Uncanny X-Men #342

Uncanny X-Men #342
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Joe Madureira

What Went Down: The X-Men appear in a spaceship after being teleported from New York last issue. Gladiator obviously hasn’t planned this mission very well since the ship the X-Men materialize in is out of control, with questionable life support functions. Poor Beast has to figure out how to make the ship work, and eventually gets it to slow down. But once the ship finally compensates for passengers, the X-Men learn that they are heading right for an asteroid field. The X-Men have to choose between staying the course and reaching the star gate, or going around the asteroids and missing it. Joseph volunteers to move the asteroids with his powers, and oddly Gambit is the only one who backs him up on his choice. The X-Men make it to the gate and decide that they’re needed in Shi’ar space, so they take the ship through.

Back at the mansion, Cannonball tells the rest of the X-Men what happened to the X-Men in space. Wolverine is not very happy about it.

On the ship, Joseph thanks Gambit for supporting him, and Gambit alludes that untrustworthy people need to stick together. Beast tries to apologize to Trish for getting her caught up in this deadly mission, but in the long tradition of comic book reporter girlfriends (Lois Lane, Vicki Vale, April O’Neil, Roxanne Simpson, Melita Garner, etc.), Trish is excited for the opportunity to be along for the adventure, as long as she can get a scoop. Oh, and she manages to find some midriff-revealing space battle armor to wear.

In the mansion, Cyclops is attempting to contact the Shi’ar, but fails. Wolverine suggests following them into space, but Storm cautions that with the anti-mutant climate the way it is, the rest of the X-Men are probably needed on Earth.

Back in space, everybody else finds new space armor costumes. Why? Probably to sell action figures. Bishop is contemplating how out of place he feels. Even though he’s been with the X-Men for a while, he doesn’t really consider them true friends. Rogue gives him a pep talk about how it takes time to find a place with people, but the ship coming out of the stargate interrupts them. They come out in front of a devastated flotilla of war ships from the Shi’ar; the computer explains that they are no life signs on any of the ships, but the X-Men go to investigate anyways.

On one of the ships, Rogue and Beast realize that right now it’s Christmas on Earth. Also, someone stole the power core of the ship. Joseph finds that he can’t use his powers on the alien metals, while Gambit thinks about his own dark secrets. Even though the computer said there were no life signs, Bishop discovers a badly injured Deathbird who begs them to save the Shi’ar.

How It Was: Well, this story sure declined in quality fast. For many X-Men readers, adventures in space tend to frustrate them because it is really getting away from the themes of the book. Now I’m not one of those readers, I think some of the best X-Men stories have involved the Shi’ar and the Imperial Guard, but this isn’t one of them. The issue doesn’t even get off to a great start when the X-Men meet their first in a series of unnatural, completely forced conflicts. Why does Gladiator send the X-Men onto a ship that is about to kill them? I don’t know. Why are they going towards an asteroid field? I don’t know. There is no logic behind any of these events and it really hurts the credibility of the story and takes me completely out of it. Plus it’s just not interesting.

While Lobdell tries to take a quiet moment for his characters to reflect, even these bits feel more forced than usual. Bishop’s view of the X-Men as not his real friends seems pretty forced, especially after all the trouble Beast, Gambit, and Storm have been going to in the various X-Books. Yes, as a time traveler in the distant past, Bishop is entitled to feel out of place, but this really feels like Lobdell is ignoring some developments of the character so it feels more natural when he’s written out of the book in a couple of issues. Beast and Trish’s conversation is about what you’d expect, yet Gambit and Joseph’s relationship feels like it’s getting some complexity since you can’t really tell what Remy’s motivations are.

The new costumes are generic looking and completely unnecessary, but what are you going to do? Joe Mad’s art does provide some pretty amazing looking spaceships to see. But there are plenty of sci-fi comics to see spaceships in (heck, Marvel has its own cosmic line of books that are primarily about traveling through outer space). By itself, this feels like a dragged out episode, which doesn’t have any compelling conflicts to drive the story. Instead of spending an issue getting to the abandoned ships, there’s no real reason the issue couldn’t have started there instead. Very disappointing after the last issue.

D+

Uncanny X-Men #341

Uncanny X-Men #341
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Joe Madureira 

What Went Down: It’s Christmas Eve in New York, and the X-Men are out on the town. Beast invites his teammates to join him for dinner with his girlfriend Trish Tilby, but everyone has other plans: Joseph has a surprise for Rogue, Gambit is trying to avoid Joseph and Rogue, and Bishop just wants to spend a quiet evening alone. Cannonball wants to take up the offer, but he still has to do some last minute Christmas shopping for his siblings.

On his way to the toy store, Sam reflects on the events of the past year, but he is still able to muster some good old-fashioned Christmas cheer. Of course, when he reaches the store, it’s a madhouse and nothing he wants to buy is still available. Luckily for us readers, an alien pops out of a portal in the middle of the store and interrupts Sam’s shopping. The alien just happens to be Gladiator of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, and he is searching for the X-Men.

At the same time, Joseph uses his powers to lift a horse and carriage through the air to create a romantic atmosphere for Rogue. The carriage driver thanks Joseph for the experience and talks about how he’s figured out that most mutants are decent people. In a little aside, the Marvel Universe version of Marvel editor Bob Harras is working late in the office, but he decides to go home and see his family upon witnessing the floating carriage.

Back in the city, Cannonball and Gladiator get into a fight because Sam assumes Gladiator is attacking him. Cannonball holds his own fairly well against an opponent that is supposed to be invincible.

On top of the World Trade Center (yes, this is pre-9/11), Joseph has moved the Z’nox chamber to the roof and modified it to block Rogue’s powers. Rogue is hesitant, but Joseph is able to use the machine and give her a kiss on the forehead.

Back at the fight, Gladiator prepares to throw Cannonball into the sun. Cannonball is able to use his blast shield to absorb the force of Gladiator’s attack. Then, right when Gladiator sees that Sam is fine and begins to doubt himself, Sam is able to knock him out. The other X-Men show up after seeing the fight from far away, and Gladiator begs for their help in rescuing the Shi’ar Empire after being forbidden to interfere by Lilandra. Gladiator uses some devices to teleport all the X-Men and Trish Tilby (but minus Cannonball) to a waiting space ship. Gladiator claims he can’t send Sam because it wouldn’t be honorable to send a youth into battle, and hopes the X-Men succeed for the sake of the universe.

How It Was: This issue feature one of my least favorite genre conventions in it: the fight between two characters with common interests who can’t find the time to stop and talk about the situation. Plus it’s a holiday issue, so there is a good chance that this could’ve turned out hokey. But Lobdell manages to squeeze out some really great moments to make this rise above the mediocrity that has been plaguing recent issues of the series.

First off, I have to say that this is the coolest Sam Guthrie has been since leaving X-Force. After disappearing for no reason in the middle of Onslaught, then being assigned to watch Graydon Creed only to do nothing as the candidate was assassinated, Cannonball has not had a lot to do recently. And even before that he was being portrayed as a bumbling novice who was overly intimidated by the X-Men. Here Cannonball gets to shine by taking on an adversary with the powers of Superman, and it is just great. Sure the motivating factors behind the fight are lacking since Gladiator really should’ve just explained his purpose instead of wasting his time trying to kill the person he needs help from. But it’s an impressive fight, and even though it has no purpose as far as the story is concerned, it does succeed in reminding readers of how cool Cannonball can be.

The other standout moments revolve around Rogue and Joseph. The visual of the carriage floating through the city over skyscrapers is pretty stunning in it of itself, although I could do with out the driver’s drawn out explanation about his principles. The part that works perfectly is of course, the kiss. Lobdell has always excelled in the area of characterization and relationships, and here he shows that he understands what romance truly is. Instead of going for the clichéd, over-the-top makeout scene that most creators would have gone for in the nineties, Lobdell has Joseph give Rogue a subtle kiss on the forehead. It’s an elegant, tender moment that demonstrates how to make people care about a relationship; it’s not about sex, it’s about compassion and gentleness, and Joe Mad renders Rogue’s reaction pitch perfect. It’s a genuinely great emotional moment, and probably the highlight of Joseph’s stint as an X-Man.

In fact, Madureira is firing on all cylinders with this issue, which is odd since it’s mostly a quiet, contemplative issue. From the skyline of New York, to the ice skater in the background of a snowy central park, Madureira just makes the issue feel like Christmas and captures the beauty and electricity of winter in the city. Even his scene in the toy store manages to capture the right tone while containing a wealth of movement and chaos.

The issue does have its head slapping moments. It is really contrived that Gladiator would just happen to show up in the toy store that Cannonball was shopping in, but I can let that one go. The real head-smacker occurs at the end, after Cannonball has wiped the floor with the invulnerable Gladiator, and then Gladiator sends all the X-Men against their will into space except for the guy that just beat. He makes up some dumb excuse about it being dishonorable to send a youth into battle, but the idiot Gladiator just sent the powerless Trish Tilby up with the X-Men to go on his suicide mission. It really makes absolutely no sense whatsoever after a whole issue building Sam up.

Still, this is the best Uncanny is going to be for a long while. Even though I’ve said it a million times before, I’ll say it again. This is where Lobdell’s strengths lie—in these quiet, contemplative issues that take the time to explore the heads of a couple of characters to see where they are at emotionally. It’s a lot of fun and actually handles emotion well without feeling corny or heavy-handed. This one is definitely worth a look, especially for Rogue and Cannonball fans.

A

Cable #42

Cable #42
Writing: Todd Dezago
Art: Randy Green

What Went Down: In the Swiss Alps, a monk is visited by a projection of Sanctity, member of the Askani from the future. She tells him that he must ready the Askani’son, Cable. He must be prepared to either accept his role or be annihilated.

As for the main story, Cable is in the middle of a mosh pit for the first time in his life. He and Storm are undercover at a Lila Cheney concert—on the lookout for Callisto, who is planning to attack the event. Cable is perplexed by the ritual of moshing and worries about Storm’s claustrophobia in such a tight, dark place. Storm explains she is determined to fulfill her responsibility to the Morlocks when Calisto and Marrow appear.

Storm is surprised to see Marrow alive, since Storm ripped her heart out of her chest back in Uncanny #325, but such is the way of comics. Cable fights the Morlocks while the crowd panics. Storm is crushed against the crowd and starts to lose control, unleashing lightning outside. One of Lila’s disguised alien bodyguards grabs Cable, mistaking him for a troublemaker. Calisto and Marrow escape, and all the while Lila just keeps singing.

Storm and Cable leave out the back and go flying to catch their breaths; they discuss how the mutant Thornn tipped them off to Calisto’s activities. Meanwhile, Calisto and Marrow regroup outside as well. Calisto insists that she be the one to kill Storm and tells Marrow to give the people inside a warning before triggering the explosives they planted. She also explains how Marrow was able to survive Storm’s attack in Uncanny #325; it turns out that Marrow was born with two hearts. Of course, that makes perfect sense!

Outside on the roof of the club, Storm apologizes to Cable for freaking out. A guy trying to get into the concert is scared away by another of the alien guards as Cable reenters the club. On the roof, Calisto confronts Storm, calling her naive when the humans are preparing genocide for mutants. Storm counters that terrorism is for the weak and cowardly.

Back in the concert, Cable runs into Thornn, who came to help stop Calisto and Marrow. Marrow attacks Cable from behind. While Storm fights Calisto, she questions the Morlock about the location of the bomb. Inside, Cable gets in a knife fight with Marrow and tries to offer her a place where she’ll be accepted. Marrow rejects it and tells him that the explosives are rigged to blow when Lila hits a high note at the end of her song; she doesn’t know that Cable is a telepath and able to contact Lila mentally and tell her not to sing the note.

When there is no explosion, Storm announces that the heroes have won, but Calisto explains that the bomb will still go off ten seconds after the music stops. Storm warns Cable telepathically and Thornn locates the bomb. Cable throws it to Lila, who uses her teleportation powers to get rid of it. Afterwards, Cable worries back stage about how close they are to genetic war; since Cable is from the future, he remembers that important events are about to take place now from his history.

How It Was: This is a random one-off in Cable that actually sets up a lot of events in the X-Men books to come, so it’s worth taking a look at. This simple story has a lot of holes in its plot, starting with the antagonists themselves. Calisto and Marrow are back as the main villains, which is incredibly surprising considering last time we saw them, one of them was trying to help stop the murdering of innocent humans and the other had her heart ripped out. Even after coming up with a lazy reason for Marrow to not be dead, their evil scheme still doesn’t make any sense. Why would Calisto tell Marrow to warn the people before the bomb goes off? Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose? And if the bomb was set to go off after the music stops, wouldn’t warning the crowd be a bad idea?

Then again, maybe it wouldn’t matter if Marrow warned the crowd or not, since this appears to be a very stupid crowd. Cable and the Morlocks supposedly cause a near riot with their fight, but later there are plenty of people still at the concert. Are they that oblivious? Shouldn’t they be running for their lives instead of standing around while two mutants have a kung fu knife fight? The plot itself feels very stock; I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the bomb set off by a certain note in a number of cartoons like Inspector Gadget over the years. Ignoring the silliness of it, the way it plays out still doesn’t make a lot of sense.

So what does work? Well the prologue is pretty interesting with its cryptic foreshadowing of Nathan’s future role in the war against Apocalypse. That is until you learn that Nate’s role is actually nonexistent in that “final battle,” but don’t worry, that isn’t for years to come.

Also, Storm and Cable both work well together; the X-offices had been vaguely hinting at a romance between the two for a while, and it actually seems like it might work here. Storm does come off as a little weak and dumb by putting herself in such a situation in the first place, but her guilt over the Morlocks is a convincing enough motivation for her presence. Cable’s not exactly a standout solo hero; while he’s obviously tough, there’s just nothing to really set him apart, like a sense of humor or unique powers. Then again, he does have some fun moments in the mosh pit, and the writer seems to be slowly building up his significance as a time traveler/savior.

The art is decent, especially when it comes to the design of the alien bodyguard or the action and lighting of the mosh pit. The action isn’t anything to write home about, and the plot is a little incoherent, but it does do an average job of setting up the X-Men’s struggle to keep human relations from devolving any further.

C

X-Men '97 Annual

X-Men ’97 Annual
Writing: John Francis Moore
Art: Steve Epting

What Went Down: We open on Iceman and Joseph as they are chased by a mob of humans. They desperately try to make it to their car, but the mob catches up to them. In a surprise twist, the mob doesn’t consist of angry anti-mutant bigots; instead, it’s a group of teenage girls obsessed with getting Bobby Drake’s autograph. Joseph is confused by this.

At the mansion, Gambit and Rogue are shown cooking gumbo and kissing each other; for some reason Rogue’s absorption powers are in control. Joseph can’t help but feel that something isn’t quite right. Other events that are too good to be true: Cannonball watches a news story about the government shutting down Bastion, the world doesn’t’ hate mutants, Cyclops can walk around without his visor, Beast discovers the cure for the Legacy Virus, and Wolverine is calm and at peace. When Joseph walks away from him, Logan demonstrates that he is trying to fight some sort of mind control.

As Joseph observes some photos in the mansion, he notices that Jean Grey’s existence has been erased from them. Even stranger, none of the X-Men remember Jean Grey at all. Joseph flies away when the team threatens to “help” him, but Gambit and Rogue catch up and try to understand what is going on. Using Cerebro, they discover a mutant that fits the description of Jean in a store in Salem Center.

On the astral plane, Jean is imprisoned in a fake bedroom. At the ‘Bullseye’ store (a parody of Target), Gambit, Rogue, and Joseph are assaulted by the employees. After subduing the sales associates, they find Jean hooked up to a machine in the back. Gambit and Rogue vaguely remember her.

Rogue is knocked unconscious by a mental attack from the manager, who turns out to be the Gamemaster. We also see a flashback of Jean Grey being pricked with a sedative in a grocery store so she could be abducted. Gamemaster explains that he is an omnipath, and the only way for him to stay sane and focused while being exposed to the world’s thoughts and feelings is for him to play these manipulative games. He mentions the abortive Upstarts storyline, and explains that he was curious to see what would come of the X-Men if they were given everything they ever wanted.

Gamemaster offers Joseph the opportunity to make the changes permanent by sacrificing Jean Grey. When Joseph refuses, Gamemaster offers him the same deal if he will sacrifice Gambit. Joseph appears to kill Gambit, but really he is faking so he can free Jean. Jean attacks Gamemaster and almost learns his identity, but the villain gets away. Jean catches a glimpse of where he might live, but when the X-Men go to the house, it is obvious that the villain isn’t there. The TV is on, and the report describes a hospital firebombing that occurred once the Gamemaster stopped influencing the town. Rogue tries to cheer everybody up by explaining how all of them are trying to be better people.

How It Was: Somewhat of a surprise, this issue. Namely the surprise is in how good it actually is. Moore has a lot of fun with the status quo of the time, which was depressing, depressing, and more depressing. Amidst all the Onslaughts and political assassinations and self-doubting mutants, it is so nice to see the X-Men gain some happiness, even if it’s only a temporary, fake happiness. All of the twists Moore picks out, from the Legacy cure to Cyclops’ eyes, are nice little nods to the wealth of ever-present obstacles to the X-Men that never get furthered at all. Of course the end winds up being even more of a downer, but the journey is still a good one. It’s great to see Joseph get to be the focus, even if it’s only because of the plot convenient notion that Gamemaster’s powers can’t work on Magneto. After having nothing to do with the resolution of the Onslaught storyline, Joseph really hasn’t had an opportunity to prove himself as a hero up to this point, and I dare say this is the best standout moment he ever gets before disappearing off the face of the Marvel Universe in a year or two.

More impressive is the job Moore does with rehabilitating the Gamemaster’s character, especially in so few panels. Instead of the generically evil for the sake of evil arbitrator he was during the entire Upstarts story, I like this take on him as someone who is trying to distract himself from being overwhelmed by the breadth of human emotion around him. Moore also seems to be going for this idea that Gamemaster has completely lost his empathy and objectivity because of his powers, which is a far more compelling take on the villain as opposed to an evil, powerful guy who is just really, really bored all the time. Unfortunately he disappears from the X-Men books after this annual, never to be seen in the main books again.

The issue is a little long, and the fight with the employees at Target feels superfluous, but all-in-all the story works really well. At its core it is a simple story about whether the ends justify the means, filtered through a well constructed X-Men character piece. This is a shining bright spot in the middle of late 90’s era X-Men. We finally get a story that deals with the core themes of the book, develops some of the characters and their relationships, and only has one loose end that is never followed up on again (which feels like some kind of record for this period). If you’re going to bother reading X-Men comics in 1997, you might as well seek this one out since it’s better than the vast majority.

B+

X-Men #61

X-Men #61
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Art: Cedric Nocon

What Went Down: Archangel starts off the issue pounding on the door of his penthouse because Psylocke is inside a battling a group of undercloaks-the magic shadow ninjas from back in Uncanny #329. Unable to enter (I guess he forgot his keys?), Warren runs up the stairs to the roof, flies around, and busts through a window to find Betsy calmly sitting by herself. When Warren asks what is going on, Gomurr the Ancient shows up and hints at the cost of resurrecting Psylocke with the Crimson Dawn. This is all set up for a Crimson Dawn mini-series for the couple to star in, so don’t worry too much about it.

Back at the museum, Storm is trying to protect Karima, the orphan who was raised a thief by Storm’s mentor and is presently taped to a pillar. Storm confronts the Shadow King/Jamil and tries to stop him with a blizzard. Candra tries to get to the gem, but the Juggernaut appears, attacking her and Storm. Storm frees Karima and wonders if the appearances of the Shadow King and Juggernaut are somehow tied to Jamil’s powers. Candra and Storm get into a hand-to-hand fight, with Ororo throwing Candra in some rubble. While Storm tries to figure out what is happening, Cable appears and uses the gem to shoot a red ray at Candra. Storm figures out the cause of the manifestations, flies Karima out of the museum, and tells the girl that she has to stop this.

Elsewhere in the city, the X-Men are tracking Storm to help her. Jean uses her powers to hide their appearance from civilians, which causes a debate among the members. Jean turns a corner and everyone disappears, both X-Man and civilian. After three panels, everything returns to normal, with Wolverine asking Jean if there is anything wrong.

Back in the museum, Candra bursts out of the rubble and asks where Jamil has gone. Storm explains that Jamil never existed because Karima is actually a mutant whose power involves pulling desires from people’s minds and making them real; Jamil was actually a desire of Karima’s given form to keep her from being lonely. Candra’s own desire to get the gem was then projected onto Jamil by Karima. Storm throws Candra the gem, but at the last second Cyclops shows up and blasts it, killing Candra. The X-Men comment about how they are always there for each other, and Storm decides that she is going to take Karima home. In an epilogue in Hong Kong, Sebastian Shaw is revealed to be not dead. He makes a toast to his son Shinobi, and then says some cryptic mutterings about his next huge plan.

How It Was: Errr…I hate to be so negative all the time, but this really makes no sense and has no purpose. The cover teases an awesome fight with the Juggernaut, but what we get is a series of illusions that are only around for a page or two each. Candra’s “heart” has gone from her weakness to a typical ultimate power macguffin, and the resolution is super anti-climactic since Storm could have just destroyed the thing last issue and been done with all of it.

Now let’s talk about the M. Night Shyamalan style twist of Jamil not existing. Originally we’re told that Jamil is a mutant who can create illusions. Fair enough. Then we’re told that he might be possessed by the Shadow King, and the gem can enhance his powers. Still good. After that, a bunch of illusions from Storm’s history pop up and attack her. She somehow reasons that it is impossible for Jamil to be able to know these aspects of her history, so instead she figures that it makes more sense that Karima has the power to unconsciously read thoughts and desires from people and make them tangible. Also, Jamil isn’t real, as he was really an embodiment of Karima’s unconscious desire to not be alone. My question is, how is this the more likely scenario than a mutant who can create illusions screwing with a person with aspects of their past? Especially with an overpowered magic gem, shouldn’t this be well within the realm of possibilities in the X-Men’s lives?

Still, the twist might have been enough if we actually cared about any of the characters at all. Even Candra has little to no motivation; why did she put her heart in a jewel in the first place and what is she going to do if she gets it back under her control? On top of that, at the end Storm decides it is best to return Karima to her life as a struggling orphan thief in Africa by herself, as opposed to say taking her back to their mansion so she can learn how to use her insanely powerful mutant abilities. So there you have it, even Storm doesn’t care enough about Karima as a character to do the right thing by her.

As for the rest of the plotlines, the two-page spread of Psylocke fighting ghost ninjas looks pretty cool, but the stuff with the Crimson Dawn still isn’t interesting at all. And in what I assume is yet another forgotten plotline to add to the list, Jean Grey sees everybody in New York disappear for no reason. Sebastian Shaw is back, not that we really missed him all that much. While he is a much better character than his son Shinobi, Sebastian doesn’t really get any good plots in the modern age of comics that I can think of off the top of my head. But more on that in the coming issues of X-Men.

This story was probably the biggest misfire yet. I like the idea of putting the spotlight on Storm, but a boring villain, uninteresting supporting characters, and unnecessary plot twists make this one pretty forgettable. This is the type of comic that shows how diehard an X-fan is if they owned it and stuck with the series after reading it.

F

X-Men #60

X-Men #60
Writing: Scott Lobdell and Ralph Macchio
Art: Cedric Nocon

What Went Down: Storm is enjoying some solitude in her attic/garden when Cyclops ambushes and attacks her. The External Candra has possessed Cyclops for some reason, but she lets him go after Storm drenches him. Storm explains to Cyclops that Candra is after the jewel from Storm’s costume.

In a flashback we see the young thief Storm breaking into a mansion to steal the gem. After young Ororo removed the jewel, the case exploded, killing all the guards and leveling the house. Storm’s master Achmed El-Gibar kept the jewel for her until she was older, and it turns out that the gem is really Candra’s heart, the only weakness the External has.

In Washington, Jean consoles Cannonball for failing to save Graydon Creed. Meanwhile Storm meets Candra in the Metropolitan Museum’s Egyptian collection. Storm is about to destroy the jewel so Candra cannot use its power, but Candra reveals that she has kidnapped a girl named Karima that Storm met way back in X-Men Unlimited #7, who was also trained as a thief by Achmed. Additionally, Candra has employed Karima’s friend Jamil, who can cast illusions. Jamil makes Ororo see the Black Panther, who kisses her. Storm breaks free and a fight erupts. The gem in Storm’s hand disappears because Jamil created an illusion to make her think she was still holding it. The issue ends with the Shadow King appearing and announcing that he has been in control of Jamil all along and now has the power of the Heart of Candra.

How It Was: The stress of writing two books continues to take its toll on Lobdell, as he scrapes the bottom of the X-bucket for this story. With clearly no direction for the X-Men books at this point, Lobdell was obviously getting desperate if he was using X-Men Unlimited stories for his inspiration. Putting the spotlight on Storm for two issues isn’t a bad idea by any stretch of the mind; after all, she hasn’t really had any development of her own since Forge left her. It’s just that this story is a long series of unnecessary retcons combined with an enmity between two characters that has never been mentioned before or since.

Ralph Macchio’s script for this issue is not particularly great, and it’s not helped by the sheer amount of exposition that is dumped into this issue. Storm’s origin is gone over twice, once by the narrator and again when Storm recounts a flashback, with a filler action scene between Cyclops and Storm smack in the middle. Tying Candra to Storm’s past doesn’t make a lot of sense since she has primarily been a Gambit and X-Force villain up to this point. Then there are just the numerous logical gaps: if Candra can possess Cyclops, why not just possess Storm instead? Why would Storm’s mentor give the jewel to her if it holds so much power, and why would she hold onto it if she saw it blow up a mansion full of people? If the jewel is Candra’s weakness, why doesn’t Storm just destroy it this issue instead of making us slog through another issue to destroy it? The macguffin is just too poorly defined, as is the reason Candra has waited so long to try to get it back.

Another baffling choice is the inclusion of minor bit players Karima and Jamil. Storm acts like they are super important to her, but really she’s only met them once and most readers probably had no idea at the time who they were; I know I didn’t. The script doesn’t do much to make us care about either of them at all, since Jamil acts like a brainwashed lackey and Karima has her mouth taped shut the whole issue. They’re never going to be in a comic again after next issue, so don’t worry too much about them.

Cedric Nocon’s art is actually really nice, except for the magically changing proportions and position of the Washington Monument in the Jean and Sam scene. Conversely, that’s probably my favorite part of the issue since it actually makes sense, deals with the characters, and gives Cannonball a little depth. I like that Sam is conflicted about Creed’s death, although it does bring up the question of why the writers set up this months long storyline for him when he contributed absolutely nothing to its resolution. The end is a bit of a red herring; it looks cool, but next issue devolves into a series of twists that don’t come off as interesting or clever as they should, namely because nobody cares about any of the characters other than Storm. This issue just continues the trend of aimlessness that the X-Men suffered pre- and post-Onslaught.

F

200 Posts Strong and Growing

I have to admit I'm kind of surprised, and impressed, that this is still going on, and going as well as it is.  Thanks to everybody who continues to visit.  There's a good chance I might take the next week off to work on school work, but I'll play it by ear.  As for what's down the line, we have the end of Scott Lobdell's run, Marvel's horribly conceived Minus One Month, and the criminally underrated Steven Seagle/Joe Kelly run.  So please continue to visit and thanks again!