CHRONOS #9 - December 1998

Being & Nothingness

Credits: John Francis Moore (writer), Paul Guinan (penciler), Steve Leialoha & Dennis Rodier (inks), Ken Bruzenak (letters), Noelle Giddings (colors)

And now we’ve reached Chronos #9, the issue selected by DC for a promotional push to keep the series alive. New cover artist Tony Harris! New editor Mike Carlin! A guest appearance by Destiny of the Endless! A standalone story perfect for new readers! Extra copies shipped to retailers (presumably at DC’s expense)! Of course, if you’re an existing reader of this book, you’ll notice that the previous issue’s cliffhanger has been ignored, and the series lead has somehow learned important information about his past off-panel. That’s annoying, but the story does resolve a few mysteries from the previous issues and sets up a new status quo, so it’s not as if the audience is being dumped in favor of an early ‘00s Bill Jemas style “reinvention.”

The story opens with a flashback to the death of Chronos’ mother, followed by a conversation between the adult Chronos and Destiny. Abruptly, the scene shifts to an Oakland hospital in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic future.

However, as Chronos awakens, he discovers that this is the year 1998. He’s been in a coma for thirteen years…the same number of years we’ve previously learned his mother has been dead. Chronos investigates and learns that Ronald Reagan is still president, and since we already know John Francis Moore’s opinion on Reagan, that means America is now a bombed-out hellhole of a police state engaged with a futile war against Russia. Reagan’s also lying to the public about having Alzheimer’s, which is a classy touch on Moore’s part.

Within a few pages, Chronos has met this timeline’s version of himself, a government scientist working on time travel studies (his boss is Amanda Waller, for any of “The Wall” completists out there). This divergent-earth Walker Gabriel has been plagued with headaches his entire life, and now he knows why -- two versions of the same person can’t exist in the same timeline without causing problems.

Chronos explains how exactly this timeline was created…which is literally an entire issue’s worth of story crammed into three panels:

Using alternate Walker’s time travel equipment, Chronos recharges his powers and travels thirteen years into the past…again. This time, he does more than temporarily K.O. Wilson Sebastian, the drunk driver who killed his mother. Chronos drugs him, leaves him in a hotel room, and plants documents to ensure that Sebastian will never become Secretary of State and turn the Cold War into a hot one. Unfortunately, a two-page sequence details how Chronos accidentally caused his mother’s death in this new, new reality.

That’s another issue’s worth of material burned through in just a few panels. John Francis Moore is an efficiency machine, I tell you.

Chronos has another meeting with Destiny and decides that if his mother is to live, she cannot be connected to him in any way. He also throws in that he knows that he was born outside of time in Chronopolis, which apparently is the origin of his powers. How he knows this we don’t know, since this revelation hasn’t happened in any of the previous issues.

Following his new plan, Chronos goes back to Chronopolis on the day of his birth and kidnaps his infant self. His foster parents go on to adopt another child, a girl, and fate spares Chronos’ mother. Somehow, Wilson Sebastian isn’t involved with the drunk driving accident either, but his political career is ended, as the fake evidence planted by Chronos leads to his arrest as a traitor. (How this works I don’t know, since Chronos planted the evidence in the previous timeline. If he’s still planting evidence in this new, new, new reality, it would seem that he hasn’t learned a lesson about the immutableness of time.)

So, Chronos has effectively erased himself from time, which somehow is supposed to lead to a bold new direction for the title. And while I don’t think this was as new reader friendly as DC might’ve liked, it is one of the strongest issues of the book’s run. I think every kid lives with at least some fear that their parents might die in something like a car accident one day, so building on a childhood anxiety and making it a cornerstone of Chronos’ backstory is a smart choice on Moore’s part. The idea of a time traveler who’s constantly foiled by their efforts to change the past has certainly been done before, but Moore has a nice angle for it. Also, connecting the drunk driving accident that killed his mother to the start of World War III might sound absurd on its face, but Moore’s actually come up with a plausible justification. I don’t think the story needed a feeble-minded real life president in order to work, especially when it’s more plausible that the Constitution wouldn’t have been amended and a new president would’ve been elected in 1988 anyway, but we never can escape Watchmen, can we?

YOUNG HEROES IN LOVE #15 - August 1998

We Want Cake

Credits: Dan Raspler (writer), Dev Madan (penciler), Keith Champagne (inker), Bill Oakley (letterer), Noelle Giddings (colorist)

Creating an elaborate trap that involves novelty candles, a potato, cooking oil, a microwave, a balloon, and a birthday cake, Junior apprehends the Birthday Boy. The blind students (whose blindness is represented by not giving them pupils, making them resemble something Harold Gray would've drawn...or maybe Lenil Francis Yu on a deadline) are rescued and Junior publicly acknowledges the Young Heroes for helping him become the best hero he can be. This surprisingly takes up most of the issue, but there are a few character subplots:

Monstergirl’s parents reveal to her that she was discovered in a space egg as a baby. Her father opens a trunk in the basement, but can’t find the egg.

Bonfire adopts the dog that was sniffing around the team’s headquarters last issue. She confides in Frostbite that Monstergirl’s thirst for power bothers her.

Off-Ramp travels through space and encounters Princess, a woman from his past who flies around on a magic carpet.

Zip-Kid meets a few of her fiancé’s friends. In a shocking turn of events, the scene heavily implies that the Italian stereotype’s associates are involved with organized crime. Thankfully, this was published in 1998, so we’re spared any references to GTL or the Smush Room.

Most of the character work in this issue consists of vague hints of what might be ahead (although the book’s close to cancellation, so who knows), so it’s pretty light on the soap opera. The main action story is amusing, leading me with an even stronger desire to see Batman fight Birthday Boy someday. Using Monstergirl as a parody of Superman’s origin also works fairly well, but it’s hard to guess where exactly this is going. It’s not as if Superman parodies are anything new, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen the parents misplace the alien craft that brought their child.

CHRONOS #8 - October 1998

Ghost Train

Credits: John Francis Moore (writer), Paul Guinan (penciler), Denis Rodier (inks), Ken Bruzenak (letters), Mike Danza (colors)

2113: Chronos and Fiorella arrive in Washington DC, hoping that Baron Winters (apparently another ex-lover of Fiorella’s) will help them reach Chronopolis. I have no idea who Baron Winters is, but based on his brief appearance this issue, I was able to correctly guess that he’s an existing DCU character. I’m not sure if his mansion, Gravesend Manor, debuted in any of his previous appearances, but Moore’s clearly tying it into a larger story he’s telling. Winters refuses to help Fiorella, but decides that it’s in his best interests for Chronos to owe him a favor. Joined by Winters’ aide Genji Hitomaro, an ex-sumo wrestler and recovering drug addict, Chronos and Fiorella are sent through a door in the mansion that takes them to…

2452: Metropolis. The city’s in ruins, Superman’s been gone for over a hundred years, and somehow an underground train called the “Trans-Avant Garde” is going to take Chronos and Fiorella to Chronopolis. Genji Hitomaro is given a heroic death as he clears the tracks of the alien metrognomes (the monsters on the cover), allowing the train to depart. The Trans-Avant Garde goes through numerous timelines, bringing us the inevitable cameo appearance by the Legion of Super-Heroes, before reaching Chronopolis. (Why doesn’t Chronos just use the train to go back to the ‘70s, his original destination in the previous issue? Uh…apparently it’s too fast to control. And why couldn’t one of the rooms in Winters’ mansion take Chronos to the ‘70s? Umm…) Chronos thinks he’s safe, but the mysterious Gravesend is secretly spying on him. It’s a dramatic cliffhanger that won’t be resolved until three issues later.

I’m assuming this issue was designed to give DC a more straightforward, action-oriented story. Just look at that cover…isn’t this guy a take-charge, square-jawed hero who’s clearly saving the day? Never mind that he barely confronts those aliens in the issue, and it’s actually a new, extremely minor character who handles most of the action. To be honest, I’m not even sure why Genji Hitomaro is even in this issue. Usually, when a new character is introduced and given a noble sacrifice plot to act out, the story goes out of its way to make him a sympathetic figure. Moore certainly works in some backstory for Genji, an odd one at that, but he doesn’t seem too interested in fleshing out his personality. Even with the new, more linear focus, there’s not a lot of room in the issue to really do anything with Genji, making me wonder why he’s in the story in the first place. If the goal was to make this a more commercial title, wouldn’t it have made more sense for the title’s hero to fight the aliens…y’know, like he's doing on the cover?

YOUNG HEROES IN LOVE #14 - July 1998

Revenge of the Lame-o Plot Device

Credits: Dan Raspler (writer), Dev Madan (penciler), Keith Champagne (inker), Bill Oakley (letterer), Noelle Giddings (colorist)

Thunderhead discovers a manga Young Heroes comic, which amuses every member of team except Junior, who’s left out of the book. Later, after a group of autistic adults and a day care center mysteriously disappear, the Young Heroes speak to an elementary school to calm their fears. Except for Junior, who’s kind of forgotten by the rest of the team. Junior briefly ponders if “with little power comes little responsibility” but thinks better of it. Taking matters into his own hands, Junior teams up with his policeman friend Roger Wong to aid the official investigation. They soon learn the culprit identifies himself as the Birthday Boy, and discern his M.O. is to abduct people who can’t identify him. Junior correctly predicts his next target -- the local school for the blind.

Plus…

Monstergirl is hiding her ability to fly around as a bird from her teammates. The motivation behind her secrecy is yet to be revealed.

Off-Ramp visits an old angler and has a conversation about fishing that apparently parallels his views on adventuring. Maybe. There’s no obvious reason for this scene, to be honest.

Junior, aside from having his ego bruised by the Young Heroes’ manga, unfortunately learns that…

Zip-Kid accepted her boyfriend’s proposal. The obnoxious jerk is going to get the girl over the shy, nice guy. That never happens in real life. Zip-Kid, after announcing her engagement, asks to speak to Thunderhead in private, but we’re not privy to their conversation this issue.

Frostbite meets evil child genius Ricky Renquist, who’s court-ordered to attend a normal school, for the first time. He isn’t impressed.

And, for some reason, A Mysterious Dog wanders around until it reaches the outside of the Young Heroes’ headquarters.

This is one of the strongest issues yet, and it’s perhaps the first to balance evenly the personal subplots with the action-adventure storyline. The opening manga scene might seem like a gratuitous use of the first four pages, but it works because it’s genuinely funny and sets up the inferiority complex that motivates Junior for the rest of the issue. (And, seriously, the fake manga is great. My favorite strip is the hilarious “Crisis OK” -- perhaps the best Crisis parody ever in three panels.) The introduction of Birthday Boy is another inspired choice by Raspler and Madan. At this point, we only know that he’s kidnapping people and returning them with strapped-on party hats, but he has potential to be the Silver Age Batman villain that time forgot. His design also predates the debut of that creepy Burger King mascot by a good five years.

CHRONOS #7 - September 1998

The Killing Rain

Credits: John Francis Moore (writer), Paul Guinan (penciler), Denis Rodier & Steve Leialoha (inks), Ken Bruzenak (letters), Mike Danza (colors)

2113: Chronos and Alex attempt to travel back to the 1970s to investigate David Clinton’s connection to Chronos’ parents, but a vague “temporal interference” separates the duo. Chronos lands in 2113’s Seattle, a dingy shadow of the city that’s owned by a telecom corporation (yeah, that’s spot-on soothsaying). Seattle lives in fear of the Justice League Killer, a shapechanger who only kills when taking the form of the Justice League. As luck would have it, Chronos stumbles across him shortly after arriving in the city. His time-traveling powers and temporal displacement suit aren’t working, so he’s forced to run away from the killer. Clearly, Chronos is still far away from attaining “hero” status.

Chronos is sent to a homeless shelter by two transit officers who are too lazy to fill out any paperwork on a mystery man with no DNA on file. The homeless are given “infotainment vidsets” at the shelter, which Chronos describes as “A little video candy to keep the downtrodden pacified. The Romans did it with bread and circuses.” While watching the type of newscast you normally find in a Paul Verhoeven movie, Chronos discovers that Fiorella Della Ravenna, the socialite he met in the Renaissance, is alive and well in this era.

After repairing his costume, Chronos tracks down Fiorella at an art gallery opening, but only learns that she’s in “a long and painful melodrama” and is also stuck in this era. In a yet another wild coincidence, a police officer at the art exhibit they’re attending just happens to be the Justice League Killer in disguise. Morphing into Green Arrow, he nearly kills Chronos again, but this time he’s saved by Fiorella. The police arrest the killer and we discover that his true name is Hayden Glass, with a DNA copyright belonging to Cadmus. He claims that his father was a superhero who abandoned his mother while she was still pregnant. By posing as the Justice League, he claims that he’s exposing heroes for what they are.

Now, I can’t totally dismiss this issue as time killer, as it formally introduces Hayden Glass, the shape-changing villain from the first issue, and leads Chronos and Fiorella a little closer towards their inevitable romance. But…it’s hard not to view this issue as a diversion that largely exists as an excuse to get the Justice League on the cover. And Paul Guinan certainly has a unique take on the Justice League -- I can’t imagine him trying to draw the characters in Howard Porter’s style -- but even that’s a thin excuse for the shapeshifter plot.

Since I’m not overly familiar with DC continuity, I don’t know if the name “Hayden Glass” is supposed to be significant, and nothing in the issue indicates why exactly he’s chosen the twentieth century version of the Justice League to imitate. I do know that Cadmus has a connection to cloning, so perhaps the idea is that the killer has been cloned repeatedly over the past century, but some confirmation in the actual story would be nice. As for the setting of the issue, Moore’s take on the future isn’t particularly novel, either. Essentially, it’s 1984 with an evil corporation instead of an evil government. I suppose the setting alone isn’t enough to hurt the story, but the sheer coincidence of Chronos running into the killer twice is inexcusable, and as the title’s lead, he’s remarkably ineffective throughout the entire issue.

X-MAN #50 - April 1999

War of the Mutants Part Two: New Blood

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Luke Ross (penciler), Bud LaRosa (inker), Mike Thomas (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: X-Man confronts Emma, who promises to lead him to Dark Beast if he helps her rescue Generation X. She telepathically traces the team to the New York sewers, where they’re soon confronted by Dark Beast’s new band of villains. Emma slips out of the battle to face Dark Beast, as X-Man and Gaia free Generation X. Gaia discovers a Brood egg, spoiling Dark Beast’s scheme to infect Gen X with the aliens. Dark Beast is revealed as a hologram and disappears. Emma telepathically feeds X-Man information scanned from his monitors, which she says will lead him to Dark Beast. Madelyne Pryor arrives and teleports X-Man away to Ireland, unaware that the Gauntlet is hiding outside of their inn.

Continuity Notes:

• Madelyne is apparently trying to kill Ness, according to a brief subplot scene (check out the original art from this page here).
• Gaia is suddenly wearing her Generation X uniform, even though the previous installment ended with her in normal clothes.
• Dark Beast remarks that Emma performed “work” on his head when he arrived confused and disoriented on this world.That doesn’t make sense, given that they met in Generation X #-1, set ten years ago when Emma was sixteen.Dark Beast actually arrived in this world twenty years ago, according to X-Men Omega.
• X-Man seems to believe Fever Pitch is our reality’s version of Holocaust/Nemesis.(If that’s the case, who was the Holocaust Stryfe wrote of in Stryfe’s Strike File?)
• As for the rest of Dark Beast’s squad, the new members introduced this issue include Wynter (who’s being mentally controlled by Dark Beast), Obsidian the Dark, Integer, and Iron Maiden.

“Huh?” Moment: Emma tracks Dark Beast -- who, again, is mentally controlling one of his flunkies -- to his hidden lair with his psi-print. The same Dark Beast that’s revealed as a hologram just ten pages later. The story dismisses Emma’s ability to grab him by explaining that this is a “hard light” hologram…but how could hard light create thought patterns?

I Love the '90s: Emma instructs a nosey human student at the school to go watch The X-Files.

Review: This was the “War of the Mutants”?!? Wow...
So, after reviving the Emma Frost/Dark Beast mystery as the thread to tie this crossover together, what do we learn? That Emma helped repair Dark Beast’s mind after he arrived on this earth. (Never mind that the timeline doesn’t work, and none of the other AoA refugees were shown as severely mentally damaged following their arrival on this reality.) That’s the big reveal? Actually, is this even a reveal at all? Wasn’t this covered by the Generation X Flashback issue? If nothing new was supposed to be revealed, what was the point of this?

It certainly wasn’t to tease the idea of X-Man joining Generation X, since no character in the story ever seems to take the prospect seriously. It wasn’t to have X-Man team up with Generation X, since they barely appear in this issue, and are comatose for most of their brief appearance. If the story was supposed to be about the Dark Beast infecting Generation X with the Brood, that idea’s dismissed in the course of two panels. So, what’s left…the introduction of a new team for Dark Beast (who, perhaps, are still supposed to be called Gene Nation, even though the name never appears in the story)? That’s doubtful…Kavanagh doesn’t even seem slightly interested in the new characters. Even the revelation that Fever Pitch is potentially the once-popular AoA character Holocaust is treated as an afterthought. What we’re left with is a pointless crossover with a melodramatic, yet slightly generic, title that should’ve been saved for a higher-profile event. Or maybe a video game.

CABLE ‘99 - April 1999

Something Sinister This Way Comes

Credits: Michael Higgins & Karl Bollers (writers), German Garcia w/Alitha Martinez (pencilers), Matt Ryan w/Candelario & Koblish (inkers), Mike Rockwitz (colors), BenchMark (letters)

Summary: Mr. Sinister visits Cable’s hideout, revealing to him that he engineered Cable’s creation to use him as the ultimate weapon against Apocalypse. Cable refuses Sinister’s partnership offer, even after he’s warned of Apocalypse’s approaching emissaries. Soon, a local nightclub is attacked by mutants claiming to be Apocalypse’s servants. One of them erases Cable’s powers, triggering his techno-organic virus. Sinister rescues Cable, curing the virus and restoring his telepathic powers. Cable returns home and rescues Irene and Blaquesmith from the emissaries. He reveals to Sinister that he knows they’re actually his Marauders in disguise. Cable demands to know all of Sinister’s secrets, but he revives Cable’s virus and uses the opportunity to escape.

Continuity Notes: A flashback scene reveals that Sinister created the techno-organic virus in the early 1900s in the hopes that it could kill Apocalypse. Instead, it only made him stronger. Apocalypse allowed Sinister to flee, but promised to kill him in the future. Just a few months after this comic was published, another flashback in Uncanny X-Men #376 shows that Apocalypse and Sinister were allies again during the early days of the X-Men, behind-the-scenes of the Living Pharaoh storyline. As for the Marauders, none of them has the ability to erase another mutant’s power, although Scrambler can…yes, scramble his opponent’s powers and make them go haywire.

Review: It’s easy to dismiss this as annual filler, but the creators have worked out a plot that ties in to the regular series’ ongoing storylines, and establishes a few continuity points as well. I’m not sure if anyone was actually looking for important continuity to be established in a Cable annual by this point, but it’s there if you’re interested. The ongoing Cable series has never really known what to do with Mr. Sinister, perhaps because the character’s traditionally a behind-the-scenes schemer and rarely someone who takes an active role in supervillain plots. Yet, his entire gimmick centers around Summers’ DNA, and the precious offspring that will be created by Cyclops and Phoenix. Well, here he is. And he’s had an ongoing series since 1993. Why don’t you care, Sinister? Jeph Loeb tried to write around this by having Sinister hint that he’s been more involved with Cable’s life than he could ever realize, but that hint, of course, went nowhere.

So, the premise moves the book slightly past the “generic” marker, but unfortunately the execution is a disappointment. The art is clearly a rush job, making even the normally excellent German Garcia unrecognizable on many pages. Cable versus the Marauders should be a fantastic fight scene, one that’s been in the works since “Inferno,” but it’s pretty lifeless here. The story attempts to build a thematic link between Apocalypse and Sinister, but the conclusion we’re expected to reach -- Sinister’s no better than Apocalypse because he wants to save humanity for his own experimentation -- isn’t much of a revelation. Cable’s also supposed to learn some grand lesson about appreciating humanity instead of agonizing over his heavy responsibilities, but that’s an idea that Joe Casey's used more effectively in the monthly title. There are a few amusing lines, though, and the script is easier to read than Higgins & Boller’s effort in the previous annual. So, it’s not as terrible as you might expect a late ‘90s Cable annual to be; it’s just regular bad.

GENERATION X #50 - April 1999

War of the Mutants Part One: Divided We Fall

Credits: Jay Faerber (writer), Terry Dodson (penciler), Rachel Dodson (inker), John Kalisz (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: As the school is opened to human students, Dark Beast and his minions spy on Gen X. When Emma Frost sees footage of X-Man on television, she telepathically reaches out to him. He senses her presence and discerns that Emma has a past with the Dark Beast. Meanwhile, Banshee sees surveillance footage of a helicopter abducting a student and races after him. In town, Gen X is attacked by the Dark Beast’s men. Gaia reaches Emma for help, but they’re suddenly interrupted by X-Man. Finally, Banshee tracks the helicopter to Vermont, where he's attacked by a large man.

Continuity Notes: The Dark Beast comments that he’s hidden in the sewers for decades to avoid being mistaken for this reality’s Hank McCoy. That’s irreconcilable with his earlier appearances, which audaciously claimed that he never even considered this reality had a Hank McCoy.

Emma’s sister Adrienne remarks that it’s good the school has changed its name back to “The Massachusetts Academy” given the public’s mistrust of Professor Xavier following the Onslaught event. That implies that the general public is aware that Xavier was Onslaught, which doesn’t work with continuity. At this point, even his identity as a mutant was still a secret.

Banshee is on the phone with a mystery man (?) who he’s recruiting as the school’s new gym teacher.

Dark Beast’s flunkies consist of new characters Membrain and Fever Pitch, along with a few leftover Gene Nation members, Hemingway and Vessel (whose names don’t seem to appear in this issue, which is annoying given how obscure these villains are).

Review: Generation X #1 and X-Man #1 didn’t debut in the same month, but due to the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline suspending Generation X for four months and X-Man continuing after the AoA stunt ended, they’ve run concurrent issue numbers since #5. No one thought to unite them for their twenty-fifth issues, but aren’t we lucky that someone’s decided to do a crossover during their fiftieth issues. (Of course, just two years later, they’ll reach cancellation together with their seventy-fifth issues. And the world is saved from gratuitous X-spinoffs forever…)

There is one obvious connection between X-Man and Generation X that hasn’t been explored yet, and that’s the teen angle. If Generation X is supposed to be training the next generation of mutants, and X-Man is a teenage mutant, the most powerful in the world, it makes sense to exploit that for one story. Another link would be Emma Frost’s past with X-Man’s arch-nemesis (whenever he bothers to remember X-Man), the Dark Beast. The exact nature of their relationship hasn’t been revealed at this point, even though Scott Lobdell hinted at their shared past early in Generation X’s run, and James Robinson detailed their first meeting in Generation X #-1.

I’m not sure if Jay Faerber was eager to participate in a crossover so early in his run, but he still works in a few decent ideas. Integrating the school with a new human student body opens the door to numerous story possibilities, making me wonder a) why no one’s done it before and b) why the concept was dismissed so quickly after Faerber’s exit. I’ll never understand the attitude that the X-teams shouldn’t be interacting with normal people. Isn’t this the entire point -- to train mutants to use their powers responsibly and be able to enter mainstream society? These titles have to be grounded in reality in order to work, so making the school a literal school and giving the team dozens of potential supporting cast members to interact with makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately, there’s no room to flesh out any of the new students this issue, but Faerber does find the space to split the team up into small groups and work in some characterization scenes. Husk is still angry at Chamber for brushing her off. Chamber doesn’t want to share the school with humans. Skin isn’t willing to believe all humans are bigots. M wants a tattoo to symbolize her ownership of her body. Synch is apparently the object of affection for M, Gaia, and Jubilee. Thankfully, the crossover material is simply used to justify the fight scenes, making this read like a standard Generation X issue that just happens to be concluded in X-Man.

MUTANT X #6 - March 1999

The Trial of the Brute!

Credits: Howard Mackie (writer), Cary Nord (penciler), Andrew Pepoy (inker), Gina Going-Raney (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

Summary: The Brute stands trial for the murders of Man-Spider and the Green Goblin. Matt Murdock’s surprise witness is none other than Man-Spider himself, who claims his clone was the true victim. Suddenly, the courtroom is attacked by Hand ninjas and Bullseye, giving Madelyne and the Fallen an opportunity to lock the Brute in an empty room. When he emerges, the Brute dismisses his lawyer, pleads guilty, and asks for the death penalty.

“That’s Crazy Because They’re Different”: Gwen Stacy is a television reporter in this reality. Matt Murdock (presumably his first name is Matt, at least) is a trial lawyer, but no mention is made of Daredevil. Bullseye is essentially the same character, although he has a new costume.

Better Than X-Factor?: Yes, and it’s an improvement over the previous issue. Mackie’s main focus seems to be playing up the Madelyne Summers/Goblin Queen subplot; so much so that the Hand and Bullseye fight scenes are only given a few pages at the end of the issue. An unknown force is manipulating Madelyne into transforming into the Goblin Queen, and while the Fallen is in on her secret, that doesn’t stop her from horribly torturing him off-panel when he steps out of line. These scenes work pretty well, although Mackie seems to have forgotten about them just a few pages later, since the Fallen is still associating with Madelyne without any apparent resentment. Regardless, the Goblin Queen mystery is one of the more promising subplots in the series, so hopefully the payoff will be worth the wait.

Meanwhile, the Brute is on trial, which may or may not be a reference to the Beast’s trial from the first season of the X-Men cartoon. The courtroom scenes are slightly repetitive, but Cary Nord does a great job on the closing fight sequence. Unfortunately, as nice as the fight looks, it feels tacked on. This is the most interesting thing Nord’s been asked to draw in the issue, and it’s rushed through on the final five pages for some reason. At least a few of the numerous pages of Havok thinking to himself or escorting little Scotty around could’ve been cut, easily.

MAGNETO REX #3 - July 1999

Once We Were Kings

Credits: Joe Pruett (writer), Brandon Peterson (penciler), Batt (inker), Richard Isanove & Monica Kubina (colors), Jon Babcock (letters)

Summary: Magneto defeats Zealot by wrapping him in metal and shooting him into space. Amelia Voght takes Quicksilver to the Mutate camp for Legacy Virus victims, convincing him to stay and attempt to influence Magneto’s actions. Magneto formally takes control of Genosha, expelling most of the remaining humans. The Avengers are stunned to see news reports naming Quicksilver as a member of Magneto’s cabinet. Finally, Magneto thanks Amelia in private for pushing Quicksilver into staying.

Continuity Notes: Zealot’s mutant ability is revealed as the power to control the earth, making his claim of being “one with Genosha” a very literal one. Apocalypse makes a one-page cameo, just to remind us that he’s the star of the next big mutant event.

Review: Actual dialogue from this issue: “I will never embrace your perverted ideologies and become as corrupted in spirit and soul as you have! You have become so twisted in your thinking, so far removed from humanity that Ferris -- a thing of metal and of your own construction, is the only thing in which you place your trust -- while Amelia, who has stood by you for what she perceives to be the right reasons, has not even garnered a glance of affection -- even as she risked her life for your cause.” Yikes. And this isn’t an isolated example used to make the comic seem worse than it is -- the issue is essentially twenty-two pages of turgid nonsense.

So, what’s accomplished by the conclusion of Magneto Rex? We don’t learn any more about Zealot, aside from another claim that he’s Philip Moreau’s brother. No more information than this is given, and apparently we’re supposed to take the retcon at face value. The idea that the Gengineer would callously transform his firstborn son into a Mutate doesn’t exactly match what I remember of his original characterization, considering that Claremont at least tried to make him a sympathetic figure. Now, was there ever a point in tying Zealot and Philip Moreau together? Apparently not. Then again, was there a point in dragging Rogue into this mini? Her previous pairings with Magneto worked very well, so it’s understandable that the creators would want to use her in this series, but she clearly has no impact on the plot.

Let’s see…did Pipeline’s conversion to the other side serve a purpose? Nope, although Magneto did need a teleporter for one scene, so apparently that’s reason enough to justify his presence. How about Fabian Cortez -- did he engage in any of his famous deal making and backstabbing? Did Magneto punish him for trying to kill him, usurping the Acolytes, and kidnapping his granddaughter? Of course not. In fact, he’s gone back to using Cortez as a power battery, even though he should know by now what an idiotic idea this is. What of Alda Huxley, the mysterious new character introduced to facilitate Magneto’s rule of Genosha? Sure, she was just a plot convenience in the original “Magneto War” crossover, but surely she wouldn’t have been brought into the miniseries without some plan for her character. Eh…you know the answer to that by now.

This is Magneto Rex. A flagrant cash grab that coasted on the back of a high-profile crossover and a famous lead character. The story offers absolutely no insight into Magneto’s character, other than the repeated claims that he’s even nastier than ever before. Marvel already tried that angle earlier in the ‘90s and didn’t exactly succeed, but there was at the very least an acknowledgement of the inherit tragedy of the character in most of those stories. And even the worst of those comics, like Uncanny X-Men #304, didn’t give Magneto such horrendous dialogue, or force him to star in stories that clearly had no point outside of existing as product. The only contribution to the ongoing continuity, which would have to be the major appeal to any reader who stuck around after the first issue, is the addition of Quicksilver to Magneto’s cabinet. And, to the creators’ credit, the use of Amelia Voght as a sleeper agent luring him to Magneto’s side actually works as a surprise. But was a three-issue miniseries required to execute this idea? It honestly couldn’t have worked as a few subplot scenes, or an X-Men Unlimited issue? The audience had to pay almost eight dollars to reach this point? I can’t say that I’m shocked that an X-spinoff miniseries is this bad, but I’m genuinely surprised that a limited series that was clearly supposed to be important in many ways could be so appalling.