There is a nice conflict here, not between the two teams, but with the idea of the X-Men’s identities being robbed from them, both by these new villains and the unfortunate circumstances that have left them down and out.  Kelly manages to make it feel significant that the X-Men are reclaiming their agency and their purpose.  Again, all the X-Men just feel perfectly characterized, and although their villains here are forgettable, the stakes of being supplanted or made obsolete feels very real.  It’s nowhere near as good a starting point as X-Men #70 was, but this is admittedly a likeable cast, and both writers have a strong handle on them.

B+

Uncanny X-Men #360

Uncanny X-Men #360

Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down: On the anniversary of Magneto’s first battle with the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #1, a news reporter is covering the controversial launching of the Benassi rocket.  While the government insists it is just carrying camera equipment, skeptics are protesting the secrecy of the project and the nuclear components on the rocket. 

A mysterious bald figure in a wheelchair is collecting a new team of mutants to help him save the world.  There is the Grey King, a graduate assistant with telepathic dampening powers; Chaos, an autistic who can shoot psycho-plasmic force blasts; Mercury, who has liquid metal limbs; Rapture, a nun who is blue and has angel wings; Crux, an ice skater who can shoot fire and ice; and Landslide, a giant brawler.  At the end of the recruitment we see that it is none other than Professor X inviting the mutants to join the X-Men.

On a cruise ship named Titania, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, and Nightcrawler are enjoying a vacation after the disbanding of Excalibur.  The group discusses how it is the anniversary of the X-Men going public, and the ways that this event changed their lives.  Their reverie is interrupted by the new X-Men, who attack the cruise ship.  While Nightcrawler evacuates passengers and Colossus tries to plug a hole created by the fake X-Men, Kitty is captured by the group.

In the sewers of Washington D.C., Marrow, Rogue, Storm, and Wolverine are fighting a high tech security system.  Finding a door with an X on it, the group enters it to find a room outside a lab.  Although they were invited by sometime X-ally Peter Corbeau, it appears Corbeau has been abducted.  A tape left at the crime scene incriminates the X-Men. 

In a bunker in the Florida swamps, the evil X-Men are holed up with the captured Kitty.  Kitty is shocked that the mutants call themselves X-Men, and even more shocked to find that they have intimate knowledge of the real X-Men.  Professor X shows up to chastise Kitty for her behavior.

Inside the Lincoln Memorial, the four remaining X-Men meet with Val Cooper to discuss Corbeau’s disappearance.  Val offers the X-Men resources to help them clear their name.  Over in Salem, Nightcrawler and Colossus have gone to the mansion to enlist the help of the other X-Men.  The mansion is empty except for a shotgun wielding Cecilia Reyes, who is housesitting for the team.  After a brief misunderstanding, Cecilia leads the two heroes to the hanger where the original Blackbird is being housed after it was salvaged in Uncanny #353.  Kurt thinks he can fix it.

Back in Florida, Xavier tells Kitty that he cannot access his emotions because Bastion attempted to bind his functions to a computer with a virus.  Xavier’s detached behavior worries Kitty, as does the fact that he didn’t just ask for her help.  On the X-Men’s borrowed jet, the team observes a press conference outside the Cape Citadel rocket launch where a US director is seemingly assassinated.  We then get a scene where some shadowy government figures discuss how this was a fake distraction to take people’s attention away from what is really on the rocket.

Kitty manages to purge the virus from the computer.  Xavier rewards her by having his X-Men recapture her and prepare her for storage.  Up in the sky, the X-Men’s plane is dismantled in the air.  They assume Magneto is attacking, but it’s actually the fake X-Men.  A mid-air battle takes place, but Storm and Rogue lose their powers due to the Grey King.  Wolverine is left plummeting to the ground, but he is saved by Nightcrawler.  After saving the rest of the team, the Blackbird is shot down by Mercury.  

How It Was:  I had assumed I was done with gimmicky shiny foil cover double-sized issues, but lo and behold here we have two in a row.  Uncanny X-Men #360 and X-Men #80 are celebrating the 35^th anniversary of Uncanny X-Men #1; to my recollection these are the end of the foil-cover era for the X-Men.  These issues also mark some drastic changes to the books, mostly forced upon the writers by editors.  The team has been scaled back to a core cast of seven regulars, Uncanny and X-Men tie into each other regularly making for essentially a bi-weekly reading experience, and the former members of Excalibur are being shuffled back on the team. 

I’m torn about the inclusion of Nightcrawler, Kitty, and Colossus.  On the one hand I’m overjoyed as an X-Men fan to see them since these characters haven’t been on the main X-Men team in almost a decade (Excalibur lasted 125 issues).  On the other hand, it’s clear there is no real reason or story behind having them back on the team—somebody just thought it would be neat, which it is.  But there is something to be said for picking a cast because of potential stories to do and picking a team because people like the characters.  Worst of all, the majority of the new X-Men (Maggott and Cecilia), who had tons of story potential as the characters grew into their heroic roles, have completely been thrown out without any warning.  I really liked both these characters and the books feel more directionless without them.

But I should probably talk about the comic itself.  It’s double-sized, and fairly padded out, although there are some nice action sequences towards the end. A lot of the fluff revolves around the tedious newscaster exposition scenes that just aren’t very interesting.  There’s an incomprehensible attempt to make them more relevant by having a government conspiracy with a faked assassination that makes no sense at all.  If you wanted people to not pay attention to you’re high profile satellite launch, pretending to kill a member of the staff seems like it would be counterproductive.  Having the story take place at Cape Citadel is a nice call back to the first issue of the series, but many of these scenes feel tiresome, constantly reminding the reader about the rocket and that mutants are a divisive issue.  There’s a whole four-page sequence with Val Cooper that serves no purpose other than to say out loud that the X-Men are still hated and mistrusted, and for Val to give the X-Men a TV and a plane.  Also, the necessity of Kitty to “Xavier’s” plan seems arbitrary.

While I really like the homage to Giant-Sized X-Men #1 with Xavier collecting his new team, none of the characters really stand out.  Most of them do feel derivative, although that does tie into their origins, and none of them really come off as likable or menacing.  Plus Chaos, the autistic character, speaks in these one-word fragments, and I’ve never known any autistic person to do that.  Strangely it is played for comedy most of the time; Nightcrawler even mocks him for it at one point in the story.

Bachalo does a great job making the cruise ship and air battles seem frantic and chaotic.  The X-Men versus guns in the sewer feels a little forced for the sake of action, and I don’t understand how a door in the sewer leads to a vent on the surface where the X-Men can see the hole their friend was abducted in.  Peter Corbeau is pulled out from comic limbo for no other purpose then he was a scientist in that one space story in the seventies.  You know, the Phoenix Saga. 

The mystery over Xavier’s cold demeanor does work really well, and it’s about time the books actually addressed what is up with Charles.  And although I still think the Excalibur recruits feel forced onto this team, they do get some nice moments.  I enjoy the discussion of life without the X-Men where Kurt realizes he’d probably be dead.  There is also a sense of exhilaration from the team when Colossus and Nightcrawler first show up to save them. 

This issue could work a little better as a normal-sized issue.  Take away some of the exposition from the newscaster and Val Cooper, maybe a little more time for us to get to know the evil X-Men and care about them one way or the other, and this could’ve been one of the greats.  It does succeed in feeling like a new direction, it gets the characters right, and it is bookended by two solid action sequences. 

B-

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-

X-Men #67

X-Men #67
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Carlos Pacheco

What Went Down:  Our story now takes us to Israel, where Israeli super soldier Sabra is infiltrating…somewhere…to find information on Operation Zero Tolerance.  Some security guards find her just as she finishes the download, asking her to come with them.  Escorted into a car, the three agents Sabra meets turn out to be Prime Sentinels, and they demand she give up the information she just stole.  Sabra defeats them, and her thoughts explain that she is motivated by the loss of her son Jacob.

In Manhattan, Cecilia and Iceman have made their way to Archangel’s penthouse apartment.  Iceman tries to explain Archangel’s history, but Cecilia doesn’t really care, and both of them are anxious about running into disguised Prime Sentinels.  Marrow observes them as they walk by the sewer.  Inside the apartment, Iceman accidentally attacks Angie Quail, who says she is Candy Southern’s old roommate that is housesitting for Warren.

In New Mexico, Bastion continues to taunt Professor X.  Xavier comes to the conclusion that Bastion wants Xavier to be lying about his power loss because Bastion secretly wants to be stopped.  Bastion insists he is saving humanity.

In New York, Iceman tries to call the X-Men’s allies on a cellphone while Angie tries to get Cecilia to open up about the things that are bothering her.  Iceman’s powers konk out because Angie is actually a Prime Sentinel nullifying them.  Cecilia saves Iceman, and the Sentinel is defeated by a gunshot from behind, courtesy of Charlotte Jones—Archangel’s former girlfriend, a cop, and an X-Men ally.

Charlotte takes the two mutants to the police station for protection.  Cecilia doesn’t trust her, but Bobby insists that Charlotte is a friend.  In another room, we see Charlotte talking to the two bodyguards from Uncanny #346 (the one’s that are really Sentinels).  Operation Zero Tolerance has kidnapped Charlotte’s son, forcing Charlotte to lead her friends into a trap.  On the other side of the two-way mirror, we see that a number of the police officers are also Prime Sentinels.  Just as they are about to attack, the power goes out.  This is thanks to Marrow, who is trying to help our heroes.

How It Was:  More new players and more to like about already-established ones.  I’m still really digging Cecilia and Iceman’s relationship at this point.  While Cecilia still complains a lot, she is far more sympathetic here as it slowly becomes clearer and clearer that Iceman has absolutely no idea what he is doing.  And that’s a really fun direction to see this odd couple in.  Their banter back and forth tells the whole story; their frustration, fear, and growing admiration all come across really well. 

What I’m not too crazy about is the formulaic pattern this story is stuck in: Cecilia and Iceman go someplace to hide, Prime Sentinels ambush them, Cecilia holds them off with her forcefield, an outside force saves them, repeat.  It’s only issue two of this story, and this has already happened two or three times, and it’s not going to stop.  As for the attempt of a misdirect with Angie the housesitter, it probably would have worked better if we’d seen this character once or twice before.

I like the idea of a Mossad trained Israeli Captain America, so it’s too bad that Sabra is little more than a plot device in this story.  She does get a nice scene where she takes out some Sentinels though.  And then Charlotte Jones appears out of nowhere; last time I remember seeing her is the beginning of the Legacy Virus story around Uncanny #298.  The abduction of her son would probably mean a lot more if she appeared in this series with any regularity.  Still, it’s an interesting enough quandary to put our heroes in.  All in all it’s a decent issue.  If you’re not sick of Prime Sentinels yet, the desperation and tension from the protagonists is enough to keep the story captivating.

B

X-Men -1

X-Men –1
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Carlos Pacheco

What Went Down: We are greeted initially by the last page of the preceding issue, followed by some exposition from Stan Lee in an exaggerated fantasy Marvel office.  He discusses how the X-Men have continuously multiplied from the original five, and points out Xavier as the foundation to it all. 

We find Xavier, prior to starting his school, floating in his pool and contemplating his place in the world.  His reverie is interrupted by Amelia Voght: the nurse who helped him after he was paralyzed and became his girlfriend.  Amelia joins him in the pool and tries to get him to see how futile his goal is.  Charles cannot stand to live in his mansion comfortably while knowing there are threats to humanity, both human and mutant. 

Up in space, Magneto is busy constructing his space station Asteroid M.  Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, founding members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants before both turned hero, observe him from inside the base.  Wanda is amazed that Magneto can hold the base together with the strength of his will.  Quicksilver dismisses him as mad, but Scarlet Witch worries if he is reacting in a sane manner to an insane world.  Magneto tells the twins to prepare to travel to Earth.  Pietro does not appreciate being ordered around, and Magneto essentially tells him that under his house, it is his rules. 

Xavier and Amelia wait for Magneto in the ruins of a Nazi concentration camp.  Magneto and the twins show up.  He and Xavier debate over whether humanity can be trusted and over the necessity of subjugating them.  Both men agree they should kill the other to ensure their goals, but neither one can.  Magneto reveals that he knows Amelia’s name and that he and Charles have been watching potential mutants for a long time.  Amelia tries to make Magneto realize how similar the two men are and how they should be working together. 

Outside Asteroid M, Magneto struggles with the decisions he will have to make.  Stan Lee ends the issue, talking over a sleeping Carlos Pacheco on a drawing table.

How It Was:  Poor Scott Lobdell had to do a bunch of these flashback issues: this one, one for Uncanny, and I think one for Generation X.  Since most of the X-Men are just normal kids before the school is opened, Lobdell makes the wise choice to focus on Xavier and Magneto and the forming of their dreams.  This also gives Lobdell a chance to fill in some info on his retcon of creating the character of Amelia Voght and tying her to Xavier personally after the loss of his legs; previously we had only really seen it in the Uncanny #309 flashback.  Their dynamic works well; Lobdell makes the characters playful, but only as a means of diffusing the tensions looming over them, and all the while Xavier’s passion can’t help but surface.  Magneto and the Brotherhood’s scenes are okay; mostly they just “foreshadow” events that happen later in continuity.  While Quicksilver is, as usual, a one-dimensional hot-head, I like Wanda’s sympathy for Magneto as she successfully figures out what drives him.

Since this whole issue is devoid of any action, its success rests on the debate the two characters have.  Surprisingly, Lobdell manages to pull it off, even though it is a discussion we’ve seen these two characters have dozens and dozens of times.  Yes the setting of a concentration camp is a bit of an emotional grab, but it doesn’t come off as too indelicate because both characters are able to use it to support their sides; Magneto for the inevitability of man’s fall and Xavier for the need to proactively go after such ignorance before it breeds this type of hate.  Somehow Lobdell manages to make it feel like the first time these characters have had this talk, post-Israel anyways. 

Honestly, Pacheco’s art here looks like his art in a normal issue, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  The colorist’s use of brighter colors does sell the throwback illusion a little, but nobody would ever mistake this for coming from the sixties.  What really matters in an issue like this is the expressions of the characters and the way they conduct themselves, since there is absolutely no action; Pacheco succeeds on that front.  Overall, this is a great issue that doesn’t really do anything new, but works because the characters’ voices are so thoughtful and true to the characters.

A

X-Men #65

X-Men #65

Writing: Scott Lobdell

Art: Carlos Pacheco

What Went Down:  Jean Grey wakes up to find herself confronted by the Heroes Reborn version of Iron Man.  Since Iron Man died during Onslaught, and the X-Men don’t exist in the Heroes Reborn universe, they both assume that the other person is an enemy and fight for two pages before Jean disappears.  In the mountains we see a couple backpacking for their honeymoon when they are passed overhead by the X-Men’s plane—pursued by Bastion’s forces.

Jean wakes up, but she doesn’t have time to share her experience with Iron Man because a hole has been blown in the plane.  Cannonball decides to jump out and cover the X-Men’s escape.

At a bar in Canton, Ohio, a group of civilians watch on the news as Henry Peter Gyrich announces that the X-Men are known terrorists, and the government has enacted Operation Zero Tolerance—a program to arrest all mutants and stop the potential threat they represent.  Most of the patrons cheer, except for an elderly Japanese couple that remembers the Japanese internment camps in America during World War II. 

In the air above Colorado, Cannonball is attacked by a new kind of Sentinel.  These are Prime Sentinels, and since they are newer, by comic book logic they are also deadlier.  At the Xavier Institute police surround the school while Bastion’s forces invade it.  Cyclops gets knocked out of the plane by a blast from the Sentinels, and he is captured. 

At a hospital in the Bronx, a group of doctors and nurses watch the news coverage of Operation Zero Tolerance.  When Doctor, and secret mutant, Cecilia Reyes is asked her opinion, she unenthusiastically replies that it is about time.

Meanwhile Cannonball and Storm are captured, leaving Jean and Wolverine alone in the plane that is crashing.  The plane crashes, but we don’t see if they survive.  At his father’s home, Iceman watches these events with his dad, and tells him that he needs to help his friends.  Bastion projects a holographic message to Xavier, showing him that OZT has invaded the mansion and found Cerebro.  Even though the files are encrypted, it is only a matter of time before files will be opened. 

How It Was:  Operation Zero Tolerance jumps out the gate with a huge development for our heroes—all mutants are now outlaws.  The X-Men get taken in within one issue, while their home is invaded, making things seem pretty bleak.  It’s hard to express just how well this issue reads compared to the previous year’s worth of stories; it’s like comparing Watchman to anything by Rob Liefeld.  There is finally an actual threat, and the X-Men are caught offguard, and challenged in this story.  These may sound like simple narrative tenants to follow, but it’s been many, many issues since we’ve seen anything resembling a decent obstacle to the X-Men’s safety.  The outlaw status for all mutants is an exciting angle, and it’s a shame it’s potential isn’t explored more.

The fight with the Sentinels is adequately done, although it’s a shame parts of it are delivered solely through exposition so everything can be fit in one issue.  It’s unnecessary to be skipping parts of the fight when the first five pages are so superfluous; we get three pages of Jean meeting Heroes Reborn Iron Man for God knows what reason, followed by two pages of background characters observing the fight from the ground.  An odd use of space to say the least, but Pacheco’s art is really great.  Normally I really hate the “newsfeed as exposition” in comics, but it is a small price to pay to get everything set up in one issue.

What really makes this issue worth the read is the end with Bastion storming the mansion. Seeing the defeat and helplessness in Xavier’s face says more than any army of Sentinels ever could, and the fact that Bastion could possibly use his files plus Cerebro really raises the stakes.

There are some hints that this story hasn’t been completely thought out.  Henry Gyrich shows up on the news to deliver all the exposition about the government plan, but it’s unclear what his role is.  He seems adamant about Zero Tolerance in this book, but later we see him plotting with Senator Kelly to foil Bastion.

There’s not a lot of room for character, but Jean and Logan get some nice moments.  This issue does its duty of setting up the event and making it look like an epic.  The odds are finally against them and that’s usually when the X-Men are at their best.  While the cliffhangers elicits the right amount of dread, we’ll have to wait a bit to it resolved, due to the next month being Flashback month!  Still a promising, and maybe misleading, start.

B+

Onslaught: Epilogue

Onslaught: Epilogue
Writing: Larry Hama
Art: Randy Green

What Went Down: After being arrested by Val Cooper, Xavier is secretly taken to the location of Operation Zero Tolerance and held personally under Bastion. He is labeled Prisoner M-13, and Bastion constantly interrogates him for information and mistreats him as well. Henry Peter Gyrich is around, chastising Bastion for mistreating Xavier, who is apparently responsible for Xavier being there. We also learn that the location is an abandoned Hulkbuster Base. Bastion knows that Xavier is, or was, a mutant, but Gyrich doesn’t understand why Bastion thinks this is true.

We see a replay of the interrogation with Bastion losing his patience as Xavier refuses to admit that mutants are less then human. He then strikes the Professor. We also learn about prisoner M-9, also known as Nina the Mannite. She is a non-human little girl who is potentially the next stage of evolution beyond mutants. Bastion brings in a psychologist, Dr. Ingrid Thysson to try to prove that Xavier is a mutant. After introducing herself, Dr. Thysson sees a body bag being disposed of, but she is told not to question it. Thysson comments on how Xavier has obviously been mistreated, as does her associate Daryll Smith, a character from Hama’s Wolverine that is immune to psychics. While watching the monitors, the feed is interrupted by a cartoon called the Rainbow Bears.

In Xavier’s cell Nina teleports in and uses telekinesis to get Charles back in his chair. Bastion and his men barge into his cell, but Nina is already gone. As Bastion freaks out, Daryl tells him to calm down, and Bastion orders him to the brig. The next day Thysson sets out to create a full psych profile on Charles. She straps him in a weird gyroscope and asks him loads of questions. Xavier asks her if she knows the true purpose of this facility, and claims that after he volunteered to help, he was taken away without Cooper’s knowledge. Ingrid discovers Nina’s stuffed rabbit, and Xavier grabs it from her.

Later Gyrich and Bastion are discussing Nina. After learning that Daryl is a psi-anomoly, Bastion tells Gyrich to give him the DX order for Nina. Since the body bag from early had the letters DX on it, that can’t be a good thing. Nina visits Charles again and explains how she can read people, except Bastion. Charles tells her about his own powers, and Nina offers to turn them back on, but he tells her he’s not ready. Xavier wishes for a phone and she makes one appear, which he uses to call Renee Majcomb. Thysson sees the Rainbow Bears back on the monitor and goes to investigate. She barges into the cell, and Nina reveals herself because she senses Thysson is good.

Nina tells her that she read that she was scheduled for DX. To save the girl, Ingrid gives Xavier access to a hover vehicle to distract the guards. Thysson tries to get Nina out, but they are stopped by Darryl Smith. Xavier is recaptured and Thysson is knocked out. Smith delivers the girl in the body bag to Bastion; Bastion claims he takes no pleasure in this. On board the helicopter meant to dispose of the body, the soldier notes that the body bag is empty.

The next day, Thysson tells Xavier that she’s been transferred. She assumes that the little girl mentally controlled them, but a phone appears out of thin air. It seems that Renee has picked up Nina, and that Nina also has the power to appear dead and lifeless. Charles is happy and tells Nina to find more people like herself. Nina ends the issue by telling Renee that one day she is going to turn Charlie back on.

How It Was: Well, let’s get to the huge, gaping problem. This issue is called Onslaught: Epilogue, yet it has absolutely nothing to do with Onslaught whatsoever. In reality, it should’ve been called Operation Zero Tolerance: Prologue, but I guess Marvel was eager to keep cashing in on their super-mega crossover. Really, this is the type of issue that belonged in X-Men Unlimited, and it was most likely editorially mandated. As it is, it offers up an interesting twist on Xavier’s fate, and it offers some cool sequences where the Professor gets to calmly stand up to the bully Bastion. As a Xavier character piece, it’s actually quite good at exploring his feelings of hopelessness and his desires at redemption, all while constantly frustrating Bastion.

But then there’s Nina the Mannite, who is an overly cutesy overpowered plot device. She seems to have about a million powers, from phasing to telepathy to dropping her heartbeat, but for some reason she hasn’t escaped Bastion up to this point. Yeah, she’s a little girl, but she can materialize phones and block security systems, so what the heck is her hold up? Believe it or not Nina actually appears quite a bit later down the line, so you have that to look forward to, don’t you?

As for the rest, I like Xavier as Bastion’s prisoner, but the circumstances under his imprisonment are a little iffy. Henry Gyrich, who isn’t supposed to be a bad guy, just one who doesn’t question rules often enough, seems pretty oblivious to the fact that Bastion is mistreating a voluntary prisoner for no particular good reason. Shouldn’t he and Thysson be reporting Bastion, I mean he’s planning on annihilating an entire race? And shouldn’t Renee contact the X-Men to tell them what’s going on? Oh well. While the plot isn’t spectacular and the new characters are less than compelling, Hama does an admirable job with the internal and external struggles of Professor X, even if it is in a story that’s hard to really care about. This story definitely didn’t warrant its own one-shot, but what are you going to do?

D+