HULK #8 - November 1999

Death Match

Credits: Erik Larsen (writer), Ron Garney (penciler), Sal Buscema (inker), Steve Buccellato (colors), John Workman (letters)

Summary: Wolverine attacks the Hulk, temporarily blinding him, only to have the Hulk crush the claws on his left hand. During their fight, Tyrranus regains control of the Hulk, forcing him to grow more ferocious. Wolverine leads Hulk into an abandoned mine, where the Hulk inadvertently releases a gas that reverts him into Bruce Banner. Banner explains that Tyrranus is the person responsible for the Hulk’s recent rages, and Wolverine agrees to let Banner go in order to stop him.

Continuity Notes: Apocalypse’s newest Horseman of Death watches the fight via videoscreen. This is, of course, the real Wolverine. The mystery man standing next to Death mentions that Hulk once served as Apocalypse’s Horseman of War, and orders Death to take care of him.

Review: Hulk #8 ended up directly crossing over with Wolverine after Erik Larsen was given the job at the last minute. Former writer John Byrne and new editor Tom Brevoort had a mysterious disagreement (some of the rumors that went around online were hilarious), that ended with Byrne leaving the book. As I recall, Marvel’s official line was that Byrne quit, while Byrne claimed he had been fired. Regardless, Hulk was up for a new writer, and world’s biggest Hulk fanboy Erik Larsen eagerly campaigned for the job. He didn’t get it, but he was given one issue to fill in; I believe Wolverine was always supposed to guest star this issue, so it made sense.

The issue is, not surprisingly, an extended fight scene. Larsen does throw in a bit of human interest in two scenes, one that has a series of narrative captions describe the life of the fifteen-year-old girl the Hulk is close to killing, and a TV news montage that shows various reactions to the Hulk, but this is clearly all about the fighting. Hulk fans seemed to hate this issue, apparently because Hulk “wasn’t strong enough” (a complaint Hulk fans seemed to make a lot in this era) during the fight. Larsen allows Wolverine to hurt Hulk temporarily by stabbing his eyes and clawing him in the groin, which seems reasonable to me, but it certainly seemed to make people angry. What the fans chose to ignore is the overall flow of the battle, which often has Wolverine running away from Hulk and avoiding his giant fists.

The action is effectively rendered by Ron Garney (with great inks by Hulk legend Sal Buscema), so even if the fight feels a little long, it certainly looks nice. The main problem with the story is the ending, which not only has a mysterious gas conveniently reverting Hulk into Banner, but Wolverine casually walking away after Banner explains Tyrranus’ plan to him. Wolverine’s discovered that a bloodthirsty supervillain is mind-controlling the Hulk, and his response is to wish Banner luck and go along on his merry way? I’m not saying I want an extended, editorially mandated Wolverine/Hulk crossover, but surely Wolverine would’ve done something to help out.

X-MEN #41 – February 1995

Dreams Die!

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Andy Kubert & Ron Garney (pencilers), Matt Ryan (inks/finishes), Bill Oakley & NJQ (letterers), Kevin Somers & Digital Chameleon (colors)

Summary

The time-displaced X-Men witness Magneto’s battle with Legion. Psylocke uses her telepathic powers to find Professor Xavier, who is recovering from Legion’s attack with Gabrielle Haller. When Xavier overhears Legion’s conversation with Magneto, he figures out that Legion is his future son. Iceman temporarily freezes Legion, but he manages to free himself and incapacitate the X-Men. When Legion prepares to kill Magneto, Xavier jumps in the path of the blast. With Xavier dead, Legion and the X-Men disappear. Bishop, however, does not fade away. Meanwhile, Apocalypse witnesses the public display of mutant powers and decides to start his survival of the fittest challenge. In the present, the crystallization wave begins to hit Earth. Realizing that her time is almost up, Rogue kisses Gambit. Finally, reality crystallizes and shatters.

Gimmicks

This issue has a metallic ink cover, while maintaining the normal cover price.

Continuity Notes

In the altered timeline Legion creates, Apocalypse emerges earlier than he did in the original timeline because he sees that mutants are already surfacing. I assume that this scene was written to explain why Apocalypse encountered the X-Men so much earlier in the AoA timeline than he did in the original continuity.

Iceman uses his powers to freeze every molecule in Legion’s body, which the story acknowledges as a new use of his powers. This fits in with the attempt at the time to power him up, but it doesn’t seem like he ever used this power again. Also, Storm’s team of X-Men seem to have found the time to change back into their costumes in-between chapters of the crossover.

Review

Even though it’s a very nice-looking comic, this is the weakest chapter of the crossover. Legion’s just generically nutty at this point, and the ending with Xavier’s death had already been spoiled by months of advance promotion. There’s also some odd plotting that has Xavier recovering from Legion’s attack against him. The whole point of this story is that Legion is going back in time to kill Magneto in order to prove his love to his father. Why exactly is Legion attacking Xavier now? It makes about as much sense as the incest/rape scene from the last chapter. Those complaints aside, Nicieza does do a convincing job of making this all feel very important, rather than the set up for just another crossover. He goes back to a more dramatic narrative style, which he manages to pull off much more effectively than the faux-Claremont purple prose from earlier in his run. The scenes where the X-Men witness the end of the world aren’t bad, even if they’re not given a lot of room. Even if it doesn’t hold up to the previous chapters, it does have its moments.

UNCANNY X-MEN #321 – February 1995

Auld Lang Syne

Credits: Scott Lobdell (plot), Mark Waid (script), Ron Garney (penciler), Townsend/Green/Rubinstein (inkers), Steve Buccellato (colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer)

Summary

Twenty years in the past, Xavier and Magneto are discussing the possible existence of mutants in a bar in Israel. Elsewhere in the bar, an amputee is being harassed by a group of drunken men. When Xavier tries to stop them, he unwittingly starts a bar fight. Elsewhere, Storm and the rest of her team of X-Men are still trying to recover their memories. In the present, the Shi’ar use their technology to augment the psi-powers of the X-Men present. Phoenix will telekinetically keep Cable’s body together while Professor Xavier telepathically boosts Cable’s latent time travel ability. Cable is able to appear twenty years in the past, where he’s drawn to the temporal energies that surround Bishop. Cable telepathically gives Bishop the information he needs before disappearing in an explosion of energy. Meanwhile, Legion disguises himself as Xavier and seduces Gabrielle Haller. Xavier senses a darkness around Gabrielle and leaves with Magneto to find her. They find Gabrielle wounded, with Legion hovering above her. Legion tells Magneto that he’s come to kill him.

Continuity Note

This is the first time Cable’s time travel ability is outright mentioned. It was previously alluded to in X-Force #39, when Prosh made a cryptic statement that Cable might not need technology to travel through time. It’s not treated as a major revelation here, and there’s no explanation for how any of the characters knew he had this power. I don’t think Cable’s ability to time travel with his own power was brought up again, but I could be wrong. For what it’s worth, it takes Shi’ar machinery that’s the size of a building, and the augmented powers of Professor Xavier for him to access the power in this issue.

At the time this story was published, Marvel was still following the strict time travel rules established by Mark Gruenwald (you can read his column about time travel here). The basic idea is that time travel automatically creates an alternate reality, therefore the current reality can’t be affected by someone travelling to the past. In order for this story to work, that rule obviously can’t be applied. The previous issue of UXM has Storm acknowledge this rule, with Legion replying that he’s created new “chronal energies” that will enable him to pull this off. This would tie into the idea that Legion is potentially the most powerful mutant ever, which Xavier speculated earlier in this storyline. So even if the rule is being broken, there’s some justification for how it’s being broken in the storyline (which would fit in with Marvel’s stricter stand on continuity at the time). It will be interesting to see the rules are (or aren’t) followed as the story goes along. I suspect that Gruenwald created the rules in the first place in order to prevent writers from using time travel to undo previous stories that they didn’t like.

Review

Up until you get to that horribly misguided scene with Legion, this is a solid middle-chapter for the crossover that only has a few rough spots (the bar fight goes on a little long, and I mentioned the unusual introduction of Cable’s new power earlier). It’s drawn very well by Garney, who’s pretty close to developing his recognizable style at this point. Xavier and Magneto’s friendship comes across as genuine, and the scenes in the present do a decent job of communicating the seriousness of the situation. The X-Men that are stuck in the past are also given realistic reactions to having nothing to do for three weeks. It’s the scene between Legion and Gabrielle Haller that overshadows the rest of the issue, making you wonder if the X-office has lost its mind. Maybe the fact that anything Legion did with Gabrielle Haller is implied and not explicitly stated made this “safe” enough to get published, but it’s really hard to see any justification for this scene. Let’s see, do I start with the rape or the incest angle? Aside from the fact that Legion is impersonating someone else when he’s getting intimate with Gabrielle Haller, she’s also shown in tears with her clothes ripped in the final scene. So even if you’re willing to overlook the deception used by Legion in the first place, there’s still the implication that something physical happened between them. Then, of course, there’s the bizarre incest element. Legion wants to go back in time to prove his love for his father by killing his greatest opponent. Okay, fine. How exactly this turns into Legion going back in time to impersonate his father and hook up with his mother is beyond me. Perhaps the idea was that Legion is insuring his own existence by making sure his mother gets pregnant, but that doesn’t work. It’s not in his plan at all for his father to die, so Xavier would still presumably impregnate Gabrielle (and I’m not even going to go into what kind of DNA Legion’s offspring with Gabrielle would have). I guess the idea is to emphasize that Legion is still insane, but surely there could’ve been a more tasteful way to get this across. It’s really a bizarre move that drags everything down.

WOLVERINE #86 – October 1994

Claws along the Mohawk

Credits: Larry Hama (writer), Ron Garney (penciler), Al Vey & Bud LaRosa (inkers), Pat Brosseau (letterer), Steve Buccellato (colorist)

Summary

Elsie Dee, Albert, and Bloodscream travel to Muir Island to find Wolverine, but he’s already gone. Elsie Dee finally tells Bloodscream the story of her time travel with Albert and the Hunter in Darkness. After discovering an adamantium skeleton with claws in an Indian burial ground, Spiral agreed to send the trio back in time to stop Wolverine’s death before it happened. They land in the 1800s, and find that Wolverine and Forge (from ten years in our future) have traveled back in time to stop the Adversary’s plan to create a chain of chaos throughout all realities. Forge and Wolverine confront the Adversary, and disappear during the battle. Elsie Dee and Albert stay with the Siksika tribe that was also fighting the Adversary while they search for Wolverine. When their batteries get low, they have to go into sleep mode. The Hunter in Darkness goes off with the other Hunters he discovers. Elsie Dee and Albert stay in their sleep mode until Bloodscream discovers them in the present day. After Bloodscream hears Elsie’s story, Albert’s sensors locate Wolverine in Tibet. In a future time string, Wolverine and Forge are reunited. Wolverine explains that the Adversary sent him ten years into the future during their battle, which is why Elsie Dee and Albert could never find him. Albert is revealed to be working with Forge, as Wolverine reveals that he has Elsie Dee’s head inside the metal box he carries with him. Forge promises to build her a new body.

Continuity Notes

The future Albert claims that their presence back in the 1800s negated that timeline, explaining how Wolverine survived into the future. Elsie Dee says that this explains why the skeleton they discovered disappeared. Forge remembers that timeline because he was still battling the Adversary and trapped in the alternate reality he created. Wolverine remembers the timeline because he’s been “permanently effected by a temporal paradox field” after traveling to the end of time in Wolverine #52. I’m almost certain that most of this makes no sense.

The elderly Hunter in Darkness seen in Wolverine #84 is indirectly explained in this issue. It’s the same Hunter in Darkness Wolverine met years earlier, who later befriended Elsie Dee and Albert. After traveling into the past with them, he stayed there and aged a hundred years until he met Wolverine again at the arctic research station.

The Adversary is an evil god that Forge was raised to fight. He’s appeared a few times in various X-books over the years.

Review

Aside from some of the time travel nonsense, this is a fun issue. Garney’s pencils are pretty strong, even if they look nothing like his current work. Something about the coloring and inking in this issue just seems off, though. The colors look unusually pale and washed out, and the lines just seem too thin. I like the moments between Wolverine and Elsie, and the scene with Albert running the gauntlet to prove himself to the Siksika tribe is well done. Hama always seemed to enjoy writing Elsie Dee and Albert, who are really two of the most absurd characters in the X-canon. I don’t think most people would expect to see Wolverine hanging out with the kid from Small Wonder in his monthly series. It is nice to see a resolution to the time travel mystery introduced a few issues ago, but I don’t think Hama ever got around to having the characters actually met up with Wolverine again.