Wednesday, November 3, 2010

WOLVERINE: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST #2 - January 1998

Uneasy Alliances

Credits: John Francis Moore (plot), Joe Casey (script), Joe Bennett (penciler), Jon Holdredge & Wellington Diaz (inks), Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne (letters), Monica Megerdoomian’s ColorGraphix (colors)

Summary: In India, Magneto and Jubilee meet Emma Frost, who repairs the damage Psylocke inflicted on Wolverine’s psyche. Psylocke senses Wolverine’s consciousness has returned, so Midnight is sent to assassinate him. The heroes invade the Nevada facility where Scarlet Witch, whose powers are being used to create ecological havoc, is being held. Wolverine is ambushed by Midnight, who stabs him with a poisoned blade. She reveals her identity as Amiko. Meanwhile in Portland, Synch, Leech, and Charlotte Jones are caught by Baron Zemo and his Thunderbolt troops.

Continuity Notes: Jubilee is still angry with Emma after abandoning her, for unrevealed reasons, with the rest of Generation X. Charlotte Jones is Archangel’s old girlfriend from the X-Factor days, who’s now helping the mutant resistance. A narrative caption reveals Quicksilver is dead. Angel is also dead, which apparently lead Psylocke into villainy.

Review: Joe Casey said in an early interview that he was brought in as scripter at the last minute after he submitted his first Cable script, so it’s obvious some deadline issues have emerged. Joe Bennett, who now has two inkers, is also looking a little rushed. I suspected this would be a problem last issue after seeing his one-panel portrayal of Psylocke, and this issue confirms it -- Bennett seems unwilling or unable to actually age the major characters. Emma Frost and Psylocke are still babes, and the passage of time now means that Jubilee, of course, has the standard comics female anatomy. The only characters that actually have aged are the X-Men members John Byrne drew in the original story, who appear in a brief cameo set in the South Bronx Internment Camp. If Colossus is gray at the temples, surely Psylocke can have a wrinkle or two.

The actual story is still entertaining; Moore has the heroes travel across the world and interact with various characters, showcasing different aspects of the future that weren’t explored in the original storyline. The Amiko revelation wasn’t hard to see coming after Psylocke disclosed Midnight had a past with Wolverine, but this is a good use of the character, and one way to make the story more Wolverine-centric. And perhaps the creators did have some small insight into the actual future -- while on his rescue mission, Wolverine dons a costume that’s remarkably similar to the one he wore in the early ‘00s (the one Marvel wanted him to wear in all of his appearances, back when someone in the corporate ladder was hung up on “synergy”).

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