Uncanny X-Men #332

Uncanny X-Men #332
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Joe Madureira

What Went Down: The issue starts out with Elektra stalking Super Feral Wolverine and recapping the events of Wolverine #100. At the offices of Landau, Luckman, and Lake, Professor X is asking a woman named Ms. Cullhoden about the whereabouts of Wolverine. Xavier reveals that he knows about all twenty-six branch offices as well as the ones in alternate dimensions. The X-Men are waiting for the Professor outside in the car. Jean mentions that she and Wolverine worked for LLL in Wolverine #97, while Cannonball and Iceman talk about how Sam blames himself for losing Wolverine.

Jean picks up Logan’s telepathic echo, and Xavier tells the team to leave him at the office. Ms. Cullhoden then shoots Xavier, but it is revealed to be a trick of Xavier’s telepathy. Xavier holds the woman with his mind, and explains that he will not lose Wolverine.

Wolverine discovers an abandoned city and falls through a trap door, frustrating Elektra as she tries to follow him. Wolverine falls and discovers Ozymandias, a servant of Apocalypse who was once his enslaver. He is the scribe of Apocalypse and has visions of the future that he makes into sculptures. He shows Wolverine some of his sculpting depicting Holocaust’s destruction of Avalon and the Age of Apocalypse.

The X-Men interrupt Ozymandias’ revelry and burst through the wall. The villain uses his powers to make his sculptures come to life and attack the X-Men; most of them are from the Age of the Apocalypse. Ozy also explains that he was manipulated by Apocalypse in much the same way that Sinister was. During the fight, Cyclops gets knocked down a hole, while Wolverine is grabbed by Ozymandias.

How It Was: We continue to explore “New” Wolverine in part two of this unnamed crossover story. And much like New Coke long before it, New Wolverine is a huge mistake. After rereading these issues today, I am now convinced that Logan’s new design had to have come from Joe Madureira since it matches his style so well, with his over-muscled torso and the exaggerated proportions for his hands and feet. Absolutely horrible.

The surprise of this issue is that Xavier gets to kick ass. First he puts the LLL representative in her place, shows he is fully aware of their “secret” organization, and then messes with the woman to demonstrate how serious he really is. I don’t know if this is Onslaught talking or not, but Xavier is awesome in this issue.

Cannonball’s guilt feels a little misplaced since he did save Wolverine from Genesis by himself. And Ozymandias isn’t really that great a villain, although he looks pretty cool. Even though the cliffhanger seems like it would be pretty good, there is absolutely no sense of urgency at all to save Cyclops. Plus, I have no idea why Joe Mad is obscuring Elektra’s identity the whole issue, when we already know who it is from Wolverine #100. This is definitely the definition of a middle issue in a story, and not a great story. Grunting Wolverine isn’t compelling, Ozymandias isn’t really that interesting, and the whole thing comes off as rather ill-advised.

D+

Wolverine #100

Wolverine #100
Writing: Larry Hama
Art: Adam Kubert

What Went Down: Genesis and the Dark Riders have captured Wolverine, and they are planning to re-bond his skeleton with adamantium, so he can serve their master Apocalypse as a Horseman. This adamantium was harvested from the Wolverine villain Cyber, so there are concerns that Wolverine might reject it because it is an inferior grade.

In a vent up above, Cannonball is hiding with woman named Zoe who claims she is an Expediter. She’s an employee of Landau, Luckman, and Lake, an interdimensional law firm that appears in Wolverine and Deadpool a lot. In another part of the base, they see hundreds of sarcophagi filled with live prisoners surrounding a single sarcophagus with Apocalypse’s image on it. This obviously means that the Dark Riders are going to try to resurrect Apocalypse.

Wolverine’s skin starts to excrete adamantium because they are flowing too much into him. Cannonball tries to get Zoe to help him, but she teleports away. Cannonball decides to attack the Dark Riders. As the Riders beat him, Cannonball apologizes to Logan. Wolverine starts yelling in his tube, and all of a sudden rejected adamantium shoots out of his body, freeing Wolverine and killing/wounding many of the bad guys.

Cannonball flies after Wolverine and picks him up. We don’t get a good look at him, but Cannonball tells him that they have to stop Apocalypse from rising. In a cabin in the mountains, Elektra and Stick sense Wolverine’s “fall.” Back in Genesis’ lair, Cannonball is about be killed by Spyne and Deadbolt, but Wolverine kills them both. He then uses Deadbolt’s glowing, severed head to lure Gauntlet into a trap. While Genesis fights Cannonball, they can hear the screams of the Dark Riders.

We finally get the reveal of the new, more savage Wolverine—part dog, part troll, all stupid. As Wolverine kills Genesis, Cannonball pries open Apocalypse’s sarcophagus, only to find that it is empty. Wolverine asks Cannonball to tell Cable that he’s sorry about killing his son, and then disappears. The issue ends with Elektra leaving to help Wolverine.

How It Was: Wolverine celebrates its 100th issue with a big, double-sized, character-altering story. Also, there’s a big reflective hologram thing in the middle of the cover. Now I can see where the writers were coming from with this one. Every reader and their mother was predicting that Wolverine would get his adamantium back in issue #100, so the X-office decided to do something different to surprise readers. And I can respect that; it’s good that the writers wanted to keep readers guessing. Hama even structures the villain’s plot to involve putting the metal back in Wolverine, right before pulling the old switcharoo.

And that’s where it all goes bad as the Wolverine creative team turns their eponymous character, arguably the most popular Marvel character of the time, into a giant troll with no nose, huge hands and feet, long nails, and no personality. This, to put it lightly, is terrible. Yes, all of the X-books had been dealing with Wolverine’s feral regression, and they wanted to make Wolverine even more tough and savage, but he looks absolutely ridiculous. This is easily the silliest looking version of Wolverine ever.

The whole story is a bit of misfire, especially since it focuses upon Genesis, who is supposed to be a Cable villain.  There’s no real sense of weight or closure after Wolverine kills him because we haven't ever seen him in this series up to this point. I guess turning Wolverine into a Horseman is as good a reason as any to try to put the metal back, but it leads to Logan spending half the double-sized issue in a glass tube. And there is way too much exposition while he’s in the tube with every member of the Dark Riders chiming in for no reason. Zoe is little more than a plot device who disappears when Hama runs out of exposition, but Cannonball does get to shine by taking on a far superior force on behalf of Wolverine. Too bad the twist of Apocalypse not being in the coffin is a total anticlimax.

The parts that work best in this book are right before the big reveal of “new” Wolverine. When he’s stalking the Dark Riders and murdering them one by one, you can’t help but feel like Wolverine is the most badass hero there is. Also, the scene where Wolverine’s body spits out shards of adamantium is kind of cool in a ridiculous, WTF sort of way. It’s unfortunate that this leads to such a boring and silly looking iteration of the old Canucklehead because Hama does manage to get a couple of neat moments out of this particular issue.

C-

Wolverine #75

Wolverine #75
Writing: Larry Hama
Art: Adam Kubert

What Went Down: Part 5 of Fatal Attractions: We begin already on the Blackbird, trying to make it back to Earth. Wolverine’s healing factor has been severely taxed from having the adamantium ripped out of his body, and the X-Men are trying to keep him from dying. Xavier and Jean go into his mind to try to repair the mental trauma of the event, and they are treated to a number of flashbacks of Wolverine’s past and villains. They also get a sneak peek of Wolverine’s experiences when he first received his adamantium in the Weapon X lab. Jean complains that they are violating Logan’s memories just like they were with Magneto’s.

Meanwhile, up in the cockpit, it turns out that the Blackbird isn’t really designed to be in space and lots of things are sparking and exploding on the console. The heat shield of the plane fails and everybody gets knocked around. Wolverine regains consciousness and forgoes morphine so that he can focus on healing better. At the mansion, Moira is giving instructions on how to save Wolverine while Jubilee looks very concerned behind her.

More instruments blow up—Quicksilver has to put in all of the commands manually at a very high speed. Wolverine makes Xavier promise to take care of Jubilee, while Jean tries to keep the Blackbird together in the atmosphere with her powers. The rest of the X-Men run in and question Moira. Cyclops has flashbacks to when Jean turned into Phoenix.

Xavier once again enters Wolverine’s mind to find a violent, savage red wasteland. Wolverine sees a light, and Xavier tries to prevent him from going in it. In the cockpit, it turns out that after surviving reentry into the atmosphere, the plane is heading straight for an electrical storm. In Wolverine’s mind, he sees Illyana as an angel. She pushes him away from the light. Jean struggles to keep the cabin closed, but she gets distracted when the plane is hit by lightning. Jean is stuck holding on to the edge of the hatch. As her grip slips, Wolverine regains consciousness, stands up, and saves her.

A couple of days pass, and the X-Men are training in the Danger Room. Wolverine decides that he has to prove that he deserves to be on the team by showing that he can still fight. So Wolverine gets to fight two robots. As the robots beat the tar out of him, Xavier insists that Wolverine must be the one to stop this. During the course of the fight, Logan pops his claws, and everyone discovers that the claws are now made out of bone. Also, Wolverine is bleeding pretty badly because his healing factor isn’t up to closing the wounds.

Later, Jubilee and Wolverine sit outside talking. Jubilee discusses her fears about her growing powers and excitement over her newfound sense of control from the last story arc. Wolverine comforts her, lights a cigar, and starts hacking uncontrollably, showing his weakened state. During the night, Logan leaves the X-Men and leaves a letter for Jubilee asking her to understand and telling her to stick with Xavier.

How It Was: Quite the mixed bag. The first half of the issue is fairly mediocre. Wolverine’s mental trauma is used as an excuse to rehash imagery of Wolverine flashbacks that every Wolverine fan is already familiar with. Wolverine is haunted by the Weapon X lab; he’s haunted by Sabretooth and Deathstrike. And the imagery from modern paintings (such as the fish and melted clock) really don’t belong at all; it’s like Hama asked Kubert to make the image surreal, and Kubert didn’t know what that meant, so he just borrowed images from a couple of surreal paintings. The second trip to Wolverine’s subconscious is a big improvement with a red and black palate and the black outlined enemies that Wolverine is facing. The scene really comes off as primal and animalistic—that is until a naked Illyana angel leads Logan towards and then away from the light.

As for the X-Men on the plane, is it really necessary for the flight home to turn into a comedy of errors? We’re to believe that the same team that owns a teleportation device can’t build a decent plane to go into space. What kind of super hero team is this? It might make a little more sense if the plane was attacked, but it wasn’t. It just starts falling apart. While this is meant to build tension, really it just becomes an exercise in melodrama and futility. When the team finally enters Earth’s atmosphere, they enter a lightning storm, and the moment is almost laughable. Furthermore, it really takes the spotlight away from the main focus, which is Wolverine and his well being. However, the scene does end with the awesome moment of Wolverine getting up in time to save Jean, despite being horribly injured.

The really interesting parts of the story begin after the team returns home. Here we get to explore how Wolverine has been affected by this trauma. In true Wolverine fashion, he refuses to be viewed as vulnerable and sets out to fight something to prove himself, leading to the discovery of the bone claws. Now initially the bone claws were a really neat story idea. They made Wolverine more vulnerable, less indestructible, and they gave him some much-needed adversity to overcome. The problem with the bone claws is that enemies can break them. At first it’s really shocking and dramatic, but the truth of the matter is that Wolverine, as an icon and a character, is pretty much defined by his claws. That’s the reason that everybody thinks he’s so cool. There are plenty of anti-heroes, numerous rough and tough heroes that are kind on the inside. There are even lots of near indestructible heroes. But there are very few characters with indestructible claws who fight ninjas and robots and super villains on a regular basis. This is the reason that none of the cartoons, non-canon comic books and prose books, or video games of the time tried to incorporate the bone claws. Wolverine’s claws are who he is; they’re what make him cool. Hence the adamantium claws are far superior.

But I digress. Hama does a great job of exploring the aftereffects of Wolverine’s loss. From the nice little moment he has with Jubilee, to the way he casually flicks away the cigar after hacking up a lung, it is apparent that Wolverine is a changed character. Of course this leads to him leaving the X-Men, which is a major deficit for the X-Men books, and leads to the attempted recruitment of Sabretooth down the line. Ignoring all of that, we’re left with an issue that is pretty weak and unengaging for the most part, but manages to pick up towards the end and allow for a subtle picture into the feelings and behaviors of the eponymous character.

C+

X-Men #25

X-Men #25
Writing: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Andy Kubert

What Went Down: Part 4 of Fatal Attractions: The U.N. votes to enact the Magneto Protocols, which involves using a series of satellites to surround the Earth in an energy field that prevents Magneto from using his powers within it. Magneto treats this act as a provocation and decides to teach the humans a lesson. Unfortunately for planet Earth, the satellites used in the field are made of metal, so Magneto is able to not only wreck them all with his powers, but he also uses them to create an EM blast that effectively turns off all of the electricity in the entire world. Nick Fury, Mr. Fantastic, the Thing, Sunfire, Nightcrawler, and Captain Britain (who is supposed to be trapped in Limbo) all appear in cameos to give a sense of gravity and show how this story is affecting the entire Marvel Universe.

Of course, the only place to not be stuck in permanent blackout is Xavier’s mansion, since they have Shi’ar technology integrated into their regular technology. Cyclops briefs the team on the situation and explains the worldwide blackout and the fact that millions of people are probably dead because of it. Xavier has taken the position that they are fighting for survival and must finish Magneto once and for all.

Later in the War Room, Beast, Jean, and Cyclops discuss whether the original non-lethal practices of the X-Men are outdated. Xavier walks in on them, sporting an exoskeleton that allows him to walk by using his mental powers. Xavier explains that the plan is to teleport a small team to Avalon and take out Magneto. Because he thinks it may be a suicide mission, Xavier refrains from bringing more of his original students with him. In the changing room, Rogue wonders whose side she will be on, but Gambit reassures her that she will make the right choice.

Xavier gives a rousing speech about the dream, and then the team proceeds to use a Shi’ar teleporter to teleport onto Avalon. It just so happens that Colossus is on security watch for the Acolytes, so he chooses not to alert the rest of the team to the presence of the X-Men.

As the team creeps through the station, they encounter Rusty and Skids. While Jean tries to reason with them, Xavier announces that they don’t have time and uses his powers to make them fall asleep. Then Quicksilver is given the task of uploading a disc into one of the base’s terminals, which tells the base’s computer to teleport the Acolytes off of the base. This leaves Magneto alone for them to deal with. Magneto discovers them and attacks first.

The plan goes that Jean and Xavier are to attack Magneto’s mind while the rest of the squad beats the crap out of him. The telepaths make him relive the horrors and failures of his life: his time in a Nazi concentration camp, the death of Douglas Ramsey, his wife and children abandoning him, and the betrayal of Fabian Cortez. Magneto decides he cannot allow his son to betray him, and is about to kill Quicksilver, when Wolverine jumps in. Unfortunately Jean breaks the connection because she cannot bear to torture Magneto. Wolverine injures Magneto, so in turn Magneto uses his powers to pull the adamantium from Wolverine’s bones. In a fit of rage, Professor X attacks Magneto and uses his powers to wipe the villain’s mind completely. Colossus appears and tells the X-Men that the teleporter is down, but he has sent word for Bishop to come in the Blackbird. Colossus decides to remain on Avalon and take care of Magneto while he is in his catatonic state because he feels guilty for allowing the X-Men to act unhindered. Jean does her best to stabilize Logan, and the squad leaves Peter to his charge.

How It Was: At the time, this was the issue everyone was talking about. Two unthinkable events in one issue: Wolverine loses his adamantium and Professor X uses his powers to destroy Magneto’s mind. The real question is, how has this comic aged?

Well let’s get the negative out of the way. The biggest criticism of this issue, as well as the most valid, is that the entire story is dependent on these deus ex machina style inventions that come out of nowhere. Apparently the X-Men happen to have a Star Trek teleportation device and a suit that can let Professor X walk just lying around, and these devices have never been used before or after this story. It would probably have made more sense if Forge had invented them and let the X-Men use them, or maybe if Nick Fury had let the team borrow them from a SHIELD armory. While it doesn’t ruin the issue, it is a fact that is difficult to reconcile with what we know about the X-Men. And while we’re on the subject of technology, whose idea was it to make a Magneto negating field out of metal satellites? Also, Captain Britain’s appearance is a continuity error; where was the editor on that one?

But the comic does have a lot going for it. There is a palpable sense of tension as Magneto leaves the entire world vulnerable to attack, and kills potentially millions in the process. This is a Magneto who is ready to end the conflict between man and mutant as quickly as possible, and it looks like he might have the upper hand. Also, the team Xavier picks to attack Avalon is pretty awesome. You have Jean and Xavier to attack him mentally, Rogue and Quicksilver because of their relationship towards him to throw him off guard, and Wolverine and Gambit because…well, because they are really popular characters. Honestly, I can’t think of why any great tactician would bring Wolverine to confront Magneto; we’ll call it a senior moment from Xavier. The final confrontation between Xavier and Magneto works really well and feels like a true culmination of all the encounters these two characters have had. It makes logical and emotional sense that Xavier would feel guilt for all of the people Magneto has killed since he has failed to stop Magneto time and time again. Magneto’s final words about underestimating his opponent punctuate the scene perfectly.

As for the loss of adamantium… well, it did happen. While it definitely felt like a stunt to make the crossover feel more epic, Marvel at least stuck to its guns and kept this as the status quo for a number of years. Still, it’s hard to get excited about this issue now, knowing that both Magneto and Wolverine’s adamantium eventually return, and this story has little to no impact on today’s X-Men. You just have to remind yourself that this did open up a number of legitimately good story ideas, and a couple of bad ones, for a character who was already pretty well defined (I’ll get more into my opinions of adamantium vs non-adamantium in the next review). Plus, the fight with Magneto is really good and it’s interesting to see Xavier attacking the villain’s insecurities while the rest of the team combats him with their powers; it’s just unfortunate that once again the Acolytes get pushed to the side so the writers don’t have to deal with them. Overall, this issue feels like a success since it does make long lasting, but not permanent, changes to the status quo and puts a decent cap on the Xavier/Magneto relationship, at least for the time.

B