The Heart of Darkness
Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Mike Miller (penciler), Bud LaRosa (inker), Mike Thomas (colors), Comicraft (letters)
Summary: X-Man regains consciousness and rescues Threnody from an army of zombies. Taking her back to their old loft, X-Man learns that Threnody was almost killed by Madelyne Pryor, but revived by her powers when she was sent to the morgue. The dead are now attracted to her death energy and can no longer be controlled. After he saves her from another horde of zombies, Threnody reveals that she was only attracted to X-Man’s unique death energy and never truly loved him. She abandons him, then returns to her hiding place and cares for her baby.
Continuity Notes: A shadowy figure stalks X-Man throughout the issue, because this is X-Man and that’s what is supposed to happen every issue.
Review: Did Terry Kavanagh always intend to drag this Threnody mystery out over three-plus years, or did he know by this point that his time on X-Man was nearing its end? Regardless, this thing has stretched out over thirty-four issues, and it turns out Kavanagh still can’t bring himself to give us all of the answers. The issue opens with Threnody still pregnant, calling out to X-Man for help (even though the zombies surrounding her last issue weren’t bothering her at all). By the time he reaches her, she’s back to her normal unrealistic female comic book proportions. The story leads you to believe that maybe she’s absorbed too much “death energy” and is literally bloated from it at times, yet the issue ends with her returning home and picking up a baby. And, because this is Terry Kavanagh, we never actually see a baby, just the wrapped up blanket that may or may not contain a baby. This is what passes for a “big revelation” issue in X-Man. On the bright side…well…I guess Kavanagh actually tried to resolve something this issue, and Mike Miller’s zombies don’t look so bad. It’s X-Man, folks.
It always amazes me that X-Man lasted as long as it did. I went back and read the first 30 issues or so and the whole time I just was waiting to get through it. Each issue had a villain of the month, nothing that carried any weight or that was actually resolved. The same boring cast and just like you mention in this review, the shadowy figure and more "Mystery" than actual answers.
ReplyDeleteThis book just never was enjoyable and it's strange that it carried on as long as it did. I can't image the sales figures were great on it and I'm wondering who the driving force was at Marvel demanding that this book be released each month. There really was no point to it and it didn't integrate or have any stories that mattered to anyone outside of just this X-Man book.
I love how the cover text says "In the Clutches of Threnody"...when the cover art depicts something completely different. But, as you said, this is X-man...
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, I am actually enjoying the character these days in New Mutants.