Team X 2000 #1

Team X 2000 #1

Writing: Sean Ruffner and A. Smithee

Art: Kevin Lau

 
What Went Down:  Deathbird opens describing a vivid dream to Bishop where she is fighting Shi’ar vermin, then biting the head off of a bird.  Bishop attempts to interpret the dream while the two play chess; Deathbird cannot get over some of the rules of the game.  It is implied that the two have had relations with each other, though Bishop insists it was a mistake.  Their ship comes across an uncharted jump-gate, and then they are attacked by an Ursaa ship (the guys from Uncanny #358).  Bishop decides to chance going in the gate.

Upon exiting the jump-gate, the ship comes out in orbit around Earth, but the planet is surrounded by Shi’ar warships for some reason.  On Earth, it is revealed that Alanna Nermani, the daughter of Lilandra, is the ruler of a war-torn future version of Earth. Archangel, Sauron, Dazzler, and Vulture are all servants of Alanna.  The queen is alerted to the discovery of Bishop’s ship.

Taken aboard one of the warships, Bishop and Deathbird encounter some Shi’ar soldiers.  Deathbird attacks them, but she is shot by a stun blast; Bishop decides not to intercede, allowing himself to be taken prisoner.  Shi’ar scientists confirm to Alanna that Deathbird is the genuine article, so Alanna orders her released.  Deathbird learns that the year is 2018, and the Shi’ar have conquered Earth.  Meanwhile Bishop is stuck in a prison cell with a depowered Cain Marko, normally the Juggernaut. Cain isn’t sure whether Bishop is real, but explains some of the history of the planet.

Bishop is escorted to a healing pool where Deathbird is already bathing.  Bishop doesn’t trust Alanna, but Deathbird insists it is all right.  Alanna goes to a truth-seer, who informs her that Deathbird will be the key to her triumph or defeat.

The next day Alanna takes Deathbird and Bishop on a tour of New York to discuss restoring Deathbird’s name and royal title to her.  The people of New York are being starved by the Shi’ar for not turning in the rebels.  A disguised Longshot confirms Bishop’s identity and calls Cable.  Alanna is confronted by some starving peasants and demonstrates that she has psychic powers, due to the fact that her father was Charles Xavier.

The rebels of this world, the Morlocks, attack so they can liberate Bishop.  The group consists of  Cable, Longshot, Falcon, and Vertigo-the present day Jubilee. Vertigo is almost killed by Sauron, but Falcon sacrifices himself to save her, while Longshot is captured due to Deathbird’s interference.

Back at the Morlock base, Bishop is introduced to their leader, an eyepatch wearing Wolverine.  Dr. Doom is also a member of the rebellion. Wolverine explains that the Avengers, X-Men, Lilandra, and Professor X were all killed by Alanna, who studied the history of her aunt Deathbird.  This allowed her to take over the planet.  Beast, Doom, and Hank Pym planned on seeding the past with time gates to bring help from the past, but their plan was foiled by soldiers before they could finish; Bishop’s gate was a freak accident.

The Morlocks use Vulture to infiltrate the Shi’ar celebration for Deathbird.  When offered her birthright, Deathbird refuses saying that the title means nothing to her.  While Bishop takes on Sauron, Deathbird and Alanna fight as well.  Bishop sets off the explosives after the control is damaged, and uses Sauron to survive as they both absorb the energy from the explosion.  Alanna’s telepathic powers allow her to anticipate Deathbird’s moves, but Deathbird is able to defeat Alanna using a pressure point that Bishop taught her off-panel.  Deathbird shows mercy on Alanna and kisses Bishop.

With Alanna defeated, the Morlocks send Bishop and Deathbird back to their own time.  Doom leaves the base, telling Cable that next time they may not be on the same side. 

How It Was:  This is actually a fun little diversion for X-fans.  Regular readers will know that I’m a sucker for alternate reality/future stories, and for such a brief one, this does deliver some neat alternate moments.  I especially like the all too short visit with crazy Cain Marko, and the little touches like Falcon’s importance in the resistance, or Wolverine and Sauron’s rivalry.  Some aspects never get the room to pay off: Dr. Doom is introduced as an unknown quantity, but never affects the resolution one way or the other.  Also Jubilee has been renamed Vertigo for no particular reason, and I can’t tell if the team of rebels is supposed to be called the Morlocks or Team X because the script uses both.

I am wholly unfamiliar with the writers of this story, but I’m happy that they continue the solid relationship established between Deathbird and Bishop.  The romantic tension mixed with utter contempt and unpredictable motivations makes for great reading.  What I really like is that while Uncanny #358 focused mostly on Bishop’s history and perspective, Team X is much more about Deathbird.  From her cryptic dreams to confronting her relationship with her identity and family, it’s nice to see the character struggle with these conflicting aspects.  Although the reader can probably assume that Deathbird will side with Bishop, it’s still interesting to see how it all plays out.

The plot mechanics are a little frustrating.  The Morlocks’ plan to use time traveling gates to bring heroes from the past makes no sense; why not use them to travel back and change the future?  Plus I really don’t understand why they needed other heroes to implement their straightforward plan at the end.  It feels like the plot itself could’ve been resolved without Bishop or Deathbird; somebody else would’ve just had to kill Alanna.  Still, the fighting is solid and there are some hastily constructed, but solid character interaction.

The art style is manga, but for some reason it doesn’t bother as much as the style normally does.  Sure it does slip into ridiculousness with the scantily clad Shi’ar servants, and Jubilee’s redesign is super-cyberpunk anime influenced, but the action is clear, the expressions are never distorted or exaggerated, and just about all the characters are on model.  To tell you the truth, I like Lau’s work slightly more than I like Joe Madureira’s.

This is a little story that continues to build on the relationship between Bishop and Deathbird.  I like where it takes the characters, and I like the time travel gimmick because it doesn’t overstay its welcome.  Bishop traveling through time works a lot better with the character’s roots than Bishop in space.  This is definitely a peek if you can find it for cheap.

B+

Alpha Flight #9

Alpha Flight #9
Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Roger Cruz

What Went Down:  Alpha Flight’s supervisor General Clarke, who bears an uncanny resemblance to DC’s Lex Luthor, is overseeing Alpha Flight through the robot Manbot’s cameras.  In the cockpit of their Alphajet, the team discusses how they need to keep a low profile to avoid sparking an international incident in the U.S.  They are supposedly tracking Wolverine through his adamantium skeleton, although all the fans know this is a lie because Wolverine doesn’t have adamantium bones any more.  They also discuss the video footage they saw of Wolverine killing Madison Jeffries.

Back at Department H, an aide interrupts General Clarke, saying it’s about a new harvest named Lilli.  Clarke calms the Lilli, who is trying to escape, and insists she can leave at any time.  She is then sedated under the pretense of removing a security mark.

We get the same scenes from Uncanny #355 of Wolverine confronting the team, with some minor added dialogue between the Alpha Flight characters.  Clarke observes that Wolverine smells Guardian, and the audio and video cut out for a moment.  After Wolverine drives off, we get to see an argument between the members of Alpha Flight before Guardian flies off to confront him.

There is an interlude with the mutant Sunfire talking on the phone with someone.  He reveals that he has been in Canada getting treated by Dr. Huxley, and he has discovered he is dying of radiation poisoning.

The fight between Wolverine and Alpha Flight occurs exactly as it did in Uncanny #355 with Rogue flying by and retrieving the X-Men to help Wolverine, except of course the art is a little different.  The one difference is that we get to see what Murmur saw when she examined Maggott’s mind…it’s a dark room with lots of tentacles in it.  Cannonball and Flex stop the fight, and General Clarke demands to be informed when the team arrives.

How It Was:  I don’t really know how to label this one.  It’s not so much a crossover as a reinterpretation of the same events from a different team’s point of view.  That’s actually a really interesting idea, and in a story where both sides have competing agendas, this format would work pretty well.  Given that Alpha Flight’s members are so clearly in the wrong in both issues, it’s not quite as effective.  The worst offense of all is that this issue isn’t solicited at all in Uncanny #355.  If you’re going to try to cash in on the popularity of the X-Men, wouldn’t a good place to start be to tell X-Men fans to buy this comic?

As for the different perspective, the majority of this issue is a scene for scene rehash of Uncanny #355.  Most of the different scenes are just exposition setting up why Alpha Flight is after Wolverine, which was already clearly defined in the beginning.  I will admit to being somewhat intrigued about the overall conspiracy driving the plot.  Parts of it make me think that it might be a precursor to the plot of the Weapon X ongoing in the mid-2000s, although that certainly can’t be the case.  The only problem with this is that Clarke is such a generic evil military-type that I don’t have much faith in this going anywhere ambitious.  However I do like the setup of Sunfire dying of radiation poisoning, although it feels like that might belong more in an X-Men comic.

We do get to see a little more of the dynamics of the Alpha Flight team.  Younger James Hudson isn’t an uncontested leader, Radius has problems with lots of team members, and Manbot is a spy directly under Department H’s control.  Oddly enough, plot points from the X-Men issue aren’t explained for the sake of Alpha Flight readers; nobody ever mentions that Sauron is the one in the bag, and the reveal of Maggott’s mind being just a room of tentacles is a real let down.  I don’t even think the issue explains who the X-Men are or defines their members like the Uncanny issue clearly defined Alpha Flight.  The art’s good, although the coloring is a little dark and muddy at times. 

This is just a weird experiment that was poorly executed.  It might’ve made more sense as a two-part crossover, but it feels weird to have these two teams come together and then have no real resolution.  I can’t say that the story makes me feel strongly about either of the teams; it feels really abrupt and rushed. 

C-

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

Uncanny X-Men #353

Uncanny X-Men #353
Writing: Steve Seagle

Art: Chris Bachalo

What Went Down:  Rogue has a dream where she absorbs Wolverine’s abilities and he is forced to kill her.  Interestingly, in the dream she mentions discovering that Wolverine has a son, although there’s no way this could’ve been foreshadowing for Daken a decade later.  When she wakes up, she talks with Storm about her dream, Gambit, and her frustrations with her powers.  Now that she’s had sex with Gambit, she is craving the touch of others.  This is also the first time it is suggested that Rogue left Gambit in Antarctica because she had absorbed his feelings, and that it was actually what he wanted.  Storm comforts her and tells her to move on, then invites her to the pond even though it is the middle of winter.  Storm is using her powers to turn the winter weather into spring. 

On top of a roof in the city, Archangel is brooding.  Psylocke shows up, and Warren discusses how he feels torn between his duty to his personal life and that of the X-Men.  Psylocke jumps off the roof, forcing Warren to catch her in a panic.  Betsy sees this as proof that he wants a life with her more, but this stunt angers Archangel and he flies off.

At the mansion, Jubilee and Iceman are both up for a visit to enjoy the warm weather.  Rogue freaks out when she sees Wolverine and runs off to find Joseph.  Wolverine detects an intruder and goes off to deal with it.  While he runs, he thinks of how stupid he was to let Marrow get to him in X-Men #72.

The intruder turns out to be Margaret Stone, a state inspector for the Board of Education.  Xavier’s is past due for a report of some kind.  We then go up in space to Bishop dreaming about witnessing the X-Men dying.  He wakes up to Deathbird, who tells him that he is unable to move, but that she will do anything for him.  At Xavier’s, Joseph is watching a news program about a Dr. Agee, who has discovered a cure for being a mutant.  Rogue meets up with Joseph to suggest touching him to absorb his memories and possibly find out who he is.  Joseph sees right through this as a weak attempt to touch him. 

Rogue runs out crying, bumping into Wolverine and the inspector.  They discover Joseph next to a smashed TV while Joseph has some kind of attack, yelling, “He is near.”  Since he did this last in #350, we’re led to believe that Magneto is somewhere around, but we never find out if he is or not.  Anyways, the inspector runs of in a huff, claiming she’ll be back.

Oddly, instead of helping Joseph, Wolverine just goes down to the pond where the other X-Men are playing.  Wolverine gets angry at Iceman for a thrown snowball and tackles him into the water.  Marrow calls down from a tree, taunting him about his anger patterns.  Wolverine walks off mad.  After cutting his leg on something in the water, Iceman discovers the original Blackbird, hidden there by Forge.

As Wolverine tries to relax, two hands grab him and absorb his power.  The X-Men go after his yell, and discover Rogue standing over him.  Storm tells Rogue to step away, which hurts Rogue and makes her run away.  We then learn that it was really Sauron who took down Wolverine, and he’s after the rest of the X-Men.

In the epilogue, Jean and Scott arrive at their house, but the driveway is snowed in.  Because Scott is injured, Jean uses her telekinesis, even though the snow should be too heavy for her to move.  The pattern the snow is moved in just happens to look like the Phoenix symbol.

How It Was:  After a couple of quiet one-shot stories, it’s obvious that Seagle is trying to get back to X-Men storytelling as usual.  And he picks some good threads to follow up on.  Obviously Rogue should have some severe emotional fallout from her experiences in Antarctica, so it’s nice to see this continued.  I like the idea that having physical intimacy one time in Rogue’s case is worse than never having it all, and I can totally buy that this is the straw that would cause her to want to get rid of her powers.  The focus on Wolverine is a little random, but makes for some great imagery of her getting stabbed up in the dream.

 

Archangel’s scenes are a misfire, as I can’t really believe that any readers would be interested in Warren feeling sorry for himself.  Psylocke’s behavior makes her equally unrelatable and unsympathetic, and it’s clear that like so many other writers, Seagle’s not quite sure what to do with them. 

It’s odd that Seagle chose to bring in Iceman and Jubilee to guest star, especially since there were already a lot of characters running around this book.  They are basically there to have the fun that all the other characters are too old to be having.  After all, it’s hard to picture Storm and Wolverine jumping off of tire swings. 

This issue does take some weird missteps.  The Education Inspector had so much potential, but she leaves before anything too out-of-hand occurs.  The real slip-up for me is Wolverine’s treatment of Joseph.  Joseph has this weird seizure and next issue we find out that he’s stopped breathing, and Wolverine just walked off and ignored it.  The inspector asks if he’s okay, but doesn’t do anything about it.  Sure Wolverine doesn’t really like Joseph, but he doesn’t want him dead.  It just doesn’t feel right or make much sense at all.  And for that matter, are we supposed to take this as Magneto being near the mansion?  It would be nice to know, but unfortunately we never will. 

Bishop’s ‘lost in space’ schtick is another odd choice.  It’s nice that Seagle is finally giving him something to do, but it just feels so far removed from everything else that it might as well not be here.  On the other hand, I do like the touch of ‘Misery’ that Seagle has added with Deathbird being in love with Bishop, but unable to express it without holding him against his will and lying to him.

Chris Bachalo takes over as regular artist, and he’s a pretty good choice.  His characters have the same cartoony proportions of Madureira’s art, but with a slightly less Manga lean to it.  Sure Wolverine still looks a little too much like the Beast, but it’s not quite as exaggerated.  In more hectic scenes, it can be difficult to follow what’s going on in Bachalo’s work, but overall it’s still really good. 

As for Sauron, all I can say is that it feels like it’s been years since the X-Men fought an actual super villain.  Between OZT and Graydon Creed and everything in between, I can’t really tell how long it’s been since the X-Men have fought someone from their regular rogues gallery.  There are some excellent scenes with Rogue dealing with her powers, but it’s weighed down a bit.  Poor Joseph gets completely shortchanged, and some of the other bits just feel out of place, mostly due to never being followed up on.

B-