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

Uncanny X-Men #351

Uncanny X-Men #351
Writing: Steve Seagle
Art: Ed Benes

What Went Down:  Cecilia Reyes awakens at 5am, preparing to get her job back at the hospital.  Storm and Wolverine both stop her to offer her a place on the X-Men and tell her that her gifts are needed, but she is insistent on returning to the hospital.  Wolverine gives her a ride on a motorcycle he received from a favor, and Cecilia recaps the OZT plot as they ride.

Cecilia meets with her superior Dr. Gibbons and explains where she has been for the past few weeks.  Dr. Gibbons tells her he has no problem with mutants, but worries about a super villain attack at the hospital.  He agrees to let her on in a probationary capacity.

On their plane to Alaska, Scott and Jean meet Staci and Chris Murphy, who just happen to be their future neighbors as well.  Jean is interrupted by a telepathic disturbance; there is a powerful being in a metal box somewhere on the plane. 

Cecilia’s first surgery is taken away from her when her team tells the family of her patient that she is a mutant.  After leaving, she stumbles upon a gunshot victim who she saves.  At lunch her peers blame her for the Sentinel attacks and ostracize her.  Afterward, a friend comes in to share some gossip and make Cecilia feel a little better.

Cecilia is then called to the ER because the police have apprehended the villain Pyro.  He’s been shot and he can’t control his flame powers due to the Legacy Virus.  She takes charge of the situation and using her forcefield powers, she is able to remove the bullets.  Later, she insists that Pyro be allowed to stay in the hospital to recover, even though Dr. Gibbons considers Pyro a safety risk.

There’s a quick setup for a future issue where a green person escapes from a box among Ka-Zar’s belongings (Kevin Plundar moved to New York for his new ongoing series around this time).  At the hospital, Cecilia deals with some more patients before being interrupted by the hero Daredevil.  Daredevil has also been shot, and needs her to look at the infection.  Cecilia insists that he take off his costume, and while she examines him, he talks about how many people she could help as a super hero.  She then checks in on some more patients, including Pyro.  Pyro asks her to loosen his straps, saying he would never betray someone who helped him.  But he does, and then he escapes.  Dr. Gibbons fires Cecilia and she returns to the mansion.  Wolverine and Storm greet her again, telling her how happy they are that she has returned.  She makes it to her bedroom and passes out after the exertion of the day.

How It Was:  Of the new characters, Marrow is the angry one and Maggott is supposed to be a mystery at this point.  This leaves Cecilia, who up to this point has been abrasive, mean, and seemingly ungrateful.  This is Seagle’s attempt to shine the spotlight on her, see what makes her tick, and inspire a little sympathy. This day in the life approach is ambitious, but Seagle tries to make it work by having the hospital centered firmly in the Marvel Universe, hence the super heroes and villains.

Depending on your preferences, this issue can come off as a little preachy; it’s one of those X-Men stories where every human is super over-the-top racist, not because she’s a threat of any kind, but just because she’s a mutant.  So it’s trying a little too hard to make us feel bad for Cecilia because she’s a female minority mutant.  What goes a lot farther to make her relatable is the organization of the story; there are lots of quick cuts to the dozens of jobs she has during the day, making her impatience and overconfidence understandable and even admirable in some cases.

The Daredevil scene comes out of nowhere, although I believe Seagle was writing the title at the time.  It’s weird to see Cecilia boss him around, and the advice he gives her is a little redundant after her talks with Storm and Wolverine.  All of them try to convince Cecilia that being a super hero is somehow better than being a doctor, which really doesn’t make sense; they argue that there are lots of doctors in the world, but really there are lots of heroes as well, and you don’t need eight years of schooling to be a super hero, just a chip on your shoulder.  Plus you would think Daredevil could get help from the Avengers or something instead of begging for free health care at a public hospital. 

As for the scenes with Pyro…well, you got to feel bad for Pyro since all his appearances in the 90s feature him on death’s door because of the Legacy Virus.  In the 80s he was one of the A-list X-Men villains, but by this point every time he shows up, he’s just coughing and complaining about the pain.  Oddly he mentions trying to get money for a doctor whose work can cure mutants, but then scoffs when Cecilia suggests going to NYU for research and treatment.  As for the end, you have to wonder where those guards went, or why they didn’t remove the flamethrower from his back; however, it does fit with Pyro up to this point. And before you say it: yes, Scott and Jean do meet their future neighbors on their plane, and yes there just happens to be an evil force on said plane, and yes all of this is a lame and all-too-convenient comic book coincidence. 

Ed Benes’ fill-in art is actually quite good; the sequence with Pyro’s operation is impressive looking, even if her forefield is colored wrong, and I like the use of small panels to convey the hustle of Cecilia’s work day, as compared to the bigger panels of drawn out and uncomfortable scenes.  The X-office is still looking for a regular artist and won’t find one until #353.  Benes is good though and only gets better; see Brad Meltzer’s Justice League run at DC.

This is a great glimpse into why Cecilia is the way she is.  It doesn’t make her totally likable, and some of the racism scenes are heavy-handed, but the struggles do seem plausible.  It’s an interesting slice-of-life piece, but the tone gets a little wonky when the super hero elements are introduced.  It’s still worth a look.

B+

Uncanny X-Men #338

Uncanny X-Men #338
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Joe Madureira and Salvador Larroca

What Went Down: Archangel is laid up in the fetal position on the floor in pain. He is visited by Ozymandias, servant of Apocalypse. Ozymandias explains that Warren’s transformation into Archangel was only the beginning of Apocalypse’s greater plan. As Warren screams, his metal wings shatter, revealing his original organic feather wings.

In the Danger Room the X-Men are running tests on Joseph that involve measuring his responses to a simulation of the original X-Men battling Magneto. Joseph is taken aback by the old Magneto’s anger, but he has no connection to it, just emptiness. Jean takes this as a good sign, but Joseph worries that he may repeat his sins if he cannot remember them. Joseph asks Scott and Jean why the X-Men have taken him in after he has spent so many years trying to kill them as Magneto. Gambit and Jean explain that Xavier instilled in them the belief that no one is beyond redemption.

Psylocke takes the time to show up by teleporting through the shadows. Since she’s never done this before, all of the other X-Men are surprised, but she doesn’t seem to understand. She tells the X-Men that Archangel is missing and shows them one of the feathers that she found.

Warren finds himself drawn to a church in Brooklyn for reasons beyond his understanding. Inside the church, the Legacy-infected Pyro is in a confessional talking to a priest about needing to warn someone about a mysterious woman.

At a Graydon Creed rally in San Diego, Iceman, aka Robert Drake, has infiltrated Creed’s staff under the alias…sigh, Drake Roberts. He encounters J.Jonah Jameson of the Daily Bugle who tells him off for having his candidate prey on people’s fears and prejudices for votes. Drake is suitably impressed with Jameson and runs into another campaign employee, Carly Alverez. She introduces Iceman to Samson Guthry, who is really the X-Man Cannonball aka Sam Guthrie…groan.

The X-Men are assembled in the Blackbird on their way to help Warren, who bursts out of the now-flaming church’s window carrying the priest. His wings surprise all the X-Men, but they don’t have time to question him. Pyro has lost control of his powers because of the Legacy Virus. Joseph uses his powers to restrain Pyro in metal, and threatens to crush him if he does not stop. Wolverine scolds Joseph for threatening someone with a terminal disease. Pyro tries to explain about a group that has big plans, but the ground sucks him up, most probably because of the mutant Avalanche. The X-Men ponder Pyro’s fate, and the priest chimes in that he has finally found peace. Archangel worries about why he has his old wings back and how this plays into Apocalypse’s plans.

How It Was: Tell me if you’re sick of having me write this, but here we have another potentially interesting plotline that gets all but abandoned completely. I can respect that Lobdell is trying to do something different with a character that hasn’t had the spotlight all that much. Going off the setup from the end of Onslaught of a potential Apocalypse story, this seemed at the time that it might be going somewhere pretty good. But it doesn’t, and the plot point is all but dropped until the 2000s in the new X-Force series. Oh well. The overt symbolism of the church doesn’t really help matters that much; we get it, he’s an angel, he’s reborn, yadda yadda yadda. But there is an interesting bit with Pyro that sets up some future storylines…in X-Factor. Yes this a period of time where events were happening in the completely wrong X-books, as if you couldn’t tell by stories like the Beast being rescued in X-Factor during Onslaught.

Speaking of which, the Graydon Creed subplot has taken a turn for the stupid with Iceman and Cannonball infiltrating under the stupidest aliases in comics’ history. Spider-Man’s Jameson is still hanging around for some reason decrying the tactics of Graydon Creed. I get that Jameson’s character is supposed to have a lot of integrity when he’s not dealing with his most-hated Spider-Man, but is he really the right choice to be preaching for tolerance and open-mindedness? Also, it’s a little vague what Cannonball and Iceman are supposed to be doing. Are they protecting Creed, trying to dig up dirt, sabotaging the campaign? They just don’t seem to have any purpose. And I’m pretty sure that the X-Men already know that Graydon Creed is the son of Sabretooth and Mystique, so isn’t it about time to start making that information known?

The fight with Pyro is okay, if brief. I like that Joseph uses less than kosher methods to get Pyro to stop, even if he was bluffing, but it feels really out of character for Wolverine to be the one chastising him. Psylocke’s new powers are well-handled, but the thought of more changes to Psylocke makes me want to jump off a bridge; I’m not excited for this at all. This is a really great issue for Joseph and the rest of the X-Men as far as building him up as a believable member of the team. While Rogue’s absence is strange, I like seeing him interact with the other members, and it is interesting to see him interact with his own dark history. This is par for the course for a Scott Lobdell comic; the character work is great, but the plot structure leaves a lot to be desired as most of it goes nowhere or becomes forgotten.

B-

X-Men Annual #2

X-Men Annual #2
Writing: Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell
Art: Aron Wiensenfeld and Ian Churchill

What Went Down: On an island fortress, two shadowy figures arise from the water. Despite the cliché 90s battle armor appearance, these two characters are in fact the Crimson Commando and Avalanche, formerly of the Freedom Force. These two are still working for the US government after the rest of the team was captured in the Middle East during a back-up strip in all the 1991 X-Annuals. Anyways, the two run into the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, consisting of Toad, Phantazia, and former Freedom Force members Pyro and the Blob. Both groups are about to fight until they are interrupted by a man in a robe with dragons on it.

At Xavier’s school, Professor X, Beast, Banshee, and Moira are tracking new cases of the Legacy Virus. Beast is still giving Charles crap for not involving him in the initial case with Illyana Rasputin, and everyone is very serious about how serious the Legacy Virus is. In the Danger Room, Revanche is facing off against Jubilee, Gambit, and Rogue. She takes Jubilee out easily, causing the young girl to question when she is going to get better at fighting. Rogue then tackles Revanche, ending the session.

Up in the control booth, Cyclops, Psylocke, and Jean are discussing whether Jean should enter Betsy’s mind to confirm her identity and mental state, even though she absolutely refused to in X-Men #21. Betsy is more willing now because she feels guilty about almost breaking up Scott and Jean, blaming it on different aspects of the two personalities in her surfacing. Inside Psylocke’s head, we see a depiction of Betsy killing her brother Brian when they were children, demonstrating the savage influence of Kwannon’s mind on Betsy Braddock. Jean comes to the conclusion that the two personalities are now fused permanently.

Back on the island, called Empyrean, former friends Pyro and Avalanche are discussing what has happened since they last saw each other. After being captured, Blob and Pyro were forced to work as bodyguards for the commander that defeated them until the Toad got them out. Inside, the rest of the Brotherhood observes the pair. The man in the robe chastises the Blob for an inappropriate outburst and uses his power to keep him in line. Unbeknownst to the group, they are also being observed by Henry Peter Gyrich, who is searching for two missing scientists that allegedly now work for the mystery man named Jonathan Chambers.

In one of those wacky coincidences that only happen in comics, the X-Men’s Blue Team just happens to have also taken an interest in Jonathan Chambers. Chambers is a scientist and author of a book calling for unity between humans and mutants, and the X-Men want to investigate the sincerity of his claims. There are some doubts about Chambers since his father died at thirty-eight, but looking twice his age, and he has been seen with the Brotherhood on his island. One half of the team meets Chambers at his front door, while the other half sneaks in through the basement.

The sneaking squad includes Psylocke and Revanche, who argue the entire time until they discover the Brotherhood. Meanwhile Beast and the rest of his team have a polite discussion with Chambers. There is a big fight between the X-Men and the Brotherhood until Chambers stops both teams with his powers.

Time for some revelations. First Pyro reveals that he is suffering from the Legacy Virus. Then Beast explains that Chambers, or Empyrean, is an “energy vampire” as he absorbs ambient energies around Legacy sufferers like Pyro; however, this process also relieves the pain that the ailing patients feel, and allows him to conduct experiments to possibly find a cure. It also shortens the victims’ lives. As for the scientists, they have joined Empyrean freely. Finally, Revanche reveals that she is infected with the Legacy Virus as well. She encourages Cyclops to leave Empyrean alone since it is up to every infected person to choose his or her own path.

Gyrich shows up because he believes that illegal activities might be occurring, but Cyclops tells him that there is no evidence of anything illegal. Chambers threatens to expose Gyrich to the media if he does not leave. Then the X-Men leave the island peacefully.


What Else Went Down: The Beast starts this back-up strip falling down an elevator shaft that he has been thrown into. After stopping his fall and sabotaging an elevator full of security guards to protect them, Beast goes back up to save his girlfriend Trish Tilby and a scientist named Dr. Cahill. Trish has sprained her ankle and it appears that a giant muscle-bound creature named Malvin is assaulting her and the scientist. The Beast fights Malvin until he explains that Dr. Cahill is responsible for turning him into a monster. During the fight, Trish goes through the Doctor’s files and discovers proof of this.

The Beast, Malvin, and Dr. Cahill are all flung out the window. Beast holds each character in one of his hands before pulling them both up. Trish is surprised until Beast explains that he can bench three thousand pounds. The security guards burst in, automatically assuming that the Beast and Malvin are the villains, but Cahill admits his guilt. The story ends with one of those clichéd narrations about one person being a man in the body of a beast and the other being a beast in the body of a man.

How It Was: Another sixty-four pages of story; man I’m getting worn out from all of these double-sized comics. Once again, this year features another annual written by the regular writer, so actual plot points are addressed and furthered in this issue. We’re still focusing on the Legacy Virus, and at this point it still seems like the book is going somewhere with the plot. Overall it’s a pretty good issue, with the main problem being that the Chambers plotline never appears in these books ever again. There is an interesting conflict about the potential exploitation of mutants by Chambers, as well as tension created by the fact that we never learn if his intentions are sincere or not, and unfortunately we never get a resolution for any of these points. The concept of exploitation by a character of unknown sincerity is revisited soon in X-Men with Threnody and Mr. Sinister, so it is possible that Nicieza just didn’t feel like returning to the same theme.

Another dropped idea is this incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which I always thought had some potential, minus the horrible straight out of the ‘90s armor revamped costumes. Between the ‘91 annuals and this issue, it at least seemed like the Toad had some kind of agenda going, but this particular team disappears after this issue. At least we get some closure from the previous Freedom Force story.

As for the X-Men, well their arc in this issue makes for more of a mixed bag. Once again we have an annual begin with a Danger Room sequence since the writer needs an unnecessary action sequence to take up a few pages. The fight scenes are all pretty good, if brief; it’s the first time the X-Men have fought a decent super-villain team in a long time. As for the major revelations of Legacy infected, they definitely felt significant at the time. Revanche feels more monumentous because if you’re like me, you’re excited that her storyline is about to end. Pyro’s struggle with the disease gets strung out for a great many years; the poor guy is on death’s door in every future appearance, until he finally dies in 2001. This issue is, once again, a nice opening issue to a story that never resonated. Could have been better if it went anywhere interesting.

The back-up strip is just terrible. Out of ten pages, the story takes five of them to show Beast escaping from an elevator shaft. The depiction of Malvin is ridiculous with so many muscles awkwardly sticking out everywhere. Plus Trish Tilby comes off as a knockoff Lois Lane, and the resolution centers on all of the characters underestimating the central character.

B